The Campaign Builder's Guild

Hey guys i was trying to write more for my world tonight and realized i have no real method that i go about it with and i have no basic format and my notes are scattered messes.

so i was wondering what ways you guys do those three said things.


and any advice on organizing the notes would be great.

Hey, you stole my method.^^
honestly, the only advice i can give is: go with the flow, when you have enough notes, write a rough draft online, then elaborate, refining the result step by step.
if i set myself a schedule, i never get anything done, because you can't decide to be creative. well, i can't.
i'll be keeping an eye on this, tho. maybe there's a method out there that works for me, too.^^

My detailed notes go into an access database.  I have history, items, weapons, armors, planars, all on a database.

*Is Jealous of Vreeg's use of technology*

I tend to just write basic outline in word with basic headers such as "General Geography," "General History," "General Races." I then refine what I have and expand upon it, going into ever smaller subsections, such as: "The History of Kingdom X," The Geography of Kingdom Y," "Notable NPCs of Republic L," etc. After that, I take all the info and rewrite/copy/paste it all into a new word document that looks much cleaner and nicer.  

Of course, I always wind up having an entire folder chalk full of pictures, maps, background flavor, stat-ed out NPCs, New Equipment, New Classes, New Races, etc.

I too have a tough time with organization. I've created basic formats using the Eberron Campaign Setting and Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting book formats, but they haven't spurred me to inspirational heights.

A good format will ask questions of a writer, which really helps formulate ideas.

I had those 10 million notes.
Gamer Printshop will attest to seeing scans of 20 year old, coffee-stained maps.  It had gotten too big.  

It's a bit of a process, now.  When I update a spell (Celtrician Spells), I need to update it on the access database, then on the pb wiki, and probably on the CBG wiki afterwards.  But I won't lose any of it ever again.  

One could use something like FreeMind, or other mind-mapping software. It wouldn't be as good as a proper database or document repository for things like spells, monsters, maps, etc. But it can be a great tool for free-associating and non-linear authoring.

For putting stuff into the computer, I use lots of notepad windows. :D

I am not recommending this method, mind you :P

There are probably as many ways to get something done as there are people doing them. Here is one of the ways that I have found works relatively well.
   Using folders for general concepts, then as the creative bug hits write what it is that has to be said, then place it into an appointed folder. When you have a few minutes in your hectic day (that is if your day is anything like mine) then all you do is open a folder and attempt to define the idea that you started with. This works for me to an extent, then as your ideas start to unfold all you do is combine the folders to create the story.

Quote from: Towel_NinjaHey guys i was trying to write more for my world tonight and realized i have no real method that i go about it with and i have no basic format and my notes are scattered messes.

Hey, we do the same thing!

I keep a lot of notebooks filled with sketches and cryptic ideas, and a lot of directories full of old versions of long-decided-against digital versions of the Jade Stage. I have about five or six years of accumulated detritus at the moment, and sifting through the older things (the things I forgot I wrote) can be like an archaeological dig-- arduous, bewildering, and occasionally yielding some gleaming treasure that just needs a little polish.

Ishy has seen my notebook; it's a big, black, four-subject pocket-sized thing, with sturdy plastic covers. (I really wish I could find a few dozen more like it; I'd buy them up in a heartbeat.) Some of the stuff written in it has long since been transcribed into my digital copies of this material, but some of the pages are just full of half-formed ideas that I may or may not pick up later. The most important thing about my writing process, really, is that it's slow and multilayered; I keep making multiple passes over old material, adding new things and improving them, scouring through the notes for great ideas I never got around to using yet, and rewriting and vetoing things mercilessly.

One thing that I did a whole lot of when I got started writing and hardly ever do anymore is to study existing campaign worlds for their layout, and for the things they include. I did a lot of reading on Kingdoms of Kalamar, which gave me a lot of great ideas about, for example, what sort of details are needed to convincingly describe a city, or a religion. Eberron gave me some great things to go with when it was released, also; love the setting or hate it, the core Eberron book is incredibly well-put-together, and does an exemplary job of expressing a complex world and its characteristic tone in easily-surmountable ways.

Honestly, I think that the process of transferring information to various websites over the years has done wonders for my ability to organize it. The best thing about using the wiki is that it helps me get organized, and lets me know in no uncertain terms what gaps I still need to get filled.

My technique... write nothing for several months, mulling the setting over in my head in odd moment now and then. Then write a small section. Repeat.

Quote from: Luminous Crayonlove the setting or hate it, the core Eberron book is incredibly well-put-together, and does an exemplary job of expressing a complex world and its characteristic tone in easily-surmountable ways.

I definitely agree with this statement. The Eberron Campaign setting is, by far, the best (published] core Campaign Setting books I have ever read (and I've read quite a few). I think it comes down to two key issues - organization and a feeling that the writer actually WANT to write about Eberron, rather than just writing about it because its your job.

Quote from: KindlingMy technique... write nothing for several months, mulling the setting over in my head in odd moment now and then. Then write a small section. Repeat.

That IS a good method but its inherent problem is that the method is rather slow :(

Johnn Four of roleplayingtips.com swears by Milenix's Myinfo.  http://www.milenix.com/

I haven't yet sprung for that one, but it's been on my list for a while.  In the meantime, I've been using MS Binder, which comes with Office.  You have to kind of hunt for it, though; it's not part of the default installation options.  It's a little clunky, but it does allow you to keep several related documents together and switch between them relatively quickly.  I generally keep several spreadsheets and Word docs, and a database if necessary.

I keep almost nothing for notes. Most of the time what gets me to write a new setting or new material ends up being half a paragraph of information and accompanying ideas locked inside my brain. My philosophy is if I can't remember it within five minutes of trying to recall it, it probably wasn't all that great anyway. :/

So in short, really what I keep for notes and prep is nothing, though I may have some world maps lying around. I rarely even type up information in a file before putting it on here.

Quote from: KindlingMy technique... write nothing for several months, mulling the setting over in my head in odd moment now and then. Then write a small section. Repeat.

Hey! My patent on that method is pending!