Starting A New Setting

When you look online for world-building advice you often see the advice to either start top-down or bottom-up when creating your setting. Both of these have advantages and disadvantages.

TOP-DOWN

Top-down world-building will begin with the very basics of how the setting works and the various powers at play in shaping the whole world and what is possible within it. This may also set the tone you are going for and just laying everything out in the broadest possible strokes. Working from the top down is also a good place for you to look at which meta-elements you want to include or shy away from. For an RPG setting, this could be things like deciding which player character races you want to make available before you do any creation so that the ancestry options available to the players will tie directly into the story of the setting.

With a top-down approach, it becomes easy to create things which your players will never experience. This is where jokes about DMs turning into J.R.R.Tolkien come from. DMs can easily spend hundreds of hours making things just from the sheer enjoyment of creating. But for the "working DM" this is a danger you want to be on the lookout for. You want to use your time well to make things which will positively affect the play at the table.

BOTTOM-UP

Bottom-up worldbuilding is where you start with the specifics of one small area and build out as the players or your story progress. This is great for first time DMs. In one of Matt Colville’s first videos he lays out a perfect example of this kind of setting: there is a town with one tavern, a forest, and a tomb on the other side of the forest. Add in a few characters, some goblins who need a sacrifice, and a blacksmith whose daughter is kidnapped and you are ready for a few sessions of gaming. If you use this to build up a campaign around, as I have done, you can just add the next part whenever it’s needed. It is a very organic way to build out your world and you almost never make stuff you won’t use.

The downside of the bottom-up method is your campaign can have a very ad-hoc feel when people take a step back and look at it as a whole. Some things may not make sense when viewed together or may stick out as oddities in a bad way. This is how DM's end up creating a J.K Rowling problem. By the end of the Harry Potter books, it became apparent that some things had been well planned from the beginning, but others which had solved problems earlier had themselves become problems the author had to deal with later (time turners, we are looking at you).

Art Seek the Wilds by Anna Steinbauer

TOP THEN BOTTOM

As you can imagine, each DM or writer probably has their own take on using one or both of these methods. In creating Welkin we will spend some time at the top adding details as we go down, but then we will stop and move to the very bottom and work our way up for a while. I want to try this because in running my last two campaigns I came across another downside to the bottom-up method. We used the above mentioned bottom-up method and it invariably led to a rather generic setting. This isn’t a bad thing! My players had a lot of fun. But I had ideas I felt I could not bring into the game easily. This time, I want to make some large decisions about the setting before we jump into fleshing out a starting town.

Because I hope to explain my thinking as I go, this may take a while on the blog. But for a DM, I think all you would need is an hour or so at most of planning before your first session to lay out some broad setting ideas that set your world apart from others. This way, your players have something to bite into when creating their characters.

GOALS

I will try to enumerate my goals for my new setting, Welkin. I want the elements of the setting to tie together thematically. I would like to give my players tons of hooks without boxing them in. I want to make it easy for the game to be exciting. I would like there to be a lot of diversity in the setting; this should not be an "all-European all the time" setting. I will be creating this setting with Dungeons and Dragons 5e play in mind. Therefore, if it is in D&D it should have a place in the setting (it’s ok for something to have a small or hidden place, however. It will be there waiting for a player to draw it out). Also, we want the setting to seem fresh to experienced players without being overwhelming to new players. So, it will be fun to subvert some tropes and lean into other tropes. We should also hope to encourage players to engage with the setting.

• Elements of the setting tie together thematically 
• Tons of hooks without constraining player choice 
• Make it easy for the game to be exciting 
• Diversity baked in
• Build with Dungeons and Dragons 5e play in mind 
• If it is in D&D it should have a place in the setting 
• We want the setting to seem fresh without being overwhelming
• Rule of Cool: if it's cool, it may have a place
• Subvert and lean into various tropes
• Encourage players to engage with the setting. 

I expect to have varying degrees of success with these, but I am happy with the overall list.

