What kinds of government does the species typically have? Monarchies, dictatorships, or republics? These are discussed more in Creating Places (The Art of World Building, #2), but those are three of the big ones that can imply levels of sophistication Read More …
Tag: species
What is Your Species’ World View?
One challenge of creating humanoid species is that there’s only one here on Earth and we tend to conceptualize invented ones that aren’t much different from us. This is natural but maybe not ideal. Many aspects of humanity are taken Read More …
What Are Your Races’ Characteristics?
Anyone familiar with gaming systems has seen a list of characteristics like intelligence, wisdom, charisma, strength, constitution, agility, dexterity, and morale. Each will have a number from one to ten, for example, and a species is rated in each category. Read More …
Who Are Your Species’ Gods?
We arguably need to invent gods before deciding which ones influence our species, but we can start with a general sense of a species disposition and then decide later which deities are likely on their minds. We can be predictable Read More …
What Does Your Species/Race Body Look Like?
Humanoids If our species is humanoid, our body design work is largely done. Areas needing description are mostly those of overall size, height, mass, and fitness standards. The prevalence of facial hair on males and average cleanliness of all genders Read More …
What Does Your Species/Race’s Head Look Like?
Head When creating a head, think about every last facial feature, as described next, but when describing a species to an audience, it’s often best to comment on the most important features rather than overwhelm with detail. It’s even better Read More …
What Does Your Species Look Like?
Appearance When creating a species, start with physical characteristics; bodies influence the minds that develop. Like it or not, appearance plays a crucial role in life, even if no one’s likely to draw our species or otherwise see it. The Read More …
Creating a Habitat for Your Species
Does your species live in settlements with other species or keep to itself? Learn why and when each scenario makes sense. If living in joint settlements, consider the factors affecting their integration, or lack thereof. What sort of terrain and Read More …
5 More Tips for Creating Species
5 World Building Tips (Vol 1, #10): Species This is the tenth in a series of world building articles I’ll be sending you! Today’s theme is species. This will get you started, but you can read more about this in Read More …
Why Create a Fantasy or SF Species?
Creating Something Different Inventing unique species can help our work stand out (hopefully in a good way) and even invigorate love of the genre for both us and our audience. With so many people using public domain species, there’s probably Read More …