World Building Guide

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Hi there.

This was originally written by ~N~ and I claim no credit. At request this is being reposted, the previous information was spread out quite a lot so this was done to simply consolidate the threads.

Please note I have tried editing links so that they work, however I have not checked all of them.

All following is written by ~N~

~

Welcome to World Creation!

I, ~N~, will be your mentor and guide through the process of learning how to create worlds. Worlds are essentially "settings" and every story needs a setting. As roleplayers, we most often are focused on our characters and not the world, and many people think (justifiably) that the matter of World Creation is therefore a GM-exclusive enterprise.

This is not true. As players, you will inevitably help to shape, interact with, change, and create parts of that World your characters live in, and very quickly it becomes apparent that the "Worlds" of our RPs are closer to "co-authored" places than something like a world in a video game that is just waiting for you to enter it.

Good GM's allow the players to help them shape their world. Good Players know the World they are interacting with as well as they can and share ideas with the GM in their exploration and interaction with the World of the RP they're writing in.

So World Creation is not simply something a GM does before a Roleplay is started; it is rather a process that continues throughout the Roleplay, allowing the World to become a living, organically changing thing. In order for the World to feel "alive" it must respond to your players, not simply be there for them pre-built. In order for your players to "matter" they must be able to change this World and leave their mark on it.

The various "classes/lessons" will be formed around aspects of creating your own World, interacting with it, and making it the best it can be. Since each one of these "aspects" of World Creation are connected with many others, you will/should often see that they impact and affect each other as well, like a web; you pull one strand, and it pulls all the strands connected to it. So the best way to think of these elements/aspects is that they can be distinguished from each other, but not completely, as they depend on each other to manifest fully.

~

Topic List

World Settings (How to construct an appropriate Setting)

World History (Depth, Complexity, etc)

Race Creation

Development of Religions and Cultures

Development of Powers/Magic

Development of Technology

Development of Political Systems

World Geography

Worlds based on Existing Worlds

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Thread Topic: World Settings

I'm going to start with the World Building topic of "World Settings". This is related to another topic, "World History," in that the history of a world is actually part of its Setting in many cases. Exceptions to this include "Scenario" Roleplays, such as Auki's Hunted: The Interrogation, and others which put the players into a specific artificial scenario that does not require either much setting or history.

But for a more "traditional" roleplay, whatever the genre (be it Fantasy, Western, Sci-Fi, Modern, etc) the history of the World goes hand-in-hand with the Settings of the World.

I'm going to use Kris's Until Kingdom Comes RP trilogy as a good example of a World Setting with History, Locations, Important Figures, and Events. This is not to say that there are no others, or that Kris's is the best RP World Setting--everyone has different tastes and goals with their RP Worlds--but Kris's is one I'm familiar with, and one that I think serves a good model that we can build discussion and analysis on. Please, by all means, feel free to recommend other RP Worlds that you feel serve as good examples in their own right, and be clear as to what you think they have done well that should be considered in specific details.

The point of the Setting--indeed, the point of the World itself--is to draw players in like a good book, making it easy enough for them to step into the roles of their characters and find their way in the World. The World, therefore, needs to be interesting, but also accessible. It needs to be expandable but not overwhelming.

Elements of Setting:

Scope: Essentially, you have to determine the Scope of your Roleplay in order to best determine the Scope of your World. The Scope must be manageable--both for you and your players. Part of this is giving the players a "right-size" piece of your World to play in. More isn't always better, and if you create a World that is too large at once, you'll end up with scattered players who don't really interact, and interaction is the driving force of your Roleplay World. So instead of bustling New York City, you end up with nowhere Montana (nothing against those in Montana, but you'll discover there's not a whole lot of anything going on there).

For example, Kris has only opened certain parts of her RP World up in each of her chapters. While she has more lands available, she realized that it's important to keep your players in a smaller space, together, because this helps them to play off one another and interact. The first chapter focused mainly on Ivalor, with connections in Ascares. The second chapter only focused on two kingdoms as well: Norgard and Aerosia with a touch of Chanclara. The third chapter focuses primarily on Norgard and Sigard with some events taking place in Esgares.

While it is clear in every OOC that Kris's world is quite a bit bigger than just these kingdoms which are featured in every Chapter, it is her judicious decision to keep groups of players in the same location that helps her story to move as well as it does.

Accessibility: Your players should find it relatively easy to know what the lands, history, important figures and events are, so that they can apply and interact with these elements in a way that is consistent with the World itself. If they don't know about a land or an important figure, players have only two options: do not write about it, or make up details on the spot. Players should always be allowed some freedom to improvise and flesh out legends and details that the GM has not written of, but you never want it to be the case that the players are changing things you had an idea for in a way that altars what you had in mind for your World, unless you're willing to allow for that. Therefore, players need the means to be knowledgeable about your world. So make it easy for them.

Using Kris's RP World of UKC as an example, here are a few ways you can do that:

1) Organize your details in the first page of the OOC. Make sure you break these details down specifically. You do not necessarily need to put them all on separate pages, but that's how Kris has done it. Like everything else, you need to determine what works best for you, your players, and your World. You can see in every OOC for each of her three chapters, Kris has taken the effort to not only organize the details of the world, but to provide pictures and maps to give us some visual idea of what the world looks like. Always take advantage of the fact that this is a website -- link pictures, link your different descriptions, link together media that helps your players to understand what's going on with your World. In addition, Kris has started a Group for her Until Kingdom Comes RP World that serves as a reference in case there is something that is not explained in the OOC threads that a player wants to look up.

2) Details: Provide enough details so that your players can get the basic "gist" of what they need to know. This kind of goes along with Scope, in that you need to "right-size" your content. Provide too little, and your players don't know enough to play their classes or know the important NPCs for example. Provide too much, and your players will see "WALLS OF TEXT" and will quickly get lost in all the details. This is not to say you cannot provide much larger swaths of information, but this information is best kept in a kind of reference source like Kris has for her UKC RP World in the Group.

3) Updating: It is important to keep an eye on new and changing details of your RP World, for if everything is going well, you and your players will enact events and introduce personalities that will alter what was originally there, or add to it. Likewise, the format, organization and presentation of your roleplay should change--perhaps not dramatically--but each update should reflect improvements and acknowledge additions/changes in your RP World, as well as helping to stay close to the changing focus of your various RP chapters/acts inside your RP World. Here, you can see the difference between Kris's organization and details in the first chapter and the third chapter of her UKC RP. Notice how she updates the list of the players involved (even asking them to update their profiles) and includes relevant links to new information and other chapters. Notice as well how the layout has changed. This is all important for keeping your Settings up-to-date and relevant, and it sends a strong message to your players that they and this World matter to you.

