Basing Concepts on Genre

Why is Genre Important

Genre can impact everything, from tone to what concepts fit the world you're creating. By starting there you can explore classic tropes, and your favourite ideas from any TV series, movies, books etc., that you may want to use. With any luck, immersing yourself in a new genre, or picking one of your favourites, will spurs some new ideas of your own!

Things to Keep in Mind

When picking what genre to set your world in, it's important to bear in mind the concepts that underpin Biosphere Guardians 2050, it will help provide structure and get you started.

The Message of Biosphere Guardians 2050

While going through the genres, it's important to remember the themes and ideas at the heart of Biosphere Guardians 2050, so here's a refresher if you need it:

'Biosphere Guardians 2050 aims to create an optimistic view of the future, one where the world has made active efforts to resolve climate change issues on a global scale. Set in the year 2050, it imagines this is being achieved through the creation of The Biosphere Project: large-scale rewilding projects to create carbon negative regions across the world.'

The sections in bold are central to the world of the Biosphere across every genre, they are the foundations to help you build ideas on. However, it's optimistic tone doesn't mean your world has to be without problems; in fact, we would encourage there to be some degree of struggle as, in-game, climate change is an issue in the ongoing process of being resolved - there are bound to be mistakes and challenges along the way. The point is that, at the end of the day, all hope is not lost and there is always a way forward - it's just a question of finding it.

Speculative Fiction

Speculative Fiction is an umbrella genre that 'encompasses other genres of fiction. Namely, those containing elements that don’t exist in reality, recorded history, nature, or the present universe. The speculative genre also encompasses myriad themes, including supernatural, futuristic, and many other imaginative topics.'.

As Biosphere Guardians imagines a specific possible future, it thus falls under this umbrella. This means Speculative Fiction, regardless of the sub-genre you choose, is the standard genre of any game or world you create. The sub-genre you decide on will texture your world and change the plot devices you use to convey the Message of the Biosphere.

Genres to choose from

Below are some genres you may want to choose from, along with some ideas on how that genre may impact your world. Your world may fit one or several of these categories and this is not an exhaustive list, so if the genre you want to choose isn't here, you may just want to read some similar ones to help you start thinking on what you have in mind.

Sci-Fi

This is the sub-genre we'd class as the default, since it tends to be the one that best lends itself to Biosphere Guardians. Climate change is an issue that can often make the future seem pretty bleak, but right now science is being used to develop possible answers. Through exploring how science could innovate solutions to climate change in-game, you can start to envision how a brighter future could look in reality. If we are to be optimistic about the future regarding climate change, then it's much easier to imagine a world where science and technology (whether contemporary or more advanced) is applied further towards that goal, making Sci-Fi the easiest genre to create your Biosphere in, as well as the best to help visualise a positive, real-life future.

Sci-Fi elements to consider:

Due to the nature of Sci-Fi, most of the main genre-specific questions and world-shaping elements revolve around science and technology. The questions below are just to get you started, and you can always check out the worldbuilding page for more general worldbuilding questions, or check out Guided Creation for some possible answers.

Technology level

How advanced is the world's technology? How much is it capable of? What are its limitations?

Power

How is power generated? How much of it is sustainable/renewable energy? Does everywhere use the same type of power (why or why not)?

Science

Are there any new fields of study? What's the dominant scientific field? Have they discovered things we haven't (if so, how)? What are the largest scientific debates in 2050?

Rewilding

How are they rewilding areas? Does it require special technology (what kind)?

AI/Robotics

Do they exist? How advanced are they? What types are there? How are they created? What do they do?

Medicine

How different is medicine in 2050? How much can it help with? Can it cure things that currently can't be (how does it do that)? How much of medicine is based on new technology?

Bio-engineering

Is it possible? Have any species been bio-engineered? Were there any unintended side-effects/consequences?

Fantasy

In contrast to the Sci-Fi genre, Fantasy may be the least conventional genre for a Biosphere Guardians setting. However, don't let this dissuade you as Fantasy can provide an optimistic form of escapism, allowing you to explore a real-world problem with the buffer of imaginary and whimsical elements.

A fantasy game of Biosphere Guardians can be approached in roughly 3 ways:

1. Entire modifications - these will upheave a lot of the default ideas in favour of completely game-shifting magical/fantasy mechanics e.g. your world is a classic medieval fantasy and the players are Elves responsible for managing a huge magic forest, their aim is counter the encroaching orcs and their industry that poisons the land makes the thick with smog. In that world you have the existence of magic and fantasy creatures, both of which will fundamentally alter, not only the game's genre (changing it to purely fantasy), but how you play the game - in this case it may be helpful to see some examples of Additional or Alternative Rules. Choosing this approach may be harder to do as you may have to create some of your own rules in order to achieve the effect you're looking for, so this may be better suited to slightly more experienced players, alternatively it may be easier to look to existing magic systems to implement in your game. If this is the method you want to use then exchanging technology for magic may be a good place to start, before consider some worldbuilding questions on how it impacts your world.
2. Blending fantasy with the original sci-fi format - this will add a fantasy tone but not completely alter the game mechanics e.g. perhaps magical creatures exist but technology drives the climate change solutions, maybe technology is powered by magic but still requires scientific engineering etc. - the possibilities are only as limited as you want them to be. This may be better suited to more beginner players as it allows you to incorporate fantasy without having to rewrite or introduce some of your own mechanics.
3. One-shots - one-off games where you can take a different-genre-based world and add a singular session of fantasy, maybe your Biosphere is set in a Crime genre for example, but you want a one-shot adventure to explore what would happen if that session's crime was caused by a strange creature that had infiltrated the Biosphere. Or maybe you want to add fantasy by having your standard Sci-fi Biosphere game suddenly start communicating with the Earth God Gaia, either as a one off episode or one that ends us affecting a whole campaign.

