The Art of World Building: Creating Breakout Fantasy and Science Fiction Worlds In Stories and Gaming

61
How To #205

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.

Recent Episodes
  • EP 33: World Building Strategies
    Oct 20, 2020 – 00:38:40
  • EP 32: Other Systems
    Oct 6, 2020 – 00:45:56
  • EP 31.2: Magic Systems
    Sep 22, 2020 – 00:38:32
  • EP 31.1: Magic Systems
    Sep 8, 2020 – 00:33:55
  • EP 30: Creating Items
    Aug 25, 2020 – 00:36:46
  • EP 29: Creating the Supernatural
    Aug 11, 2020 – 00:19:55
  • EP 28: Creating Languages
    Jul 28, 2020 – 00:28:34
  • EP 27.4: Creating Culture
    Jul 14, 2020 – 00:33:53
  • EP 27.3: Creating Culture
    Jun 30, 2020 – 00:26:59
  • EP 27.2: Creating Culture
    Jun 16, 2020 – 00:32:40
  • EP 27.1: Creating Culture
    Jun 2, 2020 – 00:32:21
  • EP 26: Creating Religions
    May 19, 2020 – 00:27:00
  • EP 25: Creating Armed Forces
    May 5, 2020 – 00:33:32
  • EP 24: Creating Organizations
    Apr 21, 2020 – 00:30:12
  • EP 23: Creating Names
    Apr 7, 2020 – 00:28:47
  • EP 22: Assign Senses to Your Species
    Jan 8, 2019 – 00:33:33
  • EP 21: How to Draw Maps
    Nov 20, 2018 – 00:37:20
  • EP 20: Places of Interest
    Nov 6, 2018 – 00:27:50
  • EP 19: Time and History
    Oct 23, 2018 – 00:27:27
  • EP 18: Travel in Space
    Oct 9, 2018 – 00:27:42
  • EP 17: Travel By Water
    Sep 25, 2018 – 00:32:58
  • EP 16: Overland Travel
    Sep 11, 2018 – 00:31:47
  • EP 15.2: How to Create Settlements
    Aug 28, 2018 – 00:32:57
  • EP 15.1: How to Create Settlements
    Aug 14, 2018 – 00:36:09
  • EP 14.3: How to Create Sovereign Powers
    Jul 31, 2018 – 00:34:45
  • EP 14.2: How to Create Sovereign Powers
    Jul 17, 2018 – 00:37:22
  • EP 14,.1: How to Create Sovereign Powers
    Jul 3, 2018 – 00:31:47
  • EP 13,.2: How to Create Land Features
    Jun 19, 2018 – 00:27:05
  • EP 13,.1: How to Create Land Features
    Jun 5, 2018 – 00:29:34
  • EP 12: How to Create a Continent
    May 22, 2018 – 00:33:54
  • EP 11 (Part 2): How to Create a Planet
    May 8, 2018 – 00:31:18
  • EP 11 (Part 1): How to Create Planets
    Apr 24, 2018 – 00:29:18
  • EP 10 (Part 2): How to Create Undead
    Apr 10, 2018 – 00:38:58
  • EP 10 (Part 1): How to Create Undead
    Mar 27, 2018 – 00:28:37
  • EP 9: How to Create Animals
    Mar 13, 2018 – 00:39:14
  • EP 8: How to Create Plants
    Feb 27, 2018 – 00:27:54
  • EP 7: How to Create Monsters
    Feb 13, 2018 – 00:38:34
  • EP 6: How to Create World Figures
    Jan 30, 2018 – 00:33:12
  • EP 5 (Part 3): How to Create Species
    Jan 16, 2018 – 00:33:49
  • EP 5 (Part 2): How to Create Species
    Jan 2, 2018 – 00:32:18
  • EP 5 (Part 1): How to Create Species
    Dec 19, 2017 – 00:35:10
  • EP 4 (Part 2): How to Create Gods
    Dec 5, 2017 – 00:28:03
  • EP 4 (Part 1): How to Create Gods
    Nov 22, 2017 – 00:26:45
  • EP 3: How Many Worlds To Build?
    Nov 7, 2017 – 00:24:09
  • EP 2: Using Earth Analogues
    Nov 7, 2017 – 00:33:56
  • EP 1: Introduction to The Art of World Building Podcast
    Nov 7, 2017 – 00:19:07
Recent Reviews
  • Feltdiggidy
    Good podcast
    Just a little bit arrogant. Also the constant adds are a little bit ridiculous.
  • CoolPapaL
    Great podcast
    Super helpful and informative! He pled me get into the world building game with little knowledge.
  • redsapples21
    Insightful podcast
    It’s a very helpful tool for a writer to listen to while doing the normal everyday job. A ton of information for someone to take in. But this speaker isn’t speaking he’s reading, so it’s not very personable. Also I understand ads but, my guy your episodes are 30 minutes I don’t need “let’s take a break” 4 times.
  • CK58398
