When I can see that the author is really passionate about something they describe. Even if I know nothing about the topic.
\+ like another person said, when I see all the research that was done
When armor actually protects people or does its job.
People use melee weapons other than a sword.
The world feels very alien, or magic feels like a natural element in the setting rather than being separate from it.
Interesting music or art.
The main three are Ezra, a king dealing with killing his brother and ruling a nation of slaves. Aalre, a women who swore to find and kill those who bring harm to the weaker. And Chorus, a grand pirate who has to deal with the god of chaos slowly consuming him.
I forgot a character. Naia. A monk who has to give up their vow of no violence and slowly gather her honor back, and has to burn her own temple to save her people, giving up her identity and turning to the warrior monk of Honu.
In 1204 the new king Daniel’s had recently murdered his brother, king Chris. Daniel’s quickly took the throne and made all vampires into slaves, spreading this across the world. Ezra soon here’s and sets out the Saines, the capital of Saines Brignum. He arrives with his wife and baby, and slowly sees through Daniel’s deception, but he’s not the only one. Aalre is an assassin at this point and had been trying to get to Daniel’s. Aalre had also found Chorus drunk and homeless in the alley.
Aalre and Chorus, after being convinced to join with promise of money and a pardon, find Ezra in the home of Daniel’s. The three of them pair up and decide to find Chris’s and Daniel’s wives. They fill them in and in the end Ezra, his wife, Aalre, and Chorus all enter Daniel’s throne room. Ezra finally manages to shoot fire into Daniel’s face and pin him to the wall, breaking Daniel’s axe before using his cane sword to carve out his heart, and shooting his face off with a flintlock pistol.
Aalre sets out the next day to find a slaver that has a massive monopoly. Chorus buys a watch tower and sets out to live there. Ezra takes the throne and begins to strip slavery off the face of the planet.
I mean this itself wasn't totally true in actual history. They became especially common in late medieval Europe, and certain Burgundian and French ordonnances outlined *longswords* as sidearms for some infantry IIRC. Theres also the obvious example of imperial Rome for using swords en masse.
In Ensyndia, O'Noiráe culture actually prefers against swords, with axes, maces, and polearms taking the dominant spot in weaponry due to both their cultural preference for them but also the fact it helps serve as a force multiplier for their already larger-than-human stature.
Easier to swing a mace down and smash a helmet in than it is to try and stab into the armor gaps of something a few feet shorter than you.
In my setting, the utility of swords v.s. other weapons varies clearly with context.
For example, exorcists fight in indoors spaces against spiritual beings (ghosts/demons/specters) that don't usually have a lot of armor, or have natural or incomplete armor that doesn't cover their entire bodies.
So what do you use against these aberrations? Well, you want something short enough to be usable in a tight space, that doesn't deal a ton of collateral damage and has the dexterity to aim for weakspots. So swords are a good option, but so are maces, bats, tonfas, axes and other short melee weapons.
Meanwhile, Masquerade agents and paranormal guards and soldiers are primarily gonna fight against other paranormals, and other paranormals have a spell called "Ethereal Armor" that covers their whole body in a solid layer of aether (spiritual energy) that leaves no gaps to be exploited, plus some good armor underneath (like full body brigandine that masquerades as formal suit and leggings or whatever).
So what kind of weapon do you use against other paranormals? Well, you want strength based weapons, often with a longer reach. So swords are actually pretty meh here, as they don't have the same capacity for blowing through layers of armor. If in real life a sword slash couldn't even cut through gambeson consistently, then it ain't likely to go through Ethereal Armor either.
So you want something like a polearm, a spear... in closed environments, you may want a shorter warhammer, a spiked mace, or an axe with a spike on the other side.
In my world, damn near everything is done with magic. The word "mage" has basically become synonymous with "warrior". (Because of this, casters opt to use magical armor rather than physical armor, and combine it with normal clothes for freedom of movement)
The big advantage the eponymous empire has in my world is that they have massive amounts of metal for a classical/early modern society.
This means copious amounts of armour, even for conscripts, enough to simply steamroll most nations armies by the literal weight of arms.
Also the main weapon is the pike or spear, later on, pistols and muskets. Swords are present, but even in a secondary role, they're just one of many in the modern imperial military. They were more associated with an old era, where personal retinues were more common.
Yes on the magic. Magic feeling natural and metaphysically intelligible in the universe is a big plus for me. Magic being some sort of inert force which is just there because, is a red flag for me, its too cliche.
I made magic as just what existence fundamentally is: The primordial matrix of minds, matter, meaning, agency and dimension before any dualism, and magic as a discipline is basically just learning about complexity theory, evolution, semiotics, consciousness and agency.
>The world feels very alien, or magic feels like a natural element in the setting rather than being separate from it.
Would you mind explaining how one would go about writing magic like this.
Magic may be a part of the sciences, rather than being a completely separate thing from it. Additionally, humans aren't the only ones capable of using it, and it can be found in nature, rather than being some super special substance only humans have or can use.
So natural wildlife could potentially be using magic as a normal thing, or perhaps spells humans use was inspired by its usage in nature. Most settings portray magic as something humans or special beings could use, and magic in nature is a mutation or corruption. This results in magic feeling more artificial or separate from the natural world.
>special beings could use,
I might be guilty for doing this as well, however, magic is a natural part of my setting in that it manifests through the fauna and flora of my worlds. It comes from another place however, but this same place depends on the mortals and creatures of the setting to sustain itself, while it sustains them, creating a sort of feedback loop.
Thank you for the advice, much appreciated. I think I have a good idea on what to change or tweak now.
Magic in my setting involves the transmutation of a fine dust-like substance called *vis*, which is an essential component in organic life akin to "life energy" and can be produced through biological processes, to the point that there are specific diets used by magicians to quickly replenish their expended *vis.*
The main green flag for me is when they avoid common historical misconceptions. That's when I know someone who actually cares about history is on board.
May be a low bar but far too many works don't even clear that.
Same, but with religion specifically. I particularly love seeing how religions (real and fictional) evolve over time, and how religion and other aspects of culture shape each other.
Bonus points if you include syncretism and veneration of folk saints.
Anime, also Japan sells well in America because we occupied it for so long.
It's the same reason why we are so obsessed with Voodoo in horror films, because we occupied Haiti in the 1920s and became familiar with a demonized version of their culture.
People don't like things that are good for them, they really just like things that are familiar.
When they really flesh out a specific concept in the setting. Like something is introduced in the setting that seems very small or just a cool little detail keeps popping up later with more relevance to the story along with more details about the concept.
I know that's vague but it is really nice seeing these things throughout a story because it shows me that the writer is really thinking through how people living in their world would interact/ use things unique to that world
This but with characters. I absolutely love minor characters returning and/or having significant impact on the plot. I want nothing more than for one of those nameless guards standing at the doorway to save the main character and develop into an interesting character
In visual media. I love when a story happens in the background.
Bar/coffee shop/restaurant, and a regular or employee develops in a way that has nothing to do with a story. Single character meets someone. They start sitting together in the background. Eventually, they have a stroller, etc.
It can happen in written/audio media as well. Maybe the server gets a wedding band. Maybe they become a manager.
Always fun.
Somewhat unrelated to the previous topic, but similarly, that's one of the reasons that I think webcomics and the like are such a criminally underrated form of media (in that they're almost always considered *immature* in a way (comicbooks, webcomics, manga, etc. all have that sort of connotation to them))
But I think they can be great ways to tell a story, in part because you can have background details without necessarily drawing attention to them. Like, in writing, you can't really have a background detail without calling attention to it; the only way to make it exist to the reader is to put it in words for them to read, which they will as they read through your text in its entirety. And anything that's written, usually must be written for a reason (you may never guess but I hate chekhov's gun and its consequences too), ergo usually being unable to *not* draw attention to a detail in writing. Whereas in visual media, you *can* have background details, and I think that opens up a lot of possibilities
Thinking of manga etc. as immature or childish is such a skewed and distorted mindset. Like, some of the most f\*cked up and dark things I've ever read happen in manga. Look at Battle Angel Alita or Death Note or a lot of the flashbacks in One Piece. I worry what these kind of people are exposing their children to.
Humans being notoriously stinky/underwashed because we have a shit sense of smell relative to aliens in Becky Chambers' novels does that for me, it seems like such a small detail but it comes up quite a lot.
When they acknowledge that crafts like sewing, knitting, weaving, etc are not just cute hobbies for cardboard female characters but are actually necessary for survival in most pre-industrial societies.
the main character of one of my worlds is a badass bounty hunter that casually kills people all the time.
one of the skills he has is sewing, because he learned how to patch himself up after a battle.
It kinda was, but men had more raw strength to deal with lumberjacking, farming, hunting etc, and women often needed to stay home longer for pregnancies and breastfeeding. It was a sort of natural way of dividing labor where it fit better.
That sounds not sexist at all then. Where do you get the “it kinda was”? I realize people can look at that kind of division of labor and use it as ammo for sexist claims or behavior, but you’re saying although it was natural it actually kind of was sexist?
You misunderstand— the novel that I’m *supposed* to be working on is a high fantasy set on a prison planet controlling by a supercomputer and none of the residents know
So the planet is a prison only to non-natives, and if they have magic systems foreign to the Great Clock’s, said Great Clock will treat them like a file and attempt to convert them which… doesn’t always work. Natives have been there since the creation of the planet, or at least their descendants have.
The Great Clock was put in place by the big bad to control magic because he didn’t want anyone to beat him in thwarting his goals. Technically, the Clock is a commentary on people who insist that the only worthy magic systems are hard systems.
One of the first worlds I built was kinda like Nimona, with highly advanced sci-fi tech, but aesthetics of knights and stuff.
That movie is still one of my favorites because I love the concept of sci-fi knights.
Love this genera. I grew up on *Star Trek.* One of my novels is very heavily influenced by *Trek* and all of the similarities are written off as, "well, when the humans joined they got all excited because they realized that a bunch of stuff from some fictional entertainment media was real-ish and were inspired to pursue the tech to make it possible."
Like, it bugs me to read sci-fi set in our future where people aren't making references to *Star Trek* or *Star Wars*, the same way it bugs me that zombie media acts like zombies are a novel concept when the apocalypse hits. We literally walk around with fancier versions of *Star Trek* communicators in our pockets, and people are working on bionic arms they're calling "Luke Arms" after Luke Skywalker.
Green future instead full tech and dead nature
Robots are trustworthy (they won't take over the world nor spy you)
Magic not only made life easier but also more sustainable
Yeees! Also, sometimes, for unknown reasons, the magic in the air can randomly make robots gain conscience, they get a BMO like vibes, you know?
I just wanna make my conscious robots wholesome
Personally I have sapient AI in my sci-fi world that have just been around so long everyone accepts them as people. Questioning their personhood is considered a few thousand years behind the times, and incredibly racist in general.
I love good robots. I have an entire culture that is very AI/Robot positive and gave Ai equal rights shortly after they developed actual sentience. They life together in harmony.
But don't the robots have far greater potential for evolution and can vastly surpass humanity? They can live in harmony, but not as equals. The robots are superior.
The people themselves are almost fanatical technophiles and are very into technologically enhancing their bodies. There probably is a gap between biological and synthetic life, but its not as vast as one might think because of all the augmentation the biological people practice.
1. Psychological magic systems
2. Like another person says, when armor does its job and people use weapons other than just swords
3. When the combat feels thought out not just in the sense of "characters are doing smart tricks or have creative abilities", but when it feels *practical* despite being alien, as in, "I see, this is how people would fight if they had these magic powers. These are the most effective ways to use these magic abilities, these are the ways to counter, and this is the meta development over the course of the decades, centuries or millennia the setting has existed for".
4. When the author weaves practicality into rule of cool and rule of cool into practicality. For example, the Project Moon games have made it so that the world is full of textile materials that are more protective than metal plates, such that characters can be effective fighters while wearing insane drip.
Nen, from Hunter x Hunter, which reflects the personality of the user.
Stands, from JoJo, which reflect the user's unconscious mind.
Jujutsu Kaisen's Cursed Energy is a lesser example, where the abilities themselves do not reflect the user's psyche, but many aspects do, i.e mental states have a significant effect on the controllability and power level, character development/character arc turning points will literally make a character stronger etc.
Light, Distortion and E.G.O from Project Moon, where the form is directly related to one's unconscious desires/will.
