Wait wait wait. My players *don't* think about TTRPGs all the time? That's hard to understand. I'll need to write a 20-page document to explain to them what they're missing and tell them it's important information for our campaign.
Here's a trick I used to use: Write out your TLDR epic text box campaign backstory. Then break that epic text into individual paragraphs or sentences. Then assign each of those paragraphs or sentences to NPCs, or other sources of information; statues, tapestries, books, and other such in universe sources can reveal one piece of information. ALSO weave some of these paragrpahs and sentences into Class abilities and training, for example if your character specializes in a weapon, they also learn the paragrpah that explains how 100 years ago the hero of the age used this type of weapon to defeat some specific evil enemy, if your ranger chooses a favored enemy tell them the paragrpah of sentence that explains the epic reason why that enemy is a favored enemy of rangers. Using this trick you never have to info dump, and your players will want to engage with the world more to learn more.
That's an excellent way to make the campaign history approachable and digestible. It also makes the world feel more alive and an exciting place to explore. Great tip, thank you so much!
This just made me realize I should do one of those free pamphlets advertising tourist attractions that you pick up at, like, gas stations and diners and motels in small towns for my game set at a summer camp in the US in the 90s...
I really appreciate the ethical art section! As an artist who will be making all my own art myself for my guides thanks for respecting art and artists! I was afraid to watch this video as I was afraid to get hurt at this section and was very relieved instead! Also this is very relevant for the TTRPG book I’m making for my own original TTRPG as I will be including three example worlds and styles of play with them and need to really edit it down to a bare minimum as even if I end up making the book huge I still have to edit what is most essential and necessary to my core rulebook! Editing down is actually one of the hardest parts I find!
Also I will be making my first version in black and white and researching more to determine how but hope I can release a colour version someday perhaps.
You're so welcome! Respecting artists is the absolute bare minimum as far as I'm concerned. Making your own ttrpg is really exciting! I've done some editing work for setting guides and I agree that it's one of the hardest parts. If you feel like sharing your guide when you're done I'd love to see it. Good luck with your guide and your game!
@@AstralMarmot thanks I’m just about to start the Alpha play testing while I keep laying out the tracks as I go (lol). Just beginning the artwork and also studying graphic design and layout as I Don’t know that well enough yet! I’m building what I believe is the ultimate TTRPG but for myself first and foremost. No guarantee of any sales, so if at least I use it it’s worth all the effort! It’s more on the adjustable rules heavy end of the scale but I hope still intuitive!
this gives me some great ideas for my own game! really good video I'm gonna make a region guide aimed at tourists coming to the tropical coastline that my pirate game is running in
WAIT THIS GIVES ME SUCH AN IDEA!! Propaganda against and for the war between Salanith and Khramdor! They're at cold war right now, soon to be set to flame whenever my players make it past the "tutorial" section of my campaign world BUT HOLY HELL
Cool. You can also let your players write a few npc’s and places in your world. Especially players who likes to write long backstories like this. Just give them a few hooks and let them write something and they may surprise you.
This is a great tip. It works for long-term campaigns, but it's also a really useful shortcut in one-shots to make sure your players are invested in the setting. Thanks for sharing, and for watching!
This is such a cool idea! I love to hold group worldbuilding sessions with my players at the start of campaigns, to discuss what type of elements they'd be excited to see in their game world, and I feel like this would be a perfect companion to that. I could take my own story ideas, plus some different settings and details my players look forward to, and tie them together into one big location! I'm super excited to try this now, thank you so much!
Oh my gosh, I love this! As a fellow ADHD DM who is just preparing her new campaign, this was exactly what I needed. Now I’ll get a glass of water and unclench my jaw.
I also have ADHD and recently began recovery from drug addiction. My selfesteem has taken a massive blow because of my addiction and so I recently decided to start to GM again to build up my self esteem (the last time I GM'd, was D&D 2nd Edition so Im feeling pretty rusty!). Anyway, I stumbled onto your channel and this is so perfectly awesome and helpful to me. Thank you and I hope you keep it up!
Thank you so much for watching! Going from 2e to 5e will be a big change, but you don't have to deal with THAC0 and that's reason enough to switch. Good luck on your recovery too; I know it can be a hard road and I respect you a lot for putting yourself back out into the world. I hope your journey is smooth and your games exciting!
Thank you. I had taken a break from running after a successful setting based mostly in unused ideas and response to what players seemed to like. Coming back to it this helps take the ADD nebulous down a peg.
I know I'd liked the idea of Gazetteers that I've seen in campaign settings. Things like a half-page map of each region, some interesting statistics, and another opposite page with points of interest and recent events. But I hadn't thought of doing that from an in-game perspective. That's genius!
