# Writer Worldbuilding

> Design fictional settings, magic or technology systems, cultures, institutions, and locations with clear limits and story consequences.

- Skill: `firstp1ck/writer-worldbuilding` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add firstp1ck/writer-worldbuilding`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/firstp1ck/writer-worldbuilding/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- License: MIT
- Author: Firstp1ck (https://skillmd.com/u/firstp1ck)
- Updated: 2026-09-22
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/firstp1ck/writer-worldbuilding

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# Worldbuilding

## When to use

Use when a scene depends on world rules, the setting contradicts itself, or the author wants a new location or system.

## Inputs and assumptions

Start with the story need and existing rules. Do not assume the author wants exhaustive lore.

## Portable workflow

1. Identify the decisions the setting must enable or constrain.
2. Define the rule, its cost, its limits, who can use it, and who benefits from controlling access.
3. Test ordinary consequences for work, travel, law, family, economics, and conflict where relevant.
4. Find edge cases that would trivialize the plot. Repair the rule with costs or scope, not arbitrary exceptions introduced at the climax.
5. Build places through usable geography, routines, sensory details, and competing interests.
6. Separate fictional invention from claims about real cultures or history. Research the latter when necessary.
7. Save focused notes and unresolved questions according to [the project workflow](../../references/project-workflow.md).

## Safety and side effects

Ask before changing established rules. Avoid treating real communities as interchangeable exotic props. No external research or publishing is automatic.

## Scripts, references, and dependencies

No required services. Use the sibling research skill when the author needs factual support.

## Verification

Check whether the rules solve the story's problem too easily, whether costs have consequences, and whether new lore contradicts cited manuscript evidence.

## Pi adapter

Use `/writer worldbuilding --brief "Design a memory-based magic system with costs that matter outside combat"`.