5 Worldbuilding Mistakes DMs Make // D&D Advice

[@badassfood5713]

Ginny your world building advice is pure gold. Start out small. Picture a movie or a book that you have read and start writing. Describe the setting, visuals etc. create a conflict that the player party is on either side of. Describe the economy. What is worth coin. Describe taboo subjects perhaps half breeds. Engage in thought regarding military; what are they protecting? What about the races? Are they common or not. Who is the big bad evil guy? Who are his minions? Is the crime scene huge or non-existent. Is it run by humans or is it gnome mafia. What is the caste system who’s on top? Wizards? Thieves? Assassins? Clerics? Who does the grunt work who are the aristocrats? Are dwarves the minority who do the dirty jobs for drow? Is it the humans who have tamed dragons? Is the an ogre tribunal counsel? Each question you decided will give you plenty of idea fodder then you can start making npcs. Those that are important to steer the campaign, those who are pivotal story characters but hollow in every other aspect? Describe the shops, services, guilds, and religion/temple buildings. What about the seedy nightlife? Is the local tavern/brothel the best place to find jobs? Who are famous peoples from the area? What did they do? What about legends and tall tales. Look for motivation in the backstories of your party? Let your players help mold the background. Don’t be afraid to drop some huge magical item into the hands of an idiot or a player, just to see what they do with it or how it juxtaposes itself into an errand or quest. Have a single campaign in mind when you start but not a direct path, or chapter work. Be prepared for it to go off rails or by the book, both can be frustrating and brilliant at the same time. And lastly have fun. It’s a game not a job. Have fun and play your own game.

[@llamaslemonade9133]

Whatever system works for you is fine! I draw my maps on the pages of a “reverse colouring book” (it has pages with nondescript watercolour shapes but no lines) and keep track of everything else in keynote.

[@prosamis]

I am currently binging ginny di videos I really want to become a DM and I'm so glad I found this channel

[@anthonystike6034]

My way is starting with the idea of the World. I set the general info that all the denizens of that world would know. Then from that point I go down to the continent, where the adventures will be and decide what information the peoples who are from that continent will know. Then I do the countries on that continent and the country specific knowledge. Then the local areas and what specific info they would have, even if it is different from another local area in the same country. At this point I am ready to start working on the adventure(s) that take place there.

[@lightwulf9]

For Number 5, I've learned that sometimes learning how to motivate your characters to go the way you want (and therefore, the way you have planned) is a huge help. But the information here definitely checks out: There are no substitutes for planning ahead and being prepared to improvise.

[@sebastianlee3821]

Me: "I'm an experienced DM with almost 10 years' experience who's built multiple homebrew worlds from scratch. I'm usually pretty confident, but there's definitely room for improvement so maybe this video will be useful to get some more advanced tips..." Ginny Di: "Tip 1: Read the DM Guide." Me: "...Oh yeah fuck I should probably do that at some point."

[@darienb1127]

Wait, the DMG isn't just a catalogue for magic items?!

[@shiggy4028]

This made me laugh so much, thank you! XD

[@diamondbowgamer3812]

Like honestly, I was scared about not having books then I didn’t use them once

[@StortebeckerSF]

@@diamondbowgamer3812 i have probably 10-12 of the books and barely open them

[@kylegrefe4399]

Yep same here, though only 4 years of experience rather than 10.

[@mercury2110]

Love the video! Great job as always❤

[@starielyt]

4:30 I cant remember her name but the detail of her speaking in rhyme like in her intro is great

[@RichEDMixed]

As far as world building goes I love how One Piece in other words how Oda the creator of that series does it and the world I'm running my campaigns in was based on a similar model. It's fun building a huge history and hinting at it cultures and politics of things.

[@giggityguy]

The other great benefit of planning is that even if your players skip one of your ideas, you still have it prepared and waiting. With a little bit of tweaking, you can circle back around to it later or even use it in a different campaign. Ideas never go in the trash, just back in the box.

[@Mogloth]

As a world builder do not be afraid to say that your world mimics a standard fantasy world. The current world I am building copies a lot from Pathfinder's world. I am copying wholesale their new starter city (Otari). I am dropping that city into my world. I am keeping the Pathfinder deities. Just different countries and geography and history. But, there is enough similar to Pathfinder that the players feel more comfortable with my setting. When you mentioned you live in Colorado it made me reminisce about our vacation we took to Colorado earlier this year. We stayed in a small town in the mountains (Dillon) and it was magnificent. We loved every minute and cannot wait to take another trip there. :-)

[@stevenweller9413]

That “dragons eat spell casters” idea, that is a movie I’d watch or book I’d read in an instant. But would make life hell on spell caster PCs, LoL. Sounds fun.

[@percussiveseer415]

Love those tips, they add nuance onto knowledge we already acquired and it really makes them stand out

[@renata3559]

Skipping a whole city? My players have a new record, skipping a plane and with that a whole arc ment to last 2 months. I love them for their scemes and i did kinda have fun one by one throwing out all the paper i did my prep on after the session XD we just laughed and went on to the next arc

[@DeltaDemon1]

A sidestepped city is not wasted. It can be used at a later date with the bonus that it's already done so you don't have to work on it as much. Nothing should be lost in world building. The key is to use the same world over and over again adding to its history, geography and culture.

