The Best Way to Creating the Illusion of a Living World - Top GM Tips 

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My GM asks the players to share a rumor their character has heard at the end of each adventure, and he incorporates some of those rumors into the story if they fit.

“They say that syndicates of wizards have led a boycott of Imperial goods in the land of the Altmer." “Goodbye.”

Mages branded with an L, for learned. That one made me laugh

"Silly drow." Stab stab stab Wow cereal commercials are getting weird.

I like having a spreadsheet that shows a list of powerful people or factions, which functions as a sort of vague calendar, which shows what those entities will do IF the pc's DON'T interfere/help those situations. Then a separate sheet that shows different entities which are in tension but at a steady state. The PC's actions can tip that steady state into two or more world changes.

Love the Sword Tax. Consider that idea stolen.

I used to be big on showing changing trends & fashions. "You're still playing the lute? Ha ha haa! It's all panpipes now grandad."

I am starting to feel bad when you keep "apologizing" for all the law-related issues. To me they sound like fun, honestly. Very realistic!

I am actually running a world without a Player Group right now. They are still filling out the character sheets while I am simulating a whole world just to get the feeling right, you know... just a madman making the world less stelar... Also being a god and leader, as well as pesant can be stressful sometimes

Taxes on swords, except for guards and such, as an insentive to join the guard and such, money and potential increase in recruits for war. Also, im getting from this that a living world changes and doesn't stagnate. Political events, innovation, disasters, ect.

I don't mean to be that guy, but... I really needed this.

I got my first set of dice for Christmas

I've been Dming for decades. Many of these are standard fare for us ole grognards. To add a few things: 1. Holidays and festivals...(the addition or ending of it will feel epic) 2. Bazaars and new far away things...also excellent way to bring in not just rumors, but tales of events, inventions, new foods, new nations, etc... 3. Infestations and babies...a simple boom in anything. Bugs, babies, too much beer for sale, deer eating crops, too much grain, price flux, halfling gang moves in, new wild boar trample through town, etc... 4. Town cryers and postings...get creative here...this is the official word vs rumor. Your newsletters to players are done here. One campaign, newsletter arrived by a teleporting adept mage guild in service to the Twin Queens. 5. Final: Use downtime between adventures to advance the living world. Have actual wintering where there is no significant travel and PCs choose where they winter...or its forced on them. Advance with an extra mundane or whatever.

I like that he remains down to earth as he makes these videos. We need someone relatable to listen to, not some internet persona who feels he has to alter his behavior to the whims of "fans." I watch these videos and don't feel like he's talking to you, or her, or them. I feel like he's talking to me.

I love watching these videos, anytime I get overwhelmed or even burned out from GMing I watch one of Guy’s or Matt’s videos on running the game and then the wings of inspiration lift me off onto my next adventure! Thanks Guy.

Revolution is one of the most misunderstood terms of political and historical science. Revolution is not just a rebellion or uprising against an unpopular or tyrannical ruler. A revolution happens when fundamentally new technological or socioeconomic (or I guess magical) developments begin to take root in society, and as a result, old systems of social and political organizations grow too restrictive or unflexible to accomodate for these changes. As such, genuine revolutions should be extremely rare events, and they should be preceded by periods of slower and more gradual, but nonetheless deep and far-reaching social change. Essentially, a revolution needs to be a sudden, explosive boiling-over of a pot that's been cooking for a while, and it will radically transform the entire society in which it happens, whether it is successful or not. It's not just getting rid of a few corrupt rulers, it's a process in which nearly all of society's old values and truisms are radically and often violently challenged, and unheard-of radical new ideas pop up at any corner. Revolts or uprisings can be extremely common, particularly in a believable grimdark world, but genuine revolutions should be extremely rare, and they require a lot more planning and thought on part of the world-builder than a mere revolt or uprising.

I love the idea of a colony of kobolds that maintain the sewer system of a large city, the idea that there's a society of dragonoids under the feet of the upper-crust, who can wreck their day if they want to. At some point the sewer system stops working, and the players are tasked with going down there to find out what's gone wrong. It turns out that the kobolds haven't been paid, but you get to introduce this under-city full of traps and pitfalls (not malicious, just because the kobolds aren't used to dealing with people over a certain weight). Depending on the mood of the ruling class, the party's connections, or a persuasion roll, this could result in the ruler paying the kobolds . . . or in a quest to go into the sewers and clear out the kobolds.

