The Planet Construction Kit

by Mark Rosenfelder

A companion volume to the Language Construction Kit, this book explains everything you need to know about creating your own world with its own geology, creatures, cultures, religions, technology, and styles of war- plus how to create maps, illustrations and 3-D models.An essential whether you're writing science fiction or fantasy, designing RPGs, creating movies or video games, or remodeling a spare asteroid.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Reference, Science

374 pages, Paperback

First published October 9, 2010

Reviews

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book follows the model of Rosenfelder's Language Construction Kit; it's basically a worldbuilding reference guide meant to help writers, GMs, and other creators.

I bought it mostly for the portion literally referred to in the title: the physics of designing a planet with proper geological, meteorological and astronomical details. The chapter on Astronomy and Geology is actually rather short. It gives a lot of information about plausible planetology, but rather than helping you simply answer questions like "How can I design a believable desert world?" (other than the note that planets shouldn't be monoclimates) or "What if I have a planet orbiting a red sun?", you actually need to work out all the details of axial tilt, rotation, and the like, plus there is a section on designing your planet's tectonic plates. (!) If you are that sort of absolutely thorough designer who wants everything specified down to the last detail, the PCK won't leave any area unaddressed, but it's not a quick reference for sketching out a few quick details about your world.

That's the major flaw with this book: it's a kitchen sink with everything. There are chapters on designing the physical planet, creating maps, designing life forms (sentient and otherwise), societies, histories, military and religion, technology, and so on. There is a lot of salient information here, but it comes in the form of long essays and examples from Earth's history and the author's own fantasy world. There's nothing much here that you can skim quickly to answer a few questions about the world you're building; it's more like a textbook than a reference guide.

Overall, I found it pretty well written and often interesting, but Rosenfelder could have used some serious editing to chop this book down to a much more concise volume with the same amount of information. The last few chapters actually talk about illustration and 3D modeling -- seriously, there's a "How to draw people" chapter! That's 30+ pages that could have been replaced with a couple of references in the bibliography. No one is buying a Planet Construction Kit because they want drawing lessons.

Worth the money? Yes, but I was a bit disappointed as the Language Construction Kit, while also a bit bloated, stuck more closely to its topic. The Planet Construction Kit is very bloated, and requires a whole lot of reading to extract the nuggets of information you want.

[Ben Fitts · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got more out of this book on my second read of it, and I can see it making for a great writing reference.

[José Alejandro Vázquez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quizás hubiera sido una buena introducción al worldbuilding, pero en su deseo de hacer un libro con lo mínimo, el autor deja fuera las cosas mád interesantes y útiles.
En especial, las técnicas que recomiendan son para el worldbuilder comprometido, no para el autor que necesita tener una ambientación lógica, pero sin tener que pasar meses trabajando en ella.

[Caleb M. Powers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very engaging and thought-provoking. It was really helpful in thinking through all the nooks and crannies of the worldbuilding process.

[Deadwish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un buen punto de partida para crear tu propio mundo. Incluye todo lo básico que necesitas saber y un poco más, aunque dependiendo del conocimiento que uno ya tenga por momentos puede resultar un poco redundante y por otros abrumador. El autor aclara desde el inicio que solo toca la superficie de cada elemento de worldbuilding y que está en el lector el profundizar por su cuenta en aquello que quiera.
Lo que más me ha gustado es como simplifica o resume algunos conceptos político-económicos que no tenía claros. Lo que menos me ha gustado es que muchas veces, aunque trata, no puede contenerse en criticar a los autores de fantasía y ciencia ficción que no le gustan (y la cosa empeora cuando sí son del agrado del lector.
El libro ya tiene algunos años, así que se ha quedado desactualizado en algunos consejos sobre uso de programas de diseño etc. y también creo recordar que ha fallado alguna que otra predicción de lo que pasaría en el futuro cercano.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

The worldbuilder has a lot on his or her plate. From deciding whether the planet should be Earth-like or something completely different, to creating continents with their own geology, climate, flora, and fauna, to peopling the world with new cultures of humans (or something else), to inventing religions, histories, systems of government...not to mention things like magic, psychic abilities, advanced technology, and other deviations from the mundane world. Rosenfelder addresses all of these areas in this volume, offering insightful and often surprising details and points of advice. He even manages to cover mapping and illustration.

The book seems to focus on steering the reader away from cliches and other mistakes, sparking creativity, and providing a range of options in places where the reader might get stuck. The amount of details provided is remarkable, but the level of detail is uneven--in a given subject, we might get a general overview, a fine level of attention to certain specifics, or sometimes both at once (determined, apparently, by the author's interests and level of expertise). This is probably unavoidable, given the ambitious scope of the book, which is both its strength and its weakness. Rosenfelder's previous book, The Language Construction Kit, was devoted to the single subject of inventing languages, so it shouldn't be surprising that a book on inventing "everything else" should have some gaps. I wonder, for example, if he would have been better off doing one book on planets and another on cultures.

Overall, consider this a crash course on a ton of different subjects that one should know about in order to create a convincing and original fictional world. If that's what you are looking for, then I recommend this book. It has its flaws, but overall I consider it a good resource.

