Landscapes for Writers and Game Masters: Building Authentic Natural Terrain into Imagined Worlds

Rice-Snow, Scott

ISBN 10: 1476683573 / ISBN 13: 9781476683577

Published by McFarland, 2022

About this Item

Item in acceptable condition! Textbooks may not include supplemental items i.e. CDs, access codes etc.

Seller Inventory # 00109442498

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Landscapes for Writers and Game Masters: Building Authentic Natural Terrain into Imagined Worlds
• Publisher: McFarland
• Publication Date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1476683573
• ISBN 13: 9781476683577
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: Acceptable

About this title

Synopsis

Landscape science tells fascinating stories, whether in fiction or a role-playing game. Earth's varied terrain provides many examples of scene-specific challenges and resources for story characters, with distinctive land features, compelling locations, and intriguing traits. Landslides, floods, coastal erosion, glacier movement, and volcanism can deliver fresh plot points and alter the social character of an imagined region. Characters traveling different river types encounter very different puzzles, opportunities, and combat environments and the same variety awaits within other classic settings, such as caves, mountains, deserts, shorelines, and volcanic zones. Atypical landscapes such as tundra, karst, and vast glacier surfaces can breathe fresh air into any stories.

This handbook is a reference source for creative writing and game world building. It delves deeply into many landscape characteristics that help set the tone, shape character behavior, and drive the plot. Chapters are divided into diverse geographic environments, from rivers and shorelines to caves and volcanoes, and show how knowledge of the terrain can deliver plot points, add veracity, pose key problems, establish conflict, and lead into the next scene. Discover how authors and game masters effectively weave land and terrain into their stories.

About the Author

Scott Rice-Snow is an emeritus professor of geological sciences at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, with published research in river, glacial, and karst geomorphology, as well as hydrology, geoarchaeology, and geoscience education. He also hosts the ground4inspiration.net website, documenting unique landscape features and their narrative/gameplay potential.