NationStates is an old site, that I first discovered a few years ago. If I’m not mistaken, it had been put online at first in parallel with the development of the Jennifer Government story. Last week, I found a renewed interest for it, and created a new nation on the server. This is what got me to think some more about it, as a potential source for ideas.
The basis of the “game” is simple: one creates a nation, chooses its name, currency, animal/symbol and type of government, and every day (depending on the chosen settings), one or two issues are submitted to the “government” of this new country. Issues are on various topics, such as cloning research, minorities on television, people demanding a ban on cars due to pollution, and so on. Two or three opinions from imaginary inhabitants of the country are offered, and the player needs to choose one for each issue. Once these choices are input, the nation evolves to reflect the government’s new policy.
Where the ideas may stem from is exactly this: the issues, and the proposed solutions. Some are funny, some are just improbable, some are more serious. In any case, I think that it provides a good ground for imagination when it comes to creating a world for a work of fiction, and dividing said world in countries.
In all likeliness, the game won’t last me more than two or three weeks, as usual with this kind of things, but who knows? Maybe it can give an inspiration boost at times!
Y Tags: countries | nations | world+building | writing
This week-end, I went back to sweet hometown and met with friends I hadn’t seen in a few years. Knowing who we are and what our common background is, there was no doubt that it would end with a tabletop RPG session, and no surprise here, it happened. One of my friends had in fact built his own little world, complete with maps and background history, which is the universe we played in. It reminded me of a comment left on this blog some time ago, about handing out my characters to players, placing them in specific situations, and seeing how it goes.