A personal note: I'm in the later stages of creating my own fantasy world. I did it the hard way--which involved spending several years researching nearly all of the subjects this book covers. If that appeals to you, then you can probably skip this purchase. As for me, I don't regret doing the legwork, but if I had had this book a long time ago, I could have focused my research more effectively, and saved myself a lot of time and effort!

I gave this book four stars at Amazon, because I believe the ratings scale operates a little differently there (a three-star review is somewhat positive here, but more neutral at Amazon). If I could give 3 1/2 stars, I would.

[Lynanne Carroll · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short version: this book will help you immensely with world-building, particularly if you're into sci-fi/fantasy world-building. A lot of the stuff Rosenfelder talks about goes over my head (I mean, seriously, I'm a WRITER, not an astrophysicist), but I enjoyed the topics and insight. 100% worth your while to check out.

Longer version: I <3 this book. I've found it to be ridiculously handy as a newbie when it comes to worldbuilding, and with the breadth and depth of topics Rosenfelder covers, I'm certain it would also be helpful to more seasoned individuals.

The thing I enjoyed most about this--other than the vast array of topics--was the versatility of it. Readers are free to glean and incorporate as they wish.

Case in point: Rosenfelder is hardcore about a lot of things (and yet brushes the knowledge he presents as 'minimal' -_-...which, comparatively, it is, but it's still a lot to take in), especially math-related things. Like calculating sun size and subsequent planetary effects.

Math: !#$%@*^&@(&^#@^!% multiply this number by 2.576 because !(&*@(&@(*(& and then

Me: ...
...
...
Wait, WHAT?

Suffice it to say that I won't be uh, *focusing* on bits like that.

Rosenfelder doesn't cheat you when it comes to information--from creating a believable world with its own unique history, economy, daily struggles, religions/magic, and creatures to creating that world's maps and models (if you so desire).

Plus, it's extremely affordable. Highly recommend!!!

[Egle · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book started off well enough with interesting bits about astronomy, geology, atmosphere etc. - how planets work. I found it useful and illuminating if somewhat short.

Then the author got into socioeconomics and culture, and it all kind of went downhill. The positives were the dedicated, if brief and limited, subchapters on gender and sexuality. I started reading those with some trepidation, but was glad to see it wasn't all reduced to negative stereotypes. It is a low bar, however.

The options for governments or even agriculture types provided seem limited - the only "progressive" ones are democracy or no government at all - which is partly the result of trying to cram so much into one book, but also the lack of imagination. Are kings and oligarchs the best we can offer in sci-fi/fantasy?

It all took a further turn when in a subchapter on scarcity he called Iain Bank's Culture "the ultimate consumer paradise" (poor Iain is spinning in his grave), and gave an example of why Culture apparently doesn't work. Allegedly, because one of the book characters "designs space habitats for a living", which "doesn't address inequalities produced by scaleable jobs". I'm reeling, because no one works for a living in the Culture! That is the point! It's a post-scarcity society.

I started skimmed reading after that, and decided to pack it in when I reached the Religion chapter that had communism included in it. Well, that cleared the matters right up.

This book will mostly be useful for those who want to write a sci-fi/fantasy that's a riff on (rip off?) pre-modern, or medieval societies, your next Game of Thrones or LOTR, if you will. Mostly the latter, actually, as sci-fi advice seems to be an afterthought a lot of the time. Yes, you will be able to create a world after reading this, but a world that has been created many times before.

[Sephy Hallow · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ambition and skill aren't always evenly matched, as Rosenfelder here aptly demonstrates. Curse whoever recommended this 2010 book, which has huge scope but very little expertise behind such a broad range. Trigger warning: this thing gets pretty racist at times. From his own constructed races on Almea (which are basically colonialist white caricatures of rural African villages), to referring to Indigenous North Americans as "Indians", to describing in detail the racial differences in drawing different faces (I will not elaborate, because I don't want to reproduce his ideas here, but suffice it to say Rosenfelder felt the need to clarify that the eyes of East Asian people "are not slits ... nor are they slanted"). Add to that a portion on calculating, exactly, the shape and scope of a planet (unnecessarily detailed) and a quick drawing/use of Blender/use of Second Life's building tool on the back end, delivered by a man who claims to have been drawing for 30 years but produces disproportionate, ugly impersonations of humans - not itself a flaw, except he's trying to pull off an air of expertise which isn't warranted - and a healthy dash of sexism (e.g. people who draw tall women "must be leg men") and you have an excruciatingly detailed, arrogant craft book that doesn't impart much wisdom but will give you a few nasty shocks as Rosenfelder's old-fashioned world view comes into sharp focus.

[Ryn Carmine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot begin to stress how useful this book is for someone interested in worldbuilding. It takes you into incredible depth into the process, step-by-step starting as early as designing the entire solar system your planet is in, and talking about how that would affect your world. It also covers things about the creatures and people, biologically and culturally in an easy-to-follow format that makes it extremely accessible to readers no matter how familiar they may or may not be with the subjects.

