Viewpoint Different Stories & RPs In The Same Setting

[N9noBrawn]

I wanted to know how everyone feels about having different stories and RPs take place in the same setting, be it one they or someone created, that may not necessarily be related?

And for those that have done it, how has it helped your worldbuilding skills or has influenced a plot or character knowing their is previous lore to draw from?

Personally, it's one of my favorite things to do. I like the idea of there being multiple stories happening at the same time or the same place, I also enjoy continuing a character's story after the original story they were created for ends.

How have they changed since the big bad was defeated? Are they wiser now? Have they slipped back into their old ways? Stuff like that. I also think it's awesome when a supporting character of mine or someone else's gets that promotion to main character.

 

[rae2nerdy]

So to be clear are you talking about AU (alternate universe) ?

So for example a story taking place in the Harry Potter universe but set in America instead of England?

Or a story set in the DC universe only with Original Characters?

Or are you simply talking about continuing the canon storyline after/before the original plot?

Ex. A story following Harry Potter after he leaves school.

Or an original story featuring Batman and Superman teaming up?

 

[N9noBrawn]

Continuing the canon storyline before or after the original plot. The spinoffs, sequels, prequels and all that jazz.

 

[rae2nerdy]

I don’t use canon characters so can’t say as I have any interest in that kind of story telling.

I do like fleshing out established worlds though. Like use original characters to flesh out some aspect of the canon universe that wasn’t explored in the main storyline.

My personal favorite example of this is my version of America in the Harry Potter universe. I try to marry a distinct take on the American Society with in-universe racism and bigotry. I also borrow magical ideas from other works and sort of weave them into the greater universe.

Another idea of this is to look at superhero worlds from the viewpoints of non-traditional hero characters. So like a civilian or maybe someone who doesn’t fit the ideology of whomever the main heroes are.

These stories never really touch on what’s going on in canon but rather take place in the canon world.

So I guess if we’re using your terminology these would be “spin offs” (as an aside the more common term is AU/alternate universe).

 

[N9noBrawn]

I should also clarify, I do also mean worlds and characters that are original. Continuing stories in those settings or any setting. Just wanting to know if everyone else is as nerdy as me about this kind of worldbuilding.

 

[luuvy]

The roleplay extended universe...
You hit all the spots really! The setup for a story is so good and leads to many other possible venues, background characters pop up again and receive more spotlight, later rps start to reference earlier rps. When the rp gets this extensive, it gets easy to kill off characters and still get that dramatic effect.
It's definitely not something I really plan, since it's such a big endeavor (1x1 here, primarily). They happen when they happen!

 

[Volarit]

This is something I absolutely love doing. Whether it's in a completely original universe or otherwise.
Having a world that is in depth enough that there can be multiple plot lines running alongside each-other is fantastic! I especially love the world building side of it, knowing that not everything stops or goes 'back to normal', how much or how little the original characters change the way the world works.

 

[M.J. Saulnier]

So to be clear are you talking about AU (alternate universe) ?

The OP is talking about a singular setting, period. Be it an RP you created from scratch, the Star Wars universe, whatever. Using that singular setting and its established canon to host stories in addition to the original RP that was done (nothing to do with fanfic or AU stuff specifically, the RP canon and setting itself).


I really enjoy doing this, but for me it's usually a planned ordeal. I sometimes create a mythos such as A Legacy Written in Blood, which I know will take 3 stories to complete. I don't tend to dig up reasons to revisit a cherished canon such as spin-offs. I am turned off by derivative stuff like that in most cases. Granted there can be exceptions.


I recently created a universe to do exactly this in, but it's not catching on. In a way I'm sort of glad deep down because it can't be messed up or derailed by other people. The more time passes, the less I want to even open it up for other writers.

 

[Crayons]

I wanted to know how everyone feels about having different stories and RPs take place in the same setting, be it one they or someone created, that may not necessarily be related?

And for those that have done it, how has it helped your worldbuilding skills or has influenced a plot or character knowing their is previous lore to draw from?

Personally, it's one of my favorite things to do. I like the idea of there being multiple stories happening at the same time or the same place, I also enjoy continuing a character's story after the original story they were created for ends.