[@iAmiPLOXable]

I feel an important aspect of world building is to be able to differentiate the creation of lore and stories. Personally I m way better at creating lore, so I concentrate my preparation on that to have a good foundation and let my players characters decide what the story should look like by their interaction with the world. Most stories then are simply improvised out of the connections they find within the world. This method can easily be reversed, but i feel a good DM should always think ahead and determine what parts of his preparation are interchangeable with good and fun improvisation

[@jimmyface71]

You are phenomenal resource of knowledge, and a champion of imagination. Thank you for endless inspiration to so many, and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

[@MandibleBones]

I feel like this is the one that makes me actually join WorldAnvil, tbh.

[@shawnjcameron]

I love world anvil great tool

[@Haggispk]

With it being a free tool idk why you were holding out

[@MandibleBones]

@@Haggispk Because time investment isn't free even if the utility is. But still. Signed up and even sprung for a subscription.

[@Heritage367]

Yeah, I think this is pushing me that way, too.

[@mikeesplace]

World Anvil has been really useful for my campaign. When my players need references to their summons/allies' stats I just link them to the page I made for those, and I have everything we've established in there. With the ability to make content private I can even keep my DM notes and monster stats in it. 40% off for an annual membership is also really nice, especially if you want the level where it removes ads from your world page because it removes it for visitors too, meaning my players don't have to deal with ads either. And since I sprang for a membership, I even made another world for a novel I've been working on that needs organization. World Anvil is great for that too.

[@Howler196]

so its fine to do a campaign that uses alot of biology and evolution, that makes me feel a little more confident on what im doing, even thought im still stressed

[@thewolfstu]

11:44 KZbin doesn't understand what I like so I can not just surf the homepage.

[@Figgy5119]

Also in terms of the overplanning problem of players skipping something important, if it's really that important to you, you'll figure out a way to bring them back to it! Wait until they get a natural twenty analyzing something irrelevant and say "with that Nat 20 you're absolutely sure that this random dude on the street corner knows nothing about the murder, but something he said suddenly sparks a memory that the baker claimed the blood-colored stains on his apron were just remnants of that day's red velvet cupcakes, but that day's batch had actually been blueberry!" Or whatever you need to do.

[@apparition668]

Thanks for the advice, Ginni! As a 40+ year gamer (and having spent 20+ years building my world), here's my two silver- handle the big themes- religion, climate, topography, major history- first. Then choose the area in which the campaign will start- flesh that area out with local topography and history, but get your players involved. Give them the overall themes, and let them build out their backstories in advance of the game- use those backstories to create a richer local history and culture. If you stick with a single world long enough, you and your players will help create a deep, rich, gaming environment.

[@guybuckridge7326]

Right there with you man. Particularly agree with the big four, which also happen to be in the right order (though there's some flex in there). My current campaign world for example started with a very basic 'how it got here' concept but all the rest was informed by a special pre-fab map that informed a lot of the other decisions. (The map was just too sexy not to use so I built a history and environment to fit).

[@eddarby469]

I asked one of my players to worldbuild the town their PC was born in ... crickets. It was on the coast. It had both a thriving fishing industry and served as the major import-export center for this nation. Still ... crickets. I always want my players to tell me about the settlement where they were born. I want them to know almost as much about it as I do.

[@WACHULUKNAT]

i like a lot of color and i like dnd and i like your videos. "is she better at making dnd campaigns? or better at making videos about how to make dnd campaigns?" lol

[@zentocosmos]

Me: not having a dm guide book as am broke and completely winging a campaign Ginny: yeah so make sure you read your dm guide book me: alright welp I guess I’ll die

[@maddiethomson9442]

I lovee yourvideo.s. I was hoping to ask u a questions. I want to playba witch that has a familiar in a new campaign but I have no idea how to build it. Any pointers

[@collinbarker]

Good info! I have been DMing for a little over a year, and want to throw my 2 cents in (In Canada, so may round down to 0) For recording, definitely find something to store it in that is more than paper or word documents. I started with google drive folders, but I needed cross connections and searchability, so I got Dokuwiki. It takes some work to set up, but works very well, is free, and completely portable. For the actual world building, I recommend planning using major events operating nder "Unless" This allows for plots to happen no matter what, and it is up to the players to stop. Also, plan based on individual characters. Each character has a occupation, goal, attitude, and stake. (See How to Be A Great GM for more info). This makes a character more than a trope, and adds depth. Sea Captain that no longer loves the sea, needs money, willing to barter, but not kill. Add in 1 unique thing. Most worlds have this, and it becomes the really late plot point. The Moon has a barcode on it, readable from the planet. The planet was terraformed whilst it was inhabited. Dragons eat magic users. Magical weapons can only be destroyed where they were forged. Combining light and dark magic in a specific region reverses age yet maintains memory. THe planet has a colony ship breaking up in orbit. Any of these things makes the world go from generic fantasy to full on your own, as it mixes up the regular a bit. (Some may be able to identify these from fiction, others I made up). They can help create backstories for characters, major plot events, and actually hook someone into it. For actual plot planning, plan events, not plot. Each character wants something, and will or will not get it due to other circumstances. CHARACTERS ACT ON THEIR OWN! If Mork the Ork is into smashing cities because it is the year of city smashing compared to the year of farm equipment smashing, then Mork will smash cities. Mork will show up no matter what. Players can decide to defend or not, but Mork will react as well. This could be a one shot, right up to a full campaign (progbably, at least a big adventure)

[@hawklegs6940]

I know with microsoft word documents you can search for certain words or phrases using the search bar at the top, because it opens up the navigate section on the side. Then when you make different sections of the text headings, you can jump between them pretty easily from the navigate section.

