Podcasts by The Art of World Building: Creating Breakout Fantasy and Science Fiction Worlds In Stories and Gaming
In every episode of The Art of World Building podcast, host Randy Ellefson discusses how authors, screenwriters, game designers, gamers, and hobbyists can do world building better, faster, and have more fun doing it. Popular topics include creating gods, species, animals, plants, races, monsters, undead, continents, settlements, kingdoms, star systems, time, history, cultures, magic systems, religions, the supernatural, naming everything, and travel estimates for land, sea, and space.
Further podcasts by Randy Ellefson
Podcast on the topic So geht’s
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EP 33: World Building Strategies from 2020-10-20T10:00
The podcast presents approaches to world building, how to organize files and folders, ideas on partnering with others, and more.
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EP 32: Other Systems from 2020-10-06T10:00
Explore how to create other systems, including legal, health, IT, education, and more.
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EP 31.2: Magic Systems from 2020-09-22T10:00
Explore how to create magic systems, including a brief look at types of magic (brief), the principles of creating a good systems, creating limits, how to invent spells, and more.
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EP 31.1: Magic Systems from 2020-09-08T10:00
Explore how to create magic systems, including whether we need to create them, sources of magic, whether spells are needed, a look at the life of wizards, and more.
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EP 30: Creating Items from 2020-08-25T10:00
Explore how to create items. This includes regular ones, supernatural ones, and technological elements, like an AI, and more.
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EP 29: Creating the Supernatural from 2020-08-11T10:00
Explore how to create the supernatural. This includes supernatural energy, magic paths, alternate realities, supernatural beings, and more
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EP 28: Creating Languages from 2020-07-28T10:00
Explore how to create languages, including whether we should, what’s involved, how to hire someone, and more.
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EP 27.4: Creating Culture from 2020-07-14T10:00
Explore how to create cultures, including rituals, pastimes, daily life considerations, and more.
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EP 27.3: Creating Culture from 2020-06-30T10:00
Explore how to create cultures, including greetings, farewells, language issues, and more.
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EP 27.2: Creating Culture from 2020-06-16T10:00
Explore how to create cultures, including how the body is part of culture, from clothing to hairstyles, body modifications, and more.
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EP 27.1: Creating Culture from 2020-06-02T10:00
Explore how to create cultures, including defining what culture is and is not, how to develop a cultural vision, and the types of cultural depictions we’ll likely need.
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EP 26: Creating Religions from 2020-05-19T10:00
Explore how to create religions, including its all important history, beliefs, worship practices, and traits of those who belong to a religion.
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EP 25: Creating Armed Forces from 2020-05-05T10:00
Explore how to create armed forces like the army, navy, and air force. This includes how to become a member of one, their ranks, and how they’re viewed by society.
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EP 24: Creating Organizations from 2020-04-21T10:00
Explore how to create organizations. This includes forces for good and evil, what they have in common, and how someone joins or get expelled.
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EP 23: Creating Names from 2020-04-07T10:00
Explore how to create fantasy and science fiction names using easy techniques that make it fun and uniquely yours.
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EP 22: Assign Senses to Your Species from 2019-01-08T10:00
Explore how to create your species' senses, from the five basics to other real senses humans and animals have, to sixth senses (second sight).
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EP 21: How to Draw Maps from 2018-11-20T10:00
Explore how to create maps like continents, settlements, and dungeon maps, and learn whether you should create any of this and why.
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EP 20: Places of Interest from 2018-11-06T10:00
Explore how to create places of interest, including catacombs, interstellar sites, ruins, monuments, and more. Learn how easy these are to create and how they can improve interest in your settin...
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EP 19: Time and History from 2018-10-23T11:00
Explore how to create time and history, including why we should usually keep timekeeping like minutes, hours, weeks, and more similar to Earth, and how to create historical events.
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EP 18: Travel in Space from 2018-10-09T11:00
Learn about travel in space. This includes the different types of engines, what to include inside a ship, and why we have a lot of freedom to decide how long it really takes to get anywhere.
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EP 17: Travel By Water from 2018-09-25T11:00
Learn how to determine travel times over water when using oars or the wind. This includes ship types like the frigate, galley, ship-of-the-line, and more.
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EP 16: Overland Travel from 2018-09-11T11:00
Learn how to determine travel times for horses, wagons, people and more through various kinds of terrains and what can slow us down, and how.
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EP 15.2: How to Create Settlements from 2018-08-28T11:00
Learn how to create a settlement. This includes the differences between an outpost, village, town, city, and even settlements in space.
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EP 15.1: How to Create Settlements from 2018-08-14T11:00
Learn how to create a settlement. This includes the impact of location, population, zoning, its history, and any secrets it holds.
