How to Build a World (and a Game)
Photo by Johannes Plenio on Unsplash
How to Build a World (and a Game)
This is how a world, and a game that takes place within it, can be brought to life
Robin McEntire, Flying NightBear Games
Building a fantasy world is both simple and complex. The path to success is in finding the right balance. This post provides a set of steps that will help you to create a rich fantasy world that is playable by your friends and by the broader Table Top Role-Playing Game (TTRPG) community.
The Simple Part
The Big Idea
First things first—a new world should be a joy to conjure. It is a flight of fancy, a time to free yourself from the day to day aggravations of the real world and conjure a place from your own imagination. It might use magic; or lasers and advanced science; or primitive tools and attunement to nature. It should be a world that speaks to you and is alive for you so that you can turn it into your own, unique creation.
Once you have the kernel of what you want your world to be, write it down. Don’t worry about making it perfect or comprehensive: a sentence or two is all you need for now. You’ll be coming back to this later.
The Slightly Bigger Idea
Now, explore the concept of your world. Roll out a few possibilities of what might happen in this new place. What is a day in the life like for someone who lives here? What is an ordinary occurrence and what is an extraordinary one? What kinds of people and creatures live here, and how do they interact with each other—or perhaps they don’t, or won’t? Most important of all, what are the mysteries of this world that your players will explore, and what are the perils they will confront when they do?
Jot this down under the Big Idea sentences from above. A few bullets or another short paragraph or two is all you need: don’t worry about capturing every detail at this early point.
Congratulations! You now have the beginnings of a new world, and you are ready for the next step—sharing that world with others.
The Complex Part
This is where things become more complicated, but in a very good way. There is great pleasure to be had in building out the reality of what you conjured forth in the Simple Part above.
For this part of your endeavor you will need a few things:
Your imagination (yes, you’ll continue to need that!)
A work plan or set of steps you can follow to get the work done (our thoughts on that are supplied below), and,
No small amount of fortitude (more on that later).
Before we start on this journey by following the steps below, here is something to consider: no one plan works for everyone.There are many approaches to world building (some of them elsewhere in this very blog!) But having a plan is essential, and choosing one that works for you is critical for success. The process below is one that we have used at Flying NightBear Games. It has the major steps to get you started and to keep you going as you create a playable game out of the Big Idea of your world.
Step 1: What are the Things We Do in this World?
What are the challenges that people who play in your world will face? Begin with what you jotted down in the previous section. Select one part of the world from your outline and get specific. Flesh out some of the details, choosing things that get you excited. Where might your players explore and what do they find? What do they know, and, more crucially, what don’t they know (yet)?
These challenges will be your constant companion, and your guide, as you work through the steps below.
As above, write these down in enough detail to remember them, and then keep on going!
Step 2: Where Will We Do These Things?
This step is about the places in your world. Describe one of those places that works with the challenge that you defined above. The place could be very small (perhaps a village or small town, a single castle or an underground palace), or as vast as a planet or a solar system.
Maps are a great way to define the physical scope of your world. A rough draft is perfect, and it’s all you’ll need right now. It will provide you with context, and will help to make the world more real. You can expect this to change as you refine your creation. Refinement and reduction are valuable parts of the World Building process and you will become ever more skilled in this as you continue.
As you sketch out your map, keep an outline of some of its key parts. Again, be brief. A few short notes, a name (if you have one, or several if you can’t quite decide at the moment), and a sentence or two describing what you envision. When you come back to this sketch you’ll be very glad of these reminders you left for yourself.
Step 3: Who Will We meet?
It’s now time to decide on some NPCs (Non-Player Characters) that will live in your world and that your players will encounter as they explore.
Same advice here—get things sorted out at a high level for a few of the key NPCs (more bullets points!) and then work out the details for one or two of them. You might have different races or types of creatures. Some of your NPCs may belong to particular nations or kingdoms, or you may want a world inhabited by a large number of hermits (hmm, now there’s a thought). Whatever they might be, create an outline with enough information that you can use it in your play testing (see below).
It will be very useful to have some NPCs that will be your players’ foes and others that could be their friends. It’s especially fun when it’s not entirely clear which is which.
By now you have no doubt noticed that the very short write-up you started with at the beginning of the Simple Part is starting to grow. Yes, this is progress—and very tangible evidence that your world is already becoming something real, and will continue to do so.
Give yourself a moment to take some very real satisfaction in watching your work take shape!
Step 4: How do we do things?
Every world needs its rules. They allow your players to engage with the world and to have an effect on it. The rules must be well-designed: you don’t want your players to solve every challenge with a wave of their hand, nor do you want them to be constantly frustrated because they can’t make anything happen. Neither of those alternatives is much fun, which is why the rules of your game are critical to making your world come alive, a place to which your players will return again and again.
