Quote from _Grimnir_ >>

Quote from TechnoPagan >>

Actually I was thinking something a bit harsher. I've been kicking around an idea for a player rating system that would include the percentage of games that the player dropped out of without saying anything. Yes, things happen, and I'm sure nobody would penalize a player for an occasional slip, but if it were a chronic problem, that player might find it difficult to get into adventures in the shared setting.  

 

  Ah ah, I was thinking the same but for DM !!!

 yeah same. a DM rating system would be useful. both in consistency (posting regularly, not dropping out), and DMing skill. 

Quote from _Grimnir_ >>

As a DM myself, I understand how hard it is sometime to create a world. 

 I love world building (I'm also somewhat new, I've only been world-building for a half a year or so), so I can totally help!

For the absent player maybe something like this:

After 24 hours without a post... if in combat they take the dodge action.
After 48 hours they can be controlled by an agent.
After 1 week the DM can bot them or remove them (their option, depending on how their campaign is designed.)

Just a thought.

One thing I'm hoping to see is a lot of DM autonomy. The demiplane tavern, the university, these are great ideas. I'd love to see these and others become part of the shared setting rather than being the shared setting.

We start with a fractal generated world. I know Blender can do this. There are other free software options as well. Each different seed number will generate a unique world. We find one acceptable to everyone. Using that seed number you can create the landscape for an entire world, as a globe or rectangular map. That same seed number can be used to produce much finer detailed maps of smaller areas. Pick a suitable area and start a settlement there. Add the tavern. Add a portal to the university (that is open all the time or only when the university is looking for adventurers). Add shops, temples, a central well, a market place and NPCs. There should be some sort of reservation system where a DM in the group can pick out an area to develop. It might be an entire continent on the other side of this world. It might be a mountain not far from the settlement where they want to create a mine or some ancient ruin.

In this shared world, players could use downtime to add to it as well, building a tavern or monastery, give them something they can call their own (and suck down a lot of their gold on something other than magic items).

Right now I'm playing in an adventure called Goblin Horde. I don't know if it's part of a larger campaign, but it could drop right into the shared settlement and be run there, on a regular basis because Goblin attacks are a semi-regular thing, each DM adding twists and options that other DMs can use when they run it.

Quote from Brian_Avery >>

For the absent player maybe something like this:

After 24 hours without a post... if in combat they take the dodge action.
After 48 hours they can be controlled by an agent.
After 1 week the DM can bot them or remove them (their option, depending on how their campaign is designed.)

Just a thought.

 I like it a lot. Players know and agree in advance, would keep the game moving and improve the odds of finishing successfully.

I've been kicking around a similar idea for the DMs. When preparing an adventure, you could ask the group if anyone wants to volunteer as a coDM. Basically that person would skim the days posts so they know what's going on, and hopefully that's the extent of it. But if the DM has to drop out for a short, or longer period of time, or disappears altogether, the coDM could step in with rules similar to the ones above for players, keeping the game moving or worst case, taking over and bringing the adventure to a satisfactory conclusion. Hopefully with reciprocity so when you run an adventure, someone will coDM for you as well.

At this point we might want to start thinking of a name for the group so we can refer to it as something less generic

if we are starting to make the world, there are some things to consider, other than just what towns, shops, ect are here. things like history, magic system, deity system, and genre. after that, what creatures live in the world? what are the culture and politics of different areas and races? a world is more than a map and some towns.

Oh... I would probably start with a known world (i.e Sword coast) to test our it goes. 
If you do set up the "base" in Sigil, that might work pretty actually.... Meaning you could start doing the first one-shot in a controlled world and see how the story goes. Then if everything works well and everyone is keen we  could use portal to another plane/universe where you can create your own world.
But yes, I would start with a "known" world

ok, that works too.

Quote from _Grimnir_ >>

Oh... I would probably start with a known world (i.e Sword coast) to test our it goes. 
If you do set up the "base" in Sigil, that might work pretty actually.... Meaning you could start doing the first one-shot in a controlled world and see how the story goes. Then if everything works well and everyone is keen we  could use portal to another plane/universe where you can create your own world.
But yes, I would start with a "known" world

 I'm out then. I VASTLY prefer homebrew worlds to official ones.

Quote from Fitz_Coulson >>

Quote from _Grimnir_ >>

Quote from TechnoPagan >>

Actually I was thinking something a bit harsher. I've been kicking around an idea for a player rating system that would include the percentage of games that the player dropped out of without saying anything. Yes, things happen, and I'm sure nobody would penalize a player for an occasional slip, but if it were a chronic problem, that player might find it difficult to get into adventures in the shared setting.  

 

  Ah ah, I was thinking the same but for DM !!!

I have seen so many people launching a story and stopping after 1 week, that's crazy. Also saw a few starting 5 campaign simultaneously. I know that these one are usually gonna stop pretty quick.
I know that life happens, but that is annoying at a player level also :)

 I tried and failed and now know where I went wrong. I really shouldn't have started a huge multi-campaign on my own.

 I've been thinking of a rating system for DMs as well. I believe that feedback, done properly, is immensely beneficial. As a DM, what would you like to know about a player before you let them into your adventure. Do they play well with others?

Quote from Smokehorn_knight_of_Cats >>

Quote from _Grimnir_ >>

Oh... I would probably start with a known world (i.e Sword coast) to test our it goes. 
If you do set up the "base" in Sigil, that might work pretty actually.... Meaning you could start doing the first one-shot in a controlled world and see how the story goes. Then if everything works well and everyone is keen we  could use portal to another plane/universe where you can create your own world.
But yes, I would start with a "known" world

 I'm out then. I VASTLY prefer homebrew worlds to official ones.

 
???? That's a of a bit harsh comment. I thought we were just talking about possibilities....
Didn't mean to change what you were planning to do... no problem

Quote from HomebrewMindFlayer >>

if we are starting to make the world, there are some things to consider, other than just what towns, shops, ect are here. things like history, magic system, deity system, and genre. after that, what creatures live in the world? what are the culture and politics of different areas and races? a world is more than a map and some towns.

I think just keeping things pretty simple is good with so many people. high fantasy, loose pantheon, ect. 

 Personally, I'd go with the D&D universe and keep the history, magic, deities, races and alike. If we're going to use DnDBeyond tools this would just make more sense.

I would be interested especially if we're doing a homebrew world

I don't see why a DM in the group wouldn't be able to create whatever homebrew world they like and connect it to the shared setting. Or for that matter, to a location in one of the established worlds. 

Quote from TechnoPagan >>

I don't see why a DM in the group wouldn't be able to create whatever homebrew world they like and connect it to the shared setting. Or for that matter, to a location in one of the established worlds. 

 I agree. maybe the "home base" could be on a demiplane but a lot like Sigil there'll be a lot of portals that could take you to different planes or dimensions or something like that.

Alright, but this will require us at the very least to provide details for whatever planar nexus will exist. The university sounds like a good idea. I think we should develop it.

Why not all of them? What if we had three different recruitment series? One is a tavern with a glorified quest board, one is a university that trains future generations of adventurers and one is an organization that is pretty much the sequel to the university?

Quote from Fitz_Coulson >>

Why not all of them? What if we had three different recruitment series? One is a tavern with a glorified quest board, one is a university that trains future generations of adventurers and one is an organization that is pretty much the sequel to the university?

 I like this. once demiplane ca have multiple things.

Nice idea, though how does the tavern fit in this? Is it where the veterans of the university and the organization gather? Is it where illicit missions are assigned to third parties which cannot be traced back to the organization or the university?