🔸 Worldbuilding Project | Secondary Channel 🔸 kzfaq.info/love/J4J_ClDpEKREfMIgnvU1rg

I've had the "disease" for about 35 years. To date, I have created 6 fully fleshed out settings for fiction, and probably four times that many for TT/VTT roleplaying purposes. Safe to say the disease and I are now fully inextricable from each other. And you know what? While I haven't yet published any of my fiction, it so often leads me to collective storytelling that has brought joy and passion to my friends around the roleplaying table that I don't think I am missing anything.

Thanks for the shoutout! Awesome breakdown, I'm sure a lot of new writers will get great use out of this! -Benji, showrunner

For the Brandon Sanderson clip, that's exactly the context it's in. it's also more than that, in his class he actively focuses on practical advice for making a living with your writing. The class isn't just "How to write a good story" but also covers things like how to find an editor, what to look for in a publisher, how to get people interested in your book, and other more industry specific things. So from that lens it's vitally important that people don't get so caught up in making things perfect they never get around to finishing anything at all.

For me, worldbuilding is not escape from the world that is, but inspiration on applying how to create the world that could be. Stories and parables have at times been the catalyst that have both broken and forged technologies and civilizations in real life, and very much continue to do so. Delightfully curious to see more.

The introduction is basically is me, wanting to leave this life and go to a new one of my making

The Worldbuilder's Disease section hits me sooo hard. I spend probably a quarter of my free time worldbuilding and have only a few drafts of short stories, and a few roleplaying settings, but it never really had a purpose, or goal, as it were. But this video helped me realize that the process, the journey of creating a world, can be a fulfilling goal in and of itself, and for that I am very grateful.

I am one who loves wordbuilding for the sake of worldbuilding. I am not concerned with any one person within the world. I think of myself as a speaker of the world itself. What is it, when is it, how is it, and why is it? I love placing the dots on a page, with which the audience can then connect into stories unimaginable even to me.

Worldbuilding and storytelling is a deeply personal journey. There are as many ways of creating worlds and stories as there are people creating them. Guides, such as those laid out by Sanderson and Martin are great and very useful. They can give you ideas and get you started. But ultimately, you have to find the method that works for you. You can follow Sandersons advice to a T. You can ignore every bit of it. You can take bits of his and Martins, combine them, and make something that comes from both. Whatever you do, make sure it's a world and story YOU are happy with.

Even Tolkien wasn't exclusively an architect. In the original Hobbit, Bilbo's ring was just a magic ring. The idea of the One Ring came later.

Gosh, that segment on Worldbuilder's Disease was exactly what I've been trying to articulate for years. Worldbuilding should NOT have to play second fiddle to everyone because NOT everyone is trying to write a damn novel! In the comments of all those posts and videos talking about worldbuilding being second to story, you'll still have tons of people saying "Well, what if I want to worldbuild for it's own sake". And that's how they should approach it if need be! I will craft the most intricate world in my head and my google docs and I really don't give a damn if it doesn't produce a book immediately. The creative process is fulfilling enough on it's own.

I think the biggest thing that the "World Builder's Disease" concept misses is that the world can BE the narritive, look at Dinotopia, 20000 Leagues Under the Sea, One Piece, and even Lord of the Rings itself to an extent. All these stories are about exploring worlds to some degree, which isn't possible without extensive attention to detail.

Gods that INTRO! That nearly made me shed a tear at how poetic, but also comforting for me, it was. World building has always been my way of escapism from real world troubles, and it feels so nice to be seen by that intro. Edit: now that I've finished watching the whole thing, gosh this whole video speaks to me to such an incredible level. I agree with practically everything you've discussed.

I think I remember seeing somewhere that Tolkien started by building the Elvish language Quenya and then asked what sort of people spoke this language? Their culture? Their history? And building out from there.

Commenting 4 algorithm

That intro is one of the best bits of writing in Templin's history.

