Summary
Worldbuilding and campaign creation are essential aspects of any greatDungeons & Dragonsadventure. As a Dungeon Master, or DM, you’ll want to make sure you’re carefully fleshing out your world, populating it with interesting characters, locales, and so much more. But, if you’re creating a DND world for a group of expert players, and as a veteran DM, what should you focus on?
That’s why we’ve created this list. For this list, we’re going to break down some of the most important worldbuilding elements every expert DM should think about, and why they matter for your campaign. Here are the most essential aspects of worldbuilding for expert DMs.
10The Map
You Are Here
This first tip might seem obvious, but it’s especially important right off the bat that youdraw out the map of your world. This is great for a handful of reasons. First, it gives players a sense of scale and where they play. Second, maps can help inform a lot of other worldbuilding elements later on in this list.
As an example, having two continents that border each other via a narrow land bridge could have trade and political implications for the world at large. Alternatively, a map that features a scattered archipelago could mean that travel is much more difficult than in other realms. Deciding on these things early will save you a lot of trouble down the line.
9Locations And Nations
Location, Location, Location
In addition to drawing out the map, you’ll want to make sure you’re populating the map with two things: one, interesting locations, and two, sovereign nations, kingdoms, and more. Of course, prioritizing nations and countries is essential; after all, most DND adventures feature monarchs, leaders, and other interesting realms to explore, but don’t shirk out on also populating the map with more neutral locations.
When it comes to neutral locations, consider adding natural wonders, portals to other planes of existence, ruins of previous civilizations, and more. This helps make the landscape of your world more varied and diverse, and adds interesting points of interest that your party can explore.
8The Pantheon
Praise Be
While you’re able to always use the Forgotten Realms pantheon fromthe 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide, you can also create your pantheon for your world. However, beyond just creating a pantheon of deities for your players and world to worship, you’re also going to want to ask yourself some worldbuilding questions about how this pantheon functions.
Do the pantheon squabble with one another? Do the deities actively intervene in events on the Material Plane, or do they prefer to remain more aloof? Or, are the gods dead altogether? Answering these questions can inform a lot about how your players interact with the world. Just be careful of removing gods altogether if you know you have a player who wants to play a cleric or a paladin.
7Magic And Might
Do You Even Cast, Bro?
Another element you’ll want to consider for your world is the prevalence of magic. Is magic commonplace, like in high fantasy settings like the Forgotten Realms? Or, is magic rarer? Furthermore, you might want to even ask yourself if magic is outright forbidden, and more of a black market practice.
Whatever the answers to these questions are, make sure these rules are clear to your players so they know how to design their characters. If they’re playing in a world where magic is outlawed, they might think twice about picking a wizard or sorcerer for their class. Unless you have explicit permission from your whole table, you might not want to remove magic altogether from your game, though.
6It’s All Political
Even In Fantasy Realms
Beyond just coming up with different nations, leaders, and more, you’re going to want to ask yourself how the politics of this world function. First, you’ll want to start on a more micro level. How do individual nations govern their citizenry? Then, from there, you’ll want to go more macro.
Once you have a good understanding of how each nation works, you’ll want to decide how they interact with one another. Are any of these sovereign countries at war with one another, or otherwise feuding? Are there alliances between nations? What systems of government exist in this realm? Answering these questions can inform adventure hooks and campaign arcs, so choose carefully.
5The Past, Present, And Future
Those Who Can’t Learn From History
Beyond just understanding the present-tense politics of the realm you’re creating, you’ll also want to make sure you understand the history of the world and all that came before. Understanding political struggles, heroes of old, and much more can help inform the types of adventures that your players go on in the present.
Plus, in addition to understanding the history of the world for yourself, having players uncover mysterious secrets from ages long past can prove to be a really tantalizing adventure hook. Depending on the ages of your players' characters, you might also want to consider whether or not any of your party had been present for major historical events that have played out in your world.
4Players' Backstories
You’re Not Starting From Scratch
Besides coming up with large swaths of worldbuilding for yourself, you should also use your players' backstories to inform your campaign creation! Players might come to you with ideas about their past, mentors, antagonists,or other NPCsthat can help inform your worldbuilding.
For example, if a player has selected the noble background, and they tell you that they come from a long line of nobles that have long influenced the politics of a certain realm, you might want to use NPCs that they give you as part of their backstory to populate the ranks of leadership in a certain nation. This can help engage players in the story of your world and lighten some of the burden of having to come up with everything yourself.
3The Planes Beyond
There’s More Than What You See
In Dungeons & Dragons, and the Forgotten Realms setting specifically, there’s a wider cosmology that includes a ton of Outer Planes that players can venture through. These include the Elemental Planes, the Fey Realm, and the Shadowfell, in addition to several more. While you’re able to use any of these planes for your campaign, you can also customize these planes to your liking or add new planes.
You should also consider how common extraplanar travel is in your world. Is it easy to get to and from different planes of existence thanks to an abundance of teleportation circles? Or, are these portals extremely rare and have to be stumbled upon? Either way, ensure the answer to these questions ties into other worldbuilding elements like the prevalence of magic or deities.
2Environments
Don’t Desert Your Environment
Biomes and environments can also help diversify and expand your world quite drastically. Beyond just coming up with a map design and individual locations, you’ll want to determine what kind of biomes your party can encounter as they traverse your world.
You can also have a lot of fun by making the environments of your world relatively similar, or vast and varied. For example, you could design a world that has recently been thrust into a perpetual ice age, meaning that the entire world is covered in frost and snow. Whatever the answer to these questions ends up being, verify it makes sense for the tone of your adventure.
1Technology
Roll For WiFi
Lastly, while Dungeons & Dragons is often best suited to a high fantasy setting, there’s no reason why you may’t incorporate technology or other steampunk elements into your campaign. The Eberron campaign setting is full of high-speed rails and other magical technology. This type of worldbuilding can be great for players who want to play artificers, for example.
If you do decide to incorporate technology, you’ll want to make sure there are relatively firm restrictions placed on it. For example, letting players have too much early access to powerful tech can break the game and make combat encounters less balanced. Make sure these rules are clear to everyone at the table before you dive into gameplay.