You'll notice that I didn't spend much time discussing particulars of actual "Settings" -- in my mind (and this is just me, you're allowed to think differently) the Setting mechanic has less to do with "What" you put out there, and more to do with "How" you put it out there. You could make your RP set in Brony-Land or a giant closet, or a solar system, or an inter-dimensional pocket of space-time, or simply a dream of a student who is sleeping in English class. Really, I leave those details and content specifics to you in this case, as a GM. By all means, however, if you would like suggestions for particular Settings, feel free to consult me or other players/GMs on the site!

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Thread Topic: World History (Depth, Complexity, etc)

What is a World without history? A World out of Time itself. A World without culture, events, interaction, or anything resembling anything we know. Our holidays, our celebrations, our Past revisits us every day, every month, every year -- it defined our days, months and years. It defined who we are today, and who we'll probably be tomorrow.

If a planet has been dead for 20,000 years, barren of life, it still has a history. In fact, it comes to be defined by that 20,000 years of barrenness, just as we define Mars and the Moon and other worlds in our own solar system by the idea that they have not had life on them in ages, if ever.

So it should be clear that History is an essential part of any roleplay with the exception of "Scenario" Roleplays, such as Auki's Hunted: The Interrogation, and others such as the Tavern RP which put the players into a specific artificial scenario that does not require either much setting or history.

So what should define the kind of History your World should have? How deep should it be? How complex?

Depth: The first thing you should realize is that there is always more to tell. Even if you go as deep and complex as you can imagine, and you put in a truckload of detail, there are always going to be plotlines, stories, characters and events that people (your fans and critics) are going to want to know more about. This is inevitable. So your goal should not be to be as complete as possible.

Rather, what you should aim for, is a detailed description of those events and characters most immediately relevant to your RP. To provide an example: If your roleplay centers on a fantasy world where 1,000 years ago, Wizards fought an epic war that nearly brought about the end of civilization, and as a result, the kingdoms that remained developed a class of warriors that specialized in hunting down wizards and making sure they were closely watched, and this is why the magic system, the wizard class, and the templar class (Wizard-hunters) are patterned as they are, then that part of your World's history is important in a very immediately relevant way. (see Dragon Age for the inspiration of this example)

Therefore, your level of detail about the World History should be highest with regards to these critically essential parts of your world for understandable reasons.

You should focus less on details which are not immediately important to the characters and world the players of your Roleplay will be involved in. I'm not saying you need to leave details out, but your "detail levels" should be ranked in priority:

A ) Most Immediately Relevant = Highest Detail and Focus in History Description
B ) Those events connected and branching off those immediately relevant details = Moderate/Less Focus/Description
C ) Those events not connected to or distantly removed from the focus of your RP setting = Little/No Description; Bare Mentions here and there.

If your Roleplay is set in the Vietnam War, then details of World War I and the Civil War and the Revolutionary War (even though they are wars that happened in the past on Earth, and in the past of America, if your Roleplay concerns American involvement in that war) are not critically relevant (to my mind) to the Vietnam War Roleplay setting. (now, of course if you disagree, it is up to you to make it clear how critically important they are to your Roleplay and why) So, while you could go into detail about these parts of your "Earth" World History, you shouldn't, because they're just going to distract, mislead, or confuse your players with information that is not necessary. (and it's going to take up your time to write these details!)

Finally, allow your players to help you develop your history. You should encourage them to help you fill in your History as it becomes relevant to do so. Of course, this is up to you as a GM, but generally speaking, other perspectives from other people can go a long way to saving you work and enriching your RP's History.

Complexity: When thinking of your History, complexity is likewise an option that you as GM must take into consideration with a serious thought for the relevance and the character of your RP.

A more complicated History suits a Roleplay that encourages complexity in its game play. Do you want a history of intrigue and complex relationships, alliances, and events to define the nature of the World your players are entering? Then a complex History is relevant and important.

Bear in mind, the more complicated your History is, the more difficult it will be for players not only to understand it, but to work within that context. Most people fare better with less complicated scenarios and roleplays, so be careful that you do not overcomplicate your RP History, or you will inevitably be shutting the door on a lot of interested people who may be scared away by a lack of understanding, or an insecurity about how they are going to play inside your World with their characters.

Also, it's important to note that like History details/depth, your players can bring their own complexity to the Roleplay. Your World/Setting could be fairly simple. I like to use the Warhammer 40,000 universe as an example. Basically, this universe is composed of many different factions fighting all the time in endless conflict across the universe. That's it. That's the setting. Yes, there are details about this setting, there is a history, and yes, you could read hundreds of pages on it.

But really, at the end of it all, you can sum it up in a statement that could fit into a tweet: "...in the grim nightmare of the far future, where there is only war..." That's the tagline, that's the extent of the complexity that the History brings us: War. War. War.

But inside this very simple History and Setting, there is potential for millions of individual stories and storylines. Inside this very simple History and Setting, a player could create a character and act them out in ways that the creators of this World might never have envisioned. The secret to complexity is not just in providing it for yourself, but in giving the players the space and freedom to provide it for themselves in their actions and characters. Sometimes, all you really have to do is provide the "sandbox" for limitless possibilities and let the players surprise you and carry out their intrigues and designs.

Granted, if you feel the RP World History is too simple, then by all means, throw in some complexity, but make it relevant--make it meaningful. Create an NPC/character that may even still be playing a role in your player's worlds; one who isn't so easy to figure out. Create a nation or a city where there are complex relationships and tenuous shifting deals and bargains being made on a daily basis. This can be a city, or it can be a country, or it can be a planet, or a universe. It can be a high school.

Most of all, be ready to make sure you can manage the complexity. It's okay to advise a player that maybe their plans are too complicated for what you intend, or perhaps that their History details don't seem to fit into your World in a relevant enough manner. The players should try to learn your World, and you should work with them to figure out a manageable level of Depth and Complexity within your Setting and History.

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Thread Topic: Race Creation

While you're thinking about your World's Setting and/or History, you are most likely going to have to address the question of who actually lives in your "World" (be it a school, town, city, country, planet, universe, etc). Without some kind of beings living there, after all, there's not a whole lot to be said for your world.

When talking about Race Creation, I'm going to focus specifically on those "races/species" that are most important in the Setting of your World, or most visible in the events of your History. We could say that here on Earth, insects, animals, vegetation, etc all comprise "Races" in a sense, but I think of these flora and fauna as being more part of the "Setting" than the subjects of "Race Creation".

