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Can I jumpstart Shared World Interest?


Rurik

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I cannot imagine them having much trouble with it. It should help sales if anything. I certainly could run it by Dustin. The only problem they originally had was that they didn't want to put money into publishing something that people could get for free.

This is all assuming they even want to publish the Monograph. I believe that it has its problems.

Edited by Puck

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No problem with the Green:). -It was designed to latch on to other worlds; first for the shared world, only second as a monograph.

How do you feel about my "parallel plane" idea? When I see The Green on any map, it somehow belittles it. Shouldn't The Green be limitless, a world of it own...?

Cthulhu Rising comes to my mind. It exists both as a series of monographs published by Chaosium and as an ongoing project on its own website, with each of its forms creating support for the other one.

Sounds just the model we need for SharedWorld too! Who does it? A one-man band, or collaborative group?

Britain has been infiltrated by soviet agents to the highest levels. They control the BBC, the main political party leaderships, NHS & local council executives, much of the police, most newspapers and the utility companies. Of course the EU is theirs, through-and-through. And they are among us - a pervasive evil, like Stasi.

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This is all assuming they even want to publish the Monograph. I believe that it has its problems.

Remember, all authors believe that, because they know all too well where the

hidden weak spots are. From what I have seen, I would be very surprised if

Chaosium would not publish The Green. :)

"Mind like parachute, function only when open."

(Charlie Chan)

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Who does it? A one-man band, or collaborative group?

John Ossoway, who seems to visit this forum at least now and then, and

there may also be some input from others, for example the visitors of his

website.

"Mind like parachute, function only when open."

(Charlie Chan)

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From what I remember of the monograph terms you can't reprint anything in the Monograph. I imagine you could support the monograph on the web with additional material. It has been a while since I read the terms but I don't think you can do anything with the contents of the monograph without their blessing.

Fortunately I think Chaosium laid off their Black Ops none such department back in the 90's for budget reasons, so you are probably safe supporting it on the web. Now if you were to try to sell a Big Book of the Green through a different publisher without their blessing that may be a different story, and they may have to summon and bind some Mi-Go to visit you in the night...

Help kill a Trollkin here.

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Should each of the shared worlds develop more independantly of one another?- No universal things like Sky Mountains. That way people could make their own settings and, as they see what others were doing, they could find similarities and eventually through magic spells, gates or whatever connect to each other. The individual authors could come up with methods that would allow for connections. Authors who have similar worlds and tech levels could slam them together on the same map and begin trade nogotiations...or wars. >:->

Edited by Puck

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Whoops, I just double posted when I ment to edit. Hopefully this will wipe it out.

How do you feel about my "parallel plane" idea? When I see The Green on any map, it somehow belittles it. Shouldn't The Green be limitless, a world of it own...?

I think Parallel panes would work well. I may have answered that in the last post.

As to the size of the Green, I never put a measuring stick on the map. I fiddled over it a long time, but then just thought it should be as big as the GM wanted. This may have been a mistake. I personally envision it to be about as big as a U.S. region. Like the South, or the Midwest- possibly the Amazon river basin or West Africa. I think it works either way, but I wanted tribes and peoples to be close enough to interact. The generally small region of Prax, the River of Cradles and Startar worked very, very well and made the interaction of peoples very believable. That being said, I left the whole southern portion of the Green open to futher possibilities.

One thing I thought about having availible for download is a island version of the Green. It would not be hard to twist the map to make the whole thing a single island so it can exist like a Skull island. That may make it fit better to other peoples worlds.

Edited by Puck

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I think a multi-world idea is interesting, but not really a shared world concept. Much like Worlds of Wonder, it is multiple, separate settings that characters can somehow move through.

Not much to share there. It could just as easily be several separate setting that have nothing to do with each other that a GM could link (magically or otherwise) for his own campaign.

I think that in order for the shared world(s) concept to really work, it must be more of a group effort rather than each author creating his own world. It needs some overarching theme to keep it one setting.

Chaos stalks my world, but she's a big girl and can take of herself.

