The Setting Game: Rules

The purpose of this game is to develop a game setting that all players (including the GM) can have fun in. It's purposely open-ended to allow for maximum freedom for the players.

The game is intended for a Fate campaign, but I expect that it would work for any relatively universal game system.

It has not been play tested.

Game Play

The players take turns making declarations about topics that the GM proposes. They tackle one topic at a time until they are ready to move onto the next topic. Each player has a number of tokens that they can spend to veto any declaration permanently.

Tokens
The control on the declarations is a simple token economy. Each player (including the GM) starts with 10 tokens.

A token can be spent to veto someone else's declaration, and, once vetoed, the declaration cannot be re-introduced in any form. This is meant to keep things more-or-less on a path that we can all live with.

The GM controls the other side of the token economy. If a player happens to make a particularly cool declaration, the GM might reward her with an extra token (or a spider goulash).

Taking Turns
The game will be split up into a number of phases. During each phase, the GM proposes a topic for the declarations during that phase.

Once the topic has been announced, one player starts a new round by either making a declaration or passing. Each other player, in turn, does the same thing: make a declaration or pass. At any time, a player may spend a token to veto a declaration. The round ends when everyone has had a turn.

Note: A player's declaration cannot contradict any other valid declaration on the table. The GM is the final arbiter on what constitutes a "contradiction".

At the end of a round, the GM asks if anyone wants to make further declarations. If there any takers, another round is played on the same topic, starting with the player who started the previous round.

When a phase is complete (no one wants to make any more declarations), the GM announces the next topic and the first declaration right passes to the next player (this is so that the "first declaration" right is shared amongst all the players).

Strategy
It helps to make your declarations specific, rather than general. The GM is likely to be able to build a more compelling adventure or campaign if he knows that you want to "fly from planet to planet in a spaceship" rather than if you told him, "a science fiction story", which could be anything from cyberpunk to a Larry Niven future history story without ever leaving Earth. Not to mention that you are less likely to get your declaration vetoed if someone else wants to "be able to throw spells around" (both are possible in a Spell Jammer-esk setting).

With that in mind, when you are making declarations, spend a little time thinking about what it is about your idea that makes it fun for you. Focus your declaration on that bit of fun. For example, I love Science Fiction settings, but what I really love about them is exploring how humans react to the strangeness of new worlds.

The topics I`m thinking of using are here.