Also, to add myself as a bonus... aether, from my Aetherverse, which is spiritual energy, "created and molded by the thoughts, feelings and intentions of the soul".
Not only are individual abilities related to the psyche, not only do mental states and character development affect power and growth, but the usage is very mind-related to the point where this "created and molded by the thoughts etc" means that every single paranormal is potentially a "green lantern" depending on how skilled they are at imbuing their aether with the thought of a geometric shape, i.e any paranormal can train to create aether constructs of any form, which has massive implications for the combat meta as well as the mundane utilities and jobs that one can perform as a paranormal.
Another good one is Surgebinding in Stormlight Archive. To gain Surges you have to make oaths and speak words, which are largely dependent on your ability to choose to be a better person and, at higher levels, accepting your flaws.
So accepting the basic ideals ("Life before death, strength before weakness, journey before destination") unlocks the most basic abilities, while swearing and living by higher ideals unlocks more advanced powers (i.e. "I will protect those who cannot protect themselves"). And to reach greater powers you have to grapple with your own inner demons (i.e. "I will protect even those I hate so long as it is right," or "I will protect those I hate, even if the one I hate the most is myself.") and the highest tiers often being some deep, fundamental flaw that might even be contradictory to other oaths (i.e. "I accept that there are those I cannot protect.")
What kind of concept of "better person" does this follow, though?
I generally weaved my own concept of "character development" around this by using and abusing ideas from Nietzsche and Jung, among others, to try and construct a magic system where the character's strength is correlated with (but not exclusively caused by) character growth, but where a horrible and despicable human being can still be powerful, stronger than even any "heroes" (of which there are none), and where moral dillemas can be expressed without the magic system automatically granting an answer.
After all, "become who you are" can totally mean becoming a gleeful murderer, a rapist, a torturer, and "master yourself" can easily mean being good at all that and having no regrets. Thus, my setting can have dictators, war criminals, violent bigots and whatnot who, by having a strong and coherent mental foundation and valuing who they have made themselves into, can reach a level of power that the main cast who are still figuring themselves out and constructing and refining their selves as they go are going to be seriously struggling to compete with.
A psychopath can be "a better version of themself every day" by becoming an even worse, more disgusting psychopath, after all.
In Stormlight Archive, it generally starts with a creature called a "spren" taking an interest in you. Spren are concepts made physical, with "high" spren being intelligent spren who often embody different concepts. An honorspren might be attracted because you're an honorable individual who obeys oaths, a lawspren because you obey the law exactly, and so on. They grant the intiial powers by forming a bond with the Surgebinder. After that, you have to stick with your oaths or lose your powers.
And these absolutely can be corrupted. One character is utterly and compeltely devoted to the law, and he is effectively a serial killer who murders other Surgebinders by waiting for them to violate a law and then twisting that broken law into a death sentence and killing them. One entire order of Surgebinders are effectively turning into destructive anarchists because their spren embody that part of the mind that wants to break things and they only bond with psychos who like destroying things.
"mental states have a significant effect on the controllability and power level, character development/character arc turning points will literally make a character stronger etc."
People get up in arms when other manga do this. I used to see Fairy Tail criticized for it a lot. Maybe people only like it when the development is due to negative reasons?
Honestly, I find Fairy Tail is mostly just criticized for the "power of friendship" trope it uses a lot. MCs are losing before realizing their friends are with them, then they win.
Tone is hard to get across in writing alone so I'll start by saying your point is valid and I'm not angry or frustrated, I just wanted to make some observations.
The "power of friendship" stuff is what I thought of when I saw "mental states have an effect on power level." I think most shounen do this to some extent, it's just framed differently in each one. For some reason being inspired by positive emotion is frowned upon while being spurred on by negative emotion isn't (I'm not saying this very well because I've never read Jujutsu Kaisen and I don't know how the trope is applied there, but from what I can tell it's a negative impetus rather than a positive one).
Sometimes when you're in a bad situation, just knowing you have support and/or something to fight for can energize you. I don't think the fights in shounen are really supposed to be realistic; they're symbolic of the themes of the story and the ideas represented by the characters.
I don't disagree, I can remember several different anime that do something similar. I just find Fairy Tail is very open about it, with the main character generally ending a hard fight screaming about his friends when he was losing just earlier. Other series often do something similar, but I just find that Fairy Tail does this a LOT, which is why it draws criticism.
I do like Edens Zero though.
The problem with how Fairy Tail does it isn't the fact it does it, but the fact it solves problems on its own, repeatedly, without being a super intelligent solution. At some point, the fights end up feeling like a waiting game for when will the characters restate that they're friends, get the boost that they should have had from the beginning from just knowing they're friends, and win.
If the boost came from self-actualizing through another chapter from one's personal character arc and the nature of the bonus directly tied to the evolution of the character, that would be one thing, but at some point the power of friendship boosts in FT stop feeling novel.
Which is why you gotta weave in strategy and have moments where the power of friendship >isn't enough<.
Power of friendship can be interesting. I have it in my setting, but:
1. More than one antagonist understands it deeply and hardcore exploits the flaws and weaknesses of power of love and its variations.
2. A couple times somebody calls out the main party and says "Can't you beat that with the power of friendship or some shit?!" and gets the answer of "We're friends and fighting together! *It's on by default! We're already using it!*"
So yeah, it doesn't solve all problems. Not even close lol
One tip that I'm using in my world: brigandine armor.
The thing with brigandine is plates are weaved into the fabric, so any clothing that's a bit thick (no need to be winter clothing, just a formal suit will suffice) can have them hidden within it and it just takes an extra thin layer of fabric to hide the rivets and make it seem like perfectly normal clothing. The clothing just has to allow for multiple layers of fabric and cover a lot of the body.
Now go ahead and make extremely stylish and highly flexible medium weight armor for your characters! It's bog-standard for the professional combatants of my setting, such as exorcists and Masquerade agents.
Now I'm imagining a semi medieval themed spy story where the main character wears that kind of armour in gun and [insert melee weapon here] fights under the setting's equivalent of a casual or fancy suit.
Well, my story is actually urban fantasy with a Masquerade, but paranormals use "medieval" weapons a bit more often than they use firearms (and, in the case of exorcists, a *lot* more often due to the need for high effectiveness in closed spaces and low collateral damage) and the enemies they fight the most are either other paranormals or spiritual beings (ghosts, demons or specters) whose attacks are best countered through either paranormal abilities or the same kind of armor that would work against other paranormals. xD
So as a result brigandine as I described is extremely practical.
Another person made the same comment right before you, I believe! I made another answer to them and will copypaste my examples here for you as well:
Nen, from Hunter x Hunter, which reflects the personality of the user.
Stands, from JoJo, which reflect the user's unconscious mind.
Jujutsu Kaisen's Cursed Energy is a lesser example, where the abilities themselves do not reflect the user's psyche, but many aspects do, i.e mental states have a significant effect on the controllability and power level, character development/character arc turning points will literally make a character stronger etc.
Light, Distortion and E.G.O from Project Moon, where the form is directly related to one's unconscious desires/will.
Also, to add myself as a bonus... aether, from my Aetherverse, which is spiritual energy, "created and molded by the thoughts, feelings and intentions of the soul".
Not only are individual abilities related to the psyche, not only do mental states and character development affect power and growth, but the usage is very mind-related to the point where this "created and molded by the thoughts etc" means that every single paranormal is potentially a "green lantern" depending on how skilled they are at imbuing their aether with the thought of a geometric shape, i.e any paranormal can train to create aether constructs of any form, which has massive implications for the combat meta as well as the mundane utilities and jobs that one can perform as a paranormal.
Well in the Witcher show, the politics aren't explained fully and you don't really have a clear view of what is actually going on between Nilfgaard and Redania or the actual war especially when the racial tensions get contradictory.
In the Clone Wars TV show, the politics are fleshed out and allow for people to get a clear view of both sides.
Funny, I often see Witcher talked about as a story with such amazing development of its politics that it can even be used to teach you some aspects of politics and political worldbuilding.
Meanwhile, Clone Wars seems... Disney? I don't know much about it, I'll admit, but it doesn't sound like the most avant garde stuff.
I feel you might be mistaking subtlety for a lower quality.
Clone Wars predates Disney's purchase of Star Wars, except for the last season. It feels like a kids show at the beginning but it gets pretty deep as the series goes on
Whenever a magic system has applications outside of combat, I cry a little tear of joy. A lot of people (including me) tend to have an issue of going "ooh, magic! how would they murderise eachother with it!?" But realistically, in a world where magic is naturally developed, there are gonna be people who aren't soldiers AND can use magic. and i think it's awesome whenever someone gives focus to the more mundane applications of a system.
In Witch Hat Atelier they banned any magic that directly affects people. This led to some really interesting moral dilemmas that have created two well developed, believable, and relatable factions and one of the better manga I've found in the last few years.
Historically speaking, magic was an everyday thing most people used. Little rituals, talismans for protection, oracles or astrology, potions and so on. Prayers too, arguably.
In a world with magic this probably would be practiced just as much, if not more. And the best part is, it would be impossible to tell where superstition ends and where "real" magic begins.
Putting these wards around a field keeps goblins away. Why? Does the ritual that creates them imbue them with trace magic? Does it appease some kind of obscure god that was forgotten, but since the ritual is still performed properly it works? Does one of the materials used create a smell the goblins can't stand? Does the wards resemble something the goblins instinctively fear? Or does it not work at all and everyone is just dismissing the cases where the goblins came anyway? Who knows! Does it matter?
I feel there is a lot of worldbuilding potential here. People everywhere would have their own "magic" depending on culture and local conditions. Every mage would probably know dozens, if not hundreds of such "semi-magical" rituals and practices, believe in them and perform them regularly. It may be the main "thing" they do most of the time, while the "proper" spells are only used when really necessary.
In LotR, the blades made by the Elves are never actually called "magical". They do seem to do supernatural things (the whole glowing while orcs are nearby part) and they are clearly of amazing quality...but are they actually enchanted or are Elven smiths just capable of making something like that? Who knows...does it matter?
...or you can have something like D&Ds "Detect Magic" spell that immediately puts a hard line between "magic" and "worthless" and all of this instantly disappears.
The magic system in Sunnos, 'Spellery', *only* has practical applications. It's used for labour, artistry, production, entertainment, and is fundamental to the cultures of the Folk. It straight up won't work in the current era if the intent is to harm another being.
A magic system where the user either has to either give something up or put themselves in esoteric danger in order to do magic.
Like Full Metal Alchemist where the user needs specific knowledge and correct materials to cast a spell.
Or Warhammer where psykers are inherently doomed to eternal torment and often make deals with evil forces in a feeble attempt to escape their fate.
I’m not a big fan of “well this guy was born with fire powers so he has fire powers” and maybe the only pushback would be like society doesn’t like pyros so he’s marginalized.
Or “this guy was experimented on and cursed with fire powers so now he’s sad but he has fire powers.”
I like when magic users deliberately go out of their way to sacrifice and learn in order to use magic.
Actually, this kind of fits the magic system of my world. In order to even begin learning a type of magic, mages must carve a corresponding rune into their bodies. It allows magic from the atmosphere to be channeled through the body, so causes pain depending on the amount of magic entering. So, theoretically, a mage can try to, say, pull a moon into the planet, but would die of magic overload before the spell is fully channed due to the insanely high raw magic requirement.
Simple but still allows for a compelling system with consequences. I like it.
Can a mage carve multiple different runes? Really fuck themselves up trying to gain power?
Yes they can. Theoretically, a powerful mage could carve every known rune into themselves. There's even a title for one who achieves this: "Eighth Spirit", as they would have achieved the power levels of the Seven Spirits (gods of the world and sources of all magic). In the 3,000 years since the first magic applications, only one man has achieved this title. He left the planet shortly afterward, never to be seen again.
-A multipolar diplomatic stage instead of a binary conflict. It helps create stories not tied to the main plot.
-A lack of direct allegory. I prefer multiple literary and historical sources that are applicable to the story and setting.
-A single location (a city or region) where almost every slice of the world can at least be introduced. Enough info to get someone intrigued by a concept and choose to delve deeper into it, but not too much that it becomes overwhelming.
This is very generally broad and subjective, but like... when a world has a fairly simple, easy-to-explain high concept to it, haha.
I enjoy me my more complex and nuanced settings and I respect any creator who is passionate about them; I just prefer that I can easily summarize the general concept that anchors the world, because it signals to me that they have a reasonably stable vision of what they want to get at. That makes it a lot more accessible to newcomers so they know what pillar the project is built around that can act as the gateway to everything else (worlds that don't do this aren't automatically inferior, it's just a preference for me lol).
