1. How does magic work? 2. What technology level? 3. What of gods & religion? 4. What races exist? 5. Who is in power? 6. What are the threats? Super informative video! Thanks for giving us a quick start into building new universes!
for my game: 1. None 2. At the level of star wars, everything runs on datachips and electricity 3. none 4. humans 5. no one, since its a post apocalypse 6. everything and everyone is a threat hmmmm
1: you didn't have to cuuut me off 2. Uhh yeah, it depends 3. Yes but no but yes actually 4. Most 5. Depends on the country 6. Beings above gods, the creatures created by them. beasts that can be larger than buildings
The one question people need to ask is: "Does The Reader/Player Need To Be Told (insert information) Directly?" Exposition dumps, monologs, and information archives are often only enjoyed by people who are already invested. I find that, if you feel like you have to give a small lecture in order for it to make sense, then you need to rework your delivery.
A possible 7th question to answer while worldbuilding: assuming your civilization is thousands of years old, why would there still be tombs, lairs, and dungeons which haven't already been cleared of monsters and looted by treasure hunters or local knights/lords and their soldiers? Perhaps the kings of your land are too busy fighting amongst themselves to spare soldiers and gold on adventuring beyond the frontier? Or your world setting takes place during a "Gold Rush" period where a vast uninhabited area has recently been discovered & opened to exploration. This could be an entire continent that was once ruled by a wealthy empire but eons ago fell to armies of Orcs & other monsters, who now guard the former empire's hoards of gold and magic items.
All cities, even fictional ones, have vacant buildings in some order of disrepair. After a few years these abandoned places start to have stories spun around them. After a few more years of occasional vagrant occupation and urban exploration myths and mysterys form. It only takes 10 to 20 years for an urban dungeon to come into being. So, there needn't be a new, unlocked, or previously undiscovered area for there to be a dungeon of any kind. Any vacant house in some level of disrepair with unkept grounds can be dungeon enough. Add in a murder, missing people, a cult, thieves, carnivorous plants or the like and 'POOF' high adventure with very little effort to explain.
@@candiedginger8729 Good ideas. Maybe the town mayor or lord could hire the players to clear out any nasty monsters from the abandoned buildings. Another urban adventure idea is some kind of infestation in the city's sewer system. Someone has to go down there and kill whatever critters are living in the tunnels.
In parallel with the big rules in a world, "what jobs are the most popular ?" It can change everything like in Earthling, the world I'm creating, Earth is impossible to reach, people live on floating island thanks to mysterious crystals, these crystals make nature, animals, insect etc, overwhelming and stronger, bigger. So Hunter is a hard and important job. Farmer is now really hard, herborists are now really powerful etc. You get it.
So, i watch your videos but I don't think i ever commented in one. I just want to thank you. I made my first dnd character, drew my first fantasy map and advanced both as a dm and a player with your videos. Now it's time for a brand new fantasy world! Just, thank you. Never give up!
I've spent my time during the lockdown trying to re-create my game world from 1985, (without access to any notes, since they're locked up in storage and no access allowed to our unit during the lockdown.) And, it's been a steep uphill battle remembering all of it. (Luckily, I managed to retrieve a partial old map a month before the lockdown.) I'm amazed at how much I can still remember after 20 years boxed-up in storage. I've bounced between concept, massive historical mapmaking, God-building/cosmos-building, the "Big Bad", Celtic vs. Genies, and how to fit it all together in a clockwork whole so that it makes sense, A damn lot of hand-drawn individual trees on a 8 x 6 foot master map, …..And not a player in sight since the 1988.
Excellent video! I would approach these questions in a different order, and my underlying question would be is it an Earth-like world? As in, is there one moon and one sun? how much water vs land? How much desert vs forest vs ice? Are there dominant ecosystems that don’t even exist on Earth?? There’s a lot to work with by tweaking the main players of our planet!
Something that I tend to focus on alot is economy. What's the state of it? Is it thriving? Is there class divide? How serious is the class divide and does it cause other problems (thievery, gangs, etc), what's the currency? What's sold where? I find these are some of the most important and most fun questions. The economy is EXTREMELY overlooked by most world builders in my opinion.
I feel like the first 4 fit perfectly as starter questions, but not the last 2. "Who is in power" seems like a question that can only be answered on a case-by-case basis, and not that early of a question; perhaps "what countries/nations are there?" would be better. For "What threats are there" this is also a case-by-case question. Threats will be of varying size, importance, and purpose. When building a world you can sprinkle these threats in, but it's not essential to start out with.
Pretty astute to this, because you can have small things like a particularly bad individual, all the way to intergalactic invasions (Which WoW is known for with the Legion) and beyond as threats.
I know I'm late as heck, but I think a really good question to ask yourself as a world builder is why. Asking yourself why pushes you to make more concrete reasons for otherwise just basic reasons. It also stops you from going "oh just because." That's just my food for thought
Boy do we approach this differently. I start with the history of the world, from the earliest sentient species. I draw this in broad strokes because most of the details are lost in the past. As species rise and fall, this gives my world a backstory that I can draw from. As I get closer to the present day, My history becomes more detailed, although mostly it still deals with major events. Never-the-less, as we get closer to the present, the details become finer grained. After the last cataclysm or major event, I get much more detailed. If I haven't completed the pantheons of the modern world already, I complete that. I generally accept the magic system of D&D 5th, but I add clerical spells for some of the more popular Gods, exclusive to them. This is where the current map of the world, such as it is, comes together, along with the more detailed history. With the history of the world, the gods and the dominant races already chosen, I flesh out the known world that the players will be adventuring in.
I would make sure to ask whether religious communities have any political power. And if so, what degree of influence do they have. Are they very powerful, like the Catholic Church in medieval Europe or the Islamic government in Iran. Or does religion play a minor or more reclined role in state politics? I would also try to not make the assumption that there are different fantasy races. It could be that only humans exist, or dwarves for that matter. Maybe there is racial distinction between the different groups of dwarves that doesn't make any significant difference to their physical abilities. It's just different appearances.
I am slowly building a pantheon for my world, and as of now, my favorite deity in it is a deity of darkness who really despises human sacrifice and murder, when something like this is about to happen, she takes control of the victim, forces the item used for the killing out of the killers hand and then slaps the killer in the face.
Man I’m making a world as well and you make it look so easy. The questions help but I really only have map and locations done and that took me at least a solid 1.5 days of work time (of course spread out) though I am excited to see this world come to completion. My world that is currently unnamed has a massive magical storm encompassing the entire equator caused by magical attempts to combat climate change and has essentially hidden the majority of 2 continents beneath its clouds. This of course forced population to move to the north and south poles of the planet where they essentially don’t know the other exists. The north is more technologically advanced (think renaissance era) and is lead by a looming power called the silent throne which was the creator of the warforged. The south lines up with a more medieval setting and is more magic oriented due to an anomalous crater that overflows with magic. The party can start on either hemisphere which have more prevalent classes and races depending on it and each side has their own plot hooks and things as well as events and quests that can be covered by either side.
The most important thing, while creating a whole new narrative universe, I think, is the ability of the creator not only to create a coherent and interesting lore or setting, but expecially to give the right importance to the main story. And by saying this, I don't mean that the plot of the tv series/movie/book/game/etc. needs to be the only element on which to focus, but the creator needs to answer one simple question above all: "Why did I choose to settle my story in this particular year/month/day and in this particular place, among all the others? Why do I want to narrate the story of this particular event?". It is my personal belief that the correct answer to this question is "because it's the most important ever, in my narrative universe", but I guess it's ok even if it is just one of the most important events. I'll give you an example: Game of Thrones (TV series) [SPOILER ALERT!!!]. It makes zero sense to me the fact that they chose to focus the plot on the War of the Five Kings, and not on Robert's Rebellion or the Conquer of Westeros by Aegon Targaryen. These other events are far more relevant for that world than the main story. An explanation could be the White Walkers, but they seem more like a secondary element in that world. Also, we have no proof that they are gone for good, since they were already been defeated in the past. The Dark Souls series, on the other hand, is great in this [SPOILER ALERT]. It always places the adventure of the protagonist after all the other relevant events. At the end of every chapter in the series, you can even choose to end the world. I think that is the best way to connect the story of the world you have created and the story you want to tell. It also rewards the reader/player/spectator for his attention and interest. So, to sum up, don't create a fantasy world where "a powerful mage has destroyed all the gods and has become the new King" if you want to focus your plot on a girl picking flowers.
Thanks Nate! As you know Word Building never ends and even though I've been working on my setting for roughly 30 years, I always find new ways to look at it. I found particularly useful, the last two points - Who is in power and What are the threats. Power - I am bad at politics in the game, and this was a great point to simply my thinking about it, and how the various power bases might interact. Threats - ties in nicely to Power as it's most often the humanoids of societies that cause problems. it was also a great reminder that natural disasters are also threatening and can play a bigger role!
No Man's Sky eh Nate? A very enjoyable game, its come on massively since it launched and I enjoy it a heck of a lot. Anyway.... Very useful video. I'm starting to create a world myself, not for any campaign or such but more for myself to flesh out and get creative. I've always enjoyed map making and tabletop gaming but never tried to properly create a world. Suddenly have a bit of extra free time to work on it 👍
Thanks Nate! I think that this builds really well on the previous "session 0" video that you mentioned. I guess the main question I would ask is "what genre is this" - if you're doing a D&D fantasy world, is it high fantasy, grimdark, swords & sorcery, kitchen sink generic, story-driven, etc. The answer to that one will then help you formulate the answers to some of the other questions you ask (e.g. a grimdark world is unlikely to have lots of helpful benevolent deities).
