CASTLE OLDSKULL – Game World Generator is a role playing game supplement written and published by Kent David Kelly. This supplement is intended to be used to help create a game world (the supplement has since been expanded into a Deluxe Edition).
This is a 356 page PDF which is available from DriveThruRPG at the regular price of $2.99 but which was purchased at the reduced price of $0.99 during a sale. It is also available in Kindle format from Amazon. The PDF is the version reviewed, of which two pages are the front and rear covers, three pages are the front matter, five pages are the Contents, one page is About the Author, four pages are ads for other supplements and one page is blank.
The first three pages of content have some standard details as to just how the supplement is intended to be used and a description of what it is.
The Introduction has a couple of pages on game world creation and the supplement’s inspiration and three pages with a Glossary of Major Terms.
Part One: Twenty-Six Steps into the Dreamlands is the initial steps which cover how to create a world in twenty-six steps. The idea isn’t to create an entire, complete game world at this point, as might be seen in some commercial worlds (although Hârn, a very detailed setting, is an island only about three times the size of the UK – probably; one official explanation confused England and the UK) as this is far too time consuming and, at least initially, isn’t required.
The intent is to create the broad strokes of the world and then start to focus in on a small area. The game world consists of a number of pieces of hex paper on which the world will be mapped out. Each piece of paper is considered a sector and how many sectors should be used is discussed, both from the point of view of speed of creation and that of creating a big enough world for players.
It begins with drawing the main land and water masses of the world on the sector sheets. The focus is then narrowed to a heartland which is then placed in a hemisphere and climate is determined. More detail is then added; mountain ranges, mega rivers and great lakes, regional divisions and political subdivisions, wilderness and civilisation before finally focusing on one sector, where several of the regions are fleshed out more. The starting area will be in this region and the author advises having at least one town – towns are more interesting and diverse than villages and easier to design than cities – in this region, as well as nearby wilderness areas.
Part Two: Realm Development is another 30 steps which are done on the starting region. Part of the world map is then transferred onto a local regional map, considering what type of paper to use for this. Major cities and town are placed, as are roads, other types of terrain and danger zones – i.e., places to adventure such as dungeons. The final section here is the Realm Detail Dossier where various details of the starting realm are defined, including population and monsters.
Part Three: A Realm Worthy of Play further concentrates on realms. This considers realm names, types, sizes and resources, both general resources and very detailed ones. Realm rulership, population, including demi-humans and humanoids, typical alignment and rulership are in Part Three, as well as dragons and common monsters.
Part Four: Appendices considers various different matters. These are forms of government, priesthoods and religion, factions, magic, terrain subtypes, random wilderness hazards, random major campaign events and developing a history for a realm (basically don’t spend too much time on it). The Appendices open with a list of recommended books and states that this book is intended to create a world suited for sandbox play. It also suggests the Forgotten Realms for those who do not enjoy sandbox play, as that is one of the most comprehensively detailed campaign settings around. The author also lists a number of problems playing in such an extensively detailed world (because the publisher has so much written or upcoming for it) and admits he is being facetious for effect by exaggerating the problems to a degree.
CASTLE OLDSKULL – Game World Generator in Review
The PDF is bookmarked, with the major sections linked but not the sub sections. The Contents goes a level deeper, including the more important sub sections. Navigation is not bad, but it could be better.
The text maintains a single column format and appeared to be almost error free and, like many in this series, there are a few tables, although rather less than usual. The illustrations are colour and black and white public domain images that have been placed rather erratically, not simply to use up blank space, resulting in the book being weirdly padded out. Presentation is not as good as it could be.
The supplement references a number of others by the author, these being City State Encounters, City State Creator I and II, Dungeon Delver Enhancer, The Classic Dungeon Design Guide and Mega-Dungeon Monsters & Treasure (which is also called Monsters & Treasures Level 1 in a different version).
The book is intended to design a specific type of game world. A sandbox world is, as mentioned, the main aim, but it is also one that has many places to adventure. Rather than being true to a medieval setting, the author has chosen to reduce populations and safe areas (although some of the settlements look to have rather high populations compared to medieval Europe) in order to increase places to adventure. So realism has taken a back seat to enjoyment.
This is a pretty useful book for its workflow in designing and creating a world, even if not every suggestion is followed. Starting off with a large world then narrowing the focus to end up with the detailed starter area is a good idea, and there are some good ideas as to how to design the regions for enjoyment. The author also realises, although he doesn’t explicitly state it, that a single GameMaster will not have the resources of a company to fully detail a world. However, this is not world building guide that will be appreciated by every GM; it is for a fairly specific type. There is material of use for most, though, even if the entire book is not.
CASTLE OLDSKULL – Game World Generator is an interesting, albeit not perfect, book for creating a world from the top down and it can be downloaded by clicking here.
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