D&D World Building Strategy That Players LOVE

[@erebusgw]

Appreciated the “Don’t be weird about it” message.

[@ConstructedChaos]

An absolutely necessary disclaimer on the internet haha

[@anthonycassidy1124]

That’s how Monty did it for dungeons of drakkenhime they did the iceberg route it was only going to be 12 episodes but at the end of the 12 episodes they just kept going they knew they had a gem and kept building as the players dunked their heads under the surface and ended up with a book on dnd beyond and made an absolute masterpiece

[@ConstructedChaos]

I love the dungeon dudes!! Still haven’t had the pleasure of meeting them but they deserve all the accolades in the world!

[@anthonycassidy1124]

@@ConstructedChaos I will mention you in there discord for sure

[@mimicray]

The lizards have boobs because they are actually muscles used to pressure there pockets of venom in order to shoot it as projectiles from there mouths. The women evolved this instead of venomous fangs so they can ward of enemies and defend themselves and there eggs at a distance. In some rare cases, a lizardfolk is born intersex, making them a valuable member of the clan because of there abilitie to both spit and inject poison. Intersex lizardfolk are prioritized as leaders and other high ranking positions, which greatly efects the political landscape of there culture. Obviously

[@ConstructedChaos]

The iceberg grows hahah! Nice!

[@teaball8927]

Feeling relieved now the most fleshed out part of my homebrew is the NPC list 😅. Aka the Gregs.

[@ConstructedChaos]

Haha absolutely! Nothing happens without Gregs! The more motivation and deep understanding you can have around your NPCs, the more real your world will feel!

[@demonazgrael]

Solid advice! Well-thought out, well-explained, well-edited. Will listen to this many more times! Thank you!

[@ConstructedChaos]

Thank YOU! I'm glad you found it useful!

[@amenabdelkefi4845]

I won the initiative

[@ConstructedChaos]

And you've succeeded your attack! Roll Damage!

[@amenabdelkefi4845]

​​@@ConstructedChaos There must have been a misunderstanding, there was no attack roll, i cast fireball, roll a DC 15 dexterity saving throw for the enemies

[@zotechgaming1095]

But the room is full of prisoners the goblins had captured. Youll kill them all!

[@BLynn]

"Greg" could also be a short term for "Guided View".

[@ConstructedChaos]

Ahhhh dang! Missed opportunity there haha

[@baronvonbrunn8596]

12:24 "until you can see yourself taking up arms on either side" is a great way to say it. I would just add "if you were among them", since this is about how they see the issue, not us. I don't need to make it so I myself would gladly join the mountain orc raids, what matters is whether I would join these raids if I was born as one of those orcs in that culture and environment. Basically his Greg method. Just don't forget you're not Greg, Greg is Greg.

[@ConstructedChaos]

That’s a great point honestly! Thanks for clarifying my intent there because I absolutely couldn’t agree more!

[@chrisragner3882]

YES!!! Thank you!!! This is how I build. Giving two weeks or more between sessions allows me to fine tune and adjust as the players move their story forward. Listening to one build an over arching universe and the machinations of immortal beings for ten years yet never once sits down to roll dice with others is a fantasy fiction writer and not a Game Master. Write the epic fantasy novel or become a GM? Hmmm? I made my first choice reality. The fantasy can follow, one day.

[@ConstructedChaos]

The one true way! haha. Even a lot of writers will tell you that forcing yourself to create a first draft without paying attention to extraneous details is the best way to get the ball rolling!

[@chrisragner3882]

Current campaign has been growing for years now. It has gone in directions that I had not anticipated and we all love it. Yes, some players left because it was not their interest. They wanted something that had a beginning and an end. Those who stayed were perfectly happy with an open end continuation of stories. I present a situation and they form the narrative. What they do pretty much feeds me ideas that have been giving life to this part of the world. Using a teleportation circle allows me to create pockets of other locations in the world or on another world. This too provides variety and opportunities to create new characters for them to play in continuation of stories with different characters if they wish. I am having way too much fun. I never thought I would return to TTRPG, but the theatre and commercial work was not doing it for me anymore. I enjoy hearing your perspective on this hobby we love. Keep them coming. Don’t grow tired sharing your thoughts.

