What's needed to make a campaign setting?

[deathbymanga]

So, I've been working on a setting of my own for a bit. Have 2 different campaigns set in it, and I was wondering how I could go about making it better.

The Campaign is sorta like Spelljammers in that it's set in space, only unlike Spelljammers, it's a lot more techy. Computers and machines are frequently used, and robots exists.

Different races come from different worlds originally, but have mixed and found niches. I wanted to include the Neogi, but they don't exist yet in 5e.

So, yeah, what does one normally do to go about making their own campaign setting?

[charcoalninja]

I take a top down approach. I sort out the cosmology and gods since they're the movers of the setting that influences everything else. Then i made my creation story and figured out how all the main outsiders and powerful folk fit in, then I mapped out the world in a basic sense, then a physical sense, and finally chose one region to develop in great detail. In the details the races get sorted out and placed. After that you repeat the last step for every region in your world determining histories and whatnot.

It's an insane amount of work but oh so fun.

[deathbymanga]

I take a top down approach. I sort out the cosmology and gods since they're the movers of the setting that influences everything else. Then i made my creation story and figured out how all the main outsiders and powerful folk fit in, then I mapped out the world in a basic sense, then a physical sense, and finally chose one region to develop in great detail. In the details the races get sorted out and placed. After that you repeat the last step for every region in your world determining histories and whatnot.

It's an insane amount of work but oh so fun.

well, I have a concept for a creation myth that could work, however, the part about mapping the world is kind of difficult to do, when the setting is an entire cosmos.

and what do you mean by "main outsiders"?

[Knaight]

I take a dramatically different approach. I start with the broad thematic milieu, of figuring out basic style stuff. Once that's in place though, I generally figure out where the starting location is, flesh it out to enough detail to be able to improvise heavily, then start GMing. Then I just expand as needed, develop as needed, and let the setting grow.

[JoeJ]

The World Builder's Guidebook (http://www.amazon.com/Builders-Guidebook-Advanced-Dungeons-Dragons/dp/0786904348) will probably help you a lot. It was written for AD&D, but most of it is system agnostic.

[rollingForInit]

Personally, I'd start with the character and the adventure and work outwards. The more likely the players are to encounter something, the more detailed I'll make it. I won't spend a lot of time working with exotic countries, the creation of the universe, since the players aren't likely to encounter anything like that first.

I've a campaign planned now that takes place in a desert city. So, I started planning the city. Some generics about its history, how its run politically, made a rough map. Came up with exports/imports, the most important factions (trading houses, churches, etc). Made up the important NPC's that will be introduced early on. I've mapped important destinations in the desert. I've named the neighbouring cities/countries, came up with some info about those, but nothing remotely close to the details I have on the main city. For cities further away, I mostly just have names, generic political info (e.g. is it a kingdom or an democratic republic?) and maybe the names of the leaders.

Even though world-building is really fun, it feels like it'd be a waste of time to make intricate plans and write up tons of details about things the players will never encounter.

[eastmabl]

I'd recommend Kobold's Guide to World Building. It's system-agnostic and has sections written by a number of authors who have contributed to all your favorite campaign settings.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1936781115?keywords=kobold%20guide%20to%20world%20 building&qid=1445876500&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

[VoxRationis]

I myself start with the geographic and political maps, with both of those informed by the basic concept I wanted for the setting (what terrain do I want to feature, what states do I want to see, etc.). But then, my settings tend to focus on geography and politics, rather than cosmology and gods.

[Cybren]

A general idea of who lives where.
A vague outline of a map
some names- who are they and what do they want?
some more names- just random ones to use when you need


you're done

[Regitnui]

A premise and some players. Everything else starts there.

[GungHo]

Be careful around over-designing your world before you even play your first game. Players can screw up hours of work with two or three sentences. Start small. See what takes. Then worry about building the whole world around it. From the time the first ape went upright, Florida was always there. However, no one ever needed to know about the mammoths and later alligators and mosquitos until someone showed up 20,000 years ago.

[mephnick]

Don't get too tied up in writing history for your setting. I do it anyway, I got a History degree for some reason back in the day, however, a complex world history will always be solely for you, I don't want to be a downer, but no one else will ever care.

Focus on relationships between important states and NPCs. Know in your mind how nations and people will react to the actions of the players. That's really all you need. Further world building can evolve as you play.

[deathbymanga]

I already have 2 separate campaigns running in my setting. I'm not worried about how I go about using my setting. I'm asking how one goes about fleshing it out for others to use it.

[Cakesnizzles]

What state is the world in?

Are there gods?

If there are gods, how are their relations to each other and the races of people?

How many races of people are there?

What is the level of civilization?

Which people are in power?

What are the relations of the people with each other?

What are the problems that this world face?

Which problems are the ones you want your PCs to fix?

Build story. Done.

[Cybren]

I already have 2 separate campaigns running in my setting. I'm not worried about how I go about using my setting. I'm asking how one goes about fleshing it out for others to use it.
by playing in it?