TL;DR
Copy the tables below into any document and fill them in as your novel needs them, not all at once. Each section asks what the world does to your characters, so answers stay tied to scenes. Every row has a source field, and facts, beliefs and open questions are kept apart, which keeps a long draft consistent.
Many worldbuilding templates are long lists of everything a world might contain, from cuisine to cosmology. They are fun to fill in and often too broad for a novelist, because the plot needs a small part of the answers and nothing tells you which part. Here each question is tied to what the world does to your characters, and each answer has a place to record where the manuscript establishes it.
The reasoning behind the fields is in the worldbuilding guide. The wider reference document, with characters and timeline, is the story bible template.
How to use the template
- Copy the sections you need. Skip the rest. A contemporary novel needs little on magic and a lot on place and customs.
- Answer in short sentences. One line that you can check against a scene is better than a paragraph of mood.
- Fill the Source column when a scene establishes the answer. If no scene does, leave it empty and mark the row as a plan.
- Mark each row. Use F for an established fact, B for something a character believes, and Q for an open question.
- Return to it after each act. Update what the draft decided.
Section 1: The world in brief
| Field | Your answer |
|---|---|
| One-sentence setting | |
| Time period or era | |
| Scale of the story (a room, a town, a continent) | |
| What the protagonist wants | |
| What the world does to stop them | |
| Tone of the world (safe, hostile, indifferent) | |
| What makes it different from the real world, in one line |
Scroll horizontally to see all columns. Arrow keys work when the table is focused.
The two middle rows keep everything else honest. If a later answer does not affect the want or the obstacle, it may not be needed.
Section 2: Places
Copy one row per place that matters. Start with the three the first act uses.
| Place | Role in the story | Physical facts that limit action | Who controls it | Sensory anchor | Source | Mark |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Scroll horizontally to see all columns. Arrow keys work when the table is focused.
Travel needs its own row: how long does it take to go between key places, by what means, and at what cost? Write distances as days or hours, because that is what scenes use.
Section 3: Rules and limits
| Rule | What it allows | What it costs | Who is exempt | Worst exploit | Source | Mark |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Scroll horizontally to see all columns. Arrow keys work when the table is focused.
This applies to magic, technology, law and social custom alike. If a rule has no cost, rewrite it until it does. If you find yourself breaking a rule for a scene, add the cost of breaking it instead of ignoring it.
Section 4: Power and society
| Question | Answer | Source | Mark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who decides? | |||
| Who enforces? | |||
| Who profits from the current order? | |||
| Who is excluded from it? | |||
| How does a person gain or lose status? | |||
| What is the punishment for the worst crime? | |||
| What do people say instead of criticizing authority? |
Scroll horizontally to see all columns. Arrow keys work when the table is focused.
Section 5: Economy and daily life
| Question | Answer | Source | Mark |
|---|---|---|---|
| What do most people do for a living? | |||
| What do they eat, and where does it come from? | |||
| What do they pay with? | |||
| What is scarce? | |||
| What does a bad day look like for an ordinary person? | |||
| How does news travel? |
Scroll horizontally to see all columns. Arrow keys work when the table is focused.
Daily life is what makes a setting feel inhabited. A single concrete answer here, such as who delivers the post and how long it takes, can drive a plot.
Section 6: Culture and belief
| Question | Answer | Source | Mark |
|---|---|---|---|
| What do people swear by? | |||
| How do they treat the dead? | |||
| What is taboo? | |||
| What greetings, titles or names show rank or origin? | |||
| What festival or ritual could host a scene? | |||
| Which belief is held widely but is wrong? |
Scroll horizontally to see all columns. Arrow keys work when the table is focused.
For each custom, note who benefits and who pays.
Section 7: History
| Event | When | Who remembers it, and how | Who benefits from the version told | Source | Mark |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Scroll horizontally to see all columns. Arrow keys work when the table is focused.
Keep history to the events that shape the present conflict. Note disagreements between versions: an official account and a private one make a good source of reveals.
Section 8: Open questions
| Question | Why it matters | Needed by (scene or chapter) | Decision |
|---|---|---|---|
Scroll horizontally to see all columns. Arrow keys work when the table is focused.
Leaving a question open is better than inventing a plausible guess that later reads as fact. Give each question a deadline in the draft.
A filled-in example
The example below comes from an imaginary novel set in a harbor city. It shows the level of detail that is usually enough.
| Place | Role in the story | Physical facts that limit action | Who controls it | Sensory anchor | Source | Mark |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The west gate | Mara's way into the old quarter | Locked at sunset; one guard | Harbor guild | Cold iron and tar | Arrival scene | F |
| The closed archive | Where the seal records are kept | One door; windows barred; signed-out keys | Guild registrar | Dust and lamp oil | Planned, chapter 6 | Q |
Scroll horizontally to see all columns. Arrow keys work when the table is focused.
| Rule | What it allows | What it costs | Who is exempt | Worst exploit | Source | Mark |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A guild seal makes a letter binding | Arrest on a sealed accusation | The guild must stamp it in person | Guild officers | Forging the stamp | Opening scene | F |
| Sealed matters are not discussed | Silence protects the guild | People stop trusting each other | Children, who ask | A character exploits the silence | Chapter 2 | B |
Scroll horizontally to see all columns. Arrow keys work when the table is focused.
The closed archive is marked Q because no scene has established it yet. When you reach chapter six, you will know whether it was a plan or an established place.
A revision checklist
Use this after finishing an act or before a major rewrite.
- Every place the manuscript uses has a row.
- Every rule has a cost and an exemption.
- Rows marked Q have been decided or consciously left open.
- Source scenes still contain the facts they are cited for.
- Travel times in the notes match travel times in the scenes.
- No row contradicts another row.
- Beliefs held by characters are still marked as beliefs.
Adapting the template
The template is meant to be cut. A contemporary novel in a real city can drop most of sections 3 and 7 and add a table of real-world facts to check. A fantasy with a complex magic system should spend more time on section 3, with a row per ability. A series needs a section 8 that survives across books. If you share a world with a co-author, add a column for who decided each answer.
Frequently asked questions
What should a worldbuilding template include?
At minimum: places, rules and limits, power, daily life, culture, history and open questions. Each answer should link to a scene that establishes it. Skip anything the plot does not touch.
How much of the template should I fill in before writing?
Only what the first few scenes need: the places they use, the rules that constrain the protagonist and who holds power. Fill in the rest as the draft requires it.
Can I use this template for a contemporary novel?
Yes. Use the sections on places, power, daily life and culture, and add real-world facts that need checking, such as distances, laws or period details. The questions apply to any setting.
What is the difference between a worldbuilding template and a story bible?
A worldbuilding template focuses on setting: places, rules, society and history. A story bible also covers characters, timeline and plot facts. The story bible template covers the whole book, and how to build a story bible explains the habit behind it.
How do I stop worldbuilding from taking over the draft?
Limit yourself to answers that a scene needs next. Park other ideas in a notes file. Set a rule that you write at least as many words of manuscript as of notes each session.
Where Musael helps
Musael's world and characters codex holds places, objects and events as entries with relations, and links every name in the manuscript back to its entry, which makes the Source column easier to fill in. Continuity rules you set about your world are checked against your scenes, and a finding shows the sentence that breaks the rule. The template above works in any document if you prefer to start there.
