Today we're going to look at another geeky hobby of mine: World building!
Maybe you're writing a book. Or perhaps you just want to share your imagination. It is even possible all you want is a richer experience inside your own head. In any case, this post is for you.
World building, or Geofiction, is the art of designing imaginary planets, cultures, languages, and more- all with the intent of creating a consistent universe. World builders consider such facts as what the air is made of, what kinds of plants and animals there are, what eats what, and more. In this series we will be starting a new world and designing it from the bottom up.
The first thing we are going to do, however, is what I always do when working on a new hobby- develop a list of resources! While by no means exhaustive, this list will be a good place to return to when stuck for ideas or in need of guidance. Without further ado, lets get listing!
A very good place to start is Patrica C. Wrede's Fantasy Worldbuilding Questions. For getting a general overview and dealing with a few thorny questions, this list is indispensable for authors as it hits all of the major points of contention you need to clarify for readers.
A nice next stop is 30 Days of World Building. With description and a 15 minute exercise for every day for 30 days you are sure to find something of use to do. And if you go through them all in order, more power to you!
An unfinished but very informative wiki-guide is the Educated Worldbuilder site. It doesn't go too in depth on any one thing, but gives a basic overview of how many different things work.
Creating Fantasy and Science Fiction Worlds. Split into chunks this article is exceptionally long- and good! From gods to zoology this article series hits on the most major topics to come up in building a world.
Considering magic in your world? Here is a Guide to Creating Believable Magic.
This same site also hosts a very brief introduction to world building, also called World Building 101.
We all know I like donjon's random generators and his Fantasy World Generator is no different. If you have a hard time with maps, this will be an invaluable resource for you.
Another list of resources that can still grow is the NaNoWriMo World Building Resource Thread. Catered to authors, it is a list of resources other authors have found and enjoyed- all of my previous links have found their way on there!
Another long list of questions is the Xtreme Culture Questionaire. If you're starting form people to world, this is a great place to start!
That's the end of the list for today, but I'm certain there are hundreds of other great resources out there. Care to share?
Showing posts with label resources. Show all posts
Showing posts with label resources. Show all posts
Monday, April 21, 2014
Monday, April 14, 2014
Campaign Building Resources
On today's episode of "How Many Links Can I Fit in One Post" we have the resources I use or have found useful for building Pathfinder Campaigns. All of these links refer to a random generator or roll-table to use.
Random Adventure Hook Generator
Letting you choose between D&D Classic, Faerie Tale and Bare bones this generator comes up with a hook and several plot points for an adventure
Pathfinder Treasure Generator
This generator lets you chose encounter difficulty, average party level, game pace, treasure quantity and several other factors before generating you a treasure hoard to load up your players.
Random Encounter Generator
In the donjon set of generators there is the Encounter Generator. It lets you chose level, Plane and a few other things, then spits out an appropriate encounter
Random NPC Generator
Also from donjon, this generator lets you choose a few characteristics of an NPC then populates a list of possibilities.
d12 Roll Table a Day
A blog which lists a new (usually humourous) roll table every day, using a d12
Plot Point Table
A roll table from an old published adventure, change answers to suit your campaign more.
Symptom Suffering
Have your characters suffer a unique symptom.
Random Hirelings
A way to distinguish hirelings.
Random Rings
20 random rings
100 Mundane Items
Exactly as it says. Populate your dungeon with some things they might not end up looting.
1000 Magical Effects
What does that tiara do when you put it on?
Magical Loot Tables by Level
Roll for random loot based by level
Ongoing Adventure Motifs thread
This thread is still in the works, but makes for a nice set of random adventure motifs.
And hereafter are some other lists of generators and roll-tables:
donjon
DnD With Porn Stars (possible NSFW content)
Jeff Rients Blog
d6 Random Tables
North of Nowhere
Random Adventure Hook Generator
Letting you choose between D&D Classic, Faerie Tale and Bare bones this generator comes up with a hook and several plot points for an adventure
Pathfinder Treasure Generator
This generator lets you chose encounter difficulty, average party level, game pace, treasure quantity and several other factors before generating you a treasure hoard to load up your players.
Random Encounter Generator
In the donjon set of generators there is the Encounter Generator. It lets you chose level, Plane and a few other things, then spits out an appropriate encounter
Random NPC Generator
Also from donjon, this generator lets you choose a few characteristics of an NPC then populates a list of possibilities.
d12 Roll Table a Day
A blog which lists a new (usually humourous) roll table every day, using a d12
Plot Point Table
A roll table from an old published adventure, change answers to suit your campaign more.
