66 - A Powerful Worldbuilding Tool with Steel Stash - Part Two

Aug 10, 2023

Steel Stash, co-founder of the Black Dragon Dungeon Company and host of the Lonely TTRPG podcast, dives deep into ASCOPE/PAMISI as powerful worldbuilding tools. He emphasizes the importance of defining your area to avoid scope creep and discusses how organizations can overlap in narrative influence. Steel explores how to visualize control on maps and document demographics for storytelling. The duo shares tips on turning ASCOPE/PAMISI into a versatile note-taking tool while warning against distractions. They conclude with key takeaways on flexibility and iterative discovery.

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ADVICE

Define Your Area First

Start ASCOPE/PAMISI by clearly defining the Area to avoid scope creep.
Keep a 'look into later' list so good ideas aren't lost while you focus.

ADVICE

Map Organizations And Relationships

List organizations and map relationships using a spider-web or color-coded map.
Note influence percentages and a short description of what each organization cares about.

INSIGHT

Expect Organizational Overlap

Expect crossover between political and military organizations; roles often overlap.
Use those overlaps to generate plot hooks and structural relationships in your setting.

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Part Two of Steel Stash on using ASCOPE/PMESII as a worldbuilding tool!

Join Steel Stash and James as they finish up with the OPE of ASCOPE looking at Organizations, People, and Events in the fictional city of Nightside. This tool is incredibly flexible and can aid in the creation of a lot of interconnected content but it needs to be handled with some care and some knowledge of where you're going. This means that you, as the creator, will have to have a strong North Star that you're guiding your world creation with. It's where the core concept that Seth and I frequently reference comes in. Take time and think about what you're trying to make before diving in.

Key Takeaways

Area is absolutely critical for this process. First define the exact area that you're working in so your scope doesn't creep too much. A little list of 'look into this later' might be worth creating so you don't lose great ideas while you're focusing.
This tool makes for great worldbuilding compost. It's a great way to create new content that can help your setting to grow in a clear direction.
ASCOPE/PMESII is very flexible and can be applied nearly any way that you want. Don't be afraid to play with the content a bit and determine how you're going to develop your settings.
I'm linking a google doc I created to help you along the way: ASCOPE/PMESII Tables.

Links and Sundry

The Dove Crap Town - this has become a favorite point of reference for folks in our community when we're talking about how worldbuilding from a single concept can expand into fascinating depth and make for great stories.

Where to Find the Stash

Oh man, he's everywhere!

The Black Dragon Dungeon Company Website
His itch.io
His Tumblr and TikTok
Drive Through RPG
Rose Nexus - SPAAAAAACE ROOOOOMANS
Lonely TTRPG Podcast and here on YouTube
His email

Where to Find Us!

The only link you'll ever need - This is our LinkTree, from here you can get access to our Discord Community (which you definitely need to join) as well as everything else we make including the Worldbuilder's Journal.