🇬🇧 Generational collaborative worldbuilding in Aenigma
Today, I’d like to talk to you about Aenigma, a game I hope to release soon (at least in version 0), and more specifically about how I’ve approached the worldbuilding in a collaborative fashion by all players.
Aenigma: a generational and generic game
The main feature of Aenigma is its generational aspect: you’ll follow and play characters through different stages of their lives, allowing characters of different ages to coexist. Some will have been dead for a long time by the time the story ends, whilst others will not yet have been born when it begins. The aim of this game is to emulate works of fiction such as The Pillars of the Earth, where the narrative regularly skips a decade or two; such as A Song of Ice and Fire, where the events of Robert’s Rebellion, twenty years earlier, have consequences at the time the novels are set; or even as in Star Wars, where each film trilogy recounts a different era within that universe.
Since I want to be able to emulate such diverse and varied works of fiction, by its very nature, Aenigma calls for the use of a generic system—in this case, a first incarnation of the Astra system I mentioned in a previous post.
A typical Aenigma campaign explores the evolution of different communities and the conflicts between them, as well as the characters’ place within this complex web. But first, this web must actually exist!
A generational worldbuilding?
I am inclined to think that what makes a setting interesting to play in – apart, of course, from the sense of escapism offered by its regions and peoples – is also its history. The generational differences we observe in real life are rooted in the fact that we do not share the same childhoods, the same hardships or the same technologies as our parents and their parents before them. Obviously, the same is true in a fictional world – and yet, we often have far more to read about ancient kingdoms of yore than about the world’s recent history! Unless you’re playing in a world that’s already been fleshed out in this regard (such as A Song of Ice and Fire), how can you create a game setting that takes this generational aspect into account?
There are numerous – excellent! – tools for worldbuilding, whether through collaborative creation or for the GM preparing a campaign on their own, but most focus on the geographical aspect and, to my knowledge, pay relatively little attention to the generational aspect that interests me. I think I’ve found a formula for Aenigma that works very well: we’re going to repeat the setting-creation process several times, across different eras! What’s more, players feel all the more involved in something when they take part in it, so this will be collaborative storytelling!
Eras of the Universe and Characters
To understand the approach I’m proposing, I need to tell you a little more about the characters in Aenigma. A character’s life is divided into three eras: Dawn, Zenith, and Twilight. The duration of an era isn’t strictly defined, as it can vary greatly depending on what the group is interested in: ten or twenty years, perhaps, if we’re following ordinary humans through their lives; possibly centuries if we’re playing immortal elves; or even just a single year if we want to play in a shonen-style sports setting!
Like the characters, the game’s world goes through successive eras. To work out how many, you need to work backwards, based on the desired age of the characters when the game begins.
There is always a mythical era, which details events that occurred before the characters were born—even the oldest ones—and which can date back a very long time if desired. In any case, for the characters, the reality of this era lies solely in the traces it has left behind and the stories told about it.
Then, depending on the character’s intended age, additional eras are required: three for a character in Twilight (their Dawn, their Zenith, and the current era, which will be played out), two for a character in Zenith (their Dawn and the current era), and finally just one for a character in Dawn. Naturally, these eras are the same for characters from different eras who coexist, even though they may experience them differently. Thus, a character in their Zenith and another in their Twilight will experience the current era together, but will also have experienced the previous one (one in their Dawn, the other in their Zenith).
Co-creating an era
All eras are built on the same model. Before the game begins, players agree on some colours – that is, themes to which the various elements of the game setting will be linked (royalty, the Force, honour, etc.).
In turn, each player adds a community to the map, linked to a colour and united around a common element (an NPC, an ideal, etc.). Communities remaining from a previous era stay on the map!
Then, in turn, each player adds a conflict between two communities, as well as a cooperative link between two communities (possibly the same ones: it’s complicated), whilst explaining what it entails. If necessary, further conflicts and links can be added as long as they make sense within the story.
Finally, we choose a conflict that we consider to be significant for the current era: it is this conflict that will go down in history and leave a lasting impression. Depending on the interplay of rivalries and alliances, we determine who sides with one camp or the other, who remains neutral (we do the same for the characters in play at that moment), and then we decide (randomly or otherwise) which side prevails. The losing community is systematically removed from the map (we explain what this means for its members: are they dead? on the run? demoralised? etc.), but it may return, in a different form, in a later era. If it makes sense, we can remove other communities from the map in the same way, regardless of which side they were on in the conflict.
And on to the next era! Once you reach the current era, after defining the major conflict, you stop: its resolution will be played out at the table!
Conclusion
That’s all for today. I hope this approach might inspire you to create your own worlds, or at least make you want to try Aenigma when it’s released (which I hope will be soon – perhaps this summer?). See you soon!