I enjoy Mr. Wright’s work. A New Zealand historian and blogger, he also has cool things to say about building fictional worlds.
In my mis-spent early twenties, a friend and I created a fantasy world map for our RPG sessions.
To build a world, start by wearing a hard hat (like mine).
Yes, I played Dungeons and Dragons – and later a game we invented ourselves to get around the sillier D&D ideas. The world was designed around what we might call the ‘rule of funny’, with place names made up mostly of bad puns and motorcycle parts manufacturers. This meant we had waters such as the Greg Lake, next door to rolling hills such as the Sinfields. And there was the Hergest Ridge – though we didn’t have the Old Fields. We also riffed on Tolkien’s unfortunate habit of ending place names with ‘-dor’. You know… Backdor. Frontdor. Dianador. Groan.
That does raise a point for those of us engaged in (more serious) fantasy world-building. Place names gotta be credible. Tolkien, inevitably, set…
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A Pilgrim in Narnia 
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