I have a very general guideline of world events, again I have it in the form of a flowchart and I advance the placement on the chart each month checking to see if it or the parties action trigger any effects on the other.

I get the feeling that the village or town with a sword tax has had some problem with violence and the tax is a form of "blade control". Visitors are encouraged to leave their weapons at the gate (for a small fee of course).

There is another way. One that doesn't involve the GM. Just gather a bunch of powerful spellcasters, then have them cast Simulacrum and Mirage Arcane repeatedly. That way, you can maintain the illusion of a living world indefinitely.

For my current main town I have general lists of what the town is dealing with. Portions of the town be upgraded, problems among different races and factions, etc... This way, when the players are in town I know the general issues that are going on so I can create good replies. Knowing generally what's happening in a town helps to develop plots and adventures intertwined with that atmosphere. This is similar to Guy's list, but more focused on the immediate area. Luckily my players meet infrequently so I have plenty of time to work on potential upcoming things that are occurring throughout my world.

11:37: "Peace is made between two warring factions. That's another one, don't forget. Peace is just as important an event, if not more important, than war is." And it can be just as cataclysmic. If two of your enemies who have been at each other's throats since time immemorial, but then they make peace and have more resources to focus on dealing with your kingdom instead... this is not a good thing for your kingdom!

I once ran a game for a group of players maybe two years ago (roughly), and one thing I did was - on the spot - had a merchant that would've had goods end up with an empty inventory for the most part. See, I was planning on having the PCs go and have a random encounter with some bandits and see that there was a small fight between them and the caravan's guards. There was also a religious person there, working for the same god as one of the PCs, there was going to be a bit of a ranged battle across a river, etc. When they saw an arrow sink into one of their cart's wheels, the players just booked it to the nearest town to avoid the fight. So, I said that a merchant arrived in town several hours later. They had a lot of stuff they wanted to sell, but the merchant - and his hired cleric from the temple - inform them that they got robbed by bandits along the road, so they'd have no coin to give them if they sold things to the merchant. Took the players off-guard for a moment or two before the whole thing clicked. Still one of the very few things I think about from time to time.

A runaway griffin sounds like such a funny way to start a smaller adventure. "At least we know where they're going in the mountains, so you'll be rescued eventually." Great video!

Linoleum was also a class indicator when it was developed. Rich families ripped out their wood floor to put in & show off linoleum. Same thing with Aluminium, once exclusively for king due to rarity...now we don't even think about throwing it away.

If it is a medieval European based setting than regular revolutions are pretty rare, except in the Late Medieval Period. They were also triggered primarily by large scale natural events (The Great Famine, The Black Death, The Little Ice Age); extreme long term ongoing warfare (where the majority of the nobles and their military are outside the country campaigning) or where the rule is not absolute and a political in imbalance occurs that is revolted against by a class of people (like in The Revolt of the Ciompi in 1378 in Florence). You do have succession battles on the death of a ruler, but thats not the same as a revolution, and is primarily lead by one group of nobles and their retinue against another. (War of the Roses for example).

Thank you for this reminder. The „indirect“ Npc interaction is one of the important tools to create a real life feeling. And the PLayers feel empowered cause they unveil the Environment and its changes. Thank‘s - have a good Christmas Time...

Some people find admin boring. Some weirdos like me enjoy it.

MERRY CHRISTMAS GUY!

One way I help the world feel alive is by having the NPCs of my world all have odd quirks or guilty pleasures that the PCs can find out about. "Orville? Oh, you mean the little Kobold running the magic item emporium? He's a bit odd, he is. Attention span the size of a halfpenny. Always tinkering with new things when he hasn't even identified half of his stock to see if it's really magic!" Any item bought from a specific section of this NPC's business has a 50% chance of being a cursed item or a twisted version of the item it is being presented as

I love using a public media to relay to players what changes are on the horizon in the town. A town crier, a series of megaphones hoist by early balloons from the minaret, a newspaper. I prefer to give this source, as with all npcs, a sense that the info can't always be taken at face value.