Historical Involvement: So you've decided on your Setting, and not long after, hopefully, you've begun giving some thought to what actually has occurred there, and who was involved in these events. So in the matter of Race Creation, Historical Involvement is one of several factors you should use as a framework for the Races you'll be designing.

Let us use what I consider to be a well-known example to illustrate this point (feel free to supply your own in the responses below):

J.R.R. Tolkien features Elves and Orcs in his stories because from practically the beginning of his timeline, Elves have been present, and at least one legend in his mythos holds that Orcs were a "twisted form" of these Elves, who were captured by Morgoth and changed from their fair and beautiful form to that of the loathsome Orc. Wizards and Balrogs are also featured because, likewise, they are Maiar who have had a significant role in shaping the world of Middle Earth from nearly the beginning of time. Sauron himself is a Maiar who was "seduced" into Morgoth's service. Finally, when it comes to the One Ring, a central element of both The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings, Hobbits, for all of their relatively small involvement in the history of the World, play a rather crucial and central role to the fate of the Ring. Therefore, none of these Races were created without a central importance to the Setting and the History of the World.

Current Involvement: While a Race may have had a hand in shaping the World, they don't always stick around for the Present where your RP may take place. In Tolkien's World, the Elves are gradually "sailing away into the West" aboard their ships; they are "leaving these lands". We do not hear much of the Elves who have departed, only those who have chosen to remain behind, for one reason or another. This is deliberate: Tolkien is not concerned with informing his readers of those Elves who may have had a role in Middle Earth in the past, but rather wants the readers' attentions on those who are acting upon events there now.

Likewise, in the game, Mass Effect, the Protheans are an ancient civilization that has more or less become extinct in the last cycle, and the main reasons they have importance in the game are because of the impacts they may/do have on the game's current cycle of events including but not limited to their possible involvement in the construction of the Citadel, the Mass Effect Relays, their archives on Feros, the Prothean Beacons, the possible ancestry of the Collector Race, and their encounters with the Reapers -- all of which are active elements in the current cycle and matters of significant importance. If none of these things mattered in the Present they would not be a Race worth mentioning (or at least any significant mention).

So it is essential that your Races not only have Historical Involvement, but a Current Involvement as well, either through deeds, places, and artifacts they have left behind that are still used in the Present, and/or through active involvement themselves.

Racial Depth: J.R.R. Tolkien starts off The Hobbit with the line, "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit." He then spends several pages describing this hobbit and his hole, and all of the details you could possibly ever want to know about hobbits. This is called "Racial Depth" for the purposes of Race Creation.

When you create a Race, a Race that should have Historical Involvement and Current Involvement, you already have the makings of Racial Depth. This Race therefore has a History and a Role in the current affairs of your World which defines them and is defined by them. So who are they? Like Tolkien, you should give your players plenty of details to work with so that they have a rich idea of who and what your Races are, not just what they do or have done. In Jackson's film version of Lord of the Rings, he opens the current events stories with the character of an elderly Bilbo relating to the audience what they need to know about Hobbits. When creating Races, think of them as a "cultural profile" instead of a "character profile". Games typically come with some description of their various races, which you can find usually on a wiki about the game. Using Dragon Age as an example, you can see the following "cultural profiles" on the Humans, Elves, Dwarves, and Qunari, among others. That should give you some idea as to the level of detail and the kind of depth your central Races should have in your RP.

Important: Keep in mind, if you're drawing on popular races such as Dwarves and Elves, and you intend to use the archetypes that Tolkien or the creators of Dragon Age have developed for them, you can save yourself time and effort by indicating this, and linking to the profiles of these races that have already been compiled. Fan-fiction RPs especially can benefit from this time-saving technique when employing a well-detailed, already-existing universe for their Race descriptions. Also, pay heed to the fact that many players will assume certain aspects of your Race if you do not indicate otherwise or fill in enough details about them. Vampires are a good example: in my Unseen RP, my vampires do not behave or possess many of the qualities and characteristics of more "traditional" vampires, and I have indicated this to my players. So always be sure that your players understand any differences that you may want to include if you are using a well-known or popular Race.

Place and Interaction in the World: Finally, you should indicate specifically and in detail what your Race's place is in the world, geographically, culturally, and in their dealings with other races. In Tolkien's universe, Elves and Dwarves share a historical animosity for each other, based on past history between the two Races. This is especially detailed in the film, The Hobbit, where viewers find out why these two races don't get along, based on the collapse of a Dwarven civilization through the actions of a dragon, and the Elves' refusal to intervene on their behalf. Likewise, tensions among various "factions" of a single Race are always a likely possibility, and we have plenty of historical examples of this through our own world history, but also see instances of it in LOTR when Theoden does not feel he necessarily should aid Gondor when the latter is attacked by Sauron's forces (he eventually changes his mind, but at first he is very reluctant). So noting the connections, interactions, and dealings of your Races with each other is essential to the tapestry of your Race Creation, and helping your players to acquire an idea of how to roleplay towards one another. A simple example is the oft-cited "cliques" of high school and how they treat each other and deal with the others in their environment.

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Thread Topic: Development of Beliefs and Cultures


Once you have your Setting, History, and Races, you will likely see the need for one very defining color of these elements: Beliefs and Cultures. You probably already have ideas about both of these things if you have thought deeply enough about your Races and their Histories especially.

On Culture:
What kinds of ideas? Consider that the flavor, the distinctive qualities of any culture are what make up and define that culture. To return to Tolkien's example of the Hobbits, as Bilbo relates in his opening soliloquy in Fellowship of the Ring, "In fact it has been remarked that a hobbit's only real passion is for food. A rather unfair observation as we have also developed an interest in the brewing of ales and the smoking of pipe weed. But where our hearts truly lie is in peace and quiet and good tilled earth. For all hobbits share a love of things that grow. And yes no doubt to others our ways seem quaint, but today of all days it has been brought home to me that it is no bad thing to celebrate a simple life." From this quote alone, we have a sense for the culture of Hobbits.

Culture is what makes the British, "British" in our opinions... it comprises the defining elements of New Yorkers, Hillbillies, gangsters, the French, the Germans, the Irish, etc, etc, etc... When you think of your Races, think of their values, their customs, their rituals, their heritage, their system of government, their traditions, their attitudes, and their habits. Think of what it is they aspire to be, what they consider to be "virtues" and what they decry as "sins". If asked the question, "What is best in life?" how might the quintessential Race member answer?

