Interest Check: High-Concept Custom Creation Game

I have begun a project called Primordial Sea Tiamat, that is public and welcomes all players. (tl;dr version of the below: play a god game at the start of a new world, where your incorporeal god-like spirit has a hand in what comes next)

At this early stage, gameplay will consist of exploring a Hadean world and conforming parts of it to one's own desires. When you "step into" this game, it will be as a consciousness, a spirit, hovering over a world yet to be formed. You will not have a body, but your spiritual power can reach deep into the swirling mess below and shape whatever you desire, be it a mountain, trees, lakes, cities, a human body, or a personal avatar of your own design. But just as you have freedom to create, you have the freedom to destroy. Anyone who enters the game has total agency to make or break whatever they want in this new world, even the creations of others, and joining means you know that is possible and allowed. The young world will finally be complete when all the spirits present have ceased conflict and come to compromise on the nature of our creation. That means free destruction will finally end, and so will free creation. All you need to bring is your creative mind. That means feel free to be yourself and act in this world as the real you would, given godlike power, or create a persona based on ideals and goals you would like to portray (i.e. play an evil god of chaos and destruction, even though you're a nice person who would never be like that given the chance).

Players contributing at this stage are forbidden from talking spirit-to-spirit, as breathable air and vocal cords have not been invented yet. But spirits are able to create beautiful displays of light and color, ranging from simple fireworks to elaborate mirage-like images, and you can communicate with other spirits by making things (such as shaping the landscape). When you create something that is able to communicate, it can do so with others of its kind, or anything that learns to understand it. Bear in mind that this creature is its own sovereign entity, and unless you seize the reins and force it to do your bidding, you cannot simply have it act as you would; be in character for that creature, communicating and acting according to its way. Alternatively, when the world is able to support something of the kind, spirits can create their own personal representations or Avatars and control them directly.

Where is this game going? Well, in the long run, the idea is for the player base to reach a compromise and begin interacting with a world we all created. At that point, each player will restrict themselves to one character at a time, or a relatively small number like two or three, unless the Spirit character they created at the beginning would have unquestioned control of something. That finished world will be equally our property, which means the Spirits can gather together and (on a unanimous vote) change how something works. But if even one vote is Nay, that change does not occur. As Game Master, I will manage as much of the world as the other spirits do not directly control, and you may freely turn over control of something you are too distracted or busy to manage. From the actions of our Spirit characters at the beginning, the destiny of the world and events of an evolving story will take form (guided by me of course, to ensure something cohesive starts).

Hello there! I'm very interested in this concept, but I do have a few questions for you; is there going to be any kind of system involved with this, or will it be entirely freeform up till the point that the rules of existence are concluded and agreed upon? Also, what are the limits of creation and destruction, if any? Will gods be able to harm other gods directly, or will creator-spirits remain sovereign and untouchable by anything? Will there be any method of mitigating antagonism, or will it be handled strictly through player tribunal?

Apologies for all the questions so early in the process, and I sincerely hope that this isn't discouraging to you; this is a very ambitious undertaking, and I would love to see where this is going.

No apologies necessary; all of these are excellent questions. I welcome you and anyone else to ask hundreds more!

I have spent a good long while working on game mechanics as relates to Pathfinder and to my own system, so I feel confident in my ability to guide any and all players who join. Where relevant, I will incorporate things from all the systems I know, and I encourage anyone who becomes involved to please bring everything they know as well. But to directly answer you, no, there is no single system that we will be using to play. My plan is to craft a simple, though functional set of rules for us to abide by, in the process of shaping the world. Rather than being like a D&D sourcebook, it will be more of guidelines to help shape the experience, when and if we need them. The best thing to help with that is to do exactly as you have been; the more questions people ask, the more easily I can form the experience in a clear way we can all appreciate.

While the players drift in Spirit form and shape the world, there will be very little in terms of rules, mainly just to keep everyone civil as according to this site's requirements. Use your discretion. The expected level of experience is that our characters will not have a physical form or a past, being an intelligence that developed organically from the swirling energies and matter at work. That identity, along with the setting, will be formed rather quickly as we play.

The limit of creation is your imagination, and the interference of other players (including myself). If someone creates something we don't like, we can change it, or destroy it. What we can't do is change the past: if they say they created it, it exists exactly as they said until we do something about it. If you want a mountain to exist where there is none, there is now a mountain. If you want a grassy plain inhabited by a village of primitive humans, or a wandering band of Wood Age pre-humans, or a hollow where Satyrs graze and laze about, it shall be done as you say. If you decide to skip history and say "There shall now be a modern city full of cars and planes and shopping malls, and a billion people," it shall be as you command. The details you provide shape your creation, as do further embellishments created by other players. Creation will become far more limited when we reach Consensus: a mythical state where all the world has become as we decreed, and we relinquish our power to simply unmake it all and start over at a whim. Why? Because in that state, we cannot say or do anything to change a world that does not belong to any one individual. Only by a unanimous vote from all players can we change things as in the days of old.