[@collinbarker]

@@hawklegs6940 word works well to a point. When your document grosses 30 pages, splitting it up helps, and word does not do interdocument linking last I checked. This may have changed or it is a hidden feature

[@hawklegs6940]

@@collinbarker They don't, but I've found keeping it all in one document and just having headings is basically the same thing. I can just click the heading and it jumps to the sections I need, no matter how long the document is. It's like a splitting within one document instead of over multiple documents, if that makes sense.

[@collinbarker]

@@hawklegs6940 ok, that makes sense. Really depends on how you organize it. I have a people section, major events, minor events and a chronological that ng tying them all together. Word cannot handle that, but if you have a more narrative style or focus on events only, then word would do very well

[@hawklegs6940]

Yeah, I normally go by what happens in each session and what the players do. I have list of big conflicts, and then I write out the ripple effects of these conflicts for worldbuilding, rumors, news, and reasons for smaller conflicts to be happening. I like to keep track of what the players do, and how their interactions can change people or make events, then write what they'd see if they chose to interact with that again.

[@rakbel316]

I started getting into D&D in 2017, and as I watch the Unexpectables, the TFS streams, Matthew Colville's Running the Game, and Critical Role, I got the drive to build my own world, I didn't really know if I would ever DM, but I still began building, I started with a section of my world, with like 8 Continents (technically one of them isn't the full size, as I expanded on it with a different map) but I came up with rough ideas of each area I had, and some key places not on the current map at that time, and after starting to DM a year ago, using my world, I plan a lot, for where I expect my players to go, and only once did I have to fully improv, when they were offered a chance to teleport to a different place than they had been, and they spent one session in that other City, before asking to be teleported back.. but I loved the surprise, but in a normal session I do a healthy amount of improv (mostly do to forgetting my notes and not wanting to scan them over) I am still coming up with ideas for the main mapped out areas, plotting out creek locations, or names for villages, or menu items, etc. Anyway, incredible video!

[@iurk0_streaming]

If there is a key thing my players missed I try to think up of ways for that sidestepped thing to come back to bite them in the ass, but not too hard ;)

[@32Loveless50]

also making my own homebrew world, and have been working on it for a long time. atm. playing a bit in it with my Nephew and his friends, to try it out and so far they love it. :) and well it is a bit like how Mathew Mercer made his world, so there is a loooot of lore and the likes, so the players will miss a lot of it, but they got info from the place they are from, and that differentiate from race to race and continent to continent. :) and the start to bring them all together is a sailing trip to the New world, or rather the newest continent, that have been just rediscovered a few hundreds of years ago. and there be jungle and Dinosaurs where they land in the new capital of the new place, and with multiple factions, they can get renown at, and the more renown, the more they can get/buy from them, like items, information and even training in feats or skills if high enough renown. and i am also using the Grim Hollow books, so some of the players will experience transformations :)

[@BigDictator5335]

The way I worldbuild is I look at what other people have done, and I don't do that.

[@dickesMomo]

How is nobody talking about the AoE soundtrack in the advertisement?!?

[@TheClericCorner]

I've always loved the idea of having an entire campaign in a single city. Puts a fantasy world under a microscope, and to me that can be even more immersive and magical :)

[@GinnyDi]

I'm working on a mini-campaign like that right now - a single village, actually!! I'm enjoying it a LOT more than I enjoyed trying to create an entire continent. I feel like I can really dig into the specifics of how this village operates and who lives there, and give a lot more depth to everything that's happening there. It's nice to feel like I'm figuring out the type of worldbuilding that I really like doing!

[@jakelikeschicken3802]

I have a single town campaign where the party does a cop-comedy as the Town Watch. It's extremely amusing so far watching the Minotaur fighter smash into every building while the bard rips on the criminals' fashion senses.

[@ryanpatricksmith5795]

This approach is a large part of what makes the game Disco Elysium so magical, I think. A 50-hour story with 1 million possible words of dialogue all set in a backwater district of the city of Revachol. You can tell the greater world is extremely well thought out through what you learn of it as you play, but the intimacy of the game's immediate setting keeps the narrative experience deeply personal and character-driven.

[@SwedishSalmonbox]

Or a single, small island! then they have some surrounding nature, but cant go too far (dont give them a boat!)

[@daltigoth3970]

The Dungeon Dudes have an adventure and campaign setting book coming out soon that is exactly this (Dungeons of Drakkenheim). Also, Waterdeep: Dragon Heist takes place entirely within the city of Waterdeep. Personally, I wanted to do this with the city of Sharn from Eberron, but my players don't seem that interested so I've moved on from the idea.

