The Campaign Builder's Guild

Hello!  I just recently found out about this place from a past at RetroRoleplaying.  I'm currently working on a new campaign world, so I figured I'd join in and see what I can learn from others.

Gaming systems you use
I am currently running games using Legend of the Five Rings, 3rd edition (face-to-face) and Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game (email).  Other favorite systems include Rolemaster (I own the Standard System, though I've played other editions of the game, as well), Rules Compendium D&D, and Tunnels & Trolls.  I like sci-fi gaming, as well, I just haven't done it in a long time and haven't run such a game in years.

General gaming history
Started with wargaming, with Axis & Allies and Car Wars being my gateway.  I actually still play a fair amount of wargames and other strategy boardgames.  I participated in the CCG craze back in the mid '90s, but I've been out of that space for over 10 years.
My primary RPG history consists of Mechwarrior, Star Frontiers, a bit of D&D, and a whole lot of Middle-Earth Role-Playing, Rolemaster, and Tunnels & Trolls (mainly solo games).  I've owned a bunch of other systems over the years, but have played only a few of them.

Personal likes and dislikes
When it comes to games, I like rules that make sense.  I also like large, epic quests and gritty low-fantsy gaming styles; these two don't always go together so well.  I also like red-headed women, my guitars, and St. Louis Blues hockey.

Strengths and weaknesses in game design
I feel I am good at taking PC backgrounds and working them into my game, to make the players feel like their characters are a part of the game world, and not just visitors that pop in long enough to kill things and then leave again.  My big weakness is my perceived need to develop the entire damned planet, its history, cosmology, and everything, even when the game itself won't ever go more than 200 miles away from the starting town.  I'm also a sucker for wanting to integrate every "cool new thing" I come across into my game, even when it really doesn't make sense considering what else is known about the world.

What published settings have you used/do you like?
I really like the Legend of the Five Rings setting, though not everything they've done with it in the CCG over the last 10 years.  I also like the Kingdoms of Kalamar setting, even though I have a hard time using a lot of it (used it for Rolemsater and Tunnels & Trolls before).  I also run Battletech games in the standard canon setting.  Most fantasy settings are home grown.  Oh, and the original setting for Star Frontiers is pulpy gold.  I love it, in all its silly, campy glory.

Major influences on your world-building
J.R.R. Tolkien
Michael Stackpole (for the Machiavellian power politics angle)
Mercedes Lackey
David Kenzer
Joe Dever

Quote from: lionrampantPersonal likes and dislikes
When it comes to games, I like rules that make sense.  I also like large, epic quests and gritty low-fantasy gaming styles; these two don't always go together so well.  I also like red-headed women...

I see absolutely no reason why you shouldn't fit in very nicely around these parts!  I can't wait to see what you have, get posting!

Those two can go hand-in-hand very well, by the way.

[blockquote=LionRampant]Strengths and weaknesses in game design
I feel I am good at taking PC backgrounds and working them into my game, to make the players feel like their characters are a part of the game world, and not just visitors that pop in long enough to kill things and then leave again. My big weakness is my perceived need to develop the entire damned planet, its history, cosmology, and everything, even when the game itself won't ever go more than 200 miles away from the starting town. I'm also a sucker for wanting to integrate every "cool new thing" I come across into my game, even when it really doesn't make sense considering what else is known about the world.[/blockquote]
Yeah.  He'll fit in just fine.

Welcome.  We can swap obscure T&T solo jokes...

Thanks for the welcome, guys.  I'll start posting info on my current world design project soon.

Hello, greetings, and salutations to everyone.  Pair o' Dice Lost here; friends call me Dice, and you can too. ;)

Gaming systems you use
At the moment, I'm using both 4th edition and 3rd edition D&D; while I'm DMing 4e at the moment, I've found that 3e is much better for world-building (at least for me) thanks to its insistence on having a rule for absolutely every bit of minutia, something with which I completely sympathize.  I also play and DM Star Wars, from the WEG version to RCR to Saga (I'm a big Star Wars fan), though not nearly as often as I'd like.

General gaming history
I started playing D&D 10 years ago when a friend introduced me to 2e, then went back to 1e and OD&D just for kicks, then updated to 3e about 6 years ago, so I've been all over the D&D edition spectrum.  I really haven't played any non-D&D or non-Star Wars games due to lack of interest in my area, not to mention that I'd have to DM/GM them all and I don't know if running 6 systems at a time would be conducive to good gaming.

Personal likes and dislikes
Regarding gaming, I like excessive accuracy (nigh-scientific magic systems, biologically- and ecologically-sound monster distribution, etc.), non-stereotypical and -archetypal worlds, and great variety in options (four kinds of magic, forty outer planes, eighteen playable races, etc.)  I dislike worlds with no custom material, people who think optimization is evil, and low magic/low fantasy settings.

Regarding the rest of my life (such as it is), I like programming, reading, listening to classical music, and writing pretentious prose on forums of all types.  And cats; cats are nice.

