**NS Roleplay Symposium 2017**
LOCATION: Symposium Hall
TOPIC: "Worldbuilding and Related” (Early Hour)
TIME: 12 PM EST, Wednesday, July 12th
Good morning. Welcome to Swith's Informal Morning Panel and Coffee Klatsch (Sponsored by the NationStates Mentor Program and Overgoat Coffee Brands™ - ’Bleating away your sleep one bean at a time!’) I’m Swith, your panel moderator/host. As this is an early morning session, we may not have panelists. As we did yesterday, we’ll make this informal.
This morning’s topic, “Worldbuilding and Related”, is fairly straight-forward. Mind, this panel is only to review worldbuild/conworld techniques and tips, and will not be able to review our audience’s projects during.
Panellists, please introduce yourselves and tell us which subforum you haunt.
BEGIN
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FRFS - Today at 12:01 PM
Goodmorning! I'm FRFS an FT player and someone who spends a lot of time in II.
Maltropia - Today at 12:01 PM
Gooood afternoon NSers. I'm Maltropia, a senior N&I Mentor who does nothing but worldbuild and think about worldbuilding, whether it's in II, NS or GE&T.
Gren - Today at 12:01 PM
I'm Gren. I frequent P2TM.
Vocenae - Today at 12:02 PM
Hello, my name is Vocenae and I'm an FT player who spends too much time in II.
Reploid Productions - Today at 12:02 PM
Second-string panelist Reploid Productions jumping in again this morning. :wink: Lots of creative writing/fanfiction/RPing experience on and off NS for longer than I care to confess. (Reppy oooooold.)
Swith - Today at 12:03 PM
Good morning, everyone. Thanks for joining us today.
Would you all take a moment to define what "worldbuilding" (or "conworlding) means to you, please?
Gren - Today at 12:04 PM
Its the process of creating a setting for your RP (in the case of P2TM), or your nation (for F&NI). Can be either a solo or collaborative effort.
Maltropia - Today at 12:04 PM
Must resist urge to say "it varies."
Worldbuilding is that slow, ever-ongoing process by which an author puts meat on the skeleton of his world. It's the addition of details and quirks that makes your basic premise a world for your readers to immerse themselves in.
FRFS - Today at 12:04 PM
Worldbuilding to me is the construction of your "in-game" universe. Pretty much from the ground up, or the top town. Everything from physical rules, to the setting. How your universe works/operates, to how it looks, to how it feels. Worldbuilding is an "all-encompasing" term.
Reploid Productions - Today at 12:05 PM
Worldbuilding to me is a complicated and tangled web of interconnected ideas and an important underpinning of pretty much any creative endeavor. You can apply almost any area of expertise to creating your setting, and honestly it's a lot of fun.
Vocenae - Today at 12:05 PM
For me, worldbuiling is creating a cohesive, consistent setting from which interesting characters can come from, and to tell interesting stories in. This involves everything from macro scale building of planets, empires, to even the smallest details as to what an everyday civilian's walk to work might be like. I liken it really to a painting, you start with broad strokes and then over the course of a very, very long time you work on detailing it and adding the required depth to take what you're doing from just being paint blobs to a finished piece of art.
Swith - Today at 12:05 PM
Q1 comes courtesy of Ched via PM - "When beginning to conworld, what are the small or big things you think of first when making a setting?"
Gren - Today at 12:07 PM
For P2TM, its the themes I want to express, the concepts I want to explore, and to a lesser extent sometimes, works I want to pay homage to.
Reploid Productions - Today at 12:08 PM
It kinda depends on the setting. Sometimes the idea is some small concept that the rest grows out from there, sometimes it's a more in-depth ground-up process. The approach kinda depends on the idea and what your story goals are.
Maltropia - Today at 12:09 PM
Q1: To quote me: "it varies." So many of the nations I've begun have come from a random detail I liked the idea of. You want to use a Celtic language, and that's all you have to go off; then you start piecing together the details - who speaks it? Where are they? How are they different to their neighbours? What's the history that made them that way? Your starting point is very often something totally tangential to what you'd think of as the actual process, but worldbuilding is more about those small ideas than the overarching ideals.
FRFS - Today at 12:09 PM
Q1:: I like to think of the things I'd personally experience first. It helps me think of what I'm building as "real". How would it affect me, how I'd see it or experience it. It helps me to be immersed in what I'm doing. And to bring to light any problems I'd experience, and therefore my character's would experience within the setting that I'm building.(edited)
Vocenae - Today at 12:11 PM
Q1: IT can be anything interesting that starts the process for me. I may want to design how an interface works, or develop a cool sounding analogue to a rail launch system, or I may want to sit down and start mapping out details for a entire planet. There's no real starting point for me, just whenever I feel inspired. Generally when starting with a setting, though, I do try to starrt with how I want my aesthetic to look. In FT, we have the 'Clunk/Sleek Spectrum' regarding ships and buildings and so forth. So that's generaly a easy place to start, if you need a defined starting point.
Swith - Today at 12:11 PM
Q2 Cubaball would like to know, "When one is worldbuilding, say putting together a nation, what would you say would be more important: History of the nation, or the nation's Culture?"
FRFS - Today at 12:11 PM
Q2: I'd say history. Cause what had happened in your nation is going to directly influence the current culture that you're portraying.
Gren - Today at 12:11 PM
Q2: Honestly, the two go hand in hand, at least partially.
Maltropia - Today at 12:12 PM
Q2: History graduate here so I'm biased, but the two feed off of each other. Culture is informed by a country's history, the origins and experiences of its people, their place in the world. At the same time, how a nation carries itself on the international stage, or how its citizens go about their daily lives, and actually make that history is in turn a product of their culture.
Reploid Productions - Today at 12:13 PM
Both are really interconnected concepts. Culture develops in part as a response and coping mechanism to events that occur. You could really start from either side of the equation. You could start by designing the history and using that as a template for the culture that spawns from it, or you could start by designing the culture and working backward to figure out the history that would give rise to that culture.
Vocenae - Today at 12:13 PM
Q2: Culture should take precedent over history, but they really do go hand in hand.(edited)
Gren - Today at 12:13 PM
For example: American culture is fairly dependent on its history, especially when comparing it to Britain and Canada.
Swith - Today at 12:13 PM
Question 3 Rhodevus asks, "What is an aspect of worldbuilding that most people forget about/do not take into consideration when designing their world or nation?"
Reploid Productions - Today at 12:16 PM
Tough call, worldbuilding itself can be such a massive thing that fingering any single aspect as the most common forgotten/not considered is kinda tricky. Probably that things are connected, much like the previous question about history and culture. Tons of factors go into how a society and setting develops, and those factors are tightly entwined. (For instance, you tech level will have a huge impact on everything from how food is grown to how wars are fought.)
FRFS - Today at 12:17 PM
Q3: The small things, I find people gloss over the most. And by small I mean "everyday civilian life" kind of stuff. Where do your people work? Live? How do they commute? Do they hold religious events every weekend? Etc. Always remember "people" live in your nation. And when you build the little things like that, that's where personality and uniqueness really shines. You can only be so unique with making an Army. But you can get very unique and awesome with how your people live everyday life.
Vocenae - Today at 12:18 PM
Q3: A lot of people tend to go so macro level that they have no idea what everyday life is like for their civilians, generally. There's also the players that like to jump directly into planning their military and put zero thought into, well, everything else.
Reploid Productions - Today at 12:19 PM
Spending some time developing the "Random Joe Public" of your setting can cover a lot of the bases. Are certain technologies (in fantasy settings, magic can serve the same role) widely available or is their use restricted in some way? What do they do for fun, how much leisure time do they have? That sort of thing.
Swith - Today at 12:20 PM
Q3 In P2TM, I'll encounter beautifully laid out settings... maps, images, overviews of the the species inhabiting it, political angles, etc. But then we get to the IC and that first NPC shows up. It's... well, it doesn't embody the setting. Very generic character. So, when it comes to worldbuilding, remember that your NPCs are the embodiment. They help you set the tone. Put some time into crafting them in order for them to reflect culture, religion, etc.
Maltropia - Today at 12:21 PM
Q3: Don't forget that your country isn't on the RL Earth. It's had different stimuli driving it in its particular direction, so it'll be different. It doesn't have to be in every single way unique, but you're not just making a parallel of reality.
Gren - Today at 12:21 PM
Q3: A thing I've noticed in P2TM worldbuilding, is that almost everything gets thought of, except for recent history.
Vocenae - Today at 12:22 PM
In FT, it's part of a system we call '4C', which is Creativity, Consistency, Collaboration and Compromise. For the sake of this paenl and to build off what Swith is saying, that would be a case of a player not having Consistency on a character level.
Swith - Today at 12:22 PM
Question 4 This excellent question comes from WPT - "How does someone interested in world building avoid losing interest in their idea early on? I and others I know tend to find it hard to commit to worldbuilding for a certain idea." This goes for nations as well as non-nation RP settings.
Maltropia - Today at 12:22 PM
Oh yeah, I have that problem, gren . I have a passion for the medieval and early modern aspects of my nations, but I lose all interest somewhere in the 1800s. My nations are a void until I start RPing them.
