That "Three Pillars" page is EXACTLY something I wish I used early on. My worldbuilding always felt like it was perpetually treading water and now I'm realizing it's in no small part from how wishy-washy my themes are. I'd be more concerned about just throwing in inspiration from the latest show I watched and not even realizing what kind of stories I wanted to tell or what themes to invoke.
One thing I've learned along the way is that your world, characters, and story take on an almost organic nature after a while. The world takes on characteristics and aspects you never intended or expected. Your characters grow and become people you weren't ready for. Your story will become something that, in many ways, even you didn't see coming. It's strange. But it's part of the beauty of the process.
man, I hated that, I did that on accident, in one made up story, the character I made, went from childhood to adult hood, (got married and had children with his wife), and I actually cried when I was done. and its all because I watched Sonic x, My Little Pony, and Spiderman Miles Morales
Creative writing has one simple rule I've found shown by my fellow writers again and again: Everyone has a different process. I'm super freeform, rarely writing things down outside of the story, with just a few notes here and there. I leads to a super organic story that evolves with me, in a way. The downside is there are a billion references and side things I intend to be recurring (The protag having a cat for example, who shows up to be cute and reassuring every now and again when they need it), that just slip my mind in the weeks between chapters being written.
One thing I appreciate in World Anvil is it gave me something similar in "World Meta." In addition to the Pillars, it has a section about your goals for the worldbuilding, so you can remind yourself on where you should be focusing your efforts.
On the topic of drift, open-mindedness is is very important for long term projects. If you have a rigid system of what is and is not acceptable material for the world, it becomes a barrier of entry for what could be a creative spurt and your world will slowly become one dimensional.
I have a 4 +page doc of game/movie/tv show ideas, and none of them have stayed static for long. Some have come and go, some stayed with me for months, some for only week, but they are all documented. I look forward to the continuation of this series so I can flesh out my most favorite, and maybe do something with them other than having them collect metaphorical dust in my docs
When I started creating my world, I always had clear what I wanted the setting and feeling to be. Late 19th century, early 20th century Europe. To describe an aesthetic is relatively easy. But to get the "feeling" of the stories written on that era that I also take inspiration from (mostly pulp magazines, and the gothic and supernatural horror novels of the age) it's much more difficult to get right.
Love this layout, and this playlist is helping me finally get about to methodically put some of my long-simmering ideas to paper. Thank you for this. Inspiration: Mutineers Moon, Scythe, Rhythms/Singers/Seekers from Stormlight, Post Bronze-Age Collapse Mediterranean and Near East, Dune's Golden Path-created human trauma and response Themes: Humanity's perseverance, long-term societal patterns, the nature of faith, what if God sang her sorrow?, living long after MAD, change vs tradition, science vs dogma Tenets: Failing goddess AI, biologically grown and genetically inherited nanotech enhancement, societies shaped by downfall, religious and societal design, post-humanism combined with pre-digital technology
As someone with a very short attention span (ADHD), this is the first video I've watched about worldbuilding that not only kept me engaged but made me laugh out loud. I look forward to working through your content. Keep up the humor! Just when my mind starts to wander, I'm punched in the face by comedic relief and reminded that when in the context of creativity, nothing is of limits!
8:12 I can understand that. Swirling ideas that somehow need to be formed into a logical process and outcome I like the three pillars and might adapt them to my own as I hope to restart it (as mentioned in comments in the first vid of this series) Inspiration: More taking the Earth's Cold War, kicking it forward 200 years, taking it away from Earth and transplanting it into Three Sol type systems that orbit each other to form a mega system. Western Federal Liberalism, Socialist Martial Imperialism, and Non-Aligned Theme: competing ideals, collectivism vs individualism, war vs peace, truth vs love, Utopia vs Dystopia, Plenty vs Poverty and I probably just summed up the human condition if I shove in competing Love Tenants: nuclear-punk, ecology vs industry, illusion, humanity (and later first contact)
this series has been really helpful in my project I have going but this one especially was really useful because of how much mine has mutated over time
Interesting indeed. I could have used this when I was focused on worldbuilding in my youth, but I can easily use the three pillars to tie in all my notes and characters to fit into a general narrative. Thanks!
that was a good exercise ngl. i had lost a bit of the energy of my story to the world and re identifying the inspirations and themes helped me fix it in the right ways
This is great, I'm a step-by-step kind of person so the urge to write a setting is hell for me to follow through with. Inspirations - Bloodborne, the setting difference between GoW:R and GoW 2018, Hollow Knight, The Last of Us, Dracula (the book), real life handling of pandemics & plagues, the Great Depression, the initial fear of Cholera Themes - Gothic horror, cosmic horror, emotional impulsiveness, nihilism versus utilitarianism, "the ends justify the means," loss of humanity Tenets - Technology, constant threat of death, detailed cultures and their change through conflict, prosperous city in steep decline
I'm working on a world/universe that I created by starting with a 'Seed' or Question based on my inspiration(s). It turned into 2 connected 'Seeds' that have since sprouted into many spreadsheets, note pages, and general refinement. I've since realized that I need to further 'break away' more from history by adding in some of the elements from inspiration to get a better understanding of this new planet/solar system and how it formed.
For me, it's on the toilet, or in the shower, or walking around my area. When Scrubs showed off the Epiphany Toilet in "My Porcelain God", the writers were definitely on to something. They also had Michael J Fox in that episode, which was another big plus.
My categories are Intention, Events and Environment. I figure these cover most of the potential influences over character actions and emotions, which is what generally gets people invested. I feel that things like themes, inspirations and messages grow from those, and once you've figured them out they can be used to fill the remaining gaps. I do think they're valuable, but I feel a lot less creative using the latter as the basis of a story, and it tends to become Fanfic as I have to lean on my Inspirations to determine Events and Environment.
