The Key to World Building for D&D

Creating your own DnD world is hard work, world building in general is hard! How can you go about worldbuilding in D&D for your campaign?
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World Anvil is an extremely powerful world building tool to help you in your worldbuilding process. It allows you to create wiki style articles for basically everything in your campaign, allowing you to concentrate on the important part: creating an entire world. With tools like a writing software for your novel writing, a digital DM screen, and more, world anvil gives you everything you need to bring whatever fantasy world you can imagine to life!
Tomorrow's Worldbuilding Workshop Stream will be going on HERE!
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You can click on the bell on that stream to be notified when I go live so you don't miss it!
And if you do miss it, you can find the Pointy Hat Live channel HERE! ‪@PointyHatLive‬
Once again, the actual streams will be done on the pointy hat channel (this one, the one you're watching right now!) and the replays of the streams will live in Pointy Hat Live :)
Video Editing by the amazing Bia: / bnazf
Writing, Illustration, and Narration by me: / antodemico
Additional sketches by the amazing Fey: / feymilde

[@pointyhatstudios]

Did you want to write a book as a teen and daydreamed about the fantasy world the story took place in constantly and when you finally started writing you lost steam 3 chapters in, but then you got into DnD and realized that you could just make your friends play in that world and tell stories in it? yeah me neither.

[@RedMagic25]

You know what I did want? Pointy hat plushie.

[@quartzintherough]

Hah Playing TTRPGs with your friends Ha ha ha ha ...

[@23traves]

PLEASE KEEP MAKING THIS SERIES!!! *Is writing down frantically* I LOVE IT!!! MY JUICES ARE FLOWING LIKE CRAZY!!!

[@sarahangel3481]

I've always wanted to write a book and I'm still trying to today.😅 But every now and then I find other ideas that distract me and I rewrite everything again. My problem is not so much not having any ideas but rather sticking to an idea. The only idea that is solid is that there is a nation that is hated by almost everyone. Because it is assumed that they are "sinners" and are responsible for everything bad. In reality, however, it was this very nation that fought against the dark and stopped the downfall of the world. But in every book you read today or information you can get from others, this is never mentioned because something mysterious erases all records and memories of it. For the dark power that was sealed by the nation's brave warriors must never be found. Because if this seal breaks, the balance of the world will be thrown out of balance and no one knows whether they can fight against it. My main character has the secret that he is related to this nation, either the son of a famous soldier whose best friend brought him to safety while he bravely led his troops and comrades. Or the son of a nobleman who was very close to the king, but since the king had no heir when he died, he was made king even though he has no noble blood in him. But the dark grew stronger and out of control and he had to make the difficult decision to act for his people. So he researches a way to do something about it. Developed a new type of magic that looked like black magic to the untrained eye, but actually had strong protective effects. However, this power came with a price and so he sacrificed himself for the well-being of others. My main character comes from these two possibilities and senses that he is different and his goal is to investigate who he really is and how far he can change his fate. This is the only idea that is solid so far.🤗 And I don't want to change it. I just like that people are made to think that the nation can only be evil because they are called "sinners" and have different customs. But then in the course of the adventure they put together pieces of the puzzle that put the nation in a completely different light. So much so that we know that if this nation hadn't fought, the world would have ended. This idea is probably too specific to embed in DnD. Because the idea is made for a book. But somehow it would be nice to turn this into a DnD adventure. However, in DnD, no one is the main hero alone, but rather the entire group. But perhaps we could do something with the core. And a player is simply a descendant of a survivor of that nation. Maybe a priestess who has stronger senses for the magical web. Since this nation was at a very strong source of magic, perhaps the origin of everything magical.💙

[@23traves]

@sarahangel3481 this seems like an interesting idea! Maybe the character you created is actually a member of a group who have some sort of ties to this demonized nation, whether direct or tangential, and as the group discovers more about this demonized nation, they learn that something about this demonization is the key to keeping the Seal strong and functioning, and as they discover more, the seal weakens, and the minions of the great evil leaks out into the world, because the evil feeds on one primal emotion: Fear.

[@ElijahForLong]

"The point here isn't to make a utopia, it's to make interesting places for stories to happen in" I need more people to realize this.

[@falionna3587]

Most peoples utopias end up as a dystopia anyways :P

[@Antonath]

I would say if you REALLY have a unique and interesting idea for a city or nation that is in fact a utopia it should be at risk and help drive the story. The best advice that takes time to realize I think is don't think up solid unmovable ideas, creating outlines and thinking on how the goings on in the world and the players could affect them and lead to a variety of different outcomes. If you come up with what you think is the greatest idea ever but it is in itself a complete idea that can't change since it wouldn't be the greatest outcome for that idea, you lost the plot.

