World Building: How Mountains, Valleys, Plains and Deserts Can Help Shape Your World

“Ain’t no mountain high enough, ain’t no valley low enough, ain’t no river wide enough, to keep me from gettin’ to you, babe.”

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You might think that’s a weird way to start a blog on world building. But bear with me.

This seminal 1967 Motown record from Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell is perfect story telling.

It’s a love story with two characters: the narrator (or singer), and the love interest (babe). There is a clear objective (getting to you), and of course, obstacles that the protagonist can overcome along the way (the mountains, valleys and rivers.)

The mountains and valleys aren’t just descriptions of landscapes, only there to decorate the narrative, they are an active part of the story, attempting to prevent Marvin and Tammi from gettin’ to each other.

When building your world and drawing your map this is how you should use mountains, valleys, plains and any other geographical barriers: as obstacles and opportunities to help drive your narrative.

Before plonking a mountain range down on your map, ask yourself why it's there.

In this blog we will ask the questions that will help you use these natural borders as effectively as possible.

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1. The Might Of Mountains

You should never treat anything in your story as mere scenery… even the scenery!

Mountains are forces of history, culture, and conflict. They are goals, obstacles and metaphors.

• Do mountains serve as natural defences or political borders?
• How have mountains shaped the development of nearby settlements or civilisations?

Use mountains to give shape to your civilisations as well as the landscape.

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2. The Root Of The Mountain

Even landscapes have legends.

• Were these mountains formed by tectonic shifts, volcanic activity, or magical forces?
• How does their origin affect the geography and geology of the surrounding areas?

A range born from violent earthquakes feels different than one whispered into existence by some ancient god.

What your characters know, or what your characters believe, about the origins of the landscape around them can say a hell of a lot about and how they view their place in the world.

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3. Life At The Top

Life is different at the top.

• What is at the peak of your mountains and why would would people want to go there… or avoid it all together?
• How does altitude and mountainous terrain influence weather patterns and the climate?
• What types of plants and animals are unique to these environments?

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4. Through The Valley

Valleys can be very symbolic. They are depicted as the cradle of civilisation, the road to freedom, or the shadow of death.

• Are valleys fertile grounds for agriculture or strategically crucial locations for settlements?
• Do valleys carry historical, cultural, or religious importance?

Valleys often become the beating hearts of civilisations, lush, contested, and fiercely protected. And like mountain can act as are natural borders.

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5. Not So Plain

Plains and deserts may seem empty, but they are teeming with potential stories.

• Are your plains areas for agriculture, grazing lands, or battlegrounds?
• How do the plains affect the lifestyle, economy, and traditions of their inhabitants?
• Are the deserts in your world inhospitable wastelands, or full of hidden life and culture?
• How have life forms adapted to the extreme conditions of the desert?

In plains and deserts, every blade of grass and grain of sand carries a lesson in endurance, ingenuity, and belief.

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6. Hidden Treasures

Scarcity drives ambition. Abundance drives war.

• Are there valuable minerals in the mountains, fertile soil in the valleys, or hidden gold beneath the desert sands?
• How do these resources influence your world’s economy and power struggles?

Resources don’t just feed cities. They spark conflicts, forge alliances, and bring down empires.

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7. Land And Lore

Where you live shapes how you live and who you are.

• Do different landscapes create distinct cultures or tribes with their own traditions and beliefs?
• How do these cultures interact with, or perhaps worship their environments?

Mountain clans are not desert nomads. Plains warriors are not valley farmers. Landscape can help sculpt the very souls of your inhabitants and dictate their way of life.

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8. Sacred Soil

Sometimes, land isn’t just land; it’s holy land.

• Do any of these geographical features hold spiritual or religious significance?
• Are there sacred sites, pilgrimages, or rituals linked to mountains, valleys, or deserts?

A pilgrimage across the burning sands. A prayer at a mountaintop shrine. Landscapes can shape faith and faith can give meaning to landscapes.

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9. Legends In The Sand

Myths grow where mysteries thrive.

• Are there myths, legends, or folklore associated with specific mountains, valleys, or deserts?
• How do these stories shape culture, behaviour, and collective memory of your world’s inhabitants?

A forgotten cave, a lost oasis, a dragon’s gold hoard under the Lonely Mountain,. Landscapes offer an abundance of a stories waiting to be whispered around campfires.

