5 Strategies to Give Your Worldbuilding Instant Depth!

[@Etaith]

While I'm thinking about it, I just want to say, "Thank you." Thank you for all you do with this channel. I enjoy your points, acceptance of getting tongue-tied at times, and even the cat visitors on occasion. I'll admit that I haven't caught up on all your videos that I'm interested in lately because I feel like you deserve 100% of my attention. Maybe even notes. Rather than background listening while I work my "day job". I'll get there eventually. But I wanted you to know that I look forward to your videos, all the same.

[@JustInTimeWorlds]

Thank you :) It's very nice to be appreciated.

[@ronecotex]

In the world based on water clocks someone could say I have no more drops to waste on you another expression i have of all the drops in the world

[@JustInTimeWorlds]

I do love my time sayings :D

[@itisALWAYSR.A.]

@ronecotex the water clock lore has lots of potential. First that came to mind is "pissing the day away" probably has convergent meaning, but also things like "in a storm" meaning "overwhelmed, having a lot to do and little chance to do it", maybe even ice/frost ideas when time just doesn't seem to move. The candle culture has a great interplay of ideas between fire and air - "up in smoke" and "snuffed out" may be more general ideas, but things like "the cost of cheap wax" might be about how cheap goods tend to wear out faster than high grade equivalents done with care. Some fun concepts here!

[@trevinwhiteley2730]

I think it's super cool that you don't cut out minor errors, your speech feels much more natural and less choppy than many other channels I have watched. I don't know why this isn't more common, it seems like it would be easier on your end too! Thanks for all of the great advice!

[@JustInTimeWorlds]

You’re welcome ☺️

[@cristianroth8524]

Regarding your first point, I'd like to add that the familiarity of George Martin's world, excellently built as it is, also stems from the near-ubiquity of the medieval setting in fantasy. If I were to write a fantasy novel in a setting inspired from the early Roman Republic, for example, or the Greek Dark Ages, there will be some vaguely recognizable elements, but most of it would appear very unfamiliar. The medieval setting's monopoly is so accentuated, that readers have come to expect it, and major changes will require more ample world building.

[@JustInTimeWorlds]

💯

[@AlexanderosD]

Thank you! One of my favorite aspects of world building is the well lived-in and deep rooted cultures and traditions of a world or setting.

[@franmar1140]

In my world building for my fantasy story, I was feeling a bit of mental blockage because things and events didn’t flow well. Now that I’ve restructured my keypoints and events, I managed to create a deeper world because of gaps in the lore!! I was thinking of 3 novel arch, following the natural order 1,2,3 but opted for a 1,1,2; the first one being self contained and with a smaller focus. Thus, sparkling the lore and key events, making my story flow better and having a deeper world. I feel like my story and world is ready!! Thank you so much for your tips and sharing your thoughts and experience!! :D

[@JustInTimeWorlds]

Awesome work 🙌

[@shaethefox]

As a 17 year old student with adhd trying to make a world for dnd, this vid is very useful in aiding me building it, since it's my first time at world building. Im definitely gonna implement these strategies, especially since my world has 4 nations, each based of real world parts of the world and there cultures The nation im currently working on is based off typical European fantasy. Definitely subscribing!❤ Srry for the rant lol

[@JustInTimeWorlds]

Awesome! I wish you a long career of DMing 😁 I still run a game each week myself.

[@TheKingofkrypton]

I feel like there's a saying opportunity for your candle timer culture along the lines of "the light shines the same until the final gutters." You may already have one, but it seems useful in reminding someone that something's not over until it's over.

[@leroyfalconer]

Who are you? And I mean that in a very good way. The gems you give are absolutely priceless. On behalf of Who are all thinking it, thank you!

[@JustInTimeWorlds]

You are very welcome. And I'm just an oddball who loves fantasy and likes figuring out how stuff happens and why it works :)

[@ronecotex]

One idea I have a mafia of shapeshifters have sayings always be polite with your true face

[@DavidGlenn-xl6yi]

Now I'm glad I'm creating some folk tales for one of my settings. While they seem to mostly fall under cautionary folk tales (people who did something stupid with the fauna, and paid the price), to me it feels organic. If you have dangerous animals around, you're going to want some way to teach people to not be stupid around them.

[@JustInTimeWorlds]

💯 and a great way to give the world some color.

[@rojetx8204]

Just what i needed. I subscribed yesterday for a reason.

[@JustInTimeWorlds]

Welcome!

[@ronecotex]

When you mentioned the Hidden Hand that made me think of a fantasy race they can produce spikes from the left hand and their nomadic men sayings like keep your left hand ready but when they go to a different culture their settlements they may want them to bind their left hand this could be a point of conflict or a Story about adapting it could go a lot of ways you could go with it

[@JustInTimeWorlds]

Shadows of the Apt did something like that. The Wasps can fire a bolt of light from their palms. So in their culture, an open hand is a threat, but a fist is a sign of being non threatening. It is super interesting to play with magic's impact in that way.

[@ronecotex]

The expression open hand could have a whole different meaning you can have the Village Idiot type character not understand the local context and customs it'd be hilarious in my opinion

[@johnnelson4411]

If such a race looked identical to another outwardly, maybe cultures would do something like brush the backs of their hands slowly in greeting to prove they done have openings for spikes, or refuse to get within arms reach out of fear of "others", even if such fears are likely unfounded ignorance

[@anathema1828]

Thanks for all of the advice!

[@zekethefreakmashingupgeek]

I like to embed lore into character's sayings and swear words.

