GojiBean
Your resident irradiated Kaiju King
Hoyo!
Today, we're going on a journey of worldbuilding!
We'll explore good worldbuilding, bad worldbuilding, and everything in between including the ins and outs of making your worlds feel real even if they're deeply entrenched in the realm of fantasy.
So, let's begin!
Establishing a Baseline
Everything has an origin story, including the world your story/RP takes place in. So, what's your world's origin story?
Is it Earth, an alien world, or is it a nomadic experience where there's no real "home world" to start and end on? If it's on Earth, is it a historic setting, modern setting, or futuristic setting? If it's a historic setting, is it a realistic one set in our actual world history or is it a fantasy setting where you're free to design things from the ground up? If it's modern, same questions. Is it realistic, or is this world's "modern" something based in fantasy? For futuristic, same questions. Is it realistic to our world and supposed to be a "natural progression" of where we are today, or is it more fantasy based?
Once you've chosen one of the above, you have other questions that need answering. However, which questions need to be answered depend on how deep you want to dive into this rabbit hole.
So, for now there are only two questions to answer for yourself rather than for others: Am I aiming for immersion? Or... Am I aiming for a quick start?
I'm aiming for immersion
If you're aiming for immersion then it would be wise, though not absolutely required, to be open to the idea of taking a head-first swan dive into the rabbit hole of worldbuilding and all that it implies.
What does it imply?
Literally everything.
As just one example of one aspect of daily life: the weather.
Is weather seasonal, annual, or open to your whims based on what you want to happen as things go on? What's the humidity like, and how does it change in accordance with the seasonal weather patterns? What weather patterns dominate during which seasons, and does that domination carry into the other seasons? How do the seasons change based on the hemispheres of your world? How do these weather patterns change the phenomenon of the world such as hurricanes, tornadoes, flash floods, sand storms, etc?
And this isn't even the full list of questions that need to be answered if you want to generate the most immersion possible. This is just the start. And this is only for the weather.
So, if it wasn't obvious before when I said "rabbit hole," hopefully it is now. If you want your worlds to feel alive and feel real and to feel like it's perfectly natural for weather situations in your RP to change, these are the questions you need to answer.
I'm aiming for a quick start
If you're aiming for a quick start, then don't worry about anything that was mentioned above.
The weather can be whatever you want it to be given the scene and your vision for this particular moment in the RP.
However, even when trying for a quick start and not diving into the rabbit hole, you should at the very least give everyone a basic expectation for weather patterns like "the northern hemisphere is mostly sunny year round with occasional rainstorms lasting a few days to a week in length during the late Fall and Winter seasons." Something general that covers the bases and gives everyone an idea what the weather is like so they can use that when planning their character sheet.
When it comes to politics, a good example would be to keep it simple for a quick start and just say "this is a Kingdom, the King and Queen are (give them names), law and order are kept by city guards and the court system, and they have friendly relations and trade with neighboring nations." Just enough to give everyone an idea of what to expect for this particular nation and its societal structure without having to get too far in and wrack your brain over the finer mechanics of how these kinds of systems actually work. Cause when you're aiming for a quick start, ain't nobody got time for that.
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The unavoidable rabbit hole of "Culture"
As the title of this little mini-section explains, this is one rabbit hole you must take the plunge into regardless of whether you're aiming for immersion or a quick start. Different regions should have different cultures, as should any different races or tribes.
Culture defines the look and feel of every region of civilized society in your world. So you'll have to make sure at the very least that this is attended to properly.
If it's a modern real world RP, where in the world are you? If it's not your neck of the woods, start studying the area that the RP is set in and get an idea of what the culture is like there. For example, if you're setting it in Germany then you should at least know the following:
* Greetings vary between ages and sexes. For example when men greet women the man will often greet her verbally and then wait for the woman to extend her hand for a handshake. Close friends may either hug or give each other a kiss on the cheek to greet each other. And sometimes it's as simple as a wave of the hand and a "Good morning" or a "Hello."
* Jaywalking can result in a 5 Euro fine, which is why you'll see everyone waiting patiently for the crosswalk light to turn green even if no cars are coming.
* Don't drive in the middle or left lanes in the German Autobahn as they're used exclusively for overtaking slow cars in front of you aren't aren't meant to be a lane to just casually cruise through, and it can result in road rage from other drivers.