Culture affects all aspects of life for a Race: their education, their civilization, their dealings and interactions with other Races, the shaping of their arts and laws, their recreational activities and their fashion, their technology and their architecture. Each Race is colored and characterized by its culture in ways that go right down to eating, sleeping, mating, and all forms of work and play, if they even celebrate or do these things. Take the World of Star Trek for example, and think how different the cultures of humanity are from those Ferengi, Klingons, Romulans, Vulcans, the Borg, and others. These cultures all behave in different ways, approach others differently, dress differently, speak differently, and believe in different goals and objectives. A Race's Culture has a direct impact on its Beliefs.

On Beliefs:
Originally this was going to be titled "Religions", but I view Religion as a kind of ritualized structure and system of Beliefs. Such Beliefs are inevitably formed out of a combination of cultural experiences and values (as well as the occasional interaction with Forces unknown). Examine this World's Religions and you shall find in them no small inspiration from the cultures from which they have arisen as well the religions and beliefs that have come before. Christianity draws on Judaism and the ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman religions, for example. Buddhism, and the man for whom that religion is best known, Siddhartha, was originally of the Hindu religion, moved among the Ascetics, and thence to the Middle Way, to finally find his place under the Bodhi tree. These groups existed within the History and Culture of the people of whom Siddhartha Gautama was a member. When you think of a Race's Beliefs, look to the Culture and History, and see if they cannot inform you as to what God(s), what rituals, what holy texts and relics, what legends and myths such a Culture might embrace and venerate. If you need examples of such things, you have only to look at the rituals, beliefs, and practices of our own Religions and Spiritual Systems.

And so you will find that Beliefs and Culture are woven inseparably into one fabric, to define a Race, and its Place in the World and History itself...

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Thread Topic: Development of Powers/Magic

No doubt some of you will want to develop a World where magic or extraordinary powers exist, and can be used by some or all of your population. This is a role-playing World after all, so why should we limit ourselves to things that fall within our narrow confines of reality as we know it? However, once we allow Magic and Powers into our World, we have to take care that they do not destroy the fabric of the reality we are trying to create, and instead serve to enhance and define our World, instead of allowing players and characters to do things and be things that would clearly not fit there.

To that end, we must consider a few different aspects of Magic/Powers: Characteristics, Accessibility, Limitations, and Systems of Use.

Characteristics: This is probably the easiest and most important point to begin with when thinking about Magic and/or Powers in your world. Put simply: What does magic look like in your world? How does it behave? Is it in the hands of gifted individuals (such as superheroes and wizards), or can everyone learn and access it to a degree? Is it a power given by the gods of your world, or is it a "force" to be used that flows through everything, like in the Star Wars universe. Or is it all of the above? It is important to think about where the Magic/Powers come from, who can tap into them, how these powers and magic work, what is required to control and direct them, what is risked in doing so, how your cultures feel about magic and powers, and why and how magic is used and dealt with by those who use it in their dealings with each other and with others who do not possess magic and powers.

There are many kinds of magic and power systems available to help you design one (or borrow one!) for your World. Tolkien's magic works very differently from magic in the Forgotten Realms or Dark Sun campaigns based on the Dungeons and Dragons system, and Dragon Age's mages cast spells from a source (the Fade, lyrium and blood) that is very different from the source of magical powers in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter universe, or the Warhammer 40,000 universe, where Orks draw their power through a belief in Gork and Mork, and simply painting something red makes it somehow "go fasta".

Likewise, in each of these Worlds, there is a social and cultural dynamic at work between and among those beings who use magic, and between and among those who do not. In the Potter universe, the ones who cannot use magic are Muggles and these people are kept separate from (mostly) the wizards of the world (who mostly congregate at Hogwarts). In Warhammer 40,000, magic and science-fiction technology play hand-in-hand, so that you have magic-casting Eldar and Space Marines who drive divine might and power from the Emperor, and you have the technological elements of the Imperium and other species. So do not think these things have to be separate; in many ways, multiple systems of technology and magic can be blended perfectly well together, much as they are in the Avengers universe.

Accessibility: Once you have figured out a basic idea of how your magic looks, feels, and works (most likely based off of one of your favorite books, games, or films -- and that's totally okay!) what you need to determine next is a quality called "accessibility". In the Dungeons and Dragons realms, this is typically noted as a "level" of magic in the world--meaning, how prevalent, how available is your magic? What are the paths to acquiring it? How restricted is it? How difficult is it to learn? Who teaches it? Who is allowed to teach and use it?

Let us look at the Dragon Age: Origins World, for example. In Dragon Age: Origins, magic is something that only those born as mages can use. However, the ability to use magic means that these mages are exposed to the Fade, where spirits--some of them demonic--reside, who can attack or possess the mages for their own ends, since magical power is drawn from the Fade. Because the threat of possession and the danger they pose, as well as the History of the World where the magisters (mage lords) of the Tevinter Imperium enslaved thousands of people for their gruesome rituals with magic, the Chantry has ordered that all mages be taken immediately to one the "Circle" towers, to be cared for and taught by mages who have learned to control their magic, and watched very closely by Templars who have learned to resist magic and specialize in tracking down and killing mages in combat. Thus, mages are more or less "imprisoned" within these Circle towers, and thus cut off from the rest of the world outside of the Tevinter Imperium (where they still roam free). Because of this, most people are very wary and suspicious of mages roaming free because they shouldn't be there to begin with. Those mages which refuse to be taken to the Circle towers are called "apostates" and are hunted relentlessly by the Templars.

Therefore, in this world, magic is only accessible if you are born into it. Afterwards, you are condemned (if born in a fairly civilized area) to be taken to the Circle and watched over by Templars and other mages like yourself for more or less the rest of your life, because you are a potential vessel for demonic entities. Now and then, mages are allowed out to assist with problems of the World, such as Blight invasions of darkspawn, but they are relegated to the Circle towers for the vast majority of their existences. Because of this, there are generally only a few paths open to the average magic-capable individual: through the teachings and understandings of the Circle, through a renegade teacher in the Wilds (or among the Daelish Elves if you happen to BE a Daelish Elf AND magic-capable), through magical tomes and texts picked up on your journeys, or--the riskiest option--through the direct intervention of an entity of the Fade. The last option almost always leads to eventual possession, even in experienced mages, which is why the Circle towers were built.

Any player wanting to create a magic-capable character in a World that has an accessibility similar to Dragon Age will have to confront these accessibility problems and address them within your World. So give some thought as to how accessible you wish you to make magic in your world, because it can define a lot of your World's history, cultures, and interactions with magic-capable characters!

