Collaborative RuneQuest Campaign Design

[mthomason]

A while back I was going to put together a group for designing a giant d20 dungeon. Kinda like AEG's Worlds Largest Dungeon except it would be online and free.

For various reasons, this never happened.

Reading through The Great Pendragon Campaign today has sparked my interest once again.

Would anyone be interested in doing this for RQ? The idea would be that a group of people would create a complete RQ campaign (most likely in a closed Wiki) that when finished would be put into a PDF and made into a free download (there could even be a printed book version too for people willing to pay for it).

It can't be set in Glorantha. It *could* be set in a generic enough setting that could allow it to be slotted in to Glorantha (although depending on the campaign and how much world design is needed this could cause problems... this would be a decision the design committee would have to make)

So, anyone interested?

 

[atgxtg]

Hmmm, sounds sort of like Questworld. In fact Questworld's multiple island concept might be good to adopt for this.

Could be interesting.

Are you thinking of incorpationg some of the timeline ideas and putting up events as a backstory? THat could add a lot to help flesh out the setting.

 

[mthomason]

To be honest I'm trying not to think of anything I'd prefer not to make too many assumptions at this stage, but I would certainly imagine something along the lines of

- A background section (detailing the area, which could be anything from a planet down to a group of small barony-sized areas)

- A timeline of background events (with the usual notes on how PCs may interact and mess it all up) and foreground adventures (which can be anything from a paragraph long to a full 32 page detailed scenario)

- Major NPCs

- Rules for anything that falls outside the scope of the rulebook (for example if characters have their own lands there would need to be rules on income, raising armies, etc)

And more important than any of the above, some kind of storyline that gives a reason for it all - that potentially needs working out before anything else can happen, in order to provide some kind of skeletal framework for everything else to slot into and define boundaries for individuals to work within.

 

[SteveMND]

A shared world concept like this is always a lot of fun. For a time, I had a scifi setting operating in the same line, with an emphasis on hard scifi as opposed to soft. It was a lot of fun, although it sort of petered out after a year or so.

I'd certainly be interested, if it wasn't for the fact that I'm working on my own campaign world right now for a home campaign (probably RQ3). I'd be too likely just to take any nifty ideas i came up with and drop them in my own world instead.

 

[Cut]

It does sound very interesting indeed. But how would this work technicaly, would we be sharing our thoughts here on these very boards? :?:

 

[mthomason]

I'd put up a Wiki (just think of Wikipedia but just for this project) or something similar, that way people can get into the pages and make edits "live".

The only restriction would be it would be closed to the people working on the project, for a number of reasons which include preventing vandalism.

Once it was finished, it would be put into PDF so everyone else can get at it

 

[Cut]

That sounds cool
Never have done this before, but would be interested in contributing

 

[atgxtg]

You'd probably need to have oververrser/veto power. Just to prevent "Writer A" from annexing "Writer B"'s country in a war or some such. I recall the olf Thieve World anthology where a couple of the wrtiers killed off each other's characters.

HAving each person take a region/area and the work out some way for the lands to interact. Especially if we have differenrt lands at different levels of advacement technolgocailly/magically.

I'd hate to see someone "Cortez" someone else's pet kingdom.

 

[mthomason]

Yep, I'm envisaging handing people little bits that are "theirs", rather than all treading over each others work Wikipedia-style. They can go make notes on other peoples pages to help continuity, but the "owner" can always go as far as a rollback on the page to the previous version if necessary. There'll have to be some rules as to what and isn't allowed, with the hope that most people will co-operate on story development rather than fight each other on it. If there's enough people involved I can envisage there being some kind of tribunal doling out Judgement of Solomon-type-justice when there's any kind of clash, if it's small enough I'll just sit there and piss everyone off myself

Probably some kind of system where someone volunteers to do a certain section, is given the boundaries to stay within, and then takes that bit away to go play with. Again, with enough people it could be some form of heirarchy with some people acting as "editors" over large portions of the project.

If there's enough interest...

 

[Malakor]

That's very similar to what my guys and I are doing with Leshan. The background and such are stuff I've used over the years and my local game group has decided that rather than each of us having our own worlds to run games in, why not use one?

So each person has claimed an area for themselves to develop.

We set up a 'bible' with certain set rules, and with the restrictions that anything encroaching on another person's area requires discussion and permission.

So far, I'm the only one who has been posting to the wiki, but some of my guys have shown me their notes and I look forward to seeing their stuff on the wiki soon.

This type thing is an excellent idea, and it makes for a very 'living' world, in my opinion.

 

[atgxtg]

THat was pretty much the idea behind the orginal Questworlds. I guess Chaosium used to get a lot of good scenario idea that they couldn't use becuase they didn't fit into GLorantha. An "OPEN CAMPAIGN" idea was started, but fizzed out when the Avalon Hill deal went through.

THe Idea has a lot of possiblities.

 

[homerjsinnott]

Yeh I'm in. Would rather do continuity stuff and bits and bobs than having my own 'dom. Work along the borders so to speak.

 

[Chardros The Reaper]

I'd like to contribute to this endeavour! I wasn't satisfied with any of the D&D campaign worlds do I made my own (rather limited) gameworld. I found myself wishing all the while that my players would help me out on the creative side, but they were unwilling/unable to. So something like this sounds pretty cool to me!

 

[kustenjaeger]

Greetings

This has a lot of possibilities. I'm thinking about working up an RQ background to do a number of evening sessions with long term friends anyway, so that might fit in.

What would one need apart from the rules?

Regards

 

[mthomason]

What would one need apart from the rules?

An internet connection, free time, and imagination

 

[kustenjaeger]

Greetings

What would one need apart from the rules?

An internet connection, free time, and imagination

Well, I can manage the first, hope I've got the third. The second can be counted as time en route to/from work and on planes I guess.

Regards

 

[Loz]

Take a look at Gwenthia

http://www.gwenthia.org/

Designed for use with BRP and/or MRQ.

There are three sourcebooks already; the core book describing Gwenthia; the Iqari, describing a major predator in great depth, including BRP stats (easily portable into MRQ) and the She'Eth, a reptilian enemy.

Gwenthia's creative commons, which means you can freely use any or all of it in your games with suitable acknowldgement.

 

[Shadow Queen]

im in Matt

 

[Don Allen]

Will you have a time limit when you will be able to say, "OK, this is completely finished now and ready for PDF"? I think this sort of things fizzles out unless you have definate goals and when they have been met its finished.

 

[Cut]

Reading through The Great Pendragon Campaign today has sparked my interest once again.

Who published that title anyway?! Sounds interesting enough. Is it a system bound sourcebook or can it be used for anything?