Fairy Tale Worldbuilding



Zak Sabbath says cool things. Here is a cool thing he said a while back about fairy tales.

I re-read that a little while back and it got me wondering—‘What sort of fairy tales do they tell on Varth? Or what sort of Fairy Tales should I tell about Varth?’

Try this. Sit down with a book of fairy tales and read an obscure one (or a book of sagas, or epic poetry, or whatever fits your style).

Then write down a few brief (very brief, fable-short) fairy tales about events in your world (or dungeon, or city…).

Begin with ‘Once upon a time…’ (or ‘Sing Muse!’ or ‘Hwaet!’) and don’t waste too much time on descriptions.

Then go online and pick out a few illustrations for your story (doesn’t have to be exact, just some artists who have the right idea).

(I’ll post one of mine later)

Anyways, see if things look a bit different afterwards.

2 comments:

  1. I liked adding constellations to my fantasy game-worlds. The stories of creation and the foibles of the gods, set in diamons on a black canvas stretching from horizon to horizon.

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    1. Cool idea! My current world actually started as a set of random charts for deities. Instead of alignment, I had them pick out a deity to worship.

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