This article contains affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you make purchases using these links, at no cost to you.I’ll be honest, I don’t really like collaborative worldbuilding. I like the world to come mostly from the GM’s head (see the DM is a shut eye), because for me that’s key for:
Immersion
A sense of genuine discovery
Problem solving that feels like I’ve ‘earned it’
But I do like the idea of an exercise to get players invested beyond the scope of their PC, and to get the table locked in on the vibes of a game world. I tried something different when setting up a play-by-post Runecairn game with House of Unripe Figs (
) and it worked so well I think it’s worth sharing.The Myth of Many Scribes
You and your players are going to write a myth of the game world. It should be loose on details and avoid anything too specific. It’s about vibes.
The rest of the world remains the GM’s to determine, or invite players to contribute to if they like, but the myth is there to inspire the GMs worldbuilding.
It gets the table committed to an atmosphere. If one line reads “when Gastamar fell, her blood tainted the harvest” and the next line is “the rainbow rabbits bounced with joy”, then the table’s alignment issues are obvious.
The GM can provide loose starter concepts, e.g. high fantasy, in the midst of war.
This works for non-fantasy genres: your ‘myth’ can be famous piece of infamous graffiti that stretches high up a concrete wall in Cy_Borg, or the message transmitted from a deep space mission that disappeared 150 years ago in Death in Space.
How to do it
Set up a google doc or other collab document. Arrange a time for everyone to be ready to contribute. Do this in silence or with music chosen by the GM, no talking. The GM writes the first line, then each player takes a turn writing the next line until it gets back to the GM, then repeat.
Make it as long or as short as you want, I think one page is plenty. The GM writes the last line and calls the myth complete when they do.
GM tip: Take your time with your first sentence. It’s the most powerful tool you have to shape the myth. Prepare it in advance if you want.
Then the GM takes the myth and builds details of the world using the myth as inspiration.
Example
Here’s the first section of the one I wrote with
, which they wrote the first line for:The reckoning was long.
That which had slumbered awoke.
First, it crept. Then, it ran.
The world as it was, trampled beneath its hooves.
The mountains themselves were torn down by its claws.
Its soundless words deafened all to the song of the Sun.
Its scream rings in our ears still.
It begs us to wake from our living dream.
It taunts our rest and drags us back from whatever lies beyond.
…
Try it
Seriously, try this. For those of us who want GM led worlds but are after a quick and mystical way to get a table on the same page, this is good option.
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What about an "exquisite corpse" then?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exquisite_corpse
Myths are often somewhat incoherent or contradictory, as are exquisite corpses.
And interpretation or, say, how a myth interact and is realized through actual players acts, could become part of the fun.
It's interesting, makes me consider something similar as an ongoing procedure, especially with prevalence of rumor tables as a way of feeding hooks to the players.
You could have players, instead of declaring truths about the world, add in at least a portion of entries to the rumors (or maybe they throw out a few and GM chooses which ones make it into the game proper), with GM free to take those of them they are interested in and make them real, likely with some twist.
I can foresee at least some issue with it being circular, feeding information to the players which they have already written down in the first place. But whether that'd be a big deal and how much it being twisted and altered by the GM would mitigate against that... I dunno, would need some practical testing.