World Building

 February 13, 2017

As a writer and a game master I’m something of a control freak. A lot of the other stuff in my life I’m often in the passenger’s seat except for the creative control of the worlds I create.  I love the freedom to explore and to make things the way I’d like them. 

For me I usually go with a top down world building view. I normally run long campaigns in my RPG games so I have to come up with a lot of material.  World building for a novel is similar depending on what you are going for.  I’ve never been much for one shots. Not much motivation for me to get in there and do much.

I like my worlds to have a lived in feel. A history, a sense of things happened. You look at events of today and realize not much happens in a vacuum. When you ask how did World War II start a common answer is when the German forces rolled into Poland in 1939. A valid answer. Another answer could be because the Germans were upset after their defeat in World War I and didn’t like the reparations demanded of them. As a result they rebuilt their army then steamrolled into Poland in 1939. That takes us back twenty years to World War I where Germany was left with the check after Austria Hungary bailed. Now, for the record, I’m not saying that the Germans are validated in what they did during the Second World War.  I’m merely pointing out events that happened.  Going back to World War I, you have to ask how and why did the Germans and Austrian Hungarians form their alliance. And from there you go back further, so on and so forth.

I don’t think you need a huge detailed description for everything, at least not at the start. World Building for me is an exercise in exploration.  What type of world are you creating?  There are so many variables in world building that I often make different lists of things that I want in my world.

For a fantasy novel or game does your world have magic? If so is it high or low magic? Humancentric or are there other races? Are there monsters? Are the gods of your world real and do they directly interact with their people or do they sit back and play chess?

Similar questions for Science Fiction. Is the story planet bound or is there space travel? FTL? Alien races? 

With each answer new questions get asked as you flesh everything out. Are your elves the typical elves or do they have something that makes them different?  Is magic prolific or do only a select few have the ability to wield it?

Are there countries? If so what type of governments are they? What do they produce? Do they trade with other nations? Do they have a standing army?  What are the gender roles of such a country?

I start my list with overarching ideas. What races do I want to use. What quirks do those races have? What types of monsters do they face?  I also outline geographic things I like so that when I get to map making I can incorporate those.  I start of with broad ideas and as I work on each one I narrow the field.

Keep in mind that until you release the information that nothing is set in stone. I can’t tell you how many times I had a firm plan for something in a game and while driving to the session my mind wanders and  come up with something totally different and usually better.

Brainstorming sessions are a great way to get the juices flowing. Write or type any ideas you have. You can clarify or eliminate them down the road but sometimes an idea that didn’t pan out can lead to other ideas.

I plan to explore in more detail a lot of the ideas listed above. If you have suggestions or would like to know my thoughts on a specific aspect of world building please don’t hesitate to ask!