How have they changed since the big bad was defeated? Are they wiser now? Have they slipped back into their old ways? Stuff like that. I also think it's awesome when a supporting character of mine or someone else's gets that promotion to main character.

Yep, this is great. I do a sandbox style RP where I run a nation. When new people join it's awesome finding new ways to incorporate them with existing plots or characters. Multiple stories are always happening. Different characters drift in and out of locations as they go about their storylines, and it makes for a deeply layered experience. Lore builds up over time, characters have their own arcs as they mix and mingle with others and develop in interesting and surprising ways. NPCs that you think are insignificant and have had their use get drawn back in. Fun and awesome. And because its sandboxy the story ends whenever the players want it to end (which is often never). Arcs finish and new ones start.

 

[Idea]

I've done RPs based on a shared setting on four different kinds of occasions:
*Fandom roleplays using OCs on the fandom's setting, the main ones which come to mind being my hero academia and tokyo ghoul.
*My first roleplaying site was essentially one massive roleplay which every thread was a separate part of.
*Roleplays set in Euphorium, my most developed world to date.
*A world called "Kaisei" which is basically just a typical isekai world

Euphorium is probably the closest to what the OP is referring to among all of those. Originally the world was inspired by the setting in which I created my first non-fandom OC, Kneckt, and my re-uses of Kneckt led to me considering inserting him into a wider setting, and his scavenger/pawn-shop type business led me to start bringing more ideas together, until I decided to create a world to unite all of those random floating ideas I had in a cohesive manner. Next was my first quest roleplay which was set in a more modern time for Euphorium, then more roleplays in other timeframes for Euphorium. One of the best ones I've had there was a western-type RP.

I personally find that worlds like that really can use extensive worldbuilding, which is great for me because I love worldbuidling. However, it's also important to know what to lock in and what to make more adaptable. Worldbuild the possibilities, so that there is something to discover wherever the players go without having to make it up on the spot, but don't railroad the players there. I find that something similar is also important with tying story elements together. While I've built all of Euphorium's overall history, this means I end up locking players out of certain major effects on that history. When I first started doing singular-setting across multiple roleplays I found that one of the biggest problems was retrofitting things or having the shadow of the past experienes looming too much on the new ones. Learning to make properly self-contained stories is one of the things I had to work on from the beginning.

One thing I love about roleplays that share the same setting, is just seeing all the different perspectives that the same events, systems and world can be viewed from, and what that results in. I especially love it when it comes to my own creations, as sharing worlds I craft is one of the biggest reasons why I roleplay in the first place.

Ok, that was a bit of rambling from me. Bottom line is, I really love doing it, but I usually love doing it more with my worlds than anything else, with certain fandoms following a close second. Doing with other people's worlds is something I can enjoy, but they need to be sold to me as worlds, and that rarely happens in a way I can be satisfied with, I am rarely given to see real possibilites with those worlds because they aren't often ready for the kind of exploration that I like to do in them, of playing around with the rules and possibilities of those worlds in a creative pursuit. It's hard to explain without a good example, and I'm not really coming up with one...I might come and edit this later.

 

[N9noBrawn]

It's interesting what you said about locking people out. I used to fear that when I was creating worlds or settings, I got around that by doing a broad strokes type of history for certain events.

This war happened, but the details will be worked out when, if, we ever decide to roleplay that timeframe or explore what a character was doing when it all went down.

 

[Idea]

It's interesting what you said about locking people out. I used to fear that when I was creating worlds or settings, I got around that by doing a broad strokes type of history for certain events.

This war happened, but the details will be worked out when, if, we ever decide to roleplay that timeframe or explore what a character was doing when it all went down.

That's a good approach. It just doesn't really sit well with my style of doing things, as I don't like building what's established, but instead I want to build on what's established. I like to work with solid bases, always. Of course, this doesn't mean I dictate every single event ever happening everywhere, nor really every step to get to those events at a micro scale, so I find some room there to incert roleplays when I want.

 

[NeonFlow]

Most of my fantasy rp’s are set in the same world, this helps keeps rules the same regarding races and magic etc

One rp might be referenced in another or cross over etc