# Creative Commons Universe



## Thomas Laszlo (Nov 17, 2016)

Thinking about Star Wars lately, what would happen if someone we're to publish an Atlas of a fictional world or universe and then let any author who wanted to write stories and series in that world? Like on the cover somewhere would have to be like the world's name or 'logo' in that sense and then all the storylines that have been written could be collected so that nobody doubled up any story or timeline and mixed things up? Or if they wanted they could make an 'alternate universe' with permission of that author and rework the story again differently so you have that D.C./Marvel vibe going on but you also have a Star Wars and epic fantasy series sort of feel also when your reading them all? Just bouncing this idea around for potential world building projects. 


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## Vaporo (Nov 17, 2016)

The Mythic Scribes forum actually has something sort of like this (go to the forum main page and scroll down to Mythic Worlds). As I understand it, anyone can contribute to these stories, so you might take a look at them.


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## Devor (Nov 17, 2016)

Vaporo said:


> The Mythic Scribes forum actually has something sort of like this (go to the forum main page and scroll down to Mythic Worlds). As I understand it, anyone can contribute to these stories, so you might take a look at them.



The Archipelago is supposed to be kind of like that, but it's mostly fallen into disuse.  The other forums there are your standard forum-based RPGs.

However, I've been thinking of starting something that would be kind of a shared world RPG, where people contribute to building their part of a shared world, with an RPG that runs in "missions" that last about a month at a time and anyone could jump in at the start of one.  But I don't know if I'll go for it yet, and definitely not before the New Year.


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## evolution_rex (Nov 17, 2016)

I'd be interested in a collaborative mythopoeia world where users can discuss, vote, and create artwork (including written stories) based on it. To me it's the joint effort of creating a fictional world in which we all put helped build that's fun, not playing RPGs or writing stories that, while co-exists, is independent.


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## TheCatholicCrow (Nov 18, 2016)

Thomas Laszlo said:


> Thinking about Star Wars lately, what would happen if someone we're to publish an Atlas of a fictional world or universe and then let any author who wanted to write stories and series in that world? Like on the cover somewhere would have to be like the world's name or 'logo' in that sense and then all the storylines that have been written could be collected so that nobody doubled up any story or timeline and mixed things up? Or if they wanted they could make an 'alternate universe' with permission of that author and rework the story again differently so you have that D.C./Marvel vibe going on but you also have a Star Wars and epic fantasy series sort of feel also when your reading them all? Just bouncing this idea around for potential world building projects.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
> NaNoWriMo WIP!



Do you mean collect them in like an anthology? 

Or as a loose group akin to fanfic (I guess it wouldn't be fanfic if there wasn't first something to a be fan of - would it?)


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## Svrtnsse (Nov 18, 2016)

I had the idea of doing this when I started building my setting for my stories and that's why I put it on a wikia site - so that anyone could add to it or contribute in some way. It never really took off though and eventually I drifted off to focus more on stories than on the worldbuilding.

A wiki is probably a good place to start though, if you're interested in being able to work collaboratively with others.


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## Thomas Laszlo (Nov 18, 2016)

Devor said:


> The Archipelago is supposed to be kind of like that, but it's mostly fallen into disuse.  The other forums there are your standard forum-based RPGs.
> 
> However, I've been thinking of starting something that would be kind of a shared world RPG, where people contribute to building their part of a shared world, with an RPG that runs in "missions" that last about a month at a time and anyone could jump in at the start of one.  But I don't know if I'll go for it yet, and definitely not before the New Year.



That's interesting. I was more focused on the uses of this style for like epic fantasy novels or series that are published that way instead of trying to build a world AND series successfully like Tolkien etc you can just focus on a great story and have simply one or two volumes published with the things you need for the world.


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## Thomas Laszlo (Nov 18, 2016)

Svrtnsse said:


> I had the idea of doing this when I started building my setting for my stories and that's why I put it on a wikia site - so that anyone could add to it or contribute in some way. It never really took off though and eventually I drifted off to focus more on stories than on the worldbuilding.
> 
> A wiki is probably a good place to start though, if you're interested in being able to work collaboratively with others.



Yeah, I like that idea. I have quite a few writers around here that I could get to start and a writing blog a handful of people read.


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## Mythopoet (Nov 18, 2016)

I read an article a couple years ago (?) about a group of authors writing in a shared universe. Sounded pretty cool. Wish I could remember any details about it. 

The Cthulhu Mythos is also a shared universe carried on my many authors after Lovecraft's death. 

So it's definitely a feasible idea.


