Jump to content

Wolds in the Shared Universe


Trifletraxor

Recommended Posts

For those of you you plan to contribute worlds to the shared universe, what worlds/settings are you planning?

Do you plan to have functional gates or dormant gates on your worlds? (the rumours or history behind the creation of the gates is one thing we have to decide on together for the shared universe)

SGL.

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

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Science Fiction, human colony on a remote water world, planet with some

ruins of installations of the aquatic "Builder" race, one (currently still undis-

covered) Gate in one of those ruins, Gate is damaged and malfunctioning,

leads to devastated and abandoned homeworld of the "Builders" - and per-

haps to worlds of the shared universe ...

"Mind like parachute, function only when open."

(Charlie Chan)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a fantasy world that has been decades in the making that I partially resurrected when RQ was re-released. There is enough written for a small book (a hundred pages or so), but it is spread out between several game systems and much of it is fragmented, mish-mashed and only half edited. The other problem is that in order for it to work as written it would need a lot of geographic space. Where Glorantha is really a God/Cult centric world, this world was really based on its history (if that makes any sense) and the history must be on the entire world stage for it to work. I believe there are some good ideas though and with the talk of this common world stuff I thought about cannibalizing the world for ideas and offering them up on the common altar. But…… with all the talk of all the gated world stuff I started thinking in a different direction …..something much smaller, easier and hopefully a lot of fun….

THE GREEN

A fantasy dragging ideas in from Larry Niven’s Intragrel Trees, Endor and the wookie world from Star Wars, and particularly Arboria from Flash Gordon. (Also hugely influenced just by watching squirrels or ants climbing trees while I was sitting in a deer blind and wondering what it would be like if…)

The whole idea would be that the relatively limited setting would be overshadowed with vast trees. The canopy would be a world of its own complete with strange races, both intelligent and bestial and adapted to their verdant environment. The Branches would be huge and easy to walk on.. at least to a point. Much of the magic would be based on manipulating and influencing the ubiquitous wood and growing things. Beneath this green world is the dark, swampy root world where other less wholesome critters dwell.

Into this world more civilized humans are making inroads to trade for the valuable, woody magical and medicinal goods of the Green. In trade these foreigners bring metals strange magic (and possibly even primitive black powder technology like wheel-locks or something). Many of these humans are entering the forest from a road-tunnel in the great cliff-face that hems in the green. I was thinking that this massive cave might lead to a world gate or right through the mountains or both. Other human invaders are pirates coming up the rivers and swamps and retreating into the Green to hide from their pursuers from the outside world (lots of possibilities of outside contact).

Anyway I already have a good part of a notebook filled with sketches and notes since the talk began about gated worlds and such. Problem is I do not have BRP yet so I can only do conceptual stuff until the fated day arrives when I can really take the saw to the branches.

294/420

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Takes place after humans leave earth poisoned and broken for the stars. Some don't go for various reasons: poverty, sickness, or personal choice. Thousands of years later, humans (who are basically post

apocalypse barbarians, ie "magical" red fireaxes and ox drawn UHauls)

live in a world where Nature has reasserted itself.

Natives of the planet live in ancient ruins of civilization. The world is decidedly low tech, but I've already decided that in addition to the evolved flora and fauna that rose up from the waste of human progress there will be other spooky things like heads in jars and roving tribes of slave herding cannibals. The original idea had a satellite orbiting earth with hibernating humans aboard ala Dr Who, so the many worlds concept (and all of the outside influence that comes with it) is a welcome addition.

Basically a world of cavemen and ferocious wildlife, a mostly toxic environment, and infrastructure in ruin. The natives have a well developed mythology that is an absolute distortion of all the bits and pieces of knowledge passed down over the centuries via word of mouth.

I am developing a set of supernatural mechanics for the setting. Of course, some of this is technological, some biological and some "spiritual", so right now it's basically a hodge podge of contradiction.

I'm looking forward to this project a lot.

121/420

Link to comment
Share on other sites

THE GREEN ... The whole idea would be that the relatively limited setting would be overshadowed with vast trees. The canopy would be a world of its own complete with strange races, both intelligent and bestial and adapted to their verdant environment. ... Beneath this green world is the dark, swampy root world where other less wholesome critters dwell. ...