Symptom Suffering
Have your characters suffer a unique symptom.
Random Hirelings
A way to distinguish hirelings.
Random Rings
20 random rings
100 Mundane Items
Exactly as it says. Populate your dungeon with some things they might not end up looting.
1000 Magical Effects
What does that tiara do when you put it on?
Magical Loot Tables by Level
Roll for random loot based by level
Ongoing Adventure Motifs thread
This thread is still in the works, but makes for a nice set of random adventure motifs.
And hereafter are some other lists of generators and roll-tables:
donjon
DnD With Porn Stars (possible NSFW content)
Jeff Rients Blog
d6 Random Tables
North of Nowhere
Monday, April 7, 2014
Game Design Resources
I am not a game designer. Nor will I ever (likely) be. However I do find game design to be a very interesting topic, and as such have collated quite the collection of references and resources. Since that is what I do when I pour myself into a hobby- I make lists of resources. However it is often the case that my interest in the hobby wanes (only to wax again later), and I am left with list upon list of resources and no current use for them!
If this is the case, why shouldn't you, the intrepid game designer to be, benefit from my hours of web searching, scrutinizing and scanning? My time spent ranking and rating and otherwise spent categorizing?
You should! As such I am starting a series on resource sharing.
First up is... The Designer's Resource List from BoardGameGeek.
Now over on the 'Geek they've got a whole forum section divided off for board game design. Right at the very top you'll find this list. What I like about this list is that it has quite a few things on it! What I don't like is that it hasn't been updated in a year, and that, well, there are so many things on it! It can get kind of bogged down- especially with the very minimal descriptions given.
Next we have the aforementioned BoardGameGeek Game Design Forum.
This forum is a great place to talk about board game design.
Pluses: Active and friendly with good resources available in the pinned threads.
Minuses: Everything is muddled together. You have your mechanics questions next to your theme discussions next to your playtest requests and everything just gets a bit lost.
A Brief Crash Course on Game Design is another thread on the BGG Design Forum.
This thread discusses in a nicely detailed manner all the steps to take an idea from the paranoia stage straight through to prototyping and production. It offers a nice set of questions to ask yourself of your game to see where it is heading.
It also gives advice on playtesting, both by yourself, with others and in blind runs.
the only thing I don't like about this thread is that the majority of the time is spent explaining production of prototypes, playtesting and publishing and not much attention is paid to the actual steps of designing the idea.
Exploratory Learning Through ...Games links to the course syllabus of San Diego State University's course EDTEC 670.
This site is a little hard to follow, not being a student. But if you take the time the resources it offers are quite good. With exercises and design outlines as well as 'required' reading.
the Board Game Analysis worksheet is great for cementing your ideas about what you want from your game. The Board Game Design worksheet helps you discover and utilize different mechanics and pieces for your game. the First Steps article is a great introduction on how to actually come up with ideas and design thoughts.
The one drawback is that everything is oriented to making an educational game. If that is not your intent you have to draw from the gist of the message, rather than the actual content.
Offering a concrete example How to Learn Board Game Design and Development walks you through the design process is simple steps, as well as offering several definitions up-front.
I love the list of questions asked, as well as the card game example used. The whole thing is easy to follow and gives an especially nice overview of the playtesting process.
It also offers a nice, though small, list of places to seek out more information on the topic of game design.
The Board Game Designers Forums is an entire forum dedicated to board game design.
It includes subforums for Mechanics Discussion, Playtesting, Thematic Elements, and General Design as well as many more.
It also allows you to have a mini blog on their site, as well as game journals to share your content.
It has the plus of being very diverse and informative, but it is a slow going forum and the content on the rest of the site is rarely, if ever, updated.
/r/tabletopgamedesign
I'll admit. I know very little about reddit. All I know is that this subreddit is very active and very informative.
The Ten Things Every Game Needs is an article listing... the ten things every game needs.
From Rules and Inertia to Fun and Flavour this article covers all the bases. While you could probably do with out one or two (strategy isn't strong in Candyland, to mention one) I would sense woe for anyone trying to disregard them all.
Back to the 'Geek for a couple of Board Game Mechanics.
This link takes you to the BGG's list of board game mechanics, which each have a definition and example games. While by no means the be all end all of mechanics lists, it is certainly a good start.