Totally love this first video !! 9:30 Funny thing, but the opening crawl of most Star Wars movies reminds me of this pyramid. It starts with the galactic political situation in the first paragraph, then the more precise local situation of protagonist organisations implied in the story in the second paragraphe, and then the immediate situation of characters in the third one. Organisations are rarely named in the 3rd paragraph, and characters rarely in the 1st. I think it's what makes those movies so anchored in their Universe without seeing the rest of the Galaxy, while also starting "In Medias Res". 18:42 OH OH OH, It's Santa Claus' fleet, arriving on Earth full of gifts for the nice Earthling children, and trash compactors for the naughty ones.

Your river metaphor reminded me of reverse-mountain from One Piece. It doesn't work like it does in our world, or even how other rivers work in their own so the characters are utterly shocked when they encounter it. I think it works just as a mystery, but it also has the outline of an explanation that will likely be complete near the end of the tale. Then we'll laugh.

Aaaaaa can’t wait to see this entire venture completed! So creative and informative

Hm, this was indeed quite the heterodoxic way to introduce this worldbuilding series. I quite like it.

A wonderful exploration of getting started with Worldbuidling.

The first 3 and a half ish minutes of this video are perfection

It's nice to hear the perspective that worldbuilding isn't solely to support a story. I like to generate random worlds with the GURPS Infinite Earths rulebook, and then fill in some detail about them. I never intend for them to get any use in a story or game, but it's a fun creative activity.

Rule one of world building: What do they eat.

Thank you SO MUCH for the World Builder's Disease section... I have it and it doesn't feel like a disease at all. It feels like a super power that gives me massive worlds from which to pluck a story.

The intro was flawless! I had to watch it twice. I think Brandon Sanderson isn't wrong in the context of writing a story, but sometimes you just want to worldbuild for the sake of it and that's perfectly valid. If you are having more fun writing about elf biology than writing the main plot (and assuming you do this as a hobby and not a job) don't let anyone stop you.

In D&D world building I have always felt that I strike a good balance between gardener and architect, building my world in broad terms while using games to build up the more minor elements as they become important.

Very much looking forward to this new series! And yes, the Brando "Writing Guru (blessed be his name, give praise lol)" Sando clip was from one of his worldbuilding lectures for a college class - lecture 5 or 6 I think. They are posted in full on his YT channel. Also I petition for a collab episode with Hello Future Me and Tale Foundry sometime during this series! The internet will tremble at the combined worldbuilding might of you three!

I really appreciate what you said about "worldbuilder's disease", because I've been worldbuilding alternate histories in my head and notes for decades now, but I was never able to make a story or narrative within the world I made. It made me feel conscious that I could not make a story with the world I made. Yeah, I did research a lot on colonial economies, national legislatures, world leaders, mass movements, demographics, diplomacy, etc. to make the alternate universes I'm making as realistic as possible while remaining entirely fictional, but I never managed to even begin writing down a story. Doing so usually requires me the aid of another person who's better at storytelling than worldbuilding and can use the world I make to craft a story. It's a great mental and creative exercise, IMO, and it helps me in doing actual historical research by giving me that sense of discipline (read: fixation) into finding and reading primary and secondary sources.

This was an amazing video can't wait for the actual series❤

It begins

From the New Shogunate to the Templin Institute with love ❤

I’ve been in Sanderson’s class. It’s at BYU (if you can get into it with the insane waitlist lol) and it’s a creative writing class. So he was more speaking to how to be an author rather than the kind of world-building people like DM’s do for dnd which is more open ended because of the nature of having players with choice.

I've worked on and off one two different worlds on a pure world building way, i took a top down "architect" style on these two settings. When i started writing a small novel, i started with some characters interacting, then i asked, well where did they come from. Going for the "gardener style," till i reversed it and started building the world, its factions and small bits of history. I love world building, i design worlds because i want to, to perhaps one day for other people to use to create their own stories, using my plot hooks and interwoven political nature of the world. or i might use the world to jump start a DnD campaign.

The tip of how the pyramid represents how much of the world matters to your story at face value really helped me think. I was making a comic, and I had the problem that I got carried away with the worldbuilding, which gets kinda dark for a lighthearted comic where Gradients are the only way you can tell it wasn't made in MSpaint (Indo Pak nuclear war, Miami and Jakarta lost to the sea, it is 2056).