* Don't walk in the bicycle lane.
* Never use public transport without a ticket, cause it's not free even if there aren't tolls to go through to be provided with a ticket
The same should be true of your world's cultures. Every region and the culture found there should have their own unique rules and expectations of its citizenry. Even if they're similar, or nearly identical to others around them, there should be enough to differentiate them so that a single action or spoken phrase can instantly identify you.
For example, you could have certain phrases instantly identify someone because it's unique to their culture. If they're from a nation which is famous for living off the bounty of the ocean and they use the phrase "Go swim in a maelstrom" as a way to say "Go fuck yourself." Or, you could have a more tragic phrase when someone knows they're about to die and they'll say "It's time for me to swim in the sea of angels." Or, you could have a more pleasant phrase to compliment a woman for her beauty like "She smiles with the radiance of a thousand pearls."
Little things like that go a long way to helping cement culture in your world and make characters from different regions feel unique from one another, which helps a lot with participant morale in the RP knowing that their character can do and say things that are unique to their region and not shared by anyone else.
What the hell is "internal realism," you may be wondering. And how does this relate to fantasy worlds build in settings and time periods completely disconnected from reality?
Glad you asked!!
You see, "internal realism" has nothing to do with keeping things realistic by our modern understanding of the word. Rather, "internal realism" means that your world feels real within the context of its established lore.
This is different from "internal consistency," which is another term used to define worldbuilding which means that things need to be consistent from moment to moment. For example, if there's a form of magic which allows you to control the element of fire and it's stated everyone can use it, but then halfway through your RP it suddenly comes up that only humans and elves can use it and Dwarves and other races can't, that's a violation of internal consistency. If it's stated initially that everyone can use it, then everyone can use it regardless of race.
Realism doesn't necessarily play a part within internal consistency. And as a result a lot of writers lean towards this term and many are unaware of the existence of internal realism because it sounds more like a set of restrictions (which it's not).
Many would argue that it's more important to be internally consistent rather than internally realistic.
But I adamantly disagree. And I'll tell you why.
Let's use one of my favorite game franchises as an example: The Elder Scrolls.
In Skyrim, Transmute Mineral Ore spell is a form of magic where you can change iron into gold. However, this form of magic has no information in the Elder Scrolls lore. It exists purely for the game of Skyrim as a gimmick form of magic that exists nowhere else in the Elder Scrolls franchise lore. This is already violating the internal consistency of the Elder Scrolls lore as a whole, and it also completely breaks the internal realism of Skyrim because Skyrim has a Gold based economy.
If even ONE PERSON were able to use Transmute Mineral Ore they could, by themselves they could completely obliterate Skyrim's economy. You only need a basic understanding of economics to understand why this is, and why a spell of this nature should NEVER have been introduced into the game of Skyrim given how blatantly against the lore and the mechanics of the game itself it actually is.
For all their expansive worldbuilding Bethesda have done this kind of thing several times. Another great example would be the Bound Sword and Bound Bow spells. This spell would all but negate the need for blacksmiths or bowyers as all the Kings and Jarls would want to save the money and resources needed to create physical weapons by just teaching everyone the Novice level spells of Bound Sword and Bound Bow. They'd save money, iron, labor, and time by the millions before long. And the blacksmiths and bowyers would go out of business and become a dead art form which would also change the culture in colossal ways.
But as it is now the Bound Spell and Bound Bow spells are in the games. And in Skyrim, specifically, you can break the law and get captured and sent to prison and use the Bound weapon spells to escape and murder all the guards en masse on your way out. This is true of every town and city you can get sent to prison in. So the internal consistency regarding the mechanic of breaking the law is there. But the fact that the Bound weapon spells aren't even considered in the design of the prisons further speaks to the lack of internal realism because not a single precaution or defensive measure to go against the Bound weapon spells exists. Not one. Skyrim is a world where Magic is commonplace, and the Bound Spells are both "Novice" level spells meaning almost anyone can use them with only a little bit of practice. Given this... Why are there no defenses against them in prison?
As you can see, Skyrim is internally consistent with its lack of defense against the Bound spells, but internally unrealistic in the fact that not a single measure is taken to combat them when it comes to keeping law and order despite the fact that it's a Novice level spell that basically anyone can learn which should demand that special precautions to protect against it are taken for law and order's sake.
