The Campaign Builder's Guild

Well, Ish, if we do make a box, can we at least have it placed somewhere on the site so people can copy it into their settings? :)

I agree with that, it should be in an easy to find location for newcomers to view and copy.

And Vreeg, it may sound cool... but shunned people get turtle wax duty (i.e - you have to wax the turtles shell till it shines like a mirror). There was also something about cleaning the feathers of a crippled crow.

I think we maybe looking at this the wrong way (that and i dont want to suffer the Vreeghammer), instead of a templete for posting the whole setting, just have rules for the "header" or "summary" after which the author can post the bulk info in whatever format they choose. (because one size wont fit all and here at the CBG we have 2 pages settings all the way up to Grand Epic like celtricia, heaveneast, tephra, jade stage (and more) and everything inbetween. We need to make something that works for BOTH. For the noob, it will be neccessary, for the pro it will be conformitory.

Suggestions:
Genre/Tone
Rules System:
Era: (timeframe - ex, dark ages, classic greek, imperial rome, renaissance, 1800s, victorian)
Magic Influence: High, low - but can also convay significance to world/sociaty
Technology Influence: Same as magic
10 Words: Challange the Author to come up with 10 INDIVIDUAL words that describe the world. "Hook Line"
(ex. Gritty, Dark, Contrast, Flamboyant, Deep)
Races: There be Elves here.
Gods/Cosmology: some writers have one or the other some have both.
Relgions/Churches: could be combined with above.

How does that look to you guys? Afterwhich the author can post the information however they want, but everyones first half page will have the same information.

Also it dosent have to be a "stat block" that has to be filled out, but rather a set of "5 Expectations" that can be met however so long as the info is convayed in the first half page.

I don't think that gods/religion should be a prereq. Some settings it wouldn't make sense to have them in there. I think that should only be included by the creator if they play a huge role

I don't think races, gods, or religions truly separate one setting from another. Do I really need to know that 10/12 fantasy worlds have some variety of elves? If you give a general feel for what your world is about, don't your gods, races, and religions directly or have a very keen similarity to the flavor?

For example, if your world is about evil and how awesome it is to be evil, won't most of the gods be evil. Then on top of that wont your religions believe in these gods, which in turns they commit evil. To further add to this, races become evil, or at least the majority of them. That same evil world could be 4.0's point of light idea. Mostly evil, with the few good surviving and struggling to push it all back. Or maybe one really strong dark god who has sapped all of the good gods powers and made them too weak to fight. But that still seems more like a campaign flavor and not a key to me.

Another example is Ebberon and Forgotten Realms. I had to dig deeper than races, religions, classes, gods to find out what made them two distinct from each other. It took me a long time due to just skimming over the races and classes and said meh, they're both just another fantasy setting. They're not however. The general feel for or description of what the worlds are like make a much better picture. High Fantasy and Billions of Drizzt clones to follow, or a DND setting set to high action high combat. I still like Ravenloft, and what I've read about Dark Sun. And that was just from the general description. But maybe it's because I put more importance in flavor than what other people would in their options for classes, races, faiths. Toe-may-toe, toe-mah-toe. *Shrug*

I actually like Lath's 10 word idea A LOT! Time to use words like imperturbableness and adiaphanous... Actually... useing fancy words that like .00001% of the world knows is a terrible idea.

Also, because I'm new here I may be confused.. but for further clarification, is this for wiki's or posts in some form. Or something entirely different. I assumed it was for the wiki but some posts seem to be relating it to something else that I'm just not seeing. As far as the wiki goes, finding a sci-fi setting would be tricky to find without reading through every single setting, which I haven't done yet. (There's a lot to read on some of them :-) ).

ok i think i got a little mis understood, i wasent listing the "important stuff" i was trying to list "most of the stuff" that would be created, writen, or posted here... all the stuff that COULD be part of a setting. I am not saying Gods/Religions/Cosmology is important (or not) all i am saying is that if the person is just using core 3.5 DnD Gods wouldnt you want it to say so clearly, without "flavor text" in the first paragraph or two? same with races if someone has added a couple races unique to there setting then they could just put "Races: 3.5 DnD Core Plus the Purpleheaded Orangutang People) and you would know that somewhere in that mass of writing is information on the Purpleheaded Orangutang People, and everything else is standerd races...