[@moongoosemcqueen]

New game starting next week, I'm excited sending this to DM

[@ConstructedChaos]

Hell yeah!! Y’all enjoy your new adventure!

[@mikebearthegamer1365]

Most of my lore comes from details my players give me. Like in my word, orcs and elves haye each other cause they think the continent they live on is theirs, and that came from a player who was an elf who got raided by a band of orcs. Like, that one small detail created a huge change in the world. It's why I take from my players and create something amazing. I always tell my players that I may have started this world, but they helped create it.

[@ConstructedChaos]

This is a great observation and fantastic advice! Lots of my worldbuilding is done in collaboration with my players as well!

[@Grymreefer]

Awesome video , thanks for the ideas and the prevention of analysis paralysis .

[@ConstructedChaos]

Thanks, friend! I'm happy you enjoyed it! Can't wait for tomorrow's stream as I employ some of these tactics myself haha

[@ubernerrd]

Great advice. I've been doing a lot of world building recently and it's hard to not get sucked into a rabbit hole of a million questions.

[@ConstructedChaos]

And, inevitably, whatever you build out to the extreme will get skipped by your players haha. All about fleshing out what’s in front of you and leaving the rest open enough to remain flexible!

[@ubernerrd]

@uctedChaos That's kind of what I'm doing now. I made a small world map and basic outline of the story but nothing is set in stone. My players like to joke around and put me on the spot so I always have to improvise. That random NPC in the bar? Well, now he's a traveling gambler that likes to party and do cocaine. :D Which now introduces a whole bunch of questions...

[@ConstructedChaos]

@@ubernerrd haha nicely done! Something like this may or may not have happened to me last night 😂

[@ubernerrd]

@@ConstructedChaos I was not planning on building a drug cartel. :D But it also makes sense with pirates in the area.

[@Jeromy1986]

Should call that anonymous person "Gary" partly as a reference to Vault 108's clones, but also as an obvious nod to Gary Gygax.

[@ConstructedChaos]

Haha believe it or not, the idea did cross my mind-especially with our video’s sponsor! But I decided on Greg because I didn’t want people to get the wrong idea at the start of the video when I mentioned it.

[@thesistersofbattle]

Good video. A lot of improvements for sure over the months, for sure. One recommendation I have is the side-view camera placement at ~90 degrees is usually a cinematic way of showing someone break the fourth wall and exit the main story for a short period of time. It would go a long way for visual fluidity to move that to ~45 degrees or so. I kept thinking you were making a sub-point when it cut to that perspective. Keep it up!

[@ConstructedChaos]

Noted!! Thanks for the feedback there! I was actually trying to break the fourth wall as you say but I may try a less intense angle next time! I've built out a scene in unreal engine now so I should be able to do all kinds of angles in the future.

[@thesistersofbattle]

@@ConstructedChaos I could tell more so in the later half, but it was hard to feel the effect because of the nature of the content going from "talking to me" to "talking to me from a sideways angle." That's why it is usually used cinematically in movies and television and less so in an informal setting. That being said, I am not sure I know of many creators using UE5 like that in this fashion so I am interested to see what you have in the pipes. Thank you for good content despite a senselessly low amount of viewers. You are a top creator for D&D informationals.

[@orlogskapten4161]

​@@ConstructedChaos keep it that way, first time on the channel, that angle switch hooked me haha

[@TheRobversion1]

Excellent vid on worldbuilding Alex! Would love a vid like this but focused on one-shots. I thought you were going to say "story hook" in the last thing DMs are missing. P.S. dont you get a stiff neck? parting words: the innkeeper is the real BBEG.