[@JinxGCP]

There's a quote that I think gets at the heart of tip 5: "plans are useless, but planning is indispensable." In other words, you can't make a plan that will successfully address every actual complication; what you can do is develop, through careful thought and exploration, a list of things that likely could happen and the ways and means you have at hand to address something unexpected happening, as it surely will.

[@phatpat63]

Over the years I've found it's useful to parse this as planing and preparation. Planing is deciding what's going to happen, preparation is knowing your setting and what/who is in it. Don't plan. Prepare.

[@glenndallas7171]

Yeah, I tend to plan what I call modules -- moments and key parts that need to happen/drive the story -- but I leave out the connecting bits. That way, my players can explore organically and I can plug the modules in as opportunities become available.

[@girlsinredtrenchcoat1169]

@@phatpat63 I think a combination of the two is necessary, for instance in Monster of The Week it is suggested that for each hunt the keeper prepared a list of things that will happen if the hunters do not thwart the plans of the monster, and that this list should be advanced when the story lulls or when certain premade triggers occur. It's a kind of plan that isn't set in stone but it's still a plan, keeping things that should happen barring intervention is just as important as preparing for intervention to occur, because otherwise nothing will ever happen without the players causing it

[@jamesrawlings46]

You can also re-use things that don't come up that session. They don't have to die forever.

[@Patapon1222]

Correct My DM (and subsequently, me adopting it), have this trick up his sleeve. In every session he runs, he knows exactly how the session's gonna start (because it's, the start lol), and how it's gonna end. For the in-betweens, he plans several routes that the players might take, but ultimately, it is out of his hands. From that routes also, he develops on how to get to the end of the session. There are multiple pathways that he jots down, but ultimately, does not plan a whole lot of. Most of it are built in with the players as they traverse and do their current objectives. It's been working quite great, I can tell you that, I no longer have to bullcrap my way out of a session because the players derail it a little bit too much, because I have a fixed end to it.

[@jazz-ulidlehope9441]

As a long time DM a common mistake I have seen and made is making the world too functional. I have seen so many new DMs make a world where conflicts are solved too easily by NPCs or by big organisations. For newer DMs, I would recommend placing the adventure in a remote place or in a country where organised help is rare. It is OK to make the world good at dealing with problems the players aren't going to fix, but if the story would logically solve itself without the players the adventure is going to feel hollow. Give the big pieces of your world a compelling reason not to help the party directly.

[@annafantasia]

This is great advice!!

[@void-creature]

Rule of thumb, if the world is even half as dysfunctional as ours, they'll have their work cut out.

[@Reoh0z]

The players may skip some stuff, toss it in the recycling bin! No not in the trash, the bin where you grab it later when it would make sense and make a few adjustments to update it.

[@asailijhijr]

My players tried to leave the city, but there was a snorlax in their way, so they gave up.

[@sarahtachibana1333]

Wonderful, smart, funny video as always, and side note--who else is OBSESSED with her shirt in this??

[@sarahtachibana1333]

Also the idea in this video about dragons and magic-users is so cool why can't I have cool worldbuilding ideas like that

[@jeremyfrost2636]

Someone asked her what color she wanted her shirt to be and she replied "Yes" and it looks AMAZING. Glad you pointed it out, it's awesome.

[@bubblegumbishonen]

🙋‍♀️ Then again, mint green and pale pink have always been my favorite colors put together so her aesthetic makes me happy every video uwu

[@preacherjohn]

I'm just blown away that you just dropped "Dragons eat magic" as an off-the-cuff idea that more or less instantly unfolded into an entire multi-book/film/campaign world.. :O .. Just awesome! :)

[@Alche_mist]

Even with the disclaimer of "just a few minutes of spitballing"!

[@ismirdochegal4804]

This is the beauty of improvising on world-building. We - the audiance - just don't know wether Ginny came up with it on the spot, or had it planed out for the recording all along. I guess it's the letter.

[@GinnyDi]

I mean, all of my videos are pre-scripted! But when I described "a few minutes of spitballing" I wasn't lying, I drafted that portion of the script in a few minutes. I don't make a habit of lying in my videos lol

[@seriousthree6071]

Good ideas get invented repeatedly, that includes this one. The game Guild Wars 2 had the idea ten years ago but there are lots of others too.

[@MrSimpsondennis]

omg, a world where dragons are attracted to the scent of magic, that sounds so cool. Also would create interesting dynamics if someone on your party decides to play a Dragonborn wizard. Or a dragonborn in general.

[@songofshadow5043]

While it is completely different, this kind of reminds me of the book "Dealing with Dragons" by Patricia Wrede. Dragons can smell a wizard's staff, but they don't like the smell; it makes them sneeze. (I'm pretty sure; it has been a while since I read the book. Guess I know what I'm doing today!)

[@queenofbabble24]

@@songofshadow5043 that's the thought that came to me too and made me like the idea even more. I loved those books growing up

[@colbypetty6422]

The start small dragon idea is very cool. What if instead of smelling magic, they have similar senses to crocodiles that have ampulie that sense minor electric impulses given off by the heightened brain activity of panic prey. If dragonborne have this ampulie and can sense built up magic in individuals and are sent annually around the kingdoms villages to sense out magical adepts like wizard's and sorcerers. If a dragonborne gets a criminal record (using this ability to seek out wealthy adventurers and ambush them) they get their ampulie burnt off their faces, branding them as criminals and making them 'safer' to release. This of course can lead to prejudice and class struggles where people with draconic features (dragonborne or bloodline) have their faces branded prematurely because of fear, superstition and by crime syndicates. I like this... I hope you don't mind me adding this tidbit to my first world

[@FlatOnHisFace]

@@colbypetty6422 You can definitely tell that she would indeed mind, as she prods people to totally steal ideas from others.

