Collaborative Sci-Fi Campaign [Diaspora] [Microscope]

What is this?
It's a game using an untested hybrid of two roleplaying systems, each of which is linked to below. The goal is to generate an interesting sci-fi setting, whose history and inhabitants we'll flesh out by playing various games that involve writing a paragraph or a few at a time, given context and/or direction.

Also, it's inactive until more players can be recruited and/or salvaged. Perhaps after the semester.

Gameflow:
key: Diaspora (site, SRD) - Microscope (site)

setting outline + system creation ->
history round-robin =>
?x (character creation -> scene play)

Setting Outline:
A concept (1 sentence) and bookends (2 Periods) will be chosen by vote, majority wins, with dice as tiebreaker.

A palette (n desired things and m banned things) will then be assembled from player suggestions. One desired thing OR one banned thing per player, per round, until a round in which someone abstains. Any controversial suggestions must be discussed until either it is accepted by everyone, an alternative is suggested by the same player, or the round ends (and this player is considered to have abstained).

Each player should then add a Period or Event to the chronology (as described under 'history round-robin'), completing its setup.

System Creation:
Each player (possibly including the OP, depending on signups) claims or is given one or two planets to create, such that a total of 6 - 10 are created. Each is accessible via starship, but otherwise as yet unspecified.

Each planet has a Technology, Environment, and Resources score, on a scale of -4 to 4. Each player determines each score for each of their planets by rolling four fudge dice (4dF).

Assuming that at least one sapient species capable of in-system colonization exists, consult the following table (taken from the SRD, with some modifications) to interpret results. If the player deems their planet uninhabited, then its technology rating may describe artifacts which can be found in its gravity well, devices which function in its vicinity, or otherwise.

Rating	Technology	Environment	Resources
4	precursor tech	all regions abundant	nigh inexhaustible
3	solar exploitation (on verge of FTL)	many regions abundant	multiple exports
2	digitization of consciousness (established space colonies)	some regions abundant, several survivable	one significant export
1	age of free power (space exploitation)	one region abundant, several hostile	self-sustaining
0	information age (space exploration)	one region survivable	sustainable
-1	atomic power (race to space)	surface hostile	almost sustainable
-2	industrialization	surface barren	needs imports
-3	metallurgy	surface uninhabitable	multiple dependencies
-4	stone age	utterly uninhabitable	no resources

Each player may then name their planet(s), and assign to each two Aspects (short phrases, taggable during gameplay) which reflect its identity, building upon its attributes. The player should also roll 4dF to obtain a connection result. The OP will use this to link together all planets via trade routes.

Once the planets are connected, the players may discuss their relationships to one another. Each planet should then recieve an additional Aspect from its player, pertaining to its place and role in-system, as well as a brief paragraph describing daily life on it.

History Round-Robin:
For each round of Microscope, a player is chosen to be the Lens, going in chronological order of signup for this game, with the OP going last. The Lens chooses a Focus, to which each move taken during the round must pertain.

Every player may then take their move, creating a Period, Event, or Scene. Periods must be placed within the bookends, Events must be placed within a Period, and Scenes must be placed within an Event. The Lens may create a pair of nested cards: an Event within a Period, or a Scene within an Event.

Each card created should be something evocative, to entice other players to take an interest in it! Take a paragraph to describe what it entails. Other players may ask for clarification, but not offer suggestions; they are encouraged to elaborate upon events and concepts by adding cards, instead.

For each kind of card, some descriptive elements are mandatory; these are listed further below. Also, a summary which will fit on the gameboard (with full text linked) should be provided by the player, or else by the OP.

Adding desired things from the palette is encouraged. Adding banned things is... banned.

Players should not discuss what move they are going to take, because this is thought to produce design-by-committee. However, discussion of cards (especially Scenes) and their impact, without revealing one's plans, is encouraged.

At the conclusion of each round, the previous Lens (or OP, on the first round) is given a token which allows them to both declare a Legacy and create a card pertaining to one of the Legacies declared thus far; they are expected to use it as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, control passes to the next Lens, and the next round begins once they have declared a Focus. They do not have to create their card(s) at this time, to encourage swift posting, as the goal is to ensure as many people are capable of taking a move at any given point in time as possible.