Strengths and weaknesses in game design
One of my strengths is perfectionism--I never stop trying to improve a setting.  One of my weaknesses is perfectionism--I never stop trying to improve a setting.  One of my strengths is verbosity--I can write pages and pages on my setting to put exactly what is in my head onto paper (or screen, in some cases).  One of my weaknesses is verbosity--I do write pages (and pages and pages and pages), of rules and flavor and any combination thereof.  One of my strengths is completeness--once I've finished a setting ("finished" being a relative term), if you ask me a question about it chances are I can find the answer in stuff I've already written rather than having to improvise.  One of my weaknesses is completeness--I will usually detail absolutely everything in a setting, down to drawing heraldry and determining currency and exchange rates, even if my PCs will never see it and wouldn't care if they did.

What published settings have you used/do you like?
I like Eberron and Dark Sun for their new and different take on D&D worlds, as well as Planescape for its focus on the Outer Planes and the fact that it was the first setting in which I played.  Most settings I use are homebrew, so those are really the only published ones with which I'm familiar.

Major influences on your world-building
I read a lot.  A  lot  a lot.  Started-and-finished-War-and-Peace-and-LotR-in-one-day-each a lot.  If I see an idea in a book I like, I write it down, so my worlds will often contain tiny bits and pieces of books' worlds, though usually hidden and integrated to not make the fact obvious.  Also, I mine my encyclopedic knowledge of Star Wars trivia for scenarios, names, ideas, and so on, though infrequently.

Miscellany
My username and title are takeoffs on Paradise Lost, as you can probably tell, which says two things about me: First, I like the Outer Planes the most, from their political machinations to their cosmological implications, so massive extraplanar evils and cosmologies are frequently a big part of my campaigns.  Second, I'm a punny type of person; I believe a good pun is its own re-word.  I rarely take things seriously--and consider this fair warning that jokes will crop up frequently in my posts.

My current setting
...is a work in progress.  While I have a few massively detailed settings I work on from time to time, recently I've tried to scale back my OCD (obsessive-compulsive detailing) urges, attempting to detail a setting only in the broadest strokes and move on so as to have multiple settings I can use if needed rather than a single perfectly-detailed world.  I've been visiting and reading the settings on the CBG for quite some time, but I've signed up recently so I can put up the setting I'm creating now; since I'm really busy with RL and D&D-related stuff, I figure that having to update the details here will give me the motivation to fit world-building into my hectic schedule.

So that's a basic synopsis.  I hope to start putting up the first bits of my setting within the week, but in the meanwhile, happy designing!

Good to meet you, Dice.  I understand the OCD urges you mention, and have to fight against them myself.  I look forward to seeing your setting.

How did you find the site?

I followed the CBG from when it was first started on the WotC boards; I meant to add a setting of mine there, but never had the time.  When it switched over to this site, I stopped lurking there and started lurking here.

[blockquote Dice]I read a lot. A lot a lot. Started-and-finished-War-and-Peace-and-LotR-in-one-day-each a lot.[/blockquote]

Sir, I do not know you, and have never met you, but you are now my hero.

Quote from: lionrampantSir, I do not know you, and have never met you, but you are now my hero.

Well, it certainly looks like I've gotten off to a good start here! :D

Welcome to the CBG. You actually scare me a little in the similarities we have. Certainly two different people (I for one enjoy a little low magic from time to time) but we share alot. Hope you have fun here, and try not to step on any turtles.

Quote from: NomadicWelcome to the CBG. You actually scare me a little in the similarities we have. Certainly two different people (I for one enjoy a little low magic from time to time) but we share alot. Hope you have fun here, and try not to step on any turtles.

We should chat sometime; it would be interesting to see if our respective world-building philosophies are as similar as our other interests.

---------------

By the way, I've started putting up my setting, the world of Glaesra, just so you know.

I suppose this should have been my first post, but it's not..anyways.
Intro
The name comes from the fact that many, many stories have a character named Jack. It was brought up at our gaming table one night after I introduced a CG paladin that gave the party some help and advice before leaving to parts unknown. This same figure, or someone similar, has now appeared in every game I've DMed with them and every game they DM with me or anyone else. I started referring to him as the Jack of Tales and took it as my name on many a board.

Game Systems
I really only DM in 4E and, in the past, every other edition of D&D.

Gaming History
Been playing off and on for the past nine years since I was twelve.

Strengths/Weaknesses in game design
Weaknesses--organization. I seem to fail at organizing my notes well when making a setting
Strengths--Brilliant NPC designs. I love making stories for important and not so important NPCs. Players find that they recall even some of the most insignificant people they meet in adventures.

Influences to World-Building
I suppose this depends on the world. Over the ages I've had Calla, Westire and finally my current pet, Cabal.
The first was a mix of a thousand ideas and almost had too much to work well. Westire started off as a tiny, tiny focus and was based only on my own imagination.

