Whether in writing or roleplaying, there’s a compelling need to make sure that everything you design fits together. We want to make sure we have the right answers for the “why” behind the scenarios we create, and that means making a believable world.

However, that may not necessarily mean figuring out what would make the most sense in any given situation. In fact, that kind of thinking can be a creative pitfall.

Asking Why

My process for world building often boils down to coming up with a cool concept, and then repeatedly asking “Why?” to dive into the driving forces of the world I’m putting together. It’s sort of like the “5 Why” method of root cause analysis, where you keep asking “why” until you get to the root cause of a problem.

It usually goes well at the start with plenty of thrilling details as I gradually discover the world I’m creating. However, once I get to the point where I’ve drilled down to the root cause of why this world is the way it is, I start to get bored. I already know the core mechanism of this world, so why drill further? Anything else that happens can be convenientely explained by whatever earth-shattering revelation I’ve nested deep in the folds of my world’s cosmology.

The Trap of Convenient Answers

The problem with this is it makes for a fairly boring story that’s too light on detail and conflict. Sure, you have a cool final reveal once the characters pull at that one last secret, but you’re missing variety. In any given world, there are countless factions and entities that will get things wrong for a nearly unlimited scope of reasons, and you want to have reasons for those reasons. Nonplayer characters and world factions need to have compelling motivations for doing the stuff they do, even if they’re ultimately wrong.

Where do those motivations come from? Frequently, those motives won’t have much – if anything – to do with the core truths of your world.

I’ve run into a situation with my current campaign where I have a variety of cool plot hooks pulling my player characters to certain locations. They’ve already discovered some interesting truths about the world, but I’ve kind of run out of cool stuff to reveal for the time being. I think this could be resolved by letting randomness reign.

Forcing Square Pegs into Round Holes

Fans of Hankerin Ferinale at Runehammer may be familiar with this concept: rather than milling through ideas until you find something that fits, instead run with the first crazy idea you come up with and make connections later. The left (logical) brain struggles with this since it demands that everything makes sense. However, the right (visual) brain will demand that you force square pegs into round holes, as it were.

While the left brain does have a role in world building, the right brain should be allowed to play for a while as well. After all, it was a cool, right-brained idea that got us started here, and we’re ultimately trying to create fun for our players, so it stands to reason that we should follow this process again. Come up with something new that seems to have no connection with whatever else is going on in your world, and figure out the potential ramifications later. Chances are, those connections will be far richer, more nuanced, and more interesting as a result.

There’s also a chance that your players will come up with them for you. Inspiration can come from many sources.

Try It!

So how do you go about doing this? It comes down to planning cool things first and then asking questions later. There are some tricks you can use to focus your efforts on the “rule of cool,” such as using ink for your planning notes to make them permanent and limiting yourself to just a page or two of ideas per session. Come up with fun details, then work backward to tie them in later.

Ultimately, all we’re doing is creating fun experiences, so you can’t really go wrong by prioritizing coolness first.

The Astral Wanderer is brought to you by the chaos that roils at the edge of human imagination, waiting for the right words to bring it into order. If you like this post, then good on you! All proceeds go toward forging new worlds for people to play in. Really.