WorldCraft Club

Should you be able to use magic to kill someone at 400 yards? Ryan says no! Ryan's most recent book and how he developed a crazy interesting magic system (not to mention governments, races and cultures) and he's sharing great tips on how you can too. Join us today for some brilliant insights.

• Buy Ryan's book!
• Join Ryan's Patreon!
• Keep an eye for Ryan's World Anvil it's coming soon

In this special episode of the Worldcraft Club we interview Dave Schmidt, about his work on Recovery, his online webcomic. Dave's approach to worldbuilding is fairly easy going as he builds a post apocalyptic western with heavy influences from 90's era anthropomorphic cartoons (TMNT, Gargoyles, Tailspin and Street Sharks) where the rule of cool reigns. We find though, as we dive in deeper, that Dave's world has solid boundaries and expectations being set for his readers and that worldbuilding can sometimes be nonspecific and based on themes and tropes that are well understood by your readers. We hope you enjoy this fantastic interview and don't forget to check Dave's work out by following the links below.

• Dave's Webcomic!
• Dave's Instagram!
• 90's Era Cartoons - Educate yourself.
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
  • Street Sharks
  • Gargoyles
  • Tailspin
• Daredevil - A brief video on the connection between Daredevil and the TMNT

Cyberpunk is all the rage! With CD Projekt Red’s Cyberpunk 2077 and Seth’s minor obsession with Shadowrun we’ve been chomping at the bit to dive into this genre. Seth and James discuss the implications of this genre on worldbuilding, what makes a story truly cyberpunk and how to uncover the all-important fairycake. Also, much discussion of anarchy, liberty spikes, and technophilic dystopias abound.

Slight update: It looks like Cyberpunk 2077 has been postponed until September.

• Cyberpunk 2077
• Netrunner
• Inception Trailer A Capella - Possibly the best video on the internet.

• Patreon Site
• Facebook Group
• WCC Twitter
• Worldcraft Club Blog

On this episode of Worldcraft club we talk to Jon Bell a friend of the show, collaborator and tentacle faced denizen of the Underdark (Dungeon Master) about his ideas on world creation for Table Top Roleplaying Games (TTRPG). Discussing how to engage your players (your collaborative audience) effectively, show off your world while not boring them with exposition, why names matter, and how much detail to put into each level of your world building.

Links

• Creating Place Names Realistically and Artistically on YouTube
• Jon on Twitter!

In this episode of the Worldcraft club Seth and James talk about building worlds that your audience can believe in (or at least suspend their disbelief for). This has so much to do context, both the context of your audience as well as narrative cohesion. It’s through this process that Seth and James arrive at the idea of fairycake (a hitchhikers guide reference) where you establish your tone and most important elements of your story and fit your world to, in part, follow your narrative structure. 

Using this method Seth and James build a fictional city and inadvertently stumble on a good shorthand for doing so. Goal, what the city is made for, Governance, how a city is run and Geography a city’s physical environment.

Also, a brief correction: the capital of Australia is ‘Canberra’ not ‘Canterborough’. Just in case that turns up in a pub quiz.

• Blade Runner 2049 Music
• Hitchhikers Guide Infinite Perspective Vortex

James interviews game designer and author IE Horton about his process in worldbuilding for his new old book ‘Deity Principle’.

IE Horton stresses the importance of putting the work into your worlds but also that worldbuilding is a labor love that you must put yourself into.  We explore his method of constructing worlds through use of conflict, taking competing ideas and smashing them together or building on ideal utopian concepts by adding selfish people into them.  Also, space toilets.

So, sit back, give it a listen and be inspired.

• London Sewer System
• Ordinary Spaceman
• Invention of Lying
• William Gibson
• Philip K. Dick
• JH Brennan