[@ElijahForLong]

@@Antonath I was more referring to removing conflicts from settings because they might be "problematic" I once had players have a serious problem with there being a gay noble in a political marriage. They said it was homophobic. But to respond to your point, you can put a utopia into world building, and it's especially interesting when you try to qualify what considers a utopia. Is it a society with no conflict? Is it a society where everyone is happy? Is it a society that is truly free? Well then you could have a society where all those who are responsible for conflict are exiled, offender and victim alike. You could have a society where everyone is manipulated, intoxicated, or brainwashed into always being happy. You could have a lawless land where everyone is free to do any horrible thing possible. You could also have a society that is located on some limited magical resource that truly makes a utopia, but everyone else wants it, forcing the nation into war anyway. Utopias are subjective, and that can be really interesting.

[@coldfrost3]

​@chanelinks7851 honestly the gay nobel problem feels more like not laying down setting expectations clearly cause it feels like they were expecting a different "tone" than you if they weren't expecting loveless marriages for power.

[@ElijahForLong]

@@coldfrost3 it was perfectly within the established tone. They just saw it as "fixing gay people" I've ran the same npc in multiple different groups and haven't had a problem.

[@lordkakabel76]

Recent Session 0: "What kind of world do you guys want to play in?" Group: "Let's keep going in your homebrew world." *tears form in eyes* I never felt so validated!

[@ryandugan9176]

This was literally how I started running my current bizarrely similar setting to this video. It's a great feeling ^^

[@CaedmonOS]

So in this setting, you would rather encounter a drow than a wood elf.

[@reinierkwint9419]

Drow would be even better than just for their better darkvision, because they have two light-based spells (Dansing Lights, and Faerie Fire), which can both be used to distract or fight the dark monsters. Heck, maybe the DM allows the Darkness spell to be used to hide the light of the souls of those who are inside of it, letting them hide/be invisible to the dark monsters.

[@potatospud9471]

@@reinierkwint9419Or make them in a conflict (with the darkness spell)*

[@nehrumoreiradesousa6302]

1 - Conflict 2:15 2 - Thtret 7:06 3 - Goal 9:32 3.1 Causality 13:14 A - nations 13:58 B - Races 21:30

[@hannahtoennis8860]

It’s threat but otherwise these are very helpful thank you

[@daniellage5130]

You're our hero

[@Punkstar911]

Threat

[@DragoonOuroborosDragun]

Even though it has been pointed out a lot don’t change threat from thtret it’s funny and cool and could be a cool name that is also funny❤😂 P.S.(also thank you for posting this it really helps😊)

[@liaml.e.5964]

Kwest

[@drtisk]

I love that this World Building method doesn't even mention the geography and physical layout - something a lot of people start with. The big themes and ideas are definitely more important than where the mountains and rivers are

[@marykateharmon]

Yeah! I'm worldbuilding right now and the geography of the world is definitely the place that I'm most shaky in. It's nice to hear that it's viable to focus on other elements first.

[@mars7304]

You can make a river anywhere, and it won't matter unless your players have reason to think it matters. The mountains are only important if you make them important. So on and so forth.

[@Slayerlord13]

I see people on the worldbuilding subreddit unironically tell people that they have to start with fucking plate tectonics and it just...well I don't visit that place anymore.

[@twilightgardenspresentatio6384]

The world to me starts in the room, the ground and the desires around the npc the players are cued to meet

[@matzsen6022]

I agree to an extent. While the themes and ideas of a world are definitely critical, I think that if you take certain approaches in your world building (say if you want politics to be something very important in your narrative) geography is critical. Geography is the driving force for civilization and most of human history.

[@polpoulet]

What I liked the most about this video: - Moth people - Moth that are people - People that are moth - Moth, but also people

[@tobyfogg5861]

Based

[@LynKoyo]

I NEED a world building video on nations and factions! Please do it, Antonio 🙏

[@enderfire3379]

i also do

[@kennethsmith5383]

For real

[@TrixterTheFemboy]

Agreed

[@gorgit]

There are many channels that have great videos on it. A single 30 min video will never give you as much info as these channels, that devote their entire content on world building. Some examples are Hello Future Me, Runesmith and Enter The Dungeon.

[@davidjennings2179]

Some great world building on the world building for masochists podcast if you want deep dives into building every aspect of your world

[@paulsmart4672]

When you were talking about instability vs unfamiliarity it reminded me Matt Colville once said "There are two kinds of villains. Villains who want to change everything, and villains who want to keep everything the same." Seems like you were kind of coming from the same place.

[@michaelbaughman4358]

Considering the ramifications of having 24hr sunlight, I'm digging the idea of the party spending months or even years trying to reach the light side, and when they finally succeed they realize they've escaped on hell only to enter another, because the light side has become a lifeless, sun-blasted desert

[@Draxynnic]

That thought was crossing my mind too - it would become an eyeball planet, and if the dark side hasn't frozen over, that means the light side is probably an oven.

[@mylesvenn185]

I think most communities would be built in locations where it's either an eternal sunrise or sunset. This would look constant twilight in those areas.