I'll often use the draconic bloodline as more of an elemental bloodline in my games. Just needs a flavor adjustment, and if they get to later levels, a change to the 14th and 18th level abilities.
Honestly, I think that's because the PHB only gives that and Wild Magic as options, and of the two, Draconic Bloodline is by far the more predictable choice. Extra health and 3 extra AC are a nice buff right from the very start, and 6th level granting the boost to matched-element spell damage and damage resistance is pretty nice too. Compare that to wild magic's issues where sometimes magic just gets away from you and can't benefit from your metamagic tricks or be dropped if the situation changes such that the spell is no longer beneficial, and sure you can get advantage on stuff, but that gives the DM a free "lets screw with them" button whenever they want. Wild magic is the more interesting option, but Draconic Ancestry is by far the more predictable and controllable as a player. Lots of people will take Draconic because it's easy and predictable. Of course, these days, we've got shadow magic, storm sorcery, divine soul sorcery, and a couple of UA things going on, all of which flesh out the options a lot.
This is really helpful, and it really gets us to put our worlds into perspective. Just the way magic works is already such a big factor into how a society will work. I've got a few strokes of how mine would have these questions answered 1 - "Magic" is a raw form of energy that every living being emanates. Magic casters can channel what their own body produces, or they can take from other, non-caster lifeforms around them. This raw energy needs to be channel in very specific ways to get the result that you want. Some people are inherently talented in one specific "concept" they can hone talents for, but in-story it is an unexplained phenomenon. 2 - Technology levels depend of where you stand in the world. More developped kingdoms and empires have late medieval-levels of tech, but most of the world still goes by with old techniques or with stolen tools from fallen civilisations. 3 - Again, it depends. Some cultures believe that Gods reside in the sky and chose certain people as their avatars or champions, hence the existence of those naturally gifted with magic. Others think that those people are actual deities in human form. Others believe that magic as a whole and natural phenomenons is the manifestation of one or several gods to interlope with human affairs. 4 - Humans. Among them exist a kingdom of blue-blooded people, while others mostly share different traits due to their environments. 5 - Powerful magic casters rule most societies, either by force or birthright. "Normal" leaders quickly get overthrown by strong fighters. 6 - Society is very fragile because of magic users. Magic as a whole has only been an utilised phenomenon for a few centuries, and already several prosperous nations have completely collapsed due to invasions or infighting among powerful individuals. In the present day, the societies that survived do so because the populace is kept away from magic use as much as possible, with those that can use it mostly representing the authorities. Most of the land is also occupied by solitary magic casters who have developed a culture of their own, an authority-hating bunch of hotheads who find beauty in srviving in the wilds and are happy to pick off weaker nations. Where they roam, only small tribes manage to remain and not be targeted.
Thanks you sir I made my fantasy world called earthwind it's like earth but it's like warhammer fantasy meets warcraft and it's full of humans,Orcs,elves,dwarfs,dragons and vampires and werewolves and sea monsters and angles and demons Warriors Knights,pirates,vikings,barbarians and samurais,ninjas and conquerors,Aztec warriors,dwarfs warrior,elve knights and orc riders
This is a great and informative video. You have given a lot of different types of ideas to start building. What about seasons and weather? Anyways thanks for another great video Nate.
The Crystal is a perfect fit for a world I've been thinking about. The crystal CAN be harnessed and it can power magical engines and other technology, set in a kinda early industrial era. No trains tho because its kinda an archipelago world where airships and sea craft are the only choice
Nice video. My biggest obstacle is fitting the existing D&D races and setting concepts into my world. When sitting down at a D&D table most players will have assumptions about the character they can expect to create and general knowledge about the world to fuel their background. These include a large pantheon of gods to support certain classes, various planes of existence, etc. These are deeply tied to the D&D system. Fiends come from the abyss, fey from the feywild, etc. It definitely robs some creativity when these elements must certainly exist in my world when the setting is closely paired with the system.
I created mine slightly different, I have generally started with a map and the usual suspects within each zone. I then create what is called political/religious magic systems. For eg, in the jungles of Dumarel, the tribal natives used nature magic with a bit of sacrifices within their community leaders as they believe that to lead is to give. So they give a bit of their blood, a hand, or an ear, as a sign of religious fervour. This coupled with their penchant to shape-shifting and druidism makes an excellent original theme to an already tried fantasy trope. There might be tribes that purely uses nature magic and tribes that focuses more on sacrifices. Also, I implore people to explore beyond what they think is the modern ancient civilisation like the greeks or the romans and look to creation myths of other natives like the Polynesians or the indigenous sea people of the southeast Asia. Even Hindu gods can give a much different outlook on what an advanced ancient civilisation is.
Thanks this was brilliant. I think one question you missed was what commodities/foods etc are traded by different locations and what is missing in specific areas. This helps create politics as food and commodity pressures can easily be seen.
For question 5 maybe a deeper question is, who has the resources and what are they? People come into power because there’s some kind of resource that others want but only certain people actually get. And whoever controls the water or the gold mine or whatever can have power over the region and others
I tend to be more sci-fi then fansty but planets are huge so you don't need to make a whole galaxy. A few question that I can come up with are who did life come to your world is it native, did some race or races colonize it? How do they interact with native life if there is any? Did they terraform it? You have a couple other but those would be the main ones
Fantastic list of questions! I think about these same things as well when I’m building my world. I’m also into trade routes and how each city and town deals with other. Great video, Nate!
I have been building up my world for a while. When I first started, not realizing it, I had answered all of these questions. I too like to stick to the common tropes of a fantasy world. I do think one other question, while not really necessary, but still fun to flesh out, is the creation of the world. So Question 1, Magic : In my world arcane magic comes from Dragons. They are the living incarnations of magic itself. Divine magic of course is from the gods. So I did separate them. (I never make it easy on myself lol). I also worked out a small mechanic for arcane magic. When within 100ft (still toying with the distance actually) per age category of the dragon the caster level gains a bonus equal to the age category of the dragon. So an adult dragon (age category 6) would have the affect within 600 feet, and boost the caster level to +6. So arcane casters would cast as if they were 6 levels higher affecting all the variables like range, damage and the like. Including having a bonus to caster level checks to bypass spell resistance. This among other factors, however has caused many dragons to keep hidden. They are not as prevalent as they used to be. Two: Tech, mine is more or less similar to medieval Europe. Three: Place of the Gods, I play Pathfinder (and occasionally Eberron 3.5) before I converted my homebrew world to Pathfinder I just used the 3.5 ph gods. Now I use the 3.5 PH as the "old gods" and the Pathfinder gods as the "new gods". I do have a couple I made up as they were a focus point in the 4th age of my world. But in the 3rd age it is Pathfinder Inner sea gods. Four: Races: I stick with the standard and some of the "other races" like catfolk, tieflings and others. I do however have a collection of 3 islands off the coast of one of my regions that are ruled by 3 dwarven pirate lords. Five: And Six Who is in Power. I have an empire that is the prominent threat, they are worshipers of a god that was human but ascended centuries ago. They enslave all other races and worship of other gods is forbidden. They threaten to take over many lands around them. (This is one part of the answer for number 6) But there are many others throughout the world. Seven I am still working on the actual creation of my world, but the name of it came about after a great conflict between Dragons and Gods. The dragons were the center of worship for thousands or more years, then the gods came. They warred with each other and in doing so caused rifts to the realms of fiends to rip open and allowed countless demons and devils to poor in. To save the world one of the dragon elders in effect sacrificed herself to keep the world together and close the rifts. She would stay at the center of the world holding it together and keeping the rifts closed preventing demonic entry. After her sacrifice the world was named after her.
This was a good video, really got me thinking about my world. It can sometimes be difficult to think of good ideas but I felt inspired when watching this!
This is all quite excellent and still manages to be concise on a topic that is very much not given to brevity. Kudos! Since you asked, here's some added stuff: - related to #3: I find it useful to ascertain the philosophical ideals and principles at work in a given environment, regardless of whether they are embodied in religious beliefs, cultural customs or societal norms and regardless of whether they are ascribed to on a basis of identity, faith, social or resource parameters or anything else. I find doing this fairly early on and in regards to each group or important entity I create, helps streamline later processes such as figuring out lore and historical context. Even without religion, specifically, people still ascribe to some philosophy or another, even when they're not educated enough to describe it. Where a farmer might feel that bounty is due those who invest their toil and time, and that those who seek to reap great rewards for minimal investment, are immoral actors; conversely, one raised in the alleys and gutters of a large urban center might consider those who labor and commit themselves to long-term endeavors with incremental rewards and even payoffs, to be simpletons, undeserving of scraps for which they beg, prefering instead to cast their own fortune to chance and the dream of a lucrative easy street. Figuring out the philosophical principles (even very broadly and vaguely,) for the more macroscopic entities, groups and relevant scenarios, super streamlines a lot down the line as most details kind of just make sense after that. And you don't need to know philosophy or anything, just be able to describe what someone believes in your own words. Again, awesome video!
