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A pitch for a shared world starting point


Rurik

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Here is an idea I'll through out for as a starting point for a shared world. It is actually based on an idea I've been planning on for a bit - first for MRQ, then having decided that that system wasn't quite right I've been keeping it on a back burner waiting for BRP. It is based on a city with a mix of cultures and a nearby ruin fouled with evil, and was already had gate openers - though in the original setting they only opened one gate - as the setting was originally titled "The City on the Edge of Hell" I'll let you guess which one.

There is more to it than just this summary - I've developed some of the cults and have some notes on nearby cultures, and actually have some good ideas for human cultures that sprang from the human only/fantasy races discussion. Gates could easily exist to ther parts of the world as well.

So without further ado here is the pitch:

The city commonly known as Portal has stood on the banks of the River Jule for as long as any of today's people can remember. It had been ruled since before known history by the ancient and now dead race called the Akershule, and they called it Asherayne.

The Akershule were powerful sorcerers, and knew ways of opening gates to other worlds. Some say that they were never of this world, and came to the world from one of the gates, but know one knows for sure. Though they built great structures and knew great magic, they never expanded their control over the primitive peoples around them, ruling only over their city and the surrounding lands that supported it. They traded with the barbarian cultures around them in times of peace, and were brutally efficient at defending their lands in times of war. And always the markets of Asherayne were filled with wonders from beyond the gates.

Then, many hundreds of years ago, they opened a gate to somewhere they should not have. Hordes of demons poured through and overran the part of the city west of the River Jule, besieged the rest of the city, and spread out to the surrounding lands. For over a decade they besieged Asherayne but could not overrun it's fortifications. Eventually, the surrounding peoples united against the evil that the Akershule had unleashed, and drove it back and lifted the siege. The Akershule let the barbarian armies into their city and united they attacked across the remaining bridges into the west city and drove the demons back into their gate, and the Akershule cast magics to try and seal the gate.

Once the enemy from beyond was defeated the barbarian armies inside the city walls turned on the Akershule and attacked them, killing as many of them as they could and driving the rest out to their keeps in the mountains north of the city. There the surviving Akershule, their civilization all but destroyed, entombed themselves in mountain catacombs and committed suicide. They left inscriptions on their tombs promising to return to right the wrongs of the past - though no one knows if they mean the wrongs committed upon them by the young races or the wrongs they committed by them upon the world by unleashing hell.

Today, the city is called Portal by most, and the east city is ruled by the descendents of those who conquered it. It's population represents all nearby cultures, though the natives themselves are mainly an urbanized people, a mixed breed of all the surrounding peoples. The gates still stand, and though cults have arisen around these mysterious portals, no one truly understands their working. The West city is still abandoned and haunted by evil things, a great ruin where the demon gate still stands. Hellish things seep through it still to haunt the west city and surrounding lands, though the ancient magics have held back the hordes of demons - so far.

Any feedback, thoughts, or cool ideas?

Help kill a Trollkin here.

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Nice one! I think it's great, and Portal/Asherayne well deserves a place on SharedWorld.

The western ruins are a perfect adventuring site, as are the tombs of the Akershule, for those who don't mind a longer trek. The city might be a melting-pot of semi-civilized barbarians, inheritors of ill-understood alien wonders, riven by loyalties to outer tribes/odd cults - very good scope for interesting local characters. And if any characters did 'seep through' from other worlds, anything could happen to them - and probably straight away! Hailed as gods, feared as sorcerors, robbed for their alien wonders, attacked as demons... Marvellous. I can hardly wait!

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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Maybe the mass suicide was really a ritual to embody certain members with enteral life (or unlife), and a few Akershule still exist and keep watch over the gate to ensure that what once happened can never happen again?

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

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Thanks for the good feedback. The setting seemed like a pretty easy fit to many of the ideas going around. It was designed around oppurtunities for adventure (ancient ruins and wonderous artifacts) and even had gates (well originally one), and a reason for them to be mysterious rather than easily controlled.

Maybe the mass suicide was really a ritual to embody certain members with enteral life (or unlife), and a few Akershule still exist and keep watch over the gate to ensure that what once happened can never happen again?

Well I must admit that the original campaign arc idea may have involved a couple minor plot devices involving the weakening of the wards on the demon gate and the return of the ancients...

