Stuff that history nerds like

I've been working on fleshing out the history of my D&D setting. I find this to be a very rewarding task. As I mentioned a while back in my review of the newest edition, the last time I was involved in a D&D game, we spent hours working on the setting. The world had a distinct spirituality that actually influenced game mechanics, and a great sense of history. More time was put into creating that setting than playing it -- several times over, in fact.

Our current game takes place in one very large city -- at least for now it does -- and I think it's important for that place to have a history, to be a character. Therefore, I put together a timeline detailing the major events in the city's history.

Not only does this sort of thing get my inner fantasy dork going, but I recommend it for anyone running a tabletop game. While I was filling it out, I found myself simultaneously constructing a "people's history" in my head.

So now, not only do I have the official version down on paper for my players to read and hopefully accept as a sort of apology for the huge delays between sessions, but I have this other set of events from which I can draw story ideas and use to improve those I already have. The conflict between the two histories is likely going to be a big part of the game overall, which is more skulking and scheming and politicking than kicking and fighting and looting.