Where a monster lives is important to any story involving it, even if its home is never shown. What it takes with it from there, how far away it travels, and what it takes home will affect our uses of Read More …
Category: Book Blog
Master category for all posts of the book content
How Can Monsters Evolve?
In this section, we look at how monsters can naturally evolve from their environment and when this makes sense to use.
Who Creates a Monster On Purpose?
Monsters by Design Some monsters might have been created on purpose, from something already alive or something inanimate. The latter suggests great power behind its creation, such as a wizard or god, both found in fantasy but often not in Read More …
How To Invent Accidental Monsters
We needn’t tell our audience where the monster came from originally, and in gaming it’s arguably irrelevant, but the thought exercise can make the result more interesting. The first question should be whether it exists on purpose or by accident. Read More …
How to Create Monsters
A world with monsters is arguably more entertaining than one without. Appendix 4 is a template for creating one. It includes more comments and advice, and an editable Microsoft Word file can be downloaded for free by signing up for Read More …
Where to Start Inventing World Figures
The first fundamental decision is what type of person are we inventing: good or evil? While it’s true that some will consider a person one way while others consider them another, it’s easier for us to decide on one to Read More …
Your Hero’s Training and Skills
This section discusses our world figure’s training and skills (and how they acquired them or how to decide what they can do). It also talks about the deeds that made them famous and how to make them relevant to our Read More …
How to Create a Hero Character’s History
History Origins, Demise, and in Between While we don’t need every last detail of where a character came from, it helps to know their original continent, at the least, and preferably a kingdom, too. The latter might wait until we’ve Read More …
What Are Your World Figure’s Relationships Like?
Relationships When creating a world figure, their relationships may not be that important to us if we’ll do little more than have a character name-drop their hero. This can be an area to skimp on until later, if ever, but Read More …
What Steed Does Your Hero Have?
Steeds and ships (especially in SF) have a special place as a companion or a trusted way out of tricky situations. Audiences can become attached to them (like the Millennium Falcon of Star Wars), and that’s what we want. In Read More …