>>> Because it was requested for out of character interaction between the players. Please note that questions to me are best dealt with in private messages and nothing in this thread will be acted on in the game.
Ah, I won't have to grip you by the ear! (Not that Daxia would do that to Kadri. Oh, my goodness graciousness, no! Nuh uh. She's seen how Kadri plays with her knives. Didn't take Daxia to figure out it's better to Kadri's friend than her enemy. Dazi schmart gurl.)
Ah, I won't have to grip you by the ear! (Not that Daxia would do that to Kadri. Oh, my goodness graciousness, no! Nuh uh. She's seen how Kadri plays with her knives. Didn't take Daxia to figure out it's better to Kadri's friend than her enemy. Dazi schmart gurl.)
tomorrow morning (friday) I plan to make the post that will send Conrad and Camelia out of the Inn. We will effectively be locked down after that last round when everyone gets to reiterate their actions and objectives for the GM. So if anybody in the Inn group needs to get anything finished up or said... this is your call.
Aha! Yes! I think I thought of something, and without having to use all those extra useless WORDS that she's stuck using while pretending to be an Allaine!
Hey, maybe if we travel together long enough we can develop a 'sign' language of hand motions. An off-shoot of what Mikal's used in scouting missions, but much more extensive. Would eliminate needing ANY words
But Daxia can be long-winded if she wants... she just leaves out unimportant words like articles and usually pronouns and sometimes conjunctions. Nouns, verbs... good. Adjectives... sometimes useful. Adverbs... meh. Anything else... who needs it?!?
Nicki... did Celi leave the Hospice with Mikal? Doesn't seem like it, but I don't want to assume anything. Would like to get introductions out of the way, so we can go do more plotting and planning and whatever else we're supposed to be doing.
And somehow Conrad got moved outside even though he was staying to speak with Alice, wanting to find out when the girl left. So I am stuck for posting until Wolf replies.
mike, and all the wonderful and awesome players and writers in this game... I must step away. I am sorry, but I feel that it is the best thing for me right now. all of you guys are incredible. I have loved reading the posts of each and every one of you. I consider you guys good and treasured friends. Mike, you are an awesome GM and rank among the best I have ever played under.
i apologize for dropping as I am, but I need to do it...
this is probably one of the best games on the forum right now, I will miss it. I will be around the forum though. good luck and have fun guys, you all deserve that!
Will miss you here, Jim. Sorry to see you have to drop.
BTW, I will be traveling, on business, Wednesday thru Friday of this week. I expect to be able to post Wednesday morning, most of the day Thursday, and maybe Friday evening. Then Saturday is virtual-FTF all day so will be spotty.
I'd like to thank Raven for stepping in to help us out here! It's very good to have her back. She has some big shoes to fill as she takes up the role of Camelia so please ... have patience and help her become one of this large and interesting herd of cats!
Ok, you all go back to the Inn. See ya later! I'm just going to wait here, very politely, for Darian to answer the question Daxia asked. Here Squire, would you make sure Bekkah gets to the Inn safely? (Stop tugging on the sleeve, dear, thanks.) Set her by the fire and tuck a blanket around her. That's a kind fellow, thank you. We'll be along shortly, I'm sure.
Is that not a 2 second answer? "Yes", or "No"? Are we not able to talk and walk at the same time? Or is multitasking a 20th century thing I am just confused why it's one or the other, but willing to be explained to.
Of course it's a two-second answer... that we don't have yet. Ah... so... the thought process here. If the answer is "No," no problem, off we go, hi ho, hi ho! If the answer is "Yes" (and here I am assuming that an answer of "Yes" means the GM has given them special dispensation to split off from the group), then it would be nice to know that some of our people are still going to be out on the streets of Cragside, yes? We should know that we should become concerned if they're not back in a candlemark or two, yes? Because this town is full of thugs and ruffians and thoroughly dishonest people, to say nothing of cutpurses and murders. Not that I don't think Cesare, Darian and Longtooth can't take care of themselves... I'm sure they can.
Information management.
Sorry. Thinking like a group leader again. (Bad Dazi. You gave that up for Lent. Told the boys to deal with the herd of cats.)
I thought that was covered with the comment about seeing if Longtooth picks up a scent on the way since obviously he can tell that the ruff doesn't have the scent yet. Being raised a noble, he would have worked with scent hounds before and know their behavior.
Ken... You don't know the ruff doesn't have the scent. Longtooth is not a scent hound. I think the GM said something about not speaking for those who don't belong to the same church you do. Daxia not part of Darian and Longtooth church. Daxia wait for them to tell.
Just a note: As I often have to calm Kel down, as long as you are productivelyplanning and figuring out what to do I normally won't penalize you folks by moving the time forward.
If you bog down or forget to posts your subsequent actions, well then you might be in a lil' bit of trouble!
I'm writing NOTES! With beautiful penmanship, because Kassia kinda reminds me of Sister Therese Rosa... except tall and thin, instead of short and fat.
Sigh. Super OCD Woman has been forced to join the fray.
Wolf... <smack smack smack That Chicago Thing smack smack smack>
And Super OCD Woman notes that the 24-hour part of the posting guidelines has sent us into a new round, in which Nicki was our first poster. The only person who did not post in the last round was Gypsy.
Unless the GM says we should hold up... or Super OCD Woman sees too many posts in a round with someone being left out (in the last round, no one posted more than twice)... I don't see any reason we should not continue posting, if you feel your character has something to say.
That said... Kel is SO bloody confused that she wants to hide under a rock like Puff the Magic Chinese Water Dragon (Offspring's Xmas present from the on-again boyfriend ).
No problem, though. Super OCD Woman now wants to draw charts.
I simply await the departure of Mikal and Celi to cause mischief among the merchants (as I do not wish to speak for their characters, of course) before revealing my cunning plan.
I've got a plan so cunning, you could stick a tail on it and call it a weasel!
And with some cleverness on the part of the GM, it might even involve... a turnip! Or many, many turnips.
No, no! No shrubberies! You can't mix Monty Python with Black Adder... madness will ensue. And my brain would implode. Besides, I don't think Roger the Shrubber works in this part of the Heartwood anyway. Heard his territory is closer to Talesan's Village.
Just caught up in creating meals and exercising my hostess syndrome! And yes having fun as all these friends (guests) play games! So lots of board & card games - great stuff!
Mike & Kel - Don't know how possible this might be but could the two of you come up with a rough diagram with character initials where you expect people to be? Think it would help us be clearer in our minds as to the plan.
its a common issue with linear problem solving; the path of least resistance is to find ways something won't work ... the trick is to stack up ways of making it work. To be constructive instead of destructive.
I believe everyone is at a place where they can pose a return to the Hart and Horse, the current set up tasks accomplished. The cart and horses will be ready, at the back of the tavern, when you want them.
What I hope can be done on Friday isto now post your actions; to move from talking about the plan to actually doing the plan.
Feel free to describe as far into the plan as you wish; that way the Long Post can take the action as far as possible before needing to pause.
Picture is great - thanks! Can you describe in more detail what we remember from the warehouse. Cesare did take a good look when there - so how close are the other warehouses? Entry points? Rough height? What is it made of? ie could we prise away wooden slats probably at the back? Any other information that might be relevant? Sentries on the walls. Guard patrols?
Oh! It's actually very easy Raven, and why I love Runequest.
The number is, literally, your percent chance of doing something. For example, if you have a climbing skill of 50% it means you succeed 50% of the time ... if you have a climbing skill of 75% it means you succeed 75% of the time.
Very intuitive and very straightforward.
(technically its a roll with a d100, get below your skill level you succeed - low rolls are good rolls in Runequest).
