Today’s Google Doodle honors Abraham Ortelius who published the first atlas, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, on May 20, 1570. The Wikipedia article on the atlas says, “[T]his was the first time that the entirety of Western European knowledge of the world was brought together in one book.”

That line from Wikipedia reminded my of the first fantasy world that I bought, The Greyhawk Gazeteer [Affiliate Link], back in the 1980’s. Alas, it was one of the items lost in the water leak I have mentioned several times here on the blog. Technically, the product was called World of Greyhawk Fantasy Setting, and included a booklet called the Gazeteer. I and my group from back in the day always called it “the gazeteer,” as I do above, and “the map,” when referring to the iconic map by Darlene.

Unrealistic Standard

The details of the Greyhawk maps and gazeteer was held as a sort of standard on which to build one’s fantasy campaign world. It led to much work and little or no play to live up to that standard. I put loads of time into my original campaign world, more a European sized area, but only ran a few games in college. Then not again until a few months before I started this blog, when I got my sons and some of their friends playing. We played for a few years, and their adult responsibilities increased and left them with less time to game.

Simpler is Better

When I started with my sons, I used tips from all the OSR blogs I was reading, and focused on a single area with a town and seeded with a few dungeons and abandoned city.

A year ago, I created a new area of my campaign world. I went in large brush strokes on the geography of the area, as I wanted to be able to encounter any geography or geologic activity on one map. I roughly placed the nations of various character and monster species. Finally, I focused on the starting town, with the Inn, classed NPCs, and the nearest dungeon.

I did not even name the Kingdom until after play began, and the player’s haven’t asked for it yet. I built a town and city back towards “civilization,” when I set up a situation that invited the players to go that direction. TIP: Don’t slip and say something that invites players to go and do something you are not ready for. If you do, be prepared, and have quick generation tools so they can go there.

By keeping things simple and only building what is needed for each session, in time, one can build something worthy of a gazeteer and atlas. Trying to write one up from scratch is daunting and leaves little to no time to actually game.

DIY

While published worlds are cool and all, you have to do a lot of reading if you want to use all the names and lore of that world in your game. This leads to some being purists about the lore of the world, and players who know the lore may decide to challenge your interpretation, expression, or variance from what’s in the book.

While you can dish it out verbatim, if you wish, that is not a simple nor organic way to handle things. For me, a world where I set a few starting parameters, then let it grow and evolve as the players do things, is much more organic and alive in the minds of the players. It also becomes more alive for me, and much easier to run any situation the players discover.

I pay attention to what the players mention in their cross talk about interpretation of events in game. I give clues to invite them to go a certain direction. However, the players can choose to ignore the signs and clues that a BBEG is gathering strength. There are more places to explore and the lure of riches beyond bearing.

All I need is my game notes, list of names to use, dice, paper, and a pen or pencil, and I can run a game in that world. I know where it makes sense to place tombs, cairns, dungeons, lairs, and the hideouts for bad guys from the bandit raiders to the BBEG.

The more I think and write about my game world’s locations, and the more I describe them, the more they begin to take on three dimensions in my mind’s eye. These locations become more real for me, and I am better able to see the hiding places for thieves in dark alleys, and lurking monsters in the shadows.

My Own Gazeteer

While I have enough information that I could put out my own game world as a PDF, it is just a lifeless skeleton. Without the actual play of the group’s imaginations stepping into that world, it is nothing. Much like an atlas or gazeteer of the real world only contains descriptions, it is a far cry from actually going to those places and making one’s own memories.

If you just can’t seem to make your own world work, or have no desired to do so, there is nothing wrong with using a published setting. If you prefer to use published modules instead of writing your own adventures, you can link them together as locations in a published setting or your own world. As long as the players at the table are having fun and want to keep playing, you’re going it right!