At this point, you will need to make a choice. You can use the mechanics of another gaming system (e.g., PbtA or DnD), or you can devise your own set of game mechanics. There is no right or wrong answer—each choice has its own set of advantages and challenges.
If you decide to use another game system, you will have something ready to go and well-tested. You must make sure, though, that the vision of your world fits with the kind of world the game mechanics are suited for. If the game mechanics were designed for space ships and warp drives, but your world is all about spears and magic spells, you need to rethink your choice. Try out the rules with a few scenarios to see how things work out, and make adjustments if you need to once you’ve settled on the game mechanics you want to use. In addition, if you choose an existing set of rules you are also choosing to become a part of the community that already exists for it. Check it out and see if it fits with your vision.
You can also decide to create your own set of mechanics. This can be a very fulfilling experience, and it’s rewarding to see others playing and enjoying your system. Keep in mind, though, that creating a new set of game rules will take time and needs a lot of playtesting. If you choose the “build-your-own” path, it will be very helpful to have a partner or two. You’ll want a lot of feedback, to make sure that the rules provide the kind of game-play that matches your world.
Since our focus is on World Building, we won’t go into this topic in more depth, but there are plenty of folk who have experience in this area and can help you with this choice.
Step 5: Play with Friends
This step is called “playtesting” and is crucial for taking your game to the next level on its journey to publication. It’s where you will need the fortitude we mentioned earlier.
No matter how “right” you got everything up to this point, you won’t have everything right, and you will probably want to take a fresh look at some of your decisions. To put it another way: you don’t yet know what you don’t know.
The experience that other people have when they play in your world will be an eye-opener, and extremely helpful! They don’t know your world or what you had in mind about your world. They only know what they read in the doc you hand them.
During playtesting your players will surprise you with all manner of things that didn’t occur to you—or that did occur to you but didn’t make it into your doc. It’s important to keep an open mind at this point: these comments will help you make your world more easily playable for others. And after all, these are some of the people you want to share your world with—they should have some say in it as well.
What this means is that playtesting will be a bit of work, especially in preparing for it. It will also be a good deal of fun because your game is becoming real in a different way. There is nothing as satisfying as hearing folk talk about the creatures and places in your world as if they’re real!
Playtest Prep
Below are some of the more important things to have ready to go before playtesting begins:
Create a doc for your play testers: What you have now are your notes. While they are invaluable for you, they are not written for others. Begin with a copy of your notes, and organize them in a way that will make sense for your players. Approach this as if you’re writing for strangers, even if it’s (at least for a first pass) for your friends. Structure their doc around major sections (The World, The Rules, Character Creation, etc.). If it’s not in the doc, it’s not in the game!
Find a group of play testers: For your first round(s), these should be friends or people you trust to give you very honest and constructive feedback. Choose people who want you to succeed. Most will be flattered to be invited to playtest your new game, and some will become your champions as you make your way to a full-fledged, on-the-market game.
Find a time and place to test: It can be tough finding a time that works for everyone. Allow for that. Find the best time you can that accommodates the largest number of people. If there are one or two who you think will give you particularly good feedback, make sure the time works for them. Choose a place that is most convenient for everyone. Opening your home to them is a great way to show them how important this testing is to you.
Be prepared: Be respectful of people’s needs—they are giving you their time and energy. The best way to show your appreciation is to be prepared. Arrive at the playtest with everything ready to go. In addition to the Player’s Doc you created above, you will need a small adventure or a few focused encounters, depending on what you want to test (story or game mechanics—maybe both). You will want to have some character sheets or something similar ready to hand out, or ready for people to create their own characters. And, of course, don’t forget the pragmatics—pencils come to mind! You will probably want to run the playtest yourself, but as you make progress, consider having someone else as your DM. It’s another great test of how ready, or not, your world and game is for others to play.
Ask good questions: Come prepared with the questions you want to ask your play testers. Again, this is respectful of their time, and will be a huge help to you because it will make sure that you get feedback on the things that are most useful to you. Listen to people! When they give you feedback, ask questions to clarify, but don’t argue (it’s not your opinion you need, it’s theirs), and ask others if they had the same experience. This is especially important for any criticisms that people may have. If you create an atmosphere where they can feel safe talking about their experience, you will be amply rewarded. Last but not least, it can be hugely helpful to have someone else there with you to take notes and to debrief with you after the playtest session is over.
Don’t be Afraid: This is the fortitude we mentioned earlier. People will give you feedback, and most of it (not necessarily all) will be immensely helpful. However, it will only be as helpful as your ability to take it all in. It may not feel good; in fact, it may feel really bad. You may feel that you’ve failed. You haven’t! You’re bringing something entirely new into existence, and this is where you get to transform your game into something truly playable (and publishable) by understanding what will make it better.
