Vordak

History Generator [Open 'till the end of time]

The Premise

History Generator is quite different from the traditional form roleplay on the Guild: rather than each player writing for a separate character of their own, it involves everyone collaborating, in order to create the timeline of an entire world; there will be no GM and no structured plot, other than the one provided by the players themselves and their posts. Everything from ground up is a community effort to build entire civilizations, with the great and the terrible, the geniuses and the fooled masses, discoveries and inventions, plagues and wars. The participants are given utmost freedom in their creativity, as long as it comes with respect for their fellow writers: use whatever formats you want, whether it be diaries, encyclopedic texts, biographies or legends; create whatever content you think will deepen or further the plot.

The above being said, i'd still like to provide a few rules and guidelines, as to ensure that this does not turn to utter chaos.

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Rules and Guidelines

Communicate. Simple as that, make sure that you talk over the major decisions with other participants, that may have great effect on the tone and overall plot of the roleplay, and make sure they aren't met with objection. I cannot strain this enough: while keeping an individual style to your posts and maintaining creative independence is of great importance to enjoying the roleplay, both for the writer and his readers, History Generator is still largely a collaborative effort.

Try to keep the posts ordered If you really want to take the next post and are confident that you can finish it promptly, then call dibs in OOC. That way, confusion can be avoided; and if it happens that several players at once want to work on a specific bit of the timeline at once, there's always this brilliant thing called TitanPad.

Be careful with breaking away from a set tone. Vastly different cultures can exist in the same place and at the same time, but even then, there always exist an overarching narrative in the setting. The Tolkien dwarves are a stark contrast to elves, but both exist within a uniform fantasy universe. Moreover, a central theme can be of great help in stringing together different posts from different players; knowing how to keep balance between uniqueness and uniformity is key.

This post may be updated with new rules and guidelines later on; as well as with a brief summary of the IC, to help orient new players.

The Black Mountain (open tournament)

<Snipped quote by Drifting Pollen>

Alright, I'll leave it to @Doc Doctor then and allow him to start the thread if he wishes or I can. Though as a warning to him as my last match showed, I'm not very experienced so be patient with me and I hope to learn a few things from our match. With any luck, my match might either finish or get past the cursed 7th post. >_> I really need that bad luck streak broken in some form damn it!

@Fallenreaper

Judging by his fight with DJ, the 7 post curse may strike again, but with a different cause this time. :P

Though, IMHO, Gonad is the most favorable matchup for Trixi, out of all the remaining combatants, so not likely, if you play the cards well.

History Generator

The OOC will be up tomorrow; meanwhile, i encourage that you start discussing the roleplay here and try to define the boundaries within which you'd like to be working.

I shall go get some sleep right now.

DESTROY US ALL

@Blunderbuss

As much characters as you like. Now, the number of characters you can have in a single roleplay may be restricted by the GM, but otherwise, feel free to bring in as many as you see fit.

Arena Chat Thread

Mid tier match, anyone?

@Divinity

Mid-tier is rather vague, frankly. Could you post the character sheet?

History Generator

@Vordak

Thanks for clearing that up.
Mind if I ask how many people are you expecting before OOC time?

@ClocktowerEchos

About six would be good. Though chances are, i'll set it up regardless during the weekends.

History Generator

<Snipped quote by Vordak>

I'm talking about how would we deal with stuff like misrecording like how people are now wondering if the dinos were less reptile and had more feathery bits or how real the events/places in the Bible are like the Garden of Eden, resurrection of Christ, etc.

<Snipped quote by Vordak>

You mean a single planet? At least until we start going into space colonization I presume.

@ClocktowerEchos

If there isn't anything stopping you from taking an event that happened in a previous post and having it be misinterpreted in your own, then why not do that? For example, in one post, during a war, the emperor's son was captured, and later, released, only to die shortly thereafter in an accident. Presumably, this was documented. However, another player can say that all written mentions of the accident were lost in a fire, leading to confusion amongst further generations - which they can then proceed to segue into an important event in their own post. Again, this does require mutual respect to truly work, without anybody feeling like somebody just took their post and made it null. But what would be better - to restrict this option, or have trust in the community? I'd be willing to try the latter, at least for now.

And yeah, i did mean a single planet. Misused the word.

EDIT: added a few more points on the subject matter.

History Generator

@Vordak I'm just curious on how would we set it up, something like text book or documentary style?

@ClocktowerEchos

Most likely; however, the inclusion of other formats, such as diary entries, bureaucratic documentation, letters and ect. is also encouraged, as long as it helps forward or deepen the narrative.

And how exactly would we do stuff like natural formations and the rise of animals then the rise of intelligent life?

@ClocktowerEchos

It's supposed to be a pretty brief part, as the sapient civilization will be the main focus. Still necessary though, as it gives much needed background on the conditions it will be developing in. For the most part, i think it should be made somewhat vague and malleable, as to not greatly restrict the future actions of the players. It's just going to be there - thingd like continents, oceans, a few mountains and volcanoes, dinosaurs and dragons. Pine trees.

Would everyone be the same species or would there be multiple races from different evolutionary backgrounds?

@ClocktowerEchos

You decide. I'm not the GM; there is no GM, only the players themselves. But yeah, that'd be swell.

How about the stuff like missing links, misinterpreted events and religions?

@ClocktowerEchos

I don't think there would be a problem with incorporating those into the roleplay. Or have you concerns about it that i may have missed?

Could there be life on other planets not on the one we're making?

@ClocktowerEchos

Well, i'm not one to disallow that, but i think it's best that the majority of the effort is concentrated on one single civilization.

History Generator

Interested but a bit curious/worried on how it might go wrong.

@ClocktowerEchos

Certainly can. However, i feel like the reward is worth the risks: i think making this a community oriented roleplay, rather than reserving it to a select group of players, will help it grow and be richer with content; moreover, you won't even have to bother about the roleplay dying due to inactivity, as almost anyone interested can come in at anytime and revitalize it with a new post.

Maybe, at one point, it will require intervention from some sort of appointed authority due to a divide in opinions and preferences among the players, but ultimately, i hope that across the duration of the roleplay, a certain tone will be given and the story will naturally conform to a distinct setting. I think the above rules - paying attention to previous posts and refraining from breaking their narrative - will be enough to hold it together, given that all participants abide them.

History Generator

I'd like to think this is a somewhat unique and interesting idea. Inspired by Dwarf Fortress' world generation, this RP will be about writing an entire fictional world's history, post by post, starting from scratch. First, the solar system, a planet, its geography, wildlife. Then, the birth of a sapient lifeform. And from there on, the players will craft the new civilization's path through time, paving it with empires, plagues, wars, great inventions and discoveries, ever changing philosophies and ideologies. Sort of a nation RP, but not quite.

Sounds bare as bones right now - but so it should be. This will be a GM-less roleplay, where the players are the only ones who make it live: when writing, you'll be looking back at what others have written, and take that as a foundation for your own post. I would like to have this roleplay allow all, who are willing to abide the few simple rules listed down below, the total amount of players ideally unlimited.

Rules:

• Read the previous posts before writing anything of your own. Also, think of leaving some sort of hook in your own post, so that the next player can have something to work off. Roleplays are always based on communication and partnership - this one, even more so.
• Keep the posts ordered. If you're 100% certain that you'll be able to make a post soon, call dibs in the OOC, so that you don't end up with two branching timelines written by two different players.
• Keep it serious. This isn't supposed to be a comedic roleplay, and while a healthy dose of humor is always good, downright silliness won't be appreciated.