Lets see ... below 25% and you are basically untrained. Between 25 and 50 you are learning, 50 to 75 and you are good at it, 75 to 90 and you are really good at it and 90 and above you may start to think about getting into a fight with Dandy, Barris or Rafe.
Just remember - a 75% chance of doing something is good. you succeed more tan you fail by a wide margin. But it also means that you still have a 25% chance of failing.
For example, in the combat between Celi and Mikal, Celi did surprisingly good the first round and Mikal - with much better combat stats - didn't. However, the dice went back to the more probable results the second round ...
Wolf - <looking innocent> I have two very mischievous sons home from school. They have access to my computer and my log-on ids and passwords. Anything I ever post you don't like came from them <points finger> Really. Honest. <fingers crossed>
Zeim... Careful there. Wolf may start blaming Mikal's misfortunes on Stupid Boy Cat.
FYI for all... just waiting on Gypsy so I can post THE PLAN (toss the tablets into the air), after which our Diabolical GM can write another Long Post (tell us where they land).
I DID change my last post, which probably won't affect Kadri's action as Daxia is still distracting the guy between them... just distracting him in a different way.
What can I say? I'm letting Daxia take out my frustration with Mooch on the rotten NPC. And NPCs are a penny a fullhand.
Yeah I'm waiting now. While Bekkah would obviously go towards the much more seriously injured Darian, I have to imagine that dropping the girl down took a lot less time than Darian dropping all her equipment one at a time, then falling down. If for some reason that's not true, then she'd jump down from the barrel and help Dazi catch the woman.
PLEASE put Kadri's name atop of her posts, especially when they have an action in them ... I almost missed one of yours today. If it can be in bold it would help too; it makes sure I don't miss anyone when I'm doing my 'did I remember everyone' check
In case you missed it - we are moving Friday and the phone company tells me I should have internet service at the new place by 8 PM on Monday (with a standard disclaimer that it might take more time than that )
So I will likely check in Friday morning and try to sneak on via phone and maybe a hideout at Starbucks but can't make any promises. I will, of course, sneak on when at the yob, but it too keeps me hopping, so...
PLEASE put Kadri's name atop of her posts, especially when they have an action in them ... I almost missed one of yours today. If it can be in bold it would help too; it makes sure I don't miss anyone when I'm doing my 'did I remember everyone' check
Two Adventurers have hired a warrior to help them against the Dragons. The Warrior notes that the Dragons will soon be upon them and he needs to prepare:
Adventurer 1: "Don't you mean we need to prepare?"
Ok gang, we need to watch the posting rate again. I posted exactly 24 hours ago and since then both Art & Kel have posted four times each, everyone else has 1 or 2 posts as agreed.
This means that Cesare is standing like a lemon by the window not contributing to anything being said. Now he may not wish to say anything - but I would post that if so - but I should not be denied that opportunity.
Wish I had my spreadsheet with me, though I do agree Art and I did throw in more posts than the rest; my only defense is that it did make for a more realistic conversation. And I certainly will try to be more careful, although as Herder of the Cats, I will sometimes just have to post more frequently because it's ... well, less stressful to address each person rather than save it all up for one post.
Just so that everyone knows how Super OCD Woman is keeping track of posts:
A "round" begins when Wolf makes a Long Post (or in some cases, a series of Long Posts). That sets the clock for the 24-hour period of "sub-rounds" in which I track each person's posts. We are currently in the first "round" of this thread (the eighth round in total), and "sub-round" E. The time clicks over to a new "sub-round" at 14:39 EST each day in this "round"... and will continue to do so until Wolf's next Long Post, which sets up the next "round" where "sub-rounds" will begin in 24-hour increments after his last Long Post.
If this is confusing, at least be comforted in knowing Super OCD Woman understands it. And most of the time, people are doing what they're supposed to do.
I don't want to argue about specifics but if you =choose= to post a short post & then get a response, then your next post is a new post - so it is still four - two more than agreed previously. We did not agree a number of lines but a number of posts - and Cesare almost had a decision made without the opportunity to speak up. Might as well gag him or might as well not play...
I am not upset - just trying to create a situation that enables me to stay in the game. I am very sure that your guys would feel just the same in my shoes.
I agree with Gypsy. Unless you've removed yourself from the group conversation it isn't fair to others of us who cannot be here as frequently to overpost.
I realize that it may not seem realistic in terms of conversation, but it's not right and is upsetting what we've agreed to.
Gypsy, Raven... I understand, believe me. But I also understand the constraints the GM places on us. Very often, the fact that we can only post twice in a 24-hour period means that we can't actually have a Plan of Action in place by the time Long Post Day arrives... at which point Wolf is left only with the option of simply moving time forward. And that has never once turned out to be a good thing.
I don't think there's a perfect solution to the dilemma. If we find we do not have a Plan of Action in place by the weekend when Wolf does his Long Post because of our agreed-upon posting guidelines, I think it fair that the GM skip the Long Post and let us continue to formulate our plan. However, we need to be aware that if we do come up with a plan after whatever time slot Wolf had allocated to the Long Post, we will need to wait a week and essentially do nothing until the following weekend.
As I said, there is no perfect solution... we just need to do our best to balance posting rates with accomplishing things so the GM doesn't try to kill us.
(He denies that's his plan... but, frankly, I don't believe him. )
I am happy to continue with conversation/planning to fill in time until Wolf can post. This provides opportunity to get to know other characters better and to develop relationships, bonds, amongst us.
For example Lia and cesare are backfilling a private chat so as not to delay the game or inconvenience anyone else - but some of these chats are essential to character development. True for us all I think!
Ok, and with that said, no decision can be made on who goes to fetch Samara until 14:49 EST. Thank you all very much for your input; Daxia has a lot to consider. In between bouts of fighting with the bloody scheduling software, I will attempt to write a coherent post.
I have created a basic spreadsheet on Google that will contain only the information for the current round:
Gypsy, Raven... I understand, believe me. But I also understand the constraints the GM places on us. Very often, the fact that we can only post twice in a 24-hour period means that we can't actually have a Plan of Action in place by the time Long Post Day arrives...
I am not saying people can't post more in a 24 hour period - nor did Gypsy or anyone else.
I know what I'm asking for is EVERYONE gets to post 1-2 times before people post more in that period. There may be days everyone can get itn, post something, everyone else can, etc. But it's not fair if everyone doesn't get a post in before people continue. People can't contribute to plans when that is the case or share in the rp.
Well for the record I am happy to take a PM conversation or a separate thread one if a PC or PCs want a conversation. Just have to ask.
The only thing I would suggest is that a timeslot is agreed that this can happen in so that it doesn't take precedence over the main thread. Lia & Cesare are talking quietly together late evening in the inn the night before. GM is copied in and we have agreed not to do or say anything that willl affect the current timeline. Folks dozing in the main room may well be aware a conversation is taking place.
I know what I'm asking for is EVERYONE gets to post 1-2 times before people post more in that period.
Confused again. Not uncommon. I think what you're saying is to look at the person (or person in your side conversation) with the fewest posts in the period and no one (no one in your side conversation) should have more than two plus whatever that number is.
And if anyone says they're going to be offline, we don't count them, right?
Ok. Then Art (and you and Raven ) can't post again until either (a) Nicki posts or (b) time rolls over at 14:49 EST. Niv and Zeim may have another post, but Pam and I are both out of compliance.
I think we can trust folks to keep an eye on their own number of posts - I'm just asking that people do so and not go "oh, it fits the convo right now" or "just one more won't hurt"
That's when it doesn't allow people to add in their ideas.
At least that's my two cents.
