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up vote 14 down vote

added by Jay Neely Jan 3 '14 at 5:17

up vote 14 down vote

added by AkselK Feb 20 '14 at 14:42

<comments removed> Please do not use comments to answer these questions. This proposal is not part of a Q&A site, and the task at hand is to help define what is on and off topic for a site. Comments are here to help improve the questions; not to answer them. See What is the rationale for deleting answers? Thank you. – Robert Cartaino Apr 29 '14 at 14:38

up vote 12 down vote

added by kexx, edited by Jaydles Jun 9 '14 at 14:08

+1 At some point, we're likely going to need to have questions about how making specific changes to a world would affect it. The way I imagine it, good answers wouldn't just address how the world might be physically affected, but also suggest how storytelling, plot, and thematic development might change as well. – Kevin Jan 1 '14 at 23:21

+1 Not sure why the downvoting; worldbuilding, to me, is all about considering the evolutionary processes that result in a fictional world, as the creator chooses to describe it. Any input to those processes seems, to me, to be worth considering, and having two moons is such an input. After all, two sources of tidal forces and two sources of reflected light could very well influence erosive processes caused by water, probably other things. And anything that can, ultimately, influence agriculture will surely influence how societies develop. – ghorahn Mar 23 '14 at 6:44

Why the downvotes? Isn't this specific enough? I'd upvote if I had any left. – Monty Wild Mar 24 '14 at 2:20

I agree it seems like a perfectly valid question. You may not get downvotes if you were more specific. For example, "How would having multiple moons affect a civilization's time keeping (calendars)?" Or how does tide get affected by multiple moons?" That might help, but maybe not. None of the downvoters have bothered to explain why they did so, so it's hard to know what problems they felt it had. – rbwhitaker Mar 25 '14 at 15:46

This is a great question - it should be open-ended, as there are a lot of possible effects on the culture of that planet. Just for a random example, look at how the moon and sun are associated with male and female/night and day/winter and summer. That polarization wouldn't be there if there was another player in the mix. – kikjezrous Apr 4 '14 at 4:28

show 5 more improvement suggestions

up vote 11 down vote

added by crownjewel82 Jan 13 '14 at 18:18

up vote 11 down vote

added by rbwhitaker Feb 19 '14 at 16:06

up vote 11 down vote

added by Shiazure Mar 5 '14 at 11:21

"Should" makes it too vague I think. There are many examples of landlocked and coastal capitals in history, of kingdoms both prosperous and having armies. Might be better to define "should", or just ask "what are the advantages of landlocked/coastal capitals". – congusbongus Apr 3 '14 at 5:32

I agree with congusbongus. I don't think telling people what they should and shouldn't do is answerable in an objective way, and shouldn't be considered on-topic. But I think we should be able to help people understand the tradeoffs of a decision. – rbwhitaker Apr 7 '14 at 17:21

If this were edited to advantages/disadvantages, I would vote for it. – Darrick Herwehe Apr 7 '14 at 19:24

@congus Thanks for the suggestion, edited the question. – Shiazure Apr 8 '14 at 11:07

does the capital connotation matter? I guess is the capital being one or the other any different than another big city? – James Apr 14 '14 at 15:28

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up vote 11 down vote

added by crownjewel82 Mar 26 '14 at 17:00

	I really like this question. It makes you think. I would actually hope that the "correct" answer to this would give some sort of equation or way to estimate what it would take for a broad range of weights, rather than one specific number. – rbwhitaker Mar 28 '14 at 15:02
	Yea it's from a conversation i had with a friend. Hopefully we get a couple of physicists and maybe an areonautical enginner to answer this one. – crownjewel82 Mar 28 '14 at 21:03

up vote 10 down vote

added by kexx Jan 2 '14 at 18:51

This has picked up two down votes in the last day or so. I'm not sure I understand why. Can anybody explain? – rbwhitaker Apr 14 '14 at 22:22

One of those was me removing an up vote to place it on another question I felt was more deserving. Damn being limited to five. – Styphon Apr 15 '14 at 6:26

@Styphon, that's a valid reason. – rbwhitaker Apr 15 '14 at 16:16

up vote 10 down vote

added by rbwhitaker Jan 7 '14 at 18:58

up vote 10 down vote

added by rbwhitaker Jan 7 '14 at 19:01

This question probably wouldn't be looking for a specific number like "42", but a look at how a population of 10, 100, 1000, or 10000 would be different in this aspect. – rbwhitaker Jan 7 '14 at 19:04

up vote 10 down vote

added by rem Jan 31 '14 at 13:46

	Question is just a little vague. Is this question asking how small the community can be and be viable or how small the living space can be? – dpguy Apr 29 '14 at 4:47
	@ranger10700 I would think that information would be included in the body of the question. You have to bare in mind that these questions have limited text. – Styphon Apr 30 '14 at 6:22
	Vague questions are awesome (sorry if i'm repeating myself) because when you create a story, you might need some specifics ("my story HAS to take place in a small self-sufficient isolated community") but you might be very free on other points (whether it is on an island or in a spaceship). Getting answers from all possible POVs (answer 1 for island, answer 2 for spaceship) might inspire you greatly. World building is about science (or scientific reasoning at least) but also about creativity! – Florian Pellet May 20 '14 at 11:29

up vote 10 down vote

added by James Jan 31 '14 at 20:10

up vote 10 down vote

added by James Feb 7 '14 at 21:59

This is rather vague and subjective. – smithkm Feb 25 '14 at 1:53

To be fair the text of this question would describe my faux culture but I see your point... – James Mar 31 '14 at 13:24