I'm 18 years old and I'm currently following the legacy of my father by creating my own tabletop role-playing game, taking place in a space opera world I have started to write about more than a year ago. Inspirations : - Real life experiences : social and political crisis, observation of both poverty and wealthyness, rise of far-right movements. Historical and cultural : Mass Effect, Star Trek, Starship Troopers, The Expanse... Themes : - Moral and ethical differences - Common and uncommon life in an interstellar society - Racism, injustice, oppression, interventionnism, imperialism, militarism, religious fanatism, politics, spying - Shades of gray composing the world with people being both bad to some and good to others, or for other things. - A nice-looking future for humanity while being not perfect and highly criticizing many political, moral, and ethical opinions. Tenets : - Many different alien species, cultures, societies and customs - A lot of different stars, planets and moons with their environments, and their own traits - An ever-moving, ever-changing universe of political intrigues, cultural shocks and clashes, social relations, friendships or rivalries, between people or entire civilizations. - Interesting, highly evolved technologies aside from faster-than-light travel. - Ancient relics and artifacts from distant times and forerunner races, having left behind them entire surfaces of desolated, yet interesting marks of their people.
@@bigbear7444 It's far less dystopian, the conflict events are far less focused on genocidal everlasting wars and more on political conspiracies, spycraft scandals, and undercover missions going nuts and provoking wars not always on purpose. Also, it's set in the 2340s, so I made a huge amount of rules about exploration, space anomalies, and other stuff that are not focused on battle. Even if there's like 40% of the whole rulebook I'm writing that are only made for equipment (ships, armors, weapons, weapon accessories, genetic enhancements, cybernetic implants, drugs and medical gear, exploration and survival gear). Humanity in this world is not under a fanatic xenophobic rule, it's united in a federal republic with huge military power and influence but still embodying the ideal of a democracy protecting the interests of its people, while demanding that the people participate in defending it. A kind of advanced free democracy, with a high amount of social protections like social security and free healthcare, free education for all. Equality, freedom and unity in multiculturalism are what it stands for. BUT everyone has some kind of military training and is considered part of the reserve army if not in the active army.
@@bigbear7444 Thanks, it takes a lot of time and work but I have many sources of inspiration and I keep imagining some lore and cool scenarios. Only thing I'd wish is that I could draw some artworks of that but my drawing skills are non-existent at all. XD I've got some friends who are skilled at drawing and interested so I'll see with them if they want to get into it sometime.
Generally I would replace themes with aesthetics. I save themes for the actual narrative of the story. I don't think the world being built should be thematic, but the look and feel of a world is highly dependent on its aesthetics. If it's on a planet, what features make that planet special? If it takes place after an apocalypse are you going for grungy or rebuilt. I think that serves the building of a world and your world is going to have an effect on the themes of narrative. Man's inhumanity to man, connection, loss these aren't things inherent to a world, but the way the world is created, the way it looks, feels, and acts, will shade the way these themes are explored.
Well, to cite what I'm working on: Inspirations: 80's Mecha anime (Aura Battler Dunbine, Heavy Metal L-Gaim, Armored Trooper VOTOMS etc.), Turn-A Gundam, 86, Fire Emblem (Genealogy of the Holy War, Thracia 776 and Three Houses), Xenoblade Chronicles, Spartacus's Rebellion, the French Revolution, Revolutions of 1848 Themes: War, Revolution, Cooperation, Humanism, Classism, Ideals vs. Reality, Liberty vs. Authoritarianism, -Communist propaganda- Tenets: Giant robots, Feudal empire being overthrown by Revolutionary Republics
Interesting 😉🤔... when it comes to my Pillars, Inspiration and Tenets, there are always three things: Empires, SCUBA Divers, and the Brainwashing Helmet. Odd😮... I have 8 different drafts of my worldbulding world called "Epochs". The current one, Eighth Epoch😅 has just begun. THANK YOU TEMPLIN INSTITUTE❤
The round-out of Pillars for GiC2445: Inspiration: pretty much all of the sci fi, technology, and science I've ever seen, in no small part my professors. Themes: meditations on the self, blood spilled on the path to utopia, and the sapient condition. Tenets: Humanity brought our problems with us to the stars - and so did everyone else as well.
I will need to analyze my world(s). But the for the most part the world (singular) is built around an ongoing history. But history itself the concept of it and human history, would be a clear inspiration. Themes and Tenets will take sometime.
I generally divide my pillars into models, principles, and fixed eliments. The first arborates by analogy. So a post covenant wore halo as an example if I had a race come up in something else. The question I would ask would be "what culture/nation of post napoleonic Europeans. Fear is this race a metaphor for?" Then I decide whether that's sufficient for what i'm doing. Based on this question, I either do some world building to that local area. Or take that analogy to give me enough depth without unnecessary work. As such models present the illusion spaces of world building that leave settings that are mostly defined by the reader or collaborators imagination. Principles are taking the high level approach. Principles are those things that need to be true independent of which setting within the world we're talking about. In that way, but principles are usually a bullet point on either the general of the world or the physical sciences of the universe or the social sciences of the universe. At core principles are what make the various settings in universe cohesive. And the various events believable in how they interact. In a way, kind of opposite tomit's fixed elements. Are those things that come in places and cultures that I have done more than the average amount of building on. So these are the elements of son's specifically developed setting that both are "published" in the legal precedence case sense of the word, and more importantly, are essential not to undermine in developing other settings. The nearest wells think of this as the cannon (or showrunner's bible a document that is literally real in many tv shows).
