Fundamentals of Role-Playing Game Design

The Game World and Story

Once you know what the player is going to do, you need to think about where he’s going to do it. You should design the setting before the story. This advice is the opposite of that normally given to writers; the setting of a role-playing game is essentially a vast playground to adventure in. Decide what kind of environment is suitable for the sorts of activities you have in mind.

Settings

CRPG game worlds tend to be set in fantasy and science fiction universes because both offer players opportunities to do things that they can’t do in real life: use magic in the former case and use advanced technology in the latter. They also make possible a huge variety of enemies, aliens, and monsters that don’t exist in the real world. ...