The argument can be made that "it's just a game" and "but the game's still fun" to enter a debate about this. And while these are both true statements neither one negates the fact that it is an objectively damaging mechanic to have these spells in the Elder Scrolls games as all three of them actively diminish the value of various aspects of the worldbuilding by breaking the internal consistency, internal realism, or both for the entire Elder Scrolls experience.
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The main point here is this: When you introduce a mechanic into your world that's not inherently realistic by real world standards, like magic, you need to make sure that it is internally realistic given the nature of the design of your world and the systems that are in place to govern it.
If you're going to have a magical art that allows a Novice to create an ethereal and magical version of a weapon like a sword, for the purpose of law and order you must have something in place to maintain order if it's used inappropriately or nefariously. If you're going to use a Gold currency economy, do not introduce a spell that can manipulate any other substance and transform it into Gold or you will have introduced a method of destroying the very economy that's supposed to keep your world going. If you're going to introduce spells of dark and wicked natures, there needs to be consequences to its use and they should be incredibly rare gifts to ensure that there isn't a sudden and overwhelming amount of dark mages to plunge your world into chaos and panic (unless doing so is the point of their existence to begin with, in which case go nuts).
Internal Realism is a very underrated part of worldbuilding, and very often overlooked in favor of internal consistency which, by itself, will not ensure the immersion or the realistic feel your world can present to your audience and/or participants.
Good and Bad worldbuilding.
This one's tricky because what defines "good" versus "bad" worldbuilding for most people is one question: Does the worldbuilding that's provided work well enough to create a fun experience?
The answer to this question is 100% subjective no matter how you look at it.
If the worldbuilding is working and making things fun, then most would consider it "good." Or, at least "good enough" to warrant not asking too many questions or throwing any temper tantrums.
However, there is objectivity in discerning whether the worldbuilding is actually good or bad.
And all it takes to start understanding how to make that distinction is to ask a few questions:
1) Based on the plot/story of the RP as described by the GM, does the premise of the RP make sense?
2) Is anything in the world that needs an explanation left unexplained?
3) Do all the races and creatures make sense given the look and feel of the world as described by the GM?
4) Do all the high-fantasy elements make sense in context with the systems that they are governed by?
So, let's take a dive real quick!
Let's say the RP story is described as a futuristic fantasy space setting (kind of like Halo or Mass Effect), and the goal is going to be to save a butt load of worlds from annihilation by a world ending threat. What's the world ending threat? If it's a single being with "UNLIMITED POWAAAAAAAAH!" ask whether or not this being's power is natural or artificial. If it's artificial, how'd they get it? What gave it to them? How did whatever they get their power from have the power to give it to them in the first place? If the GM can't answer any questions like these... Bad worldbuilding.
If you've done your world building well, world ending threats don't just become world ending threats because of plot convenience. There's always reasons behind it. For example, let's look at Thanos in the Marvel universe. Summarized, the reason he's so powerful is because he's part of an extremely rare and powerful species called the Eternals and has a deviant gene making him stronger than normal even for his own race's standards. He's also found a way to synthesize cosmic energy, and possesses psionic powers. As a result of the worldbuilding, his natural ability makes him dangerous even before the Infinity Stones come into the picture. Once he gets the Infinity Stones he becomes a universal threat thanks to both his own inherent ability coupled with the worldbuilding that makes the Infinity Stones the strongest sources of power in the universe which states that they were formed during the Big Bang when the Universe was born.
Explanations behind the "why" concerning the main focal points of your RP's premise are a must have unless you want your RP to fall apart before it even begins. If you have a world ending threat, there needs to be a reason why they're a world ending threat. If you have a complex enemy that's not necessarily world ending on its own, but has the capacity to become world ending if left to its own devices or evolution or what have you, the world and universe around it need to naturally be capable of providing the means for it to ascend and become the threat the RP seeks to end or avoid.
The same logic is applied no matter what type of RP you're creating. I'm just using this one since it's arguably the most simple easy to understand example and has a lot of black and white elements to it.
There are certain things in all story worlds that need to be explained. If they're left unexplained, like the Skyrim examples, things fall apart rapidly with no chance of recovery. If you have a magic system, why is there magic in your world/universe? You need to explain why it's there and how it's possible to use it.