What is...
...a Focus?
It's a person or an institution, or a time, place, or concept; anything that can be put into words, although choosing specific foci is encouraged. All cards created in a given round must pertain to the Focus in some way.

...a Period?
It's some stuff that happened during some interval of time. It's a backdrop against which more fine-grained events happened, or maybe it's an atmosphere that was created by said events. It might introduce or adapt from earlier/later some of the key institutions and technologies of the time.

...an Event?
It's something that happened during a Period, at a specific time and place. It had an outcome, good or bad or otherwise. It's usually an action on the part of one (group of) person(s) or another.

...a Scene?
It's a precise sequence of events which occured during some Event, which answer the Question posed by the Scene's creator. The Question can be as leading as the asker likes, but it has to be answered through roleplay by the entire group... unless the asker dictates the Scene, in which case they simply narrate what happens to answer it.

Otherwise, the Scene's creator should also declare when it happens, what's been established as having happened / going to happen, and what the characters are up to. If they so wish, they may declare one or two characters who must be in the Scene, and one or two who may not be. Both specific characters and categories thereof are valid specifications, but a requirement cannot be created for all characters (i.e., banning 'everyone who is not an X' is improper).

All players must choose a character (although one may play forces representing Time, and others may opt to play background characters), and all required characters must be taken. The player who declared the Scene should choose last. Non-background characters lacking stats should be statted out as per 'character creation', below.

The round of history generation continues, in the meantime. Character selection, creation, and roleplay should take place in the same thread (unless they manage to drown out other lines of discussion), using a different color for each Scene.

Character Creation:
A process of backstory creation, yielding Aspects, followed by Skills and Stunts. We'll worry about the details later. This is expected to be a significant portion of how Scenes are fleshed out.

Of course, characters can be brought back across different Scenes, provided they're still alive / able to fit it into their backstory / physically able to get there. Unless the Scene is resuming after a cliffhanger, the character's Fate points are refreshed, and their player may be allowed to tweak their Skills, Aspects, and Stunts. Various Consequences may or may not be cleared, depending on how much downtime the character has had.

In a departure from Microscope rules, players are encouraged to ask for permission before choosing to play a character whom someone else statted in a Scene.

Scene Play:
The statted characters are placed in the context chosen by the Scene's creator, and expected to set about performing their tasks, making decisions, and possibly engaging in combat until (and only until) the Question is answered.

Much like any RP, really, aside from the stats and cutoff. Hopefully these, in concert with context, will keep each Scene moving.

Notes:
I dunno what order to put system creation and setting outline in, so let's do them simultaneously, such that one can inform the other. This should also prepare us to handle multiple processes at once later in the game.

Rounds of Microscope will occur in linear sequence, but within them, players may move in no particular order. Rounds end when everyone has moved, or failing that, when a few days have passed. Additionally, Scenes may continue in the background across rounds. This rule modification is intended to promote steady asynchronous play.

Within Microscope, nobody owns anything. God-modding is not a thing. It is okay to make unexpected things happen to other peoples' creations, because players have control over which events are examined, and which are not. If someone wants to use something that got destroyed, they can go back in time to before it was destroyed, or forwards in time to after it was rebuilt. Or so I'm told.

The rule against god-modding is reinstated during a Scene; although compels can be applied to player characters, they must go through the Fate point economy, so that players may convert bad fortune into clout and clout into good fortune later.

During scene play, all players (but particularly whomever is playing Time) are expected to share referee (gamemaster) duties - specifically, the introduction and running of NPCs in the form of secondary characters. Each such event is expected to have a specific purpose, and thus to proceed apace; that said, the game is structured such that slowdown on a scene thread ought not to kill the main thread.

Joining the game while it is in progress should be entirely possible (neglecting social dynamics), provided that the newcomer is sufficiently familiar with the existing canon to avoid contradicting it, and is not joining in bad faith. Hopefully that won't be an issue, though.

