The Campaign Builder's Guild

I guess this goes here. I was thinking the other day: we have here a forum for campaign builders. Some of the most dedicated, talented, creative individuals I have met post over here, as well as loonies with random ideas such as myself. Why not have a community world? Everyone else would keep their own world as their primary focus, but all of us working together to create a world would produce something truely awesome.

That's it. Just the bare bones of an idea. Anything else would have to be determined by the Community as a whole. I personally advocate replacing normal magic with other systems, as well as replacing the core races with variants, but I'm somewhat biased.

thoughts, anyone?

I'm game.  If we can actually get this kind of idea going, I'll make a separate forum just for it, but I think there should be a good bit of discussion first, as to the types of world, the nature of magic and deities, the classes and races allowed, and the mood and tone we'd be going for - just to name a few things.  Like I said though, I'll be happy to help, coming up with ideas that have absolutely nothing to do with my campaign tend to get my creative juices flowing, and then I have some new things for Shadowfell :)

it definitely needs to allow fragmentation. for instance, maybe my deities are all humanoid-created aspects of social values, while dagg's deities are all ancient gods from beyond the depths of space. (or, i guess, maybe everybody gets to make only one god, but they can be radically different...). really, you get where i'm going here, right?

maybe it could be planar, with gates to everybody's little mini-world, or a surreal-like world with an unspecified number of continents and an unknown topography. (or maybe that might be too fragmented)

I'm reluctant. Most of these ideas fall flat on their face soon after the initial rush of the starting gate wears off. I think the most important thing is to have a leader or group of leaders that are absolutely dedicated toward the setting. While many diferent painters can make a painting much more detailed and large, they need a unified lead or you'll get sureal art next to anime style.

I'll point it out again, Giant in the Playground has a very nice community world on their forums.

I was thinking we all submit stuff, then everyone votes on what they like, what goes in, what stays out, etc. Not so much we all submit stuff, and everything we submit goes in automatically, but we vote on what is best. Something along those lines, not too sure.

Quote from: RaelifinI'm reluctant. Most of these ideas fall flat on their face soon after the initial rush of the starting gate wears off. I think the most important thing is to have a leader or group of leaders that are absolutely dedicated toward the setting. While many diferent painters can make a painting much more detailed and large, they need a unified lead or you'll get sureal art next to anime style. I'll point it out again, Giant in the Playground has a very nice community world on their forums.

True, they do. Problem is, it's big and established and getting involved in it, for someone like me, seems like too much work for something tht is pretty well defined already. Besides, we are a Campaign builder guild - if anyone would be able to sustain it, it would be us.

And i would be dedicated to the setting. I'm capable of doing multiple projects at once easily, and I would want to see this go somewhere.

As a way to keep intrest up, we could publish the final result on lulu.com, and use the funds to improve the guild somehow. That might be too much, though.

Alright, I think the main question then is whether the creative process involves a democratic style vote or a monarchic/republican style veto by leaders.

Then, like I sugest to all world builders, I reccomend you all start with a CORE ETHOS STATEMENT. This should be no more than 100 words and EVERYTHING in the world should tie into it in one way or another.

Of course I probably need to be slapped and told to sit down. :D

Raelifin, you speak truth.  I think though, before we even work on that core ethos, we need to get in line with who's going to be involved, who's going to be the guiding hand, and what exactly we're trying to accomplish with this.

If I wasn't working so much on my own setting I'd jump on this. However I think I'm going to have to sit back and watch it develop, and once in a while toss out a few ideas. No matter how you slice it, too many hands in the cookie jar just leaves everyone unhappy. I wish you luck making something cohesive without an autocratic leader to veto/approve all entries. I think that's the only way you'll be able to keep the same tone throughout. If you guys make this work, I'll be extremely impressed.

-Peace-

yeah....  this doesnt sound like a good job for democracy.  
I think brainface's idea of fragmentaion is good.   Perhaps the starting continent is an archipelago.  
anyways,  i think someone is going to have to be in charge ultimately, but maybe individual issues are brought to some sort of vote.  (should the god be called  Tom, or Tominlinson'xintharassuy ?)
i dunno...    im in.    
sounds like a job for a wiki.

