How do you start in making your own homebrew world?

[Satsujinki]

I have the idea
I have the setting
I have the places
But holy crap I dunno how to make a map. I dunno how where to start as I how to draw it(I know there are lots of tools and such online) and I dunno how much in depth should I go with it, considering that the setting is "modern 5e meets ye old magic"
Anyone can help me untangle this strand of idea? Where do you usually start?

[Wilb]

Start with a small region then expand. Try to set important conflicts there (or their absence) and their geographical reach / area of influence, ex: the fact that the villages of an area were taken over by hags shouldn't affect or even be known in a place a couple months away by horse, with degrees of influence increasing as the distance from the focal point itself shrinks.

I suggest Azgaar's generator for starting. just get a premade map and zoom in. Try to set these areas of influence, start slowly and you'll soon have more than you can account for.

[hymer]

The real answer is that you start anywhere, and then you keep going. And you don't mind going back and changing stuff later on.
Your first map won't be great (probably), so consider it a draft. Which may be just as well, as you'll likely come to think of something as you work on other stuff, and you'll want your map to look a little different anyway. You need these two cultures to be neighbours, or this one to have a large swamp nearby, say.

Where I start... Often with a map, hand drawn shakily with pencil on a piece of printer paper, so I won't be in doubt that it is subject to change. Other times I start with short descriptions of a series of cultures or nations or city states, and go from there to the map.

[holywhippet]

There was a fantasy author, Sara Douglass, who I saw at a seminar/book signing once. She said that she builds her fantasy worlds by just sitting down and drawing a map. Just starting putting things down - a mountain range here, a river there and a forest somewhere else. Your mind will start to fill in the details itself - like this mountain might be the home to a tribe that has exclusive access to a rare metal or those hills might actually be sleeping dragons buried after centuries of immobility.

You can try to reason out details - like two cities on either side of a fertile plain might be rivals who have warred occasionally over who owns what land.

Keep in mind that rivers and coasts are likely sites for settlements since people need access to water to live.

I'd work in pencil to start with - even if you map is very rough to start with you can get an idea of how the world fits together.

[NiklasWB]

Most people will probably tell you to start small and expand gradually (i.e. start with just a small town or a location where the players will start and then gradually flesh out the immediate surrounding area, the duchy/larger area they are in, the country that area is in, the continent, and the overall climate, geographical features etc).

I find this a bit hard to do from scratch because you are basically laying down the tracks as the train is speeding ahead. Sometimes it is better to start with a map and then zoom in on a desired location.

I'd often like to have a (at least rough) sketch of a map, place some cities and countries, create some overall cultures and themes, and then plunge the players in a starting location and then go for the method I described at the start of the post.

If you are asking just about maps, well, look at randomly generating some landmasses (there are tons of online programs that do this). Use these straight up or use them as inspiration. Then just draw (by hand or through the computer). Remember that irregularities and asymmetrical lines and shapes make for authenticity in maps. One thing that I think most fantasy maps lack is islands and lakes. Maybe it's because I'm forma country that has an abundance of both lakes and islands, but I always feel that most maps feel empty both in terms of inland bodies of water and islands. Then again, maybe they only bother drawing the larger and more important ones.

Also, remember some key things:

Rivers are essential. People need fresh water to survive. Almost all villages/towns/cities are located by a freshwater supply. Rivers also always flow down from a mountain and end at the sea. Also, rivers never diverge, they only converge as the flow downstream (so start 'up top' with many smaller stream, and then gradually as they flow 'down', the river becomes larger and more condensed)

Mountains Mountains are often ranges, i.e. goes from point A to point B. Few mountains are just lumped together in a big blob (although they do exist). Look at maps of mountains in the real world (or other fantasy settings) to get a sense of where mountains usually form. Valleys are formed by rivers in mountains.

Ocean, lakes and large rivers allows easier travel and trade. If you want the campaign to feature alot of wilderness and isolation, have fewer bodies of water and more forests. If you want different cultures and countries to be intermingling alot, add one or more oceans and seas. The best example in our real world in the Mediterranean sea. Open plains and roads also make travel/trade easier.

Don't feel like you need to start with the entire planet when making a map. Middle Earth and Westeros are both just continents or parts of continents, and the map of often just the 'known world'. So limit yourself to 'large but not complete' section of the world.

Well, there you have a few pointers.