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## Russ (Nov 18, 2016)

There are a long history of shared worlds work being done in fantasy and other spec fic.

Thieves' World and Moorcock's Jerry Cornelius are two of the grand parents in the field.  I also just read a short story by Hopkinson the other day set in a shared world but can't for the life of me remember the name of it.

While the idea is fine, I think you need to decide what the goal is and structure it accordingly.  Is it just for fun?  Is there an anthology planned?

I think those Kzin War books evolved effectively into a shared universe.  There are lots of examples.


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## evolution_rex (Nov 18, 2016)

There are so many intentions one could have for a shared universe, why not try all within reason? We can build an RPG, write an anthology series, create artwork, build an altas or almanac or wiki, or just simply do it for fun, all at once. What doesn't gain traction doesn't gain traction, and if someone wants to attempt it again they can. We can simply provide our ideas and create some sort of system that can shape it into the canon, and then let people do what they wish.


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## Ban (Nov 18, 2016)

Sounds fun. I think a wiki should be easiest and most accessible, so I propose we start there. 

Maybe someone could make a short set of rules and a general direction of the world and let the community work from there..


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## Devor (Nov 18, 2016)

There's some interesting thoughts here, but somebody really needs to take charge if anything is going to happen.  In my experience, it takes a team of three or four high-energy people to get enough enthusiasm for a community project like this.  You get together at the beginning for that big rush of ideas and energy, and then in the long run you cycle through (consciously or just by happenstance) whoever's taking point at a given time to manage through each person's blowout.


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## Thomas Laszlo (Nov 18, 2016)

I can do a wiki, or a blog system but I like wikis. Maybe we could start a thread on here somewhere to get people on this idea and let them know what they can do? So sorry been busy with school


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## DragonOfTheAerie (Nov 18, 2016)

I've done a fanon worldbuilding wiki for a game I played (expanding upon the lore.) I'll warn you that cooperating with just a few other people can be hard. The FIRST thing you would have to do is lay the ground rules. Is this hard or soft fantasy? Does it have sci-fi elements? What is the role of magic and mythical creatures? This would govern the additions and developments made to the world. I'll also warn you that you can worldbuild literally infinitely. You'll end up inventing sports and holidays and recipes. 

Every story you write would expand upon the world, and maintaining consistency would be a near impossible task. It could be cool though. You could commission sets of people to work on conlangs. 

What you're talking about sounds a bit like the Star Wars Expanded Universe. You might look into how that worked. The SW EU included games, comics, novels and TV series, and had several degrees of canon. Things were a bit chaotic, of course--Darth Maul has been resurrected I think 3 or 4 different times in the EU, Anakin got cloned, Palpatine got brought back...I swear, EVERYONE got cloned--but it did remain somewhat cohesive. Somehow. I don't know if characters invented by authors could be used in other authors' books by virtue of remaining in the same universe.


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## evolution_rex (Nov 18, 2016)

Maybe someone should make a separate thread elsewhere to start us out? I'm not sure where it would go on the forum though.


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## Devor (Nov 21, 2016)

evolution_rex said:


> Maybe someone should make a separate thread elsewhere to start us out? I'm not sure where it would go on the forum though.



Okay, I've started up a thread for this.

https://mythicscribes.com/forums/br...roject-mythlands-shared-world.html#post252131


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## lyl syly (Nov 26, 2016)

very doable:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac%27s_Universe


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## Thomas Laszlo (Nov 26, 2016)

lyl syly said:


> very doable:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac%27s_Universe



I like that, is it Creative Commons? I enjoy writing sci fi so I might use it lol I didn't know if it was in the CC or if there was some sort of copyright attached


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## elemtilas (Feb 25, 2017)

Thomas Laszlo said:


> Thinking about Star Wars lately, what would happen if someone we're to publish an Atlas of a fictional world or universe and then let any author who wanted to write stories and series in that world? Like on the cover somewhere would have to be like the world's name or 'logo' in that sense and then all the storylines that have been written could be collected so that nobody doubled up any story or timeline and mixed things up? Or if they wanted they could make an 'alternate universe' with permission of that author and rework the story again differently so you have that D.C./Marvel vibe going on but you also have a Star Wars and epic fantasy series sort of feel also when your reading them all? Just bouncing this idea around for potential world building projects.




Just to add one more to the mix: the *Ill Bethisad Project* has long been open the idea of authors writing stories set within its fictional world. Mind you, it's not a fantasy world but more of an alt-history (and a rather eccentric one at that). The project itself is going on 20 plus years of continuous activity, is open source and traditionally open to being expanded with new ideas and areas of interest.


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