For my far future scifi world: Inspiration: Star Trek, the Orville; WH40k, Starfield, The Orville season 2 finale and other scifi stories where earth is destroyed, WW2, West and East Germany Themes: Humanity, Tradition, History, War vs peace Tenents: Earth destroyed, Mars terraformed and split up into several states. For my postapocalypse world: Inspiration: TNO Russian warlords, Fallout, English and British culture, Dnd elves Themes: History, Liberty vs tyranny, religion and how it can be misused, Memory of preapocalypse, legitimacy Tenents: Mutants due to Alien mutagen, British warlord era, electrification not widespread again yet.
Inspiration --- Warhammer 40,000; HALO; Starship troopers Themes --- Rage and brutality of humanity; The necessity of conflict; Emotion vs Logic; The dangers of manipulating the past; The power of martyrdom; Betrayal; Vengeance Tenets --- Futuristic technology; Advanced weapons; Socialism; Multi-species union; Interdimensional travel; Essential material (Arcadium)
Inspiration: Queer history, anarchism, and revolution. Themes: Community, history, mutual aid, and self-reflection. Tenets: AI, Space sea monsters, eldtrich angels, animal peoples, plant peoples, and queerness. Humans are an afterthought.
Inspirations: Ace Combat, Call of Duty, XCOM,, Halo, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica (2003), Terminator, World in Conflict, HBO dramas. Themes: Trust and how it is fostered or abused, unlikely heroes, the nature of duty and sacrifice, the opportunities and dangers of technology, "What is a person?" Tenets: Culture clash, political intrigue, mutual understanding, technological discovery, "From Nobody to Nightmare", heroism and its aspects, mental illness and its consequences, averting bad futures.
1. Inspirations = Star Wars, Star Trek, Flash Gordon, Guardians of the Galaxy, etc. 2. Themes = Humanist Optimism 3. Tenets = Furries, Dragons, Robots, Monsters, Aliens, etc.
Here's one for my world, an alternative version of Earth externally known as the Wolverse. Inspiration: Technological progress, monarchism, Judaism, Catholicism Themes: G-d is One, beauty must be fought for, a righteous few standing against the everlasting tide of the world Tenets: Secret societies, hidden magic, prophets, hidden artifacts, the nation of Wolcottia
Inspirations - Star Wars (more Legends than the movies, shows, or anything Disney), Ace Combat (mostly 5), and Christianity (though more anti-C.S. Lewis). Themes - What is good or evil? Who are the real heroes or villains? How does one live or heal from egregious trauma? Is there even such a thing as the "competent man"? How does one look, let alone move, towards the future? Where does one draw the line for peace? What could be one's legacy, if one wants such? Tenets - Flight, magic (well, ki, but same shtick different name), technology, cooperation, literal worldbuilding.
Inspirations: Gravity Falls, Adventure time, Devil May Cry, Monster Hunter. Themes: found family, life in poverty, coming of age Tenets: Post post-apocalypse, corrupt governments, horrible monsters, bizarre geography, sporadic tech and magic levels.
If you could do a video on MacArthur's USA from Kaiserriech that would be incredible just imagine The second US civil war has just occurred the US is merely a shell of its former self with MacArthur as the unnelected president eventually he unites the US and steps down saving democracy! Or you could do a rebel path or the MacArthur Dictatorship path just more HOI4 mod lore videos would be great (mods like TNO, Red flood, Kaiserreich, Kaiserredux, Red World, and so many more)
As a creative writing student, there being no right answers invokes a feeling of deviousness. As someone who also happens to be an engineering student, *_inhales_* AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
This pillars system seems to be what I do subconsciously, the only one I’d say I don’t focus on is theme because it’s so non essential you could remove it and you have a whole story. Because the thing is theme is interrupted differently by everyone, your story about enjoying life and treating others kindly is probably going to be seen as a cautionary tale of drinking, or in one of my own cases my story where the theme is to enjoy life and what you have even if the world is against you with no clear way to combat it, is seen as one giant political commentary of our world’s issues, to which the very story subtlety makes fun of everyone who sees it that way. Or a famous example, Lord of the Rings is seen as a ww2 allegory despite the fact that Tolkien fought in ww1 less so in the sequel and also hated allegories to a core. Don’t worry about themes too hard, just let it be a guide for you, if it starts forcing or controlling you to do something because you’re worried it doesn’t fit the theme, you’re already failing at your world building. Because the pillars should be able to adapt, and that includes themes.
I’m going to assume the part of the High Republic process that people were furious at that you mentioned was the inclusion of diversity and representation as a wish, which always seemed strange to me. Here on Earth, our one planet of eight billion or so, we have boatloads of races, gender identities, and sexualities. In an interconnected galaxy with a population in the trillions, it’d feel weird if the level of diversity was at or below our world’s level
Well, if the harassment that Ahmed Best, John Boyega, Kelly Marie Tran, and Daisy Ridley proved anything, it's that Star Wars Fans(TM) hate diversity and inclusion.
@@IliyaMoroumetz And the harassment of Billie Williams and Carrie Fisher? OH wait, they didn't get any! Perhaps because they were good actors in an actually good movie.
It didn't even turn out to be that kind of diversity for the most part. More often then not it simply meant different kinds of characters being given the spotlight.
honestly a problem that i am facing is too much variety in my world, i think ? like there is a lot of elements that go well together and that i can connect really well together yk when film writers say that if you do aliens but also dinosaurs but also time travel then they all should have something to do with each other and be connected. but like then what is the defining aspect, i have phases where i overfocus on one of the aspects and warp the vibe of the world after it but neglect the other worldbuilding elements too much
My worldbuilding is actually granular. What I do is I rip out a core tenet of reality and ask how that would affect The Sentient Race I'm writing about. What if fire was a living creature when humans discovered it? What if humans could make designer children? What if the destiny of every superhero was death, unless they took life to sustain their powers?