I'm probably not going to bring it up again unless someone else starts the discuss as was done this time - I've talked enough about it here, in the shoutbox and in pm; however, if I start feeling overposted and stepped on, I'll take the steps I deem necessary to not 1) restrict others from playing how they want to 2)feel like a hinderance 3) be put in stressful situations when it's a game and supposed to be fun
As for the PM's, I think if they are presumed to always be in the past, ex. a random time after dinner and before bed the night before the current action, and it's all discussion, then it won't really matter or affect the game.
Yah, I think what we're trying to do here is create... hmmm... an environment in which conversations happen in an unnatural way. And as long as my brain KNOWS that's what we're doing, I will do my best to fit into that mold.
Of course, there's this whole cognitive dissonance thing going on where on one hand we have polite, round-robin conversations, and on the other hand people are trying to kill us. Still working on reconciling those little issues. I'm considering therapy.
Just a note to everyone. Please don't ever wait on me to post. If you determine that I should post next or some such thing, please skip me. I'm around enough that if I didn't post it's because I didn't have anything to add or I figured that adding something might just restart a discussion when we were about to make a decision. Groups of this size can easily come to a halt with overly expressed opinions so I'm happy to keep Bekkah's opinion to herself.
The Reds stick together, and Geek Red could probably her hands on a Tel'tak to get us out of there, and a backup Al-Kesh to get rid of the evil town of Cragside. We could be in Talesan's Village in less than a quarter candlemark.
just a note ... if we get some actions either tonight or tomorrow ... those investigating things may be able to get back in order to report what they find for a late Saturday or sSunday longer-action post
we are coming up on the end of the week ... i would recommend reconvening as soon as possible and then post what you are going to do for the evening' entertainment by late night Friday, so I have real actions to respond to come the weekend.
I hate dangling threads, but we can call it good... assume we got what we came for, and you can post yourself back onto the main page. Daxia still has stuff to do and I'll post her in after a few more people are back in the commons.
I see sneaky-sneaky Kadri snuck in while no one was looking, so just waiting for a magical time jump (it has to be a magical time jump, of course, otherwise Super OCD Woman starts twitching; good thing magic is all over the Heartwood, eh?) and Mikal to show up in the commons. Daxia will show up just before dinner. She's a busy girl, you know. Busy, busy, busy.
The last line of my post is a gentle nudge, O Fellow Players, to chime in with your plan of action ("I'm gonna do this" or "Yeah, what she said" or whatever)... our Diabolical GM says if we do that, we will be blessed with the gift of the Rare Midweek Long Post!
Daxia is sick and tired of Cragside (though she really WOULD like to spend the winter with the Horde and Captain Koromov) and Super OCD Woman is running out of letters for Round 8. Let us be off! We shall wander a rutted dirt road (road... ha!) in the middle of the night with nothing but the stars to guide us! It shall be glorious fun, my friends!
Welcome Carol! Cesare (Ch-ez-are-ay) and Lia had a longish PM chat the previous evening but haven't spoken since so you might want to read up on that - either Wolf or I can supply.
Getting to know you, getting to know all about you. Getting to like you, getting to hope you like me. Getting to know you, putting it my way but nicely, You are precisely My cup of tea.
Getting to know you, getting to know all about you. Getting to like you, getting to hope you like me. Getting to know you, putting it my way but nicely, You are precisely My cup of tea.
Getting to know you, getting to feel free and easy When I am with you, getting to know what to say Haven't you noticed suddenly I'm bright and breezy? Because of all the beautiful and new things I'm learning about you Day by day.
Getting to know you, getting to feel free and easy When I am with you, getting to know what to say Haven't you noticed suddenly I'm bright and breezy? Because of all the beautiful and new things I'm learning about you Day by day.
WAnt to at least end up with PM conversations with CAmmellia and Bekka - Cesare, and any others who wish. She is not specifically approaching Celi, although would be amenable if Celi approaches her. Same with Mikal.
Cesare is behind Darian - depending on who runs the fastest! No need to adjust the map.
I don't know if it is clear to everyone - though I suspect so - but just in case, it should be obvious that Darian and Cesare are in the early stages of developing a relationship, together much of the time travelling, discretely sharing blankets at night though there is very little shown out in the open. It might be a friendship and a desire for extra warmth at night but the occasional hand holding in the evening would suggest more.
Thank goodness for that! But you are more insane than me. And since we established today that Mokie and I are equally insane, that makes you more insane than him, too.
Wolf, could we get an updated map of who is where in the glade... our group, the bad guys (both dead and alive), and the animals (Fern, Talia, Stormrunner, the girl's horse)?
Kadri, Longtooth and one bad guy are off the map in one direction (with Dean) and the *&%$#@!& mage is off the map in another direction.
I'm gonna smack you, Art. Shoes don't drop from the sky.
Ok, maybe if you throw them off tall buildings or they manage to fall out of an airplane or if one of those Pernese dragonriders doesn't lace up his or her boots very well. Random shoes falling out of the sky, though? Mmmmmm... nah.
I have a question or two as I am a little confused.. how does healing work? Wolf, you said a small heal could prevent a later better one - or at least that's what I think you said - but then I thought that Bekkah healed Cesare. So I'm a bit confused. Is Cesare healed? And should he try to last out in future so Bekkah can do the best job?
From what I understand Gypsy, they're the same, she just has much more of it. And it's also a matter of levels. If your arm was severed badly and blood was flowing out, you could use your healing to stop the bleeding but that's about it. If you didn't do it, Bekkah would have to do it anyways. Then you have infection and disease and other factors. She can handle that better as well with and without magic.
So the short answer is everything you can do helps, but you should probably always have Bekkah look at it just in case. And in the heat of a battle, she might heal you 'enough' but we should still look at it again when we have more time for the disease/infection part.
Can we clean up the Incident upon the Brementown Road thread? Bekkah's last post is good (02-29-2012 07:36 EST), Dean's last post is good (02-29-2012 08:43 EST), Mikal's last post is good (02-29-2012 10:55 EST)... everything else needs to go. I can't figure out what the heck is going on.
Oh, and also, don't post arriving at camp until after Ividia and Gypsy post, ok? Ok!
Argh. Just trying to get things moving instead of having it take twelve days real time to get there. Not going to be on much tomorrow. I'll delete it. . but it might be a while to reporting then. . .]\
I have removed all my OOC posts from the RP thread, but am putting this one back over here, since it explains why IC posts need to be moved.
OOC
Ok, maybe it isn't clear, so here's the synopsis:
Daxia is staying in the glade; it is required for her to stay until the fire is out. (YES! HOURS! Except that we don't know about "hours," but... whatever.)
Apparently, Bekkah and Dean have decided to stay as well.
Kadri has gone to the camp, though it's not clear how she found it as only Mikal knows where it is, and we have yet to hear from Mikal regarding his actions after performing his ritual for the Jvrillians, or even how long the ritual takes.
Since Kadri and Celi are having a conversation, I suppose Celi would accompany Kadri while continuing the conversation.
I am assuming ghostly Camelia and NPC Romana are going to the camp as well... because, hey, easier that way.
[Mikal's last post herds everyone over to the camp so, yay. No more worries about THAT.]
Also, her name is Daxia, not Dax. Not ever Dax. Dazi to some, and she often refers to herself as Dazi. That's because the 'x' is pronounced as a 'z'. Dax would only make sense to people like Wolf, who have been mispronouncing her name for 14 years. Dah-ZEE-ah... NOT DAKS-ee-ah.
See the second of Wolf's posts in the Incident upon the Brementown Road thread. The party spent the night at the tavern. A thread was requested (by Pam?) so we'd have a place to chat and backfill. The stop at the tavern was on 6 Crown of Ice; the fight in the glade is on 12 Crown of Ice.
