I’m doing some worldbuilding for a homebrew setting. After deciding on the general concept I decided to use some improvised plate tectonics to build the geography.

First I cut up an old city map. The city districts make for semi-random tectonic plates.

Next, I pushed the plates a bit. I noted where fault lines might create volcanic activity and where the plates impacted.

Next, I pushed the plates to their final layout. I noted again where fault lines be creating volcanic activity and where were plates impacting.

I then outlined the continents on the big piece of paper and started writing down notes on specific geography.

This process populated the world map with new and old mountains from plate tectonics. It also highlighted areas to add mountains and islands from volcanic activity later.

So there you have it. It’s not the most accurate take on plate tectonics but it effectively sets up unique world geography without too much effort.

As a preview for my next post: I converted the resulting world map to vector graphics and am beginning to add in details. Later, I’ll reference back to my volcanic activity notes to add those landmasses and will make some revisions to reflect erosion.