Would this question be more answerable if I were to include a specific aspect, perhaps armor styles or maybe...or maybe architecture? – James Apr 4 '14 at 13:44

That would help the vagueness, but I don't think it would help the subjectiveness. I think you could help that part by being clearer about what you mean by "too much". Are you asking for how different you need to be to stay away from legal trouble? (FWIW, I think asking legal questions should be out of this site's scope.) – rbwhitaker Apr 4 '14 at 15:36

Agreed. We are not lawyers. – James Apr 10 '14 at 20:24

up vote 10 down vote

added by rbwhitaker Feb 19 '14 at 16:02

Don't forget star-like crossings. I feel it's perfectly on-topic on History.SE, if you just concentrate on single factor (grid vs. circular). – Donaudampfschifffreizeitfahrt Mar 19 '14 at 8:55

up vote 10 down vote

added by rbwhitaker Feb 19 '14 at 21:46

The thought occurred to me that the questions proposed so far have all been specific questions somebody might have regarding how their world/universe should actually work. There's a second area that I, personally, think this proposal should include, and that is on the process itself. I'd love to see other people post others as well. – rbwhitaker Feb 19 '14 at 21:52

I think rpg.stackexchange.com or gamedev.stackexchange.com would be a better fit for this question. – Jay Neely Mar 9 '14 at 20:20

@JayNeely, care to explain why? I think this question would be better suited for people with experience collaboratively building a setting, not people who play RPGs or create computer/video games. I'll admit this question could probably work well in either of those places, but I think you'd get the best experts over here, not there. – rbwhitaker Mar 9 '14 at 20:48

@JayNeely, but it is an element of collaborative world building, and thus would be (IMHO) a good fit for this site. And if you have multiple fantasy authors who are writing in a shared world, this is going to be a concern. This specific case has absolutely nothing to do with game development. – rbwhitaker Mar 10 '14 at 22:32

I personally think it is about world building. A magic system is an integral part of a world. Sometimes the way the worlds built (world building) has to do with magic. It always defines the way civilizations develop, and how people act. – DonyorM May 13 '14 at 2:40

show 3 more improvement suggestions

up vote 10 down vote

added by smithkm Feb 21 '14 at 22:49

Specifically, how their inherent properties match up with the needs of creating fictional worlds from scratch, as opposed to their strengths and weaknesses in mapping existing worlds which are well documented already. – smithkm Feb 21 '14 at 23:08

up vote 10 down vote

added by smithkm Feb 22 '14 at 3:06

up vote 10 down vote

added by smithkm Feb 22 '14 at 3:11

up vote 10 down vote

added by smithkm Feb 22 '14 at 3:17

up vote 10 down vote

added by Nick Molen Feb 27 '14 at 15:41

Too vague. "magic" could mean a lot of things, and it would depend on a lot of other properties of the setting too. – smithkm Mar 16 '14 at 8:54

A better question might be: "What technologies would not be developed if <specific magic system> existed in a world?", giving the specifics of the system in the question. – Monty Wild Mar 21 '14 at 2:18

Another interesting thought is how 'legal' said magic is. If a corrupt government were to use it for war or research perhaps? – dpguy Apr 29 '14 at 4:50

I like broad questions. I think they are appropriate to world building. It'd be cool to be able to split an answer like 1-here is the answer if we take <specific magic system> (+comment and arguments and collaborative constructions under assumption 1), 2-here is the answer if we take <other magic system> (+ same things) – Florian Pellet May 20 '14 at 11:21

up vote 10 down vote

added by Jay Neely Mar 9 '14 at 20:24

This question is really, really broad as is. It would probably be better if it was reworded to say Would X leave a geographic scar for centuries. – crownjewel82 Apr 29 '14 at 19:22

up vote 10 down vote

added by Roger Mar 14 '14 at 14:45

It's a whole tree of technologies. Too broad in my opinion, you could concentrate on single aspect, for example metallurgy. – Donaudampfschifffreizeitfahrt Mar 19 '14 at 8:55

I think while broad it is answerable. Fuel tech, metallurgy, propulsion, life support and sustainment (etc etc etc). Something more focused may be better but this is certainly answerable. – James Mar 19 '14 at 17:44

