World-Building 101: Power, Magic, and Technology in Your Fantasy or Sci-fi story

So you're working on an exciting new project - a dark fantasy story, a dystopian sci-fi, or a whimsical fairy tale romance - but you're not quite sure where how to set up your power system. Well, read on, because I'm going to help you organise this with five simple considerations:

1. Setting the Baseline: "Peak Human" Ability

If you're in a world where humans are just humans, then how far does their strength and abilities go? Can these humans be hit with hammers, squish right down like you see in looney toon cartoons, or can they even get strong enough to punch through bricks at the age of 12, or hit a bullseye from a mile away? Decide early on what is peak human strength or peak human ability within your world, whether it matters, and build from there.

2. Soft vs. Hard Magic Systems

Now for super-powered characters (this includes any sort of mutant/magic/supernatural abilities), it gets a lot more complicated. There must be rules - both you and the audience need to understand where the power comes from, how much an individual can use, and under what conditions those powers can work etc. There's so many questions that you can ask. Ask them all.

How much detail you go into, depends on whether you want a soft or hard power/magic system. A soft system is light on details, and heavy on powers being used as just another tool in the story, flexing and bending to the needs of the plot, with few rules and loose explanations. Hard systems tend to be rule heavy, detailed, logic-driven and both the creator and audience need to make sure they're paying attention otherwise things can unravel really quickly. Soft systems tend to have plot holes, whereas hard systems by by nature, minimise the possibility of them occuring.

3. The Narrative Value of a Lack of Power

Often we are so in awe of the characters with power, we often forget to think about those without it. What is it like to be in a word with super powers, or complex technologies if you don't have them yourself? How do the relationships between the haves and the have-nots work? How do those without power or technology adapt in a society that may no longer cater as much to them or vice versa if un-powered are more numerous, how do those with power need to conform? All of these are vital questions to ask if you want an effective, living breathing world.

4. Cultural Terminology and Visuals

Now in power, magic, and technology by their nature will drastically affect a culture and environment, and also in turn be affected by culture and environment. The worlds used around it, the view of the people have of those with or without certain abilities will vary from place to place. It's the case in our real world, and it should be the case in the world you're building. For example in Arksong, some countries view super-powered Arknights as Holy Warriors, others view them as monstrosities to be destroyed, some view them as protectors, some view them as conquerers. And those views come from the specific histories of those nations, which I as the creator have to decide how to communicate in order to give the world more depth. There is a lot that a bit of research, a few visits down to the museum, and genuine curiosity into people who are different to you, can do for your world building.

5. Technology and the Environment

Lastly, let's consider technology and how that must react to power and magic systems. Because it does! After all, if people can breathe under water, then do you need submarines and boats like we do? If people can fly, do they really need escalators? If people are telepathic, do they need phones? Will weapons work in the same way, if people can shoot beams of energy out of their hands? Mixing powers with technology is always lots of fun, its up to you to build a wolrd that makes sense when people can or can't do things that are possible in our own.

So in conclusion, effective world-building can completely crumble if rules and systems aren't put in place for the powers, magic, and technology. It's up to you to see how it all works together with the characters world and story you're trying to make, and build something truly robust as you bring your world to life.

If you struggle with World Building, or just want some experienced eyes to have a look over your project be sure to check out our Mentorship Sessions.

Otherwise, feel free to check out my Youtuve video on the topic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrM5LyeZk8s&t=1s