[@twocents7509]

Yeah, the only habitable zone would be in the middle areas. But, hey, it is a magical world

[@therranolleo468]

I imagined it like the Grand Line in One Piece, a small area surrounding the world right in the middle where life thrive and is essentially the world's secret heaven, but to get there you must pass the wall of shadows that gets ever so stronger the closer you are to it. the people of this area has no knowledge of the things that happened beyond their shadow border and they are taught for generations not to venture out lest they wish to die

[@thomasdancy2873]

I love that description of the wood elves watching from the trees while some darkness creature mauls you to death, that is chilling. More worldbuilding pls! I will happily gobble all that content up

[@timotheehuffman2259]

In my world the drow were made during the first winter when a young elf died from frostbite, giving them their dark skin. The child's mother literally followed the god of death to the underworld begging to have her child back. The god of death eventually gave into to the mother's plea and brought the child back, but because of it's connection to the underworld they were unable to leave the caves leading to it. The mother was unwilling to leave her child there and spent her time weeping outside of the underworld until she eventually died as well, becoming the first banshee.

[@teerex1314]

Holy hell, dude. This is a really dope origin myth for both fantasy creatures! Very well done!

[@MrBlorp-sf9ye]

Some sick lorecraft we got right here

[@1Lanavis1]

Dang. That's great. Do you mind if I use it in my world?

[@timotheehuffman2259]

Go ahead!@@1Lanavis1

[@MatiasGRivera]

I love this so much, it makes emotional sense, and that’s the stuff that makes mythology stick with you. I read a lot of fiction on the daily, and this stuck out to me, and it will stick with me. Big kudos

[@Kamyuyon]

Antonio, you are a blessing to this community. Please dont worry about the video time, I would listend to you and your ideas for hours.

[@DragoonOuroborosDragun]

True not to mention he dose it so well that it’s actually not a problem(in fact it could be debate the problem is the opposite)

[@TheHej2]

Imagine being a player in this world. You and your party have travelled the darkness for years to get to the light You pass the final gate and the GM goes to the door you are in (irl) and asks a new groop to enter. And says that you meet another group trying to escape the light. The GM had two simultaneous campaigns in the same world, Darkness and light

[@HenriqueLSilva]

Moral of the story: there's no such thing as a happy place.

[@Trefox87]

​@@HenriqueLSilvathe grass is always shadyier on the other side

[@DanyelAzamor-lh7yg]

thats actually quite genius

[@DragoonOuroborosDragun]

@@HenriqueLSilva ah yes pain I remember it well

[@kidvandal4955]

@pointyhatstudios is one of a handful of DND-tubers that are genuinely informative, actually entertaining, and able to make high quality, accessible content. Thanks, Pointy!!

[@BrenGamerYT]

Your ability to get over dragon hate is incredibly brave, we are all so proud of you, Pointy Hat. Admitting you are wrong takes a lot of character.

[@cocosoda8746]

Danggggggggg

[@thekingofcats27]

An alternative would be to restart the spinning from the source: the core. Your party needs to travel deep underground to use a one of a kind spell to make the core spin, causing the world to turn once more. If the surface has shadows, could you imagine how many the underground would have?

[@023Whiplash]

That is also where the big bad could reside, a ‘god of shadows’ or shadow demon that brought this plan to fruition

[@joshuajordan6278]

I'd gladly watch an entire series of your ideas on world building. Factions, resources, travel, ideology, you name it.

[@theemperormoth5089]

Something I learned when making a setting for an upcoming D&D campaign is that Worldbuilding for D&D, so that it incorporates Dragonborn, Orcs, most Elves, Aaracokra, Tabaxi, etc while also including the different planes of existence and taking into account the effects of certain spells on society is actually VERY VERY HARD!

[@Torbjorn6452]

I can imagine it is so

[@digitaljanus]

That's why not allowing everything in your setting isn't being mean--it's to keep you sane!

[@rikospostmodernlife]

I'd say it's hard if you want to stake your world right there in the middle of planescape/spelljammer cosmology. Sometimes less is more and when the default is so packed full of player races and lore details, restrictions are what makes your own world unique. I have a whole sci-fa universe where many DnD races do not exist and others are reskinned into uplifted manmade species or magically altered members of other species. Dragonborn are just planetouched lizardfolk or kobold depending on size, asimar do not exist in most planets and "bugbear" is a literal bear sized bug while goblinoids do not exist anywhere at all

[@tiph3802]

Really? How so? I've had a pretty simple time of it, and now I'm worrying about what I'm messing up.

[@shineshadow]

I Tell you a little Secret: You don't have to. It is fine if your world has restrictions for races and Planes. You could even create your own!

[@Crisopeia]

Omg Pointy Hat, you are so tolerant with dragonborns. So inclusive for treating them like people 😍

[@daydreamer2257]

What I would like to see him talk about is the oceans on the night side, becasue pitch black oceasn are absolutely terrifiyng.

[@gatorshark0870]

Maybe the aquatic life would resemble those in deep sea trenches, but near the surface.

