Building a World

So for anyone who stumbles across this by hook or by crook this is meant to be a place for me to work out world building where I can access it from anywhere in order to do something creative. That being the case if you bother to comment for any reason I may or may not respond or see it (that's if I keep this blog up.) Although who's looking through random blogs in 2020/2021?

OK, so I want to build a game world. The first thing to do is think about the tone/nature of the world.

What genres do I enjoy? High fantasy, noir, mystery, a little bit of horror. So I think a pulp-based world is the way go.

By pulp I mean a world inspired by magazines like Black Mask, Amazing Stories or authors like Robert E. Howard, Dashell Hammett, and H.P. Lovecraft or movies like Conan the Barbarian or Black Rain.

There should be ancient ruins, dark secrets, scheming politicians and clergy, powerful sorcerors and terrifying monsters.

So what do I need to do to build the world?

• First, design a hub. This can be a city, village, or civilized area.
• Second, determine the "age" of the world and era. Thinking standard fantasy but think about ancient world or a collapsed Renaissance setting.
• Third, determine the extent of civilization; how old is it, are there ruins from era before, if so how many and how old?
• Fourth, figure out who the people are? Stick with medieval England (lords, serfs, etc) or go Roman/Greek (city states, Senate dominated by powerful families) or possibly Indian (castes) or Chinese or Japanese influenced (stratified civil service or clans)?
• Fifth design deities/worship - religion should be prominent to help guide people through the world. Polytheistic/Monotheistic/Animist?

That should be enough to be getting on with. And we'll start soon - tomorrow on initial thoughts I think.