Make your elements weird!

Apparently, today is the day to talk about elements in your games! I think this topic is pretty cool, so lets ramble a bit about it!

 Elements are pretty big in real life. Before discovering the atoms, philosophers and scholars used many different elements to explain what the world is made of. Ancient Greeks, and later all Europe, had the four classic elements: water, earth, air and fire, and sometimes a fifth: the aether. In Japan, the elements (Godai) are the same, but they had void as the fifth element, instead of aether. In China, the classical elements (Wuxing) are fire, water, wood, earth and metal. You get the idea.

One of my favourite things in Adventure Time is the elements: instead of going with the four classics, the elements in Ooo are fire, ice, candy and slime. I remember how hyped I was the first time I learned about it: it's the four elements, but different?? Weird??? Incredible. 10/10 show. Would watch again and again and again.

 

The four elements in Adventure Time, from The Enchiridion and Marcy's super secret scrapbook!!!

 

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild also uses elements in a very interesting way: you can find fire, ice and thunder weapons around the map, and each element has a different effect when smacking a monster: fire burns them, doing more damage and maybe burning any wooden weapon or shield. Ice freezes them in place, and your next attack will be a critical. Finally, lightning also paralyzes them, but unlike ice, it makes them drop their weapons. Elements in Breath of the Wild are especially fun to use because, like everything else in the game, they have a lot of interactivity with the world as a whole (fire can cook food, lightning is more powerful when combined with water).

So how can we implement elements in the stories we create? Well, there are many ways to do it, but let's try to make some ground rules:

 Before we start: do you really need to?

"Wait", you might say, "isn't the point of this entire post to make weird elements?" The answer is "yes, but". Classical elements have been used for millenia. They are instantly recognizable, easy to use and, since the've been widely used in alchemy and magic in real life (at least the greek ones), have a certain realistic vibe related to them. If you're going with a "traditional" tolkienesque or martinesque (even gygaxian) fantasy, you can pretty much just add the classic elements to your world, maybe changing the names a bit (i.e. having "rock" instead of "earth"), and they will fit their purpose pretty good without too much work on your part.

"Alright, I've thought about it and classic elements don't really fit the vibe I'm going for. What do I do?"

First: make your elements fit.

Your elements should fit the story. They should fit the vibe of your setting, and offer an explanation about the basic components of your world. Are you going for a dark fantasy setting inspired by dark souls? Fitting elements might be ash, fire, stone, iron, bone... How about a whimsical world inspired by The Legend of Zelda? Aside from the four classics, you could have elements such as plant, stardust, jelly, shadow, life, music... At this point, focus on brainstorming and thinking about what elements fit your story better.

Second: make your elements few.

Four is the classic number to work with. Three is the magic number. Five starts to be too much. Bear in mind that you want your players (or other people) to remember those elements, so the fewer they are, the better. I can remember lightning, acid, cloud and blood. I cannot remember lightning, acid, cloud, blood, magma, quartz, mithril and fruit. Fewer elements are better, and that way you can even add an extra, secret element to the mix, as a treat.

You might be tempted to add "sub-elements": Avatar the last airbender, and especially legend of Korra, has many "unconventional" elements that are an evolution of one or a mix of two basic elements: lava (fire + earth), metal or crystal (derived from earth), lightning (derived from fire)... Don't think too much about these. Focus on having a few basic elements to work with first, and then, if you think the story needs them, add new variations related to them.

Third: make your elements interactive.

Elements need to have a purpose, be it for combat, magic, crafting... fire can set things burning, quartz can deflect magic, fruit can heal wounds when consumed. Use them in unexpected ways. Maybe a fruit sword can heal a character by gently touching the wound with it. Maybe it heals everything it cuts. The important thing here is that they have a clear use that can give way to cool interactions. If players know quartz repels magic, they might want to search for a quartz mine to make a quartz shield or armor before fighting the Council of Evil Archwizards.

Fourth: make your elements be everywhere.

Elements are an attempt to explain nature, they are the matter from which everything else is made. Elements should be abundant in your world and easy to find, at least if you know where to look. This doesn't mean you should be placing fire swords growing from every tree (unless...), but it's cool to have at least a few plants and animals relating to each element that characters can find and use to their advantage. An easier way to introduce elements is to have a whole place related to that element: a volcano is related to fire, so it might have fire-spitting lizards and fireproof flowers all around the area, ready to be used in spells and potions. Similarly, classical greek elements also have creatures related to them: fire has salamanders, water has undines, air has sylphs and earth has gnomes. Think about what kind of creatures would be related to each of your elements, and place them in your stories.

Elements are such a fun resource to play around with, because they give a strong magical vibe that is instantly recognized by most people. They are also great shortcuts for magic, worldbuilding and even character creation. Wether you use classic elements or your own, the possibilities are endless, and it's very hard to do it wrong. Next time you're working on your worldbuilding, consider adding some weird and cool elements to the mix.