Worldbuilding Prompt of the Day 2024 Master List

1/1: Where does your setting come from?

1/2: Where do your monsters come from?

1/3: Who are the gods, and how do they affect the world?

4 : What culture or cultures are you basing your setting on? If you don't choose to draw from cultures intentionally, you'll often just default to 'standard fantasy', which is overwhelmingly Eurocentric, even Anglocentric.

5 : What is magic and where does it come from? Is there a distinction between types of magic based on their source, or not? Is it an inborn spark, or can anybody learn?

6: What ancestries are most common on your world, and which ones are dominant? Do different ancestries or species share cultures? Or are they separate entities? Why? Which ones even exist, in DnD or other games with lot of options?

7: What kind of world do you have? Is it a sphere, like ours, revolving around a sun? An infinite flat plane? A finite flat plane floating in mist? A disc on the back of 4 elephants on the back of a sea turtle swimming through space? The possibilities are endless.

8: What is your afterlife like? Is there more than one, for reward and punishment? Are there different ones for different religions?

9: What are your naming conventions? What linguistic base do you use to inspire them? Randomly thrown together syllables like a Fantasy Name Generator are ok, but to really sound legitimate, use the sounds and constructions of real languages , either dead ones or ones you know fairly well, to match the culture you've chosen. Tolkien's constructed languages follow real world patterns. (To be fair, for the most part, using his works pretty well, especially if you aren't a pro.)

10: What ancient empires have come before your current nations? Especially in games that focus on ruins and such, like DnD, what culture or cultures made those ruins? IS one of those cultures the source of the 'common tongue' if any? What effects did this lost empire have on the world?

11: What are your taverns like? Taverns, cantinas, inns, bars . . . they are the center of any small community, often a de facto town hall. This applies to both Fantasy and Sci Fi, btw, think of Quark's on deep space nine, the Cantina in a New Hope. There's a reason meeting in a tavern is trope.

12: What kind of games do they play in your setting? Do they have chess? Poker? Holochess? Their own card games, their own roleplaying games even? How do they pass the time in camp before sleep, or in the evenings after work? Everyone has leisure activities...what do people in your setting do?

13: Does your fantasy setting include firearms? Why not? Given that the tech used to make full plate and rapiers came after we'd been using guns for a while, what happened to keep folks from using gunpowder in your world?

14: How do people celebrate birthdays, in your setting, if they do? All on the same day of the year? On the day they actually are born? Do they receive gifts?Do they give them, like hobbits?

15: What do poor people in your setting eat? How does it differ from what rich people eat? Why? For instance, in the middle ages chicken and white bread were rich people food, while salmon and brown bread were for the poor...very different from today.

16:What do folks drink? How does it differ by social class? Ale? Wine, Mead? Dwarven Firewine? Romulan ale? Water, if they have the clean stuff?

17: What is the climate like in the primary region of your setting?

18: What are the names of three people in your setting, historical or current, who almost everyone has heard of? Why are they famous?

19: Almost every culture has a bogeyman, a monster they tell stories about to children to scare them into behaving. What's yours like? Are they real or made up, in the setting?

22: What are the governments like in your setting? Feudal monarchy? Representative democracy? True democracy? Chieftainships? Tyranny? An empire with regional governors? This can have drastic effects on the day to day of your setting.

23: What are three conflicts between nations in your world that don't have anything to do with 'good' and 'evil'?

25: What religions are there in your world? Separate from the gods, sort of...are there multiple religions with different gods? One religion with many gods? The same god or gods worshipped entirely differently by different religions? All these examples exist in the real world.

26: Tolkien has athelas, mellorn, and the like. Terry Pratchett has sapient pearwood. Niven has integral trees. DC comics has the Black Mercy. What special rare or magical plants exist in your setting, and what are they used for?

27: Many worlds have magical or exceptional minerals and metals. Examples include mithril , tilkal and galvorn from Tolkien, adamantine (and adamantium) from greek myth, DnD, and Marvel, and so many more. What such metals and minerals exist in your world? Who uses them? What do they do?

28: How common is magic in your world? We've talked about origins and types..but how much of it is out there, and how has it changed your world as a result?

31: What is the most terrifying, apocalyptic monster in your setting? Where does it come from? What does it eat when it isn't rampaging?

