Fantasy World Building (Part 3 of 3)
By Brian Lancaster (June 2023)
Website: www.laughingcoyote.net
Part 1: https://blancaster45.blogspot.com/2023/05/fantasy-world-building-part-1-of-3.html
Part 2: https://blancaster45.blogspot.com/2023/05/fantasy-world-building-part-2-of-3.html
Large Cities and Cultural Hubs
Humans tend to focus their attention on other humans, so designing crowded civilized areas is more important and challenging than designing vast swaths of natural landscape. That is not to say nature isn't complex, but players and readers tend to look for humanity.
Tolkien's endless descriptions of rolling hills and treelines might be appealing to some, but I think most readers tend to skim these sections, looking for dialogue and character interactions. Similarly, players tend to run through uninhabited woodlands to get to the next quest hub. Eyeballs focus on signs of human habitation in the environment, despite how fascinating squirrel dung may be to zoologists.
Designing populated areas of a world is also particularly difficult in games, because more crowded maps require more processing power for all the AI scripts and collision detection. Therefore, larger cities should be divided into smaller maps (or "districts", "wards", whatever you want to call them).
Dividing your big city into small districts is also a good way to make it feel bigger. San Francisco is great because there is a neighborhood in walking distance for whatever ethnic food you are in the mood for. It's my favorite city despite the time a kid tried to mug me of my laptop, passport, and all the cash I had in the Tenderloin District. The Tenderloin District got its name from all the corrupt police, who earned enough dirty money that they could afford the high class steak.
The city has since been desperately trying to rename the district "Little Saigon" for all the pho restaurants, but nobody is gonna call it Little Saigon. Looking to real history is great inspiration for designing a fictional city.
As previously mentioned, the style of architecture should reflect the surrounding resources and climate. Desert buildings should have flat tops, and building materials should be considered.
Also, consider how much planning went into the city layout. Was it well-planned or hastily expanded as a boom town? It is explained that the City from the Thief games (that was its name), had almost no city planning, and hence it's myriad alleys, sewers, and tenements are like winding, confusing mazes, perfect for a computer game.
A great example of fantasy cities include Athkatla from Baldur's Gate II, which was way more interesting than Baldur's Gate in the first game mostly because each district had a distinct flavor, and it felt like 8 little worlds all crammed together. Walk around the Docks or Slums at night and you will see fights between the Thieves' Guild and the vampires, go to the Temple District to visit one four temples and do some pious sewer crawling, or visit Waukeen's Promenade to find the largest adventure's emporium in the game, hidden behind a fruit stand. The city also feels alive just because of the timed and random events that take place even as wander the streets aimlessly, much like a quality city in a real life.
Flavor Text and Item Descriptions
The greatest item descriptions I've encountered were from Baldur's Gate I and II (still haven't played Elden Ring). The description of a common short sword gives the history of the weapon's invention and use across the Forgotten Realms campaign setting. The descriptions of magical items must have been written by pros, as most of them tell a solid short story that can be read independently of the game, while also sprinkling a bit of Faerun lore in there to connect it all together.
Describing mundane weapons doesn't have to be a slog. You can include real-world terminology and usage of various medieval weapons, education your players with history. In Warlordocracy, I describe the difference between a knife and a sword when they are examined: the tang of the knife goes into the handle, whereas a sword blade is forged around the handle.
In my current project, Warlordocracy, players will rarely see item descriptions. The basic stats are listed below the inventory, but to see the description, the player has to click on the examine button. If the item descriptions were as bland as "This is a normal short sword" then it's best to not include descriptions at all.
Therefore, there has to be something to encourage the player to click the examine button in the inventory in Warlordocracy. It's good to throw in a game hint, no matter how basic. If not, then include some kind of historical fact, or at least a shitty joke to keep the player examining items and exploring the world through flavor text.
The worst example of flavor text that comes to mind is Mass Effect 1. There are descriptions of every single planet, even the ones you couldn't land on, but it didn't matter to the game or story whatsoever. It listed the planet's gravity, but that info made no difference, even though they could have easily made it affect the boosters of your vehicle on those open exploration maps.