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...they may have to summon and bind some Mi-Go to visit you in the night...

Shouldn't worry. These days their summonings only fetch is Nick the Imp - unpleasant, but ineffectual. :)

Should each of the shared worlds develop more independantly of one another?- No universal things like Sky Mountains. That way people could make their own settings and, as they see what others were doing, they could find similarities and eventually through magic spells, gates or whatever connect to each other. The individual authors could come up with methods that would allow for connections. Authors who have similar worlds and tech levels could slam them together on the same map and begin trade nogotiations...or wars. >:->

Pretty much exactly what I've been suggesting. Except, I'd say that by default everything should be on the same map - just that each author would/could have their own version of the map (with things they didn't like missing, much like GMs would). That way we wouldn't need to stifle grand, over-arching ideas like Sky Mountain, that weren't to everyone's taste.

I think a multi-world idea is interesting, but not really a shared world concept. Much like Worlds of Wonder, it is multiple, separate settings that characters can somehow move through.

Not much to share there. It could just as easily be several separate setting that have nothing to do with each other that a GM could link (magically or otherwise) for his own campaign.

I think that in order for the shared world(s) concept to really work, it must be more of a group effort rather than each author creating his own world. It needs some overarching theme to keep it one setting.

By default, contributions should fit in the core SharedWorld, so that would be a group effort.

Yes, quite like Worlds of Wonder (which btw I just nabbed off ebay - looking forward to that arriving!). Except many of the parallel worlds would be pretty-much the same, with only slight variations on the main shared setting. (E.g. Rurik's has no Trollkin, mine has no Sky Mountain or The Green - because, in my version, the latter has it's own entire plane). The idea of alternate, very-similar worlds is well established. Of course some "Worlds" could be very different - over-run with laser-headed charnjibbers, futuristic, futuristic plus cthulhu...

Britain has been infiltrated by soviet agents to the highest levels. They control the BBC, the main political party leaderships, NHS & local council executives, much of the police, most newspapers and the utility companies. Of course the EU is theirs, through-and-through. And they are among us - a pervasive evil, like Stasi.

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That's the other face of the same problem - your ideas shouldn't have to compromise, or be approved by a committee, or be so bland no-one cares.

I run plenty of worlds that do not interact with others. However, the only "sharing" might be the initial concept and starting point with some publications that are made by others along the way, such as Glorantha.

If there is no interaction at the play level, then it isn't really shared.

I always interpreted "shared" to mean "we share usage and interaction of one instance of a world" (rather than just sharing the world template).

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If there is no interaction at the play level, then it isn't really shared.

The play level is something else. None of your group's Gloranthan adventures will have had any effect on mine - they are in different instances: "Your Glorantha Will Vary", as they say.

Here we're concerned with only the sharing necessary to develop the 'initial concept and starting point', or template, as you say. And hopefully "Your SharedWorld Will Not Vary Much". :)

Britain has been infiltrated by soviet agents to the highest levels. They control the BBC, the main political party leaderships, NHS & local council executives, much of the police, most newspapers and the utility companies. Of course the EU is theirs, through-and-through. And they are among us - a pervasive evil, like Stasi.

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Hmmm, just playing with ideas here, but what if the world was divided up by say misty seas that are hard to navigate. Long ago someone mentioned the shared world having different islands, like Earthsea. After all, in the real world, navigation was not very easy and cultures developed pretty much independently and least until the age of exploration.

The sea itself could even be a bit of a spirit plane that is hard to travel without some form of technology or magic or some form of mystic navigator. Some continents or islands may be close to one another and open up trade, while others may be almost impossible to get to. The Gate concept could still work; just another type of travel.

People could develop whole continents or simply create small islands. These could be one shot adventures. If the mist seas actually divided worlds or planes, some could have Sky Mountains or other weird physical features. All in all the shared world could have the feel of the Odyssey or Gulliver's Travels. Is this feasible at all?

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...what if the world was divided up by say misty seas that are hard to navigate. Long ago someone mentioned the shared world having different islands, like Earthsea.

