D&D Homebrew Tips How To Start Building Your World
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D&D Homebrew Tips How To Start Building Your World
Today we are going to look at some tips to help you on your way in the way of world-crafting. Have you ever wanted to build your own fantasy world? Or how about a dystopian futuristic cyber-punk sci-fi universe? Phew, a lot of adjectives there but I hope you can see how ‘complicated’ it can become, and that’s before you have even started! Today we are going to look at some tips to help you on your way in the way of world-crafting. Every story ever told has four things in common: a beginning, a middle, and an end… Oh, and let's not forget the origin, the seed that was planted and becomes what we know and love. We may not always recognize it and some will have more than one. It may never see the light of day, instead, it lays dormant, lumbering away in the shadows. Nevertheless, it is there and it acts as a source of inspiration, to hold the story together, and to make it feel real. THEGAMER VIDEO OF THE DAY Where to begin
So, where do we begin? Simply put, anywhere. We view the world we live in in a linear fashion. Event A precedes event B, but event C comes after B. Time doesn’t allow event D to force its way in between A and B. It is this simple fact that can make world-crafting seem like a gigantic daunting task. We think we need to know everything that came prior before we can write the present or the future. That isn’t true. It’s ideas that spark a world into existence. Pick an idea and start to write. It may be a simple note or a short story, perhaps even just a paragraph. It really doesn’t matter, the aim is not to create these in order. These are the building blocks for your world. Once you have the initial seeds take a step back. Look at what you have created and see if there are patterns. Group the ideas that are similar together and if it fits you can start to lay them out chronologically. What we now have is the beginnings of your world. You may have a note that says ‘a great war between men and elves’ A short statement that generates many questions. You have identified two different species that inhabit your world. Now you have to decide what languages they speak. Is there a common tongue that everyone speaks? Or do they have a native language unique to each species? Maybe this is also determined by the places they reside in… where do they live? The mountains, the woods, by a lake? Very quickly the idea will grow and before you know it a simple sentence has bloomed. Each idea should spark more ideas to explore. These should be explored and give birth to more ideas, and so on. Keeping track of ideas
Before we continue any further, let’s talk about keeping records. You have to keep a record of your world. While an über-genius may be able to remember everything but the act of writing things down not only helps you remember but it frees up mental energy to think of fresh ideas. This becomes even more important if you are planning more than just a single adventure or story. Maybe more than one person will be working on the world. In these cases it is more than just keeping a record of the world, but about keeping a log of changes and who worked on what. This leads on nicely to the next question. Pen and paper, or digital records? This largely depends on you but I would suggest digital. The advantages outweigh the negatives, especially if you use something like dropbox to store your information. Using cloud services to store your work gives you immediate access wherever you have access to the internet and it acts as an off-site backup. Should something happen to your laptop like a hard disk crash, your hard work is safe. You can still use paper to write notes upon if you feel more comfortable doing so, but either transcribe or take a photo with your phone to create a digital record. At the very least you need to have a good naming structure and if possible organize things into folders. Do this from day 1, if you leave it too long it may become a nightmare to organize. It may also be worth keeping a spreadsheet of all the files, their location, and a brief summary of the contents. Anything you can do to make retrieval and record-keeping easier now will pay back in spades further down the process. Write often
The more you do something, the better you become. The better you are, the easier it becomes… Write often and you will find it easier to write. You will also find that the ideas flow more freely. Be encouraged by this but beware, the better you become the harder it will be to get better. There will be a point where the advances in your craft seem smaller and taking longer. The law of diminishing returns is at play here and it is to be expected. Everybody who has ever done something will have experienced this at some time. You may have also heard of the 80/20 rule. This outlines that 80% of a task can be completed in 20% of the time. Please don’t take this too heart but instead let it serve as an analogy to the process. Ending things can be a challenge with other parts flowing quickly. A simple solution to this is to take a break and come back to it later. You will be surprised how effective this can be! Have Fun
Most importantly, regardless of the reasons behind your worldbuilding, have fun. If it becomes a chore, stop and leave it for a while. You can always come back to it later. Don’t set unfair demands upon yourself. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes and don’t be afraid to re-organize the order of things, it is after all your world.