I really hope you can help me too, I'm trying for a long time.. most of my story is actually about Mystery, "Horror" and Supernatural.. but also slash scifi as a less important element, I really want to have a map for my world right? But it's not a planet, and it shares portals that interact with the world we live in.. how should I really work it if it's this much abstract? I don't find much of how to explain borders to other dimensions.
Can you PLEASE remember that a TENANT is an occupier of a rented property, whereas a TENET is an element of a philosophy or facet of a belief. These words do not sound the same, yet you've said the former when you mean the latter in multiple videos now, and you undermine your credibility by confusing them. And you piss me off, but that's honestly of secondary importance here.
Can you PLEASE research how to give CONSTRUCTIVE criticism. While you're in the library, look up the definitions of CONDESCENSION and ENTITLEMENT, and maybe, just for the sake of curiosity, NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER.
@@emilymartin5418Constructive criticism is telling people what they are doing wrong, what effect it has and how they can improve. That's exactly what I did, and what I've done in the past with their mispronunciations; I don't see that I've done anything deserving their dismissive reaction. I don't see how I'm being condescending - it's a simple mistake, yes, but if it was so obvious to them, they wouldn't make it. I'm an EFL teacher, so I understand that many people just don't know how to say some things. I can't turn off my EFL teacher brain, pron errors are instantly obvious and extremely distracting. I wouldn't call myself entitled either - I freely acknowledge that this is not entertainment I'm paying for. I hold them to the same standards I expect from myself; if someone tells me I'm mispronouncing something, at the very least I will check. I will acknowledge that, factoring in the fact I've tried to tell them about this before, I'm disappointed and irked by their total disinterest in behaving like professionals. And NPD...do you accuse everyone who asks that someone be careful in their communication of personality disorders, or what? I have not got NPD, thanks. But do enjoy attacking people for trying to help, I'm sure that won't cause you any trouble.
My problem is. My world keeps getting bigger. To much imagination and not enough time to draw it all. Trying to creat your own culture Is also kinda hard. I want to make it simular to But nothing like if you know what I mean. From food to architecture From traditions to food. Everything. That can get kinda hard.
In good part because the movies turned out to have very little to do with the content of that whiteboard. The world did not feel authentic, the ending was crap, the characters shallow, the Force was misused, both space battles and lightsabre fights were amateurish, the plot so poorly written that it actively damages the OT, and so much more... Considering what we got as a result, it is no wonder this whiteboard became the target of so much disgust.
The fastest shortcut to making a world believable is by showing more than two sides in a conflict and making them all shades of morally grey. They may disagree on key issues and some can seem like the overall preferable option depending on where a particular viewer is coming from but they're not written with the creator's obvious bias of one being the unmistakable bad one. The reason I can never take Star Wars too seriously (especially under Disney) is the Empire and Dark Side are by and large depicted as very clearly evil and corrupting forces. I'm sorry but that will always be boring to me. It means there are no stakes and there's a clear side that will eventually have to win and another that will have to lose. I prefer when the dynamics are less clear-cut, when you can have a side that may have been presented as one of the antagonistic forces at the beginning and can see yourself still wanting to follow the story even if they win and the side you started out rooting for gets wiped off the board. Now that's an interesting setting.
That "Three Pillars" page is EXACTLY something I wish I used early on. My worldbuilding always felt like it was perpetually treading water and now I'm realizing it's in no small part from how wishy-washy my themes are. I'd be more concerned about just throwing in inspiration from the latest show I watched and not even realizing what kind of stories I wanted to tell or what themes to invoke.
was that a .........................jojos reference?
@@zachyzillo😂
One thing I've learned along the way is that your world, characters, and story take on an almost organic nature after a while. The world takes on characteristics and aspects you never intended or expected. Your characters grow and become people you weren't ready for. Your story will become something that, in many ways, even you didn't see coming. It's strange. But it's part of the beauty of the process.
man, I hated that, I did that on accident, in one made up story, the character I made, went from childhood to adult hood, (got married and had children with his wife), and I actually cried when I was done. and its all because I watched Sonic x, My Little Pony, and Spiderman Miles Morales
@@mightyx5441 Not me. I love it.
That's very wise, thank you this will help
Inspirations = Final Fantasy, Pokemon, Ace Combat
Themes = Connection with others, interdependence, the threat of false experts
Tenets - Flight, magic, technology, cooperation
🤔... Now I want to have a look at that 🙂
I'd read that. Hell, now I want to WRITE that.
I want to read whatever story is going to be inspired by Final Fantasy, Pokemon *and* Ace Combat
Fr like are the pokemons the F22 raptors you capture?!?! DO YOU FLY FIGHTER JETS YOU FIND IN THE WILD DRAGONS?!?! @@gaiusbaltar8915
i just looked up what Ace Combat is, tought it is some turn based JRPG... It isn't
Creative writing has one simple rule I've found shown by my fellow writers again and again: Everyone has a different process. I'm super freeform, rarely writing things down outside of the story, with just a few notes here and there. I leads to a super organic story that evolves with me, in a way. The downside is there are a billion references and side things I intend to be recurring (The protag having a cat for example, who shows up to be cute and reassuring every now and again when they need it), that just slip my mind in the weeks between chapters being written.
One thing I appreciate in World Anvil is it gave me something similar in "World Meta." In addition to the Pillars, it has a section about your goals for the worldbuilding, so you can remind yourself on where you should be focusing your efforts.
On the topic of drift, open-mindedness is is very important for long term projects. If you have a rigid system of what is and is not acceptable material for the world, it becomes a barrier of entry for what could be a creative spurt and your world will slowly become one dimensional.