Move to the campsite happens after Daxia starts her ritual, after Mikal covers the mercenaries' bodies with their armor, but before he carves the runes on the stones.
(Also, your post of 02-29-2012 09:58 EST should be removed. Thanks.)
OOC Note: At the moment there is very little that needs responding to; the move from the glade to the night's camp can be one at your own pace and order since it seems everyone is picking their own time to walk that little bit further to the southwest.
At this point the group needs to decide what they want to do; where they wish to go to next. There are many options:
Move farther down the trail - west is Bordertown, Highside Heather and Talesan's Village. South is the upper portion of Tarn, skating along the Forest of Roth towards Corliss. This is where Bekkah spent the last few years. North is the road to Trundle.
Most folks seem to want to go to Talesan's Village, but that's your choice.
Where to stop next? Some folks have reasons to stop at Bordertown, others could benefit from stopping there, others may not wish to tarry there.
Are there things that need to be resolved before the next town or interruption? Do you need to talk to each other, to your wards, and if so when and how.
These are all your choices ... but to do a GMs Action Post the GM needs actions from the characters to respond to.
If no direction is forthcoming the next post will be along the lines of "after many days travel ..." to the next locale on the way to Talesan's - the only previously posted destination - that is a logical and natural node of activity.
it was out of sequence...plus, folks just decided to show up at camp and not acknowledge the PCs that are already there which might result in becoming a pincushion
Also Nicki moved Daxia to the camp hours before she would have been there. Out of sequence... venial sin. Showing up and not acknowledging people already there... venial sin + pincushion. Moving another player character without permission... mortal sin.
Although it certainly would have led to some interesting interactions...
"Huh. Darian shoot Celi. Celi naughty again? Dazi tell her behave." Daxia shrugged and called Bekkah over. "You fix?" she asked, pointing to the dead Celi lying on the ground with an arrow sticking out of her chest.
Ayup. Good thing we have a Priestess of Attera in our party! But Wolf is right about it prompting interaction between the players. Seeing all the reactions would be most interesting and good role playing! How would the cat react to Celi being shot? How would Celi feel after being raised from the dead? How would the rest of the party feel about Darian shooting Celi? Would anyone EVER sneak up on the Hunter again? (Duh. No.)
Pam and I have been in PM setting up the camp, beats having nothing to do - and nice for cementing relationships! However I think it would be in all our interests to move forward to an IC discussion about where we are going.
So if folks are happy with that idea, we can assume everyone is fed with a tasty coney & roots stew and there is enough left for those who come after.
Some time estimate from the GM of when that happens GM might be useful?
Cesare will, under instruction, look after Kadri's horse.
OK. If so then yes. 4 (Dazi, Mikal, Bekkah, Dean) stay at glade, everyone else goes to campsite. Several hours later remaining 4 arrive, after announcing themselves LOUDLY.
Just a quick question - is Carol still playing Camelia? Haven't seen her around lately. There is a tie in between our characters and I would welcome a chat with her.
I did not kill the Evil DBA. However, henceforth every person who dies by my characters' hands will be known as Yung Shen. And I will create elaborate fantasies about the multitude of ways he could die.
I worked for 10 hours today without a break (wait! I did get two potty breaks!), but got the information the user needed. I praised the support people at CollegeNet; I did not throw the DBA under the bus. The Dean of the School of Liberal Arts said he appreciated the extra effort I made in getting the classes scheduled. That made me feel a little better. My boss and the CIO have been very supportive through this entire fiasco. But I am drained.
I hope the next three months are as dull and boring as Nivek's job. Oh, I know they won't be, because that darn Mokie wants me to recreate his evil SGRG36 report (better that you not know; your brain could melt)... but that might actually turn out to be fun, especially since this time around I actually know what the report is supposed to do. Ah, what a difference 4-1/2 years make!
I rarely do this, but for better or worse I need to write a bit.
I have spent the last few days de-stressing because I've dreading logging on to see what new disaster was awaiting me here.
Despite the serious flavor of a realistic world this is a game, this is a light entertainment and should always remain such.
My approach to posts is actually very simple. I believe that everyone, with each post is trying to do their best to create enjoyable play for not just themselves but everyone in the group. That no one is trying to make things bad for anyone else.
When it does happen, and it has, I do and have stepped in, and firmly. I do not like doing so.
Only in one case has it ended badly. In all the other cases I believe the folks involved deserve kudos for working through it and moving on.
I also attempt to take a constructive approach to everyone's post. No one is perfect - especially not me - and the linear nature of message based posting cannot mimic the organic nature of occurrences in the real world.
Hiccups will occur.
When it happens I endeavor to find the constructive resolution, not destructive. The default response should not be "delete the post" - that is something only done as a last resort ... the better approach is to say "okay, this is a hiccup, how can we make this work the way it should, the way its meant to, without causing havoc and ill feelings?"
No one likes deleting a post. The quickest way to ensure I don't come back to a thread for a few days or weeks is to make me do it.
Out of sequence is no a reason to delete a post; it can just be ignored until its time comes up - but ignored is a bad word. Perhaps a better way is to let the post stay inactive until he flow of events allows it to become active. If the flow of events end up never allowing the circumstances for the post to occur ... we just deal with it, without prejudice. It becomes just one of those things.
Internal dialogue is fine, just be careful about internalizing issues that prohibit the other player's ability to respond.
All of the stress that's arisen lately could have been solved by a touch of patience and compassion.
I've said this before in other venues, but I am a big believer in the "Big Raft" philosophy.
A long time ago there was a split in Buddhist thinking. Many schools adopted a monastic, introspective approach to enlightenment;meditation was an individual path undertaken in the separate environment of a monastery. While a very valid approach, they became known as the "Little Raft" schools ... every person is drifting on the sea of life upon their own little raft.
The "Big Raft" schools acknowledge that we live in communities, we are not alone, and the attainment of enlightenment cannot be an individual task - one can only reach enlightenment as one helps their neighbors also better their lives. We have to deal with one another. Compassion - looking out for those about you. This we are all on one Big Raft upon the sea of life; we cannot succeed unless everyone on the raft also succeeds.
Roleplaying games are very much like this. Remember, the one OOC rule I ask players is that they need to find a way to make the party work.
If a game like this is to succeed, it takes everyone working together to make it so.
Unless I hear differently from folks either tonight or Saturday, on Sunday we will be moving forward down the trail, in a general westerly direction ... stopping at the next locale where interesting things are occurring.
You don't have to do this; you can chose to stay, decide on a new destination ... but if so, we need to know.
OK. I am about as confused as I can be. Tried following along for a while, but am lost now. Got the concept of the Thousand Towers and that once a single Prince gets enough power he invades the Heartwood, and that Romana was to be sacrificed to a demon for a Prince to gain more power. After that I have no clue what is going on.
...and Camelia's mother went to the Thousand Towers to rescue Romana; they got separated, Romana is here, not sure where Madoka is, but for the moment, the Heartwood is safe from invasion from the East. And we should probably make sure Romana stays safe. Her father is ... um ... well, probably worse than a Honey badger.
This was all in the Introduction thread. Mikal was swapping tales with the Horde guys while Daxia, Camelia, Cesare and Dandelion were chatting over by the hearth. Daxia had asked how she came to use the phrase just buying time, as it is a distinctly Dayalan phrase.
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"You should know that I did not believe my mother used that phrase casually, to describe something as you did. It was not just a concept to her. She was speaking about something in particular. A purpose, a task... Something that happened once and a commitment to 'defend' from then on, one that was hereditary... No Dayalans left in Trundle, and it became the duty of those who came after, to be the ones to keep this promise, this commitment... One that I would have to take up when it was my time... They stole something from a place called the Thousand Towers, and lost it to them again, and all of that came at a cost... Mother would have to pay soon she said, and then it would be my turn. I suppose my whole life has been to make me ready for the day I would have to face the Thousand Towers and buy time."
