Generating Larger Settings

[crusher_bob]

The default setting for a DF game is a city, but one you start getting into the 10-15 refresh range, a city can start to seem pretty small.

If you have a small group, this might not be a problem, but a single city can feel pretty crowded with 5+ characters, the antagonists, the non hostile people, etc.

So, how can you use the same aspect based setting generation for something larger?

The simplest way is to just make the setting 'regional' instead of a single city, so you could expand your setting to something like 'Along the Mississippi' or "the aegean" instead of a single city.  Locations might be switched from singular locations to cities or regions with particular character, for example 'The Las Vegas strip" or "out in the desert" become locations.

Another way to redefine aspects it to make the aspects related to the part of the world the characters 'see'.  For example, for a wardens game, no matter where you go, there's some sort of horrible magical crime.  If there wasn't, you wouldn't be there.

[UmbraLux]

A city doesn't have to seem small.  I think that's more a matter of play style than refresh.

That said, expanding to a region has potential.  Didn't one group build a "city" around a couple hundred miles of freeway and have the characters looking a lot like a biker gang?  Think I saw something about that on these boards a couple years ago.

One potential disadvantage of spreading out is losing the interaction between themes and faces.  If you've got bugbears in the country and sorcerers in the city, you may end up dealing with each individually.  As GM, I tend to prefer the messiness of intermixed plots...being attacked by vampires while hunting down the necromancers who are using vulnerable fae...etc. 

[Silverblaze]

Our game is global in scale at this point.

I encourage just applying regional aspects and a world wide aspect.

Ours would likely be.  "Nyarlothotep is trying to force open the Outer Gates"

Then any important cities or regions can undergo city creation rules (if the players like) or the GM can do it all on his/her own.

It really just requires a little more work; much like when any other game expands beyond hte scope of "hometown heroes" or what-have-you.

[vultur]

This thread ("city" creation for the Grey Council game I'm running) may be of interest, though it's pretty short since we jumped directly into character creation and play very fast.