I have a 4 +page doc of game/movie/tv show ideas, and none of them have stayed static for long. Some have come and go, some stayed with me for months, some for only week, but they are all documented. I look forward to the continuation of this series so I can flesh out my most favorite, and maybe do something with them other than having them collect metaphorical dust in my docs
When I started creating my world, I always had clear what I wanted the setting and feeling to be. Late 19th century, early 20th century Europe. To describe an aesthetic is relatively easy. But to get the "feeling" of the stories written on that era that I also take inspiration from (mostly pulp magazines, and the gothic and supernatural horror novels of the age) it's much more difficult to get right.
Love this layout, and this playlist is helping me finally get about to methodically put some of my long-simmering ideas to paper. Thank you for this.
Inspiration: Mutineers Moon, Scythe, Rhythms/Singers/Seekers from Stormlight, Post Bronze-Age Collapse Mediterranean and Near East, Dune's Golden Path-created human trauma and response
Themes: Humanity's perseverance, long-term societal patterns, the nature of faith, what if God sang her sorrow?, living long after MAD, change vs tradition, science vs dogma
Tenets: Failing goddess AI, biologically grown and genetically inherited nanotech enhancement, societies shaped by downfall, religious and societal design, post-humanism combined with pre-digital technology
Please keep this series going. You are the guys that initially got me into worldbuilding!
Worldbuilders rise up!!
Hard SciFi Reporting
I'm actually creating a trilogy at the moment
Near future alternate timeline here
@@michaelm3774*5 hours later, couse I'm outside of the system and the radio is realistic*
Red five standing by
As someone with a very short attention span (ADHD), this is the first video I've watched about worldbuilding that not only kept me engaged but made me laugh out loud.
I look forward to working through your content. Keep up the humor! Just when my mind starts to wander, I'm punched in the face by comedic relief and reminded that when in the context of creativity, nothing is of limits!
8:12 I can understand that. Swirling ideas that somehow need to be formed into a logical process and outcome
I like the three pillars and might adapt them to my own as I hope to restart it (as mentioned in comments in the first vid of this series)
Inspiration: More taking the Earth's Cold War, kicking it forward 200 years, taking it away from Earth and transplanting it into Three Sol type systems that orbit each other to form a mega system. Western Federal Liberalism, Socialist Martial Imperialism, and Non-Aligned
Theme: competing ideals, collectivism vs individualism, war vs peace, truth vs love, Utopia vs Dystopia, Plenty vs Poverty and I probably just summed up the human condition if I shove in competing Love
Tenants: nuclear-punk, ecology vs industry, illusion, humanity (and later first contact)
this series has been really helpful in my project I have going but this one especially was really useful because of how much mine has mutated over time
Yall are pumping these videos out, I was expecting one like every other week.
This video is so well made! Time to binge watch the rest of the series
Interesting indeed. I could have used this when I was focused on worldbuilding in my youth, but I can easily use the three pillars to tie in all my notes and characters to fit into a general narrative. Thanks!
This is my favourite one in the series so far.
Wow, these just keep coming. Edit: that's not a bad thing. I'm impressed. Thank you for these.
that was a good exercise ngl. i had lost a bit of the energy of my story to the world and re identifying the inspirations and themes helped me fix it in the right ways
This is great, I'm a step-by-step kind of person so the urge to write a setting is hell for me to follow through with.
Inspirations - Bloodborne, the setting difference between GoW:R and GoW 2018, Hollow Knight, The Last of Us, Dracula (the book), real life handling of pandemics & plagues, the Great Depression, the initial fear of Cholera
Themes - Gothic horror, cosmic horror, emotional impulsiveness, nihilism versus utilitarianism, "the ends justify the means," loss of humanity
Tenets - Technology, constant threat of death, detailed cultures and their change through conflict, prosperous city in steep decline
I'm working on a world/universe that I created by starting with a 'Seed' or Question based on my inspiration(s). It turned into 2 connected 'Seeds' that have since sprouted into many spreadsheets, note pages, and general refinement. I've since realized that I need to further 'break away' more from history by adding in some of the elements from inspiration to get a better understanding of this new planet/solar system and how it formed.
I can confirm that the biggest part of the creative process takes place in a bath tub
For me, it's on the toilet, or in the shower, or walking around my area.
When Scrubs showed off the Epiphany Toilet in "My Porcelain God", the writers were definitely on to something. They also had Michael J Fox in that episode, which was another big plus.
For me, the shower and driving
My categories are Intention, Events and Environment. I figure these cover most of the potential influences over character actions and emotions, which is what generally gets people invested. I feel that things like themes, inspirations and messages grow from those, and once you've figured them out they can be used to fill the remaining gaps. I do think they're valuable, but I feel a lot less creative using the latter as the basis of a story, and it tends to become Fanfic as I have to lean on my Inspirations to determine Events and Environment.
I'm 18 years old and I'm currently following the legacy of my father by creating my own tabletop role-playing game, taking place in a space opera world I have started to write about more than a year ago.
Inspirations :
- Real life experiences : social and political crisis, observation of both poverty and wealthyness, rise of far-right movements.
Historical and cultural : Mass Effect, Star Trek, Starship Troopers, The Expanse...
Themes :
- Moral and ethical differences
- Common and uncommon life in an interstellar society
- Racism, injustice, oppression, interventionnism, imperialism, militarism, religious fanatism, politics, spying
- Shades of gray composing the world with people being both bad to some and good to others, or for other things.
- A nice-looking future for humanity while being not perfect and highly criticizing many political, moral, and ethical opinions.
Tenets :
- Many different alien species, cultures, societies and customs
- A lot of different stars, planets and moons with their environments, and their own traits
- An ever-moving, ever-changing universe of political intrigues, cultural shocks and clashes, social relations, friendships or rivalries, between people or entire civilizations.