QuoteThen, like I sugest to all world builders, I reccomend you all start with a CORE ETHOS STATEMENT.

This should be no more than 100 words[/quote]50[/i]. :O

also, second a wiki. they're good for crazy communal projects, right?

Okay then... who is gonna lead us into the new world?

Nominations>?

can anyone give me an example of a 'core ethos statement' ?

i suggest anyone willing start submitting core ethos statements...  and we'll pick which one we like.. (polling would come in handy too)

once we get a general outline, we should make wiki.thecbg.org

Might I suggest a meta-setting, a la Planescape, so that multiple worlds could be meshed together?

-Elven Doritos
Just a thought (I know I typed this already...)

I like the meta-setting idea, or something along those lines.

Glad to see this is getting so much feedback - I think something like this could really take off.

How do we want to handle nominations for running the setting? someone else nominates you, or self nomination, or what?

I'll throw in some ideas maybe, but I probably shouldn't get too involved.  Godswalk is supposed to be my focus right now, and with my computer situation, I might disappear for a while...

Meta-setting seems like it would be a good idea, cuz hey, we could all have our worlds linked to it somehow too.

Yes, but then there arises the problem of my Gods coming through a portal.  Can you say problem?

How would a meta setting resolve CS specifics, like Altvogge's resource points?

A meta setting would rely on an over-arching structure that, although consistant, wouldn't necessarily be completely dependent upon the specifics of an individual world.

In short, what happens in Altvogge stays in Altvogge, unless someone came to/from Altvogge. Mechanically, it would require a bit of judgement on the part of the DM.

so would we be building like, a sigil or something?

Something along those lines, though not necessarily contained in Sigil's scope: It doesn't have to be a single city. It doesn't have to be anything, really-- we can make a nexus from scratch.

-Elven Doritos
*Shrugs*

Ick. I feel that a meta-setting disolves the coherance and flavor of each world unless they are linked in their very nature. I also think having som many creators working on their own "corner" will lead to major problems.

A core ethos statement is a shory summary of the entire setting. Here is Phaedoras' 25 word statement:

"In an ancient world ruled by primitive people, heroes of amazing skill battle colossal monsters.
This is Phaedoras, where amazing lands and epic adventure await."

Yeah, I'm kinda agreeing a little... I think I like the idea better of doing something slightly more generic and less esoteric, but that's just me.

I think we should possibly...  now just a thought mind you...  We could all make a core setting.  A setting to play any campaign(not setting).  Sorta like Greyhawk, but ours.

Just my thoughts...

By the way, here's a few guidelines we may want to borrow (steal) from GitP about the creation process:

http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=world;action=display;num=1098472885

God I love that series of articles. Seriously, quality work.

Well, it's pretty good, but though they do have a lot of good stuff, I very rarely see anything recent in progress... most of the stuff seems to be pretty old.

I think its in our best interest to have a seperate forum for the group campaign.    I expect we'll need multiple threads and polling.

should we just take outline for creation they have and work within it?  
it looks like its pretty well organized.

I think that it could be fun to make a setting as a group.Ã,  I wouldn't have enough time to contribute too much right now, but I graduate in June and that will free up a lot.

I think that making a meta setting would not be very fun, though.Ã,  I think that would pretty much ruin the point of having everyone working on one setting.Ã,  That's just my thought, though.

What kind of things would we consider to be "constants" of the universe in terms of magic, peoples, and stuff like that? If we know that, then the general story will come together quickly. Maybe we should vote on this stuff.

You know, I think I want to help giving this a shot. In fact, I think I'll throw in myself as a candidate for leadership/guidanceship/whatever. A few of my ideas regarding the topic:

1. These things regularly fail, so a dedicated leader and a focused project is a must. If I get to run things, any content must pass my veto before getting in, though I will use this veto as little as possible, unless we get far more input than I expect.