I've really fallen in love with Godbound, a D20 based system where you play as demigods/protogods. Think lvl 30 dnd+ and you aren't far off. The game features a faction system, where one creates factions and then assign stats and features and problems. Then the GM is to do faction turns now and then (it's very fuzzy and implied the GM should do one when it fits) where the factions do actions towards each other. It can be attacks, help, building relations, dismantling relations, dealing with problems. The rules are kinda simple and kinda neat. Then i usually write down what was attempted and if the factions succeded. Then one can build rumours and news based on the events. Oh the kingdom of Serrûk attacked the navy of its northern neighbour? That's gonna have implications since the PC's are building a port city in this kingdom. Another great thing is that the game is free. So just google it and find the free PDF. There's also another game by the same publisher, Stars Without Number. Which has a much deeper faction system with units that move on a map, it is also sci-fi. It's a fun system, but i haven't tried that one. Mostly since the main game itself feels kinda 'Eh' to me. I just love it's star sector creator and faction system. That one is also free. So check them out. LOTS of good ideas for GM's.

Griffins are a new technology. good to know. i'm subscribed

Sire, Sire! The peasants are revolting!

For a living world feel, it is important to also think of NPC plans (yes, even for the non-villainous ones). The easiest way to keep a world alive is to give NPCs their own goals and motivations. Sometimes these will align with party goals, and other times they will create conflict. One of the easiest ways to do this is to have various factions that the party can help who all have different goals that conflict with one another. This allows the players to choose which story path to take without it making a difference on how much work the GM needs to do. Secondly, HOLIDAYS. Holidays, and other local events such as festivals, feasts, sporting events, etc will make the world come alive and give players the option to engage with it directly or not. Maybe one player wants to attend the Duke's feast while another wishes to enter into the jousting tournament, for example. Give players both mentor and rival NPCs that you can return to when you need a point to increase the tension. Opposing adventurers who don't wish to attack the party, but rather try to compete with the party in terms of discovering treasure or accomplishing goals for a different faction/organization. Time: probably the hardest to track but one of the most crucial in my opinion. Giving players an accurate time log both makes the world feel more real and players will begin to really think and plan how and when they go about completing certain plot events.

One of the most important things Guy said in this video is that the items on his lists are NOT the only possibilities. They're just basic examples. Use your imagination, enjoy other narratives and take note of what they use, etc. etc.

It's truly incredible how much this method can really help bring ideas to life. With just a little variation here and there and you can have totally different worlds that each feel equally alive in their own way

One thought I meant to include in my comment: another thing that I try to do in games that's a little easier to implement is have movement of NPCs. It's easy to get stuck in the trap of only the players' characters moving and encountering static NPCs when they arrive at a location. Having single NPCs or groups, whether enemies, friendlies or neutral, moving from place to place for reasons unrelated to the characters helps give the impression of a dynamic world. You can easily come up with a list of ten or twenty 'meeting engagements' by just thinking about the NPCs in the campaign area your players are in and imagining what they'd be doing when they aren't fighting off or talking to the PCs. Orcs? returning from a raid. A group of new miners with a caravan of tools and supplies going to a recently opened mine. Sailors just off their ship, looking for fun and/or trouble walking through the streets of town. Rangers on their way to hunt down a dangerous beast. A family going out to pick mushrooms in the forest. A merchant who passes the party on a road and breaks one of the wheels of her cart. And so on.

This needs more views. Brilliant stuff, my friend.

Your Videos have helped me, a seasoned GM, become even more flavorful.

This one was certainly great and incredibly useful, Guy. Thank you!

These videos always inspire me to add more to my campaign. Keep up the great work.

Making the tools / charts / tables can be some work initially BUT they save you SOOOOO much time and effort having them around. Great video

Your material is very useful and I'm always learning something that shall help me live up to your channels name. Thank you and warm regards from Seattle.

This is brilliant! I don't know how you do it! Video after video of pure solid gold! However you're doing it please don't stop. These videos are awesome. I'm going to make a list now of things that are happening in my world. Can't wait to see how the PC is interact. Thank you so much for these kind of videos. You rock.

Thank you for your content. I find your videos fascinating.

The volume of good advice that Guy generates is pretty amazing. This one in particular ignited so many ideas for my campaign. Thanks!

Awesome video. Greetings from Brazil. I'll be GMing tomorrow.

