Worlds database

#1

I was just visiting flatearth.com, where there is a worldbuilding community at work on a campaign world called Caeldera. That's one thing the Citadel doesn't have: a database for submissions of campaign worlds. It would be a lot of work, but it's quite a nice idea (for way way into the distant future).

I thought there could be a database of maps (jpgs) and of corresponding HTML map tags which link to particular regional descriptions (also held on a database) plus a general historical outline and list of linked NPCs who reside in that world and plots that occur in that world, etc. The map bit would be the hardest, and I don't know how you'd do it in PHP, but I have an idea of how it would work in Perl.

ephemeralstability!

Worlds database

#2

I could only wish! Maybe in the future yes. They have a nice clean simple layout that is easy to navigate. Hope mine seems that way :?: The pages seem static although they are served by asp so I don't quite understand that. Picture uploading is a fairly simple process that I have been toying with for the weapons and characters.

In all actuality the setup for that is not all that difficult.

I was going to start with a city and see how that would go. Make it easy to create establishments to populate your city with. Link them with some characters and maybe a plot or two...who knows. I am a big fan of the City Book series. http://www.flyingbuffalo.com/catalyst.htm (locked out of this site at work so I hope the link works) and that is what inspired me to do the city....not in stone, as if anything is with me.

I have no problem with the world idea. Could start with www.strolen.com/aros/index.php :lol:

Spend about 20 hours here as well. geesh http://www.fantaseum.com/

Worlds database

#3

I think the living city would be fine first. But a real city is not complete without villages surrounding it. This is needed sooner or later, with nearest terrain and other information. That will be followed by brief info on other cities and realms, willing to do business or war :twisted: This and that could be fleshed out and ...

Slowly an entire world emerges!

In the meantime, Links could be expanded with other worlds and cities, there are quite a few good ones out there in Internet. Agyris is an example.

Worlds database

#4

I will tell you from experience that world building takes a sh**load of work. I've got one half-way developed (i.e., I have the very general way things are). I've been working on it for two years now. It just keeps getting bigger... :shock: Idea: would it be all right if I posted what I've got so far? Give us a jumping off point.

Worlds database

#5

How about a directory on the forums dedicated to worlds only?

Some would have to be moved in there. There are two worlds only there, but there could be quickly more. I just post a weird world-idea to the Flesh-it-out section to see what happens. I also think about posting parts of my own world and... well you get the idea. Don't want the main forum page to be littered with 20 worlds, some dead.

Worlds database

#6

Your wish is my command. Good idea anyway since we now have some topics anyway.

Worlds database

#7

Have a peek at http://hiddenway.tripod.com/adelfarn/, the town of Adelfarn. Thats what I call a resource! Also many other goodies on the page.

Something should be done about the city anyway. It requires some basic info. Any system, any world, sure, but what about the geography? Any river nearby? Tropical/temperate/frigid? Desert to swamps? Probably a river, but is there a sea? Whats the size of it? etc.

Worlds database

#8

That is what we need, a good start to base everything on. (He got my bookmark)

Not sure how detailed we should be though really. The City will be generic in every sense of the word and will be user defined rather then having a firm anything. If somebody's submission requires the town to be burnt to the ground at one time, then that becomes part of the history. If somebody requires a swamp, then there it is, a river, a lake, an oceon, all will be dictated by submissions I think?

Or should there be a solid foundation to be built on? If it does it cannot be very restrictive and should leave the opportunity to do just about anything, even adding you undead fume bar should be available somehow :wink: .

Worlds database

#9

So, you people want a city? That's gonna be expensive! (evil grin)
Have some theory, from roleplayingtips.com:

issue147.html - get supplemental of City Places and Events
issue146.html - City Features and Flavoures
issue141.html - City Services, Landmarks And Businesses In A Fantasy Setting
issue132.html - Town Design Tips
issue82.html - City Tips
issue81.html - More City Tips

A generic city is a bit nonsense. You (or is it only me?) cannot create without limits, at least a few. But we won't see the bigger picture until there are 50+ submissions anyway. Doesn't mean we will reject submissions. If it fits, we keep it. If its somewhat bizzare or ill-fitting, we keep it too. If it stands again all other things, who says it has to be only one city?

But IF we want it really generic, certain submissions may have exact requirements:
Docks need a large river, lake or sea. Shop for combat- and healing- oriented potions and wands require a high-magic world. The 101 Gears of Desert Survival look bad in frigid climate. So if it ever comes to 100+ items, you will be able to view the city as a mere search, there you will choose categories to filter out things unwished.

