About r/worldbuilding
In its own words:
For artists, writers, gamemasters, musicians, programmers, philosophers and scientists alike! The creation of new worlds and new universes has long been a key element of speculative fiction, from the fantasy works of Tolkien and Le Guin, to the science-fiction universes of Delany and Asimov, to the tabletop realm of Gygax and Barker, and beyond. This subreddit is about sharing your worlds, discovering the creations of others, and discussing the many aspects of creating new universes.
Community guide
r/worldbuilding (#571, about 1.9 million subscribers) — For artists, writers, gamemasters, musicians, programmers, philosophers and scientists alike! The creation of new worlds and new universes has long been a key element of speculative fiction, from the fantasy works of… A recent sample averaged 95 posts a day (~52% text, ~21% image, ~18% gallery). Its public rules include: Be kind to others and respect our purpose.; All posts should include worldbuilding context.; Put in some effort.; This is a DIY community.; NSFW content requires special care.
What belongs here
Stay inside the room’s stated scope rather than adjacent fandoms or general off-topic dumps. Self-promotion and advertising are tightly limited—read those rules before linking your own channel, shop, or site. Civility and anti-harassment rules are explicit; personal attacks get you removed regardless of how right you think you are.
How it differs from lookalikes
Focused worldbuilding craft usually differs from freeform writing-prompt dumps or pure lore-quiz threads elsewhere. The length of the public rule list is itself a signal: skim all of them once before assuming defaults from similar communities.
Practical pointers
Read the current sidebar/rules on Reddit before posting; rules can change. Common flairs include: Lore, Question, Discussion, Visual.
The community was created on Nov 23, 2009, which makes it 16 years old. Since Nov 2, 2026, it has gained 1,439 subscribers (+0.07%). It sits just behind r/linux (#571) and ahead of r/MangaCollectors (#573) in our ranking.
What sets r/worldbuilding apart
For its size it is unusually busy: about 49.0 new posts a day per million members, more than 85% of the Top 100. Its rhythm is strongly tied to time zones: the busiest hour (23:00 UTC) sees about 4.3× as many posts as the quietest (04:00 UTC).
Subscriber growth
Between Sep 19, 2026 and Nov 9, 2026, r/worldbuilding climbed from 1,923,209 to 1,934,988 subscribers (+11.8K, +0.61%). That is about 231 new members per day. The chart shows 10 weekly subscriber counts.
Top posts on r/worldbuilding this week
The most upvoted posts of the past seven days, in the order Reddit ranks them (collected Nov 7, 2026).
- Planet Lethe - Lesser Sea Mawu/Iszth · Nov 6 · gallery
- Tools of the Trade: Vampire Hunteru/bryanthebryan · Nov 6 · gallery
- 3d printed coins that I designed for a fantasy Larp I'm working on.u/Odd-Cartographer-559 · Nov 4 · image
- The 2008 DOJ "Vampire Surge Safety Act."u/ErikTheRed99 · Nov 3 · image
- The eight main deities of my settingu/Fatyakcz · Nov 2 · image
- Forever war worldbuilding: USSR heavy infantryu/Fit-Ad-2847 · Nov 3 · gallery
- Help me imagine how this fictional economy might (or might not) worku/Going_over_that_clif · Nov 3 · image
- A.I is ruining the way I worldbuild.u/Sons-of-N7 · Nov 5 · text post
- My world's sentient speciesu/-erzatz- · Nov 1 · gallery
- Why do you worldbuild?u/Creepy_Capital_1896 · Nov 3 · image
All-time top posts
The highest-ranked posts in the history of r/worldbuilding, from 2017 to 2024, ranked by Reddit.
