A Few Takes on Society/Worldbuilding in the Dream SMP
“Literally just a gritty fantasy world” approach: Canon characters are a small handful of many thousands who populate the world. Everyone has one life, like a normal human (non-final canon deaths are considered severe injuries). Minecraft mechanics are disregarded or transformed into a unique magic system. Good for when you secretly wish you were just reading a book.
“Blessed Heroes” approach: Similar to above. Canon characters are a few among thousands, but are marked by the gods for their fated influence and are granted multiple lives as a result. Everyone is the main character! Mythology fans and Warrior Cats fans may enjoy this one.
“Soulless NPC Hellscape” approach: Non-player citizens exist, but they function exactly like questgivers or setpieces in video games. And I mean exactly. They exist solely to trade overpriced goods with no discernable source, dispense Oblivion dialogue, and die en masse.
“The Cost of War” (Or, “Jesus Quackity, Stop Fucking Falling”) approach: Every non-canon death by a canon character represents the death of a non-player entity.
“What’s the Fourth Wall?” approach: There are other citizens, they just… don’t live here. They’re from another dimension, you see. They watch us from above and tell us to do terrible, terrible things…
“Lonely World” approach: No non-player citizens, but generally treated in a grounded fashion. Canon characters are relative newcomers to a once-empty land, and have set up societies (which are appropriately small in scale for the labor available, or larger accounting for distorted time). What happened to those who were here before? Who will tell our stories after? Nobody knows.
“Worldbuilding Anarchy” approach: Every character and their unique perspective operates under a different set of rules. One country is a fully-populated city-state with a functioning economic system and indoor plumbing, another country is a wooden fence surrounding a collection of Tetris sculptures, and you’re pretty sure that guy you met in the forest is an escaped Looney Tunes character.
“Adapted Mechanics” approach: Runs the full spectrum of views that combine Minecraft mechanics with either a realistic or a grounded fantastical tinge. Generally does not include non-player citizens. May include…
Respawn system: Is it magic, medicine, or advanced technology? Who knows, but it usually doesn’t feel great.
Experience points: Monsters drop shiny powder. If you kill enough of them and read a lot of books, you can eventually chop wood 5% faster.
Inventory: Carry an entire house in your own personal pocket dimension! It takes up exactly as much space as a suit of armor.
Chat: Does everyone have a communicator? How does the server have working wifi? Do these run on some kind of magic? Is everyone just telepathic?
Animals: Pets are magically bound to the person they love the most. They love their owners so much that they will warp space itself to be by their side! Only if they’re standing up, though.
Nature: Trees defy gravity. Stone defies gravity. The earth itself mocks us.
So many glitches holy moly how does that happen the world itself is broken and nobody is even bothering to question it
“Literally just Minecraft but the characters don’t know that” approach: Exactly what it says on the tin, and exactly what you see on stream. Yes, they take their lives completely seriously. Yes, they make those sounds when they eat. Don’t laugh at them, they’re all traumatized.
“Literally just Minecraft and the characters are aware” approach: At this point, you’re one step away from the actor AU. Have fun.
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