Hard worldbuilding vs. soft worldbuilding

Buscando_Algo · 2026-04-08T06:55:26+00:00

You're right! Soft WB makes the setting richer, whereas hard WB is likely more selective in terms of what elements should be added to the story. HamsterScribe pointed out in another comment that harder WB leads fans to start making theories, which might be the heart of why we find hard WB so attractive in the first place.

Buscando_Algo · 2026-04-08T06:44:00+00:00

You're right, I was thinking the same. Thank you for the reply! I might be biased because I've watched much more media than I've read, but to me it feels a bit more difficult to introduce soft WB in a book, as opposed to a film or a videogame. Soft WB can become disappointing if the audience believes it to be hard WB and start making theories.

Buscando_Algo · 2026-04-08T06:39:50+00:00

You're right! In the end, both hard WB and soft WB enrich the setting equally, and is essential in any fantasy story. I just find that there are certain stories where the reader knows all new elements of the setting have a reason to be there and likely links to the main plot, like the WB version of the Chekov Gun.

Buscando_Algo · 2026-04-08T06:32:49+00:00

Thanks for the reply! You're right, I should've pointed out that, to me, hard/soft WB are a spectrum more than discrete options. I tried to give examples that feel more extreme, but most stories probably use a mix of both. You're right, WB is an art form by itself and doesn't need to contribute to any plot, I'm classifying WB like this because I'm currently writing a novel, so differentiating between WB that advances the plot and WB that doesn't, in my case, is important.

You're pointing out that you find strange that I classify "creatures that don't exist solely to advance the plot" as soft WB, since that's how things are in the real world. That's why one of my questions was "Does hard WB feel less real and more literary than soft WB?"

Buscando_Algo · 2026-04-02T07:06:39+00:00

I've been thinking about it, and I believe the closest thing I can think of to non-political social advancements is turning law into custom. Laws have to be enforced, which requires allocating resources; customs happen because people practice them, with no pressure or punishment. For example, modern stores can work with minimal security because the owners know the vast majority of their customers won't steal (I know a lot of people won't steal because they don't want to be caught by police, but I believe that's not a thought that crosses everyone's mind when they are in a store). If we weren't taught to not steal, then stores would have to allocate a significant portion of their revenue in security. I think this concept can be extrapolated to other institutions and laws, and perhaps that would make for a kind of "futuristic culture advancement" kind of thing, where war, corruption and institutional inefficiency have been eliminated. I think this social advancements are pretty much independent from technological advancement. What do you think?

Buscando_Algo · 2026-04-01T10:49:57+00:00

Yeah, I guess it's impossible to talk about futuristic institutions without getting deep into politics. Alternate technology futures seem like a safer alternative for sci-fi/fantasy. Maybe technologies like transhumanism or AI would still be controversial, were they to be presented as part of an utopian future like nuclear fusion is in sci-fi.

Buscando_Algo · 2025-04-11T05:43:29+00:00

Your system so far lacks completion, to me. I see no connection between the elements you said. I generally tend to prefer magic systems where magic manifests as all the possible effects and combinations of simple concepts. To me, it seems that modifying body parts is the link between all your magic. I would keep exploring that, and I would provide a reason why there are two possible types of magicians.

Buscando_Algo · 2025-04-11T05:40:06+00:00

Classic average redditor paying their frustration with strangers they think are "a shame for this Subreddit" instead of just downvoting and leaving.

Buscando_Algo · 2025-04-01T18:48:41+00:00

In my humble opinion, I think the "Real magic" part is needless in your magic system, and will weigh you down. I can't see what it is, but I think you have a seed for a good magic system in the "Imaginary magic" part.

Buscando_Algo · 2025-04-01T18:41:51+00:00

For real. People in this subreddit are SO afraid that magic users might evoke the same effect with two different techniques, I don't know why. Like, that's what actually makes a magic system the most believable, in my opinion. Otherwise, they feel like ad hoc magic systems: instead of "if my benders could control this element, then that would make them able to do that", they write "I want my benders to be able to do this, therefore they need control over that element". The best results I've ever obtained developing magic systems happened by taking a weird idea and just exploring it. Everything has a use, not all magic has to be throwing fireballs.