Can you please STOP removing yourself from your HWD: Character Name threads? These are the threads where I send folks private information and things only your character would know about.
[ooc: please note regarding the last post from the Bremenown Road thread, that Celi did *not* touch Romana.
NO TICKLING.
Instead, as noted, she blew in her ear. Anticipation of the response to being touched was in fact the very reason Celi did NOT do that.
So, however she reacted to being awakened by a puff in the ear, that should have been the response we actually got. If it would have been the same -- in other words, it was a lose-lose situation (assuming Celi could not reprogram the Kobayashi Maru) -- that's cool. But I didn't want to suffer abuse for an action I did not take.
I told this story once, but it reminds me of a talk I had on my wilderness backpacking/mountain-climbing trip with one of my 15 year old scouts. We were sitting around eating a quick breakfast while packing up the campsite and he was talking about his last vacation where he and his family had gone to the Bahamas. He mentioned his mom buying sandals on the beach, and I innocently asked him if he liked his mom's thongs. He gave me the oddest look, until I realized what he thought I meant.
Darian and Cesare - Could I have a bit more of a clue what you mean by "explore the town?". It's hard to figure out how to respond with out a little bit more of input. This could be as something as simple as "we walk from this gate to that gate" or "We look for a place to have lunch" or we look for the biggest building" ... anything that at least gives some hint of a possible direction you wish to take.
Celi - your post is one of those that can become a bit problematic.
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So, when she went to the well and took a sniff, it wasn't an altogether hopeless task.
This is good. For when you get to the well. The problem is it's for when you get to the well ... you never actually said you are going to the well or when you are going to the well.
In both cases I prefer not moving player characters here and there on my own, especially since you folks often go places I don't expect!
What? You've never wandered about a town? Not even being touristy, just looking at new stuff. We were at the market doing what was needed then had no more pressing business or people to see. It's a bit late in the day to start on a hunt.
Nope. Wolf isn't the wandering-the-town, touristy type. Nope, not him. Driven and full of purpose! Ahhh. No. Well, I think we did do some touristy things that one time we went out to Seattle, but... hmmm... yeah, I think it was just that once. In the entire time I've known him.
And... sowwy. Won't ever, ever, ever, ever, EVER do it agains. We promises.
Well, I suppose that would explain why I go on vacation by myself. I'm pretty sure just sitting around my brother's family room doing almost nothing would drive him bat sh*! crazy. Me? I AM doing something... I'm having fun teasing my brother, chatting with my sister-in-law, catching up on what the niece and nephew have been doing (my niece is in Africa at the moment), and what all our mutual friends have been up to... which kinda looks like doing nothing from the outside.
Me and Chesty love to wander about aimlessly when we go to new places, soak up the feel and the atmosphere.
I can understand that; all I'm asking is that you throw me a little bone here ...
As I said, it doesn't have to be much ... just any little hint to the direction you'd wander in ... you may not even make it there, but just some hint that will let me say "oh ... if you go that way you'll find this ... if you go this way you'll find that ... walking down this street you would meet this person ... wandering past the well at this time of day you'll see this ..."
well, actually, they did agree between themselves to look for alternate ways out of the city should the need arise, so I think it wuld be natural for them to head in the opposite direction of the gate they came in at...was that through an eastern facing gate? then west
FYI... it's registration time for our marvelous students, which I'm sure is a lot of fun for them, but not so much fun for Mokie. Busy, busy, busy!! He'll be back when the really weird registration-related problems stop.
I seem to be holding everything up, as Daxia has been presented with a moral and ethical dilemma, and it may take me several days to determine her appropriate course of action.
My apologies. But as I told Wolf earlier, I'm not going to post until I'm certain I'm posting with integrity... both my own and that of my character.
Cesare, Darian & Longtooth are on their way to Daxia and the others. Appreciate it if either GM or the group give us an intro so we are not buttng in ahead of our time. Thanks!
Sorry, Niv... my drugs don't work that way. I'm already having to deal with a world without INDOOR PLUBMING and energy weapons. You want me to be happy about temporal anomalies, too? Nooo. No, there's only so much madness I can take before my head explodes and then there's gray matter all over the place, and who's going to clean THAT up, huh? Nobody, that's who. So when I come back to life as a Zombie, I'll be a terribly annoyed Zombie. And I'll come looking for you, Niv. Well, after I take care of Wolf and Mooch for not cleaning up the mess.
OOC yes, I did fall behind a bit because of work ... apologies
I have actions from Mikal (return to Kara), Bekkah (asked celi to walk with her) and Dazi (bring Brother Random his meal)
I need actions from everyone else ... what are you folks doing? Are you joining Daxia ... remembering that Daxia does have everyone's meal ... or doing something else
If Celi and Bekkah go off together and not into the tower pursuing lunch, I'll need an action from both unless you just wish to talk between each other!
"Daxia does have everyone's meal" only because you are saying so OOC.
<grumble>
But that's fine. I'm sure Brother Random will be delighted to have six or eight people and a huge dog wandering around his tower. He's obviously a very lonely guy. We're sure to be the highlight of his entire year. Perhaps even his entire life. Yay us.
Yes, I saw him this afternoon in our conference room. He looked catatonic. I can't imagine what the meeting was about, but I'm glad I wasn't part of it.
I virtually kicked his shins. Perhaps I should hunt him down on my lunch hour tomorrow.
You are attempting to create a temporal anomaly; had you actually all come up to the well, you would have been doing something the GM said did not happen.
Although the issue is probably moot at this point.
Apparently my exorcist took longer than expected. Else Mikal would be at the barracks. Need to go back there tomorrow.
Besides, why would he have gone to the well? There was nothing there to interest him. He cares little for libraries, and less than little for Acolytes of Hastur.
I don't think there's any message to be delivered. If Mikal didn't have a reason to go up to the ruins before, I don't see what reason he has to go now. But, you know, that's just me trying to have things make sense, and no good ever comes from that.
With the weekend's posting we had several clear actions:
1. Darian and Cesare returning to the Dragonstooth.
2. Bekkah and Celi going to the Guildhouse.
3. Mikal returning to the Guildhouse (but interrupted by the scene at the tavern.
4. Daxia and Kadri investigating at the well.
The weekend post moved time forward for all folks so everyone (but the interrupted Mikal) could do what they wished - in fact folks seemed pretty determined to do their own things back in town. Even with the interruption Mikal has noted he has little reason to leave the town, so alls good with him, too.
Thus any action beyond going to the Dragonstooth or the Guildhouse must fit the overall time frame.
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... until the sun set, dinner and rest called and the Town shut its gates for the night.
Can you still go to the ruins? Yes - the only complication is that it is night and you need to deal with shut gates and the town guard.
Well Bekkah and Celi were heading back to the Inn. Just need to know if we're the first ones there or others are there and we'll keep merrily posting along
If the guildhouse is open and Mikal can take care of talking with the weaponsmith and swordpriest and leaving the sword to be worked on he'd want to do that to get it out of the way. That was my original intent. I had thought you told me it was too late for that today.
If it makes things easier.. the warning can wait until the morning.
I'd like to raise one isse here just for the future so we know what to do - though of course we could have this conversation in character. A number of our group elected to stay in the ruins overnight. Cesare has no problem with folks doing just what they want, especially if they aren't harming anyone! However, what if one or two of the group had been kidnapped? At what point should we be checking or getting concerned? The only reason (possibly apart from Bekkah & Celi telling us otherwise ) we are not worried is that we can all see from the thread that our companions are fine.
