Worldbuilding Exchange (v3)

Midway Through Creation Period, 6 Pinch Hits Remaining

Sat, 18 Apr 2026 00:56:44 GMT

Posted by: mimihylea

We have just over four weeks until works are due, and we still have some pinch hits! These are due at the same time as normal assignments, May 16 at 9pm EDT (Countdown). To claim, please either comment on this post (comments will be screened) or email us at worldbuildmod@gmail.com and include your AO3 user name and the number or recipient username of the pinch hit you are claiming!

PH 1 - NoPixel (Web Series), 文豪ストレイドッグス | Bungou Stray Dogs, 仙王的日常生活 | The Daily Life of the Immortal King (Cartoon)

( PH 1 )

PH 2 - Children of Time Series - Adrian Tchaikovsky, Young Wizards - Diane Duane, Firefall Series - Peter Watts

( PH 2 )

PH 4 - Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023), Henry Danger (TV), Rufus (2016 2017)

( PH 4 )

PH 5 - Star Ocean: The Second Story | Second Evolution, Phantasy Star, Live A Live (Video Game), Xenoblade Chronicles (Video Game), Chrono Trigger

( PH 5 )

PH 7 - Dinotopia - James Gurney, KinnPorsche: The Series (TV), บ้านหลอน ON SALE | Peaceful Property (TV)

( PH 7 )

PH 8 - Project Wingman (Video Game), Ace Combat (Video Games), Warframe

( PH 8 )

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Initial Pinch Hits

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 23:22:35 GMT

Posted by: mimihylea

We have some initial pinch hits! These are due at the same time as normal assignments, May 16 at 9pm EDT. To claim, please either comment on this post (comments will be screened) or email us at worldbuildmod@gmail.com and include your AO3 user name and the number or recipient username of the pinch hit you are claiming!

( PH 1 - NoPixel (Web Series), 文豪ストレイドッグス | Bungou Stray Dogs, 仙王的日常生活 | The Daily Life of the Immortal King (Cartoon) )

( (PH 2 - Children of Time Series - Adrian Tchaikovsky, Young Wizards - Diane Duane, Firefall Series - Peter Watts) )

( Claimed! - PH 3 - If the Emperor Had a Text-to-Speech Device (Web Series), Warhammer 40.000, Disco Elysium (Video Game), Warframe )

( PH 4 - Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023), Henry Danger (TV), Rufus (2016 2017) )

( PH 5 - Star Ocean: The Second Story | Second Evolution, Phantasy Star, Live A Live (Video Game), Xenoblade Chronicles (Video Game), Chrono Trigger )

( Claimed! - PH 6 - The Windrose Chronicles - Barbara Hambly, Fandom: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types )

( PH 7 - Dinotopia - James Gurney, KinnPorsche: The Series (TV), บ้านหลอน ON SALE | Peaceful Property (TV) )

( PH 8 - Project Wingman (Video Game), Ace Combat (Video Games), Warframe )

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Assignments are out!

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 03:27:21 GMT

Posted by: mimihylea

Assignments have been sent! You should receive an email, and you can also access it via your "My Assignments" page on AO3. Assignments are due on Saturday May 16 at 9pm EDT, and must match one (or more) character tag, one (or more) worldbuilding tag, and one medium that your recipient requested. Please keep your assignment secret until reveals. If you need to ask your recipient any clarifying questions about their request or DNWs, please email the mods to pass on your question.

As a reminder, assignment minimums for each medium are:

Fanfiction - a complete fic of at least 1000 words

Fanart - a finished piece of art, not on lined paper

In-Universe Media - a complete piece of in-universe media (any format of text or documents that might exist in-universe) of at least 1000 words

Podfic - a complete podfic of an existing work (fic or in-universe media) of at least 1000 words, OR podfic of a newly written work of at least 500 words.

Additional posting guidelines are in the Rules post here.

If you did not receive an assignment that matches your offers, please email us ASAP. If you need to default at any point, you can either email us or click the "Default" button on your assignment on AO3.

Feel free to reach out with any other questions! Comments on this post are public, or you can reach us privately at worldbuildmod@gmail.com.