- Interesting, highly evolved technologies aside from faster-than-light travel.
- Ancient relics and artifacts from distant times and forerunner races, having left behind them entire surfaces of desolated, yet interesting marks of their people.
Don't wanna ruin it, but this is somewhat similar to Warhammer 40k
@@bigbear7444 It's far less dystopian, the conflict events are far less focused on genocidal everlasting wars and more on political conspiracies, spycraft scandals, and undercover missions going nuts and provoking wars not always on purpose.
Also, it's set in the 2340s, so I made a huge amount of rules about exploration, space anomalies, and other stuff that are not focused on battle. Even if there's like 40% of the whole rulebook I'm writing that are only made for equipment (ships, armors, weapons, weapon accessories, genetic enhancements, cybernetic implants, drugs and medical gear, exploration and survival gear).
Humanity in this world is not under a fanatic xenophobic rule, it's united in a federal republic with huge military power and influence but still embodying the ideal of a democracy protecting the interests of its people, while demanding that the people participate in defending it.
A kind of advanced free democracy, with a high amount of social protections like social security and free healthcare, free education for all. Equality, freedom and unity in multiculturalism are what it stands for. BUT everyone has some kind of military training and is considered part of the reserve army if not in the active army.
@@heomji7216 There we go, that completely explains the difference. It sounds awesome. Hope for the best 🙌
@@bigbear7444 Thanks, it takes a lot of time and work but I have many sources of inspiration and I keep imagining some lore and cool scenarios. Only thing I'd wish is that I could draw some artworks of that but my drawing skills are non-existent at all. XD
I've got some friends who are skilled at drawing and interested so I'll see with them if they want to get into it sometime.
@@heomji7216 I'm in the same boat, except drawing my world is a disaster. Mostly because I have too many ideas.
Generally I would replace themes with aesthetics. I save themes for the actual narrative of the story. I don't think the world being built should be thematic, but the look and feel of a world is highly dependent on its aesthetics. If it's on a planet, what features make that planet special? If it takes place after an apocalypse are you going for grungy or rebuilt. I think that serves the building of a world and your world is going to have an effect on the themes of narrative.
Man's inhumanity to man, connection, loss these aren't things inherent to a world, but the way the world is created, the way it looks, feels, and acts, will shade the way these themes are explored.
Well, to cite what I'm working on:
Inspirations: 80's Mecha anime (Aura Battler Dunbine, Heavy Metal L-Gaim, Armored Trooper VOTOMS etc.), Turn-A Gundam, 86, Fire Emblem (Genealogy of the Holy War, Thracia 776 and Three Houses), Xenoblade Chronicles, Spartacus's Rebellion, the French Revolution, Revolutions of 1848
Themes: War, Revolution, Cooperation, Humanism, Classism, Ideals vs. Reality, Liberty vs. Authoritarianism, -Communist propaganda-
Tenets: Giant robots, Feudal empire being overthrown by Revolutionary Republics
I’m yet to watch the video, but I’ve been building my own sci fi universe, your channel is great, and im hoping it will help!
While I understand the reason for the chill vibes music, I still think you should have used the Pillar Man theme!
Interesting 😉🤔... when it comes to my Pillars, Inspiration and Tenets, there are always three things: Empires, SCUBA Divers, and the Brainwashing Helmet. Odd😮...
I have 8 different drafts of my worldbulding world called "Epochs". The current one, Eighth Epoch😅 has just begun.
THANK YOU TEMPLIN INSTITUTE❤
The round-out of Pillars for GiC2445:
Inspiration: pretty much all of the sci fi, technology, and science I've ever seen, in no small part my professors.
Themes: meditations on the self, blood spilled on the path to utopia, and the sapient condition.
Tenets: Humanity brought our problems with us to the stars - and so did everyone else as well.
I will need to analyze my world(s). But the for the most part the world (singular) is built around an ongoing history. But history itself the concept of it and human history, would be a clear inspiration. Themes and Tenets will take sometime.
Nice
I hope to use this to better salvage the D&D world I have.
Glorious advice
There's so many tennants in this video, you're going to have to start charging them rent.
Inspiration: Star Wars, Phantasy Star, Star Ocean, Etc.
Themes: Hyper-capitalism, Technocratic, Techno-feudalism, Exploration, altered protagonist's, technobabble, Power Armor.
Tenets: JRPG's, Magic(Clark Tech Magic), Developing Post-Scarcity, Aliens, Advance technology.
I generally divide my pillars into models, principles, and fixed eliments.
The first arborates by analogy. So a post covenant wore halo as an example if I had a race come up in something else. The question I would ask would be "what culture/nation of post napoleonic Europeans. Fear is this race a metaphor for?" Then I decide whether that's sufficient for what i'm doing. Based on this question, I either do some world building to that local area. Or take that analogy to give me enough depth without unnecessary work. As such models present the illusion spaces of world building that leave settings that are mostly defined by the reader or collaborators imagination.
Principles are taking the high level approach. Principles are those things that need to be true independent of which setting within the world we're talking about. In that way, but principles are usually a bullet point on either the general of the world or the physical sciences of the universe or the social sciences of the universe. At core principles are what make the various settings in universe cohesive. And the various events believable in how they interact.
In a way, kind of opposite tomit's fixed elements. Are those things that come in places and cultures that I have done more than the average amount of building on. So these are the elements of son's specifically developed setting that both are "published" in the legal precedence case sense of the word, and more importantly, are essential not to undermine in developing other settings. The nearest wells think of this as the cannon (or showrunner's bible a document that is literally real in many tv shows).
I do it easily, but I am one of the crazy creative types. I am inspired by things D&D, the Elder scrolls and such, yet try to make it mine.
