Making a Campaign World

There are a lot of cool generators online and good pages and groups, so here are a few links to some of my favorites

Play with the generators over at Chaotic Shiny if you need some ideas

AutoREALM is a free map making program and is easy to use. If you're not an artist try starting with that.

And afterwards if you're feeling lucky mess around with GIMP or Inkscape with your AutoREALM map and spice it up or make a new one.

Templates to make the critters and people of the campaign uniquely yours.

Sample Encounter Tables

Religion

If you have a creation myth that might be a place to start.

Start with gods for the civilizations the campaign is set in and whatever cool stories you are using. Characters that have ranks in Knowledge (religion) will know that there are other gods of other civilizations, including forgotten ancient ones whose worshipers are long gone.

If you have players that make a cleric and pick two random domains instead of one of your gods ask them to describe their god. And whatever they come up with could be a lesser god from the distant <insert random compass direction>. I've ended up with some bizarre ones that way, a beaver god of creation, a dead crow god of travel.

Have the main ones you come up with be greater gods and others, unnamed at the start, be lesser gods.

Perhaps their status fluctuates from lesser to greater to demi-god based on the number of worshipers or sacrifices.

Maybe its based on proximity to their largest temples, the farther away the weaker. For a demi-god king of a city maybe 10 miles outside its walls they become mortal. And they risk it all when questing or they never leave and have others go when its time to save the city from the zombie plague.

Maybe its all of the above, with some of each type.

Cities and Towns and places

Random Towns and Cities

And a few tables of different things to kick start my head when making places.

Roll up a couple and see what you come up with.

Climate/Terrain - Roll 1d10 or choose

1. Desert

1. Mountains

2-3. Hills

4-6. Plains

2. Tropical

1. Mountains

2. Hills

3-4. Plains

5. Forest

6. Marsh/Swamp

3-4. Sub-Tropical

1. Mountains

2. Hills

3-4. Plains

5. Forest

6. Marsh/Swamp

5-7. Temperate

1. Mountains

2. Hills

3-4. Plains

5. Forest

6. Marsh/Swamp

8-9. Sub-Arctic

1. Mountains

2. Hills

3-4. Plains

5. Forest

6. Marsh/Swamp

10. Arctic

1. Mountains

2-3. Hills

4-6. Plains

Population - Roll 1d100 or choose 1 or more

1-10. Dwarf

11-15. Elf

16-20. Gnome

21. Giant

1. Cloud

2. Cyclops

3. Ettin

4. Fire/Frost

5. Forest/Taiga

6. Hill

7. Ogre

8. Ogre Mage

9. Stone

10. Storm

11. Troll

12. Wood/Marsh

22. Half Elf

23-25. Halfling

26-31. Hobgoblin

32-86. Human

87-97. Lizardfolk/Saurian

98. Oakling

99. Ratkin

100. Other

1. Goblin

2. Grippli

3. Half-Ogre

4. Kobold

5. Tengu

6. Undead

Government - Roll 1d100 or choose

1. Stratocracy

2-25. Monarchy

26-35. Plutocracy

36-58. Tyranny

59-70. Theocracy

71-81. Oligarchy

82-85. Democracy

86-90. Republic

91-94. Tribalism

95. Pornocracy (Rule of Harlots)

96. Mobocracy (Mobs)

97. Timocracy (Honor)

98. Syndicalism (Unions)

99. Narcokleptocracy (Ruled by a Drug Dealer)

100. Isocracy (everyone is equal)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_forms_of_government

Class of Ruler(s) - Roll 1d20 or choose

1. Alchemist

2. Antipaladin

3. Barbarian

4. Bard

5. Cavalier

6. Cleric

7. Fighter

8. Inquisitor

9. Magus

10. Monk

11. Ninja

12. Oracle

13. Paladin

14. Psion

15. Rogue

16. Samurai

17. Sorcerer

18. Summoner

19. Wizard

20. Witch

Some sample places from random rolls.

If you need a dungeon try the Random Dungeon Generator.

For some map symbols you could try using some free fonts like these

Another sample map using AutoREALM, Inkscape and some critter fonts

Night Lands