[@Mr.Despair.]

But also because lunar activity heavily effects the oceans movements

[@breadstick4458]

@@gatorshark0870Giant angler fish who’s lights poke up above the surface of the water, guiding ships to their doom. Idk if if makes sense but that’s pretty cool right

[@gatorshark0870]

@@breadstick4458 Yes, that does sound like an awesome encounter!

[@breadstick4458]

@@gatorshark0870 Getting sunless sea vibes from it. Whole setting has that vibe actually which is really cool

[@sarahseaweed2514]

I would just like to say this video has helped me out SO much for creating my first campaign. I’m one of those people who has so many creative ideas and then once I try to organize those thoughts on paper all I hear is crickets echoing in my brain. Other videos are so broad with their statements on what structures to use, but you giving solid examples for each pillar is so enlightening! THANK YOU 🎉

[@genostellar]

I would personally have all of the chaos and madness on the dark side, and the light side is very peaceful without hardship. The players wouldn't know until they got there, but once there they would see that the people there are living peacefully and happily, and maybe they would resist the players getting the planet to start turning again because that would make hardship enter their lives again. They basically traded half of the world for their own peace, and they just don't think about the dark side. Of course, a few people there would be on the player's side, having family trapped on the dark side and wanting to save them.

[@ZacharyJones-xs1un]

Sounds like a cult, and I will be borrowing this

[@genostellar]

@@ZacharyJones-xs1un Make it into a cult, if you like. Now that you mention it, it sounds like it to me, too.

[@Mr.Despair.]

This is a PERFECT way to create new conflict right when the PCs thought they finally found resolution. Ahh, we finally got to the light, everything is gonna be smooth sailing from here. SIKE! Now there's a war between the people who live in the light and the people who live in the dark to either get the world to start spinning again or keep things the way they are.

[@Draxynnic]

Kinda the reverse of the "illithids want to douse the sun" plot?

[@madmachanicest9955]

I am a word building nerd please make more of this. I love to see more and more of this world

[@Mukiukiuki]

The semi frequent drag race clips are making me thing either Antonio is a stan or his editor is…. (slay✨)

[@thetrueaysha5004]

i think antonio IS the editor so...

[@ViktorLoR_Mainu]

I think he is his own editor, and also very much, definitely... (slay✨)

[@Aquanios08]

Either way, I adore both of them and their humor. It throws me off every time and keeps my attention piqued lol

[@ghostlyapples]

I happen to know that Bia (the editor) is a queer woman who knows all memes to ever grace the internet lmao (her info is on the description)

[@xdean816]

Shit I didn't know he was into race cars too. Thats neat bro.

[@BanMaster2]

When I was doing a world for my players, I started from a novel that I never managed to complete. The world building was hard although some vague attributes were given to the order of the world. Now after 3.5 years, this campaign will end with dome significant changes because of the players' actions. And Since I am planning on having a campaign two later on, I will definitely use your guide as an inspiration and players' actions as the "cause" :) thanks!

[@greeniegreens7737]

Honestly I’d love a full series on more in depth world building.

[@clonecody7070]

I'd love to imagine the magnitude of duckedness the other side of the planet would experience. One big desert with people flooding the underdark to survive. Thats a dope world

[@adamkaneshiro]

i love all of your worlds that you created! you are blessed with so much talent! thank you for sharing with us!

[@jamesballance2164]

Watching your channel helped break a decade long writer's block as I got into D&D. Your expertise in the game and having such a unique way of looking at the game has helped me now write almost 200 pages of D&D content as I build my own first world (and campaign because of course I had to do it all). This video couldn't be better timed as I was really starting to struggle with how to incorporate the other nations of the world. Thinking about them as flawed rather than trying to make them perfect was an absolute lightbulb moment, so thank you for continuing to be perfectly timed and inspirational!

[@efestohorus2053]

USE THIS COMMENT AS A VOTE STATION FOR MORE WORLDBUILDING VIDEOS

[@sheepyhead0399]

This video was INSANELY helpful I'd be over the moon if he made more of these

[@the.dirt.man.]

Um sir that's called the like button mans said so 13:36

[@fedep4959]

Yes

[@projohn18]

Yes

[@Thorne_MacGregor]

Yes, more please! Loved this content!

[@royernster6792]

I don’t normally comment, but am 100% here for more worldbuilding videos

[@dr.keinmann2996]

world building is one of my favorite parts of dnd as a whole, i like weird and unique settings i have built for my players. in other words PLEASE OH PLEASE GIVE US AN ENTIRE SERIES ON WORLD BUILDING IM BEGGING YOU

[@el_super_laser]

the amount of video editing you did is staggering, most people don't realize how long it takes to find the take and place it correctly and you do like 5 each sentence. Thanks for the great content.

[@mattnelson2501]

Pointy Hat is so brave for standing up in defense of his fellow dragon haters. Equally brave, though perhaps more foolish, as his Elf hate.

