You need to set your adventure in a world. The world you build is the centrepiece of your game. It’s the world you and your characters will explore.

Creating a fascinating world is not as easy as it sounds. It’s a bit like creating a fascinating premise for a book. Everyone can come up with an average idea. But it takes a lot of work to come up with a great idea. It takes work, and it also takes method. Here’s how you generate a great world to set your adventure in. 

The Twilight Histories stories you love the most likely follow a formula when it comes to world building. The formula is:

(Famous Thing) + (Famous Thing) + Conflict =

Here are some shows that follow the formula:

• Classical Greece + gas punk tech + Conflict = The Winged Victory

• Ancient Hominids + Proto-Civilization + Conflict = The Blood Ape

• Egypt + Ice Age + Conflict = City of Pyramids

• Aztecs + Steel Weapons + Conflict = Aztec Steel

• Carthage + Mars + Conflict = Hannibal One

Start by brainstorming ideas. Write a list. Include famous objects, people, events and places. Then start playing around with them. Put them through the formula and pull out the really interesting and unique ideas.

Think of yourself as the marketing department for the Twilight Histories. You’re selling worlds to tourists. Tourists don’t need details. They need a hook. They need an image they can’t shake, an idea that’s so compelling that they’re willing to fly out to Urumqi, leap onto the platform and risk their lives to visit your world. 

As a rule of thumb, your idea should make a great piece of art. Ask yourself, could this world be turned into a promotional poster?

So for example, let’s say you ran this through your formula:

(Mecca) + (alien tech) + Conflict =

The Kaaba in mecca is an ancient alien relic. It activates during a Medieval Hajj turning everyone into super soldiers.

Now imagine this as a promotional poster for your world. Picture the Kaaba radiating out waves of energy as medieval worshippers are transformed, their bodies growing like the Hulk, muscles ripping shirts, looks of rage on their faces. In the foreground is a whorshipper, a spear in hand, fully transformed into a beast of war and ready for blood.

Now fast forward ten years. These super soldiers are taking over the world. What kind of adventures could you create out of this? Perhaps the Kinight Templar want to steal the Kaaba and create their own super soldiers and your party is commissioned to do the act. And what if they manage to steal it? Will they hand it over to the secret society, or will the destroy the artifact, tossing it into the sea? You could have lots of fun with this. It’s a fascinating world full of conflict and anachronisms.

When you’re creating a Twilight Histories world, don’t get lost in the weeds. Don’t worry too much about the point of divergence or all the details. Don’t worry about the names or the dates for now. Start first with the big picture. Create a broad sweeping world that will hook your players in.