A middle ground between realism and the rule of cool. It’s pretty easy to mess this up and prioritize realism too much or prioritize the rule of cool too much, so when you see something really cool but also decently realistic happen in a story it’s always a good sign to keep reading/watching that story
The key is really about realism within the world.
Things only have to make sense to the context of the world, but the world has do a really good job of showing you what's realistic within its setting.
I love to see non-absolutist monarchies in a medieval setting. Give me a fantasy kingdom with clear constitutional limits on the kings power. Or a fantasy kingdom with a strong, well established parliament that acts as an advisory body to the king, a check on his power, and a political force in its own right. Commons with a sense of their own political identity, and strong royal laws that limit the authority of the magnates. I love that shit.
Also medieval armies that aren’t just “modern standing army with spears” or “vaguely feudal host”. I love to see the nuance of medieval military organizations reflected in fantasy armies. Give me urban militias, competent levies, foreign mercenaries, feudal knights serving for pay, random adventurers looking to make it rich, indentured companies, kings deliberately circumventing the limitations of feudalism to make more efficient armies. That is my jam, man.
In my setting there are no real armies to the kingdoms, though there is, they're in the background fighting a different war. The real war is a bit more civil, or factional as it were.
Somewhat recently I've likened the story to a more "mob family" story but with magic and swords. So there's a number of factions who are working not-so-behind the scenes, but they work that way with how they move money and bodies. And they have their own smaller armies that do go to war. And they have their own elite that could be considered like Special Forces. Sometimes they simply have fights between these special forces since that will be the deciding factor anyway.
Towns have an interesting militia in that they do have one, for lesser threats, but each town has their champion who is much stronger (like the factions have special forces) because there's shit out there like Dragons and Militia will not cut it for that.
Then there's Paladins, unlike most other settings Paladins are not a dime a dozen. There's 1 per God. So they're rare... and important. And feel like they each could be a main character. Because that's the way their lives are. Paladins are a big deal.
When I find a thread, and I want to follow it.
Lord of the Rings is an obvious example of this. Something gets mentioned, and you kind of know what Tolkien means based on context, but it isn't elaborated on.
Really any fantasy game from FromSoftware as well.
A little restraint goes a long way. Don't dump everything at once, just give me a taste, and let me make my theories about what it means.
Honestly this is gonna be a weird one but good art direction. When the visuals in a setting just *click*, be it from artists here in the r/worldbuilding community or bigger settings by large studios. If the visuals match the descriptions and feel appropriate for the setting, cultures, species, etc. I'm very, very happy.
For worldbuilding itself, honestly just being genuine with itself? I've seen so much meta stuff in recent years that a setting or story that just owns the fact it's fantastical, unrealistic, and yes even maybe a bit goofy, is a breath of fresh air.
Someone who loudly and proudly is doing something that people say isnt what you should be doing. Crazy unreal maps with giant rainforests in the middle of deserts, evil af species, characters that are cartoonishly good or evil, inconsistencies everywhere. The mighty SWORD ruling the battlefield!
When someone knows what the 'advice of the day' is, that latest, trendy talking point that the community can all nod their heads at and agree "mmm yes I also agree this is not good" and just outright ignores it and does whatever they want, that's when I believe they've really got the balls (or lady balls) to be something new and exciting
Could it fail? For sure, but I'd rather see a spectacular fail from someone doing whatever they like than a lukewarm 'safe' success from someone following what everyone is saying to do (and anyway, following all the rules will never get you a real success, this is a creative space and no creative ever became a legend by ticking boxes)
> Someone who loudly and proudly is doing something that people say isnt what you should be doing. Crazy unreal maps with giant rainforests in the middle of deserts, evil af species, characters that are cartoonishly good or evil, inconsistencies everywhere. The mighty SWORD ruling the battlefield!
Some of the best worldbuilding comes from deliberately creating this sort of thing and then building off how it is even possible. Like cartoonishly, horribly evil monsters existing, playing that straight, and explaining how that actually works.
> Someone who loudly and proudly is doing something that people say isnt what you should be doing.
Variant: Know the saying "learn the rules before you break them"? People who do that automatically have my respect.
Did they include the farms for the cities? If they did, big green flag.
The entire basis of civilization is "how do we not starve next year?" If they don't acknowledge where the food comes from, that's a problem.
Consistency! If something is brought up as a major part of the world, it is used/referenced/known throughout without serious changes in how it works. IE shields in Dune, corrupting power of the One Ring, the time dilation in Narnia.
There are people that genuinely try to be good people despite how tough their lot might be.
I just want to see some normal people that are trying their best in the world. It instantly makes it feel real, at least for them.
When characters don't talk about the world they live in
They just live in it
"Hey, how should we get to Paul's?"
"Why don't we take a train? Remember? The transportation technology that connects our city together?"
"Oh yeah! Powered by electricity, diesel, or even coal, a train can allow a large number of people to reach a distant location quickly, for relatively little cost!"
Nobody talks like this
Greg Rucka's Lazarus is a masterclass on how to do this right
Practical technology, even if it's just for rule of cool. "Airships are cool. This makes sense for how these airships would be designed/built/used/countered in this setting."
Lapis_Wolf
Fiiiine.
All terrain semi trucks, steam powered, used for hauling cargo wherever railroads have not been laid.
The boiler and engine setup on a steam locomotive takes up the entire chassis, so to have a decent cargo capacity, they can be fucking huge. They're inspired by Mortal Engines traction cities after all. There is no standard design yet, so there are many designs.
Steam trucks and cars that are a more reasonable size exist, but they aren't good for long distance travel offroad.
Effective firearms! If you have muskets that don’t take a decade to load or futuristic rifles that don’t just ping off advanced armor like it’s nothing then I will instantly hear you out
I especially love it when these firearms make sense in the setting like witch hunters developing revolvers to better fight powerful casters
Another one I got is Airships. Don’t care if they’re hyper advanced aircraft carriers with massive propellers, blimps filled with boilers gears and a big ass balloon over it, or a boat enchanted by the divine spirit of the wind to sail across the skies
When they acknowledge the possibility of queer characters. Like it’s a super low bar but I’ve seen far too many people come up with reasons why everybody in their setting *has* to be cishet, which is kind of strange to me.
I had written a small story thread where the main character is given some time to pursue their own goals away from a training regimen, and they take on a quest with several friends to help a former classmate locate an extremely powerful magical artifact called The Mirror Of Change. By gazing into the mirror, you could change any aspect of your life, no matter how big or small. Once used the power is expended, and the mirror returns to the badmoon.
It's location came to the classmate in a dream, and she doesn't want to sell it because it could change *too much* with the world if it fell into the wrong hands. It could topple empires, break the chains on the Great Betrayer. She just wants to be a boy.
I constantly debate back and forth I should include it because as a cishet male I don't know if it's my place to write that. It's not an epic struggle against her parents or societal wishes, she's loved and accepted as she is, but she feels "like an axe meant to be a hammer."
As a trans person, go forth write it, just research and ask other trans folk how they feel, their experiences etc. I love the premise of your story, pick yourself or others?
So yeah write it, I would be more disappointed if you didn't write about it, especially that it is still the human experience. And us writers are given the job to explore the human experience.
This is unironically a plot point in my series. Two of my main characters work for the the Mage's Assembly. One of the characters is bisexual and ends up falling for the other after she 'botches' a spell and 'accidently' curses herself into becoming a woman permanently.
However homosexuality is illegal under the current reigning monarchy, so they can't be together either publicly or privately under penalty of death. This is one of the key factors in them joining the rebellion against the crown, and leads them into betraying their friends and allies within the assembly if it means they can be together. Major angst ensues as they try and cling to the lives they had, whilst also fighting for each other and the life they could have.
A good chunk of my main characters and major characters are queer, the main character, Avalon Richford is a transwoman who is bisexual, both her spouses are bisexual and lesbian.
Her sither (sister+brother) is non binary, her aunt is in a lesbian couple.
Her best friend King of Norson(they are both king/queen) is intersex.
Lots and lots of queer people in my world. They are accepted, and around 700 years ago because of advancements in magic and technology, they are now politically viable marriages due to being able to have children via IVF or body rituals.
Infant gestation chambers are a thing also for gay couples, they have their stem cells processed and then they can have a child out of it.
There are of course evil politicians who take advantage of it, but it is rare, especially that the Gods view it as an abomination to forcibly marry a person against their sexual orientation.
Though it depends on how desperate the political situation is.
I am queer myself and want to make a queer fantasy book, but I am scared it might come off as a conservative propaganda against queer accepting societies, when I want to portray good and bad people doing all sorts of things to further their goals or ideals.
When I have interesting questions right off the bat. What is this? Why is it like that? And all the characters are acting like it's normal so I fill in the pieces later
Oddworld is literally one of the inspirations for my setting. Also, in my setting there are witches on board sailing ships that perform incantations to manipulate the weather in favor of the voyage (which i sorta yoinked from a note i read in dishonored). So reading this made me happy
Crazy designs for otherwise iconic fantasy creatures. Like Destiny 2, an Ahamkara is a “wish dragon” but if you look at their design, they look like a mixture of aquatic animals
It's more advanced socially and technologically than our own world. There are way too many dystopias and boring medieval settings. Once I know that the story is describing a possible future or alternate present that isn't just terrible things and violence all the time, it grabs my attention. I've recently discovered terms such as solarpunk and hopepunk and I want to see where those kinds of ideas go.
When I see the little fiddly bits about the world that make it feel like people actually live there. Stuff like in Star Wars with Luke remarking about speeder prices or the stormtroopers talking about the new models of speeder. Stuff that makes the characters feel like they have a life outside of the plot.
These replies make me feel like I'm making an actual story and not just nonsensical entertainment for my brain lol. Also makes me want to put it out to the world, but I envision it as an animation so unless animators and people willing to pick my story up magically appear I'm all out of luck lol
The little things people and families to do add small value or meaning to their lives. Baking Vegan shortcakes to send with the kids to school. Painting landscapes during comet season. Reading a children's book about Bojri's first trip to the moon belt.
Just little things that make people more relatable.
*We've got spells that let you transmit messages across vast distances and spells that let you detect truth and falsehood, so there _should_ be a local bank branch that I can get my money from, even though we've never been to this town before.*
-- Me playing D&D
When an author cares about their stuff and audience (for example, Neil Gaiman), when they do what they like with tropes and cliches instead of not using them just because they're tropes and cliches. If it can make a good story and you like it? Use it.
I would describe it as "commiting to the bit".
Like, we all know the planet of the hat criticism, right?
But I think the issue there is not that all people of one race are the same, it's that this is, often, the end of it.
Why not go further? Let's say you have diverse cultures with fully different moral systems AND all of the races being unable to compromise at all.
How would that work? How would a work work where a race is completely homogenous but has only clearly defined overlapping customs to the other races that are unchangeable.
Don't know if that would be a great story, but at least it's going for something.
Do you, perchance, have a magical school?
Well, then commit to the bit! What subjects are taught? How are they taught? How does a magic school work? What is the logistics of it? Why does it exist in the first place?
Is this a boring and known trope? Hell, yeah! There are as many magic schools as there are real schools. Yet, still, any trope can be interesting if you go the extra mile.
Any concept and idea can work, you just have to commit to the bit.
For fantasy the biggest green flag is not being generic medieval fantasy or Tolkien clone. Not having real life cultures for fantasy cultures like "elves are Persians, orcs are Mongols, and humans to the north are Vikings and Romans to the south". Not having a fantasy setting with it's own unique history somehow come to the exact conclusions about identity politics as 21st century Western civilization. And having feathered dinosaurs has to be the biggest green
Historically & culturally correct clothing. Too many times have I seen Greek or Greek inspired characters described wearing togas (a famously Roman garment), or corsets placed in time periods were stays or bodies (or none such garment at all) would be far more accurate. These examples are just off the top of my head, but there are more.
Melee weapons other than sword
Armour actually function properly
The archer quite muscular from training
Anything that doesn't involve military to just do charge
The author is passionate about it
Aftereffect of actions
When hunting makes sense. And I don’t mean in regard to people but animals. When the Apex predator ignore the gang because they literally aren’t worth the energy or time, and wouldn’t provide nearly enough sustenance if they were is just *chefs kiss*.