Fantasy elements to consider:

Due to the nature of the Fantasy genre most of the main genre-specific questions and world-shaping elements revolve around magic and myth. The questions below are just to get you started, and you can always check out the worldbuilding page for more general worldbuilding questions (and possible answers).

Magic

Where does magic come from? How does it work? Does everyone have magic? Do magic users have a limit to their magic?

How does magic interact with the Biosphere? Is it used for any Biosphere tasks?

How much is magic ingrained into wider society and the world in general?

Fantasy Creatures/Races

Are there any fantasy races? Are they pre-existing or ones of your own devising? What are their distinctive features or traits? How do they interact with each other? What are their cultural differences? Are there any that don't get on with each other?

What about fantasy creatures? Are they pre-existing or ones of your own devising? How intelligent or sentient are they? How normal/accepted are they to most people in your world?

Mythical figures and Deities

Are there any mythical figures or deities? How have they impacted the world? How do the people of your world think of them? Are there any religions or cults dedicated to them?

Blending Sci-Fi and Fantasy

You may want to consider how the magic and technology interact. Are they opposites? Can they work with each other? Where does science end and magic begin? What does the world think of them respectively? How are they both used in society?

Fusion Genres

These genres work best in combination with either Speculative Fiction, Sci-Fi or Fantasy. If you're looking for a way that merges The Biosphere Project of 2050 with a setting more similar to the world today, then you can combine one of the following genres with Speculative Fiction; if you want, this will help you create a story in the Biosphere with less worldbuilding as you can use the environment, climate change issues (and possible solutions) that already exist. Alternatively, if you really want a crime story, for example, but set in a world that requires more imagination or worldbuilding, then you can mix one of the genres below with Sci-Fi and/or Fantasy for the best of both worlds.

Alternative Genres

These genres are listed as Alternative because they may not, at first glance, appear to fit the optimistic tone of Biosphere Guardians, however they can lend themselves very well to the idea that resolving climate change issues is an ongoing process. A good way to merge the often darker elements of these genres with the optimistic tone, is by using the darker concepts or moments to make the light elements seem brighter by contrast. For example, if you restrict the darkness to the world outside, the Biosphere can be a beacon of hope and wonder by comparison; and they don't have to be mutually exclusive, you can have rogue elements straying into the Biosphere in whatever way you like, just remember to make sure there are better things on the horizon when you do.

It's worth noting that Horror and Thriller are also genres that could fit in this category, and thus the same advice applies to them. For simplicity, they have been included solely under Fusion Genres above.

The difference between Dystopia and Post-Apocalyptic

Now dystopias and post-apocalyptic fiction tend to overlap, every post-apocalyptic piece could technically count as a dystopia, but not vice-versa. Trying to determine if a piece of fiction that includes both dystopian and post-apocalyptic elements is not a perfect science, but as a general 'rule of thumb [the answer] tends to lie with the core focal point of the story. If the story is about the powers that be, it’s probably dystopian. If it’s about the damaged state of the world, it’s probably post-apocalyptic.'

Post-Apocalyptic

If you choose a post-apocalyptic world then that may change a lot about how the people there view the Biosphere, and may inform how it came about. For example, if your post-apocalyptic event was climate change causing massive droughts across the Earth, then the ground may be barren. This then prompts further questions like: How did they make the ground fertile enough to rewild? Why isn't the whole world already rewilded (why is it restricted to Biosphere locations only)? How do they protect rewilded areas from the heat and lack of rain that caused the droughts? How has the apocalyptic event impacted the rest of the world? How do people view the Biosphere as a result? And so on and so on. The point is that considering what event caused the apocalyptic scenario can completely change the world you create (for example, a world whose apocalypse was caused by war over the last non-sustainable resources would look very different in the aftermath), so by starting there you can ask yourself further resulting questions, and develop from there.

If you're looking for more examples, pre-created answers or further worldbuilding questions, then you can check out the corresponding pages to help.

Dystopia

If you choose a dystopian world, isolating a lot of those themes to the outside world will allow the Biosphere itself to remain as a hub of optimism, separate from some of the more negative elements, yet still able to be impacted and challenged by them in any way you choose. However, that's just one recommendation, so if you have another technique to balance dystopia with optimism then by all means use that instead!

In regards to how to get started, choosing the source of your dystopia may be a good place to begin. Is there a tyrannical government? A society under strict surveillance and control by an authority? Was there a post-apocalyptic war or natural disaster? Any dystopian idea you can think of, or a trope you've seen before, could be a brilliant beginning for the world your creating. If you're struggling with ideas a quick Google search, or one of the examples mentioned previously, may help.

From there it's all about asking questions to start fleshing out your world. For example, if you have a tyrannical government - what are their aims? What methods of tyranny do they use? How did they get to power? How do the public view them? Those answers may then give you a base to build the Biosphere on, and by asking 'how does the Biosphere slot into my world?', you may start to see how the two fit together. Often, figuring out how the Biosphere's objective may clash or correspond with the society you've created, may help you figure out how it's viewed, and whether it's a rebellion under threat, a government sanctioned project, a public-owned initiative, or something else entirely.

If you're still stuck then you can check out more examples, pre-created answers or further worldbuilding questions to help.