Initial Pinch Hits will be posted within the next 24 hours.

Happy worldbuilding!

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Matching in Progress! Check your email

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 01:58:07 GMT

Posted by: mimihylea

Sign-ups are now closed and matching is in progress! If your username starts with O or d, please check the email associated with your AO3 account for an email from worldbuildmod@gmail.com. When we've heard back, or in about 24h (whichever is sooner), we'll finalize matching and send out assignments!

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2 Days Left to Sign up!

Thu, 19 Mar 2026 22:58:26 GMT

Posted by: mimihylea

There are two days left to sign up! Sign-ups are open here and will close on Saturday March 21 9pm EDT (Countdown)

In the tag set, some fandoms you are familiar with may be classified under "Uncategorized Fandoms" - don't forget to check there for fandoms you may be interested in.

Please read the sign-up instructions here!

Key reminders:
You must request at least three and offer at least four distinct fandoms, defined as fandoms that do not share an "All Media Types" or similar franchise parent or metatag. You're welcome to request multiple subsets of the fandom (or the same fandom more than once) as long as your signup overall meets those minimums.

You will be matched on one (or more) character tags, one (or more) worldbuilding elements, and one (or more) medium type. Please ensure that for each of your requests and offers, you are happy matching on any combination of your selected tags across those categories!

Please state any "Do Not Wants" ("DNWs") in the AO3 optional details box for each request, or include a statement that you have no DNWs. DNWs should be clear, neutrally phrased, not contradict any of your requests, and not box your creator into creating one very specific type of fanwork.

Listing likes and/or prompts in your optional details (or in a linked letter) is encouraged but optional.

The boundary between "Fanfiction" and "In-Universe Media" is intentionally somewhat fuzzy: if you are signing up to receive one but not the other and have strong preferences about which side of that boundary you would like your gift to be on, or certain types of media you do not want to receive, please make that clear in your optional details.

Still have questions? Comment here (comments will be publicly visible) or email us at worldbuildmod@gmail.com.

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2026 Signups Open!

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 01:04:23 GMT

Posted by: mimihylea

Links:
Tagset
Collection
Rules
Mod Contact: worldbuildmod@gmail.com

Signups are now open! They will close on Saturday March 21 9pm EDT (Countdown)

In the tag set, some fandoms you are familiar with may be classified under "Uncategorized Fandoms" - don't forget to check there for fandoms you may be interested in.

Still have questions? Comment here (comments will be publicly visible) or email us at worldbuildmod@gmail.com.

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Query Post #3

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 02:07:57 GMT

Posted by: mimihylea

Thanks everyone for your nominations and clarifications so far! We’re still working through final approvals and replying to responses on previous query posts.

Nominations have closed, but mods will manually update/add tags based on query post replies made before March 12 at 7pm EDT (UTC-4). Signups will then open March 12 at 9pm EDT. In the meantime, we’ll be working on approving final nominations, checking the tagset, and making sure the Original Characters and Any or No Characters tags are available for each fandom. We’ll also be removing any fandoms without worldbuilding tags. If you spot any errors or tags that have wandered out of their intended fandom, have rejected tags that you think shouldn’t have been, or have pending tags that haven’t been queried, please let us know!

For the following fandoms: we have questions about one or more tags. If you’re the nominator, please include a link to your nominations page in your response.

Pirates of the Caribbean (Movies) - For WB: Elizabeth's Similarities to Calypso (Pirates of the Caribbean), this seems more like a character study or meta-analysis prompt than worldbuilding; could you clarify?

Pluto (Manga) - For WB: Atom grieving post-canon (Pluto), this seems more like a character study or plot prompt than worldbuilding; could you clarify?

Spider-Man: Spider-Verse (Sony Animated Movies) - For WB: What Are The Different Canon Events of Spider-Man's Life, could you clarify what you’re looking for here?

