Technique for collaborative setting creation • 2016 supplement

                   
First , decide on the genre together. Will it be fantasy or sci-fi, historical or horror?
Second, every player (including GM if relevant) writes down four locations on index cards. One of them should be generally safe, one of them generally unsafe and the rest in between. Put them all in a hat. Player by player, you take a card and place it in any cardinal direction from the other locations. 

If the location is enveloping the other locations, place it to the upper left corner of the locations. This is called a region. This might look something like this:

Dragon's keep

                Barracks
                    
    Gate            Entry hall

Then, each player writes down six properties on index cards: two regarding mood, two regarding accessibility, one regarding a threat and one regarding an opportunity. Players take turns placing cards next to the locations. Locations can have a maximum of four properties, regions two. Cards with more properties are of more importance.

Last, each player writes down eight characters on index cards, consisting of:
A name,
An occupation
A quirk
A vice

Again, take turns to divide them over the locations, maximum of four per location.