Question as a first time GM. How much world information should

Start with basic information about the town/surrounding you have placed them in. Let small details flow like the government and local hot spots. After that try using npcs to inject information and plot lines to influence them to flow with your story. Lastly improvise

Everything, in the sense that you need some sort of backing so that when you make NPCs, they all follow a common thread that the PCs might not necessarily notice, but may understand. Maybe you have a big ol history book you've written as to why the two cities are at war with each other, and how the two towns' outlooks on life affect their citizens. When you go into one, they'll be friendly if you do X, in the other, if you do Y.

But, you're going to want nothing down, because no matter what you do, the players will ignore it, or just plain not notice, and they'll go only to the places you haven't fleshed out.

It all depends on how you run your games. Personally, I like to have a huge folder filled with general history, cultures, all background information.

Like, maybe in this setting, the sentient races reproduce by carving statues of infants and imbuing them with magic. That's not something the PCs are going to be able to change. But something like the PCs going to Starttown Farm, which is "accidentally" the catalyst for the plot - that they can change by not going there. Hedge your bets.

>>55205662
Only as much as you immediately need for the very first adventure/session. You can figure out the rest as you go along.

File: 1503965061359.png (892KB, 1125x1491px) Image search: [Google]

892KB, 1125x1491px

It depends on a lot of things: The kind of GM you are, your capacity for improv, the setting, and mechanics of the game, the players, etc.

For instance, if you're just an average group doing a dungeon crawl you can just sketch up a map and some enemies and make up most things as you go. If you're doing some sort of period piece with players that know the period then you're gonna have to do some more research and plan things out more.

In general though, you want a sort of skeletal or outline vision of everything the players could interact with. Jot down the major points and then fill things in on the way as you need to, making sure to keep track of stuff as you do.

Oh and listen to your players and adapt their ideas, either going with them or subverting them as you like.