Gren - Today at 12:24 PM
Well, I was talking about the IC history to that point. Like, they'll cover the big divergences in most AH or FT RPs, but very little attention is paid to the last few years, sometimes.
Q4: I had that problem when I started out in NS RP. Kind of one of the reasons I left it. But coming into P2TM, the collaborative worldbuilding really helped fix that problem for me.(edited)
FRFS - Today at 12:24 PM
Q4: To be really honest? There are going to be lulls in worldbuilding, in creating. There are going to be times when you just plain hate your idea, or a concept within the idea. Just keep working on it. Find a new aspect within your idea that you've never thought of before. I find that always helps me when I don't feel "into it". I think of something radically different to explore within my nation. It may have nothing to do with any of the current RPs I'm working on, but it keeps me tied to my idea.(edited)
Maltropia - Today at 12:25 PM
Q4: It can be hard to sustain a given project for a long period. My canons are usually a series of isolated projects on just one aspect; few are ever completed, but there's enough there to make a fairly convincing tapestry of a nation. It might be missing a few threads and the colours might have run a bit, but there's a fairly consistent world there that has a hundred different avenues I could flesh out more if I get the interest back. Don't be afraid to leave something if you hit a wall. You can only push yourself so far on your own stuff. The motivation is external; as Gren says, it's the collaborative stuff that really helps you develop your world.
Vocenae - Today at 12:26 PM
Q4: Focus on different aspects of your nation/setting from time to time and make sure to engage and run ideas past other players in order to get a fresh perspective on what you're doing. Maybe they have a different take on something you've made and that can reinvigorate the creative process, or maybe they are jut really enthused about learning about your nation. There will always be low points of activity, but generally getting other people involved is a great way to keep fresh ideas and inspiration coming down the pipe.
FRFS - Today at 12:26 PM
Oh that's a good point @vocenae . Find people to bounce ideas off of. Communication like that is vital for the creative process.
Swith - Today at 12:26 PM
Question 5 This is a follow-up to Cubaball's earlier question pertaining to nation worldbuilds. "Say you get said history down pat, but it conflicts with another players established lore/history, obviously leading to at least some arguments OOC. How would one best go resolving this conflict?"
Gren - Today at 12:27 PM
Q5: I'd say don't sweat it that much. Look at how North Korea tells the history of the Korean War, compared to the Western telling of it.
FRFS - Today at 12:28 PM
Q5: I have a question for you. Did you make your history/lore to directly conflict with that other player's lore on purpose with no communication with that player before hand?(edited)
Vocenae - Today at 12:29 PM
Q5: In Future Tech, you have the luxury of just not acknowledging that player. For example, many, many people in FT are not going to acknowledge the existence of players that show up out of no whoere claiming to own half the FT galaxy, for example. The best case in resolving the conflict, should there be any beyond 'Hey, you break my immersion and suspension of disbelief so unfortunately you don't exist to me', is just to communicate with the other player and try to address the concerns. However I would say there's a limit to engaging the player if they're aggressive and refusing to see your side of the arguement, or acknowledge that they may in fact be in the wrong.
That tends to be part of the 'Collaboration and Compromise' part of the 4C for FT.
Swith - Today at 12:31 PM
FRFS, Cubaball replies, "I have a reply, Generally, no, but i have had a few instances were the other party has been realitivly out of touch with the rest of us, and therefore was out of the loop during a paotion of the WB, leading to this conflict."(edited)
Maltropia - Today at 12:33 PM
Q5: Be prepared to hammer your stuff into a line that fits with the other guy's. You should always be prepared to compromise, even when the other player isn't. Talk things over and see if you can find a middle road that appeases both of your requirements.
Of course, as Vocenae says, you're not obliged to recognise someone else's canon - even when they share a region with you. Don't be so rude as to ignore something everyone else has agreed on, either, but there's flexibility in RP. There are regions I'm in where countries were founded by settlers from the RL Rome; others in the region dislike the idea of an NS-RL transition being possible and don't recognise it. Doesn't mean they don't recognise the Rome thing exists. Other times, a player will unilaterally declare his country to be a "regional power" without ever actually playing it. The extent to which you acknowledge that claim is up to you.
FRFS - Today at 12:33 PM
Q5: If that person has been gone for a while and the setting/story has advanced as an entire group, you just have to let them know. The entire game can't pause just cause player four took a month break. Advise them to read on what has currently happened and adjust their lore to what the community has built. If they don't want to adjust with what the community as a whole has decided to go, than the decision is clear.
Swith - Today at 12:33 PM
Question 6 comes from Eridani Imperium. As we've said the people are vital to the worldbuild, let's look at their insertion into the setting. "Does the panel have any tips for creating a NPC's background?" Or, for nation play, any tips for creating a background for the nation's leader, or individual cabinet members, generals etc.
Vocenae - Today at 12:34 PM
Q6: I actually find that creating backgrounds for NPCs and characters in general make them hard for me to write. I've found that it generally makes the character better, for me, to let their personality develop while you're writing them.
Maltropia - Today at 12:35 PM
^ I make up the background as I go along.
Gren - Today at 12:36 PM
^
FRFS - Today at 12:36 PM
Q6: I usually come up with backgrounds for the main players. Those who I'm going to use in multiple stories. The NPCs if they have a background would be constructed pernient to the currenty story.
Swith - Today at 12:36 PM
In my opinion, re Q6 - For P2TM, the OP's characters are the NPC. Fashion them as you would any character. They are, after all, your characters for the game. They just should not be the only protagonists... technically, your player's characters are the heroes. In fact, if you're running the villain, spend a lot of time on his background. This is what plays into his motivations for being the Big Bad.
Minor NPC (the barkeep, the hermit on the road, etc) can be fairly generic, but wrap them up in something that furthers the setting's atmosphere. The Hermit is wearing umber robes to reflect the Order of the Orange. The Barkeep looks like a retired old salt because it's a pirate-themed RP. Small details heighten the ambiance.
Gren - Today at 12:37 PM
Q6: Once, in ES, I basically adopted one of the OP's NPCs (with his permission) to turn into an ascended extra, because he seemed to have a Radar O'Reilly quality to him.
I wonder how many people grasp that reference?
Swith - Today at 12:38 PM
MAS*H :stuck_out_tongue:
Gren - Today at 12:38 PM
Woo!
Vocenae - Today at 12:39 PM
Q6 IN response for myself, I was once involved in a FT RP where I had tried to use a designed character as the 'main character'. She didn't get very far and wasn't very interested because she was locked into a role and attitude designed by her backstory, whereas I ended up writing a character that was intended entirely as a background one off, and by letting her grow organically she ended up being incredibly popular and really fun to write and led to a ton of future RP stories.(edited)
Swith - Today at 12:39 PM
Question 7 Fedora Dan asks, "How would one worldbuild/conworldstion animals and creatures into a world, and how detailed would said animals need to be for that world?"
Gren - Today at 12:41 PM
Q7: You should take the basic physics into account. If you've got a planet with 5 times Earth gravity, you can't have a cross between an elephant and a giraffe (any more than you can have a car that stands on nothing more than toothpicks taped together).(edited)
FRFS - Today at 12:42 PM
Q7: Oh animals are perfect fluff. They can bring a lot of aspects to a world, affecting your nation in various ways. I wouldn't go super into detail of all of them however, just enough to get a general description unless you plan to extensively feature them. And if you do, I'd just take a real life animal and tweak it. Like I did with dogs in my nation.
Vocenae - Today at 12:44 PM
Q7: In FT, that does tend to be something that people do overlook, for the sake of just streamlining the process. I, myself, have put very little thought into the flora and fauna of my individual worlds, mainly because it's something I don't find very interesting. I just go with 'mass cloning and tweaking of Earth born animals' or just don't even address it. However, players like Kyrusia have developed flora and fauna for their world by doing research into the environment they're creating for. For example, he has giant beetles that act as enormous dromedaries. If you're making them, then you need to put thought into the environment and the animal's role in it.
Swith - Today at 12:44 PM
My opinion on Q7 - this detail is so often left out! For P2TM, have that stag watching American soldiers moving through a WWII wheat field. Add the cry of a falcon, or the soft clucks coming from a hen house as they try to sneak past a farmer's cottage.
For nation builds, my stuff is usually all set in a FT environment. I look at that environment, and I consider how everything evolved (geology, flora, etc). Research it as you go. What adaptations would creatures have made in your setting? If the atmosphere itself is thin, how do animals breathe? Wider nostrils or special organs? Or is their physiology different because the planet's gravity is higher or lower than Earth's? You can easily spend hours "playing God".
The level of detail depends on how interested you are in creature design. You can keep things a mystery for your players, especially if none of them are running a scientist. Why explain a blob on a rock in great detail? All they know is that it's a blue blob slowly pulsating on a dark grey rock. :stuck_out_tongue:
.(edited)
Question 8 comes from Essexia:
"Alright, so right now I've noticed that i've had this sort of difficulty with worldbuilding for myself. I've got a decent idea of how my country is at present, but I dunno how to write up my history.