I adore this idea!! I'm about to start running a campaign that begins with a bit of a prologue adventure before we get to see the world become this vast industrious thing so now I can't WAIT to whip up a brochure for the world!!
What an excellent idea! I love this! I did something similar for my last campaign; I created a one-page campaign guide, that I could print out and give to players. My guide featured a summary of the previous campaign, six truths of the world, a bit about how to play the game, and safety tools (my players were fairly inexperienced). I’ve been wanting to give my group something a bit more detailed for this campaign, but went down a rabbit-hole of online campaign builders. This looks like the sweet spot! I’m going to use it! I’ll be happy to share the result.
Cool! I started something like this for a game I'm getting ready to start. A page of info highlights and then questions for the players. I let them name some of the NPCs before the session starts, and I'll ask other questions like "what is Jorn's pet's name?" or "what is Jorn's biome appropriate pet and it's name?" I want them to feel a sense of ownership to the game and that they aren't just lamps on a railroad (no agency and told where to go). I love this video! So much good stuff, thanks!
This is a really good way to introduce a campaign world. I am going to make these guides for my pet setting in my world now, I was already thinking about it but this video really put the pieces together for me.
This is a really good idea. I'm a few sessions into my homebrew world right now but I think it would still be helpful to make a Visitor's Guide to Nena.
I've already started playing in a world my players don't know much about and I have been struggling with giving them information so this is perfect. Luckily they've already met an NPC who is perfect for handing them one for the local region and he may even ask them to help him gather information about other places so he can make more.
Ooh this is actually perfect, i was already gonna start my next campaign on a space cruise ship, an in world travel brochure would be a great introduction
That's awesome! I hope it turns out amazing - I'm always fascinated to see how differently everyone approaches this idea. Best of luck on your brochure and your campaign!
I've been trying to write an in-world mage's almanac to create a fun little glimpse into the day by day life and culture of the people in the region. Contains stuff like calendars, articles about flora and fauna, weather forecasts and horoscopes, and holidays and festivals of the regions. All sorts of fun stuff that just flesh out what its like to live there. As a bookbinder, I intend to print the whole thing out and bind it into an actual physical booklet that I can hand to my players to have and reference.
A mage's almanac is such a good idea! I love the idea of horoscopes and weather forecasts; they're both so easy to tie in to gameplay. Thanks for sharing this killer idea!
I found this video and all your videos TERRIBLY insightful and a wonderful thought-provoking resource. You have a way of explaining things that really speaks to me and I commend your effort in sharing what you know. Thank you so much for these. really. Amazing stuff. Please make more! :)
I had the first session of my campaign a few days ago and the players loved the guide. With another group I had another idea. A weekly newspaper article that shows the movement of the world around the players. It has reports on the war, news about important events (that the players might have had a hand in) and sponsored sections that talk about the grand new invention or something like that of another great faction. Depending on who publishes the newspaper the facts are more or less unbiased.
I swear just last night my friends and I were talking about having an investigative journalist that followed in the wake of the party reporting on their deeds (and misdeeds) and all the possibilities that come with it; framing the party as villains, reporting on collateral damage, misspelling the PC's names, etc. I'm so glad the visitor's guide went over well!
What an amazing idea. I've been wondering how to best grant my players a relevant amount of world info without just dumping. This is great, I'm using it.
[A different sort of travel guide] I've got 8 pages of a document to present to the players for my first ever campaign. They are a collection of in world documents with brightly colored notes scrawled overtop. The plan is to give each player one of these documents and to let them puzzle over their piece before bringing it to the rest of the party. The censored document is the clearest in communicating that there are secrets hidden here. But I've also thrown in an interview transcript, an obituary, a jewelry store ad, a naturalist map for a region they may never visit... but it all conveys a little something about the world and the hidden information will act as a great hook for at least half of my players. The final step in worldbuilding was going to be a character survey. And it still will be. But rather than sending it over discord, I'm going to sit each of them down for an interview. They are being recruited to a burgeoning guild at the start of the campaign, might as well make that a diegetic part of the process. I have definitely gone overboard. But the driest part of the document is a textbook page on how magic works which I can hand directly to the player in my group that is always exited to dive into the magic system. And taken as a whole, it communicates this vibe of government conspiracies being challenged by a group of rebels - which is exactly the headspace I want my players in as they are solidifying their characters.
This is really cool. I would love to get this as a player. I also do pre-game character surveys, but turning it into a diegetic interview is really clever. Thank you for the idea, and thank you for watching!
