Vaporo
Inkling
When I first tried to write fantasy, I did something that I now call Kitchen Sink Worldbuilding. Basically, if I read a story with some magical effect or fantastical element, I felt obliged to somehow fit it in my world. The thing I remember most from this setting was the, ahem, """"magic system.""""
I started out with just wizards. Classic, fireball-throwing wizards who obtained their power through an inborn gift. However, as I "developed" this crude system further, I realized that there were some magical effects that I had precluded my wizards from causing. So, I introduced the idea of sorcerers, who dealt with enchanting magical items and weaving fate and destiny.
But then I realized that I still hadn't covered everything, so I introduced two new classes of magic, and I don't even remember what they were called, but they dealt with magical enhancement of physical strength and illusion.
However, not even that covered everything, so I came up with this idea of this "cosmic power web," (retrospective name) where the four classes I'd come up formed the main nodes, but there also could exist any number of fractally specific powers anywhere in between. Now if I wanted some magical effect, I could just say that someone was randomly born with a rare, oddly specific set of powers from some obscure part of the power web.
Needless to say, the setting was a hot mess of hodgepodge elements hastily duct taped together to resemble a world. I was more concerned with not limiting my options as an author when I actually got around to writing it than telling a good story. I wanted to be able to write anything I wanted with not limitations, which is a fancy way of saying that I wanted an excuse to magically deus ex machina my characters out of whatever corner I wrote them into. Pretty much the only thing I didn't have were the traditional fantasy races, since I thought they were cliche.
Eventually I realized the abomination that I had created, so I scrapped the setting and salvaged what few good tidbits I could find for my next attempt at a story, which I am working on to this day.
I don't know where I got the idea that I needed to have everything. I think I was inspired in part by Harry Potter and, indirectly, by Dungeons and Dragons. Harry Potter felt like a story where anything could happen. Were there dragons? Of course there were dragons! Was there a spell to do X, Y, and Z? Certainly, if the characters put in the effort to learn it. Of course, I didn't realize the care that Rowling had taken to make a setting like that, so when I tried it fell flat on its face. And while I've never played Dungeons and Dragons, I've always been at least vaguely aware of it and how much freedom it allowed its players, so naturally I took what I knew about the game and applied it to my setting.
So, has anyone else done this? Am I the only person who started worldbuilding this way? I've seen some newer writers on here do this as well, but I may also just be projecting onto others a little bit.
I started out with just wizards. Classic, fireball-throwing wizards who obtained their power through an inborn gift. However, as I "developed" this crude system further, I realized that there were some magical effects that I had precluded my wizards from causing. So, I introduced the idea of sorcerers, who dealt with enchanting magical items and weaving fate and destiny.
But then I realized that I still hadn't covered everything, so I introduced two new classes of magic, and I don't even remember what they were called, but they dealt with magical enhancement of physical strength and illusion.
However, not even that covered everything, so I came up with this idea of this "cosmic power web," (retrospective name) where the four classes I'd come up formed the main nodes, but there also could exist any number of fractally specific powers anywhere in between. Now if I wanted some magical effect, I could just say that someone was randomly born with a rare, oddly specific set of powers from some obscure part of the power web.
Needless to say, the setting was a hot mess of hodgepodge elements hastily duct taped together to resemble a world. I was more concerned with not limiting my options as an author when I actually got around to writing it than telling a good story. I wanted to be able to write anything I wanted with not limitations, which is a fancy way of saying that I wanted an excuse to magically deus ex machina my characters out of whatever corner I wrote them into. Pretty much the only thing I didn't have were the traditional fantasy races, since I thought they were cliche.
Eventually I realized the abomination that I had created, so I scrapped the setting and salvaged what few good tidbits I could find for my next attempt at a story, which I am working on to this day.
I don't know where I got the idea that I needed to have everything. I think I was inspired in part by Harry Potter and, indirectly, by Dungeons and Dragons. Harry Potter felt like a story where anything could happen. Were there dragons? Of course there were dragons! Was there a spell to do X, Y, and Z? Certainly, if the characters put in the effort to learn it. Of course, I didn't realize the care that Rowling had taken to make a setting like that, so when I tried it fell flat on its face. And while I've never played Dungeons and Dragons, I've always been at least vaguely aware of it and how much freedom it allowed its players, so naturally I took what I knew about the game and applied it to my setting.
So, has anyone else done this? Am I the only person who started worldbuilding this way? I've seen some newer writers on here do this as well, but I may also just be projecting onto others a little bit.