Colaborative Worldbuilding?

Rex That Betrays

Rex That Betrays

Junior Member
I love ambitious projects, I love ambitious projects that require multiple people, I love ambitious projects that requie multpile people and hours and hours of backbreaking brainstorming and compromise. Becaus eI love it so much I thought I would go ahead and posit an ambitious project.


One of the hardest things when creating an immersive fantasy roleplay is getting the people joinging the roleplay to be able to fall in love with and understand the world your creating for them. It isn't too too difficult if it's a very generic, very run of the mill fantasy world, but when you want something that breaks from the norm, something unique, getting other players to sit through paragraph after paragraph, index after index of lore and trivia can be difficult, simply because the player wants to write their own part of the story, not read what the author already decided. This would seem to put Role Playing and immersive world-building at odds with one another.


My solution to this problem would be to have the people who sign up to be apart of the roleplay actively be apart of the world creation process before an actual roleplay is made.


The Project would require participants to help in the designing of cultures, races, religions, politics geographies, magics, languages and histories of the world for the rp.


Helping in the creation of the world would help to have the roleplayers involved become attached to the setting and devoted to to it's future plots and developments and hopefully increase the all around enjoyment and interest of the roleplayer in the roleplay.


i would really like to see this project get off the ground and turn into something magnificently huge in size and scope so anyone who thinks they would just have a ball being apart fo the world building process of an immersive, in depth fantasy setting, please go ahead and post here saying so and we can figure out where to get started.
 
I find that this would be rather fun to do. A very interesting way of getting people involved. I say, I rather feel I would like to help.
 
Yes, I've been working on 2 of these actually but I'd love to help with this RP idea ^^


The 2 I've been working on well the fantasy one I've only been working on for about a year... the Sci-Fi one however I've been working on for many many years xD


I'm ready to get going on one that can be completed by a group rather then just concentrating on my own all the time ^^
 
wouldn't mind helping to the best of my power. Not that it would be much since im not a box of creative ideas. But id still try.
 
I think it's an interesting concept. I think the best way to do that would be to allow each roleplayer to develop their own people/cultures and throw them together on the same continent or nearby.
 
That would be the normal way of doing something of this nature, however I don't believe that will create the enough cohesion within the world. Remember Christian-European cultures and Islamic-Middle Eastern cultures may be very unique from one another but they have had a profoundly intercconected history. Furthermore In the real world even eithin one species there are vast numbers of cultural nuances across the cultural spectrum. Even among the same race of people in a species this holds true. The Spanish and the German have very different cultures despite their geographical proximity and racial unity.


I was thinking of a much more unified effort with all of us working on the world one aspect at a time, and branching off into teams of people when appropriate.


Any issues with taking this kind of an approach? I'm entirely open to suggestions, I want to make this as comunal a project as possible.
 
So everyone has their own area they work on and are open for constructive criticism so they can edit their creation into something that everyone enjoys ?


If so, great. But we first need to decide what kind of rp setting we're choosing and what kind of rp style, imo.


I'm going to copy/paste a suggestion I made for the Official RP, but I don't mind to use it for this rp-project if chosen, the rp I had in mind went like this:


This is just an idea but bear with me:


Medieval/Fantasy RP, including:


Sections ( examples: City Gates/ Marketplace/ Castle/ Harbor/ Forest/ Caves/ Mountains/ Different locations/cities/areas )


A skill-list ( examples: Certain Types of Magic/ Certain Combat Skills/ Dancing/ Folklore/ Aggriculture/ Wilderness Survival/ ... Anything you can come up with basically. )


Exp Awarded ( After every thread it could be submitted to the RP Mods and/or Admins and they read the thread and awards exp points for certain skills to certain people. Example: A thread where stealing, stealth is performed by one PC & drinking/fighting is performed by another. Then you award points to the 1st PC for Stealth & Larceny while giving the other PC points to Drinking & Brawling )


Non-Cannon areas and races ( I feel we've been relying too heavily on already existing material so a completely original RP would really be refreshing to me. )


This kind of RP could turn out to be huge overtime as more areas and races are added if the RP turns out to be succesful, plus it could really give the site an " Official " RP which I believe most people who look on google for RPs are looking for.


I have to add, these suggestions are based on two heavily succesful RP sites so I do not claim the idea to be orginally mine or anything.