That sounds really good to me, and refreshingly different. I'm not quite clear - are you offering it up as part of SharedWorld, or just giving us a glimpse of your own GatedWorld? I think The Green would be a fine addition to SharedWorld.

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Takes place after humans leave earth poisoned and broken... post apocalypse barbarians... ancient ruins... heads in jars and roving tribes of slave herding cannibals... a mostly toxic environment... supernatural mechanics... technological, some biological and some "spiritual"... a hodge podge of contradiction. I'm looking forward to this project a lot.

Me too. Sounds wonderfully nasty. I can see people visiting and then fleeing in horror back through the gates... if they can!

BTW, I'm all for 'hodge-podges of contradiction'. If possible - can you leave it that 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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Me too. Sounds wonderfully nasty

BTW, I'm all for 'hodge-podges of contradiction'. If possible - can you leave it that way?

You know, I've been throwing around bits of this world here and there to friends on emails, and they've mostly said the same thing, which is great, because that's the way I've been wanting it to stay as well. Thanks for the positive reinforcement. :)

121/420

Link to comment
Share on other sites

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Originally posted by Frogspawner

That sounds really good to me, and refreshingly different. I'm not quite clear - are you offering it up as part of SharedWorld, or just giving us a glimpse of your own GatedWorld? I think The Green would be a fine addition to SharedWorld.

Thanks Frogspawner

I thought that it could really be either a gated world or part of the shared world. For that matter someone could use it for a sci-fi setting but I wouldn’t plan it as such. The reason I was afraid that it would not work with the shared world is that there was talk that there should not be intelligent races other than mankind on the shared world. This type of setting really lends itself to new types of races though. It would be a tough stretch, but I could work it up without some of the races I was thinking of.

I planned on the Green being on the western edge of a continent very much the shape of the inner cusp of west Africa, pinned between very high mountains (the Skysheild) to the northeast (to catch the rainfall) and the Sea to the southwest. To make it seem real, the inner part of the continent, just past the mountains, should probably be a nasty desert. (The clouds dump their moisture into the Green as they rise over the mountains leaving an extremely dry place on the other side. This desert would be a very fun project as well).

The Green would connect with the rest of the shared world through two routes: The mountain gates/ tunnels through the mountains and the corsairs, pirates and explorers. The Pirates could themselves come from other writer’s portions of the world or at least be running from the authorities from other parts of the world. The vast slow moving rivers, deltas and swamps of the green make great havens, hiding places or even strongholds for less reputable seamen.

The Green could offer other parts of the world rare medicinal and magical herbs and spices as well as beautifully wrought leather, bone and possibly ivory products. Also strange animals(for gladiatorial games and such). In return the Green would require metal tools, weapons and armor. Metal is very rare and valuable.

So in short the answer is: yes, I would love to help out the shared world if it will fit. I am very interested in the final decision on the inclusion of other races as well as this will affect a lot of what I am about to put together. I am also very open for suggestions, the Green may fit into the common world in other ways.

Thanks again for the interest. That goes a long way toward pumping me up to tear into this.

294/420

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Green really is a most interesting idea. I have no doubt that in a shared

science fiction universe my water world colonists would love to visit your

The Green to trade for its natural treasures.

"Mind like parachute, function only when open."

(Charlie Chan)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Rust

I never really had much experience role-playing in or writing for a sci-fi world. The concept is to make it primarily for a fantasy world, but if I can do it right, the Green should be a good place to drop into for an adventure or two for any kind of setting with a little adjustment. Space ships or gate-crashers could bop in for an adventure or two and then go to some other wild planet or setting people are writing up. I plan on writing up specific tree and swamp magic stuff and that may be a little trouble for some more realistic sci-fi adventures, but hopefully that can be left out if a GM chooses.

If this thing really goes off it might be handy to write a page or two appendixes to each world explaining how they could be adapted to other peoples creations. That would be good fun.

On a different note your water world sounds really cool, but the post is tantalizingly brief. It seems like you have a lot of ideas you can go with. Do people/ other races breathe water or do they need devices? Are you going to have underwater vehicle rules? Underwater combat rules? Do people live in domes, caves or something else? What kind of weapons do they use underwater? Like the big tree concept, many movies, books, and comics have toyed with this thing, but to my knowledge it has never been truly explored in a unique game world. Good luck, I am looking forward to reading more about it.

