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The Complete Art of World Building (Audiobook)

The Complete Art of World Building (Audiobook)

4.6 Stars, 72 Amazon Ratings (as of 1/2024)

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Creating a unique, immersive setting one world at a time

A guide for authors, gamers, and hobbyists

The Complete Art of World Building brings together volumes 1-3 in The Art of World Building series. This how-to guide will make readers a master of inventing imaginary worlds and help a setting stand out from the multitude of fantasy and SF worlds audiences see.

Creating Life (#1) teaches readers how to create gods, species/races, plants, animals, monsters, world figures, and even undead. Creating Places (#2) teaches how to create planets, moons, continents, land features, bodies of water, sovereign powers, settlements, interesting locales, and maps. Learn the different government types, how climate impacts vegetation, and consistently calculate how long it takes to travel by horse, wagon, sailing vessels, dragon, or in space. Cultures and Beyond (#3) teaches how to create cultures, organizations, armed forces, religions, the supernatural, magic systems, technological and supernatural items, languages, names, and various systems our world will have, from health, educational, legal, and commerce, to information systems.

The series draws on author Randy Ellefson’s quarter century of world building experience and will quickly turn a beginner into an expert, making a time-consuming project more fun, easier, and faster. Ellefson shares his experiences, lessons learned, and insights, including how much of your creations can realistically be mentioned during storytelling, how far creators should go, and what the benefits/risks to each approach might be. Elevate your work above the competition.

Build better, faster.

Audio Book Sample

Narrated by Randy Ellefson.

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Table of Contents

Creating Life TOC

Introduction

  1. Introduction
  2. Where to Start
  3. About Me
  4. Free Book
  5. Disclaimers
  6. The Chapters
  7. Templates and Newsletter

Chapter 1 - Why Build a World?

  1. Why Build a World?
  2. Using Analogues
  3. How Many Worlds?
  4. A Caveat
  5. A Question of Depth
  6. The Problem of Exposition
  7. The Value of Influences

Chapter 2 - Creating Gods

  1. Creating Gods
  2. In Science Fiction
  3. In Fantasy
  4. Pantheons
  5. Mythology
  6. Characteristics
  7. Behavior
  8. Where to Start

Chapter 3 - Creating a Species

  1. Creating a Species
  2. Species or Race?
  3. Should You Create Your Own Species?
  4. Habitat
  5. Disposition
  6. Appearance
  7. Gods
  8. Characteristics
  9. Worldview
  10. Relationships
  11. Supernatural
  12. Technology
  13. Combat
  14. The Value of Influences
  15. Where to Start

Chapter 4 - Creating World Figures

  1. Types
  2. Fame
  3. Dead or Alive
  4. Possessions
  5. Steeds and Ships
  6. Relationships
  7. History
  8. Where to Start

Chapter 5 - Creating Monsters

  1. Creating Monsters
  2. Defining Monster
  3. Origins
  4. Habitat
  5. Motivation
  6. Characteristics
  7. Where to Start

Chapter 6 - Creating Plants and Animals

  1. Should You Create Plants and Animals?
  2. Plants
  3. Animals
  4. Purpose
  5. Where to Start

Chapter 7 - Creating Undead

  1. Creating Undead
  2. Should You Create Undead?
  3. The Mind
  4. Classification
  5. Numbers
  6. Prerequisites and Prevention
  7. Time Dead
  8. Origins
  9. Goals
  10. Appearance
  11. Traits
  12. Death
  13. Where to Start

Appendices - The Templates

  1. God
  2. Species
  3. World Figures
  4. Monster
  5. Plants
  6. Animals
  7. Undead

Creating Places TOC

Introduction

  1. Introduction
  2. Where to Start
  3. About Me
  4. The Chapters

Chapter 1 - Case Studies

  1. Two Straits and a Sea of Enemies
  2. Stopping an Empire
  3. Mountains and Murder

Chapter 2 - Creating a Planet

  1. Creating a Planet
  2. The Sun
  3. Moon(s)
  4. Other Planets
  5. Stars
  6. Asteroids and Comets
  7. A Planet

Chapter 3 - Creating a Continent

  1. Creating a Continent
  2. Multiple Continents
  3. Which Hemisphere
  4. Plate Tectonics
  5. Seas vs. Oceans
  6. Bays and More
  7. Islands
  8. Where to Start

Chapter 4 - Creating Land Features

  1. Creating Land Features
  2. Mountain Ranges
  3. Water
  4. Forests
  5. Prairies/Grasslands
  6. Wetlands
  7. Deserts
  8. Settlements
  9. Where to Start

Chapter 5 - Creating a Sovereign Power

  1. Sovereignty
  2. Roles
  3. Branches of Government
  4. Parliamentary Systems
  5. Government Types
  6. How Many Powers to Invent
  7. Invent for Today
  8. Population Count and Type
  9. World View
  10.  Location
  11.  Relationships
  12. Ways to Identify a Power
  13. Reputation
  14. Where to Start

Chapter 6 - Creating a Settlement

  1. Creating a Settlement
  2. Location
  3. The Population
  4. Zonings
  5. Settlements Types
  6. Defenses
  7. History
  8. How It Is Known
  9. How Many Places to Create
  10. Where to Start