Foundation. The base. The stuff you will ignore :-)

Climate: Let it be temperate, to allow both hot summers and cold winters. But OPTIONAL.

Geo-features: I say there will be a river. And there was a river. Cities are often near rivers, gives instant trade, road and fish. See no disadvantages here. But sea or not a sea, that is the question! OPTIONAL. A large lake may do the same job.
Mountains/Swamps/Plains/Lakes/... OPTIONAL.

Size: Depends heavily on your needs, campaign technology/magic level. Say at least 5.000, expected 20.000 - 50.000 , better not above 200.000 - can you REALLY imagine a fantasy city of that size?

People inside: See basically only two options, dominantly human or a healthy mix of all the races available. OPTIONAL.

Politics: will be defined later.

Adventure needs: Mountains, swamps, lonely roads, burning deserts, snow fields, lost cities, deep mysterious holes in the ground, ancient civilisations, mighty dragons... Yes! Yes! Yes!
But alas, this is all outside the city, and while it is surely out there, we cannot count on it. Will be defined later, as the City itself begins to take shape.

Worlds database

#10

Other climate considerations: Weather. Typhoons? Hurricanes? Tsunami? Tornadoes? Earthquakes? Blizzards? Ice Storms? Hail? Smog :lol: ?

What kind of weather to expect in a given month. Foggy, Windy, rainy, etc. Mountains, hills or large bodies of water nearby can greatly change weather patterns.

Other Geo-feature possibilities: A large bay or cove leading to an ocean?

Another kind of idea that may not really apply to the situation at all is something I picked up from helping my brother setup Shadowrun: denver online. Let people (perhaps only regular or senior members) fill in some details, like a few taverns of note, the smithy, etc. Just some way to describe the thing and delegate the authority of keeping up with bussiness to someone else.

Worlds database

#11

Actually, the user submitted business' was the main idea of my thoughts.

We have our city, defined by whatever we decide. Name, location, etc...

Then we break that city up into generic areas.
Rich part of town.
Merchant
Wharf area
Slums
Markets
Outlying area
Whatever we can think of really. Could also have some breakdown in otherways.
Guilds
Politics
Who knows?

Then inside those different sections submissions sort of start building the town and populating the areas. Each one can be as detailed or general as wanted.

When I first thought of the city building idea, that was my train of thoughts. I believe it would be too difficult and too wide open to do the same for many cities all over a world, it would take too much time for somebody to go through a world looking for an interesting idea for an inn or a guild or something. I was thinking have the main generic city that could just be a template for any city anywhere and populate that with all the stuff so everything is right in one area. It would be a lot of work to populate a world city by city. Most definately we can have different city scenerios or whatever, but I was thinking the city would just be a mythical generic type idea that holds everything possible so that the submissions would not be limited by anything.

Perhaps if there is a specific city idea, then the layout and requirements could be set and then when you view that city, only the appropriate submissions are drawn out of the database. For instance, if somebody has a city idea for something in the mountains, then when you view that city it will not get population or business' that were made for an ocean city, they would be filtered out.

That makes me think of this (just randomly writing here, the more I say the less I mean type thing) Can have any number of worlds submitted, each unique in their own way. Have a selection of what kind of cities are available in it (chances are all of them but anyway). So when you choose that world, you get that unique description of the world, and then a listing of all the appropriate cities. These cities are all user submitted as well. Unique ideas and locations and set ups for whatever the idea is for that city. When you put in a city you can decide what kind of city it is and choose the appropriate people and business etc. that would fit in it. So when you choose a city on the ocean next to the plains, you will get the unique user submitted city overview/idea and then it is populated by the user chosen appropriate fill ins. These fill-ins are basically put into appropriate catagories and each one can be fleshed out with some plot hooks or just unique ideas.

In this way, each level is populated with the level below it. Many of the submissions will appear in most every world or city, and many cities will appear in most worlds, but there will be some sort of uniqueness depending on the path you take.

This takes care of my need for more options and not being stuck on developing around a certain city, and it also allows very specific cities.

Confuse everybody?

(I am a BIG fan of this world idea and think it will turn into another site in the future, whether built by me or in cahoots with somebody..Nimblefinder you here yet man? if so speak up....hehehe. Here is your task)

Worlds database

#12

Maybe the stuff in the cities can be submited like the items or plots. The use could select attributes that match the kind of place you could find the building or location in and then that could be some kind of flag the filter could look for.

