Curious to know how other GMs go about designing and filling out their campaigns with different material like items, NPCs, locations, etc. I’ve traditionally gone very deep and sometimes even granular (much to my own detriment because I bite off more than I can chew sometimes), and try to build out enough material to establish the setting and make everyone feel “unique” to the campaign setting.
What do you find works best for you? How deep do you like to go when building out the setting and materials? Are there any specific elements you focus more on as opposed to others?
I plot out a few thousand years of history for the setting so that there are recognisable strata of cultures in the locations the players explore. I usually tie quests and narratives into the history so that its all meaningful and not just window dressing.
I do usually use an existing setting as a base, preferably one that has some established history to build off, usually Greyhawk.