I think that the most critical question to ask is: what is there for the players' characters to do? How will they pay their bills and put food on their table? You want the answers to be ones that allow the players to experience adventure, of course, and you might be more handwavy about actual upkeep, but even so the players need some kind, or several kinds, of reasons to be adventuring, and if you don't give them some they might very well get lost.
I enjoyed this video enough to take notes, but now I'm confused: I can only find 5 questions (admittedly the note taking was while skimming the video and being up at 3am, so I'm probably just missing something) 1: What is magic like? 2: What is technology like? 3: What is religion like? 4: What is the power structure? 5: What are the major threats/conflicts? What'd I miss?
Another question to point out, to add on top but not as a beginner question is to consider as a bridge between Race and god/religion. What are the cultural aspects of a race? Do they worship a specific god, if so why, and in what way? like in Tamriel, certain races tended to favor specific gods or goddesses because it suited their needs.
That are good things you start with. I'm always starting with the political questions: Who is in power and what is keeping him in power? That's one thing to elaborate, even if it's a peaceful democracy I would extend the question to: What are the threats to the power and how did the kingdom survive so long? It's one of the best things, which adds backstory to the adventuring campaign. For example for rumors in taverns and inns. Hey even in real world there is gossip about royalty - the who is who and why did Princess Diana die? People LOVE to chitchat about other people, especially if they're prominent. And most importantly about this point are the diplomatic affairs of the country, what would happen if the ruler would die? what conflicts could lead to a (civil) war? IMHO this tension in the background will let the players think about their "home" in that place and let them immerse more. From this political questions I'm going forward to trade and commerce - and I'm asking myself: What does the country need to live? Food, water and resources, and place some cities in the corners of my world, ore & coal at the mountains, food & drinking at fertile places with rivers and so on. This thought is also good to think abour scarcity and wealth of the country as it derives more deliberate thoughts about the actions and motivation of people. After these two points have been dealt with, everything else is just detailing out the world.
Good stuff man. My little brother and I are working on our own TTRPG and I'm going to give it a soft setting with some intentional fuzzy details so GMs can tailor it more to their own style.
For a universe I'm writing: 1. It doesn't, there is none. 2. Futuristic feudalism, taking into account biological factors. Blades are used most often in fighting due to the protagonist species being too tough for firearms, but most modern technology exists even if it has a more biomechanical flavor. Personal transportation like cars however are hardly seen due to biological factors, considering the primary alien species resemble ratites. 3. There are no actual gods, but there are entities believed to be gods due to their power. Belief in said gods however has fallen out of fashion, with ancestor worship and animism being most common. 4. The primary sentient species is bunch of bird people called "crönians," but there are also large populations of underclass mutants in the wilderness and underground. There are also a few hold outs of intelligent machines largely hidden from the world. 5. The majority of feudal rulers are derived from old shifting military aristocracy that has existed since a collapse almost a millenia ago, but that is now changing in some areas as the old clashes with the new. Family tribes and clans however have dominated this species almost it's entire history, and that has barely changed. 6. The major powers and their WMDs are gearing up for war again, mutant populations are rising, ecological decay continues, ice creeps ever further from the poles, and alliances are being forged. All good or bad depending on your faction. 7. Old ruins, even centuries after reconstruction "ended" across the world, are still prevalent indeed. There are still anchient cities home to mutants, machines, and other dregs. The great underground network that once spanned the continent has fallen into disrepair and has been flooded. The rapant mutant population has also caused significant condensing in population centers, leading to the rise of the modern military aristocracy.
6. What are the threats? Me: writing fantasy slice of life Also me: Yeah, let's throw in some murderous cultists trying to summon their god to our realm!
I would love to play a bit in this world. Perhaps a humble fisherman wanting to investigate the reason for all the dead fish who stumbles in to adventuring, becoming the hero of his village.
I love World Anvil. At the moment I'm using it to help me keep places and people organized for my Tyranny of Dragons campaign and as a central location to share session summaries via the Timelines and Historical events feature with my group. But I also have a second world of my own creation I'm slowing working on to use when ToD concludes and we start back over at level 1. ;-)
My question when I was building my fantasy world was: "would I like to live in such world ?" For me personaly it needs to be good enough that I will say "God I really want to live there!"
Basic Description: Rothenel is a formerly wood elven kingdom settled by humans travelling from their homeworld via massive generation ships. 3 settled off the shore of the coast and an agreement allowed settlements to be founded on the shore. Humanity broke the agreement their city ships were sunk leaving the few survivors to rebuild their society in that shore's settlement due to the ruling family sparing their lives. 1. How does magic work? There is a primal energy in this universe that created and empowered the gods, responsible for creating the worlds and life. Some developed their magic via the environment (Druids, Sorcerors), others via worship or forming Pacts (Cleric's Warlocks) and others through research often dabbling in the others fields (Bards) or outright preying on them for power (Wizards). 2. What technology level? Rothenel was originally magic fantasy roughly around middle earth, when humanity arrived they brought their technology and although their society collapsed it has rebuilt and the other races researched the few remaining artefacts that the world is roughly late nineteenth century in technical advancement meaning guns, very early steam powered vehicles including zeppelins, trains, submarines but not ironclad boats yet. 3. What of gods & religion? Initially these were limited to the races present namely Dragons, Dwarves, Elves, Gnomes, Goblins, Orcs and their deities were based on their household allegiances. Humanity brought their pantheons with them and these were co-opted by the entities present to claim them as worshippers thus Native Americans were drawn to the druidic faiths, in time they were merged with these deities followers so it would seem they had always worshipped them but the attempts to research the humans past drew alot of flak as these deities don't want the truth revealed fearing a loss of power if these worshippers turned from them. 4. What races exist? Basically all with humans being relative newcomers and halflings yet to be explained. 5. Who is in power? Varies in Rothenel the humans rule on the coast further in it becomes complicated as its often multiple races living together in an uneasy cohesion, but one no different from today. The ruler would depend on which era this is set in, but it would be human currently. 6. What are the threats? The evil cults seek dominion, the wizards seek immortality and an ancient power seeks to be restored to his place as the Supreme Deity of Rothenel. And there are unanswered questions such as what happened to the other craft carried by the generation ship that arrived in Rothenel's orbit and why are the elves treating the world as a holiday home and staying within the Feywild instead? 7) What do the players know? Rothenel has been led by the human noble families since their founding ruler Gilieam the First came to an agreement with the elves to end the strife caused by the dwarven effort to strip Rothenel of its forests and largely despoil the entire area in their insane quest for power and greed. For a period of time after this event Rothenel was trapped within a veil of mists that was only lifted when a group of heroes uncovered the source of the problem and corrected it leading to them finding themselves on another worlds shore. Recent upheaval in the capital of Gilieam has caused a lot of worry as the ancient veil of mists seems to have returned and a call for heroes has been issued throughout the realm as word of evil cult warring with each other seeking to claim the now empty throne with the king believed near death and his two heirs missing. Good starting place I guess!
I’m not sure what book you’re talking about. I showed world anvil and several books. The world anvil images are just some that I found on various art websites that I thought fit my world.
I usually like to think of a world in medieval times, but lately am attracted to an elfstone type world where magic has surfaced in a broken world where tech is the ancient treasure.
Magic in my world works differently under three branches of magic that fall under three primordial gods called the Trinity. Light, Chaos, and Dark are their main aspects but on a cosmic level. Light magic has a system limitations of needing pure/positive emotions meaning if you try to heal someone, you can only heal them if you truly want to. If you try to hurt someone with light magic it usually doesn't work unless its purely to protect someone. The Dark is the opposite with corrupt/negative emotions. Where Light magic drains mana from your soul which can heal, Dark magic drains mana from the life force itself, usually blood, and it doesn't need to be the users. Chaos magic drains mana from the soul but can also drain from the life force and is a completely different magic branch that the other two for Chaos magic is basically elemental magic to the fullest. Light is pure magic meant for creation, healing, and the betterment of life while Dark is corrupt magic meant for destruction, death, and the end of all life. Chaos is neutral but often misjudged and labeled Dark due to its use in wars and having no limitations outside the wielders mana pool. Technology in my world is medieval with swords and shields and magic is partially to blame for them not evolving further in a sense. Most of the story will take place in the west side of the planet but on the east, over seas, there are countries that have developed gunpowder and even a light industrial civilization but are to busy fighting each other. I mentioned the The Primordials, Light, Chaos, and Dark but other gods are worshiped and exist in my world. Planets and Stars, in an incomprehensible way, are gods what we see as planets and stars are their cores. These cores are in the realm of Chaos, as we are, protected from the war against Dark. Gods that people worship on the planet are only a mix of aspects that have manifested dur to these Gods and incredibly strong individuals that have mastered the Magical potential. Several of these individuals will be seen throughout the story but many will choose not to interfere for Life exists in the planet, the core of the god of Nature, a wife of Chaos, and none of the Gods wish to face the wrath of Chaos as he is reason Dinosaurs aren't around anymore. I have several races but most are typical fantasy races. Humans, Elves, Dark Elves(Created the dungeons), Monsters (Born from dungeons), Devils (Tieflings basically), Demons (Completely separate for tieflings but connected to Dark ), Beastkin (Races of people with animal features, mostly tribal), and Dwarves (Live in the Dungeons), and these are just the, mostly, mortal races. Angels and Spirits are a thing too. Who is in power is a toss up between Humans, Elves, and Devils. Humans and Elves are fighting each other and Devils are fighting themselves. If the Devil's weren't fighting themselves they'd probably be in power. Threats? Well, due to Dark influence anyone could become a threat but the Dark Cult and Demons are the biggest with Monsters and Devil's following up next. This world I made is vast and huge, inspired by many different things but one thing remains consistent is that Dark, being a primordial, will always exist thus conflict will always exist meaning the world will always be threatened. What matters is that life never stops fighting against it because thats what Dark wants. Light wants the opposite, wants progress, creation, Ideals. Light wants life to spread and explore and learn all that we can. Chaos just wants us to live peacefully and survive and die naturally without regrets and destroy any that take away which we care for. Protect what you love above all.
