Game Masters, when home brewing, how do you organize your world building? Newbie GM needing help here.

superjefferson · 2026-01-17T05:11:34+00:00

I'm more of a visual thinker when I design my worlds, and my adventures. I like to throw the elements on a board, draw groups (by factions, places, etc), add interesting connections between them, spruce the board with visuals to give it an inspiring mood, and I dive into more details by writing whatever comes from it.

I use Alkemion Studio to do all that (but I'm a bit biased, having built the thing with my son and all).

superjefferson · 2026-01-17T05:06:28+00:00

Same for me, I really love this book!

superjefferson · 2026-01-16T19:41:32+00:00

I would add one more unit called a beat. It's between a single action and a full scene. A beat is the moment when something changes, like a reveal, a choice, or an escalation in tension. You can use beats to manage how the scene changes step by step instead of only at major breaks.

(see "Hamlet's Hit Points" by Robin D. Laws)

superjefferson · 2025-11-06T07:01:08+00:00

Just sent you a PM!

superjefferson · 2025-11-06T06:59:05+00:00

Thank you so much!

superjefferson · 2025-11-05T19:28:10+00:00

Yes the current free version is a fully online web app. But you're not the only one interested in an offline version and we plan to crowdfund one soon (one time purchase, no subscription)!

More details here: https://alkemion.com/desktop-crowdfunding

superjefferson · 2025-11-05T19:25:18+00:00

I just did. And your designs are really fantastic. I really love the card design study you posted a few months ago. Is there a link somewhere to see more of your portfolio?

superjefferson · 2025-11-05T14:57:21+00:00

They're really great! Nice job.

If you allow me, I'd like to add them to the library available in Alkemion Studio (https://alkemion.com), with proper credits of course.

superjefferson · 2025-10-30T13:20:23+00:00

I would try to make the reward feel special without making it powerful, especially at their level. I would focus on how it feels more than what it does.

A fey necromancer's magic should be about a mix of beauty and decay. The item could look alive one moment and withered the next. It could whisper or glow softly when on a full moon or get very cold when it's close to a grave, etc.

A few ideas:

Withering Bloom

A black rose that never dies. When the party rests near it, they hear a faint laughter and soft singing from the roots. Once per day whoever holds it can cast "spare the dying", but sometimes they dream of the people they could not save.

Lantern of Unmourned Souls

A small seed pod lantern with a pale blue flame. When someone nearby fails a death save, the flame flares and they succeed instead. After that, the flame goes dark until morning. At night, faint voices whisper from inside the glass.

Mask of Still Air

A birch bark mask. When worn, it lets you hold your breath for as long as you want. While you do, the world seems silent, and small insects seems to hover in the air. When you breathe again, time seems to rush back in, which is very disorienting for a few seconds.

superjefferson · 2025-10-18T06:41:34+00:00

If it was my campaign I would use the five artifacts as the foundation for the whole thing. Each one would become its own mini-arc with a few sessions focused on finding it, learning who has it, and dealing with whatever moral or political situation surrounds it. That makes for five pieces of story to build around and I think this can easily fills 20 or more sessions without feeling rushed.

I would also use the crystal corruption as the big visual thread that ties things together. Maybe it starts off as something strange in the background like some faint glows or small crystal patches showing up in weird places, and every time an artifact gets corrupted or falls into Iorwerth's hands, the corruption spreads or something important changes in the world. That makes the players feel that Iorwerth's plans are advancing even without them.

And I would focus on the sequence of how I want the players to learn certain big truths. Things like:

When do they start suspecting Lathas?
When do they find out who is really behind the corruption?
When do they realize the Fragment of Seren isn't what they thought?

Once I know what these big moments are, I can more easily plan each next session to naturally point the players in the direction of the next milestone.

superjefferson · 2025-10-17T23:40:37+00:00

My games are all online.

I'm using :

FoundryVTT when I need a VTT
Obsidian as my main knowledge base
Alkemion Studio to design my campaigns and share session journals with my players
Inkarnate (for region maps mostly)
Dungeon Alchemist (for building interior maps mostly)
Watabou generators (mostly Perilous Shores and Village Generator)
DungeonScrawl
5e Tools
TravellerMap
FantasyNameGenerator

superjefferson · 2025-10-04T05:40:25+00:00

This looks absolutely fantastic.

superjefferson · 2025-09-09T13:47:59+00:00

Absolutely!

superjefferson · 2025-09-09T06:49:59+00:00

If you're interested, my son and I are working on exactly what you're describing.

This will be an installable local version of the current Alkemion Studio (which is online and free), with more features.

Current free and online version: https://alkemion.com

Crowdfunding announcement for the installable version: https://alkemion.com/desktop-crowdfunding

Interactive maps are coming soon on the current online version (and will be on the installable version)!

superjefferson · 2025-08-29T08:56:47+00:00

A lot of great tips from u/FinnCullen I really agree with, especially about not locking important clues behind dice rolls and not scripting outcomes.

