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Message: <blockquote data-quote="RareBreed" data-source="post: 8911619" data-attributes="member: 6945590">For those who have built their own worlds (not campaigns, but entire worlds from whole cloth), how do you go about it?   I guess a more meta question is, does the world evolve to fit the story, or does the story emerge from the world?  I think obviously it's a little of both, but does one influence the other more depending on what you are trying to invoke?  Are there pros/cons to establishing the world first as opposed to the characters/story?For world building, what do you design or think about first?<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A rough idea of a story you want to tell<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Genre</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Tone</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Themes or motifs</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Central characters of the story</li> </ul></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The world<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The nations and major cities</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Prominent NPCs<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">backstories</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">relations with each other</li> </ul></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">History <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">timeline of how the world became the way it did</li> </ul></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Metaplot<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Do you know what the future holds, or is that what the characters will determine?</li> </ul></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The races/cultures/ethnicities/heritages (or whatever you want to call it)<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Relations with others</li> </ul></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Socioeconomic structures eg<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">are there stigmatized groups</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">is there a caste or nobility</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">how does the economy work</li> </ul></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> How do characters learn their vocation or skills. For example:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">academic, apprenticeship, familial, involuntary (eg draft, government selection, noble training)</li> </ul></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">How does the government work. For example:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">feudal, representative (Republican) or Athenian style democracy, theocracy, dictatorship, oligarchy</li> </ul></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Religions and how it interacts with the government (if the government isn't a Theocracy)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Organizations and factions, For example: <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">noble houses, guilds, trade unions, etc</li> </ul></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Militaries<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">How are they organized, how strong is it, is it voluntary or conscripted, etc</li> </ul></li> </ul></li> </ul>A lot of these topics are kind of interdependent, and I've always found it difficult to know where to start.  I've even wondered if people just write the story first, and then the world as they go along.  Obviously, as the world evolves, more information will be added, but consistency and internal logic is important to me.  As a secondary question, can anyone recommend some good books or sites on world build design, either from a gaming or novelist perspective?</blockquote>

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