[@mrurl42]

"World Building" does not necessarily mean building a world. In this example for instance he only builds HALF a world and the advice still works. My campaign is a space campaign so the world building I am doing (following this list of course) is building a whole galaxy. "Nations" for instance in my case are actually whole worlds instead of a small nation in his example. And it all still works! I would of course LOVE ideas for neat worlds...

[@yonikut5245]

I run a lot of games Where travel is pretty important And I realized that navigating in this world with traditional methods Would be incredibly difficult. The problem is that that when it's dark, you wouldn't be able to see Traditional landmarks from afar like mountains roads rivers, Even races with dark vision would only be able to see a few dozen feet in front of them. The solution I think would work incredibly well would be navigating through sources of lights. Now, if you're near a city with an artificial sun, then it's obvious how to navigate, However if you're out in the wild whether you're an explorer or a caravan You cannot rely on that but you can rely on stars. In fact, start navigation seems the best way to navigate in this world and find the different locations. This idea has a lot of potential. National borders might not be drawn by rivers or mountains But under which constellations they sit. Another fun example would be would be that. As you get closer to the bright side, stars become dimmer and the sky becomes brighter, but not fully lit Which makes the nations that exist closer to the light More mystical and exotic. Not only they live in a harsh environment where shadows are everywhere But a person cannot leave The light of a settlement or else they will just get lost. There are so many more ideas that could be drawn from it, but these are just some of my thoughts.

[@annasbookhub]

This is such a helpful video on worldbuilding. Really helps to build a story that caters to players and doesn't railroad but still has a clear storyline!!! Good job!

[@ianbatton2770]

As a DM i can say im very happy for the future of these types of videos. thank you so much tiny hat with an eyeball

[@zackcrow1776]

Damn this world is amazing. You could totally do a whole series and by the end I bet people would be begging for a Kickstarter

[@ppenmudera4687]

Recently I started a little worldbuilding project related to evolutionary biology in DnD 5e: I know that ‘illithid’ is just a different word for ‘mind flayer’, but in my mind ‘mind flayer’ has always been the name for the discount Cthulhu beings, while ‘illithid’ has always represented a whole evolutionary clade that includes other aberrations, in the same way that ‘human’ is the name for the species of semi-naked apes, who are part of the evolutionary clade ‘vertebrata’ (animals with a vertebral column), alongside animals like birds, frogs, and sharks). So I challenged myself to create a (as) plausible (as possible) evolutionary history and cladogram of 5e aberrations like mind flayers, slaads, beholders, grells, flumphs, elder brains and neothelids, while somewhat keeping the official 5e lore in mind. This can then be implemented in my current campaign setting, where the 'illithida', as I call this clade, are creatures who evolved on a different planet but are because of plot reasons on this planet, where they serve as the bad guys with mind flayers as the BBEG (yes this was inspired by BG3 lol) I guess what I want to say is that you can expand a world by thinking 'huh, how does/would X work', explore that topic, and add it to your world and see how it influences that world. Take things step by step and see how crative you truly are!

[@burntsoup4063]

Commenting to feed the algorithm and also to say THIS VIDEO IS INSANELY HELPFUL MAKE MORE PLEASE

[@Iamjordangreen]

Oh great pointiest hat, please grant us with more worldbuilding enlightenment. Seriously though I would love to see more of your takes on worldbuilding, you're amazing.

[@DragoonOuroborosDragun]

The fist Hal made me think of a world where pointy hat is treated like a god and those in high position ware pointy hats😂

[@sphearix7232]

This setting reminds me a lot of that one SCP-001 proposal “When Day Breaks” where the sun one day decided to change and now transforms people into hideous monsters, forcing survivors away from the light and to find shelter in the darkness lest they become coagulated with the monsters.

[@danieltallent4243]

I love the idea of a city having Brights and Dims. This would allow for great opportunities of role play where the dims could respond to the players with almost a shock response when they are asked certain questions. As if, the idea of the dims being allowed to perform certain actions is unthinkable.

[@SanjayMerchant]

I definitely want to see more world building videos. Also, I was kinda expecting dragonborn colors to be effectively castes. Born with black scales? Congratulations, you're getting trained in espionage, no matter where your true interests or talents lie. Gold? You get to be a general. Hope you're actually good at it. Green? Farming and logistics. Red? Healer, because why not.

[@joshuagore8389]

This is a great idea though I'd have the caste systems maybe reflect the breath weapon more such as Red dragons being blacksmiths and forgers, Green dragons being chemists and doctors, Blue dragons building electronic weaponry and infrastructure, etc Black dragons as espionage works perfectly for a night world as well.

[@gorgit]

I love that, the only problem for me is the oloccurence of these colours. There will be as many farmers as spies and generals. There have to be some classes where a equal distribution makes sense. At least, to me.

[@marleykeymer8929]

@@gorgit That's easy enough to solve. Dragonborn ancestry isn't ancestry anymore, it's random chance at every birth. Chance that is determined by whatever gods/nature/eugenics may be to lead to the correct number of each being born/staying alive.

