#dungeonmastertips

Understanding the geopolitical forces at play in your fantasy world can transform it from a static backdrop into a dynamic, living entity. By applying real-world principles of geography, climate, and resource distribution, you can create plausible societies, enduring conflicts, and compelling narratives. This guide distills the insights from Baron de Rop's analysis of Faerûn to help you build a robust and believable geopolitical landscape for your own campaign setting.

Phase 1: Laying the Foundation – Climate & Geography

The physical world dictates the possibilities for life and society. Start by sketching out the fundamental geographical features of your world, considering their impact on resources.

Water is Life (and Society):

Identify Major Water Sources: Rivers, lakes, seas, and even massive glaciers are crucial.

Glacial Impact: If you have glaciers, consider their long-term effects:

Mountain Carving: Deep channels and valleys in areas below the ice.

Debris Fields: Scattered boulders and outcrops in lowlands, carried and deposited by glacial movement.

Floodplains/Bogs: Further from glacial foothills, where water accumulates.

Resource Distribution: Glaciers inform where arable land, stone, and metal ores might be easily accessed (e.g., runoff supporting fertile valleys, exposed rock formations).

Sea/Oceanic Influence:

Wind Patterns: Determine prevailing wind directions. Winds carrying moisture from oceans will drop it as rain when they hit elevated terrain.

Rain Shadows: The leeward side of mountain ranges will be arid or barren due to moisture being "wrung out" on the windward side.

Coastal Rainfall: Areas close to the coast will likely receive consistent sea-based rainfall, supporting lush growth.

Rivers and Lakes:

Fertile Land: River valleys and lake basins are often the most fertile areas, ideal for agriculture.

Transportation Arteries: Rivers provide efficient, cost-effective transport routes.

Terrain & Resources:

Mountains: Source of stone and metal ores. Act as natural barriers, influencing population movement and defense.

Forests: Provide timber for construction and fuel. Indicate areas of consistent rainfall.

Grasslands/Steppes:

Rainfall Indicators: Lack of trees or lush grass suggests arid conditions and lower rainfall.

Migratory Fauna: Consider if large herd animals (like bison or wildebeest) exist that prevent tree growth by trampling. If so, this explains why a fertile plain might remain a grassland rather than a forest.

Nomadic Lifestyles: Arid grasslands often support nomadic herding populations.

Swamps/Marshes: Impede movement and trade, making regions harder to access or develop.

Scale Matters:

Define Your Map's Scale: Understand the vastness of your regions. Is a "forest" the size of a national park or a small country? This influences travel times, resource availability, and the scope of conflicts.

Distance & Cost: Remember that overland travel is significantly more expensive than water-based transport (up to 20 times!).

Phase 2: Populating the World – Societies & Interactions

Once your geography is set, think about how different populations would emerge and interact based on these physical realities.

Cities & Settlements:

Harbor & River Mouths: Large cities often arise at defensible natural harbors or at the mouths of wide, navigable rivers, enabling trade.

Resource Access: Settlements thrive where there's easy access to essential resources: water, fertile land, timber, and building materials (stone, metal).

Strategic Locations: Consider choke points, defensible positions (e.g., mountains on two sides, flanked by water), or resource hubs.

Growth Potential: Cities with diverse resource access and good trade routes are poised for greater growth and wealth. If a prime location isn't a major city, ask "Why not?" (e.g., a historical disaster, a powerful magical threat, a societal choice).

Trade & Economy:

Water Dominance: Water-based trade is king. Settlements with river or sea access will naturally become economic hubs.

Overland Trade Routes:

Purpose: If roads exist, especially through difficult terrain, they imply a strong economic incentive (e.g., highly prized rare commodities).

Maintenance: Such roads might be remnants of fallen civilizations, or require significant ongoing investment.

Support Structures: Look for smaller settlements or outposts spaced about a day's travel apart to support caravans (like the Silk Road).

Resource Needs vs. Availability: What resources does one region have in abundance, and what do they need that another region possesses? This drives trade and potential conflict.

Security & Conflict:

Defensibility: Geography plays a massive role in a region's defensibility.

Natural Barriers: Mountains, large rivers, dense forests, or coastal cliffs can provide significant protection (e.g., Northern Italy's defensible position).

Open Plains: Flat, expansive terrain is notoriously difficult to defend and often becomes a historical "war-torn region" (e.g., Poland).

Threats from Neighbors:

Nomadic Warriors: Arid steppe regions can breed tough, mobile warriors (like the Mongols) who, when their populations grow too large for their land to support, may invade more fertile, settled areas.

Maritime Threats: Island chains or coastal populations can pose significant threats to mainland trade through piracy, privateering, or controlling sea lanes.

Strategic Control Points: Identify locations whose control gives dominion over larger regions (e.g., islands controlling a coast, or a mountain pass controlling trade).

Societal Development & Culture:

Resource Abundance & Stability: When basic needs (food, clothing, shelter) are easily met, populations can pursue higher levels of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, leading to cultural advancements, art, science, and luxury goods (e.g., Renaissance in Northern Italy).

Resource Scarcity & Isolation: Regions with limited resources and difficult access to broader economies may foster:

Self-Reliance & Mistrust: People are isolated and have to make everything themselves.

Tribalism & Infighting: Poverty and limited opportunities can lead to internal strife.

