A clean web page is without doubt one of the most scary issues you possibly can see as a world builder. That’s why random turbines are so helpful—they allow you to get some fast phrases down with out having to assume a lot. Now, should you assume it will make your world much less authentic… assume once more! We interviewed Peter Chiykowski, creator of the Deck of Worlds, to speak about how you should use randomness to enhance your world constructing!

Why use random turbines?

Coming up with contemporary brand-new concepts on a regular basis by your self is extremely troublesome! That’s why we’re all the time in search of inspiration: music, artwork, and different folks’s tales spark new concepts in our minds. Well, random turbines are simply that! Because the generator doesn’t have any earlier context, it should create new issues that shall be fully new. Think of it like a information, taking you to new unexplored areas.

Random turbines can even really feel like a recreation, so it’s enjoyable too! For instance, should you generated a random city however don’t like a particular component, you possibly can roll once more for that particular factor. This will allow you to customise your outcomes to one thing very particular which you could then broaden upon. And do not forget that randomness is only a device: you don’t need to comply with the generated consequence right down to a T if it doesn’t fairly suit your idea. Which brings us to…

How to make use of random turbines correctly?

A random generator is a device—which implies that it’s very helpful… so long as you employ it correctly! And, on this case, “properly” means “in the way that best fits your workflow or your world” (and your meta!). Peter’s suggestion was to make use of them within the thought technology section of your course of, and to not maintain again! Much of what you generate now shall be trimmed down afterward, however a few of it will provide you with concepts you wouldn’t have considered in any other case. Write all the pieces down (I like to recommend dumping all the pieces right into a generic article for now) and as soon as you’re feeling you might have sufficient, it is going to be time to get modifying!

Editing your random outcomes

The very first thing you must do is open your meta doc and skim by it. If you don’t have one but—properly, now’s a very good time to create it! The meta doc is the muse of your world, so it’s very helpful to keep away from a kitchen sink undertaking, full of issues which can be cool on their very own however don’t actually match collectively. So, after creating the meta or refreshing your reminiscence, return to the random generator’s outcomes! You’ll instantly notice that there are a bunch of issues that you must in all probability delete as a result of they don’t match on the earth. But don’t delete them for now, simply put them someplace else (like an archive of kinds) as you would possibly discover them helpful afterward. Because, surprise-surprise, you possibly can (and doubtless will) change your thoughts afterward!

The Deck of Worlds in motion!

Bin your first concepts (type of)

Art (together with world constructing) is an iterative course of. This implies that solely after you’ve made a number of variations of an thought will you discover one that truly works properly along with your world meta. When utilizing random turbines, which means that many concepts you’ll discover cool at first may not really be a very good match. But it additionally implies that the concepts that you just didn’t like would possibly find yourself being the very best ones! That’s why within the first levels of the modifying course of you shouldn’t delete something. For the archive, you should use one other generic article, the pocket book function on World Anvil, or anything that works for you!

Now, generally first concepts are very highly effective already, so don’t really feel like simply since you haven’t iterated over it, the concept is nugatory. But all the time query them: is that your personal authentic thought, or did you give you it simply because everybody else is doing it too? If you need dragons in your setting, is it since you actually assume they’ll be an amazing addition to it, or since you assume that’s what you’re purported to do in a fantasy setting? This is one other hazard with random turbines—generally they will lean a bit an excessive amount of on tropes. But so long as you catch them and strategy the outcomes with a crucial thoughts, you’ll be advantageous!

The Deck of Worlds and different random turbines

There are many random turbines on the market! Peter Chiykowski is the creator of the Deck of Worlds, in addition to the Story Engine, that are bodily card decks that you should use to randomly generate a world or a narrative. The Deck of Worlds comes with over 200 playing cards (plus a number of genre-specific expansions), which implies that there are nearly limitless prospects! You can test it out on the Story Engine web site.

You can even attempt different turbines, like Trent Hergenrader’s collaborative worldbuilding playing cards, metaphor cube, Eigengrau’s Generator (particular for medieval excessive fantasy), and World Anvil’s personal random generator library.

Listen to the total interview!

Want to study extra about randomness and the way to use it to encourage your world constructing? Check out the total interview on YouTube and Libsyn (half 1, half 2)!

Who is Peter Chiykowski?

Peter is a author, poet, and illustrator, creator of the webcomic Rock Paper Cynic and books like The House of Untold Stories. He’s additionally the creator of the Story Engine deck, in addition to the Deck of Worlds, which you’ll be able to take a look at on the official web site. Follow him on Twitter for updates!

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