30 Days of Worldbuilding

[Juno]

30 DAYS OF WORLDBUILDING

(Planet gif by Planetarium)

Edit: a quick note on the deadline, since many seem concerned with time restraints - the "30 Days" refer to the daily topics I will introduce this first month, but the event itself lasts for the entirety of the Multiverse's trial run, meaning you have 3 months to work on these prompts at your own pace. So don't worry about jumping in late or falling behind!

To celebrate the inception of this new forum, thought we'd kick this off with a simple event! Building a world is no easy feat, but hopefully this little challenge will help get you started and get some ideas going. Inspired by the blog World Building June -

QUOTE:

This is an event to build as much of your world in a month as you can! It doesn't matter if your world is new or old, original or an AU of another world, this is your chance to pick up that hammer and build build build!

No formal joining require, jump in and jump out whenever you want, this is a personal challenge and we're all in this to help each other out to do the best we can.

You can use this to slowly introduce us to a world you've been planning for a while, or use these prompts to create an entirely new world! The level of detail is entirely up to you, whether you want to write a few sentences each day or really flesh out each aspect, include diagrams and images or not, make a serious world or a funny world, etc. Just have fun with it! If you come up with enough ideas during this, you might even want to move it to your own World thread and continue developing it there.

This is the list of prompts we will be using, as a preview of what's to come - you can take a peek on World Building June to see in detail what each prompt entails ahead of time and prepare if you like, but I will also be posting the details each day as well:

Day 1: Introduction
Day 2: Geography
Day 3: People & Races
Day 4: Culture
Day 5: History
Day 6: Civilization & Architecture
Day 7: Economy
Day 8: Hierarchy, Power, & Governance
Day 9: Religion & Cosmology
Day 10: Language
Day 11: Fauna
Day 12: Flora
Day 13: Food
Day 14: Technology
Day 15: Magic
Day 16: Fashion
Day 17: Arms
Day 18: Armor
Day 19: War
Day 20: Fun
Day 21: Work
Day 22: The Sky
Day 23: The Frontier
Day 24: The Backpack
Day 25: Art
Day 26: Transportation
Day 27: Major Figures & Important Players
Day 28: Communication
Day 29: Weather
Day 30: Disasters

If you miss any day, please feel free to go back and fill out whatever you missed out on - no strict deadlines on creativity!

Lastly, there will be an emblem for participating, and another for sticking around for all 30 days.

Again, have fun! And if you have any questions, feel free to leave them here or message me. :) Without further ado, let's start with...

---

DAY ONE - INTRODUCTION

QUOTE:

Every great world starts somewhere, and here is where we'll start: Pitch your world! Put into words what your world is about, why it's unique, what you aim to explore with it!

This prompt is a deceptively simple tradition. Most likely if you've yet to crystalize your world into a few paragraphs, then you may feel at a loss for words. This may be what a reader reads at the beginning of a book, or in the details of an amazon listing, this is the catch, the draw, it has to hook onto something, it has to get someone nodding along like, "Go on…"

More so, this world has to interest yourself as well. You can't work intimately on a world that doesn't get your blood pumping or questions flowing. This is a work of passion, so defining those hooks will help remind you why you want this world to come alive!

If you need some inspiration maybe crack open the amazon listings of your favorite books and read a blurb about them, or just think about what first comes to your mind when you think about those worlds.

This introduction may also form the design philosophy behind your whole project as well. If you pitch a world as a world of high adventure, you may sit back later and ask yourself, "Does this element I'm adding invoke adventure? Does it contrast well with the adventurous themes that are already present?" If you describe your world as mysterious, you might then make decisions that inspire tension based off of unanswered questions and may even cook in mysteries and false truths right into your world. High fantasy, low fantasy, introspective, immense, complex, simple, strange, sincere, fast, slow, there are many words you can use to describe your world, which you then have to back up.

Of course a world can evolve in your hands, you felt you were making a world of intrigue, but then it turned into a world moved by swashbuckling heroism. However, if you ever get too deep into your creation and get lost, taking a step back and remembering what your world is about can help right you on the cardinal directions that drive your world forward, then you can dust off your smock and…

KEEP BUILDING!​

 

[moon]

I'm game, what a fun idea!

I guess what I put up so far is a mix of many things, haha, and I might add stuff as I feel like it. But each day's prompt could be a nice focus if one gets stuck!

 

[Juno]

Yes! Anything you already have up in the Arcanum thread can definitely be used here too, and vice versa. Hopefully this event can be something that will help people develop their worlds and guide them in areas they need to flesh out or haven't thought about yet.

