Tone and Atmosphere

A very important consideration when going through the process of world building is to take into account the tone, color, atmosphere, and feel of the setting and campaign you intend to build. This consideration will create a consistency and style that will make it easier to present and easier for the players to suspend disbelief.

Some things to consider, perhaps think of it more like a movie, play, or television show

• Mood for the campaign
  • Is this a comedy, tragedy, mystery etc? 
  • Is it episodic or serial?
  • Is it event driven, character driven, a combination, or some other mix?
• Story rigidity
  • Fluid with little restrictions, truly open world where player can ignore the main quest line
  • Strict where only the scenes and portions are told, with much of the time ignored if it is not important to advancing the plot
  • Healthy mix of the two
• Progression for the characters
  • Experience per event, encounter, etc
  • Story driven
  • None

In addition to these items I tend to make sure that I have 3 lists of adjectives, grouped by likelihood of use. I group them into Common, Rare, and Not Appropriate to help maintain the feel.

This will help things stand out for the players and make them more likely to be noticed and followed up on. It makes where they focus more predictable.