Thinking Big about Guild maps

[Torq]

I noticed a while back on a different (and not nearly as well supported) board that the members there were trying to put together a fantasy world to support gamers and enthusiasts, mapping everything from world map to the cellar below the quick eel tavern. At the time I thought it was a brilliant idea, although hopelessly ambitious, with the member numbers and (to be honest) skill levels exhibited by members on that site.

I thought the Cartographer’s Guild would be the perfect group to attempt something like this. We have great mappers, good people and a committed group of community leaders. We could create a game world on various levels in maps. Starting at global/continental level, regional level, Local level (eg. Towns) and finally floorplan level. It could be a continuous project with a community leader in overall supervision and various community leaders each in charge of one of the levels of mapping to give guidelines at to what needs to be mapped and to make sure of continuity between maps.

Maybe there should even be an entrance requirement eg. 20 posts before you can be involved (just to ensure that the people mapping are generally ones who stay). The project could be under the auspices of Arcana, and he should, in my view, have the final say as to how it is used.

There are so many great maps on this site, I would love to see them coordinated into a single realised game world with its own back story, characteristics and cultural background.

I think it’s a great idea, but I would love to know what other members think.

Torq

[Badger]

I heartedly agree, that is a great idea and would love the opportunity to be involved in something so grandiose. I actually have some ideas on how to implement something like that... but before I actually go into them, I'm going to wait and see the feedback, if it looks like something that is going to happen then I'll devote some time to it ...

Kudo's to you and here is some rep for that fantastic idea

[Gamerprinter]

The other Fantaseum sites, include: Campaign Builders' Guild.

It might be worthwhile to find an existing campaign world from CBG or one of the CG members could go to CBG and start work on a new campaign world - use their help. Then create maps here to illustrate this world.

We could then do what you suggest, Torq and work to completely map this new world. And gain participation with the CBG - more fuel for the newsletter.

A cross-site collaborative effort seems a worthwhile activity. Plotstormers could start to create fiction for this same world.

We could assign cartographers here to planetary map, regional maps, etc. We could make requests for which part of the world, each wishes to map, etc.

CBG members could likewise be working on building a particular part of the world and request maps from us to describe these areas....

Thought?

[Torq]

I think thats a great idea GP. It would allow us to concentrate on the mapping and greatly increase the collaberation between the three sites. I think though that the world idea should be fairly "mainstream" ie. standard fare pseudo-medieval fantasy world, in order to give it the broadest appeal. This would also give the most number of mappers on this site a chance to really contribute.

Torq

[pyrandon]

First of all, Torq (and others), I like the way you think!!!

This idea has been raised before among the community leaders--along with many, many other ideas (some of which were thought of as cheap sales items just to cover costs; we are a not for profit venture, but Arcana and others do have to eat costs for software, hosting, etc.) We did not pursue the idea at the time, mainly because we were all taxed for time. I also remember I liked the idea, although a general atlas or "Best of TCG 2008" (etc.) was my own vote (and I still like this idea, although it's different than what you are proposing, of course.

I think this project is very ambitious, which scares me, because we're looking at a coordinated effort by many, many people over long periods of time. I'm not sure we could sustain it. I worry it's one of those projects that gets started, then dies. (Not to say we shouldn't try it anyway, but if we do we should build in failsafes.

I can only speak for myself as a community leader that I would contribute but not run this. Long-term projects like this are not my forte. (I work in jerks and fevers, followed by cool spots and breaks). Does a CL really need to be in charge? Could a solid Guild member do it?

There are plenty of other things to consider, I think, but I think the above issues are first in order of importance. What are your thoughts on all that?

Again, I applaud all you guys for thinking of a fun way to promote the Guild & inter-Guild involvement!

[Gamerprinter]

Although a project like this would require the long-term participants to keep the direction on track and moving forward, however, much of the development could be like that of GIMP - where designers come and go, so in the end there are 2000 mappers used in the life of the project.

If the fear that a project that starts and dies at the guild seems disconcerting, I have no problems hosting the third party site to house the project with a direct link and forums thread from here. This way its a guild project but it's also not - so as not to have anything detrimental reprecussions to the Guild - if that's your fear, Pyrandon.

I too need mapping breaks now and again, and I have lots "pots cooking on my stove" - I'm a busy guy, so sometimes I couldn't stay involved on a constant basis, but I'd certainly remain with it in the long run.

Torq, if you want to be the Project Leader, you are certainly a candidate, there might not be a required need for Community Leader participation, beyond being another mapper.

I think we need to get thoughts from a larger number of CG members who might be interested, before we do anything - but I'm open for participation.

[cmkinsac]

as I said in the other thread, I would be extremely interested in making this the world for my game, as it seems well thought out, and obviously made with expertise in Fractal Terrains. Part of making this the world for my game would be to understand the history of the world, which I will do in part by reading the rest of these threads, but also, perhaps, with some other help? Please consider it, as it would be a great opportunity for both parties.

[Redrobes]

The CWBP world map is a community effort so your welcome to add to it. The world of art is licensed with a 'creative commons' type - see http://creativecommons.org/about. This means that you may use whatever you like from it and would not need to ask permission but there are a few conditions. The CC license is of type NC-BY-SA so that means Non Commercial - i.e. you cant sell it. BY is attribution so you should say where you got the map or who made it. And the SA means Share Alike so that if you use the map, modify and then present a new map based on these then the new map must also be CC licensed with the same NC-BY-SA where you should quote the original author and you add yourself to the list of contributors.

So if you want to make a mod for Oblivion and the terms of using the Oblivion editor don't compete with these restrictions and you don't mind making it and sharing it in this way you can do so and you don't have to get permission for any of the people that made the originals.

It would be nice to just be able to say here's a map, do what you want to it but public domain stuff has a tendency to become accosted by companies with enough money to keep lawyers and the works gets absorbed into their portfolio. When you have a CC licensed paper trail of the work then its much harder to do that and there are entities like the free software foundation and EFF which will fight for the works to stay free.

So CC licensing is a way to state that this work is free and its going to stay free. Its a kind of guarantee that you have the permission to use it and share it safely.

So really its down to the Oblivion editor licensing terms as to whether you can make a map that's free. If you can do what you want with any map you make with it then you can, if they restrict what you can do with a map made with it then you cant. If by copying a CC licensed map into Oblivion then Oblivion have rights to it then that's against the terms of the CC license.

[cmkinsac]

No worries about the editor program itself, as there is no conditions to it about what I create in the program, and what I am making will be completely free, by Oblivion's agreement. (all modifications are non-commercial) Thanks for explaining the agreement, I just didnt want something to be taken without the community well aware of it.

[Torq]

Thanks for checking cmkinsac. Also, nice explanation Red. As I said in another thread the idea of the CWBP and Oblivion finding common ground has me salivating.

Torq