[Gaming filter: If you’re reading this, you have indicated an interest in joining my next D&D 3e game.]

I would like to hold a character generation session this coming weekend. Our plans for this weekend are pretty open, so if you can drop in anytime Saturday or Sunday that would work. If you can come and spend 4 hours, that would be great, though 2 hours would probably work if you’re in a rush. We will provide either lunch or dinner as appropriate.

Please comment here to indicate if you’re able to drop in and make a guess as to the time you might come by. (Please comment even if you can’t make it to let me know whether you’re interested in the game…)

I would like everyone to generate 2 characters of different classes. That way we have some flexibility when it comes to forming a party, but more important, we will have a possibility for side-stories, and a backup plan in case someone dies. (Yes, death is definitely possible in this world… if you are averse or squicked by your character dying, please let me know ahead of time :)

What we know about the world so far: It is pretty much as described in the Forgotten Realms accessory book. This is the same world where we find Neverwinter, etc. I’ve semi-randomly chosen the Dalelands region as the starting point (based on availability of good maps :) I’m curious to know if you’ve been exposed to Forgotten Realms before, either through books, tabletop games, or computer games.

There really should be a journal for: Worldbuilding. This would be a place to post ideas for worlds, where people would ask questions and offer suggestions to help flesh it out.

A world starts with a “concept” – usually the concept is “What makes this world different from the world we live in?” Some examples might be:

• “There are three genders, and mating is by groups of three.”
• “The cost of magic is pain.”
• “The American Civil War led to the formation of two separate nations.”

The concept is then fleshed out by asking “Why?” and “Therefore?” These questions lead to investigation of cause and effect, to see what unfolds. “If the cost of magic is pain, some might choose to suffer pain themselves, and do positive magic, and others may choose to cause pain to others so they can do dark magic.” The cause and effect chain leads the writer to visualize some of the aspects of this particular world. For the purposes of checking out the prototype, keep other important aspects of the world as similar to ours as possible — i.e., fully explore the effect of making one important change, but only one, before changing something else that is unrelated.

(I joined a couple of communities like worldbuilding and worldbuilders… maybe those are similar to what I want… I’ll keep an eye on them.)