World Building Anyone have an outline I can copy?

[welian]

I'm trying to build up a fantasy South American city set in like, the 1910s or 20s. There's a lot of ground I want to cover, but I'm only jotting things down as I think about them and I'm having trouble organizing my thoughts. What do the rest of y'all do when planning?

 

[FoolsErin]

Oh, I usually try not organizing at all, instead relying on pure memory to remember all of my settings and characters. It’s a great method for the forgetful!

This is a joke. Please do not follow my example. Seriously.

 

[welian]

This is a joke. Please do not follow my example. Seriously.

What if we play Country Roads on repeat? Does that help with worldbuilding?

I'm trying to figure out a what to tastefully explain the furry genocide in this setting

 

[FoolsErin]

I'm trying to figure out a what to tastefully explain the furry genocide in this setting

I’m not honestly sure what exactly this has to do with what I said, but you have my attention.

What if we play Country Roads on repeat? Does that help with worldbuilding?

Absolutely! Extremely loud heavy metal songs and electronic music that is better for listening to than thinking to is good as well!

 

[Grey]

I'm trying to build up a fantasy South American city set in like, the 1910s or 20s. There's a lot of ground I want to cover, but I'm only jotting things down as I think about them and I'm having trouble organizing my thoughts. What do the rest of y'all do when planning?

I start with the geography and metaphysics and go from there. What kind of settlements would develop on this land? How does any magic affect that society? What threatens it? What resources are important, how are they acquired, and who has the ability to acquire them? Who holds power and how?
Historical processes are great for this kind of thing. If you look at how real cities developed it can give you a lot of direction.

 

[Spookkat]

This is the bare minimum of things, and was a template I used for medieval fantasy kingdoms, so it may not work the best for yours but hopefully it helps push you in the right direction?

Spoiler: Template

Name

Government

Religion(s) and traditions

Attitude towards magic

Territory

Quality of life

Population

Allies/Enemies

Nearby Neighbors

Ongoing Wars

 

[Woebegone]

I noticed that Spookkat 's template is similar to WorldAnvil's template, and I completely agree, having a separate platform/template to organize all your information is a godsend in world building.

What I also do is I rank the importance of each piece of information starting from your theme. Say for example, I'm writing a politically, game of throne-esque charged rp set in a fantasy world, I'd jot down information from most important to least important.

1. For the same example, I'd first lay down the politics and how it works, is it a kingdom led by a noble but often naive king soon to be slain by his own naivety? or is it oligarchy led by scheming geezers?
2. From there, I'd work on the fantasy aspect, how is it a fantasy setting? Is it under a hard magic system or a soft one? How does the politics of your setting affect your society's usage of magic?
3. Alright, time to expand on society. What are their beliefs? Traditions? How do they react with their current politics? How does the magic system affect them?

Basically, you nail down the theme of your setting and branch out from there.

 

[Yenju]

Google Fantasy Worldbuilding Questions by Patricia C. Wrede.

The page has a comprehensive list of prompts to help you flesh out your world. It’s very helpful even if you just decide to select some of the topics that apply to your setting!

 

[rae2nerdy]

World Anvil is great not just for giving you a lot of categories you can answer but organizing it all in a simple index.

You can also link it.

I personally use google docs as it’s easier to have everything in one place.

I start with the questions I feel are most relevant to the plot. Then I add in subheadings for any questions my partners have

 

[Grey]

Fucking knew I had one of these somewhere. A World-Building Primer

 

[welian]

Thanks! This will make shit a LOT easier to organize.