My world is a cross between medieval and industrial, they should have the ability for electricity, but I made copper so rare that it's more used as jewelry. Souls are used for magic (souls are created upon death) souls can burn for a long time if in a soul gem which creates a steam based empire
Trying to create a fantasy world named Astea that’s more heavily based (creation wise at least) regarding angels and demons. My demons are different from the typical fantasy demons in that they are fallen angels who fought in the revolt in Heaven a long time ago, and I have two unique figures who have dominion over Heaven and Hell each: Myndephyllon (a fictional angel I created who is the height of Mount Everest, has 10,000 wings, four heads, and 200 eyes, and if he descended to the world and flapped his wings once, he would flood the world due to the sheer force of the winds created) and King Herod (the figure who rules as King of Hell and has been for the past 500 years.) Demons tend to be more prone to power grabbing and corruption than angels, as they’ve gone through countless demons both real (like Asmodeus, Leonard, Lucifer, and Satan for example) and fictional ones (such as Kryo, who ruled for 50 years before he got bored of it, Gurvunoch, Esteraz, Zarbazas, and Astarax), while angels have only had one. I’m mainly focusing on Heaven and Hell at the moment and using Dante’s Inferno for Hell with some of my own creative elements and also coming up with some ideas from other sources regarding angelology (such as seven halls for Heaven and angels who guard those halls as wardens), and also making the capitals of each Dis for Hell and Zion for Heaven. For the humans which are the other main race that have been much more dominant due to a great extinction event caused by demons when King Herod took the throne of Hell and which the year count is based off of (the story starts in 525 AGE, or After Great Extinction), I don’t have much of anything except for nations and flag designs for each. But this video should help a lot for me, thank you!
In the society I’m creating the main religion is based on being a just person which is essentially staying in your lane fulfilling what you owe to your community. Essentially your religion is your state. There are some sects that believe in a god or gods but are hunted down by the state.
I will try to asnwer these questions. 1. Magic is based on manipulating the enviorment around you ( and inside you) , and it can be learned by every intelegnet species, but for some it's easier and some harder. So most common usage of magic just make a flame or a small wind. 2. Technology level is about mid-late industrialization on a few places, most mostly it's pretty fudeal. 3. Some good magic users can be Gods and then are often worshipped. Worshipping some thing of nature is also very common. Religions who worship non existent gods do exist as well. 4. I have 6 diffrent human races. A lot of life forms are the same as earht by I have a few fictional ones. 5. Most countries do have a cenralized goverment but there is a few places made of city states, and few are more tribal. 6. I have a few nations that are really competetive toward each other. I need to devlop this more!
My world (continent) is somewhat of a more magical alternative history version of Europe. The fantasy components are influenced by actual folkore. 1. Magic has two origins. 1A. Inate magical abilities. 1B. Magic that comes from another dimension. Using this magic might come at a cost. 2. Technology is somewhere between the Roman era and the early midleages. 3. Different areas have different fates. Even though the different religions differ greatly from each other there are some common themes. 4. In this area different races can be found. Humans, especially caucasian humans, are most common this area, but half elves and dwarves can also be found. 5. Some areas have a centralized government, but most areas have decentralized governments and anything in between. One of these regions is rapidly expanding annexing different tribes and states. 6. The most important conflict are the wars between 'Rome' and the surrounding states. More local conflicts are bandits, monsters, famine, etc. The abovementioned is a short summary. I have tens of pages with much more details on each of these subjects.
6:20 "Civilisations with different patron deities"...That's not polytheism that is pretty much the definition of monotheism. People who believe in their god and are willing to go to war against those who worship other gods over religion. Polytheism is when you worship different gods for different purposes. You pray to Fryr for a good Harvest to Freya for your wife's pregnancy, to Njord for good catch when fishing and to Thor to make sure he keeps the frost giants at bay so frost doesn't come early.
You can use these in your own games, but give me credit. Pls? Thanks, Nate for these questions. Sorry I'm late btw. These really helped me with my worldbuilding. My world, or should I say, nation of Phaeralia (the map I submitted)is just a small portion of a bigger planet I am creating. The magic here is not rare. It is a bit more streamlined and the items that are sold in the market are fairly cheap but of somewhat low quality because of mass production. Selling magic items on the black market is a thing of the past, but is still happening and for some reason, the government and the capital city are not trying to put an end to this "supposed to be" illegal action(this can be a plothook for my players). There are multiple religions and deities within this world and are somewhat true. This is the main one: The universe of my world is made by the gods' actions and most importantly, their downfall. The servants of the gods(aasimars, most likely) know of the gods and their downfall. Because of their huge disagreement about who should be the true ruler, they had a war, but no one won. Because of their infinite strength, the sound of their clashing weapons were enough to destroy The Kingdom and create an explosion strong enough to make the universe. Some rumors have been heard that there are remants of The Kingdom and evem crystals of unimaginable power. The Servants are also the ones who started the "Age of Religion." Some theocracies can even lead to executing people because they don't believe in the theocracies' religion. Because of the long gap between the past and the present, The Servants' stories of the gods are told differently. The technology level is like magical, semi-advanced medieval Europe with 18th century inventions like mass production of copies of literature, but instead of the printing press, magic and spells are used intead of machinery. The races in the world are mixed, but the most common are humans, elves, halflings, dwarves, and some of them have aasimar blood.
What past events influenced the world of today? For example, many D&D worlds have many places that have returned to nature. The old abandoned castle or the city of the dead. The world is expected to have wild places with monsters. Did the gods come to the mortal world or did a great war kill off many forcing the races to come together for protection as the monsters grew in power?
I think my first question would be what Kind of game do i want to run. Than i am thinking what Kind of enviroment would give a good foundation to build on?
I'm actually amazed how close novel building and DnD world building is. The problem with novel is, u lack the space (as in, words in pages) compared to DnD world. Because u cant tell everything.
1. How does magic work?
2. What technology level?
3. What of gods & religion?
4. What races exist?
5. Who is in power?
6. What are the threats?
Super informative video! Thanks for giving us a quick start into building new universes!
I've been stuck on number one for a month now lol. Kinda mixed in with number four and number three out of necessity but still.
Thanks lol
for my game:
1. None
2. At the level of star wars, everything runs on datachips and electricity
3. none
4. humans
5. no one, since its a post apocalypse
6. everything and everyone is a threat
hmmmm
Thank you so much
1: you didn't have to cuuut me off
2. Uhh yeah, it depends
3. Yes but no but yes actually
4. Most
5. Depends on the country
6. Beings above gods, the creatures created by them. beasts that can be larger than buildings
The one question people need to ask is: "Does The Reader/Player Need To Be Told (insert information) Directly?"
Exposition dumps, monologs, and information archives are often only enjoyed by people who are already invested. I find that, if you feel like you have to give a small lecture in order for it to make sense, then you need to rework your delivery.
Totally agree!
yeah.
Maybe not the ‘one question’ but that is important
A possible 7th question to answer while worldbuilding: assuming your civilization is thousands of years old, why would there still be tombs, lairs, and dungeons which haven't already been cleared of monsters and looted by treasure hunters or local knights/lords and their soldiers?
Perhaps the kings of your land are too busy fighting amongst themselves to spare soldiers and gold on adventuring beyond the frontier? Or your world setting takes place during a "Gold Rush" period where a vast uninhabited area has recently been discovered & opened to exploration. This could be an entire continent that was once ruled by a wealthy empire but eons ago fell to armies of Orcs & other monsters, who now guard the former empire's hoards of gold and magic items.
All cities, even fictional ones, have vacant buildings in some order of disrepair. After a few years these abandoned places start to have stories spun around them. After a few more years of occasional vagrant occupation and urban exploration myths and mysterys form. It only takes 10 to 20 years for an urban dungeon to come into being. So, there needn't be a new, unlocked, or previously undiscovered area for there to be a dungeon of any kind.
Any vacant house in some level of disrepair with unkept grounds can be dungeon enough. Add in a murder, missing people, a cult, thieves, carnivorous plants or the like and 'POOF' high adventure with very little effort to explain.
@@candiedginger8729 Good ideas. Maybe the town mayor or lord could hire the players to clear out any nasty monsters from the abandoned buildings.
Another urban adventure idea is some kind of infestation in the city's sewer system. Someone has to go down there and kill whatever critters are living in the tunnels.
Cleared-out dungeons can become reinfested with new monsters in new generations.