Same goes for destruction. Before Consensus, if someone builds an army of dragon-headed monkey lizards with machine guns, you can simply declare when and how that army vanishes from our world. If someone declares that all plants in the world only grow as the Great Pink Bunny demands, then you can simply wish away the Bunny and all its effects before the world is made solid and final. You could even say "Start Over" and begin the Hadean Epoch anew. But when we reach Consensus, no creation can be unmade or changed by fiat, and must instead be left alone until a unanimous vote of all players declares a change. You are even able to destroy your godly power, declaring that you forfeit it to me, the GM, who will turn it over to all the other players in balance. Instead of leaving the game, that will mean that you become limited to a single, simple character deemed possible by past player decisions, according to your design. If this happens before Consensus, be warned that the other players might grief you relentlessly.

When that single character dies, you may resume play, but your former peers will be the ones who decide what that character is like. This is just like real life, where you do not get to choose who or what you are born as. For this reason, keep some vestige of your godly might until you are ready to submit yourself to the whim of others. If all players forfeit in this way, the only one with godly control will be me, as the GM.

An incorporeal Spirit cannot be harmed unless it has taken a form or attributes that mandate this. If no vulnerabilities are stated or implied in your character design, I will assume that you have similar vulnerabilities as my character, who was built to exemplify what these Spirits are like. Bear in mind that you will have the most fun controlling something more limited in scope, like an avatar or a mortal servant. Any such form can be manipulated by its limitations, allowing other players or their creations to kill it. This is at whim before Consensus, but afterward, that Avatar or creation is a part of the world neither you nor they have exclusive control over. That means no one can just declare the killing attempt successful, except the player whose creation is being attacked. Their sense of realism and drama in balance will determine if their creation dies in a given scenario.

Strengths and vulnerabilities will be as you say (i.e. "my Spirit can kill anyone and anything," or "my Spirit can make anyone fall in love") and will be interpreted as literally as possible by those who read them. I will give everyone a reasonable margin as compared to my own baseline character, but if I don't have it and your submitted sheet doesn't have it written the moment you join, I will assume you do not have that feature and it must be developed fairly in-game (the fairness of which I alone arbitrate).

I will not deem any player worthy of expulsion unless their presence is absolutely untenable on a meta level, dealing with real people's feelings. In any other situation, I will ask that a player bring forward their complaint and one other player who agrees with them. If I review both, speak with the problem player, and determine the cause just, I will ban them or assign another appropriate solution. Perma-ban = last resort. As far as antagonism goes, I will give a single warning to exercise discretion and be mindful of other people's investment in the game. I fully intend for someone to come along who wants to corrupt things and destroy what other people have made, a la Morgoth, but that depends entirely on the quality of the writing. If I get the sense that someone is just going, "No that didn't happen. That didn't happen. Start over. The world is destroyed. F*** you. All your people get cholera." Then I will have a stern word with them about their continued activity in the game, pending their temporary ban. It is MUCH more interesting by far to explain how someone else's efforts meet with conflict ranging from a single murderous bandit to a natural disaster, and then see how other players get involved to address that calamity.

Wow! You really have thought this out extensively; color me impressed. In all honesty, I'm even more interested now than I was before. Everything you're giving me is proof positive that this is going to be awesome. I'm sure more will come to me, but the only question I have left for now is when can we start? I've already got a metric ton of ideas.

Then let us begin.

Happily! Just send me a link to the game page, and I'll be delighted to help get the ball rolling.

I did send you an invite. If that's not popping up somewhere, I'll send you a link too.

Edit: Apologies, I'm pretty new to the site and am still figuring some technical stuff out.

No worries, it just takes a little getting used to. It isn't showing up for me, but if you message the link I'll get it no problem.

I've sent you a message containing the link.

Very interesting and ambitious sounding, just not sure how I'd approach it if I chose to join in

@TheGreatRicktator, what would you do if you went to sleep, and in a dream you beheld a vast empty space? You had neither body nor a mind as you'd currently recognize it, but as things occur in the dream, you feel things. In response to those feelings, you act. In this way, you learn you have nigh godlike power to shape the darkness before you into whatever you like.

But there are also others like you. You cannot see them, but you feel they are there, and you behold changes to the void that were not done by you. Consider this scenario as I have just described it; take all the time you need. If you would like to step in as basically yourself (your conscious will, rather), or if you would like to take on different ideals and goals than you actually hold in real life, either one is equally acceptable.

We've got three great players so far, and the first day of gameplay has been completed. Already the creation of our world is underway, but we could definitely use more creative minds contributing to its development!

Anyone else who would like to join will be greatly appreciated, and most welcome.

We have currently lost a player, so I would very much enjoy seeing new faces signing up. If there are any questions or concerns about the game, please let me know!

Bumping this again, to see if anyone would be interested in joining. The current pacing is around 5 days between people posting, so we could really use some new players to spice things up.

I would join. I enjoy your games, and could manage one more.

Then feel free, though I will clarify that this is not in Pathfinder or any recognized system. It's more of a work in progress between myself and the players for the time being.