-Ellery

Reskinning 5e Classes Part I

It is common to see requests for new homebrew classes online in forums and comments sections. Making new classes is fun and it is exciting to bring something fresh to the table. Sometimes this is because a favorite old class is not available in the new edition (i.e. swordmage. mystic, & warlord). Other times these requests come from a desire to play in a different setting (Rokugan,  Maztica) or use a tool that is not available in the PHB (alchemist, gunslinger). But a lot of these requests can also be completed with a little bit of imagination and a lot of reskinning. By reskinning an existing class, your DM will already know how your class will fit in their game and understand the mechanics of it, but you still get the fun of playing something new.

My campaigns usually begin in an area of my setting that has a newly discovered archipelago in the ocean between the continents. I like to give my players ideas for how the classes in the book might look different in different parts of the world because anyone could end up in my starting area, so let's use this reskinning opportunity to get out into the wider world.  This time, I will be trying to bring new life to a few PHB classes through an Asian lens.

Features not mentioned are great as-is for our character and don’t even need a new name to match the new skin.

In this post, we will reskin the Barbarian and the Druid.

Barbarian ——> Samurai

You are a minor noble on a mission from your feudal lord, a wandering ronin with no lord, or a skilled peasant who is trying to become something more.

Battle Focus

First off,  we are going to reskin barbarian Rage as samurai Battle Focus. Our samurai will use her rage feature as written but instead of getting rage abilities from her insane battle lust, she can enter a state of pure situational clarity. This zen-like battle trance is difficult to enter into and maintain so she will still only be able to use it rage-times-per day and will, of course, follow all other rage rules as written.

Calculated Offense

We are going to call the Reckless Attack feature Calculated Offense. Our samurai may choose to leave herself open to attack, having made the calculation that with superior offense sometimes no defense is needed afterward.

Danger Sense 

This feature also does not need to be adjusted for our samurai. I would play this as a low-level version of Battle Focus that is always on.

Primal Path ——-> Path of Five Rings or Path of the Ancestors

Battle Instinct

The barbarian’s Feral Instinct has become Battle Instinct. This will interact with your Battle Focus the same way Rage and Feral Instinct interact.

Relentless, Persistent, and Battle Champion

These features also all work great for our re-skin as written, but we will change their names to something befitting a samurai as shown above.

Path of the Berserker ——->Path of Five Rings

Upon choosing this Path at third level, our samurai chooses to follow the teachings of Musashi Miyamoto, or an in-setting equivalent. She is now re-skinned as fighting with two full-size swords, or a katana and wakizashi. She can now do things other samurai cannot do while she is in her battle trance. She becomes a whirlwind of attacks and eventually becomes a pure intimidating presence on the battlefield because she is in complete control of her surroundings.

Frenzy ——-> School of the Two Swords

Like Musashi, our samurai now has pure freedom of movement and control unmatched by those who fight with both hands on their sword. She is not using the two-weapon fighting rules, but we have reskinned her Frenzy ability so that her bonus action attack comes from the flurry of her two weapons working together.

Mindless Rage ——-> Mindful Clarity

We are going to change Mindless Rage so that it is called Mindful Clarity. Everything else in the Path of the Berserker works as written.

Path of the Totem Warrior ——-> Path of the Kami

Upon choosing this Path at the third level, our samurai has learned to communicate with and gain guidance from lesser and nature kami. Kami can be elements of the landscape, forces of nature, as well as beings and the qualities that these beings express; they can also be the spirits of venerated dead persons. Our samurai can now tap into the wisdom of her ancestors who were once mighty warriors.

Spirit Seeker

This feature is great as written, but we will reskin the spells beast sense and speak with animals so that they are kami sense and speak with kami. Kami are now our samurai’s allies and with the proper ritual and ancestral trinket or totem they will help our samurai accomplish her goals. They may appear as animals or translucent spirits. Work with your DM to see what they prefer.