In parallel with the big rules in a world, "what jobs are the most popular ?" It can change everything like in Earthling, the world I'm creating, Earth is impossible to reach, people live on floating island thanks to mysterious crystals, these crystals make nature, animals, insect etc, overwhelming and stronger, bigger. So Hunter is a hard and important job. Farmer is now really hard, herborists are now really powerful etc. You get it.
Sounds verry interesting
@Miles Doyle What does this have to do with anything?
@Miles Doyle not reading all of that 🤦
My list now has 7 questions.
I dunno about anyone else but I’d really like a special just about Ezora and it’s races, cultures and maybe info on cities and towns.
yeah true I was about to post the same comment xD
I agree
I’d read it. Sounds pretty solid
To employ a Covileism, What's the "Central Tension"? What's the big thing going on right now that everyone knows and cares about?
Connor Hennessey corona
@@nvwest Hmmm... Conora Virus Hennessey.... Gonna have to work on that pun.
Also what has been the recent local tension. Few people care about what happened 2500 or 10,000 years ago. Keep it to a couple hundred.
Maybe the horde of demons
....
Maybe
THE WHITE WALKEEEERS!...oh...wait...no one cares until the last season
So, i watch your videos but I don't think i ever commented in one. I just want to thank you. I made my first dnd character, drew my first fantasy map and advanced both as a dm and a player with your videos. Now it's time for a brand new fantasy world! Just, thank you. Never give up!
Excellent questions Nate.
I've spent my time during the lockdown trying to re-create my game world from 1985, (without access to any notes, since they're locked up in storage and no access allowed to our unit during the lockdown.) And, it's been a steep uphill battle remembering all of it. (Luckily, I managed to retrieve a partial old map a month before the lockdown.) I'm amazed at how much I can still remember after 20 years boxed-up in storage. I've bounced between concept, massive historical mapmaking, God-building/cosmos-building, the "Big Bad", Celtic vs. Genies, and how to fit it all together in a clockwork whole so that it makes sense, A damn lot of hand-drawn individual trees on a 8 x 6 foot master map, …..And not a player in sight since the 1988.
"Celtic vs Genies" sounds super interesting!
8x6 foot?! Wut
Excellent video! I would approach these questions in a different order, and my underlying question would be is it an Earth-like world? As in, is there one moon and one sun? how much water vs land? How much desert vs forest vs ice? Are there dominant ecosystems that don’t even exist on Earth?? There’s a lot to work with by tweaking the main players of our planet!
Just subscribed to your channel Bob🤘
My world has 2 solar star and 3 moons
Something that I tend to focus on alot is economy. What's the state of it? Is it thriving? Is there class divide? How serious is the class divide and does it cause other problems (thievery, gangs, etc), what's the currency? What's sold where? I find these are some of the most important and most fun questions. The economy is EXTREMELY overlooked by most world builders in my opinion.
I feel like the first 4 fit perfectly as starter questions, but not the last 2. "Who is in power" seems like a question that can only be answered on a case-by-case basis, and not that early of a question; perhaps "what countries/nations are there?" would be better. For "What threats are there" this is also a case-by-case question. Threats will be of varying size, importance, and purpose. When building a world you can sprinkle these threats in, but it's not essential to start out with.
Pretty astute to this, because you can have small things like a particularly bad individual, all the way to intergalactic invasions (Which WoW is known for with the Legion) and beyond as threats.
Just the video I was needing rn, thanks Nate
I know I'm late as heck, but I think a really good question to ask yourself as a world builder is why. Asking yourself why pushes you to make more concrete reasons for otherwise just basic reasons. It also stops you from going "oh just because." That's just my food for thought
Boy do we approach this differently. I start with the history of the world, from the earliest sentient species. I draw this in broad strokes because most of the details are lost in the past. As species rise and fall, this gives my world a backstory that I can draw from.
As I get closer to the present day, My history becomes more detailed, although mostly it still deals with major events. Never-the-less, as we get closer to the present, the details become finer grained.
After the last cataclysm or major event, I get much more detailed. If I haven't completed the pantheons of the modern world already, I complete that. I generally accept the magic system of D&D 5th, but I add clerical spells for some of the more popular Gods, exclusive to them.
This is where the current map of the world, such as it is, comes together, along with the more detailed history. With the history of the world, the gods and the dominant races already chosen, I flesh out the known world that the players will be adventuring in.
I would make sure to ask whether religious communities have any political power. And if so, what degree of influence do they have. Are they very powerful, like the Catholic Church in medieval Europe or the Islamic government in Iran. Or does religion play a minor or more reclined role in state politics?
I would also try to not make the assumption that there are different fantasy races. It could be that only humans exist, or dwarves for that matter. Maybe there is racial distinction between the different groups of dwarves that doesn't make any significant difference to their physical abilities. It's just different appearances.
Magical stones that grant power if processed correctly.
I'm stuffing this in my Bag of Ideas.
I am slowly building a pantheon for my world, and as of now, my favorite deity in it is a deity of darkness who really despises human sacrifice and murder, when something like this is about to happen, she takes control of the victim, forces the item used for the killing out of the killers hand and then slaps the killer in the face.
Man I’m making a world as well and you make it look so easy. The questions help but I really only have map and locations done and that took me at least a solid 1.5 days of work time (of course spread out) though I am excited to see this world come to completion.
My world that is currently unnamed has a massive magical storm encompassing the entire equator caused by magical attempts to combat climate change and has essentially hidden the majority of 2 continents beneath its clouds. This of course forced population to move to the north and south poles of the planet where they essentially don’t know the other exists. The north is more technologically advanced (think renaissance era) and is lead by a looming power called the silent throne which was the creator of the warforged. The south lines up with a more medieval setting and is more magic oriented due to an anomalous crater that overflows with magic. The party can start on either hemisphere which have more prevalent classes and races depending on it and each side has their own plot hooks and things as well as events and quests that can be covered by either side.
Genuinely great
The most important thing, while creating a whole new narrative universe, I think, is the ability of the creator not only to create a coherent and interesting lore or setting, but expecially to give the right importance to the main story. And by saying this, I don't mean that the plot of the tv series/movie/book/game/etc. needs to be the only element on which to focus, but the creator needs to answer one simple question above all: "Why did I choose to settle my story in this particular year/month/day and in this particular place, among all the others? Why do I want to narrate the story of this particular event?". It is my personal belief that the correct answer to this question is "because it's the most important ever, in my narrative universe", but I guess it's ok even if it is just one of the most important events. I'll give you an example: Game of Thrones (TV series) [SPOILER ALERT!!!]. It makes zero sense to me the fact that they chose to focus the plot on the War of the Five Kings, and not on Robert's Rebellion or the Conquer of Westeros by Aegon Targaryen. These other events are far more relevant for that world than the main story. An explanation could be the White Walkers, but they seem more like a secondary element in that world. Also, we have no proof that they are gone for good, since they were already been defeated in the past. The Dark Souls series, on the other hand, is great in this [SPOILER ALERT]. It always places the adventure of the protagonist after all the other relevant events. At the end of every chapter in the series, you can even choose to end the world. I think that is the best way to connect the story of the world you have created and the story you want to tell. It also rewards the reader/player/spectator for his attention and interest. So, to sum up, don't create a fantasy world where "a powerful mage has destroyed all the gods and has become the new King" if you want to focus your plot on a girl picking flowers.
Thanks Nate! As you know Word Building never ends and even though I've been working on my setting for roughly 30 years, I always find new ways to look at it. I found particularly useful, the last two points - Who is in power and What are the threats.
Power - I am bad at politics in the game, and this was a great point to simply my thinking about it, and how the various power bases might interact.
Threats - ties in nicely to Power as it's most often the humanoids of societies that cause problems. it was also a great reminder that natural disasters are also threatening and can play a bigger role!
No Man's Sky eh Nate? A very enjoyable game, its come on massively since it launched and I enjoy it a heck of a lot.
Anyway.... Very useful video. I'm starting to create a world myself, not for any campaign or such but more for myself to flesh out and get creative. I've always enjoyed map making and tabletop gaming but never tried to properly create a world. Suddenly have a bit of extra free time to work on it 👍
I love the concept of magitech and I put it in all my campaigns. Devices and creations that run on magic is just so much fun.
Thanks Nate! I think that this builds really well on the previous "session 0" video that you mentioned. I guess the main question I would ask is "what genre is this" - if you're doing a D&D fantasy world, is it high fantasy, grimdark, swords & sorcery, kitchen sink generic, story-driven, etc. The answer to that one will then help you formulate the answers to some of the other questions you ask (e.g. a grimdark world is unlikely to have lots of helpful benevolent deities).
I dislike the assumption from the PHB that so many sorcerers are tied to a draconic bloodline. Another thing I need to house-rule away.
I'll often use the draconic bloodline as more of an elemental bloodline in my games. Just needs a flavor adjustment, and if they get to later levels, a change to the 14th and 18th level abilities.
Honestly, I think that's because the PHB only gives that and Wild Magic as options, and of the two, Draconic Bloodline is by far the more predictable choice. Extra health and 3 extra AC are a nice buff right from the very start, and 6th level granting the boost to matched-element spell damage and damage resistance is pretty nice too. Compare that to wild magic's issues where sometimes magic just gets away from you and can't benefit from your metamagic tricks or be dropped if the situation changes such that the spell is no longer beneficial, and sure you can get advantage on stuff, but that gives the DM a free "lets screw with them" button whenever they want.
