>start running campaign>do world building for it>start getting annoyed because I don't like it>want to rip it all up and start over >can't because I'm mid campaign>dream constantly of running multiple campaigns in the same world>haven't done it since I was 15 because I get disatisfied with the world and start overHow do I end this?
>>97074691How about you just play the game?
>>97074695Well the game needs a world to play in. If its not a good world it decreases your enjoyment of the campaign. It's a creative enterprise as much as anything else.
>>97074691You should in general stop overthinking it because even if they're your good friends your players aren't thinking about it that hard
>>97074691Make less of the world. Fill in the details as you run the game. If it ends up sucking, you can undo some of the changes made during the campaign. If it sucks too much for that, all you spent was light world building and let your campaign interactions dictate the rest.If you actually like your play group, fondness for their input might actually help you enjoy your setting, rather than letting your inner auteur scream at you for petty shit your players don't care about.
>>97074722>Well the game needs a world to play in.>If its not a good world it decreases your enjoyment of the campaign.>It's a creative enterprise as much as anything else.You only really need the impression of a world to run a game. If it bothers you personally that there are details unfilled I can see why that would be frustrating, but having the ability to add details of how the world is laid-out midstream is a good advantage while also reducing prepwork and I would advise giving it a try.
>>97074749>>97074743I mostly only make major factions in the world and each city as well as major points of interest and inns and taverns. As well as a point of origin for each subclass in 5e.
>>97074769Start with even less than that then. Make a single town, keep events local starting out, then expand the horizons of the party as you expand the setting around this singular town or village.ex:>Why are adventurers needed in this town?Recent military conscription had taken away many of the able bodied fighting men, leaving the town vulnerable to the more subtle predations of monsters/gangsters/whatever fits your fancy.>What war is going on that needs this conscription?The war with Umbrian goblin tribes, who infest the nearby swamps and have done significant damage through small skirmishes and raids. They hadn't been a major issue until recently due to infighting, but have united under a singular chief.>Who is this chief?Chief Agnagag is a goblin of unusual intelligence, educated by books his tribe stole from surrounding villages. More of a shrewd tactician than a great warrior in his own right, the goblin army's low cunning under his leadership has turned what should've been a simple campaign into long and drawn out guerilla warfare.And you just expand as you ask questions or need them answered from your players. You don't need an entire world, just a detailed starting point surrounded by stuff that can be filled in later.
>>97074722I started my current campaign with literally no prep lol.
>>97074722You only need enough stuff to handle immediate needs. You can let the rest emerge naturally as the game is played, even fill in the gaps between sessions if you want to flesh it out.
>>97074995
>>97074691You need to reduce the amount of worldbuilding you do in advance in order to develop your idea organically. Just male an outline of the region where the game take places, only flesh out the place were the adventure takes place and leave as a forethought the rest of the world, basically use picrel framework. Throw in some procedures (ad&d hexcrawl, worlds without number factions phase, tome of adventures design, perilous wilds, rat mazes etc...) for surprising yourself from time to time and you're golden.
>>97074691>start getting annoyed because I don't like itWhy do you not like the things you made?
>>97074691>wojak shitter>retarded faggotChecks out
>>97074888>Make a single town, keep events local starting out, I did that and then tried to expand slowly but even just traveling along a river ended up being too much. It feels like a place doesn't really get "solidified" until the PCs visit there. But I still like to have a half page of description for each town. Just shorthand. Some NPCs. Some shops. Etc. The support value thing from medieval demographics helps a lot. But then I would make like 5 taverns for a town of 2000 and realize I wasted too much time. I had 15 NPCs for the starting town and used about half of them. That's pretty good. But obviously can't do that every time.
>>97075515>Why do you not like the things you made?Because it doesn't fit into my conceptual vision when it's done. I can imagine some really cool intricate hexcrawl where every location is super flavorful and then I get done with 5 or 6 towns and I feel like they aren't as flavorful as they should've been.i feel like every one of them needs to fit in perfectly in theme and geographic location. And then I realize my map doesn't make as much sense as it should and get butthurt.
>>97076831Perfectionism. The problem is not with what you've created, but with you comparing it to a hypothetical ideal. Improving your work will never solve this problem because your ideals will improve faster than your ability.You do not have a world building problem, you have a psychological problem. Recognise that the perfect is the enemy of the good, and the that you have made is more usable than the thing you haven't made by the mere fact that it actually exists.
>>97076785Tables. RNG. If you need such details and your players are moving so quick in your campaign world, you are going to need tables. Either random crap on the journey tables to slow them down, or random generation tables for settlements and locales to fill them out with spending however long you normally spend.The reason I suggested keeping things local initially is to keep the points of interest local. Hopefully avoid your party just pissing off to god-knows-where. If necessary, create an immediate danger to leaving that would require time and/or resources to circumvent to leave the starting location.