2. No meta-world. Any DM can make a Sigil-like thing and link it too each of the worlds found on these forums. We would be underestimating ourselves if we devoted our whole community to creating such a thing.

3. A solid theme. Even more so than in a single-person created world, the world has to have some sort of theme. If the theme is generic enough in its nature, everything that is written must be linked to it, otherwise, everything that is written that does not involve the primary theme must be consistent in flavour and style with what is already written.

4. Voting. I'm not sure how much use of voting I would make if I were in charge. I think we'll be discussing topics for a while (the "DISCUSS: theme" thread will be our first thread), then either reaching consensus (possibly when someone just goes ahead and posts a very detailed treatment of the discussed topic) or putting the ideas together for a vote. As for theme, I think we will debate it in a thread, then boil it down to a number of broad statements, vote, and then go through the process again to get a more detailed theme statement, before continuing.

5. My involvement. If I shall lead this project, I will minimize my own contributions to keep this from becoming a sole project. I will just try to be active enough to keep things going in the contributional part, and of course as active as possible in the organizational part.

6. The community. I don't know about you guys, but I read every subforum here, and I think a few others do too. If we get a separate subforum, we will most likely have support from most of the active posters here, which would be a good start.

7. General conclusive statement. The above states how I think a community world should be created to actually get further than some initial discussion, and it applies regardless of whether I will lead this project or not. So give me some feedback here.

;) Túrin

Heh... my vote's for you ;)

I agree with everything you've said, espcially the part about discussing things for awhile before we really settle down on something.  I think votes are pretty important; if we have enough people active, then we can at least get some good votes on things like race/class preferences, general world mood/tone/theme, etc.  Let's let this stew for a few more days, with discussion about whatever we want in this thread, and if things seem promising enough, I'll set up a forum for this project.

I'll definitely vote and criticise on what is given, but new material proabably won't be coming from me in any large quantitity.  I vote Turin for leader as well.

I'll help mainly with ealaborating on simple ideas if we get anywhere, and I'm most certainly willing to be part of any commitee that is formed for this thing, but sole leadership/motivation just isn't my thing.

Quote from: TúrinÃ,  Voting. I'm not sure how much use of voting I would make if I were in charge.Ã, 

... thats not a good way to gain support.

but i get what you're saying.Ã,  voting on everything would be bad and take forever.

I wasn't even trying to get support. I just stated that I am prepared to run this if other people want me to, and then I went on to state what I think is the best way to get this project beyond its initial stages. Those were just my honest opinions, I wasn't trying to win votes or something like that.

In my opinion we should in general go for a frontloaded approach regarding votes. Once we have the theme and a few other things decided, we should no longer need votes: consensus will arise naturally in the discussion thread because everyone works to conform to the theme we have decided upon, and when the leader decides not to include someone's contribution it will hopefully be obvious to everyone why he decided to do so.

We need to avoid running multiple votes at the same time as well.

But, like I said, the amount of voting we need is the major organizational topic that I do not have a solid opinion on as of yet.

I do seem to be rallying support already though. Good. Just follow me, my mindless zombie army... :D

OotS plug: "Goblin morale is terrible." "Here's my answer to goblin morale: goblin zombies!"

Good night everyone.
;) Túrin

EDIT: @ Ishmayl: as for letting this stew and seeing what we want, I agree we need to wait a few days before actually starting the work, but I don't think we should already discuss actual content. Right now, we just want to see whether there is enough support from people to work on this project, who will lead it, and how it will be organized. Discussing the world itself is for a "DISCUSS: theme" thread to be opened as soon as we have decided on these other things. This to avoid the problem some projects like this one have had: while the community waited for the project to come of the ground, the initiators had already decided what the world was going to be like before the project had actually started, thus estranging the community.

I'm sure that Kal would agree: The best approach to most endeavors is an oligarchy. I say we have three individuals who each have a vote/veto (ever notice they're angrams?) who would be co-chairs of the project.

Just my thoughts.

-Elven Doritos
The Take-Charge Guy

hmm, just don't let them be called the triumvirate, and it'll all be good...  1turtle   Turtles!

