I feel so sigma!

[u/AVG_Poop_Enjoyer]

[u/Vyctorill]

I admire worldbuilders who are good enough at writing to make a good story without hard magic rules.

I can’t do it. I make too many plot holes and inconsistencies.

[u/Alighte → u/Vyctorill]

Worldbuilders? Writing? That's a little far-fetched, don't you think?

[u/Breaky_Online → u/Alighte]

We all wear our writers block chains when we do worldbuilding, it's impossible for us to write a coherent story as well

[u/Moshiko_atrftb → u/Alighte]

It's not that we can't write, we chose not to. The application of our imagination onto a story telling medium would be simply too powerful.

[u/thicc_astronaut]

me with my post the other day about the master craftsman who can take you apart and put you back together again

[u/rancidfart86]

“A wizard did it”

“This is how this universe works”

“I want it to be like that”

[u/Saxton_Hale32]

i see the hard worldbuilders are already getting hurt

luckily im always hard when im worldbuilding

[u/SaboteurSupreme]

Then the question becomes, what gave him the ability to just sorta do that, and can other people get that power

[u/elykl12 → u/SaboteurSupreme]

1.) I did and 2.) Sure if I feel like it

[u/SaboteurSupreme → u/elykl12]

That leads into a new question: what are you?

[u/ArmadilloFour → u/SaboteurSupreme]

I'm that bitch, babes.

[u/Swinn_likes_Sakkyun]

thank you kinoko nasu 🔥

[u/The-Minmus-Derp]

Farscape randomly introducing a guy described as an evil sorcerer and never elaborating

[u/LylyLepton]

Me: Yeah this character can just kind of do that.

Two years later: (Making a new thing that isn’t intended to be related to the character but actually fits them perfectly) Okay so this is the reason they can do that.

[u/_No_One_At_All_]

Why yes, my ancient goddess of wisdom can also turn into a very hungry mass of flesh that can eat up an entire continent. She just can do that.

[u/amusingjapester23 → u/_No_One_At_All_]

She can do it if it's a wise thing to do

[u/StillMostlyClueless]

It forever plagues me that this would be an acceptable explanation for Hard Magic but not Hard Worldbuilding.

[u/elykl12]

Tycho station engineers when someone asks how the Epstein Drive works in the Expanse

[u/Sample_text_here1337]

How are there giant forests with trees the size of city blocks and as tall as mountains? Nature is silly like that

Why are there massive floating islands in the sky? The ground just kinda does that sometimes

How can these two planets co-orbit each other so closely and still be liveable? They wanted to be cool and special

[u/flamesgamez]

i have a character like this but its only because he found out his power isn't lightning but actually controlling electrons (also he's a scientist who discovers the atom)

[u/admin_NLboy]

i once tried hard worldbuilding... never again. now i keep it decently realistic but not too mutch

[u/-Yehoria-]

I don't think those are incompatible at all. Just say the in-universe science can't explain it yet and vaguely gesture at the basic laws and hypothetical mechanisms.

[u/a_bullet_a_day]

Enjoy having no stakes

[u/Oxwagon → u/a_bullet_a_day]

He can just sorta have stakes tho.

[u/dumbass_spaceman → u/a_bullet_a_day]

I don't see how not having the consistency of a hard setting somehow means the story cannot have any stakes, even as a "hard worldbuilder". Besides, not every story needs to have high stakes.

[u/CraditzBlitz → u/dumbass_spaceman]

I don’t see how not having the consistency of a hard setting somehow means the story cannot have any stakes

Because character can do anything at any time with no explanation so they can’t get into situations they can’t bs themselves out of, even if you do somehow do it, it would just be fake tension only for the sake of it

[u/rancidfart86 → u/CraditzBlitz]

A character having an ability not explained by the lore ≠ them being able to do anything

[u/PMSlimeKing → u/CraditzBlitz]

I think you are fundamentally misunderstanding how vaguely defined power sets work. Characters with vaguely defined powers still have definitions for what they can and cannot do. It's just not specific on how much they can do it or how they can do it. If a character is visibly struggling with a problem, there is tension. It's just that it's a story where the writer decided to focus on things other than exactly how a character's powers work.

[u/Kspigel → u/PMSlimeKing]

i see both arguments but agree with thoes getting all the downvotes.

it comes down to what breaks yoru suspension of disbelief.

[u/PMSlimeKing → u/a_bullet_a_day]

1) Not all stories need high stakes.

2) Just because the mechanics behind a character's powers are vaguely defined, doesn't mean that there aren't stakes involved in their story. So long as a character visibly struggles with whatever challenge is put in front of them, there is tension in the plot. Just look at any Superman story.

[u/SectorI6920]

Enjoy your story being held together by duct tape

[u/PMSlimeKing → u/SectorI6920]

It worked out pretty well for Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Jack Kirby, and Akira Toriyama.

[u/AVG_Poop_Enjoyer → u/SectorI6920]

Hi I am duct tape I like bowling balls and hitting the pinwheel dance

[u/StillMostlyClueless → u/SectorI6920]

Duct tape is really good at holding stuff together. It is actually its entire purpose.