Blue Moon Aurora

I haven't played D&D in years, but I just got the Pathfinder RPG rules and it has put me in the mood to start up a new campaign.  However, before starting a campaign you need a campaign setting - which is the imaginary world where the campaign will take place.  Now Pathfinder has its Golarion setting and there are other published settings like the Forgotten Realms, but I have always been a fan of creating my own campaign settings.  I could use one of my old settings like Nor-Kaeda, but I think it is time to create an entirely new setting that incorporates some of the lessons I have learned over the years in designing settings.  Hopefully, I'll be blogging about this more as I progress, but before anyone tries designing a campaign setting they need to ask themselves the following questions:  

1. What is the flavor and style of your campaign? If you are trying for something akin to Arabian Nights then you need to avoid borrowing too heavily from Lord of the Rings.  Many published settings are 'kitchen sink' settings as they cover a lot of different flavors and styles, but for your own setting it is best to keep in mind what you want and try to hit that as closely as possible.  Related to this is the sophistication of the setting's societies from technology to gender/racial relations to forms of government.  For example, Conan the Barbarian has a very different feel than Harry Potter and a lot of it flows from the differences in the two respective societies.  
2. What is the scope of the campaign? Will your PCs be traversing the globe or will they be operating in a small geographic locations?  The common advice for beginning GMs is to begin local and slowly go global as the campaign progresses.  I think this is good advice, though my approach is pretty much the reverse, but that's because I have done this lots of times before. Scope also equal work.  The bigger the scope the more work you will have when you design the setting so be mindful of your time limits and don't bite off more than you can chew. 
3. What are the conflicts and challenges in the world? You need conflicts and you need challenges for the PCs to overcome.  An utopian world doesn't work - it's boring and dreary, but on the other hand a bleak world of constant terror and hopelessness is just as bad in the other direction.  You need a balance, but err on the side of more bad guys as you always want plenty of challening opposition for your PCs.  The heroism of your PCs is determined by the challenges they face, always keep that in mind.  Also note that conflict comes in many forms besides combat/war, religious tensions, economic disputes, scarcity of resources, racial emnity, and political struggles are all great conflicts - in many ways moral is always more engaging than martial.  
4. What are the stories and goals available to the PCs? Let me be blunt - can your PCs change the world? If the answer is yes then the next question is how much can they change the world? However, to answer this you need to know what place the PCs can hold in the world.  Can PCs be nobles? Must they be heroes or can they be villains? Are they supposed to serve the king or are they supposed to become the king? A setting only works if it can produce adventures, lots of adventures, so by this stage of the thought process you should be able to come up with a dozen adventures easily.  If you can't do that then there is a problem with the setting. 
5. What are your sources? Listen, there is little original work in the world, everything is a remake or inspired by something else.  Use the sources that are out there from published settings to books to history.  If you wan an exotic culture in your setting then pop open an anthropology book, because there is nothing weirder than reality.  Truth is indeed stranger than fiction and look to the real world for inspiration.  

That is enough for now, but I'll probably blog some more as I move through this process.