John Kim's RPG System Design Page (darkshire)
Design Alternatives Analysis Archive (darkshhire)
How to Write Your Own RPG (claytonjcallahan)
Copyright Term and the Public Domain (cornell)
The role-playing game hobby offers a rich selection of additional tools and techniques for “world-building” across many possible settings.
Jackson, Steve and Barton, William. GURPS Space: Roleplaying in the Worlds of Tomorrow. Texas: SJ Games, 1988
Wrede, Patricia. Fantasy Worldbuilding Questions. pcwrede.com, 1995-2009
Baker, Richard. World Builder's Guidebook. TSR, 1996
Yee, Suzi and Browning, Joseph. A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe. Expeditious Retreat Press, 2003
Yee, Suzi and Browning, Joseph. A Magical Society: Ecology and Culture. Expeditious Retreat Press, 2004
Pesall, N. Bob. Dawn of Worlds. clanwebsite.org Legends, 2005
Bryant, Stephanie Cottrell. 30 Days of World Building. Web-Writer.net, 2010
Kinsman, Berin. Setting Design for Writers and Roleplayers. Dancing Lights Press, 2016
Hershey, Rick. A Gamemaster's World Building Journal. Fat Goblin Games, 2016
Additional methods to create campaign or setting timelines also appear in:
Gygax, Gary, Cook, David “Zeb”, and Marcela-Froideval, François. Oriental Adventures. TSR, 1985 archive.org
Robbins, Ben. Microscope RPG. Lame Mage Productions, 2011
Timeline
The Traveller: 2300 Great Game (google)
What Happened in 1982 (thepeoplehhistory)
Timelines of World History
British Empire Chronological History and Timeline (britishempire)
History of calendars
Labours of the Months
Timekeeping on Mars
Timeline of Calendar Facts
Holidays Calendar by Topic
Farming Year in Medieval Times (lostkingdom)
Medieval Farming - The Farming Year (historyonthenet)
What is Lunar Standard Time
Days of the Planets
Pulsar Timekeepers Measure Up To Atomic Clocks
Parkes Pulsar Timing Array
Creating Star Maps
Cosmographer add-on for Campaign Cartographer (profantasy)
StarMap2D (appspot)
Exoplanet catalogue (exoplanet)
Oolite planet list (alioth)
Excerpt of The Astrogators Handbook by Michael McCollum
Creating Star System Maps
Habitable Planets for Man and Formation of Planetary Systems by Aggregation: A Computer Simulation by Stephen H. Dole
Repository of Accrete, Starform, and Stargen software history
Creating Planet Maps
Map projection
Early world maps
AstroSynthesis (nbos)
Inkarnate (inkarnate)
Fantasy Map Generator (github)
Worldspinner
Hexographer Free Version
Worldographer (hexographer)
SciFi World Generator (donjon)
Icosahedral Worldmap Generator (inkwellideas)
Planet Generator (zarkonnen)
Creating Night Sky Maps
Constellation List
The Constellations (iau)
Equinox and Solstice
Dictionary of terms for aeronautical use (nasa)
Creating Wilderness Maps
Hex templates (welshpiper)
Hexographer Free Version (hexographer)
HexMapper (mentalwasteland)
Inkarnate (inkarnate)
Hextml (playtest)
Hexcrawl (thealexandrian)
6x6 hex maps (strangeflight)
Creating City Maps
Medieval Demographics Made Easy
Grain Into Gold
Medieval Fantasy City Generator (itch)
Daves Mapper (davesmapper)
Inkarnate (inkarnate)
Open field system
Micropolis demonstrates city-building as a problem-solving game.
Creating City Network Maps
Creating Floor Plans
floor plan
Pymapper (pymapper)
Daves Mapper (davesmapper)
Random Inn Generator (inkwellideas)
Geomorph Mapping Project (dysonlogos)
Creating Floop Plan Networks
Creating Battle Maps
Seafoot Games free TTRPG maps
MapTool (rptools)
Inkarnate (inkarnate) - Scene Maps
Creating Factions
Cyberpunk Character and Metacharacter Generator
SWN Faction Spreadsheet (github)
Revised Faction Sheets (google)
Swan Song Faction Sheets (reddit)
Creating Governments
List of forms of government
Open Government Data - List of Agencies
Kingdom Building (d20pfsrd)
Creating Organizations
Creating Laws
Titles of the U.S. Code
Creating Politics
Creating Corporations
Universal Corporate Profile
Creating Religions
List of philosophies
Religions - The World Fact Book
Creating Customs
Bathing during the Middle Ages (medieval-life)
Creating Languages
Wordgen and Java Wordgen at Freelance Traveller Computer Connection
Shipboard English for Japanese Pilots (kobe-u)
Fake Language Generator
A Fantasy Language Generator
Create A Language
RPG Language Generator
Ogden's Basic English
Equipment
Bazaar Generator (rpginspiration)
Traveller Equipment Cards (onedrive)
Timeline of historic inventions
Equipment Generators (seventhsanctum)
Inventions from Science Fiction (technovelgy)
Designing an RPG Inventory System (tutsplus)
Accessories
Ammunition
Armor
Augmentations
Containers
Clothing
Category:Clothing_by_function
Drugs
History of pharmacy
List of drugs by year of discovery
Explosive Weapons
Lifestyles
Melee Weapons
Ranged Weapons
Screens
Shields
Supplies
Tools
History of technology
Images of Alchemical Apparatus (alchemywebsite)
DIY Van Plans (rqriley)
List of orbital launch systems
Ship Shapewright (shapewright)
Starship Generator for Blender (github)
Attribute Patterns (darkshire.net)
Attribute Effects (darkshire.net)
Human Performance Capabilities (NASA)
Strength
Endurance
Agility
Dexterity
Speed
Appearance
Intelligence
Will
Awareness
Ingenuity
Reflexes
Charisma
Races (darkshire.net)
Skills - RPG Design (wikidot)
RPG Design Skill Systems (wordpress)
RPG Design Skill Systems Part 2 (wordpress)
RPG Design Skill Systems Part 3 (wordpress)
Powers - Mutations
Powers List
Power Advantages and Limitations
Powers - Psionics
Powers - Chi/Ki
Magic - underlying concepts
Magic - who can use it
Magic - the (un) reliability thereof
Magic - spells per day
Magic - Magical Skills
Magic - Varieties of magic
Magic - Miscellaneous
Design Alternatives Analysis Archive: NPCs
RPGInspiration.com has a number of generators.
