deviant art

Deviant Login Shop  Join deviantART for FREE Take the Tour
[x]
more ▶

Featured in Groups:

Details

December 2, 2011
Link
Thumb

Statistics

Comments: 21
Favourites: 3 [who?]

Views: 546 (0 today)
[x]
The other day I was in one of my classes aimlessly daydreaming when I thought to myself how awesome it'd be to do a 30-day worldbuilding challenge. I've done visual research for comic stories before, but I always stumble when I'm trying to draw the thing and come up with the props and background simultaneously. A challenge like that'd be fantastic prep, not to mention a good source for conflict. I found a couple worldbuilding challenges through google, but I wasn't able to find something that was what I had in mind. So, I wrote up my own. These are the days and their challenges:

1. The World- the general setting that this will all take place in.
2. Geography- the specific landmass you'll be focusing on, the Morrowind to your Tamriel. Talk about weather patterns and the general lay of the land.
3. Landmarks
4. Resources- How do the people get water? Food? Are there rich minerals nearby, or mystical ley lines that power magical energy?
5. Flora
6. Fauna
7. Races/General Culture
8. Clothing- detail differences in outfits between genders and ages as necessary
9. Food- describe an example of a daily diet, however it's divided up (breakfast, brunch, elevensies, etc.), along with any other noteworthy foods for special occasions
10. Arts
11. Trades- Smithing, Carpentry, Dragon-taming, etc.
12. Education
13. Tools- for use in Arts and Trades, or something yet unmentioned
14. Weapons
15. Transportation
16. Politics/Officials- Describe the system of government or leadership used in your society, and who if anyone is in charge. What are the relations between your society and others nearby?
17. Currency/Economy
18. Religions
19. Warfare- How is war handled in your society? Do they fight at all, and if so, who do they send? How do they fight?
20. Housing
21. Businesses
22. Political Buildings
23. Religious Buildings
24. Social Groups- these can be classes grouped by caste or by cultural boundaries (Upper-classes, undesirables, punks, jocks, etc.)
25. Language- for use in naming all of the things you've designed. Establish phonetic patterns with particular cultures (Example: All of the Kokiri people save for Saria have names using Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So-La-Ti-Da)
26. Folk Traditions/Holidays
27. Toys/Games
28. Legends
29. History
30. Life Cycle- create an entirely new character. Based off of everything that you've already written, give them a full life story, describing how they grew up, what games they played, whether their family was rich or poor, if they were religious; whether they married or stayed celibate, if they became famous or not, and if they die with honor in battle or maybe in their home surrounded by friends and family. Describe how people react to the person's death, and what if any impact their life had upon the land.

I've already spoken to a few others about it, on other forums and in person, about trying this out. Making the official month October feels like it'd be a smart move, as it'd be a perfect warm-up for NaNoWriMo, but I'm itching to do this sooner. If anyone else is interested in doing a January edition of this, please let me know and we can begin planning how to sort this all out. I recently set up a Tumblr for myself  [link] and I've done very little with it so far, but I see how it could be useful for a challenge like this. A simple addition of hash-tags would make it very easy to find entries for the challenge, but of course I can't expect everyone in the world to have one of these things. Any other suggestions for a central meeting place would be greatly appreciated. So, who's in?
Add a Comment:
 
love 0 0 joy 1 1 wow 0 0 mad 0 0 sad 0 0 fear 0 0 neutral 0 0
:iconangry-langman:
This is a great idea and I would love to join in. Gonna keep an ear out for more!
Reply
:iconbriandanielwolf:
*BrianDanielWolf Dec 4, 2011  Student Digital Artist
Sweet, thank you!
Reply
:iconendshark:
*endshark Dec 2, 2011  Professional Digital Artist
I'm down for doing this. Waiting a full year almost to do it is too long for me, if it doesn't happen early in the new year I will probably just do it by myself anyway.
Reply
:iconbriandanielwolf:
*BrianDanielWolf Dec 3, 2011  Student Digital Artist
Sweet C: I'm gonna get a group together to start one in January, so will that work for ya?
Reply
:iconendshark:
*endshark Dec 3, 2011  Professional Digital Artist
Sure thing!
Reply
:icondrummerwolf:
~DrummerWolf Dec 2, 2011  Professional General Artist
I found this through another artist I follow on here. What if the world we had in mind was more like an alternative history/reality to modern day world, would that be possible as well?
Reply
:iconbriandanielwolf:
*BrianDanielWolf Dec 2, 2011  Student Digital Artist
I see no reason why not! You'd just have to explain how your world diverges from reality at the beginning, and then use the subsequent challenges to explore how the alternative timeline affects the area's food, culture, fashion trends, etc. Not everything will be totally different, of course, but changing even the smallest details will help sell the alternative universe.
Reply
:icondrummerwolf:
~DrummerWolf Dec 2, 2011  Professional General Artist
Great point. I know I want to have the story take place around my home turf instead of some big cliche metropolitan area like New York or LA. Besides that, I don't know those areas like my own back yard, so I plan on leaving a lot of the local land marks while at the same time twisting the city's infrastructure and culture even more than it already is
Reply
:iconbriandanielwolf:
*BrianDanielWolf Dec 2, 2011  Student Digital Artist
t sounds like it could be a really interesting setting- at the very least it'll be more unique than an alternate NY or LA. And seeing as this is an alternate universe, twisting the infrastructure and culture seems almost necessary- otherwise it won't feel like it's a different world.
Reply
:icondrummerwolf:
~DrummerWolf Dec 2, 2011  Professional General Artist
True. Good point. Also since my home state has a shaky kind of reputation anyways, I would love to twist it even worse
Reply
Add a Comment: