Shared Universe / Isekai Collaboration?

[Nahrenne]

I am writing a massive world and era spanning shared universe in a completely new fantasy original universe.
If you wanna collab then i can give you one part to write with guidelines.

Its kinda like sanderson's cosmere or mcu

Like 7 magic systems and four continents. Many new and unique fantasy races including a whole race of slendermen and giant monstrous mermaids

The first series is of a guy who goes on a world spanning taxonomical survey

I am already writing that one. The other is a series that i have on scribble hub called - dragon slaying and other delusions.
It happens 80 years after the first series. Another is a prequel that you could write about the first guy's old wise mentor who had his own hero's journey.

Series 1 - small town boy gathers crew like one piece , invents garlic bread , goes on a worldwide taxonomical survey and gets involveed in power plays wars and elder dragon shenanigans

Series two - a slave boy that mc from series 1 saves runs away and becomes a mercenary in the band of wolves.

Series 3 - already halfway written. Its called Dragon Slaying and Other Delusions on scribble hub. Its about a small town civil servant who likes dogs and good food gets involuntarily conscripted on a dragon slaying suicide mission. Set 80 years after series 1 ends

Mc kills slavers. Boy decides that he wants to decide his own life path. Jumps off cliff before mc can convince him to come along. Long journey to western continent. Then pet falcon monster. Cutlass sword. No money so joins mercenary band like guts from berserk.

I have already written the first chapter of slave boy's series.

But i am going to finish dragon slaying and other delusions first. Then I'll finish series 1. Then slave boy. Then wiise old mentor. Then 200 years later. Industrial era detective story.

I also have a reincarnation no kaben style story with trickster mc. That's low key if you feel like it.

Please don't double-post, it's against the rules and you can get reported for it.

X

 

[BenJepheneT]

Please don't double-post, it's against the rules and you can get reported for it.

X

correction: no one really cares but god forbid you do it under HER presence

 

[Milk.Milkan]

Ma main s a low quality isekai dat anyone s free to join heh. (buut ya probably no want to tho.)

 

[The_Long_Serpent]

Ma main s a low quality isekai dat anyone s free to join heh. (buut ya probably no want to tho.)

Why would I not want to?

 

[Cossimeri]

Just spilling more random ideas...

Was wondering if anyone was interested in doing a shared universe story (isekai-style)

Honestly, I think a shared universe story is interesting. In my head, that sounds similar to Dungeons & Dragons novelizations.

I guess the important bit would be how do all the separate authors keep track of and collaborate on the world? Were you imagining something like WorldAnvil being used? I think if you just had a Master Google Doc (or even a series of them) it would become so unwieldy many would-be collaborators would flake.

 

[Milk.Milkan]

Why would I not want to?

Cuz whenever me do shit me believe dat nobody actually interested.
All da views-likes-readers is a lie and comments me answer to sometimes r just my imagination.

Basically me hold a rather low self-esteem or at least me try to keep it dat way.

 

[The_Long_Serpent]

Cuz whenever me do shit me believe dat nobody actually interested.
All da views-likes-readers is a lie and comments me answer to sometimes r just my imagination.

Basically me hold a rather low self-esteem or at least me try to keep it dat way.

I find meself intrigued by this.

 

[Milk.Milkan]

I find meself intrigued by this.

No be as at most it actually like...pretty mediocre.

 

[Mephi]

I've got an entire world I'm fleshing out on World Anvil.

 

[minacia]

Kind of like how AG and other roleplaying games were done?
Only more grounded in the lore?
'-'

Also, I'm interested but I can't atm due to needing to work on my story.
orz
*has procrastinated enough*

X

I was actually thinking as a light as possible.

Like as close as possible to a "generic isekai" so that it's easy for a lot of people to insert their characters into it, and people are familiar with the common themes.

Honestly, I think a shared universe story is interesting. In my head, that sounds similar to Dungeons & Dragons novelizations.

I guess the important bit would be how do all the separate authors keep track of and collaborate on the world? Were you imagining something like WorldAnvil being used? I think if you just had a Master Google Doc (or even a series of them) it would become so unwieldy many would-be collaborators would flake.

We could do world anvil!

I think it would be fun if we read each other's stories too... but many I'm only interested in that lol.

Cuz whenever me do shit me believe dat nobody actually interested.
All da views-likes-readers is a lie and comments me answer to sometimes r just my imagination.

