Grey
Dialectical Hermeticist
Hello, friends and neighbours. Our Benevolent Admins have recently graced us with a shiny new Nation Building RP section, and since this mode of play is surely unfamiliar to many of you, I’ve decided to offer a brief primer to help you find your bearings. This is by no means comprehensive; it's just a starter guide.
What is it?
A Nation Builder roleplay, at its core, is akin to a strategy boardgame or videogame - the creator lays out a world, in shallow or rich detail, the players create races, nations, militaries to exist therein, and the plot typically emerges from the conflicts within and between nations.
Broad umbrella, isn’t it? Nation Builders can run the gamut from god-games to nuclear war. Characters might be a collection of officials within a nation, a single commander, or the deity which created these people. Maybe it’s more gamist, and withdrawn - you juggle troop numbers and morale against enemy weapons and rough terrain. Maybe it’s more narrative and character focused, and you play a character trying to lead a country which cannot be controlled absolutely.
It can be quite a demanding form; you may have to put a lot of detail into your nation, from history to religion to major exports. But it can also be very rewarding, and it’s quite resilient to player attrition. If little is happening outside your own borders, you can keep the roleplay moving with posts about internal politics and conflicts. I’ll talk about some of the common varieties below, and offer tips on making your own Nation Builder, or for joining one.
The God Game
This is like a collective world-building exercise. Each player creates a god, normally with a list of Domains (such as War, Wisdom, and Fire). It becomes a loose rule system - you can influence things according to your Domains, and many such RPs play out over eras of specific purpose. First creation of the world, the rules by which it abides, the geography, then the creatures upon it, and so on. You create species in your own image, and while you often cannot control them directly, the RP might allow you to create Prophet characters to guide them.
If you’d like to make your own god game, remember to try and promote two things: fairness and conflict.
Fairness because every player should have roughly equivalent power and opportunity, which can stem from some simple but clear rules; conflict because conflict leads to drama which is the essence of a good story.
Unless you’re planning this as an abstract debate on the merits of various social, political, and theosophical models, in which case demonstrating why your nation is best can be an interesting intellectual exercise.
The War Game
No time for characterization here - we’ve got a war to fight! This style of Nation Builder will typically emphasize things like weapons, tactics, terrain, and so forth. Not to say it can’t have characterization or a good story, but it tends to be more of a game - perhaps with more complex, dice-driven rules. If you’re actively competing it’s good to have some randomness to keep things fair. This can also be less demanding than other Nation Builders - you only have to worry about the military, really.
My only advice for these is to look into commercial rulesets or spend some time working on the mechanics. It might also be worth putting some thought into a tech-tree, or potential for an arms race.
The Game of Thrones
Politics, parties, and murder. This tends to focus more heavily on individual characters than other Nation Builders, and the goals are more eclectic (whatever the characters thing is important, basically). This can hinge on a lot of really good worldbuilding to give context to what the characters do, the conflicts and histories. May rarely come to violence, but depending on the kind of time period you set it in - and if the goal is to assume a ruling status - it’s inevitable.
My only real, specific advice here is good world-building and mutual respect. Try to avoid exploiting out-of-character knowledge to perfectly counter or hurt other players, even if you’re playing a genius spymaster.
The Team Game
Something of a rarity, this challenges players to form a nation together, assume various roles, and then survive in the face of unrelenting plot. This could be working to build your nation up in spite of internal intrigues, or reacting to external problems, but both can be really fun. Doing both is a lot of work, though. Internal intrigue relies on fairly detailed history and culture, and a lot of NPCs. External threats are similar, but cover a much wider range of issues, which presents another set of challenges.
Also cool to use this model for humans vs. alien invaders/kaiju/creeping darkness.
General Advice for Nation Builders
I hope this has been helpful; as always feedback is welcome.
View full tutorial
What is it?
A Nation Builder roleplay, at its core, is akin to a strategy boardgame or videogame - the creator lays out a world, in shallow or rich detail, the players create races, nations, militaries to exist therein, and the plot typically emerges from the conflicts within and between nations.
