Decide a theme, and then (sometimes dramatically) tone it back from there.

Yes, tone it back.

I usually create my settings based off a few mental images I have in a flash, and then I analyze them, figure out the root ideas, and then figure out what I was subconsciously ripping off, and tone it back.

Also don't just say "steampunk" or I will freaking murder you. NEVER use Steampunk. you can have some crazy airships, and even a few nifty inventions and modern devices, but NEVER go over that line.

Unless you're staggeringly original, it would help to read around. Comics, books, anything. Then pick a world or era you find interesting, make some changes to things like names and societal structure make it more suitable, change some names, and use that.

Setzer. The paragon of using dice to deal damage.

Spider diagrams.

Seriously. Start with GOALS or something high level, and trickle your way down through EXISTING USEABLE RULESETS? all the way down.

Sketch out all your options visually.

Doodle constantly.

thanks this is all very helpful

9/10 times I wing my settings. But I have yet to be in a group with the stamina for a long campaign/re-used setting. Too many people coming and going.

But I'll come up with ultimate feeling, a few set-pieces that the players could go to, a couple factions, and flesh out the rest from there.

Like this thought process -

Former Soviet-block country, there is a massive criminal underground from the rest of Asia, specifically in the form of Goblinoid Yakuza.

Primary corporate entity is headed by a recluse and is known for training and keeping a Kobold Paramilitary force at his disposal. The technological advancements from this company have no explanation.

And after a short bit like that, I wing what the world is like and let the players evolve it. Now, that'll run a game pretty consistently for a few months. But I need to start on the longer-duration ones, too.

Which, I would think, need more planning, and more drawing. Maps help that, too.

Come up with a general idea of what it's like, then just come up with a general map of the immediate surroundings of where it would start, and come up with notes of npcs or creatures that would be encountered there.
There's no reason to overwork yourself with the details of stuff that you might never use.

>>3633522
You start by being creative. Sorry to be the bringer of bad news, OP.

Well I take something and wing it 'till I have everything I need on paper

For beginners it might be a good idea to start with something preestablished, so it is easier to fall back on something. Take a movie or book you feel fits the mood you are trying to set, and work from there. I usually have a general idea what could improve the
PC's situation, but I always let them pick their adventure with their decisions in play. All I prepare is some names and maps so I can react quickly. The story happens while I make other plans.

>>3633716 has a good one.

In a setting for personal use don't bother detailing everything, because most of your work will be wasted. Have the theme, a few major players, outline of political structures, a few cultures. If you have new races jot down some stuff like creation myths, family structure, interspecies relations. Make some notes on the most recent major events (probably war) and the effects thereof, and some ancient but well-known history like major historic figures and cultures.

Make some cool tourist attractions - a forest made of a single giant tree, a culture that lives in tunnel-carved spires in the midst of a vast wasteland, boat city in an ancient volcanic caldera. Things like that. Have a handful of exotic rumors for the players. It makes it more interesting when they do finally see the fabled [fill_in_the_blank].

My personal style is to do deeper prep work on the starting area and build outward based on player actions and preferences. In this style one of the important things for me has been keeping long lists of names by race/culture so I can pull one off whenever the players meet someone, because I suck at naming NPCs on the fly. The other most important thing is taking notes while running so the shit I came up with as the PCs come to it is consistent from week to week.

DO NOT HAVE A STORYLINE

Have general motivations and plot points you'd like to head to and while in game focus on heading to them.

Anything like a layed plan is worthless considering your pc's are gonna get off the beaten track no matter what.

This is why pre-written adventures are trash.

Personally, in some groups i've had a lot of success letting the players run amok. Really takes a group interested in playing and with imagination though. "Evil" campaigns are cake, because you steal the setting from a videogame, like say nosgoth or warcraft, don't tell the players who generally arn't gamers, and let them make badguys with their own plots. A reactionary role rather than the usual dm's job.

>>3635057

Another tip I learned from past failure.

Obvious in retrospect, but if you have a OMGAWESOME plan for the campaign endgame that involves epic everything, have some idea of how to get there from level 1 fighting rats in a cave. I failed pretty hard in a Feng Shui game that had chapters 12-30 plotted out with an amazing apocalyptic finish but no idea how to get there from chapter 2 where the players currently were.