    This isn’t a podcast - it’s an advertisement broken up by tiny bits of information
    I think the author has some good information to offer. Only… the only thing he seems willing to share on his podcast is to sell his books. Now, I came here because I wanted to see if his information was good enough to buy his books (which are a bit OVERpriced. Only every 2-3 minuets, there was a 5 minute advert for his books, website… Gah! AND stop trying to sell your music by showing it at us for the last 5-8 minutes of the show. I came to learn a little more about his ideas of world building. I’ve come away with the idea that he knows little and just wastes our time marketing other works that do the same thing - market his other works - instead of giving us information. Highly Idisappointed.
  • Bwholeton
    So much advertising
    The ideas gone over in this podcast are good things to think about when building a world, but the narrator stops at least 3 times over the course of each episode to advertise themselves (and ends each episode with 4-5 min of their own guitar music (which, though I like that music, isn’t what I came to the podcast for). I’m not saying that the narrator shouldn’t ask for support, but, rather than stopping the podcast constantly, pick some stuff to share in the middle of the episodes and save the rest for the end.
  • JenniferJohnston
    Such a helpful podcast…
    I’ve recently begun the journey of creating my own world, Kiso, the hidden planet that swarms with mythical creatures and plants. This podcast has been so helpful in giving me tips and tricks for building my world. He gives you chunks of advice that you wouldn’t normally think of and that just “make sense” once you think about it. Such a great podcast and I’ll be following along with my headphones as I work!
  • Philinna Wood
    Excellent podcast for world building!
    This is why you should listen to this podcast: 1. Awesome and unique advice on every aspect of world building. (Races, places, magic, you name it) 2. The host’s voice is great. 3. His music is atmospheric and inspiring and he writes it himself. I’m so happy I discovered this gem.
  • kireteiru
    Important Information to Think About
    This podcast is incredibly helpful when it comes to world building and thinking about what needs to be added - or NOT added - to your world to make it seem as real as possible to readers. The reason for 4 stars rather than 5 is the narrator has a tone and way of speaking that throws me off (not Bad, just a way I find Odd), but over all a very good podcast.
  • ConfusedDad
    Useful!
    Every episode has had something new for me to learn about creating a realistic world.
  • anonamous moose
    THE BEST THING THAT I’VE EVER LISTENED TO!!!
    Hi I’m an aspiring fiction writer and this podcast really helps with my writing! I just wanted to let you know that you’re awesome and informative and just overall amazing!
  • RadioArcade
    Can’t stop all the ideas
    The questions he asks and poses give me so much inspiration and new ideas. Great for people who want to go all out and do things realistically. He’s also very concise with the way he speaks. I’ve also wanted to use many of the cliche tropes on purpose to flesh them out even more, (elves, unicorns, Pegasi, etc) and he did a great job describing how to do so while remaining unique. I’m writing this review only listening to two of his sessions, so I can only imagine how much better it’ll get from here.
  • Disa St-Rrou's
    Podcast and Books
    This podcast is great! The books are a huge help to me in world building!
  • Geminirand
    Great Podcast
    This is killer content.
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