Treasure Tables is on hiatus as of December 13th, 2007 -- after two years of daily posts, I needed a break. If you're looking for GMing material, I have two recommendations: the hundreds of posts in TT's archives, and my new project, the multi-author GMing blog Gnome Stew. Happy GMing! -- Martin

Worldbuilding PDF From Bards and Sages

Fri. July 7, 2006 

World Building is a new PDF from Bards and Sages.

According to the blurb, “Instead of offering a step-by-step blueprint, this product provides writers with a way of thinking in order to insure that your fantasy setting is realistic, consistent, and playable.”

Not having a demo available drives me nuts (why do PDF publishers do this?), but it does sound interesting.

Update: Julie Dawson, of Bards and Sages, has made a preview available.

More posts about: Products for GMs

Comments

10 Responses to “Worldbuilding PDF From Bards and Sages”

  1. Rick the Wonder Algae on July 7th, 2006 8:34 am

    I’d like to see a review and/or a sample. When I want to create a world, I still drag out my old 2nd eddition DnD World Builder’s Guidebook, though next time I may get my gaming group together for a few massive weekend sessions of dawn of worlds using a collection of 1″ square gridded presentation sheets taped together and wall-mounted.

  2. Fract on July 7th, 2006 8:38 am

    If you haven’t run across it before, you might want to poke around this World Building site.
    http://users.tkk.fi/~vesanto/world.build.html
    Some of the links are dead, but it is full of potentially useful resources.

  3. Zachary on July 7th, 2006 10:37 am

    I’d like to see a preview, too.

    Heck, it’s 16 pages and $2.50. One of us will have to take the plunge. :)

  4. ScottM on July 7th, 2006 10:40 am

    I agree with Fract, above– that page is an excellent one. Another good page is Patricia Wrede’s Fantasy Worldbuilding Questions. If you find any more useful ones, add them to Mapping Advice on the wiki.

  5. ScottM on July 7th, 2006 10:42 am

    If you want to be obsessive, the old Aria rules were great for generating a very thorough world. While it was very slow at the time, it discussed enough corner cases to really spark some unusual thoughts.

    If it came out today, as a program to automate the generation– leading you through like the tax programs– it might be a hit today.

  6. Martin on July 7th, 2006 9:37 pm

    Rick, Zachary: I’m with you — if not a sample, a review would be helpful. I’m tied up working on my review of Epic RPG right now, but I’m sure if someone asked nicely the publisher would be happy to get some free press. :)

    Fract: Cool link — thanks!

    Scott: In times of yore (November of last year), Patricia’s kickass questions popped up here on TT. They do indeed rock. :)

    I love your idea of TurboTax for worldbuilding — someone should get cracking on that!

  7. Julie Dawson on July 11th, 2006 6:21 am

    OK, OK! I get the point! I’ll get a preview posted today! Geesh, some people want everything! :)

    Julie Dawson
    Bards and Sages

  8. Martin on July 11th, 2006 3:07 pm

    Julie: Glad to hear it. ;) I’ll keep an eye out for it, but you might also want to pop back in and link to it in a comment. :)

  9. Julie Dawson on July 12th, 2006 9:39 am

    Link to PDF preview for the product.

    http://www.bardsandsages.com/worldsample.pdf

    The preview is part one of the product.

  10. Martin on July 12th, 2006 7:33 pm

    Thanks, Julie. :) I’ve updated the post to reflect the addition of the preview.