I love building worlds. I build some on my own. And I have the same problem you have. I'm shit at writing a story. It always just feels wrong. I love building the world and have thousands of ideas on what things look like. I personally have found one method of world building extremely interesting. And I have not heard about it talked yet. The organic creation I call it. A while back I build a world for my friends to play D&D in. I build kingdoms, cities and rulers, history and religion, races and cultures. So big things. The things you would read about on the Wikipedia article of the country. Then I plopped the players in this world and said do whatever you want. Basically from that point on, they meet people and went to places I made up on the spot. There was a merchant who sold a valuable herb named dragon root. But he had no idea what is was, only that adventures paid good money for it. It just randomly grew in his cellar. So I expanded on that. And the herb was usually only found in Der nests of dragons. Due to is usually only growing on the discarded eggshells of dragons. The merchant was unaware, that he had build his house on an old dragon nursery. Or the party wanted to drink after receiving a big sum of money from the king of the lizardfolk, but the normal beer most taverns would have was not strong enough. So they decided they wanted booze. I quickly whipped up a drink (translation from German) scalebrew. Which was made from the shed scales and skin of the inhabitants. It was strong and sweet due to the mixing with honey and herbs. I could list many many more things. But I think you get the idea. It's really cool to see the world through the eyes of the people living in it. And gives you another perspective. I usually just look down from the top and write a history for things and important characters. But that misses the dwarf who couldn't grow a beard and was very ashamed of that, so he grew out his her and tied it together unter his chin. So that it looked like a beard. (feel free to steal that. It was very good fun) Or the noble couple who always try to invite other on the kings banquet to a three way but once someone agrees they always chicken out. It's the little things that make a world that much homier. And I can't get those without "boots on the ground". It brings the world to life. And it will change your outlook on stuff. Yes its not easy. You need a group of good players. You will need to be able to come up with things on the spot. But it was always good fun.

First off, that intro went way harder than it needed to, like that was awesome! (I especially loved the Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and Warhammer bits) Secondly, as for how I worldbuild, I'd say I'm a mix of gardener and architect, maybe moreso an architect. There have been times where a character or faction has evolved in a way that surprised me in my world. I also love how you tackled Worlduilders Disease, I always thought it was kinda bs but also maybe something to be wary of nonetheless.

This is beautiful. I love how thought out this video is.

This really resonated with me as a writer. World building is tough and it's easy to get lost thinking up every single detail you think you need to share. How much exposition, context etc without it all turning into a boring thesis going nowhere. With my 1st story, I've loosely gone with the Gardener approach. My 1st chapter introduces the MC and the where/why things are happening around her, but flip-flops back to glimpses of what has happened on the planet prior to the current moment. I wanted to draw the reader into what is happening but also sprinkle in some of the world's state and the events that had come to shape it the way it was presently. I tried to establish enough to get started by having everything, initially, just through her perspective.

I find that worldbuilding for the sake of worldbuilding with no early narrative goals is a very liberating thing to do. Besides, the line between world building and narrative is blurry at best. Writing a story in your world is basically looking at details (characters, locations, histories) through a magnifying glass. World building is just writing's bigger brother.

How fortunate that you've released this video right as I'm building a crossover between the Lancer TTRPG and Mass Effect. The idea started out as fanfiction, but as I keep thinking about it, it transformed into building a history of cultures clashing, mingling and changing.

A solid start to this series. I can't wait for more

I greatly appreciate you saying that while you have your opinions on things, this is still not THE way to do. So often I see writing "advice" given as an absolute. Drives me utterly bonkers. Looking forward to this series! Oh and, prepare yourself for the many who will come up saying "I'll write the story for you!" Trust me, you'll get more that a few.

Hell yeah!

I would also cover backstory in level two of the story pyramid. It gives context to the personalities in the same way that the setting gives context to the events. To take Discworld as an example, because I’m currently reading it, Rincewind is a mage, sort of, who failed out of the Unseen University. To understand his story, you need to have a sense of why he failed out, which requires a general understanding of Unseen University. So UU world-building informs Rincewind’s narrative, but it’s intermediated by backstory rather than setting. I’d also recommend Discworld as an absolute masterclass in how worldbuilding, setting/backstory, and narrative are all mutually supporting. Pratchett is fantastic at all of them and uses them to make the books far more than the sum of their parts.

