For fantasy, sci-fi and historical writers
Worldbuilding Template and Questions
Worldbuilding questions on land, power, money, belief, history and magic, starting with what your plot needs, so you build only the world it touches.
Story first, world second
How to build a world for your novel, part by part
Start with what the story needs: it tells you which other parts matter now. Answer those, leave the rest blank and come back when a chapter asks for more. Each row shows what to decide and a common mistake to avoid.
| Part | What to decide | The mistake to avoid |
|---|---|---|
| What the story needs | What your protagonist wants, what in the world stands in the way, and which part of the world the plot will test. | Building the world first and hoping a plot turns up. As K.M. Weiland puts it, the world "must exist to serve the story."3 |
| Land and climate | What the land and weather do to people: what's scarce, what's plentiful and how long it takes to get anywhere. | Scenery that never gets in anyone's way. Decide what the land makes hard, such as rationed firewood or a crossing that takes three days. |
| Power, law and money | Who rules and how they got there, what's forbidden and what happens to people who are caught, and how ordinary people earn a living. | A ruler nobody wants to replace. Name who wants power and doesn't have it, and you have a source of conflict. |
| Belief, daily life and history | What's sacred and what's taboo, how people greet and insult each other, and which part of the past they still argue about. | A history lesson nobody in the story cares about. Keep the past that still causes grudges, debts or fights today. |
| Magic or technology | The rule in one sentence a reader could repeat, what each use costs and who pays, and what it can never do. | Adding a power or lifting a limit to rescue your hero. Brandon Sanderson's Second Law is "Limitations > Powers"4: what magic can't do matters more than what it can. |
| Three places | Where the story starts, where it turns and where it ends, each with three details a reader can see, hear or smell. | Mapping a continent for a book that visits three places. Sanderson's Third Law: "Expand what you already have before you add something new."5 |
| On the page | For each part of the world, one scene where a reader sees it through what someone does. | Stopping the story to explain. Nathan Nance, writing for the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA), puts it in six words: "Don't explain it unless you must."1 |
Quotes checked against each source on October 29, 2026. River isn't affiliated with Weiland, Sanderson, Nance or SFWA.
How it works
What is a worldbuilding template?
A worldbuilding template is a set of questions about how your story's world runs: its land, rulers, money, beliefs, daily life, history, and any magic or technology. A good one starts from the plot, so you answer only what your story will test. This one opens with four questions on what the story needs, and most groups end by asking for a scene showing that part of the world. As Nathan Nance advises at SFWA, show the reader your world through your character1.
Patricia C. Wrede's Fantasy Worldbuilding Questions2, also hosted by SFWA, go much further: hundreds of questions across seven pages. K.M. Weiland calls that list her top resource and suggests using it to check for gaps3 once you're deep into your own world. This template is the short version: about 40 questions, including your magic's rule, cost and limits. Brandon Sanderson notes that readers naturally expect a cost4, and that new writers often skimp on one.
Download both Word documents free: the questions, and a filled example for an invented lake city. Or click Edit with AI to open them in River, pasting any notes in the box at the top first. From your notes, River files each name, place and rule under the question it answers, in your words, and marks anything it adds (proposed). Then plot around your magic with the fantasy novel outline template, and once you're drafting, keep a story bible so the facts stay straight.
How it works
From scattered notes to a working world
Download it or open it in River
Download both Word documents with no account, or click Edit with AI to open the template in River beside the filled example.
Paste your world notes
Optional. A sentence or a few paragraphs in the box at the top, or longer notes pasted into River once it opens.
Read your first pass
River sorts your notes under the right questions in your words, suggests the rest marked (proposed), and lists what's still open.
Put the world on the page
Settle the open questions with River one at a time, or ask for an opening scene set in your first place.
What the story needs
- The wantOdile must buy back her mother's sealed memories before the winter auction.
- What the plot testsWhether a sealed memory can lie.
Magic: memory glass
- The ruleBreathe a memory into glass and it leaves you for good.
- The costSealers lose a little of their own with every seal.
Power and law
- The Glass GuildHolds three of five council seats and keeps the Registry.
- ForbiddenBreaking another person's glass: ten years on the dredging barges.
