Worldcrafting and Geopolitics in RPGs

Looking back on it, I think what drew me in to tabletop Roleplaying Games, was the fact that most of them were a toolkit, rather than a bible.

Okay, that sounds weird. Let me expound on this a bit;

The first true RPG, Dungeons and Dragons, and a lot of other RPG's that follow in its footsteps aren't designed with a particular setting in mind. They give you rules on how to do things, a few sample character options, and some basic recommendations.

They don't set any rules on what you do with it. In fact, you're expected to fill in the blanks when you start building the setting for your game.

In fact, if they are too strict with it, then the game ends up limiting what you can do with it. So instead of "thou shalt nots," these sort of games just toss concepts and ideas at you, and trust that you'll sort it out.

The basic D&D books are set up to give you a basic, pseudo-tolkienesque high fantasy setting. They give you rules for humans and elves and dwarves and orcs and other things. It tells how magic works in D&D fantasy worlds, and has rules for resolving conflicts. Everything else is up to you.

What's the map look like? Go ahead and create it. What nations are around, and what sort of politics do they have? Go ahead and create it. Where are the ruins, and the flavorful bits that really drum in that fantasy feel? Put'em on the map where the cities aren't, and you're on the right track.

I learned worldbuilding by drawing cheesy fantasy maps, and thinking over what countries were where, and what sort of troubles they had. I could have gone really detailed but I didn't, because it wasn't important. What WAS important, was figuring out the points of conflict, because conflict is fun, and as necessary to games as it is to stories.

Want a war? Put a few gold mines on the borders of GoodguyKingdomA and ExpansionistEmpireB. What do dwarves want? Put a ruined Dwarven Hold smack in orc territory, that'll give'em something to go after. Why is that mountain range jutting out of the sea with no lowlands around? Sure, you just put it there because it looked cool, but maybe there was a cataclysm and this is all that remains of ancient Totallynotatlantis.

It flexes the imagination.

Sure, the RPG companies also put out setting books, and it's okay to use them if you want. But when you're ten, and really bored in math class? Nothing beats drawing out the places you see in your dreams, for your friends to romp around in and explore.

And maybe, if you do it right, they'll be able to catch just a glimpse of the wonder you felt when you dreamed them up.