Limitations: Now that you've figured out how your magic looks and feels, and how accessible it is, and to whom, it's time to figure out what you can and cannot do with it, and at what cost. Limitations are essential to any magic system -- with no limitations, you'll quickly discover that your magic-using characters can become or are "gods" more or less, able to make reality whatever they wish it to be. Most Worlds with magic have levels of magic use, and various individuals throughout those levels for a variety of reasons. What limits magical use in your World? Is it based on intelligence of your characters? Is it based on some kind of in-born capability (Dragon Age), or heritage (Thor), or blood type (Harry Potter)? How far can a character go with their magic and why? In the Potter universe, there's a sense of learning, willpower, capability and focus required for certain spells to be cast successfully. In Dragon Age, the mage must have sufficient stores of willpower and mana, and must reach certain levels of experience to be able to unlock more magical spells to cast.

Obviously, along with Limitations, are ways around those limitations. Generally this is not looked upon favorably. In the Potter universe, Voldemort attempts, through magic, to acquire immortality for himself, and this comes at a very high cost. In Dragon Age, mages can increase their magical power and manipulate others to do their bidding by accessing Blood Magic, which is forbidden by the Chantry because it enslaves people to the magic-user's will, and uses the mage's own lifeblood to fuel his/her magic. This allows the mage to continue casting long after the mana reserves of other mages have run dry. Of course, all blood magic is rumored to come from demons, so the mage not only risks increased chances of death through tapping their own blood as fuel, but also courts an even higher probability of possession through blood magic use. In Star Wars, a Jedi restricts his/her use of the Force to those techniques approved by the Order, whereas the Sith are willing to go beyond these limits to utilize the Force for other ends, including immortality, powers that are not accessible to Jedi who maintain the code (such as Force Lightning), and the increase of their own powers beyond what is considered acceptable, often for destructive purposes.

So the key takeaway for Limitations is defining what they are for your magic-users (what they are based on) and also ways that a magic-user may bypass them, at a usually steep cost. This will give your magic-users a sense of not only what they can do, but what they should do, which, as you can see from the above examples, provides quite a bit of distinctive flavor, complexity and depth to your World.

Systems of Use: Finally we come to "systems of use" in the development of magic and powers for your world. By this point, you might be thinking "It's about time we get to schools of magic and spells and how powerful they are, and spell resistances and which spells work where, and for how long" and all that good stuff.

But I'm not here to tell you how to develop a spell system. Why? Because this is a role-playing forum, not a game. If you want to role-play with dice and spells that are detailed and cataloged in an entire system with points and levels and resistances, then do yourself a favor and pick up one of those D&D manuals or any number of other related d20 systems, GURPS, or Pathfinder. Run a search for D&D Play-by-post and you're on your way.

Ultimately, as long as you're not here to design a system that involves calculation and numbers that must demonstrate mathematical balance and hold up in the face of scrutiny, you can get by with a lot less. There are some general important details that will go a long way to defining and giving your magical System of Use a distinctive and recognizable quality:

1) How are spells cast? In Dragon Age and Tolkien's worlds, wizards must use staves. In Harry Potter, wands must be used. In D&D (up to third edition at least), Wizards had to use spellbooks from which they memorized spells, which they could only use a limited number of times.

2) What are the types of magic in your world? The Warhammer Fantasy setting is a good example of multiple types of magic: there are the Winds of Magic, each a different color that have different effects they can have if you channeled and used by mages. Elves use all the Winds in concert together in what is called High Magic. Dark Elves smash the Winds together into a black energy that is volatile called Dark Magic. Chaos followers use the Winds without control in their raw form, causing mutation and random/chaotic effects upon casters, lands, objects and enemies and summoning demons from the Warp. Skaven use a particular kind of Magic of Decay that draws power from the Horned Rat. Vampires utilize Necromantic magic fueled by corpses and blood. The Tomb Kings use a different kind of Necromantic magic. Ogres use a kind of "Gut Magic" that is tied directly to their insatiable appetites. And Orks use the "Waaaaagh" magic from Gork and Mork to enact their shamanistic spells, while the Empire wizards each train in one Wind of Magic to specialize in for their spells. This is an example of multiple kinds/schools of magic in the same world. You can see similar schools set up in D&D, Dragon Age, and even Magic the Gathering.

3) What are some well-known spells, magical items, and magic-users in your world? Players often like having "go-to" models for their characters; spells they can rely on, NPC's to aspire to be or meet, magical artifacts to find, and a history and cultural background that gives the magic-user a sense of context and a place in your World that they fit into.

Again, this is only a very brief overview concerning the development of magic and powers in your world. Keep in mind that the more you can tie your magic/powers into the Setting, History, Races, and Beliefs and Cultures of your World, the more your players will feel like their characters, as magic-users, will have a meaningful and well-defined place and role in your role-playing universe. But don't go it alone! There are plenty of people out there with great ideas about what they want their magic-users and powers to be, and where they might have come from and how they might be used in your World. Consider these ideas, and think how they may fit into your World in a way you hadn't considered before! A smart GM always keeps an open mind towards his/her players and considers them as co-creators of the World s/he imagined.

[V]

Thread Topic: Development of Technology

Along with such things as Magic, History, Setting, and Characters, one question that seems critical to building the World of your RP is this: What kinds of Technology are there?

There are many different factors to consider here, including, but not limited to the following:

• What types of technology are in use?
  
  
  • Are there different types, such as technology run off magical sources (such as Warhammer 40k's Ork "Waaagh" magic making things work when they shouldn't), spiritual technology (such as Warhammer 40k's Machine Gods), technology made from certain materials that are difficult to acquire (such as Final Fantasy's materia)?
  • How do these different technologies come into play with each other? Do they work together, or are they at odds? Is there just one kind of technology (such as steampunk) or are there a number of different ways to build and engineer things?
  • How are these different technologies employed? Are they tools? Are they means of living (such as Darth Vader's suit)? Are they emblematic of classes and orders (such as lightsabers for Jedi and Sith)? Are they necessary for the functioning of society (such as a biodome on a foreign planet, or under the sea)?
  
  
• Where are they used?
  
  
  • Is this a culture of floating islands (Bioshock: Infinite's Columbia)? Is this a sea-based culture (Bioshock's Rapture)?
  • Is this a place in hostile territory of some kind (Fallout, post-nuclear radioactive wasteland, or a foreign planet with hostile envirns and atmosphere, or lack thereof, or an abandoned ship in space)
    
    Obviously this question ties into the others, and other elements such as history, and thus influences and contextualizes the various aspects that give your players something to consider when they participate and think about their characters' lives inside your world.
  
  
• Who is allowed to use them?
  
