Ghyll:Main Page

Welcome to the world of Ghyll. 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 about Ghyll.

Despite the fact that your peers are self-important, narrow-minded dunderheads, they are honest scholars. No matter how strained their interpretations are, their facts are accurate as historical research can make them. So if you cite an entry, you have to treat its factual content as true! (Though you can argue vociferously with the interpretation and introduce new facts that shade the interpretation.)

• Next deadline: September 10th (midnight), letter A. For this turn, scholars
  create ONE entry starting with the letter A, with only TWO phantoms.
• Current events: News and further information about the state of play.
• Lexicon discussion: Talk about the game, rules, questions, and OOG concerns.

Game Rules

New players may join in at any time. If you have questions, ask in Lexicon discussion.

1. Scholars shall dib (reserve), and then write, one entry per turn. Turns loop from A to Z.
2. Entries shall cite two phantom (unwritten) entries and, after the first turn, one existing entry.
3. Scholars shall neither cite themselves, nor write phantoms they cited first.
4. All phantoms for a letter shall be written before new entries are created for that letter.

The core of the game is based on Neel Krishnaswami's "Lexicon: an RPG".

Ghyll is different from previous Lexicons (The Toothpaste Disaster, Nobilis, etc.) because there is no pre-existing world for entries to derive from. We don't know if the world of Ghyll is fantasy, cyberpunk, sci-fi, horror, or all of the above. Ghyll is a blank slate, and will be defined and finessed by our entries. Anything goes until everyone knows.

Example of Play

1. On the first turn, Sean B. Palmer defines his one entry for the letter A: Andelphracian Lights (Rule 1).
2. In Andelphracian Lights, he creates two phantoms: Bysted Timperton and Quester and Phorrus (Rule 2).
3. Sean B. Palmer may never define Bysted Timperton and Quester and Phorrus now. (Rule 3).
4. On the next turn, all phantoms for the letter B (like Bysted Timperton) must be defined (Rule 4).

How To Participate

To join the other scholars documenting Ghyll, create an account and login. Defining a new entry is as simple as going to its URL or clicking any red links (phantoms). For example, to create "Crab apples", go to http://gamegrene.com/wiki/Crab_apples, click "edit", and begin typing your entry. More information about wiki syntax (creating headers, links, bold, italic, etc.) can be found at Wikipedia:Help:Editing.

Each defined entry has a "discussion" page. When discussing an entry (in-game or not), do so on this discussion page and not the entry itself. Think of the discussion pages as the footnotes in the encyclopedia's margins. Be warned: other scholars may take heated issue with your comments!

Finally, consider writing a brief intro about your character/scholar (ex. Morbus Iff and Sean B. Palmer). This is NOT a "turn" - this is just you fleshing out your character, much like you'd do before a new tabletop campaign. You should not reference phantom links in your scholar description - just blurb a bio, and if entries happen to be defined later during play (by yourself or someone else), you can retroactively apply links.