Fantasy Worldbuilding: Inverting the Tropes with Amanda Hamon & Gail Carriger

10/04/23 • 63 min

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Welcome to a special Bonus Season! Enjoy these sessions from this year's Worldbuilding Con!

No genre is more closely associated with Worldbuilding than fantasy. Unfortunately, this can create a temptation to “play the hits,” following established tropes at the cost of innovation. In this session, we’ll discuss how to subvert audience expectations and deliver a fantasy world that’s both satisfying and surprising. Join Janet and Worldbuilding Con guests Gail Carriger and Amanda Hamon as they discuss fantasy worldbuilding:

What is a trope?
What is your favorite or most hated fantasy trope?
What are the benefits of subverting or inverting a trope?
What are the drawbacks of subverting or inverting a trope?
How can we identify and handle problematic tropes?
How can you deliver a surprising yet satisfying fantasy world?
When does a trope become a cliche?
Final advice

🎙️Speakers:

Gail Carriger has multiple NYT bestsellers and millions of books in print in dozens of different languages. She writes book hugs - comedies of manners mixed with urban fantasy (and sexy queer joy as GL Carriger). She is best known for the Parasol Protectorate and Finishing School series. She was once an archaeologist and is fond of shoes, octopuses, and tea.

Amanda Hamon is a Senior Designer leading the production of Dungeons & Dragons books for Wizards of the Coast. An award-winning tabletop game designer, developer, writer, and editor, her work has appeared in dozens of releases from numerous publishers, including Wizards of the Coast, Paizo, and Kobold Press, and across many game systems, including D&D, Pathfinder, and Starfinder. The most recent title Amanda led is Wizards of the Coast’s Keys from the Golden Vault, an anthology of D&D heist adventures that released in February. She is the former Editorial Director for Kobold Press as well as the former managing developer and a co-creator of the Starfinder RPG by Paizo. She has appeared at dozens of events and on streams as a Game Master and player, and her weirdness knows no parallel. Amanda is absolutely not three opossums in a trench coat, though you can find her making screeching noises on Twitter at @amandahamon.

Welcome to a special Bonus Season! Enjoy these sessions from this year's Worldbuilding Con!

What is a trope?
What is your favorite or most hated fantasy trope?
What are the benefits of subverting or inverting a trope?
What are the drawbacks of subverting or inverting a trope?
How can we identify and handle problematic tropes?
How can you deliver a surprising yet satisfying fantasy world?
When does a trope become a cliche?
Final advice

🎙️Speakers:

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Episode 41, part 2: How to design for non-DnD Systems and Settings

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Check out Dominique’s newest release "Plant Girl Game” - about a family of plant-kids working to prevent ecological disaster - on Itch and IPR! And for the best tools for worldbuilding in any medium, visit www.worldanvil.com!

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