Let the benevolent dictatorship of Turin begin! If he's got both the time and inclination to coodinate this affair you folks would silly not to accept it.

I'm not sure I stated this clearly earlier, so I'll state it now in response to ElDo: I favour a single leader in this project, so there can be no confusion of responsibility (the leaders won't be waiting for each other to take the lead in any specific place) and the world will hopefully be more consistent in the end. There should be one or two people (either mods (which means Ishy on this forum) or active contributors) who step in when the leader is absent for a longer time. When the leader just disappears for a longer time without a note, such a person should arrange for a vote or some other system to get a new leader.

Edit: Thanks nastynate. I must admit that now that I stated my candidacy, I do hopeÃ, we get to do this. Hopefully this projectÃ, will inspire our community (including me)Ã, for their own projects.

Well, we should obviously hold a pseudo-election for the position.

However, with one person who holds exclusive veto power, I say that such a "community project" becomes "one person's world where other people submit the content." I don't favor a single editor. That's me.

-Elven Doritos

I'd go for a system with turin as main "leader", and two other highly active members as people to step in.  If we need an override on a veto, and they both agree, perhaps that would balance the veto?

i'd nominate Kalos and myself, but feel free to suggest others.  I don't claim to know much, but I'm always here.

Veto power isn't everything. You can only keep stuff from the world, and I already stated I think the amount of veto-ing should be minimized. Besides, if you have more than one leader, one is always going to be the most active one (most likely, by FAR the most active one).

I'm not saying the leader should be editor as well. Like anything but the organizational parts (and a veto-right to keep a consistent theme but that shouldn't come up very often) the leader should delegate as much as possible. I think that is the furthest you can go with a community project without aiming for a quick death.

I agree we should vote for that position, which is IMO the main reason why this thread needs to stick around for a few days right now (along with debating the organizational stuff). We can't just nominate candidates though: the person chosen must have the "time and inclination" (quoting nastynate). I think Xathan is going to propose himself though, if I read between the lines of his last post correctly. So let's see what happens.
;) Túrin

Waiting isn't my strong point, but as long as nobody listens to me, then we're cool  !lol

The above was at ElDo, and I'd edit to note that if it weren't for having to redo the layout of the post.

@critical threat: though I'm not particularly opposed to your idea of two "back guardians" I think any leader we choose will notice when people disagree with the veto being made and retract it. Like I said, I think that something should be vetoed only when it is obviously out of sync with the rest of the content, and this should be obvious to most other contributors as well. So a quick support for the writer from a few community members should be enough to undo a veto. Though the guardians are a good extra measure I think, especially if they also watch for long absences of the leader (two weeks?).

sounds good to me.  Just that with power, comes corruption.  and just eing a DM has done terrible things to me... !lol

For the record: I entirely disagree with the current proposals for the organization of this concept. All of my other ideas have been shown little support as well.

Not to sound crass, but I probably won't be invested too heavily in this project.

-Elven Doritos

Oh, minor point: Typically, other people nominate individuals for a position.

indeed, I just pointed myself, and did sound conceited in doing so.  However, I will fully support anyone else in this endeavor.  I've never been involved in one of these before, so this should be valuable experience...

That's why I used the word "propose" for Xathan and "throwing in" for myself. Like I said, in this case it would be unfeasible to have people nominate others, because the nominees need to be prepared to invest the time required to make this work.

It's too bad you disagree with the current proposals. Do you mean my proposals or anything that has been proposed thus far? Either way, you're in luck: nothing is set in stone yet, so give us your ideas and reasons why they are better than what others have said. No reason to go "crass".

Edit: again, reply was aimed at ElDo. Critical threat, I'm not sure I understand you. What do you mean by "pointed"?

what's wrong with a wiki where we could go crazy? someone seeds a continent, someone else makes a city on the continent, someone else makes an inn in that city.

