Kingdom is a game meant to inspire creativity in new and interesting ways. Part of why we’ve taken such an interest in collaborating with others via new media is our own interests have fallen in those categories. Many of us have fun drawing little comic sketches, and why shouldn’t these be every bit as much a part of the game canon as a lengthy bit of prose?
Our collaborating community often meets on AIM for group chats, semi-weekly updates, and campaign and character plotting. These chats are not mandatory, and Kol does try to post a summary of these chats up on the forums for everyone to see.
However, the 2 biggest places for collaborating take place on the forums and on our extended information wiki. The former sprawls in scope, and acts as a gathering place for posting art, stories and other fun parts of the game. We do work on the forums too, plotting out campaigns, character arcs, new story ideas, and much more.
The extended information wiki is a safe haven for useless information and sketching out the setting. Not everyone is comfortable with adding information to the wiki, however, so the only thing we ask members to put up are their finished character sheets.
As with anything on the wiki, however, the information on those character sheets are definitely up for revision. Characters have a way of changing on us the more we RP them. Plus, some like Kol like to keep highly detailed timelines (if only to keep where each of her characters is at in case of story overlap!). Membership to the wiki is limited only to those who have accepted characters in the game.
Too Much Info! I just want to know where to post *blank* kind of story!
Hunt Logs: Stories within this forum should only deal directly with Hunters or Guardians out Hunting Daemons. They do not have to find the Daemon or battle it, but Hunting should be involved in some way. Comics or alternative media meant to take the place of a hunting story should be posted within this forum.
Sillies: Got a funny out of characters story? Little chat logs between characters intended to crack people up? Want to do an AU where penguins invade the world? This is definitely the place for you.
Candid Camera: A forum for pretty much anything else. If you want to write about your character having an argument with a fellow Hunter while in school? Place for it. Want to write an epic love story between your character and their brand new puppy and frame it around them learning a valuable lesson? This forum (and later, an after school special!). Drabbles usually tend to get stuck in this forum, too, as well as any comics or alternative media meant to take the place of a non-hunting story.
A Word on Collaboration and Connections
No one wants to read about a loner swimming around his own private island. Part of the collaborative nature of Kingdom is finding ways to connect the characters. Maybe this character had a class with this other one? Perhaps they dated? Or are related-- especially if they control the same element?
A lot of times, this is where the work section of the forums comes in handy. If you need to connect your character, feel free to start a post— or join in on someone elses! Don’t feel afraid to jump in— none of us bite, honest!
We do have some ground rules on connections, however.
1. The game is built upon how connected the cast is. But at the same time, we don’t want this turning into an anime love dodecahedron.
2. A fundamental aspect of everyone supernatural milling about Sunset City is blood. Specifically, the Geld Bloodlines that run through each and every Hunter’s veins. This blood is what makes a Hunter able to wield magic. And the Bloodlines tends to produce several Hunters per generation, too. As a result, we have a lot of cousins in the game. Twins? Not so much. Distantly related mortal enemies? More than a few.
So while we do find it amusing that Lynn and Mara both manipulate water elements, that doesn't mean that their shared family link can't spit out a kid who manipulates fire or earth elements. It is more likely that a bloodline will produce mostly members along the same major element, but due to the bloodlines mingling over generations, differences in general elements do pop up much more than they would in the Geldon Kingdom, where almost everyone on one island had the same major element. So you could potentially have a situation where Mara, from the weather general element, had a brother who manipulated light, which is from the energy general element.
Thankfully, Mara doesn’t have a brother!
3. Having nuclear relations (brothers/sisters/parents) be Guardians and/or Hunters is fine, but we do frown on both/all the characters being played by the same person. This is because we don't want any members writing by themselves and not interacting with the other members. It is perfectly acceptable to have the nuclear relations put forth as NPCs in the game and utilized in stories— honestly, we encourage that! But we don’t want to have a situation begin where a person isn’t collaborating with others because she— or he— is trying to manage a 50-member family of Hunters and Guardians.
We do make exceptions for people we have faith in not to do this! But, if we do feel people we’ve made an exception to aren't interacting with the other people enough (always having the siblings in the same stories, always having the siblings talk to one another, rarely having the siblings talk beyond each other), a gentle warning will be issued.
Which is more a word of caution than discipline ;)