World Building Blog

GENERAL UPDATE

Well, it’s one of those times. “Those times” being when “I’ve been struggling with getting any art, design, ‘or anything, really’ done because I’m a total perfectionist and it’s so much easier to just spend forever researching +/- 37 different things simultaneously” (ranging, of course, from how pteradons fly to the best way to scientifically (and most painfully) determine exactly where in a particular binary star system the life zone – a.k.a habitable zone or Goldilocks zone – would fall).

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WORLDS OF SAND

Fortunately, I’ve been insanely fortunate enough to be selected as a finalist-interviewee – a writing position – for an indie game company currently working on their first big project, which happens to be based on some of my favorite themes/genres, movies, game-types, etc. The company is Starboard Games L.L.C. (links tp FB page) and the game is called INT (short for Interstellar). While this blog has been primarily about art, design, and more “visual-creative” projects, I’ve been world building – and creating languages – for years now (almost a decade, and that’s not counting the totally-uneducated attempts I made back in middle school).

In the interest of not only continuing to explore those areas of interest but also to get all the research I’ve done and ideas I’ve been exploring out there to share and discuss with other people, I’ve decided that now is a great time to start a blog specifically for world-building and all that goes into that (or can, at least)! Taking the first step applying for this writing job has been a great push forward towards the blog, but whatever happens with the job itself – all power to them, the idea sounds great – I’m looking forward to writing again. Well, writing in a “public forum” and getting feedback and having discussions, anyway. All the writing I’ve been doing recently has been kept … under wraps, so to speak.

Perhaps I’ve reached a kind of “critical mass” in terms of the amount of information I’ve amassed. Now it’s time to actually make use of it all, even if I end up just sharing it and helping others use it for their own epic ends.

 

Orthodoxy – Something NEW!

Click the image above to go to the KICKSTARTER project page! Ends June 19, 2014 @ 10:35 AM PDT

Orthodoxy – the Politics of Reconstruction

A pen-and-paper RPG designed and written by my friend, Jordan Voltz (Blog, Facebook, Twitter). The rulebook and at least one example setting are currently in the works, but the core structure of the game is already in place. The Kickstarter Project, which ends June 19th, 2014 @ 10:35 AM PDT, is – hopefully – going to raise the funds to complete the system, write the rulebook, publish it (both as a PDF and a soft-cover print edition), and even get some great art included! In the interest of full disclosure (and because it’s such an obvious opportunity for shameless bragging), I’ll be doing all the art. Unless, of course, we get so much interest we need to bring in some help, although I admit – I hope I’ll be able to handle all of the art, illustrations, and design myself. This game – perhaps “system” would better describe it, as it’s not limited to a particular genre or even time-period – is something I’ve really enjoyed helping with.

Basics of the System

Now, as I’m not actually writing the system or rules myself, much of what I know about the game was explained to me by Jordan. While we were putting together the audio for the video, incidentally, so we went over the concept and general system quite a few times. Essentially, at its core, the system is designed to literally force the players to collaborate even while attempting to dominate. The setting used to showcase the system is essentially a Roman-era city that has fallen into decay. Originally ruled by a central government built around and upon a central religion, various Sects have broken away and are now fighting for both religious and political power. In an effort to prevent the city from being torn apart by rebellion, and with the hopes of maintaining at least some of its fading power, the central government has chosen a representative to bring the leaders of the dominate sects together. Together, this representative – the Scribe, played by the GM – and the players, as Sect Leaders, must work together to write a document that will bring the Sects together and restore the city.

Stages of Play

Both the Sect Leaders and the Scribe want this document to reflect primarily their own interests, however, so despite the required collaboration plenty of blackmail, bribery, intrigue, lying, and other forms of manipulation are equally effective means of completing the document. There are essentially two major stages of play, alternating until each Sect Leader has proposed and written a chapter of the document. The first stage is the Debate, in which a Sect Leader proposes a chapter and attempts to garner support from the other Leaders and the Scribe. Once the proposal is completed and support given (or withheld), the chapter itself is written. The Scribe records while the Sect Leader who proposed the chapter dictates. Other Leaders can interrupt the dictation to make changes or argue a point. After this stage is completed, the second stage begins. Now, all the players, including the GM, step away from the document in order to bribe, blackmail, lie to, and otherwise manipulate their temporary-collaborators into promising support when it becomes their turn to propose a chapter.

These two stages, which I like to call “Debate” and “Manipulate” (respectively), alternate until each player has had the chance to propose and write a chapter of the document. The group may choose to write only one chapter per person, or they may choose to write any number of chapters per person, even writing more than one Book (document) to create a Canon. The length of each chapter and of the whole document is entirely up to the players, allowing the game to be completed in a single session or across multiple sessions, even spanning several months!

Favorite Feature

I have to say, my favorite feature is the incredibly flexible nature of the system. While the system is described in terms of writing a religious document that will dictate and support a new government for a decaying city in danger of falling apart, this is hardly the only setting in which it can be used. In addition, writing a document, book, or canon – whether detailing religious or political power – is not the only outcome the system can create! Players could be computer programmers vying to rewrite a powerful but outdated software using their own system, or they could even, potentially, be architects vying to build a structure using their own materials or methods. Or to at least have the most input during the drafting process 🙂

While the focus is on collaboration between otherwise antagonistic parties, there’s still plenty of room for manipulation and fighting. Politics, law, and even coding have never been “clean” and there’s always room for a little manipulation, even during a collaboration that could cost an entire city its very survival should the effort fall apart!

 

Zoning

I’ve pretty much just been working (a little) on the map of Graven these past weeks as I prep for the CELTA course. The pre-course task took forever, but it’s done now and I have a little time before classes start. Like, a day. I’ve “zoned” the buildings and the map, separating them by wealth/”use” (residential buildings are divided into wealth “zones”, but commercial, industrial, and office buildings aren’t really). The map does show density/wealth a little bit, but it’s mostly just for my own reference so it’s not very clear. Basically, the darker the color, the denser and “poorer” the area. The lighter the color, the less dense and “wealthier” the area. Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the densest areas are the poorest or the least dense are the wealthiest – a lot of dense areas are also wealthy, with gated communities and beautiful uses of not a lot of space. There are also plenty of poor areas where buildings have been demolished (partially or fully), or where there just aren’t a lot of (permanent) buildings. I’ll be working on refining exactly where buildings will go, where I’ll need plazas and parks/green spaces, etc. tonight, and hopefully by tomorrow evening I’ll have finished placing all the buildings. I’m also hoping to do some area sketches, especially of the “poor” area, with a lot of notes for the upcoming comic (!) I’ll be working on that during lunch hour at CELTA, so I’m leaning towards a penciled-with-light-digital-painting look (actually, Badirfilay is a great example of the sort of line and color style I’m looking at).

Here’s a look at what I’ve done with the zoning so far – maybe I’ll have a more detailed “notes-map” locating things like central plazas, major parks/green spaces, etc. later this evening.

City Map Layout/zoning