  
  • As mentioned above, is technology restricted to certain people? Why? Is it based on control, politics, religious and cultural beliefs, authority, wealth, or something else?
  • How does this freedom or restriction play out? If everything is available to everyone, how is it controlled if it is used to negative ends (even with positive intentions)?
  • What part do resources and setting and history play in the accessibility (or lack thereof) of this technology, or certain types? (For example, in our world, we are trying to control the usage of fossil fuels in some places, and avoid nuclear power in others, because of cultural and historical values and events)
  • What opportunities are provided for accessing illegal technology? What does the black market look like? What opportunities are there for interacting with it for your players?
  
  
• How does this technology reflect and interact with culture, history, and other elements such as magic?
  
  
  • Obviously, having a world with both varying levels of technology and other forces (spiritual, magical, etc) at work make for an even more complex framework. What does this look like and why?
  • Is magic and technology kept separate? Are they fused (ie, Mako reactors and materia in Final Fantasy games, or Chaos/Waaagh magic in Warhammer 40k) or are they kept separate (ala Warcraft, and many traditional fantasy settings)?
  • Why has this integration/separation occurred? Is it part of cultural beliefs? Historical events? Current regimes?
  
  
• What influence, what part does technology play inside the beliefs, economy, politics, and values of the societies it is used in?
  
  
  • Technology impacts culture and society. Today, for example, we send instant messages instead of mail, we make purchases online, and have them delivered to us. In a world where magic and technology are at play, what is possible? Are there warp drives? Are their portals between places? Are there networks and virtual realities? Is there surveillance and tracking? Are there cybernetic enhancements?
  • Technology affects nations and groups of people differently. Is everything equal? Or are there haves and have-nots by choice or circumstance (I'm thinking of the Vox Populi versus the Columbian citizenry in Bioshock: Infinite, or the separation between classes in the film Elysium)? What conflicts and opportunities does this provide and constrain your players to?
  • Is the technology emblematic of different factions (such as in Fallout: New Vegas, where the New California Republic has one set of technology, New Vegas and Mr. House have another, and Caesar's Legions have still others)? Is the technology reflective of the beliefs and values of these factions (such as the different colored lightsabers in Star Wars, the different ships and weapons in Star Trek, or the Machine Spirit in Warhammer 40k)?
    
    Technology speaks as much about those who use it as it does about how it's designed by those people. Did they build it or just scavenge it? Do they still have the knowledge to engineer it or have they lost it, and why?

I've only hit on a very small percentage of questions here that you'll definitely want to consider when implementing technology into your World. Also, bear in mind that the more detail you provide for your players about specific technology, the more they will be able to work with that in their own creative fashion. However, also remember not to overload them! You do not need an Encyclopaedia Technologica for your players to wade through after all, and too much information is more daunting than not-enough.

Keep your perspective open, and remember that your players are most likely going to come up with uses for your technology you did not anticipate. Let them, within reason! Part of the reason we have technology at all is because people think up new ways to make things work for them, so bear that in mind when your players use weapons and tools in ways you never thought of! Give them enough to work with, and let them take it from there. If they have questions about what is possible with that technology, you can address those questions in private or public as they come up without burdening yourself and your players with a tome that tries to preconceive every possible application of technology imaginable.

I hope this guide, and specifically these questions, get you to think about how to make technology not only relevant and functional, but critically meaningful in your RPs now and in the future!

[V]

Thread Topic: Development of Politics

When considering the cultures, histories, and races of your World for your player characters to get involved in, a GM should always consider politics, because like technology, magic, culture, and history, politics can have a lot of influence on how affairs are conducted, what is respected, what is allowed, and what laws and governments the players will have to deal with. Bear in mind that politics is definitely woven into these other aspects of your World as much as they are woven into each other, so it may help you to think of them together, rather than in isolation or in separate categories.

Using our modern 21st century world as a model, a few things become immediately apparent regarding politics and political systems:

1) There are many different kinds, all of them functioning more or less internally and with each other. You have monarchies, you have communist governments, you have democracies, you have tribal systems of government, and you have dictatorships and places that are in a state of flux and civil unrest where there is no secure government in place. So it is entirely conceivable for your World to have multiple systems of politics in place, each with their own histories and cultural values, laws, morals, and ideologies.

2) Likewise, there are also many potential levels of politics and government for a particular kingdom(s). Here in the United States--to oversimplify things--we have Federal, State, and Local governments and laws. We have court systems and procedures that dictate what is legal and illegal in every state, and sometimes, these local/state governments disagree with each other or the federal government. We also have two major political parties that make it a point to disagree on a number of issues and the implementation (or repealing) of laws that surround those issues. So there are a number of opportunities here for alliances and resistance on major issues that matter to the people of your World and their political communities.

3) Each country/nation/kingdom has any number of means to participate at the political level, and reasons why political figures matter. Most obviously is that political figures are defined by a certain amount of public authority and power that they wield. But where does this come from? Their wealth? Their title? Their bloodline? Their ancestry? Their popularity? Their capabilities? Their military power?

Another question to consider is how these political figures are regarded? Are they considered iron-fisted tyrants? Are they respected? How does their position allow them or keep them from engaging in certain acts? A psychopathic boy-king (Game of Thrones) may get away with horrendous acts just because he is a member of a noble family and happens to be endorsed for his throne by his family members. Likewise, he may not be respected but still feared for his invested power.

Who these beings are, as people, colors and influences who they are in their political positions. A sheriff may be corrupt or the very epitome of justice, like a king, and his/her position gives him the authority to carry out that corrupt/just nature in political and authoritative ways. A nation may turn on a dime (as they have done in our world) depending on who is in power. It may go from being a monarchy to a democracy or communist government and from there into an oligarchy or theocracy or plutocracy, depending on the views and visions of the people in power.

4) What is the relevance of your political figures for the immediate experience of your players? An emperor we never see or here from in your RP doesn't matter nearly as much as a local lord or governor who controls the environment and community your players act in. I encourage you to keep to the relevant personalities in a particular community and situation, so that the main political figures your players deal with are relevant.

This, of course, does not mean you have to limit yourself to these figures, but it helps to narrow the scope of personalities your players have to keep track of, and makes these people, by comparison, mean more to the immediate world of the players. For example, John was the King in the Robin Hood stories, but really, it was the Sheriff of Nottingham who was the most immediate and relevant personage to the events of those stories, not John. So the relevance of a political person means more to your players than the "absolute value" of their position or title.

5) What opportunities for political transformation and participation do your players have at their disposal. Giving a player a chance to get involved in the political machinations of your world can add life and meaning to their character development. Many players fail to take advantage of the extra dimensions that political positioning and power can afford a character beyond their own personality and capabilities. Where does your character come from? How high or low are they on the "pecking order" of the society they live in? Are they ostracized or respected? Feared or merely obeyed out of formality?