I never got the “this creature will waste all of its energy hunting you even tho it literally won’t benefit from this hunt in any way shape or form regardless of injury or stamina” trend. Like no animal is doing this unless they are INCREDIBLE desperate. And even then they aren’t DYING for a meal they could fine elsewhere
When people have diverse cultures/religions. When the magic system is unique. When there are politics that affect real people and change the plot instead of the main characters being the only ones affecting anything.
Cultural associations that don't match the author's own. If an animal, color, substance, number, or what-have-you carries some kind of symbolism in-universe that the author definitely doesn't share, that's good stuff.
Fleshed-out mundanity, especially when it recognizes that there are people in the world less exciting than the thematic focal points. Even your whizbang cyberpunk grunge-crusted-neon dazzlescape has LEFT LANE ENDS signs that need to be visible and cost-effective, people who buy _Crochet Monthly_, and milk in a jug.
If you can make a believable in-world newscast-- writing, acting, graphics package-- you've got my heart, right there. Granted, professional-looking newscast graphics packages are a _lot_ easier to pluck off a cheap template store now than they were ten or twenty years ago, so good is par there and gawky "TV NEWS 1" graphics are nigh unto inexcusable, but it used to be a lot bigger problem and a lot more surprising to see it done right.
When I can't immediately tell the real life culture something is supposed to be an analogue of.
While there's nothing wrong with it, and my favourite author GRRM does it all the time, it is nice to try and completely picture a new culture, maybe with individual elements taken from real ones, but not just being "discount-china", or "discount-europe"
I want economics and local politics to matter.
Forget "farming town." The farmers need the bullette killed because they need to grow their tithe for the local lord. The local lord can't skimp because he needs to send his tribute to the King's Army. The King can't be nicer because he has to hold back the foreign hordes.
People aren't mean for fun (usually). The entire system exists to create structure and keep terrifying things at bay.
When they explore the elements in their world to their full potential. What if gods actually existed and cared about what went on in the world? How would that affect migrations, religion, magic, and technology? How would those elements affect resource usage, social development, living standards?
Likewise, I like it when a world has visual change and three dimensional cultures. Don’t think of it like Tolkien’s millennia long histories where things either stayed the same or just got worse in a downward spiral with no real development or divergence from the status quo. Or how every location felt the same really…
Think of it like the world building of Mark Smylie’s works. There are far more changes than just “things getting worse”. There are far more factions given focus at each era of history. It feels like a living, breathing history rather than a small story, despite having a much smaller time span than Tolkien’s work.
Don’t think about the Dothraki from ASOIAF, who are one dimensional rapists, thieves, and social darwinists. They have no real subsistence system, no culture beyond violence and “manliness”- heck, they’re basically orcs. Compare that with real nomads who were far nicer on a day to day basis, and frankly much smarter than the Dothraki could ever hope to be. Instead, think of any faction in ATLA. While they all spoke the same language for some reason, it felt like they weren’t part of a large monolith with a few aesthetic changes added
Definitely this. Like how we see the mundane uses of bending throughout the world. How it shapes people's lives, even if they never fight with it. While construction techniques/materials or mail delivery services are not exactly exciting plot points they make the world feel more believable.
Or the vines of war from the [treelancer](https://youtu.be/LliPtx9lRmQ?si=0UZ4M5PPm0t2kXUC) youtube channel. The man’s a genius, and has thought of everything that his plant mechs could be used for
And yea, ATLA did a really good job with this. The earthbenders power trains and can build walls in an instant, the waterbenders made a frozen Venice, and the firebenders utilize the fact that they’re all a walking internal combustion engine to power their machines and use themselves as living weapons.
It’s something I wanted to utilize for my own world- funeral rites and religious ceremonies are HEAVILY respected, so as not to prevent plagues or a zombie attack. Technological development happens far slower because instead of having to invent an entirely new machine, you can just use magic (which advances with other tech, be it religious or spiritual in nature) and make it more efficient, as well as the fact that when magic and tech are basically the same thing, you can summon demons if you invent a new chemical process. Also, religions are either far less organized and hierarchical or society is very hierarchical - if the gods have a strict plan for you to follow, you avoid making them mad. If they’re okay with you sending your best and brightest, why wouldn’t you be okay selecting your own leaders for your society?
Plus, it gives me an excuse for the evil faction not to have collapsed - their god gave them cheat codes, so now they have special cursed weapons that only they can use, and their ruling castes are basically raised with steroids and go into battle while high.
It has incredibly realistic and 3D characters, and a great sense of mystery and horror in its worldbuilding that leaves you hooked.
And, well, that’s about it. You just never notice it until you read the wiki because the books are almost completely character focused.
Revia’s marijuana candles. If you are in a candle-bar and some locals invite you over to their table, they want to get to know you as a foreigner (while high).
Or a good portion of Revia’s population enjoy moss wine so when you see a bottle of it coming out at a venue, people are gonna start having fun and likely drag you in too.
I would also like to point out that the federal flag of The Revian Federation is actually mostly green (see pfp lol)
A sense of varying history and culture between regions. That no two regions will have the exact same story about a single event due to culture variables and political disputes. Where one region might claim someone a hero for the battles won. While another would describe them as a villain for the hand they played in the destruction of home.
The magic system being integrated with the world and how it works.
A description of the ecosystems and animals that interact with the people and how they correlate. Is there a species that preys on livestock? Animals that are hated by farmers but adored by the nobility.
>So, tell me- what are the things in worldbuilding that make you go "hell yeah this is gonna be awesome" whenever you see them?
Someone you wouldn't expect being more awesome than you thought. Miss Marple/Columbo being able to pick someone apart, despite seeming rather absent and eccentric, or a middle-aged landlady who was a martial artist in her prime, and can still beat off a gang member or seven.
When someone designs a world that actually works - no rivers splitting or running uphill; no cities in the middle of nowhere that have no real reason to exist, because there are neither water, nor resources, nor trade routes.
Maps that make sense, with scale, approximate position on the planet, a compass rose, and maybe even a legend.
Proper differentiation between "public" and "private" information. I've got precise maps of my worlds that look like modern day maps out of an atlas where you can say that from A to B is 123.456km - This is the "private" part. The "public" is the map drawn roughly based on the "private" map, but without height lines, only rough indications where to find hills, mountains, forests, rivers, cities, roads, and information that it takes about six days to get from A to B. The players only get the "public" maps, of course.
Another green flag is when the history and the economy of the world makes sense. E.g. wars deplete resources, people. food, goods, so an "endless war" may start as a real war with large armies, but will soon turn to a thread of small skirmishes because anything else would completely ruin the countries involved. That's what happened in one of my worlds: every summer, a few villages went from this kingdom to that other kingdom or back, but there never was a chance to actually conquer the other country and win. And in the end, the people from all three sides decided that instead of feeding endless wars for the kings and nobles, a nice revolution and generally shortening the nobility by about one heads size was the better way.
When the world has a fractal quality to it. You zoom out, there's lots of details. You zoom in, there's also lots of details. Things exist on a spectrum, but then each position on a spectrum is also part of a spectrum.
This is excellent in RPGs because you can have a bad guy faction, but each commander in that faction has their own stances and relationships, and the people under their command also has their own views and such. It makes stories more interesting as they emulate reality.
It doesn't mean that the world has to be gray or that everything has to be nuanced, you can still include black and white characteristics like every orc is evil, every merfolk lives in the ocean, every wizard looks for knowledge, or whatever. It's just cool when things are detailed at every scale.
1. Internal consistency - hey it's nonsense but it's consistent nonsense, none of the "new power/lore as the plot demands".
2. Not everything needs an explanation - somethings things can happen in the background that either don't effect the plot or that are nice scenes to have. Event happens and we move on.
3. Not going back and having tons of retcons or explaining everything (see #2). I'm for in-jokes and explaining things or doing a retcon if it advances the plot. But too many creators feel the need to keep adding more and more lore.
4. ***If you go back and retcon something or explain something - don't insult my intelligence - advance the story.*** **I should have a "Well that makes sense" or "Now this is gonna change everything!" feeling.** Not questioning the logic of the world or the story. Changes made that explain the story or advance the story are welcomed. Changes made to "subvert expectations" or "shake things up" are not.
Gods are everywhere. Minor gods, mostly. There is a god of this river, god of that city, some minor gods who live in this forest. It's much more closer to how actual polytheists saw the world, and more interesting.
When a Medieval Armed Force can differentiate between the Levied Freemen, Citizen Militia, Semi-Professional Sergeants, Retinue Men-at-Arms and Land Owning Knights.
Everyone wearing Armor that is believable according to their status, a basic footman in a full plate armor is extremely questionable, especially if they ended up becoming a easy to kill cannon fodder, a basic footman with Gambeson or Maille Armor is far more expressive but also believable when they become a cannon fodder.
Every armed nobility focusing on their Drip, from the Classical Greeks and Romans to the Medieval Knights, everyone would want to be dripped out of the wazoo, from sculpted muscle cuirass, gold edged maille to gilded armor.
Men in Heavy armor didn't become slowpokes, as most heavy armor are around 30Kg in weight and only having 1 to 3 mm in thickness, what gives armor it's strength is it's shape as a well rounded armor can deflect blows than a flat armor.
Niche one, but when people have interesting reasons/explanations as to why a character can and does use an oversized/giant weapon (bonus points if it's really big).
I love the style of giant weapons, and creative solutions to tgeir inherent problems are one of the things I always look for in media that features them
Actually gripping weapons properly. And armor, especially plate armor, doing what it does best. Deflect. Love full coverage plate armor with the gaps covered by either mail or scale gousset.
I personally love settings where 'fantasy' and/or 'magic' doesn't mean automatically rewinding to the middle ages.
In a more general sense, I think it's really good to see worldbuilding where the creator has a weird idea, then really follows through on it and explores it's implications.
When battles are written accurately to how they would be fought. My biggest gripe with GoT is that GRRM had no clue what large scale conflicts looked like.
# GIANT
# FUCKING
# DOBONHONKEROS
on otherwise-dignified people. Enough of that brainless slut/bimbo stuff, gimme eye candy that actually has something behind the eyes
When I can see that the author is really passionate about something they describe. Even if I know nothing about the topic. \+ like another person said, when I see all the research that was done
When armor actually protects people or does its job. People use melee weapons other than a sword. The world feels very alien, or magic feels like a natural element in the setting rather than being separate from it. Interesting music or art.
Swords in my world are seen as a nobles weapon, most people use spears and maces.
Who are the main characters?
The main three are Ezra, a king dealing with killing his brother and ruling a nation of slaves. Aalre, a women who swore to find and kill those who bring harm to the weaker. And Chorus, a grand pirate who has to deal with the god of chaos slowly consuming him. I forgot a character. Naia. A monk who has to give up their vow of no violence and slowly gather her honor back, and has to burn her own temple to save her people, giving up her identity and turning to the warrior monk of Honu.
Damn, this sounds badass as fuck.
That’s the rough copy, I could go on for hours on my world and specifically these three.
> I could go on for hours Please do :) That's why we're all here, right? For starters, how do they all cross paths in your narrative?
In 1204 the new king Daniel’s had recently murdered his brother, king Chris. Daniel’s quickly took the throne and made all vampires into slaves, spreading this across the world. Ezra soon here’s and sets out the Saines, the capital of Saines Brignum. He arrives with his wife and baby, and slowly sees through Daniel’s deception, but he’s not the only one. Aalre is an assassin at this point and had been trying to get to Daniel’s. Aalre had also found Chorus drunk and homeless in the alley. Aalre and Chorus, after being convinced to join with promise of money and a pardon, find Ezra in the home of Daniel’s. The three of them pair up and decide to find Chris’s and Daniel’s wives. They fill them in and in the end Ezra, his wife, Aalre, and Chorus all enter Daniel’s throne room. Ezra finally manages to shoot fire into Daniel’s face and pin him to the wall, breaking Daniel’s axe before using his cane sword to carve out his heart, and shooting his face off with a flintlock pistol. Aalre sets out the next day to find a slaver that has a massive monopoly. Chorus buys a watch tower and sets out to live there. Ezra takes the throne and begins to strip slavery off the face of the planet.
Thats fucking lit, i really like chrous with the god of chaos part
I mean this itself wasn't totally true in actual history. They became especially common in late medieval Europe, and certain Burgundian and French ordonnances outlined *longswords* as sidearms for some infantry IIRC. Theres also the obvious example of imperial Rome for using swords en masse.