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10. Gettin’ To You, Babe

Geography decides who can move, where they can move, and how quickly.

• Do mountains and deserts pose significant challenges to travel?
• Do valleys and plains make movement easier?
• How have landscapes shaped trade routes and political boundaries?

Roads snaking through valleys, caravans braving the dunes, and impassable peaks that must be past. They are all opportunities or obstacles waiting for you to present to your characters.

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11. It's Over Anakin, I have The High Ground!

Wars are often won or lost before the first arrow flies because of the land itself.

• How have mountains, valleys, plains, and deserts been sites of conflict?
• Are these features strategically important in military campaigns or disputes?

Control the mountain pass. Hold the fertile valley. Survive the march across the desert. Geography wins battles.

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12. The Final Frontier

Not every map is complete. Not every land is known. Exploration is an engaging way to reveal the extent of your hard built world to your audience without it becoming expositional.

• How do these diverse landscapes present opportunities, or dangers, for exploration?
• Are there uncharted or mysterious regions that spark curiosity and quests?

The unknown still calls. Explorers walk into deserts, climb impossible peaks, hunt for game in open plains. Don’t just explore your world when building it, allow you characters to explore it too, and they might find something you didn’t even know was there.

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13. In A Hole In The Ground

People build in harmony with the land — or against it.

• How have local materials and environmental conditions influenced architecture in these regions?
• Are there distinctive construction styles unique to mountainous, valley, plain, or desert environments?
• Are they helping the land or destroying it?

Cliffside fortresses. Sunken desert villages. Cities that bridge valleys. The land influences every architectural decision you should make, from where people to settle to the building they settle in.

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14. Land Wealth

Money doesn’t just follow people; it follows geography.

• How do mountains, valleys, plains, and deserts shape local economies?
• Are there industries or trades uniquely tied to these landscapes?

Mines in the mountains. Caravan stops in the deserts. Farms in the valleys. Every economic boom has a root buried deep in the land.

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16. Peaks, Valleys, And The Shape Of Narrative

Mountains aren’t just great for world building. They’re great for storytelling.

Take Syd Field’s three-act structure, often visualised as a steady rise, a dramatic peak, and then a resolution.

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Does it remind you of anything?

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Mountains in the very nature are perfectly designed stories. A clear goal, clear obstacles, clear stakes.

• Act One (The Base Camp): Your story starts with the characters at ground level. They prepare, they face the first challenges, they commit to the climb.
• Act Two (The Ascent): This is the longest, hardest part. Obstacles stack. Tensions rise. Stakes get higher. The characters must ascend.
• Midpoint (The Climb Turns Dangerous): About halfway up the mountain, something changes. A betrayal, a death, a revelation. The path gets steeper, harder, darker.
• Act Three (The Peak and the Descent): The story hits its climax — the summit—and then tumbles into the consequences of every decision made on the way up.

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A literal mountain in your story can mirror this perfectly:

• Crossing a mountain range can symbolise the characters' internal climb.
• The peak can represent a hard won moment of triumph or tragedy.
• The descent can bring fresh dangers or the realisation that reaching the top wasn’t the end at all.

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Conclusion

World building isn’t just about making a map pretty. It’s about making it meaningful. Mountains, valleys, plains, and deserts aren’t backdrops; they are living forces that shape civilisations, beliefs, conflicts, economies, and personal journeys.

When you weave geography thoughtfully into your world, you’re not just drawing lines on a page. You’re carving out the challenges your characters must face, the opportunities they’ll seize, and the cultures they’ll inherit.

A mountain range can be a border, or a battleground. A valley can be a cradle of life or a prize worth waging wars over. A desert can forge heroes or swallow them whole. Every rise and fall in the land can echo the rises and falls in your narrative.

So, when you next sit down to build your world, don’t just place mountains, valleys, plains, and deserts for decoration. Use them as tools and use them as characters in their own right.

“Ain’t no mountain high enough to keep me from gettin' to you, babe”… challenge accepted.

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More World Building

Are you keen to dive even deeper? You can download our World Building Worksheet and World Building Document for free from our Resources store. These documents explore everything you’ve just read, and much, much, much, much more…

Other blogs in our World Building series include:

• How to Build a Map That Shapes Your World
• How to Choose the Right Genre (and Make It Your Own)
• How to Build Characters That Shape Your World

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