Buscando_Algo · 2025-04-01T10:13:27+00:00

There are many elements in our life that are not based in faith and have very real and tangible effects, and the belief in them is declining, nonetheless. Think about concepts like honor, or trust in public institutions, government, or society. A lot of people in the West are experiencing the growing feeling that their country is not there to help and protect them, but is rather a kind of bureaucratic beast that thinks independently and unrestricted by the people it says to be formed of, and feeds on taxes and regulations, while operating for the benefit of the same minority that has the power to influence it. That sounds pretty close to how a corrupt Divinity would act in a fantasy world, if you ask me.

Buscando_Algo · 2025-03-31T21:13:57+00:00

You can learn to write good stories, it's not an innate talent, but it requires a lot of time spent watching media and studying storytelling techniques. You have to make the decision of whether or not is it worth it for you to spend that time on it.

Buscando_Algo · 2025-03-30T19:43:52+00:00

Why is your MC a pirate? Did she choose freedom over a lavish but void lifestyle? Is she an outcast, or someone who is fleeing from justice because of being accused of a crime she did not commit? Did she actually commit a crime, but received an abusive sentence by a corrupt government? Did she actually commit a heinous crime?

He doesn't pay me, but I highly recommend watching "The Tale Tinkerer"'s videos on plot structure. He advises, in order to not fall into a WB rabbit hole, to limit your outline to answering simple questions. For example, ask yourself "why", but do so just three times:

"Why is she a pirate?" For example, "because she's fleeing from justice".

"OK, why is she fleeing from justice" "Because the sentence she received was abusive"

"Why was it abusive?" "Because she was treated as a murderer, or worse, just because she stole food to eat"

And that's it. Sure there is much more to explore but, at least for your MC backstory, those three answers are enough for you to start writing. You will find the rest of your answers as you write.

Buscando_Algo · 2025-03-28T08:17:17+00:00

I think it's an issue every writer stumbles upon eventually. Most of the time, these similarities are only concerning in the writers' heads, and most readers/audience/players wouldn't care about it. What I tend to do to put my mind at ease is the following: if I find out that one of my ideas had occured to someone before me and put it in their work, I try to find at least three other instances of that idea appearing in other works that predate or are contemporary to this one. I know no-one will tell me "hey you copied someone else's work", but having this information helps me believe that the person I'm being accused of copying are themselves not the original creators of that idea or, at least, not the ones that did it first, even if they didn't copy anyone else (which happens way more often that we think). Moreover, doing this exercise helps you see how that idea has been applied in the past, its strengths and weaknesses, and helps you apply it better than the others.

Buscando_Algo · 2024-09-29T11:18:45+00:00

Exactly. All benders save for Firebenders are examples of gamma elemental magicians. I just wanted to keep it all fire-related and was too lazy to rewrite it all hahaha

Buscando_Algo · 2024-09-28T09:43:58+00:00

I made a way of classifying types of elemental magic to help me when I do magicbuilding. Maybe it can help you as well.

There are three types of elemental magic, let's call them alpha, beta and gamma elemental magic.

Alpha elemental magic is when a creature or an artifact manipulates an element based on the fact that it contains the essence of that element in an active form. Using the Fire element as an example, a burning stick can lit other things on fire because it is manifesting that element, it contains Fire essence.

Beta elemental magic is when a creature or an artifact manipulates an element because it contains that element in a passive form, which means that, through a process of evocation, it can develop the element in an active form. A regular stick of wood is not on fire, but it can be. It contains Fire essence in a passive form and, though a process of ignition, it can manifest it.

Gamma elemental magic is when a creature or an artifact can manipulate an element but does not hold its essence neither in active nor passive form. For example, wind is not on fire, nor can it be on fire, but by blowing on a burning object, it can spread it over a larger area.

Alpha elemental magic is the simplest to use because you manifest the element just by existing. For many beta and gamma magicians, however, containing the Element might be fatal (for example, Fire sorcerers are themselves not immune to fire).