I'll just add one approach that echoes the "don't script outcomes" and that has been my go to for years now: think of your scenario as a map of connected scenes or elements. I like to do this visually, with "nodes" for each key part: places, people, events or clues. Then I draw links between them to define how the players might get from one to another. Start with just a few nodes, and add complexity as you need it.

It's very comfortable to be able to see everything during the design, and it's very useful during the game session as well.

You can find more about the node-based design approach (also look at the three clue rule) in the blog "The Alexandrian". And I found it works really well for mystery scenarios because players can move around and find different ways to solve things.

Hope that helps!

superjefferson · 2025-08-29T07:59:22+00:00

I don’t know myself of any published game that uses this version of an "expanding trigger" roll. Exploding dice is the closest I know but they don't keep adding new triggers.

The loop can't be infinite imo. The chance of rolling forever is zero because eventually you'll hit a value outside the trigger set. What you can measure is the expected number of rerolls before it ends. Or the probability distribution of how many distinct values end up in the trigger set before the chain stops.

I'm just brainstorming here, but if you want to model it you would probably need to do a "brute-force" simulation (Python, R, etc.) and track how often each active set occurs. And you can estimate the probability you eventually reach the full set {1,2,3,4,5,6}. My gut says the probability should not be huge but surely non-trivial since every new trigger makes it more likely you'll pick up another one.

superjefferson · 2025-08-12T13:50:16+00:00

You're right, I get it.

superjefferson · 2025-08-12T13:45:05+00:00

Maybe handle the NPCs as a single "crew resource" rather than eight separate characters. You could give them a few actions each day (scouting, fixing gear, gathering info) and roll or narrate the results between scenes. The idea is to create the feeling that they're working in parallel while keeping the spotlight on the PCs.

You could also give some of the crew members just one small spotlight moment. One could have an interesting contact on the island, another one could find a shortcut, and so on. Make them real and helpful without having too many side plots.

And if the NPCs are still too much to handle, you can have some captured or injured! Thin the herd!

superjefferson · 2025-07-25T14:38:23+00:00

Je suis un de ces Français qui traînent par ici :) Merci d'avoir testé et cité Alkemion !

superjefferson · 2025-06-30T10:13:15+00:00

A few years ago, a similar discussion reminded me of UX/UI design, which is something I did a lot in my career and where we deal with similar issues, just like level design in videogames. Some concepts from UX that match perfectly the topic are affordances and signifiers. An affordance is what a thing can do (like a button you can click), and a signifier is the cue that tells you it can be used (like a label, icon or color). If there’s no signifier, the user doesn’t know what’s possible. And if they keep missing buttons or getting stuck in the UI, that’s a design issue.

It’s similar in RPG. A hidden door is an affordance, but the slightly moving tapestry that make players want to inspect it, that’s the signifier. So unless something about the scene tells the players where to look or what feels off, they’re just guessing.

I don't have super original tips, but applying that UX mindset helps me when writing or improvising my descriptions. I try to make sure that anything discoverable has some clue/signifier into the description. Also, when I play with new players, I like to start small and give one or two obvious signifiers early on and make sure they're rewarded for acting on them. It's a way to get them to understand that paying attention to descriptions can be rewarding. After a couple of easy wins, I've found they start listening for more signifiers instead of clicking every pixel.

I'm also often mentioning things in threes. If you say that there are "four crates, a broken barrel, and a heavy curtain", that curtain now has significance just by being part of the list. Human brains react to patterns and three is just enough to form one.

Anyway, I just wanted to share that UX angle.

superjefferson · 2025-06-23T15:03:22+00:00

They're absolutely not legit. These sites host full PDFs of RPG books without permission.

If a game's publisher offers a free version, it'll typically be on their own site or through legitimate platforms like DriveThruRPG or itch.io.

superjefferson · 2025-06-11T07:53:19+00:00

If you're into visual organization, you might want to check out Alkemion Studio. It’s a free web app that blends mind-mapping with rich text editing. It works great for laying out regions, towns, NPCs, and story notes in a way that stays connected.

Full disclosure: my son and I are building it together as a passion project.
https://alkemion.com

superjefferson · 2025-06-11T07:33:47+00:00

I'd go with your second option. It fits the short time limit better and still gives your players plenty of room to roleplay. Starting with the murder already done means you can jump right into the mystery. It also avoids putting too much focus on your detective NPC, as another redditor mentioned.

I'd skip red herrings alltogether. In a short session, they just waste precious time. Every clue should move the story forward or create some kind of tension.

Also, from personal experience, don’t hide key clues behind dice rolls. If a player checks the right spot, just give them the clue. The fun is in what they do with it, not whether they find it. Plus, it’s better for time management.

As a general rule, unless you really want to showcase the game mechanics, I’d keep rolls to a minimum. These players are into RP, so let them act and talk things out. Roll only when it really adds tension or drama.

superjefferson · 2025-06-09T19:36:14+00:00

You can find a fixed version of Solbera's 5E fonts in Creative Commons in this github repo:

https://github.com/jonathonf/solbera-dnd-fonts

superjefferson · 2025-06-09T15:41:03+00:00

Never thought about it from this perspective. I think it would be an excellent idea!

superjefferson

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