The influence for Cabal comes primarily from Digital Devil Saga. Yes, there are no demon-people, no guns or any technology but the idea of various gangs in this giant, semi-abandoned city intrigued me.
Other Influences for Cabal
Mirror Mask
Cliver Barker's Abarat series
Other people's campaign settings and various threads seen online
DeviantArt artwork

Quote from: Pair o' Dice Lost

Quote from: NomadicWelcome to the CBG. You actually scare me a little in the similarities we have. Certainly two different people (I for one enjoy a little low magic from time to time) but we share alot. Hope you have fun here, and try not to step on any turtles.

We should chat sometime; it would be interesting to see if our respective world-building philosophies are as similar as our other interests.

I have to add my voice to the chorus... PoDL sounds an awful lot like me (or vice versa) as well.   Perhaps it's something endemic to the sort of people who engage in this type of activity.  Anyway, I don't think I've posted here yet, so:

Gaming systems you use
Mostly Rolemaster 2d edition, with a heavily customized ruleset.  I love 2nd edition AD&D, and even old skool AD&D.  Not a fan of the later incarnations.  I like Marvel Super Heroes, WEG Star Wars, Star Frontiers, Vampire, and Ars Magica, though I seldom get a chance to play any of those anymore.

General gaming history
It started in elementary school.  I got the Red Box Set in 4th grade and never looked back.  Star Frontiers, AD&D, Marvel Super Heroes, DC Heroes, Robotech... then MY GOD Ravenloft Campaign Setting HAPPYFUNFUN!!!!!!!!  Got into Vampire in college, a little Ars Magica.  THen Rolemaster.  Ran a Vampire MUSH.  Decided Rolemaster was the best system ever.  Had a good time.  I'm into ancillary games, also. I am a tournament level Jyhad/VTES player (for those of you who have any idea what I am talking about).

Personal likes and dislikes
For gaming purposes, my personal likes are informal, fun games with friends, and story development.  I'm a narrative type, rather than a character or gaming type.  My biggest gaming dislike is statistical metagaming, followed closely by people who consider their character's personalities so sacred that they don't even want to go on the adventure.  I always say that if this character doesn't want to go on the adventure... pick someone who does.

My general likes are gaming, friends, wine, cheese, sushi, theatre, singing, cinema, old poetry, reading, biking, fencing, legal theory, theology, and philosophy.  My general dislikes are eggplant, watching soccer, sullen adolescence (and, I suppose, sullen adolescents), college activists, most modern free verse, and most literary theory.

Strengths and weaknesses in game design
I'm just going to cut and paste PoDL's entry:  

QuoteOne of my strengths is perfectionism--I never stop trying to improve a setting. One of my weaknesses is perfectionism--I never stop trying to improve a setting. One of my strengths is verbosity--I can write pages and pages on my setting to put exactly what is in my head onto paper (or screen, in some cases). One of my weaknesses is verbosity--I do write pages (and pages and pages and pages), of rules and flavor and any combination thereof. One of my strengths is completeness--once I've finished a setting ("finished" being a relative term), if you ask me a question about it chances are I can find the answer in stuff I've already written rather than having to improvise. One of my weaknesses is completeness--I will usually detail absolutely everything in a setting, down to drawing heraldry and determining currency and exchange rates, even if my PCs will never see it and wouldn't care if they did.

What published settings have you used/do you like?
Ravenloft and Greyhawk, pretty much.  I tend to make my own if it's not one of those two.

Major influences on your world-building
Too many to count, but I do have a few stand-outs:

Literature:
Elizabeth Moon
Sean Russell
Frank Herbert
Homer
Tolkein (Silmarillion, primarily)

Movies:
Excalibur
Thirteenth Warrior
Kingdom of Heaven
Bakshi Lord of the Rings
Seven Samurai


Miscellany
I'm an attorney and currently working on my PhD in Philosophy.  I collect wine, and spend way too much time on the computer.

My current setting
I have a few minor settings, but really, there is only one.  Calisenthe has gone through so many mutations and variations, it's barely recognizable as the thing I started out with in 1993, but there it is.  It's on the Wiki, but it's slow going because all of my map files are way too large, and I can't shrink them without distorting the writing, so I'm going to have to shrink clean copies and relabel them all.

Quote from: AcrimoneMiscellany
I'm an attorney and currently working on my PhD in Philosophy.  I collect wine, and spend way too much time on the computer.

What type of law do you focus on? I'm about to graduate from undergrad for criminal justice and have been considering going on to law school. Writing and arguing over the smallest words in a law are just...wow. I get the biggest rush from debate and analysis on it all.

My primary area of expertise is insurance law -- I did plaintiff side recovery work, litigating against insurance companies.  My secondary area is construction defect litigation, defense side, working for developers in class action suits.

My wife is the one you'd want to talk to... she's a fairly senior deputy D.A.

Law School and practicing law, however are two very different things.  I'd be more than happy to discuss anything you'd like about the topic.  Just drop me a message using the site's messaging system.