IMO, one of the greatest aspects of creating a campaign setting is working on its history. The more fleshed out its history, the more rich and real it seems. Now, I'm wondering how you guys go about creating a history for your settings.
What method do you use to create your setting's history?
As a subquestion, how close to or far from real-world history do you stray, and how bad is it if you don't?
Túrin
I take real world historical events, shape them to a fantasy setting, then "what-if" progress them through Altvogge's timeline, and see how they are affected by other proggressed events.
I go, or try to, for a whole world approach.
Events rarely stay in a recognizable real world pattern for long, because this is fantasy, and I am mixing the ebb and flow of many different historical time markers across my world to see how it fairs.
To be honest, I can't remember how I did my original Red Valor timeline. When it comes to the events of 1301, I modelled it off of a campaign I played in and took it from there.
It comes bit by bit. I have a vague and general sense of which groups are where at which times, but most of the detail is left amorphous until I'm good and ready to pin it down-- which is what I've been working on lately.
I don't pay any heed to actual history, but I do look at the way history's been recorded, and try to emulate that.
Because a lot of our earliest history is written by monks, they labeled the calendar based on the birth of Christ, an event very important to them.
In the Jade Stage, a lot of the earliest history is recorded by dwarves, who likewise labeled the calendar based on something important to them: the founding of Cardannis, their capitol.
I find it helpful to get sweeping, worldchanging events pinned down and solid early on. Something like a world-spanning war or a particularly viscious natural disaster is useful as a landmark, and is helpful for arranging subsequent events.
I honestly don't like histories, because when they are too complex, they can make the DM's job into a hell coodinating events with the past. A few noteworthy events are always welcome to set the backdrop though.
In response to the OP though, I rarely base my history off of real world events, so it may seem slightly artificial. I must say however, that evenm if it's artificial, it's just a game anyway.
The history from Shadowfell was shaped firstly around a particular event that I really loved the name of: "The War of the Nine Sins." When I had that name, I had to determine what it meant, and when it happened. Then I detailed things from that event to the present in pretty detailed terms, but things before that event are much-less detailed.
The calendar is dated from the day the Gaardans set foot on the new land and proclaimed it to be their new home.
I go in reverse - I decide where i want the world to be, and build backwards, reengineering things to make them fit. I do get some flaws there, since I occasionally have to force a square peg into a round hole, but it usually fits. Of course, with Thaedia and Datrik, I bypassed most of history's significance by hitting a massive, global "reset" button.
I try not to follow any set pattern, though sometimes parts of my history can look like they're based off of real-world events. Most of the time I just decide what I want to happen, but if not I generally like to start with a few questions to figure out what will:
-How do the monarchs/leaders of kingdoms fare in the political race? Are they popular, sufferable, or hated?
-What resources are available to certain people, and not? What resources do people want in large quantity that are difficult or easy to obtain?
-Is there any squandering over land, resources, trade, or anything else? Is war about to start, taking place, or has it recently ended?
-What other problems do people face? Hostile organizations and creatures? Magical troubles? Monsters? Climate or terrain changes? Or even an apocalypse? (If it's Vilydunn, rest assured the people will fight for their very sanities as the Nightmare slowly consumes everything they ever know...)