That's right, I've read a word or two. Lots of great articles came out of World Ember this year! Unfortunately, given my sudden crisis and the subsequent scrambling to avoid homelessness, then moving— I haven't had much time to actually read through my notifications! Most of what I've read thus far have been natural law articles— as I was the judge for that category this year. So, you're gonna hear about a bunch of those! In no particular order, of course, so as not to spoil the category winner.
The Articles
I'm a sucker for magic systems that are so in-depth that they become more science than actual magic. This article is written in a very academic fashion, too, which helps create that magic-as-science aesthetic. The use of redacted fields even further aids this goal, and makes you feel as if you really are reading a report in-world. Detail is essential to making something feel like a tangible part of your world, and here the author goes into tangential details such as the etymology of Fox-Kamiya particles which really help anchor it into their world.
Quite an out of the box idea that just shows how creative folk can be! It's always interesting to see folk take new spins on extant facets of the mind, especially uncommon things such as synaesthesia. Pairing this article with illustrations of how magic appears to those with this ability is a nice touch, as well.
Another thing I'm a sucker for? Naming things after extant words because they only share a few commonalities. For example, this article is discussing clouds— but not those you and I are familiar with. Yes, they are still in the sky— but the sky in this world is liquid, and these clouds are what you and I might call icebergs. This article is an excellent example of how to properly ground something in your world, by going over how people interact with the objects in question, how it changes their culture, and how it impacts the physical world itself.
It's not often I find myself thinking "man I would love to play a game based on this" after reading just one article. Again, delving into magic-as-science, but in a different direction than usual— equating the magic here to programming. This article wades deep into how this programmable magic operates, and how one might approach it— offering some wonderful detail by doing so.
Again, one of those magic-as-science articles! This one I had to read over a few times to fully understand, just like actual science! Replete with infographics and some in-world quotes, this article does a good job at explaining what is a fairly esoteric concept.
This article is incredibly impressive. It is, like many others already noted, a magic-as-science article— but it's presented as an academic paper. It's not like an academic paper— no, it literally is one. This has not only a complete abstract, but custom-made infographics, charts, footnotes, and a lengthy bibliography— this article goes all-out to mimic actual academic papers. I've not seen others take this approach before, and this really impressed me!
A creative concept, involving a unique take on gravity, this proves for a fascinating read. What's more, we read about how this concept is utilized in-world, with some incredible descriptions to feed our imagination. Also it...it's just really cool, ok?
A wonderful idea aided by some equally wonderful artwork! It's fascinating to imagine what these forests must look like, and just from reading this I think I'd love to visit one! To help ground the concept, we hear about how flora and fauna have adapted to these strange areas, too. This, again, being an ever-important aspect to consider when writing any article.
Weather is something all too often overlooked or outright forgotten when we dive into worldbuilding. So, whenever I see someone introducing some unique weather phenomena into their world, it's always a delight! Again, we see that essential quality of detail— how do these storms interact with the rest of the world? How does the world interact with the storms, in turn? We not only hear how living beings do so, but also the geography of the world itself!
An interesting take on the afterlife, one that includes even individual blades of grass— even if not for very long. There are some further details here about how the living think of the After, and a brief story about a particular individual found there, which helps anchor the concept to the world quite nicely.
This year...
Actual Plans
- Find a job before I go broke.
- Write more articles!
- Redo the CSS and artwork of my other worlds (Namely APRA and Umqwam).
- Work more on my Patreon.
- Finish my novella!
- Finish the first draft of Qet, and begin formatting the rulebook.
- Make a bunch of small TTRPGs.
- Do more interviews for my podcast!
What a great list! I loved reading all your thoughts. I, too, toast to hoping that time and disability and the world will allow us BOTH to write something this year. Huzzah!
Thank you!