@@AstralMarmot It was truly funny to me because I had an introduction document ready. But I was using someone else's template and thought the old paper background was not quite getting the vibe across. After spending a couple of weeks on changing up the background art, I realized that I was trying to merge an X-Files conspiracy vibe with a punk vibe which was not coming together with the document presented as it was. This new approach has delayed the launch of my game a couple of months, but now I am confident that my players will be hooked from the start.
Great video, I will certainly try out your suggestions A tool I would 100% recommend for this kind or creations is Figma. It's a professional tool for webdesigners but you can do pretty much anything you want. I did homemade character sheets, NPC's portrait for print, small battelmaps... And there is a free version
I've been struggling pretty hard to sell people on this West Marches concept I've been crafting on and off for over a year now. I think these principles might be the key to successfully selling the idea in an elevator pitch! I'm gonna give it a shot, thanks.
Im someone who hasn’t quite had the time to actually DM a campaign yet, but loves world building and creating settings to the point where it can be a barrier to actually potentially getting a group together, I started making a PowerPoint as a players guide for each possible setting and using that as my final word on that world until I actually run a game.
I like your point about how the creator of the guide puts bias in the guide. I have a suggestion. Add "hand-written" comments in the guide. Maybe someone correcting something, or underlining things. Stuff like "THIS ISN'T TRUE!!!" or "Watch out for bedbugs!" or someone altering the art like drawing a mustache or blacked out teeth on the picture of the mayor and then writing "PUPPET" next to it. Then you have to decide "Who wrote these comments?" Does this represent someone from another faction? You can also do this to an existing guide you already gave to your players. Maybe it is a version they find later after they've been given the original. You might even have the comments cover something the character already know to be true (from their previous adventures) or suspect to be true. If they know some of the content is true, they may then wonder about the validity of the comments that they have not yet discovered. They may also try to track down the writer of the comments. You could also do this more than once. Perhaps and edited/commented guide from yet another perspective, maybe one that conflicts with the other commented guide. Or you could have comments that come from two different authors in the same edited guide (obviously different inks/paints/handwriting). Ones where there was a second person who found the originally edited guide, and then made their own comments. BTW, this idea comes from the old Earthdawn books. They were written from the perspective of books stored in a library. It was common to find comments written in the margins, typically from the librarians.
Awesome idea. I had a similar idea for menus for equipments and weapons so my players can get the vibe of Old School Essentials from a tangible prop. I saw your video and it inspired me to make a video about my menus. I made sure to shout you out!
Great question! I've got the ADHD timeblindness pretty badly, but I'd say I put in about three days on the Zobeck guide and a week on the Mosadz guide (not solid, spread out over that time). I wasn't working from a template for the Mosadz guide so it was definitely the larger time investment.
I thought I'd never heard of Photopea when I was just listening to your video, and then when I rewatched it properly and saw Photopea (which I have been pronouncing photo-pea, pea like the plant) I felt so silly xD
I'm going to be honest with you; I have zero idea how it's actually pronounced and you may very well be right... it just feels silly to me to say "photo-pee" but that might be the intention.
1. I grew up before ADHD was well-known. I almost certainly would have been diagnosed with it, and I don't mean that flippantly. 2. I hadn't heard "blerd" til I saw it on your page, but I've known some, mostly fellow gamers. Should be an ancestry in 5e, imo. 3. This is a great idea. Very immersive and entertaining and informative. Devious! I love sourcing it in the world so the characters can use it. It reminds me of some of the old video game booklets that were presented in a similar way. You could frame it as a collection of tourism pamphlets like the kind you find at rest stops, each with their own style and vibe, but all fitting in-world. The various religions could have their own tracts or whatever. The map btw makes it look like an amusement park map, another form of this kind of self-promotion. 4. I don't clench my jaw. I chew my tongue. But... called out.
The algorithm has blessed me today, these are such great ideas! I have been working on a homebrew setting and have designed most of my handouts in the style of the Eberron setting guide, but I still feel like they are too wordy and not visually interesting to hook my players. Now I feel really inspired 😊
That's great to hear! It's really hard to cut the word count down; I had to go through a couple drafts before I got something concise enough to put in front of the table. Let me know how it goes; I always love seeing what people do with this idea. And thank you for watching!
This was a wonderful video, thank you! Worldbuilding has always had my interest ever since I first started doing it and is a wonderful outlet for my creativity. I've been kind of interested in making my own videos and publishing TTRPG content. I'm going to save this video and hopefully use it to start be down the path.
Making ttrpg videos has been a dream of mine for a long time and I'm glad I pushed myself to do it. I love hearing that it inspired you. Good luck starting your channel - let me know if and when you get it off the ground!
