How to Create a Believable Role Playing Game World

Last Updated: May 6, 2021

With the rise in popularity of role-playing games across multiple and very distinct genres, there are significant challenges in creating a believable world for player characters to interact in. Time periods, religions, history, and other minutiae may be different. Creating a world that is believable is very important for players to get into the game!

Sample Campaigns

Dungeons and Dragons Night of the Lichen Campaign

Dungeons and Dragons Greenwind Depths Campaign

Dungeons and Dragons Flayer's Valley Campaign

Method 1

Method 1 of 1:

Creating Your Own Role-Playing Game World

1
Start by deciding whether your world will share history with the real one. If it does share history, decide where it will diverge and why. If it is a new world of your imagination, tell who lives there and what the history is. Ex: Wars, drastic changes, deadly wildlife.
2
Map out your world. Geography doesn't seem important at first, but it tends to shape long periods of history. It will define your world's boundaries and shape the psychologies of its people. Which cities are seafaring? Which cities are landlocked? Which people were the first to receive foreigners?

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3
Create a naming style for you world. Will everyone have names like Ulgar and Hemdall? Or will they be named Smith and Thatcher?
4
Create a "Bible" of your world with all of the important historical characters and events. Who were the big players when your world was created? A farmer who was martyred? An alien race that died out?
5
Decide who the characters that enter the world as players will be. Are they natives or travelers to a distant land? Decide who the characters they meet are, and how those characters' actions are shaped by their history and culture.
6
Decide on what the factions will be in your world. Decide why each faction exists, what they believe in, and who the members are.
7
Create a flow of events. Decide what big events will intervene in your world and when. When will the meteor strike Earth? At what time will Mt. Righteous finally unleash it fatal power?

Community Q&A

Question

How can I get my friends to play with me?

Community Answer

Once you've made the game detailed enough, they may be interested & want to play. Try inviting them once you've shown them how cool it is.
Question

Is it possible to make my RPG gamemaster a "god," and can I intervene in the game?

Community Answer

Absolutely, this is a good way to interact with the characters, give them clues and information, bestow blessings and gifts, etc.
Question

Can I make my own book on this?

Community Answer

Of course, you just choose when it starts, where it starts, and who it starts with.

Warnings

Watch out for multiple characters that act exactly the same.

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Watch out for "that one town" phenomena where players are unable to remember the differences between one place and another.

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Come up with hooks that other games may not have

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Be sure to check that your cities don't have commons with another game.

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