Kami Spirit, Aspect of the Kami, and Kami Attunement

These features are fine as written as well—our samurai could be empowered by her relationship to nature kami that grant her the animal traits from the book. But while we are reskinning, let’s offer another option: our samurai has learned to connect with the kami of her venerated warrior ancestors. They will aid her in time of battle if called upon. Bear will be reskinned as Iron — the spirit of a samurai lord wearing full nanban dou gusoku, the heavy iron samurai armor granting resilience, strength, and an imposing aspect. Eagle will be reskinned as Silk— the spirit of a ninja master granting speed, eyesight, and maneuverability. Wolf will be reskinned as Spear— the spirit of an ashigaru warrior trained to fight in a formation and move silently.

This reskin makes a samurai who is a lot of fun to play. As always, if you are running a barbarian or planning to have one in your game, you want to consider the article by Colin Mclaughlin Rage Against the Barbarian.

Sun Wukong Art by Wang Xiao https://wangxiao.artstation.com/

Druid —->  Sun Wukong / Cursed Demigod

This one might sound weird but stay with me a minute. Depending on your DMs setting, you may need to change this skin a bit to fit.  This re-skin is based on the monkey king Sun Wukong himself. You don’t have to choose the monkey king as your character, you could instead be a demigod or a saint from your DMs setting who lost their power or is growing into it. Sun Wukong fits Druid perfectly.

Character Background

You are not adventuring to gain new knowledge, you are trying to get back the powers that have been stripped from you by amnesia or a curse. In the case of Sun Wukong, he made a lot of enemies and many of them could have tried to strip his powers away. Another possibility is a god could be trying to teach him a lesson by making him start over and has removed his powers and immortality. I also like druid as a class for this because it is wisdom-based. Perhaps the god he angered wants him to live another life and try to get some wisdom this time.

When you create your Sun Wukong, choose any race from the PHB and make your character as usual. We will recommend wood elf or human from the PHB races.

Druidic 

Your DM can let you know druidic or some other replacement secret language as they feel fits your new skin.

Cantrips

You are playing Sun Wukong. You have to take Shillelagh as one of your two cantrips known. 金箍棒 jīngūbàng is the name of your golden staff which you can make as small as a needle and keep behind your ear. If I was your DM, I would say casting Shillelagh allows you to make your staff appear, or change its size anywhere you like between the needle and ten foot pole— you don't have to cast it on an existing weapon. Depends on your DM: your mileage may vary.

Wild Shape

Sun Wukong is a master of transformations. He has knowledge of the “72 Transformations,” basically, he can assume any shape he likes except he cannot transform his tail. At level two, he begins to gain some of his transformation ability back. Just use the Wild Shape rules as written. If I was your DM, I would also let you change— at will—  from a humanoid-sized monkey and back again to your PHB ancestries’ appearance. No matter which shape you take with Wild Shape, you will always have a monkey’s tail.

Other Reskinning

Sun Wukong, before he was cursed,was a master of many spells. He also had golden mail, cloud-stepping boots, and other cool items and knowledge. Part of his knowledge of the “72 Transformations” is that he can pluck out hairs from his body and turn them into animals or clones of himself by blowing on them.  Any spell or item you get as you level up could easily be him regaining lost abilities.

Circles  ——->The Great Sage, Heaven’s Equal or Master of the 72 Transformations

We don’t need to change anything in the Druid Circles except the names.  We will call Circle of the Land The Great Sage, Heaven’s Equal and Circle of the Moon Master of the 72 Transformations because in D&D you have to choose one. But, as Sun Wukong, you are going to want to take Master of the 72 Transformations, as this gets you closer to becoming the true master from the stories. Once you get to 14th level the Thousand Forms will be very up your alley as you can now cast alter form at will.

Too bad about your tail though.

Worldbuilding Welkin

Welkin is the name of my setting for running games and roleplaying in D&D 5e.

Welkin Worldbuilding

Some of the posts on this blog will be exploring the worldbuilding of Welkin. I will use this space to work through, for myself, the reasons guiding what I will be creating in the Welkin setting. I plan to use a few levels to facilitate organizing the different articles on the site. These will be marked Meta, Macro, Medium, and Micro based on the scope of the contents.