Does anyone like have tips for writing the history of their country? (I RP MT but tips in general are welcome too of course)"
Vocenae - Today at 12:49 PM
Q8: My nation in FT is a direct carry-over from when I played MT, way back in the day. So I can pull off that and the events that happened there to help define a national identity, but largely it's so far in the past in doesn't really matter. In regards to contemporary history, I just thought up some major 'NPC' events to help give my nation a push in the direction I needed it to go. But it's best if your history is defined by interactions with other players, rather than just sitting down and factbooking it out. Much like how people are changed by events and interactions with others, so to are nations.
Maltropia - Today at 12:50 PM
Q8: Do a history degree.
I'm not being facetious; in the course of my BA I kept encountering interesting historical moments, settings and features that I liked the idea of including in my countries. The best way to get ideas is to read. The best way to flesh out your history is to look at histories and see what you like or what inspires you.
If you're having trouble with just writing it up? There are a few ways you can go about it. I mostly keep my canon on IIwiki, so it's written in a Wikipedian style on the individual country's article and then on articles about random wars, battles and other events. I also have a spreadsheet timeline for my region where we just fill in events in the years they're in. It helps you see what gaps need filling and helps you condense your ideas into a little bullet point on which you can expand again later.
FRFS - Today at 12:50 PM
Q8: Working backwards involves a few things. You have to look at the results and then think of the actions that occured to bring those results to life. And you're going to have to be considerant of the region/setting your putting yourself in. Does your region/setting already have an established history? If so, you're now wiggling yourself into it. But it also gives you a good way to collaborate with everyone as well, and really involve yourself with the people in your community at the very beginning. "Hey guys, I'm at [this point in my setting], I've noticed [x], [y], [z] has happened here. How can I fit myself to this?"
Swith - Today at 12:50 PM
Question 9 comes from Ched via PM - "What are some typical worlds and certain settings you often employ in your works or games? Like are you inspired more by Star Wars, WH40k, or Lord of the Rings, etc?"(edited)
FRFS - Today at 12:51 PM
Q9: If I did the full list, I'd just be embarrassing myself :stuck_out_tongue:
Gren - Today at 12:51 PM
^
FRFS - Today at 12:51 PM
But seriously, there is nothing wrong with taking established works as a base to work off of.
Inspiration has to come from somewhere
It's what you do after that.
Okay, you have Halo as a starting point for some asthetics and tech level. Now how are you going to turn it from "Halo" into "YOUR NATION."
Maltropia - Today at 12:53 PM
frfs : I actually have a full list of 'references' in my canons; mostly place names I liked, but also the odd band or song title.
FRFS - Today at 12:53 PM
^ Aye references will always be there. And are really fun to see sometimes.
Vocenae - Today at 12:53 PM
Q9: Always, always always be looking for inspiration. And what FRFS said on both counts. I play and watch so many bad movies and games simply because there's /one/ thing in it that looks awesome and I want to put my own spin on it. And that's one of the biggest things in FT, really, putting your own spin on the usual sci fi tropes. I typically dream a lot of my ideas that get put into my nation, but I suppose that is a byproduct of just overexposure to so many different books, films, games and art.(edited)
Maltropia - Today at 12:54 PM
Q9: My inspiration is usually a combination of western European history and LotR. Just as my writing style is a product of my reading tastes, my worldbuilding is a product of my gaming, my watching and my living.
Reploid Productions - Today at 12:55 PM
Q9: You don't wanna know how much worldbuilding I've done on top of the established Dragon Ball universe for various roleplay stuff. :wink: Kinda varies by RP and setting. My NS nation is (loosely) based on the Megaman X storyline, though it doesn't use any of those characters. Various sci-fi/fantasy novels I read growing up have no doubt helped shape some of my stylistic preferences, too.
(Also, apologies for the brief absence, adulting stuff got in the way)
Vocenae - Today at 12:57 PM
Q9: Again in response to myself,you should never lock yourself into one specific thing, franchise wise, especially in FT where we encourage players to try to make something unique to them (even if it might not be entirely unique overall). Being a franchise cookie cutter, or heavily basedon a specific franchise in FT typically means you'll be looking at far fewer RP partners, as many people don't want to RP with the Imperium of Man or the Covenant or the UNSC/MAster Chief.
Swith - Today at 12:58 PM
Question 10 Tilt asks, "What is the best way to avoid 'Planet of Hats', where all of a given civilization have a trait?" For those unfamiliar with this trope: tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PlanetOfHats
One hour mark, 30 minutes left, panelists
Vocenae - Today at 1:01 PM
Q10: There's no real cut and dry answer to this, as your nation and your character will always, on some level, be influenced by our current cultures and your own personal beliefs, even if you try your best to steer away from them. Giving your civilization and characters sufficient depth can help you get away from being 'rawr I am honorable viking warriors in space', for example.
Reploid Productions - Today at 1:01 PM
The Planet of Hats trope is kinda in the same category of shallow development that causes Mary Sue characters, really. It's a form of lazy characterization. One way to avoid it is when building up your setting, deliberately design at least two different subsets of the civilization to force yourself to break that mold. Whether you specifically design two distinct groups (for instance, two related tribes in a tribal setting, or the distinction between upper/lower class in a more modern one.) Sometimes just creating characters from radically different sections of the civilization can help you come up with those distinctions, even if you end up never using those characters in the RP itself.
Swith - Today at 1:03 PM
It's hard to avoid the trope. There is a difference between "theme" and "civilization". Sure, all your sophont aliens are quadruped and breathe methane. That's the theme.
Cyborg planet: all citizens are cyborgs, right? Why not have a small faction of purists that refuse any augmentations?
Look to Earth, also. We're all primates, but we have varied ethnicity. Our cultures and beliefs differ depending on where in the world you visit. Within those cultures, some people are too thin, some are too fat. Some are hedonists. Others are religious squares.
FRFS - Today at 1:04 PM
Q10: You want to continually work on depth, and dimensions to your nation. The deeper you go, here and there, the more varied a given planet will be.
Also think of differences, and disagreements.
Politics is a great way to add depth.
And lets you express opposing viewpoints, which gets you away from painting with a broad brush.
Swith - Today at 1:05 PM
Question 11 Fedora Dan poses, "I think this might be another overlooked detail for worldbuilding. Transportation. Does the Symposium Hall have any good suggestions for transportation of people, goods, and armies for other worldbuilders, and mimicking the other question I offered; how detailed should that transportation be for the world?"
FRFS - Today at 1:06 PM
Q11: As detailed as needed for plot, really. If you're going to be invaded, transportation methods just became super important.(edited)
Vocenae - Today at 1:07 PM
Q11: Because I live in a rural area of the US where it takes a long time to get anywhere that has more than just one gas station, my worlds tend to have very spread out population centers. On planets, I tend to focus on there being a few large highways for actual traffic, while everyone else just takes high speed maglevs into the couple of big sci fi cities I do have.
Gren - Today at 1:08 PM
Q11: ^ Seems like the most reasonable transport method for a colony.(edited)
For dropping invasion forces, I recommend either drop ships or something capable of a skip-glide profile.
Reploid Productions - Today at 1:09 PM
Q11: That's one where "the tech level affects everything" is firmly in play. Depending on the specific setting, you can kinda skim over it, like most modern-based settings, it's already inherently understood that most transport is done via cars, trucks, trains, and so on. When dealing with past tech, future tech, or a fantasy tech setting, "How do things get from point A to point B" has a huge impact and is worth developing at least a little bit. A fantasy realm where teleportation magic is commonplace is going to have a very different system for moving goods and people about compared to a civilization where that physical distance must actually be traversed for example.
FRFS - Today at 1:09 PM
Q11: Personally within my nation I have all forms of modern traffic you'd see today. The cars maybe a bit more cooler looking, but modern functionality still works. It all depends on your setting. Animals might be your everyday transportation in a lower tech setting.
Setting is definetly cruicial to how you're going to do transportation.
An Aladdin setting, obv flying carpet
Swith - Today at 1:11 PM
Q11 Don't be afraid to add spice with transportation. My favorite memory of Cer's FT nation is the rail system. It's designed for his creatures, a physiologically 'dense' race. They have signs advising visitors to avoid the rails because most species can't handle the G's. Also, instant whiplash the moment a car leaves the station.(edited)
Reploid Productions - Today at 1:11 PM
Similarly, the availability of certain modes of transport can lead to a distinction between social classes or other groups. To use the fantasy setting example, if teleportation magic is commonplace and readily accessible to everyone, major cities and most towns would probably be linked up to a sort of portal network. If teleportation magic is available, but not commonplace, you might have major cities linked up but only the very wealthy can afford to travel that way.
Swith - Today at 1:11 PM
Oh, excellent point, Reppy!
Vocenae - Today at 1:11 PM
Q11: Once again in response to myself: I also limit what my civilians have access to, in terms of sci fi ships and such. People, as a whole, are silly unpredictable and emotional beasts, so it's better to restrict access to things that can go FTL or achieve some form of supreluminal speeds. Meanwhile in space, I try for a semi-real interpretation, so I like to have my trade routes defined by orbital paths through solar systems, using planets as 'exits'.
