Rather recently, Roxy and I picked up the fun hobby of Dungeons and Dragons. Currently Roxy is rocking the dungeon master while our siblings and I play as characters. We went into a game store near us just to take a look around. We left with one of their campaign books and some dice. During our play through we soon realized we wanted more. Amazon prime day rolled around, and they had a great deal on some of the books, including the Dungeon Masters Guide. While looking through it I realized there is some pretty great information on world building that can be useful outside just the game itself. While there are tons of books on world building in novels, if you have the Dungeon Masters Guide I recommend flipping through some of the sections.
You may ask, but doesn’t it only apply to the world of Dungeons and Dragons? I would argue it can be used for any fantasy story you might want to write. If you get creative, I bet it could even be used for stories outside the fantasy genre! So, what are some of the sections we can use for writing? The biggest takeaway is world building. The book talks about how to make a world come alive. Secondly, we can learn to write well written minor characters with their own motivations. A combination of these two things can make a book come alive.
Your Own World
The very start talks about how you decide you want your world to be. Do you want gods in control over everyday life? Do you want the world to be 10000 years old? Is magic everywhere in the world or rarely found? Is the world untamed with monsters roaming through all of the wild? These are great places to start in a fantasy story. A story with monsters roaming all the lands might be drastically different from a story with warring empires that have been around for centuries. If you are deciding between a story where your protagonist learns he can use magic, is that rare or common? These are all great places to start your world building.
If you want religion to be a focus in your story, this book includes plenty of information on pantheons and monotheistic versus polytheistic religions. While it talks about the Dungeons and Dragons gods, it teaches you how to come up with your own. It also discusses the difference between loose and tight pantheons, which have been around in our world for a while. For example, think of the Greek Pantheons, where every god was the god of something, such as Zeus controlling the sky. Look at what things you want to give significance to and assign it a god. Additionally, if you want monsters everywhere in your story, you might decide to go with the more animism approach where spirits live everywhere. Nature spirits, water spirits, rock golems, and many more can inhabit the natural world.
Maps and Settlements
Mapping can be a daunting prospect. A fair amount of fantasy books do not even include one. However, some of our favorite fantasy books included maps such as Eragon by Christopher Paolini, The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, and A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas. I think maps elevate fantasy books to whole new levels. There’s something special about the author mentioning a location and you can flip to the map to see where it is. So, if you decide to make maps for your book, the Dungeons Master’s Guide includes a good section about it. Read and learn what mapping styles will work for you.
Every story needs settings. Where will your character start their adventure? What places will they end up in? Will the protagonist be born in a large city or a small farming village? If you need help on the different population sizes between a village and a city it gives those for you. While in a fantasy setting, cities are still relatively small. However, if you are writing a science fiction story you can extrapolate how large a metropolis is.
Sometimes your character will face off against a government. Maybe your story is about a corrupt government. If you have this book lying around skim to the section about the various types of governments. This will give your cities or possible antagonists some added depth. Will the city be run by church leaders or corrupt business tycoons? Often, these are in the background of your story but can still be important points.
The last thing a bustling world needs are factions. These factions can be large or small depending on your need. Want to write a story about a thief? Add in a thieves guild of some sort! Is your story focused on the gods of your world? Add in some temples for your gods. Create rituals the temples partake in. However, if you make a story about differing factions, figure out their goals and their purpose for the story you want to create. I would love to read your fantasy story where your protagonist joins some faction or secret cult.
Otherworlds
Does your story need more worlds or realms than just the material world? Dungeons and Dragons is full of other worlds, which means The Dungeons Master’s Guide includes plenty of advice on otherworlds. We will briefly talk about it, however many books do not include otherworlds. I find otherworlds work best for book series more than just stand alone books. For example, in The House of Hades by Rick Riordian, Annabeth and Percy must travel through Tartarus together to survive. Tartarus is the realm of the monsters. This works best because their normal world is already established along with the characters. Tartarus is a completely different place from the mortal world.
If you decide you want your characters to go somewhere new and exciting, decide what it needs to look like. Are they trying to bring back someone from the dead? Are they trying to go to the realm of the gods? Do they need some artifact from the realm of the giants? You are the god of your own universe. Therefore, you tell your readers what these different realms look like. It’s definitely a lot of power to hold at the tip of a pen. I’m not going to go too far into details about the different planes mentioned in the book, but if you need ideas it is a wonderful place to start.
Creating Side Characters and Villains
The last great section to read in The Dungeon Master’s Guide for your own book is chapter 4. This chapter is about creating nonplayer characters. Nonplayer characters include every character that is not your protagonist. By building believable characters in your world, you can make your reader relate to even the most minor of characters. You can create villains with believable backstories and reasons on why they are evil.
If you need inspiration, character traits, or appearance ideas, look no further. Is this minor character bald? Do they wear expensive jewelry? What is something they are good at? What is a mannerism they portray? How do they treat your protagonists? Do they have any flaws or important bonds the protagonists should know about? This book gives ideas for every one of these questions. You can get ideas and then change or enhance them as you see fit for the characters in your story.
Lastly, every story ever written includes an antagonist. This book is good for person versus person conflict. So if you are looking for person versus self ideas, you would have to pick up a different book. All good villains have motivation, a backstory, and try to prevent the protagonist from achieving his goals. Does your villain want to take over the world or destroy a rival kingdom? Does he want to bring back the god of destruction to end all of humanity?
Each and every villain is unique to their own story. You must figure out what works best for your story and your villains’ motivation. Some ideas are in this book, but the more creative, yet believable you make your villain, the better off your story will be. Included are tables of what possible things your antagonist wants along with possible means to get what he wants. There are some great ideas here, so get to reading and writing!
In Conclusion
One of the best parts about using The Dungeons Master’s Guide to make a story is you can even randomize the things mentioned above. Do you just want to practice writing a fantasy story? Are you unsure what types of gods you want to use? Roll some dice to decide all the things mentioned above. Randomness will be a great way to practice writing out a villain or the types of governments a certain town will have. Breathe life into your world in your own unique way and people will love what you wrote.
There are many other books about world building but sometimes you might just have this book lying around. It’s also a fun game to play with friends or your family. Pick it up, take a look, and find some inspiration for your next great fantasy story or even its intended purpose, your next great dungeons and dragons campaign! Did you ever use this book to write a fantasy story? What’s your favorite Dungeons and Dragons story you want to share? Let us know down below. We always love to hear from you.
As always, happy reading and writing!