04/25/2025 - A Year of D&D Learnings, Part 2: This Town Ain't Big Enough for All Your Worldbuilding

Yee -- and I cannot stress this enough -- haw!

“Desert Cathedral” by Brett Allen Johnson. More of his art here.

I’ve got a problem. My worldbuilding is overwrought. I need to fix it.

A high fantasy Western was a ludicrous idea I’ve always wanted to make a real setting, and Roonroq would be the stage upon which the players might enact their adventure. The cowpokes in question: Oleg Kasston the devil-dealt Warlock; Hidbi, Fighter and doula on-the-run; Bethany, mercenary Thief; Esthall, expatriate gun-slinging Wizard; and Wyatt, the Artificer who enables our game to get a little steampunk-y. This high-power party (we started at level 9) boasts quite the dynamic web of backstories. It’s important to me that all their arcs weave into each other in a way that feels organic and high-impact.

It was supposed to be a silly, plot-light game. Four vigilantes ride, duel, squint, curse the desert; meanwhile my players get to have fun roleplaying and saying anachronistic hoo-hah like “Get a long, little doggy.”

But no!!! I went and made history about the continent, means of extraplanar travel, half a dozen McGuffins, another country, and some argle-bargle about the four elements. The four elements! Get a load of discount Bryan Konietzko over here (me!!!).

These complications, as hard as they’ve been for me to juggle, have been a hoot to see my players face. The party (dubbed Snow Angels, for a combat encounter against werewolves on an ice-skating rink, yes it was exactly as fun as it sounds) has been bodying every challenge I’ve thrown at them through sheer endurance and a frankly ridiculous amount of Talk no Jutsu, which Bethany and Wyatt have accomplished through heartfelt, Nat 20 Persuasion checks. I conceptualized a hostile oasis, a genre-appropriate gelatinous cube, to ambush the Snow Angels, and they defeated her with the power of friendship. What fresh hell is this?? Spray lead at each other!!!

I named her Odessa! She’s an ancient, friendly elemental who has felt what it’s like to be rain, snow, sustenance. She was a party favorite. This image is from “Tome Unleashed” by Kobold Press.

We’re at a significant juncture in the plot. After heist-ing into a tobacco plant to liberate an ancient artifact, the party was forcefully split, with four forsaken on the material plane, and Oleg the Warlock dragged into hell by their infernal patron (whom I roleplay with a bad Spanish accent, but that’s neither here nor there). All of them are so close to discovering the true big bad of this world, and to get to that point, they have to find a way to reunite. As if that weren’t enough, I’ve gone and wrapped my Warlock in an arranged marriage plot, in a plane I’ve conceptualized as a kind of Las Vegas in Hell. A wedding in Vegas, with possible Austen-esque undertones? I’m foaming at the mouth.

It’s all very exciting, but it’s a balancing act. Too many subplots are in motion, some arcs are due to conclude, and my party is Talk no Jutsu-ing everybody because I made too many of their enemies redeemable saps.

Except this guy! An ornery smoke Genasi who made a brief appearance, forever loved by the party for being hot. More by the artist here.

I have a few fixes. While the party is split, I’m narrating to switch back and forth between two planes. Even though a split party usually spells disaster for most adventures, I’ll attempt to drive the narrative on in a rhythmic manner, jumping off and into appropriate narrative beats. I’m also looking forward to exploring thematic parallels between the two storylines. What does Team Material Plane’s slog through an unforgiving desert have in common with Oleg’s demonic pact finally reaping its fine line?

Additionally, the world’s biggest threats ought to reveal themselves now. They’ve been shrouded in mystery long enough! If I want There Will Be Blood type shit to happen, the story needs more hostile elements. (If you’re one of my players and you’re reading this, hi. You’re gonna be great, I promise. You’re actually so much stronger than you think.)

If you’ve ever had the experience of juggling multiple subplots in a single campaign, or have advice for how to clean up worldbuilding that has too much crap going on, I’d love to hear it. In the mean time, I’ll be statting out an archdevil.