Reploid Productions - Today at 1:12 PM
Kinda like how not everyone can afford to fly first class. :wink:
Swith - Today at 1:12 PM
Question 12 Grat would like to know, "What's the best way to build conflict into your nation [or fictional setting] without going over the top or copy pasting real world disputes?"
FRFS - Today at 1:14 PM
Q12: I usually just import what makes me personally mad into my nation. I get peev'd at ineffective government. So, most of the Republic's Government is forever chasing its tail.
Swith - Today at 1:14 PM
[Fifteen minutes, panelists]
Vocenae - Today at 1:15 PM
Q12: In FT, finding players that you enjoy talking and RPing with and building a conflict that comes about naturally. After all, "Your worst IC enemy should be your best OOC friend". Get together and Collaborate and Compromise where needed in order to make a stronger overall plot. If you need internal conflict, then you'll need to develop a believable faction that will stand there and go 'NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION' and then throw a bunch of tea into the ocean.
FRFS - Today at 1:15 PM
Or like. Best intentions, worst outcome.
Where your nation has a really great idea to do something. And holy hell did it go wrong.
Reploid Productions - Today at 1:16 PM
There are tons of ways to add conflict, and looking to real world disputes can help you come up with ideas for it. Basically, any source of difference can be a source of conflict. Rich/poor divides, differences of faith (or lack thereof,) different races/species with different physical traits, and so on. People are hardwired to distrust the Other, the different, the Thing That Isn't Them, and you can play off that to great effect.
Also, seconding Vocenae's comment. IC conflict should not follow from OOC animosity. The best wars are orchaestrated by folks who get along swell OOCly, because the conflict isn't personal.
Vocenae - Today at 1:17 PM
Q12: For me, my internal bad guy faction is built entirely on exiled nobles that want to take over everything again and are bent on playing a longer game through small scale terrorism, large scale terrorism, seeding the lower incomes populations with addictive drugs, and now trying to manipulate financial markets, all to create instability in which they can gain a foothold of control over the people.
Swith - Today at 1:17 PM
Question 13 comes from Eridani Imperium - "How do you portray political schemes in your history?" Fedora Dan (Skymoot!)'s question might tie into this answer as well, "Government. I remember watching a CPGgreg episode on power, where rule 1 is "No one rules alone.". Even in a total dictatorship or monarchy, there's people running about and completing the rulers orders. How should people worldbuild their goverments, and what should they include with those governments?"
FRFS - Today at 1:20 PM
Q13: Always remember, the larger something is, the harder it is to control alone. Every strongman in history always had a group of loyal supporters, working behind the name. Making things happen.
Vocenae - Today at 1:21 PM
Q13: In FT, things are far more focused on the character level aspect and state v state interaction is pretty rare. So I would say that you really just need to have somewhat of a defined government in place, rather than going head over heels into it. That being said, do your research on the type of government you want to portray so that you can do so with some accuracy.
FRFS - Today at 1:22 PM
Q13: Those governments usually start out as an ideological group, or a revolutionary group. A meeting of likeminded individuals. They plot in basements and secret halls. They garner support through intimidation and word of mouth.
Reploid Productions - Today at 1:23 PM
That one kind of depends on how much political scheming is going to affect your plot. Sometimes you can get away with painting it in very broad strokes because it's not something that will be in play significantly- executive authority, some major departmental heads, that sort of thing. If you're going to go all Game of Thrones on it though, there's hard power, soft power, tons of different ways for people in power to scheme and sneak things through, especially in larger governments with sprawling bureaucracies
Swith - Today at 1:23 PM
Question 14 As a Mentor, I'm asked a lot of 'religion' questions, and I know Lamoni offered a guide regarding them not too long ago. Sarejo's question is a good one to touch upon - "Would you consider building religions to be an integral part of the current setting, no matter the genre?"
Apologies to Lamoni, but I don't have his guide's link handy at the moment.(edited)
Also a follow-up to this: "How might one craft a believable religion that is not a simple copy-paste rename?"
FRFS - Today at 1:26 PM
Q14: Religion is an important part of any setting, it's another way for the reader to feel immersed into your world. It's one that I currently lack within my own nation but I'm entertaining ideas of what it could be. The problem I'm having is finding something that I feel fits what I've already built in terms of my nation.
Vocenae - Today at 1:27 PM
Q14: Religion is part of a nation's culture and society, so yes, it's very important to address it in some shape or form. Myself, I'm not a big fan of organized religion, and when I was developing Vocenae I was even less so. So that means my nation is extremely secular in regards to it's citizens. It won't go chasing down other nations that do believe in a higher power, but within its own borders, it's just simply something that has been so thoroughly stamped on because of bad past experiences with religion that it's practically non-existant. As for crafting your own religion, doing research on religions that exist in the real world is a crucial thing in order to build one. Kyrusia has a great religion built for his nation, and he created it from putting hours and hours and hours of time into figuring out how, for example, various different aspects of Islam worked.(edited)
Swith - Today at 1:28 PM
Q14 People tend to forget that philosophy in a nation or setting is just as vital as religion. Your worldbuild may not have a set 'religion', but they will have something that outlines social rules and an approach to life.
Reploid Productions - Today at 1:28 PM
Religion, at its core, is a form of folklore, and folklore develops in response to some sort of need within the culture. It's often a way to explain things that don't have an explanation. Ancient cultures concocted various gods and such to explain natural phenomena, and to attempt to find a way to control or mitigate the harmful ones. If you have a culture on a volcanic island for example, people are going to develop a volcano deity to explain the shaking ground, the killing ash, the molten lava. And you can bet they will do whatever they can to try and keep that deity happy so it doesn't unleash those disasters.
Maltropia - Today at 1:28 PM
Q14: I wouldn't say you have to create your own religion for every canon you're building, but most cultures should still have religion in there somewhere. More important, possibly, than catechismically defining your religion's precepts is defining how that religion influences your people and their decisions.
e.g. If you just import Christianity, as do so many writers, how is it uniquely practiced in your country?
Swith - Today at 1:29 PM
Final question Panelists, please tell us about your own favorite worldbuild. Why do you love it, where did you find inspiration for it?
Vocenae - Today at 1:32 PM
Q15: If I started telling you about my favorite world build, we'd be here all day while I recite the history of my nation, . I love building for my nation because as a writer I just love creating something that looks and feels believable. And I love helping others (for the most part) worldbuild their own nations. And for inspiration I am just always reading about stuff, researching, looking at sci fi art, playing video games or watching movies, no matter how bad they are.(edited)
Maltropia - Today at 1:33 PM
QFinal: That would be Trellin, my imperial amalgam in Astyria. Where did I get inspiration? Everywhere. When I want to put an idea into practice it usually works its way into at least one of the half-dozen constituent nations of the Trellinese Empire. Trellin proper is mostly a self-contained project with the odd connector to the canons of other players in the region, but its own isolationist history means I'm free to play around with my own canon without worrying too much about outside influence. I don't eschew those influences, though, and they filter in through the empire's 'protectorates,' little states on the fringes that share a basic culture but are politically extroverted. Trellin's big enough to not care about the outside world (so it's where most of my own worldbuilding gets done), but its protectorates have to care, so they're my interactive portals.
FRFS - Today at 1:33 PM
Oh man. Well I have two current favorites and both of them are collaborative efforts with @vocenae . "Smokejumpers", which are my super secret paramilitary black ops team mainly task with combating Wildfire extremists. And the "BEARs and CUBs", the two components of my Mech Corps of the Marine Forces. The names alone are enough for me to love them without even diving into the kickass concepts they actually are.
Reploid Productions - Today at 1:36 PM
Q15- Ditto Vocenae about being here all day (like I said much earlier, don't get me started on my Dragon Ball stuff! :wink: The various video games, anime, novels, and assorting fannish things I'm into have all contributed or inspired me in one form or another. The concept for Rhythaliis, the planet one of my DBZ RP characters ccame from started out with a simple concept that just blossomed into this rich, albeit very primitive culture with all sorts of fun little details that sprang from the idea. And it ended up explaining why that character is the way she is so well, from her mannerisms and the slang she uses all the way toward some of her deep-rooted psychological stuff.
Swith - Today at 1:36 PM
Thank you, panelists and audience, for your participation today. This wraps up this morning’s panel. Our upcoming schedule is:
Tonight:
Writing, Exposition, and the Narrative (Late Hour) — 7PM EST Moderated by Zark
Thread Marketing and Formatting — 9PM EST Moderated by Cer
Midnight Madness: The Revolving Door (Oddball #2) — 12AM EST Moderated by Kyru
Thursday, July 13th, 2017
Writing, Exposition, and the Narrative (Early Hour) — 12PM EST
NS Sports: Mechanics and Roleplaying (Guest) — 4PM EST
Worldbuilding and Related (Late Hour) — 8PM EST
NS Roleplay Symposium 2017
TOPIC: “Worldbuilding”
TIME: COMPLETED
LOCATION: Symposium Hall
TOPIC: "Worldbuilding and Related” (Early Hour)
TIME: 12 PM EST, Wednesday, July 12th
Good morning. Welcome to Swith's Informal Morning Panel and Coffee Klatsch (Sponsored by the NationStates Mentor Program and Overgoat Coffee Brands™ - ’Bleating away your sleep one bean at a time!’) I’m Swith, your panel moderator/host. As this is an early morning session, we may not have panelists. As we did yesterday, we’ll make this informal.
