Quick Six: Transportation
This week's collection of worldbuilding and writing prompts are designed to help you dig into the lore around transportation and travel in your fictional worlds.
Quick Six 2/8/2025: Transportation and Travel
How people and goods move around your world is as important as the modes and methods used for doing so. This week’s collection of writing prompts are designed to help you dig deeper into the lore behind the who, what, when, where, why, and how of transportation in your world!
Somewhere in your world, describe…
Who:
…someone who achieved fame by setting a transportation record.
Did they make the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs? Perhaps they made the first solo flight across an ocean? Or the fastest land-speed record? Competition against each other or against ourselves can be a powerful motivator to establish or break records.
What:
…something that requires special conditions when transported.
From frozen food to medical patients, transporting people or materials in need of special care requires extra thought, extra effort, and perhaps even extra equipment.
When:
…a time when transportation was restricted.
What caused the restriction and how were people affected? Was there a landslide or did a bridge collapse? An energy crisis, travel laws, or a curfew? Are certain people unable to use certain
Where:
…an extremely remote place that is difficult to reach.
The other side of a steep canyon, a wide river, outer space. People need — or just want — to get to dangerous and difficult places, but the logistics of doing so often require extreme efforts of planning and construction.
Why:
…the reason why a mode of transportation or travel was phased out.
The world is full of obsolete and inefficient methods of moving. In our own history we have mostly given up the horse and buggy in favor cars and trucks, steam locomotives have given way to trains propelled by electricity and magnetism.
How:
…the most popular form of transportation in your world.
This one’s just for fun, take a little bit of time to find something amazing and wonderful about how transportation and travel move through your world. Is there a favorite vehicle or ship? A favorite riding animal or a preferred unicycle?
Tomorrow:
In addition to wrapping up the week, tomorrow, February 9th is when GenCon badges go on sale. Friends, if you are at all interested in coming to GenCon then get your badge early. They will sell out. They do year after year. So make sure you’ve signed up for official GenCon emails!