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EP 14.3: How to Create Sovereign Powers from 2018-07-31T11:00
Learn how population, location, climate, symbols, and tensions between a sovereign power and others can all enrich your kingdom, republic, dictatorship, and more. Why have them all be the same w...
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EP 14.2: How to Create Sovereign Powers from 2018-07-17T11:00
Explore how to create sovereign powers by understanding government types like federations, unitary states, kingdoms, dictatorships, authoritarian states, oligarchies, republics, and more, includ...
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EP 14,.1: How to Create Sovereign Powers from 2018-07-03T11:00
Explore how to create sovereign powers like kingdoms, dictatorships, republics, and more. This includes what sovereignty is, how it is gained and lost, the divine right of kings, some roles like...
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EP 13,.2: How to Create Land Features from 2018-06-19T11:00
Continue exploring how to create land features, including grasslands, deserts, and various kinds of wetlands like bogs, fens, marshes, and swamps.
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EP 13,.1: How to Create Land Features from 2018-06-05T11:00
Explore how to create land features, including mountains, volcanoes, rivers, lakes, and various kinds of forests, from woodlands to savannahs, jungles, and run-of-the-mill forests.
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EP 12: How to Create a Continent from 2018-05-22T11:00
Explore how to create a continent, including how hemispheres considerations, understanding plate tectonics, and when to use what term for bodies of water, like oceans, seas, bays, and more.
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EP 11 (Part 2): How to Create a Planet from 2018-05-08T11:00
Continue exploring how to create a planet, focusing on climates. This includes understanding the role of the equator and oceans, climate zones, prevailing winds, rain shadows, and of course the ...
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EP 11 (Part 1): How to Create Planets from 2018-04-24T11:00
Explore how and when to create a planet. This includes talking about its rotation, other planets in the solar system, asteroids, comets, constellations, and the impact of the Sun and moon on tid...
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EP 10 (Part 2): How to Create Undead from 2018-04-10T10:55
Continue exploring how and when to create undead. Learn about their goals, traits, how to kill them, and what uses we can put them to.
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EP 10 (Part 1): How to Create Undead from 2018-03-27T11:00
Explore how and when to create undead. Decide whether you should create undead at all, what their minds are like and how this will affect them, their origins and how that influences their behavi...
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EP 9: How to Create Animals from 2018-03-13T11:02
Explore how and when to create animals. Consider the purpose your animals will serve for you as a creator or for your characters in their lives, including products, food, decoration, symbols, an...
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EP 8: How to Create Plants from 2018-02-27T10:00
Explore how and when to create plants. Consider the purpose your plants will serve for you as a creator or for your characters in their lives, including products, food, decoration, symbols, and ...
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EP 7: How to Create Monsters from 2018-02-13T09:00
Explore how and when to create monsters. Learn the differences between monsters and animals, and monsters and species. Use habitat to make them more compelling. Figure out how their origins can ...
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EP 6: How to Create World Figures from 2018-01-30T10:00
Explore how to create world heroes, villains, martyrs, and more. This includes determining why they're famous, what kinds of weapons, armors, ships, steeds, or other items they have, considerati...
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EP 5 (Part 3): How to Create Species from 2018-01-16T09:00
Continue learning how to create species and races, including how gods can influence them, how characteristics like morale, charisma, intelligence, wisdom, dexterity, agility, and more can create...
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EP 5 (Part 2): How to Create Species from 2018-01-02T10:00
Continue learning how to create species and races, including overall attitude and disposition, what some call "alignment." Is good vs. evil a viable approach or too restrictive? How else can get...
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EP 5 (Part 1): How to Create Species from 2017-12-19T08:00
Explore how to create species and races, when to use which term, and how to structure your species and races intelligently. We also look at whether world builders need to invent them at all; the...
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EP 4 (Part 2): How to Create Gods from 2017-12-05T09:00
Explore how to create gods, including whether they are good, evil, or neutral, and different ways to identify them, from symbols to nicknames and patronage. Do your gods interact with the world ...
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EP 4 (Part 1): How to Create Gods from 2017-11-21T20:43
Explore how to create gods, including whether they are good, evil, or neutral, and different ways to identify them, from symbols to nicknames and patronage. Do your gods interact with the world ...
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EP 3: How Many Worlds To Build? from 2017-11-07T10:00
Explore how many worlds you should create over the course of your career. Is it better to build a world for each project or one world for all stories? You could end up building 20 worlds, which ...
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EP 2: Using Earth Analogues from 2017-11-07T09:30
Learn whether you need to build a world or not, and how and when to use Earth analogues as a springboard for your imagination. The Rule of Three will help you avoid getting caught, too! Analogue...
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EP 1: Introduction to The Art of World Building Podcast from 2017-11-07T09:02
Learn the vision for The Art of World Building Podcast and what you can expect from the series and each episode. Host Randy Ellefson will also be introducing himself and briefly talking about hi...
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