Love the critical take on the popular methodologies of worldbuilding. Most videos on the topic seem too much like edutainment and offer, at most, a cursory look into the breadth of scope that comes with worldbuilding

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one out there who worldbuilds yet isn't a writer. I am an artist, but I only started linking my worldbuilding to my art about 3 weeks ago lol. I created my world when I was about 13 & I'm now an adult, I love the fact that my world has grown with me, it has gone through name changes, different magic systems, new & old conlangs of varying quality & it's only now beginning to feel like a more fleshed out world in my mind & recently in my art. Excited to watch this series & get new ideas!

As a contrast to worldbilder's disease, there is also storyteller's disease, where trying to fit a sprawling wonderful fictional world into the restricted plot of a story results in a cut down and barebones setting. Its lack of depth destroys any immersion, in turn harming the story it was intended to support. By only ever exploring the few elements the story touches on, the world becomes a shell for the story; a hollow, only skin deep shell. Interesting worldbuilding is what I look for in fictional writing, and seeing it being treated secondary to hero's journey no. 9'453'347 is just a shame. For me, worldbuilding and storytelling grow best as symbiotes. One isn't more important than the other and both can just as well stand on their own. Basically, I agree with you on pretty much all points and will follow this series with great interest.

This whole video is so cool to me, it really puts into words what I thought about the way "world-building advices" are given on KZfaq. I started as a "gardener", writing about 150 000 words of a story without doing any world-building before, and today I'm full architect. Not even writing stories anymore, and only creating the world, with hundreds of pages about it in a drive. And I surely don't consider myself to be sick with "world-building disease". I just love creating political systems, ideological systems, factions, religions, philosophies, etc. It is telling a story in itself for me, in a way even more satisfying than "real" stories

There is an entire universe in my head that I have never been able to write into words. I look forward to this series.

The world buidling pyramid is kind of like how I approach a story when making a story. Glad their are others who feel or see it the same way.

For me worldbuilding is storytelling. I’ve been doing it for 30 years, started long before there were all these resources and opinions. Just do what feels right…you really nailed it here. Good job!

I've always approached my worldbuilding as an explore, rather than as a writer. Currently, I have no intention of writing some epic story, sure maybe one day, but right now my focus is on exploring the setting of my world, fleshing out the cosmology and history. My overarching goal is to develop a setting in which many stories can be told, rather than one. I have over a decade of experience in collaborative storytelling, both in text format on where we literally wrote stories as a group, and in the realm of table top gaming where as a DM you build the setting, set up a scaffolding of a story, and release your players upon the landscape to build whatever they want or to simply tear it down to build an entirely new narrative. World building disease is literally the goal, because the more I explore and develop the world and it's setting, the more potential stories can be told later.

Some of the best worldbuilding I've seen recently completely breaks the communities norm: Bill Making Stuff, Boylei Hobby Time and Gameyy Builds, they're each miniature makers/scratch builders and each time they create a new diorama or mini from their world they create new lore to justify it's existence. A narrative does form after awhile, especially with Gameyy's world, but for the most part you're experiencing the world in a way I've never seen done before. HIGHLY recommend any other worldbuildera to check them out and see how they incorporate the traditional world building techniques into a unique narrative.

Thank you for mentioning the various fields that one can dabble in! Deep respect from Anthropology!

The bits of your worldbuilding have already made me excited about this project and I am even more excited for it's future now that it has started.

I've had the disease since I was in Elementary school, staying up and passing all my stealth and move silently checks to listen to my parents and their friends playing 2ed D&D. Then I would spend all the next day at school writing, drawing, and daydreaming about places far more interesting than the mundane of reality. I'm thirty-five now, and still creating. The worlds matter to me more than what they're used for.

THANK YOU for pointing out that Brandon Sanderson's philosophy and method isn't the Be-All-End-All of creative writing!

Seconded, good sir! Just like you, I'm not a writer, I have no desire to become one, but I absolutely love building worlds as an end to itself. I see it as being similar to a lot of people who paint. They don't paint in order to run a business selling paintings, nor do their paintings exist solely to serve as backgrounds to stage plays or TV scenes. They paint simply for the joy of painting. I build worlds simply for the joy of world-building.