This morning’s topic, “Worldbuilding and Related”, is fairly straight-forward. Mind, this panel is only to review worldbuild/conworld techniques and tips, and will not be able to review our audience’s projects during.
Panellists, please introduce yourselves and tell us which subforum you haunt.
BEGIN
::
FRFS - Today at 12:01 PM
Goodmorning! I'm FRFS an FT player and someone who spends a lot of time in II.
Maltropia - Today at 12:01 PM
Gooood afternoon NSers. I'm Maltropia, a senior N&I Mentor who does nothing but worldbuild and think about worldbuilding, whether it's in II, NS or GE&T.
Gren - Today at 12:01 PM
I'm Gren. I frequent P2TM.
Vocenae - Today at 12:02 PM
Hello, my name is Vocenae and I'm an FT player who spends too much time in II.
Reploid Productions - Today at 12:02 PM
Second-string panelist Reploid Productions jumping in again this morning. :wink: Lots of creative writing/fanfiction/RPing experience on and off NS for longer than I care to confess. (Reppy oooooold.)
Swith - Today at 12:03 PM
Good morning, everyone. Thanks for joining us today.
Would you all take a moment to define what "worldbuilding" (or "conworlding) means to you, please?
Gren - Today at 12:04 PM
Its the process of creating a setting for your RP (in the case of P2TM), or your nation (for F&NI). Can be either a solo or collaborative effort.
Maltropia - Today at 12:04 PM
Must resist urge to say "it varies."
Worldbuilding is that slow, ever-ongoing process by which an author puts meat on the skeleton of his world. It's the addition of details and quirks that makes your basic premise a world for your readers to immerse themselves in.
FRFS - Today at 12:04 PM
Worldbuilding to me is the construction of your "in-game" universe. Pretty much from the ground up, or the top town. Everything from physical rules, to the setting. How your universe works/operates, to how it looks, to how it feels. Worldbuilding is an "all-encompasing" term.
Reploid Productions - Today at 12:05 PM
Worldbuilding to me is a complicated and tangled web of interconnected ideas and an important underpinning of pretty much any creative endeavor. You can apply almost any area of expertise to creating your setting, and honestly it's a lot of fun.
Vocenae - Today at 12:05 PM
For me, worldbuiling is creating a cohesive, consistent setting from which interesting characters can come from, and to tell interesting stories in. This involves everything from macro scale building of planets, empires, to even the smallest details as to what an everyday civilian's walk to work might be like. I liken it really to a painting, you start with broad strokes and then over the course of a very, very long time you work on detailing it and adding the required depth to take what you're doing from just being paint blobs to a finished piece of art.
Swith - Today at 12:05 PM
Q1 comes courtesy of Ched via PM - "When beginning to conworld, what are the small or big things you think of first when making a setting?"
Gren - Today at 12:07 PM
For P2TM, its the themes I want to express, the concepts I want to explore, and to a lesser extent sometimes, works I want to pay homage to.
Reploid Productions - Today at 12:08 PM
It kinda depends on the setting. Sometimes the idea is some small concept that the rest grows out from there, sometimes it's a more in-depth ground-up process. The approach kinda depends on the idea and what your story goals are.
Maltropia - Today at 12:09 PM
Q1: To quote me: "it varies." So many of the nations I've begun have come from a random detail I liked the idea of. You want to use a Celtic language, and that's all you have to go off; then you start piecing together the details - who speaks it? Where are they? How are they different to their neighbours? What's the history that made them that way? Your starting point is very often something totally tangential to what you'd think of as the actual process, but worldbuilding is more about those small ideas than the overarching ideals.
FRFS - Today at 12:09 PM
Q1:: I like to think of the things I'd personally experience first. It helps me think of what I'm building as "real". How would it affect me, how I'd see it or experience it. It helps me to be immersed in what I'm doing. And to bring to light any problems I'd experience, and therefore my character's would experience within the setting that I'm building.(edited)
Vocenae - Today at 12:11 PM
Q1: IT can be anything interesting that starts the process for me. I may want to design how an interface works, or develop a cool sounding analogue to a rail launch system, or I may want to sit down and start mapping out details for a entire planet. There's no real starting point for me, just whenever I feel inspired. Generally when starting with a setting, though, I do try to starrt with how I want my aesthetic to look. In FT, we have the 'Clunk/Sleek Spectrum' regarding ships and buildings and so forth. So that's generaly a easy place to start, if you need a defined starting point.
Swith - Today at 12:11 PM
Q2 Cubaball would like to know, "When one is worldbuilding, say putting together a nation, what would you say would be more important: History of the nation, or the nation's Culture?"
FRFS - Today at 12:11 PM
Q2: I'd say history. Cause what had happened in your nation is going to directly influence the current culture that you're portraying.
Gren - Today at 12:11 PM
Q2: Honestly, the two go hand in hand, at least partially.
Maltropia - Today at 12:12 PM
Q2: History graduate here so I'm biased, but the two feed off of each other. Culture is informed by a country's history, the origins and experiences of its people, their place in the world. At the same time, how a nation carries itself on the international stage, or how its citizens go about their daily lives, and actually make that history is in turn a product of their culture.
Reploid Productions - Today at 12:13 PM
Both are really interconnected concepts. Culture develops in part as a response and coping mechanism to events that occur. You could really start from either side of the equation. You could start by designing the history and using that as a template for the culture that spawns from it, or you could start by designing the culture and working backward to figure out the history that would give rise to that culture.
Vocenae - Today at 12:13 PM
Q2: Culture should take precedent over history, but they really do go hand in hand.(edited)
Gren - Today at 12:13 PM
For example: American culture is fairly dependent on its history, especially when comparing it to Britain and Canada.
Swith - Today at 12:13 PM
Question 3 Rhodevus asks, "What is an aspect of worldbuilding that most people forget about/do not take into consideration when designing their world or nation?"
Reploid Productions - Today at 12:16 PM
Tough call, worldbuilding itself can be such a massive thing that fingering any single aspect as the most common forgotten/not considered is kinda tricky. Probably that things are connected, much like the previous question about history and culture. Tons of factors go into how a society and setting develops, and those factors are tightly entwined. (For instance, you tech level will have a huge impact on everything from how food is grown to how wars are fought.)
FRFS - Today at 12:17 PM
Q3: The small things, I find people gloss over the most. And by small I mean "everyday civilian life" kind of stuff. Where do your people work? Live? How do they commute? Do they hold religious events every weekend? Etc. Always remember "people" live in your nation. And when you build the little things like that, that's where personality and uniqueness really shines. You can only be so unique with making an Army. But you can get very unique and awesome with how your people live everyday life.
Vocenae - Today at 12:18 PM
Q3: A lot of people tend to go so macro level that they have no idea what everyday life is like for their civilians, generally. There's also the players that like to jump directly into planning their military and put zero thought into, well, everything else.
Reploid Productions - Today at 12:19 PM
Spending some time developing the "Random Joe Public" of your setting can cover a lot of the bases. Are certain technologies (in fantasy settings, magic can serve the same role) widely available or is their use restricted in some way? What do they do for fun, how much leisure time do they have? That sort of thing.
Swith - Today at 12:20 PM
Q3 In P2TM, I'll encounter beautifully laid out settings... maps, images, overviews of the the species inhabiting it, political angles, etc. But then we get to the IC and that first NPC shows up. It's... well, it doesn't embody the setting. Very generic character. So, when it comes to worldbuilding, remember that your NPCs are the embodiment. They help you set the tone. Put some time into crafting them in order for them to reflect culture, religion, etc.
Maltropia - Today at 12:21 PM
Q3: Don't forget that your country isn't on the RL Earth. It's had different stimuli driving it in its particular direction, so it'll be different. It doesn't have to be in every single way unique, but you're not just making a parallel of reality.
Gren - Today at 12:21 PM
Q3: A thing I've noticed in P2TM worldbuilding, is that almost everything gets thought of, except for recent history.
Vocenae - Today at 12:22 PM
In FT, it's part of a system we call '4C', which is Creativity, Consistency, Collaboration and Compromise. For the sake of this paenl and to build off what Swith is saying, that would be a case of a player not having Consistency on a character level.
Swith - Today at 12:22 PM
Question 4 This excellent question comes from WPT - "How does someone interested in world building avoid losing interest in their idea early on? I and others I know tend to find it hard to commit to worldbuilding for a certain idea." This goes for nations as well as non-nation RP settings.
Maltropia - Today at 12:22 PM
Oh yeah, I have that problem, gren . I have a passion for the medieval and early modern aspects of my nations, but I lose all interest somewhere in the 1800s. My nations are a void until I start RPing them.