For example, in Avatar the Last Airbender the ability to bend an element is dependent upon the user's ability to extend their Chi into the world around them and thus manipulate said element. It's a highly philosophical and metaphorical form of hard magic ("hard" magic is magic that visilbly affects and interacts with the world around it and are meant to solve your protagonist's problems whereas "soft" magic systems are more unseen and subtle and are more often the cause of problems than a resolution, such as Sauron's One Ring in The Lord Of The Rings series and how the Ring's power worms its way into the soul of the bearer the longer they're allowed to keep it).
Another thing that needs to be explained in your worldbuilding is the system governing your allowed character types in the RP. If you allow warriors, what about them makes them acceptable to the RP? What about mages? What about soldiers? What about doctors or nurses? What about civilians?
Every kind of character demands a certain respect in your worldbuilding that justifies their existence and participation in the story. For example if you're facing a world ending threat and all the enemies you face along the way are so strong they could literally tear a human being in half with two fingers, any "normal" humans aren't exactly going to be welcome or easily forgiven for existing if you allow them to be played. Reason being is because they're going to be dead weight for most of the journey and left to watch the stronger and more powerful characters fight the enemies while they watch and hope to be useful at some point down the road. And the longer a player goes without being useful or needed in the RP's story, the faster they drop out or ghost.
Much how every type of character needs to be justified in existing, the same is true of the races and creatures of your world. If your world doesn't have the means to support the creatures you've introduced, it's time to think about cutting them from the experience. For example, and this is an extreme example but it illustrates the point, if you're doing a high fantasy adventure with Dragons, and all Dragons are the size of buildings and some are as big as mountains... How are they going to sustain themselves? The larger the body, the more energy and fuel/food it will require to power it. If they don't feed on something, and frequently, they're going to die. They need to feed. So, how full of fuel is your world for such massive creatures? And how big is their individual territory? Does one Dragon the size of a mountain really like sharing space with smaller ones? Or does it have multiple nation spanning territory that it regularly patrols and protects from intrusion?
The answers to these questions, or the lack of answers, will give you a good idea of how realistic your worldbuilding is within the context of your world and creature designs. Every decision you make, such as about the size of the Dragons, will play a role in their behavior and needs as living things. And the more work you put in to satisfy their requirements of existence the better off they as creatures will be and the more immersive they are when encountered rather than just being there for the sake of being there.
Hopefully this is all making sense.
The more depth the RP's premise has the better the worldbuilding is.
The less depth the RP's premise has, and the more it ignores answering basic questions that help justify and define the systems and elements used within, the worse it is.
Even if it's working just well enough to provide a fun experience doesn't make worldbuilding "Good."
However, it's worth noting that "Bad" worldbuilding doesn't necessarily mean the experience is guaranteed to be bad. It simply means that an objective analysis will reveal that the worldbuilding in the RP/story is lacking in substance. But that doesn't guarantee a negative experience for anyone since being able to enjoy a plot/story comes down largely to how well the GM uses what they have provided.
Worldbuilding is complicated, and it can be a journey in and of itself.
But it's important to understand your own desires and limits before committing to this process.
As stated early on if you're not in worldbuilding to be immersive it's perfectly fine to do a quick start by putting together just enough for everyone to understand the "main points" of the RP's world and plot/story without wracking your brain. And as far as I can tell this is the universally preferred method for RP worldbuilding. Rarely have I ever seen an RP world designed in such a way that actually goes out of its way to immerse me beyond what immersion I create for myself in my individual posts when I'm a participant instead of a GM.
And that's okay too.
One of the appeals of being a role-player is being able to create your own immersion in your posts using the basic guidelines provided by the GM. However, when the GM takes the deep dive and puts the work in to give you a world that is already immersive before you have to do any real work of your own, you have to admit that has an appeal of its own as well.
So, do you want to immerse your fellow RPers? Or are you a quick start GM?
Neither is right or wrong, and neither carries any shame or pride over the other.
It's all about what your style and preference is. But if you want to be immersive, it pays to think about things with more depth and always be looking to properly explain your choices, mechanics and systems.
Cheers!
~ GojiBean
Today, we're going on a journey of worldbuilding!
