On World Creation

I was recently reading an article by Robin Laws that got me thinking and inspired this post. The question that came to mind - and actually something I've asked myself in the past - is this: Why have I created my own world rather than use an existing one?

If I were a publisher, put Mythosa in print, and was trying to sell it at Gen Con or some other convention, one of the questions I would likely get asked multiple times is: How is this world different from the other ones on the market? A perfectly legitimate question and one I would ask myself. Mythosa doesn't have a particular "hook" like Midnight's "Sauron won" or Ravenloft's "world of gothic horror". It's pretty much "bog standard" fantasy. In that category, some that come to mind that we already have include Greyhawk, the Forgotten Realms, Hârn, the Wilderlands of High Fantasy, Scarred Lands (though OOP), Aereth (Goodman Games DCC #35), and Kalamar. What does Mythosa have that these other settings lack? Besides the omission of halflings and gnomes, which isn't really a selling point for many (though maybe for some).

The answer to that question is, honestly, not much. My world (or the new version) probably falls between Greyhawk and the Wilderlands; it may also bear a resemblance to the 4E Realms, but not to the 3E incarnation. So, why am I spending my time re-inventing the wheel when countless others have fleshed out these other settings?

This is a question you could also pose to the various world-builders elsewhere on the 'Net. Sometimes you'll find something a little unusual, but generally the worlds are familiar enough that the average player would be home in any of them. So why the bother?

Some people undoubtedly feel they can do a better job than Bledsaw, Greenwood, Crossby, or whoever. More often than not, they simply regurgitate the same memes and themes that we've seen before, but no better (and often worse) than the aforementioned authors. However, I believe that for most of us, it's simply the desire to create. It doesn't matter that we're running games in a world that's like Middle-Earth or Oerth with the serial numbers filed off - the key is that we're running games in a world that's our's. More than once I've considered dumping Mythosa and running my campaigns in Greyhawk, the Wilderlands, Hârn, or even the Forgotten Realms. And I have used all of them (well, not Hârn, but I have a number of Hârn books) at least one time or another. But in general, I'm not "comfortable" running in someone else's creation - to truly be happy, I need to be both the manager of the world and its maker.

Certainly, there are advantages to running your own world. You don't need to worry as much about breaking continuity since the only canon is what you've created. Your players may get a greater sense of mystery since they can't buy the latest novel or sourcebook about your world. But those are just side benefits. It's that feeling of being the one to decide what goes where and why it's there in the first place that drives us.

Laws's article still has me thinking about what I can do to make my world unique. It has received its fair share of compliments (for which I am grateful), but it's still something I keep in the back of my mind, particularly as I work on the new version.