Quotes #5 - Everyone Owns the Game World

"The players own 50% of the Game World, and the referee owns the other 50%. This number isn’t intended to be a voting block; it’s an expression of the responsibility the players and referee share to keep the game on-track, sticking to the selected Genre, and keeping the game free from arguments.

Ownership doesn’t mean, “I put this in the game, it’s mine.” Ownership is a responsibility to respect, protect, and accept another player’s or referee’s creative input as being part of the shared experience of SBRPG. Once a player or referee adds something to a Game World, everybody owns it.

The referee is responsible for running the show, so the referee has the greatest responsibility. If a player adds a location, idea, or NPC to the game; it’s up to the referee to interpret it, link it to everything else the Game World, and make it come alive.

The players’ responsibility is shared, because the players have to respect each others input, and agree the referee has the right to creatively interpret their input. If a player adds an NPC to a Game World; the referee is free to take that NPC, and mix it with locations, NPCs, Factions, and the players' ideas."

Again, another quote pulled from the Playing the Game chapter, and a fun one. The group creates the world round-robin, even during play. If a player's turn comes up, and their space armsman is just sitting there in limbo, it is the player's responsibility to set the scene, come up with the ship the character is on, details about the stellar navy, where in the command rank the character resides, and anything else the referee needs to start that character. That 'content' is written down, notes are made, and it is added to the game world. From there, the referee takes it from there, maybe space aliens attack, maybe the armsman's ship receives a distress call from a liner under attack by pirates, or maybe the ship happens upon a hastily abandoned outpost.

Next player goes, and more is added. The referee can get into the act too, interpreting whatever the players come up with. Eventually, the creation parts settle down, and more and more becomes established. The group then plays in the sandbox, and whenever new material is needed, the creation process fires up again, and more notes are made.

The quote above describes 'who owns what?' - and the answer is 'everybody.' Everyone's contributions are equal, changeable by anyone, and owned by all. Players can change details about the referee's NPCs, the referee can interpret player's NPCs, factions, and locations as the referee sees fit, and everything starts in a highly morphable state. As play continues, things become 'set', and the group agrees to play things how the lie, it is a natural process, and one that is built into the game.

It seemed like it would never work - but in all our playtest groups, it worked surprisingly well. Players were delighted to be a part of the creative process, and a huge burden was lifted from the referee's shoulders to create everything. Most all our playtest players acted responsibly too, understanding they weren't there to create things to help themselves 'win', but to create things in the sandbox to enjoy with everyone else.