Someone posts 3 gods, someone else makes 3 opposing gods, a third person describes the clerics of those gods.

i think that'd work (and not be crazy), so long as people didn't keep adding, like, gods, but further detail on already established concepts. if we stick to that, i seriously don't think a grand triumvate with veto power is necessary.

(my two cents!)

Oops, i guess i meant nominated, oh well...  don't mind me, i'm just the fool in the corner.  

On aother note, this thread is pulling traffic away from my thread.  Look at my trolls please!

here's a collaborative fantasy wiki to look at.

http://elothtes.pbwiki.com/

the purpose of this wiki is mostly to bullshit, of course. (it's a backstory for a cardgame that never existed.) but i think it's general format could be copied.

So you are proposing yourself for leader?

@ brainface: While a wiki "where we could go crazy" is a fine idea, I wouldn't personally be interested much. I think it would be too chaotic and inconsistent for my tastes, and would fall apart quickly in terms of new content being added.

Now I'm really going to bed.

Goodnight all.
;) Túrin

I will not, cannot, and should not propose myself as a leader.  But as a backup to watch over the project should motivation falter, i might be able to assist.

@turin 'go crazy' might not have been the best choice of words ;)

ok..  i think the whole 'leader' idea has gotten a bit out of hand.  
maybe having a 'primary editor' is better PR.

wiki will be best. (imo)  unless we have some other sort of campaign hosting (which we dont atm)

I think daggerhart has a pretty good point.  It's not that we should consider this "leader" an absolute monarch in the project, but maybe something a little more like the president in a republic....  The leader (whom I will refer to as "Bob," until an actual leader is chosen) would be the guiding hand, possibly bringing up propals, offering assignments for projects, etc, etc.  Bob would not, however, have absolute, final say in anything.  If there was ever a serious disagreement on something, then it would be relatively necessary to vote.  If no one wants elves, but Bob insists on elves, then we'd have to just vote.  Simple as that.  And maybe Bob could hire a couple henchmen to do dirty work for him as well, but that's probably a bit further in the future than what we're currently looking at.

Oh, and I'm not a big fan of the wiki idea yet; my mind may be changed, possibly, but currently, I don't like the idea that anyone can just throw up content at random and it's automatically considered "part of the campaign."  I'm not saying that every decision should be unanimous, but they should at least have some outside say.

Sounds cool, I've always wanted be a henchmen...

i can see it now, bob's mafia, haha

well, wikis are 'self-healing'. if someone throws up 30 elf subspecies, someone else can trim them down to 5 (depending on how it's set up. most allow for rollbacks and pretty good protections, if someone goes around adding and deleting stuff.)

what i think a wiki would be great at is for adding detail, fleshing out locations, etc. if someone has to go thru review in order to detail an inn, and some likely frequent visitors thereof, it's likely to not happen, imo. ;)

it's also not like just anyone would add to it. i mean, tops, maybe, this forum might eventually get 200 people? and maybe 20-30 add to the community campaign?

I agree with Ishy. (LONG LIVE THE ISHY!)

I think we DO need 1-3 "leaders" but these "leaders" should act more like "organizers." I'd like to nominate (just to show that he is actually nominated) Turin. I strongly disagree with a wiki, as it would encourage the world flying off in all directions or dying right out of the gate.

Here is my suggestion for a layout: All discussion of the world occurs on a forum. One thread is locked and is only editable by the "Leader/Organizer." Whenever the community agrees on some content they send up a flag and "Da Boss" adds it. I just hope we don't involve the mafia or ninjas... That could get as ugly as Ninjas vs. Pirates.

Quote from: RaelifinAll discussion of the world occurs on a forum. One thread is locked and is only editable by the "Leader/Organizer." Whenever the community agrees on some content they send up a flag and "Da Boss" adds it.

This seems like the best actual organizational advice I've seen yet.Ã,  I would make this leader the moderator of that one forum, which means he could sticky things, make announcements, and lock threads so that only he could reply.Ã,  Excellent idea.

Raelfin has the best semi-collaborated idea yet! Let's stick with his for a while if we can...

BTW, pirates are way cooler than ninjas.