Chapter 7 - Travel over Land

  1. Travel over Land
  2. Mode of Travel
  3. Obstacles
  4. Calculation Preparation
  5. Calculations
  6. The Template

Chapter 8 - Travel by Water

  1. Travel By Sea
  2. Some Terms
  3. Ship Rates
  4. Ship Types
  5. Privateer
  6. Ship Speeds
  7. Weapons
  8. Personnel
  9. Where to Start

Chapter 9 - Travel in Space

  1. Travel in Space
  2. The Realities of Space
  3. Propulsion
  4. Distance
  5. Ship Structure
  6. Where to Start

Chapter 10 - Creating Time and History

  1. Creating Time and History
  2. Sample Entries
  3. Creation Myths
  4. Time
  5. Uses for History
  6. Event Categories
  7. Where to Start

Chapter 11 - Creating Places of Interest

  1. Creating Places of Interest
  2. Ordinary Ones
  3. Extraordinary Places
  4. Phenomena
  5. Ruins
  6. Shipwrecks
  7. Event Sites
  8. Meteors
  9. Where to Start

Chapter 12 - Drawing Maps

  1. Drawing Maps
  2. Continental Maps
  3. Drawing the World
  4. Settlement Maps
  5. Dungeon/Ship Maps
  6. Map Generation Software

Appendices - Templates

  1. Sovereign Powers Template
  2. Settlement Template

Cultures and Beyond TOC

Introduction

  1. Introduction
  2. Where to Start
  3. About Me
  4. Free Book
  5. Disclaimers
  6. The Chapters
  7. Templates and Newsletter

Cultures

  1. What is Culture?
  2. Culture Depictions
  3. Creating Culture
  4. Where to Start

Organizations

  1. Group Types
  2. Common Traits
  3. History
  4. In and Out
  5. Where to Start

Armed Forces

  1. Locations
  2. Their Weapons
  3. Their Defenses
  4. The Road to Becoming One
  5. Identifiers
  6. Those Who Serve
  7. History
  8. World View
  9. Where to Start

Religions

  1. Overview
  2. History
  3. Beliefs
  4. Names
  5. Followers
  6. Worship
  7. Locations
  8. Identifies
  9. Clergy
  10. World View
  11. Combat
  12. Afterlife
  13. Where to Start

The Supernatural

  1. Supernatural Energy
  2. Magic Paths
  3. Alternate Realities
  4. Supernatural Beings
  5. Prevalence
  6. The Impact
  7. Where to Start

Systems of Magic

  1. Principle of Good Magic Systems
  2. Do We Need a Magic System?
  3. Types of Magic
  4. Magic Prevalence
  5. Where Does Magic Come From?
  6. Social Aspects
  7. What's in a Name?
  8. Are Spells Needed?
  9. The Life of Wizards
  10. Creating Limits
  11. How to Invent Spells
  12. Where to Start

Items

  1. All Items
  2. Regular Items
  3. Magic Items
  4. Technological Items
  5. Where to Start

Languages

  1. Should We Create One?
  2. The Medium
  3. Our Options
  4. How to Hire Someone
  5. Where to Start

Names

  1. People Names
  2. Place Names
  3. Uniqueness
  4. Leveraging Existing Names
  5. General Tips
  6. Techniques for Inventing Names
  7. Name Generators
  8. Where to Start

Other Systems

  1. Education Systems
  2. Health Systems
  3. Legal Systems
  4. Commerce
  5. Information Systems

Conclusion

  1. Goals
  2. Abide By Rules
  3. Tying It All Together
  4. Approaches
  5. Top Down
  6. Bottom Up
  7. Random
  8. What to Do?
  9. File Storage
  10. Get Organized
  11. World Building Coalitions
  12. Last Words

Templates

  1. Culture
  2. Organizations
  3. Armed Forces
  4. Religions
  5. Supernatural Energy
  6. Supernatural
  7. Magic Systems
  8. Spells
  9. Legal
  10. Monetary
  11. Education

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Customer Reviews

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B
B.A. Mealer
World Building in an easy format

This made building my world so much easier and a lot less messier so I could find what I needed. It is in a format that keeps you on track, not wandering all over the place and it made the see what I'd been missing. If you are planning a series, this is a must have set which you didn't know you needed but did. Thank you Randy.

R
Ravy Ember Snow
Best worldbuilding books on the market

I bought this set with many other worldbuilding books on the market. These are really the best on the market currently, Randy’s deep dive is great and easily understandable. Recommended for newbies but also advanced worldbuilders. Not every book brings new knowledge. But with these you will learn something new or have many aha moments.

M
Mark Davis
The authoritative source

I have various other books on this subject, but volumes 1-3 of this are still the best worldbuilding books around. They're more thorough and detailed. It's obvious Ellefson has actually done everything in these books and really knows what he's talking about.

C
Christopher Price

The Complete Art of World Building

C
Clay Sharps
Grand daughter

I bought the set fot my ilfest Grandaughter, She thinks they are fantastic and has already been using what shes learned to improve her story telling.