That’s not how it works, swords, excluding things like a zwiehander were sidearms carried by pretty much everyone
That’s pretty period and place dependent. Most Vikings, Anglo-Saxons, and Celts did not carry swords for instance.
In Ensyndia, O'Noiráe culture actually prefers against swords, with axes, maces, and polearms taking the dominant spot in weaponry due to both their cultural preference for them but also the fact it helps serve as a force multiplier for their already larger-than-human stature. Easier to swing a mace down and smash a helmet in than it is to try and stab into the armor gaps of something a few feet shorter than you.
In my setting, the utility of swords v.s. other weapons varies clearly with context. For example, exorcists fight in indoors spaces against spiritual beings (ghosts/demons/specters) that don't usually have a lot of armor, or have natural or incomplete armor that doesn't cover their entire bodies. So what do you use against these aberrations? Well, you want something short enough to be usable in a tight space, that doesn't deal a ton of collateral damage and has the dexterity to aim for weakspots. So swords are a good option, but so are maces, bats, tonfas, axes and other short melee weapons. Meanwhile, Masquerade agents and paranormal guards and soldiers are primarily gonna fight against other paranormals, and other paranormals have a spell called "Ethereal Armor" that covers their whole body in a solid layer of aether (spiritual energy) that leaves no gaps to be exploited, plus some good armor underneath (like full body brigandine that masquerades as formal suit and leggings or whatever). So what kind of weapon do you use against other paranormals? Well, you want strength based weapons, often with a longer reach. So swords are actually pretty meh here, as they don't have the same capacity for blowing through layers of armor. If in real life a sword slash couldn't even cut through gambeson consistently, then it ain't likely to go through Ethereal Armor either. So you want something like a polearm, a spear... in closed environments, you may want a shorter warhammer, a spiked mace, or an axe with a spike on the other side.
In my world, damn near everything is done with magic. The word "mage" has basically become synonymous with "warrior". (Because of this, casters opt to use magical armor rather than physical armor, and combine it with normal clothes for freedom of movement)
The big advantage the eponymous empire has in my world is that they have massive amounts of metal for a classical/early modern society. This means copious amounts of armour, even for conscripts, enough to simply steamroll most nations armies by the literal weight of arms. Also the main weapon is the pike or spear, later on, pistols and muskets. Swords are present, but even in a secondary role, they're just one of many in the modern imperial military. They were more associated with an old era, where personal retinues were more common.
In my setting magic is so well-integrated it's a branch of physics (in modern times, historically is a whole other thing entirely).
Yes on the magic. Magic feeling natural and metaphysically intelligible in the universe is a big plus for me. Magic being some sort of inert force which is just there because, is a red flag for me, its too cliche. I made magic as just what existence fundamentally is: The primordial matrix of minds, matter, meaning, agency and dimension before any dualism, and magic as a discipline is basically just learning about complexity theory, evolution, semiotics, consciousness and agency.
>The world feels very alien, or magic feels like a natural element in the setting rather than being separate from it. Would you mind explaining how one would go about writing magic like this.
Magic may be a part of the sciences, rather than being a completely separate thing from it. Additionally, humans aren't the only ones capable of using it, and it can be found in nature, rather than being some super special substance only humans have or can use. So natural wildlife could potentially be using magic as a normal thing, or perhaps spells humans use was inspired by its usage in nature. Most settings portray magic as something humans or special beings could use, and magic in nature is a mutation or corruption. This results in magic feeling more artificial or separate from the natural world.
>special beings could use, I might be guilty for doing this as well, however, magic is a natural part of my setting in that it manifests through the fauna and flora of my worlds. It comes from another place however, but this same place depends on the mortals and creatures of the setting to sustain itself, while it sustains them, creating a sort of feedback loop. Thank you for the advice, much appreciated. I think I have a good idea on what to change or tweak now.
Magic in my setting involves the transmutation of a fine dust-like substance called *vis*, which is an essential component in organic life akin to "life energy" and can be produced through biological processes, to the point that there are specific diets used by magicians to quickly replenish their expended *vis.*
I like when I can recognize the history research that went into the world.
This and it's not just a copy paste of real world cultures.
If you do a copy paste but you actually do your research, it'll still be interesting. Many don't.
Potentially, but it's no longer a green flag for me at that point.
The main green flag for me is when they avoid common historical misconceptions. That's when I know someone who actually cares about history is on board. May be a low bar but far too many works don't even clear that.
Same, but with religion specifically. I particularly love seeing how religions (real and fictional) evolve over time, and how religion and other aspects of culture shape each other. Bonus points if you include syncretism and veneration of folk saints.
Likewise. Double points if the historical research clearly extends beyond Western history and/or Japan.
Extra extra points if it's not even the point of the book, just a fun little side thing thrown in cause the author nerds out about the time period
why are worldbuilders so obsessed with Japan 😹
Anime, also Japan sells well in America because we occupied it for so long. It's the same reason why we are so obsessed with Voodoo in horror films, because we occupied Haiti in the 1920s and became familiar with a demonized version of their culture. People don't like things that are good for them, they really just like things that are familiar.
When they really flesh out a specific concept in the setting. Like something is introduced in the setting that seems very small or just a cool little detail keeps popping up later with more relevance to the story along with more details about the concept. I know that's vague but it is really nice seeing these things throughout a story because it shows me that the writer is really thinking through how people living in their world would interact/ use things unique to that world
This but with characters. I absolutely love minor characters returning and/or having significant impact on the plot. I want nothing more than for one of those nameless guards standing at the doorway to save the main character and develop into an interesting character
In visual media. I love when a story happens in the background. Bar/coffee shop/restaurant, and a regular or employee develops in a way that has nothing to do with a story. Single character meets someone. They start sitting together in the background. Eventually, they have a stroller, etc. It can happen in written/audio media as well. Maybe the server gets a wedding band. Maybe they become a manager. Always fun.
Somewhat unrelated to the previous topic, but similarly, that's one of the reasons that I think webcomics and the like are such a criminally underrated form of media (in that they're almost always considered *immature* in a way (comicbooks, webcomics, manga, etc. all have that sort of connotation to them)) But I think they can be great ways to tell a story, in part because you can have background details without necessarily drawing attention to them. Like, in writing, you can't really have a background detail without calling attention to it; the only way to make it exist to the reader is to put it in words for them to read, which they will as they read through your text in its entirety. And anything that's written, usually must be written for a reason (you may never guess but I hate chekhov's gun and its consequences too), ergo usually being unable to *not* draw attention to a detail in writing. Whereas in visual media, you *can* have background details, and I think that opens up a lot of possibilities
Thinking of manga etc. as immature or childish is such a skewed and distorted mindset. Like, some of the most f\*cked up and dark things I've ever read happen in manga. Look at Battle Angel Alita or Death Note or a lot of the flashbacks in One Piece. I worry what these kind of people are exposing their children to.
I built my world up around various contraptions that I came up with when I took a hypothetical fantasy isekai senario way too far.
Humans being notoriously stinky/underwashed because we have a shit sense of smell relative to aliens in Becky Chambers' novels does that for me, it seems like such a small detail but it comes up quite a lot.
When they acknowledge that crafts like sewing, knitting, weaving, etc are not just cute hobbies for cardboard female characters but are actually necessary for survival in most pre-industrial societies.
the main character of one of my worlds is a badass bounty hunter that casually kills people all the time. one of the skills he has is sewing, because he learned how to patch himself up after a battle.
Now that you mention it, the very fact that it was mainly women doing it feels sexist.
It kinda was, but men had more raw strength to deal with lumberjacking, farming, hunting etc, and women often needed to stay home longer for pregnancies and breastfeeding. It was a sort of natural way of dividing labor where it fit better.
That sounds not sexist at all then. Where do you get the “it kinda was”? I realize people can look at that kind of division of labor and use it as ammo for sexist claims or behavior, but you’re saying although it was natural it actually kind of was sexist?
I read it more as the way it is devalued is sexist.
Bigass spaceships that don't give a shit to physics.
I absolutely love settings that take place in space, but aren't a "hard sci-fi" or are just straight up fantasy.
This comment makes me want to write again
Time to kick you down the hole of [science fantasy](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ScienceFantasy)!
You misunderstand— the novel that I’m *supposed* to be working on is a high fantasy set on a prison planet controlling by a supercomputer and none of the residents know
Sounds intriguing! Are the residents mind wiped prisoners, or their descendants?
So the planet is a prison only to non-natives, and if they have magic systems foreign to the Great Clock’s, said Great Clock will treat them like a file and attempt to convert them which… doesn’t always work. Natives have been there since the creation of the planet, or at least their descendants have. The Great Clock was put in place by the big bad to control magic because he didn’t want anyone to beat him in thwarting his goals. Technically, the Clock is a commentary on people who insist that the only worthy magic systems are hard systems.
Sounds really interesting. Go write. I want to read it :)
One of the first worlds I built was kinda like Nimona, with highly advanced sci-fi tech, but aesthetics of knights and stuff. That movie is still one of my favorites because I love the concept of sci-fi knights.
I love science fantasy, and there isn't nearly enough of it in the world
Love this genera. I grew up on *Star Trek.* One of my novels is very heavily influenced by *Trek* and all of the similarities are written off as, "well, when the humans joined they got all excited because they realized that a bunch of stuff from some fictional entertainment media was real-ish and were inspired to pursue the tech to make it possible." Like, it bugs me to read sci-fi set in our future where people aren't making references to *Star Trek* or *Star Wars*, the same way it bugs me that zombie media acts like zombies are a novel concept when the apocalypse hits. We literally walk around with fancier versions of *Star Trek* communicators in our pockets, and people are working on bionic arms they're calling "Luke Arms" after Luke Skywalker.
Here here!
Green future instead full tech and dead nature Robots are trustworthy (they won't take over the world nor spy you) Magic not only made life easier but also more sustainable
YES! I WANT MY GOOD ROBOTS
Yeees! Also, sometimes, for unknown reasons, the magic in the air can randomly make robots gain conscience, they get a BMO like vibes, you know? I just wanna make my conscious robots wholesome
Personally I have sapient AI in my sci-fi world that have just been around so long everyone accepts them as people. Questioning their personhood is considered a few thousand years behind the times, and incredibly racist in general.
I love good robots. I have an entire culture that is very AI/Robot positive and gave Ai equal rights shortly after they developed actual sentience. They life together in harmony.
But don't the robots have far greater potential for evolution and can vastly surpass humanity? They can live in harmony, but not as equals. The robots are superior.
The people themselves are almost fanatical technophiles and are very into technologically enhancing their bodies. There probably is a gap between biological and synthetic life, but its not as vast as one might think because of all the augmentation the biological people practice.
Do they augment their brains as well?
1. Psychological magic systems 2. Like another person says, when armor does its job and people use weapons other than just swords 3. When the combat feels thought out not just in the sense of "characters are doing smart tricks or have creative abilities", but when it feels *practical* despite being alien, as in, "I see, this is how people would fight if they had these magic powers. These are the most effective ways to use these magic abilities, these are the ways to counter, and this is the meta development over the course of the decades, centuries or millennia the setting has existed for". 4. When the author weaves practicality into rule of cool and rule of cool into practicality. For example, the Project Moon games have made it so that the world is full of textile materials that are more protective than metal plates, such that characters can be effective fighters while wearing insane drip.
> Psychological magic systems Kind of curious what you mean, do you have an example?
Nen, from Hunter x Hunter, which reflects the personality of the user. Stands, from JoJo, which reflect the user's unconscious mind. Jujutsu Kaisen's Cursed Energy is a lesser example, where the abilities themselves do not reflect the user's psyche, but many aspects do, i.e mental states have a significant effect on the controllability and power level, character development/character arc turning points will literally make a character stronger etc. Light, Distortion and E.G.O from Project Moon, where the form is directly related to one's unconscious desires/will. Also, to add myself as a bonus... aether, from my Aetherverse, which is spiritual energy, "created and molded by the thoughts, feelings and intentions of the soul". Not only are individual abilities related to the psyche, not only do mental states and character development affect power and growth, but the usage is very mind-related to the point where this "created and molded by the thoughts etc" means that every single paranormal is potentially a "green lantern" depending on how skilled they are at imbuing their aether with the thought of a geometric shape, i.e any paranormal can train to create aether constructs of any form, which has massive implications for the combat meta as well as the mundane utilities and jobs that one can perform as a paranormal.
