This is a narrative experiment in large-scale co-authorship as we sit together around the infinite decentralised table-top of Web3 (can we say DeTTRPG? Or is the whole De- prefix thing getting out of hand?).
Tl;dr we basically write "scenes" to each other and the t/TTRPG admin ties together narrative threads with counter scenes and prompts, with a dice roll random chance mechanism to add drama.
It is not a game in the sense that you win it vs other players or complete it if you take certain actions. In the spirit of TTRPGs, we are gamifying the story creation process collectively and having fun seeing how our characters live and what might become of them. Dive in, create a character, name our new world, and let’s see what we can create together!
To join, respond to this prompt with an idea for a character you’d be interested in inserting into a game world, plus your suggestion for a world name. Be as wild and imaginative as you like, share as much or little detail as you like, but try to stick purely to the character itself. There will be a temptation to stray into plot, please resist! The plot will grow organically as we nurture our characters in a fertile story world.
(Note: the timeline in the image above has been extend to allow more time for writers to add characters to the world).
In the timeline of events for the pre-start character generation phase of the project, there are front-facing actions of collective creativity amongst the T2 community (above ground) and behind-the-scenes actions from the t/TTRPG admin with T2 support (root system beneath).
Reality is Only a Story
Or, rather;
I posit that immersion in complex enmeshments of stories is the foundational and governing force that shapes each person’s unique experience of reality. Every new story a person encounters adds to and alters their reality, however subtly. By story immersion I refer to the ever-shifting entangled network of story assemblages of which an individual’s reality is composed, one that continually constructs the nature of that person’s direct experience - ontologically, ontically, and existentially - in each moment.
Creative writing is the foundational liquid solution in which all other components of reality float and, simultaneously, of which they are composed. The creative impulse shapes and crystalises this primordial material into a narrative form, allowing us to assign meaning to the rich vista of phenomena before us.
This is most clearly seen in things we perceive as stories "proper", (books, films, games, theatre, comics, etc). Therefore, I would like to examine how far a process of organic collective storytelling to create a new piece of narrative art, might replicate the mechanisms by which the narratives that govern our day-to-day lives have arisen organically and collectively over the millennia.
I invite you to throw a character into a world at the moment of its formation and see what happens.
Weaving a Cohesive Narrative
Like most TTRPGs, this project will have a version of a "Game Master", though much less hands-on than the Dungeon Master of a D&D campaign. In our project, think of this role more like a Story Guide.
The Game Master for this season is Jamie Rhodes (t/TTRPG Admin), a published writer, Lecturer in Creative Writing at UCL, and Researcher in the Philosophy of Stories and Narrative Theory. He will act as “The Guide” (our version of Dungeon Master) setting scenarios and responding to the actions you wish your character to take, as well as weaving together narrative threads and story arcs.
I am just the midwife for the concept, once it is out there, it is its own entity, trotting around Web3 with the joy of a Spring deer in a wildflower meadow. Hopefully it won’t be shot for venison before it can procreate. (I don't know what the component parts of this extended metaphor represent, but it sounds fun; infer whatever depth feels right to you).
Supportive Collaboration with the Universe
A mechanism of chance will gamify this process. While this is still being refined at time of writing, with community testing and feedback planned for future phases, it will certainly be simple and rely on individual honesty.
An element of luck/chance/randomness is vital to the concept; this radical unpredictability is how the universe joins the game. However, in the massively decentralised structure of this undertaking, when all around seems so complicated and multifaceted, the moment of the dice roll would be all the more poignant were it executed with elegance and simplicity.
Individual honesty on the part of the players (writers) is important for those moments where they wish their character to succeed in something, but the roll reveals otherwise. Success or failure in ones intent is part of the drama of life. There are no save games to revert to; just go with the story and see how it plays out. If a player chooses not to follow the roll of the dice, nobody will know, there are not other players to witness this moment, and it won't impact on the game in a necessarily negative way. It is perhaps worth considering that to deny the random motions of chance is to deny the universe its voice.
Players (writers) support and encourage each other, taking cues and inspiration from creative flair expressed, with a love of story and passion for collaboration. We thrive together and the beauty of the art flourishes.
In this collective storytelling project, we all share the same goal; to explore and develop an interesting story, enriched with every new step our characters take, in collaboration with the unknowable unravelling of the universe. After all, as we drive our meat-coated skeletons from the womb to the tomb, isn't that all life is anyway?