[@gorgit]

@@marleykeymer8929 great, I now have a amazing idea for a kingdom of dragonborn :D

[@SanjayMerchant]

@@gorgit Yeah, I was sort of oversimplifying it a bit. But it might not be the case that all colors are equally common. Still, I imagine if Gold is a caste of leader types, you might be a general, but you also might be a manager at a supply depot, or something similarly menial. But it would be extremely difficult at best to instead be, say, an Artificer working in an R&D setting.

[@Sleebers]

I definitely don't mind long videos. I love listening to you talk.

[@PsyTricks99]

Sunday's streams are an amazing World Building example! ❤ Edit after finishing the video: I love that you are moving to YT!!!

[@hanro726]

I always had a kind of backwards approach to worldbuilding, but this helps so much. Thanks for the Pointy Hat worldbuilding recipe!

[@עומרשרייבר-ל4ר]

As someone who is currently trying to worldbuild this video came just in time. And while its not the most in deapth, its still a pretty good for basics. Also your world sound cool as hell.

[@ayv3552]

more worldbuilding videos please, i loved this!

[@Rexy779]

I would love more world building vids since I’m about to start my first campaign where I’m Dming

[@jakobschafnitzl9060]

Would also love world building videos. Good luck with Dming.

[@Rexy779]

@@jakobschafnitzl9060 Thanks man!

[@chemicalyjake455]

saaame. this video came at the perfect time

[@luckyday5721]

I started writing a couple months ago about a couple character ideas that were not really dnd related but after a while I have enough notes to make an entire world setting of a post organic robot solar punk planet created by humans from earth and all of our tech before we left forever. It all maintained by a giant spider in the center of the planet helps souls go from discarded shells to be reborn as new bots from tree pods, a giant Centipede is acting as the planets ring and periodically has pieces break off to destroy rusted landscapes to avoid rust storms and a long forgotten crab who is engaged in an endless war against alien insect like hivemind...Yes the gods are all either Arcanoid, chilopods, and crustaceans because weird is the goal.

[@Bnazf]

finally my weekend can begin

[@elijahjohnson677]

Give us all the world building!!! This is the best world building video I've ever seen

[@IndieIllustrates]

Thanks for giving me an excuse to daydream about a cool world concept in the middle of class :^)

[@1peckwonder]

1. For the algorithm B. Your content is SO good, it's entertaining, educational, and creative. III. I want, dare I say need, more of this world built out. I am such a fan of taking the wood elves and making them SUPER edgy. d. You're so brave, overcoming your hatred for dragons 🐉🐲

[@PsychadelicoDuck]

Great advice! Also, I love that this setting basically flips dark elves and wood elves with each other.

[@dexlovesgames_dlg]

The world you described so far is so fucking cool. Don’t mind me I might just think that before you’re even done.

[@BroanderRentner]

As someone who was a pure player for years and tries to dip his toe into DMing at the Moment - thank you very much for this video and i would absolutely love to see a town, faction and whatelse extension video. I'll probably start to DM either a few one shots or a premade campaign, while i am trying to build my own. Thanks a lot Antonio🙏

[@timothyhanna6304]

This was awesome. I am really thinking about running a campaign in this world. As all of your videos this was amazing and very unique.

[@void-creature]

I love how much Dishonored (and it's Netflix adaptation, Arcane XD) footage was in this episode, the empire of the isles is one of the coolest settings I've ever come across in anything. Perhaps even my all time favourite.

[@ArthurRex131]

Arcane is an adaptation of League of Legends, not Dishonored. :P

[@void-creature]

@@ArthurRex131 you seem to have 1) never played Dishonored and 2) difficulty understanding what a joke is

[@guilhermemorius]

I've watched this video 3 times, took notes, and I'll probably watch some more, maybe I'll give it a go to this world building thing again now

[@Doople]

Honestly one of the best world building videos ive seen especially in the context of a game. Feel like most get too bogged down with details and miss the point of keeping it in the perfect middle zone for a TTRPG. Also gave a nice example that less experienced people can try to add onto.

[@biggiecheese7305]

If anyone is wondering, im fairly certain the music in the intro is a pitched up version of the intro to "Dogs of War" by Blues Saraceno. Also great video!

[@Ellie-jx8jt]

I think that overly sarcastic prodictions’ trope talk on «planet of hats» has some real good stuff on writing/worldbuilding cities and towns If You need something more small scale. :)

[@benreynolds8941]

YES NEW POINTY HAT VIDEO!!! Please post stream vods on the channel. I’m almost always busy during your stream times but I wanna watch them so bad😭😭

[@keganduncan1337]

Excellent video as always 👌 There's something I want to add to this, what about the undead? In a world without the sun the undead would absolutely thrive out in the open. What if there was a city full of the undead, far from any sort of light. Not simply a medieval town, but a sprawling metropolis where the likes of vampires, mummys, ghosts and others live and rule a prosperous nation state. The gloom doesn't affect them by virtue of their lack of a soul. But by that same metric, their food supply is constantly scarce and they are always looking to capture as many living people as they can. To that end, they are putting countless resources in to destroying the suns that keep the mortal cities safe. That's just a little bit of inspiration your video gave me 😊

[@chaoshead87]

So much of this is already in my world it is scary, are you in my head, reading all my world notes, hacked my computer? It's all great imo, probably because I had a lot of this in y world for the last couple of years. Thanks for sharing, keep it up!

