WorldCraft Club

What does the WorldCraft Club even do when they're not on air? Why, they build worlds, obviously.

Today Marcos and Seth are questioned by James about the worlds they've been making. Seth dives into his digital world of Nova Terra and talks about its origins in the world of programming and testing extreme variables. His world was constructed as the result of a thought experiment, 'how would an AI creating a video game compensate for an extreme outlier?' and from the there the world grew. He talks about the various challenges and benefits of building a world in the GameLit genre. Marcos dives into 'Beyond the Aether' a dungeon punk D&D setting he's now run a few campaigns in. His main vision appears to come from a fever dream he had where paladins with rainbow warhammers astride jet powered dragons rule the skies. In short his world was built from a visual theme that caught his attention and he figured 'why not?' and crafted his psychedelic world from that kernel. Both worlds have their own very unique flavors but, perhaps most importantly, they have different origins. The fairycake (core idea) used to build each of these worlds is vastly different and lead to some fascinating insights into the craft of worldbuilding. So, join us now to have your brain tantalized by some fantastic worldbuilding.

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Advanced technology beyond our imagination. Unbelievable discoveries. Dimensions and galaxies unknown. What happens when you push science fiction to the limits? Super Science is a tone where scientific discoveries that push past the boundaries of our real world are found, allowing the audience and readers to explore a world beyond what we can normally conceive. Where the best science fiction relies on some scientific liberties, super science kicks on its warp drive and blows past all scientific constraints. Come explore this vast enterprise of tools and setting ideas found with this tonal setting!

Welcome to the Club! Join us on the WorldCraft Club podcast as we dive in to your favorite movies, games, books, and stories to explore the design of their worlds and creative process. We talk about the process of Worldbuilding, the idea of writing and creating a believable space for your story to exist in. Whether designing a new culture to interact with your characters, or placing a setting that ties in closely with your narrative, the WorldCraft Club Team is here to discuss the biggest story trends and how their settings bring the narrative to life. Inspire your imagination and join the club for your next creative venture!

• Check out Dave's Comic!
• And his Instagram

• Gravity and Inertia in Space - This is a solid video explaining combat in space generally but the beginning does great work explaining how space combat would effect human occupants. Gravity kills. Also, the Expanse is great... watch it. Not kidding.
• Why doesn't Dune have 'Thinking Machines'? - Quinn's ideas does yeoman's work explaining Dune lore. If you're going to limit your tech with cultural taboos this is how you do it.
• Foundation Series - Quinn's Ideas work on Foundation. Great primer if you want to get into some great science fiction that features human interactions with science beyond their comprehension.
• Flash Crowd by Larry Niven is a book about matter transmission that we referenced in the show.

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Writing engaging worlds and creating evocative settings with words is good, but what kind of feelings and character can we portray from visual worldbuilding? In studio we have Jog Brogzin, an accomplished fantasy cartographer and artist, who is known for his detailed pen and paper maps. Join us as we see how each dungeon, landscape, and set piece is crafted to present a your world in a clear, yet stylized way. You'll also learn some map making and map drawing tips and tricks to spice up your worlds! Let's get out our cartography tables, and saddle up for this next episode of Worldcraft Club!

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What if it's better to leave some parts of your world unwritten? It's entirely possible that your audience will do a better job at building your world than you will. Seth, James and Jon talk about the deep mysteries in your world and why sometimes they should stay just out of your audience's reach.

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Okay folks, time to put our money where our mouth is and make something. Seth and James are joined by Dave Schmidt, webcomic artist, friend of the show, second time visitor and all around great guy to build a world off a few pieces of rich fairy cake. This results in a pretty zany pairing of totally unrelated ideas to make a unique universe to write our stories in. Quick Worlds are a regular feature on our patreon page but we decided to share this one with you, dear listener, to inspire your creativity.