>>97076963>If necessary, create an immediate danger to leaving that would require time and/or resources to circumvent to leave the starting location.That works well but eventually I have to expand things. I had a few sessions in the starting town before they left and now they have and while I'm happy with some of what I made, it isn't this perfect world where every town is super unique and memorable. Which isn't realistic to be fair, but even so it feels like it should be better than this.
>>97076957>You do not have a world building problem, you have a psychological problemAny tips or tricks for fixing that or working against these feelings? I try to remind myself it's better world building than the halcyon days of my teenage years and those DnD campaigns. But it doesn't really help.
>>97078229Nothing concrete; I have no relevant expertise other than suffering the same problem, and most of the advice I've found amounts to little more than platitudes.First you have to recognise that what you're doing is disfunctional. If you don't genuinely believe I'm right then no advice will work. Same way you'd never get over a fear of spiders if you were convinced they were routinely dangerous.Assuming you accept that, what do you do? You can't just will away feelings just because you know they're irrational. But you can choose to stop looking for problems to get upset over, and focus on what is working in the game.
>>97074691Dunno. Maybe try solo gaming to burn through some of that by yourself.
>>97074691have you considered just writing a book? that way you could do as many revisions as you want
>>97074691I do this only I reset my entire campaign and ruin everything and then quickly hate that too and give up haha
>>97078401True that's a good point. The game is going really great and, like the last time I ran a 5e game, it is going well, very D&D-centeres with the classic monsters heavily involved. But after the last time I told myself I'd make a more reusable setting for next time. And I guess maybe it's just that every town feels kind of generic, despite having interesting aspects, and despite my ethos that not every town should be interesting. But at the same time maybe I shouldn't care for realistic demographics and just make the "town build on mesa with rope elevators up cliff" and "town built around ancient ruined statue" and "town built on waterfall" and not worry about any non interesting towns. But I already drew out the map and it doesn't really work. >>97079789No dude I get it. I can't break up this campaign but I do wonder how much the PCs would notice if I deleted large swathes of the campaign world and remade it. But I feel like it wouldn't actually be any better.
>>97074722>Well the game needs a world to play in.I'm lucky with my players.I can show them shit that looks cool and they'll come up with a bunch of bullshit speculation on their own.Later on I just selectively go 'yeah that's true'.
>>97074691>>97080034I got around this by making it the norm with my gaming group that each "Campaign" lasts like 10-12 sessions MAX. It lasts long enough that they can have a meaningful impact in the world, but not so long that it just kind of meanders on forever before eventually dying. Also if I hate the way the campaign is going I can tough it out for a couple more weeks and end it early, or just end it depending on how long it's been going. Then next campaign I put them into an entirely different part of the world and start over. It's great.
>>97074691You can't just shit out a setting in an afternoon and expect it to be good. Proper worldbuilding is a process of refining over time.
>>97080034You're avoiding my point. My claim is that your problem is not that you're bad at worldbuilding, it's that you're perfectionist about worldbuilding. And probably in general, but that's out of scope.Does that sound accurate to you? I mean looking at your posts all your problems are, "I don't feel it's good enough" rather than, "it did not function properly" or "players complained about it".If that is the case then trying to improve will only feed the problem.
>>97080311Oh god. My game is 12 sessions already and it's just really set the stage. I mean a lot has happened but there's a ton more on multiple plot threads. >>97081201>, it's that you're perfectionist about worldbuilding. And probably in general, but that's out of scope.>Does that sound accurate to you?Yeah that's a good point. I do complain how my DMing feels like it's gotten worse over the years due to burnout but no one has ever complained. But then, would they? >If that is the case then trying to improve will only feed the problem.True. Complaint =/= improvment, necessarily.
>>97082198>Complaint =/= improvmentI'm not sure you understand me. Any effort you put into trying to improve is necessarily effort focused on your current "inadequacy". Any increase in skill will be more than offset by the increase in perfectionism. Even if you play better, you will feel worse.>my DMing feels like it's gotten worseI put it to you that your DMing is better, but your standards are much higher, so the gap between your performance and standards is worse.
>>97074691>dream constantly of running multiple campaigns in the same worldI've been doing that for the past fifteen years and it's great. And it's only been getting better--once we all hit our thirties and were in real jobs instead of shift work, so much more time and availability opened up.
>>97074691Jesus Christ you're an absolute loser. Just be grateful that you have a game to play and a group to play with. Put on your panties and tie your shoes like a big boy and either play the game consistently, or pull out and stop letting these people get their time wasted by you
