So, now we have taken the time to come up with a basic idea behind your new world, whatever that idea may be. It is your hook, your attention grabber; but it is only one of many that you will need to develop. For purposes of demonstration I am using the idea that the surface of this world is uninhabitable and that all the races live in vast networks of tunnels and caverns beneath the surface. The other thing that we developed last month was our binder, or whatever it is you have decided to use to keep track of your information. I like the binder because it is real and solid and I can easily access and change it. I do have ALL of my information for my campaign and world in my hard drive and on the web, but this is not as accessible during games or as easy to change or just scribble an idea into … so, I have stuck with the old fashioned binder.

Now what? We have the idea of our world; an unlivable surface and all the races dwell in subterranean caverns. At this point we need a new DM RULE to follow, another guideline to help us not kill ourselves with work, but to create a cohesive and interesting world.

#3. (cont. from pt. 1) Everything Has A Reason. Everything you create for your world has a reason behind it. People do not do things without a reason; even if that reason is they had nothing better to do … it is still a reason. The same holds true for your fantasy people, gods, rulers and environments. Everything has a driving reason behind it, not necessarily a logic but some motivation for things to have happened the way they did.

So, using this rule we need to apply a reason to why our World’s Hook exists. Why do the people of this world not inhabit the surface? There could be many real reasons they don’t dwell on the surface: industrial pollution blocks out the sun, wizards destroyed the land with a powerful magic battle, the gods became angry for some reason and broke the surface, or your world might be post-apocalypse and everyone lives below ground to escape radiation. I’m going to choose a combination of two of the above for our demonstration. Lets say that everyone was forced underground because a group of powerful wizards banded together in an attempt to assert themselves as gods. This angered the gods of the world and they wages war on these powerful mages, destroying the surface of the world in the process.

So now we have a reason for things to have happened. Lets look at some interesting things in this reason. The peoples of the world live underground because of the folly of wizards. This would probably make wizards and sorcerers an unpopular group among the “surface” races. The gods became angry and drove the people underground. This could give a lot of power to the clerics of your campaign, requiring repentance and servitude from the masses to return to the surface.

And this is the extent of the worldwide development you would need to do at this point. But lets look at all that we have accomplished thus far:

· We have a world where all the people live below ground
· The surface is believed to be unlivable because of a war between the gods and the wizards of the world
· The people of the world distrust wizards and sorcerers
· Clerics of the world wield a lot of power promising a return to the surface through repentance and servitude

That is quite a bit of work that will offer you hours of time expanding and creating in depth information for those four points. The next thing we have to address is the issue of religion. In order for your PC clerics to feel they are a part of a well-developed campaign they have to have a deity to follow.

Well, we have already established we will have a polytheistic society with human-like gods. There are many other choices for religious models: monotheism, pantheism, polytheism, animism, spiritualism, etc. Your gods can be human-like with human flaws and personalities. They can be perfection in their own field. They can be in everything, a part of everything, and in control of everything … or they could just be figureheads that do not bother with the affairs of mortals. The pantheon of gods that you create can have a huge affect on the way your PCs play in your campaign. Refer to the Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, and Dragonlance settings for inspiration. If you really want to be aggressive research Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Assyrian, Sumerian, Native American, Japanese, and Chinese religions here you will find a wealth of personalities, powers, ideas, and stories to feed into your own pantheon. Heck, feel free to rape, pillage, and steal from any source you can find.

For this month you should concentrate on what kind of gods you want to have, how many you will need, and what kind of domains or areas they will control. Once you have a vague idea of what your gods are, you should follow Rule #3 and give them a reason for being there. Create a myth or story about the creation of the world and the gods that you have devised for it. Don’t think that you have to make a hundred gods all at once, remember only start with what you need, cover all the main bases. Any other minor or less powerful gods can be introduced later on in your campaign.

John "Calitrojan" Sansom