Building Fantasy Worlds

A Hands-On Guide to Creating Fantasy Settings for Games (And More!)
1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-1-041-33195-7
Verlag: Taylor & Francis

Buch, Englisch, 248 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm

Written by multi-award-winning narrative designer and worldbuilder Graeme Davis, this book draws on more than 40 years’ experience working on almost 50 video games and more than 100 tabletop game rulebooks, sourcebooks, and adventures. It provides usable information and practical advice for worldbuilders and loremasters in games of all kinds, as well as in other media.

Using a wide range of examples including the author’s own work on Warhammer, Warhammer 40,000, Vampire: The Masquerade, and others, it shows how to create a fantasy setting that stands out from the crowd and how to ensure it has the maximum potential to grow beyond on title to a powerful transmedia brand. It examines a number of powerful and not-so-powerful brands, showing what worked, what didn’t, and what could have been better.

It points out both obvious and less obvious ways of conveying intriguing crumbs of lore to players, hinting at a wider world and building curiosity that will create a ready-made audience for future titles in the same franchise – and it shows how to achieve all of that quickly and economically, without drowning in detail, without endangering the current project’s budget and schedule, and without restricting the creative freedom of anyone working on those future titles.

Zielgruppe

Professional Reference

Autoren/Hrsg.

Davis, Graeme

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Sport | Tourismus | Freizeit Hobbies & Spiele
• Geisteswissenschaften Design Design: Allgemeines & Theorie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction

Part 1: Settings and Fantasy

Chapter 1. What a Game Setting Is, and Isn’t

Chapter 2. A Brief History of Fantasy Settings

Part 2: Building a Setting

Chapter 3. Key Elements of a Game Setting, Part 1: The Big Picture

Chapter 4. Key Elements of a Game Setting, Part 2: The Nitty-Gritty

Chapter 5. Tabletop vs. Electronic Games

Part 3: Conveying a Setting

Chapter 6. Conveying Setting Information, Part 1: Primary Channels

Chapter 7. Conveying Setting Information, Part 2: Breadcrumbs

Chapter 8. Conveying Setting Information, Part 3: Sound and Vision

Chapter 9. Conveying Setting Information, Part 4: Outside the Game

Glossary

Bibliography

Über Autor(innen)

Graeme Davis has been in the games industry since dice were made of flint. In the late 1980s he organized and expanded Games Workshop’s Warhammer fantasy setting, laying the foundation for its growth into a blockbuster game and fiction property. He also contributed to the early history of Warhammer 40,000 and Vampire: The Masquerade. In 2018-2022, he helped Tactical Adventures develop their award-winning Solasta fantasy setting. In between, he has worked on 40+ video games and 150+ tabletop game products as a game designer, writer, and editor/developer.