Ep 69-70: World Building with Ed

His voice is like liquid gold smothered in honey.

Yeah, I think that it is impossible to have a conversation with him and not learn a ton of things. I agree about the NPC creation especially because you have to create one that your characters love, and sometimes that is the hardest part. You could build and NPC you know and love and think is great and your players hate them, or just don't care, which is worse. Then the one you have a name for and practically nothing else and they can't get enough because of the random things they attribute to them. Always tough, and I tend to play it by ear more often than not because I get bummed out if they don't care about my NPCs, haha.

Hey! That was my shout-out!

Also, is there another DM Phil around here? Because, like I said, that was totally my shout-out, and they said it wasn't me (or the other DM Phil, if there is one).

It's also awesome, even though it's completely coincidental, that I got my shout-out on such a fantastic episode. I'm a huge fan of Forgotten Realms, and hearing Ed Greenwood talk about world building and character creation is mind-blowing. Fantastic episode. Can't wait to download and listen to Part 2.

Just finished the second part of the interview. I'm a bit overwhelmed. I don't normally go for re-listening to non-narrative podcasts, but I think I may have to with these two episodes. So much there.

Ed's comment about TTPRGs being an extension of tribal fireside storytelling; so right. So exactly how I feel and have been incapable of expressing. I'm already planning a speech to my players as we gear up for our next campaign!

It couldn't be more true that this need multiple listens. There is just so much content presented in them that it would be virtually impossible to get it all in one shot without a notepad and a lot of pausing, haha. Now it will be whether or not we can get him into the DM-Nastics gym with dm_mainprize and DM Chris so they can pick his brain too!

I've heard of it. Its deep. The creators dove deep and created a non-eurocentric fantasy roleplaying setting and game. I'm not too familiar with FATE, but the game concept sounded amazing!

DMB Ep 69/70 (Ed part 1 & 2)

Regarding Collaboration for a World –

Back in the 30’s/40’s Robert Howard (Conan the Barbarian) and Howard Lovecraft (Cthulhu) were penpals, and bounced ideas for their stories and fictional worlds off each other.

In the 90’s and 00’s Terry Pratchett (Discworld) and Neil Gaiman (Stardust/Sandman series) worked on joint stories, but also bounced ideas off each other by email and phone.

So collaboration is a proven method for very prolific writers and world creators.

DM Nastics is good for each reader and each participant because it makes you take a look at something new, or forces you to look at something in a different way which in turn inspires new ideas. This makes for better games, so we all win.

Every single DMB and DM Nastics podcast and forum discussion has either given me new ideas, or encouraged me to review something about my current and future campaigns, and for my homebrew world in general. Half of it I may not use for years yet, but that’s okay, because when I do whatever It is-it will be more refined and a better product because of my interaction (even passively as a reader/listener) to the DMB community.

Regarding – Making the world active/alive –

I’ve tried to make my world dynamic and interactive-I’ll briefly go into it now as an example.

In Campaign 2 for my world the pcs gained powers, found out their heritage and became demigods.

In Campaigns 3 and 4-the followers of the new demi gods were very active, which started some political changes, but also the wild magic released from the war of the gods/demi gods ascension hampered magic. So they were directly affected by previous games, often in a fun way.

During Campaign 4 they cleansed wild magic from the world (ending a decade of wild magic), which gave them a huge amount of fame, which made it easier for their Githyanki enemies to find them, and also lead into the events of Campaign 5-6.

They cleared out a large undead lair, but forgot to check 3 Rooms, then one year of neglect later-loads of undead in the area, and the pcs sent their followers to deal with the new? threat.

Also in Campaign 4 they became nobles of two factions, and got to vote on national policy about dealing with their neighbours. This has led to several wars breaking out, which will also affect later campaigns.

I future games for Campaign 5-6 – there is now an arms race for constructs, undead and summoned allies for major countries on the world. There is also a growing number of elite adventurer strike teams, now that magic is far more accessible again, and a number of the strike teams are sponsored by the demi gods followers.

Each campaign has had followup events, both good and bad – based on major events in the campaigns. PCs in Campaign 1 were mentors in Campaign 3, and siblings/contacts from Campaign 2 will be mentors in Campaign 5.