One of the hardest parts of building a culture from scratch is grasping the scope of the world. How much is necessary? How much serves the story and how much is just wasting time?
(I don’t think it’s ever wasting time to fill out the details, but that’s just me.)
So to that end, I want to look at three categories based on their level of importance to understanding a culture you’ve invented. These are the places to start, what details a closer look might reveal, and then the little intimate details that can really breathe life into your portrayal of an original setting.
1: The Foundation Stones
These are the things that I think a culture really NEEDS. Without any one of these things, you cannot really grasp the rest. They should be the foundation upon which the rest of your original culture is based.
Environment
What is the landscape like? What resources are available to them? What hazards? Are they a desert people, a mountain people, a plains people?
Technology Level
What tools do they have? Do they have steel? Explosives? Seafaring and Navigation? Or are they primitive, using only bronze tools?
Core Values
What is important to the culture? What values and anti-values define their national/tribal identities? I have an extensive list of suggestions HERE.
The People
Who and what are they? Are they human? Maybe they are aliens. Maybe they are hyper-intelligent rodents from Mercury. Especially if they are unfamiliar to your audience, you need to clearly state any differences they should know about.
2: The Main Body
Once you have developed those foundations, you can start looking at the next level of elements. These are often aesthetic… the kinds of things a player party would want to know if they actually had to deal with this culture, or that you’d learn about in a class being taught about this culture.
You can pick and choose what elements are important to your story, or your campaign.
Architecture, Language, Government, Military Structure and Uniforms, Trade Goods, Currency, Economy, History, Religions, Famous Structures and Monuments, Flag Design, Famous Figures (heroes, villains, artisans, inventors, leaders, betrayers, etc.), Historical Plagues and Disasters, Allies and Enemies, Names, Prejudices, Domesticated Animals, Available Resources, Valuables, Family Structure, Justice System, Laws, Nation Story (How we started and why we’re awesome)
3: The Fine Details
Lastly, you can consider the small, close, intimate elements of the day to day lives of the people. These are great for really making a reader feel like they are experiencing a real place. They represent what someone might take note of actually living in a place, among it’s people.
Again, you can pick and choose. This hearkens back to a previous post where I discussed a practice of going to unfamiliar, ideally foreign, places, and taking note of what details stand out to you as a stranger and foreigner in that place. Remember that your players or readers are more or less foreigners in the lands you are inventing.
Education of Children, Musical Instruments, Weapons, Local Cuisine, Nursery Rhymes, Alcohols, Superstitions, Fashion Trends, Hobbies, Sweets, Holidays, Hygiene Practices, Songs, Poems, Tall Tales, Art Styles, Medicines, Pastimes, Sports, Hospitality, Proverbs, Pets, Competitions, Casual Gambling, Opinions on Punctuality, Cleanliness, Charity, Jobs, Prayers, Gardens, Birthdays, Home Fixtures, Furnishings, Eating Utensils, Color Meanings, Formalities, Etiquette, Eye Contact, Implied Meaning vs Obvious Meaning, Local Travel, Signage, Maps, Literacy, Haggling, Local Crafts, Regional Recipes, Regional Rivalries
Conclusion
Obviously, this is not a super in-depth analysis, but it should be a useful starting point, and a source of ideas if you are ever stuck on what kinds of details might liven-up your setting, or feel like something is missing.
If you have gotten any ideas from this, I’d love to hear what you invent!
See you Next world!
—Charles