We'll explore good worldbuilding, bad worldbuilding, and everything in between including the ins and outs of making your worlds feel real even if they're deeply entrenched in the realm of fantasy.
So, let's begin!
Worldbuilding: Humble Beginnings
Establishing a Baseline
Everything has an origin story, including the world your story/RP takes place in. So, what's your world's origin story?
Is it Earth, an alien world, or is it a nomadic experience where there's no real "home world" to start and end on? If it's on Earth, is it a historic setting, modern setting, or futuristic setting? If it's a historic setting, is it a realistic one set in our actual world history or is it a fantasy setting where you're free to design things from the ground up? If it's modern, same questions. Is it realistic, or is this world's "modern" something based in fantasy? For futuristic, same questions. Is it realistic to our world and supposed to be a "natural progression" of where we are today, or is it more fantasy based?
Once you've chosen one of the above, you have other questions that need answering. However, which questions need to be answered depend on how deep you want to dive into this rabbit hole.
So, for now there are only two questions to answer for yourself rather than for others: Am I aiming for immersion? Or... Am I aiming for a quick start?
I'm aiming for immersion
If you're aiming for immersion then it would be wise, though not absolutely required, to be open to the idea of taking a head-first swan dive into the rabbit hole of worldbuilding and all that it implies.
What does it imply?
Literally everything.
As just one example of one aspect of daily life: the weather.
Is weather seasonal, annual, or open to your whims based on what you want to happen as things go on? What's the humidity like, and how does it change in accordance with the seasonal weather patterns? What weather patterns dominate during which seasons, and does that domination carry into the other seasons? How do the seasons change based on the hemispheres of your world? How do these weather patterns change the phenomenon of the world such as hurricanes, tornadoes, flash floods, sand storms, etc?
And this isn't even the full list of questions that need to be answered if you want to generate the most immersion possible. This is just the start. And this is only for the weather.
So, if it wasn't obvious before when I said "rabbit hole," hopefully it is now. If you want your worlds to feel alive and feel real and to feel like it's perfectly natural for weather situations in your RP to change, these are the questions you need to answer.
I'm aiming for a quick start
If you're aiming for a quick start, then don't worry about anything that was mentioned above.
The weather can be whatever you want it to be given the scene and your vision for this particular moment in the RP.
However, even when trying for a quick start and not diving into the rabbit hole, you should at the very least give everyone a basic expectation for weather patterns like "the northern hemisphere is mostly sunny year round with occasional rainstorms lasting a few days to a week in length during the late Fall and Winter seasons." Something general that covers the bases and gives everyone an idea what the weather is like so they can use that when planning their character sheet.
When it comes to politics, a good example would be to keep it simple for a quick start and just say "this is a Kingdom, the King and Queen are (give them names), law and order are kept by city guards and the court system, and they have friendly relations and trade with neighboring nations." Just enough to give everyone an idea of what to expect for this particular nation and its societal structure without having to get too far in and wrack your brain over the finer mechanics of how these kinds of systems actually work. Cause when you're aiming for a quick start, ain't nobody got time for that.
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The unavoidable rabbit hole of "Culture"
As the title of this little mini-section explains, this is one rabbit hole you must take the plunge into regardless of whether you're aiming for immersion or a quick start. Different regions should have different cultures, as should any different races or tribes.
Culture defines the look and feel of every region of civilized society in your world. So you'll have to make sure at the very least that this is attended to properly.
If it's a modern real world RP, where in the world are you? If it's not your neck of the woods, start studying the area that the RP is set in and get an idea of what the culture is like there. For example, if you're setting it in Germany then you should at least know the following:
* Greetings vary between ages and sexes. For example when men greet women the man will often greet her verbally and then wait for the woman to extend her hand for a handshake. Close friends may either hug or give each other a kiss on the cheek to greet each other. And sometimes it's as simple as a wave of the hand and a "Good morning" or a "Hello."
* Jaywalking can result in a 5 Euro fine, which is why you'll see everyone waiting patiently for the crosswalk light to turn green even if no cars are coming.
* Don't drive in the middle or left lanes in the German Autobahn as they're used exclusively for overtaking slow cars in front of you aren't aren't meant to be a lane to just casually cruise through, and it can result in road rage from other drivers.
