Fantasy family tree maker for your own world

The chart at the top of this page was drawn in the fantasy family tree maker and follows three books of an invented saga. King Oswin Varrow rules the Saltmarch with Queen Maelis. House Ennis holds the salt road, and the Reed Clan lives in the marshes under its chieftain, Bran Reed. In Book One the king is lost at sea and his son Corran takes the crown. A hooded rider follows the new king along the salt road.

In Book Two the princess Elsabet marries Gared Ennis, and the rider is revealed as Wren, the daughter of the late king and Ilsa Reed, which makes her the half-sister of the king. In Book Three House Ennis turns against the crown, and the Reed Clan rides for Wren and her brother. Each of these turns is set on the chart, so moving the story position shows the kingdom as a reader knows it at that point.

Every step below happens in the fantasy family tree maker, the same editor that draws the Saltmarch. Start from the example and change it, or press Open in the editor and begin a new story chart there.

A house is written on each person, the way a family history chart writes a dynasty. The fantasy family tree maker gives each house a colour that appears in the ring of every member, in the key and in an optional outline drawn round the members, with a mark of up to three letters at the corner of each symbol. The Saltmarch uses V for House Varrow, E for House Ennis and R for the Reed Clan.

In the fantasy family tree maker, a faction can also be a side that people join and leave, which a house cannot. In Book Three of the Saltmarch, Corran, Wren, Bran and Tobin all join the party of the crown while keeping their houses. Elsabet leaves House Varrow at her marriage and joins House Ennis, which the chart records as the point at which she leaves the house written on her.

Story points are the steps of your story in order, called chapters, books, acts, episodes, seasons, parts or years. Each person, couple, line and note can begin at one point and end at another, and a death can be set at the point where it happens. The fantasy family tree maker then draws only what holds at the chosen position, and a later book adds nothing to an earlier one.

For a writer this is a check on continuity, since the chart at Book Two shows who is alive, married and allied at that moment. For a game master it is a way to share the chart with players at the point the campaign has reached, without the twists of later sessions. In the Saltmarch, Aric Ennis is born in Book Three, so he appears only there.

Many stories turn on a parent nobody knows about. In the fantasy family tree maker, a person who is not known yet stands on the chart under the name the reader has, such as The hooded rider, with no lines that would give the secret away. At the point you choose, the stand-in gives way to the real person, and the lines to her parents appear.

The parent and child lines of a secret can be hidden in the same way, by setting the point from which they hold. Wren in the Saltmarch has a line to King Oswin and to Ilsa Reed from Book Two only. Writer’s Digest suggests building a family tree backward from the main character through the parents, because doing so often turns up family secrets and connections worth writing about.

A relationship in a story is rarely the same from both sides. In the fantasy family tree maker, each story line carries a few words at each end, one for what the first person feels toward the second and one for the reverse. Corran Varrow distrusts the oaths of Gared Ennis, and Gared covets the crown. The line can change at a story point into a new phase with its own kind and words, so the same pair are allies by marriage in Book Two and enemies in Book Three.

Ready-made story lines include lovers, rivals, allies, enemies, betrays, serves, secret and nemesis, and you can add lines of your own with a colour, a dash and an arrow. The Saltmarch adds one, the sworn oath of Tobin Reed to Wren.

David O. Stewart, who wrote a saga over several volumes, explains that a family tree shows connections over time in a way a list of characters cannot. He worked out the years of his people from their ages and marriage dates, and invented whole generations that never appear in the books. A story chart holds the same working, with years for each person where your world has them, and none where it does not.

A game master can keep the noble houses of a campaign in the fantasy family tree maker, on one chart with the heir to each house and the marriages that bind them, and move the story position as the sessions go on. The questions below explain how the chart is saved and shared.