From wikipedia


I've been creating a fictional world for a while now but all my work so far has been unnecessary details; random historical figures, the philosophy of a isolated barbarian tribe, animal species and crap like that... but I haven't thought about the large scale of things at all. Stuff like the planet and the surrounding space, the geology of the planet, minerals available on the planet. I'm just realising now how important that is. The minerals available on the planet alone can drastically change how civilizations evolve and how the culture is developed.

This is a big problem for me because while I understand the basics (maybe a bit more than the basics) of geology and astronomy I don't know enough to create a planet from scratch. I know that the planet and its position needs to support carbon-based lifeforms, but I have no idea what properties a planet needs to have to support those lifeforms. :/


I probably sound absolutely insane (wouldn't be the first time) but this is important to me because I'm not just creating a fictional world, I'm creating a fictional world that could be real from a scientific standpoint.

Does anyone know about some software that could help me with the process of creating a planet? Alternatively if you are a geologist, a student learning geology/astrology/biology, or just a smart ass who reads a lot.. please post what you know about these things.

HD runs a blog about this. I do believe there are rulebook type things out there to help you with things like geology and continent shape, etc.


Carbon based life like ours needs carbon, oxygen, and phosphorous, as well as water in some form.

*facepalm* I can't believe I forgot about his blog, I remember seeing it and thinking "wow that's really cool" but I never got around to reading it.

Phosphorus? Really? I had no idea, do you know why it's necessary for carbon lifeforms? (I believe you, I'm just curious)

EDIT: I think I can pretty much shape the continents any way I want since I can just create matching tectonic plates afterwards (the planet will have tectonic plates, like Earth)

It's a major component of DNA, as well as ATP that is involved in reactions that provide energy for cells, and it's also used in cell membranes.

Yes, really. Our main energy circle - including those of plants - uses the energy gained to change adenosine diphosphate (ADP) (and in the case of the breakdown of fatty acids, adenosine monophosphate (AMP)) into adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which then gets "split up" back to ADP + phosphate elsewhere in the cells to release this energy and power up our life processes. Other similar processes use the nearly equivalent guanosine diphosphate and triphosphate (GDP and GTP).

The phosphate part (PO₄^-3, usually called P_i) is pretty damn important in all of it.

In addition, higher-order organisms on Earth - nearly everything which breathes oxygen - need sulphur in trace amounts as well. We have a very efficient life cycle called the cytric acid cycle which uses a molecule called "Acetyl-CoA" as an important part in the preparation of the to-be-burned molecules while entering the cycle - and this molecule includes a sulphur atom as a bridge between the two parts (the total formula is C₂₃H₃₈N₇O₁₇P₃S). However, in absence of enough sulphur, organisms could believably use some other cycle to burn oxygen - if they even need oxygen.

Yeah I remember that now... I took a Physiology and a Biology class last year so I should have known this... I guess I should have paid more attention in class

I never got into worldbuilding myself, but I enjoy looking at some of the maps people make. http://www.cartographersguild.com/ is a good website for the aspiring cartographer. Otherwise, I find most worlds are bland and cliche in their history, races, etc.

Whenever I used to run a D&D game, I'm always heart-broken over how little my players care about the detail that I've put into my world... I swear it borders on contempt.

They're always like, "I don't care how many [censored] chickens there are in this kingdom, I just want to kill a Bulette with a fullblade while riding on a Tendriculos. That's when I say, kind of awkwardly, "Uh, none of those things exist in my campaign world..."

Anyway, that's why I don't DM anymore. I still create worlds though, and http://hiddenway.tripod.com/world/ has many links that you might find useful. It also contains many links that might not be at all relevant to your particular world, and yet more links that are dead and no longer lead anywhere.

I hope this helps at least a little.

I love worldbuilding, even though I've only recently began creating one that doesn't make me immediately ashamed haha I guess that's what practice is for, right?

Usually, when I start creating my world I begin with the continents first, then the specific biomes of each area (usually approximating where they would be on Earth, though the continents are completely different themselves - I have no other reference of course for reality). After that, it's plant and animal life (and instead of creating a whole bunch of new species, I'll usually use mostly Earth animals with some different fantasy creatures (of my own making). THEN I start on the different cultures, and their general histories that I develop around the continents I have created. I also don't name anything until after this point, I usually just brainstorm good ideas beforehand.

It's such a fun hobby, though it can feel a little overwhelming at times with all the details.

I've never really given much thought into the specific geology of the planet, really. Once I begin developing my nations and such I'll add markers like gold or copper (or whatever) mines, but I've never really thought if it would make sense to have them there. Maybe I should look into that? Or are materials randomly distributed? I don't know, I'm not a geologist

I love world building. Whenever I do so, I typically pick a level and flesh it out; then go above and below it and expand it.

For example, I could start at the planetary level, and decide to build a huge gas giant, with the (human-sized) inhabitants living on platforms floating thousands of miles above the "true" surface; some mere rocks, others the size of whole continents; some moving slowly, others seemingly anchored in place by means unknown. I'd then pick some medium-sized floating part of it and drill down to the countries and people and cultures living on it.

Or I could start at a very personal level: A place where it's custom for some of the newly founded families to build and board their boat house and slowly float down a huge, Amazon-sized river. The elder tell stories that those few of them who would ever reach the mouth, decades later as old people (which would mean that the river could easily have more than ten times the circumference of Earth as its length), would reach a paradise where they could live then, forever young. I'd then go and describe these people's cultures, then the area they live in and how the river changes during its course, and what other people live there, and so on, working myself "up".

Just some examples. Which could even be on the same world (Jupiter's circumference is 120 times that of Earth ... ).

I had a sci fi world whose history I spent 13 years writing. It was incredibly cliched (being as it was started when I was a child) but I retconned elements of it into the story of a Martian colonial civilisation's rise to power, apocalptic collapse and eventual rise into a galactic empire centred around it's messianic semi-immortal leader.

The ebb and flow as the empire grew and re ceded, broke into factions and republics before being united under the principles of a prophetic eternal empire took around 10,200 years.

Universe Sandbox is on Steam lol

But don't get too deep into this planetary physics, you'll dip yourself too much into some unnecessary details again.

Thanks for the feedback

The planet creation process is coming along nicely and I'm currently working on the continents and some other interesting stuff.

I would say you're overthinking it way too much.