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World Forge for persistant world

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Broomhandle45

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Now then, since I have a fancy badge now..I figured I'd start the ball rolling properly with some concepts I have for World Forge (Which is probably going to be the name of the forum for all the worlds, as suggested by BWA)

Now the problem that would arise is no uniform display of information and the like, and I am here (with the assistance of BMR) to remedy that with a few things I have thought up, and if everyone is happy with it, we can canonize it, as it were.

Now, before people go and read this, I want to point out something.

This is not intended to restrict your world, idea, or ANYTHING of the sort. This is meant as a guide for the rest of us to appropriately understand the basis of your world, these levels are the basic vagueness that people can latch to and at least have a bit of an understanding before diving into any world. Worlds will change, and sometimes these tech levels will not cover every base, even so, the closest one will suffice. There is no limit to what your world can be, what it has, or what it has the potential of. But for the rest of us, try to narrow your vision down JUST a little so we can get some manner of explanation on it.

If it is not listed here, the rest is basically for YOU to tell us about your world, what's the society like if it's relevant, what is the culture like? Is the planet full of water? A desert? You Don't have to paint an incredibly detailed picture if you don't want to., just give us something to work with and a more explained environment is more rpable.

World Building Template version .01
Name- Obvious, I hope.
Tech Level-
If anyone is familiar with GURPS or anything from that matter, it's a similar method, only somewhat twisted and screwed for better interpretation for just about any world imaginable, with examples of our own world thrown in for reference of where you want your world to be. Now I want to note that this is Not a force of environment. It is merely a way for players to understand where your world will be in the technological scheme of things,and again! I give these examples only as a way for you to figure out where your world's technological level is, not what it HAS to have, merely the level it can have. You don't, for example, have to have guns in a world wiht a tech level of four, BUT. If say another person that comes from a planet with a T4 item, it is usable. This means that they have the POTENTIAL to have that item that your character has, but they have not done it for any number of reasons.

The tech levels are 1 to 5:
1 is roughly the time of primal tribes and basic understandings of wood and perhaps stone, or any crude material.
2 is the beginning of advanced metalworking and the realization of true civilizations, examples are the roman empire, ancient Egypt..so on and so forth.
3 is the imperialist age, the time when technology and warfare can skyrocket (but not always, depending on the planet) naval technology becomes vastly improved, firearms may be developed or melee weapons would gain an immense edge in some shape or form or another. Think of roughly the 1200 to 1800s in our history.
4 is the age of technology, electronics may start to develop, war machines will become more common, tanks..crude bipedal mecha, basically at this point, the start of more complex technologies start to take place, this is roughly the time of the 1940's and up to about the 1980's in our world.
5 is the age of greater technology, weapons development is likely at a peak here from contemporary technology, electronics start to shrink in incredible ways, information networks may start and spread out across the world, it is here where the technology of the future is costly, expensive and a pipe dream at best. Fits around the time of the 90's probably up to what we know now, and maybe much farther.
6 is the age of science, inter-planetary exploration and amazing technology can be common place. This is generally the realm of sci-fi, which means a sense of technology that can be something theoretical, but very very technological.

Preternatural Level-
Basically, the unnatrual, while still finite. PN Level is basically what the world has as far as a magical, spiritual or otherwise. For example, Dragonball Z would probably have a heavy preternatural level, as would any generic fantasy setting like Warcraft, etc.

The PN levels are 1 to 4:
1 is a primal, but difficult level of magic, ki or otherwise. The level is low, but exceptional people can utilize it, but the effects would not be entirely incredible.
2 is a mildly understood level, a good example would likely be alchemy. There is some basic grasp of how magic or ki can work, but the many dangerous and forbidden elements can be merely thought of as a powerful level of their art without knowing the proper consequence. It is likely here that basic schools or education centers are formed.
3 is a better grasp of the energies around them, culminating in experienced levels of usage and control and a intellectual understanding of light and dark sides.
4 is not exactly a complete understanding, but it is as far as an understanding that the race/people/species can gather.
 
I understand a lot of what you put there Broom, but what if for example my planet was 1 on Tech Level and 1 on PN but yet it was advanced just because of passing technologies from all of the travelers between worlds. Like what I am saying is that there is absolutely zero native population till a traveler found the world and started to build on it with technology from other worlds, what would its tech level and PN level be then? or would it even matter since it is obvious that other tech works there?
 
I think it would be implied that something would live there, but that doesn't have to be human at all. So I suppose it's entirely possible that there could be some sort of planet somewhere that has a handful of junk. But the reality of that world is simply that there is no means whatsoever to utilize that equipment. However, if someone actually stays there, there could be a developing tech level..but then the question arises, would that person know exactly what they would need to advance themselves, and even if they did, certain levels of technology require more technology to fabricate it.

But on the grand scheme of things, I don't see why if the character KNEW how to progress in some way, there could be some sort of 'empty slate' thing as it were to improve that reality. It could be an interesting development for people to try sometime, make a world through character interaction.
 
I think it's worthwhile to note, we're talking worlds, here. If you've got a general Level 3 world (some primitive tribes may still be living at Level 1 or 2, but Level 3 tech is commonly available), you could still have a secret enclave of Level 6 enlightenment, it's just rare and hidden, therefore not part of the general tech level.

As for something like what Swordsman is saying, can I just suggest that what he's talking about seems more like a colony world, if I'm reading it right. There's no native population until someone decides to come in and set up shop. In which case, the tech level is whatever people bring with them; it doesn't really have a native level, and if it's kind of a one-city place, and there really isn't a native population, then there's not really a general tech level the world over: it's rock, rock, scrubland, CITY, rock... and so forth.