Maybe it wasn't suicide, just cryogenic freezing?

Surely you mean ancient sleeping magics? ;)

Help kill a Trollkin here.

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Maybe it wasn't suicide, just cryogenic freezing?

...but occasionally they need to come out (at night, to minimize thaw) seeking transfusions (because blood isn't perfectly preserved)...? :)

Well I must admit that the original campaign arc idea may have involved a couple minor plot devices involving the weakening of the wards on the demon gate and the return of the ancients...

Wow. SciFi and CoC crossover already. Spot on!

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 the one for me so far. Can we mix in multi-planar/multi-cultural stuff. Are you proposing this as an actual shared project? Can you actually let it out of your grasp and let others develop it? What if 'they' take it somewhere you didn't imagine, will you feel you have lost your baby? These are all very important questions when you consider making this 'shared-world'.

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This is the one for me so far. Can we mix in multi-planar/multi-cultural stuff. Are you proposing this as an actual shared project? Can you actually let it out of your grasp and let others develop it? What if 'they' take it somewhere you didn't imagine, will you feel you have lost your baby? These are all very important questions when you consider making this 'shared-world'.

This is definately being put out there as a starting point for a shared project, and in doing so I realise it may be taken far away from my original concept; I am fine with that. I'm excited to try a shared world and offered this up to to see if there was interest and maybe get the ball rolling.

Already on the Geography thread some pretty wild ideas have come out and I love it - even if many or even all of them never get used for this shared project I think the brainstorming has been great.

As a setting it has been kicking around for well over a year now looking for a home - it was originally going to be a setting for MRQ, but then for a couple of reasons I moved away from that, BRP never being far from my mind as a home for it. I have a bunch of notes on the city, cults, a couple of cultures, and a fairly detailed campaign arc, but I have not put so much effort into it that I don't mind seeing it go in a different direction. The name Portal is completely new - I came up with it when I decided to propose this as a starting point for this project (it seems to fit well).

Help kill a Trollkin here.

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Are you okay to CC licence all of this and then we can start? This is exactly the city I want to help develop with you..

All the licence/author and systems/setting integration questions need resolving too.

I think that we would need a wiki to start with, I think our host here at BRP Central must be working on that as I type!

:)

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I am entirely ready to CC this. I will get my notes organised and ready to post on the wiki - all of which is open to reworking to fit the concensus.

I'm very open to any licensing. CC for fluff and OGL for crunch seems like a good solution to me though. In all honesty I'll go along with what is quickest - I'd just assume move on knowing that all I am due from anything I add is my attribution.

Help kill a Trollkin here.

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You asked about adding the the Green to the shared world. That of course would be great!:)

Would the Green be able to go onto the same Wiki with Portal and the rest of the shared world or would each contribution need its own? I am really kind of a dunce, 07% with computer skills and forum edicate (although I am hoping for an improvement roll soon).

294/420

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Very good question. How's it gonna work, Mr Trifletraxor?

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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Would the Green be able to go onto the same Wiki with Portal and the rest of the shared world or would each contribution need its own?

Very good question. How's it gonna work, Mr Trifletraxor?

The SharedWorld will have one wiki (which I have opened now). All what we produce there will fall under the license specified in the first article.

For the GatedWorlds I am not sure. If the creator of the world wants full control, tehn maybe an own folder in the download section would be better. If he/she wants to share it like the SharedWorld will be shared, where everyone can add to it, then a wiki for each of those will be in order too.

SGL.

Ef plest master, this mighty fine grub!
b1.gif 116/420. High Priest.

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For the GatedWorlds I am not sure. If the creator of the world wants full control, tehn maybe an own folder in the download section would be better. If he/she wants to share it like the SharedWorld will be shared, where everyone can add to it, then a wiki for each of those will be in order too.

I think the main idea with GateWorlds is that other people are invited to contribute to them. The author doesn't have to accept contributions he doesn't like, but rejected contributors would be free to copy the original world, and publish it again with their additions (so long as it's marked "variation of X's world"). Downloads seem to fit that model better - unless you can restrict who can update a wiki? Or maybe GateWorld wiki's could have an "unapproved" section?

I also think it's important to measure the popularity of the various worlds. Download-counts lend themselves to that quite simply, but might not reflect which worlds are actually liked/used. Maybe regular polls?

