Regional Geomorphs

Why does every campaign you buy have to be an entire continent? Half the fun of being a DM is creating worlds so why steal that? There is the time issue but that's not really an answer. I don't think published modules should cover so much territory in such limited detail. 

I'm thinking of Regional Geomorphs as the title says. IMagine if TSR had develop a micro-setting (like the wilderness in B2 but a bit bigger) then dropped B1, B3 and B4 and others into that setting to really populate the Regional Geomorph with adventure and create a sandbox. Then develop a micro-setting for C1, C2, etc. That second setting could be next door or miles away. Encourage the DM to create a world but enable them to drop these microsettings into their creation.

This is a far more useful level of information for a DM to work with. The DM could then handle the big picture (or not, do adventurers really need to know the extent of the continent in most cases?

If the idea happened now DMs could homebrew their own and make it available (for sale or free, you do you). A DM then starts with one and chunks together a greater world when the players start to explore near the edges.

The only sticking point would be Gods and the Cults that worship them. Cult Geomorphs is another place it would have been nice if the DIY side of the hobby had explored. Imagine if DMs wrote up their religions and posted them online for free, or sold them, and other DMs would have the ability to pick and match however they saw fit. 

I'm imagining a buffet approach to world building and I think it would be better than what we have now with the Meh Forgotten Realms dominating a massive section hobby.

Footnotes & Endnotes

Idraluna Archives had an post on Footnotes in RPGs that grabbed my eye. My degree was in Graphic Design and usability is a big thing with me. The article didn't seem to allow comments so I thought I'd spew forth here on my own blog. The point Idraluna Archives is about making the flow of the prose, of a dungeon key, easier to read and uses the Gygax wall of text vs a minimalist example from the Cairn house style(1) and Idraluna Archives believes using footnotes would solve the readability problem.

I think the Idraluna Archives picked a bad example as dungeon keying is not about flow and readability(2) but about quick access to information at the table and dumping all that information into footnotes would make the footnotes massive. For use at the table the Cairn house style is nicely written. It does attempt to utilities a multi-level 'information hierarchy' except unlike footnotes that make you hunt for the information it drops the info right there where you can skip it or not (depending upon how curious the players are). Just read the bits without the bullets and it should flow very smooth. Add the bullet points and you get extra information on different aspects that were highlighted in the first sentence. They act like footnotes but are placed closer for easier readability. They also have a third-level of info, presumably to help the GM if the players keep asking questions or do a Perception test(3). This is really good design, maybe not for someone that wants to read read read but from a usability stand-point it is well thought out.

So by choosing dungeon keys as an example Idraluna Archive is asking for design that actually hurts the functionality. What they should have picked was game books. The core rules that is. And instead of Footnotes which as they pointed out are difficult in a modern word processing program they should have narrowed in on Endnotes. The industry could really use some love for Endnotes.

An RPG rulebook should have design notes and examples to help make understanding easier to understand (and as a good way to add humor). These are things you don't need to read often and that will make the prose clunky if mixed in with the text. The reader would be better served if they were dumped into the last chapter of the book. That way if you know the rules well you can ignore the little numbers but if not you keep one thumb at the end of the book and flip back and forth to ensure you understand. Also if written properly you can just read the End Notes as a design chapter and if linked backwards(4) will have examples from the text.

So Idraluna Archives, thanks for the design experiment. You got me thinking and made a good point, you just used the wrong example(5).