The Video Her Advice Thanks for another great tip on immersion broken down in a way that even the squirrliest of us ADHDDMs can manage. I'm going to start mine right away. Tomorrow. Soon. Finished by next week. Before next game. Christmas. Happy New Year!
I've never actually considered writing a guide, which is ironic considering Vollo's Guides were one of the most flavorful reading in an rpg I've ever done.
Look at it this way: you've basically got your outline for the brochure ready to go! And having all that info will come in handy during the campaign. Thanks for watching the video; I hope you make something cool and that your campaign goes brilliantly.
I found your channel today and I’m loving the content! Continue to keep it coming! I enjoy the editing and layout of the videos! I wish I knew how to do that! 😊what editing software do you use?
Thank you so much for tuning in! I use Adobe Premiere Pro. It's very complicated and I'm still learning how to get the most out of it. I wish I could recommend something free but there's gotta be something out there that would work for you. Good luck - with videos and with your game!
These groups were both online, so I sent it as a PDF. If we were playing in person and I could find a color printer I'd make handouts just because I love doing that. I'm glad it inspired you - thank you for watching!
Excellent advice 👍 I made something like this. I had a visual component. An AI generated image of an ingame visitors guide and an AI generated Text the AI made from my description. Very lazy but jet very effective. Something to consider if you have very little time and you need something that looks like you had a plan in the first place 😃
Weirdly, watching the video felt so intuitive and genious, but when I went to read the examples for better clarity, it only made me feel more confused. As if reading the examples made the whole video make less sense than before reading the examples. I don't know how that is even possible. I think it might be that while reading, I couldn't really see the instructions put in the video reflected in the examples. I see the overview, that's step one, ok all good so far, but why is the rest of the document districts alone? Where's the segment on gods and religion? Local region? government? Etc? They seem absent from the examples, despite being discussed in the video.
It's true that not everything from the outline will make it into your guides. The Zobeck guide has a section on gods because they're very important to that setting; the Mosadz guide does not because gods are closed out of that realm. The summary is meant to be a jumping off point (and hopefully a way to crystallize your own thoughts about the setting). I hope that makes it slightly less confusing - and that you still give it a try!
Wait wait wait. My players *don't* think about TTRPGs all the time? That's hard to understand. I'll need to write a 20-page document to explain to them what they're missing and tell them it's important information for our campaign.
Here's a trick I used to use: Write out your TLDR epic text box campaign backstory. Then break that epic text into individual paragraphs or sentences. Then assign each of those paragraphs or sentences to NPCs, or other sources of information; statues, tapestries, books, and other such in universe sources can reveal one piece of information. ALSO weave some of these paragrpahs and sentences into Class abilities and training, for example if your character specializes in a weapon, they also learn the paragrpah that explains how 100 years ago the hero of the age used this type of weapon to defeat some specific evil enemy, if your ranger chooses a favored enemy tell them the paragrpah of sentence that explains the epic reason why that enemy is a favored enemy of rangers. Using this trick you never have to info dump, and your players will want to engage with the world more to learn more.
That's an excellent way to make the campaign history approachable and digestible. It also makes the world feel more alive and an exciting place to explore. Great tip, thank you so much!
This just made me realize I should do one of those free pamphlets advertising tourist attractions that you pick up at, like, gas stations and diners and motels in small towns for my game set at a summer camp in the US in the 90s...
I really appreciate the ethical art section! As an artist who will be making all my own art myself for my guides thanks for respecting art and artists! I was afraid to watch this video as I was afraid to get hurt at this section and was very relieved instead! Also this is very relevant for the TTRPG book I’m making for my own original TTRPG as I will be including three example worlds and styles of play with them and need to really edit it down to a bare minimum as even if I end up making the book huge I still have to edit what is most essential and necessary to my core rulebook! Editing down is actually one of the hardest parts I find!
Also I will be making my first version in black and white and researching more to determine how but hope I can release a colour version someday perhaps.
You're so welcome! Respecting artists is the absolute bare minimum as far as I'm concerned. Making your own ttrpg is really exciting! I've done some editing work for setting guides and I agree that it's one of the hardest parts. If you feel like sharing your guide when you're done I'd love to see it. Good luck with your guide and your game!
@@AstralMarmot thanks I’m just about to start the Alpha play testing while I keep laying out the tracks as I go (lol). Just beginning the artwork and also studying graphic design and layout as I Don’t know that well enough yet! I’m building what I believe is the ultimate TTRPG but for myself first and foremost. No guarantee of any sales, so if at least I use it it’s worth all the effort! It’s more on the adjustable rules heavy end of the scale but I hope still intuitive!
this gives me some great ideas for my own game! really good video
I'm gonna make a region guide aimed at tourists coming to the tropical coastline that my pirate game is running in
We love a pirate game! I hope you'll share it once it's done - I love seeing what other people do with this idea
WAIT THIS GIVES ME SUCH AN IDEA!!
