Review of the World Builder's Guidbook (WARNING : LONG POST)

!!!WARNING THIS IS AN ETREMELY LENGTHY POSTING!!!

REVIEW  by Hatcher Wylde
"The World Builder's Guidebook" by Richard Baker

I thought it was interesting that now TSR has finnally decided to pool
together information on how to design a world, after DM's have been
sucessfully designing their own worlds for years. However as a resource,
taken out of context, of the game it offers many things to a DM who is
designing a Campain Setting as well as multiple worlds.
	The WBTG starts out in Chapter 1 discussing approaches. These discussed
Macroscopic Designing (Start with the planet and zoom in on more
detail),Microscopic Design(Start with a village, etc and work up),
Sociological Design (Start with a certain society you have in mind),
Charater-Based Design, Situation-based Design, Historical and finally
Literary Design. Often times I find that when designing a world you
don't just choose one of thesesbut this does help get the creative
juices flowing.
	Chaper 2 goes into the World and Planetology. This includes random
charts for size and shape. For those who use the SJ rules I find this a
little more helpful as, how big exactly is an F class Earth-body? The
WBG doesn't convert SJ terms to practical measurements but it can help
in selecting or genrating surface area. Hydrography is discussed here as
well. When trying to come up with how much water a planet has often
times it can be difficult. The WBH helps with this alot.
	Next we've got Seismology and Tectonics for those of you who care
whether your mountains are placed right etc. Finnally in
Chaper 2 it discusses Climatology. For those who want to know which way
Ocean currents would or should flow...here ya go.
	Chapter 3 starts with Continents and Geography. It discusses everything
from Landforms and Terrain Types to Rivers, Lakes, Seas and Racial
Geography.
	On to Chapter 4 it discusses Kingdoms and Sociology. In this chapter
there is everything from determining what resources a kingdom has, to
generating population, and deciding how many taverns should be in a
city.
	Last but not least the WBG discusses History and Mythology. It has a
detailed section on designing the deities that exist in your new
campaign setting.
	I found that the WBG was rather informative. I think that it could be
quite useful for someone who wanted to create a planet rather quickly as
there are several dozen random charts that help you to do so. For those
who don't like the random approach it also offers the detail I think one
needs to help with the creative juices. With this book also comes
several sheets (that are photocopiable) to help with mapping and the
creating of your setting.
	Admittedly for those DM's who's SJ campaign consists of hopping from
one crystal sphere (or system) to another. This product is not the ideal
thing to use. However if the DM wants to spend time in a system. I think
the depth that the WBH can add to a setting is more than worth the $
20.00 investment.

On a Scale of 1 to 10, I rated the World Builder's Handbook as follows:

Originality :  5
	While it doesn't bring up anything that you can't find in other
books....there are some things I thought were great additions such as
Tectonics &Climatology.

Detail :      7
	The WBG does go into a good deal of detail, but sometimes I felt it was
lacking and other times too much.

Usefulness :   8
	For the DM designing one world it's extremely useful. For a SJ Dm it
still has it's uses but more so in designing a setting where one will
stay for a while.


Hatcher Wylde

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