Action!

 Welcome back to the blog, and to the fifth part of my World-Building series! If you're new here, then hello, and please consider following the blog for more pieces about making worlds, creativity, writing, and roleplaying. 

Today we're looking at the 4th point from my original post about this, and bringing action into the mix. Without action your creation will be a perfect object, but it won't have any real life to it and if you're creating a setting for roleplaying or writing, that means your world won't be engaging. Perhaps it's different if you're just building a world for fun, with no plans to make it anything other than a shining example of the art and that's fine. If you're looking to hook people into your world though, they need something to root for and to enjoy. That means action, drama, and conflict. 

1) Know Your Characters' Agendas: Your characters should have desires and motives baked into them. That automatically gives them an agenda they want to follow, giving them a reason to get involved in the adventures you're creating. This is an advantage of knowing your characters very well so don't stint on that side of things. Use your characters' desires and drives to shape their experiences, plots, and on a larger scale, your world. This will make your world stronger because it will be more personal which will make it more compelling.   

For instance, Mac in Solomon's Shadow is looking for something to believe in - it's his driving passion.  Driven by this need - which exists beneath his cynical outer shell - he becomes obsessed by the demons in New York and what their presence mean. With no belief in Christianity, he's led into darker paths by the spectre of finding something spiritual.

In another example, if we consider the Wild West meets Meiji Dynasty idea we might have a samurai who has abandoned Japan to explore the modern world after being shamed. The character is looking for home and community, drifting through a world of cattle barons, robbers, and steam trains. Their motivation of wanting some sort of connection to people is a powerful motivator, drawing them into all sorts of scuffles and building friendships and alliances (though of course, they also feel very strongly that they don't belong and are perhaps dealing with their own prejudices about Westerners and the world outside the Japan).

2) Consider The Environment and Nature: The world you're building can offer action and drama as well. Creatures can pose a threat, as can natural disasters or the terrain. A thick forest with wolves and bears in it will, by its nature, create hazardous travelling. In the same way mountains aren't necessarily a walk in the park to traverse and events like avalanches can add hazards to make things interesting (in the Chinese sense). Weigh up how much you want the environment and nature to be opposed to your people, it can be very exciting to use natural disasters and geography as a way to create tests. 

One thing you might consider is using the terrain to reflect what's going on in your world. Are the characters in the dark or confused, then use fog or snow to represent their turmoil. An open savannah might be a good way to underline the certainty of a crusade (you can cast doubt on it in other ways later on). That being said, it can just be fun to use different sorts of terrain as a way to create fun challenges that are just that - fun challenges. Not everything has to refer to something else. 

3) Magic Monsters and Aliens: Within Fantasy and Science Fiction, you may also consider monsters and non-human sentients. These might range from dragons, xenomorphs, or Elves, Klingons, or Greys. These present a slightly different sort of drama and action in that they are alien (in the sense of being human). They vary in the complexity of the challenge they represent. An Orc warband might be a solely physical challenge, while a dragon might have a political or ethical challenge as well. It's a good idea to consider how you want that to reflect the rest of what you're doing. 

You can also consider magic, psychic or super powers in this category. Last week we discussed how an industrialised fantasy world might discriminate against magic users, and that's a great way to illustrate the difficult interplay between magic, or these other sources of power, and society. You can use some classic dilemmas here - is the evidence gathered by a psychic admissible in court? Do superheroes need to have their identities registered with the authorities? This clash between legal and political authority and your characters can be a great way to explore the theme of power and agency within a society. 

Obviously within the Solomon's Shadow setting the main supernatural element are demons and the sorcerous means of summoning and controlling them. The powers of demons are nebulously defined at the best of times, so as a monster they're quite versatile. Their nature automatically means they're going to be complicated because demon summoning will be a sub rosa activity - you can't exactly invite the Vicar around to summon incubi over a cup of tea and some macaroons. Consequently, it's something that lends itself to criminal activities and the underworld. That may intertwine with other elements - most of them desperate or corrupt, perhaps both. Magic is the last resort of the weak, a way to get one over an uncaring universe and that's the sort of energy demons would adore, I imagine. Therefore, we can start to build an idea of who Mac's enemies might be and how they might be mirror images of him. 

4) Politics: The affairs of state can impact heavily on your characters, because they won't exist in a vacuum. This might be democratic politics, with election campaigns and canvassing or it might be a less modern version and dependent on intrigue and rumours. It also allows us to consider once again what characters want and what they will do to achieve their goals. Is a young union leader willing to break bread with a mob boss if it means getting extra support? Will a politician make a deal with a cult leader if it means gaining their financial backing? In both cases, what will the gangster and mystic (or grifter) ask in return? How do these relationships shape the world or region the actions take place in, and how will they affect the events of whatever you're using the setting for? I think with most fiction - whatever format it's in - corruption and wrong doing is more likely to present because that's more interesting. Despite this, even a cleaner, more ethical, political system can be ripe with possibilities for world building.  

Politics lends itself to all sorts of action and drama because there are so many ways for it to connect to other things. If we take Solomon's Shadow for a moment and suppose that a demonic figure is influencing a candidate for New York's Mayor. We can see all sorts of potential plots spinning out of this, ranging from a law and order candidate being persuaded to create a criminal wave that will push voters to vote for the candidate, to the demon using its powers to persuade people to vote the way it wants. It may even connect to more occult ideas where the demon's true agenda isn't related to the character in any significant way. 

5) Economics and Trade: Money makes the world go round, and it's a core driver of many stories. The flow of wealth shapes nations and can be the arbiter of what happens to the people living within them. Consider the image we have of Germany at the end of World War 2, paying for loaves of bread with wheelbarrows full of Reichsmarks. It can also drive criminal activity, ranging from smuggling and counterfeiting in the streets and docks to insider trading in the lofty offices of Wall Street or the City of London. 

Another facet to think about with trade is who is permitted to do it - many Medieval cities had guilds that effectively ran "closed shops" - in the same way as modern lawyers, doctors, and other professions do. These prohibited practising their trade unless you were part of the guild, which meant adhering to their politics, paying your dues, and charging a certain set of fees for your services. For work outside "the professions" this all changed when industrialisation came along, and we could see the initial oppression of union movements as an attempt to stop something similar to guilds growing up in the modern world. 

Within Solomon's Shadow, economics and trade could be present in many ways. The idea of the demon who influences Wall Street - perhaps laying the ground for the 1929 crash - is one we've already considered, but we could also draw on other concepts. Perhaps there's a black market in occult items with grimoires and curse bowls being sold to "discerning collectors". While the trade in Voodoo artefacts created by Bela Lugosi's film White Zombie is a decade away, something similar could be present in New York as the inhabitants seek ways to protect themselves from the things in the dark. Mac might be hired to hunt down rare books by rich occultists who are unwilling to get their hands dirty.

World-building isn't just about crafting a setting—it’s about making it feel alive. By weaving in action, conflict, and the forces that shape society, you create a world that draws people in and keeps them invested. What are the key sources of drama in your own world-building? Do politics, trade, or supernatural forces play a role? Let me know in the comments, and if you enjoyed this post, consider following the blog for more insights into storytelling, creativity, and roleplaying!