Propaganda against and for the war between Salanith and Khramdor! They're at cold war right now, soon to be set to flame whenever my players make it past the "tutorial" section of my campaign world
BUT HOLY HELL
That's a killer idea! Having both sides of the conflict makes it extra spicy. I'm glad the video inspired you; thank you for watching!
In game visitors guide? Yes! Well Told! 💧
Cool. You can also let your players write a few npc’s and places in your world. Especially players who likes to write long backstories like this. Just give them a few hooks and let them write something and they may surprise you.
This is a great tip. It works for long-term campaigns, but it's also a really useful shortcut in one-shots to make sure your players are invested in the setting. Thanks for sharing, and for watching!
How dare you hit me with that "unclench your jaw" last second... Take my like!
This is such a cool idea! I love to hold group worldbuilding sessions with my players at the start of campaigns, to discuss what type of elements they'd be excited to see in their game world, and I feel like this would be a perfect companion to that. I could take my own story ideas, plus some different settings and details my players look forward to, and tie them together into one big location! I'm super excited to try this now, thank you so much!
fantastic video! Gonna try and make a guide for my current campaign. Love the cupons idea!
Oh my gosh, I love this! As a fellow ADHD DM who is just preparing her new campaign, this was exactly what I needed. Now I’ll get a glass of water and unclench my jaw.
I also have ADHD and recently began recovery from drug addiction. My selfesteem has taken a massive blow because of my addiction and so I recently decided to start to GM again to build up my self esteem (the last time I GM'd, was D&D 2nd Edition so Im feeling pretty rusty!). Anyway, I stumbled onto your channel and this is so perfectly awesome and helpful to me. Thank you and I hope you keep it up!
Thank you so much for watching! Going from 2e to 5e will be a big change, but you don't have to deal with THAC0 and that's reason enough to switch. Good luck on your recovery too; I know it can be a hard road and I respect you a lot for putting yourself back out into the world. I hope your journey is smooth and your games exciting!
Thank you. I had taken a break from running after a successful setting based mostly in unused ideas and response to what players seemed to like. Coming back to it this helps take the ADD nebulous down a peg.
I know I'd liked the idea of Gazetteers that I've seen in campaign settings. Things like a half-page map of each region, some interesting statistics, and another opposite page with points of interest and recent events. But I hadn't thought of doing that from an in-game perspective. That's genius!
I audibly went ‘YES’ as you voiced a lot of the ideas going through my head. I’ll have to go to get some brochures now for inspiration.
I've been DMing for 40 years and never used a guide like this. But your ideas make me want to try it.
I adore this idea!! I'm about to start running a campaign that begins with a bit of a prologue adventure before we get to see the world become this vast industrious thing so now I can't WAIT to whip up a brochure for the world!!
How to lore dump in a digestible, entertaining, and stylish way? Sign me up!
What an excellent idea! I love this!
I did something similar for my last campaign; I created a one-page campaign guide, that I could print out and give to players.
My guide featured a summary of the previous campaign, six truths of the world, a bit about how to play the game, and safety tools (my players were fairly inexperienced).
I’ve been wanting to give my group something a bit more detailed for this campaign, but went down a rabbit-hole of online campaign builders. This looks like the sweet spot! I’m going to use it!
I’ll be happy to share the result.
Cool! I started something like this for a game I'm getting ready to start. A page of info highlights and then questions for the players. I let them name some of the NPCs before the session starts, and I'll ask other questions like "what is Jorn's pet's name?" or "what is Jorn's biome appropriate pet and it's name?" I want them to feel a sense of ownership to the game and that they aren't just lamps on a railroad (no agency and told where to go). I love this video! So much good stuff, thanks!
This is a really good way to introduce a campaign world.
I am going to make these guides for my pet setting in my world now, I was already thinking about it but this video really put the pieces together for me.
You are a genius, the best idea I have found on RUclips
This is awesome!!! Love the idea of a guide for a campaign. Very well presented!
This was awesome! Running my first session with my family and I think the visual aspect of a guide will really help with the buy in :) great video!
I'd never considerd something like this,i'm definitly doing this for my first campaign
This is a really good idea. I'm a few sessions into my homebrew world right now but I think it would still be helpful to make a Visitor's Guide to Nena.
This is some great advice! Thanks for the video. I'm definitely going to make my own Visitor's Guide for my table.