I'd figure most folks wouldn't start to worry until missing people didn't show up for dinner, as everyone was off doing their own thing during the day. However, concern might set in for some if one of those missing people is Romana, especially if any sort of delicious pastries are involved... and most especially if Romana, lover of soft feathery beds, is still MIA when the gates are closed.
Mikal MIGHT get concerned -- or he might not -- if his boss didn't show up before the gates were closed for the night.
I'm with Gypsy. Dealing with it in character is fine. Bekkah had no idea they were staying all night so once she gets back to the inn and realizes they aren't there then she'd probably risk going outside to find them especially after the lecture the night before about going out after dark.
So as soon as she gets to the inn and finds nobody and it's well after dark, then off she goes.
ooc note: For those of you heading out of the Dragonstooth (Mikal ... Longtooth ... and maybe Darian? It's a bit hazy) I need to know what you are trying to do, and hat you will do when you get to the gate.
Had assumed it was just Mikal with Longtooth for company and Darian and Cesare were spending time together relaxing.
What he plans to do at the gate depends on his past experience. Will they let him in and out if they know him or is it that once the gate is locked, it is never re-opened until the morning? In the latter case, does he know any good spots where he can climb in and out of the city, or is his only option negotiating with the gate guard?
Bordertown is no Cragside; where Cragside is the center of the Marrennen cult, Bordertown is the center of the Jvrillians.
Thus the gates are shut at dusk and normally do not open until dawn. The wall has a regular patrol and there are no places where one can climb out ... because that would also be a place here one can climb in.
On the downside, this means you will have to negotiate.
On the upside, Michael's Dark Mark is in Cragside which means the remaining two troops - Mohlkavin's and Donnors tend to be reasonable.
Kind of have outstanding conversations going with both Daxia and Kadri at the moment, so in the spirit of trying to keep things clean, even though the chained women have addressed him I'd like to let Kadri and Daxia reply first before posting.
Bekkah could take care of Kadri's shoulder, unless previous healing done by Mikal doesn't let her do that. She doesn't like to complain, that brave little Kadri of ours, but her shoulder probably hurts a lot.
- Cart (with or without a horse) - a few hundred feet of the thickest rope we can get - a few barrels of lard or axle grease - bolts, arrows, and throwing daggers
As long as you buy small, reasonable items, you don't have to worry for spending coin.
Reasonable would cover the arrows, knives and such requested by Cesare and Darian; basically items for keeping yourself "normally" equipped. 15-45 feet of rope. Four gallons of lard - four crockery pots (each about the size of a a paint can) worth.
The moment you cross into "large scale" purchases - a cask, a barrel of lard, a wagon, a mule/horse, 100 feet of rope you are into needing to worry about coin.
Now Fengel can get you the small containers of lard (which doesn't cover all that well) and if you remember right you got a better price on rope in the market. However, 100 feet of rope will basically wipe out all of Mikal's money.
And no ... you can't add the "free" materials atop a larger purchase
does each person carry personal equipment that includes rope that we can add to the 45 feet, or was that what you meant about not adding free stuff?
45 feet is probably enough to make a few noose traps but nowhere near enough to weave between the pillars to make a web that blocks the central part of the stairs. Perhaps we'd have enough to also make a trip line or two to slow the lizards down, but we'd not be able to block it off as I'd envisioned.
I would have guessed 250-500 feet minimum for that (I work with rope a lot in my Scouting career).
(Imagine a Fire and Brimstone type of preacher here, except dressed like Frank-N-Furter from The Rocky Horror Picture Show... bold are song titles from our upcoming concert, italics are lyrics, underline are from our standard repertoire folder.)
Friends, we are gathered here today to worship in the House of Music, gathered to sing praise to the Lord of Song, the Lady of the Lyrics, the Right Hand of Rhythm, and the Holy Meter of each and every Measure. As I stand before your motley presence, I see many tired faces, many lazy limbs and dyspeptic diaphragms. But I want you know I have been there. Been with you through the fermatas and the rests, the crescendos and mezzo pianos, wading through the Daba-Dabas and the syncopations...
For although we know that Soon It’s Gonna Rain, you know that I Believe In the Sun! Hallelujah, Brothers and Sisters!
And just Because there are Frozen Waters that the Almighty has seen fit to Blow Blow Thou Winter Wind upon, we will never forget that glorious Sleigh Ride to heaven that awaits! Can I get an Amen?
Even when it’s Raining in My Heart, and I fear I may face the final Rastose Libre of the Heatwave below, I Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man of Mine! You know his name! He’s gotcha Walkin’ On Sunshine! I feel alive! I feel the love, I feel the love that’s really real!Hallelujah!
So if you’re feeling low on some Starry Starry Night, always remember that Once In a Rainbow there’s a Zippity-A-Dee-Doo-Dah chance that it will still be a Beautiful Day! Amen! I said Amen!
I am away now until the middle of next week. Cesare will work towards the preparation and then take his place in the fight, electing not to take a front row position but ideally to using throwing daggers from side or second line.
More pics in the gallery... includes two views of blockade and platform, and pic of who is where.
NOTES: The blockade consists of rope looped around all four pillars with wood, blankets and anything else the shoppers thought to bring or the gatherers gathered. The height of the blockade is approximately 7 to 8 feet.
The platform consists of rope stretched tightly between pillars and chains hanging from walls and ceiling; on top of the ropes is Darian's tarp. The platform is approximately 8 to 10 feet off the floor.
GMs notes: Hits and misses were rolled normally; a miss was a normal miss - the descriptions were embellished to provide a possible reason for the miss. No negative modifiers were applied during the actual roles. Dean and the second rank folks had limited opportunity to fight the first two rounds, thus they were not ignored - its only now, with the next set of combat rounds will they have a change to engage. The fight was paused here, with the leap of a beast past Daxia, to allow the second rank folks a chance to change their actions in order to react to the intrusion.
Thus Cesare, Bekkah and Kadri had no specific actions because the fight has just got to them. I had no instructions for Celi's actions.
Unhappily, most of the beasts did very well on their dex roles. We'll see if their luck holds for the second wave.
And for those unfamiliar with combat terms, "rank" in this case has nothing to do with quality or importance ... it is simply one's position in a battle line. Front line is first rank, the line behind that the second rank, etc. The first three ranks tended to work as a team, with the back ranks being able to attack over the front ranks and out of reach of the attackers.
And yes, having been in a bridge battle myself, necking down the front can create a grind-fest ... leaving you to stand and watch for a bit. On a good day you don't fight. On a bad day you suddenly find yourself the new first rank.
And no, things may not be as bad as you think. The beasts are still moving, but you don't know how badly they may be hurt. You folks are still whole .. they may be barely hurt ... or they may be barely alive
And faltered does not mean failed; you still have Tashka's light.
I also thought it would be interesting to give you a glimpse into Bordertown politics, and how events in one part of the world can have a drastic effect on what happens on another.
Such as bamboozling the Mark, preventing their early return to Bordertown.
Edited because somehow a very important "no" was left out.
Gyspy and by extension Cesare is not due back until tomorrow. Admittedly tomorrow reaches her much earlier than the rest of us, but to give her time to reply....
The next round of "Dances with Beasts" will be put together after Gypsy posts. Dean is still out of town but left instructions for his character.
While most of you folks have already responded, if you haven't you have until Gypsy replies (which is more than fair, its already been 24 hours since the opening rounds occurred).
If I have no actions from you ...then your character will have no actions ... which could result in serious consequences.