294/420

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello Puck, and thank you for your interest.

Most of the colonists live on Floaters, huge rafts with several decks, which

are linked together to form settlements. There are also some domed habitats

on the sea floor, mostly to operate the crystal mines (crystals are the main

export of the colony), and there are the Faders, a kind of "sea gypsies", who

live on their catamaran ships.

The people need diving equipment underwater, but there are many types of

submarines and submersibles, and some of the most difficult and dangerous

tasks are handled by aquabots (aquatic robots) or by trained dolphins and

wrillabees (the latter from the Ringworld RPG).

Typical underwater weapons are gauss harpoons (where magnetism is used

to accelerate a metal dart) and sonic stunners.

The colony itself is a rather peaceful and perhaps even somewhat boring pla-

ce (people go about aquafarming, fishing, mining - the usual drudgery), the

only exceptions are the exploration of the planet and of some abandoned ru-

ins of unknown origin, the encounters with the potentially intelligent "octopo-

ids" of the deep sea trenches, and the diplomatic and political games with the

various powers which would like to control the colony.

True adventures happen offworlds: Raiders and pirates from a nearby failed

interstellar state, trade missions through more or less hostile regions, a con-

flict with a megacorporation which produces genetically modified slaves, and

similar stuff.

The focus of the campaign is the development of the colony under adverse

conditions. Up to now we have played some fifty game-years, from the first

landing to the independence and afterwards, and have produced about fifty

pages of "canonical" material, some maps and lots of unedited notes.

For the technology of the colony I used GURPS material, for roleplaying we

currently use a modification of Cthulhu Rising, but of course I plan to "trans-

late" the setting into the new BRP. We do have some homebrewed underwa-

ter rules, based on the Ringworld RPG, but not very detailed.

"Mind like parachute, function only when open."

(Charlie Chan)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great stuff, If I ever run any sci-fi stuff it would be a great world to visit. It seems like so much can be done from world to world with sci-fi stuff. Good luck I'll be looking forward to seeing the water world take shape.

294/420

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you, and I hope my colonists will one day be able to visit The Green -

most of them have never seen any kind of forest, and can only dream of the

things that might be discovered there.

"Mind like parachute, function only when open."

(Charlie Chan)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I thought that it could really be either a gated world or part of the shared world. For that matter someone could use it for a sci-fi setting but I wouldn’t plan it as such. The reason I was afraid that it would not work with the shared world is that there was talk that there should not be intelligent races other than mankind on the shared world. This type of setting really lends itself to new types of races though. It would be a tough stretch, but I could work it up without some of the races I was thinking of.

Well I don't think any firm decision has been made regarding the races, throwing in with the project certainly gives you some say in the matter.

I'd like to get a very rough draft of a map started, and with your permission would like to put The Green in, based on what you outlined below - this will be a very rough starting point modified as other world pieces fall into place.

I don't know how worried we need to be about real world weather patterns - the world may end up being flat (or worse :eek: ), only time and the group will tell (but there is no harm in conforming to them none the less).

I planned on the Green being on the western edge of a continent very much the shape of the inner cusp of west Africa, pinned between very high mountains (the Skysheild) to the northeast (to catch the rainfall) and the Sea to the southwest. To make it seem real, the inner part of the continent, just past the mountains, should probably be a nasty desert. (The clouds dump their moisture into the Green as they rise over the mountains leaving an extremely dry place on the other side. This desert would be a very fun project as well).

The Green would connect with the rest of the shared world through two routes: The mountain gates/ tunnels through the mountains and the corsairs, pirates and explorers. The Pirates could themselves come from other writer’s portions of the world or at least be running from the authorities from other parts of the world. The vast slow moving rivers, deltas and swamps of the green make great havens, hiding places or even strongholds for less reputable seamen.

The Green could offer other parts of the world rare medicinal and magical herbs and spices as well as beautifully wrought leather, bone and possibly ivory products. Also strange animals(for gladiatorial games and such). In return the Green would require metal tools, weapons and armor. Metal is very rare and valuable.

I'll try to fit that - does anyone have anything they might like to add thet fits on the borders of The Green or fits in some other way (pirates perhaps?)

