The 7 Deadly SINS of D&D Worldbuilding

Comments · 552

• ED

  @Edariad · 1 year ago · pinned

  What's your personal worldbuilding pet peeve?

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• PE

  @penanceixx447 · 1 year ago

  "Your creativity should amplify what your players already enjoy, not educate them about what they should enjoy." That's golden.

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• DA

  @davidb4020 · 1 year ago

  Tricks for the first one: Write 10 info about the tower. Scratch off 1 as impossible for anyone in the world to know. Scratch off 3 as being very difficult to uncover (require you to investigate thoroughly the tower and/or use advanced divination). Write 3 as rumours with accompanying false claims. The remaining 3 are known informations. You can scale this (1, 1/3, 1/3, 1/3) with either more or less information. But 10 is an easy number to split off.

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• 17

  @1701Emperor · 1 year ago

  Number 1 isn't a worldbuilding sin, but an exposition sin. You as a GM kinda need to know where the tower was built and by whom, unless you intend to just wing it. But you absolutely shouldn't have some NPC just loredump all the info unto the players.

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• MO

  @Moulk · 1 year ago (edited)

  A word on the fourth sin. It took a long time for my players to actually understand they could help me build the world they play in, even though I told them many times. Some of them even wanted me to write their backstory because they thought it would be easier for me to run the game! Some other players straight away told me &quot;okay so this is my backstory, but I have no interest in going back to the places mentioned or meeting the people I named&quot;. <br><br>Sometimes, your players are making your job harder. <br><br>But in the end the dwarf met her parents, the ninja fox met his interdimensional creator, the cleric met the god she never knew about, and the cook... well... he&apos;s cooking better now.

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• AU

  @austinwalker-o6c · 1 year ago

  1. NPCs Knowing too much, use rumors! <br>2. Give clues, draw attention, discovery not exposition. <br>3. Living world, have NPCs move/have their own goals. <br>4. Tourists ... Have players take over a scene once and awhile. <br>5. Small sandboxs/3 plots, quick locations/encounters <br>6. Record keeping and Consquences <br>7. Group A wants X, Group B wants X, and Group C wants X and Y. Are we the baddies?

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• AD

  @adamciacelli · 1 year ago

  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42jPVTfZLwU&amp;t=157">2:37</a> Matt Coleville recommends “What everyone knows, what is known by some, what only few know, what no one knows.

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• DR

  @dreamerofthorns · 1 year ago

  &quot;You walk into the tavern-&quot;<br>&quot;Wait. Didnt we burn it down last session?&quot;<br>&quot;Yes. You did.&quot;<br>&quot;Why is it..... back?&quot;<br>&quot;:)&quot;<br>Quest hook!! The tavern is an illusion!! Or something. I didnt think that far ahead before typing.

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• AK

  @AkameOda · 10 months ago

  Just be honest: &quot;Oh, you went back to the SAME town you burned down the tavern in? Sorry, I gave you more credit than that. I forgot your combined IRL INT is 4! OK, you&apos;re all surrounded by guards about to arrest you for arson, what do you do?!&quot;

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• SH

  @ShrodingerFu · 1 year ago

  I love the format of identifying the problem, why we&apos;re likely to fall for it, followed by some practical tips for avoiding these trappings. And I love that railroading isn&apos;t listed as a &quot;sin&quot;, but is discussed as a consequence of things like linear prepping and ignoring the consequences of PC actions. Great job.

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• KI

  @kindalovelylaika · 1 year ago

  I had expected this to be one of those &quot;stop worldbuilding your players don&apos;t care videos&quot; this is excellent advice

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• KN

  @Knirrax · 1 year ago

  I went through all of the stages of grief during this video

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