[@connorletkeman5002]

You're so brave for hating dragons in a game called dungeons and dragons

[@SkeletonBeleton]

#brave

[@cheatcode436]

We need a DnD with a twist video on dragons.

[@starblaiz1986]

And the one time he includes dragonborn, he low-key makes them a nation of ethno-centric ultra-nationalists, AKA [N-@-Z-I-s] 😅

[@SattarAlRadi]

Thank you Antonio for providing us with this captivating and informative fillum. You're very brave and your artistic endeavors never cease to astonish in the best way possible. Huzzah!

[@bluepearl4624]

Oh dear pointy tipped lord do I need this

[@merri_spiderly6017]

Jeebus, the moth jumpscare got me good 😂 Solid worldbuilding, dude! Helped me give a jumpstart in combining one of my oldest worldbuilding projects again (and wonderfully marry one half-baked one into that one)

[@Osfolt]

Man you really are a great story teller and writer, wish i could see what goes on in that head of yours when you come up with all this

[@PiiskaJesusFreak]

I used to think about this type of setting when I was on the 8th grade! I think it is cool. Some ideas for geological causality: - outside cities with artificial suns, most of the wilderness should be frozen wasteland. Underdark might be habitable because of the geothermal heat, and travel between some cities might only be possibly through underdark - lightside would be extremely hot, and the difference in climate would result in constant storm winds from light to the dark side. I think the world would make for extremely interesting survival game, with the climate, shadows, and creatures of ice like white dragons and remorhaz prowling the eternal night

[@void-creature]

Worldbuilding probably should and will become it's own segment, separate from tip of the hat

[@gorgit]

I disagree. There are multiple channels entirely devoted to worldbuilding. I think broadening up his spectrum, will just lead to less videos in every area.

[@zephyrstrife4668]

One of the homebrew worlds I was working with my friends on wound up not having humans in it at all, so i had to come up with why... And my answer was that everything was once human, but due to an ancient calamity humanity had to adapt to survive. Its why the main species are Dhampir, Shifters, Orcs, Gnomes, Planetouched (Aasimar & Tieflings) and Dragonborn. It led to dragons being explained in the world because every now and again, a draconic creature or dragon would be born among the family... Without widespread humanity, Dragonborn became the default Empire Builders so Draconic replaced Common. Because of the abundance of monsters and Orcs that would actively fight against them, Dragonborn largely became a Dictatorial Meritocracy, with an emphasis on not over-extending your forces and establishing strong supply lines. It became a mixture of the Turians from Mass Effect and The Federation from Starship Troopers with a little less exaggerated propaganda. The dragonborn believe, culturally, that everyone has their place and as long as you do your job to the best of your ability, the empire will take care of you. If you do not know what you can do to help the empire, the empire will find a place for you. Farmers are respected because a civilization lives or dies on its harvest, wealth must flow to keep every service running smoothly, respecting your superiors and protecting your inferiors are the core tenets. Alignment can adjust specific regions, but for the most part the Empire is militaristic because there is always some sort of battle going on somewhere. The troops need their skills sharpened, Orcs will annually flood out of their war camps to test the might of the dragons, growing to giant size as their warcamp grows. It legitimately got to the point where my friend and I realized there are legitimate tier 4 threats that happen in the world and the players don't interact with them at early levels because those kinds of threats are when the dragons actually take to the field of battle. Everything else is done by proxy skirmish through hired mercenary adventurers or employed soldiers or even political scheming in the emperor's court. I added a little bit of L5R for flavor.

[@justanotherchannelonyoutub126]

As the DM, it’s your job to world build. As a player, it’s your job to world destroy.

[@LupineShadowOmega]

No, players shouldn't destroy the world, they should help it change. Whether that change is for the better or not, is up to the players and the changes they inflict upon the world.

[@danwebber9494]

As the DM, accept that the players will mess up your perfect world.

[@jasonreed7522]

No, players have 2 jobs, the first is backstory that is going to contribute to world building (either creating a brand new location, or expanding on the lore of an existing location); and the second is to be an agent of change. The point if a story is that conflict arises and the characters react and act to bring about a resolution to the conflict, this is fundamentally and act of changing the world. It isn't destroying the world building, it is progressing history. Just in the example world of the video the adventures in the quest to reach the daylight side of this tidally locked world could discover some secret that leads the to decide to tear down one of these societies for its injustices. That isn't breaking the world, its progressing history. (Although is may be hard to tell the difference as the society you worked so hard to built comes crumbing down from its own flaws and player agency exploiting them.)