For my far future scifi world:
Inspiration: Star Trek, the Orville; WH40k, Starfield, The Orville season 2 finale and other scifi stories where earth is destroyed, WW2, West and East Germany
Themes: Humanity, Tradition, History, War vs peace
Tenents: Earth destroyed, Mars terraformed and split up into several states.
For my postapocalypse world:
Inspiration: TNO Russian warlords, Fallout, English and British culture, Dnd elves
Themes: History, Liberty vs tyranny, religion and how it can be misused, Memory of preapocalypse, legitimacy
Tenents: Mutants due to Alien mutagen, British warlord era, electrification not widespread again yet.
Thanks!
Inspiration --- Warhammer 40,000; HALO; Starship troopers
Themes --- Rage and brutality of humanity; The necessity of conflict; Emotion vs Logic; The dangers of manipulating the past; The power of martyrdom; Betrayal; Vengeance
Tenets --- Futuristic technology; Advanced weapons; Socialism; Multi-species union; Interdimensional travel; Essential material (Arcadium)
Inspiration: Queer history, anarchism, and revolution.
Themes: Community, history, mutual aid, and self-reflection.
Tenets: AI, Space sea monsters, eldtrich angels, animal peoples, plant peoples, and queerness. Humans are an afterthought.
Now that's the most eclectic one of these comments I've read yet, I like it.
Inspirations: Ace Combat, Call of Duty, XCOM,, Halo, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica (2003), Terminator, World in Conflict, HBO dramas.
Themes: Trust and how it is fostered or abused, unlikely heroes, the nature of duty and sacrifice, the opportunities and dangers of technology, "What is a person?"
Tenets: Culture clash, political intrigue, mutual understanding, technological discovery, "From Nobody to Nightmare", heroism and its aspects, mental illness and its consequences, averting bad futures.
1. Inspirations = Star Wars, Star Trek, Flash Gordon, Guardians of the Galaxy, etc.
2. Themes = Humanist Optimism
3. Tenets = Furries, Dragons, Robots, Monsters, Aliens, etc.
👎
Here's one for my world, an alternative version of Earth externally known as the Wolverse.
Inspiration: Technological progress, monarchism, Judaism, Catholicism
Themes: G-d is One, beauty must be fought for, a righteous few standing against the everlasting tide of the world
Tenets: Secret societies, hidden magic, prophets, hidden artifacts, the nation of Wolcottia
@Monstergarden took the pillar part literally
What should I do when my inspiration list is very very long? Pick out the biggest ones? What if there isn't any that stand out among the others?
Awsome mechs and Tanks
Are the beeps in the beginning Alien: Isolation sound effects? They sound exactly the same
Inspirations - Star Wars (more Legends than the movies, shows, or anything Disney), Ace Combat (mostly 5), and Christianity (though more anti-C.S. Lewis).
Themes - What is good or evil? Who are the real heroes or villains? How does one live or heal from egregious trauma? Is there even such a thing as the "competent man"? How does one look, let alone move, towards the future? Where does one draw the line for peace? What could be one's legacy, if one wants such?
Tenets - Flight, magic (well, ki, but same shtick different name), technology, cooperation, literal worldbuilding.
My inspiration is
ONE PIECE and SCAVENGERS REIGN❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Inspirations: Gravity Falls, Adventure time, Devil May Cry, Monster Hunter.
Themes: found family, life in poverty, coming of age
Tenets: Post post-apocalypse, corrupt governments, horrible monsters, bizarre geography, sporadic tech and magic levels.
I take world building pillars very literally when I see the title of the video jajaja
If you could do a video on MacArthur's USA from Kaiserriech that would be incredible just imagine
The second US civil war has just occurred the US is merely a shell of its former self with MacArthur as the unnelected president eventually he unites the US and steps down saving democracy!
Or you could do a rebel path or the MacArthur Dictatorship path just more HOI4 mod lore videos would be great (mods like TNO, Red flood, Kaiserreich, Kaiserredux, Red World, and so many more)
being someone that writes, not professionaly, i can't even tell how many times i just started from scrach,
As a creative writing student, there being no right answers invokes a feeling of deviousness.
As someone who also happens to be an engineering student, *_inhales_*
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
This pillars system seems to be what I do subconsciously, the only one I’d say I don’t focus on is theme because it’s so non essential you could remove it and you have a whole story.
Because the thing is theme is interrupted differently by everyone, your story about enjoying life and treating others kindly is probably going to be seen as a cautionary tale of drinking, or in one of my own cases my story where the theme is to enjoy life and what you have even if the world is against you with no clear way to combat it, is seen as one giant political commentary of our world’s issues, to which the very story subtlety makes fun of everyone who sees it that way. Or a famous example, Lord of the Rings is seen as a ww2 allegory despite the fact that Tolkien fought in ww1 less so in the sequel and also hated allegories to a core.
Don’t worry about themes too hard, just let it be a guide for you, if it starts forcing or controlling you to do something because you’re worried it doesn’t fit the theme, you’re already failing at your world building. Because the pillars should be able to adapt, and that includes themes.
I’m going to assume the part of the High Republic process that people were furious at that you mentioned was the inclusion of diversity and representation as a wish, which always seemed strange to me. Here on Earth, our one planet of eight billion or so, we have boatloads of races, gender identities, and sexualities. In an interconnected galaxy with a population in the trillions, it’d feel weird if the level of diversity was at or below our world’s level
Well, if the harassment that Ahmed Best, John Boyega, Kelly Marie Tran, and Daisy Ridley proved anything, it's that Star Wars Fans(TM) hate diversity and inclusion.