Gren - Today at 12:24 PM
Well, I was talking about the IC history to that point. Like, they'll cover the big divergences in most AH or FT RPs, but very little attention is paid to the last few years, sometimes.
Q4: I had that problem when I started out in NS RP. Kind of one of the reasons I left it. But coming into P2TM, the collaborative worldbuilding really helped fix that problem for me.(edited)
FRFS - Today at 12:24 PM
Q4: To be really honest? There are going to be lulls in worldbuilding, in creating. There are going to be times when you just plain hate your idea, or a concept within the idea. Just keep working on it. Find a new aspect within your idea that you've never thought of before. I find that always helps me when I don't feel "into it". I think of something radically different to explore within my nation. It may have nothing to do with any of the current RPs I'm working on, but it keeps me tied to my idea.(edited)
Maltropia - Today at 12:25 PM
Q4: It can be hard to sustain a given project for a long period. My canons are usually a series of isolated projects on just one aspect; few are ever completed, but there's enough there to make a fairly convincing tapestry of a nation. It might be missing a few threads and the colours might have run a bit, but there's a fairly consistent world there that has a hundred different avenues I could flesh out more if I get the interest back. Don't be afraid to leave something if you hit a wall. You can only push yourself so far on your own stuff. The motivation is external; as Gren says, it's the collaborative stuff that really helps you develop your world.
Vocenae - Today at 12:26 PM
Q4: Focus on different aspects of your nation/setting from time to time and make sure to engage and run ideas past other players in order to get a fresh perspective on what you're doing. Maybe they have a different take on something you've made and that can reinvigorate the creative process, or maybe they are jut really enthused about learning about your nation. There will always be low points of activity, but generally getting other people involved is a great way to keep fresh ideas and inspiration coming down the pipe.
FRFS - Today at 12:26 PM
Oh that's a good point @vocenae . Find people to bounce ideas off of. Communication like that is vital for the creative process.
Swith - Today at 12:26 PM
Question 5 This is a follow-up to Cubaball's earlier question pertaining to nation worldbuilds. "Say you get said history down pat, but it conflicts with another players established lore/history, obviously leading to at least some arguments OOC. How would one best go resolving this conflict?"
Gren - Today at 12:27 PM
Q5: I'd say don't sweat it that much. Look at how North Korea tells the history of the Korean War, compared to the Western telling of it.
FRFS - Today at 12:28 PM
Q5: I have a question for you. Did you make your history/lore to directly conflict with that other player's lore on purpose with no communication with that player before hand?(edited)
Vocenae - Today at 12:29 PM
Q5: In Future Tech, you have the luxury of just not acknowledging that player. For example, many, many people in FT are not going to acknowledge the existence of players that show up out of no whoere claiming to own half the FT galaxy, for example. The best case in resolving the conflict, should there be any beyond 'Hey, you break my immersion and suspension of disbelief so unfortunately you don't exist to me', is just to communicate with the other player and try to address the concerns. However I would say there's a limit to engaging the player if they're aggressive and refusing to see your side of the arguement, or acknowledge that they may in fact be in the wrong.
That tends to be part of the 'Collaboration and Compromise' part of the 4C for FT.
Swith - Today at 12:31 PM
FRFS, Cubaball replies, "I have a reply, Generally, no, but i have had a few instances were the other party has been realitivly out of touch with the rest of us, and therefore was out of the loop during a paotion of the WB, leading to this conflict."(edited)
Maltropia - Today at 12:33 PM
Q5: Be prepared to hammer your stuff into a line that fits with the other guy's. You should always be prepared to compromise, even when the other player isn't. Talk things over and see if you can find a middle road that appeases both of your requirements.
Of course, as Vocenae says, you're not obliged to recognise someone else's canon - even when they share a region with you. Don't be so rude as to ignore something everyone else has agreed on, either, but there's flexibility in RP. There are regions I'm in where countries were founded by settlers from the RL Rome; others in the region dislike the idea of an NS-RL transition being possible and don't recognise it. Doesn't mean they don't recognise the Rome thing exists. Other times, a player will unilaterally declare his country to be a "regional power" without ever actually playing it. The extent to which you acknowledge that claim is up to you.
FRFS - Today at 12:33 PM
Q5: If that person has been gone for a while and the setting/story has advanced as an entire group, you just have to let them know. The entire game can't pause just cause player four took a month break. Advise them to read on what has currently happened and adjust their lore to what the community has built. If they don't want to adjust with what the community as a whole has decided to go, than the decision is clear.
Swith - Today at 12:33 PM
Question 6 comes from Eridani Imperium. As we've said the people are vital to the worldbuild, let's look at their insertion into the setting. "Does the panel have any tips for creating a NPC's background?" Or, for nation play, any tips for creating a background for the nation's leader, or individual cabinet members, generals etc.
Vocenae - Today at 12:34 PM
Q6: I actually find that creating backgrounds for NPCs and characters in general make them hard for me to write. I've found that it generally makes the character better, for me, to let their personality develop while you're writing them.
Maltropia - Today at 12:35 PM
^ I make up the background as I go along.
Gren - Today at 12:36 PM
^
FRFS - Today at 12:36 PM
Q6: I usually come up with backgrounds for the main players. Those who I'm going to use in multiple stories. The NPCs if they have a background would be constructed pernient to the currenty story.
Swith - Today at 12:36 PM
In my opinion, re Q6 - For P2TM, the OP's characters are the NPC. Fashion them as you would any character. They are, after all, your characters for the game. They just should not be the only protagonists... technically, your player's characters are the heroes. In fact, if you're running the villain, spend a lot of time on his background. This is what plays into his motivations for being the Big Bad.
Minor NPC (the barkeep, the hermit on the road, etc) can be fairly generic, but wrap them up in something that furthers the setting's atmosphere. The Hermit is wearing umber robes to reflect the Order of the Orange. The Barkeep looks like a retired old salt because it's a pirate-themed RP. Small details heighten the ambiance.
Gren - Today at 12:37 PM
Q6: Once, in ES, I basically adopted one of the OP's NPCs (with his permission) to turn into an ascended extra, because he seemed to have a Radar O'Reilly quality to him.
I wonder how many people grasp that reference?
Swith - Today at 12:38 PM
MAS*H :stuck_out_tongue:
Gren - Today at 12:38 PM
Woo!
Vocenae - Today at 12:39 PM
Q6 IN response for myself, I was once involved in a FT RP where I had tried to use a designed character as the 'main character'. She didn't get very far and wasn't very interested because she was locked into a role and attitude designed by her backstory, whereas I ended up writing a character that was intended entirely as a background one off, and by letting her grow organically she ended up being incredibly popular and really fun to write and led to a ton of future RP stories.(edited)
Swith - Today at 12:39 PM
Question 7 Fedora Dan asks, "How would one worldbuild/conworldstion animals and creatures into a world, and how detailed would said animals need to be for that world?"
Gren - Today at 12:41 PM
Q7: You should take the basic physics into account. If you've got a planet with 5 times Earth gravity, you can't have a cross between an elephant and a giraffe (any more than you can have a car that stands on nothing more than toothpicks taped together).(edited)
FRFS - Today at 12:42 PM
Q7: Oh animals are perfect fluff. They can bring a lot of aspects to a world, affecting your nation in various ways. I wouldn't go super into detail of all of them however, just enough to get a general description unless you plan to extensively feature them. And if you do, I'd just take a real life animal and tweak it. Like I did with dogs in my nation.
Vocenae - Today at 12:44 PM
Q7: In FT, that does tend to be something that people do overlook, for the sake of just streamlining the process. I, myself, have put very little thought into the flora and fauna of my individual worlds, mainly because it's something I don't find very interesting. I just go with 'mass cloning and tweaking of Earth born animals' or just don't even address it. However, players like Kyrusia have developed flora and fauna for their world by doing research into the environment they're creating for. For example, he has giant beetles that act as enormous dromedaries. If you're making them, then you need to put thought into the environment and the animal's role in it.
Swith - Today at 12:44 PM
My opinion on Q7 - this detail is so often left out! For P2TM, have that stag watching American soldiers moving through a WWII wheat field. Add the cry of a falcon, or the soft clucks coming from a hen house as they try to sneak past a farmer's cottage.
For nation builds, my stuff is usually all set in a FT environment. I look at that environment, and I consider how everything evolved (geology, flora, etc). Research it as you go. What adaptations would creatures have made in your setting? If the atmosphere itself is thin, how do animals breathe? Wider nostrils or special organs? Or is their physiology different because the planet's gravity is higher or lower than Earth's? You can easily spend hours "playing God".
The level of detail depends on how interested you are in creature design. You can keep things a mystery for your players, especially if none of them are running a scientist. Why explain a blob on a rock in great detail? All they know is that it's a blue blob slowly pulsating on a dark grey rock. :stuck_out_tongue:
.(edited)
Question 8 comes from Essexia:
"Alright, so right now I've noticed that i've had this sort of difficulty with worldbuilding for myself. I've got a decent idea of how my country is at present, but I dunno how to write up my history.
