Tools, references, and inspiration for making worlds and games with Arium.
Your World.
Your Creation.
So you built a world! Maybe every window is stained glass.
Maybe everyone is expected to join one of six extremely quirky guilds.
Maybe it's full of rapidly multiplying critters that everyone loves... and that surely won't cause trouble of any kind. Right?
Now do something with it.
It all started with a stack of sticky notes...
Time To Grow Something
Build a world
The Storm and 7 Steps, condensed for easy consumption. Don't forget the markers!
See How It Works Creator guidelinesShow It Off
Share your creations using the Grown With Arium logo. Go on. We'll wait right here.
View The Guidelines Community creationsLook what grew
Peep some of the settings, games, and fiction that started with people huddled around an Arium table.
No, Really. Look!Look What Grew
Ideas that refuse to stay on sticky notes can become something more. A setting, some fiction, a complete game?
Tell us about yours, and maybe we'll feature it!
Arcadia: P.A.R.K.
Planetwide Amusement & Recreation Kingdom
"No one remembers when Arcadia became the go-to planet for family fun.
A visit is sure to create more questions than answers. What will you uncover? Surely nothing more than good times enjoyed by all!"
How It Grew
A small group of Arium backers from our original crowdfunding campaign built this setting together online! The book has submissions from both community contest winners and pro authors. The original ideas are on this Trello board.
Thesystem: Cosmystical Travel Guide
"What did the creation of our universe sound like? We now know, unequivocally, the sound of creation was a roaring, babbling, mish-mash of voices trying to talk over each other in a crowded convention center ballroom."
How It Grew
Adept Icarus hosted a massive worldbuilding event at the LTUE Writer's Symposium in 2024. We filled a ballroom with the folks playing Arium and emerged with this world. The book is written and edited by authors who participated in the event!
What Did You Grow?
If an Arium world escaped your table and became something new, tell us about it at grown@adepticarus.com. We're sure to share it with some folks!
Your World Is Yours
When you create a setting with Arium, you can sell it, share it, stream it, eat it, or keep it for the lucky few at your table. If you made it, it's yours, ya silly.
However...
You may freely reference Arium's role in building your creation, but you may not reproduce text or artwork from Adept Icarus's Arium products.
AI may not be used for any writing or art on a creation labeled Grown With Arium.
These logo guidelines do not grant permission to reproduce product content. HOWEVER, the forthcoming Arium: Discover Open SRD will have its own license and attribution details, published with it.
Put the Logo on It
You may use the Grown With Arium logo on original projects built from worlds you created with Arium: Create or another Arium worldbuilding tool.
If you use the logo, include this attribution:
"Arium and Arium: The Worldbuilding RPG are trademarks of Adept Icarus. The Grown With Arium logo is © Adept Icarus and is used with permission."
Download the logo: SVG (30 KB) | EPS (4.1 MB)
Questions? Ask in the Grown With Arium channel in the Adept Icarus Discord or email grown@adepticarus.com.
Build a World, the Arium Way
Everyone has ideas. Fun ones, strange ones, occasionally wacky ones. Not all the time, but that's ok because ideas are cheap! Toss whatever you have on the table. Talk about it, combine it, and vote for your faves. Somehow, you've made a world that feels real and none of you could have made it alone.
The Storm
Each of Arium's seven Steps uses a Storm: Ideating, Collaborating, and usually Voting. Lacunae skips the vote - if someone says it doesn't belong, it stays out.
- Ideating: Set a timer for 1 to 3 minutes. Silently write one idea per sticky note.
- Collaborating: Review the ideas together and group any two or more that become more interesting together. You have to agree when your idea is grouped.
- Voting: Vote for your favorite groupings. Everyone gets one vote for every three idea groups.
The group decides how many votes it takes to make ideas part of your world's canon.
The Steps
Players will perform a Storm for each of the following Arium Steps:
- Lacunae: What does not belong in this world? Use this step for safety and creative exclusions. There is no vote.
- Universal: Vibes, mainly. Genre and tone. Nothing concrete.
- Big Picture: How does it all work? Is there magic? What's the tech level?
- Culture & Organizations: What types of people live here and what is their history? What types of organizations have they created?
- Landmarks: Specific instances of a place you could point to on a city map. Buildings, monuments, and natural features.
- People: Who inhabits this world? What are their personalities, looks, and names?
- Goodies: What unique items, artifacts, or resources exist in this world? Must be narratively relevant, and vehicle sized or smaller.
Grab those sticky notes that nobody can stop talking about. Start there, and as folks sometimes tell their dogs: "Make!"