The Art of World Building: Creating Breakout Fantasy and Science Fiction Worlds In Stories and Gaming
Randy Ellefson
In every episode of The Art of World Building podcast, host Randy Ellefson discusses how authors, screenwriters, game designers, gamers, and hobbyists can do world building better, faster, and have more fun doing it. Popular topics include creating gods, species, animals, plants, races, monsters, undead, continents, settlements, kingdoms, star systems, time, history, cultures, magic systems, religions, the supernatural, naming everything, and travel estimates for land, sea, and space.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Sep 25, 2018 • 33min
EP 17: Travel By Water
Learn how to determine travel times over water when using oars or the wind. This includes ship types like the frigate, galley, ship-of-the-line, and more.
Sep 11, 2018 • 32min
EP 16: Overland Travel
Learn how to determine travel times for horses, wagons, people and more through various kinds of terrains and what can slow us down, and how.
Aug 28, 2018 • 33min
EP 15.2: How to Create Settlements
Learn how to create a settlement. This includes the differences between an outpost, village, town, city, and even settlements in space.
Aug 14, 2018 • 36min
EP 15.1: How to Create Settlements
Learn how to create a settlement. This includes the impact of location, population, zoning, its history, and any secrets it holds.
Jul 31, 2018 • 35min
EP 14.3: How to Create Sovereign Powers
Learn how population, location, climate, symbols, and tensions between a sovereign power and others can all enrich your kingdom, republic, dictatorship, and more. Why have them all be the same when little details can bring out the vividness.
Jul 17, 2018 • 37min
EP 14.2: How to Create Sovereign Powers
Explore how to create sovereign powers by understanding government types like federations, unitary states, kingdoms, dictatorships, authoritarian states, oligarchies, republics, and more, including how they rise and fall.
Jul 3, 2018 • 32min
EP 14,.1: How to Create Sovereign Powers
Explore how to create sovereign powers like kingdoms, dictatorships, republics, and more. This includes what sovereignty is, how it is gained and lost, the divine right of kings, some roles like head of state and what each means, and branches of government.
Jun 19, 2018 • 27min
EP 13,.2: How to Create Land Features
Continue exploring how to create land features, including grasslands, deserts, and various kinds of wetlands like bogs, fens, marshes, and swamps.
Jun 5, 2018 • 30min
EP 13,.1: How to Create Land Features
Explore how to create land features, including mountains, volcanoes, rivers, lakes, and various kinds of forests, from woodlands to savannahs, jungles, and run-of-the-mill forests.
May 22, 2018 • 34min
EP 12: How to Create a Continent
Explore how to create a continent, including how hemispheres considerations, understanding plate tectonics, and when to use what term for bodies of water, like oceans, seas, bays, and more.