- Turning a world I've been building for 20+ yrs into an animated passion project. Compilation of favorite shots made so far.u/d_marvin · Oct 18, 2021 · 36,108 points · 862 comments · video
- What is a real geographic feature of earth that most looks like lazy world building?u/Lalo_Lannister · Jul 5, 2024 · image
- I named this town Big Falls cause big fall thereu/jakuuub · Dec 8, 2021 · 23,251 points · 687 comments · image
- I couldn't find the perfect world-building tool for me, so I made one! Introducing LegendKeeper!u/AWildNarratorAppears · Sep 16, 2018 · 18,660 points · 432 comments · image
- I just discovered this amazing subreddit and present to you: Econu/TheJemcins · Feb 5, 2018 · 15,050 points · 418 comments · image
- Inspired by the glorious Shen, how’s your moon(s)? On a scale from normal to Brandon Sanderson’s “low orbit grass moon”.u/Survival-Gamer · Jan 19, 2023 · 18,318 points · 1,485 comments · image
- Cow Tools, an interesting lesson on worldbuilding.u/TortaFritaGang · Feb 11, 2020 · 14,548 points · 410 comments · image
- Not all wings are created equal! Use this tool to help nuance how your flying beasts interact with your protagonists and their environment.u/stoutdwarf · Dec 10, 2018 · 14,954 points · 133 comments · image
- Glimmers- a currency designed to be snapped in halfu/Arg0ms · Aug 25, 2019 · 11,240 points · 317 comments · image
- An issue we all faceu/claret_blue · Jun 7, 2021 · image
What r/worldbuilding talks about
We read the titles of 629 recent posts (Oct 29–Nov 5), the words that come up most are “world”, “fantasy”, “fictional”, “project” and “magic”. Other frequent themes are lore, building, map, species, story and idea. Recurring phrases include “fantasy world”, “world building”, “valdevian chronicles” and “magic system”. By format, 52% are text posts, 21% are images and 18% are galleries.
Popular post flairs: Lore (194), Question (127), Discussion (120), Visual (94), Map (44), Prompt (19).
Activity and best time to post
r/worldbuilding gets about 95 new posts a day. The public archive holds 371,636 posts and 5,828,963 comments in total, about 15.7 comments per post. Last week the busiest day was Monday (116 posts) and the quietest was Wednesday (83). Posting peaks around 23:00 UTC and is lowest around 04:00 UTC.
Rules of r/worldbuilding
The moderators of r/worldbuilding list 7 rules. In short:
- Be kind to others and respect our purpose.
- All posts should include worldbuilding context.
- Put in some effort.
- This is a DIY community.
- NSFW content requires special care.
- We allow non-disruptive advertising.
- The Full and Comprehensive List of Rules
How to join
Open reddit.com/r/worldbuilding and press “Join”. Read the community rules in the sidebar before you post: every subreddit is run by its own volunteer moderators.
Frequently asked questions
How many members does r/worldbuilding have?
r/worldbuilding has 1,934,988 subscribers (Nov 9, 2026), which makes it the #572 safe-for-work subreddit in the SubMouse ranking. It added 11,779 members between Sep 19, 2026 and Nov 9, 2026.
When was r/worldbuilding created?
r/worldbuilding was created on Nov 23, 2009, so it has been around for 16 years.
Is r/worldbuilding still active?
Yes. r/worldbuilding gets about 95 new posts a day (average of the last four weeks). Over its lifetime the archive counts 371,636 posts and 5,828,963 comments. In a sample of 629 recent posts we counted 490 different authors.
What is the best time to post in r/worldbuilding?
Based on post counts from Oct 29, 2026 to Nov 4, 2026, the busiest day was Monday and the quietest Wednesday, and most posts arrive around 23:00 UTC, with the fewest around 04:00 UTC. More posts also means more competition, so a quieter hour can help a post get noticed.
What kind of posts are on r/worldbuilding?
The community describes itself as: “For artists, writers, gamemasters, musicians, programmers, philosophers and scientists alike! The creation of new worlds and new universes has long been a key element of speculative fiction, from the fantasy works of To…” Recent post titles often mention world, fantasy, fictional, project and magic. Most posts are text posts (52%).
Is r/worldbuilding SFW?
Yes. Reddit does not mark r/worldbuilding as an 18+ (NSFW) community, and its own rules forbid NSFW content. SubMouse lists safe-for-work subreddits only.
What are the rules of r/worldbuilding?
Join the community on Reddit first, then use “Create post”. r/worldbuilding accepts both text and link posts, with images, videos, galleries and polls enabled. It has 7 posted rules, starting with: “Be kind to others and respect our purpose.”; “All posts should include worldbuilding context.”; “Put in some effort.”. Moderators remove posts that break the rules, so read them in the sidebar before posting.
What subreddits are similar to r/worldbuilding?
Communities with similar topics include r/scifi (4.5M), r/Fantasy (4M), r/NoMansSkyTheGame (1.2M), r/SpecArt (1.5M) and r/4chan (1.4M).
Stats from public data (data updated Nov 9, 2026; activity, rules and archive totals via the Arctic Shift archive, Nov 6, 2026; top posts from Reddit’s public feeds). Point and comment counts are archive snapshots and can be lower than on Reddit today. SubMouse is an independent directory and is not affiliated with Reddit or the moderators of r/worldbuilding.