[@neverthelessthesun1428]

"I would marry Google drive if it were legal" MOOD

[@GinnyDi]

Sign up for World Anvil free to start building your world: worldanvil.com/ginnydi Take 40% off any annual membership with code "GINNY"!

[@TheMrOuf]

I paid for the most expansive package just a week ago :'( Love your vids and as i'm currently working on a big worldbuilding project i feel like i'm gonna enjoy this one too !

[@TripleQuestionMark_]

To go off of the planning thing, someone took a Churchill quote and rephased it to this: "DMs that don't plan before a session have no brain. DMs that don't improvise during the game have no hearts."

[@theramendutchman]

That's a really beautiful quote but... What does that mean? "Not improvising = not having a heart"?

[@seriousthree6071]

@@theramendutchman no battle plan will survive the first few minutes of battle. A good GM will take the attitudes and needs of their players into account, be considerate, have a heart.

[@claraclenky9843]

@@theramendutchman basically I’d you don’t improvise the only other thing is railroading and that means you don’t have a hwaet

[@j2dragon109]

@@theramendutchman I think 'improvising' in this context just means reacting to your player's actions and adapting to them, I don't think it means comming up with everything at the table

[@void-creature]

My DM style must be "no thoughts - head empty" then, but I guess I have a very big heart ^^

[@medramonmasquedecendres2966]

Is it me or does "world anvil" sound like the coolest macguffin ever?

[@lindafreeman7030]

There's a book called "The Anvil of the World," by Kage Bakker. Recommended .

[@canjica_]

Everytime i would create a world it would be a literal world and i'd always get overwhelmed and quit. Great advives

[@GinnyDi]

Way before I played D&D, I used to do this with writing fiction, too! I'd try to write these sprawling epics like the ones I liked reading, even though I never actually enjoyed creating them. So I always try to remind people that they don't have to create in the same way that someone else creates!!

[@Spiceodog]

This is why I buy a world book and then start changing it rather then starting from scratch. Especially books with a lot of content, like Midgard, where I can run a level 1-15 level campaign and only see half the world , and use it again later

[@3dartstudio007]

One of the funnest most memorable moments in our d&d campaign in the 90's was when the party tried to teleport somewhere and the teleport failed. Instead of putting us in a generic swamp or standard dark forest (as usual) we ended up in the 1300's China helping the ancient Asians rescue a dragon of luck. The wizards there used magical paints and wands, blew our minds. Yes. World building can be magical!

[@ciciamanda.]

having a good base understanding of your world also makes it MUCH EASIER to improvise, because youre prepared for it. You know how the world is going to react to the stuff your players decide to do, even when its not what you expected. Dont overprepare by coming up with every possibility, but prepare by really getting to know the part of your world that your planning. Kinda like how you shouldnt write out dialogue trees for your npcs, just to be prepared for what a pc might say. However you should prepare so you know them well enough to respond on the spot in a way that feels true to who that npc is

[@shawnjcameron]

When you said resources I thought you were going to cover in world resources like which regions have ores or export wheat ect

[@GinnyDi]

I really think that kind of thing depends on your game! Like I mentioned in the section about building the RIGHT world, not everybody is even interested in digging into those kinds of questions. For some games, knowing about the economics of the area is really important, or lends depth. For others, it isn't important to anybody at the table and won't come up. That's why I tried to keep these tips focused on advice that can be applied to any flavor of game, no matter where your specific interests lie.

[@shawnjcameron]

@@GinnyDi I agree and I have tried and struggled with placing all the resources and where it makes sense and switched up to only noting resources if it plays a large factor in that kingdoms economy or culture

[@lunaredelvour2972]

the only reason I got questions like that sorted out is from AP human geo. Only use that class has given me so far but it was a fun class so I don't mind

[@songofshadow5043]

I think the channel Artifexian has videos like that.

[@sonadowfiend]

I am the guy at the table that asks questions like, "what are the major exports of this region?" or "if this wine is as local as you say it is, then where is the winery?"

[@Reoh0z]

Me, "OK I have a rough sketch of what's happening I should start world-building." Me next session,

[@jordanw2741]

A good resource that I enjoy is Sly Flourish's Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master. Really places an emphasis on start small. Especially the concept of a spiral campaign. Don't go planning out your entire world when you won't leave the first town for 5 sessions. Overthinking can drive even the most skilled DM mad.

[@hitsugatatsuro9978]

Learned that the hard way. I'm still tryna unlearn it.

[@ValeOfMuses]

Eyy, I just backed for their new project! Desperately looking forward to getting all the pre-existing books they have so I can actually figure out some DM theory. Heavy writing background, so the world looks fine... until I have to hand over one (1) ounce of control to my best friend, AKA our party munchkin. Who is also a writer, in a very different way from me... as is the entire group, because it's made of the best online friends I have, who are _all members of my massive online writing group._ And our group is built off of tugging at the loose threads of existing stories. So things tend to come undone awfully quick around here!