This would be a special case, obviously. But you'd still have to make a note about the tech level, if only to explain the situation.
 
Of course, I expect to go in a little more detail on the actual thread about what people can do with the tech levels and PN levels. I don't want people to feel like they can't do something. People can make their worlds as detailed as they'd like, but this is intentionally built to be vague and far reaching as possible.

But it would be a good idea to mention such things, so good point, MM.
 
In the end, I think what it will come down to is the imagination of the creator(s) of the World. If they want a secret cult that has been keeping tech from the rest of the world, let them. I think the point Broomy is aiming for is that if we allow a chance for actual adventure to happen (Tech Level 6, PN Level 4 character crashes on a Level 1 world and needs to search for mentioned cult to repair ship and escape, ala some episodes of Doctor Who), then the story of the world will benefit greatly from it, as long as constant communication between events is maintained.
 
I have a somewhat simple question. On the scales of both tech and preternatural levels, are they confined to whole numbers, or can they be adjusted slightly...like giving one a 2.5 or the like? I ask as there are civilizations that are intermediate in the scales, at least in the multiple genres that would fit.
 
Well, whether it was assumed or not, I don't see why it couldn't be incorporated. It makes sense that something wouldn't be cut and dry to that extent, that some worlds may be on the brink of 'evolving'. Actually, that brings up another question........... can the worlds evolve??????? (If so, perhaps the evolution could be tracked by the world's creator in their world creation thread....). XD
 
Well, I was actually thinking about that. But in all honesty it would over-complicate, the thing about the point system is that it reveals a more complicated basis. Can you fully describe the difference of a 3.5 to a 3? The main reason I set it simply for the tech system was that it gives you a wide window, if you want say..an inbetween tech world, you could simply say that it was a tech 3 world that was coming from tech 2. I feel that the point system over-complicates a little, and removes the simplicity and ease of access that I want.

Now, if people really wish. It's very possible to set up a year system for evolution of the world, but that's just a guess so far. I don't want to limit people to world building, but I don't want to make it so complicated that others can't do it.
 
Further considerations to be made:

Civilization Level - the distance from city to city as well as the size of cities. If the entire universe just consists of one city, list it here.
Universe Size - Does the world exist in a stand-alone state? Is it a self-sustaining city? Is it an entire star system with interconnecting lanes between planets?
Connections - Does the universe have a special kind of connection with another universe? Does it have a unique relationship to another universe? (e.g. civilizations that war between universes, sort of like Valhalla Vs. Jotunheim)
There were some others that I forgot.



ALSO

On evolving worlds: I believe it should be up to the creator of the world whether it evolves or not. It should be noted that world evolution can be very difficult, logistically, to keep up with. However, an organized and dedicated creator can make world evolution fun for all of those involved, and I would like to preserve the idea such that people are not restricted from using it. Catastrophic events could cause entire worlds to evolve or devolve in qualities regarding preternaturality and technological prowess (e.g. the destruction or introduction of a giant magical crystal that feeds magic into the world, or the toppling of a highly technological civilization,) and this progress could also be very slow.

Therefore, I don't think we should have any specific kind of unit for when and how a world can move up or down in numbers - we should just say that it's up to the creator of the world to keep track of major events and adjust the numbers accordingly when things happen. This should also be a side-feature of world building that isn't integrally part of worlds - most worlds would be "stable-state" - not changing. The people who want to pursue worldbuilding in a deeper sense would have access to facilities that could help them with a more liquid sort of world-development and changing. That way, people who just want to create a simple and unchanging world may do so without a bunch of weird factors that they feel like they have to work with, but those who are pursuing a more complex world with more variables and factors are not prevented from doing so either.

The way I could see this working is that we have a main "basic world-building tips" page, with basic concepts for world-building and some templates, and then have some other pages for "advanced world-building tips" which contain such information as how to create a changing and dynamic world, as well as how to go about the creation of a storyline world, advanced NPC types, and creating elaborate governments and societies. These advanced pages would be connected to the basic page via hotlinks.
 
I didn't mean I'd force people to do anything to their world, but I'm not against adding more detail. I just want to make sure that the world building aspect, regardless of what it is, is something that anyone could really get into without feeling overwhelmed. I was using the year based system as a method for them to be able to easily (and for others to easily) see how the progress has happened, if any at all has happened.

Universe Size I have no issues about, I think Civilization level could probably just be fit under the description of the world itself...I do however, like the connections concept, it would be a rather fun way to add something. I was also thinking of adding a different level of control, namely who comes in and who leaves. There could be "sandbox' worlds, which are worlds anyone can use and make characters for at their leisure, and then others who could simply DM their world with NPCs and world based characters only, and then the ones who simply restrict to permission only.
 
I'm not saying we should necessarily put numbers on the three things I listed, I just feel that these are things we should include in the stuff we suggest when we're fleshing out how to build a world. Also, I think we're agreeing about the not getting overwhelmed stuff, Broom, we're just saying it two different ways.

Other stuff to consider:

Technological theme - A lot of the old technological themes are just based off of sci-fi and magical technology, but now we've got stuff like Steampunk, Gear-Punk, Cyberpunk, and other new sub-genres of sci-fi.
 
Hm..I bet a tech theme could work well with genre, perhaps? Give people a way to describe the atmosphere of their world?
 
Yes, I like that.

I'd like to propose something, but we can discuss it on mumble. I personally prefer that things like this be discussed vocally; it's faster and easier to come to decisions that way.
 
Um, just a thought, even though i'm a simple player. Would it be possible to 'co-create' a world with someone? I mean, could it be like, partnering up with somone and forming ideas to create something greater than the two original ideas?
 
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