Rockworld

[Excalibur]

Nice bit of a start there.

Stefoid has it right, there are a few games or supplements to games that I think you'd be interested in checking out as well as a few books.

There's the World Builder supplement for D&D (I think AD&D), there's also the Megaverse builder from Palladium Books.

Some of the more traditional stuff like the Atlas of Middle Earth, the Dragonlance stuff, and other fantasy-based encyclopedias. i think they might help you out. I think you should also pick up the Forgotten Realms campaign setting book to see how they did it (you can ignore the game mechanics stuff).

[Dr. Theodore Lagore]

How did rockworld come to be?
Where is rockworld in the universe?
What is beyond the edge of known-rockworld?  Is it endless the same, or is there something different?
What religions exist among the inhabitants?

etc...  Its just screaming existential crisis to me

Well, most of those things are meant to be unexplained and unquestioned by the people there.  It would be like us wondering why gravity exists or why the world is round.  It's the sort of thing we just take for granted.  And that's the way Rockworld is, it exists because it exists.  Sorry that that's the best answer I have...  However, with the religion bit, you have to remember that even in that rough draft I'm not even half way through.  I'll cover them when I write about The Caves.

Thanks for commenting.

[stefoid]

How did rockworld come to be?
Where is rockworld in the universe?
What is beyond the edge of known-rockworld?  Is it endless the same, or is there something different?
What religions exist among the inhabitants?

etc...  Its just screaming existential crisis to me

Well, most of those things are meant to be unexplained and unquestioned by the people there.  It would be like us wondering why gravity exists or why the world is round.  It's the sort of thing we just take for granted.  And that's the way Rockworld is, it exists because it exists.  Sorry that that's the best answer I have...  However, with the religion bit, you have to remember that even in that rough draft I'm not even half way through.  I'll cover them when I write about The Caves.

Thanks for commenting.

The point being that for me, I dont want those questions answered by you, I want to be inspired by your concepts initially, then I want to add my own stuff to it.  If you specify everything down to the nth detail, what is left for my own creativity?  but this is just me, other players might really appreciate a full and detailed setting

Myth, legend and oral history is a good way to intimate at things sketchily, but leave them undetailed for players to explore.  Actually I dont know if your guys can write, but anyway, you get the idea.

[Dr. Theodore Lagore]

Right, I gotcha.  I think it will be vague as far as history, individuals, cities, etc.  It'll be more like some examples to follow and you design the rest.  Like so-and-so needs to be included in a city or else it wouldn't function properly.

So I don't think it'll end up completely up to the imagination of the players, but that is definitely an important part.

[Excalibur]

Was just watching some reviews on boardgames and a certain game came up: Thebes. It's about...exploration! I saw that and thought about Rockworld and am recommending  you pick up a copy of the game if you can't find a copy of the rules. It might be something worthwhile in order to bring that adventure/exploration aspect to the game you wanted.

[Llogres]

It all sounds pretty interesting and i have a few questions:
Where do the Humans come from?
Did some higher beeing create them?
Did they evolve out of one of the other species?
Did they come from another place and where like teleportet into this world?
How much is known about the links and the stones?
Do people have some sort of maps that help them find the fastest way to get from one point to another?
Are they even interested in getting out of their own 'air pocket'/habitat?
Are humans and the other races related in some way or is it like completely different species that just happen to have some sort of same level of consciousness?

Hope these questions help as much as will the answers.
Chris

[Dr. Theodore Lagore]

Was just watching some reviews on boardgames and a certain game came up: Thebes. It's about...exploration! I saw that and thought about Rockworld and am recommending  you pick up a copy of the game if you can't find a copy of the rules. It might be something worthwhile in order to bring that adventure/exploration aspect to the game you wanted.

Hmm... that does look interesting, thanks.  I'll see if I can find it around.  Thanks!

1.) Where do the Humans come from?
Did some higher beeing create them?
Did they evolve out of one of the other species?
Did they come from another place and where like teleportet into this world?

1.) No one knows for sure where humans came from.  Plenty of people have ideas, which are normally tied to their religion.  For example, Alberians think that all races are directly descended from prophet Alber.  They believe that Alberians who ventured further from their Home were divinely altered to fit their environment: humans became hearty and adaptable, the beast races were given the ability to fly, breath underwater, etc.

The easier explanation is that Rockworld never changes.  No in any meaningful way, at least.  People there feel that things have always been the way they are now.  Remember that they perceive time differently than us.  For us, time is sort of cyclical.  We live by the day/night cycle, and the yearly cycle.  To people from Rockworld, nothing changes: not the weather, not the geography, not the temperature or anything major.  It's natural for them to think that sentients have been around forever, since there is no beginning or end for them.

I hope that makes sense...

2.) How much is known about the links and the stones?
Do people have some sort of maps that help them find the fastest way to get from one point to another?
Are they even interested in getting out of their own 'air pocket'/habitat?

2.) People know a lot about the links.  Links are carefully collected by families and communities.  They are ussually kept in small boxes and labeled with their destination. 

But no, there are no maps in the sense that we know them. 

Most people do venture forth from their home caves at some point, whether it's for trade, collecting animals, etc.

I could explain some of the more complex ideas involving the links, but I suspect that it would be difficult without some kind of diagram.  Basically, there are ways of taking a link-stone with you while you travel.

There is also a "cooling-down" period after you travel through a link.  It takes a few seconds for the link to become active again,  This prevents people from constantly bouncing back and forth between locations when they touch a stone.

3.) Are humans and the other races related in some way or is it like completely different species that just happen to have some sort of same level of consciousness?

3.) The easiest way for me to explain this is to talk about the way living things are classified in Rockworld:

Plants - anything that does not move, and passively gets nourishment from light, heat, or decomposing matter.

Animals - anything that actively moves in search of food and has no thoughts beyond what is necessary for survival

Sentient - a being that is capable of complex thought, reasoning, learning, language, and all the other things we attribute to humans.  All sentients are on the same level, which is the same range we attribute to human intelligence

As for how they're related: there are two types of sentients: humanoids and beast-people.  Humanoids all share the same basic body shape, although they vary in height.  They all speak the same language (er... English?).  Beast Races have unusual body shapes, never live in The Caves, and have their own language (a series of clicking noises similar to morse code).