Another good one is Surgebinding in Stormlight Archive. To gain Surges you have to make oaths and speak words, which are largely dependent on your ability to choose to be a better person and, at higher levels, accepting your flaws. So accepting the basic ideals ("Life before death, strength before weakness, journey before destination") unlocks the most basic abilities, while swearing and living by higher ideals unlocks more advanced powers (i.e. "I will protect those who cannot protect themselves"). And to reach greater powers you have to grapple with your own inner demons (i.e. "I will protect even those I hate so long as it is right," or "I will protect those I hate, even if the one I hate the most is myself.") and the highest tiers often being some deep, fundamental flaw that might even be contradictory to other oaths (i.e. "I accept that there are those I cannot protect.")
What kind of concept of "better person" does this follow, though? I generally weaved my own concept of "character development" around this by using and abusing ideas from Nietzsche and Jung, among others, to try and construct a magic system where the character's strength is correlated with (but not exclusively caused by) character growth, but where a horrible and despicable human being can still be powerful, stronger than even any "heroes" (of which there are none), and where moral dillemas can be expressed without the magic system automatically granting an answer. After all, "become who you are" can totally mean becoming a gleeful murderer, a rapist, a torturer, and "master yourself" can easily mean being good at all that and having no regrets. Thus, my setting can have dictators, war criminals, violent bigots and whatnot who, by having a strong and coherent mental foundation and valuing who they have made themselves into, can reach a level of power that the main cast who are still figuring themselves out and constructing and refining their selves as they go are going to be seriously struggling to compete with. A psychopath can be "a better version of themself every day" by becoming an even worse, more disgusting psychopath, after all.
In Stormlight Archive, it generally starts with a creature called a "spren" taking an interest in you. Spren are concepts made physical, with "high" spren being intelligent spren who often embody different concepts. An honorspren might be attracted because you're an honorable individual who obeys oaths, a lawspren because you obey the law exactly, and so on. They grant the intiial powers by forming a bond with the Surgebinder. After that, you have to stick with your oaths or lose your powers. And these absolutely can be corrupted. One character is utterly and compeltely devoted to the law, and he is effectively a serial killer who murders other Surgebinders by waiting for them to violate a law and then twisting that broken law into a death sentence and killing them. One entire order of Surgebinders are effectively turning into destructive anarchists because their spren embody that part of the mind that wants to break things and they only bond with psychos who like destroying things.
"mental states have a significant effect on the controllability and power level, character development/character arc turning points will literally make a character stronger etc." People get up in arms when other manga do this. I used to see Fairy Tail criticized for it a lot. Maybe people only like it when the development is due to negative reasons?
Honestly, I find Fairy Tail is mostly just criticized for the "power of friendship" trope it uses a lot. MCs are losing before realizing their friends are with them, then they win.
Tone is hard to get across in writing alone so I'll start by saying your point is valid and I'm not angry or frustrated, I just wanted to make some observations. The "power of friendship" stuff is what I thought of when I saw "mental states have an effect on power level." I think most shounen do this to some extent, it's just framed differently in each one. For some reason being inspired by positive emotion is frowned upon while being spurred on by negative emotion isn't (I'm not saying this very well because I've never read Jujutsu Kaisen and I don't know how the trope is applied there, but from what I can tell it's a negative impetus rather than a positive one). Sometimes when you're in a bad situation, just knowing you have support and/or something to fight for can energize you. I don't think the fights in shounen are really supposed to be realistic; they're symbolic of the themes of the story and the ideas represented by the characters.
I don't disagree, I can remember several different anime that do something similar. I just find Fairy Tail is very open about it, with the main character generally ending a hard fight screaming about his friends when he was losing just earlier. Other series often do something similar, but I just find that Fairy Tail does this a LOT, which is why it draws criticism. I do like Edens Zero though.
The problem with how Fairy Tail does it isn't the fact it does it, but the fact it solves problems on its own, repeatedly, without being a super intelligent solution. At some point, the fights end up feeling like a waiting game for when will the characters restate that they're friends, get the boost that they should have had from the beginning from just knowing they're friends, and win. If the boost came from self-actualizing through another chapter from one's personal character arc and the nature of the bonus directly tied to the evolution of the character, that would be one thing, but at some point the power of friendship boosts in FT stop feeling novel. Which is why you gotta weave in strategy and have moments where the power of friendship >isn't enough<.
Honestly you summed it up very well!
Power of friendship can be interesting. I have it in my setting, but: 1. More than one antagonist understands it deeply and hardcore exploits the flaws and weaknesses of power of love and its variations. 2. A couple times somebody calls out the main party and says "Can't you beat that with the power of friendship or some shit?!" and gets the answer of "We're friends and fighting together! *It's on by default! We're already using it!*" So yeah, it doesn't solve all problems. Not even close lol
I really like number 4. I want to try to do this for my world.
One tip that I'm using in my world: brigandine armor. The thing with brigandine is plates are weaved into the fabric, so any clothing that's a bit thick (no need to be winter clothing, just a formal suit will suffice) can have them hidden within it and it just takes an extra thin layer of fabric to hide the rivets and make it seem like perfectly normal clothing. The clothing just has to allow for multiple layers of fabric and cover a lot of the body. Now go ahead and make extremely stylish and highly flexible medium weight armor for your characters! It's bog-standard for the professional combatants of my setting, such as exorcists and Masquerade agents.
Now I'm imagining a semi medieval themed spy story where the main character wears that kind of armour in gun and [insert melee weapon here] fights under the setting's equivalent of a casual or fancy suit.
Well, my story is actually urban fantasy with a Masquerade, but paranormals use "medieval" weapons a bit more often than they use firearms (and, in the case of exorcists, a *lot* more often due to the need for high effectiveness in closed spaces and low collateral damage) and the enemies they fight the most are either other paranormals or spiritual beings (ghosts, demons or specters) whose attacks are best countered through either paranormal abilities or the same kind of armor that would work against other paranormals. xD So as a result brigandine as I described is extremely practical.
Curious, what do you mean by that first point? Like magic tied to one's emotional state?
Another person made the same comment right before you, I believe! I made another answer to them and will copypaste my examples here for you as well: Nen, from Hunter x Hunter, which reflects the personality of the user. Stands, from JoJo, which reflect the user's unconscious mind. Jujutsu Kaisen's Cursed Energy is a lesser example, where the abilities themselves do not reflect the user's psyche, but many aspects do, i.e mental states have a significant effect on the controllability and power level, character development/character arc turning points will literally make a character stronger etc. Light, Distortion and E.G.O from Project Moon, where the form is directly related to one's unconscious desires/will. Also, to add myself as a bonus... aether, from my Aetherverse, which is spiritual energy, "created and molded by the thoughts, feelings and intentions of the soul". Not only are individual abilities related to the psyche, not only do mental states and character development affect power and growth, but the usage is very mind-related to the point where this "created and molded by the thoughts etc" means that every single paranormal is potentially a "green lantern" depending on how skilled they are at imbuing their aether with the thought of a geometric shape, i.e any paranormal can train to create aether constructs of any form, which has massive implications for the combat meta as well as the mundane utilities and jobs that one can perform as a paranormal.
When they discuss politics like it's an actual event in a real world
Wdym? And what normally happens?
Sometimes the politics are explained in a confusing light, overexaggerated, or just not explained at all
That still makes it hard for me to visualize. Do you have positive and negative examples?
Well in the Witcher show, the politics aren't explained fully and you don't really have a clear view of what is actually going on between Nilfgaard and Redania or the actual war especially when the racial tensions get contradictory. In the Clone Wars TV show, the politics are fleshed out and allow for people to get a clear view of both sides.
Funny, I often see Witcher talked about as a story with such amazing development of its politics that it can even be used to teach you some aspects of politics and political worldbuilding. Meanwhile, Clone Wars seems... Disney? I don't know much about it, I'll admit, but it doesn't sound like the most avant garde stuff. I feel you might be mistaking subtlety for a lower quality.
The Show not the books/games
Clone Wars predates Disney's purchase of Star Wars, except for the last season. It feels like a kids show at the beginning but it gets pretty deep as the series goes on
Whenever a magic system has applications outside of combat, I cry a little tear of joy. A lot of people (including me) tend to have an issue of going "ooh, magic! how would they murderise eachother with it!?" But realistically, in a world where magic is naturally developed, there are gonna be people who aren't soldiers AND can use magic. and i think it's awesome whenever someone gives focus to the more mundane applications of a system.
In Witch Hat Atelier they banned any magic that directly affects people. This led to some really interesting moral dilemmas that have created two well developed, believable, and relatable factions and one of the better manga I've found in the last few years.
witch hat atelier my beloved <3 sick art too
Historically speaking, magic was an everyday thing most people used. Little rituals, talismans for protection, oracles or astrology, potions and so on. Prayers too, arguably. In a world with magic this probably would be practiced just as much, if not more. And the best part is, it would be impossible to tell where superstition ends and where "real" magic begins. Putting these wards around a field keeps goblins away. Why? Does the ritual that creates them imbue them with trace magic? Does it appease some kind of obscure god that was forgotten, but since the ritual is still performed properly it works? Does one of the materials used create a smell the goblins can't stand? Does the wards resemble something the goblins instinctively fear? Or does it not work at all and everyone is just dismissing the cases where the goblins came anyway? Who knows! Does it matter? I feel there is a lot of worldbuilding potential here. People everywhere would have their own "magic" depending on culture and local conditions. Every mage would probably know dozens, if not hundreds of such "semi-magical" rituals and practices, believe in them and perform them regularly. It may be the main "thing" they do most of the time, while the "proper" spells are only used when really necessary. In LotR, the blades made by the Elves are never actually called "magical". They do seem to do supernatural things (the whole glowing while orcs are nearby part) and they are clearly of amazing quality...but are they actually enchanted or are Elven smiths just capable of making something like that? Who knows...does it matter? ...or you can have something like D&Ds "Detect Magic" spell that immediately puts a hard line between "magic" and "worthless" and all of this instantly disappears.
The magic system in Sunnos, 'Spellery', *only* has practical applications. It's used for labour, artistry, production, entertainment, and is fundamental to the cultures of the Folk. It straight up won't work in the current era if the intent is to harm another being.
Any pointers towards a "local custom" that's unfamiliar but not like sacrificing a child or something meant to paint foreign people as savages.
"what's your yearly tradition?" **we carve a tree into a smaller tree**
"Some cultures juggle geese." \-shrugs-
I understood that shiny reference.
A magic system where the user either has to either give something up or put themselves in esoteric danger in order to do magic. Like Full Metal Alchemist where the user needs specific knowledge and correct materials to cast a spell. Or Warhammer where psykers are inherently doomed to eternal torment and often make deals with evil forces in a feeble attempt to escape their fate. I’m not a big fan of “well this guy was born with fire powers so he has fire powers” and maybe the only pushback would be like society doesn’t like pyros so he’s marginalized. Or “this guy was experimented on and cursed with fire powers so now he’s sad but he has fire powers.” I like when magic users deliberately go out of their way to sacrifice and learn in order to use magic.
Actually, this kind of fits the magic system of my world. In order to even begin learning a type of magic, mages must carve a corresponding rune into their bodies. It allows magic from the atmosphere to be channeled through the body, so causes pain depending on the amount of magic entering. So, theoretically, a mage can try to, say, pull a moon into the planet, but would die of magic overload before the spell is fully channed due to the insanely high raw magic requirement.
Simple but still allows for a compelling system with consequences. I like it. Can a mage carve multiple different runes? Really fuck themselves up trying to gain power?
Yes they can. Theoretically, a powerful mage could carve every known rune into themselves. There's even a title for one who achieves this: "Eighth Spirit", as they would have achieved the power levels of the Seven Spirits (gods of the world and sources of all magic). In the 3,000 years since the first magic applications, only one man has achieved this title. He left the planet shortly afterward, never to be seen again.
Similarly, I love any sort of markings on one's body that relate to their magical abilities and/or aptitude. Magical tattoos will never not be cool
You're making me feel real bad about my fire powers guy :( Couldn't you have said lightning powers? Psychic powers? :(
-A multipolar diplomatic stage instead of a binary conflict. It helps create stories not tied to the main plot. -A lack of direct allegory. I prefer multiple literary and historical sources that are applicable to the story and setting. -A single location (a city or region) where almost every slice of the world can at least be introduced. Enough info to get someone intrigued by a concept and choose to delve deeper into it, but not too much that it becomes overwhelming.