It is definitely broad; I acknowledge. Maybe a better question would be, "what are the essential areas of science necessary to develop spaceflight". Also broad, but able to be answered in broad strokes as well. – Roger Mar 19 '14 at 18:14

It is also hard to answer because there are no details as to what the racial characteristics of the people who inhabit said world have. What if they do not breathe but instead survive off of moisture or perhaps they survive off the lack of oxygen and they can therefore thrive in space, etc etc. – dpguy Apr 29 '14 at 4:51

For this kind of questions, many ways can lead to the OP's expectation; meaning that many answers can be equally valid. I would assume that "a way for one to subtract from gravity and a way to survive in space" isn't enough of an answer even though it would be the only one general enough to actually be exhaustive... Only if you can accept several more detailed answers that take a stand (for example "by rockets", "by quantum levitation"... i'm no physicist) you can get something satisfying for everyone (proper details for the OP and validation for all who came up with a viable solution). – Florian Pellet May 20 '14 at 11:14

up vote 10 down vote

added by James Mar 19 '14 at 17:41

up vote 10 down vote

added by James Mar 19 '14 at 17:47

This is hard to answer since each civilization would have different levels of technology. It should be more specific. – john Apr 15 '14 at 6:36

up vote 10 down vote

added by ghorahn Mar 23 '14 at 6:30

up vote 10 down vote

added by ghorahn Mar 23 '14 at 6:51

	Because of the character limit, this question was a bit too terse to ask it like I wanted to, but I think the point of the question comes across. – ghorahn Mar 23 '14 at 6:53
	Oh, and if it's not clear, I mean "digits" as in "fingers + toes"...not "5 numerical digits per hand/foot." (As the latter wouldn't make much sense, imo.) – ghorahn Mar 23 '14 at 6:54

up vote 10 down vote

added by Monty Wild Mar 24 '14 at 1:50

Drat that character limit... After arrival and marooning on a new world, iron age humans find that women are visibly going into overt heat for 7 days in 28, and men are no longer interested in women that way unless a woman is in heat and in sufficiently close visual and olfactory range. Women are no longer nearly so mate-selective when in heat, and men cannot easily resist a woman in heat. Ignore the prurient aspects, focus on how society and cities would evolve. This is a "What if <this one thing> changed?" question. – Monty Wild Mar 24 '14 at 1:57

up vote 10 down vote

added by Monty Wild Mar 24 '14 at 2:06

We should emphasize on the use of specific tags that separate questions about the world we're trying to build from questions about worldbuilding itself (like this one). – Florian Pellet May 20 '14 at 11:16

up vote 10 down vote

added by Styphon Apr 2 '14 at 21:47

<comments removed> @john Please do not use comments to answer these questions. This proposal is not part of a Q&A site, and the task at hand is to help define what is on and off topic for a site. Comments are here to help improve the questions; not to answer them. See What is the rationale for deleting answers? Thank you. – Robert Cartaino Apr 29 '14 at 14:42

up vote 10 down vote

added by Styphon Apr 2 '14 at 21:52

I think this is very vague so it would be hard to answer. It reminds me of people who ask a graphic designer for "memorable" designs. – john Apr 15 '14 at 6:38

@john so how would you make it more specific? – Styphon Apr 15 '14 at 7:02

I assume that you are asking how to avoid breaking the audience's willing suspension of disbelief? It really depends on the audience, the genre, and their expectations. A better question would be to ask if a specific element is believable (and give context). Things can be believable in a work of fiction without being possible in the real world, so it is best to explain how realistic you want it. – john Apr 15 '14 at 7:58

up vote 10 down vote

added by Young Guilo Apr 6 '14 at 15:41

up vote 10 down vote

added by dtldarek Apr 9 '14 at 15:42

up vote 10 down vote

added by guido Apr 10 '14 at 11:05

up vote 10 down vote

added by James Apr 10 '14 at 20:36

up vote 10 down vote

added by Styphon Apr 10 '14 at 22:10

Creating a whole world from scratch is a massive undertaking. Where would you begin, what steps would you break it down to etc? – Styphon Apr 10 '14 at 22:11

This is a good question, guide, process questions will be great to have. – James Apr 14 '14 at 13:16

up vote 10 down vote

added by Southpaw Hare Apr 11 '14 at 13:47

up vote 9 down vote

added by AkselK Feb 20 '14 at 14:47

As in, how many houses, how many blacksmiths, how many farms/farmers, etc... – AkselK Feb 20 '14 at 14:50

up vote 9 down vote

added by Velda Mar 20 '14 at 5:10

	I'm curious if this is a question of how a fictional society would track their own generations (perhaps since some significant event) or how the creator of the universe should keep track of which generation each character is in. – rbwhitaker Mar 21 '14 at 16:21
	Also, for what it's worth, look at real life and you'll see generations quickly start to overlap because some people have kids at 18, while others have them at 36. – rbwhitaker Mar 21 '14 at 16:21
	Edited post to clarify. Not sure if it's a better question. – Velda Mar 21 '14 at 22:17