Wild magic is the more interesting option, but Draconic Ancestry is by far the more predictable and controllable as a player. Lots of people will take Draconic because it's easy and predictable.
Of course, these days, we've got shadow magic, storm sorcery, divine soul sorcery, and a couple of UA things going on, all of which flesh out the options a lot.
@@rashkavar It's also cool! Who doesn't want to have dragon magic!
You can blame the creation of the warlock for that
Thanks, this video was very useful. I now understand my world a lot better, it isn't just a map now
This is really helpful, and it really gets us to put our worlds into perspective.
Just the way magic works is already such a big factor into how a society will work.
I've got a few strokes of how mine would have these questions answered
1 - "Magic" is a raw form of energy that every living being emanates. Magic casters can channel what their own body produces, or they can take from other, non-caster lifeforms around them. This raw energy needs to be channel in very specific ways to get the result that you want. Some people are inherently talented in one specific "concept" they can hone talents for, but in-story it is an unexplained phenomenon.
2 - Technology levels depend of where you stand in the world. More developped kingdoms and empires have late medieval-levels of tech, but most of the world still goes by with old techniques or with stolen tools from fallen civilisations.
3 - Again, it depends. Some cultures believe that Gods reside in the sky and chose certain people as their avatars or champions, hence the existence of those naturally gifted with magic. Others think that those people are actual deities in human form. Others believe that magic as a whole and natural phenomenons is the manifestation of one or several gods to interlope with human affairs.
4 - Humans. Among them exist a kingdom of blue-blooded people, while others mostly share different traits due to their environments.
5 - Powerful magic casters rule most societies, either by force or birthright. "Normal" leaders quickly get overthrown by strong fighters.
6 - Society is very fragile because of magic users. Magic as a whole has only been an utilised phenomenon for a few centuries, and already several prosperous nations have completely collapsed due to invasions or infighting among powerful individuals. In the present day, the societies that survived do so because the populace is kept away from magic use as much as possible, with those that can use it mostly representing the authorities. Most of the land is also occupied by solitary magic casters who have developed a culture of their own, an authority-hating bunch of hotheads who find beauty in srviving in the wilds and are happy to pick off weaker nations. Where they roam, only small tribes manage to remain and not be targeted.
Thanks you sir I made my fantasy world called earthwind it's like earth but it's like warhammer fantasy meets warcraft and it's full of humans,Orcs,elves,dwarfs,dragons and vampires and werewolves and sea monsters and angles and demons
Warriors
Knights,pirates,vikings,barbarians and samurais,ninjas and conquerors,Aztec warriors,dwarfs warrior,elve knights and orc riders
Thanks Nate! I’m doing my first custom campaign as a DM soon, and I’m sure this’ll help. Awesome!
This is a great and informative video. You have given a lot of different types of ideas to start building. What about seasons and weather? Anyways thanks for another great video Nate.
The Crystal is a perfect fit for a world I've been thinking about. The crystal CAN be harnessed and it can power magical engines and other technology, set in a kinda early industrial era. No trains tho because its kinda an archipelago world where airships and sea craft are the only choice
Nice video. My biggest obstacle is fitting the existing D&D races and setting concepts into my world. When sitting down at a D&D table most players will have assumptions about the character they can expect to create and general knowledge about the world to fuel their background. These include a large pantheon of gods to support certain classes, various planes of existence, etc. These are deeply tied to the D&D system. Fiends come from the abyss, fey from the feywild, etc. It definitely robs some creativity when these elements must certainly exist in my world when the setting is closely paired with the system.
What I do, is to create the world and then add the story that shapes it more precisely. That way, the story makes sense and it can be really detailed
Just started a new campaign helpful tips thank you!
I'm having fun and just building a full world I want to run campaigns in and this has really helped me get over some creative blocks.
I created mine slightly different, I have generally started with a map and the usual suspects within each zone. I then create what is called political/religious magic systems. For eg, in the jungles of Dumarel, the tribal natives used nature magic with a bit of sacrifices within their community leaders as they believe that to lead is to give. So they give a bit of their blood, a hand, or an ear, as a sign of religious fervour. This coupled with their penchant to shape-shifting and druidism makes an excellent original theme to an already tried fantasy trope. There might be tribes that purely uses nature magic and tribes that focuses more on sacrifices.
Also, I implore people to explore beyond what they think is the modern ancient civilisation like the greeks or the romans and look to creation myths of other natives like the Polynesians or the indigenous sea people of the southeast Asia. Even Hindu gods can give a much different outlook on what an advanced ancient civilisation is.
Thanks this was brilliant.
I think one question you missed was what commodities/foods etc are traded by different locations and what is missing in specific areas. This helps create politics as food and commodity pressures can easily be seen.
Much appreciated, friend, your timing couldn't be better!
For question 5 maybe a deeper question is, who has the resources and what are they?
People come into power because there’s some kind of resource that others want but only certain people actually get.
And whoever controls the water or the gold mine or whatever can have power over the region and others
I tend to be more sci-fi then fansty but planets are huge so you don't need to make a whole galaxy. A few question that I can come up with are who did life come to your world is it native, did some race or races colonize it? How do they interact with native life if there is any? Did they terraform it? You have a couple other but those would be the main ones
Fantastic list of questions! I think about these same things as well when I’m building my world. I’m also into trade routes and how each city and town deals with other. Great video, Nate!
My Campaign is Folklore based, and takes place in Norfolk, Virginia. This really helped.
Awesome video. I'm just starting to world build and this helped me a lot.
I always start with the thing. That one thing that's going to mark this world different from other ones I've done in the past.
I have been building up my world for a while. When I first started, not realizing it, I had answered all of these questions. I too like to stick to the common tropes of a fantasy world. I do think one other question, while not really necessary, but still fun to flesh out, is the creation of the world.
So Question 1, Magic : In my world arcane magic comes from Dragons. They are the living incarnations of magic itself. Divine magic of course is from the gods. So I did separate them. (I never make it easy on myself lol). I also worked out a small mechanic for arcane magic. When within 100ft (still toying with the distance actually) per age category of the dragon the caster level gains a bonus equal to the age category of the dragon. So an adult dragon (age category 6) would have the affect within 600 feet, and boost the caster level to +6. So arcane casters would cast as if they were 6 levels higher affecting all the variables like range, damage and the like. Including having a bonus to caster level checks to bypass spell resistance. This among other factors, however has caused many dragons to keep hidden. They are not as prevalent as they used to be.
Two: Tech, mine is more or less similar to medieval Europe.
Three: Place of the Gods, I play Pathfinder (and occasionally Eberron 3.5) before I converted my homebrew world to Pathfinder I just used the 3.5 ph gods. Now I use the 3.5 PH as the "old gods" and the Pathfinder gods as the "new gods". I do have a couple I made up as they were a focus point in the 4th age of my world. But in the 3rd age it is Pathfinder Inner sea gods.
Four: Races: I stick with the standard and some of the "other races" like catfolk, tieflings and others. I do however have a collection of 3 islands off the coast of one of my regions that are ruled by 3 dwarven pirate lords.
Five: And Six Who is in Power. I have an empire that is the prominent threat, they are worshipers of a god that was human but ascended centuries ago. They enslave all other races and worship of other gods is forbidden. They threaten to take over many lands around them. (This is one part of the answer for number 6) But there are many others throughout the world.
Seven I am still working on the actual creation of my world, but the name of it came about after a great conflict between Dragons and Gods.
The dragons were the center of worship for thousands or more years, then the gods came. They warred with each other and in doing so caused rifts to the realms of fiends to rip open and allowed countless demons and devils to poor in. To save the world one of the dragon elders in effect sacrificed herself to keep the world together and close the rifts. She would stay at the center of the world holding it together and keeping the rifts closed preventing demonic entry. After her sacrifice the world was named after her.
Thanks for all the great content, you have one of the best D&D channels out there. Thanks for all the hard work!
Thanks for watching!
Love the use of Edinburgh Castle
This was a good video, really got me thinking about my world. It can sometimes be difficult to think of good ideas but I felt inspired when watching this!
This is all quite excellent and still manages to be concise on a topic that is very much not given to brevity. Kudos!
Since you asked, here's some added stuff:
- related to #3: I find it useful to ascertain the philosophical ideals and principles at work in a given environment, regardless of whether they are embodied in religious beliefs, cultural customs or societal norms and regardless of whether they are ascribed to on a basis of identity, faith, social or resource parameters or anything else. I find doing this fairly early on and in regards to each group or important entity I create, helps streamline later processes such as figuring out lore and historical context. Even without religion, specifically, people still ascribe to some philosophy or another, even when they're not educated enough to describe it. Where a farmer might feel that bounty is due those who invest their toil and time, and that those who seek to reap great rewards for minimal investment, are immoral actors; conversely, one raised in the alleys and gutters of a large urban center might consider those who labor and commit themselves to long-term endeavors with incremental rewards and even payoffs, to be simpletons, undeserving of scraps for which they beg, prefering instead to cast their own fortune to chance and the dream of a lucrative easy street. Figuring out the philosophical principles (even very broadly and vaguely,) for the more macroscopic entities, groups and relevant scenarios, super streamlines a lot down the line as most details kind of just make sense after that. And you don't need to know philosophy or anything, just be able to describe what someone believes in your own words.