If you really want to flesh out your world and haven't a clue where to start I recommend writing a short story. 4-8 paragraphs but no more. Try one about what war is like on the front lines. Try another about political intrigue. Do another in the eyes of the common man on a normal day. Then extrapolate upon what you wrote to create the actual descriptions of these things. This helps bring the world into perspective, and you would be surprised the obvious problems and plotholes you can uncover doing this before they become an issue.

>>3634922
He has ideas; he's obviously at least somewhat creative (no offense OP, but I don't know what your ideas are so I can't really judge). Translating ideas into the context of an RPG setting is different than writing a story or a series of cool events.

>>3634895
I have had good luck using this method. The world grows and develops around you in ways that you never would have thought of on your own. Player wants to be from a fishing village, ask them about the village. Work in a few of your ideas as you build on what the player said. Suddenly, that city better developed than either of you could have done and you barely had to do any work. Plus most players I've had will appreciate having some say in defining their world.

But the biggest tip I can give is to assign personality and motivations to your important NPCs (and if you come up with one randomly for someone else, write it down). Players are going to run off and chase leads that go nowhere, do things that you don't expect, and ignore important plot hooks. By knowing how an NPC would act, you can better improvise the story and setting developments in new and interesting ways when your PCs derail the plot or off a setting dependent NPC.

>>3635125
That sounds like a fuckawesome idea. I'm using that next time I make a world.

So... on that note, get your players involved in the world creation. Works well with the "small initial focus" plan. Have a session to tell people about the starting area and then start making characters with everyone sitting in the same room. Let players decide where the characters are from, and have them write a story about that area into their character background - a legend, a hero, a tradition, something like that. This gives you more idea seeds that you wouldn't necessarily have thought of yourself.

...which I guess is what Mr. Bear just said 15 minutes ago.

One bump to see if any late-night corpulen/tg/entlemen wish to advise.

>>3633630

So... Just wondering, would you consider Skaven technology steampunk? And why exactly do you steampunk so much in the first place?

Depends, a campaign setting for what? D&D? your own system and setting?

>>3636490
>why exactly do you steampunk so much in the first place?
You accidentally a verb.

>>3636515
Shut up grammarfag.

>>3636490
not him, but Steampunk is so fucking overdone in RPGs it hurts

>>3636515

Oh what the fuck, how did that even happen?

>>3636520

Shut up, underageb&.

>>3636545

I am now of the opinion that "steampunk" is a verb. As in "China Miéville really steampunked London in his books."

regarding >>3636512:
I'm curious about why the system makes a difference. How does the process of creating a world for e.g. 4E differ from creating something for 3E, GURPS, Exalted or Traveller? Or hell, even the Street Fighter RPG or Encounter Critical.

Discuss.

>>3636728

You can't write up a sci-fi campaign setting for D&D without a shit-ton of extra house rules for brand new weapons as well as the new races, and possibly even new classes. It basically comes down to things like that.

>>3636728
>How does the process of creating a world for e.g. 4E differ from creating something for 3E, GURPS, Exalted or Traveller? Or hell, even the Street Fighter RPG or Encounter Critical.
Because the rules define the world, in many ways? And more than that, the rules define the feel of play. Designing a GRIM AND DARK AND GRITTY setting for, say, 4E isn't a good idea; likewise, designing a FANTASY HEROES BEING BADASS FUCK YEAH setting for 2E isn't a good idea.

Look at Spirit of the Century, and how the system encourages pulp action-adventure, which fits right in with the game's theme and setting conceits. Good games all do that, pretty much.

>>3636778
>>3636841

Right, right. But we're talking about basic procedures for campaign creation here, not "how to write a Fist of the North Star module for West End d6 Star Wars." Can't that just be summed up under the still-useful advice of "write something appropriate for the mechanics?" Or is there something deeper?

>>3636880

Nope, nothing deeper to the relationship between system and setting.

>>3635071
I disagree heartily with that statement.

part of being a good GM is letting them do what they want, and subtly leading them (keyword "SUBTLY") along the path with small hints or clues. if they aren't interested in the adventure to begin with, you need to change gears and throw something else at them. that involves knowing and understanding your players and the content of their character (IRL personality, not in-game kinda characters).

as for building your own world, its more important to have the pervasive flavor and most likely interactions prepped with some forethought, if not full planning. don't get hung up on telling the minute details of a story that your PCs may never hear, for lack of investigation or interest.

for instance, if you have a really cool history in-game, make allusions to it here and there, drop a bit of it at a time when pertinant to the story at hand. if more info is requested, have a handout ready for whoever visits the library, but even that shouldn't be more than a page or so.