RPG Location Backstory—Building from the Beginning

From Unepic

As I was getting deeper in to the articles on world building a warning kept popping up in the back of my mind. So I am going to touch on that first, then continue with some ideas of how to build a backstory for locations.

What I am presenting are ideas you can use, or not. For me the larger the backstory I have, the easier it is to know what will happen in an unscripted situation. Whatever notes, changes, and additions I make during play are incorporated with what was already created and everything grows over time.

I also only have rough notes about areas not yet important to the campaign. Don't feel you have to do everything before you can start gaming. Your players will help guide you to what they feel are important parts of the setting, then you work on those areas. The notes are for you. And not everyone needs to know everything about your world—I don't think there is anyone alive now who knows everything about our world.

Back to building.

The location has been determined for the town, city, or castle. You know why the location was originally chosen to be settled. Now, you are working on how to take that place and advance it forward in time to the setting you want to be using. The place might have grown, it might be the same size, it might have even gotten smaller. This is a consideration for developing a location in a role-playing game (RPG), especially when you want this area to be a focal point in a campaign. So, where do you start to determine the changes from the beginning to the now?

Remember why the location was originally chosen. Almost always the main reason why a location was settled remains a reason why it has continued, or changed over time. The camp area at the crossroads started out as a place to stay by the caravans because they could meet other caravans, trade, and take goods to the markets they are more familiar with. This would save the caravans time and money on their travels. Other travelers start using the campgrounds because they know it is a place to be able to buy and sell. After a while an inn is built, nicer rooms, already cooked food, and a place to corral the animals. After that a blacksmith sets up shop, followed by a general merchandise store. And, a town is growing.

This has happened all over our world in basically the same way. This is a pattern that easily repeats itself. The types of settlers in the area might vary from one location to another depending on who the major travelers are and why they are traveling through an area.

There might be limit or no growth in the area. If the resource that brought the original settlers are limited, then more competition for the resource leads to people leaving—either some or all. If an area is unable to support the growth in the original resource, then there needs to be another reason the location would grow. If the location is short on the resources to keep a community at its current size, then the supplies needed must be imported. Rome was importing a large amount of food on a daily basis and built harbors just for that reason. To give a better understanding, I found a report on food imported for the New York City area. It was estimated in 2002 that 300,000 thousand (300,000,000) tons of food were imported.

There are usually other means of dealing with limitations. When you are dealing with historical situations you are limited in what was real for the time. However, when you are dealing with a fantasy setting there are usually other means of dealing with limitations. You can use these means to address the limitations, magic can cover a lot of ground.

Growth also brings other resources to an area. Our little crossroads is growing because there is an influx of money and people like to spend their money to improve their place in life. If a desire for something arises, you can plan on someone coming up with a way to fill the need. These changes will influence the growth of the area. For example, along with the inn and the blacksmith our crossroads intrigues a free farmer who sees the opportunity of growing alfalfa a short distance away by the river. Now the caravans have a place to replenish their feed and part of the countryside is being changed to fit the needs of the people living there.

You can also work this process backwards. In my large gaming city I know what I have in the present and slowly have been filling in the city's history with how one thing or another came into place. The more backstory information you have the fuller the feel of the location, but it is not an absolute.

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