* Don't walk in the bicycle lane.
* Never use public transport without a ticket, cause it's not free even if there aren't tolls to go through to be provided with a ticket
The same should be true of your world's cultures. Every region and the culture found there should have their own unique rules and expectations of its citizenry. Even if they're similar, or nearly identical to others around them, there should be enough to differentiate them so that a single action or spoken phrase can instantly identify you.
For example, you could have certain phrases instantly identify someone because it's unique to their culture. If they're from a nation which is famous for living off the bounty of the ocean and they use the phrase "Go swim in a maelstrom" as a way to say "Go fuck yourself." Or, you could have a more tragic phrase when someone knows they're about to die and they'll say "It's time for me to swim in the sea of angels." Or, you could have a more pleasant phrase to compliment a woman for her beauty like "She smiles with the radiance of a thousand pearls."
Little things like that go a long way to helping cement culture in your world and make characters from different regions feel unique from one another, which helps a lot with participant morale in the RP knowing that their character can do and say things that are unique to their region and not shared by anyone else.
Worldbuilding: Internal Realism vs Internal Consistency
What the hell is "internal realism," you may be wondering. And how does this relate to fantasy worlds build in settings and time periods completely disconnected from reality?
Glad you asked!!
You see, "internal realism" has nothing to do with keeping things realistic by our modern understanding of the word. Rather, "internal realism" means that your world feels real within the context of its established lore.
This is different from "internal consistency," which is another term used to define worldbuilding which means that things need to be consistent from moment to moment. For example, if there's a form of magic which allows you to control the element of fire and it's stated everyone can use it, but then halfway through your RP it suddenly comes up that only humans and elves can use it and Dwarves and other races can't, that's a violation of internal consistency. If it's stated initially that everyone can use it, then everyone can use it regardless of race.
Realism doesn't necessarily play a part within internal consistency. And as a result a lot of writers lean towards this term and many are unaware of the existence of internal realism because it sounds more like a set of restrictions (which it's not).
Many would argue that it's more important to be internally consistent rather than internally realistic.
But I adamantly disagree. And I'll tell you why.
Let's use one of my favorite game franchises as an example: The Elder Scrolls.
In Skyrim, Transmute Mineral Ore spell is a form of magic where you can change iron into gold. However, this form of magic has no information in the Elder Scrolls lore. It exists purely for the game of Skyrim as a gimmick form of magic that exists nowhere else in the Elder Scrolls franchise lore. This is already violating the internal consistency of the Elder Scrolls lore as a whole, and it also completely breaks the internal realism of Skyrim because Skyrim has a Gold based economy.
If even ONE PERSON were able to use Transmute Mineral Ore they could, by themselves they could completely obliterate Skyrim's economy. You only need a basic understanding of economics to understand why this is, and why a spell of this nature should NEVER have been introduced into the game of Skyrim given how blatantly against the lore and the mechanics of the game itself it actually is.
For all their expansive worldbuilding Bethesda have done this kind of thing several times. Another great example would be the Bound Sword and Bound Bow spells. This spell would all but negate the need for blacksmiths or bowyers as all the Kings and Jarls would want to save the money and resources needed to create physical weapons by just teaching everyone the Novice level spells of Bound Sword and Bound Bow. They'd save money, iron, labor, and time by the millions before long. And the blacksmiths and bowyers would go out of business and become a dead art form which would also change the culture in colossal ways.
But as it is now the Bound Spell and Bound Bow spells are in the games. And in Skyrim, specifically, you can break the law and get captured and sent to prison and use the Bound weapon spells to escape and murder all the guards en masse on your way out. This is true of every town and city you can get sent to prison in. So the internal consistency regarding the mechanic of breaking the law is there. But the fact that the Bound weapon spells aren't even considered in the design of the prisons further speaks to the lack of internal realism because not a single precaution or defensive measure to go against the Bound weapon spells exists. Not one. Skyrim is a world where Magic is commonplace, and the Bound Spells are both "Novice" level spells meaning almost anyone can use them with only a little bit of practice. Given this... Why are there no defenses against them in prison?
As you can see, Skyrim is internally consistent with its lack of defense against the Bound spells, but internally unrealistic in the fact that not a single measure is taken to combat them when it comes to keeping law and order despite the fact that it's a Novice level spell that basically anyone can learn which should demand that special precautions to protect against it are taken for law and order's sake.
