Worldbuilding Prompts: Decks & Expansions

World building is the art of creating fictional worlds rich in detail, history, and wonder. It’s how DnD players and writers breathe life into their campaigns and stories—designing everything from magic systems and different cultures, to major events and natural resources. Whether you're crafting a single village or an entire continent-spanning empire, world building is what makes your world feel real to the people exploring it.

Hungry for more guidance on strong world building? Check out our blog on why you need world building.

The world building process starts with curiosity and grows through exploration. Some will start with geography or major cities, others with belief systems, family life, or architectural styles. Our customers often begin with a few world building writing prompts and spiral into building spiritual practices, political systems, and even figuring out what different foods people eat in each region. The beauty is that there's no single right way—just keep asking questions and follow the fun.

There's no one right way to approach world building, but there are some "golden rules" that help writers build immersive worlds.

Consistency beats complexity. It's more important that your world feels consistent to your readers and players than that you can explain every detail of your world. As long as you establish and honor the most important rules that define your world, your readers will believe those rules too. Staying consistent in your world building is more important for immersion than hundreds of pages of footnotes and appendices.

When you change something, make sure you understand why. As blogger Simon Provencher puts it, "unless specified otherwise, everything inside your world is assumed to behave exactly as it would in the real world.” That means your fictional world should follow the same basic rules of physics, society, and logic—unless you intentionally change them. If magic exists in your world, that's great! Just make sure you know how it impacts government, public opinion, or even formal education. Changing the rules is part of the fun—just be clear and consistent about how your world plays.

Leave room for wonder. It's okay to leave some unanswered questions in your world building. In fact, you give your readers and players more opportunities to imagine the depths of your world if you leave some mysteries for them solve. Read this guest blog to learn more.

The Four Cs of world building are listed by author M.D. Presley as Creative, Complete, Consistent, and Compelling. By breaking one of the four Cs of world building, the audience is “ejected from the story.” That is, the believability of the illusion has been disrupted.

• Creative refers to the unique ideas that set your world apart from reality—your magic system, alternate history, or fantastical elements.
• Complete means the world feels like it exists beyond the page, with its own history, geography, and everyday details.
• Consistent ensures your world follows its own rules, keeping logic intact so the audience stays immersed.
• Compelling is all about engagement—if the world grabs the reader’s imagination and makes them want to stay, you’ve done your job.

Creative blocks happen all the time—even the most experienced writers and game masters get stuck. That’s where The Story Engine and Deck of Worlds come in. Designed by writers and gamers, these decks provide instant inspiration through powerful writing prompts. Each card helps unlock new ideas for world building—whether it’s the public mood in a dystopian empire or a key figure in a celestial war. You can also draw from real-world history, mythology, or speculative science. Sometimes, asking “What if this one thing were different?” is all it takes to launch your next great idea.

Whether you're brainstorming campaign ideas DnD fans will love or crafting complex belief systems, architectural styles, and spiritual practices, you'll have hundreds of ideas at your fingertips. Perfect for improving your writing process or adding depth to your next game, our decks make it easier than ever to build a world where magic exists and every detail feels real.