Overview

Landscape science tells fascinating stories, whether in fiction or a role-playing game. Earth's varied terrain provides many examples of scene-specific challenges and resources for story characters, with distinctive land features, compelling locations, and intriguing traits. Landslides, floods, coastal erosion, glacier movement, and volcanism can deliver fresh plot points and alter the social character of an imagined region. Characters traveling different river types encounter very different puzzles, opportunities, and combat environments and the same variety awaits within other classic settings, such as caves, mountains, deserts, shorelines, and volcanic zones. Atypical landscapes such as tundra, karst, and vast glacier surfaces can breathe fresh air into any stories. This handbook is a reference source for creative writing and game world building. It delves deeply into many landscape characteristics that help set the tone, shape character behavior, and drive the plot. Chapters are divided into diverse geographic environments, from rivers and shorelines to caves and volcanoes, and show how knowledge of the terrain can deliver plot points, add veracity, pose key problems, establish conflict, and lead into the next scene. Discover how authors and game masters effectively weave land and terrain into their stories.

Full Product Details

Author:   Scott Rice-Snow
Publisher:   McFarland & Co Inc
Imprint:   McFarland & Co Inc
Dimensions:   Width: 17.80cm , Height: 1.30cm , Length: 25.40cm
Weight:   0.454kg
ISBN:  

9781476683577

ISBN 10:   1476683573
Pages:   250
Publication Date:   04 May 2022
Recommended Age:   From 18 years
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents Preface Introduction Features of the Chapters On Magic and Technology 1. Rivers Stream Channels Stream Valleys Meandering Rivers Braided Rivers Other River Types River Change 2. Deserts Desert Terrain Rain in the Desert Streams in the Desert Desert Hillslopes Desert Rock Formations Sand Dunes 3. Wooded Lowlands Why Focus on the Woods? Processes Shaping the Land Navigating the Woods Lasting Effects of Continental Ice Sheets 4. Mountains The Shapes of Mountains Active Mountain Landscapes Where Glaciers Have Been 5. Glaciers Glacier Types Glacier Movement On a Glacier’s Surface Beneath the Ice At the Ice Margin 6. Tundra Permafrost Flowing Soil Upheaving Stones 7. Karst Landscapes Sinkholes Karren Tall Karst Water Flow in Karst 8. Caves Layouts of Cavern Systems Passage Types Floor, Wall, and Ceiling Features Cave Entrances Cave Weather 9. Volcanic Landscapes Types of Eruption Land Features Created by Volcanism As Volcanic Landscapes Age Hydrothermal Activity 10. Shorelines Beaches Bedrock Shorelines Other Shoreline Settings 11. Continent-Scale World Building Mountains Rivers Lowlands Deserts Volcanic Areas Shorelines Ocean Islands Landscape Regions and Character Backgrounds Index

Reviews

"""Invaluable an innovative resource for the novelist and the video game creator. Exceptionally well written, organize and presented...unique...recommended.""--Midwest Book Review"

Author Information

Scott Rice-Snow is an emeritus professor of geological sciences at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, with published research in river, glacial, and karst geomorphology, as well as hydrology, geoarchaeology, and geoscience education. He also hosts the ground4inspiration.net website, documenting unique landscape features and their narrative/gameplay potential.

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