I am so glad you started this series. I have always loved world building from a young age.

World builders disease seems great advice to make sure you actually write a story. Like many, I tried my hand at writing (was terrible at it), but I was great at avoiding this by drawing maps, designing sigils, coming up with Gods 😅

Thank you for this! I have apparently been sick for 3 months! But now I know better thanks to you.

16:40 Absolutely agree! There are many people out there who do worldbuilding for the sake of worldbuilding and are not interested or maybe even incapable of writing a story that would be interesting or fun to read. If I take it to the extreme, they may have all the characters, story plots and details figured out... but as notes and bullet points. 19:00 "I can't write a story worth a damn" hits home... worldbuilding is fun and I love doing it and hell, even laying out the outlines for different possible stories within that world is fun when I'm in the right mood... but actually writing the story into a finished product is extremely hard, frustrating and mentally exhausting to a point that I most of the time don't even try.

I had a draft template of a novel I wanted to write about Humanity post Earth in the 2100s and this vid from the Institute certainly helps the framework. If I have interpreted it properly from one aspect, narrative at the core with world building to support it rather than the other way around.

I think the bottom up method is great. Figuring out as you go really helps your mind keep flowing without going through road blocks trying to figure out the bigger picture

Fantastic. As a long time Dungeon Master, I cannot wait to see this series.

I explicitly have a handful of world/story concepts that I've set aside in a special corner of my mind, ones that I do not intend to ever fully make into a cohesive thing or even a full story. It's fun to have something you can come back to without expectations, and/or as a tool for examining worldbuilding in general.

Really good video man, it really helped me form my thoughts on my own world building project, thanks for the ideas and keep up the good work!

I love the style of these videos. Not only informative but really fun to watch. Thanks!

This entire video is one of the most cathartic things I've ever watched. I feel like you gave a voice to those of us who just want to make interesting places and push the limits of our imaginations. I love to write, but I absolutely loathe plotting devices and the like, so I've turned to tabletop games, roleplay and worldbuilding as my preferred creative outlets. I'm so excited for this series, since I am just now really embracing the idea of worldbuilding without a narrative in mind. It's a massive project, since I am taking inspiration from real world ecology and evolution to base much of it on. It's a lot to swallow and I'm not sure where to start, so hopefully this can give me a bit of direction. Thank you so much! I look forward to seeing the rest of the series, even if the advice may not end up being what I'm looking for! ^-^

I find it amusing how we have the similar philosophies of worldbuilding. I will be interested to see what you do and how your world shapes out.

I LOVED this video. As someone who is new to world building and definitely has "worldbuilding disease" this really resonated with me. Excited to check out more of your videos!

I'm an architect of a garden. I create worlds and characters, then let them go off and do their own thing. If I don't like where it's going, I change it up, then run the "simulation" again. I just put people in different situations to see what they'd do, so in that way, I think I identify more with the gardener, but architect-ing is a necessary part of it.

I like to think I'm an architect but when I start writing I'll fudge the world building here and there to better fit my story. Half and half i guess. I love that you are going to do this and everyone is going to at least get a refresher on the topic. The world building disease hits me and once I notice I'm getting it I'll start writing the story. A bit of a mental check for when my world is finished cooking.

First off..Great intro! Second, clear and concise delivery. Worldbuilding, for me, started when I was just out of high school. It arose from my passion on wanting to become a DM of a Homebrew D&D campaign. However, the friends I had been playing with soon disbanded. Some to college some married, and some moved away. I knew it would take time to develop a viable campaign setting anyway, so I preceded. My first attempt failed. I didn't like how it was evolving so I scrapped it. I should mention that I start with a "Genesis" cosmology approach. I needed to know how my world came to be, what hominids and creatures/monsters and even flora existed. I didn't like the D&D magic system so I would have to create my own. I had other hobbies and interests so I shelved my worldbuilding until I bumped into an old friend who had become a DM. That rekindled my interest in WB. After around 10 years, I realized I would never get a group together to play but I kept at it anyway. There was other uses for WB such as novels, scripts, video games etc. However, I wasn't a writer or a programmer. In truth, I just liked doing it. 5 more years went by and I felt it was consuming my life so I shelved it again. 5 more and I'm now thinking I actually want to write a novel ... which of course led me to see this. BTW subbing & liking ♥🗺👷

Man that was one hell of an intro!