MID-MELEE NOTE 2: Again, positions and health of lizards and revised positions of players. Arrows indicate path of travel; i.e., through Cesare and Romana to the delicious healers and Amberite in the corner. Dean is, at the moment, doing yoga, as is one of the beasts (light green). One beast knocked itself senseless (light blue). One beast is dead (red), two are twitching and nearly dead (orange). Two are perfectly healthy (dark green) and on the move. One is wounded (purple). One is slightly wounded (dark blue) and just ate part of Dazi's shield (Dazi is pissed about that).
ooc note: Remember the big balance in The Heartwood isn't Good versus Evil ... its Law versus Chaos. That said, Celi now falls under the category of "Touched by Chaos".
Also remember, it was stated that even the beastmasters get so twisted the East has to put them down.
Just want to point out that Cesare and Mikal will find it difficult to be talking to Daxia since Daxia is having a conversation with Linette and Tashka.
However, once she's finished there, she'll be happy to talk about what to do next.
No worries, no problems! My poor old brain that still sometimes thinks it's young just has a hard time wrapping itself around the idea of having two separate conversations going on in the same place at the same time. Especially when it's the same person having the two conversations.
Originally I had thought that we were doing something else entirely before that. Really though, wasn't anything specific for her to do anyhow. No spells to be renewed et al. Ah well.
I figured Shattersword would follow or Shattersword would not follow... and we'd find out which it was the next time Wolf posted for all of us. <shrug>
Come... bring Camelia and Cesare and Food. BEKKAH! DEAN! Get over here! (I may have to go kick Mokie's shins.)
And Romana is Romana is Romana... she'll show up when she shows up.
I'll try to word the post vaguely. I didn't actually expect him to follow right now, just to show up at dusk. Was just looking for a nod, or in case he said anything to offer a reply. No big deal.
Yeah, suspected it might. Thought Donner would pick it up, though. He is pretty sharp. If he wanted to get rid of the Old Jvrillian it was a perfect opening for him. He might even have been somewhat mollified towards Mikal by the gesture.
I will be heading out to teach a Wilderness Survival course. Leaving Sat morning 7/14 and not returning until 7/22. A small chance for me to have access on Wed, 7/18, but that is likely it during that time.
As my last attempt to move the game forward was not well received, I am just waiting for the current conversation to finish out and clear direction from you folks as to your next actions and desire to move on.
As for next actions I have a general post from Kadri and Darian as to what they have planned for tonight. I have a general idea of what Daxia wishes to do tonight, however, her only current action is to take a bath. If these were cleaned up and made into definitive action post, either public or private, it would help make the next GM post be something more than equally vague.
Yes, as pointed out by Mikal and on the tower's posted illustration, it does have a crenelated platform at the top.
Cesare is still conversing and I have not had any clear direction concerning Bekkah or Dean (well except that Dean follows Bekkah). We are also waiting on Mikal.
Once we have what you want to do next clearly posted from each of you I'll be able to post again.
Not sure, was trying to figure out what options could reach them. One would be knife throwing, but some things I can't really plan without at least a rough ballpark distance ...
the problem with knife throwing is that these are heavily armored foes ... you may hit but you have to impale or critical hit to get through it.
The tower is about fifty feet tall to the crenelations ...
two of the outriders - mikal's and the one with two arrow hits ... are near the tower base ... the avatar and daxia's are about ten to fifteen feet away and the two other outriders - dean's and the crossbowman ... are about ten feet further away ....
Way back when, I mentioned several times picking up some pepper, hot pepper, or some other powdered irritant ... Can I presume I have actually done so in the interim?
To clarify; the intent of the post was to tie up the loose ends of "things we have to do tasks" which, in general, were very simple and straight forward.
Now we can move on to "things we think would be neat to do" ... at least that is my hope, especially since Midwinters is coming up.
And yes, the time is "approaching Noon." When I post from work it's a very rapid between sandwich bites kind of thing.
thus:
Cesare and Darion - arrow shafts and arrowheads taken care of. Mikal - has a new sword and knows where the gambling house is. Daxia - morning prayers and gather stuff for Lady Kay done. A new saddle, not done, but I'm still trying to decide ofn Morning Star's tastes. Bekkah and Dean - the tasks at the Hospice are done so you can return to the town and join your friends! be social, interact, create even more rumors! Camelia - probably asleep. Kadri and Romana - invcestigating the letter; but we need Kadri to say how she is going to try doing this. That and deal with the nice compliments.
There's also interesting gossip, as you should have read.
I think the coin in Daxia's pouch will have as much or more bearing on the saddle purchase as His Magnificence's tastes. I have a plethora of questions regarding said saddle, which I will discuss at some point when I once gain become sane. Ish.
As far as I am aware Cesare had 50 crowns - and has probably spent a fair bit of that. I know things have been found along the way but I don't know if anything has sold or any monies handed out. So my guess is that he cannot afford the crossbow on offer by a long way. Just need confirmation before I post.
gahs! I apologize ... I've been trying to get everyone to the same place on their individual storylines and was hoping to write the big scene oer the long weekend!
Except after a 60 hour week I accidentally let a question slip through the cracks ...
As soon as a post is put together after that we can move on, I hope!
FUn while it lasted, I guess. But if Daxia drops, I guess I'll end up dropping Kadri as well, because it would no longer make sense to have her in there.
no jumping the gun ... i haven't even got home from work yet
especially considering that yesterday Kelly was discussing all the possible things that the Company could be doing next - and one of them intrigued her quite a bit.
oh. and she is right about one thing. I'm the only one who can push Kay around.
hey... as an ex player(and no right to speak on that account) but more importantly as a GM... Before anyone does anything rash, let the GM read everything and try to work it out so that HIS game maintains continuity for those that need and maybe find a way to do what others ask. I lurk a little. While my style wasn't a good match for this game, it doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the world and the story.
Give mike a chance before anyone quits... and others follow... and still others feel offended... Let the GM sort it out... he is the most high expert on his own world.
Hate to see a game unravel over what might just be a communication gap or a misread or something similarly innocuous.
This game is enough of a mind [insert f-bomb here] when I just have Wolf writing things that are inscrutable and take hours or days to parse, and even then I guess his meaning wrong a third of the time.
Super OCD Woman is more OCD and more fragile since my life went to fecal matter in a container woven from straw. Has anyone heard of that alleged quality called patience? I used to have some. Now my reserves of it are so low that I’m using every ounce of it to keep from incurring assault charges at work. While my new Bose noise cancelling headphones are fantastic, I [insert f-bomb here]-ing resent like Hades the fact that I was forced to spend $300 so that I don’t have to listen to a [insert extremely horrible word here that begins with ‘c’ and rhymes with punt] of a coworker spend the majority of the work day on personal phone calls talking about (among other things) the indignities and injustices the world is heaping upon her FOUR VERY MUCH ALIVE DAUGHTERS’ shoulders.
This is me whenever I see or hear the witch:
I apologize for my a$$holery here, but if this “game” is going to turn into a free-for-all where people do whatever strikes their fancy with no regard for the integrity of the story, the “reality” of the world Wolf has created, or Newtonian physics, then I’m going to need to step out.
I love the character I play here. I do not necessary love the position she’s been forced into, but I do love Dazi. I would definitely cry if I couldn’t write about her anymore. But my tenuous grasp on sanity is more important that one character. Thanks to Pam, I have more ideas than I know what to do with for Andrea in BTS... thanks to all the players in ECL, I have SO MANY fun, scary and serious ideas for all of us on the Eclipse. Between those two forums, I have plenty to write; I don’t NEED to write for Dazi. I just WANT to write for Dazi.
Things are happening here in this scene that don’t make sense. The only one making any sense is Dean... because Mokie hasn’t posted and I can just assume Dean is being his big ol’ puppy dog self and doing amusing Dean things.