Offering ways to evaluate games and more content is Games Precipice, a blog.
everything on this blog has some value, so there is too much to list. But I will certainly mention (again) their How to Evaluate Games series. Looking at things from a game balance as well as a production stand point, this is a great yard stick to hold up.
Boardgamizer is a random generator that you can submit ideas to. It offers up Mechanics, Theme, Victory and an optional Constraint from which you can build a game.
It is great for getting the creative juices flowing and for jumping off from. It also offers some hover-over definitions for some of its mechanics.
For today, that's all I'll post. But maybe in the future we'll see more of my go-to places for this topic and others.
Happy Designing!
If this is the case, why shouldn't you, the intrepid game designer to be, benefit from my hours of web searching, scrutinizing and scanning? My time spent ranking and rating and otherwise spent categorizing?
You should! As such I am starting a series on resource sharing.
First up is... The Designer's Resource List from BoardGameGeek.
Now over on the 'Geek they've got a whole forum section divided off for board game design. Right at the very top you'll find this list. What I like about this list is that it has quite a few things on it! What I don't like is that it hasn't been updated in a year, and that, well, there are so many things on it! It can get kind of bogged down- especially with the very minimal descriptions given.
Next we have the aforementioned BoardGameGeek Game Design Forum.
This forum is a great place to talk about board game design.
Pluses: Active and friendly with good resources available in the pinned threads.
Minuses: Everything is muddled together. You have your mechanics questions next to your theme discussions next to your playtest requests and everything just gets a bit lost.
A Brief Crash Course on Game Design is another thread on the BGG Design Forum.
This thread discusses in a nicely detailed manner all the steps to take an idea from the paranoia stage straight through to prototyping and production. It offers a nice set of questions to ask yourself of your game to see where it is heading.
It also gives advice on playtesting, both by yourself, with others and in blind runs.
the only thing I don't like about this thread is that the majority of the time is spent explaining production of prototypes, playtesting and publishing and not much attention is paid to the actual steps of designing the idea.
Exploratory Learning Through ...Games links to the course syllabus of San Diego State University's course EDTEC 670.
This site is a little hard to follow, not being a student. But if you take the time the resources it offers are quite good. With exercises and design outlines as well as 'required' reading.
the Board Game Analysis worksheet is great for cementing your ideas about what you want from your game. The Board Game Design worksheet helps you discover and utilize different mechanics and pieces for your game. the First Steps article is a great introduction on how to actually come up with ideas and design thoughts.
The one drawback is that everything is oriented to making an educational game. If that is not your intent you have to draw from the gist of the message, rather than the actual content.
Offering a concrete example How to Learn Board Game Design and Development walks you through the design process is simple steps, as well as offering several definitions up-front.
I love the list of questions asked, as well as the card game example used. The whole thing is easy to follow and gives an especially nice overview of the playtesting process.
It also offers a nice, though small, list of places to seek out more information on the topic of game design.
The Board Game Designers Forums is an entire forum dedicated to board game design.
It includes subforums for Mechanics Discussion, Playtesting, Thematic Elements, and General Design as well as many more.
It also allows you to have a mini blog on their site, as well as game journals to share your content.
It has the plus of being very diverse and informative, but it is a slow going forum and the content on the rest of the site is rarely, if ever, updated.
/r/tabletopgamedesign
I'll admit. I know very little about reddit. All I know is that this subreddit is very active and very informative.
The Ten Things Every Game Needs is an article listing... the ten things every game needs.
From Rules and Inertia to Fun and Flavour this article covers all the bases. While you could probably do with out one or two (strategy isn't strong in Candyland, to mention one) I would sense woe for anyone trying to disregard them all.
Back to the 'Geek for a couple of Board Game Mechanics.
This link takes you to the BGG's list of board game mechanics, which each have a definition and example games. While by no means the be all end all of mechanics lists, it is certainly a good start.
Offering ways to evaluate games and more content is Games Precipice, a blog.
everything on this blog has some value, so there is too much to list. But I will certainly mention (again) their How to Evaluate Games series. Looking at things from a game balance as well as a production stand point, this is a great yard stick to hold up.
Boardgamizer is a random generator that you can submit ideas to. It offers up Mechanics, Theme, Victory and an optional Constraint from which you can build a game.
It is great for getting the creative juices flowing and for jumping off from. It also offers some hover-over definitions for some of its mechanics.
For today, that's all I'll post. But maybe in the future we'll see more of my go-to places for this topic and others.
Happy Designing!
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