Does anyone like have tips for writing the history of their country? (I RP MT but tips in general are welcome too of course)"
Vocenae - Today at 12:49 PM
Q8: My nation in FT is a direct carry-over from when I played MT, way back in the day. So I can pull off that and the events that happened there to help define a national identity, but largely it's so far in the past in doesn't really matter. In regards to contemporary history, I just thought up some major 'NPC' events to help give my nation a push in the direction I needed it to go. But it's best if your history is defined by interactions with other players, rather than just sitting down and factbooking it out. Much like how people are changed by events and interactions with others, so to are nations.
Maltropia - Today at 12:50 PM
Q8: Do a history degree.
I'm not being facetious; in the course of my BA I kept encountering interesting historical moments, settings and features that I liked the idea of including in my countries. The best way to get ideas is to read. The best way to flesh out your history is to look at histories and see what you like or what inspires you.
If you're having trouble with just writing it up? There are a few ways you can go about it. I mostly keep my canon on IIwiki, so it's written in a Wikipedian style on the individual country's article and then on articles about random wars, battles and other events. I also have a spreadsheet timeline for my region where we just fill in events in the years they're in. It helps you see what gaps need filling and helps you condense your ideas into a little bullet point on which you can expand again later.
FRFS - Today at 12:50 PM
Q8: Working backwards involves a few things. You have to look at the results and then think of the actions that occured to bring those results to life. And you're going to have to be considerant of the region/setting your putting yourself in. Does your region/setting already have an established history? If so, you're now wiggling yourself into it. But it also gives you a good way to collaborate with everyone as well, and really involve yourself with the people in your community at the very beginning. "Hey guys, I'm at [this point in my setting], I've noticed [x], [y], [z] has happened here. How can I fit myself to this?"
Swith - Today at 12:50 PM
Question 9 comes from Ched via PM - "What are some typical worlds and certain settings you often employ in your works or games? Like are you inspired more by Star Wars, WH40k, or Lord of the Rings, etc?"(edited)
FRFS - Today at 12:51 PM
Q9: If I did the full list, I'd just be embarrassing myself :stuck_out_tongue:
Gren - Today at 12:51 PM
^
FRFS - Today at 12:51 PM
But seriously, there is nothing wrong with taking established works as a base to work off of.
Inspiration has to come from somewhere
It's what you do after that.
Okay, you have Halo as a starting point for some asthetics and tech level. Now how are you going to turn it from "Halo" into "YOUR NATION."
Maltropia - Today at 12:53 PM
frfs : I actually have a full list of 'references' in my canons; mostly place names I liked, but also the odd band or song title.
FRFS - Today at 12:53 PM
^ Aye references will always be there. And are really fun to see sometimes.
Vocenae - Today at 12:53 PM
Q9: Always, always always be looking for inspiration. And what FRFS said on both counts. I play and watch so many bad movies and games simply because there's /one/ thing in it that looks awesome and I want to put my own spin on it. And that's one of the biggest things in FT, really, putting your own spin on the usual sci fi tropes. I typically dream a lot of my ideas that get put into my nation, but I suppose that is a byproduct of just overexposure to so many different books, films, games and art.(edited)
Maltropia - Today at 12:54 PM
Q9: My inspiration is usually a combination of western European history and LotR. Just as my writing style is a product of my reading tastes, my worldbuilding is a product of my gaming, my watching and my living.
Reploid Productions - Today at 12:55 PM
Q9: You don't wanna know how much worldbuilding I've done on top of the established Dragon Ball universe for various roleplay stuff. :wink: Kinda varies by RP and setting. My NS nation is (loosely) based on the Megaman X storyline, though it doesn't use any of those characters. Various sci-fi/fantasy novels I read growing up have no doubt helped shape some of my stylistic preferences, too.
(Also, apologies for the brief absence, adulting stuff got in the way)
Vocenae - Today at 12:57 PM
Q9: Again in response to myself,you should never lock yourself into one specific thing, franchise wise, especially in FT where we encourage players to try to make something unique to them (even if it might not be entirely unique overall). Being a franchise cookie cutter, or heavily basedon a specific franchise in FT typically means you'll be looking at far fewer RP partners, as many people don't want to RP with the Imperium of Man or the Covenant or the UNSC/MAster Chief.
Swith - Today at 12:58 PM
Question 10 Tilt asks, "What is the best way to avoid 'Planet of Hats', where all of a given civilization have a trait?" For those unfamiliar with this trope: tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PlanetOfHats
One hour mark, 30 minutes left, panelists
Vocenae - Today at 1:01 PM
Q10: There's no real cut and dry answer to this, as your nation and your character will always, on some level, be influenced by our current cultures and your own personal beliefs, even if you try your best to steer away from them. Giving your civilization and characters sufficient depth can help you get away from being 'rawr I am honorable viking warriors in space', for example.
Reploid Productions - Today at 1:01 PM
The Planet of Hats trope is kinda in the same category of shallow development that causes Mary Sue characters, really. It's a form of lazy characterization. One way to avoid it is when building up your setting, deliberately design at least two different subsets of the civilization to force yourself to break that mold. Whether you specifically design two distinct groups (for instance, two related tribes in a tribal setting, or the distinction between upper/lower class in a more modern one.) Sometimes just creating characters from radically different sections of the civilization can help you come up with those distinctions, even if you end up never using those characters in the RP itself.
Swith - Today at 1:03 PM
It's hard to avoid the trope. There is a difference between "theme" and "civilization". Sure, all your sophont aliens are quadruped and breathe methane. That's the theme.
Cyborg planet: all citizens are cyborgs, right? Why not have a small faction of purists that refuse any augmentations?
Look to Earth, also. We're all primates, but we have varied ethnicity. Our cultures and beliefs differ depending on where in the world you visit. Within those cultures, some people are too thin, some are too fat. Some are hedonists. Others are religious squares.
FRFS - Today at 1:04 PM
Q10: You want to continually work on depth, and dimensions to your nation. The deeper you go, here and there, the more varied a given planet will be.
Also think of differences, and disagreements.
Politics is a great way to add depth.
And lets you express opposing viewpoints, which gets you away from painting with a broad brush.
Swith - Today at 1:05 PM
Question 11 Fedora Dan poses, "I think this might be another overlooked detail for worldbuilding. Transportation. Does the Symposium Hall have any good suggestions for transportation of people, goods, and armies for other worldbuilders, and mimicking the other question I offered; how detailed should that transportation be for the world?"
FRFS - Today at 1:06 PM
Q11: As detailed as needed for plot, really. If you're going to be invaded, transportation methods just became super important.(edited)
Vocenae - Today at 1:07 PM
Q11: Because I live in a rural area of the US where it takes a long time to get anywhere that has more than just one gas station, my worlds tend to have very spread out population centers. On planets, I tend to focus on there being a few large highways for actual traffic, while everyone else just takes high speed maglevs into the couple of big sci fi cities I do have.
Gren - Today at 1:08 PM
Q11: ^ Seems like the most reasonable transport method for a colony.(edited)
For dropping invasion forces, I recommend either drop ships or something capable of a skip-glide profile.
Reploid Productions - Today at 1:09 PM
Q11: That's one where "the tech level affects everything" is firmly in play. Depending on the specific setting, you can kinda skim over it, like most modern-based settings, it's already inherently understood that most transport is done via cars, trucks, trains, and so on. When dealing with past tech, future tech, or a fantasy tech setting, "How do things get from point A to point B" has a huge impact and is worth developing at least a little bit. A fantasy realm where teleportation magic is commonplace is going to have a very different system for moving goods and people about compared to a civilization where that physical distance must actually be traversed for example.
FRFS - Today at 1:09 PM
Q11: Personally within my nation I have all forms of modern traffic you'd see today. The cars maybe a bit more cooler looking, but modern functionality still works. It all depends on your setting. Animals might be your everyday transportation in a lower tech setting.
Setting is definetly cruicial to how you're going to do transportation.
An Aladdin setting, obv flying carpet
Swith - Today at 1:11 PM
Q11 Don't be afraid to add spice with transportation. My favorite memory of Cer's FT nation is the rail system. It's designed for his creatures, a physiologically 'dense' race. They have signs advising visitors to avoid the rails because most species can't handle the G's. Also, instant whiplash the moment a car leaves the station.(edited)
Reploid Productions - Today at 1:11 PM
Similarly, the availability of certain modes of transport can lead to a distinction between social classes or other groups. To use the fantasy setting example, if teleportation magic is commonplace and readily accessible to everyone, major cities and most towns would probably be linked up to a sort of portal network. If teleportation magic is available, but not commonplace, you might have major cities linked up but only the very wealthy can afford to travel that way.
Swith - Today at 1:11 PM
Oh, excellent point, Reppy!
Vocenae - Today at 1:11 PM
Q11: Once again in response to myself: I also limit what my civilians have access to, in terms of sci fi ships and such. People, as a whole, are silly unpredictable and emotional beasts, so it's better to restrict access to things that can go FTL or achieve some form of supreluminal speeds. Meanwhile in space, I try for a semi-real interpretation, so I like to have my trade routes defined by orbital paths through solar systems, using planets as 'exits'.