Some societies are stoically resistant to transformation: A certain order has reigned for some time, things have "always" been this way, and the community upholds these venerated traditions based sometimes solely on how long they have endured. Pantheons or cosmic forces many times fall into this kind of politics (such as the Reaper cycle in Mass Effect). In these cultures, tradition and centuries/millennia old customs are the order of the day (such as how kings are picked in Lord of the Rings).

Other societies are much more prone to change, either from within or without. Democracies for example that act on suffrage and representation through voting allow for legal and prescribed means of changing political systems and power. One party may be ousted while another takes its place in a single election.

Still other societies are in a state of transition. A monarch who is too old or too young may be on the throne, surrounded by powerful advisers. There may be a general who through his/her own feats and accomplishments, wins more popularity than the existing government (such as was the case with Julius Caesar and the Roman Senate), and this makes the political system ripe for change. Players will want to take part in these societies and align themselves with factions they identify with. It provides opportunities for conflict and intrigue, surprise reversals and conquests, depending on how things proceed (think Game of Thrones or Fallout:New Vegas).

6) Finally, I encourage you to provide accessible and bite-sized snapshots of the politics of your World and the immediate situation to your players. Give them a concise, but clear vision of where their characters might stand, what opportunities they have, and what political systems they'll be dealing with. Again, I advise that you keep it manageable; give them too much, and it overwhelms people, and a lot of the information is distracting and irrelevant to the immediate situation. If you're envisioning a bigger world, with ages of history and political action, then save that for sequels and other spin-offs of your RP's. That way there is always plenty of room to expand into in other other areas that will continue to intrigue and draw on the curiosity of potential players, while giving them enough to chew "for now."

I've only lightly touched on a few of the main issues of successfully developing political systems for your World here, so I invite you to add other considerations of your own, or feel free to ask me questions about anything I've said here, or some other relevant aspect of politics in RP's. Above all, I definitely encourage you to consider the political dimensions of your World -- politics provides an endless opportunity for all kinds of conflict, intrigue, relationships, upheaval, meaningful action, and character development. We are, most of us, without even realizing it, political animals in our own right.

[V]

Thread Topic: World Geography

In every world, there are places. Places have significance and meaning on a number of different levels to people. Sometimes it's just a place you have a personal attachment to; sometimes it's a place that is nationally recognized. Sometimes it's both. Places and Geography can be natural and artificial, they can be inanimate or animate, and a place can suddenly take on many levels of meaning depending on the events that have happened there and the people involved. This post will feature a few aspects of place and geography in your world to consider, but as ever, I encourage you to suggest and consider other ways place can be important in any RP World.

What are the significant "Places" of your World?

This question has a lot to do with what kind of "World" you are creating. Is it a starship? Is it an undersea city? Is it a section of a galaxy? In Mass Effect, for example, significant places include the Citadel, and planets that belong to the different races (Tuchanka, for example), planets and worlds on which certain events have/do take place (Eden Prime), where Prothean records are kept (Ilos), where certain factions gather (Omega), or where certain plot significance is located (such as the the Omega Relay).

When thinking about significant places in your World, it is essential to consider what role they serve in the history of your world, how they have changed, what function they perform, and how the civilizations and beings of your RP have interacted with these places. The Alps in our world have been the subject of numerous pieces of literature, Mecca is a place that Muslims make pilgrimage to, Hiroshima and Nagasaki are cities that are essentially defined by the second World War and what happened there, and the pyramids of Egypt are significant for their visual, architectural and historical characteristics.

Who are these places significant to, and why?

Another essential aspect of places and geography to consider is who they are meaningful to and why. An Aztec temple may have had great cultural significance to the Aztec culture, and yet that importance was almost completely lost or misrecognized by Spanish conquistadors. A door in a mountain may be invisible to all but the dwarves who made it, and the wizards who know it as the entrance to an ancient city. A simple meadow or grove may completely mundane to all who pass through it daily, and yet, for one particular couple, it might be the place where they had their first kiss, or their last.

Likewise, if you can, encourage your players to connect their characters to places in a meaningful way. A character may have lived by a particular sea or mountain all their lives, or perhaps this place is significant to their cultural values or belief systems. Alternatively, there may be places that your player's characters dread for their cultural, historical, or personal significance. For example, the Men of the White Mountains, who are now ghosts, are dreaded and known by several of the main characters in LOTR, and Gimli dreads going into the mountain, which is contrary to his being a dwarf, as he admits -- so a place he would normally feel right at home at, suddenly is a place he'd rather avoid at all costs. He has a similar reaction when he is forced to travel through Fangorn Forest and the Elvish woods in LOTR, not just because the forest itself is not an environment he is altogether comfortable in (it's rather foreign to him), but because of his cultural and racial tensions with the Elves, who inhabit the forests of the world.

What is the impact of the historical, religious, cultural significance of a place?

Weathertop (LOTR) and the Alamo (Texas) are two places that are significant for their place in historical significance. Jerusalem (and many places within it) has multifaceted historical, cultural and religious value for many different people. This kind of significance is not just important on its own -- it drives events, negotiations, conflicts, and provides motivation on a number of levels to the civilizations and characters in your World. Oftentimes a place will be significant to different cultures for different reasons, or possess historical significance in a negative or positive way, opening the possibility for reclamation, for political ambition, or for acquisition (perhaps an ancient city buried under the sands, or a shipwreck lost beneath the waves carrying magical or valuable relics).

On a more personal level, a place can be emotionally significant. Invite your players to explore your World (whatever portion you provide to them) and create/write in a place of their own that their characters have a personal, emotional connection to. Have them think about places in their own lives where certain memories are located and make that part of their bios and your World. Remember, this is another opportunity for them to add to your World, and make a personal investment that they will carry with them, and fight for or remember fondly or with sadness.

What is the functional and strategic significance of a place?

Boom towns are places that become significant overnight. A rare/valuable resource is discovered, and in a flash, a community springs up around this resource. Many "Old West" stories are centered around such towns, where criminal elements, the local sheriff and peacemakers, migrants, and townies are thrown into the mix together in an escalating series of events simply because of this resource discovery.

Sometimes, a place like Gettysburg in the U.S. Civil War becomes significant not because there's really anything there of significance, but because of its strategic value in the War itself. To this day, Gettysburg's sole significance is the role it played towards the end of the war as a place where the South dearly with losses, and was unable to capture a central nexus of roads that would have caused incredible problems for the North's supply chains.