2/1: Today is Imbolc, the ancient Gaelic celebration of Spring. How do your societies celebrate spring? What deities are honored then, and how?

2/2: Today in 1438, 9 leaders of the Transylvanian Peasant Revolt were executed. They revolted over unfair taxation. What revolts/revolutions have happened in your world, esp. in the main region? What caused them? How recently? How did they end?

2/3 : Feb 3rd, The day the music died. What are some famous bards and musicians in your world? Were any tragically lost before their time?

2/4 National Thank a Mailman Day! How do people communicate between settlements or over vast distances? Is there an actual postal system, do they use magic, or just hand a letter to a passing bard or tinker and hope for the best? (The bard thing could actually be a formal system...)

2/6 Feb 6, 1891: the Dalton Gang robs their first train. What groups of brigands threaten your travelers, and what drove them to banditry?

2/7 It's Rose Day, celebrating giving and receiving roses. What flowers represent love in your setting? What other flowers might represent other things?

2/8 On this day in 1950, the Stasi, secret police of Eastb Germany, were established. How is law enforcement handled in your setting? City watch, city guard, nobles and knights, a formal police force, secret police?
2/9 Today is Gwyl Mabsant, a Welsh rural festival celebrating the patron saint of particular parishes in Wales. Once very religious, it is now far more secular, and apparently rowdy. What formerly religious holidays may have become secular excuses for a party in your setting?

2/13 Today is the anniversary of the Glencoe Massacre, when Royalist troops quartered among the MacDonalds, and thus under hospitality, slew between 30 and 8o people without mercy. What famous acts of treachery or villainy have taken place in your setting at the command of the government?

2/15 I was busy with my partners on Valentine's Day. Does your setting have a day set aside to celebrate romantic love? Is it the feast day of a god or saint of erotic love?

2/19 Today is President's day. Does your setting have holidays to commemorate famous heroes or leaders of the past?

2/26 It's Victor Hugo's birthday. Who are some famous authors, poets, or dramatists, in your world? Is there an equivalent to Hugo? To Shakespeare?

2/27 It's international Polar bear day. Bears are so terrifying they have been referred to only by euphemisms for millenia. We name the Arctic (place with bears) and Antarctic (place without bears) after them. What creature is that significant in your world?

2/28 Is there an evil empire or Dark Lord tm in your setting? How do they conform to the tropes, and what makes them interesting or different?

2/29 It's Leap Day! Does your world have a custom calendar? How do you track time? Do you track moon phases, seasons, weeks? Is there something like leap years or leap days, or do you not need them?

3/1 This day in 509 BC, Publius Valerius Publicola celebrated the Roman Republic's first Triumph over the former King of Rome. When was your world's greatest fallen empire or extant nation's founding, and is it celebrated to this day?

3/6 Today, in 12 BCE, Augustus , Emperor of Rome, is named Pontifex Maximus, thus becoming head of the Roman state religion. What nations in your setting even have a state religion, and are they explicitly theocratic? Is it the religion controlling the government? The government controlling religion?

3/26 Today in 1636, Ultrecht University was founded in the Netherlands. What are some major schools, academeies and universities in your world? Are they for any scholar, or just, say, bards, or wizards, or rich galactic nobles to become Imperial officers?

Also The Royal Academy of Turku was founded on this day in 1640, first university in Finland.

3/28 In 1881, P.T. Barnum and James Anthony Bailey Formed the “Greatest Show On Earth” . Are there circuses and carnivals in your world? Any famous ones? What are they like?

3/29 Tell me about your Hell, or your underworld, or your infernal realms if you have them, real or merely religious, in your ttrpg world.

4/1/24 April Fools may have been based upon the old New Year celebration called the Feast of Fools, much like Roma Saturnalia, where the low were elevated and a great deal of license given to them for the single day. Are there any similar customs in your setting?

4/3/24 Today in 1860, the Pony Express was launched. How do messages get places in your world? Messengers? Post? Message spells? Subspace transmissions? A big part is: is there a quicker way to get news than just physically going someplace?

4/4/24 On this day in 1581, Francis Drake, pirate, privateer, slaver, and explorer, is knighted for his service to England. What famous 'heroes' are seen very differently by other countries in your world?