The bottom line is that flavor text like item descriptions should do one of three things: teach something about the game, teach something about real-life (so at least the player is learning something), or tell a shitty joke. Below are some examples of item descriptions (both mundane and magical) that I use in Warlordocracy.
Iron Sword: Durable, reliable, quick. There are a thousand just like it, but this sword is yours. Swords are faster than axes but deal less damage.
Iron Dagger: A small, easily-concealable blade that deals pierce damage. Their lightness makes them perfect for throwing if you have the right ability.
Wood Cane: For the sophisticated gentleman who needs help walking, or enjoys beating poor people to death while wearing a monocle.
Cane Blade: This cane has a hidden blade that is triggered with a switch, which deals extra damage. It can easily be smuggled into sophisticated players' balls.
These examples are a far cry from Baldur's Gate II's intricate tapestry of plot that can be found by examining items, but they all provide something besides a simple physical description. And of course, you can add descriptions to anything.
These examples are a far cry from Baldur's Gate II's intricate tapestry of plot that can be found by examining items, but they all provide something besides a simple physical description. And of course, you can add descriptions to anything sitting around just for the player to examine.
More Advice for Designing Worlds
"Cultural Appropriation" is a Bullshit Concept
Learning and borrowing from other cultures is how civilization works, so if someone criticizes you for stealing from other cultures, tell them to screw. Market your game towards cool people, not whiners looking for clout. If you're voice acting, do whatever accent you want if you're good enough. I like to think my Caribbean accents for Brigand voice acting were near Chet Hanks level.
Here are some criminally-underused monsters from native American mythology:
https://blancaster45.blogspot.com/2022/01/indian-monsters-i-might-steal.html
Magical MacGuffins
A noun that drives the entire story, but could be arbitrarily replaced by any other noun without changing the main plot too much, the term "MacGuffin" was coined by Alfred Hitchcock. Examples include the One Ring, the rug from the Big Lebowski, and Colonel Kurtz from Apocalypse Now. While Marlon Brando is amazing, he was only in Apocalypse Now for about 5 minutes. In Tolkien, the MacGuffin was central to the entire world setting, not just a plot device.
Personally, I try to avoid MacGuffins like the One Ring, as it seems like a lazy storytelling device. If you do have a single object or set of objects to create conflict between characters and factions, try to avoid making it jewelry or crystals. Instead of collecting the five power crystals, have the protagonist quest for the six pickled testicles of the great gorilla god Za'fistixx'qid.
Encourage Others to Expand Your World
Unlike the Nintendo corporation, H.P. Lovecraft encouraged others to expand on his universe. He didn't try to sue and ruin anyone who made a sketch of an alien that resembled an octopus. Lovecraft openly invited people to write more stories based on his Cthulhu mythos, which is one of the reasons it remains such a cultural phenomenon over a century later.
For Brigand, I recently included a welcome message in world editor mode to encourage others to sell their mods and keep all the profit. To play the mods, of course, users would first have to pay me for the base game, then pay the modder for their material. Everybody's a winner. If their lore doesn't fit in with your vision, it doesn't matter because it's not canon. If it does fit in with your vision, declare it canon and your fake universe just expanded.
A friend of mine had something resembling Mario in some art on a shirt he was selling and it was immediately pulled. I did not then go to Nintendo's website and order an official Mario shirt. I seriously doubt the vicious litigious business practices of Nintendo are helping them make a profit.
Buy Used RPG Source Books
Many RPG/gaming stores will have a used books section where you can get source material for $10. Grab whatever is cheap and related to what you are working on. There's plenty of material online you can find, but nothing beats sitting in the woods while the mushrooms are wearing off and you have a notebook and an RPG source book.
Map Creators
Inkarnate.com is the best website for designing fantasy world maps. I had a subscription for 3 months to use all the advanced features, then I cancelled it after all the maps I needed were finished. I will probably subscribe again temporarily for future projects.
Examples (and Shameless Plugs)
Scroll down to the manuals and select Warlordocracy Player's Manual:
https://laughingcoyote.net/games
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