These world building prompts come from 3000 World Building Prompts, which you can get at Amazon. This section is focused on creating monsters.
- Does the monster have a name?
- Does it have a nickname?
- Are you using your monster to teach a moral lesson and if so, what is it?
- Is the monster real or just a story?
- What kinds of people don’t believe it exists?
- Is the monster known or unknown?
- If it’s famous, for what?
- What does it look like?
- Is the monster hideous or attractive?
- Is it humanoid?
- Was the monster once a species? Which one?
- Is there any of its “humanity” left? How much and what parts?
- How much of its intelligence or knowledge does it maintain?
- How does it feel about what it is now?
- What exaggerations do people make about it and what is actually true?
- What sorts of stories do people tell about it?
- How does it feel about its appearance and how people react to it?
- How do people react to the sight of it or its presence?
Its Life
- Is there only one of them?
- Can it reproduce and how?
- How many offspring are produced at once?
- Are offspring born in an egg?
- Are offspring immediately dangerous and how?
- Do offspring get more dangerous later and in what stages?
- Does it need a mate to reproduce?
- Is there a master monster who controls others?
- If the master is killed, do the subordinates die?
- Is the master also a monster or a race?
- How can it be killed?
- How hard or easy is it to be killed?
- When dismembered, do the parts continue to move or become additional monsters?
- Is a special weapon needed to hurt or kill it?
- Was this monster the result of an accident?
- If so, who or what caused the accident?
- Did magic cause the monster?
- Did someone create this monster on purpose? Why?
- Is the monster a product of nature or a phenomenon?
- What caused its evolution into its current form?
- Where is the source of this evolution?
- Is that source capable of creating more?
- Would each one be the same?
- Does anyone know the answer to that?
- How long ago was the monster created?
- Do people know where the monster came from? Is the backstory known?
- Is there anyone trying to understand this monster?
- Who are they and why do they care?
- What is the monster’s lifespan?
- Is there a god protecting this monster?
- What does the monster consume to survive?
- Does it consume anything for pleasure?
- Are species/races on the menu?
Motives and Behavior
- Does the monster just want to survive?
- Does the monster want to hoard treasure? And why?
- Does the monster just want to be safe and left alone?
- Does the monster want revenge and for what?
- Is there a known expert in its history or behavior?
- Does the monster have a god?
- Does the monster work with a god or at their behest?
- How smart is the monster?
- Does the monster understand what actions of it will cause people to seek it out and attempt to destroy it?
- Does it want to lure people to it and why? To consume them?
- Does the monster consume people?
- Does the monster do anything else to people?
- Does the monster have unusual strength?
- Can the monster withstand unusual amounts of pain or injury?
- Can the monster regenerate body parts or otherwise recover from wounds?
- Is the monster faster or slower than usual?
- Is the monster mobile or rooted to a spot?
- Does the monster have better/worse endurance?
- Can it travel faster or farther than expected?
- Is it faster or slower in combat?
- Does its body inhibit the way it moves and attacks?
- Can it chase down prey?
- How much control does it have with weapons?
- Can it fire a gun or crossbow?
- Is the monster afraid of anything? Enough that it will flee?
- What unique skills does the monster have?
- What does the monster think of those living nearby?
- What impact does the monster have on society?
- Do people avoid traveling near where it is rumored to be, or with reinforcements?
- Does the monster understand any languages?
- Does the monster speak any languages?
- Can the monster write a language or have its own?
- Does the monster mark its territory and how?
- Does it have any habits, like stacking bones?
- Does it do anything at predictable intervals?
- How does it get along with each species/race?
- How does the monster track victims?
- Does the monster attract prey?
- How does the monster prefer to kill?
- What does the monster do with victims?
- What can the monster do that is noteworthy and defining?
- Is it adept at hiding?
- Does the monster have any supernatural abilities?
- Can it perform magic and to what level?
- What kind of magic can it do?
- Is it afraid of magic?
- Does it have a supernatural place nearby?
- Can the monster use technology and to what degree?
- Does the monster have a lair?
- What makes a suitable lair?
- Can it build or change a place into a suitable lair?
- What type of terrain does it prefer or is commonly found in?
- What type of climate does it exist in?
- Are there bodies of victims in its lair and where they fell or stacked?
- Does the monster stay in its lair? What percentage of time?
- How far from its lair does it travel?
- Does it have more than one lair and why? What distinguishes each?
- Is it looking for a home right now?
- Does it have a particular place it prefers, such as a cave or an abandoned settlement?
- Is the monster nocturnal?
- How does the monster fight?
- Does the monster use weapons, or only its limbs, teeth, etc.?
- Does the monster rely on brute force?
- Is the monster cunning?
- Does it have any special attacks?