I've already started playing in a world my players don't know much about and I have been struggling with giving them information so this is perfect. Luckily they've already met an NPC who is perfect for handing them one for the local region and he may even ask them to help him gather information about other places so he can make more.
Ooh this is actually perfect, i was already gonna start my next campaign on a space cruise ship, an in world travel brochure would be a great introduction
That's awesome! I hope it turns out amazing - I'm always fascinated to see how differently everyone approaches this idea. Best of luck on your brochure and your campaign!
I've been trying to write an in-world mage's almanac to create a fun little glimpse into the day by day life and culture of the people in the region. Contains stuff like calendars, articles about flora and fauna, weather forecasts and horoscopes, and holidays and festivals of the regions. All sorts of fun stuff that just flesh out what its like to live there.
As a bookbinder, I intend to print the whole thing out and bind it into an actual physical booklet that I can hand to my players to have and reference.
A mage's almanac is such a good idea! I love the idea of horoscopes and weather forecasts; they're both so easy to tie in to gameplay. Thanks for sharing this killer idea!
i love this
idk if il do it
but definitely want to, better than just talking sporadically with players between charater creations or sessions
DO IT! DO IT! DO IT!
@@AstralMarmot AHHH
i will cook something up for my players
This is actually really helpful, props
I found this video and all your videos TERRIBLY insightful and a wonderful thought-provoking resource. You have a way of explaining things that really speaks to me and I commend your effort in sharing what you know. Thank you so much for these. really. Amazing stuff. Please make more! :)
I like your channel's vibe, best of luck growing it
Thanks for the reminder to unclench! The video was great too!
LOL! First time I've seen this channel, i think. But this is an idea that I had for my game world.
This came out just in time for the start of a new Campaign in a new World I created. Lovely Idea. Thanks :)
I hope your campaign goes well and that you make a really killer guide! Would love to see it if you do
I had the first session of my campaign a few days ago and the players loved the guide.
With another group I had another idea. A weekly newspaper article that shows the movement of the world around the players. It has reports on the war, news about important events (that the players might have had a hand in) and sponsored sections that talk about the grand new invention or something like that of another great faction. Depending on who publishes the newspaper the facts are more or less unbiased.
I swear just last night my friends and I were talking about having an investigative journalist that followed in the wake of the party reporting on their deeds (and misdeeds) and all the possibilities that come with it; framing the party as villains, reporting on collateral damage, misspelling the PC's names, etc. I'm so glad the visitor's guide went over well!
What an amazing idea. I've been wondering how to best grant my players a relevant amount of world info without just dumping. This is great, I'm using it.
Instructions unclear, wrote a novel instead.
I can't believe George RR Martin watches my videos!
Fantastic! Been thinking of doing this for a while. Canva will be my designer.
Awesome! Let me know how it goes; I'm always fascinated by what people end up doing with this idea. Good luck to you and your game!
[A different sort of travel guide]
I've got 8 pages of a document to present to the players for my first ever campaign. They are a collection of in world documents with brightly colored notes scrawled overtop. The plan is to give each player one of these documents and to let them puzzle over their piece before bringing it to the rest of the party. The censored document is the clearest in communicating that there are secrets hidden here. But I've also thrown in an interview transcript, an obituary, a jewelry store ad, a naturalist map for a region they may never visit... but it all conveys a little something about the world and the hidden information will act as a great hook for at least half of my players. The final step in worldbuilding was going to be a character survey. And it still will be. But rather than sending it over discord, I'm going to sit each of them down for an interview. They are being recruited to a burgeoning guild at the start of the campaign, might as well make that a diegetic part of the process.
I have definitely gone overboard. But the driest part of the document is a textbook page on how magic works which I can hand directly to the player in my group that is always exited to dive into the magic system. And taken as a whole, it communicates this vibe of government conspiracies being challenged by a group of rebels - which is exactly the headspace I want my players in as they are solidifying their characters.
This is really cool. I would love to get this as a player. I also do pre-game character surveys, but turning it into a diegetic interview is really clever. Thank you for the idea, and thank you for watching!
@@AstralMarmot It was truly funny to me because I had an introduction document ready. But I was using someone else's template and thought the old paper background was not quite getting the vibe across. After spending a couple of weeks on changing up the background art, I realized that I was trying to merge an X-Files conspiracy vibe with a punk vibe which was not coming together with the document presented as it was. This new approach has delayed the launch of my game a couple of months, but now I am confident that my players will be hooked from the start.
This is sooooooooo cool! I’m going to watch more of your videos after this!
Thank you so much! I hope you like the other things I do too. There's another video coming soon!