BLASPHEMY! Ninjas rule! I must set up a poll!

Oh, thanks. /me bow

But what will the basis for a community world be?
Core?

Core is always good, especially if we plan on publishing.  This is why I suggested making a generic setting.  A setting where you could set your campaign, with no crazy variants, rules systems, or overwhelming changes.  Just a normal setting, like Greyhawk, where everything can have a place.  Although rather dull, if everyone else agress, it could be nice to have a universal setting on these boards that everyone knows.  I for one need such a setting as my  players are anxious and would appreciate such a simple world.

Quote from: Natural 20Core is always good, especially if we plan on publishing. This is why I suggested making a generic setting. A setting where you could set your campaign, with no crazy variants, rules systems, or overwhelming changes. Just a normal setting, like Greyhawk, where everything can have a place. Although rather dull, if everyone else agress, it could be nice to have a universal setting on these boards that everyone knows. I for one need such a setting as my players are anxious and would appreciate such a simple world.

Maybe a lottery or a vote to see if, say, Vancian magic should be tossed, or to give someone the task of developing a better system.
Then start with humans, then have each contributer develop a race, whether it is new, or their ideal of a standard.

Whoever "Bob" is can come up with a rough map and lottery off various areas for development for each member's race, with the central power nexus being a collaborative human entity.etcetera....But screw the wiki idea, best to keep it here.

Quote from: CYMRO

Quote from: Natural 20Core is always good, especially if we plan on publishing. This is why I suggested making a generic setting. A setting where you could set your campaign, with no crazy variants, rules systems, or overwhelming changes. Just a normal setting, like Greyhawk, where everything can have a place. Although rather dull, if everyone else agress, it could be nice to have a universal setting on these boards that everyone knows. I for one need such a setting as my players are anxious and would appreciate such a simple world.

Maybe a lottery or a vote to see if, say, Vancian magic should be tossed, or to give someone the task of developing a better system.
Then start with humans, then have each contributer develop a race, whether it is new, or their ideal of a standard.

Whoever "Bob" is can come up with a rough map and lottery off various areas for development for each member's race, with the central power nexus being a collaborative human entity.etcetera....But screw the wiki idea, best to keep it here.

I'm going to disagree here as well. I think it's important NOT to hand out assignments or have "Bob" arbitraily make the map. His role should stay as organizer and the world should not be divied up to different people.

However, I actually DO agree that it should be a core setting. There are a lot of was in which core can be made interesting and I think as long as we stick to a theme and avoid the sink of the kitchen we should be okay.


Any more nominations?

Okay, to speed this along, let's set an end date for nominations (fairly soon) and I don't know all the nominees so someone else can list them or something. I'm tired...

I vote Sunday for the end date of submissions. Monday-Tuesday we vote.

Quote from: WixmanOkay, to speed this along, let's set an end date for nominations (fairly soon) and I don't know all the nominees so someone else can list them or something. I'm tired...

I vote Sunday for the end date of submissions. Monday-Tuesday we vote.

And while we mull over Bob nominations, what about the name for this brave new world?

The first, obvious choice is Cebegia.

EDIT: frelling smileys are still buggy!!!!

Is that pronounced Kebegia or Sebegia? O_O

Quote from: RaelifinIs that pronounced Kebegia or Sebegia? O_O

Sebegia...

Why is that an obvious choice?  It does have a nice quality though...  Maybe we should wait for Kalos to stop by before setting everything up.  Then again, my opinion is only one opinion.

Quote from: Natural 20Why is that an obvious choice?Ã, 

CeBeGia.....

I'm fond of it. I like the pronunciation Seh-bee-jia... Less "gia" that way.

Ah, pardon my blindness and inability to percieve the obvious...

Quote from: Natural 20Ah, pardon my blindness and inability to percieve the obvious...

Maybe you should put some ranks in Spot..... (insert appropriate humorous smiley here)

Ehh, I would think that the name of the campaign should definitely not one of the things we worry about at the moment.  The name should come from what the campaign's about (such as "Tears of Blood," the community campaign setting at GitP, which is named after the bloody tears of someone with the plague).  For the time being, let's worry more about what the campaign is going to be about.