This is fantastic. I've played mental gymnastics for campaign ideas in my downtime, so I'm confident I have the mental agility to link events together on-the-fly, let alone if I planned ahead of time for the possibility of such events. What I'm really taking away from this video is to get organized with notes and consider letting things happen to parts of the world the players aren't currently inhabiting, and referencing them in roleplay later the next time they become relevant

My word, the way you can think up stuff is incredible. Bravo!

This is fantastic and just what I needed! Thanks, Guy!!

Great video, very thought provoking. Making "living worlds" is so much fun, I usually rely on economy and unique resources to set the stage of how my factions interact with eachother. I also like taking two very different factions and imagine how their cultures have changed due to being exposed to one another through trade or war. I particularly enjoyed your "mundane events" section. Very realistic and I think would bring in a lot of immersion with relatable inconviences like taxes.

This is fantastic thank you! Really helping me breath some life into my world!

Oh good. I'm already doing a lot of this. Nice to know we're on similar pages. Thanks for the stuff I hadn't already thought of though!

That was quite useful. Thank you for sharing this way of thought. I will try using that structure.

I like doing the ticking clock... if the becoming it will come no dice roll or GM judgment just a pre-set time unless the PCs somehow stop it. This allows the PCs a great deal of freedom to take any quest and follow any story and the GMs plans will happen anyway so it's fine.

I'm adding this to my Over land travel and other treats playlist because THIS is an absolute GEM.

My players got TPK'd by a terrorist organization. I felt so bad for them, that I reflavored it as they were taken for interrogation instead because they were the last people to see a prince that went missing, and the terrorist need that info. I had to write an ENTIRE FOREIGN NATION from the ground up to explain the terrorist's origins and motivations.

Great stuff, Guy!

This reminds me of my introduction for one of the games I wanna DM sometime. I would have all the PCs have a reason to go to the main City, they all meet on a caravan, but get stopped 1 city before due to a curfew caused by plot reasons

Great ideas, so much inspiration. Thanks a lot!

This one video has helped me tremendously. Many thanks Guy, very cool

This was a very good one, thanks Guy.

This is one of your best videos. Thanks!

This video was so wonderful. What an inspiration it was.

Great ideas to be sure. Cheers! Merry Christmas, and happy New Year! 🕊🎄🎅🎉🥂🍾

There's a lot of really good stuff here. I'm definitely going to start using these in my next campaign. (The last game I ran was kind of a monster-of-the-week thing, just a bunch of one-shots over and over with no overarching story)

This is brilliant, certainly makes the world feel much realer, much more alive, much more believable

Oh I needed this! My players have run off into complete homebrew territory and I need to progress other events in the world.

So Guy I would like to say Thank you... Thank you for being one of the actual rays of sunshine in the TTRPG Community on RU-vid. Your not one of those RU-vidrs that claim to Be an "Expert" Yet You are one for sure. to all of the Folks that call Older Players Grognards Here You are showing People that they are the exception to the Masses that are not. Really enjoy Your videos and even though I have been playing TTRPGs for 40 years this year I still get a LOT out of all of Your videos. Every Single One. Again Thank You.

Great Vid and just what I needed!!

Where was this diamond Tip?!!? Loved ittttttt,Thank you Guy for all your help ,Keep On making us bringing the fantasy life of our minds in RPGs

I feel like you need one major event each real-life year you're playing: a war, a natural disaster, a plague, the discovery of a new continent, etc. And like every three adventures something significant happens: a peaceful succession of kings, an assassination of a nobleman, a raid destroys a nearby town, a major fire in the town, etc.

Awesome video ! It would be nice if you could share your full event list with us or some ressources to find inspiration for our own

oh my god the gryphon one got me--these are quite good, thank you!

Revolutions are fun especially in the diversity of causes. Like for a world I was building with some friends I made a small yet very dense empire. In is the leaders of the various provinces would have impromptu councils or diets. Upon the death of the ruling emperor they would meet to choose from among their ranks (of like 56 princes) a new emperor. Now because of this inherently volatile event there’s a great many conflicts that can come from it. Maybe one of the princes feels like he won? So he gathers up a large army to attack the supposed winner. Or maybe the merchant city states Feel they did not get a fair shake? So they gather up metropolitan citizens and mercenaries to for a time inflate their manpower to bring about change. Or maybe the new emperor is part of a fringe esoteric cult and the church tells the people they don’t have to listen to him, so they revolt. Defiantly one of the more versatile world events.

