Do you prefer the plot or the setting?

[xannoside]

Something that I was musing about in-between re-creating Final Fantasy/SF/video game characters in Soul Calibur IV's custom character mode, aimed at both the RPG playing/hosting crew and the writers:

Which do you prefer to create first, the plot and the characters or the world-building, in as much as they can be separated? The stories or the mythology?

Or to put it a little more abstractly, do you prefer to start with the macro and work inwards, or start with the micro and work outwards?

I muddled around this topic a bit and realized that while I definitely like individual characters and stories (hence my love for BSG), there are few things that I like better than running around on a stage set on a macro-level (hence my love for MMOs, sandbox-games, and Tolkien).

And certainly, while I've run very few table-top game sessions, the most enjoyment I've actually gotten out of the creation process was definitely the worldbuilding.

Comments

[kent-allard-jr.livejournal.com]

I love worldbuilding myself, so naturally I tend to start with mythology and work inwards.

I wish I knew of a way, though, to make a world that would engender strong characterization. Characters that belong in that world, and no other, while still being strong characters in their own right.

[xannoside.livejournal.com]

I am similar.

Creating the characters within the world, especially in the context of PCs or NPCs who can interact with PCs in a meaningful way, is definitely tough for me.