Project scope
Leave an unexplored region open without placeholder lore
Distinguish an author’s unfinished area from uncertainty experienced by people inside the fiction.
Read the guide ↗SANJIESAN LORE / JOURNAL
Keep a world consistent
Worldbuilding becomes useful when a setting helps a scene happen. These exercises focus on consequences, travel and continuity. They are tools for your own drafts; they do not add characters, history or rules to Sanjiesan canon.
122 guides and practical notes · Page 6
Starting a setting
Build a first worldbuilding scene around three connected places
Develop an active local area through a character’s reason to move, rather than starting with an encyclopaedia.
Read the guide ↗FROM THE ARCHIVE
More from this site
Browse the earlier articles, references and reading lists.
Open the article archive ↗Browse resources ↗BEFORE YOU BEGIN
A few useful answers
Is a worldbuilding exercise official Sanjiesan lore?
No. Planning exercises and draft maps are separate from the official universe. Consult the linked official material for established characters, relationships and card identities.
How much setting should I write before a story?
Begin with what the opening scene needs: a place, a constraint and the consequence of breaking it. Expand when another scene asks a question the notes cannot yet answer.
Can a new illustration change a character identity?
No. Identity and artwork are separate records. A new pose, costume or image treatment does not by itself create a different official identity or alter the 54-card system.