I love working as a collaborator. And truly I really feel like I suck when left totally to my own devices. This is a big reason why I typically run modules and other predesigned stuff.
When I do try and build something new, I like to ask for help. Back in high school this was easier, because we needed something to discuss anyway. So we'd pan campaign ideas. Today my adult life has few gamers in it, so any who might understand the goals would be privy to spoilers in the process.
So what works for you, if you're the type who gets help?
As for what hasn't worked, I have tried direct appeals and petitioning my Facebook GM friends. I can get as far as the campaign pitch, but pretty much nobody is inspired to give back any input. Maybe the idea is just THAT BAD. Seems like someone might say so, though.
As for the specific idea, I don't want to post it in the open just yet (because I have a player who follows me online, looking for hints) but I'm happy to trade PMs with any interested parties.
I'm really into collaborative world building.
When I have ideas for campaigns I usually bounce them off of the people who are going to be playing in campaign and get their ideas.
I probably should bounce my ideas off of other people, but I suppose I'm in the same boat as you--all the gamers I know are my players.
I'd be happy to spitball with you.
I have one player that is also a GM so I bounce Ideas off him on occasion. He can sort out OOC and IC knowledge well enough to be helpful. We also bash mechanics a lot as I tend to run self created systems. He has helped me improve on several of them.
I love bashing around ideas. I recently helped out a friend who had a game design project for school (Video game design) that required him to Iron Gm a system. So they said which system and 3 themes etc. And we developed something twisted fun and nasty we both now want to play. My only problem is getting too excited and having to resist being overbearing.
So If you need help PM me and you can see if I am useful or not :)
I always work collaboratively with my players to create the game setting. When designing my own games, I include setting building tools that can be used cooperatively or by the GM alone, but I always use them cooperatively. Having the players create the association/company they belong to is a great tool - not only promoting a feeling of all working for the same thing, but also I use the specific assets they buy for their company as flags to tell me what the players are interested in doing - if they buy a squadron of six warships it tells me they want to include battle on the seas as an option, but if they tell me they want to buy spy rings, double agents, and safe houses, it tells m they want to do some espionage work.
-clash
I do plan to have the players create most of the world while they play through it, but even so scheming against them during play is helpful, too.
And in this particular world idea, I'm snowing them just a bit. I don't plan to reveal it to them even if they figure it out, but I certainly don't want to admit it out right during planning.
:)
Is it D&D or some variant or clone thereof? I had found a particular other message board extraordinarily helpful and friendly when it comes to hashing out ideas. But I don't know whether one is encouraged to pimp the competition.
Quote from: mcbobbo;749339As for what hasn't worked, I have tried direct appeals and petitioning my Facebook GM friends. I can get as far as the campaign pitch, but pretty much nobody is inspired to give back any input. Maybe the idea is just THAT BAD. Seems like someone might say so, though.
As for the specific idea, I don't want to post it in the open just yet (because I have a player who follows me online, looking for hints) but I'm happy to trade PMs with any interested parties.
It makes sense that Facebook/Google+ would be kind of a brick wall. I enjoy these two, but for the most part people don't want to invest time in crafting a lengthy post to something. In my interactions on those sites I usually expect maybe a sentence or two for a response. Any more and I'm pleasantly surprised, but that doesn't happen often. YMMV, I know there are others who have much more success on Google+ discussions, but for me it's just never worked out.
I've found some fellow GM's who don't live in my town and so can't play in my games who I can directly email. I send them a page or two primer of what I want to do with the next campaign and they send me back their thoughts and whatever holes they can poke in the setting. In exchange, I do the same for them. So far it's be pretty helpful and I've been happily surprised when one of the GMs said he was straight-up stealing one of my ideas to use in his game. Very flattering.
If I can couch it in fairly vague terms I will go to one or two of my players and use them as a sounding board. A recent example was working out a psionic system for an upcoming space opera style game I'm running. I was listing off the general descriptions of the psionic disciplines available and what the limits of powers would be. While it didn't give away any setting content it let me get an idea of what the players would want out of that aspect of the game and how to balance power/cost.
Anyway, just some thoughts.
Pitch away? This seems like a fine place to do it.
