>[!meta-dates] >- **Created:** 2025-07-13 >- **Last updated:** 2025-07-26 >- **Author:** TJ Trewin > [!info] > **Explore the world as it develops here:** > **[[Overview - start here]]** > > Get your sneak peeks before anyone else by supporting me on Ko-fi: > https://ko-fi.com/tjtrewin/tiers 🥰 ## My world's yes/no list I like to start every worldbuilding project with a list of things that I really want to include or explore, and a list of things I want to avoid or exclude. I think I picked up this method from [Microscope](https://lamemage.itch.io/microscope) - it's a fantastic worldbuilding resource and really fun, I highly recommend checking it out. Game design has a similar approach of [design pillars](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7b7LFXBZ9M) but those are usually more concise, sometimes relate to game mechanics, and tend to focus more on the "yes" than the "no". Having this list to refer back to helps me figure out the next steps of my world, like sophonts (sapient species), magic (if any), technology level, recurring themes, and the general mood and tone of the world I'm creating. These creative constraints help with consistency, too! If it's not on the list, that doesn't mean that it *doesn't* exist - it's just that it wasn't at the forefront of my mind when coming up with the initial ideas for this setting. In no particular order, here's my world's yes/no list, with some implications for each: ### Yes - **[[Glossary#^8789a0|Hard worldbuilding]]** I'm enjoying the slow and thoughtful approach, researching topics from scientific papers and then applying my learning with a fantasy spin. I like the creative constraints of set rules and how it aids consistency in my worldbuilding. - Everything I add should be feasible within the functions of the world. It needs to be explainable, even if not all inhabitants of the world understand it to its full extent (e.g. magic, medicine, natural phenomena). - **Fantasy genre** I'm taking a hard worldbuilding approach, but I'm more interested in the weird and fantastical elements of it rather than just the hard science. At the time of starting this list, I have no idea what sub-genre(s) this will include yet, but exploring these yes/no ideas will help me get closer to figuring those out! - Even the most mundane, slice-of-life scenarios have something distinctly otherworldly about them, even it doesn't change the mood. - **Weird stuff** As cool as typical fantasy elements are, I want to put a twist on things and include weird stuff that makes things memorable, thought-provoking, and reaction-inducing. - When adding things, I want to pause and think outside the box. I also want to keep a check on this though - if everything is bizarre then there's nothing to contrast it with. The reaction might be horror, disgust, or humour and delight. - **Magic** In combination with hard worldbuilding, magic will have defined rules, requirements and limitations on how it works and what it can (and can't) be used for. - I'll need to consider the power and prevalence of magic in the world, when it was discovered, which species can use it (and who among them), and how its use has influenced the development of civilizations and technology over time. - **Bladed weapons** Firearms likely exist in the world (along with other ranged, and non-bladed weapons), but I'd like the focus to be more on sharp, pointy, metal things (not just swords) and draw inspiration from the many wondrous forms and bizarre shapes that are often overshadowed in typical medieval European fantasy settings. - A sophont would need at least two limbs (in the case of polearms), a means of holding, and enough strength and dexterity to wield them. ==*Edit:*== further thoughts & explorations here: [[Creature design - holding and using items]] - Metal (or another material) and the procurement, processing, and knowledge of working with it must be prevalent in numerous civilizations. - There must be reasons why other forms of combat are less prevalent. It could be the technology level, reasons of spirituality or faith, it could be that magic is not effective for this, or perhaps the magic is intertwined somehow with bladed weapons to make them more effective. - **Secrets and Easter-eggs** I love including references to out-of-universe stuff, even if it's just for me sometimes. 😆 - **A mix of fantasy and familiar flora, fungi, & fauna** I want to create lots of fantastical living things, but not so many that it becomes confusing for people to understand what they are or keep up with all their names. - I need to consider where these creatures habitats are and how they interact and rank in the food chain with sophont(s) and Earth-like species. - **Deeply interconnected** Drawing upon the concept of [Checkov's gun](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chekhov%27s_gun), everything I add to this world has a purpose. If I were writing a story or designing a game this might be simpler, but for pure worldbuilding I want to set a rule for myself that each note/topic has at least 5-10 *significant* connections to other things (not just obvious relations like `city_A1` is the capital city of `country_A`). - For new or unconnected topics, I can look at other poorly connected notes (or choose completely random notes) and form new connections between them. - Relating to this, I want to consider shape language, colour significance, and material usage throughout connected concepts. ### No - **Earth history but fantasy** As much as I've enjoyed settings in this genre, I want to explore something outside the norm. Inspirations are fine, but I'd like to avoid any *direct* copies of cultures from Earth, like