We will look at the worldbuilding of Welkin from a Meta point of view. These will be posts useful to DMs discussing worldbuilding itself, as well as offer guidelines I will be following to do my own worldbuilding. Other posts will be the worldbuilding itself.  Macro content will be top-down in nature. Micro content will be individual locations, NPC’s and items which will go directly into my game. Medium content will be things that don’t fit in the other categories. Gazetteer articles, adventures, and the like.  Some posts will be in-setting material: stories, letters and other ephemera which may be used to give to players or to just build up the world for the DM.

Meta: Worldbuilding and how to approach it using Welkin as an example
Macro: Top-down looks at the overall setting and major forces at play
Medium: Gazetteer articles, adventure ideas, stories and letters, calendar discussions & ect.
Micro: Locations and NPCs for tabletop use

Other posts will be providing D&D homebrew material, ideas for converting Welkin into other RPG systems and whatever else I may get up to on this blog.

Welkin Works Blog

Organizing my thoughts enough to write them down really helps me to get a solid handle on what I am doing. I am writing this blog as a sort of conversation with myself which will leave a record. I present it here in the hopes that watching me go through the process of worldbuilding will help others with actionable examples to fuel creation of their own world.

Thanks for coming along on this ride  — Ellery—  7/28/19 8am Grand Rapids, MI

Creation Story

This is how the Ghostwise Moiety tell of the creation:

In the beginning, God Sublime, called 绝伦 Jué Lún, created ten wardens, puissant and clever. But some were more clever than others. They were tasked with creating a universe worthy of glory. They were together, they were united, and they were: kingfisher, dragon, raven, stag, luftwhale, tortoise, flying squirrel, locust, salamander, and carp. 

They had almost come to a consensus to unify and collaborate on one magnificent world under the leadership of the kingfisher herself and the guiding will of the tortoise (who was always overflowing with ideas) when the dragon whispered to his neighbor “But what if kingfisher doesn’t value all our contributions equally?” Dragon had wanted to be the leader and was outraged to be following kingfisher.  The stag replied, “Of course she will, we are all in this together.” But he spoke too loudly and the luftwhale overheard him. When dragon saw the look in her eyes, he jumped in and they began to mutter together. 

After a long time of argument, the wardens agreed to tortoise’s new plan: create ten different worlds. Each would be a pure expression of their creator with no collaboration between them. This was when the raven said, “Where is luftwhale?”  They looked around and there were only nine of them. 

While they were searching the skies for luftwhale, dragon said to raven, “Why did kingfisher tell tortoise not to let us help each other?” Raven defended kingfisher loyally and looked suspiciously at dragon ever after this, but the locust took the question to heart and began arguing for collaboration again. 

After another long argument, tortoise proposed that each would choose a few friends to collaborate with and they would share each other’s burdens while building worlds. But raven said “Where is locust?”

This went on until dragon had eaten not only luftwhale, but also locust, carp, and flying squirrel. The next time an argument started raven was watching dragon very carefully. She saw dragon biting stag in half and yelled a warning to the others. Dragon escaped and raven was able to put the two halves of stag back together, although they were never the same after that.

So, kingfisher, tortoise, salamander, stag, and raven followed tortoise’s best plan and helped each other build the sun, the stars and the five worlds. Then they spun the worlds around each other, so that each world had four moons. Each warden had a leading role in making their world after their own image, but took help from the others and combined their strengths. 

The work wasn’t as good as it should have been. 

Not only because they missed their friends’ wisdom and help, but because dragon kept attacking them, or undoing work after they had finished it, or making tunnels everywhere they didn’t belong, and it took them a long time. The wardens had to work together, because the dragon was stronger than any of them individually having eaten so many of their friends. The In the end, dragon didn’t create anything for himself, he only ruined the work of the others.

The five are still guarding against the dragon, because he has not given up wanting to remake the worlds after himself. Welkin is the kingfisher's world, the best of them all, and Skrion is still Lord over all the others and Warden of our world.