Er... right. Back on topic. Anyone nominated besides Turin?

Turin for Dictator!

I second the motion

@daggerhart and Ishmayl: I don't think the leader thing got out of hand. I was saying that most of the time a decision should come naturally from the community. Bob has veto powers and such mostly so we can quickly act against derails and silly proposals, but the community should correct Bob when he makes a wrong call. All of this is also why I think that one Bob (and one or two "guardians in the back") is best.

@Raelifin: moderator powers would be a good idea, so Bob can lock threads and make announcements, though I think he shouldn't be allowed to edit other people's posts (not that you were saying he should, just expanding on your line of thought). I think I agree with everything you said about organization.

@others: though deciding on a working name (Cebegia would be fine for that) might be useful, I would once again state a wish not to discuss the actual content of the setting before we have the organizational thing straightened out (which at this point seems to come down to electing Bob). And even then I think we should not discuss the "core or not" questionÃ, and the name of the setting before we have discussed theme. So I'll refrain from that discussion for now.

I also agree we should let this stand for the weekend. Perhaps then Ishmayl can open a poll thread or a vote through some other means and see to it that things develop fair and square. If all goes well we can start discussing theme and other actually interesting stuff this time next week.

;) Túrin

Hmmm... I don't think "the leader thing" has gotten out of hand yet, not sure why that was directed towards me ;)  Anyhoo, the "let it stand for the weekend" thing is probably a definite at this point.  Once "Bob" is elected (or selected, whatever), we'll worry about what sorts of "powers" he has.  I think moderation of that one forum is a gimme, so we'll start with that, and maybe bring in a few other options as well.

So is Turin a winner by default or are we gonna have an election.

Oh yeah... WTF IS UP WITH THE SMILIES! THERE ARE LIKE A HUNdRED OF THEM!\\ :chase:
 :hm:  :blink:   :samurai:

turin sounds like the man for the job to me.

+1 vote, Turin.

Quote from: WixmanSo is Turin a winner by default or are we gonna have an election.

Oh yeah... WTF IS UP WITH THE SMILIES! THERE ARE LIKE A HUNdRED OF THEM!\\ :chase:
 :hm:  :blink:   :samurai:

It will be like an old Soviet style election.  You can vote for Turin, or go to the gulag.   :cold:

 :offtopic: The smiley selection rocks!!  

Aw heck, we'll just send you to the gulag anyway!

Er... Uh. I'm on topic...    :fish:

In Soviet Russia, gulag sends you!

-Elven Doritos
Master of Dungeons

Hmmm, so far, we seem to established the fact that we need to discuss things more... well, that sounds swell and dandy.  So, let's discuss.  What do you guys think the "Core Ethos" of this should be?  Myself, I like a rather dark and gritty campaign, something where the characters tend to be struggling to survive, rather than just the stereotypical heroes of the local region.  Midnight is a good example, Dark Sun is as well.  So anyhoo, let's get this rolling; I have a full weekend ahead of me with nothing to do other than hang out on forums and further develop my carpal tunnal.

Yay for carpal tunnel! Oh wait...

Well, I'm in the "mood" for a political campaign, but I'm mostly just suggesting it to add options. I also must add my Raelifin Twist :smartass:... I'm going to suggest that the desnisty of "air" is much greater... perhaps make it a liquid. All characters would be more dense, to preserve the simplicity of 2D combat. Or everyone could be a shapeshifter (have a few alternate forms)... Woo! I'm insane! Just smack me if I go too far off the deep end.  :morons:

dude, you just wanted to use that smiley, didn't you?

Um... no...  :angelic:

Guys, since I saw my name dropped I just thought I would let you know that I find it highly unlikely that I will participate in this project.  It's nothing personal, but:

1.  I'm really swamped with work right now, and keep seeming to take on more.  Progress on my own setting has already slowed to a lamentable crawl thanks to my 'real-life' commitments, and another project in addition would likely delay Tasothilos even more.

