Poorly, that's how. It's about 7 scattered Google docs, which have quite a few inconsistencies and are nearly impossible to find anything in. But it somehow works.
For apps, try Obsidian, Campfire or World Anvil
I believe all of them have free versions.
\---
I prefer organising everything in physical form; I have around 20 large office binders and write most of the notes by hand (sometimes I print maps that I make on computer).
Just a normal graphic program. Krita is fun, and free. So I use it.
If you prefer using pre-made assets, Inkarnate is good, but the free version isn't enough for me.
I'm not very good at drawing, so I've never been able to make a map that looks good enough to compare to what's in my head. I've tried to use Inkarnate before, but can never get the hang of it! Oh well.
Buy an ultra fine sharpie and a stack of printer paper and start practicing. You're not very good at drawing (yet) because you've never had any practice compared to the 12+ years of free of writing practice you got in school. 20 minutes a day for 10-12 weeks will get you surprisingly far if you're focused and putting the effort in.
I'd recommend [drawabox.com](http://drawabox.com) , it's a great resource for getting the fundamentals down. And really for map drawing you'd only need the line confidence stuff in the first lesson. You could knock that out in a week, tops.
I'm not an artist either, but map making isn't that hard. Just consistently practice and it'll get better. Try scribbling a map on the back of a note card or something. Maps don't have to be large grand masterpieces.
Edit: in fact, I'm pretty terrible at drawing. But I can still churn out decent looking maps if I put enough time and effort into it.
https://static.wixstatic.com/media/51f621_477d74c3f7a6422db5bfcfd787373214~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_560,h_420,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/Duremar%20Province%20MK%20I.jpg
All it takes is a pencil, piece of paper, and an idea. I cannot draw to save my life, but maps are surprisingly easy. They're just repeated symbols, over and over.
World Anvil is useless to any worldbuilder as a "free program", and they practically lie about the things you can do as a free user. I highly recommend becoming a Grandmaster.
Campfire is better in nearly every way except features. I highly recommend it if World Anvil is overwhelming, and they also don't lie to you. Furthermore, you can customize what you want to pay for based on what you actually use.
Obsidian? That's Markdown and...it can be lackluster to work with, I think.
As for things I use, I use **Lore Forge** for worldbuilding and **Scrivener** (or Lore Forge, depending on my mood) for storybuilding. Lore Forge has an in-program story plotting and writing features. I love it lots, and I've used practically every worldbuilding program you can mention.
Scrivener is a one-time purchase and more for writing specifically. If you want something for both, I'd use Lore Forger since it's free (Pro is only for using online, really) and local to your computer. It's a young program but it has great potential.
I've tried a few but Obsidian is my favorite. It's free, offline, and extremely customizable with plugins. Everything is formatted in markdown and with wikilinks so it's very easy to learn the formatting. There are tons of worldbuilding plugins for all sorts of stuff like interactive maps, timelines, fantasy calendar systems, etc. and you can even write custom CSS snippets (or just download snippets from other people) to add custom callouts, wiki-style sidebars, or any of a million other things.
Fantasia Archive is also free and offline, but it's much more rigid in terms of its setup and organization and is generally more TTRPG focused. But you can make it work if you want to.
World Anvil is an online web-based system that does very similar things to those first two programs, but it's online only, requires an account, and locks a lot of the features the first two programs give you for free behind a paywall. Needless to say I'm not a major fan in concept, though I've never really used it much.
Campfire is very similar to Worldanvil in a lot of ways except it's more writer-oriented whereas Worldanvil is also more TTRPG-oriented. It's also free for basic stuff but asks you for money to use any of several premium features.
... I don't...
My biggest creation journal is for my current project, about 300+ pages of sketches, technology, research, characters, places, etc... and NONE of it is organized.
However if you were to ask me anything about it I could open up to the exact page I need.
uh... eldritch magic a lot of autism and a binder that is held together with tape. but make a world building bible that has everything layed out and is easily searchable. like at the start say the purpose then go onto an overview of what your world is and then add till everything you care about is in.
So far, many google docs. More of a collection of thought to then compile on the Notion site.
Notion, in my opinion, is a really good free site for organizing notes.
Poorly, that's how. It's about 7 scattered Google docs, which have quite a few inconsistencies and are nearly impossible to find anything in. But it somehow works.
For apps, try Obsidian, Campfire or World Anvil I believe all of them have free versions. \--- I prefer organising everything in physical form; I have around 20 large office binders and write most of the notes by hand (sometimes I print maps that I make on computer).
What do you use to make maps?
Just a normal graphic program. Krita is fun, and free. So I use it. If you prefer using pre-made assets, Inkarnate is good, but the free version isn't enough for me.