For example, I would run an inn I called the Laughing Dragon Inn. It had a powerful enchantment cast over it so that whatever state you were in when you walked into the inn, that was the state you would return to when you left. :?: So, you come in down 5 HP, you have some drinks, get healed, get into a barfight with a dragon and get blasted to ash, the janitor sweeps you up and tosses you out the door, and POOF you're back to your self minus the 5 HP you were missing when you entered. 8) The bar also featured a 4 story ceiling with bungee cords :!: , an F1 race track with independent gravity :lol: , two story doors that led to an everchanging arena something like quake meets M.C. Escher :twisted: , 60 convention halls :!: , a reastraunt :) , a bar :lol: and, lastly, an double sized Olympic pool with a human cannon next to it to allow patrons to point the cannon at the pool and see who could skip themselves across the pool the most times. :shock:

Some of the traits of such a structure would be: High Magic, Bar/Inn/Tavern, Silly, Enchanted, Tall. Upper Class.

There are so many traits available for every structure, it seems like the most convienint way for someone to set something like this up would be to have one page for summary and description, then a button to go to another page to set the traits. Of course just about every catagory will likely have an "Other" button.

It seems like a do-able idea, but also seems so involved as to be another site. However it comes into being, I will almost definately be contributing there too. 8)

Worlds database

#13

Most probable will just have to force a choice. Items were like that at one point as well. There are just so many different catagories that are possible, you just have to make a decision and run with it. I am still not entirely satisfied with that setup but for lack of anything better it is as it is.

While the high magic, silly, etc., are valid catagories, they probably get too specific.

At one time we had a thought for the weapons to start in a broad catagory like Swords, then you click on that and choose, broad sword, long sword, etc. But I have seen other sites like that, you go through three levels of clicks and get to the meat finally, and there is only one item or sometimes none when catagory becomes too specific. So we dumped that idea. I see this as the same thing almost.

Just going to have to make some broad catagories like your bar/tavern maybe inn could be seperate, but not likely, and just have everything in that broad catagory there.

There could be specific descriptions like for the weapons to better define it for a quick glance. My final thought of why we do the weapons that is this, yes, somebody puts in a submission for a particular weapon, but who says the magic has to be associated with just that item. The main idea is there and can be converted to cover just about anything, shield, ring, stick, whatever, it doesn't HAVE to be a sword. The idea is what is most important.

Same thing for this. You may have all that extra stuff (olympic size swimming pool), but if somebody is looking for an bar idea, if there is just one idea they get from your submission that satisfies what they are looking for, then the mission is accomplished. Just because it is for a high society doesn't mean somebody can't take that exact idea and easily convert it to the slums. The major seperating factor is that it is a bar, and that is a little harder to convert to something else, so the major catagories seem to be good enough to me because of this reasoning.

So you want to start building a world????

#14

Hi everyone,

Well first I must say this is a pretty neat message board Strolen has put together here.

Now, as for the world creation idea, everything that has been written and discussed is possible. Now if all of the suggestion are feasible, we shall see as we start to build this thing. I will start looking over the other websites over the next few days and come up with some suggestions. After that if the grasious strolen will let me I will start formulating the schema and buiding the backbone of the world. I feel we can make this into a fully ineteractive application with graphics and virtual navigation through the world.

I will go now and start my research.

By the way Strolen -- I am now offically back into the game.

We Need a Name!!

#15

While the research begins (yeah) we need to come up with a name for this thing. My obvious strongpoint, not that it is absolutely necessary because it can always be changed, but easier on us if we can create a subdomain and stick with it. Any Ideas?? Here is mine:

world

or maybe

city

Catchy, somewhat original?, brings it all into perspective. And if we can't come up with something better, then that is what it will be....We can always change the actual name of what we do on the pages, but we have to get a directory established so we don't have to mess with changing it.

And a great big WELCOME BACK to Nimblefinder. For those that have read the "Who the devil are we" pages, you may know that he was one of the original three that actually started this website in the first place. But now, he is even more edumicated!! and probably twice as dangerous.

Worlds database

#16

Ahh the old problem of names. I always end up filling that out last on my sheet, just seeing what the character becomes before I put a name on it. Here's my list of thoughts:

Strolston :lol:

Citadel City

Scalar

It will be interesting to see how this develops. Everything on this site it pretty open and chimerical, ever-changing and full of possibility because nothing is specified and nailed down. The city or world seems like it would have to be more concrete, more definged than the open-ended discussions we have had so far.

Worlds database

#17

Crystal City
Strolen's Keep
Citadel