Remember your vision: When playtesting is done, and you have your feedback, remind yourself of your original vision of this world. Working out details is good, and making changes is good, too, since it makes your game better. It’s also good, though, to remind yourself now (and at other times) why you’re doing all this. Details count, but your vision should guide your choices.
Playtesting is something you need to do more than once, where each iteration gets your game closer to a real game that is both playable and enjoyable. When your friends are enjoying themselves and the game play is running smoothly, then you’ll know that this step is complete.
Finally, (and this is really important)...
Don’t forget SNACKS!
Yes, that’s right, snacks are your secret weapon in making things go well. Whenever FNBGames’ playtested, or played, our game Beyonder, we always had snacks. Everyone loved it and looked forward to it. Snacks provide energy, enjoyment, and a welcome grounding in (tasty) reality after being immersed in a fantasy world.
Some fun treats like M&Ms are popular. Also include some healthy choices, and something slightly substantial to fuel your players. (Nothing too messy or greasy.) Suggestions: cut up cheese, crackers, veggies, fruit, or nuts. You may want to check on food allergies beforehand. Oh, and you will find that NAPKINS will be most welcome!
Step 6: Make Changes
Take all of the feedback you’re received and think about it. Think about where it takes your world and game. You’ll need to decide if it’s the direction you want to go in, or not. That is very important.
Pull out your fortitude and sally forth to make the changes that you think make your world and your game better. A part of this will be to “fix” things that you think don’t work or don’t work as well as you like. Most likely, though, you will want to add things to your world. This may take the form of new or different characteristics for Player Characters that your players play. Or you may want to make changes to the places to play in your world or the creatures you encounter. Whatever additions or changes you decide to make you can go deep or you can go broad. You may want to do both.
For example, your players might have liked a particular creature, and they might like knowing more about that creature or if it had some additional skills—a good place to go deep. Or, perhaps the place they played (the castle, town, or underground) was fun, and would be even more so with some additional detail. Two great places to go deep.
Your playtesting may have revealed that the place you played just didn’t have enough space to keep your players engaged, so here is a place where you may want to go broad and add to this place or possibly add other places that are connected to it.
Whatever your changes are, it’s time to go back to your original doc and make your changes there. Your doc will grow again to capture what you’ve learned and each time you do this you’ll have another chance to watch your world grow and mature, always getting closer to its final form.
With the next set of changes you’ve made you’re now ready for your next round of playtesting!
Step 7: Play with Strangers
You’ve already put your game in front of people who know you; now it’s time to get it in front of strangers. They may have no idea who you are or what your game is; however, they will be experienced players who are interested in trying out a new game, and they’ve decided to give yours a try.
These players are the potential audience and future customers for your world and your game, so their experience is very helpful. Whether or not they give you feedback, what may tell you the most is how engaged they become in playing in your world and how much of their time they’re willing (eager?) to spend with you.
If they don’t have a good time, find out why!
If they do have a good time, find out why!
The process here is much like the playtesting with your friends. As before, you will want to run games with these folks multiple times. Be prepared with your questions, listen, and let them know how much you appreciate their time and feedback. These people will walk away with an impression of both your game and you, and they will talk to others about their experience. This is where your “branding” is formed. You will want them to leave feeling good about your product-to-be and you. One effective way to help this along is to give them something after the playtest is over that will remind them of their experience. There are many good take-aways, so use your imagination. Flying NightBear Games has given away high-quality postcards with illustrations of some of the creatures who live in our world, and this has worked well for us.
Conventions provide great opportunities for playtesting. There are always lots of people at cons who are looking to try out new games, so you have an excellent, built-in audience, and usually a large one so it’s a great opportunity to get the word out about you and your game.
Step 8: Go to Production
The next big step is to finalize your world and your game and then to publish it, which is a subject worthy of its own series of blog posts. We won’t cover this subject here.
A final word of encouragement: many people have gone through the process of publishing a new game, and they can offer invaluable advice from their own experience. We encourage you to seek out these people. Ask for their advice and, if they are receptive, for their help. The people in this industry (including those of us at the IGDN) are, generally speaking, generous folks who love games and are happy to listen and lend a helping hand to others who share our love of this craft. Talk to us.
Until then, we wish you joy and success in bringing your new world to life!
The IGDN blog is the work of its members to explore its diverse membership from all corners of the tabletop industry, tackling every subject under the banner of tabletop roleplaying games. Today’s work is an exploration of how to go about building a fantasy world and a game that allows people to play in that world.