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The Sunlit Hearth: How to Make Fantasy Traveling Fun
Sunfire
CONTENTS
Overview
One of the best parts of exploring a fictional world is seeing what it has to offer that doesn’t exist in the real world whether it be the animals, trees, various environments, and so forth. It is precisely for this reason why many stories place a heavy focus on adventuring, giving the audience the chance to see the world in all of its glory. Fantasy traveling by itself isn’t inherently interesting but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t ignore it completely. If you play your cards right, you can make it equally compelling as the main plot itself.
One of the core functions of fantasy traveling is to showcase the things that comprise the world, making it what it is. Thus, as a creator, it is incumbent upon you to feature a decent amount of various landscapes and have key beats of the main plot occur in said landscapes. Not only does the various landscapes look visually appealing, they enrich the lore, further making the world more interesting than before.
Just as in the real world, traveling has its challenges. Throwing different kinds at your protagonist and his party not only helps your viewers form a connection with them but they also solidify their relationships with each other which will pay dividends down the road. You’d like to utilize challenges that fit both the vibe of the world but the characters themselves, giving them a chance to show their true mettle (or lack of).
Fantasy traveling is far more intriguing when there are multiple characters involved. They are forced to interact in order to succeed, whether they be going through a mine, navigating a forest full of twisted trees and poison, or scaling a cliff. There is a treasure trove’s worth of gold in terms of storytelling potential to be mined when a group of people are adventuring together with each one of them having their own motives.
This is article number thirty in The Sunlit Hearth series. If you like this article and want to see what else we have to offer, mosey on over to our blog page where there’s a plethora of articles you can peruse at your leisure!
Fantasy Traveling 101: Use Diverse Landscapes
Traveling by itself isn’t compelling storytelling which is why it’s imperative that you spruce it up. One superb way to do so is to incorporate different landscapes. When people explore a fantasy world for the first time, they want to see what it looks like, what environments exist in said world.
Many fictional worlds borrow many environments from the real world. Mountains, volcanoes, oceans, and so on make it easy for the audience to immerse themselves in these wondrous realms since they have some familiarity with them. They want to see how they connect to one another, are these connections similar to those of the real world, or is there a fantasy element involved?
While seeing places based off on the real world might be interesting, one place where fantasy traveling truly shines is to showcase environments that have no real world equivalent. They could be a gigantic mushroom forest, an advanced technological civilization, an area drenched in lava, or something else. Seeing these amazing areas is sure to inspire excitement among the audience since they’re seeing them for the first time.
Incorporating various landscapes into the world is one thing, integrating them in the story is something else. You don’t want to just inject them in just to add some visual backdrop, they need to be connected to the main plot. Your protagonist must have a reason to travel to these locales and a smart creator knows just how to make it happen.
The best way to use fantasy traveling in this scenario is to have some kind of trouble plaguing these places. You see this in many media, mostly video games where the background becomes part of the story, as the protagonist goes from land to land, solving crises affecting them which are caused by monsters who serve the big bad. Said crises range from a swarm of the undead wreaking havoc on a town, an ice storm that never ends, or a volcano that constantly erupts.
Feature Challenges in Fantasy Traveling
It’s safe to say that the main action regarding fantasy traveling takes place in the areas that are important plot-wise but that doesn’t necessarily mean you should overlook the in-between. In fact, you can use it to your advantage to create drama that is equally compelling as the former.
The best way to do this is to include challenges and obstacles that your protagonist and his party must overcome if they wish to reach their destination. There are several ways to go about this and one such is to use the terrain to as a natural obstacle. Maybe the bridge to a town in the middle of an gargantuan lake is damaged severely and the protagonist must find a way to get there without crossing it or using a boat since the water is too treacherous to sail. The hero must find a way to get in and get there which can make for compelling storytelling.
Much like traveling in real world, going from one place to another in an imaginary world presents challenges. People have to stock up on supplies, carry the appropriate clothes so that they don’t get too hot or too cold, and have protection in case they’re attacked by wild animals or vicious bandits. Featuring these challenges adds a touch of realism in the story and are ones people readily identify with.
When devising challenges to use for fantasy traveling, come up with ones that work the best for your characters and the world. The goal here is to make them feel organic, not merely shoehorned in just to inject some artificial drama. For instance, suppose the hero has to enter a volcano to investigate why it is acting erratically, showing his difficulties in scaling it makes sense and fits right in what’s going on at that moment and that’s before he discovers the source of the volcano’s odd behavior.
Another sort of challenge you can use is to focus on the party’s interpersonal dynamics. Not all members of a crew will get along, leading to natural tension within the group. The beauty of this is this can be used all the way to the end, right before everyone faces off with the main villain.
Character Interactions and Fantasy Traveling
An important part of fantasy traveling, especially when with a group, is seeing how different characters interact with each other. Viewers want to see how they fare with each other, whether they get along or have differences of opinions. A great deal of stories that feature a group dynamic as they adventure together do this perfectly, creating memorable moments that persist long after the story’s ended.
A fascinating part of this aspect is that the group itself doesn’t remain fixed throughout the plot. Some people leave and other join at various points, and each coming and going causes a change in the overall group dynamic, leading to either stronger relationships or weakening them altogether. The members of the traveling crew each have their own goals and objectives to attain, some of which are in alignment with the group as a whole and others that diverge sharply from the main goal.
How characters interact — speaking of which, we have an entire article dedicated to interactions so be sure to check it out! — with each other is driven by who they are at heart and their outlook on the world and the other members of the party. These interactions affect how they get along and how they reach the goal or their destination. They range from friendly to outright hostile which can put the group’s mission at risk of falling apart.
What makes fantasy traveling so fascinating when it comes to character interactions is how they change to match the situation or circumstances at any given moment. For instance, when going through a peaceful forest, they are more likely to be friendly and lighthearted as opposed to those that occur when navigating a dangerous area such as a tomb or dungeon filled with enemies. It’s interesting to see how different characters deal with different situations and how they act towards their fellow party members.
Fantasy traveling is an invaluable part of not just the story but the world itself. Through it your viewers see a world larger than the one they’ve seen thus far and if you present it in a way that catches their attention, they’ll want to learn as much about it as they can and tying it to key story beats strengthen the connection between the two. If you play your cards right, it can impact the story in meaningful ways and vice-versa!
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Thanks for reading this and until the next time,
Sunfire
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