[@captainnolan5062]

I didn't recall Martin ever using the title "Duke" in his epic series (as you suggest at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="172">2:52</a>), so I asked Chap GPT whether Martin uses the title "Duke" in A Song of Ice and Fire: Answer: "No, in George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series, there are no specific titles like "Duke" mentioned; the noble houses are primarily referred to as "Houses" with their lords being simply called "lords," meaning there's no distinction between a duke and a baron within the narrative."

[@JustInTimeWorlds]

My bad, it's the "Your Grace(s)". That honorific always leads me to duke (if it's not referring to a king, like with Robert)

[@captainnolan5062]

@@JustInTimeWorlds Understandable. Thanks for posting this video. I plan to visit your channel and watch more content.

[@nevarfallen290]

Im curious about the difference between the level of depth in In-World Stories vs Leaving Gaps. Specifically when it comes to the people filling in the blanks. If the citizens in my world are familiar with a piece of history where part of how it happened is unknown (leaving gaps), does that not give way to In-world stories as the citizens fill in that gap themselves with different versions of what they think happened? Is there an example/case when this wouldn't happen?

[@JustInTimeWorlds]

Well, they probably will fill it, but they’re unlikely to fill it with specifics. When people fill gaps in stories, they tend to plug the hole with something that supports their world view, e.g. Their arrogance made the gods angry and they doomed Valyria, so make sure you stay humble in the sight of the gods! Or: their decadence drove the spirits away and the lands, once green and lush, withered into the great desert, so live in blessed purity and you will prosper… That kind of thing. I can see people in world filling the gaps with miracles and moralizing, which should intrigue the reader even more :) Especially if different cultures have different moral miracles they insert in their explanation.

[@emmapicott449]

So, a selective detail for me that I thought of is kind of a cascading one: my fantasy world is going to be set over the endless seas, with islands flowing through the sky held up by powerful crystals filled with magic. So here's where the cascade starts: how do people and animals get around? Obviously, seeds, birds and some insects fly on the winds, but what about flocks of deer, for example? Well, for deer, they gather magic from the plants they eat and use that. Horses, meanwhile, use a mix of magic and wings they've grown. But then what about people? For them, I'm thinking ships and sleighs, pulled by the winged horses but lifted by smaller magic crystals, to help reduce the weight. For larger vessels you'd want sails, instead of horses. Now, imagine: you've just entered a whole new world, one you didn't know existed, and you find your way to the edge of the island you're on. The first thing you see is more islands surrounding you, but they're not sitting in the ocean, water lapping at the sand. No, they're hundreds, maybe thousands of feet in the sky, and here and there you see a waterfall tumbling down to the sea below (the magic crystals naturally hold on to water, to a point, so the islands don't become dried out husks). Great vines dangle down from the rock, and you can see what looks like something sparkling gently in the rock itself, though you don't know what it is yet. You're not expecting the birds to come shooting past, and you yelp, moving backwards quickly, but then you realise. They're not birds. They're deer! Or what passes for deer here! You watch in amazement as the herd makes for a nearby meadow, where they soon begin to graze in peace. Seriously, though, I've been trying to come up with an introduction for this world a while now. 😹 So thank you for the inspiration!

[@JustInTimeWorlds]

Very nice, very fantastical :D

[@emmapicott449]

@JustInTimeWorlds thank you! ❤️ I love the idea of this world, and I can see humans living on island cities that are held together by chains and rope bridges to create wide spread areas that could then be divided by class, too. XD

[@justicebrewing9449]

The book A Plague of Giants by Kevin Hearne is absolutely adrift with cultural idioms. There are 5 major cultures, and all have a lot of sayings, often overlapping with ones from other cultures, yet completely different

[@JustInTimeWorlds]

Sounds awesome :)

[@genesischaparro8954]

It must suck to be a left handed woman in the world with the "safe hand"

[@JustInTimeWorlds]

Absolutely. Gender norms are not built for the edges of the society.

[@philvanderlaan5942]

I need help not jumping down rabbit holes working out coins weight in grams and diameter when I don’t plan on describing them beyond copper, silver ,gold, tiny , small , large and the names of the coins themselves, I need to avoid most of the logistics

[@JustInTimeWorlds]

Yeah, it's easy to get trapped in an eternal spiral of world building :)

[@zerotwo7319]

"The largest trafic jam is on the moon"

[@TheMichaellathrop]

So where would you place intentionally giving verifiably incorrect lore? For instance if you get a story early on saying oh such and such a monster can only be hurt by cold iron, and then later that doesn't work because you need silver to hurt it? In this case it would work to ratchet up tension as the carefully laid plans fail to work but do you think that old story teller or drunk in the tavern being flat out wrong adds depth?

[@JustInTimeWorlds]

Absolutely. So long as you gave false lore with a plan and there is a payoff, it will make the story better not worse. On purpose and by design is the way to keep your readers engaged.

[@MerkhVision]

Thats a good idea! Maybe try n give some kind of hint or foreshadowing that careful readers or re-readers can notice that the source might not be fully trustworthy or accurate, that helps make it more satisfying and less frustrating or seeming like it came out of nowhere. Unreliable info or contradictory lore is a great tool for making things realistic cuz it's a thing that happens in the real world with real history and mythology and folklore all the time!

[@BigCowProductions]

@@MerkhVision Stuff like that would work great in a city or district where they are very superstitiuous, or have had a lot of changing rulers. Stuff that could lend credence to information death.