Basically me hold a rather low self-esteem or at least me try to keep it dat way.

I'm interested too! If it's a really light/simple world, it might actually be well suited for a collaboration!

I've got an entire world I'm fleshing out on World Anvil.

If you have details, that would be great!

Is it very complicated?

 

[minacia]

Um... so here's the broadest generic isekai setup that I can think of:

• Very very very large world (too big; unfathomably large)
• Multiple systems of magic co-exist
• Stereotypical JRPG monsters (i.e. slimes, horned rabbits, goblins)
• Other fantasy races (i.e. elves, dwarves)
• Generally a medieval fantasy technology level / ambience aside from rare exceptions
• Multiple demon lords and "dark lands" who are often aggressors
• Multiple gods/goddesses
• An isekai summoning ritual exists, so there are Otherworlders walking around

So the way I might imagine this working is that you create a character (who is presumably the protagonist of your story), and you stick them somewhere. Feel free to make stuff (i.e. kingdoms, continents), but don't make things that are too restrictive... for instance, don't say "there are only 13 dragons in the whole world" because maybe some other authors might want to add more dragons.

Another author who comes along. Maybe they want their own kingdom, or they insert their character in someone else's kingdom.

In theory, your setting could be completely isolated from everyone else's, but the fun of a collaboration is cause these components to interact.

 

[Mephi]

Well, a bit of expansion...

There's six ,.... kingdoms (for lack of a better word) of sapient people on the current continent I'm working on - humanity and derivatives, the fae folk of all stripes, beast-kin (includes orcs), demon kind, undead arisen, and the Crafted (golems, dwarves, homoculi, frankensteins, etc). Each kingdom is further divided into three or more factions. The fae have their four Courts (blend of asian direction gods, four seasons, elements, and day/dawn/dusk/night), humans are split between Church, State and Sect, demons have their Sins, beastkin are very tribal/family oriented with a strong side of might-makes-right warlords running around. The crafted are more philosophical with their factions - but that's subject to change as I'm not happy with them right now. Undead are technically categorized by their histories and cultures they came from, but realistically speaking, its mostly split into things like Draculas Castle, Egyptian style necropolis, haunted houses, etc.

Its litrpg, which comes with two sides - dungeons and classes. Classes come withwith three things. Elemental affinity (artifice, energy, geomancy, witchery, theurgy, illusory), and weapon choice (sword, axe, spear, bow, dagger, improv, staff, book, gem, instrument, hammer, whip). One part class to affect attribubtes, one part skills, one part equipment abilities. Stereotypical dnd-ish fantasy fare. Dungeons, meanwhile, grant evolutions, and is more inspired by Vampire the Masquerade in terms of feeling - dungeons produce monsters. How the monsters choose to live is open to debate, but they're a thing.

Dungeons versus classes is actually the central conflict of the setting.

 

[minacia]

Well, a bit of expansion...

There's six ,.... kingdoms (for lack of a better word) of sapient people on the current continent I'm working on - humanity and derivatives, the fae folk of all stripes, beast-kin (includes orcs), demon kind, undead arisen, and the Crafted (golems, dwarves, homoculi, frankensteins, etc). Each kingdom is further divided into three or more factions. The fae have their four Courts (blend of asian direction gods, four seasons, elements, and day/dawn/dusk/night), humans are split between Church, State and Sect, demons have their Sins, beastkin are very tribal/family oriented with a strong side of might-makes-right warlords running around. The crafted are more philosophical with their factions - but that's subject to change as I'm not happy with them right now. Undead are technically categorized by their histories and cultures they came from, but realistically speaking, its mostly split into things like Draculas Castle, Egyptian style necropolis, haunted houses, etc.

Its litrpg, which comes with two sides - dungeons and classes. Classes come withwith three things. Elemental affinity (artifice, energy, geomancy, witchery, theurgy, illusory), and weapon choice (sword, axe, spear, bow, dagger, improv, staff, book, gem, instrument, hammer, whip). One part class to affect attribubtes, one part skills, one part equipment abilities. Stereotypical dnd-ish fantasy fare. Dungeons, meanwhile, grant evolutions, and is more inspired by Vampire the Masquerade in terms of feeling - dungeons produce monsters. How the monsters choose to live is open to debate, but they're a thing.

Dungeons versus classes is actually the central conflict of the setting.

