The Campaign Builder's Guild

Hey. Thanks for dropping by. Have a cup of tea and a seat on the couch. Scone? They're whole-wheat.

Anyway, I have an idea for a community writing game/project thing. Details are sketchy, because I just came up with this plan a minute ago, and I wanted to write it down before I forgot it all. This is just a casual thread to gauge possible interest.

I was brainstorming about ways to use the upcoming wiki capabilities to do more than just format solo-written material. I mean, one of the strengths of a typical wiki project is community collaboration, right? And we definitely have used community collaboration, in the form of games, to create some fascinating results.

So, I'm thinking about a city. It's a city that's been part of the Jade Stage for quite some time, but I've never really gotten around to writing much about it in detail yet.

Yolek-Ja is huge, diverse, full of opportunity. It's a city of traders, travelers, merchants and thieves. Business magnates count their money as ships sail into and out of the port, and equally vast sums of wealth change ownership over hands of cards in smoky bars or over knifepoint in the alleyways outside. Countless factions jostle for position in Yolek-Ja, each struggling to find fortune, or merely to survive.

Countless factions. That's where you come in.

Maybe you want to write about an entrepreneur's small business and its employees. Maybe you want to write about a cozy little den of thieves and second-story jobbers, or a tradesman's guild of some sort, or a slavers' market, or the crew of a pirate ship that stays in town between heists. Maybe you'd prefer to write about an immigrant neighborhood in a harsh part of town, a mafioso-style "insurance agency", or a street gang engaging in turf war with its rivals. Possibilities are wide-open, and your participation could be as in-depth and meticulous or as casual as you like.

I would step in occasionally as a mediator of sorts and as a fact-checker (making sure nobody grossly contradicts the established setting, etc.), but I'd like to stay as laissez-faire about it as possible, giving you guys as much free reign as you like. We can set this up like a series of interrelated short stories and writings, or we can set it up more like a PbP game, but I'd like for everybody's groups to be able to interact and respond to one another as we go.

I figured I'd see who might be interested in something like this, and then we can decide on the details of the setup.

So, what do you think? Another cup of tea, perhaps?

LC, I had the same Idea when CEEBEEGEEBIA was on the front burner.  Like the EXACT same.  I think I could use this to sharpen some of my factions, light them on fire on CBG and se what goes up in smoke and see what is real fuel for the fire.

Love it.  Just love it.  The scope is perfect.

And, hey, anyone who has read my ridiculousness know about my love of factions...  I'm up for some heavy, urban shoulder-to-shoulder jostling...

Funnily enough, that's exactly the sort of thing I wanted with my (failed?) version of the world at dawn.

if it's a PbP, count me in. If not, I'll probably still write something up.

I'd be in for PbP or even just writing some stuff. I'm creating a large city and I could pull a couple things in to place here. Are we trying to for a city that could be played in any system, or for a specific system?

Quote from: StargateFunnily enough, that's exactly the sort of thing I wanted with my (failed?) version of the world at dawn.

if it's a PbP, count me in. If not, I'll probably still write something up.

Are we trying to for a city that could be played in any system, or for a specific system? [/quote]setting[/i]: the Jade Stage. I guess this will have some definite advantages and disadvantages from the point of view of potential participants!

The pros include that there is a fairly well detailed world that you can draw inspiration from (politics and religion to exploit, neighboring nations to talk about wars with or refugees from, etc.)

The cons involve the reality that not every idea is going to mesh well with any given setting. For example, the Jade Stage is rather low-magic and low-monster, so ideas that require flashy feats of sorcery or rampaging titans might have to be saved for some other world.

I'm intrigued.  I think I've been joining every such forum game like this on here, and I don't have time to do it.  But they're so exciting!  I love the different ideas bonding together to form something very unique and fun.  Okay, sorry, here's my thoughts --

What are the limits on what we can do?  I think it's my inner DM coming out here, but I would love to take on the role of the government in this city that's being smothered by all of the factions. I'd be sending out delegates, guards, and tax-collectors constantly and then getting screwed up under all of the pressure.  I think it'd be enough chaos to be fun.  I realize that there's a huge potential for this "game" of sorts to turn into a competition between everyone else and my villainous government, but done right I'd have a lot of fun with it.

Presuming the government idea is shot down, I do think this would be a lot of fun.  Even starting off really small with, say, the local Shoemakers' Guild and building up with them. Maybe have a shoemaker who's a little too ambitious and makes the Shoemaker's Guild into a powerful, warlike guild.  Wouldn't that be nuts?  

Okay, sorry, random ideas.  I'll leave now.

This sounds crazy awesome. I've always liked theiving factions. And wizarding schools. And fighting schools. Heck, I like 'em all.

Maybe a wizarding school headed by a crazy-with-power black mage that throws things around saying [Insert-Object-Here]-Doken, or stabbing stupid people.

...can I get a scone to go?

Quote from: Sir Vorpal...can I get a scone to go?

Are you sure you don't want pie?

Is it cabbage pie?

My your couch is comfy.

If it's Jade Stage, I'm there.

So hurry up and make a post already!

It'll give me an excuse to actually get around to reviewing Jade stage, at the very least.

I'd be interested, though unlikely to contribute until there is an established community/movement.

I want in. Like Rael said, reason to review. ;D

As do I.

Hopefully LC will update this.  I'm curious to see how this progresses.