Certainly sounds feasible to me. Now you've mentioned it, we should probably have it! Makes a map tricky, tho' - especially if there could be whole continents lurking in thoses mists. And part of the idea is, I think, to have cultures that can and do interact, so the default option should probably be putting them together.

Britain has been infiltrated by soviet agents to the highest levels. They control the BBC, the main political party leaderships, NHS & local council executives, much of the police, most newspapers and the utility companies. Of course the EU is theirs, through-and-through. And they are among us - a pervasive evil, like Stasi.

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How about this - most fantasy campaigns are fairly limited, mobility-wise, unless PCs start getting into flying or teleporting or ships. If you "pinned" some starting locations on the map at decent distances from one another, there would be relatively little chance of one group bumping into the mess left by another, and you could happily create a fairly common base world without having to draw artificial boundaries.

Anyway, isn't the whole point of a shared world that it changes and grows in part due to PC actions? Provided they don't get too heroic in scale, of course.

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Within reason, there would be no need to map the different "lands" in relation to each other. This allows a degree of separation and mystification. The lands exist, and we only need to know that a few defined and undefined paths exist between them.

Given the seas of fate, sands of time or aether that surrounds a land; if any character knows how to navigate, it means they know the ritual or general awareness to feel their way from land to land (Second star on the right, then on till morning). This reintroduces concepts like the helmsman, or the spice navigator. Something similar to the way hyperspace is portrayed in Babylon 5 might also be useful, where there are navigation beacons and known paths, but the further you deviate away from these the more chance you have of being 'lost' forever (perhaps roaming the Delta Quadrant :D ).

In addition to this, there could be a few known 'point to point' portals or interstices that are more reliable and consistent. In some cases a dream, or in other cases the tunnel under the bridge in the local common, or behind a wardrobe door.

Stone circles or mushroom fairy rings could be other alternatives (perhaps when the stars are right). I have always liked the dragonewt roads in Glorantha.

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Anyway, isn't the whole point of a shared world that it changes and grows in part due to PC actions?

I thought we were just sharing the creation (at least, for now, until it IS created). Only after that would PCs get involved, and then we're into "YGWV" territory. At least that was my thinking - anyone else?

Within reason, there would be no need to map the different "lands" in relation to each other.

Mmmm, very nice and mystical. Without a map, though, is it a World at all? And interactions would be very difficult to work out, if someone thought A & B were next-door neighbours, but someone else thought they were far apart, and we'd no way of knowing...

Britain has been infiltrated by soviet agents to the highest levels. They control the BBC, the main political party leaderships, NHS & local council executives, much of the police, most newspapers and the utility companies. Of course the EU is theirs, through-and-through. And they are among us - a pervasive evil, like Stasi.

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Without a map, though, is it a World at all? And interactions would be very difficult to work out, if someone thought A & B were next-door neighbours, but someone else thought they were far apart, and we'd no way of knowing...

There would be no need for a conventional two dimensional map which restricts lands to an absolute relationship in all directions. However, a list of relative connectivity would still be needed. This could include notes regarding what method connects different lands or islands, how long a journey would take, the navigation difficulty, risks, and any required means of travel (such as a conventional seafaring boat, flying, instant wormhole no bigger than a cart, or join hands with twenty singing friends).

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There would be no need for a conventional two dimensional map which restricts lands to an absolute relationship in all directions. However, a list of relative connectivity would still be needed. This could include notes regarding what method connects different lands or islands, how long a journey would take, the navigation difficulty, risks, and any required means of travel (such as a conventional seafaring boat, flying, instant wormhole no bigger than a cart, or join hands with twenty singing friends).

Hmm, that seems like a lot of extra work, just to avoid a map. And people generally like maps...

The idea does have a nice mystical feel to it though.

Can anyone think how we could combine that mysterious uncertainty within a world that's mapped-out?

Britain has been infiltrated by soviet agents to the highest levels. They control the BBC, the main political party leaderships, NHS & local council executives, much of the police, most newspapers and the utility companies. Of course the EU is theirs, through-and-through. And they are among us - a pervasive evil, like Stasi.

