LoC Intro

Lords of Creation is a collective storytelling experience. It is an internet forum game and its primary, but by no means only, purpose is to produce a campaign setting for use in a table-top roleplaying game, such as Dungeons and Dragons. This page is to help orient you as to what the story-process is, how to join, how to participate, and how to leave (when necessary).

=What IS Lords of Creation?=

As stated above, Lords of Creation (LoC) is a type of roleplaying forum game. It is designed with the intent of creating a campaign setting for a game like Dungeons and Dragons. For some examples of some famous settings, see: Greyhawk, Eberron, and Forgotten Realms.

Participants in LoC take the role of powerful, immortal figures that are generally referred to as "gods." These characters create and shape the world. Everything from the land and animals to the people and nations is the direct result of a conscious effort on the part of the participants and their characters. Additionally, participants add content to the wikia associated to the forum game, creating a central repository for later use in D&D games.

The focus of the game is on world creation through mythic storytelling. All participants work towards making the setting the most interesting and useful possible.

In some ways, LoC may appear to be very similar to the mythologies of real world cultures.

=How to join?=

Once you've read the rules (not just this introduction but also the Basic Rules and the Guidelines) and have at least skimmed the In-Character (IC) thread (or any history posted to the wikia), contact an administrator for that game. Administrators are usually listed in the first post of the Out of Character (OOC) thread. Tell the admin that you are interested in joining the game. The admin will then most likely add you to a waiting list. When there is an opening, the admins will refer to the waiting list and start contacting people. As such, it may be a while before you are able to join the game but you can always improve your chances by keeping up on the IC thread and being active on the OOC thread and in the wikia.

Furthermore, you should post the following to the OOC thread, paying attention to the instructions found there.

Name of God: Starting Domain(s): Physical Appearance: Symbol: Titles: Proposed Ascension Domain Partners: After you've been contacted by an admin about actually joining the game, respond ASAP. The majority of gods enter the game via the "Beget God" action, so other players have to spend PP to allow someone new to enter. As such, just when a new player can join is somewhat out of the Admins' control. After that, have fun and help create the world.

=How to play?=

There are three basic components to LoC: Roleplaying, Creating, and Updating. Participating in LoC consists of all three.

Roleplaying
As a participant controls a god (and potentially other characters, such as exarchs or mortals), they act through that character. They move around the world, talk with other gods and exarchs (aka, other participants), and create things. The roleplaying aspect of the game is simply that. However, this is done by describing ones actions, much like one might see in a book, and posting that to the game's thread.



Not only do participants act, they react. That means that your actions should take into account the actions of others. It is a good idea to discuss the IC game in the OOC thread as well as contacting other participants directly to talk about interactions. Of course, clever twists and surprises are a fun part of the experience as well but when uncertain, error on the side of caution.

Be sure to describe a god's actions, surroundings, etc. Also, be sure to use proper spelling and grammar. Please bold any referenced character-names in your post, so that other participants can easily find any references to themselves if they are skimming.

Creating
Gods are creating the setting, and they do this by spending Power Points (PP) on Actions. See the Basic Rules and Actions pages for in-depth information.



Basically, when a god wants to create a new land, mountain, lake, monster, race, artifact, exarch, etc, they do so through the use of Actions which are limited by the amount of PP he/she/it has available. When using an action, be sure to identify where you are putting your PP expenditures by use of spoilers (assuming the forum being used has such a code available), then list the actions.

It is perfectly fine to "create" materials that already exist outside of the game. There is no reason to create rabbit-like creatures and call them Smeerps. On a larger scale, if you want your character to create Red Dragons in the world, feel free to use the Red Dragons present in one of D&D's settings (though they should be given setting-specific fluff). On the other hand, if you feel the need to create something totally new and fresh, feel free to do so! However, we do ask that you make sure it is a fully developed idea, something that will keep you and other players interested for more than a day or two.

To note, LoC takes the perspective that PP represents a god's power. This is different than taking the perspective that PP represents a participant's power. As the power comes from a god, the actions that the power is used for must be in-line with the god's wishes. This does restrict a participants freedom, but it restricts it in what we hope is a flavorful way that will help encourage creativity.

Updating
As the story unfolds and things get created, it is the participants’ responsibility to make sure the wikia is up to date. This means getting a wikia account if you don't already have one and creating/updating the pages for your gods, exarchs, artifacts, people, etc. Indeed, when introducing homebrew materials to the game, unless at least something is posted to the wikia, it doesn't count. It is required that, at the very least, participants update the wikia with the following information:


 * Add a reference to major action to your god's page (like if he/ she creates a race, sinks a continent, causes the apocalypse, etc)


 * If you create something in game, create a page for it on the wikia and referencing it accordingly (ensuring that a new plane is listed on the planes page, for example)


 * On this new wikia page, please state who created the thing and give at the very least a brief description of it. A new races doesn't need to have a full stat block, but it should have a brief physical description and a note stating where they can be found in the world.

That is it. Please do feel free to include more information, but that is the minimum necessary to help other people interact and use your creations.

=How to leave?=

Unfortunately, life happens. Sometimes players loose the time that they used to devote to the game, sometimes they lose interest, etc. When you know that you'll need to leave the game, try to wrap up any stories that you are in the middle of (but don't feel like everything has to be tied in a neat little bow). Also, determine if you want your god to die, to fade away, or if you want to hand your god over to a new player. Let the admins know as soon as possible.

Nothing is worse than a god just suddenly ceasing to respond in the middle of things. Please give the other participants a degree of closure.

Other Pages for Reference
If you need more information about some elements of the game, rules, or other things, the following pages may be of some help.

Basic Rules

Guidelines

Actions

Gods and Avatars

Artifacts and Exarches

Domains

Combat and Conflict

This page and all other rules pages are referenced from the LoC Central Wiki rules (edited appropriately to fit this wiki)