[Arkhios]

There was a fantasy author, Sara Douglass, who I saw at a seminar/book signing once. She said that she builds her fantasy worlds by just sitting down and drawing a map. Just starting putting things down - a mountain range here, a river there and a forest somewhere else. Your mind will start to fill in the details itself - like this mountain might be the home to a tribe that has exclusive access to a rare metal or those hills might actually be sleeping dragons buried after centuries of immobility.

You can try to reason out details - like two cities on either side of a fertile plain might be rivals who have warred occasionally over who owns what land.

Keep in mind that rivers and coasts are likely sites for settlements since people need access to water to live.

I'd work in pencil to start with - even if you map is very rough to start with you can get an idea of how the world fits together.

This is how I would do it myself, not only because I (used to) love drawing. In fact, I might have to dig through my old drawings, as I think I have some fairly detailed maps I drew long before I even had any setting lore to input (admittedly inspired by the original Lord of the Rings maps that were included between the books). Those maps could be useful at some later point if and when I decide to run a campaign set in some homebrew world.

To add on the bolded part (which is definitely a good piece of advice). Rivers, brooks, and pretty much any coastline next to a larger body of water have often been used as the borderlines of neighboring nations and/or provinces. Even in the real world.

[hymer]

Rivers also always flow down from a mountain and end at the sea. Also, rivers never diverge, they only converge as the flow downstream (so start 'up top' with many smaller stream, and then gradually as they flow 'down', the river becomes larger and more condensed)
These are good guidelines, but hardly universal laws of rivers. They often form deltas, spreading before they enter the sea. And 'river bifurcation', where a river splits in two, is a thing in the real world as well.

While rivers obviously run from higher areas towards low ones, they don't have to start in mountainous terrain. For one thing, once sufficient numbers of minor streams have converged that it's big enough to be a river, it may be out of the mountains. For another, the main source of a river may be a lake. And finally, living in a country with no mountains (unless you count Bornholm as mountainous - it's certainly rocky), we do have waterways big enough that you would have to swim to get across, and they are large enough to be navigable. They originate in inland terrain, but not in mountains. So you could say those don't count as rivers? Still, I suspect there are waterways big enough somewhere that would qualify.

Finally, rivers don't always become bigger as they go. If it goes into a sufficiently dry area, it is likely to shrink in volume as it goes, at least for a while. Some rivers go into a desert and just dry up without reaching the ocean. They can end in a lake, or in swampy terrain, but they definitely become smaller and end.

[DanyBallon]

For my most recent homebrew campaign, I just picked up two maps: Fallcrest city maps with locations number, and the Fallcrest regional map from 4e setting. Those two maps are the basis for my campaign. I plan to have the characters start in the city and tell me what they want to explore, and I will fill the world as they will discover it. I won't be using any setting information, the numbers on the city map and labels on the regional one are only there so the player wants to investigate and go on adventuring.

[Magzimum]

Start with what is relevant. Perhaps for the 1st session, only the inside of the local pub is relevant. Why make a world-map if the players never leave the pub?

[NiklasWB]

These are good guidelines, but hardly universal laws of rivers. They often form deltas, spreading before they enter the sea. And 'river bifurcation', where a river splits in two, is a thing in the real world as well.

While rivers obviously run from higher areas towards low ones, they don't have to start in mountainous terrain. For one thing, once sufficient numbers of minor streams have converged that it's big enough to be a river, it may be out of the mountains. For another, the main source of a river may be a lake. And finally, living in a country with no mountains (unless you count Bornholm as mountainous - it's certainly rocky), we do have waterways big enough that you would have to swim to get across, and they are large enough to be navigable. They originate in inland terrain, but not in mountains. So you could say those don't count as rivers? Still, I suspect there are waterways big enough somewhere that would qualify.

Finally, rivers don't always become bigger as they go. If it goes into a sufficiently dry area, it is likely to shrink in volume as it goes, at least for a while. Some rivers go into a desert and just dry up without reaching the ocean. They can end in a lake, or in swampy terrain, but they definitely become smaller and end.
Yeah, I was giving more of an overall guideline for most situations in my previous post. Obviously there are some exceptions, but if we're talking about someone creating their very first map I think it should be wise to stick to the basics.

