I've recently planted the seed of a d20 Fantasy world, which I call The Morning Empire. Here's the twist: I don't even want to try to do this by myself. I want other gamers in on this. Similar to shared-world fiction, I want to create shared-world gaming in a world created by the online community.
To accomplish this, I've created a Yahoo! Group (ie, a mailing list/online forum). In this list, members can submit articles fleshing out a section of the world, be it area background, religion (deities and churches), character classes (basic or prestige) or even signature characters (the world's legends, movers and shakers), by email to the list. A moderator (at this point, just me, but I'm open to promoting any other responsible party) takes that email and ASCII textifies it and posts it to the group's website. He also creates a web poll where list members have one week to read and vote on the article. If the material gets a majority "Keep" vote, the article becomes "canon".
The world will be completely Open, as in the Open Gaming License. Any material that is voted to "Keep" automatically falls under the OGL. Material in question does not, until the vote is completed in its favor.
Special polls will be held if articles conflict. Any graphics files can be uploaded and polled as well (this works for maps, coats of arms, etc.).
For specific details on the background, see the Files section of the groups website (URL below). Suffice it to say that this world is experience a culture shock when a mysteriously familiar empire makes contact from a continent to the East. Culture levels range from Bronze Age to early Renaissance (but now gunpowder ... yet).
If you're interested, check out the group's websites at:
http://www.geocities.com/morningempire
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/morn-emp
and join, if you like the looks of this. I hope to see some people with great ideas.
Paul Stefko
To accomplish this, I've created a Yahoo! Group (ie, a mailing list/online forum). In this list, members can submit articles fleshing out a section of the world, be it area background, religion (deities and churches), character classes (basic or prestige) or even signature characters (the world's legends, movers and shakers), by email to the list. A moderator (at this point, just me, but I'm open to promoting any other responsible party) takes that email and ASCII textifies it and posts it to the group's website. He also creates a web poll where list members have one week to read and vote on the article. If the material gets a majority "Keep" vote, the article becomes "canon".
The world will be completely Open, as in the Open Gaming License. Any material that is voted to "Keep" automatically falls under the OGL. Material in question does not, until the vote is completed in its favor.
Special polls will be held if articles conflict. Any graphics files can be uploaded and polled as well (this works for maps, coats of arms, etc.).
For specific details on the background, see the Files section of the groups website (URL below). Suffice it to say that this world is experience a culture shock when a mysteriously familiar empire makes contact from a continent to the East. Culture levels range from Bronze Age to early Renaissance (but now gunpowder ... yet).
If you're interested, check out the group's websites at:
http://www.geocities.com/morningempire
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/morn-emp
and join, if you like the looks of this. I hope to see some people with great ideas.
Paul Stefko
