Fantasy Worldbuilding

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by Jinumon

Hello, All!

I got this idea in my head a little while ago to run a fantasy game. I'm a big fan of fantasy gaming and literature in general, but I always have bones to pick with particular settings or stories. So I decided that I'd try my own hand at creating a fantasy world, full of mystery and wonder, and avoiding what I view as pitfalls of the genre. The problem is that I've never attempted serious worldbuilding before, and the process seems incredibly daunting.

Being a GURPS fan, I've read what I can on the topic of world-building, but I find more and more that when it comes to the more esoteric elements of the game, GURPS encourages you to "do whatever you want" without offering much useful information as to which directions to head, or significant cause-and-effect relationships. As such, I'm looking for any and all advice, tips, and tricks with which to assist me in building my world. Below are a few of the problems I've faced thus far.

I've always been a big fan of the sandbox-style campaign, and so I'm loathe to start the game before I have the majority of the world at least mostly thought out. At the same time, I don't want cut-and-paste cultures from our world just sprinkled throughout. It has to feel believable and real, but also organic and fresh.

Authenticity is a big point for me, and so I do want to borrow plenty from historical examples for what is and isn't feasible. Often, in fantasy literature, you here about civilizations that have been around for thousands of years, and yet their technology is still in the middle ages. They'll occasionally offer an explanation like, "the existence of magic makes the importance of technology less of an issue, hence a slower progression," but I feel like the ambition of non-mages would drive them to create technology to even the playing field. These are the kinds of logical slip-ups I'd like to avoid.

I've come up with something of a starting area for the characters to begin in, a western-style nation called Erramys. But creating a nation, and then attempting to determine it's scale in significance seems difficult. I often feel like worlds should be created chronologically rather than geographically, but, yet again, that seems to make the task even more daunting.

I think, ultimately, that my biggest problem is a font of ideas that may or may not mesh together, and an inability to decide where to start. Please help! And thank you all for your eventual contributions.
Jinumon

If you're willing to go to the work, there are a number of social studies classics. Frazer's Golden Bough, is one. Than too there is Durrant's History of Civilization. Some newer volumes such as Bowman's Honor: A History, Lee Harris', Story of Civilization, Jacob's Systems of Survival, and Bellow's In Praise of Nepotism.

Of course you have limited time, so perhaps the best use for all of those is as a weapon to chastise unruly players with; the threat of being whacked with a copy of Durant is probably enough to keep discipline. In the meantime there is Phillip Athan's Guide to Writing Fantasy and Science fiction. And Gurps for Dummies by I forget who.