Mindfulness through Worldbuilding

When I first saw this challenge and prompt my mind went to all the various things I do for my own self-care. I wouldn't label myself a renaissance man but I do cast a wide net when it comes to interests. I have always been able to mix in with various cliques and groups since middle school. This is partly because of my upbringing but I feel it is more to do with how I approach hobbies and interests. I can be a bit obsessive about something new. My parents and grandparents did a great job when I was young in trying new things. I hiked, fished, hunted, camped, backpacked, boated, played video games, participated in sports, read non-fiction fact books, read high and low fantasy, wrote my own stories, went to church, learned about collections and coins, picked up skills as a gardener, played board games, talked about world events, and spent time with my own imagination. These things all helped to craft who I am today but the last, working my imagination muscles, is what ultimately helped me be able to find my own peace when needed.

I said earlier that I can be a bit obsessive about things that interest me. This is as big of an understatement as saying the universe is big. When I dig into something it becomes my life, my passion, and I fixate on it. After college sports and school I had to enter the world as a working adult. During that time I reconnected with some friends from high school and made some new work friends. I noticed a common trend with them all. What society would label as "Nerds", particularly dungeons and dragons nerds. Now many of my group of friends are also gamers so we have fought the flood, saved the princess, found vaults, collected shouts, and fulfilled final fantasies many times. We also have more cardboard stored in boxes from Magic the Gathering than I think any of us like to admit. However table top games, much like many people are discovering, offered us a new way to have enjoyment. We were in complete control of what was occurring. No longer bound by the imaginations of the game designers we could live whatever story we wanted to.

This is where the obsession began. I was a player at the beginning. Then after about a year our dungeon master decided he wanted a break, his kids were getting older and he could still manage joining us for game nights as a player but the high demands of running a game was too much. There were a few of us who wanted to give it a shot so I waited my turn. After a short campaign it was my turn. I had concocted this elaborate mission through a city, into a keep, to fight through waves of fire themed enemies till you get to the top of the tower and have to fight the final boss who was this evil creature who had been extending his life through the years by consuming the life energy and visage of his own offspring. A real bad dude. It was wonderful, I loved it, my players enjoyed it, other than the phoenixes exploding and almost killing two of them.

After that I took a break from running a game as I wanted to go back to being a player. So someone else cycled in and we played through that story. I also greatly enjoyed it as well. However I was adapting a story that I had written when I was in middle school, after fixing a lot of it because middle schoolers don't exactly have the greatest writing skills or creativity, to be a d&d campaign. A smaller group of friends had wanted to do a new campaign on another night of the week. I came up with a story, asked if they wanted to play as a group of dwarves who have been sucked into an adventure and they were delighted. Thus began our Dwarf Campaign. Which I am converting to a series of short story adventures as it was some of the most entertaining times that we had.

This campaign paralleled my mini book from before and had this group of dwarves find a crystal creature whose job was to find the other crystal creatures and fix the gate between the cosmos. Along the way they met the characters, one of which being a traveling blacksmith, from the book and helped them along to a split in the story. Where the dwarves accidentally found themselves trapped in a place between realms where they could portal hop to different elemental planes. Here they had to solve some issues and in each plane there was a crystal creature riding a dragon of the appropriate element for the boss fight. When the enemy was defeated the party's ally would become stronger and gain new skills, definitely watched a lot of Highlander when I was growing up. The dwarves soon learn that there was a time skip as they traveled through the portals. The party eventually solves all the puzzles and challenges I set before them and they leave the portal realm. To find that the blacksmith from earlier had built a shrine and a church dedicated to the dwarven heroes and about one thousand years had passed since they left. They are now heroes from history and the world has a new set of problems.

This is where we left off in the campaign but I do want to get back to it. The beautiful thing to me about world building for mindfulness is that you have to be conscious of yourself, limitations, and those of the players. You can do whatever but you have to make it so others can solve it while feeling challenged. I have ran other campaigns since then and I do feel like I keep getting better with each one.

The most recent is for my kids, two are nine and one is ten. I am taking them through a story where they are having to help but I am using Disney movies as a general guide for the challenges. So far they haven't figured it out and are caught between the power struggle of lionfolk on who will be the next leader after a tragic accident of the previous monarch.

I get to stretch my imagination. I get to spend some enjoyable time with people I love and care about, and I get to practice skills which are important for human interaction. Anybody who has the slightest inclination to try playing table top games and running one themselves I highly suggest doing it.

The biggest takeaways from world building that I love are; unbound creativity, unlimited personalities, and society building.

Unbound Creativity: Because you are the creator of this universe you can try different things out. Contrary to writing a book or short story, you are also putting these things under stringent testing with people whom you are playing with. So if something doesn't really work you get timely feedback and adjustments can be made. You also have to be able to react to the choices of your players which helps with your improvising skills and thinking on your feet.

Unlimited Personalities: You are in charge of every being in your world except for those who your players are playing. So if you want to have the guard captain be a goofy undisciplined individual who is in the position entirely by their battle merit and not their leadership skills you can have that. Want a king who loves responsibility but begrudges the country he rules, awesome. You can also adjust those people constantly. If a character isn't working you can concoct their departure.

Society Building: This is perhaps my favorite part of world building. You can put your own personal spins on different governmental or society rules and processes. My favorite created world has been Jardesh, which 3000 years in the past was under the brutal control of reptile races headed by the dragons. All not reptilian and amphibian races were slaves at best for one thousand years. Then the giants came and freed the peoples. Jardeshian society was strict and watched by giant kind but it was fair and just. The party was navigating stopping a cult from reawakening the dragons and purging the country into war once again. Ultimately how they solved the problem was diplomatically causing the chromatic and metallic dragons to fuse back together into the gem dragons. This isn't traditional lore but for me this is what I went with. There was the original one dragon, which through turmoil split into Bahamut and Tiamat. Then they created their own brood after their own pure wills. The party came up with this solution. We haven't had any play in Jardesh after that solution but I do look forward to it.

I hope you enjoyed my quick read of mindfulness through world building. It really is something that brings me catharsis, enjoyment, and fulfillment. The beauty of this approach to personal fulfillment is that it starts as a solitary process, becomes more regimented in coming up with specifics and mechanics, and then turns into a social activity with people whom you pick. It has always been a great way to bond with others and for me it has helped me to grow as a person and as a friend.