It was not about diversity, but incompetence. Lando Calrisian and Leia are beloved characters. Finn and Rey are hated by most old Star Wars fans.
@@IliyaMoroumetz And the harassment of Billie Williams and Carrie Fisher? OH wait, they didn't get any! Perhaps because they were good actors in an actually good movie.
It didn't even turn out to be that kind of diversity for the most part. More often then not it simply meant different kinds of characters being given the spotlight.
@@beepbop6542 Or maybe it's because it was the 1980s, and harassing people was just harder then
honestly a problem that i am facing is too much variety in my world, i think ?
like there is a lot of elements that go well together and that i can connect really well together
yk when film writers say that if you do aliens but also dinosaurs but also time travel then they all should have something to do with each other and be connected.
but like then what is the defining aspect, i have phases where i overfocus on one of the aspects and warp the vibe of the world after it but neglect the other worldbuilding elements too much
My world will be the best because it would have all the things I like.
My worldbuilding is actually granular. What I do is I rip out a core tenet of reality and ask how that would affect The Sentient Race I'm writing about. What if fire was a living creature when humans discovered it? What if humans could make designer children? What if the destiny of every superhero was death, unless they took life to sustain their powers?
Very scary ghostship
I really hope you can help me too, I'm trying for a long time.. most of my story is actually about Mystery, "Horror" and Supernatural.. but also slash scifi as a less important element, I really want to have a map for my world right? But it's not a planet, and it shares portals that interact with the world we live in.. how should I really work it if it's this much abstract? I don't find much of how to explain borders to other dimensions.
What do you want them to feel like? a wardrobe, a wormhole, a crack in reality.
@@petehodgson2583 it's like multiple specific locations that u just kind of get spirited away to. Usually in the woods.
4:16 _cries in Creative writing major_
A tenant is a person. A tenet is a rule.
Balls of Iron 4
Or you could skip all of this and just rip off Star Wars like Star Crash did. Just kidding. Love the channel.
algorithm comment
🗿👍🏿
Can you PLEASE remember that a TENANT is an occupier of a rented property, whereas a TENET is an element of a philosophy or facet of a belief. These words do not sound the same, yet you've said the former when you mean the latter in multiple videos now, and you undermine your credibility by confusing them. And you piss me off, but that's honestly of secondary importance here.
go tell a cop
@@TemplinInstituteso nice to see you have such high standards for yourselves, even about things this complicated and hard to achieve
Can you PLEASE research how to give CONSTRUCTIVE criticism. While you're in the library, look up the definitions of CONDESCENSION and ENTITLEMENT, and maybe, just for the sake of curiosity, NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER.
@@emilymartin5418Constructive criticism is telling people what they are doing wrong, what effect it has and how they can improve. That's exactly what I did, and what I've done in the past with their mispronunciations; I don't see that I've done anything deserving their dismissive reaction.
I don't see how I'm being condescending - it's a simple mistake, yes, but if it was so obvious to them, they wouldn't make it. I'm an EFL teacher, so I understand that many people just don't know how to say some things. I can't turn off my EFL teacher brain, pron errors are instantly obvious and extremely distracting.
I wouldn't call myself entitled either - I freely acknowledge that this is not entertainment I'm paying for. I hold them to the same standards I expect from myself; if someone tells me I'm mispronouncing something, at the very least I will check. I will acknowledge that, factoring in the fact I've tried to tell them about this before, I'm disappointed and irked by their total disinterest in behaving like professionals.
And NPD...do you accuse everyone who asks that someone be careful in their communication of personality disorders, or what? I have not got NPD, thanks. But do enjoy attacking people for trying to help, I'm sure that won't cause you any trouble.
@@Josh_Quillan I pity your students.
My problem is. My world keeps getting bigger.
To much imagination and not enough time to draw it all.
Trying to creat your own culture
Is also kinda hard.
I want to make it simular to
But nothing like if you know what I mean.
From food to architecture
From traditions to food.
Everything.
That can get kinda hard.
4:05 DON'T SAY THE QUIET PART OUT LOUD YOU NONCE!
90%? *sobbing in tub* 97.6%...
im gonna be honest, i was zoned out the entire video and don't know anything that you said
You can say that it flowed in and out of your mind like water
Slightly off-topic, but why were Starwars fans mad about the whiteboard? Looked pretty standard SW universe to me...
Because it had "diversity" on it.
In good part because the movies turned out to have very little to do with the content of that whiteboard.
The world did not feel authentic, the ending was crap, the characters shallow, the Force was misused, both space battles and lightsabre fights were amateurish, the plot so poorly written that it actively damages the OT, and so much more...
Considering what we got as a result, it is no wonder this whiteboard became the target of so much disgust.
I must've missed those High Republic Movies @@GerardMenvussa
God bless
The fastest shortcut to making a world believable is by showing more than two sides in a conflict and making them all shades of morally grey. They may disagree on key issues and some can seem like the overall preferable option depending on where a particular viewer is coming from but they're not written with the creator's obvious bias of one being the unmistakable bad one. The reason I can never take Star Wars too seriously (especially under Disney) is the Empire and Dark Side are by and large depicted as very clearly evil and corrupting forces. I'm sorry but that will always be boring to me. It means there are no stakes and there's a clear side that will eventually have to win and another that will have to lose. I prefer when the dynamics are less clear-cut, when you can have a side that may have been presented as one of the antagonistic forces at the beginning and can see yourself still wanting to follow the story even if they win and the side you started out rooting for gets wiped off the board. Now that's an interesting setting.
You even WRITE "tenets" yet you always, systematically, pronounce it "tenants". Why?
Hmm, do we really can create only from inspiration? Are we like neuralnet AI?
False equivalence.
@@Hawkatana how so?
@@Demetrius900000 How *isn't* it?