YourDictionary.com List of Adjective Words
Inspiration Pad (rpginspiration)
The Rogues Gallery
Supplement 6: 76 Patrons
Supplement 1: 760 Patrons
Cepheus Engine 1,000,001 Characters (ozemail)
Living Steel by Leading Edge Games contains detailed Gang creation and operation rules.
List of criminal enterprises, gangs and syndicates
List of gangs in the United States
Cyberpunk 2020 Goon Generator (laurelcadre)
Fast & Dirty Expendables and Lifepath Generator (moosh)
Hunt, Chris, Richards, Colin, Shipley, Tim, and Arnold, Dale. Worldshaker Creature Creation. Fugitive Games, 1986
Browning, Joseph. A Magical Society: Beast Builder. Expeditious Retreat Press, 2005
Horse Descriptions
D&D Monster Maker (thegeniusinc)
Spore Creature Creator
Narrative structure
Three-act structure
Story Structure: 11 Narrative Structure Tools To Build Your Plot
Conspiracies and Capers by Dustin Andrews
Giant List of RPG Adventure Types (gnomestew)
Eureka 501 Adventure Plots (enginepublishing)
One Page Dungeon Contest (dungeoncontest)
Military Mission Code Name Generator
Mystery-O-Matic Mystery Generator
Gearing Up For Adventure (critical-hits)
Expanding on Chatty DMs Session Prep Checklist (enworld)
Session 0 Topic Checklist and Guide (reddit)
Same Page Tool (wordpress)
Beginners Guide (reddit)
Character Ties Cubed 3x3x3 (gnomestew)
Generating Attributes (darkshire.net)
Character Design Interaction With Core Mechanics (darkshire.net)
Lifepaths:
Solo Play:
Dunnigan, James F., The Complete Wargames Handbook. Morrow Quill Paperbacks, 1980
Blue-Booking:
Allston, Aaron, Strike Force. Hero Games, 1988
Allston, Aaron, and Surbrook, Michael, et. al, Strike Force. Bits and Mortar, High Rock Press, Evil Beagle Games, Hero Games, 2017
Discussion of "Tote That Barge" Star Frontiers article from Dragon Magazine
M.U.L.E. demonstrates production, consumption, supply, and demand economics well.
Oolite demonstrates interstellar trade quite well.
Micropolis demonstrates this for population and taxation effects.
A Guide for Space Merchants (google)
Text Elite (iancbell)
Text Elite (github)
InterstellarTrader (github)
Hacker Inspiration
Non-Fiction Books
Fiction Books
Tabletop Role Playing Games
Card Games
Computer Games
Movies and Television
Starship Operations, the earliest “Bridge Simulators”:
https://www.atariarchives.org/bcc1/showpage.php?page=275
Goblin's Henchman - 2d6 Hex Power Flower (see "Examples" for Terrain Generation)
Goblin's Henchman - Hex Flower Game Engines Found In The Wild (including Weather examples)
Tzu, Sun. The Art of War.
Random Initiative from Battleground WWII. Easy Eights Enterprises
Systems with Social Combat Type Mechanics (rpggeek)
Games With Social Combat Mechanics (rpggeek)
Wounding Mechanics in RPGs (darkshire)
List of military tactics
List of martial arts
Glossary of fencing
Inspirational racing games:
WipEout by Psygnosis
Kinetica by Santa Monica Studios
F-Zero by Viral Games
Roadstriker by R. Talsorian Games
Spycraft 2.0 by Alderac Entertainment Group / Crafty Games
GURPS Autoduel by Steve Jackson Games
Car Wars by Steve Jackson Games
Inspiration ship conflict wargames:
Harpoon by Game Designers' Workshop
Mayday by Game Designers' Workshop
Knight Hawks by TSR
2300 Star Cruiser by Game Designers' Workshop
Renegade Legion by FASA
Full Thrust by Ground Zero Games
Attack Vector Tactical and Squadron Strike by Ad Astra Games
Vector Movement
Quick and Dirty CT Vehicle Combat (blogspot)
Inspirational starship bridge simulators:
Star Trek (text game)
Artemis Bridge Simulator
Space Nerds In Space (github)
Empty Epsilon (github)
The Hot Equations by Ken Burnside