Surely, I'm not the only one. So my challenge to anyone willing to undertake it is such: If you were going to explain Gameplay, these histories, personalities, jargon, and so on, how would you do so? Obviously given the nature of some rivalries, these sorts of descriptions might not be well-suited to the public forum, in which case I would love to hear from folks via TG. (With the solemn vow that nothing sent via TG to me about this topic will be divulged with anyone, bar the other mods only in the event such information becomes relevant to a Moderation matter... which probably is not likely to happen since this is basically "Hey, what's your opinion about X, Y, Z, etc things in Gameplay?")
Some possible angles of attack to give everybody ideas to get started:
- How would you describe your organization/allies/region/treaties/important folks to someone with minimal knowledge of Gameplay? (Basically, someone knows the basic game mechanics that underpin the most basic elements of R/D, but probably doesn't know the difference between a raider and an imperialist for instance.)
- How would you describe other organizations/their allies/regions/treaties/important folks to someone with minimal knowledge? (This one is likely better sent via TG for likely obvious reasons. )
- The origin of yours or some other group/region/etc's theming. Was it planned, or did it just sort of develop over time?
- What GP jargon is vital to understanding Gameplay, and how would you define those terms? (Raider, defender, imperialist, independent, francoist, triggering, userite, etc.)
- How about history? What big moments would you want somebody to have a basic understanding of? How far back in time do you think they should be briefed on, the past six months, or would you go clear back to 2003 and the wild and crazy days of Francos Spain's stranglehold on the Pacific (... I am thinking of the right feeder on that, right?) How did so-and-so's coup or newly elected government impact relations with such-and-such group? That sort of stuff.
- What about the tools of the trade? The spreadsheets, the interface enhancements, intel gathering, and so on?
... Huh, now that I think about it, basically a sort of Gameplay folklore collection project.