First and foremost to this topic:
Do I use a pre-made world or make my own?
The answer to this will vary between DMs and even from the same DM depending on where they are in their "career" as a DM. Personally, the first adventure I ever DMed in Dungeons and Dragons was a pre-published adventure, after stumbling a bit through running someone else's adventure, I decided to build my own world to play in from then on.
Some DMs prefer to use one of the pre-made worlds associated with the game itself (things like Eberron or Forgotten Realms for Dungeons and Dragons). Personally, I truly enjoy creating my own world to play in for a couple of reasons:
1.) I can create my own style, architecture, culture, geography...
I like the freedom to create my own world with it's own features. I don't have to remember the history or geography of a world that has already been created by someone else. The freedom to say "I really want my PCs to visit an island where everyone dresses and acts like they did Ancient Rome" and make that happen. The style, feel and look of the world is what I want it to be, instead of what someone else says it should be. I would much rather use things I like from the worlds others have made than to use the whole world just as it is.
2.) My players can have a part in building the world as well
I enjoy the fact that when I create a world, my players can have a part in shaping that world. The world I'm currently using has had some of the areas fleshed out, but much of the world remains "unexplored" at least as far as the players are concerned. This allows them the freedom to decide where they're from, and flesh it out as much as they wish, without it clashing with what already exists there.
3.) I enjoy the act of world building itself
I really enjoy building worlds. I love being able to give it those little quirks that people will notice and enjoy, or to make it seem like a real place that someone might actually want to visit. I like telling stories, and I love creating a world to tell those stories in.
There are, however, some downsides to creating your own world:
1.) It's a lot of work
I've put a lot of time into the world I made, and I continue to put even more time into it. If the PCs decide to go off in a new direction that I didn't expect, I need to have something there, it can't just be a blank spot on the map... (or can it - time to explore!). If this happens in the middle of a session, you will need to think on your feet and create things on the fly, this takes a bit of experience and some preparation. You should ideally have a few things such as towns, cities, NPCs and the like sitting in reserve for a situation like this. Creating all these things takes time. You will spend a lot of time creating maps of places, as well as coming up with people to populate those places. If you want your world to feel real, those people need to have personalities and character.
2.) You need a system to remember what you created
You need to make sure you have some system to remember what you have created. If you have to suddenly throw together a town on the fly, or create an NPC and give them a personality, you're going to want to remember that for the next time the PCs meet that same character. Some DMs take insane amounts of notes and leaf through papers when necessary... others use programs or technology to help them keep track of it...
Personally, I use a combination of both. I do use my laptop in preparing and keeping notes straight, but a lot of times when I am at the table I will take notes on a pad of paper and transfer them over later.
Box and Dropbox (or other similar programs) can be a good way to share information with your players. I have all my players as collaborators in a folder on my box account, and I can post information there for them to see, as well as have them post information like character sheets and backstories there for me as well.
Also, Onenote (part of MS office) is a good app for DMs as well, I really like using that to build a campaign, and it can be used at the table to take notes pretty efficiently as well...
So I want to build the world, where do I start?
Come up with the overall idea for your world:
There are a couple of different schools of thought on this, but I'll give my suggestion. I recommend starting with the concept. Decide what you want your world to be like. Do you want to have one or two large landmasses with areas of the landmass that each have their own distinct features (similar to how it's handled in George RR Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series). Would you prefer to have a ton of small islands and each have their own culture/style?
From here, decide what kinds of quirks your world might have. We'll use GRRM's ASOIAF series as the example here as well, in his world, summers and winters last years instead of merely months. What gimmick will you use?
The world I made had the distinction of having multiple continents, each with their own "style". So there is an island that is mainly dragons and dragonborn types, one that is mostly undead and "evil" things, one that is an Empire based on Ancient Roman/Greek style, one that is all desert, one that is a frozen tundra. They started this way, but the cultures/styles have bled into each other. For example the Empire (Ancient Roman/Greek style island) began an invasion into the "main" island, which was themed as a "generic" Dungeons and Dragons world (medieval fantasy), so those styles kind of bled into each other.
Some other things I would consider important here are things like "how old is this world?" Are the PCs exploring a continent that was just recently discovered or does the culture have a history spanning eons? You don't necessarily have to flesh these things out completely, but you want to have some idea where this world "came from".
One you have this idea...
Start Small:
This sounds like it runs directly counter to the first point, but it's not. You want to know the overall idea of the world, but as far as fleshing out the details, keep it to things your players will likely experience. You want to have a backup of some places in case they go off where you don't expect, but if they won't likely see the far north for a few sessions, there's no reason to fully flesh it out yet.
Focus on fleshing out the nearby cities/towns/dungeons/NPCs/etc. of the things they will likely be exploring right away. (This seems like common sense, but you'd be amazed how many DMs are just overwhelmed by the enormity of creating a world, but when you break it down it's not that difficult at all)
In later sessions, we will cover creating things like towns, cities and NPCs to fill this world with.
Where do you get your inspiration?
Books:
I read a LOT of fantasy books, as well as things from multiple other genres. Some of my favorites, where I've gotten my inspiration:
A Song of Ice and Fire - George R.R. Martin (be warned, you will likely get hooked... and the series isn't finished yet... and the most recent book - A Dance with Dragons - took over 10 years from when the one before it was released)
The Sword of Truth Series - Terry Goodkind (link is to the first book - Wizard's First Rule)
The Belgariad - David Eddings (Link is to first book)
There are tons of others, but those are the big ones. I also get some from movies and from forums such as Reddit and the Wizards Community Forums.
There are some other great resources to use, here are a few of those:
Quick note on this book - it's AMAZING. It really helps you to make worlds that feel real and that people would want to visit or live in. Check this out ASAP!
That's all for today
Until next time,
Your Humble DM,
-Zach
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