How to make the "minimum viable setting"?
What I want to do is create something that leaves almost NO work for the GM.
But writing down every detail of the setting is not only nearly impossible but also mostly useless; the GM will only use a fraction of it, and facing a 1000-page book might be fearsome even in PDF format.
One alternative is creating the entire thing randomly as you go - e.g., using appendix B.
As you can see in the link, I find it a bad idea. You should know where mountains are, and see them from a long distance. The same goes for the sea, major cities, countries, but... what about small villages, etc?
Well, these could be randomly generated. Maybe you start with a more detailed map of your surroundings, but after a few hexes you're in uncharted territory.
When I think of it, I find that this is exactly what my favorite setting, Dark Sun, is missing. You have a good hex map and a setting description that is detailed enough, but it definitely needs its own appendix B (and C!).
Notice that you cannot just use the existing appendices; you must create new ones that take into account the setting's unique ecology, climate and demography.
Once you have these two (big map plus generator of smaller features and encounters), you are almost good to go.
You'd still need a few random tables of relevant details, so you don't need to keep coming up with new ones on the fly. For example:
- Names.
- Special features (i.e., things that make each village memorable; there are good example in Dark Fantasy Places).
- Relation with existing factions.
The third one deserves further explanation. In some settings, there are important conflicts (e.g., Law vs. Chaos, Magic vs. Religion or Technology, Good vs. Evil, Guelphs vs. Ghibellines) that will affect settlements and NPCs.
Sometimes they are obvious and generalized: all dwarves hate orcs, etc. You don't even need a table for that. But if you have something more nuanced, you could use a table with results like "strong support for the king", "this village is divided between Guelphs and Ghibellines", or "this town hates elves/magicians/knights/etc.".
As you can see, even without an overarching conflict, these tables can add flavor to otherwise boring villages.
If your setting has dungeons, you probably need those too. Maybe we can reach a similar compromise here: a few big dungeons (or even a megadungeon) written in advance and a few randomly generated dungeons if you find one by accident.
Suffice to say, I'm not a big fan of dungeons generated with the appendix A. But maybe you could make different tables (with fewer 45º corridors and more coherent layouts) to create something worthwhile.
Other than Dark Sun, here is how some of my favorite settings deal with this stuff:
Carcosa. The setting is incredibly interesting and detailed. Every time I read it, I want to run a campaign (and it might be my next one). Still, I think it is not quite ready for use.
Some villages/castles are too lean and a bit simplistic/boring. You could easily replace most villages with a random generator that gave you not only color, numbers and alignment, but also some distinctive features.
Or just add such a random table or one line to each village: "this village hates sorcerers", "this village loves fighters and centers around an arena", "this village is built underground", etc. [I'm sorry to sell it gain, but: Dark Fantasy Places is PWYW!]
The map is not great either; I find the positioning of mountainous and rivers a little weird and random. Not a big problem but I'm tempted to create my own.
Qelong: I find this a great example of a setting that is both small and complete. It has hex descriptions, coherent random encounters and a satisfying meta-narrative.
Curse of Strahd, Tomb of Annihilation: say what you will about 5e, these are both awesome, well made settings, with detailed places, good encounter tables, and clear factions/conflicts.
What they lack is more organization (as described here) and a few additional random tables. Both have HUGE hex maps but very sparse; most hexes are empty.
Fortunately, there are several 3rd-party product detailing additional dungeons, features, etc.
And I must acknowledge that they got the map almost exactly right:
This means everyone knows the coast, and the mountains are obvious from afar, but the inner area is not known by adventures.
In short, maybe that is all you need to start:
- A good, incomplete map, plus some random tables to add villages, ruins, lairs (geography).
- Random encounter tables (ecology).
- Random villages (demography).
- A few factions/conflicts (history).
What else I'm missing?
