Worldbuilding guides

Workflows for novelists, RPG creators, and worldbuilders documenting fictional universes. Each guide answers a single “I want to…” question with a setup checklist, numbered steps, and pointers to the relevant wiki reference.

Available now

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Foundations

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• I want to create a fictional universe — Set up the foundational universe note for your fictional world, with optional linked calendar, map, and validation schema. Easy · ~5-10 min
• I want to set up a custom calendar with eras — Define a fictional date system with named eras, abbreviations, and epochs, then use it in person and event frontmatter. Medium · ~10 min
• I want to use a built-in calendar (Middle-earth / Westeros / Star Wars) — Enable one of Charted Roots’ built-in fictional calendars and use its date format. Easy · ~3 min

Characters and houses

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• I want to build a family tree for fictional characters — Add fictional characters to a universe with parent / spouse / child relationships, optionally using a custom calendar for dates. Easy · ~5 min per character
• I want to build a noble house with succession over generations — Model a noble house as an organization, populate it with members across generations, capture biological succession and political ties. Medium · ~30 min

Geography and maps

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• I want to create a custom map of my fictional world — Use a custom image as the basemap for your universe — drop place markers, optionally align hand-drawn maps, link drilldown maps for regions. Medium · ~15 min
• I want to align a hand-drawn map to coordinates — Use Map View’s edit mode to position, scale, rotate, and skew a hand-drawn or scanned map until landmarks align. Medium · ~10-20 min
• I want to link drilldown maps for regions — Link a regional map as a child of a continental or world map for click-through navigation. Medium · ~5-10 min

Storytelling and compilation

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• I want to track narrative events alongside vital ones — Use narrative event types (lore events, plot points, flashbacks, climaxes) and the canonical-event flag to layer storytelling beats on biographical events. Easy · ~5 min per event
• I want to compile a worldbuilding bible from my notes — Turn the universe note into a living worldbuilding bible with auto-rendered entity tables, embedded maps, and (optionally) a printable Book Builder export. Medium · ~30 min

Queued

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These ship as they’re written:

• I want to share my worldbuilding bible with collaborators
• …plus more (see the guides plan for the full enumeration)

Found something missing? Suggest a guide.

For broader feature coverage, see the Worldbuilding track page and the worldbuilding sections of the features page.