Edit: The Experience Point was a little unclear to some people so I'm going to explain them further:


They're completely different from the xp point you see under your avatar, they're point that you add your sheet at the start of your char-creation and add to your sheet after being awarded point for specific skills after every succesful RP.


I hope it makes some sense :)
 
This actually sounds like a really cool idea. (Don't ask me why I didn't come here sooner, I'm extremely lazy now that work is over so I just never motivated myself to get over here before.)


I know I have a lot of ideas to help with the RP... Since I have been writing my own fantasy novel I think I'd be very good at coming up with unique races of people and creatures. x3 Especially giving twists on well-known creations.


Honestly I think the first thing that should be decided is what genre of RP we're wanting to do...


Mostly because, for myself if the genre is horror >_> I doubt I'll help much. Because I'm not into horror, don't really want to have anything to do with it. Don't know if that's true for anyone else either.


Also... I'm really not a fan of character sheets in an RP on a forum. Mostly because I find them a hassle... When I RP I mostly want to concentrate on the reality of a character... So if my character is in a fight, I always take the time to pause and act out the fight in my head. How my character would respond, what attacks would hit my character. For me it's all about realism...


Character sheets remind me of video games Dx... Like Fire Emblem...


Just letting you know my opinion.


Also... I've been told by someone very wise that sometimes, when there are many heads coming together to make a single thing. Opinions will clash.


I'm just saying this as a word of caution, that if we do this. Perhaps we might get into arguments over certain things... I just don't want any feelings hurt or words being thrown that could cause bad feelings and drama.


*knows from experience* *nods*
 
Rex has a point that we should start off first everyone working on the project and separate when needed and not right away. I've seen collaborations come and go thousands of millions of times. Take Modding as an example most (Almost all) Collab projects die within the first week.


Bringing this to Michi's point... Most die because of conflict between the creators, this is why we should concentrate on originality and agree to listen to one another before causing a problem (At the least).


Hope that makes sense


Also, about the stats system, it is a good idea in some rare RP cases but sadly (in my opinion) this probably wouldn't be one of those cases. It could work with some things but a lot of people begin relying on the stats too much after they realize how they can abuse the system, not saying no stats is much better about abuse.


And if were gonna start deciding on the Genre/Era/Type of RP Might wanna explain what is meant by that. (The basic Idea I myself enjoy Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Post Apocolyptic) (I make combination's of them all the time xD )


I'm planning on making video games for a living, hell I'm making a WORKING video game for my Tech (Programming) Classes Culminating.


I prime in making Races, Areas, and I can draw maps and weapons.


I have also worked on cultures a number of times, and technologies as well.
 
There's alot of creativity on this site, and quite frankly, i think it would be a waste not to have this RP after reading this.


Everyone has brought up good points, esspecially Michi. Opinions will clash, we've seen that on this very site before. But I think that something of this magnitude will take time, meaning there's more time for everyone to end up hating each other. What I suggest is someone who has the final say in a decision, so we don't have the whole site taking sides (I suggest Rex, it's his idea in the first place). This way, he/she will make the decision based on what we've already made/came up with. This way, nobody can be offended if their idea is modded a bit, or taken out enterily by the one spear-heading this project. Or they shouldn't be offended.


Either way, with that idea, there's a bit of control towards the world. Okay, i'm just using an example, so don't be offended Ranmyakki, but I think this is pretty funny. In one of his real life fantasy RP's, there's this race called the Akraine, totally awesome with magic. He even went so far as to come up with cultural aspects for them. But, one of those cultural aspects was that they have gone beyond the need for clothing.... Therefore they are all naked, most of the time. This is a funny kind of idea, but we try to keep things PG-13, right? Since it was his RP, and he liked the idea, he kept it, even with the desperate pleas from my overactive imagination. We need someone in the lead who's gonna respect the ideas of everyone, use most of them, but will know when to say no, or even when it's nessecary to offend someone.


We also are gonna need a certain level of organization. Tasks will have to be delgated, time-limits will be put in place, dead-lines should, no, MUST, and WILL be met! It's gonna be like homework for a while, I guarentee it. But, it's be enjoyable homework. Homework that'll actually serve a purpose. I know i'm NOT the most organized guy ever, but I'll do my best to help out, on all fronts.


I think this project would be too cool to waste at this point.


I'm ALL in.
 
2 things Coro.