[@BelegaerTheGreat]

Or make him become Tolkien, as opposed to logicless improviser.

[@NarrativeEscapes]

Indeed. Start small. It's surprising how little you need to know. Not all of Middle Earth existed at once. Yet gamers try to create its end state at once.

[@steviegilliam5685]

I think this is just good writing advice in general

[@BroanderRentner]

The Tip "start small" got me laughing, as i am building my first campaign in a homebrew Waterdeep Setting with a to be very fleshed out metropolis xD

[@annesphantasia]

I know this is a really old video but new to me and as an improv teacher, woof, very incorrect take on improv. I get this wasnt the point but since you talked pretty decisively as if this were fact, I gotta comment. There is a ton of training that goes into it and for early improvisers, yes, having a setup can help them get to the fun faster. But for highly experienced improvisers? Putting 2 people onstage with nothing but each other often results in some of the best work. TJ and Dave are often considered the best American improvisers and thats all they do. So, again, I get this wasnt the point but that section felt like sandpaper on my brain :)

[@void-creature]

My approach is to go very deep on world building, but very light on actual campaign prepping. Since player agency can affect where the campaign is going, but not how the world that campaign inhabits fundamentally works. That way I can freely redirect the direction of the campaign based on the players, but the fact that wherever they go, chances are there's something there already I can weave into the story.

[@warhorse03826]

one problem I've seen is too many predators, not enough prey. if every mountain peak has a dragon. those dragons gotta eat. it's not something that will be obvious to the regular player but something will be off..if the wandering monster table is 90% predators, eventually "you run into another pack of wolves" but you never run into any deer, and the wolves are always well fed and healthy,gets old. and weird.

[@lunaredelvour2972]

....Alternatively. Steal shamelessly from a pre-existing game you like-

[@lunaredelvour2972]

Also, on the note of underplanning - THIS! I always explain to friends that improv goes smoothly for me because I have such a strong understanding of how my world works and I know how most people in a city feel about a certain important thing (and the relevant exceptions). I've had friends' minds blown away in the past because they didn't think I was improvising when I was in fact talking out of my ass and it was a wonderful thing to hear😆😂

[@stevefromtoh]

'in the state of Colorado' suggests it is legal to marry google drive in other places

[@s0ulwind]

About the under/over planning issue, I recall my big anime setting. I did a lot of planning, built several important NPCs to populate the school so players would have people to interact with. Naturally, not a single one got used. In fact, the biggest NPC ended up being a character who started as a foot note on a separate npc's sheet. When you plan stuff and develop people and places, even if the PCs don't interact with them, it still helps by fleshing out the background and makes it easier to populate where they DO go.

[@MorningDusk7734]

As an aspiring DM slowly building his world, I've noticed one crucial thing about all worldbuilding styles, and that's building "out" vs building "in", and where that boundary may lay. In simple terms, it's your starting point when approaching a worldbuilding scenario. For example, when building your pantheon, do you have a few or even one key God in mind and build out from there, or do you start with a scaffolding of the major domains of your pantheon and build inwards, fleshing each God out as you go? Or for physical map making, do you start in a town and build outwards to form a continent, or start with your landmasses and build inwards to form your towns? Identifying where you intend to start can help ground your building and make it so you're not lost in a sea of floating facts, features, and fun locations on a word document.

[@arlopullman4926]

I think a major mistake many DMs make is creating a world for no reason. If you want a generic fantasy world, playing Forgotten Realms is already an option. Never go through the effort of creating an entire world unless you know exactly what it's going to have that no other world does. That thing can be as simple as basing it off a certain real world culture's mythology, making the whole thing an arctic planet or even just setting it in a different technological period. If your world doesn't have themes, if it doesn't have unique mechanics and if it isn't trying to change anything about how the game is played, you're better off not making it at all. I think we've all played in listless worlds, things made by DMs out of a sense of vague obligation, rather than a core good idea. They're boring as hell, to the DM and the players.

[@duseylicious]

Agree on the planning point. The problem isn’t planning too much, it’s planning THE PLOT too much. Planning to improvise with lists of possible scenes, possible npcs, and secretes and clues (thanks slyfourish!) and then dropping them in where needed is one way to plan, that doesn’t require guessing at the PC’s actions or choices. Another is more sandboxy- build out a populated hex map with stuff for them to encounter, it’s a lot of rock up front but then you are good to go each week cuz the world is ready for them.

[@derricgreene]

Coolest thing about Ginny? She dyes her eyebrows

[@void-creature]

When I saw point no.1, I thought it was about actual recourses, i.e "what recourses does a civilization access to? How does it affect their culture? Their architecture?"; A dessert civilization isn't going to build their towns out of wood and cobblestone, and a drink at the tavern would be a lot more expensive than elsewhere...

[@kevinhallett608]

This I am guilty of. I'm knew to it but dam it if I ant going to try and learn.

[@reverendglitch]

I discovered my love for world building is actually more than my love for playing when it comes to d&d, this addiction has however given me the ability to tell you any given npc's favourite dish at the drop of a hat

[@SterlingBates]

@GinnyDi Where did you get that great shirt with the rainbow D20 outline you were wearing during the World Anvil promo?

