Setting Checklist: Questions to Consider

[Elven Doritos]

As a community of worldbuilders, I think it'd be an excellent idea to compile a list of questions that any worldbuilder should consider when designing their setting.

Some that come to mind:

1 ) Are deities actively involved in people's lives, reclusive and mysterious beings, or something in between?

2 ) How dense are cities of your setting?

3 ) How large, geographically, are the continents of your setting? The countries?

4 ) How do the races of your setting interact?

5 ) How does the presence of magic affect society?

6 ) What system of measurement does your setting use?

7 ) What is the calendar of your setting like? How long are days?

8 ) What are the astronomical phenomonon of your setting (i.e., sun(s), moon(s), etc.)?

Feel free to contribute below. The list will be expanded as more contributions flow in.

[Ghost]

Very useful list, indeed. Though, i'd like to add one or two more, that I think should be included:

9) Are there other planes in the settings cosmology? Would you want their presence to affect your world in any way?

10) How long do members of the races usually live - have they discovered any life-prolonging drugs, or do they live in wild, dangerous jungles where one might not live beyond middle-age?

[the_taken]

A little ovelooked...

11) What is the campaing setting's honour code?

This is important for classes that requires a character to act honourable, which can vary from setting to setting, or even society to society.

[Numinous]

12)Where do sentient beings go when they die?  Is this place(s) segregated by race, monster vs. humanoid, or not?

[snakefing]

Hmm, it seems like it might be useful to separate these into world/cosmological level questions and setting/campaign level questions.

For example, things like planes, cosmology, and stuff like that can apply across a world. Honour codes, how the races interact, and some other stuff can be very different in different locations or even in different campaigns that are located in essentially the same area.

Let me think a bit on this, I'll probably come up with some stuff.

World-level:
#N) How does the nature of the world impact arcane vs. divine magic? Is there a distinction? Is the distinction more procedural (mages and priests do the same things, but in slightly different ways) or more conceptual (mages and priests work in fundamentally different ways).

For campaign or setting level:
#M) How important is magic in the daily lives of average citizens? How about among the rich and powerful?

#M+1) What resources or skills are rare and/or highly contested?

[Raelifin]

You know, I think this list could grow exponentially. But wouldn't that be contrary to the theme of the thread? Isn't the idea to get a few ideas that "any worldbuilder should consider?" After all, answering a huge list of unimportant questions isn't necessarily the best use of time.

Oh, and a few of these questions are impossible to answer in a concise way.

[beejazz]

I say, let's bring it back to the basics.

1) What technology is available?
1a.) How does it impact life?
1b.) How does it impact adventure?

2.) As technology, but magic.

3.) What is the geography.

4.) What is the history.

5.) What is the daily life.

6.) What is adventure.

...You know... BIG things.

[Elven Doritos]

There are plenty of little things that should be considered as well. Things that you normally wouldn't think of, but are critically important to day-to-day workings of the setting.

[beejazz]

There are plenty of little things that should be considered as well. Things that you normally wouldn't think of, but are critically important to day-to-day workings of the setting.

Yes, but by subsidising these things into broader categories, we can shorten and simplify an otherwise unwieldy (sp?) list.

[Elven Doritos]

There are plenty of little things that should be considered as well. Things that you normally wouldn't think of, but are critically important to day-to-day workings of the setting.

Yes, but by subsidising these things into broader categories, we can shorten and simplify an otherwise unwieldy (sp?) list.

If the point is to compile a list of things that should be considered, wouldn't shortening it defeat its original purpose?

[beejazz]

Not really.

Organizing a list hardly defeats the purpose of the list.

[Jürgen Hubert]

- What are the most common forms of transportation, and how fast are they? What are the fastest forms of transportation, and how expensive are they?

- How common is literacy? Does the printing press exist?

- Are there any "dominant" languages spoken by much or most of the population, or does every nation have its own language(s)?

[Elven Doritos]

Not really.

Organizing a list hardly defeats the purpose of the list.

There's "organizing" and then there's "excluding".

I can see a section for "bigger questions", sure, but I don't think that they're all-inclusive.

[Xathan]

This checklist seems to be rather mired in discussion on what the checklist should be, so how about a comromise? Make the list into two lists - one list a short, basic checklist, just the bare bones questions you should ask yourself when making your setting, and the other fully detailed and long. For example, the short list would look like this, IMO.

1) What is the tone of my setting?
2) What is the theme of my setting?
3) What are the major conflicts of my setting?
4) What makes my setting interesting/unique/something someone would play over the published settings? In short, why am I making this?
5) Is there a metaplot? If so, what is it?

And maybe a couple others. Note that I don't mention technology, magic, races, gods, alignment, classes or anything else in the short list - any of those should be answered by those other major questions - for example, if one of the conflicts is technology vs. magic, then you know you are going to need high levels of both, and if the tone is moral ambiguity, you have a good idea of what you need to do with gods and alignment, and if the unique aspect of your setting is the races, you know you need new races. A more inclusive list would be huge, but also give you a step by step guide on making a setting - I'll work with whoever is interested on one.

[Elven Doritos]

A more inclusive list would be huge, but also give you a step by step guide on making a setting - I'll work with whoever is interested on one.

Considering that's the whole damn reason I started the thread...


...Guess I'd be interested.