I posted this over on FB, but with the different community members I think it’s worth posting here as well:

I have a question about a possible content creation method, I’m looking for ideas and opinions.

The idea is to allow players to lead the creation of new mechanical elements just like we let them change the Narrative. During the Session 0 you would sit down as a group and discuss the setting, the Theme and tropes. Then the players start to describe the characters they want to play, no books open yet.

Let’s say it’s a High Fantasy setting, we are going with a common magic as a theme. First player says “I would like to play an Elf, but not one of those weird woodland ones, I want to be a Learned Mage, like Warhammer High Elves”. Another player declares “I want to be a Rider of Rohan or one of King Arthers Knights, part scout but also a courageous mounted warrior and hero of the people, but in the form of a friendly Ork type on a Wolf”. The final player declares “I want to be a Shape Shifter, Perhaps a Druid type who can take the form of animals”.

Now everyone has things that can be used from the core book, but they all need new things too. A High Elf, probably with new Magic related Talents. The mounted warrior needs the Orc thing, as well as a Wolf mount and probably Talents relating to Improved mounted combat. The Druid needs a lot, rules for Shape Shifting mostly.

Then a discussion follows where ideas are put forward and potential issues get resolved. Ultimately you end up making rules for exactly what you need without a mountain of work for the GM. The process could continue later too, as the characters gain xp and the things they want change new ideas can be put to the group.

Thoughts?

This is likely going to be what I do when I start my Genesys game. Opening the door to the players to contribute ideas and then building specifically for that helps to keep a relatively cohesive setting and tone for everyone. It also helps me because I'm ultimately lazy and I cannot hope to provide a comprehensive list of all of the options and ideas that my players will want to try.

Looking to Co-Create a new setting with my players based on the characters they create and the actions of the PCs

I don't want to limit players to a single Genre or setting. One limit I would have is that players start out pretty ordinary and at the same power level. For example, if someone said they wanted to be a God and another player wanted to be a cyberpunk hacker. So then we would brainstorm how that would work. Maybe thousands of years ago the God character lost their powers when people stopped believing in him/her. Now the world has moved on and is more tech-based vs. Magic. The God is awoken when the Cyberpunk character hacks into a very influential company and finds documents that imply that the in the past this group was a cult that destroyed all evidence of Gods. This tiny bit of knowledge was enough to give the God character life once again.

I plan on having a session zero with the players. Then develop the world around the characters. Whatever the original players come up with will profoundly influence this setting for years to come. So far I have two players interested in developing a new setting with me.

I'm starting to see more people suggest new settings vs established ones. I'm glad I'm not alone.