One thing I like to do is give the PCs a business to run in the background (Tavern is classic, but could be almost anything. Caravan that they sometimes escort to dangerous lands...etc) Once they have a business, give them NPCs to work for them and be a continuing source of interaction. Rescue the 'fair maid'? "Oh, I need a job while I get back on my feet." "Well, we have this tavern. The work ain't glorious, but at least we don't steal the barmaid's tips..." Save an Orc from being lynched by murderous townsfolk? "Hey, are you looking for a job? We need a bouncer..." Before long you're reacting to the players as much as they are reacting to you.

Excellent video. This is my main issue I'm trying to work on.

These can be useful to come up with a nice short side quest, too, say for when one of the players is absent and you don’t want anything major to happen.

I really liked this video, very useful.

Best video you’ve ever put out!

This is fantastic advice! I tend to over think and over prepare which gives a level of detail that allows all sorts of exploration but.. 95% of it naturally goes un-used. It's not that I mind that overmuch but it is an asston of homework to do going into a campaign.

First step, don't place the party in any type of apparent utopian location. There is no progress to be had from that point for the culture of the setting. Second, include some seemingly random aspects of each major region. Include some strange agricultural product, a local non hostile creature the locals are known to tame, a known rivalry between two non-traditional rivals like the Spring Festival and the Harvest Festival are perpetually trying out do and sabotage each other. These element really help give you ammunition for playing with events in the background, stuff the party will notice but not necessarily be involved with. Third, Gods should never be static. They are constantly involved in wars and politics, so it would make sense that they would occasionally be usurped. Sudden shifts in the tenets of an established church can throw a nation into turmoil immediately.

Love this, thank you guy! I will make my list tomorrow afternoon!

For the most minor signs of an alive world I place some constructionsites into my towns and cities. When my party returns to that place a few months later, there is a finished / repaired building with a new NPC

I really like this. My cities have been a little stagnant when my players return. I'll be making a table this week

Someone was a fan of EverQuest II. Griffin huts! 🤣 Good stuff in this video! Thanks!

Honestly. What a great video!

Running a campaign for the first time. Have never played before and neither have my players. So I am kinda learning as we are going. Up to now I have put seasons and connected events (harvest, ending of autumn fest, etc.) into my world. I like the idea of tiering events into major and minor things though.

On point, as always!

Every week, I publish a newspaper heading and summary for the PCs to read that helps make the world feel grand. Doesn't need to be more than a sentence. Sometimes, it'll be a direct consequence of something they did (assassinating a noble) and other times it's about a different country (food shortage in the Northlands). In the current campaign, I have made ~50% of the articles foreshadowing of war (e.g. increased wages for soldiers, industry boom for metalworks, new settlements along the border, persecution of foreigners). I love this idea of using the newspaper to introduce mundane concepts. My next article will be a fine on civilians caught with weapons in public, while anyone who enlists will be allowed open carry for free.

You have such an amazing channel! I really wish I was still playing - maybe one day I’ll get a chance again. 🙂

coolest thing is when an event drastically changes an npc, for example: the king was victim of a conspiracy and now the prince, who has become the new king, is outraged and is ruling in an evil way and with violence trying to find the killers of his father. eventually, the party, who had met him before this all happened, will have to fight him to stop him and make him reason. epic battle, epic plot twist, epic.

I love ALL How to be a great gm videos!

Nice musical ambience with this video.

One approach that is also worth considering - probably alongside this one - is that, if you're doing complex worldbuilding, give yourself room for a plot hook on everything. For example, yesterday I wrote a thing on a group of performers who do really high end acrobatics in my world...but odds are players aren't going to pay just to see a high end acrobatics display (especially as I lack the narrative eloquence of some more experienced DMs to make them feel like they're actually there.) So the group has a habit of helping smuggle victims of persecution out of the country they have difficulties in.

This is a great idea for furthering a campaign with endless possibilities

These tips are awesome!! Thanks

Oh this is very nice I realize I have been doing some similar things just without thinking about it but it's nice to have it codified