Broad umbrella, isn’t it? Nation Builders can run the gamut from god-games to nuclear war. Characters might be a collection of officials within a nation, a single commander, or the deity which created these people. Maybe it’s more gamist, and withdrawn - you juggle troop numbers and morale against enemy weapons and rough terrain. Maybe it’s more narrative and character focused, and you play a character trying to lead a country which cannot be controlled absolutely.
It can be quite a demanding form; you may have to put a lot of detail into your nation, from history to religion to major exports. But it can also be very rewarding, and it’s quite resilient to player attrition. If little is happening outside your own borders, you can keep the roleplay moving with posts about internal politics and conflicts. I’ll talk about some of the common varieties below, and offer tips on making your own Nation Builder, or for joining one.
The God Game
This is like a collective world-building exercise. Each player creates a god, normally with a list of Domains (such as War, Wisdom, and Fire). It becomes a loose rule system - you can influence things according to your Domains, and many such RPs play out over eras of specific purpose. First creation of the world, the rules by which it abides, the geography, then the creatures upon it, and so on. You create species in your own image, and while you often cannot control them directly, the RP might allow you to create Prophet characters to guide them.
If you’d like to make your own god game, remember to try and promote two things: fairness and conflict.
Fairness because every player should have roughly equivalent power and opportunity, which can stem from some simple but clear rules; conflict because conflict leads to drama which is the essence of a good story.
Unless you’re planning this as an abstract debate on the merits of various social, political, and theosophical models, in which case demonstrating why your nation is best can be an interesting intellectual exercise.
The War Game
No time for characterization here - we’ve got a war to fight! This style of Nation Builder will typically emphasize things like weapons, tactics, terrain, and so forth. Not to say it can’t have characterization or a good story, but it tends to be more of a game - perhaps with more complex, dice-driven rules. If you’re actively competing it’s good to have some randomness to keep things fair. This can also be less demanding than other Nation Builders - you only have to worry about the military, really.
My only advice for these is to look into commercial rulesets or spend some time working on the mechanics. It might also be worth putting some thought into a tech-tree, or potential for an arms race.
The Game of Thrones
Politics, parties, and murder. This tends to focus more heavily on individual characters than other Nation Builders, and the goals are more eclectic (whatever the characters thing is important, basically). This can hinge on a lot of really good worldbuilding to give context to what the characters do, the conflicts and histories. May rarely come to violence, but depending on the kind of time period you set it in - and if the goal is to assume a ruling status - it’s inevitable.
My only real, specific advice here is good world-building and mutual respect. Try to avoid exploiting out-of-character knowledge to perfectly counter or hurt other players, even if you’re playing a genius spymaster.
The Team Game
Something of a rarity, this challenges players to form a nation together, assume various roles, and then survive in the face of unrelenting plot. This could be working to build your nation up in spite of internal intrigues, or reacting to external problems, but both can be really fun. Doing both is a lot of work, though. Internal intrigue relies on fairly detailed history and culture, and a lot of NPCs. External threats are similar, but cover a much wider range of issues, which presents another set of challenges.
Also cool to use this model for humans vs. alien invaders/kaiju/creeping darkness.
General Advice for Nation Builders
- World-build. Do as much or as little as you like, but try to give clear parameters to your players. Remember; geography can shape a lot of things. Magic resources, access to water or wood, these can all influence how a nation develops, what it trades, and why it goes to war.
- Implement clear rules of conduct. Make sure everyone is on the same page in terms of what you can and cannot do. In particular, posting order is worth keeping in mind.
- Seed conflict; have neutral parties or people within nations react to what is happening. Have peasant revolts begin to stir or new discoveries change everything.
- Encourage conflict between nations, but allow for them to be resolved peacefully.
- Decide if players have complete control within their nations, or if they have to sway their underlings and expect some disobedience.
- Try to keep track of things like resources and locations.
I hope this has been helpful; as always feedback is welcome.
View full tutorial