2.  Although I naturally approve of strict hierarchies in which everybody knows their place ( ;) ), I'm wary of what the result would be of applying my world political views to a campaign setting team.  In fact, I'm generally wary of 'collaborative efforts' in building worlds beyond maybe 2-3 people.

3.  As a staunch traditionalist in gaming as in all things, I feel like the ideas which I would be likely to present would be at odds with the majority opinion (and Raelifin. ;))

All that said, if you need somebody to design a language or alphabet or something for you, I might be willing to contribute minor details along those lines.

I wish there weren't already people backing out before the project even got started...  I guess if we just have 4 people working on it, then that's all we have...

Hey now, I'm not backing out, insofar as I never indicated that I would have gotten involved in the first place.  I just saw somebody mention waiting until Kal weighed in, so I did.

(Heh, yeah. I oppose a lot of people.)

I think it's important not think about thinks in terms of "in" or "out" except when it comes to the leaders of the project. People come and go, but this is and never was supposed to be a substitute for a personal setting so I think it would be a good idea to have a "drop by and add" attitude. However, it then becomes Bob's job to make sure the stuff that is "dropped in" fits well with the general setting and is properly discussed before adding it.

Het everybody, umm...  I vote to keep it simple, that way it doesn't become too terribly convoluted.  I appreciate Raelifin's help, but I recommend avoiding any "twists" of great magnitude.  I have hopes of using this setting someday, and it would be great if it worked fairly well with the core books.  I have a bit of a bias towards stereotypical settings myself.  With, you know, powers behind the thrones, deposed princes, saveage barbarians, lost temples, etc.  So if anyone wants, I'll stick around to keep the world from getting too "out-there".  Of course, if that's where we want to take it, then so be it.

Fine...  :crybaby: Build a normal setting with traditional fantasy elements. I'll just be over here in my own little world, bonking newbies with my hammer of insanity...  :knock:  :cool:

I vote that our PbP take place in the community world.  (or at least, someone running a PbP in the community world, as its being developed)...
that would be groovy, and you could experience the rewards of your labor easily.

I like Daggerhart's idea, but my playing was referring to the fact that I will most likely need to build a new group once I get to college, and his would be nice to have.

Don't worry Raelifin, if we need anything home-brewed, I'll call you, err...  IM you I mean.

Yeah, I think PbP games are a great way of testing out a new world and refining it.

Oh, and P.S. I'd like to hear from anyone who wants to talk over IM. I can review material much faster that way.

Well, my sn is on my member profile, as is yours.  Anyone open to being talked to abotu their CS or the community one should strongly consider making their aim sn public.

Good idea, daggerhart.... I think we can plan on going ahead and implementing a PbP forum (it seems there's enough support), and hopefully, if we can get this community project going relatively soon, we'll be able to get a DM and some players for a campaign.

That is great idea, Daggerheart. We could develop the world just by playing.
As for a Core Ethos, I got this:

A new age has come to the world...
Like waking from a dream, the people come to grip with the horror of the world they have been born into. Nothing seems real.
The world has changed ...
Covered in dust and decay, the people of this world make due with what is left in the devastation. The twisted reflections of the world gone by makes an eerie ambiance in the air.
Time makes change...
Settlements of the newly awaken have been created asthey seek to make their way in the world. However, the unconscious minds of those not awaken provide the medium for a new addition to reality. And it's hungry.
Heroes come forward...
Given the foresight to see back into the past, the chosen warriors will face the cacophony of the insane nothingness that threatens the world.

Hey Ishy, why don't you open the Community World subforum so we can open a "Discuss: Theme" thread before this discussion gets too split up between two threads. In fact I suggest you lock this thread after doing so to avoid just that.
Túrin

Look at that! This thread hasn't been locked yet. Guess I'll post something. Funny how I found the Ethos Discusion thread before this one.

I think I'll contribute to Cebegia in tid-bits here-there. I love designing cities and monsters, so when that part pops up I'll be very postal.