Earlier this year, Enrique (better known as the NewbieDM) suggested the phenomenal idea of creating a shared campaign setting. Each blogger can carve out his own portion of the setting: creating locations, people, beasts, history, and alliances. Yesterday, Newbie announced the project on his blog. This thing is living, breathing animal now and as of this writing we have twenty participants!
Like any living thing, it grows and changes, but right now it looks like this is how things are going to work:
1. You have to be member of the RPGBN.
1a. You cannot join just to participate in the shared setting.
1b. If you are an RPG Blogger and decide to join for the setting, we will push the date for membership back.
2. This has yet to be confirmed, but there will be a map provided for those that want to stake a claim, but there will most likely be another continent(s) created for those wishing to be more freeform in their approach.
3. There is a deadline to join the project, and it is Wednesday, April 1st.
4. The deadline for completing your portion of the setting is not yet determined, but will be extensive.
5. To join, email both NewbieDM (newbiedm -at-newbiedm -dot- com) and myself (madbrewlabs -at- gmail -dot- com) madbrewlabs -at- gmail -dot- com) with the name of your blog (must verify its an RPGBN member).
NewbieDM said something that struck a chord with me in his announcement when he said the following:
Jonathan proved that when bloggers unite, we can make quality stuff that rivals anyone else out there. I’m sure this will be no exception. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my years as a roleplayer, it’s that the hobby attracts creative and intelligent people.
Every month I see more developments withing the community that harkens back to my New Year’s post where I said we can expect great things to come out of the RPG Blogosphere. This is one of those developments that lend credence to my prophecy.
Again, if you are an RPG Blogger, meet the criteria to join the RPGBN, and want to join so you can participate, let us know in your email and we will push the deadline for joining the project back. We want every eligible participant who wants in to be able to join the project.
I also want to take the opportunity in closing to applaud Enrique for proposing and following up on this cool idea!