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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While I would have no problems at all if others would copy my world's material

and change it in any way they like, I would find it difficult to accept if they

would make changes to my "original" material, which is the "canonical" material

on my world for "my" players.

This could force me to work with (and remember) at least two different ver-

sions of my world, the one in the wiki and the "true" one at home, and this

could become quite unnerving, I think.

"Mind like parachute, function only when open."

(Charlie Chan)

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The method I was describing is intended to do just that - give original authors the final word over what is canon in their world. Do you think it fails in some way?

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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Thank you very 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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I think the main idea with GateWorlds is that other people are invited to contribute to them. The author doesn't have to accept contributions he doesn't like, but rejected contributors would be free to copy the original world, and publish it again with their additions (so long as it's marked "variation of X's world"). Downloads seem to fit that model better - unless you can restrict who can update a wiki? Or maybe GateWorld wiki's could have an "unapproved" section?

Sounds like an excellent option to me. :thumb:

I was kind of hoping that the Green would be easily adapted for other gamer's ideas and worlds; kind of like a kirby vacum cleaner with different attachments. There would be the base idea and then people could pick and choose which parts they like, cut it up and add it to their world. I planned on writing it as a fantasy world, but was hoping I could put the purely fantasty stuff in one section that could be cut out(not sure if I can really do this properly though). One could cut the fantasy part out and add the Sci Fi adaptation. People could add articles of where the Green would fit into the shared world, their world, or add adaptations of their own. For instance Atgxtg's( How do you pronounce that) Nivenesque ideas could just port the Green into a corner of the ship/ringworld/Dyson's spere.

What would really be nice is a place for contributing writers to add campaigns, senario's and particularly mini-adventures that people could add to each world. This is were authors could really help each other out I think.

Also a place where contributers could write and post personalities and npc's like the Borderlands encounter book, Runemasters, or Foes and Fangs. I have always been disappointed that there was not more of this on the MRQ Wiki. There could also be a place for additional societies, cults, fantastic, legendary items and whatnot.

Another neat thing would be a rumors thread about what is going on in each setting. People could add to this to their hearts content, Dm's could peruse the list and have a handful of rumors to throw about every time the characters go to the watering hole or meet people on the road.

(If you havn't noticed yet I was thumbing through Griffin Mountain this morning).

It would be very nice for the author to control the riens on what is cannon though. :thumb:

On that note It would be nice to see to see a semi-private forum where writers could suggest stuff to one another or have solid, honest editing help with one anothers work. A place where rough drafts, propositions, and lists of ideas could be slung around before the generaly public cuts into them. I for one have the weeds of stupid ideas growing up with the hopfully bountiful crops of good ones and would love a place to ask just a few people what they think before I put them in stone. I used to write scripts and do voice acting for computer game mods. Each mod had a private forum where contibuters and the heads of various mods could mess with ideas and show each other their work before they released it. It was a wonderful tool that helped to hone the edge and knock out many of the chinks.

Well, I hope this doesn't sound too demanding or anything, I really do not know what is possible with Wiki's or what anyone else is really imagining. I am just kind of offering up ideas.

294/420

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What would really be nice is a place for contributing writers to add campaigns, senario's and particularly mini-adventures that people could add to each world. ... There could also be a place for additional societies, cults, fantastic, legendary items and whatnot. ... Another neat thing would be a rumors thread about what is going on in each setting.

An 'idea pool' like that could be really good. Maybe trying to define an entire world from the start is too ambitious and even off-putting for some people. But this way we just collect any ideas we can, and perhaps meld them together later...

On that note It would be nice to see to see a semi-private forum where writers could suggest stuff to one another or have solid, honest editing help with one anothers work.

Not sure if this would be worth the admin work Mr Trifletraxor would have to put in, but then again I would perhaps like advice with writing-out stuff from my own world that's derivative of commercial settings (i.e. nearly all of it!:))

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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I like both ideas. I am always on the lookout for interesting ideas for my

world, and I often have ideas which seem interesting, but will not fit into

my world's framework, so a place to "trade" ideas would be nice. And a

place to discuss new world elements before throwing them at the players

(and having the bad ones being thrown back at me) would also be a great

advantage.

"Mind like parachute, function only when open."

(Charlie Chan)

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