Three places
- The Ice HallThe winter auction, held on the frozen lake.
- The Burnt StepsEmpty since the fire forty years ago. Where it ends.
What you'll get
Setting questions from land to magic, scoped to your plot
- What your story needs from its world, answered first
- Your magic or technology: its rule, its cost, its limits
- Three key places in detail, plus a filled example
Before and after
Your notes in. A world sorted by question.
Veyle: a city on stilts in a cold mountain lake. People pay debts by breathing memories into glass, and once it's sealed the memory is gone from your head. The Glass Guild runs everything. Odile is a sealer's apprentice trying to buy back her dead mother's memories before they're auctioned when the lake freezes.
The world in one line: In the lake city of Veyle, debts are paid in memories sealed in glass, and the courts treat a sealed memory as the truth (proposed). What it costs: The giver loses the memory for good, and sealers lose a little of their own with every seal (proposed). Who rules: A council of five. The Glass Guild holds three seats because it keeps the Registry of every sealed memory (proposed). On the page: A fisherman pays off a boat loan with the memory of his daughter's birth, then can't recall her name (proposed). Open question: Who decides what a memory is worth?
Your notes stay in your words. Anything River suggests is marked (proposed) until you keep it.
What lands in your doc
What's inside the worldbuilding template
- Worldbuilding
The Word document you fill in: about 40 questions, most groups ending with the scene that shows them. - What the story needs from this world
Four questions to answer first, so you know which parts of the world matter now. - Land and climate
What the land looks like, how the seasons change over the book, and travel times between places. - Power, law, money and work
Who enforces the law, what people pay with, who is rich or poor, and your protagonist's work. - Belief, daily life and history
Who speaks for the faith, what people do when someone dies, who cares for the sick, and old grudges. - Magic or technology
The rule, its cost, what it can never do, who controls it, and how it changes everyday life. - Three places and open questions
Where the story starts, turns and ends, each with three sensory details, then a checklist of what's undecided. - Example Worldbuilding: Veyle
A second Word document, filled in for an invented lake city, with two questions left blank on purpose.
Questions authors ask
Common questions
What questions should I ask when worldbuilding?
Start with the story: what your protagonist wants and what in the world blocks them. Then ask who rules and who wants to, how people earn a living, what they hold sacred, which old fights still matter, and what your magic costs. Brandon Sanderson's Third Law essay favors "deep worldbuilding instead of just wide,"5 so answer a few questions fully before adding more.
How much worldbuilding do I need before I start writing?
Enough to start chapter one. Settle what the story needs, your magic's rule and cost, and the place where the book opens, then draft and fill gaps as scenes ask for them. Patricia C. Wrede says of her own list that it is not necessary "to answer all, or even any, of the questions in order to start writing."2
What's the difference between a worldbuilding template and a story bible?
A worldbuilding template is where you invent the world, before or early in the draft. A story bible records what has actually reached the page, each fact beside its chapter, so names and rules stay consistent. Decide how the world works here, then log each fact in your story bible once it appears in a scene.
Does it work for science fiction or historical fiction?
Yes. For science fiction, answer the magic group for your technology: the rule it follows, what it costs and what it can't do. For historical or contemporary fiction, skip that group and answer the rest for your real place and period. In a first pass, River lists specific dates, laws and figures as questions to check against a source rather than stating them as fact.
Is this a worldbuilding generator?
Partly. The download is a set of questions you answer yourself. Type one line in the box at the top, such as "a lake city where debts are paid in memories," and Edit with AI generates a first pass. River answers the questions to fit that line, marks each suggestion (proposed), and lists the decisions still yours to make under Open questions.
Is this worldbuilding template free?
Yes. Download both Word documents, the questions and the filled Veyle example, with no account or signup. Edit with AI opens the same template in River, which is free to start, whether you answer the questions yourself or paste notes for a first pass. Paid plans add more AI use and access to the most advanced models.
What does Edit with AI do?
It opens your Worldbuilding doc in a free River workspace, with the Veyle example beside it. If you pasted nothing, the doc stays empty and River offers to go through it with you, one question at a time. If you pasted notes, River writes a first pass in your words, then offers to work through the open questions or write an opening scene.
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