Victorian England steampunk. - This could mean a focus area within a different climate or technology level, and it would be fun to explore architecture and traditions that focus more on the events, natural phenomena, and fantasy elements of the region. - **Flight transportation** Nah. I'm not interested in the complications of travelling by flight for the sophont(s) of my world and its impact on trade, warfare, and architecture. - This implies that either the technology level hasn't reached that stage yet, or that other methods of transport are more efficient, cost effective, or safer. Perhaps there's another reason why flight is unlikely, like a natural or magical phenomenon, or a dangerous threat like large flying predators. - **Teleportation** I don't really want this in my world, 'nuff said! - **Multiple moons or stars** It's neat, but I'm not interested in this for my world (nor the complications of figuring out a plausible configuration and the influence of gravity on the tides). - **Omnipotent deities or beings** A caveat to this is that some cultures may *believe* a deity or being is omnipotent. - **Race-specific languages or universal language** Regardless of the number of sophonts my world ends up having, folks will have cultural-based languages. - If different sophonts are included, their biology might mean that they express this language through other means (verbally with different vocal abilities, or non verbally using different limbs and abilities). - **Typical fantasy sophonts** Elves, dwarves, orcs, goblins, etc. ### Maybe? These are some aspects that I need to give more thought: - **Humans** Ok, I *knowww* I just wrote "no typical fantasy sophonts", *but* - I'm thinking about it: - Including them makes characters more relatable and easier to understand, and it's easier for me to figure out things (like their ambitions, feelings, languages, technology, etc.) but I'd need to find an interesting narrative as to why my fictional world has the same evolutionary line that led to Earth-like humans. - Excluding them gives me the opportunity to develop a new sophont species, albeit with a lot more work with my hard worldbuilding approach. They can still be relatable through conveyed emotions and stories, but I'd need to make sure they're not just a "different-shaped human". Other benefits of excluding them are that it's a refreshing take on a saturated genre. It makes it feel more like a different universe and it also distances comparisons to Earth's cultures & events. Adrian Tchaikovsky's *Children of Time* is an incredible example of this. ==*Edit:*== a friend in Discord mentioned the possible idea of having humans be extinct, which could either be akin to how we find dinosaur fossils or could be after technological advancement (to leave behind ruins and items). Still not sure. - **More than one sophont species** Many of my favourite games have multiple sapient species and I enjoy seeing the interactions and diverse contrast between them. - If I include more than one sophont, I need to make them distinct and figure out how they came to be (evolution? mutation? arrival? construction? divine intervention?). How have these sophont interacted with each other throughout history? Are they entirely different species, or do they share a common ancestor? - The more sophont I include, the more interesting it may be, but it will also be more complicated. One approach could be sharing a common ancestor, or that some sophonts are a sub-breed of another (like the various Men, Mer, and Beastfolk in The Elder Scrolls universe). - **Deities are real and mortal** - Are they a different species? How do they differ from non deities? What defines their lifespan or mortality? Do they become deities, or have they always existed? To what extent do they interact with other beings in the world, and why? How has their existence influenced religions, culture, magic, and technology? Perhaps its ambiguous as to whether they're real or not. - **Death is final** I'd like death to be pretty-much final (no necromancy or magic revival spells), but with hard worldbuilding that can be a grey area - does resuscitation count? Can life be put into stasis and reactivated later (with cryogenic freezing or something else)? Can DNA be extracted from a preserved sample and be redeveloped or recreated? - **Other realms, worlds, or planes of existence** Unless there's a very good reason for more than the world itself, I'm leaning towards "no" for this one. Said places can always exist within beliefs, tales, legends, and myths of the world. - Good reasons for this might be: introduction of other species or sophont(s), the domain of a deity - **Sentient or intelligent constructs** Not sure on this one. If I *do* really want this, it may depend on the "death is final" aspect. - **Time travel, branching timelines** Highly unlikely unless I can feasibly explain how it works and for a very good reason. If I do include an instance of this, it would be under very rare and specific circumstances and with considerable, mind-melting knock-on effects. - **Dragons** I'm not sure if I want to include dragons as a fantasy creature in this world. If I do, I want to put my own spin on it that's drastically different from the typical trope. I particularly admire how Robin Hobb achieved this in her *Realm of the Elderlings* series. - **Hybrid creatures** If I really want to add something in particular, I want to take the hard worldbuilding approach to figure out *how* those creatures came to be and how they function. Typical depictions of centaurs may only be depicted in myths, real versions may be grotesquely modified so there's still four limbs and one ribcage.