Playing world building

Came across Neel Krishnaswami's Lexicon role-playing game today. Here is his introduction:

The basic idea is that each player takes on the role of a scholar, from before scholarly pursuits became professionalized (or possibly after they ceased to be). You are cranky, opinionated, prejudiced and eccentric. You are also collaborating with a number of your peers—the other players—on the construction of an encyclopedia describing some historical period (possibly of a fantastic world).

The game has twenty-six turns (one for each letter of the alphabet). Read Neel's article for a full description of his original rules, but here is my summary of them:

Entry Cite
1stA,Cite: two entries B-Z
2ndB,Cite:one A entry & two entries C-Z
3rdC,Cite:one entry A-B & two entries D-Z
4thD,Cite:one entry A-C & two entries E-Z
: :etc.
23rdW,Cite:one entry A-V & two entries X-Z
24thX,Cite:one entry A-W & two entries Y-Z
25thY,Cite:two entries A-X & one Z entry
26thZ,Cite:three entries A-Y 

Probably best played on a private Wiki, in-person, or via email. Sounds like it could be a lot of fun with the right group of people...


—Michael A. Cleverly

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