Lack of Education/Advancement: Without exposure to external ideas, scientific and magical advancements may be slow or non-existent.

Toughness: People from harsh environments are often hardy and formidable.

Phase 3: Refining & Injecting Fantasy

Once you have a plausible baseline, it's time to layer in the magic and fantastical elements of your world.

The "Why Not?" Question:

For every real-world geopolitical expectation you've set up, ask if your world's magic, creatures, or lore provide a compelling reason for it not to happen that way.

Example: If a rich river delta isn't a major city, is it because a powerful dragon lairs there, or a perpetual magical blight makes it uninhabitable?

Example: Are roads through a perilous mountain range maintained by magically enchanted constructs, or by a specific group whose unique abilities make it feasible?

Fantastical Influences on Geography:

Magical Storms/Climate Control: Does a powerful wizard control the weather, influencing rainfall patterns?

Elemental Rifts: Do elemental energies shape terrain in unusual ways, creating impossible mountains or perpetually burning forests?

Divine Intervention: Did a god's act create a unique resource or transform a landscape?

Racial/Creature Geopolitics:

Resource Needs: Do certain races have unique resource requirements (e.g., dwarves needing specific ores, elves needing ancient forests)?

Environmental Preferences: Do they thrive in specific biomes (e.g., drow in underground caverns, minotaurs in labyrinths)?

Natural Defenses/Advantages: Do their innate abilities (flight, burrowing, magical resistance) change their interaction with terrain?

Predatory/Prey Relationships: How do dangerous creatures affect settlement patterns and trade routes?

Historical Layers:

Fallen Civilizations: Use ancient ruins, forgotten roads, or abandoned cities to hint at past geopolitical realities that have shaped the present. What brought them down? How did their fall change the landscape of power?

Long-Term Consequences: Consider the lasting impact of major historical events on the current geopolitical map (e.g., an ancient war that left a region barren, a magical cataclysm that isolated an area).

Phase 4: Testing & Iteration

Your geopolitical map is a living document.

Ask Questions: Constantly challenge your assumptions. Why would people settle here? What would they do? What would they need? Who would they fight?

Interconnectivity: Ensure that the choices you make for one region have logical ripple effects on others. A war in one area might disrupt trade for another; a new magical discovery in a third might shift the balance of power.

Conflict Drivers: Use your geopolitical insights to generate plausible conflicts, alliances, and rivalries. Resource scarcity, trade route control, defensible borders, and historical grudges all make for compelling story hooks.

By systematically applying these geopolitical considerations, you'll create a fantasy world that feels more grounded, dynamic, and ripe for adventure, providing a solid foundation for countless campaigns. Good luck, Dungeon Masters!

The Primary Source for this paper was an amazing video mentioned in the top, linked below.

So I learned how to change fonts in the Tumblr app in case you didn't notice the header. But my inability to fully utilize this site is not what I wanna talk about. No what I wanna talk about is how to mess with people in DND. Sometimes the things I say will be more applicable to the dm side and others better suited to the player. Just remember no matter what side of the table you're on if someone else does something then you are free to try doing the same.

Today I want to talk about zone of truth. It's a second level enchantment spell, available to bards, clerics and paladins. What it does is create a circle where people cannot lie. In the parties I've played with and the parties I dm'ed for someone always had it for interrogation purposes. That's the correct use and it should be used for that and the dm should respect that for the most part. There are three things that dm's and players should take advantage of with the zone of truth.

First, it only makes you tell the truth as you know it. This is more useful for a dm as it is a great source of misinformation. Say your party is investigating a gang and they think a nobleman is involved. They track down a guy in the know and start questioning him about whose been coming and going in the gang's territory and all that good stuff and it looks like nobleman gus is the culprit. But it turns out he just has family in the area and no one knows this.

Second, you can choose not to answer. Now in many cases that will be seen as an admission of guilt but this is still useful for keeping the interrogator from discovering something new based on your answer. This is better for players being interrogated as thier silence doesn't slow down the plot.

Third, you can be as evasive as possible as long as you stay in the bounds of truth. This is huge, it allows your more intelligent villains to be interrogated and leave with the party convinced of their innocence. Let me run a scenario to show you

A party has gone to interrogate a merchant friend named Fred. They found evidence that Fred might be a member of the cult doing bad things. They've put him under zone of truth and are ready to interrogate him.

"Fred are you part of the cult?" Asks the rogue

Fred sighs " I was. When I was younger things were hard I didn't always have enough to eat and they promised change. I probably would have joined anyone who helped me get back on my feet. Recently they've changed it's a very different organization then it was when I joined."

"One of them had a list of members in the area, your name was on it"

"well it's not like I submitted a formal resignation. People who leave tend to not live very long" responded Fred cheerlessly.

Now at this point most new parties will think Fred is in the clear, but if not you can keep this going for awhile. The trick is to be honest but vague enough that the party fills in the gaps. Try to avoid answering yes or no questions directly. I'll give you an example.

"did you pass on any information about us to the cult?"

"there were some new people helping with the unloading at Winstons who asked a lot of questions about you. You don't think they could be part of the cult?"

If you must answer a yes or no question with a yes or no immediately explain it to complicate things

"did you pass on any information about us to the cult?"

"yes, but what was I supposed to do. They had swords and there were a lot of em"