So you wish to become a dm? Well it is hard work. However I find that being a Dm is one of the most satisfying things I've ever done. Creating a world is very fun and lets you express yourselves. Also, seeing the look on a Rpers face when u describe the awesome power of that gold dragon in front of them.. well its quite an experience.
In chapter one I will be teaching you how to create an believable, realistic world.
Examples shall be done in italics
Welcome to the world of evergem. You are currently in the city of Elosar. It is dark.
Can you see what is wrong with that? It is certainly not very exciting. Just like rolling dice isn't exciting without a game
Welcome to a world of intrigue and mystery. A world where excitement, wealtn, and adventure await you! Welcome to evergem! You start off in the deepness of the night in a dark alleyway. A rat scuttles past you. A place of filth you think.
See? Isn't that a lot more fun?
Keep your world colorful and realistic. Be sure to describe every nook and cranny in an exciting way. However do not over do it. As this can be boring.
Also. I cannot emphasize this enough. Start things off simple. Do not try to create your entire world. Start from a small section and slowly build your world. Have a general goal for the players but otherwise don't say oh in the plains grandplains war is beginning. Unless you have the whole module worked out for that place. When your player first enters the world. Do not tell them much of the world. One joy of RPG's is exploration.
Lets take an example of the start from scratch method: J.R.R Tolkiens Lord Of the Rings. Sure there was the one ring. However, that was all there was no boromir or Legolas or Gimli when Tolkien first came up with it. So you see a sprawling epic can be built starting with a small world. This is because thinking of a small place gets the creative part of your brain moving.
After you've worked on your small world you'll need to start paying for attention to the outer world. For example.. what kind of currency do the people use. Where is the Political center. How is it run?
Here are some descriptions.
A silver piece=10copper
1gold=10silver
1plat=10 gold
there is also the government
for example
a Magocracy is a government where mages rule supreme and fighters almost cease to exist.
Which brings up another point. Creating a atmosphere that uses the magocracy. You'd probably have to take out some classes that don't agree with your atmosphere.
For example
In the city of Rondrim Mages rule supreme. Fighters are non-existant or work as servants.
Unless the players create a backround such as:
I escaped from the chains of slavery out the mages back door. To this day he is still pursuing me.
This tends to not work well because then 20 people who want to be fighters all have the same backround. So in the above campaign, if they were to start out in Rondrim you'd take out the fighter class.
Next when designing a world always make variety. Though this sounds simple enough. I often find people have one large world filled with forests. Well this works well sometimes. However pretty soon your players will get bored with it. Remember how I said start from the ground up? Well doing this is good. However you do not want your players to think that you don't have everything planned. Therefore you must work hard to keep the world believable
Don't skimp in detail.
A bad session:
Player:Ah so we vanquished the evil ranger. Why did he become evil anyways.
Was there someone influencing him
DM: Uh.. why yes! The evil ranger was being influenced by a magic spell of an mage
Player: But I thought this was a fighter world. I thought the mage class didn't exist?
See what I mean? Don't ad-lib. Its ok to do it to a certain extent(its more suprising that way) but if you do it too much.. you see what I mean,
If you followed these pointers you should be on your way to creating a wonderful world.
Hey kiddies;
Its time for the Quiz!
I want you to create a sample world based on everything
That I have taught you in here!
Send your sample to me at
These quizzes will be in every chapter to see if you've learned anything.
Note these quizzes are intended for newbies. If you use this guide as a resource or have been playing Dungeons and Dragons for a while you need not apply =)
In Chapter Two I shall be describing how to create a good plot
See you there