[@essneyallen6777]

​@@danwebber9494 if you start with a perfect little world and you are worried the players will mess it up you already missed the point of dming though

[@doclock2380]

Love that world building.

[@HypeShot-27]

Imagine a seafaring campaign in this world, where Eldritch horrors lurk much closer to the surface

[@officiallynerdygames7270]

Thank you for making this video, this helped me organize my thoughts and plans I have for my upcoming campaign into a more interesting and coherent world!

[@luigigustav8687]

Os brasileiros querem mais vídeos assim!

[@Opissocopolis]

vc tem toda razão, é foda ter que assistir video gringo quando seu inglês é uma merda

[@elliotgreason1364]

I watch a lot of world building focused content but I've not seen a take like this. I'd love to see more world building type videos from pointy hat. Though, to be fair, I love seeing any videos from pointy hat.

[@jobydorr4267]

Ok wait. You said there would be live streams. But neither this channel nor @pointyhatlive has any live video recordings... what happened???? I need moar world building videos!!!!

[@Cannasloth]

Still nothing on the channel :(

[@dannyleo5787]

As a dm, I love showcasing the world that my players navigate in. So like the mysteries of Stonehenge, I was motivated to create such a allure to capture that very theme in a very specific area. I called this the colossus fields. Only in this region no such mountains were visable, only a near endless meadow where only specific creature's reside. Only here do mountains of golems both taller then everest reside and its lessers pace across these very fields, all of them infused with a magic not yet studied or even comprehended. Oddly enough as well they do not attack people, they simply only walk across the meadows to a certain extent and turn around in direction. Even when these mountains destroy the smaller, they simply reform in a days time. The only races that are insane enough to live and mine these golems are infact the dwarves, kobalds, gnomes, and bugbears. Since their are three colossus golems among the fields you could see by telescope to find the kingdom cities on either the shoulder, the upper leg or if indeed bold the face. Legends say that these walking creatures have all they would ever need through these colossus to a point that the magic running them restores what was lost during the minings. Getting to these places however is the challenge. I had fun with this one since to my players since this concept was so new a problem for them, they had to plan a way to fly their without detection magic alerting the natives.

[@googlegoblin3482]

What happened to Pointy Hat Live??? I missed it?? *cries*

[@caydenwootton7293]

I have fed the algorithmic monster! That would actually be a cool campaign setting. You feed a cosmic, unknowable being solely existing to enable the passage of ideas. Cosmic horror but not so scary.

[@yukitoriama4330]

Nations, bark bark bark

[@DandDgamer]

Love the abundance of actual examples this world slaps

[@TeIegram...PointyHats..]

^Hey fan...Surprise🎁 for u

[@micahnewman6165]

What if the wood elves used the souls of dead people to make an artificial darkness that hides their location from silhouette

[@madyak2108]

As someone who loves constructs, I would love playing as this candle construct race!

[@CubedCanine]

So you made a montage of worldbuilding in games, and you skipped minecraft?!? How dareth thou.

[@sithalo]

I was world building a world of floating islands high in the sky. Wondered where would the population gain water. Started to world build 1 plant that grew water fruits. Started to create 5 unique species and their various environments and what their fruit was like and it was a fun creative rabbit hole. I spent a while just coming up with the ecology of how a single forest could work based around a specific species of tree with a sprawling top that pulled moisture from the air and released the excess as a thick foggy mist that provided moisture to all the other plants around it creating this dark and foreboding misty forest. The environment and its design was very creepy. Just a dark misty forest. But it wasnt actually anything like an evil forest or anything. It was just natural ecology that was just naturally spooky looking.

[@petergtzsche8019]

PLEASE make more worldbuilding videos!!!

[@dandyspacedandy]

for the endless night world, i like the idea of a player character who has the very simple but stubborn goal of seeing the real sunlit sky some day. depending on how long its been since the world came to a stop, maybe the PC is doing it in the name of a grandparent who yearned to see it again, or that wish was passed down their family like a folktale which inspires the player character to seek out the sunlight side of the world.

[@jehris]

Alas, I was nearly fooled into requesting a video on city building. Looking forward to seeing it!

[@janefromdiscord1642]

This was great, the worldbuilding was pretty darn convincing

[@StinkerTheFirst]

world building based on conflict; that's brilliant. I've been novel-writing for over a decade, and I hadn't realized how much can be extrapolated from that. It really helped to flesh out a few words for future novels.

[@nickpsara4449]

I remember from a video game, abt a planet that stopped turning, where they used science to create conflict. The side always facing the sun becomes unbearably warm, while the other side freezes, and the only survivors can survive in a contantly shifting twilight zone where conditions are bearable

[@matthewmatthew4804]

I do really love the long videos, more info, and more of your amazing voice