WorldLab

WorldLab is a design process for structuring and focusing worldbuilding in small creative teams. The system draws on agile development methodologies, design thinking, careful observation of the collaborative worldbuilding process, and prior worldbuilding systems, such as Ben Robbins’s Microscope RPG and Situation Lab’s Rilao Remote Viewing Protocol, with the goal of producing creative worlds as efficiently and effectively as possible and with an end use and audience for the world in mind.

What you get

The download contains a 12-page PDF detailing the complete WorldLab design process. The system is free, unless you’d care to make a donation.

Who should use WorldLab?

WorldLab is designed for use by teams of 3–6 collaborators (though it works with larger teams, too) who are designing fictional worlds, normally for a specific audience and product, for example, a game or a graphic novel. The process is highly general and appropriate for any genre—not just fantasy and science fiction.

Note that this system is intended more as a tool than as a game, in the sense that the emphasis is on product—building creative worlds—rather than on process—having fun while worldbuilding. (For those more interested in great worldbuilding games, it’s hard to beat Ben Robbins’s classic Microscope RPG.)

How does the process work?

Roughly, WorldLab takes the design-thinking process . . .

1. Understand your audience and its needs.
2. Clearly define the problem you’re trying to solve.
3. Generate many solutions.
4. Create a prototype by selecting and combining solutions.
5. Test your solutions.
6. Repeat the process above, iterating until you reach a final solution.

. . . and then adapts it explicitly to making worlds:

1. Define the audience and purpose of the world.
2. Clearly state the world’s premise.
3. Ask questions about the world and generate many answers.
4. Select and combine answers to establish as true within the world.
5. Eliminate inconsistencies.
6. Repeat the process above until the world satisfies its purpose.

Throughout, the process integrates multiple possible “solutions” from multiple perspectives; avoids overly democratic, and thus homogenous, content creation; and maintains the whole team’s awareness of every piece of content.

Is it finished?

The current version of WorldLab is complete and functional. However, I continue to refine the process through playtesting, feedback, and experience using it for my own projects. This is the tenth design iteration, and I expect further improvements in the future.