 

[gimmepie]

So we follow this but don't post anything here, right?

 

[Adam Levine]

Dayum. Well, I'm not sure if what I have thought of for years can even be considered a world. Well, it's not a planet, but there's way too many interesting things there for it to be considered a mere island.

 

[Dragon]

So we follow this but don't post anything here, right?

Maybe this thread can be an idea hub?

A way to show off and bounce ideas off each other?

 

[Salzorrah]

So we follow this but don't post anything here, right?

I'm pretty sure it's an event wherein you just follow the guide and just post updates on it.

 

[gimmepie]

Dayum. Well, I'm not sure if what I have thought of for years can even be considered a world. Well, it's not a planet, but there's way too many interesting things there for it to be considered a mere island.

You don't have to necessarily explore the whole world. I'm focusing on a single country within mine and a lot of others probably will do the same. Worldbuilding is just the general term for making this sort of thing up :)

In other news, just finished Geography! Might go back and do a list of landmarks with brief descriptions though.

 

[Salzorrah]

I still havent started on mine yet. I might start it this weekend since I'm not busy then :3

 

[Adam Levine]

So...we post here, right?

 

[gimmepie]

So...we post here, right?

Just to keep everything up to date with the challenge really it seems. Your worldbuilding work itself goes into its own thread.

 

[Adam Levine]

Oh, I see. Now all I gotta do is get some program to illustrate, and (probably) know how to create stuff in CSS.

 

[Margot]

Ooh I love this idea! I've only really ever written stories based on already existing worlds, but this could be a fun way to try something new. I haven't decided what I'll do yet, but I'm in :)

 

[Lycanthropy]

Cool idea! Might not be bad to actually build a world structurally, instead of just starting and randomly adding unrelated stuff. :]

Oh, I see. Now all I gotta do is get some program to illustrate, and (probably) know how to create stuff in CSS.

If you're having trouble with CSS, I'd love to help you out. :)

 

[Margot]

Question: in our threads, should everything go into the main master post/OP or can we double, triple, etc post the updates for each day of the challenge?

Just wondering so I can prepare how I'll organize :)

 

[Aquacorde]

Do whatever makes sense to you tbh! My fav way to organize is usually to make the first post an index with an overview and the post as needed.

 

[Adam Levine]

If you're having trouble with CSS, I'd love to help you out. :)

Thanks for the offer, Lycan! Let's do this.

 

[Desert Stream~]

Alright sounds fun! My world will be called Saprailia (Battle server users might recognize the name). I've had the concept for a while, and been working on it for months, yet all I have is a boring old map :P Oh well, hopefully my thread will be up soon.
Edits:
So I don't wanna add too much, I gotta save some stuff for future days, but anyways, Saprailia is made of 8 islands, split into 5 regions. One of the islands is Man-Made (although since this is gonna be sorta midevil timed, it's nowhere near as advanced as the alola island), and contains some interesting people. The capital, Frostgarde, is on the island of Vrepon (or Vrepin, depending on who you ask). Wars are rare, however one does break out every now and again. The paradise islet is the most diverse island, hosting thousands of Plants, Animals, and Civilized races. Finally, there's the Gliex archipelago, 4 rather boring islands, that have yet to be widely inhabited. Then there's the Collapsing Haven, an island full of rich history and monuments. This island was the richest, until the civil war which caused a collapse in the economy. Treasure is plentiful, but the island is too dangerous to allow for widespread tourism.

 

[Juno]

You're free to share here, too! To clarify, I intended for this to be similar to other "30 Days of ____" challenges we've had on PC (eg. Pokemon, Video Games) where you can write a bit about an aspect of your world here each day; of course, if you've already started your own thread you can just use this to update us on your progress or talk about how you used the day's prompt, but even if you don't yet have your own thread you can introduce your world little by little here or brainstorm until you feel you have enough material to start up a thread.

Question: in our threads, should everything go into the main master post/OP or can we double, triple, etc post the updates for each day of the challenge?

Just wondering so I can prepare how I'll organize :)

Up to you! Like Anna said, whatever works best for you - as long as you've included these aspects in your world, they'll count. :) And as mentioned, you can also post here to update/link to your entry for the day.

 

[Desert Stream~]

So is this a 24-hour thing, or is it a new day starts at 12:00, because it's day 2 here.
Day 2 stuff: https://www.pokecommunity.com/showpost.php?p=9399165&postcount=2