Deltas are a separate thing that happens near the ocean (or other large body of water), so I didn't include it in my overview. But you are right of course. River bifurcation is also a thing obviously, but it isn't a norm, and again, now we are talking specific scenarios and not something I would think a first-time cartographer should need to worry about. Lastly, when I said mountians, I should have said 'elevated area'... Hills, mountains, plateaus, highlands… As long as it is higher than the ocean basically. :)

[EggKookoo]

But holy crap I dunno how to make a map. I dunno how where to start as I how to draw it(I know there are lots of tools and such online) and I dunno how much in depth should I go with it, considering that the setting is "modern 5e meets ye old magic"

Find a map of Earth. Zoom in on an interesting section, like the Greek islands or the Philippines or something. Rotate a bit and blow it up -- now you have continents arranged in a "realistic" way.

That gives you the overall canvas, and you can start assigning kingdoms and nations and such. Then pick the most interesting one for your setting and add details to that as others have suggested.

[Sigreid]

Find a map of Earth. Zoom in on an interesting section, like the Greek islands or the Philippines or something. Rotate a bit and blow it up -- now you have continents arranged in a "realistic" way.

That gives you the overall canvas, and you can start assigning kingdoms and nations and such. Then pick the most interesting one for your setting and add details to that as others have suggested.

I would add find a blank map of earth if you want to decide where cities are. But this is what I was going to say.

[DeadMech]

Start with sitting yourself down and asking yourself some questions. Specifically what is the goal of your game?

Is it a game where there are dozens of competing factions and world shaking events that are going to play out regardless of whether the players interact and try to control them or by advancing in the background even if they aren't even aware of them? In which case you're going to want to have allot of pre-planning and possibly take a top down approach to your world design.

On the other hand maybe you don't care what is directly outside the sight of the party and plan to make it up as you go. In which case you want to take a bottom up approach and focus on the local area.

Is this a game where you will want the players to tailor their character's to your world? In which case you will want to flesh it out. On the other hand maybe you want the players to have the freedom to make up their own corners of the world for where their characters came from. In which case you will want to leave some blank spaces that you can slot in as appropriate.

Kitchen sink settings where there are allot of player races available tend to benefit from starting out near the sea. Something like the Mediterranean in reality. A place where trade facilitated by ships gives lots of opportunity for diverse settlements and people visiting from far away lands.

Some other bits of advice is to think about what it is like to live in an area and consider how that will change how the people there and their society act. Maybe this is summed up by the old "What do they eat?" question when you are designing a fictional setting but there are other aspects as well.

DnD is usually this wide expansive world. Lots of wilderness in between beacons of light civilizations. A long history of empires run by a variety of humanoid or monstrous races each in turn growing, flourishing, and collapsing only to be replaced by the new kids on the block. The people living in a place might not have even built the city they live in, choosing to squat in the ruins of someone who came before.

Dangerous creatures roam wild pretty much everywhere so the idea of a settlement without some form of protection whether it be natural geography or at the very least a wooden palisade might stretch credibility. I recently watched a video ripping apart final fantasy 15's world building. Lots of mistakes there to learn from. Wild monsters but almost no fortifications and npc's walk around in casual modern clothing and almost never seem to be armed. Pretty landscapes to drive through but on foot it's too big and empty, the party are wanted fugitives but no one really seems to react to them walking around in broad daylight and the people hunting them and overthrowing their country have no visible presence.

I like to have some idea of what is out there and what the history of the setting is, at least in some basic fashion. You don't have to name every god or king and write the Silmarillion or anything but having at least some ideas can save you in cases where the party does something unexpected and you need to make up things you haven't prepared for them on the spot.

Making realistic maps isn't easy but tools can help. Don't be afraid to hand draw in a few details to embellish or remove features that auto generation programs make to suit your desires. I like to randomly generate the location of a few powerful entities just to get some ideas about spheres of influence but don't be afraid to tweak that as well.

[KorvinStarmast]

I have the idea
I have the setting
I have the places
But holy crap I dunno how to make a map. I dunno how where to start as I how to draw it(I know there are lots of tools and such online) and I dunno how much in depth should I go with it, considering that the setting is "modern 5e meets ye old magic"
Anyone can help me untangle this strand of idea? Where do you usually start?
There is a guy named Rich Burlew who runs a site called Giant in the Playground. He has posted a nine part series about world building.
Part six is a nice primer on how to start building the world, and the map (http://www.giantitp.com/articles/xO3dVM8EDKJPlKxmVoG.html).

FWIW, his whole "the world" series of nine articles (http://www.giantitp.com/Gaming.html) is worth a look.

[holywhippet]

Another suggestion - fire up one of the Civilization games and plug in the general specifications of the world you want. Then just reveal the map - either via console command or by exploring it.