A moment of inspiration hit me when I was in the middle of a quick bus-time nap today, and this is the resulting idea:
You ever see those big Fantasy worlds that have lots and lots of varying races or creatures or whatever, and it all seems like a mishmash of things, but somehow it all fits? Well, we're going to create one. Me and whoever wants to play. This is a game, sort of. I haven't worked out the exact details yet, but here's the idea:
All of you who are interested in playing, create a sapient fantasy race. You do not create humans. (I will be using humans as a control group) You are an ancient race of whatever, and I will design a world around the folks in it, and cram in a bunch of details. You interact with each other, but you do it through me. You are kept in the dark about the other players' races, so as to be in the dark about their motivations or cultures or whatever. Anyone who is interested simply PMs me with the following details:
RACE NAME: (The.... name of your race. Races are first-come first-serve. You may create a new race of creatures, or you may adopt a preexisting one from fiction. In the case of the latter, the first person to PM me gets it. If you adopt a race from elsewhere, you have no obligation to make them "traditional". Thus, if you're, say, Dwarves, you don't have to live underground or whatever. You might just be dwarflike in appearance/demeanor. Or maybe you create something called "elves" that maybe looks nothing like elves as traditional fantasy dictates (Sort of like the Night Elves in WoW)
PHYSICAL APPEARANCE: (What you look like. I need sizes, shapes, differences between males/females (Unless they're asexual or something), coloration ranges of flesh/scales/hair/feathers/all of the above. Describe your race in detail.)
CULTURE AND IDEAS: (The "personality" of your race. How do they adapt to their location? What's their general outlook on life? What seems to be the big dream of the race? What does their culture value? How do they deal with criminals? ARE there criminals?)
ORIGIN: (Where'd they come from? You may name deities, but be warned that I may decide two of you have a different name for the same one)
LOCATION: Here's the interesting thing: You'll be starting as a fledgling civilization, starting off in any type of location you feel like. You may determine what the physical landscape is like locally and what sort of non-sapient life is in the region. Animals, plants, et cetera. How do you interact with these animals and plants? Do not create anything intelligent, as they will be other players for the time being.
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YOU DO NOT NEED TO WRITE A BOOK.
Just like real concepts and ideas developed over time, you don't need to be too descriptive about your culture or location to begin with. Just give me a general FEEL for the race, so I know how to describe it as time goes by. Know that if you decide to make a new development, I'll run with it as soon as I get wind of it.
ANY QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS CAN BE POSTED HERE
I'll answer when I can, and it's just more convenient to have a "FAQ" of sorts.
