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
Dec 19, 2017 • 35min
EP 5 (Part 1): How to Create Species
Explore how to create species and races, when to use which term, and how to structure your species and races intelligently. We also look at whether world builders need to invent them at all; the answer may be different for science fiction vs. fantasy. Finally, we look at the minimum and maximum that can be done when inventing one and how to balance the work.
Dec 5, 2017 • 28min
EP 4 (Part 2): How to Create Gods
Explore how to create gods, including whether they are good, evil, or neutral, and different ways to identify them, from symbols to nicknames and patronage. Do your gods interact with the world and under what restrictions? What have they created and has anything unexpected happened with? Finally, we discuss how to get started inventing deities.
Nov 22, 2017 • 27min
EP 4 (Part 1): How to Create Gods
Explore how to create gods, including whether they are good, evil, or neutral, and different ways to identify them, from symbols to nicknames and patronage. Do your gods interact with the world and under what restrictions? What have they created and has anything unexpected happened with? Finally, we discuss how to get started inventing deities
Nov 7, 2017 • 24min
EP 3: How Many Worlds To Build?
Explore how many worlds you should create over the course of your career. Is it better to build a world for each project or one world for all stories? You could end up building 20 worlds, which is a lot of work. When is it better to just create one world and keep reusing it? What are the pros and cons of each approach?
Nov 7, 2017 • 34min
EP 2: Using Earth Analogues
Explore whether world-building is essential and how Earth analogues can spark creativity. Discover the 'rule of three' to promote originality and sidestep clichés. Delve into the pitfalls of misleading analogues in storytelling, using goblins as a key example. Learn how to reimagine governmental structures inspired by real-world systems. Encourage innovation by transforming familiar species traits in your worlds, blending the known with the imaginative for richer storytelling.
Nov 7, 2017 • 19min
EP 1: Introduction to The Art of World Building Podcast
Learn the vision for The Art of World Building Podcast and what you can expect from the series and each episode. Host Randy Ellefson will also be introducing himself and briefly talking about his thirty years of world building experience. Some caveats and definitions are also covered. This is a good primer that no listener should skip.