Spider-Punk (2022 Marvel Comics) - For WB: How do Earth-138's Deaf Daredevil Power work? Is she mutant or is there a version of the HAND in the Spider-Punk Universe?, we’d like to simplify this to WB: How do Earth-138's Deaf Daredevil Power work?; does this work for you? For WB: Norman Osborne as President of Earth-138 and how it affected Kingpin and Daredevil's relationship, we’d like to simplify this to WB: Effects of Norman Osborne’s Presidency; does that work for you?

The Old Guard (Movies 2020 2025) - For Any Immortal Character (The Old Guard), we are not accepting “Any” descriptor character nominations. Would you like to specify specific immortal characters or a worldbuilding aspect relating to immortals?

The Trials Series - Quinn Audio - For WB: Theo and Jane's first meeting in college (TT), this seems more like a relationship or plot prompt than worldbuilding; could you clarify?

Hallo itt Mátyás király! - Bogáti Péter - For WB: Modern archaeologists discovering Károly's copper cylinder, this seems like a specific plot prompt and we're having trouble finding canon context; would something along the lines of WB: Archaeology or WB: Archaeology of the Canon Time Period fit what you're looking for?

NoPixel (Web Series) - For WB: The Nerds Prior to Los Santos, WB: Yeager Demonblood's Childhood, and WB: Yuno Sykk's Childhood, these seem more like character study prompts than worldbuilding; could you clarify?

When the Angels Left the Old Country - Sacha Lamb - For WB: Religious Experiences as a Metaphor for Queerness, is this something that is understood/discussed as a metaphor in universe? If so, we’ll approve it, if not, this seems like meta-analysis outside the scope of this exchange.

ここは今から倫理です。| Koko wa Ima Kara Rinri Desu | From Now On We Begin Ethics (Manga) - For WB: Takayanagi's Childhood, WB: Takayanagi's Home Life, and WB: Tokigawa's Home Life, these seem more like character study prompts than worldbuilding; could you clarify?

仙王的日常生活 | The Daily Life of the Immortal King (Cartoon) - For WB: Froggy's Daily Life, this seems more like a character study prompt than worldbuilding; could you clarify?

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Query Post #2

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 23:34:29 GMT

Posted by: mimihylea

Thanks everyone for your nominations and clarifications so far! We’re still working through the nomination queue, but if not all of yours have been approved, please check below (and/or in Query Post #1) for questions and clarifications.

As a reminder, please nominate characters in the character slot, and worldbuilding topics in the relationship slot (formatted as "WB: Topic (Canon)"). Relationships ("Character A/Character B") will be rejected. Please also disambiguate all nominations with the name of the canon in parentheses.

For the following fandoms: we have questions about the fandom as nominated, or about one or more worldbuilding tags. If you’re the nominator, please include a link to your nominations page in your response.

DC Comics - For WB: Gotham and Metropolis as Sentient Cities, are the cities sentient in canon, or is this a prompt for an AU where they are sentient? If the latter, that’s not really worldbuilding within the scope of this exchange.

Dungeons and Dragons Cartoon - For WB: Characters Forced to Return to The Realm, this seems more like a plot and/or character study prompt; can you clarify how it is worldbuilding? For WB: How Long are The Kids in the Realm?, this seems like a question with a short answer; can you clarify what you would be looking for in a fill for this tag?

Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood - For Chris "Madam Christmas" Mustang's Girls (FMAB), we are not accepting group nominations for characters. Could you specify a particular girl, or an aspect of worldbuilding relating to this group?

Loki - For Character: Other Loki Variants, we’re not accepting group nominations for characters, but given the fandom context we’ll accept WB: Other Loki Variants (Loki TV).

Marvel Cinematic Universe - For WB: Influence of Sarah Rogers on Captain America and WB: Influence of Steve's time in the USO on him, these seem more like character-study prompts than world-building; can you clarify?

Masters of the Universe: Revelations/Revolution - For WB: What Happens After Adam's Death (MOTU: R), this seems more like a plot prompt than worldbuilding; can you clarify?

Iron Lung - For WB: What happened at Filament Station (Iron Lung) and WB: What happened to the rest of humanity (Iron Lung), these seem more like plot prompts than worldbuilding; can you clarify?