The argument can be made that "it's just a game" and "but the game's still fun" to enter a debate about this. And while these are both true statements neither one negates the fact that it is an objectively damaging mechanic to have these spells in the Elder Scrolls games as all three of them actively diminish the value of various aspects of the worldbuilding by breaking the internal consistency, internal realism, or both for the entire Elder Scrolls experience.
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The main point here is this: When you introduce a mechanic into your world that's not inherently realistic by real world standards, like magic, you need to make sure that it is internally realistic given the nature of the design of your world and the systems that are in place to govern it.
If you're going to have a magical art that allows a Novice to create an ethereal and magical version of a weapon like a sword, for the purpose of law and order you must have something in place to maintain order if it's used inappropriately or nefariously. If you're going to use a Gold currency economy, do not introduce a spell that can manipulate any other substance and transform it into Gold or you will have introduced a method of destroying the very economy that's supposed to keep your world going. If you're going to introduce spells of dark and wicked natures, there needs to be consequences to its use and they should be incredibly rare gifts to ensure that there isn't a sudden and overwhelming amount of dark mages to plunge your world into chaos and panic (unless doing so is the point of their existence to begin with, in which case go nuts).
Internal Realism is a very underrated part of worldbuilding, and very often overlooked in favor of internal consistency which, by itself, will not ensure the immersion or the realistic feel your world can present to your audience and/or participants.
Worldbuilding: What makes it Good or Bad?
Good and Bad worldbuilding.
This one's tricky because what defines "good" versus "bad" worldbuilding for most people is one question: Does the worldbuilding that's provided work well enough to create a fun experience?
The answer to this question is 100% subjective no matter how you look at it.
If the worldbuilding is working and making things fun, then most would consider it "good." Or, at least "good enough" to warrant not asking too many questions or throwing any temper tantrums.
However, there is objectivity in discerning whether the worldbuilding is actually good or bad.
And all it takes to start understanding how to make that distinction is to ask a few questions:
1) Based on the plot/story of the RP as described by the GM, does the premise of the RP make sense?
2) Is anything in the world that needs an explanation left unexplained?
3) Do all the races and creatures make sense given the look and feel of the world as described by the GM?
4) Do all the high-fantasy elements make sense in context with the systems that they are governed by?
So, let's take a dive real quick!
Let's say the RP story is described as a futuristic fantasy space setting (kind of like Halo or Mass Effect), and the goal is going to be to save a butt load of worlds from annihilation by a world ending threat. What's the world ending threat? If it's a single being with "UNLIMITED POWAAAAAAAAH!" ask whether or not this being's power is natural or artificial. If it's artificial, how'd they get it? What gave it to them? How did whatever they get their power from have the power to give it to them in the first place? If the GM can't answer any questions like these... Bad worldbuilding.
If you've done your world building well, world ending threats don't just become world ending threats because of plot convenience. There's always reasons behind it. For example, let's look at Thanos in the Marvel universe. Summarized, the reason he's so powerful is because he's part of an extremely rare and powerful species called the Eternals and has a deviant gene making him stronger than normal even for his own race's standards. He's also found a way to synthesize cosmic energy, and possesses psionic powers. As a result of the worldbuilding, his natural ability makes him dangerous even before the Infinity Stones come into the picture. Once he gets the Infinity Stones he becomes a universal threat thanks to both his own inherent ability coupled with the worldbuilding that makes the Infinity Stones the strongest sources of power in the universe which states that they were formed during the Big Bang when the Universe was born.
Explanations behind the "why" concerning the main focal points of your RP's premise are a must have unless you want your RP to fall apart before it even begins. If you have a world ending threat, there needs to be a reason why they're a world ending threat. If you have a complex enemy that's not necessarily world ending on its own, but has the capacity to become world ending if left to its own devices or evolution or what have you, the world and universe around it need to naturally be capable of providing the means for it to ascend and become the threat the RP seeks to end or avoid.
The same logic is applied no matter what type of RP you're creating. I'm just using this one since it's arguably the most simple easy to understand example and has a lot of black and white elements to it.
