These world building prompts come from 3000 World Building Prompts, which you can get at Amazon. This section is focused on creating places of interest, like ruins, catacombs, and more.
- Is this somewhere characters will visit, or will it only be mentioned?
- Does it have a name?
- Is the site unique?
- Or is such a site only rare?
- Is there a structure there and what is it?
- Is the structure occupied (if possible)?
- Is the place abandoned?
- Ruined? How much destruction has taken place?
- How overgrown are the ruins?
- What is still intact?
- If it has a function, is it still functioning?
- Has the function been changed to something other than intended?
- Is the place feared or desired?
- Is something or someone living there or nearby now?
- Is it the creator, descendants, or an unintended guest?
- Is the site revered?
- Are only some people or groups allowed to visit?
- Are there restrictions on when it can be visited?
- Does anything happen to people who go there?
- Is it dangerous and avoided?
- Is it only special at a specific time of day, month, year, etc.?
- Was it once special, and no longer is? What happened and when?
- What makes the place interesting?
- Is the place natural or not?
- Did an accident lead to its existence or current state? What happened, and when?
- If someone or something create it, who, why and when?
- Where is it?
- Can it move or be moved? Under what circumstances?
- What does it look like?
- What impression does it create from a distance and up close?
- What is it made of?
- Do people nearby know it exists?
- Do they know what it really is?
- How widely known is this place?
- Does this place need an explanation?
- Do you intend to reveal the explanation?
- If the place is dangerous, has it always been so?
- Has there been an attempt to change this? Did it work? Who did it?
- If it failed, what happens to those who tried?
- What species built it?
- What species uses it now, and for what?
- What secrets are hidden within?
- Are there monsters here?
- What was the purpose of the place?
- How extensive is the layout?
- If there are catacombs, what are the dimensions of most passages? What can and cannot fit in them?
- Do the catacombs lead to anything, and what?
- How deep do they go?
- How long ago was this built?
- Do they connect to anywhere else?
- What famous monuments exist here?
- Why are they famous?
- Where are they?
- Who built each?
- What/who do they depict?
- From what materials are they made?
- What phenomena exist here?
- What do they do?
- How dangerous are they?
- How common is each?
- Are they guarded?
- Where are they found?
- Does the place give off a sense of foreboding?
- Did something momentous occur here? What was it?