Worldbuilding Activity: What Would a Movie Trailer Promoting Your World Look Like?

I recently saw Children of Men and will be commenting more about the film in Episode 12, but I wanted to post the trailer for that film here. I think it does an excellent job of encapsulating, in a mere 2 minutes or so, every aspect of its world: the thematic subjects, the tone, characters […]

Marketing and Brand Design

This is a topic I haven’t really hit yet, but it’s something that I am currently investigating for my Titans project. I’ve been reading about how design and branding, specifically cover designs, intrigue potential customers and ultimately sell a game, game system, comic, world, novel, whatever…
Because Titans will be a serialized story with graphic elements, […]

Do You Like Interactive Fiction and Call of Cthulhu?

I’ve mentioned Anchorhead before, but I thought I would post a link to Michael Gentry’s site. Anchorhead is a free interactive fiction game that has earned a collection of rave reviews within the IF (that’s interactive fiction) community over the past seven or so years. The game bests anything that Infocom did (in my opinion).
If […]

Worldbuilding Ep. 011: Seven Steps to Thinking, Breathing, Bleeding, Scheming Heroes and Villains that Will Tell You the Secrets of Their World!

Next Episode: We Start Looking at Setting
Worldbuilding Episode 011 Show Notes
Today is our first step on the road to bringing your maps, settings, worlds to life with great characters. I’ve distilled a process down to seven steps that anyone can use to not only invent deep multidimensional characters, but to find new details and nuance […]

Worldbuilding Ep. 010: Plot Part Three, Structuring Plot from Character Desires and Forces of Antagonism

Worldbuilding Episode 010 Show Notes
I know this is taking way too long to finish, but the notes here will be updated this week. Episode 11 is being worked on right now, and should be posted by week’s end as well.
People have been asking for more of these, so…
World Builder’s Library. Get this worldbuilding book:
How to […]

Worldbuilding Ep. 009: Plot Part Two, Scene Construction and a Look at the Worldbuilding of The Incredibles

Worldbuilding Episode 009 Show Notes
Steps for Creating the Main Plotline and the Individual Scenes Within the Main Plotline

Determine your beginning and ending by considering the plot’s question and answer. The plot is a question that must be answered by the story’s ending (look at your Premise to determine the question that the plot demands to […]

Worldbuilding Ep. 008: Plot Part One, Shapes and Structure

Worldbuilding Episode 008 Show Notes
Thinking about the plot structures through which the characters experience your invented world will help you understand the overall feel and design of the world. For example, if you want the players to feel trapped or isolated (as in a horror game) you will probably migrate to using more constrained plots […]

Worldbuilding Ep. 007: Character Design Using Your Thematic Subjects

Worldbuilding Projects
Keith Curtis is an illustrator for a collection of roleplaying companies (such as Green Ronin and Hero Games) and has created a complete world ready for exploration, which can be found at Savage Earth.
Also, check out this hilarious and inventive webcomic at Giant in the Playground’s site (of Order of the Stick fame). It’s […]

Worldbuilding Ep. 006: Thematic Subjects of Your Story World

Worldbuilding Episode 006 Show Notes
Is the gaming industry dying? I respond to an article by Ryan Dancey (cocreator of Legend of the Five Rings, and key figure at Wizards of the Coast), about his predictions for 2007 and what it means for the top six roleplaying companies. Fear the Boot also addresses this article in […]

Worldbuilding Ep. 005: Premise of Your Story World

Worldbuilding Episode 005 Show Notes
Premise (from wikipedia)
The premise of a film or screenplay is the fundamental concept that drives the plot.
A good premise can usually be expressed very simply, and many films can be identified simply from a short sentence describing the premise. For example: A lonely boy is befriended by an alien; A small […]