[@GinnyDi]

That was this year's Pride t-shirt from D&D! All proceeds go to The Lambert House. You can get one here! mtgproshop.com/product/pride-2021-tee/

[@SterlingBates]

@@GinnyDi Thanks!!

[@Comicsluvr]

I love your channel. Your presentation is awesome and you hit the topics that are really helpful.

[@opheliadays5803]

Love the shirt!

[@nerdtimenick]

I've been a DM for a long time (27 years) but I believe you can always improve. I am guilty of #1 for sure. And.... #2.

[@jeremyfrost2636]

That thing about always improving... that's an excellent attitude to have. So wise Yoda might have said it.

[@sophiawatkins3190]

Matt Mercer loves political intrigue 😅 I also do not lol

[@Heritage367]

Great ideas as usual! I love the spitballing off the dragons smelling magic idea. I'm a firm believer in having a few very strong key concepts to define a setting, rather than trying to include every fantasy concept you can think of and seeing what sticks.

[@hawklegs6940]

It's why I liked Fizban's Treasury of Dragons, they have so many prompts for how dragons function in your world and how everyone else interacts with them that you can build so much off of it! I try to think through at least a couple of effects of the presence of very powerful or intelligent creatures.

[@cosmicgirlzz9]

Very useful tips as always, thank you Ginny! PS. loving the colour co-ordinated look of this whole video 💚💗

[@valasafantastic1055]

I agree, start big. Fill in just as much as you need to actually easily 'run' the world and have better easy ideas. Find the way that works as well for the feel and theme of the campaign you are about to run in that world. Make sure the theme of the world suits the style of game/campaign the players actually want to play. Communicate with the players. You can also make many worlds. Give yourself at the very LEAST a month to worldbuild before the campaign starts. Prepare what happens to help you AND that you enjoy as well as what will actually help the players. I agree. Continue to build as you play as well!

[@Karajorma]

I don't think you need to give it a month. Start big, BUILD small.

[@valasafantastic1055]

@@Karajorma It depends on the individual GM/DM. How original vs templated the world is. And how much detail the GM needs to feel comfortable and easily run games in the new world. 1 month, I have found is good for me personally, so I am advising that. Other people may vary.

[@Karajorma]

@@valasafantastic1055 Saying that's how much you needed is fine, but just saying "Take at least a month" might result in a lot of DMs overpreparing. Which is just as bad as underpreparing.

[@InquisitorThomas]

Have the big overarching elements for high play in the back of your mind when worldbuilding, but remember that starting out the starting area is where your party is interacting and prodding.

[@WallySketch]

"Start small" is an advise about focusing on the story and the lore behind the story, instead of creating a whole world. It doesn't mean you can't have ideas or concepts on how the world is, it means you don't need to spend years creating complexe details about the whole continent and all of its countries and cities if your story start in a small village. All that time could be used to make the immediate region and the actual story more interesting. "Start small" is an advise about using your time effectively.

[@RevRaak]

Speaking of Lisa Frank -- I mean, worldbuilding. . . . . . . . . . . . . [sudden, serious scribbling]

[@mrblakeboy1420]

do people have trouble worldbuilding? for me, it’s the narrating that’s awful

[@jameslewis9292]

World building SHOULD be intricate and involved. Adventure planning should be a LOT looser.

[@gash666]

I'm 50... Started playing in 1985... Just got back into it and your videos are great.

[@paolajasso5676]

I'm about to start my third campaign as a DM and my first using a homebrew system and this helped SO MUCH THANKYOU

[@HellsMirror]

I love worldbuilding, but I don't always have the time to come up with something for every place. Which is why even though the whole world of my campaign exists and I do have snippets here and there, the campaign (or at least this first part) takes place on one island

[@devilcraft4281]

Oh dang it's been a while since I've watched a video on this channel. Glad I made the decision to watch this one, because it was a pretty good watch!

[@GinnyDi]

Welcome back!

[@pendragongameart]

My world building system is: 1. Make some important characters. 2. Think up some historical events. 3. Plan out magic or the lack thereof 4. Important locations. 5. Some plot threads 6. Done!

[@Duriel123]

True!

[@kasiamleczarska9078]

That's interesting. I think every person likes to start with a different point 1 and then expand on it. For example, I started building my world with a specific magic system in mind, then I thought of the consequences of that system and how the world could function. There was also a certain atmosphere I wanted to convey. And with that, all the rest came easy.

[@dan_man3087]

9:23 - Yeah, i think i'm a bit scared to do the whole world... *Remembers that he trying to make a setting where NINE similar, but very different worlds are co-exist in relatively close space and there's one place that governs the peace within them which is INHERENTLY large "building" with population somewhat close to 1+ billion* ...Ha-ha, I'm in danger! :D

[@mariabulycheva7627]

"I would marry Google Drive" YES I FEEL YOU

[@callmeobsequious]

Me: Man, this organization segment would be the perfect segue into a World Anvil sponsor. Ginny: [actually sponsored by World Anvil] Me: Me: I'm thinking like a content creator now. *Oh no.*

[@LookingForAName...]

Going through the effort of preparing your world also gives you a better understanding of its inner logic and vibe, making you better at improvising while staying consistent.