Great intro. I'm so hyped for this!

This is a really cool video for Worldbuilding hobbyists and people like me who just seek a medium to manifest their fantasies and make them a little more tangible. A little more real. This helped me dismiss some of the concerns that get often raised by writers who talk about this topic. I think Worldbuilder's Desease is probably something (professional) writers should be aware of. They're trying to complete a work for others to consume and I can totally see how excessive worldbuilding can hurt this process. However I absolutely agree that if you worldbuild for the sake of building a world, it's nothing to be concerned about. If anything, it can be fun quirk to make up periodic tables or a new classification of living things beside animals, plants, fungi etc.

And so it begins

As a Pathfinder GM, worldbuilder's disease is a great thing. When my players get to a new city and I already know exactly what each district in the city is, what they can and can't buy there, what threats are in the area, it makes it that much more immersive for them because that work is already done

I orignialy scrolled past this video because of the title ive just recently started planning my story and am obviously in the worldbuilding stage i think its extremly fun and intresting so when youtubers talk about worldbuilding disease it makes me feel like im doing too much and wont be able to one day finish my story im glad i gave this video a chance youre points made me more sure in my writing and i cant wait to watch more of your videos

many times I have shared my world building online, I tend to get one question that frustrates me to no end, even though I know it comes from a place of care, "what's the theme? why is this an element in your world building? what reason dose it serve in the story?" problem is, there is no story to my world building, its worldbuilding for the sake of world building. and that frustrates others I have noticed. I have a handful of small stories, that have come about from my world building, but they are not always the focus. so this video was nice to hear someone else has a similar view point. so thank you for the video

Awesome video dude! 😎 it is the right step forward to something great!

Amazing take on worldbuilding and fostering the discussion around it. Thanks for this!

I'm glad your video found its way into my recommendations, I'm someone who is a worldbuilder first and foremost, and if a story forms along the way, then great! Thanks

Also commenting for the algorithm. Nice work and looking forward to watching the rest of your series.

For me when world building, I used to do it as a form of escapism as world's that I could enter and experience for myself, recently starting to write some down as stories due to that I couldn't find the type and style of story I actually wanted. Where as one of the first parts of that being figuring out if you interact with the world how it would respond and why it would respond that way along with to keep everything consistent, so that I know what type of response would be typical to certain actions, allowing for a flow that seems like it would be appropriate given the circumstances rather than just what I happen to feel at the time. So realistically in the pyramid of world building i start off with the initial idea, figure out the rough setting of everything, world building to explain why the setting is the way it is as well as adding details like the more important places, name's, why those places are important and general philosophies. Then from there I can use that as the framework to build out any needed info from there as the narrative needs it. That being an oversimplified version of the conceptual thinking that my head has gotten quite good at but yeah

Commenting for engagement! Thank you for validating my love for worldbuilding just for it's own merits

I love this. Thank you

Been worldbuilding my whole life and this is fun to watch. released 3 games and currently writing a novel as well so its always inspiring to see how other people go about doing this.

Hell yeah, templin series on worldbuilding!

I hope this series touches on "cooperative worldbuilding" working on things and writing with your friends or even complete strangers. More fun than it is successful.

❤ Perfect start to the series

Long live the institute!

Ok but why is the introduction so badass?

Ah awesome, I've just started looking into world building so the timing is excellent for me.

you have just inspired me to start My own little exercise i have Always fabtasized about worldbuilding that i teo espacialy Put what i feel about it into words perfectly thank you !

Thanks for the great speech, you had puting a words on my conception of worldbuilding and my will to write good stories. As usual, i will follow your video to see your point of view.

Just found this video - great breakdow! And I really appreciate your 'this is my method' approach. Yes! I don't wanna hear all-applying rules, I want to peek inside your brain :) It's clear that you put a lot of love and thought into this

As someone who has taken that class from Sanderson, you are correct that his advice of prioritizing narrative over world building as where to focus your skill development was given in the context of pursing traditional publishing