Archive:
(or, stuff that's already happened)

Big Picture
a) An empire rises, and all others fall.
b) We reclaim these worlds from the machine.
c) The truest gesture is that of self-sacrifice, even that of an entire civilization.
d) What once was can never be again, despite all efforts.
e) The end of all things in our world, by our own hand.
f) <write in something else>

c wins out, barely, over d

Initialization:
(or, things we can do right now)

End Period
(Vote for one thing, if you please, though you can choose something else as a fallback.)

a) A magnificent new paragdim of life is created. It immediately consumes its progenitors.
b) The oppressive state crumbles from within, and is finished off by its victims.
c) TUSK PIERCES FIERCE MIND. END OF FALLING. FALCONIFORMES REQUIRED TO ACQUIESCE.
d) <write-in>

Planet Assignments
primary / secondary
These are in order of relative distance from the barycenter; 1 is the closest.

(System creation is ongoing. Claim a primary and a secondary; if we get more than five players, secondaries will be released to other players. Once linkage occurs, unclaimed planets will be removed from the ordering.)

1)
2) 2/0/0 (-1), JT
3)
4) 1/0/-2 (+1), Balu
5) 3/0/-2 (+1), Ji
6)
7) +1/0/-2 (+3), Balu
8) 1/3/0 (-1), Ji
9)
10) 0/-1/1 (+2), JT

Preliminary Questions:
Part(s) of that wall of text didn't make sense.
Ask away.

Could you be less vague about how playing Scenes works?
Yes, once I've brushed up on FATE some more, which should happen at latest once our first non-dictated Scene is declared. Or sooner, if it's a concern.

This looks very interesting. Though I did read through it, I'm afraid I'm not entirely sure what the game is about. Could you give me some sort of summary or something so I can understand this better?

As stated, the purpose of the game is to generate a setting of mutual interest - and the characters associated with it, in the context of specific events - in a collaborative manner.

The concrete elements thus far are that the scope of the setting is one solar system, more or less, and the current leading questions / branch points are the choice of big picture and the table against which planets are rolled.

The hope is that once these are chosen, further questions will become obvious - especially since the rulesets used ask some of these for us.

I'm not sure how much less abstract I can make it without pre-generating the solar system and the history's broad direction, which would reduce player input.

I'm not entirely sure what this is, but it looks interesting, so I'm in.

Tentatively interested. I've not actually explored alternate uses for FATE, I'd give it a shot.

Okay, cool. Welcome aboard, all. We can get started right in this thread, I think, since recruiting is still in its primary phase. And I doubt it'll get too cluttered.

I could use a vote for one of those alphabetically enumerated 'big picture' sentences from each player, tentative or otherwise, as well as the dice rolls for a couple of planets. A format for the latter is as follows.

Locations:

Technology / Enviroment / Resources:

Connection:

Edit: Bah, so that's where the fields under 'Dice Roll' that I couldn't clear ended up going. Also, editing currently rerolls BBCode dice; obviously, there's an edit counter to prevent abuse, but it's something to mind when writing prose that might be revised.

The member 'JazzTap' has done the following action : Dice roll

#1 'd10' : 7

--------------------------------

#2 'd10' : 9

Uh, okay lemme see if I put two and two together properly, so as not to mangle the resulting four...

For a big picture, I like C, just to see what we do with it.

I'd like 5 as a primary

Tech

Admiral Ji carried out 4 launched of one fudge :

, , ,

Enviro

Admiral Ji carried out 4 launched of one fudge :

, , ,

Resources

Admiral Ji carried out 4 launched of one fudge :

, , ,

And 8 as a secondary
Tech

Admiral Ji carried out 4 launched of one fudge :

, , ,

Enviro

Admiral Ji carried out 4 launched of one fudge :

, , ,

Resources

Admiral Ji carried out 4 launched of one fudge :

, , ,

Also, if you're worried about editing ruining your posts, use the dice roller at the bottom. When making multiple rolls in relation to things you're saying, it's easier in post, but if we're making a single roll of dice, letting The_GM roll is much safer and abuse-proof.

So, is it at all possible for me to pick 'communist lightswitch' in this scenario? I'll settle for 'capitalist Doritos bag' if I have to.