Again, awesome video!
I think that the most critical question to ask is: what is there for the players' characters to do? How will they pay their bills and put food on their table? You want the answers to be ones that allow the players to experience adventure, of course, and you might be more handwavy about actual upkeep, but even so the players need some kind, or several kinds, of reasons to be adventuring, and if you don't give them some they might very well get lost.
I enjoyed this video enough to take notes, but now I'm confused: I can only find 5 questions (admittedly the note taking was while skimming the video and being up at 3am, so I'm probably just missing something)
1: What is magic like?
2: What is technology like?
3: What is religion like?
4: What is the power structure?
5: What are the major threats/conflicts?
What'd I miss?
You missed races. What races exist, or what are the various races like?
@@WASD20 Aha, right. Thanks!
For me it’s the cultures and peoples I want, then make a map that fits that, then I flesh everything out.
Another question to point out, to add on top but not as a beginner question is to consider as a bridge between Race and god/religion. What are the cultural aspects of a race? Do they worship a specific god, if so why, and in what way? like in Tamriel, certain races tended to favor specific gods or goddesses because it suited their needs.
This was so helpful thank you forward left back right number 20
That are good things you start with.
I'm always starting with the political questions: Who is in power and what is keeping him in power?
That's one thing to elaborate, even if it's a peaceful democracy I would extend the question to: What are the threats to the power and how did the kingdom survive so long? It's one of the best things, which adds backstory to the adventuring campaign. For example for rumors in taverns and inns. Hey even in real world there is gossip about royalty - the who is who and why did Princess Diana die?
People LOVE to chitchat about other people, especially if they're prominent.
And most importantly about this point are the diplomatic affairs of the country, what would happen if the ruler would die? what conflicts could lead to a (civil) war? IMHO this tension in the background will let the players think about their "home" in that place and let them immerse more.
From this political questions I'm going forward to trade and commerce - and I'm asking myself: What does the country need to live? Food, water and resources, and place some cities in the corners of my world, ore & coal at the mountains, food & drinking at fertile places with rivers and so on. This thought is also good to think abour scarcity and wealth of the country as it derives more deliberate thoughts about the actions and motivation of people.
After these two points have been dealt with, everything else is just detailing out the world.
Good stuff man. My little brother and I are working on our own TTRPG and I'm going to give it a soft setting with some intentional fuzzy details so GMs can tailor it more to their own style.
For a universe I'm writing:
1. It doesn't, there is none.
2. Futuristic feudalism, taking into account biological factors. Blades are used most often in fighting due to the protagonist species being too tough for firearms, but most modern technology exists even if it has a more biomechanical flavor. Personal transportation like cars however are hardly seen due to biological factors, considering the primary alien species resemble ratites.
3. There are no actual gods, but there are entities believed to be gods due to their power. Belief in said gods however has fallen out of fashion, with ancestor worship and animism being most common.
4. The primary sentient species is bunch of bird people called "crönians," but there are also large populations of underclass mutants in the wilderness and underground. There are also a few hold outs of intelligent machines largely hidden from the world.
5. The majority of feudal rulers are derived from old shifting military aristocracy that has existed since a collapse almost a millenia ago, but that is now changing in some areas as the old clashes with the new. Family tribes and clans however have dominated this species almost it's entire history, and that has barely changed.
6. The major powers and their WMDs are gearing up for war again, mutant populations are rising, ecological decay continues, ice creeps ever further from the poles, and alliances are being forged. All good or bad depending on your faction.
7. Old ruins, even centuries after reconstruction "ended" across the world, are still prevalent indeed. There are still anchient cities home to mutants, machines, and other dregs. The great underground network that once spanned the continent has fallen into disrepair and has been flooded. The rapant mutant population has also caused significant condensing in population centers, leading to the rise of the modern military aristocracy.
6. What are the threats?
Me: writing fantasy slice of life
Also me: Yeah, let's throw in some murderous cultists trying to summon their god to our realm!
Lmao, that clickbait bit was golden
Your questions really helped, thanks :)
Found this on news. Had to find it on RUclips . Very interesting. I've got some old tales to tell.
Your questions have been very helpful. Thank you.
Great resource for writing and gaming. Thanks!
I would love to play a bit in this world. Perhaps a humble fisherman wanting to investigate the reason for all the dead fish who stumbles in to adventuring, becoming the hero of his village.
I love World Anvil. At the moment I'm using it to help me keep places and people organized for my Tyranny of Dragons campaign and as a central location to share session summaries via the Timelines and Historical events feature with my group. But I also have a second world of my own creation I'm slowing working on to use when ToD concludes and we start back over at level 1. ;-)
8:40 "Goblin Slayer" wants to know their location.^^
My question when I was building my fantasy world was: "would I like to live in such world ?"
For me personaly it needs to be good enough that I will say "God I really want to live there!"
Or if your a Warhammer fan: "It's the world shit, tears, blood, and PTSD worthy of terrifying?"
@@mrjack901 for SIGMAR!
I am using this for a novel and creating my own country for the novel
It's so exciting! Thanks for your share
Awesome video, Nate! I'd LOVE more worldbuilding videos😍😍 Greetings from Norway😁
Basic Description:
Rothenel is a formerly wood elven kingdom settled by humans travelling from their homeworld via massive generation ships.
3 settled off the shore of the coast and an agreement allowed settlements to be founded on the shore.
Humanity broke the agreement their city ships were sunk leaving the few survivors to rebuild their society in that shore's settlement due to the ruling family sparing their lives.
1. How does magic work?
There is a primal energy in this universe that created and empowered the gods, responsible for creating the worlds and life.
Some developed their magic via the environment (Druids, Sorcerors), others via worship or forming Pacts (Cleric's Warlocks) and others through research often dabbling in the others fields (Bards) or outright preying on them for power (Wizards).
2. What technology level?
Rothenel was originally magic fantasy roughly around middle earth, when humanity arrived they brought their technology and although their society collapsed it has rebuilt and the other races researched the few remaining artefacts that the world is roughly late nineteenth century in technical advancement meaning guns, very early steam powered vehicles including zeppelins, trains, submarines but not ironclad boats yet.
3. What of gods & religion?
Initially these were limited to the races present namely Dragons, Dwarves, Elves, Gnomes, Goblins, Orcs and their deities were based on their household allegiances.
Humanity brought their pantheons with them and these were co-opted by the entities present to claim them as worshippers thus Native Americans were drawn to the druidic faiths, in time they were merged with these deities followers so it would seem they had always worshipped them but the attempts to research the humans past drew alot of flak as these deities don't want the truth revealed fearing a loss of power if these worshippers turned from them.
4. What races exist?
Basically all with humans being relative newcomers and halflings yet to be explained.
5. Who is in power?
Varies in Rothenel the humans rule on the coast further in it becomes complicated as its often multiple races living together in an uneasy cohesion, but one no different from today.
The ruler would depend on which era this is set in, but it would be human currently.
6. What are the threats?
The evil cults seek dominion, the wizards seek immortality and an ancient power seeks to be restored to his place as the Supreme Deity of Rothenel.
And there are unanswered questions such as what happened to the other craft carried by the generation ship that arrived in Rothenel's orbit and why are the elves treating the world as a holiday home and staying within the Feywild instead?
7) What do the players know?
Rothenel has been led by the human noble families since their founding ruler Gilieam the First came to an agreement with the elves to end the strife caused by the dwarven effort to strip Rothenel of its forests and largely despoil the entire area in their insane quest for power and greed.
For a period of time after this event Rothenel was trapped within a veil of mists that was only lifted when a group of heroes uncovered the source of the problem and corrected it leading to them finding themselves on another worlds shore.
Recent upheaval in the capital of Gilieam has caused a lot of worry as the ancient veil of mists seems to have returned and a call for heroes has been issued throughout the realm as word of evil cult warring with each other seeking to claim the now empty throne with the king believed near death and his two heirs missing.
Good starting place I guess!
I get more and more interested in lower tech levels. I'm working on a setting where plate armour hasn't been invented, favoring mail and padded armor.
These are some useful questions, I'll be sure to use them on my latest map!
The thumping at 2:20 gave me a heart attack
The art in your book is gorgeous. Where did you have that done? I'm nearing a point in my world where I need an artist. Great video
I’m not sure what book you’re talking about. I showed world anvil and several books. The world anvil images are just some that I found on various art websites that I thought fit my world.
This is just what I needed, thank you!
I usually like to think of a world in medieval times, but lately am attracted to an elfstone type world where magic has surfaced in a broken world where tech is the ancient treasure.
Michael Robinson Check out Numenera.
Magic in my world works differently under three branches of magic that fall under three primordial gods called the Trinity. Light, Chaos, and Dark are their main aspects but on a cosmic level. Light magic has a system limitations of needing pure/positive emotions meaning if you try to heal someone, you can only heal them if you truly want to. If you try to hurt someone with light magic it usually doesn't work unless its purely to protect someone. The Dark is the opposite with corrupt/negative emotions. Where Light magic drains mana from your soul which can heal, Dark magic drains mana from the life force itself, usually blood, and it doesn't need to be the users. Chaos magic drains mana from the soul but can also drain from the life force and is a completely different magic branch that the other two for Chaos magic is basically elemental magic to the fullest. Light is pure magic meant for creation, healing, and the betterment of life while Dark is corrupt magic meant for destruction, death, and the end of all life. Chaos is neutral but often misjudged and labeled Dark due to its use in wars and having no limitations outside the wielders mana pool.