Quote from: dragoner;749496Pitch away? This seems like a fine place to do it.
Agreed. If there's the one player who's stalking the OP looking for hints, then he's metagaming, and it's time to drop the hammer.
For my part, I do a lot of brainstorming with my players. It's not that I haven't had decades to develop my setting -- I have. It's not that I'm not very good at worldbuilding -- I am. It's that I don't want to approach everything from my mindset, that other people have different approaches from which I can benefit, and that they'll think of things I can't.
Case in point was just this past session. The current main group is all wizards, and we were musing about what obligations the international wizards' union would impose upon its members. That spun into an hour-long discussion, covering all manner of elements, and we decided some things I'm going to cheerfully implement.
They'll even jog me into considering things of which I should have thought. I've been in the legal field for decades now, but it wasn't until last Saturday that it occurred to me through that discussion to apply a common concept in American legal circles: that lawyers should provide a number of
pro bono hours per year. While I've had a Wizard-Of-The-Day in the larger wizardly chantries in my world (aping the Lawyer-Of-The-Day services offered at county courthouses in my state), it never struck me before to require mandatory
pro bono service from wizards, of which that could be an option.
Okay, pitch is here.
http://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?t=29645
There's a lot up already, and more to post, but I'm out of time...
"Wizard of the Day" sounds pretty epic, actually.
I looked at it, and it looks great; imo, as it goes, it looks like you have quite a bit of story ready to go, so maybe it is better to spend energy on maps and such, where the players can connect with the landscape of the game. The broad maps are really good, so now it would be local maps and dungeons.
Thanks for the feedback. I have some more to share, first adventure's frame, faction interactions, etc, but the phone is bad at copy paste.
At this point any 'it would be cool if' input is very welcome.
As for the map, well I cheated. I found part of Asia on Bing maps that had all the features I wanted, then snipped, rotated, and applied some filters to make it look drawn instead of photographic.
Quote from: mcbobbo;749551"Wizard of the Day" sounds pretty epic, actually.
Basically, this is how it works.
In smaller cities, there aren't many wizards, and the local Chantry of the College of Mages might be a rented flat somewhere. The city the players are in is the third largest in the world, there are nearly 250 master- and journeyman-level wizards, and the Chantry occupies a city block. Right off of the first floor lobby is a room for the "Wizard of the Day," where any schlep can come off the street to ask for a consult and get a real, licensed, non-charlatan wizard. Almost always it's a fresh-faced journeyman who hasn't made much of a name yet. Since it's not all that likely the journeyman will have the specific spells (or the power) to meet the schlep's wishes, much of the day is spent writing letters to those wizards who might on behalf of the schlep.
Quote from: mcbobbo;749627As for the map, well I cheated. I found part of Asia on Bing maps that had all the features I wanted, then snipped, rotated, and applied some filters to make it look drawn instead of photographic.
There is no cheating on maps, if it looks good, it looks good; and those look good.
Quote from: mcbobbo;749339So what works for you, if you're the type who gets help?
I'll bounce ideas off of people to see what they think, if the concept makes sense or not. I'm picky about who I bounce the ideas off of, though, because there is a certain amount of education and knowledge on the subject involved the person needs to give good feedback.
Everyone has an opinion, but when it matters for helpful feedback, I'd rather have an informed opinion on the subject.
So I posted it on this site I like full of smart, creative people. It got 120 views in the first day, but only one comment...
:)
So seriously guys, speak up. Please. Does the board mostly agree with dragoner or is it too stifiling or something? I am happy with the one positive note I got, but I still feel like I failed in the whole 'learn how to get feedback' mission of this post.
Quote from: mcbobbo;749627As for the map, well I cheated. I found part of Asia on Bing maps that had all the features I wanted, then snipped, rotated, and applied some filters to make it look drawn instead of photographic.
Yeah - that's where the Brahmaputra comes out of Tibet right through the Himalayas, and meets up with the Ganges to flow into the Bay of Bengal. Tibet, India, Bangaladesh, and Myanmar all meet here. I don't think there's anyplace on earth I wouldn't recognize chopped and rotated - even mirrored.
-clash