It works like this, each host brings and idea, has to be short and sweet, they get a minute or two to explain it, we then discuss the implications of the world, establish boundaries and play around with different genres the world could find itself in. For this episode James brings an idea about two codependent species evolving together on a planet and Dave mandates that all combat is musical result is pandemonium.

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The shambling horde slowly surrounds a safehouse while the survivors bicker over their dwindling food supplies inside. Zombies are a big part of our stories, they represent, not just an artifact of worldbuilding, but an entire sub genre of fiction. There's just something about them, they look like us they feed on our flesh, the slow ones represent a gathering threat, the fast ones a vicious predator. But how do we use these monsters in our stories? What kind of worlds support them well and what sort of themes do they draw out? Let's dive into those questions and more in another awesome episode of The WorldCraft Club Podcast.

• Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
• Warm Bodies - believe it or not it's loosely based on Romeo and Juliette and I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it.
• Left For Dead - straight up silly arcade style shooter, highly recommended for some fast silly fun.
• Dead Rising - Trailer for the game, (WARNING: swears abound!)
• Half Life - This is video from Roanoke (a brilliant YouTuber) that explores this.
• Shaun of the Dead
• Brain Dead - This movie is terrible, probably deliberately.
• Invasion of the Body Snatchers
• Night of the Living Dead - Pretty much free to watch now wherever you can find it. I'd really recommend it, powerful commentary.
• The Walking Dead
• 28 Days Later
• World War Z - the book... not the movie.
• Resident Evil - Do the zombies have a sell by date?

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The lines between wealth and poverty can be stark and jarring in the real world and often serve as a source of tension and conflict in our imagined ones. Seth and Marcos explore the use of this divide as a piece of fairy cake diving into its potential as a worldbuilding artifact. Different types of disparity are discussed from simple wealth to more esoteric questions like information, time, geography and the chilling possibility of rebellion. So, join us for a deep dive into this flexible concept and let it enrich the world's you're making.

• Equilibrium - okay, this trailer is crazy "Early 2000's" but this movie is incredible.
• Robin Hood
• In Time
• The Hunger Games
• Avatar

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Cyber-fantasy world Caldonyx is a neon colored masterpiece lovingly crafted by Doug and Alli of the RPG for You and Me Podcast. Part drama, part action, part comedy all duet Savage Worlds actual play. They've received some well earned praise for a beautifully crafted and inviting world that they explore through the medium of interactive storytelling TTRPG style. We're thrilled that they took the time to join us and talk about their experience building this vibrant environment and the worldbuilding principles they've applied through the process. So sit back, flip on some synthwave and let the subdued beat of Caldonyx draw you in.

• RPG for You and Me on Patreon if you join the $10/mo club, you get your own Regulator badge... it's a like a 'deputy' badge but, like, way cooler.
• Alli on Instagram go check out some of
• Alli on the Twitter
• Listen to their podcast, like, right now!
• Their website! there's like a ton of original artwork on here, character descriptions and lore available.

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Do your streams seek vengeance? Do your waterways fall in love? Rivers form the veins and arteries of landmasses. They provide places for humans to gather and farm, travel and trade, they're the lifeblood of civilization. So how do we make them well? Jon and James dive deep (pun intended) into the rivers and their function in worldbuilding covering everything from basic morphology to their deep metaphysical significance.

Links

• Okay, so this isn't rivers per se, but it's amazing. Highly recommend for a brief primer on geotechnics. Landslides aplenty.
• WASD on Rivers <- this guy does an incredible job on map making.
• Johnstown Flood this video is a little cheesy but it gives a good idea of what damage flooding can do especially as the result of a dam break.
• The Big Stink this is where the Thames got super gross in London.

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Where do superheroes fit in worlds? Seth and James look into the worlds that support superhero narratives, how they are effective and ways that they sometimes fail. So join us for a discussion on why Superhero stories are inevitably speculative, why James thinks DCEU does some stuff better than Marvel, and how it's possible to make interesting and rich worlds that surround our super-powered characters as well as just the inner worlds of the characters themselves.