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Whoa, I am glad people seem to like the Mist idea. :) I was not sure how well it would be taken.

The individual island or continents could certainly be mapped out. But until we have more details of the different settings, it may be hard to map them out in relation to one another. I think it is important to see where people like to go with their settings.

Several other loose ideas:

It would be nice to have a number of detailed small islands-Maybe along the lines of one-off adventures. Kind of like the stops of Ulysses, or Sinbad in those Great Harryhousen Movies. Does anyone have any ideas or motivation for a little detailed adventure on an island?

Another thought would be an inn or tavern, some sort of stopping place that would be easy to navagate to no matter where you are in the misty oceans. Maybe it could be located on a small island at a place where currents cross.

One other possibility would be an magical order of Navigators possibly "Mistagogues" or something. These could vary in different settings, but there could be a default. They would have spells not only to help them navigate but also to move ships in becalmed waters (maybe summonings of Air or Water elementals). I do not think it would be to hard to write up a template for the order or tradition. Depending on the setting they could be kind of otherworldly npc's like charion or a fully usable character "class.

It is just kind of fun dreaming up ideas.

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Another thought would be an inn or tavern, some sort of stopping place that would be easy to navagate to no matter where you are in the misty oceans. Maybe it could be located on a small island at a place where currents cross.

If I were looking for a way to connect this kind of shared world with the Call

of Cthulhu settings I am currently working on, I would treat the different ver-

sions and parts of the shared world as regions of a kind of Dreamlands.

Some magic, drug or gate would enable the characters to travel to the sha-

red world, perhaps with a slightly different spell / drug / gate for each of its

versions or regions.

On entering a version or part of the shared world, the characters would "ma-

terialize" at or near the same location, preferably near the center and as far

as possible from the "border mists" - they would not have a direct way to

travel through the mist from one version or part of the shared world to ano-

ther.

The Inn on the Island could be something like a central hub, a place that can

be reached comparatively easily, and from where it would be easier to visit

any of the other versions or regions - sleep in the right room, and you wake

up there in the morning, for example.

Just some thoughts ... :)

"Mind like parachute, function only when open."

(Charlie Chan)

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Some magic, drug or gate would enable the characters to travel to the sha-

red world, perhaps with a slightly different spell / drug / gate for each of its

versions or regions.

This would certainly work... Sounds very Lovecraftian. Do you have the Dreamlands book? The last time I tried to order it they were out.

The Inn on the Island could be something like a central hub, a place that can

be reached comparatively easily, and from where it would be easier to visit

any of the other versions or regions - sleep in the right room, and you wake

up there in the morning, for example.

Yep!

Is this new CoC campaign related to the Templar campaign you talked about earlier or something entirely different?

Just fishing for ideas- What other types of travel would be possible?

Gates, Spells, Potion or Drugs, Caves or Rooms, Ships.

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I have the old Chaosium Dreamlands box, and I hope to get a copy of the

German version of the Dreamlands book - which is currently out of print,

too.

My Malta / Knights Hospitaler setting is "on ice", because I am still waiting

for the BRP Pirates supplement and its rules for ships and naval combat.

While waiting, I returned to an old project of mine, a kind of "world fact

book" about fictional nations of the world in 1920. Right now I have two

of those nations (one Mesoamerican, one in the Himalaya) more or less

finished, and am currently working on my favourite one, the Emirate of

Merasan on the Persian Gulf - which long ago started as my version of

the nation of Merasaf in AD&D's Birthright setting.

Ships ... there once was a very interesting Chaosium supplement for the

Eternal Hero games (Hawkmoon and Stormbringer) about a ship that sai-

led through the Multiverse, visiting its many dimensions and worlds ... I

am not sure, but I think the title was something like "Rogue Queen" or so.

A ship like this one could be unique, or extremely rare, and one of the me-

thods to cross the mist between the "islands" / parts of the shared world.

If it were designed in the spirit of the supplement, it would have a very

special crew and a changing "cast" of equally special passengers.

"Mind like parachute, function only when open."

(Charlie Chan)

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