So here’s my World Building Checklist and here’s my pasted version:
A. Main Definitions
1. Where did the world come from?
2. What happened to the deities (if any)?
3. Are they still active in the world?
4. Are other planes or worlds accessible?
5. Is magic possible? Psionics?
6. How accessible are these things?
B. Develop the physical world.
1. Develop the geography. What fraction of the world is water versus dry land? How many suns, stars, planets and moons are there? Where are the mountain ranges? Are there any areas of geological instability? Why?
2. Develop the climate. Are there tides in the ocean? Are the tides related to the cosmology? Which areas are frigid? Arid? Wet?
3. Highlight any peculiar (different than Earth) features.
4. Are there any special (e.g. magical) areas?
5. Determine how to populate the world in gross terms. What races would
be included? What general types of societies would there be? Are these
compatible with the results we obtain in steps 3 and 4 above?
6. Place animals or other creatures towards the top of the food chain. Place the lowest members of the food chain first (e.g. herbivores on Earth) then work to the higher order creatures.
[STRONG]C. Develop the cultures.[/STRONG]
1. Place cultures in the world at appropriate locations. Explore the interaction between the culture and the geographical/eco-structure the population finds itself in.
2. What race will populate this culture?
3. Look at the following items:Resources (physical/lifeforms/spiritual/magical); Subsistence patterns; Religion; Technology level; Social structure; Symbolism (architecture/art/mysticism), Languages (per race/per culture/per region); Trade, currency.
[STRONG]D. Tie the cultures together.[/STRONG]
1. Is there competition for resources?
2. What kind of trade there is between cultures?
3. How flexible are the cultures?
4. Have past climatic or geological events influenced the culture (e.g. big floods, ice ages, comet impacting on planet, angry gods, etc.)?
5. How quickly do the races reproduce?
6. Are there religious, political, or ethnic conflicts or compatibilities?
7. Write the histories of each culture.
E. Make the nations:
1. Social system
2. Racial groups
3. Major religions
4. Major religious figures
5. Major laws
6. Customs
7. Holidays
8. Style of clothing
9. General mindset
10. Educational system
11. Economic system
12. Notable products or commodities
13. Major economic leaders
14. Major trading partners
15. Army: quality, tactics, equipment, technology(magic items?)
16. Prevalence of magic
17. Legal status of magic
18. Magical institutions
19. Magical education
20. General attitude towards magic
F. Special aspects of SAGA. (In other words, what things make the world truly unique? Why would someone want to play in this world in particular?)
1. Are there unique races or species?
2. Do the races have special symbiotic relationships?
3. Are there periodically repeated geological, cosmological or climatic events?
4. Does SAGA have unique aspects to the magical or psionic manipulation or use?
Develop the NPCs to take advantage of or highlight unique aspects of SAGA.[/FONT]