:0 Would you be open to merging this into a bigger world somehow? Or would you prefer to keep it isolated and mostly under your control?

I think a key thing about a shared universe is that it sort of ends up like there's no one individual who's the owner of a setting, so often times there ends up being new developments or changes that maybe the original creator of something didn't plan on.

Also, I noticed you haven't posted your story yet! I'd love to see it!

 

[Mephi]

Well, I wouldn't mind, since I'm pretty much focused on one continent and not sure when I'd get around to going beyond it. There is one catch, however.

One of the key conceits of the world is that the class / dungeon systems are entirely man-made (sapient-made?). It's actually the fantasy version of technology advancement for this setting - people get enchanted crystals with access to the techniques, spells, whatever. The entire adventurer guild revolves around discovering new techs/spells, upgrades, uncovering lost arts, etc. Adventurers are either researchers... or guinea pigs. The whole isekai-turns-adventurer trope is the otherworlder signing up to run a trial on skills and the like.

So there can't be a powerful god that grants a universal system. It'd undermine too much of the setting.

 

[Aaky]

Just spilling more random ideas...

Was wondering if anyone was interested in doing a shared universe story (isekai-style)?

My current Isekai is super generic... The only thing that my story restricts is the title of sword saint. (Temporarily).

 

[minacia]

Well, I wouldn't mind, since I'm pretty much focused on one continent and not sure when I'd get around to going beyond it. There is one catch, however.

One of the key conceits of the world is that the class / dungeon systems are entirely man-made (sapient-made?). It's actually the fantasy version of technology advancement for this setting - people get enchanted crystals with access to the techniques, spells, whatever. The entire adventurer guild revolves around discovering new techs/spells, upgrades, uncovering lost arts, etc. Adventurers are either researchers... or guinea pigs. The whole isekai-turns-adventurer trope is the otherworlder signing up to run a trial on skills and the like.

So there can't be a powerful god that grants a universal system. It'd undermine too much of the setting.

I see! Would it work if there were gods on other continents that somehow neglected your continent?

My current Isekai is super generic... The only thing that my story restricts is the title of sword saint. (Temporarily).

Join us!

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So here's a system I'll propose.

Any author interested in joining can reserve a setting and time.

A setting would be the primary location for your story... the more specific the better. Reserving an entire continent is probably too big... it's better to reserve things on a smaller scale such as a city or the royal family.

Reservations make it so that other authors can't modify that subject without contacting the main author first.

Reservations can only last for a limited amount of time though. Specifically, you can only reserve the time span of a novel (which is typically the lfiespan of a character). After your reservation expires, other authors can do whatever they want with your setting.

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To give a hypothetical example.

I'm interested in writing a story about a girl who lives with wolves!

My setting is the Forest of Almast, which is a dark forest full of magical creatures and other stuff... and it changes shape all the time so it's a labyrinth and nearly impossible for other kingdoms to annex because it's too convoluted.

I would reserve this setting from years 10,000 to 10,020 (universal time) meaning that I would be the primary author for this setting during this period. Then I would go onto ScribbleHub and write my story, which spans roughly ~20 years.

However, once my reservation expires Forest of Almast Year 10020, anyone can do whatever they want with the forest. Like they could set it on fire and literally destroy it if they wanted to...

-------------------

Suppose that collaborator/author Z want their character to visit the Forest of Almast in year 10,010 (which was reserved).

Author Z can write in the Forest as long as it's consistent with the original author's setting. It's not necessary to ask for permission.

For any big changes to the forest (like setting it on fire), Author Z should contact the original author and ask if it's okay to do so during their reserved period.

-----------------------

Sound reasonable?

 

[minacia]

OP draft:

Generic Isekai Shared Universe Collaboration​

Are you writing a generic isekai story? This group is dedicated to a shared universe collaboration!

Setting Features:

• Enormous world (almost endless in size)
• Medieval fantasy ambience
• Stereotypical JRPG monsters (i.e. slimes, goblins)
• Stereotypical fantasy races (i.e. elves, dwarves, orcs)
• Multiple systems of magic co-exist
• Multiple gods, goddesses, and blessings co-exist
• Isekai summoning rituals and Otherworlders

Author Participation Rules:

Rule One: Keep things open-ended

All additions you make to the world should be open-ended. Give other future authors the chance to expand, alter, or elaborate on something that you write about. Avoid superlatives or restrictive content that prevent other authors from adding more material. When something conflicts, try your best to think of a way that both things can exist.​

• Good: Fruys is one of the Great Dragons who breathes fire.
• Bad: There are exactly three Great Dragons in the entire universe and Fruys is the only one who breaths fire.

