Do you ever...?

[e.Blackstar]

Do you guys usually make up a world, and then a plot, or vice versa? I do both/either, but I frequently find myself drawing a map (of a city, or a whole world or whatever- that's what I do for fun) and then wondering about its inhabitants, and from there there springs a story.

What about you guys?

[Hammersmith]

I never include maps in my books. All fantasy maps are random cities with a legend claiming "Here be dragons"
Quality!
I tend to go with the flow, but I'm always flexible, and my maps change dramastically from beginning to end.

[Alcuin]

I ran a very popular D&D world a couple of decades ago when I was a college student. Here is what worked for me and the people who played D&D with me for many years.

Sketch out a geography. It doesn’t have to be the whole planet, just a playable portion. Don’t neglect to consider the weather in the area.
Think about what kind of history the place has. What is left behind, where have people been, how long have settlements existed there, and what is the history of the previous settlements?
Think about how people make a living. They have to eat, have shelter, get clean water, and deal with the elements.
Who are the principal political entities? How do they interact? How will they respond to the player characters when – and if – they meet them?
What does the society consider acceptable and unacceptable behavior? If the player characters find the bad guys in the town square, can they set upon them? What if the bad guys are the city magistrates or the local feudal lord and his minions?
What are the external threats and allies to the local region?
How are you going to start the campaign? That is, what is the event that gets the whole ball rolling?
Obviously, if you’re running a Middle-earth role-playing game, some of these issues are already provided for you, at least to some extent. But you should still sketch them out and make some notes for reference. Once you’ve done these things, setting up a series of interconnected adventures is much easier.

I suggest you pre-roll encounters such as monsters, non-player characters. Make some notes. A homemade adventure will usually run about 2-8 handwritten pages and last anywhere from 24 to 36 hours at most. (In other words, it’ll blow a weekend.) Anything longer is way too long and should be broken into parts.

When you run a game, I found these useful guidelines:

You are a player. The other players will surprise you with their originality and ingenuity. The game is not “yours”, it is “ours”: it belongs to you and to your friends, and together, you will shape the game-world and its evolution.
NEVER, EVER force a situation. If the players don’t want to play the adventure you have so carefully constructed, wing it!! Let them know you’ve all gone off the reservation, and then roll up the adventure as you go along. (Be sure you’ve got your reference books and notes and know how to use them.)
Keep a game calendar of where the characters were in the time of the game. If it’s Monday 27 Víressë when the game begins and it takes 90 seconds to determine that the party moves for 3 days to get from point A to point B without any encounters to play, jot down that they reached point B on Thursday 30 Víressë. Keep that game calendar!! Keep up with who player-character did what when and where. Don't forget to let it rain and snow from time to time.
Be reasonable. If you make a mistake and the other players catch it, admit it. If they tease you, enjoy it.
Be sensible. You’re playing to have a good time, right? You can make it tough to advance and tough to win, but don’t kill off a character unless it becomes absolutely, positively necessary, and be sure that your friends don’t break a friendship over it. (Hey, it happens!)
Remember that it’s a game, for heaven’s sake!! Keep it in perspective, and don’t waste all your time on it. Do your homework first, and don’t skip work to play your RPG.
You are one real person with several other real people. They will outsmart you on occasion. Let ‘em. They live for it.
e.Blackstar, I don’t know if that is helpful, or if that is even what you’re asking about.

[Zale]

I find that plots are always malleable to some degree: you could move most between different "worlds" without too much of a problem. Having your own detailed culture as a background, however, is what makes the book truly engrossing, partly from a suspension-of-disbelief point of view, and partly because the author's joy at creating this stuff leaks through the pages.

I find that one world is quite enough to be getting on with :D Creating original culture is startlingly difficult, and any world needs several in detail.

[Wraithguard]

Always pay attention to the flora and fauna of an area. If you remain consistant with the plantlife and animalife throughout the entire region things tend to get boring!

[Zale]

Er, no. Suspension of disbelief is the key when worldbuilding. Make it interesting enough to keep the reader reading (man that's ugly), but not so fantastic as to be unbelievable. Hence, no dramatic changes every ten paces. Consistency is everything when you're writing.

[HLGStrider]

I always start with characters and maybe one scene/situation I like. Then work a world around it, but I'm not a hugely setting rich "author."

Setting can be very important, though, but I only draw maps for my most sweeping works. For one thing I'm not really good at them . . .

[Kelonus]

Same here. I did try to draw a map once. Almost came out how I wanted it to, but I don't draw good so I scrappd it.