What makes a world?

[snakefing]

Well, in a nutshell, an RPG world comes alive for me if it excites my imagination, ginning up ideas for interesting plots, characters, storylines, etc.

Ultimately, that's where the rubber meet the road. Personally, I think this is the weakest part of my own world development - it interests me, but I have a hard time communicating that to readers, because I get so wound up in the details that I don't really get my character and storyline ideas across very well. So even if those details were well-described and painstakingly worked out, it still won't inspire much.

Well worked out bits of history, geography, economics, or even just a well-described NPC or organization can be inspiring. What is important is just that these are detailed enough to suggest the context, concerns, and conflicts that will support interesting characters and storylines.

For example, in some worlds, the history will suggest conflicts and on-going concerns that will provide grist for the mill. In another world (say, a post-apocalyptic one where history is forgotten anyway), it might be current politics and resource scarcity. You can't put your finger on any one thing that works for everyone in every setting.

For me personally, it is basically a melding of history and culture with some kind of overall thematic unity. But don't ask me how I get that into my worlds, because I don't think I do a very good job of it. i know what I'm trying to get at, but I tend to get sidetracked into pointless and non-unifying development.