As far as forgotten realms is concerned... i think Mystra, Grummsh, Selune, Corellion, Gnomes of Latan, and the Church of Bane added to FR and its flavour quite well thank you :)
Not trying to "prove you wrong" i respect and agree with your point, just i think FR was a bad example for Gods/Religions not influencing the world/setting...

Basially my point is this... i agree that Gods/Relgion may not be that important... but it should still be listed... execially since it encompasses so much encluding Cosmology... (how your world began)

Quote from: BlueFalconI don't think races, gods, or religions truly separate one setting from another. Do I really need to know that 10/12 fantasy worlds have some variety of elves? If you give a general feel for what your world is about, don't your gods, races, and religions directly or have a very keen similarity to the flavor?

For example, if your world is about evil and how awesome it is to be evil, won't most of the gods be evil. Then on top of that wont your religions believe in these gods, which in turns they commit evil. To further add to this, races become evil, or at least the majority of them. That same evil world could be 4.0's point of light idea. Mostly evil, with the few good surviving and struggling to push it all back. Or maybe one really strong dark god who has sapped all of the good gods powers and made them too weak to fight. But that still seems more like a campaign flavor and not a key to me.[/quote]Another example is Ebberon and Forgotten Realms. I had to dig deeper than races, religions, classes, gods to find out what made them two distinct from each other. It took me a long time due to just skimming over the races and classes and said meh, they're both just another fantasy setting. They're not however. The general feel for or description of what the worlds are like make a much better picture. High Fantasy and Billions of Drizzt clones to follow, or a DND setting set to high action high combat. I still like Ravenloft, and what I've read about Dark Sun. And that was just from the general description. But maybe it's because I put more importance in flavor than what other people would in their options for classes, races, faiths. Toe-may-toe, toe-mah-toe. *Shrug*[/quote]Also, because I'm new here I may be confused.. but for further clarification, is this for wiki's or posts in some form. Or something entirely different. I assumed it was for the wiki but some posts seem to be relating it to something else that I'm just not seeing. As far as the wiki goes, finding a sci-fi setting would be tricky to find without reading through every single setting, which I haven't done yet. (There's a lot to read on some of them :-) ).
[/quote]
Welcome aboard. I think it might be a good idea to index settings by genre. Are we doing this already? Could we be?

well the wiki has a proper layout, and there arnt enough settings there to need any formal organisation, so i belive this is for forum threads primarily in the "Homebrew" section...

Well, the way i see it, the block isn't just for layout but also for ease-of-use of other people's settings, so i definitely think we should add these to the wikis, and as many of the forum settings as possible.
As far as religions go, maybe we should just forget the entire  listing religions-idea, couldn't we just say that the norm is for people to write a few lines on how religions work?
Examples: "Mostly atheist, with a few cults", "Many major pantheons with interfering gods", "Various religions with no actual gods, and no divine powers"
Then you'd get something out of it.
As to another suggestion, what about having the author lists a few of the points of interests in his setting that you should read to get a good idea of the theme and tone?

Are we focusing too much on what seems required to be included rather than simply focusing on what is probably a better idea: encouraging some form of simple summary in each setting thread.

I mean, I've got a setting idea I may post here, but I'm not good with religions and just tend to ignore the whole aspect one way or another.  I wouldn't bother with that line even if I had some.

Quote from: Lathwell the wiki has a proper layout, and there arnt enough settings there to need any formal organisation, so i belive this is for forum threads primarily in the "Homebrew" section...

There's a lot of overlap between the wiki and the forums. A lot of people who have stuff on the wiki are experimenting with that format now, in addition to things they've already posted on the forums.

Edit:

Quote from: SCMPAre we focusing too much on what seems required to be included rather than simply focusing on what is probably a better idea: encouraging some form of simple summary in each setting thread.

Yes, absolutely.

Quote from: SilvercatMoonpawAre we focusing too much on what seems required to be included rather than simply focusing on what is probably a better idea: encouraging some form of simple summary in each setting thread.

I mean, I've got a setting idea I may post here, but I'm not good with religions and just tend to ignore the whole aspect one way or another.  I wouldn't bother with that line even if I had some.

Yup. This is merely meant as a, hopefully at some point in time official, recommendation and encouragement to setting creators.
What i just think that we should/could do is come up with a general template that people can then modify however they want, but made anyway so us setting makers have an idea of what other readers want to know before they start reading, and so we don't have to come up with it all by ourselves and suddenly receive a comment saying "couldn't you add something about exhibit A in your introduction?" (however unlikely that exact comment might be).