Reploid Productions - Today at 1:12 PM
Kinda like how not everyone can afford to fly first class. :wink:
Swith - Today at 1:12 PM
Question 12 Grat would like to know, "What's the best way to build conflict into your nation [or fictional setting] without going over the top or copy pasting real world disputes?"
FRFS - Today at 1:14 PM
Q12: I usually just import what makes me personally mad into my nation. I get peev'd at ineffective government. So, most of the Republic's Government is forever chasing its tail.
Swith - Today at 1:14 PM
[Fifteen minutes, panelists]
Vocenae - Today at 1:15 PM
Q12: In FT, finding players that you enjoy talking and RPing with and building a conflict that comes about naturally. After all, "Your worst IC enemy should be your best OOC friend". Get together and Collaborate and Compromise where needed in order to make a stronger overall plot. If you need internal conflict, then you'll need to develop a believable faction that will stand there and go 'NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION' and then throw a bunch of tea into the ocean.
FRFS - Today at 1:15 PM
Or like. Best intentions, worst outcome.
Where your nation has a really great idea to do something. And holy hell did it go wrong.
Reploid Productions - Today at 1:16 PM
There are tons of ways to add conflict, and looking to real world disputes can help you come up with ideas for it. Basically, any source of difference can be a source of conflict. Rich/poor divides, differences of faith (or lack thereof,) different races/species with different physical traits, and so on. People are hardwired to distrust the Other, the different, the Thing That Isn't Them, and you can play off that to great effect.
Also, seconding Vocenae's comment. IC conflict should not follow from OOC animosity. The best wars are orchaestrated by folks who get along swell OOCly, because the conflict isn't personal.
Vocenae - Today at 1:17 PM
Q12: For me, my internal bad guy faction is built entirely on exiled nobles that want to take over everything again and are bent on playing a longer game through small scale terrorism, large scale terrorism, seeding the lower incomes populations with addictive drugs, and now trying to manipulate financial markets, all to create instability in which they can gain a foothold of control over the people.
Swith - Today at 1:17 PM
Question 13 comes from Eridani Imperium - "How do you portray political schemes in your history?" Fedora Dan (Skymoot!)'s question might tie into this answer as well, "Government. I remember watching a CPGgreg episode on power, where rule 1 is "No one rules alone.". Even in a total dictatorship or monarchy, there's people running about and completing the rulers orders. How should people worldbuild their goverments, and what should they include with those governments?"
FRFS - Today at 1:20 PM
Q13: Always remember, the larger something is, the harder it is to control alone. Every strongman in history always had a group of loyal supporters, working behind the name. Making things happen.
Vocenae - Today at 1:21 PM
Q13: In FT, things are far more focused on the character level aspect and state v state interaction is pretty rare. So I would say that you really just need to have somewhat of a defined government in place, rather than going head over heels into it. That being said, do your research on the type of government you want to portray so that you can do so with some accuracy.
FRFS - Today at 1:22 PM
Q13: Those governments usually start out as an ideological group, or a revolutionary group. A meeting of likeminded individuals. They plot in basements and secret halls. They garner support through intimidation and word of mouth.
Reploid Productions - Today at 1:23 PM
That one kind of depends on how much political scheming is going to affect your plot. Sometimes you can get away with painting it in very broad strokes because it's not something that will be in play significantly- executive authority, some major departmental heads, that sort of thing. If you're going to go all Game of Thrones on it though, there's hard power, soft power, tons of different ways for people in power to scheme and sneak things through, especially in larger governments with sprawling bureaucracies
Swith - Today at 1:23 PM
Question 14 As a Mentor, I'm asked a lot of 'religion' questions, and I know Lamoni offered a guide regarding them not too long ago. Sarejo's question is a good one to touch upon - "Would you consider building religions to be an integral part of the current setting, no matter the genre?"
Apologies to Lamoni, but I don't have his guide's link handy at the moment.(edited)
Also a follow-up to this: "How might one craft a believable religion that is not a simple copy-paste rename?"
FRFS - Today at 1:26 PM
Q14: Religion is an important part of any setting, it's another way for the reader to feel immersed into your world. It's one that I currently lack within my own nation but I'm entertaining ideas of what it could be. The problem I'm having is finding something that I feel fits what I've already built in terms of my nation.
Vocenae - Today at 1:27 PM
Q14: Religion is part of a nation's culture and society, so yes, it's very important to address it in some shape or form. Myself, I'm not a big fan of organized religion, and when I was developing Vocenae I was even less so. So that means my nation is extremely secular in regards to it's citizens. It won't go chasing down other nations that do believe in a higher power, but within its own borders, it's just simply something that has been so thoroughly stamped on because of bad past experiences with religion that it's practically non-existant. As for crafting your own religion, doing research on religions that exist in the real world is a crucial thing in order to build one. Kyrusia has a great religion built for his nation, and he created it from putting hours and hours and hours of time into figuring out how, for example, various different aspects of Islam worked.(edited)
Swith - Today at 1:28 PM
Q14 People tend to forget that philosophy in a nation or setting is just as vital as religion. Your worldbuild may not have a set 'religion', but they will have something that outlines social rules and an approach to life.
Reploid Productions - Today at 1:28 PM
Religion, at its core, is a form of folklore, and folklore develops in response to some sort of need within the culture. It's often a way to explain things that don't have an explanation. Ancient cultures concocted various gods and such to explain natural phenomena, and to attempt to find a way to control or mitigate the harmful ones. If you have a culture on a volcanic island for example, people are going to develop a volcano deity to explain the shaking ground, the killing ash, the molten lava. And you can bet they will do whatever they can to try and keep that deity happy so it doesn't unleash those disasters.
Maltropia - Today at 1:28 PM
Q14: I wouldn't say you have to create your own religion for every canon you're building, but most cultures should still have religion in there somewhere. More important, possibly, than catechismically defining your religion's precepts is defining how that religion influences your people and their decisions.
e.g. If you just import Christianity, as do so many writers, how is it uniquely practiced in your country?
Swith - Today at 1:29 PM
Final question Panelists, please tell us about your own favorite worldbuild. Why do you love it, where did you find inspiration for it?
Vocenae - Today at 1:32 PM
Q15: If I started telling you about my favorite world build, we'd be here all day while I recite the history of my nation, . I love building for my nation because as a writer I just love creating something that looks and feels believable. And I love helping others (for the most part) worldbuild their own nations. And for inspiration I am just always reading about stuff, researching, looking at sci fi art, playing video games or watching movies, no matter how bad they are.(edited)
Maltropia - Today at 1:33 PM
QFinal: That would be Trellin, my imperial amalgam in Astyria. Where did I get inspiration? Everywhere. When I want to put an idea into practice it usually works its way into at least one of the half-dozen constituent nations of the Trellinese Empire. Trellin proper is mostly a self-contained project with the odd connector to the canons of other players in the region, but its own isolationist history means I'm free to play around with my own canon without worrying too much about outside influence. I don't eschew those influences, though, and they filter in through the empire's 'protectorates,' little states on the fringes that share a basic culture but are politically extroverted. Trellin's big enough to not care about the outside world (so it's where most of my own worldbuilding gets done), but its protectorates have to care, so they're my interactive portals.
FRFS - Today at 1:33 PM
Oh man. Well I have two current favorites and both of them are collaborative efforts with @vocenae . "Smokejumpers", which are my super secret paramilitary black ops team mainly task with combating Wildfire extremists. And the "BEARs and CUBs", the two components of my Mech Corps of the Marine Forces. The names alone are enough for me to love them without even diving into the kickass concepts they actually are.
Reploid Productions - Today at 1:36 PM
Q15- Ditto Vocenae about being here all day (like I said much earlier, don't get me started on my Dragon Ball stuff! :wink: The various video games, anime, novels, and assorting fannish things I'm into have all contributed or inspired me in one form or another. The concept for Rhythaliis, the planet one of my DBZ RP characters ccame from started out with a simple concept that just blossomed into this rich, albeit very primitive culture with all sorts of fun little details that sprang from the idea. And it ended up explaining why that character is the way she is so well, from her mannerisms and the slang she uses all the way toward some of her deep-rooted psychological stuff.
Swith - Today at 1:36 PM
Thank you, panelists and audience, for your participation today. This wraps up this morning’s panel. Our upcoming schedule is:
Tonight:
Writing, Exposition, and the Narrative (Late Hour) — 7PM EST Moderated by Zark
Thread Marketing and Formatting — 9PM EST Moderated by Cer
Midnight Madness: The Revolving Door (Oddball #2) — 12AM EST Moderated by Kyru
Thursday, July 13th, 2017
Writing, Exposition, and the Narrative (Early Hour) — 12PM EST
NS Sports: Mechanics and Roleplaying (Guest) — 4PM EST
Worldbuilding and Related (Late Hour) — 8PM EST
NS Roleplay Symposium 2017
TOPIC: “Worldbuilding”
TIME: COMPLETED