Proper world building?

There are a lot of awesome and different DnD ideas for campaigns that people have. I have seen that a lot of these ideas, for better or worse, flop. I spend a lot of time wondering why. There's a lot of reasons we can say it didn't work out: enthusiasm, lack of planning, lack of synergy, non-compatibility. All these are big reasons, but just the tip of the iceberg for the number of reasons people will list. What I am going to tackle as the subject of this post is non-compatibility, and the lack of planning. Both of these are DM-orientated issues, and have to deal with the subject title: proper world building. And really, all it boils down to is just the scope of the module, or campaign, and making sure you're taking the proper things into account. There, you can stop reading, and move on. For those who like reading someone's vomitations from their brain, by all means, continue. So, first, non-compatibility I think is bullshit. Okay, so it's not *complete* bullshit. Along with why a lot of campaigns fail, I also spend too much time thinking of how to incorperate other ideas into a workable DnD form. Case in point, the game called Trine. I think I might have mentioned this in a previous post, but for a quick run-down, it is a side-scroller action-puzzle game. You have the basic fighter-type knight, a thief who utilizes a grappling hook and bow-and-arrow, and a wizard. The wizard is the most notable character, because he's a shitty wizard. No, seriously, that's his backstory. He can't cast fireball for the life of him, but what he can do is temporarily create objects, and a bit of telekinesis. So you have a collection of these themed levels with this set of characters that have to overcome a variety of increasing difficult and intricate puzzles - even if the puzzle essentially involves just getting across a gap to move on further in the map. Can you do this is DnD? Damn right you can. But it's not easy, and it will take some understanding, and perhaps some tweaking. DnD isn't a 2D sidescroller, so whatever you create will not be a complete, true translation. With that said, let's talk about lack of planning. While I am also talking about the horrible instance we've all had where the DM (or you, if that be the case) shows up and is like, "Uh. Yeah. Totally forgot to plan for this, so this is all off the cuff," I am also talking about more. What I am talking about is why I dropped world building in the title. DnD is a bitch to plan for, there is so much to know that it can be truly overwhelming. If you're the DM, for all practical purposes, you have to be more knowledgable than at least three other people combined. Or do you? Arguments aside, I am going to share what I think, in my own little opinion, would help DMs out a lot when it comes to trying to run their own game with their own bits of flavor. First off, figure out the scope of this idea. How would it be defined? High fantasy? Gritty and realistic? From there, figure out how the mechanics would work; is it going to be low level PCs, or high level PCs? What are you going to do about magic? Okay, so these are pretty broad questions. They might help. How about the nitty-gritties? Seriously. Grab your Player's Handbook, look at all the classes, and all the races, and brainstorm of how they'd fit in. How would your average person/race react to certain combinations? When you're finished with that, start on the skills. There are some skills that are woefully overlooked. Think of ways for every skill to be usable and applicable. Don't force the the option, but make it available and be ready to roll with it. When you think you have a good idea of all this, then there comes the real bastard behind it all: spells. This is one reason I have "moved on" to The Black Company system. Despite the intricate spell casting system, the spells themselves, and what you can do with them, is fairly intuitive. DnD, with it's old-school Vancian style spells, is a real pain, without much rhyme to reason in some areas. Pathfinder did a good job of cleaning it up, in terms of balance, but there is still some spells that really mess with mechanics early on. Quick examples? Invisibility, Water Breathing, and Fly are all spells that casters can obtain by 5th level that are either exceedingly annoying to deal with, or make certain challenges completely moot. For the players, that's great, because their investment paid off. For the DM, it can represent an amount of creative energy wasted. I've seen a fair number of DMs now who've lost their gusto after having their scenario "thwarted" in merely five minutes. I'm not saying memorize every spell, but if you have a wizard in the party, be acutely aware of their potential. Try not to be surprised when, upon reaching 3rd level, they cast Detect Thoughts. Sound like a lot of work? Maybe. But better to put in an extra 15 minutes before starting a campaign that could last over a year, than to have everyone's creative energy wasted after just a couple sessions. On a more serious note, if it does sound like too much work, maybe you shouldn't be DMing?