So in short the answer is: yes, I would love to help out the shared world if it will fit. I am very interested in the final decision on the inclusion of other races as well as this will affect a lot of what I am about to put together. I am also very open for suggestions, the Green may fit into the common world in other ways.

Thanks again for the interest. That goes a long way toward pumping me up to tear into this.

I think The Green would fit in great, so if you don't mind I'll try to fit it somewhere. I'm getting pumped up myself, and am ready to jump in. Lets not let the enthusiasm wane. :)

Help kill a Trollkin here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If we decide to use Gates to connect the worlds, even a different background

should be no real problem, the Gates could still connect worlds in "parallel uni-

verses" with completely different political etc. background situations, even

with slightly different laws of nature (e.g. to allow for different FTL drive phi-

losophies).

In my opinion, this approach could make it even more interesting than a sha-

red background, but that is probably a matter of taste.

Pharos IV currently uses the "Honorverse" of David Weber's Honor Harrington-

series as its background, but it could easily be "moved" to any other back-

ground where a remote human colony on the very edge of the explored space

is possible.

"Mind like parachute, function only when open."

(Charlie Chan)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Just for the record: After taking a look at the star charts I have decided

that the Shared World (whatever its final name will be) is in my universe's

System 0801 of the Demara Sector, right beyond "the edge of nowhere" in

unexplored territory, and approximately 19 lightyears from Pharos IV.

"Mind like parachute, function only when open."

(Charlie Chan)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What star charts?

It would be useful to see what people are using as Star Charts so that everyone could use the same charts, otherwiase we will be confusing each other.

Simon Phipp - Caldmore Chameleon - Wallowing in my elitism since 1982. Many Systems, One Family. Just a fanboy. 

www.soltakss.com/index.html

Jonstown Compendium author. Find my contributions here

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Of course you are right, but I hesitate to put the chart on the forum. I am

using the "Honorverse" of David Weber's "Honor Harrington" novels as the

background universe for my setting, and Mr. Weber is well known for his ex-

treme dislike of unlicenced use of his ideas - as fas as I have been told

(well, warned) he has already "killed" at least one fan project, and I do not

want to cause the forum any trouble.

However, I can provide a link to a map of the "Honorverse":

http://harrington.suewebik.net/obrazky/mapawall2.gif

This is a detailed map of the "Honorverse". In the "far north" of the map you

will find Basilisk, which is connected with Manticore through a wormhole over

a distance of 210 lightyears.

Pharos IV is in the Demara Sector (my invention, not on this map),"left above"

Basilisk, about 43 light years from Basilisk.

There is a chart of Demara Sector, but it is hardly more than a sheet of paper

with a dozen dots, some of them named.

Now, other people contributing to the shared universe will hardly want to use

the "Honorverse", I think.

Therefore we could concentrate on the Gates as connections of the setting

(which would allow us to ignore star charts almost entirely), or we could de-

sign some long-range connections (like the wormholes of the "Honorverse"),

which would allow us to ignore the "space between", too.

And, of course, I could "transport" Pharos IV from the "Honorverse" to a com-

mon background universe of the shared universe worlds, although this would

force me to rewrite lots of history, politics and diplomacy.

"Mind like parachute, function only when open."

(Charlie Chan)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 9 months later...

Hmmmmm I like this idea very much...

If I were to design a world...I would design one based on Barsoom (Mars).

I would use the Red Skin egg laying Martins, the tall 4 armed Green Tharks, and white 4 armed Apes as the races on the planet. Oh if I had to I could alter the races to not infringe on copy witten materials. Also I would make the world a little more alive and make the world itself set in a kinda Post Apocalyptic setting, with major ecco/geological problems. The world is dieing but the natives do not know it.

I would also have "Gateways" leading to other worlds, but these are long since forgottened by the current peoples on the world.

Many different possibilities here.

Penn

Old time RPGer of +34 yrs, player/DM/GM.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

The Green" sounds a lot like Midworld, an old sci fi novel by Alan Dean Foster. Very cool setting.

I had not heard of Midworld when I first started the Green, but an old friend of mine suggested it when he heard about the setting. I loved the book. The opening lines of the book fit the Green perfectly.

There was more written about the Green here, but I am attempting to turn it into published monograph and the stuff had to be taken down as a condition. Hopefully there will be more on the Green in the not terribly far distant future. :)

Edited by Puck

294/420

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 months later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...