This will begin a semi-serious guide to worldbuilding. The plan is
to take a mythology, lay out the basics of it, and build a world from it for a
roleplaying game. Here goes...
Free modules!
It's hard to run a modular campaign, nowadays. Free time to
develop a complex world is at a premium, and pre-made modules are often
lacking in quality, way too expensive, or some nasty combination of the two.
The price is a big factor, since you can only use it essentially once with any
group of players.
A great way to take a quasi-modular approach is to draw parts of
your campaign from literature. You can run across some other issues
here, though. Players that have read the books you're running from
either will have an unfair advantage or won't have as much fun (since they
already know alot about the world, instead of being able to grow and learn about
it).
There is a section of literature that is often overlooked by
roleplayers -- Mythology. These provide great fantastical stories, settings, and
personas. If you're looking at Dungeons and Dragons, or another low
technology fantasy game, many of the monsters, spells, and magical items
were based on things that you'll find in these myths.
Now, you'll have to put a bit of work into this. It might seem pretty
silly to have an Earth pantheon somewhere other than Earth. That's ok,
though, these things can be adapted. Changing the names and places
(and perhaps even races) to suit your game can work wonders. There's another
benefit to changing things up a bit: Even if your players have read some of
the stories before, they may not recognize the differences.
Note that even futuristic games can use these myths as a base.
They were often used to impart morals, so the details of the story don't matter
as much as you might think. A magic pair of boots that makes the
wearer jump a league with each step would be the same as an experimental jet
pack with a limited flight range. A pantheon of Gods could be just so, or
powerful people, or an alien race.
Let's take a quick look at some of the Norse world legends. Norse
mythology is actually pretty complicated, and I'm going to give a really basic
description so you can see how a world (or series of worlds) can be
built.
According to Norse Mythology, there are Nine Worlds, each of
them pretty much corresponding to a different race (Aesir, Vanir, Humans, Light
Elves, Dark Elves, Dwarves, Ice Giants, Fire Giants, and the dead).
There is a heirarchy to the worlds, with three different levels on the world tree.
All the worlds are connected by the World tree, Yggdrasil.
Connected might not be quite the right word. While the tree connects them, it also
supports them. I'd think of the worlds as gigantic acorns. They're separate
from the tree, but also part of it.
Let's look at the worlds. I'll separate them by what tier they're on.
The Aesir lived in Asgard, the world of the Gods. On this world is
Valhalla, where the brave that die in battle go. Also on this tier are
the Vanir, another God-like race. Their world is Vanaheim, although
most mythology mentions them having been assimilated by the Aesir.
What few stories mention them separately seem to indicate that the Aesir
were a more war-like race, focusing on martial skills, while the Vanir practiced
more nature oriented and magical arts.
Also on the upper tier was Alfheim, the land of Elves. Not much is
mentioned about them in the Myths, but Freyr (a Vanir associated
with the harvest) was supposed to have made his home there. These elves
were the light elves, and the sun was associated with them.
The middle tier housed Midgard, the land of Humans. This is likely
where most of the action would take place in, in a roleplaying game.
Midgard was formed to protect human beings from the Giants, that lived in
Jotunheim (Jotun meaning Giant -- this might be familiar to 2nd Ed. D&D
players), the World of Giants. Ice Giants and Stone Giants lived there, and they
are distantly related to the Aesir and Vanir, but are enemies.
The Dwarves and Dark Elves lived Nidavellir and Svartelfheim,
never seeing the light of day. Svartelfheim were aloof, like their elven cousins,
and were not mentioned much. Dwarves were excellent craftsmen (one
made Thor's Hammer, Mjollnir), and there were many stories about various Aesir
(and Vanir) trying to outwit various dwarves of their valuables.
As the upper worlds are seen as light and good (mostly), the lower
realms were quite the opposite. Niflheim was the realm of all things dead,
Hel being a specific place for the spirits of the unworthy to rest.
The other world on this level was Muspelheim, the home of the Fire
Giants. This was an incredibly bleak world (it would have to be, to share
space with the lands of the dead), and the Fire Giants were the most feared
out of any Giant race.
In Norse mythology, the distinction between God and Race is pretty
blurred. The Aesir were not immortal (they would age naturally, they didn't
because of the magical food that they ate), and they certainly weren't all
powerful, as some of them died. The Aesir were larger than life people, with
more strength and power than a human could hope to acheive. That is
one of the great things about the Norse stories. The Aesir didn't demand
worship, they deserved it. They didn't lay down rules, they themselves were
examples of how the humans there should be -- Something to look up to and
emulate.
The creation of the world begins with the first living thing, Ymir.
Ymir was the original giant and the father of the of the frost giants. He
was formed by the heat from Muspelheim melting some of the ice of
Niflheim. The frost continued to melt and caused the creation of Audumla, a cow.
The cow fed Ymir, and kept him alive, using the milk from her udder. She
created the Aesir by licking at the frost to sustain herself. The first was the
god Buri, he was the grandfather of Odin.
Odin and company (his brothers) started growing alarmed at the
multiplying giants, so they slew Ymir. With Ymir's substantial body, they
created most of the worlds. Using the body itself, they made the heavens and
earth. They used the blood to make the oceans and lakes, the teeth and
the shattered bones became stones and boulders, while the unbroken
bones formed mountains. His hair became trees and his brains clouds. With the
skull they made the sky, and they used the brow to separate Midgard
from Jotunheim.
Norse mythology is rich and complex, and what I gave here was
just a layout of the worlds. The stories themselves might not make good
adventures for heroes, but having stories for the various Gods, and the people
affected by them makes for a richer campaign. Take these worlds and the
races, and change them to fit your needs. Maybe there are Orcs that live in
one of the underground worlds, rather than dark elves. Maybe each world is a
different planet in a system, and humans have been modified to work better
on them.
Perhaps you don't even want to use Norse Mythology, or you want
to piece things from other games. Check out the page, even if you don't
use it in your game, it's still a fascinating place.
Next month, we'll twist some things around, and set up basics for a
BESM-based game set in a futuristic world.