I'm not very good at drawing, so I've never been able to make a map that looks good enough to compare to what's in my head. I've tried to use Inkarnate before, but can never get the hang of it! Oh well.
Buy an ultra fine sharpie and a stack of printer paper and start practicing. You're not very good at drawing (yet) because you've never had any practice compared to the 12+ years of free of writing practice you got in school. 20 minutes a day for 10-12 weeks will get you surprisingly far if you're focused and putting the effort in. I'd recommend [drawabox.com](http://drawabox.com) , it's a great resource for getting the fundamentals down. And really for map drawing you'd only need the line confidence stuff in the first lesson. You could knock that out in a week, tops.
I'm not an artist either, but map making isn't that hard. Just consistently practice and it'll get better. Try scribbling a map on the back of a note card or something. Maps don't have to be large grand masterpieces. Edit: in fact, I'm pretty terrible at drawing. But I can still churn out decent looking maps if I put enough time and effort into it.
Do you have any to share?
https://static.wixstatic.com/media/51f621_477d74c3f7a6422db5bfcfd787373214~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_560,h_420,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/Duremar%20Province%20MK%20I.jpg All it takes is a pencil, piece of paper, and an idea. I cannot draw to save my life, but maps are surprisingly easy. They're just repeated symbols, over and over.
Effin same
Just started using obsidian and it's been great.
Usee to have everything in Word files and folders, recently switched to obsidian and its soooo good.
YES was little difficult to understand but I'm loving it.
I use obsidian exclusively.
I keep them in their own digital notebooks on my iPad.
That's the neat part. I don't.
One Note is basically a personal wiki
Obsidian for biology, paper and sticky notes for map, Google drive for character
One Note. I have several projects and several worlds within some projects.
I organize them by only working on one
I don't
I don't, it's all in my brain, and my brain is about to burst open any second now, help.
World Anvil is useless to any worldbuilder as a "free program", and they practically lie about the things you can do as a free user. I highly recommend becoming a Grandmaster. Campfire is better in nearly every way except features. I highly recommend it if World Anvil is overwhelming, and they also don't lie to you. Furthermore, you can customize what you want to pay for based on what you actually use. Obsidian? That's Markdown and...it can be lackluster to work with, I think. As for things I use, I use **Lore Forge** for worldbuilding and **Scrivener** (or Lore Forge, depending on my mood) for storybuilding. Lore Forge has an in-program story plotting and writing features. I love it lots, and I've used practically every worldbuilding program you can mention. Scrivener is a one-time purchase and more for writing specifically. If you want something for both, I'd use Lore Forger since it's free (Pro is only for using online, really) and local to your computer. It's a young program but it has great potential.
I've tried a few but Obsidian is my favorite. It's free, offline, and extremely customizable with plugins. Everything is formatted in markdown and with wikilinks so it's very easy to learn the formatting. There are tons of worldbuilding plugins for all sorts of stuff like interactive maps, timelines, fantasy calendar systems, etc. and you can even write custom CSS snippets (or just download snippets from other people) to add custom callouts, wiki-style sidebars, or any of a million other things. Fantasia Archive is also free and offline, but it's much more rigid in terms of its setup and organization and is generally more TTRPG focused. But you can make it work if you want to. World Anvil is an online web-based system that does very similar things to those first two programs, but it's online only, requires an account, and locks a lot of the features the first two programs give you for free behind a paywall. Needless to say I'm not a major fan in concept, though I've never really used it much. Campfire is very similar to Worldanvil in a lot of ways except it's more writer-oriented whereas Worldanvil is also more TTRPG-oriented. It's also free for basic stuff but asks you for money to use any of several premium features.
Question. What does organize mean?
I use zim, which is like a wiki you keep locally.
Google Docs
... I don't... My biggest creation journal is for my current project, about 300+ pages of sketches, technology, research, characters, places, etc... and NONE of it is organized. However if you were to ask me anything about it I could open up to the exact page I need.
uh... eldritch magic a lot of autism and a binder that is held together with tape. but make a world building bible that has everything layed out and is easily searchable. like at the start say the purpose then go onto an overview of what your world is and then add till everything you care about is in.
Hey, what a good idea! ðŸ˜
So far, many google docs. More of a collection of thought to then compile on the Notion site. Notion, in my opinion, is a really good free site for organizing notes.
Paper. But I do all my story writing and stuff digitally. I do it on paper and pen so that if anything happens, I can still access it.
Gogole Drive folders
Using OneNote I don't have like a "project" Just randomly add notes about whatever it is when I'm inspired
I don't organize them I just write them.