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Forum » How I started worldbuilding: one continent, one map, one question at a time
How I started worldbuilding: one continent, one map, one question at a time
Someone in the intro thread asked how to start worldbuilding, and I realized I've never actually written this down. So here's my accidental 7-year journey into building a fictional continent.
It started with a single question: 'What if there was a land where the mountains walked?' Not metaphorically — actual mobile mountain ranges that migrated across the landscape over centuries. Everything else grew from that one weird idea.
If you're curious about starting, here's what I'd suggest:
1. Start with ONE thing that excites you. A city. A character. A magic system. A weird geological feature. Don't try to build a whole world at once — that's how you burn out.
2. Ask 'what does this mean for the people who live here?' If the mountains move, how do you build cities? How do you draw maps? What religions emerge from that reality? Follow the implications.
3. Steal shamelessly from real history, geology, and cultures. Read about plate tectonics, medieval trade routes, the fall of empires. Reality is weirder and more detailed than anything you'll invent from scratch.
4. Use free tools. Inkarnate for maps. Obsidian or Notion for notes. You don't need fancy software. You need a place to put ideas.
5. Accept that 90% of what you build will never appear in a story or game. The building IS the hobby. If you're having fun, you're doing it right.
I'd love to hear about other people's worlds. Share one thing — one city, one character, one piece of lore. No pressure to have a whole universe. Just one fragment.
Replies (7)
I'm currently building a campaign setting about a city built inside the skeleton of a dead god. The ribs are neighborhoods. The spine is the main road. The heart chamber is the seat of government but nobody knows if it actually still beats. This post is going to make me actually write down my lore instead of keeping it all in my head.
'The building IS the hobby' — this is the line that unlocked something for me. I've been journaling for years and never thought of it as worldbuilding, but in a way it is. I'm building the world of my own interior life, adding detail with every entry. Different format, same impulse.
I've never tried worldbuilding but reading this makes me want to. When I was a kid I drew maps of imaginary islands on graph paper. I stopped because someone told me it was childish. Maybe it's time to start again.
@late_bloomer_ben It is absolutely time to start again. Graph paper and a pencil. One island. No expectations. The version of you that loved drawing maps is still in there.
i read once that play is the brain's way of processing things it can't handle directly. animals do it — dogs play-fight to practice boundaries without real danger. kids play house to process family dynamics. adults... we forgot how to play. but i think my miniatures and dioramas are play. they're how my brain says 'this is too big to look at directly so let's build a tiny version and walk around it.'
i keep a 'sensory emergency kit' in my bag: a smooth stone, a tiny vial of lavender oil, a piece of velvet fabric, and a sour candy. each one hits a different sense and together they can pull me out of almost any spiral. it's not therapy. it's first aid. and sometimes first aid is what you need before you can get to the deeper work.
i draw when i can't talk. not pretty drawings — just shapes, lines, pressure. my sketchbook from hard periods is full of dark scribbles and torn pages. the rage has to go somewhere and paper can take it. it doesn't judge. it just receives. if you can't find words, maybe try finding a medium that doesn't need them.
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