"Gazetteer/HR's: do you/your DM provide a copy of one?" Topic

(A)Yes: a printed/hard copy.

(B) Yes: an electronic copy.

(C) Maps? You have maps?…

(D) No, the DM has a map hanging on the wall/lays it out on the table during game sessions for us to view.

(E) No, we learn about it as we explore, with maps provided as exploration takes place.

(O) Other? Please share!

This can apply whether you run a homebrew game world, or a commercial setting. A Gazetteer can be used to plant adventure seeds, mentioning ruins, lost civilizations, monster lairs, etc. It can also contain house rules for the DM's game.

So… Do you, or does your DM, provide such to players when they join the game? This can be printed materials, PDF's, or other electronic files. They may include maps, or not; they may include House Rules (HR), or not. Racial/class limits may be described, etc.

In the 1980's, I wrote up a Gazetteer, with a photograph of my game world map attached to the 3-hole, pocketed folder's cover, which I handed to new players; it had a label printed, and attached to the cover, above the photograph, with title. Back then, I typed them up, then I made photocopies of them, punched them, and put them into folders. Now, I do it by PDF (much cheaper).

I have made up plenty of hex maps, using different software applications, over the years. I make them in color, and I include these, as well as other stuff. I include short write-up's on the religions of the game world, but only for players running Clerics. They get a free 2e NWP within their race's Religion (they get a basic knowledge write-up of the gods in that race's pantheon of gods, their Spheres of Access, Holy Symbol, short description of the god's influence, but nothing more).

I give a rundown of the geography of the world, so they know a little bit about each city/area of the continent where the campaign will be based (the rest of the planet is left undefined, for them -- I have it mapped out, but largely undeveloped). I seed it with historical references to the Ancients, ruins, etc. I even include a little bit of history about the world.

I include my HR's: Magical Research rules, Illusion magic rules, if they are playing a Mage; and anything else I deem necessary.

I find this helps my players immerse themselves into my game world's culture. Over time, it becomes more real to them. It helps lay a game world foundation we can all build upon, as a group.

For me, it is (A), (B), and (O): I am working on a d20 globe of my game world. Need to get back to it, to paint the continents, add labels to the seas, oceans, continents and islands. Bigger project than I had hoped…

How about you, or your DM? Cheers!

We never thought that far out.

My daughter is a genius at making worlds and races -- she has notebooks full of stuff.

One of our GM's did that; it was probably a little too extensive, but since my PC was a highly educated young nobleman from an influential house, it helped that I could read about the nation and its history, which he would have known.

Another GM in a Savage Worlds Deadlands campaign went so far as to find actually newspaper clippings from 1883 which covered some of the real stuff going on historically, as well as period photographs of forts and towns, and modern color landscape photos of the lands along the border of Wyoming and Colorado, and incorporated it all into the adventure. (My favorite was his research on Thornburgh, a real life dog that was a constant presence at Fort Bridger, Wyoming, and became a bona fide local celebrity and hero— and wound up being a party ally, even joining the ultimate campaign battle!)
link
But there was less of a gazetteer approach in that, more a "discover as you go." It helps that, despite the changes in history for Deadlands, nobody really needed an explanation of what the Wild West was like.

For myself, since I mostly DM classic D&D, I operate under the assumption that medieval type people know squat about the wider world— even their own nations.
So I hand out three maps.
One is supposedly of "the world"— and resembles a medieval church map which shows the world as a perfect, flat circle surrounded by water, in which there are three continents which are just over-sized pie slices, separated by straight bands of water. One of the continents is divided into blocks which are labeled with the names of various nations. It's basically useless, though it does give a general idea what nations the upper crust know of, and where they might be. (This, being a church map, is provided free to any cleric.)

Another map is just a rough sketch of their own home region with arrows pointing towards the nearest prominent neighbor towns and cities. No real details. (This map is free; it's not really a map as a representation of general knowledge of what's around.)

For 25 gp they can invest in a more detailed map, which is a parchment drawing of their entire nation, noting the locations of major towns and cities, the borderlands, and a few commonly known sites of interest. However, it has no legend (and no hexes), and notes only major features like rivers and different terrain regions. Although it's really a drain on their limited starting resources for not a lot of gain, somebody always buys it!

I do provide each player with a short "What your class Knows"— which gives a general, commonly known "history" (largely exaggerated) of their nation, a feel for what the culture is like, names of gods and faiths, and important people in their town, including a mentor based on their character class and alignment.
I will personalize this to include rumors and "facts" the PC "knows" which the others might not know (sometimes there is cross-over). (For raw newbies I'll even include a light "background story" for their PC— nothing really more than "The local priest saw you protecting a young halfling lad from some bullies. He was impressed with your courage, and took you under his wing," just with a little more flair.)

One thing I especially include is information on how a PC's race behaves in this world, and how they think in ways that is different to other races (especially humans). It's to give the player a base for making the character more than just "a short human with pointy ears or a long beard or bare feet." But otherwise, what the player does with that base is up to them.

Of course, all of this depends on the group; some will want more, some less, and I try to accommodate that.