[@KentoKei]

"Hey I'm gonna invent a speak able language or two" I'm over here with the hopes of planning out, and creating AT LEAST 10 different languages for the main areas of the world of mine

[@henryplumb7459]

About No. 5: I ALMOST got caught out in my first ever DM oneshot by this, thankfully the info I had taken EXTREMELY basic notes on saved my arse in two scenarios. I didn't need a whole world built, I focused on a basic outline of one faction, the grography of the lands, the culture, religion etc, and those basic notes allowed me to flavour some NPC dialogs and made a useful cheeky element to investigating a bookshelf, which let me talk about the topography and climate owing to a "geography book" being one found on the shelf. You may be a god of improv, but I couldn't help but notice the amount of DEPTH given by those small tidbits that I thought were nonessential. My players (as it was part of my uni course to design a driven narrative) certainly reflected on this in their feedback! It matters people! Some notes on everything are better than no notes!

[@nightfall89z62]

Thanks ginny. Hope the next one is just as helpful as this. Also, how is it possible that 45% of people who view your channel are not subscribed? INCONCEIVABLE I SAY!

[@timbuktu8069]

It's so cute thinking that building one world is difficult. I play Traveller. Build a world make it believable repeat 450 times. Don't worry the players will find the one you forgot.

[@eddarby469]

I won't be happy until as much worldbuilding as they have in ESV. The lore you read about in books in that game make my head swim, in a good way.

[@EverchangeFoundation]

"They won't skip everything you've intricately planned" You clearly do not know my table. They actively avoid the plot lmao

[@Carcosan]

“Just be a god. What’s the problem?”

[@VinceValentine]

Dungeon Dudes: Start Small Ginny: Don't Start Small Dungeon Dudes: Don't Overplan Ginny: Don't Underplan Me: ARGH

[@erikdahl6861]

Try starting _medium_ and plan a lukewarm amount.

[@jimamos7984]

If you can find a copy with a reasonable price, also pick up a 1e Dungeon Master's Guide. Even if you avoid the edition specific parts, there's large sections for world building, economics, etc.

[@KingKlint25]

I’m doing my first campaign soon and instead of a world I started with a country. I’m also making it super collaborative. Hopefully that will work crossing my fingers

[@dantherpghero2885]

'They won't skip everything you've intricately planned." You haven't met my players.

[@c.cooper2877]

To be honest, I wouldn't let the KZbin algorithm recommend anything to me. I have Subscriptions as my home page. Dunno if that's useful, but it's one data point?

[@Witchtheif89]

I know I'm late to this but I've been world building for nearly two decades and figured I'd share some of my tips. Personally I love designing intricate and expansive lore. That's why I started with building the solar system lol. However, it can be easy to let your world baloon out of control. You want to add more, make more places, more people, more factions, or nations and none of that is a bad thing. However, it's important to keep perspective. Use the larger set pieces as the difusion of mystery. You don't have to have every contenent, ever group of people, every nation, and every set piece fully planned out, as long as you can fake about 15% percent of it you can let your players do the rest of the work. I fell for this runaway train quite a few times. It's one of the reasons I have been working on a singular world for close to twenty years, but it's also my hobby and what I do in my free time. That being said, as I am planning on releasing a campaign setting about this world sometime soonish, I focused on a very small area analogous to the mediteranian. It's the most detailed part of my world because it's where people play most of the time. The rest of it I can get too later, through improv, or have enough vauge worldbuilding done that my players can intuit. My world is massive, has tons of history and politics, and monsters of terrifying scale, because that's the scale I enjoy playing and writing in. I've got the Tolkien itch and there's only one way to scratch it, but do your best not to loose yourself to the scratching or you'll only wind up bloody, sore, and burnt out. Speaking of the legend himself. If you are insane enough to develop your own spoken language, look up linguistic resources over learning how to speak a language. You will get different tools that can make the process much simpler. Also you do not have to build the ENTIRE dictionary of a language. Just enough that players understand it's mechanics. 20-30 common words and phrases will often take you further than the 8,000 words needed to fluently speak an RL language.

[@kenroach5469]

I've been world-building and RPG'ing since 1977 (do the math..yeah, I'm that old) and this video is dead on. We have tools nowadays that I dreamed of for years. Use them! The game has changed from being a justification for some people to accuse gamers of devil-worshipping to a main-stream source of entertainment and making friends that attracts some really intelligent (and truly adorable) members of the opposite gender..whatever gender you may be. Revel in that blessing.

[@lancepickett5653]

Worldbuilding mistake #6, back up your world... if you don't you will loose hundreds and hundreds (in my case 15 hundred) of pages when you computer commits suicide. Be it on World Anvil, in the cloud, separate drives, or hard-copy.

[@darrylzuend8937]

Ya.... great video as usual. But don't get world anvil. Student? Cool! Jump these hoops for your discount. THEN without warning... we'll charge you full price and tell you it's your fault and we cant fix it because our transaction people won't let us.

[@okidokidraws]

We've been building our world over 5 years its fun we call it Escion and capitals Floating Elf Kingdom Banvard Nurova Gardenia and desert kingdom Dushara and we have a spooky kingdom Ornkirk and Ghoulcrest