Great video, I will certainly try out your suggestions
A tool I would 100% recommend for this kind or creations is Figma. It's a professional tool for webdesigners but you can do pretty much anything you want. I did homemade character sheets, NPC's portrait for print, small battelmaps... And there is a free version
I'd never heard of Figma; it looks great! Thanks for the tip, and thanks for watching!
Awesome idea, awesome video. Thanks!!
Glad you liked it! I hope you make something cool
I've been struggling pretty hard to sell people on this West Marches concept I've been crafting on and off for over a year now.
I think these principles might be the key to successfully selling the idea in an elevator pitch! I'm gonna give it a shot, thanks.
Great guide! I hadn't thought about using visual storytelling in this manner, and to make the initial sales pitch part of the In-world universe.
Your guides are really helpful unlike anything I’ve found on RUclips for me, please don’t stop :)
This is high quality content!
Thank you so much! It means a lot to know this is helping people
Im someone who hasn’t quite had the time to actually DM a campaign yet, but loves world building and creating settings to the point where it can be a barrier to actually potentially getting a group together, I started making a PowerPoint as a players guide for each possible setting and using that as my final word on that world until I actually run a game.
I like your point about how the creator of the guide puts bias in the guide. I have a suggestion. Add "hand-written" comments in the guide. Maybe someone correcting something, or underlining things. Stuff like "THIS ISN'T TRUE!!!" or "Watch out for bedbugs!" or someone altering the art like drawing a mustache or blacked out teeth on the picture of the mayor and then writing "PUPPET" next to it. Then you have to decide "Who wrote these comments?" Does this represent someone from another faction?
You can also do this to an existing guide you already gave to your players. Maybe it is a version they find later after they've been given the original. You might even have the comments cover something the character already know to be true (from their previous adventures) or suspect to be true. If they know some of the content is true, they may then wonder about the validity of the comments that they have not yet discovered. They may also try to track down the writer of the comments.
You could also do this more than once. Perhaps and edited/commented guide from yet another perspective, maybe one that conflicts with the other commented guide. Or you could have comments that come from two different authors in the same edited guide (obviously different inks/paints/handwriting). Ones where there was a second person who found the originally edited guide, and then made their own comments.
BTW, this idea comes from the old Earthdawn books. They were written from the perspective of books stored in a library. It was common to find comments written in the margins, typically from the librarians.
I gotta try my hand at this!
Aaaand now I wanna start up another Spelljammer game where I can use this. Maybe soon, maybe soon...
Awesome idea. I had a similar idea for menus for equipments and weapons so my players can get the vibe of Old School Essentials from a tangible prop. I saw your video and it inspired me to make a video about my menus. I made sure to shout you out!
Cool video, what’s the estimatedtime invested in making one city guide approximately ?
Great question! I've got the ADHD timeblindness pretty badly, but I'd say I put in about three days on the Zobeck guide and a week on the Mosadz guide (not solid, spread out over that time). I wasn't working from a template for the Mosadz guide so it was definitely the larger time investment.
I really love this, it's inspired me to do one of these.
The Couriers Guide to Setra by Linus Rower
I thought I'd never heard of Photopea when I was just listening to your video, and then when I rewatched it properly and saw Photopea (which I have been pronouncing photo-pea, pea like the plant) I felt so silly xD
I'm going to be honest with you; I have zero idea how it's actually pronounced and you may very well be right... it just feels silly to me to say "photo-pee" but that might be the intention.
1. I grew up before ADHD was well-known. I almost certainly would have been diagnosed with it, and I don't mean that flippantly. 2. I hadn't heard "blerd" til I saw it on your page, but I've known some, mostly fellow gamers. Should be an ancestry in 5e, imo. 3. This is a great idea. Very immersive and entertaining and informative. Devious! I love sourcing it in the world so the characters can use it. It reminds me of some of the old video game booklets that were presented in a similar way. You could frame it as a collection of tourism pamphlets like the kind you find at rest stops, each with their own style and vibe, but all fitting in-world. The various religions could have their own tracts or whatever. The map btw makes it look like an amusement park map, another form of this kind of self-promotion. 4. I don't clench my jaw. I chew my tongue. But... called out.
The algorithm has blessed me today, these are such great ideas! I have been working on a homebrew setting and have designed most of my handouts in the style of the Eberron setting guide, but I still feel like they are too wordy and not visually interesting to hook my players. Now I feel really inspired 😊
That's great to hear! It's really hard to cut the word count down; I had to go through a couple drafts before I got something concise enough to put in front of the table. Let me know how it goes; I always love seeing what people do with this idea. And thank you for watching!
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Amazing content. Subscribed after only 1 video!
