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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
Tuesday May 08, 2018
Tuesday May 08, 2018
Continue exploring how to create a planet, focusing on climates. This includes understanding the role of the equator and oceans, climate zones, prevailing winds, rain shadows, and of course the climates themselves
Tuesday Apr 24, 2018
Tuesday Apr 24, 2018
Explore how and when to create a planet. This includes talking about its rotation, other planets in the solar system, asteroids, comets, constellations, and the impact of the Sun and moon on tides, hours in the days, and seasons.
Tuesday Apr 10, 2018
Tuesday Apr 10, 2018
Continue exploring how and when to create undead. Learn about their goals, traits, how to kill them, and what uses we can put them to.
Tuesday Mar 27, 2018
Tuesday Mar 27, 2018
Explore how and when to create undead. Decide whether you should create undead at all, what their minds are like and how this will affect them, their origins and how that influences their behavior, and learn to classify them.
Tuesday Mar 13, 2018
Tuesday Mar 13, 2018
Explore how and when to create animals. Consider the purpose your animals will serve for you as a creator or for your characters in their lives, including products, food, decoration, symbols, and medicinal uses. Learn how animals are classified to better organize your inventions, determine what to create, and have a balanced portfolio. Finally, learn how to get started.
Tuesday Feb 27, 2018
Tuesday Feb 27, 2018
Explore how and when to create plants. Consider the purpose your plants will serve for you as a creator or for your characters in their lives, including products, food, decoration, symbols, and medicinal uses. Learn how plants are classified to better organize your inventions, determine what to create, and have a balanced portfolio. Finally, learn how to get started.
Tuesday Feb 13, 2018
Tuesday Feb 13, 2018
Explore how and when to create monsters. Learn the differences between monsters and animals, and monsters and species. Use habitat to make them more compelling. Figure out how their origins can make them memorable, whether they were created by accident, on purpose, or by evolution. Finally, determine their motivation because even monsters want something, and knowing this will determine everything they do.
Tuesday Jan 30, 2018
Tuesday Jan 30, 2018
Explore how to create world heroes, villains, martyrs, and more. This includes determining why they're famous, what kinds of weapons, armors, ships, steeds, or other items they have, considerations for when they're dead OR alive, what made them famous, their relationships with family, and how all of this can make them more memorable if done right
Tuesday Jan 16, 2018
Tuesday Jan 16, 2018
Continue learning how to create species and races, including how gods can influence them, how characteristics like morale, charisma, intelligence, wisdom, dexterity, agility, and more can create more depth, and their relationship with other species and world view. Conclude with where to start!
Tuesday Jan 02, 2018
Tuesday Jan 02, 2018
Continue learning how to create species and races, including overall attitude and disposition, what some call "alignment." Is good vs. evil a viable approach or too restrictive? How else can get this across? With their appearance, do we want them able to masquerade as each other or not? What do their physical features say about them? Learn the pros and cons of multiple races of a species and how this can improve depth and our options.