In one particular magazine, Gary's Appendix (specifically Issue 2), a gent by the name of Travis Miller, has an article that breaks down some sections of the AD&D Dungeons Master's Guide, discussing the merits of Gary's section on Campaigns and applying the underlying concepts to developing settings for OSE or really just any setting, regardless of system. I definitely like the idea of starting small and building up, as the players ad their characters grow in level and experience.
He goes on to say:Travis wrote:I recently re-read a section of the DMG called “The Campaign.” It reminded me that Gary’s knowledge and perspectives on the game were quite deep and far more subtle than many gamers appreciate.
In this essay, I’ll give you an overview of what Gary thought DMs needed to know, how he presented that information, and my thoughts about why those ideas are still relevant.
This isn't the only time I've seen this method mentioned. I'm quite sure that Joseph Goodman and his crew took the same advise from Gary, and placed it in a section of the DCC Rulebook.Sandbox campaigns are the default.
The campaign creation process Gary describes is what we would call a “bottom up” sandbox campaign. The DM creates a small region with several local adventuring opportunities. As the players grow in level, they explore and adventure further afoot. The DM expands the campaign world for the players to explore. Gary provided an overview of how to create and start a campaign. He recommends you start small, only detail what you need, and create a few dungeons or ruins near the home base of a town or the like.
While I can appreciate the effort and creativity that has been put into some published campaign settings, I think the concepts mentioned above play well into the AD&D 1E Greyhawk box set and why it is so well liked and used. Two small books with pages counts of 50 and 80, sparse but useful information, and a single map showing most of the world.Journeys in a Small World
This manuscript will repeatedly stress the limits of knowledge in a medieval world. You, good sir, who read this manuscript, have access to an extraordinary amount of information. There is the internet and cell phones, there is television and radio, there are printed books, and there are libraries and universities and experts in your world. In a medieval setting, none of this exists. Pens and paper are expensive, there are no printing presses, and it takes a scribe almost a year to manufacture a single book. Most people are illiterate; there is no mechanized transportation, no long-range communication, and no photography. Information is communicated at the speed of verbal conversation, without photograph or illustration, and that information moves only so fast as a traveler’s feet or his horse and wagon. The traveler is the primary source of information in this world. With travel comes knowledge; without travel there is no information.
Most everyday peasants in a medieval setting never travel more than a few miles from their places of birth. Their lives are circumscribed by local terrain boundaries: a river to the east, the hills to the north, the village one town over to the south. In a game that accurately attempts to capture the medieval adventuring experience—or, phrased differently, in a game that retains the spirit of Appendix N—you do not need a vast space for adventuring. An area of land only 100 miles square should provide years of adventure, for it is a space larger than most living men will ever explore.
Travis continues with Gary's expectations for DMs designing their own campaigns.
I mentioned this in another thread, the guys working at or with TSR were from an era where intelligent folks were designing and playing the game. It was expected that you use your noggin for puzzling out things. Wits, knowledge, creativity, all of these were expected to play the game. Now we've seen the game get dumbed down more and more because "math is hard", "that hurts my feelings" or "what about me and my player agency".Gary reckoned the disciples perusing the tome had attained erudition. Uncle Gary assumed you weren’t a dummy.
He expected that readers were creative and knew some basic math, how to use a dictionary, and search a card catalog at the library. He assumed that the reader already knew the history or was able to look it up. When I was 14-years old, skimming a borrowed DMG, I had never even heard of the Hanseatic League.
He discusses, in broad terms, a variety of subjects that the DM needs to consider when creating their setting. These domains include ecology and the placement and types of monsters, treasure, magic, government, and peasants.
I agree with his later comments concerning the subjects of familiarity for the DM, and I think in some respect, most DMs do consider these things when putting together their settings or adventures.
The article goes on to talk about designing the first dungeon along with more notes on Gary's directions on running dungeons and adventures therein. Travis follows up with a pretty solid outtake that sums up a lot of what Gary's puts forward in the DMG and makes for a great overall view of what starting small can be.
As I read this section of the DMG, I found myself reflecting on how much it aligned with what I had learned from running retro-clones over the last decade. I have a tendency to skim game books to find out later that I missed some important information that would have saved me a lot of trouble had I known. Much of Gary’s guidance matches my experiences. Read history. Take a broad and expansive approach to your campaign creation. Start small and build out as the campaign grows. Be detailed and rigorous in dungeon creation and session preparation.
There is a great deal more in this section I didn’t go into. I recommend taking an hour and reading through it yourself. Referees who have never read the DMG would do well to get a copy and read it through all the way. The DMG is truly a seminal work in the hobby of fantasy adventure gaming. It is no overstatement to say that taking the time to do a close reading with a notebook at the ready should be a priority for all referees who want their campaigns to be exciting and memorable.
