The Worldbuilding Summer Camp is here! This fourth and final prompt wave is themed around Decay, so let’s look at how you can approach this theme and the various prompts! The diamond theme: decay Most things decay over time, but, just like all other themes, decay can be understood in a multitude of ways. There’s physical decay, but there’s also moral decay—both often go hand-in-hand with old organizations, and physical decay can be used as a metaphor for moral decay. Think about how people in your world try to prevent decay too! Decay itself implies change, so you have an easy connection ..read more

The Worldbuilding Summer Camp is here! This second prompt wave is themed around Refuge, so let’s look at how you can approach this theme and the various prompts! The silver theme: refuge Where do you go when everything around you changes? A refuge can be a literal place (like a building or a city), but it can also be anything that keeps you safe or comforts you. The change someone takes refuge from can also be small in the grand scheme of things—sometimes, small changes can have deep consequences on a specific person or group. You can tie this in with the previous week’s theme and make th ..read more

My favorite thing about Summer Camp is how the community comes together to support each other and create amazing things. Like every year, some people in the community have created tools and resources to help their fellow campers. Here are some of them—check them out and share the love! Graylion’s personal progress tracker Looking for a way to track your Summer Camp progress during July? Graylion has created a tracker that works basically like an RPG statblock, which means you can embed it right into your world (for example, in your prep/homework article). Check this for an example, and instruc ..read more

The Worldbuilding Summer Camp is here! This first prompt wave is themed around Change, so let’s look at how you can approach this theme and the various prompts! The copper theme: change Tumultuous times are interesting moments to set stories in, whether they be due to natural disasters, sickness, conflicts, or others. Characters face unusual challenges, infrastructure breaks down, and society as a whole can change. Change can be big and small—from the size of a small community or city to the entire universe—, and it can be positive and negative. With these prompts, you’ll think about chan ..read more

One of the biggest worldbuilding challenges of the year is just around the corner—and you can help make it even more awesome! Want to sponsor a prompt for Summer Camp 2024 and see your name in lights? You’ll get a crack at being a worldbuilding judge, all while giving back to the amazing World Anvil community. If you’re interested in becoming one of the Summer Camp community sponsors, read on! HOW ARE SUMMER CAMP COMMUNITY SPONSORS CHOSEN? Summer Camp community sponsors are the amazing beans that judge entries for the various prompts in the challenge. If you become a community sponsor, you’ll ..read more

It’s June… which means that Summer Camp season has started! As we begin preparing for the Worldbuilding Summer Camp in July, let’s take a look at the news for this month.  Feature trickle-down: Advanced Homepage Everyone now has access to the Advanced Homepage options in your world settings! This includes custom text areas and changing the position of the default widgets (such as the timeline list and the table of contents). Check out the Changelog page on World Anvil for the full changelog. Worldbuilding Awards 2024 winners page The winners of this year’s Worldbuilding Awards are out ..read more

Worldbuilding encourages you to think in terms of eons, continents, and mass populations. When it’s time to set the story hooks for your next campaign or novel, you’ll have to narrow your focus on the present and specific. In fact, your whole story might hinge on a single antagonist character! Let’s dive into adding drama to your setting with conflict and characters! Set story hooks by stirring up conflict You likely have created factions, just from figuring out how things work in your world. Governments, bureaucracies, and armies are concerned with power. Universities, guilds, and secret soci ..read more

As long as there have been people, there have been stories. Some explain a shared past – wars, plagues, and migrations. Some of these stories speculate about mysteries that surround us. For example, why the seasons change, or how that big smoking mountain came to be. If you’re creating a game or novel setting, the people of your world will have these cherished stories as well. Yes, folks! It’s time to talk about worldbuilding religion, creating a mythology and worldbuilding history! History, religion, myths and legends all add depth to your fictional world. They make it feel old, inhabited and ..read more

You may have crafted an amazing landscape for your tabletop RPG or novel setting. You may have drawn elaborate maps, and created entire cosmologies. But until it has people – not just humans, but any sapient species – it’s a dead world. Stories can’t happen there. Worldbuilding cultures, establishing governments (and pitting them against each other), and creating a fantasy economy are the elements that start to bring your world to life, and set the stage for adventure! In this guide, we’ll touch on how to populate your world with sapient species, develop cultures and ethnicities, establish the ..read more

So, you’re thinking of dipping your toes into short story writing for Adventure April? Awesome choice! When you write a short story, it’s like crafting a gourmet appetizer, packed with all the flavor and impact of a novel, but condensed into a single perfect bite. Or if you’re a caffeine junkie, it’s like an espresso shot instead of a full pot of coffee – intense, concentrated, but satisfying. Writing a short story is different from writing a novel, in more ways than simply word count. You still need engaging characters, a gripping plot, and evocative worldbuilding – but you must fit it all in ..read more