Perhaps one of the most impressive parts about the layout of this book is that, while you can certainly follow cover-to-cover for the linear development of your world, you can also pick and choose sections according to your needs. For my most recent project, I was designing an entire world and needed the environmental details before I could begin to dig into culture, but it's all there.

This book obviously won't write your story for you, but it's indispensable as a guide to putting the backdrop together and making sure things have internal consistency. Most useful for scifi and fantasy writers, but really anywhere that you're using something new even on just a cultural level it's worth exploring. I personally consider it one of my key handbooks in the writing process, and it's an interesting read with lots of food for thought even if you don't need every subject covered.

[Mara S. · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Planet Construction Kit has a lot of great ideas, but it's shambling, uneven, and overstuffed. The lack of focus is particularly evident in the final chapters, which are way beyond the scope of the book and absolutely should've been cut. The author is very clearly NOT an artist — but instead of recommending a list of resources for readers looking to incorporate art into their world-building, he includes page after page of his own poorly-drawn sketches.

The amount of time dedicated to the actual planet part of the Planet Construction Kit is minimal. Much more attention is paid to culture and society, with frequent allusions to the author's own fictional world. He writes with an authoritative tone that is not in line with his qualifications. He is clearly a fan of anthropology, but he isn't an expert, and his confident, sweeping assertions about human history should be taken with a grain of salt.

And then there's the random sidebar conversations Rosenfelder has with his Christian readers. They are...strange, to say the least. In one sidebar, he assures Christian readers that it's okay to invent a fictional religion (what kind of crazed fundamentalist thinks it's a sin to invent a fake religion for a story?). In another aside, he reassures the fundies that he isn't trying to convince them that science is real. It's like he's feeding lumps of sugar to a frightened horse. Absolutely bizarre.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a lot of information to digest in this book. I feel that I learned quite a bit from its details and perspectives. I would give it a full 5 stars for the main content of the book. My only hesitation is with the drawing and 3D modeling sections. I appreciate the point of including these, but don't feel that they added a great deal from a writer's perspective. I know a visual representation is valuable, but a strong written description can also. Overall, a great book for someone wanting to learn to world build, like myself. I'll probably end up buying a physical copy (read on Kindle) as a reference.

[Charl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating, extremely detailed guide to planet construction, making a strong case for conworlding (constructing worlds) being an important part of writing any SF or Fantasy novel.

While I doubt most authors would go to the extremes given here, it's still thought provoking, making it clear that any fictional world deserves at least a little thought and planning.

I'm not even a wanna-be writer myself, but this still is going to sharpen my eye for detail in the fictional worlds I read about.

Well worth reading for anyone interested in the mechanics of creating a believable SFF setting.

[Marco Bizzarri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice book on how to create your conworld. A lot of interesting pointers in the bibliography.

[Vincent Gagnepain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another helpful and fascinating book on world building which gives the reader lots to think about!

[Jonas Doms · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of handy tips and info but not everything was necessary and some stuff was wrong or stupid (the rant about the shire being medieval anglosaksen but having tobacco is just stupid)

[Z Tetriminos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ladies and gentlemen, the Holy Bible of Worldbuilding

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are doing world construction for a novel or a game, it is a huge undertaking. This book will make it easier for you in many ways. First, this book will stop you from making a lot of mistakes that you will find difficult to undo - especially after you have made a commitment to a storyline or a definition of a character. Second, it also helps you to organize your effort to create something more believable.

Even if you are not interested in planet construction, you will likely enjoy how Rosenfelder leaps from one aspect of study to another. This book covers biology, religion, plate tectonics, magic, war, clothing, and lots of topics that define how life is in different Terran cultures. That alone makes it worthwhile.

Anyway, this won't do the work for you, but it will make the work you do better.

[S.P. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Things to consider when building a world from scratch, or creating a variation on a theme. Mostly drawn from history and other sci-fi/fantasy sources, Rosenfelder discusses the primary bits that need to be considered in the construction of an imaginary world. The importance is for consistency - keeping all the aspects of the world in line so that things do not seem out of place, or bend the suspension of belief too far.

Rosenfelder advocates creating (realistic) maps, cultures, languages (the other book!), religions, and modes of warfare (where appropriate) to a quite detailed level, though also suggested that some degree of cheating may also be desirable.

The last couple of chapters concentrate on drawing and creating 3D imagery of the worlds, if that is what you are in to.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very useful for worldbuilding and as a companion to the Language Construction kits (both the basic and Advanced version). Good conlanging needs good worldbuilding (Tolkien created The Lord of the Rings just so that his Elvish languages could have somewhere to call home), and this book is an excellent guide.

[Robert Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good book. Doesn't cover everything, but what could? Great resource. Great for getting you started thinking about how to write you fantasy/scifi novel. Recommend for deep thinkers and writers

[Matthijs Krul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as good as the language ones, because (perhaps by necessity) a little more superficial and much of it somewhat obvious when you know history decently well. Still, plenty of good tips and good humour also, and stuff to think about.

[Adam Lane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 32 of 52 Books 2013.

Review pending!

[Pearse Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect for worldbuilding. One of the best resources out there. Stellar in so many levels.

[Paul Davies · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly interesting and inspiring. Will definitely return to this often when creating.