The 38th parallel in the Korean War likewise acquired a strategic significance as the line where North Korea and South Korea were divided, and military factions took up sides and engaged in conflict. That line remains a significant divider between two very different nation cultures today, even though technically the "line" itself is invisible, and there's nothing about the territory itself that really demarcates it in a significant way from any other nearby place.

Likewise, rivers, hills, and mountains can all serve as boundaries, and divisions between kingdoms, or places of battle. The Dead Marshes are marked as the site of an ancient battle in LOTR history, and have truly become transformed as a result of that battle into an otherworldly place that looks nothing like it once did. Troy (Ilium), the ancient city of the epic poems the Iliad, Odyssey, and Aeneid, is centered in a geographical place that is strategic economically and militarily for its positioning on a high overlook over the Aegean Sea and Turkish Straits that lead into the Black Sea. It was so strategic in this fashion that more than nine cities have been discovered built on top of each other on that very same location.

Are there places of hidden significance and mystery in your world?

Never underestimate the draw of a good surprise. Not all places are understood, and remain a puzzling mystery that eludes our best efforts to figure them out. Teotihuacon was not built by the Aztecs, but found by them, abandoned. To this day we have no idea who built it. There are theories about Stonehenge, but nothing is confirmed yet. Likewise, we still don't know how the people of Easter Island moved the famous stone heads that place is known for.

Places of mystery are always sites of adventure and possibility for your players. You can make them in a number of different ways: 1) You personally can know the secret significance of the place, and keep it hidden; 2) you can leave it without any known significance, and let your players and plot events determine its future significance (if any); 3) you can invite your players to theorize or make significance of it. These are not exclusive to each other, but you can see where a mysterious place can provide multiple opportunities for RP interaction and plot development as well as the creation/development of another significant place in your World.

These are just a few possible considerations to take into account when creating your World and deciding on Geography and Places that matter. Again, I encourage you to keep the range of places manageable and relevant so that their significance is not lost in a deluge of more places than you or your players can reasonably keep track of. Naturally, you can have many more places in store to be discovered in future sequels, prequels, spin-offs and expansions in your RP Worlds.

[V]

Thread Topic: Worlds based on Existing Worlds

Shakespeare was best known for what he could do with a story--provided it was told to him first. That's not something many people know about the Bard: most of his stuff isn't actually from an "original" plot, as we might think of it today. Instead, he took existing stories and rewrote the dialogue, turning them into the plays we know and celebrate today. So let that be a point of encouragement to you: Some of the best literary and dramatic material we have today is none too original, but it's rewritten well.

Likewise, creative people have been doing this forever with songs and film. There are two paths you can go with a piece of music for example: 1) Technician, 2) Virtuoso. The Technician, like a computer, will endeavor to hit every note exactly as it is with all the precision of a machine. When s/he is finished, they will have created an exact replica of the original. The Virtuoso, instead, will play the piece, but will change notes, miss notes, add notes, and yet, when s/he is finished, critics will recognize it as a masterpiece that is still true to the original, but in spirit, not technical replication, and it will be hailed as original and demonstrative in its own right.

For example, many people are familiar with Jimi Hendrix's All Along the Watchtower. But this song is actually a cover of Bob Dylan's song by the same name, written six months before Jimi did his version. And many people believe Jimi's cover is actually the better of the two versions. So before you think that a cover cannot possibly outperform the original, have a look at your discography and realize that more songs in there than you probably realize are covers of others' work, and are critically laudable in their own right.

So without further ado, here are some things to keep in mind when you are creating a World based on another:

1) Fan-Fiction: What you're engaging in is essentially a fan-fiction enterprise, and as such you should be mindful that one of the crops of people you will draw to your World are existing fans of that existing World. Whether it's Star Wars, Warhammer, Harry Potter, Final Fantasy, Lord of the Rings, or any one of a million "Worlds" that people are already familiar with, be mindful that these people are coming to your World with expectations. They will want to see that you are mindful of the content and integrity of those things they hold dear. If you're creating a Star Wars RP without lightsabers, for example, you better anticipate that a lot of people are going to be disappointed.

2) Pay Attention: Bearing that in mind, you should definitely make certain that there are recognizable elements in your World that are true to the spirit of that world. Such things include familiar settings, places, characters, and elements. A Dragon Age World for instance will have some part of Thedas in it as part of the Geography, and magic will work like it does with Lyrium, and there probably should be Templars and Mages, and hopefully a few guest appearances of major characters from time to time. Reward your players with care and attention to those elements in the Existing World that they are fond of, and they'll likely reward you with happiness and enthusiasm.

3) But Don't Replicate: Listen to me -- you're never going to be able to out-Tolkien Tolkien; Rowling will always be better at Harry Potter than you. So don't try to get everything precisely like they did it. The best you can ever hope for is that people will say that you hit everything just as they would have done it. That's it. That's the ceiling.

So go your own way. Introduce new characters, new twists, new places, new events in the timeline, or reboot the series/franchise (an option that is overwhelmingly popular with films today). Yes, you might draw some criticism from die-hard fans who want to see the exact same thing -- that's a good thing. Those people are unfortunately stuck in what they want, and have no appreciation for anything different. Kindly advise them that if they want to read more Rowling and Tolkien, the books are already there.

The same goes for your own work. If you got a World based on another World off the ground and it was a successful RP, don't just do the same thing for each RP after, otherwise you'll get stuck in a rut. Music fans almost always feel betrayed and criticize a band when they try to do something different. Look at Metallica's discography for instance: There are people who are like "CLASSIC AND THAT'S IT. EVERYTHING AFTER MASTER OF PUPPETS SUCKS." And then you get people who liked S&M. Usually these groups of fans don't cross over much. But the lesson here is this: There will always be people who like your stuff. They may not be the same people, but that's the only way you can bring anything new to the table.

Otherwise you end up like Disturbed or Godsmack or one of those bands that sounds the same album after album. Don't be afraid to change it up, alienate your fans, and ignore the cries of betrayal. You're not trying to replicate Worlds; you're recreating them.

4) Different but Familiar: That being said, I encourage you to get creative while maintaining the recognizable elements. One of the best examples of what I'm talking about here is the James Bond theme. You know the one. For each of the films in the last 50+ years, a different artist has gotten a chance to take that same pre-packaged theme and do something different and creative with it: Sheryl Crow. Garbage. Madonna. Chris Cornell. Adele.

That's the very essence of what you're doing with your World based on Existing World. It's your chance to take that same world, pre-packaged, and change it up; make it your own, put your own mark on it. As you can see, each of these artists pushed the boundaries in so many different ways on this same theme -- that's your opportunity here. Take it and run with it.