A Creator's Guide to Crafting the Unknown

You've built the bones and breathed life into your world. The skies are charted. The people are waiting. Now the question is—what happens?

Storytelling is where worldbuilding meets motion. A great plot doesn't just take place in your world—it's shaped by it. The terrain, history, magic, and politics you've built now become the threads in a larger tapestry of cause and effect, choice and consequence.

In this chapter, we explore how to craft stories within your world—whether you're planning a novel, an epic saga, a short story, or even a roleplaying campaign.

Part One: Finding the Story's Core

Before you build a plot, find its heart. Ask:

What is this story about?

Not just the events—but the emotional truth.

Is it about freedom in the face of tyranny?

A found family in a broken land?

A fall from grace?

A reawakening of something ancient?

Decide:

What question is this story asking?

What does the main character need to learn, gain, or sacrifice?

Even in an epic world, personal stakes create the strongest foundation.

Part Two: Matching Plot to World

Your plot should grow from your world—not be pasted on top of it.

Use what you've built:

Geography for natural barriers, treks, lost temples, border wars

Magic systems to drive conflict, cause imbalance, or offer temptation

Religions and myths to spark quests, false prophecies, or forbidden truths

Political tensions to create pressure, betrayals, or uprisings

Legends to inspire heroes—or manipulate them

Example:
Your world has a god who vanished centuries ago.
Plot: A scribe uncovers a prophecy suggesting the god never left—just changed form.
Now the plot explores faith, identity, and political fear.

Let your setting be a living engine that reacts to character decisions and shapes the flow of events.

Part Three: Story Structures for Fantasy & Sci-Fi

You can use familiar structures—or twist them.

Classic Hero's Journey:

Ordinary world

Call to adventure

Refusal, then mentor

Crossing the threshold

Trials, allies, enemies

Revelation or fall

Final confrontation

Return with transformation

The Three-Act Structure:

Act I: Introduce world, characters, central problem

Act II: Tensions rise, alliances form or fail, stakes grow

Act III: Climax, fallout, and a new normal

Epic/Multiple POV Story:

Several heroes or factions with interwoven arcs

Parallel or converging timelines

Each character explores a different region, culture, or truth

Tip: Epic stories benefit from contrast. One arc may be a quiet, personal journey; another, a grand war.

Part Four: Conflict and Tension in a Built World

Every good story needs friction.

Ask:

What happens if the hero fails?

What do they stand to lose—personally and globally?

What forces oppose them—moral, magical, political, internal?

Use your world's realities to build tension:

A kingdom ruled by fear

A magic source that's poisoning the land

A cultural divide that runs deeper than blood

Conflict should be tied to what your world believes in, fears, and remembers.

Part Five: Integrating Setting into Storytelling

Let your world breathe through the narrative.

Instead of exposition dumps:

Show cultural differences through dialogue

Reveal history through ruins, art, or legends

Let food, clothing, architecture, and rituals speak for the setting

Example:
A character avoids using magic—not because it's outlawed, but because their people believe magic stains the soul. That's worldbuilding through behavior.

Your plot is not just about "what happens," but where and why it happens.

Bonus: Plot Prompts From Your World

Here are story seeds you can adapt:

A forbidden god stirs beneath the city—and only a thief knows the old sigils

A peace treaty must be signed between rival nations, but the ceremonial beast has vanished

A child born under the wrong moon is hunted, but their blood may awaken the land

A dead language returns in the dreams of an entire village

Sometimes your world whispers a plot. Listen for it.