Today's Topic – Seven basic Fantasy Worldbuilding questions that would have made my life easier.
Worldbuilding is the art of creating a fictional setting. I achieve this by asking lots of questions. I first asked questions about the overview of the setting. I then grab important details and ask more questions. I will repeat this process until I have what I need to start storytelling. I only end the process when I am done telling stories in a given world.
I am not the only person to look at Worldbuilding this way. There is an article about Fantasy Worldbuilding Questions by Patricia C. Wrede on the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America website. Or go check out the 20 World Building Questions for Authors to Ask Themselves post by JS Morin or The Ultimate Guide to World-Building: How To Write Fantasy, Sci-Fi And Real-Life Worlds post on writersedit.com. There are also countless other great articles with great questions you should ask yourself when you are worldbuilding. However, I wish I asked myself some questions before I started.
So, check out the episode and let us know what your answers are to the seven questions below.
Podcast Show Flow
- Why do I want to world build?
- What do I want to world build?
- What Genre do I want to build for?
- What are the worlds we know about?
- What changes would I make?
- What kind of world do I want to make?
- What type of word builder am I?
The Worldbuilding Task for the Day
The Worldbuilding Task for the DayAsk yourself the questions and use that as a goal when creating your world
The Real World task for the day
Call home before you finish work for the day and ask if you need to pick anything up on your way home.
The Tease
How to create the most original story, EVER!
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For complete Fantasy Worldbuilding, show notes go to Gardul.com
Michael's Resources
Artifexian
Episode 112: Magic Vs Technology? http://gardul.com/blog/episode-112-magic-vs-technology/
Episode 106: Language First Culture Create
Shadowrun
Cyberpunk 2020: The Roleplaying Game of the Dark Future
Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1)
Fifty Shades of Grey
Alice in Wonderland
Wizard of Oz
Episode 80: What Type of Worldbuilder are you?
The Building of Worlds by Rajan Khanna
Batman Ten Nights of the Beast No. 420 Jun 1988 (Part Four of Four)
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Today's Topic – Our First story session of Enter the Steward.
Okay back in episode 124, Michael and I talked about live-playing a story to talk about the city of Qïmi. The point of the story was to explain how to use role-playing games to test out new fantasy worlds. If you are a Game Master or a Dungeon Master you are thinking, “Duh” You might be thinking that the point of new fantasy worlds is for playing in games. However, the idea is really for people who create worlds for other reasons. Maybe you are an author or game maker, well then this is an option to explore elements of your world and have fun doing it.
What is DeScriptors?
DeSpriptors is a quick play RPG that was created by Matthew Bannock. The basic idea is that your DeScriptor is a noun or two that describes your character. You also start off with four adjectives. These can be bid to overcome your challenges.
Michael and I choose this system since it is story driven, not math and dice driven. However, If you like games like GURPS and Dungeons and Dragons you can use whatever you like. If you would like a review for the system go here and check one out at neuronphaser.
Or since the system needs one page to describe the rules and show examples just download the game.
Background
Qïmi is a town of shrinking strategic importance. However, due to its castle and location near the Grandknight’s Highway, it is of growing importance as a trading center for the Duchy of Mellnaras. The current lord is Duke Aziniter, Lord of Mellnaras, the Warden of Kleinpar.
The castle inside the town where Michael’s character is the Wine steward is properly referred to as Taurqïmi. However, Many of the locals would call it the castle or Qïmituar since the local language is starting to fragment from the culture who settled the land. The lords and the peasants who interact with them are always the last to adopt the changing language. That is just the way the culture rolls.
What am I looking for in the Test?
Now, I could just ask Michael questions. However, In my opinion, that is only part of the process. I will look to see what he ask and how he reacts as it is happening. I will determine if the question is a character or player asking. If it is a question the character is asking, then I will look to address that in future stories as part of my narration. However, If the play is confused or looking for more background. I will determine if the information is important to future stories and how can I work that information into my story without the readers or players feeling like they are reading an encyclopedia.
So, Michael and I are experimenting with a format type. We hope you love it. If you have suggestions on how to make it better. Please give me feedback @JefferyWIngram on Twitter.
Podcast Show Flow
- DeScriptors
- Quick background
- Qïmi (Kemi)
- Duke Aziniter, lord of Mellnaras, warden of Kleinphar
- Starter Scene(s)
- The Cellar
- The Inn
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For complete Fantasy Worldbuilding, show notes go to Gardul.com
The Tease
Evolution, Microevolution, and stagnant worlds.
Michael's Resources
Today's Topic – Kaizen boards can be used for an entire host of organizational needs
Have you ever wasted months trying to organize a path to get something done? And after spending hundreds of hours did not even set started on what you were planning.
I have this problem with the large task and any task that I subconsciously fear. I plan and study, but forget to act on the task. I started a more constant way of planning that I learned about at work it is a Kaizen board.
Check out the episode to learn specifically how I have adopted it for my naturalistic framework world-building. I will show you how to create a
Podcast Show Flow
- Kaizen boards are a simple progress tracking device.
- Michael learns an old word
- Parts of the Kaizen Master State List
- Kaizen board for your
- Kaizen boards for any task
The Worldbuilding Task for the Day
Create and use a kaizen board and see if it works for you
The Real World task for the day
Think of a book you don’t want to read. Do not read it, go and get a book you want to read and read it.
The Tease
Kaizen Boards for Worldbuilding
Please Subscribe, Rate and Review us on iTunes
For complete Fantasy Worldbuilding, show notes go to Gardul.com
Michael's Resources
Episode 80: What Type of Worldbuilder are you?
Download a PDF of the Master State List Kaizen board
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Today's Topic – Learn to developer the world like a character
Much like we can define the type of Worldbuilder we are. It is important to know how we want to develop our world. We can use evolution, stagnant, and microevolution. We are not talking the myths, but how to develop your world.
For these purposes, true evolution is not a great path. It would take way to build 13 billion years of history. A However, if you join us today to learn about microevolution and three hacks to get us to a naturalist end without the time cost.
Podcast Show Flow
- Evolution
- Weakness increases chance of change
- Impossible to scale
- Most Naturalistic
- Very Time consuming
- Hack is to start right before your storytelling begins
- Stagnant
- The exist because I am
- No Scale needed
- You get what you want
- Can seem disconnected
- Think before you build
- Microevolution
- Pockets of evolution when needed
- Look at the inputs to determine the output
- More Scale
- Approximates a naturalistic setting
- Leave gaps that can be filled in poorly
- Hack use a document to track the gaps you know about until they need to be filled in
The Worldbuilding Task for the Day
Define what type of world you have
The Real World task for the day
Remember those you love who have passed
The Tease
Kaizen Boards for Worldbuilding
Michael's Resources
Episode 80: What Type of Worldbuilder are you?
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