@Ji,
Excellent, go forth and bash those numbers. Vote noted, and planet list updated.

That should work, yeah. I am curious whether it tries to roll zero, negative, or nonnumeric dice. Another time, though.

@Grand,
...no, that might still be going a bit far.

---
Primary (10)
Name: Verdure
Aspect: Break down the foreign body
Aspect: The lush tundra

Secondary (2)
Name: Silvie
Aspect: Trapped in a fishbowl
Aspect: Shared with a mantis shrimp

I'm not actually sure what you want me to do about connection, I can roll it but I thought we'd be waiting a bit to do so.

And aspecting our planets is much like one would aspect a character in FATE, I presume? Don't want to mess this up, after all.

A connection roll now is the same as a connection roll later, save that the latter has a very slight chance of causing some delay. And there's not really any other rolls to lump it with, in this phase.

As best as I can tell from the SRD, yes; something thematic that can also be tagged mid-Scene if planetary conditions are relevant. I'll buy and read the actual Diaspora PDF soon, I think, schoolwork permitting. It should be fine; revision of aspects can definitely be done until we start building the history, and possibly even then as need be.

Well okay. I'm not sure what connection rolls would represent, however. We've already/are already determining order from the sun. Looking at the SRD, the idea would be us all inventing separate systems, not us making planets for one, near as I can tell. So, in your version where we're all making planets in a star system (with each one apparently being inhabited as a plus), what does connection actually do?

5

Admiral Ji carried out 4 launched of one fudge :

, , ,

8

Admiral Ji carried out 4 launched of one fudge :

, , ,

I'll name and aspect eventually.

I have no idea what I am doing, but it seems no one else knows entirely either so here goes nothing.

Big Picture: D, C as fallback

Primary 4:

Secondary 7:

Could someone explain "Aspects" to me?  Do I just come up with something?

@Ji,
Trade routes! Those are what the connection rolls are for. Not as strict as the existence/nonexistence of slipstream routes, but with similar effect. It is along these routes that raw materials flow from high-resource to low-resource planets, and people flock towards high-environment planets, according to the SRD.

Come to think of it, there is the wrinkle that the distances between planets change, assuming some of them have different orbital periods than others. We should probably recalculate these for each Scene, at least. I'll code up a generator (for an applet, animation, or table - one of those) and post the resource later.

So the 1D connection rules might break down, yes. But I'll check whether recalculating them at each tick works.

what's a tick?:

Alright, cool.

@Balufire,
Vote and planets noted. Looks good! That's basically the criteria we're going against.

Pretty much, yeah. A phrase or a characteristic that you'd like to explore. Something you can announce mid-prose during gameplay as a thing that benefits or hampers some actor.

Okay, double-posting because I coded that planetary system simulation. Here is the ZIP, containing a runnable (hopefully) JAR and its data folder. Sorry about the size. If that's much too suspicious to download, here is a screenshot of our system as it stands.

hide/unhide:

Connection roll is ignored currently (sorry) because the rules as written expect planets to be considered in a fixed order, whereas the current code considers them in order of distance from the planet under consideration.

The planets are represented on a logarithmic scale so that they fit in a reasonable amount of space; the outermost planet is otherwise treated as 256 times further from the sun barycenter than the innermost, for example.

If that's too elaborate, we may opt to consider the following static connections, obtained using SRD rules.



C has been winning for a few days, so here's part of the resulting bookends ballot before I nod off.

End Period
a) A magnificent new paragdim of life is created. It immediately consumes its progenitors.
b) The oppressive state crumbles from within, and is finished off by its victims.
c) TUSK PIERCES FIERCE MIND. END OF FALLING. FALCONIFORMES REQUIRED TO ACQUIESCE.
d) <write-in>

Er, one more bump before I let this die. (If there's lurker interest only, please let it be known, and I'll carry on in the art section or something.)

As an alternative to continued voting / sheet submission, should I just pick the bookends and/or aspect up planets with the current stats myself, then put up the IC?

Mm, this might be a bit much for me personally. These kinds of games have always escaped me. I've also already got a bit on my plate at the moment.