It helps you imagine
Useful prompts turn a blank page into a starting point. The tools should help you ask better questions about your world without demanding every answer at once.
For the worlds only you can imagine
Worldbuilding software.
Limitless possibilities.
Create the people, places, and history that make your setting yours. World Anvil brings your lore, interactive maps, timelines, writing, and campaigns into one connected creative home.
What makes great worldbuilding software?
More than a place to keep notes.
A place to make connections.
It keeps your world coherent
Characters, geography, history, and relationships belong together. You should be able to follow a connection and find a detail when you need it.
It brings your work to life
Your setting deserves to be used: in a novel, around the table, or by readers exploring its lore. A great tool helps you move from preparation to storytelling.
Inspiration, with room to breathe
Start with a spark.
Build something extraordinary.
A great worldbuilding app helps you develop an idea without taking ownership of it. World Anvil’s worldbuilding templates give characters, settlements, organizations, and other parts of your setting a useful starting structure. Prompts invite you to consider the details that make each one memorable.
Describe a city’s trade, a character’s motivation, or the custom that divides two cultures. Begin with the details that matter now; return to the rest when your story needs them. You do not need to fill an encyclopedia before you can create.
Organization that tells a story
Every detail has
a place in the world.
A folder can store a character biography. A connected world can show where that character lives, whom they serve, and why their family is at war. World Anvil combines linked wiki articles, categories, and search so your notes become a setting you can navigate.
Give each person and place a home, then link them where they appear in your lore. Organize your articles into useful categories instead of maintaining the same explanation in several documents. When inspiration brings you back to an old idea, you can follow the connections around it.
An example: one idea, a world of connections
- The disgraced heirA character with a claim to the throne.
- The vanished kingdomA homeland, a culture, and a reason to return.
- The broken allianceA relationship that gives your next story its conflict.
Geography you can explore
Let your map
open the story.
Good worldbuilding software makes geography useful. Upload your map to World Anvil, add markers, and connect places to their articles. A reader can discover the city behind a name; a game master can reach the location behind the party’s next adventure.
Link maps together to move between scales, from a continent to a city and its important locations. Your map becomes a way into the world you have written, with the surrounding lore close at hand.
History and relationships
Give your world
roots that run deep.
Believable settings have a past. Use timelines to organize the events behind today’s conflicts, family trees to follow a dynasty, and relationship tools to make connections visible. These different views help you explore questions a list of notes can hide.
Who inherited the crown? Which war changed the border? Why do two factions still distrust each other? Record the answers in your lore and use the appropriate view to keep the bigger picture understandable.
Build the cause, not just the event
- A promiseTwo houses agree to unite their kingdoms.
- A consequenceA disputed inheritance breaks the alliance.
- A storyYour characters inherit a conflict they did not begin.
A world worth sharing
Make it feel
like your world.
The best worldbuilding software serves both the creator and the audience. World Anvil lets you present your lore as a world people can explore, with illustrated articles, linked maps, and a distinctive visual identity.
Choose a world theme and develop the presentation as your project grows. Use the available access controls to separate what readers or players may discover from the material you need to keep private. Privacy and advanced customization depend on membership.
One creative home
Your setting is ready.
Where will it take you?
To the writing desk
Develop your world bible and write with Manuscripts. Keep the setting and the stories it inspires in the same platform.
To the gaming table
Use the RPG campaign manager to turn locations, characters, and conflicts into adventures you can prepare and run.
To your next idea
World Anvil runs in your browser. Start with one article, then add maps, history, and other tools as you need them. Follow a simple starting path.
A little clarity
Your next chapter,
without the guesswork.
Do I need to learn every feature first?
No. Start with one character or location and link a second article when it becomes useful. The wider toolset is there for your next step; it is not a checklist you must complete.
Is World Anvil free?
You can start creating with a free account. Memberships add features and capacity, including privacy options. See the current plan details.
Built with our community
Your world grows.
So do your tools.
Always moving forward
Explore the changelog for improvements to writing, worldbuilding, and the everyday experience of creating. See what has changed and put it to work in your world.
Your ideas have a voice
Use community suggestions to share the changes you want to see and support ideas from other creators. Your experience helps shape what comes next.
Begin for free
Create a free account and start with a small project. Explore memberships when you need more capacity, privacy, or advanced tools. Choose the tools that serve your next step.
Make room for your next idea
Why choose World Anvil?
Look beyond your first page of notes. Choose a home for the world, the stories, and the adventures still to come.
For the campaign that keeps growing
World Anvil
vs Kanka
Bring your session preparation, living lore, player discoveries, and future stories into one creative home.
Compare with KankaFor a world with more to reveal
World Anvil
vs LegendKeeper
Connect your atlas to timelines, family trees, rich worldbuilding templates, and a world your audience can explore.
Compare with LegendKeeperFor stories that live beyond the novel
World Anvil
vs Campfire
Develop your world, draft with Manuscripts, and bring the same setting to readers and the gaming table.
Compare with CampfireYour next creative chapter
Follow your
next idea.
Explore our worldbuilding software, prepare your next adventure with the RPG campaign manager, or compare worldbuilding tools.
Begin with the part of your world you cannot wait to create. Give it a home, make a connection, and let the next idea follow.
Every great world starts somewhere
Let yours start here.
Start Creating! It’s FreeDive deeper and learn about how World Anvil can help you!