Wasn't making the kind of progress I wanted to with world building and since my party's only covered about eight miles I only needed a small wooded area with mountains to the west to drop the CURRENT adventure into. Remember, if they haven't seen it, it doesn't exist yet.
Worldspinner is great. It does some wonderful things, like history, passage of time, adventure themes and hooks. But Azgaar does different things. Like longitude, latitude, altitude and downloadable sortable tables and lists and data and stuff. So I set aside what I HAD on Worldspinner and can go back and “import” stuff as needed. Then put a TON of timesink into Azgaar. It can actually be fun. But I wandered around and fiddled with most of the settings to see what I COULD do. Then I started building. Here's how I got what I want.
First I set most of the options to not include anything unnatural. No religion, culture, states, etc. Requested whole planet build but drier than Earth. Because I HATE tropical forests in a fantasy setting. I used the shattered map template to give me a variety of unconnected land masses. After looking at WAY too many offerings, for a deciduous forest to the west of a mountain range, and a large river nearby, I found one. Save.
Next I placed my cultures. Who developed where. The system provides SCORES of “preset” cultures which are nice, but I wanted the presence of some very specific ones: two kinds of elves, two kinds of dwarves, orcs, halfling, and a mess of humans (Vikings, Mongols, Anglo-Saxons, Celts and “generic.”) So I “added” a dozen cultures to the map, in a line in the center of a landmass. Then I modified each one to give me the elements I wanted. After those were assigned I placed them in their respective “birthplace.” Click on the “rebuild culture” and they spread across the map based on their proclivities. Save
I have one principle city and I know where I want it. So I plopped it down in the appropriate location, adjusted it's population, made it a “city-state” and locked it. Next up I needed States, Provinces and Cities (Burgs.) How many? About 200 cities seemed about right. Tell the system 200. Rebuild Burgs. And they pop up all over the map, placed according to elevation, water, culture, etc. The smallest were under 200 souls. The largest numbered over 10k. I didn't review them but they're easily changed if need be. Save.
Next: States. One state for each culture, except for the elves. Looking at how the culture spread I'm giving them two. To add a state one selects it's capitol city. I generally selected the largest city, but I also looked for cities near birthplace of the culture or near geographic features that lend themselves toward the culture. After each capitol was placed I did a rebuild. This did two things. First it spread the State boarders based on cultural and geographic features. Second it divided the larger states in Provinces based on pre-sets. Names, titles, “shields,” governmental types were all assigned based on culture but subject to change, which I of course tinkered with to make sure nearly every state was somehow unique and yet recognizable in-game. Save.
Click rebuild routs to connect cities based on size and geography. This lays down trails and roads (few) and sea lanes. Save.
Most of the world has been touched by one culture or another. There is overlap. There is “wilderness.” There are contested boarders. Azgaar provides “zones” which can effect large geo areas (tsunamis, volcanoes, earthquakes) as well as in-game kinda things (like military action [it will also do religious events but I've omitted them as a preference.]) It also provides “markers” for specific features – bridges, mines, lighthouses. My intention is to “reset” these every so often. Don't wanna tell HOW often as players occasionally actually read things. Roughly every three months. More often as needed.
All of the above is done. Now I get to do the “lonely fun” stuff. First I'll take an area about the size of the State of Ohio (45k sq miles) and flip it over to Worldographer. I'll do 20-miles hexes, plot routes, cities and biomes. The program will then randomize the biomes for 6- and 2-mile hexes. I'll then use THOSE maps to record the infrastructure of the mapped area. No need to cover States I'm not visiting. I'll save that for a year down the road when exploration takes the party far afield. Infrastructure, technology, development and exploration will all be tracked on this map.
Next step is building the tables to determine the weather the party is experiencing. I have the template designed but I'll wanna pull the necessary date for every Burg to make it pullable as the party moves across the map. I'll likely do the “Ohio” Burgs first. I can then add to the table as needed when they travel.
And then, the great undertaking. The trade/economic system. Here's what I'm looking at: 1. Calculate the “trade distance” between every Burg on the map. This trail has been blazed but I need to collect the data for input. This is about 1/3 done. 2. Place resources. Currently looks like I'll be doing this on a State basis as opposed to city-by-city, for everything about my “Ohio” map. Again, a lot of the theory has been done but I'll need to accumulate the data for MY world. Target? End of this month. 3. Who produces what and how much? Based on resources, tech and developmental level. Again, the theory has been done but I need to acquire MY data. Also need to figure out best way to store and manipulate. A lot of work has been done is Python but I don't wanna learn an entire programming language just for this. I may change my mind if I can find a cheap (ie. Free) understandable class. Mid-October? 4. Determine the cost of EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE! By this step I'll know what raw materials exist where and in what producible amount. Calculate the cost/price of every raw resource, everywhere. I'll use “recipes” (again, a LOT of the work has been done, just not in an easily usable format) to determine cost and availability of SemiGoods (those items whose prices need to be calculated to produce more complex items.) These recipes can be modified and added to on an as-needed basis. Hope to have “completed” by end of the year. Then I can fine-tune State-by-state, province by province and burg by burg.
Quick answer to a quick question? Why? Because scarcity creates conflict and conflict creates opportunity
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