Jean Robertson Series - For WB: Carse, WB: Castle versus Town, and WB: Up the Burn, we’re not sure what these mean and are having trouble finding fandom details; can you clarify?

Philosophers Series - For WB: Eupheus and Kite Jockeys/Fresh Gale on the High Sonora, we’re not sure what this means and are having trouble finding fandom details; can you clarify?

If you nominated a tag that was rejected and you don’t think it should have been, please let us know your nominations page.

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Extended Nominations and Query Post #1

Sun, 08 Mar 2026 14:10:53 GMT

Posted by: mimihylea

Thanks everyone for your nominations so far! Due to AO3’s technical issues earlier this week and where we’re currently at with processing nominations, we’re extending nominations by two days to Tuesday March 10 at 9pm EDT. We still plan to open sign ups on schedule on Thursday the 12th. We’re still working through the nomination queue, but if not all of yours have been approved, please see the questions and clarifications below.

Please nominate characters in the character slot, and worldbuilding topics in the relationship slot (formatted as "WB: Topic (Canon)"). Relationships ("Character A/Character B") will be rejected. Worldbuilding tags nominated in the character slot will be rejected.

For the following fandoms, please edit nominations to use character slots for characters and relationship slots for worldbuilding topics:

Inglourious Basterds (2009)

Loki (TV 2021)

Please don't nominate specific types of original characters other than gender. For example, "Original Female Character(s) (DC Comics)" can be nominated, but not "Original Superhero Character(s) (DC Comics)". For the following fandoms, please edit nominations to avoid specific types of original characters (but worldbuilding prompts that might use such characters are welcome):

Harry Potter (Books Only)

For the following fandoms: we have questions about the fandom as nominated, or about one or more worldbuilding tags. If you’re the nominator, please include a link to your nominations page in your response.

Disco Elysium (Video Game) - For WB: First Meeting(s) and WB: You held a young woman by the arm and kept her in your apartment for 20 minutes against her will, the first is very broad and the second is very specific. Can you clarify how these are worldbuilding tags? For WB: Cunoesse's Backstory, this seems more like a character study tag--can you clarify?

Fire Emblem: Awakening - For WB: Future children trying to deal with knowing their younger parents in the present and WB: Future children´s relationships and/or memories of their parents, these seem more like plot or character study prompts--can you clarify how they are worldbuilding?

Gladiator (Movies - Scott) - For WB: The illness affecting Emperor Caracalla, can you clarify how this is a worldbuilding tag distinct from real-world illnesses?

If the Emperor Had a Text-to-Speech Device (Web Series) - Several nominated but unapproved tags seem more like plot prompts than worldbuilding; can you clarify?

Minecraft: Story Mode (Video Game) - For WB: Exploring a Woodland Mansion, this seems more like a plot prompt--can you clarify how it is worldbuilding? For WB: Exploring features from a mod of your choice, this exchange doesn't generally use "creator's choice" tags; can you specify a target mod? For WB: Xara's Escape Attempts from the Sunshine Institute, this seems more like a character prompt than worldbuilding, would you be okay with this being changed to just WB: Escape Attempts from the Sunshine Institute?

Moon Knight (Marvel Comics) and Moon Knight (Original Ultimate Marvel Universe) - Several nominated but unapproved tags seem to be more plot prompts or character studies than worldbuilding; can you clarify?

Phantasy Star - For WB: Odin and Myau's pre-game adventures, this seems more like a plot and/or character study prompt; can you clarify how it is worldbuilding?

If you nominated a tag that was rejected and you don’t think it should have been, or if a fandom you nominated was approved along with some but not all of the associated characters or WB tags, please let us know your nominations page.

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Nominations are open!

Mon, 02 Mar 2026 01:41:17 GMT

Posted by: mimihylea

Nominations for Worldbuilding Exchange 2026 are now open! Nominate at the tagset here.

You may nominate up to five fandoms. For each fandom, there are five character slots and six "worldbuilding" slots. Because of the limitations of AO3 tag sets, we will be using the "Relationship" field for worldbuilding elements.