Technology in my world is medieval with swords and shields and magic is partially to blame for them not evolving further in a sense. Most of the story will take place in the west side of the planet but on the east, over seas, there are countries that have developed gunpowder and even a light industrial civilization but are to busy fighting each other.
I mentioned the The Primordials, Light, Chaos, and Dark but other gods are worshiped and exist in my world. Planets and Stars, in an incomprehensible way, are gods what we see as planets and stars are their cores. These cores are in the realm of Chaos, as we are, protected from the war against Dark. Gods that people worship on the planet are only a mix of aspects that have manifested dur to these Gods and incredibly strong individuals that have mastered the Magical potential. Several of these individuals will be seen throughout the story but many will choose not to interfere for Life exists in the planet, the core of the god of Nature, a wife of Chaos, and none of the Gods wish to face the wrath of Chaos as he is reason Dinosaurs aren't around anymore.
I have several races but most are typical fantasy races. Humans, Elves, Dark Elves(Created the dungeons), Monsters (Born from dungeons), Devils (Tieflings basically), Demons (Completely separate for tieflings but connected to Dark ), Beastkin (Races of people with animal features, mostly tribal), and Dwarves (Live in the Dungeons), and these are just the, mostly, mortal races. Angels and Spirits are a thing too.
Who is in power is a toss up between Humans, Elves, and Devils. Humans and Elves are fighting each other and Devils are fighting themselves. If the Devil's weren't fighting themselves they'd probably be in power.
Threats? Well, due to Dark influence anyone could become a threat but the Dark Cult and Demons are the biggest with Monsters and Devil's following up next.
This world I made is vast and huge, inspired by many different things but one thing remains consistent is that Dark, being a primordial, will always exist thus conflict will always exist meaning the world will always be threatened. What matters is that life never stops fighting against it because thats what Dark wants. Light wants the opposite, wants progress, creation, Ideals. Light wants life to spread and explore and learn all that we can. Chaos just wants us to live peacefully and survive and die naturally without regrets and destroy any that take away which we care for. Protect what you love above all.
My world is a cross between medieval and industrial, they should have the ability for electricity, but I made copper so rare that it's more used as jewelry. Souls are used for magic (souls are created upon death) souls can burn for a long time if in a soul gem which creates a steam based empire
Trying to create a fantasy world named Astea that’s more heavily based (creation wise at least) regarding angels and demons. My demons are different from the typical fantasy demons in that they are fallen angels who fought in the revolt in Heaven a long time ago, and I have two unique figures who have dominion over Heaven and Hell each: Myndephyllon (a fictional angel I created who is the height of Mount Everest, has 10,000 wings, four heads, and 200 eyes, and if he descended to the world and flapped his wings once, he would flood the world due to the sheer force of the winds created) and King Herod (the figure who rules as King of Hell and has been for the past 500 years.) Demons tend to be more prone to power grabbing and corruption than angels, as they’ve gone through countless demons both real (like Asmodeus, Leonard, Lucifer, and Satan for example) and fictional ones (such as Kryo, who ruled for 50 years before he got bored of it, Gurvunoch, Esteraz, Zarbazas, and Astarax), while angels have only had one.
I’m mainly focusing on Heaven and Hell at the moment and using Dante’s Inferno for Hell with some of my own creative elements and also coming up with some ideas from other sources regarding angelology (such as seven halls for Heaven and angels who guard those halls as wardens), and also making the capitals of each Dis for Hell and Zion for Heaven.
For the humans which are the other main race that have been much more dominant due to a great extinction event caused by demons when King Herod took the throne of Hell and which the year count is based off of (the story starts in 525 AGE, or After Great Extinction), I don’t have much of anything except for nations and flag designs for each. But this video should help a lot for me, thank you!
Great video. I never thought about those questions. 😃
In the society I’m creating the main religion is based on being a just person which is essentially staying in your lane fulfilling what you owe to your community. Essentially your religion is your state. There are some sects that believe in a god or gods but are hunted down by the state.
I will try to asnwer these questions.
1. Magic is based on manipulating the enviorment around you ( and inside you) , and it can be learned by every intelegnet species, but for some it's easier and some harder. So most common usage of magic just make a flame or a small wind.
2. Technology level is about mid-late industrialization on a few places, most mostly it's pretty fudeal.
3. Some good magic users can be Gods and then are often worshipped. Worshipping some thing of nature is also very common. Religions who worship non existent gods do exist as well.
4. I have 6 diffrent human races. A lot of life forms are the same as earht by I have a few fictional ones.
5. Most countries do have a cenralized goverment but there is a few places made of city states, and few are more tribal.
6. I have a few nations that are really competetive toward each other. I need to devlop this more!
My world (continent) is somewhat of a more magical alternative history version of Europe. The fantasy components are influenced by actual folkore.
1. Magic has two origins. 1A. Inate magical abilities. 1B. Magic that comes from another dimension. Using this magic might come at a cost.
2. Technology is somewhere between the Roman era and the early midleages.
3. Different areas have different fates. Even though the different religions differ greatly from each other there are some common themes.
4. In this area different races can be found. Humans, especially caucasian humans, are most common this area, but half elves and dwarves can also be found.
5. Some areas have a centralized government, but most areas have decentralized governments and anything in between. One of these regions is rapidly expanding annexing different tribes and states.
6. The most important conflict are the wars between 'Rome' and the surrounding states. More local conflicts are bandits, monsters, famine, etc.
The abovementioned is a short summary. I have tens of pages with much more details on each of these subjects.
great video, really enjoyed it!
What is the local economy? I found asking this gives a sense of realism and reason for a town existing
how did the structers in your world come to be?
think about dungeons, gates and maby even the human ruins and normal buildings
6:20 "Civilisations with different patron deities"...That's not polytheism that is pretty much the definition of monotheism. People who believe in their god and are willing to go to war against those who worship other gods over religion.
Polytheism is when you worship different gods for different purposes. You pray to Fryr for a good Harvest to Freya for your wife's pregnancy, to Njord for good catch when fishing and to Thor to make sure he keeps the frost giants at bay so frost doesn't come early.
Thanks for not using a clickbait title. Lol
Number 4 is the biggest one I am stuck on.
Stuck between Only Human races and Many races like in LotR or Warcraft universe.
Really amazing quality content nate
Great video, very helpful in my worldbuilding. You are so nice, a person that I would love to have as friend
It's been 3 years and I still think he's gonna say "a channel about tabletop RPGs and fantasy roleplay"
My brain
10:21 isn't that Edinburgh castle?
You can use these in your own games, but give me credit. Pls?
Thanks, Nate for these questions. Sorry I'm late btw. These really helped me with my worldbuilding. My world, or should I say, nation of Phaeralia (the map I submitted)is just a small portion of a bigger planet I am creating. The magic here is not rare. It is a bit more streamlined and the items that are sold in the market are fairly cheap but of somewhat low quality because of mass production. Selling magic items on the black market is a thing of the past, but is still happening and for some reason, the government and the capital city are not trying to put an end to this "supposed to be" illegal action(this can be a plothook for my players). There are multiple religions and deities within this world and are somewhat true. This is the main one: The universe of my world is made by the gods' actions and most importantly, their downfall. The servants of the gods(aasimars, most likely) know of the gods and their downfall. Because of their huge disagreement about who should be the true ruler, they had a war, but no one won. Because of their infinite strength, the sound of their clashing weapons were enough to destroy The Kingdom and create an explosion strong enough to make the universe. Some rumors have been heard that there are remants of The Kingdom and evem crystals of unimaginable power. The Servants are also the ones who started the "Age of Religion." Some theocracies can even lead to executing people because they don't believe in the theocracies' religion. Because of the long gap between the past and the present, The Servants' stories of the gods are told differently. The technology level is like magical, semi-advanced medieval Europe with 18th century inventions like mass production of copies of literature, but instead of the printing press, magic and spells are used intead of machinery. The races in the world are mixed, but the most common are humans, elves, halflings, dwarves, and some of them have aasimar blood.
What past events influenced the world of today?
For example, many D&D worlds have many places that have returned to nature. The old abandoned castle or the city of the dead. The world is expected to have wild places with monsters. Did the gods come to the mortal world or did a great war kill off many forcing the races to come together for protection as the monsters grew in power?
did you made video only talking about your world? And if not, it would be very nice to hear more about it.
I think my first question would be what Kind of game do i want to run. Than i am thinking what Kind of enviroment would give a good foundation to build on?
5:00 Two bladed axes?
I'm actually amazed how close novel building and DnD world building is.
The problem with novel is, u lack the space (as in, words in pages) compared to DnD world. Because u cant tell everything.
I thought you were going to put a link to the other video somewhere. Did I miss it?
Click the little i circle at the top right on the video.
One question I think you missed is where does the food come from and drink for that manner. My name comes from a variety of crops.
I very much agree. If the food production doesn't add up to the population it can really brake a good concept.