Number 1

GgAcE said:
Welcome back mate! Any participation in an RP is considered good by me!
**Make sure no one gives this guy vital roles!**
Click to expand...
Number 2


No problem, I'm not offended by that cuz it's true. I made the Akraine where clothing is against their cultureand religion but they do accept other races that prefer clothing which was the only reason why Rasia is wearing the cloak-ish thing. When you say there MUST be deadline... well that'd actually help cause organization but also de-unify the project if people don't agree with timelines or some people work slower then others.


(Sorry Coro the first thing had to be mentioned)
 
I'm going to comment on Coro's post by saying there's no need to think of this as some uber-serious life or death matter. The last thing I want for this is turn turn into a chore rather than for it to be something we drag our feet through and infact thats the exact opposite of what I intended in making this thread. There aren't going ot be jobs to delegate, there arent going to be quota's to meet. I've been working on a series of questions that we are going to go through and work on answering to flesh out the setting. The Questions will be asked of the entire group and answered by the entire group throguh discussion and critique of our own ideas. There's allot more to worldbuilding then just coming up with races and cultures, and inorder to make it all feel as a cohesive real organic world the ideas we come up with need to be able to interact with one another realisitically and demonstrate the kind of interconnection that real worlld peoples and places do. That being the case we can't have people being assigned specific jobs because it breaks up this fluidity of concept into sperate indapendent compartments.
 
Sui is rubbish at these kinds of things... but if you want, I can help whip something up...
 
Well assuming im up and alive when you begin, i still wish to participate in this activity. *loves discussion of a nature he can understand*
 
I'm going to begin the process of worldbuilding at this point. How this will work is really simple. I will ask a question, and you will all respond with your two cents on the issue at hand. This is going to be allot more complex as we move further into the process but for the first ten-fifteen questions it should run smoothly with little more than open discussion. Keep in mind the goal is to create a fantasy setting. Majority rule will decide what the final decision is. however if the need arises I will act as prime authority, for the purposes of keeping the world consistant aswell as believable within its context.


First Question: Should the planet of the world be earth size? Bigger, smaller, how much?


Keep in mind this will determine what kind of creatures will live on the planet aswell as how much space we have on the planet to work with.


Discuss
 
Imo it'd be nice to start off with a relatively small area, think of a small country with several settlements/cities/areas/islands in the vicinity, and expand as the rp progresses.
 
Well from personal experiences with RPs I've always enjoyed playing (And making) at least 2x larger then Earth Planets. This gives space for larger battles, creatures, and kingdoms/nations/etc.


Though I never have played an RP with a smaller then Earth planet and if we did that I'd go with half the Size of Earth. Less needed to be created but it seems less creative I find...


Vote - 2x-3x Larger then Earth
 
But you can have several warring countries/areas with eachother instead of nations/planets, which allows for more interactivity and travel possibilities. If you divide the rp'ers too much there'll be less interactivity which could kill a rp I think.
 
I like Carls idea of a roleplay thread being put towards moderation then awarded points/ablities/stats etc...


More you post / being involved with other members the better. Also allows freedom for roleplayers to make there own mini story / pot lines...


So you could create a basic mission list / quests available and people choose and accept them
 
J4 lets try and stay on topic. And Carl I think your missing the point. It doesnt matter where the roleplay is set on the planet there still has to be a planet for ti to be set on. We're not talking about the roleplay itself we're talking about the universe, the Canon of the world it takes place on.
 
The types of rp's I had in mind were even looser than that, RP'ers could create all kinds of rp's ranging from missions, meetings to general adventuring. They would be allowed to create their own missions but if wanted to, a RP Mod would " Storytell " a bit in a mission-rp ( Playing NPC's/Bosses and such ) and those kind of threads would receive additional reward because it would be " more difficult " to succeed seeing as how you can't just rp your way easily out of it, people would get hurt realisticly and such...


From my personal experience anyway, it was alot of fun to rp that way. You can also join more than 1 RP at a time and such...


Edit: Oh I see, well one planet with multiple races could suffice for that, imo.
 
I understand what you mean.


I was thinking of it from a campaign-esque point of view... hard to say what to do now O.o ...


Well it also gives players a reason to create multiple characters (though not always good) which could also help keep the RP going since then they have characters at (example) Japan and Europe, which means events happening at both places rather then having everything happening in the same area all the time.


Also going back to your point (before mine) I think it's at least wise to have a basic idea of the entire planet instead of creating bit by bit. Personal experience that has killed 2 of my RPs (Has kept 1 alive though so far I'll admit)
 
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