Nominate only single characters in the Character field; groups or relationships (/ or &) will be rejected.

Nominate only worldbuilding tags in the Relationship field; groups or relationships (/ or &) will be rejected. All worldbuilding tags should start with the prefix "WB: ".

Fandoms must have at least one worldbuilding tag nominated by the end of nominations, or they will be rejected.

See the full nomination rules below:

Fandoms

( Read more... )

Characters

( Read more... )

Worldbuilding

( Read more... )

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Evidence Post (2026)

Sun, 01 Mar 2026 21:40:34 GMT

Posted by: mimihylea

Please comment on this post if you are nominating:

A crossover fandom, in which case please point us to the episode, installment, or other canon piece of media where the franchises are shown to share a universe
A recursive fandom, in which case please link to a public statement by the author permitting transformative works
A worldbuilding tag that might seem to overlap closely with the real world, in which case please explain why the fandom context makes it distinct

Missing evidence will be queried, but posting evidence in advance is much appreciated and will streamline nominations!

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2026 Rules and Guidelines

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 21:30:28 GMT

Posted by: mimihylea

The rules for the Worldbuilding Exchange v3 are mostly taken from the previous incarnation of this exchange.

Quick Links: Schedule | Tag Set | Collection | Evidence Post | Mod contact: worldbuildmod@gmail.com

What is "worldbuilding"?

For the purposes of this exchange, "worldbuilding" is defined as any exploration of how a fictional world works beyond the information presented in canon. This includes (but is not limited to) more detailed extrapolation of information presented in canon, filling in gaps in the canon backstory, attempts to reconcile apparent contradictions in canon information, exploring the perspectives on canon events of characters implied to exist but not considered within the canon, and so on.

This exchange allows all fandoms whose content is predominantly fictional. RPF or fandoms that are largely based on historical figures or events with very little fictionalization are not eligible. (For example, the film “Lincoln” would not be accepted, but “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Slayer” would be.)

It is absolutely fine for the gift you create to be an action-adventure story/shippy fanart/etc (provided your recipient hasn't expressed a desire for you to avoid such things), so long as there are also worldbuilding elements present in a significant way.

Participants are expected to create one of:

Fanfiction - a complete fic of at least 1000 words

Fanart - a finished piece of art, not on lined paper

In-Universe Media - a complete piece of in-universe media (any format of text or documents that might exist in-universe) of at least 1000 words

Podfic - a complete podfic of an existing work (fic or in-universe media) of at least 1000 words, OR podfic of a newly written work of at least 500 words.

When you sign up, you will need to request at least three fandoms with distinct lore, and offer at least four. The maximum number for both requests and offers will be ten. You may request/offer the same fandom in more than one slot, but the total number of distinct fandoms must still be three or more (for requests) or four or more (for offers). You may request specific characters, Any or No Characters, or Original Characters, or any combination of these. If you choose Any or No Characters, this means any characters in the canon, not just in the tagset; however, you may DNW particular characters from the canon. You may specify a gender for original work characters if that gendered tag was nominated in that fandom.

Worldbuilding tags are requested in the relationship slot and are specific to each fandom.

Nominations

( Read more... )

Signups
( Read more... )

Posting
( Read more... )

Mod Contact

If you have any questions, you can contact the mods via email at worldbuildmod@gmail.com or comment on this post (please note that this post is unscreened and comments will be public). If you do not have a Dreamwidth account, you may comment anonymously, but please sign your comment in some way.

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2026 Schedule

Wed, 11 Feb 2026 21:47:53 GMT

Posted by: mimihylea

Hello and welcome to Version 3 of the Worldbuilding Exchange! A big thank you to everyone who made the prior incarnations, Version 1 and Version 2, the wonderful exchanges they were!

Our schedule for 2026 is:
Nominations: Sunday March 1 - Sunday March 8
Signups: Thursday March 12 - Saturday March 21
Assignments Due: Saturday May 16
Work Reveals: Friday May 29
Creator Reveals: Friday June 5

Deadlines are 9pm EDT (UTC-4).

Rules are posted here!

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