Quote from: Crippled CrowAs far as religions go, maybe we should just forget the entire  listing religions-idea, couldn't we just say that the norm is for people to write a few lines on how religions work?
Examples: "Mostly atheist, with a few cults", "Many major pantheons with interfering gods", "Various religions with no actual gods, and no divine powers"

I believe thats my point, i dont know how this is turning into a "debate" about wether religion is important to a setting as a wholen or not, its just about posting what you have or have NOT done in a summary so the reader gets the information as soon as possible. Its ok to write 100+ pages for your setting and use Generic Core Gods, just like its ok to use Generic Races, or Rule Set, or Medival Technology, or the "Sleep-Magic Missle-Fireball" Spells, its just about listing that information in a summary not about what makes a "Good" setting. Can we stop arguing about whats important to SOME and not imporatant to OTHERS, and just agree on a loose large framework, to plunk our ideas into?

Well spoken. I, for one, would like to see the following:
Major theme - gets you an idea about what the campaign is about.
Tone - gives you an idea about how the campaign should be read.
Genre - Gives you an idea about whether this is interesting for you or your game in any way.
Technology level - gives you an idea of what to expect
Magic level - gives you an idea of what impossibilities can be achieved
Religion level - gives you an idea of what gods can do
Ecology - humans and real-world animals, or home-made freaks only?
Alignment scale (bad name) - grey-scaled or black and white? (this could maybe go under genre, but not always)
(EDIT: Forgot the system... important as well, especially for people who mostly want to comment on the crunchy bits)

Other ideas:
Geography: Ocean, supercontinent, or islands; metropoli or city-states?
Power level - think this goes under tone most often, but somebody asked for a "how often do PC's die" entry before
Places to start - title says it all
Links - links to relevant pages
Inspirations - again, kind of a no-brainer
10 words about your campaign
Points of interest

I didn't really look the old posts through, so did i miss something? And any of these that can be folded together to Keep It Stupid Simple (that was the name right?)?

I like it, expecially the "Places to Start", they also usually represent the most "Fleshed out" or detailed areas too... could be combine with "Points of Interest" also i think theme and tone could be combined. I dunno about Alignment as thats per individual, unless your talking world wide and then i think it fits in tone or theme.

So here is an example using Tu'loras (very short, indivual authors can flesh it out more, just being lazy here)

System: DnD 3.5 (soon to be 4e)
Title: Tu'loras - The Twisted Mirror
Theme:/Tone: A world where you can find anything somewhere, but nothing everywhere. Simple Fantasy for all tastes, elements of high fantasy, realism, versimilitude, and freedom of PC choice. 2nd Edition Flavor/Old School.
Inspirations - Earth History, Forgotten Realms, Warhammer
Genre - Medival Fantasy
Technology Influence: Typical low medival technology, Gnomish Cannonering and Muskets, Dwarven Steel, Elven galleons, and major empire has "romanesque" civil technologies (roads, baths ect)
Magic Influence: Mostly low magic (rarity not power). Spellcasters are uncommon, with less that 10 at level 20-30 world wide. Some rare places of "magic power" not every ruin.
Ecology/Races: Forgotten Realms standered
Churches/Religion: DnD Core Dieties folded into Real Earth Mythologies, Plus simplifed FR racial pantheons, Added a trio of gods/churches based on christianity, islam, and buddist with Fantasy flavour.
Planar Cosmology: 4e standard, modified to add setting specific pantheons.
Geography: Pangea with two sub continents. Earth Climate.
low on kingdoms, high on city-states
Places to start/Points of Interest: The Republic of Amah, The city-states of Gharrowein Bay, the Nordic Kingdom of Farween, The Tradeport of Al-Kalad, The Mindflayer Empire of Khin, the Mikaboshi Shogunate.
Links - www.cartographersguild.com (where the maps are)
10 Words - "Gritty, Dark, Dirty, Diverse, Simple, Familar, Unpredicable, Classical, Cosmopolitan, Immersive" (maybe just 5 would do... heh)

So how does that work? its not about Tu'loras being a good setting, but is that enough information to make the decision "do you want to know more?" or "meh, not my thing" without ready 5-20 pages of text.