The Spontaneous Generation Of Worlds

The Spontaneous Generation Of Worlds
By Patrick Feaster - [Reproduced with kind permission.]

My favorite description of free form role play is that it is the process of creating a story in which each player writes the part of one character. How well the part is played depends on how neatly the character's actions fit into the whole, how much more interesting the story is made by them. The most basic story takes place in an inn and is a cross between a sit-com and a soap opera.

For stories like that, there's no DM, and "plots" develop (or fail to develop) based on countless individual actions and statements. The only criterion for whether something "happens" or not in such a situation is whether the majority of the characters' muns accept it and begin to act as though it has happened. As long as all participants have a keen sense of a good story, this same model will work for even the most elaborate plots, wars, adventures -- with nobody in charge and no set agenda. Some get frustrated with this model when occasionally it doesn't "go anywhere," and a good DM can surely devise plots that are almost as unpredictable and flexible. But the spontaneous model is surely the most democratic, and in free form role play too many cooks will usually just make a spicier broth.

This is complicated enough when it's a matter of characters interacting with other characters, but what about characters interacting with their surroundings? On one level, this means agreement as to whether an inn has a back door, or whether its ceiling is tall enough to accomodate a dragon inside. But the longer a channel is in existence, the more questions arise -- either in conversations, or because they're important to a storyline for one reason or another. Where is the nearest river? The nearest town? What's its name? How large is it? What kingdom is it in? What other kingdoms border upon that kingdom? What are the laws of the realm? What are the "natives" like (since inn visitors are almost always from another kingdom if not another world or universe altogether)?

Sometimes a channel is based upon some particular book or series of books, in which case some of these questions might already be answered. It's quite amusing to hear people debate the characteristics of dragons or vampires, basing their assertions on various outside "authorities." But what about those pioneers who are really starting from scratch -- with new worlds, new races? The same choice applies here that applies to a role playing plot: one person, a DM for the whole setting, can decide (Ralph says yeah, there's a back door to the inn), or else the setting can be built up gradually and spontaneously by agreement (people have been using the back door of the inn, so there's a back door to the inn).

There are problems with having a single person, or even a group of people, decide this sort of question. The most obvious problem is that any concentration of power will breed resentment on the outside: "Who's Ralph to decide there's a back door on the inn? Heck, I'm going to go found my own channel -- ain't nobody gonna tell me what to do!" But there are other equally serious problems which might become visible only over time. Remember, a plot might last a nice long while, but an IRC FFRP setting has the potential to last for years or even decades -- presuming IRC survives as a medium for that long.

However enthusiastic a person is about an IRC channel now, and however much deference he or she is due as "founder" of a channel, chances are that in three years he or she will no longer be participating actively in it -- it's a fact of life that people's situations and priorities change. This is not to say that he or she will not continue to feel a strong sense of ownership, but he or she is unlikely to understand or to respond quickly to evolving channel needs. That means that the setting stagnates: "I don't know if the inn has a back door or not, 'cause Ralph isn't responding to my e-mails, so I guess we'll have to hold off on the Inn Back Door plot." Ralph probably doesn't have time to decide this sort of thing, but he doesn't want to relinquish any of his authority either. Good for Ralph, but objectively bad for the channel, the setting, and FFRP in general.

The above mentioned problems are eliminated with the "spontaneous" model of setting development -- i.e., the only criterion for what some aspect of the world is like is whether the majority of the characters' muns accept it and begin to act as though it were so. But that model has problems of its own. Basically, it invites contradictions: some people might play as though the inn has a back door, while others play as though there's only one way out or in. It's usually not that anyone has decided to be difficult, but that one party simply didn't know that another group had already answered the question another way.

The key here, I think, is to have some person or group in charge not of singlehandedly inventing or running the setting, but of keeping track of what's already been devised -- a sort of archivist or chronicler. Outsiders are less likely to be resentful of such activity, since it's not dictating what's real but only recording what others have already accepted as real. Maybe more importantly, it demands a deep respect for each individual role player who uses the setting -- everyone's actions and words are important, because they are the building-blocks of the fantasy world.

A setting with details drawn from such a vast number of contributors is certainly going to be a bit of a hodge-podge, but there should be something in it for everybody. Theoretically, such settings could eventually become far more complex and all-encompassing than any fantasy world yet devised -- the constraints are wholly logistical. Moreover, such settings would be de facto in the public domain, not owned by any single person or group who could control their use. The idea of designing a role play world collaboratively, for the free use of everyone, is not new, but I don't believe it has yet been coupled consciously with the idea of spontaneous free form role play on IRC.

This way the concept of free form role play can extend even to the details of the fantasy world itself: it is the process of creating a vast, delightful world in which each player describes the perceptions of one character.

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