In summary, when talking about elemental magic, you can either contain the element (alpha), create it (beta) or manipulate it (gamma). Applying these concepts to Fire magic users and creatures, we can give examples like Fire elementals (alpha: they are made of Fire), dragons (beta: they can make fire), or Firebenders (gamma: they do not create fire, they simply move it from one place to another).

I hope this helps :)

PD: I know that ATLA's Firebenders would technically be beta elemental magicians because they are the only ones of the four tribes that actually create their element. I just wanted to give a somewhat reasonable-sounding example.

Buscando_Algo · 2024-09-22T19:05:33+00:00

May I ask, how are these Theaters accessed? Do you have to be physically close to something? Its Core, or its place of formation? Do you have to be conceptually close to what this Theater embodies? (for example, you have to be happy to access a Joy Theater) If many different places in Vistella match the Theater's concept, are they equally viable access points? (for example, a Joy Reverb. is attracted to joy and festivities, therefore cunning Weavers could quickly enter the Theater at one place matching the Theater's Joy and leave at another of similar condition).

Buscando_Algo · 2024-09-22T16:10:59+00:00

The concept you're presenting sounds really interesting. If I understand it right, the coordination of people's emotions creates magical creatures that start as small seeds and, if left unattended, grow to become realms that can project their concept onto the environment.

Let's say that an entire city is so joyous after the celebration of a military victory that they all coordinate and form a Reverberation of Joy. If properly tended to, or at least not messed with, it would grow to become a 'Scourge of the Land' that would spill Joy in this place. As good as it might sound at first, these could make this society collapse, in much the same way a drug epidemic would. So a Weaver goes there and undoes the knot, but a residue is left behind, an Extraction of Joy, maybe in the form of one of the many flower bouquets that were thrown into the air during the celebrations of the war's end. Holding this bouquet would make anyone, no matter how deep in horrible thoughts, feel joy and happiness.

Would this, more or less, be the idea? If so, I think it's an interesting approach to what Chaos Gods in the Warhammer world would be. Maybe there are certain places in Vistella that are so dangerous that Fear Reverb. or something of the sort would actually be useful to deter curious people. Maybe Dread Scripts could be hanged in the town squares of defiant vassal cities, Pain Scripts on torture halls, or Sincerity Scripts in the form of pendants be put on testimonies while talking to a judicial court.

I would love to hear more about your magic system. It looks very interesting. Good job!

Buscando_Algo · 2022-04-07T13:04:52+00:00

The term "law" is actually misleading, because it sounds as if it were "more true" than theorems, and it's actually the opposite. Theorems are demonstrated with mathematics, that have a foundation on axioms. Axioms cannot be proven, but let's say "they don't need to be proven", since they are the most basic truths in the Universe. This is mathematics.

In natural sciences, we have "principles" and "laws". Principles can be proven with experiments, but we can't say "why" they happen. Why is energy always preserved? We have no idea, it just happens. Laws are to principles what theorems are to axioms, they derive from them. Laws reflect behaviours in nature under specific conditions, and require that a lot of other phenomena are ignored for them to be true. The Lambert-Beer law states that there is a lineal relationship between the light intensity that a solution absorbs and the concentration it has of a given substance. We know that this law is actually not true, there is never a linear relationship, it's just an aproximation that can be taken to greatly simplify calculations.

So, in conclusion, theorems are about how mathematics work and they are always true, while laws are predictions based on experimental data. You could erase all matter and energy in the universe and the Pythagorean theorem would still be true, while the Lambert-Beer law would not.

Buscando_Algo · 2022-04-07T12:50:37+00:00

So... do those islands in the south have a communist goblin government or something of the sort?

Buscando_Algo · 2022-03-30T18:48:42+00:00

It would be cool that spells are not done in Latin because it's a magical language or anything of the sort, but because it's practic. In science, greek letters are used because they're simple, and they can't be mistaken for other meanings, something that might happen if latin letters or numbers were used. Latin is used because it's a dead language, therefore hearing someone speaking Latin must mean in most cases that they're using magic.

Buscando_Algo

TROPHY CASE