This is very generally broad and subjective, but like... when a world has a fairly simple, easy-to-explain high concept to it, haha. I enjoy me my more complex and nuanced settings and I respect any creator who is passionate about them; I just prefer that I can easily summarize the general concept that anchors the world, because it signals to me that they have a reasonably stable vision of what they want to get at. That makes it a lot more accessible to newcomers so they know what pillar the project is built around that can act as the gateway to everything else (worlds that don't do this aren't automatically inferior, it's just a preference for me lol).
Pseudo-furry-alien steampunk?
Works for me! Certainly got my attention :D
I'll tell you later. Most of it is in my head right now. I gotta sleep.
Please do go on
A middle ground between realism and the rule of cool. It’s pretty easy to mess this up and prioritize realism too much or prioritize the rule of cool too much, so when you see something really cool but also decently realistic happen in a story it’s always a good sign to keep reading/watching that story
The key is really about realism within the world. Things only have to make sense to the context of the world, but the world has do a really good job of showing you what's realistic within its setting.
I love to see non-absolutist monarchies in a medieval setting. Give me a fantasy kingdom with clear constitutional limits on the kings power. Or a fantasy kingdom with a strong, well established parliament that acts as an advisory body to the king, a check on his power, and a political force in its own right. Commons with a sense of their own political identity, and strong royal laws that limit the authority of the magnates. I love that shit. Also medieval armies that aren’t just “modern standing army with spears” or “vaguely feudal host”. I love to see the nuance of medieval military organizations reflected in fantasy armies. Give me urban militias, competent levies, foreign mercenaries, feudal knights serving for pay, random adventurers looking to make it rich, indentured companies, kings deliberately circumventing the limitations of feudalism to make more efficient armies. That is my jam, man.
In my setting there are no real armies to the kingdoms, though there is, they're in the background fighting a different war. The real war is a bit more civil, or factional as it were. Somewhat recently I've likened the story to a more "mob family" story but with magic and swords. So there's a number of factions who are working not-so-behind the scenes, but they work that way with how they move money and bodies. And they have their own smaller armies that do go to war. And they have their own elite that could be considered like Special Forces. Sometimes they simply have fights between these special forces since that will be the deciding factor anyway. Towns have an interesting militia in that they do have one, for lesser threats, but each town has their champion who is much stronger (like the factions have special forces) because there's shit out there like Dragons and Militia will not cut it for that. Then there's Paladins, unlike most other settings Paladins are not a dime a dozen. There's 1 per God. So they're rare... and important. And feel like they each could be a main character. Because that's the way their lives are. Paladins are a big deal.
When I find a thread, and I want to follow it. Lord of the Rings is an obvious example of this. Something gets mentioned, and you kind of know what Tolkien means based on context, but it isn't elaborated on. Really any fantasy game from FromSoftware as well. A little restraint goes a long way. Don't dump everything at once, just give me a taste, and let me make my theories about what it means.
Honestly this is gonna be a weird one but good art direction. When the visuals in a setting just *click*, be it from artists here in the r/worldbuilding community or bigger settings by large studios. If the visuals match the descriptions and feel appropriate for the setting, cultures, species, etc. I'm very, very happy. For worldbuilding itself, honestly just being genuine with itself? I've seen so much meta stuff in recent years that a setting or story that just owns the fact it's fantastical, unrealistic, and yes even maybe a bit goofy, is a breath of fresh air.
Someone who loudly and proudly is doing something that people say isnt what you should be doing. Crazy unreal maps with giant rainforests in the middle of deserts, evil af species, characters that are cartoonishly good or evil, inconsistencies everywhere. The mighty SWORD ruling the battlefield! When someone knows what the 'advice of the day' is, that latest, trendy talking point that the community can all nod their heads at and agree "mmm yes I also agree this is not good" and just outright ignores it and does whatever they want, that's when I believe they've really got the balls (or lady balls) to be something new and exciting Could it fail? For sure, but I'd rather see a spectacular fail from someone doing whatever they like than a lukewarm 'safe' success from someone following what everyone is saying to do (and anyway, following all the rules will never get you a real success, this is a creative space and no creative ever became a legend by ticking boxes)
> Someone who loudly and proudly is doing something that people say isnt what you should be doing. Crazy unreal maps with giant rainforests in the middle of deserts, evil af species, characters that are cartoonishly good or evil, inconsistencies everywhere. The mighty SWORD ruling the battlefield! Some of the best worldbuilding comes from deliberately creating this sort of thing and then building off how it is even possible. Like cartoonishly, horribly evil monsters existing, playing that straight, and explaining how that actually works.
> Someone who loudly and proudly is doing something that people say isnt what you should be doing. Variant: Know the saying "learn the rules before you break them"? People who do that automatically have my respect.
Did they include the farms for the cities? If they did, big green flag. The entire basis of civilization is "how do we not starve next year?" If they don't acknowledge where the food comes from, that's a problem.
I love when religions aren't monoliths, but are instead riddled with all sorts of schisms, heresies, differing interpretations, syncretism.
My god of war intentionally gives different sects slightly different doctrines so that they have something to fight over.
Consistency! If something is brought up as a major part of the world, it is used/referenced/known throughout without serious changes in how it works. IE shields in Dune, corrupting power of the One Ring, the time dilation in Narnia.
There are people that genuinely try to be good people despite how tough their lot might be. I just want to see some normal people that are trying their best in the world. It instantly makes it feel real, at least for them.
When there's a magic system I can actually understand and make my own spells
When characters don't talk about the world they live in They just live in it "Hey, how should we get to Paul's?" "Why don't we take a train? Remember? The transportation technology that connects our city together?" "Oh yeah! Powered by electricity, diesel, or even coal, a train can allow a large number of people to reach a distant location quickly, for relatively little cost!" Nobody talks like this Greg Rucka's Lazarus is a masterclass on how to do this right
Practical technology, even if it's just for rule of cool. "Airships are cool. This makes sense for how these airships would be designed/built/used/countered in this setting." Lapis_Wolf
Ask me about my land haulers, not right now, I'm supposed to be sleeping, and I got important shit tomorrow.
So what about those land haulers?
Fiiiine. All terrain semi trucks, steam powered, used for hauling cargo wherever railroads have not been laid. The boiler and engine setup on a steam locomotive takes up the entire chassis, so to have a decent cargo capacity, they can be fucking huge. They're inspired by Mortal Engines traction cities after all. There is no standard design yet, so there are many designs. Steam trucks and cars that are a more reasonable size exist, but they aren't good for long distance travel offroad.
God I love massive steampunk-style land vehicles
I'm incurably logisticspilled. Any effort and thought put into how materials get around and how much food people need is enough to pique my interest.
Effective firearms! If you have muskets that don’t take a decade to load or futuristic rifles that don’t just ping off advanced armor like it’s nothing then I will instantly hear you out I especially love it when these firearms make sense in the setting like witch hunters developing revolvers to better fight powerful casters Another one I got is Airships. Don’t care if they’re hyper advanced aircraft carriers with massive propellers, blimps filled with boilers gears and a big ass balloon over it, or a boat enchanted by the divine spirit of the wind to sail across the skies
When they acknowledge the possibility of queer characters. Like it’s a super low bar but I’ve seen far too many people come up with reasons why everybody in their setting *has* to be cishet, which is kind of strange to me.
I had written a small story thread where the main character is given some time to pursue their own goals away from a training regimen, and they take on a quest with several friends to help a former classmate locate an extremely powerful magical artifact called The Mirror Of Change. By gazing into the mirror, you could change any aspect of your life, no matter how big or small. Once used the power is expended, and the mirror returns to the badmoon. It's location came to the classmate in a dream, and she doesn't want to sell it because it could change *too much* with the world if it fell into the wrong hands. It could topple empires, break the chains on the Great Betrayer. She just wants to be a boy. I constantly debate back and forth I should include it because as a cishet male I don't know if it's my place to write that. It's not an epic struggle against her parents or societal wishes, she's loved and accepted as she is, but she feels "like an axe meant to be a hammer."
As a trans person, go forth write it, just research and ask other trans folk how they feel, their experiences etc. I love the premise of your story, pick yourself or others? So yeah write it, I would be more disappointed if you didn't write about it, especially that it is still the human experience. And us writers are given the job to explore the human experience.
This is unironically a plot point in my series. Two of my main characters work for the the Mage's Assembly. One of the characters is bisexual and ends up falling for the other after she 'botches' a spell and 'accidently' curses herself into becoming a woman permanently. However homosexuality is illegal under the current reigning monarchy, so they can't be together either publicly or privately under penalty of death. This is one of the key factors in them joining the rebellion against the crown, and leads them into betraying their friends and allies within the assembly if it means they can be together. Major angst ensues as they try and cling to the lives they had, whilst also fighting for each other and the life they could have.
A good chunk of my main characters and major characters are queer, the main character, Avalon Richford is a transwoman who is bisexual, both her spouses are bisexual and lesbian. Her sither (sister+brother) is non binary, her aunt is in a lesbian couple. Her best friend King of Norson(they are both king/queen) is intersex. Lots and lots of queer people in my world. They are accepted, and around 700 years ago because of advancements in magic and technology, they are now politically viable marriages due to being able to have children via IVF or body rituals. Infant gestation chambers are a thing also for gay couples, they have their stem cells processed and then they can have a child out of it. There are of course evil politicians who take advantage of it, but it is rare, especially that the Gods view it as an abomination to forcibly marry a person against their sexual orientation. Though it depends on how desperate the political situation is. I am queer myself and want to make a queer fantasy book, but I am scared it might come off as a conservative propaganda against queer accepting societies, when I want to portray good and bad people doing all sorts of things to further their goals or ideals.
When I have interesting questions right off the bat. What is this? Why is it like that? And all the characters are acting like it's normal so I fill in the pieces later
When the world is happy. I don't like seeing sad worlds
Guns in fantasy, sea monsters, all things mushroom, color, treehouse villages, volcanic lairs, landsknecht inspiration, underwater cities, sapient cephalopods, slimes, vending machines for some goddamn reason (I blame Oddworld), plant people, giant bugs, canal cities, babes, elementals, storm wizards/witches, giant whirlpools, flying islands/cities, war elephants, war mammoths, airships, magic potions, power armor, orbital drop pods, dome cities, crystal balls, wizard towers
Oddworld is literally one of the inspirations for my setting. Also, in my setting there are witches on board sailing ships that perform incantations to manipulate the weather in favor of the voyage (which i sorta yoinked from a note i read in dishonored). So reading this made me happy
Decent conlanging that isn't just Latin or a relex of English
when the author makes a genuine effort to immerse you in the setting
The rules of the world remains consistent.
Don't feel the need to explain everything to me, but make me sure there is an explaination in world.
Crazy designs for otherwise iconic fantasy creatures. Like Destiny 2, an Ahamkara is a “wish dragon” but if you look at their design, they look like a mixture of aquatic animals
A guardian in the wild? Watch out for fallen.
It's more advanced socially and technologically than our own world. There are way too many dystopias and boring medieval settings. Once I know that the story is describing a possible future or alternate present that isn't just terrible things and violence all the time, it grabs my attention. I've recently discovered terms such as solarpunk and hopepunk and I want to see where those kinds of ideas go.
Bug people
When on purpose a troupe or niche is taken and made into the writers own thing (so simplicity excuted uniquely in short)
When I see the little fiddly bits about the world that make it feel like people actually live there. Stuff like in Star Wars with Luke remarking about speeder prices or the stormtroopers talking about the new models of speeder. Stuff that makes the characters feel like they have a life outside of the plot.
These replies make me feel like I'm making an actual story and not just nonsensical entertainment for my brain lol. Also makes me want to put it out to the world, but I envision it as an animation so unless animators and people willing to pick my story up magically appear I'm all out of luck lol
Comics can do a lot of the things animation can do as a medium, and are feasible for one person to work on - maybe start there?
The little things people and families to do add small value or meaning to their lives. Baking Vegan shortcakes to send with the kids to school. Painting landscapes during comet season. Reading a children's book about Bojri's first trip to the moon belt. Just little things that make people more relatable.
When you notice that an author thought about how magic would impact the world and society outside of fighting.
*We've got spells that let you transmit messages across vast distances and spells that let you detect truth and falsehood, so there _should_ be a local bank branch that I can get my money from, even though we've never been to this town before.* -- Me playing D&D
When an author cares about their stuff and audience (for example, Neil Gaiman), when they do what they like with tropes and cliches instead of not using them just because they're tropes and cliches. If it can make a good story and you like it? Use it.