[@ConstructedChaos]

Haha the side camera angle was short lived! RIP side camera lol I’ll definitely keep that video concept in the back pocket. I was going to cover running a murder mystery specifically but I feel like that could be a sub thread in a larger one-shot video!

[@TheRobversion1]

@@ConstructedChaos sounds good! I like the murder mystery too. One of my fave hooks. I also like heists and find the macguffin! I was worried about your neck as you kept snappily turning it to face the side camera. Lol.

[@ConstructedChaos]

@@TheRobversion1 Maybe that's why I was so hoarse all the time 6 months ago. All the strain on my neck haha

[@evancarlson5805]

What about a world where humans have cloacae despite not being reptiles?

[@meswain1123]

I made a city that had an economy based government. The heads of the five most wealthy families made up a council that led the government. They were the only ones who paid taxes, and every year they had to pay taxes, and if a family outside of the five was able to pay more than one of them, then they could lose power. It made for an odd mix of politics and industry.

[@ConstructedChaos]

Wow! Sounds like a pretty idealistic government and an intriguing way to run an oligarchy!

[@baronvonbrunn8596]

I was a bit confused on the first read when it comes to the taxes, but it makes perfect sence. I can hardly think of a way for oligarchy to have more influence that to make the entire governments budget rely on them.

[@zephyrstrife4668]

One of the things I did with the homebrew world that I built... Was actually have the players build it right alongside me. I told them that everything started as a completely blank slate and started with a single question each of them could give an answer to. "What is a species that YOU believe should be in this world?" Not a single one chose humans, so we have a world where humans aren't a playable race. Each person has control over how their species fits into the world. I chose Dragonborn and after everyone else picked their species, we figured out that the two most dominant powers of the world were Orcs and Dragonborn, but the dragonborn and dragons never completely wipe out the Orcs because they are engaged in seasonal Gentlemen's Wars... For the most part. Dragons don't take to the field of battle unless absolutely necessary because they know that even the smallest use of their abilities will reshape the world around them unintentionally. Even the evil dragons follow these rules because they want to rule the world, not destroy it. Everyone got more into it when i asked them if there were any prohibited classes among their chosen species; either due to the society they created, biology or simply not having a member of that class despite how much time has passed since the extinction of humanity.

[@ConstructedChaos]

I LOVE your approach here! I’ve created locations, religions, and even new magic systems with players before but never a whole new world from scratch. I bet that was a blast for all of you!

[@zephyrstrife4668]

@@ConstructedChaos Oh absolutely. My buddy who added the orcs in as a species is a DM as well so when he and I sit down, one question galaxy-brains into a whole conversation of us going: "So... what do people do about [insert thing we take for granted]?" and my reply is usually: "Yeah, that's a good point, how do people get that..." It got to the point that we now have content available for tier 4 play without even starting the game because we pretty much came up with the idea that tier 4 stuff already happens every so often and the players are just too small at the beginning of the game to have it matter to them.

[@tedtradermin7017]

Great video! Keep it up dude. 🤟

[@ConstructedChaos]

Thanks, friend! I’m happy you enjoyed it!

[@FoundationalDD-eb8qm]

Hi….I’m Greg and I approve me as integral to worldbuilding.

[@ConstructedChaos]

🫡

[@engine0991]

Category, Cartography, Conflict, Characters

[@ConstructedChaos]

But…. G has a little squiggle at the tip.

[@engine0991]

Hmmm, touché

[@Tidesofmo]

I’m old gregggggg

[@ConstructedChaos]

HAHAHAHA

[@soldierbreed]

All i keep hearing is "give the players just the Tip". And the immature part of me cant help but laugh in side

[@ConstructedChaos]

Hahaha it’s the secret 4th G of worldbuilding: Giggles.

[@lucaricciardi8253]

Another pathetic rebake of tropes Once you mentioned shit tolkien i knew this was bad

[@ConstructedChaos]

I didn’t say it had to be Tolkien haha. D&D isn’t about creating unique fantasy, it’s about having fun. But tell me about your world and how it differs from any other! It sounds fascinating!