Rule Two: Accept that you don't "own" things that you add to the universe

As authors, it's natural to feel possessive about our stories. However, in a collaborative world-building project, it's important to accept that we give up ownership when we contribute something to the shared universe.​

​

By adding a city to the universe, you have to to accept that someone else might come along and set it on fire.​

​

If you're unable to accept other people modifying, contributing, or even destroying your setting, this collaborative project may not be good for you.​

Rule Three: Reserve as little as possible when writing your story

We allow authors to reserve a location and a time period when writing a story.​

​

We allow reservations because we understand that it takes a long time to write a story, and we may not want other authors to change a particular setting when we're in the process of a story. However, it's best for the community (and also more fun) if you reserve as little as possible and let things develop organically when multiple authors cross paths and intersect with their stories.​

​

Reserving an entire continent for 100 years is dull... because other authors won't want to use your setting if you're too controlling about it.​

​

Reserving something small (like a city or a palace inside the capital) for ~10 years is recommended.​

Rule Four: Keep the shared documents concise and generic

To encourage new authors to join, keep the shared worldbuilding documents as concise as possible.​

​

Try to limit glossary entries to sentences not paragraphs. You can link your story if it addresses a particular topic in detail.​

​

Remember that making things too complex chases away other authors from wanting to participate, so simple is better!​

​

Only add things to the glossary if you've written it in your story. Don't add things that you haven't yet written...​

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Example Starting Glossary:

Gaia is the name of a world that is nearly endless in size. Nobody knows how big it is, and it has numerous continents.

Ochre is a temperate continent in Gaia.

....

The Kingdom of Ralas is a country in Ochre (circa year 1000) that is occupied by many humans.

King Midas ruled the Kingdom of Ralas from year 1000-1020. He was very cruel.

 

[ArcanePunkster]

All this sounds well and good, but I don't want to dampen anyone's hopes. You'll have multiple writers inserting either newly created or already established characters into a world essentially designed to equate to large an audience as possible.

Take for example if I had my MC from my isekai inserted into this universe how would I know that I'm satisfied with the outcome. Like my MC is thrown into a more mature somewhat grimdark isekai setting where as someone else's may be the polar opposite to mine.

I'm just saying there's going to be a lot of conflicting opinions because people are going to want certain things for their character.

However, if this picks up and gets a good following I may be interested in getting involved with it.

 

[minacia]

All this sounds well and good, but I don't want to dampen anyone's hopes. You'll have multiple writers inserting either newly created or already established characters into a world essentially designed to equate to large an audience as possible.

Take for example if I had my MC from my isekai inserted into this universe how would I know that I'm satisfied with the outcome. Like my MC is thrown into a more mature somewhat grimdark isekai setting where as someone else's may be the polar opposite to mine.

I'm just saying there's going to be a lot of conflicting opinions because people are going to want certain things for their character.

However, if this picks up and gets a good following I may be interested in getting involved with it.

Certainly! Thanks for your feedback!

I think my suggestion would be for a contributor to create a themed continent, or a grouping of themed continents (is there a term for that?)

...and then in the glossary entry might say something like:

"Lewddor is a grimdark continent overflowing with crime with many sexual monsters that prey on humans. It is surrounded by miasma that corrupts any soul who enters the area."

 

[ArcanePunkster]

Certainly! Thanks for your feedback!

I think my suggestion would be for a contributor to create a themed continent, or a grouping of themed continents (is there a term for that?)

...and then in the glossary entry might say something like:

"Lewddor is a grimdark continent overflowing with crime with many sexual monsters that prey on humans. It is surrounded by miasma that corrupts any soul who enters the area."

That's good to hear, I just don't want to partake later down the line knowing that it may ruin the shared universe if my character is from a more adult isekai setting where the shared universe is more light hearted.

I do really like this idea, and I think it would definitely bring the community together a bit more. And promote already established isekai web novels on this site.

A suggestion I can say you take pointers from is checking out the Warriors Orochi series where in those games they take established characters from other universes/folk tale/mythologies and throw into a shared universe to fight against powerful enemies.