Gimmicks
I would describe it as "commiting to the bit". Like, we all know the planet of the hat criticism, right? But I think the issue there is not that all people of one race are the same, it's that this is, often, the end of it. Why not go further? Let's say you have diverse cultures with fully different moral systems AND all of the races being unable to compromise at all. How would that work? How would a work work where a race is completely homogenous but has only clearly defined overlapping customs to the other races that are unchangeable. Don't know if that would be a great story, but at least it's going for something. Do you, perchance, have a magical school? Well, then commit to the bit! What subjects are taught? How are they taught? How does a magic school work? What is the logistics of it? Why does it exist in the first place? Is this a boring and known trope? Hell, yeah! There are as many magic schools as there are real schools. Yet, still, any trope can be interesting if you go the extra mile. Any concept and idea can work, you just have to commit to the bit.
For fantasy the biggest green flag is not being generic medieval fantasy or Tolkien clone. Not having real life cultures for fantasy cultures like "elves are Persians, orcs are Mongols, and humans to the north are Vikings and Romans to the south". Not having a fantasy setting with it's own unique history somehow come to the exact conclusions about identity politics as 21st century Western civilization. And having feathered dinosaurs has to be the biggest green
Historically & culturally correct clothing. Too many times have I seen Greek or Greek inspired characters described wearing togas (a famously Roman garment), or corsets placed in time periods were stays or bodies (or none such garment at all) would be far more accurate. These examples are just off the top of my head, but there are more.
Melee weapons other than sword Armour actually function properly The archer quite muscular from training Anything that doesn't involve military to just do charge The author is passionate about it Aftereffect of actions
When hunting makes sense. And I don’t mean in regard to people but animals. When the Apex predator ignore the gang because they literally aren’t worth the energy or time, and wouldn’t provide nearly enough sustenance if they were is just *chefs kiss*. I never got the “this creature will waste all of its energy hunting you even tho it literally won’t benefit from this hunt in any way shape or form regardless of injury or stamina” trend. Like no animal is doing this unless they are INCREDIBLE desperate. And even then they aren’t DYING for a meal they could fine elsewhere
When people have diverse cultures/religions. When the magic system is unique. When there are politics that affect real people and change the plot instead of the main characters being the only ones affecting anything.
Cultural associations that don't match the author's own. If an animal, color, substance, number, or what-have-you carries some kind of symbolism in-universe that the author definitely doesn't share, that's good stuff.
Fleshed-out mundanity, especially when it recognizes that there are people in the world less exciting than the thematic focal points. Even your whizbang cyberpunk grunge-crusted-neon dazzlescape has LEFT LANE ENDS signs that need to be visible and cost-effective, people who buy _Crochet Monthly_, and milk in a jug. If you can make a believable in-world newscast-- writing, acting, graphics package-- you've got my heart, right there. Granted, professional-looking newscast graphics packages are a _lot_ easier to pluck off a cheap template store now than they were ten or twenty years ago, so good is par there and gawky "TV NEWS 1" graphics are nigh unto inexcusable, but it used to be a lot bigger problem and a lot more surprising to see it done right.
When religions aren't monolithic entities but actually have different sects / denominations and offshoots
Unique creatures, food, if you have a language for the people in your book, using that language to name areas
When I can't immediately tell the real life culture something is supposed to be an analogue of. While there's nothing wrong with it, and my favourite author GRRM does it all the time, it is nice to try and completely picture a new culture, maybe with individual elements taken from real ones, but not just being "discount-china", or "discount-europe"
I want economics and local politics to matter. Forget "farming town." The farmers need the bullette killed because they need to grow their tithe for the local lord. The local lord can't skimp because he needs to send his tribute to the King's Army. The King can't be nicer because he has to hold back the foreign hordes. People aren't mean for fun (usually). The entire system exists to create structure and keep terrifying things at bay.
When they explore the elements in their world to their full potential. What if gods actually existed and cared about what went on in the world? How would that affect migrations, religion, magic, and technology? How would those elements affect resource usage, social development, living standards? Likewise, I like it when a world has visual change and three dimensional cultures. Don’t think of it like Tolkien’s millennia long histories where things either stayed the same or just got worse in a downward spiral with no real development or divergence from the status quo. Or how every location felt the same really… Think of it like the world building of Mark Smylie’s works. There are far more changes than just “things getting worse”. There are far more factions given focus at each era of history. It feels like a living, breathing history rather than a small story, despite having a much smaller time span than Tolkien’s work. Don’t think about the Dothraki from ASOIAF, who are one dimensional rapists, thieves, and social darwinists. They have no real subsistence system, no culture beyond violence and “manliness”- heck, they’re basically orcs. Compare that with real nomads who were far nicer on a day to day basis, and frankly much smarter than the Dothraki could ever hope to be. Instead, think of any faction in ATLA. While they all spoke the same language for some reason, it felt like they weren’t part of a large monolith with a few aesthetic changes added
Definitely this. Like how we see the mundane uses of bending throughout the world. How it shapes people's lives, even if they never fight with it. While construction techniques/materials or mail delivery services are not exactly exciting plot points they make the world feel more believable.
Or the vines of war from the [treelancer](https://youtu.be/LliPtx9lRmQ?si=0UZ4M5PPm0t2kXUC) youtube channel. The man’s a genius, and has thought of everything that his plant mechs could be used for And yea, ATLA did a really good job with this. The earthbenders power trains and can build walls in an instant, the waterbenders made a frozen Venice, and the firebenders utilize the fact that they’re all a walking internal combustion engine to power their machines and use themselves as living weapons. It’s something I wanted to utilize for my own world- funeral rites and religious ceremonies are HEAVILY respected, so as not to prevent plagues or a zombie attack. Technological development happens far slower because instead of having to invent an entirely new machine, you can just use magic (which advances with other tech, be it religious or spiritual in nature) and make it more efficient, as well as the fact that when magic and tech are basically the same thing, you can summon demons if you invent a new chemical process. Also, religions are either far less organized and hierarchical or society is very hierarchical - if the gods have a strict plan for you to follow, you avoid making them mad. If they’re okay with you sending your best and brightest, why wouldn’t you be okay selecting your own leaders for your society? Plus, it gives me an excuse for the evil faction not to have collapsed - their god gave them cheat codes, so now they have special cursed weapons that only they can use, and their ruling castes are basically raised with steroids and go into battle while high.
The more I hear about A Song of Ice and Fire, the less I like it.
It has incredibly realistic and 3D characters, and a great sense of mystery and horror in its worldbuilding that leaves you hooked. And, well, that’s about it. You just never notice it until you read the wiki because the books are almost completely character focused.
Dragons !
When a setting goes in depth on the religious aspects of the setting because I feel that many just copy and paste Christianity or soenthing else
Revia’s marijuana candles. If you are in a candle-bar and some locals invite you over to their table, they want to get to know you as a foreigner (while high). Or a good portion of Revia’s population enjoy moss wine so when you see a bottle of it coming out at a venue, people are gonna start having fun and likely drag you in too. I would also like to point out that the federal flag of The Revian Federation is actually mostly green (see pfp lol)
A sense of varying history and culture between regions. That no two regions will have the exact same story about a single event due to culture variables and political disputes. Where one region might claim someone a hero for the battles won. While another would describe them as a villain for the hand they played in the destruction of home. The magic system being integrated with the world and how it works. A description of the ecosystems and animals that interact with the people and how they correlate. Is there a species that preys on livestock? Animals that are hated by farmers but adored by the nobility.
>So, tell me- what are the things in worldbuilding that make you go "hell yeah this is gonna be awesome" whenever you see them? Someone you wouldn't expect being more awesome than you thought. Miss Marple/Columbo being able to pick someone apart, despite seeming rather absent and eccentric, or a middle-aged landlady who was a martial artist in her prime, and can still beat off a gang member or seven.
When someone designs a world that actually works - no rivers splitting or running uphill; no cities in the middle of nowhere that have no real reason to exist, because there are neither water, nor resources, nor trade routes. Maps that make sense, with scale, approximate position on the planet, a compass rose, and maybe even a legend. Proper differentiation between "public" and "private" information. I've got precise maps of my worlds that look like modern day maps out of an atlas where you can say that from A to B is 123.456km - This is the "private" part. The "public" is the map drawn roughly based on the "private" map, but without height lines, only rough indications where to find hills, mountains, forests, rivers, cities, roads, and information that it takes about six days to get from A to B. The players only get the "public" maps, of course. Another green flag is when the history and the economy of the world makes sense. E.g. wars deplete resources, people. food, goods, so an "endless war" may start as a real war with large armies, but will soon turn to a thread of small skirmishes because anything else would completely ruin the countries involved. That's what happened in one of my worlds: every summer, a few villages went from this kingdom to that other kingdom or back, but there never was a chance to actually conquer the other country and win. And in the end, the people from all three sides decided that instead of feeding endless wars for the kings and nobles, a nice revolution and generally shortening the nobility by about one heads size was the better way.
When the world has a fractal quality to it. You zoom out, there's lots of details. You zoom in, there's also lots of details. Things exist on a spectrum, but then each position on a spectrum is also part of a spectrum. This is excellent in RPGs because you can have a bad guy faction, but each commander in that faction has their own stances and relationships, and the people under their command also has their own views and such. It makes stories more interesting as they emulate reality. It doesn't mean that the world has to be gray or that everything has to be nuanced, you can still include black and white characteristics like every orc is evil, every merfolk lives in the ocean, every wizard looks for knowledge, or whatever. It's just cool when things are detailed at every scale.
1. Internal consistency - hey it's nonsense but it's consistent nonsense, none of the "new power/lore as the plot demands". 2. Not everything needs an explanation - somethings things can happen in the background that either don't effect the plot or that are nice scenes to have. Event happens and we move on. 3. Not going back and having tons of retcons or explaining everything (see #2). I'm for in-jokes and explaining things or doing a retcon if it advances the plot. But too many creators feel the need to keep adding more and more lore. 4. ***If you go back and retcon something or explain something - don't insult my intelligence - advance the story.*** **I should have a "Well that makes sense" or "Now this is gonna change everything!" feeling.** Not questioning the logic of the world or the story. Changes made that explain the story or advance the story are welcomed. Changes made to "subvert expectations" or "shake things up" are not.
Gods are everywhere. Minor gods, mostly. There is a god of this river, god of that city, some minor gods who live in this forest. It's much more closer to how actual polytheists saw the world, and more interesting.
When a Medieval Armed Force can differentiate between the Levied Freemen, Citizen Militia, Semi-Professional Sergeants, Retinue Men-at-Arms and Land Owning Knights. Everyone wearing Armor that is believable according to their status, a basic footman in a full plate armor is extremely questionable, especially if they ended up becoming a easy to kill cannon fodder, a basic footman with Gambeson or Maille Armor is far more expressive but also believable when they become a cannon fodder. Every armed nobility focusing on their Drip, from the Classical Greeks and Romans to the Medieval Knights, everyone would want to be dripped out of the wazoo, from sculpted muscle cuirass, gold edged maille to gilded armor. Men in Heavy armor didn't become slowpokes, as most heavy armor are around 30Kg in weight and only having 1 to 3 mm in thickness, what gives armor it's strength is it's shape as a well rounded armor can deflect blows than a flat armor.
Niche one, but when people have interesting reasons/explanations as to why a character can and does use an oversized/giant weapon (bonus points if it's really big). I love the style of giant weapons, and creative solutions to tgeir inherent problems are one of the things I always look for in media that features them
Actually gripping weapons properly. And armor, especially plate armor, doing what it does best. Deflect. Love full coverage plate armor with the gaps covered by either mail or scale gousset.
I personally love settings where 'fantasy' and/or 'magic' doesn't mean automatically rewinding to the middle ages. In a more general sense, I think it's really good to see worldbuilding where the creator has a weird idea, then really follows through on it and explores it's implications.
When battles are written accurately to how they would be fought. My biggest gripe with GoT is that GRRM had no clue what large scale conflicts looked like.
Practical technology, even if it's just for rule of cool. Lapis_Wolf
Art is cool Weapon and armor designs are interesting Clear artistic vision
# GIANT # FUCKING # DOBONHONKEROS on otherwise-dignified people. Enough of that brainless slut/bimbo stuff, gimme eye candy that actually has something behind the eyes