4/18/24. On this day in 1906, a massive earthquake shook the West coast of the US, sparking a fire in San Francisco that killed over 700 people and destroyed 75% of the city. What great natural disasters have occured in your world, and what areas are prone to earthquakes?

5/28/24 On this day in 1830, the Indian Removal Act was passed. Among other things this led to the Trail of Tears. What indigenous populations have been brutalized and displaced in your world to make way for 'civilized' colonists?

5/29/24 On this day in 1453, the Byzantine Empire and the city of Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Empire, thus truly ending the Roman Empire. What great empires of your world fell specifically due to war rather than disaster, with their cities and people absorbed by another power?

5/30/24 On this day in 1431, Joan of Arc was burned at the stake as a heretic. What well known people were killed by religious leaders in your world for heresy?

6/12/24 On this day in 1701, the British Parliament passed the Act of Settlement, codifying the rules of royal succession still in use in the UK. What are the rules of succession for your nobles and royalty?

Spring festivals

winter festivals

6/15/2024 On this day in 1215, the first version of the Magna Carta was signed, placing some limits on royal power in England and put in writing that even the King was not above the law. Do any nations in your world have such a document? What rebellion or revolt led to it?

7/1/2024 On this day in 1690, the Battle of the Boyne happened in Ireland, between Irish Jacobite forces under James II and William of Orange. The war was one of succession, but it was also explicitly religious: between the Catholic supporting James and the Anglican William and Parliament. How has religion affected conflict in your world?

7/2/2024 On this day in 1900, LZ-1, the first Zeppelin (but not the first airship) took flight near Friedrichshafen, Germany. What major technological or magical advances in your world have changed how people travel?

7/3/2024 On this day in 1035, William the Conqueror, born a bastard, became the Duke of Normandy, which would forever change the fate of many countries. What major conquerors are remembered in your world?

7/4/2024 On this day in the year 1187, Saladin beat the Christian Army of Jerusalem at the Battle of Hatin. All Templars and Hospitalers in the battle were executed afterwards. What great battles occurred in your world that echoed down through history?

7/9/2024 Do you have reptile or insect folk in your setting? How are they different from mammals in their behavior and perspectives?

7/10/2024 If you have smallfolk, like halflings, gnomes, or Jawas in your setting, how do you differentiate them? In what ways are they not just small humans?

7/11/2024 In your setting, which intelligent lineage or species is the oldest? In many fantasy settings we default to elves, because of Tolkien. In Eldritch horror, it is often 'deep ones', fish beings. In one of my settings, giants. What about you?

7/12/2024 On this day in 1865, British mountaineer Edward Whymper became the first person to climb the Matterhorn. What great mountains are well known in your setting, and what lives there?

7/15/2024 On this day in 1606, Rembrandt was born. He is considered one of the greatest visual artists in history. What famous painters exist in your world?

7/16/2024 On this day in 1945, the very first nuclear bomb was set off in New Mexico. What major magical or technological developments changed war forever in your world?

7/18/2024 On this day in 1870, the First Vatican Council declared the doctrine of Papal infallibility, which means that the pope cannot be wrong on church doctrine when he speaks with the full authority of his office. Are any high priests in your world considered infallible in that way?

7/22/2024 On this day in 1812, the Duke of Wellington won the Battle of Salamanca, “defeating 40,000 Frenchmen in 40 minutes”. What great generals have sculpted the history of your setting?

7/23/2024 What is the source of evil in your setting, if evil exists as a real thing? Do the gods have opponents of equal might? If not, why do they allow evil? Or are the gods not moral forces?

9/9/2024 On this day in 1087, William the Conqueror died. What are some great conquerors from your world, and what did they conquer? How did they die?

9/10/2024 on this day in 1651, Japanese rebel Yui Shōsetsu committed suicide after the failure of his plot against the Tokugawa shogunate. What famous rebels exist in your world? How did they die? Did they win?

9/11/2024 An important question for fantasy worldbuilding is whether your setting is high or low magic. In high magic settings, magic is everywhere, commonly available. In low magic settings, it's rare, mysterious, often feared. Which is yours, and why? Note that the worlds generally described by D&D are almost always high magic.