There are certain things in all story worlds that need to be explained. If they're left unexplained, like the Skyrim examples, things fall apart rapidly with no chance of recovery. If you have a magic system, why is there magic in your world/universe? You need to explain why it's there and how it's possible to use it.
For example, in Avatar the Last Airbender the ability to bend an element is dependent upon the user's ability to extend their Chi into the world around them and thus manipulate said element. It's a highly philosophical and metaphorical form of hard magic ("hard" magic is magic that visilbly affects and interacts with the world around it and are meant to solve your protagonist's problems whereas "soft" magic systems are more unseen and subtle and are more often the cause of problems than a resolution, such as Sauron's One Ring in The Lord Of The Rings series and how the Ring's power worms its way into the soul of the bearer the longer they're allowed to keep it).
Another thing that needs to be explained in your worldbuilding is the system governing your allowed character types in the RP. If you allow warriors, what about them makes them acceptable to the RP? What about mages? What about soldiers? What about doctors or nurses? What about civilians?
Every kind of character demands a certain respect in your worldbuilding that justifies their existence and participation in the story. For example if you're facing a world ending threat and all the enemies you face along the way are so strong they could literally tear a human being in half with two fingers, any "normal" humans aren't exactly going to be welcome or easily forgiven for existing if you allow them to be played. Reason being is because they're going to be dead weight for most of the journey and left to watch the stronger and more powerful characters fight the enemies while they watch and hope to be useful at some point down the road. And the longer a player goes without being useful or needed in the RP's story, the faster they drop out or ghost.
Much how every type of character needs to be justified in existing, the same is true of the races and creatures of your world. If your world doesn't have the means to support the creatures you've introduced, it's time to think about cutting them from the experience. For example, and this is an extreme example but it illustrates the point, if you're doing a high fantasy adventure with Dragons, and all Dragons are the size of buildings and some are as big as mountains... How are they going to sustain themselves? The larger the body, the more energy and fuel/food it will require to power it. If they don't feed on something, and frequently, they're going to die. They need to feed. So, how full of fuel is your world for such massive creatures? And how big is their individual territory? Does one Dragon the size of a mountain really like sharing space with smaller ones? Or does it have multiple nation spanning territory that it regularly patrols and protects from intrusion?
The answers to these questions, or the lack of answers, will give you a good idea of how realistic your worldbuilding is within the context of your world and creature designs. Every decision you make, such as about the size of the Dragons, will play a role in their behavior and needs as living things. And the more work you put in to satisfy their requirements of existence the better off they as creatures will be and the more immersive they are when encountered rather than just being there for the sake of being there.
Hopefully this is all making sense.
The more depth the RP's premise has the better the worldbuilding is.
The less depth the RP's premise has, and the more it ignores answering basic questions that help justify and define the systems and elements used within, the worse it is.
Even if it's working just well enough to provide a fun experience doesn't make worldbuilding "Good."
However, it's worth noting that "Bad" worldbuilding doesn't necessarily mean the experience is guaranteed to be bad. It simply means that an objective analysis will reveal that the worldbuilding in the RP/story is lacking in substance. But that doesn't guarantee a negative experience for anyone since being able to enjoy a plot/story comes down largely to how well the GM uses what they have provided.
In Conclusion
Worldbuilding is complicated, and it can be a journey in and of itself.
But it's important to understand your own desires and limits before committing to this process.
As stated early on if you're not in worldbuilding to be immersive it's perfectly fine to do a quick start by putting together just enough for everyone to understand the "main points" of the RP's world and plot/story without wracking your brain. And as far as I can tell this is the universally preferred method for RP worldbuilding. Rarely have I ever seen an RP world designed in such a way that actually goes out of its way to immerse me beyond what immersion I create for myself in my individual posts when I'm a participant instead of a GM.
And that's okay too.
One of the appeals of being a role-player is being able to create your own immersion in your posts using the basic guidelines provided by the GM. However, when the GM takes the deep dive and puts the work in to give you a world that is already immersive before you have to do any real work of your own, you have to admit that has an appeal of its own as well.
So, do you want to immerse your fellow RPers? Or are you a quick start GM?
Neither is right or wrong, and neither carries any shame or pride over the other.
It's all about what your style and preference is. But if you want to be immersive, it pays to think about things with more depth and always be looking to properly explain your choices, mechanics and systems.
Cheers!
~ GojiBean
