Sprawling worlds in games and stories have been so popular. The enclosed map within a copy of Lord of the Rings, a map for a Dungeons and Dragons campaign. I have deep fondness for such worlds, deep and distant, dense, yet open. I run a Daggerheart campaign, where I realised, I created my world to have interesting things at a distance. Long wide grassy gorges is pretty much the where my players are always at, where they can see mountains and castles from far away. Interesting story events happen, where they can see, but cannot reach in an instant. I like to think that I am encouraging them on a little journey to figure out that bit of the story.
This is a recent hobby for me, creating worlds. Creating mysteries and intricacies for others to discover; to inhabit my world. Interact with it, play with it, push it's limits. Table top RPGs make it possible. But I do not do it because I want my friends to have a good time, I do it because I want to see my own world better. When one of the players at my TTRPG table, asks me a question about the world, I get to fill up a little bit of space in that world that I may have left blank. Instead of telling a story, where I am in control, I let players inhabiting my world, to carry the brush, so that I can paint a spot a little better. There are usual storytelling and world-building techniques that make a world appealing to players. Those are techniques of narrative. A somewhat established craft, with years of literature behind it. And that is probably my only responsibility, creating a world that is appealing enough using those established techniques. But in the end it is me, who gets to see my own world come to life.
A selfish hobby, if I say so myself. But also, probably one of the most rewarding activity in recent years, specially if my players are already invested into the overarching story. My belief now is that, no (fantasy) world exist, until there are people inhabiting it. The same goes for stories and works of fiction, any piece of work that builds a world; it has to be read so that readers can inhabit the world. The reason why, I think, Harry Potter is so very popular in my opinion, is because, J.K. Rowling put just enough details of its world, that readers can go in there. Fantastic worlds are powerful constructs, appealing, and enjoyable to a great degree. The reason I say that my world only exists if others inhabit it, is also because I see it come to life in my other works too. For the last few months, I have been creating a platform, the details are boring and dry, but only after I let my friends start using that platform, I finally started enjoying the process of creating and maintaining said platform; a computer adjacent platform such as this, is also a world. A world where I made the rules & systems others can peruse and enjoy. But what if I want to inhabit my own world, would that ever work? Or is it the forever curse of the world's creator to never be able inhabit their own creation?