This was a wonderful video, thank you! Worldbuilding has always had my interest ever since I first started doing it and is a wonderful outlet for my creativity. I've been kind of interested in making my own videos and publishing TTRPG content. I'm going to save this video and hopefully use it to start be down the path.
Making ttrpg videos has been a dream of mine for a long time and I'm glad I pushed myself to do it. I love hearing that it inspired you. Good luck starting your channel - let me know if and when you get it off the ground!
The Video Her Advice
Thanks for another great tip on immersion broken down in a way that even the squirrliest of us ADHDDMs can manage. I'm going to start mine right away. Tomorrow. Soon. Finished by next week. Before next game. Christmas. Happy New Year!
I've never actually considered writing a guide, which is ironic considering Vollo's Guides were one of the most flavorful reading in an rpg I've ever done.
You inspired me to now create a bunch of Visitor's Guides! Thank you
Thank you for watching! I'm glad you were inspired
I've spent weeks building up my WorldAnvil account, and then I see this... 😂
Look at it this way: you've basically got your outline for the brochure ready to go! And having all that info will come in handy during the campaign. Thanks for watching the video; I hope you make something cool and that your campaign goes brilliantly.
Nice
awesome video! thank you so much! 🙏
Brilliant 50% off! I will use your advice for sure.
Really useful, thanks!
Hi. This is amazing! ............................. I unclenched my jaw.
I found your channel today and I’m loving the content! Continue to keep it coming!
I enjoy the editing and layout of the videos! I wish I knew how to do that! 😊what editing software do you use?
Thank you so much for tuning in! I use Adobe Premiere Pro. It's very complicated and I'm still learning how to get the most out of it. I wish I could recommend something free but there's gotta be something out there that would work for you. Good luck - with videos and with your game!
@@AstralMarmot thank for responding! You seem to be mastering it because your videos are great!
Great idea! Hope RUclips treats you well!
Thank you! I hope so too.
0:24 What do you mean 10 pages? I have 4 notebooks full of lore! Jokes apart great video I will definitely try to make a visitor guide for my setting
Gimp and Krita are also both free tools you could use
This was very inspirational for me, thank you. How did you present these guides to your players? In printed form (how), or still a PDF?
These groups were both online, so I sent it as a PDF. If we were playing in person and I could find a color printer I'd make handouts just because I love doing that. I'm glad it inspired you - thank you for watching!
"Most people don't have lives 100% focused around tabletop game."
Impossibru! I don't believe it.
God why have I not been using my magazine/brochure industry freelancing experiences in my campaigns more??? Thank you.
GIMP - Gnu Image Manipulation Program - is a great, free alternative to Photoshop.
I'll check out photopia, I haven't seen that one before. 🙂
I always don't feel I have enough informations to write these kind of guides.
Gimp is a good free painting/photo editor, similar to photoshop.
Excellent advice 👍
I made something like this. I had a visual component. An AI generated image of an ingame visitors guide and an AI generated Text the AI made from my description. Very lazy but jet very effective. Something to consider if you have very little time and you need something that looks like you had a plan in the first place 😃
If my DM doesn't bother writing their own world guide, then I won't bother reading it.
Comment because Dio told me to.
I also do whatever Dio says
5/5
Last time I tried i got to 20 pages 😅
The struggle is REAL
Love the video, full of great info. Thank you.
But….
Please. talk. slower.
I always thought it was pronounced photo pea like the vegetable lol
You're the second person to say that so I'm starting to think y'all are probably right lol
Weirdly, watching the video felt so intuitive and genious, but when I went to read the examples for better clarity, it only made me feel more confused. As if reading the examples made the whole video make less sense than before reading the examples. I don't know how that is even possible.
I think it might be that while reading, I couldn't really see the instructions put in the video reflected in the examples. I see the overview, that's step one, ok all good so far, but why is the rest of the document districts alone? Where's the segment on gods and religion? Local region? government? Etc? They seem absent from the examples, despite being discussed in the video.
It's true that not everything from the outline will make it into your guides. The Zobeck guide has a section on gods because they're very important to that setting; the Mosadz guide does not because gods are closed out of that realm. The summary is meant to be a jumping off point (and hopefully a way to crystallize your own thoughts about the setting). I hope that makes it slightly less confusing - and that you still give it a try!
ASTRAL MARMOT!? YOU'RE ALIVE!? I thought you just scammed us to donate and ran off!
Life got i the way, but I'm back and alive and making videos!
Talks about how ADHD is a creative superpower, uses AI to write their list. 👎
Huh?
"... And unclench your jaw."
1st of all, how dare you! 😂
Great content! Going to listen a few times to really soak it in.