Granted, I’m sure it’s my own fault for having Dazi say “Eat...” to Kay, Kadri, Darian and Cesare instead of saying “Eat... that’s an order.” Not that THAT would have changed anything, I suppose. But Kadri should be with Darian, Cesare, Longtooth and Kay in the inn. Kadri is a free agent, yes. So Kadri can do whatever Kadri wants to do. Teleporting from the inn to the edge of the ravine is NOT one of the things Kadri should be able to do, and that made me twitch. Then scream, because it’s the second time Kadri’s done that.
I’m not going to ascribe motivations to an NPC, but I am going to go with logic. Kay is still not 100% healed, and a superior — and only person she even vaguely thinks she knows — told her to eat breakfast. Twice. I’m only thinking from Dazi’s point of view as a Dayalan, but if Dazi was an Initiate and a Starrider told her to stay put... she’d stick. And do exactly what her Sister told her to do, ESPECIALLY if she was freaked out every which way including loose.
So unless and until WOLF says Kay has wandered out of the inn to see what’s going on, Kay is NOT OUTSIDE.
I’m frustrated. I’m angry. And yeah, maybe I’m being a control freak. But I’ve never been very good at dealing with things that don’t make sense.
I’m much, MUCH less good at deal with things that don’t make sense than I’ve ever been in my life, because I don't like my life... I don't like where I'm living... because Hell is an awful place to live.
I have things to do now IRL. I will be thinking about how to gracefully remove Dazi from the game.
As to the second, No problem at all> As to the third ... I don't know about everyone else, but I think that Kadri more or less would prefer to be at a distance from this place as soon as is reasonably plausible.,
As I said last night, Daxia would listen to Kay’s comments while chatting with her, but after standing up, would suggest they continue their conversation on the road. She would then assist in Romana’s rescue, attaching the lovely cap to the end of the rope before dropping it down so Romana could tuck her white tresses away.
Logic dictates staying at the inn, otherwise we’ll be leap frogging over every inn and farmhouse and spare barn from here to Talantal. Or the next day... or the day after... will wind up be a short day to get back on the “there’s someplace to stay at the end of every day” routine. Oh... unless places to stay become more frequent and plentiful as one gets closer to Talantal. But Dazi wouldn’t know that. Someone else in the party might know that... but Dazi wouldn’t. So Dazi would prefer staying at the next tavern.
Well, on the other hand, I foresee a plethora of problems... however, not being clairvoyant, Dazi would still opt for the tavern, with the proviso that saying, in effect, “Well, on second thought, let’s not go to Camelot — it is a silly place,” is an option when arriving at said tavern and assessing the situation there.
So... I’m confused, but that’s nothing new around these parts. The first GM post of A City of Five Rings didn’t make it clear — at least in my reading of it — that the group was holding up traffic by standing in the middle of an intersection. I, perhaps erroneously, read the post as there being three (well four, if you count turning around the way they came) roads from which to choose and that we ought to choose one at some point. I was making (an apparently incorrect) assumption that we — like normal people who’d stop to make a decision — would move off to the side of the road. Not being a native New Yorker, this seemed a reasonable assumption at the time.
However, from the second GM post, I’m getting the impression that the intersection is less roomy that our driveway (which, granted, is fairly room... but perhaps not for ten people, five horses, a unicorn and a snarkhound... you know, I’m just going to amend that to our considerably smaller driveway in Niskayuna). My bad. (Although I don’t think I can truly be faulted for believing there’d be room enough for the party to step to the side, seeing as Talantal is the most glorious of places on the mainland. (Dazi... Romana... stop snickering.)
It would appear that the default position, if one does not make an explicit decision — as has happened with the group — is to stand in line to enter the gates of Talantal, though I’ll grant I may be misreading that, too.
So, again, I think we need a map! A sketch of what’s where... who’s where... all that jazzy jazz. (No jazz hands, please... we’re saving that for the concert, unless I can talk Vinny out of it.)
In the meantime, I have this dilemma of trying to figure out how to incorporate the things I have written for a post with not only the conversation Mikal and Cesare had, but this new and confusing information from the GM, and coming up with a post that makes sense. Writing rambling OOC posts are fine when my brain is mushy and becoming infused with delightful pain-eradicating medication, but actual posts really should be cogent... and can’t be written while mush-brained or drug-infused.
Also? My Muse does not want to talk to me about this. Some days I hate my Muse. Corralling my Muse is like network administration which is like herding cats. I’m sure some of you can appreciate my frustration.
Anyway. A sketch? Yes. That would help. Well, no, I take that back. A sketch TO SCALE would help.
Have to agree with you, Kel. I did not understand the reference to Talantal later on as from the initial post I had thought we were still some distance off, near an intersection on a dusty road, having just passed a small village built into a cliff face, with the spires of Grand Talantal off in the far distance. The reference to the Gates confused me completely. In fact the summarized options likewise leaves me scratching my head as I don't see how they relate to our choice of route.
All that said, I have no issues entering the city and finding a nice inn to drink in while we discuss our options in more comfort.
Well, yes. And no. The exchange may have started off softly, but then...
"I am not sure you understand the scope of what you offer," he says, voice carrying to any who care to listen.
If we’re as close together and in as congested a place as the GM seems to have implied in the second post, we all would have heard everything Mikal and Cesare said (and so would half the people milling about, come to think of it). Even with my original assumption that we were a bit more spread out and off to the side of the road, so to speak, “any who care to listen” means that any of us could have heard the conversation... or at least Mikal’s part of it. Being the pseudo leader of this band of merry misfits, Dazi would be concerned enough about Mikal to have been one of those who cared to listen. Heck, even if Dazi wasn’t pretending to be the leader of the pack, she’d be concerned about her friend Mikal.
So, yeah. Not so much help there.
I do have a niggling idea in the back of my mind, but I can’t really tease it out until I know whether we’re milling about as I had originally envisioned things or if we're dancing cheek to cheek.
I therefore remain confused, and feel the current pulling my boat up fecal infested waters as my oar slips out of my hands.
And now there is a potential confrontation, unless the most recent comment has stemmed that tide. Good times! <For some reason chaos and disorder sound like a good idea to me right now>
You have a very bizarre definition of "good times," young man. Chaos is A VERY BAD THING on the Heartwood. The agents of Dayala will have to smite you if you become touched by Chaos. Alas, poor Jankin! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy. Dazi's not all that keen on killing folks... such an odd affectation for a warrior, but there you have it. And killing someone who's been part of the company for some number of weeks (or months... who knows? Likely, not even the Shadow, though Super OCD Woman could tell you, but I'm not going to ask her) doesn't rank at all on her list of fun things to do.
This potential confrontation is merely the most outward symptom of the violence (er, chaos) inherent in the system; it is another ingredient in the confusion that reigns here. Frankly, I don't understand the post at all... not the content nor the reason for its writing, though I did privately express my opinion to the GM. Five of the eight players had not yet had a chance to post, so in terms of the group standing around in the street, it could hardly have been but a few seconds. Not that they can tell time on the Heartwood, but how could more than a couple of minutes have passed? This adds yet another layer of confusion to my poor addled brain, a brain that is well known by now to be obsessive and compulsive about many things, but the primary -- in the sense of both original and most important -- thing that my poor beleaguered brain gets OCD about is TIME.
So, I'm just going to go do some work, and return HWD to the back burner. However, most of my brain is saying, "Do not go to Talantal. Unlike Camelot, it is not a silly place. It is a place of No Fun."
To clarify, Mikal DID intend that any of our group who were interested would hear his conversation (he wasn't shouting and didn't intend villagers walking past to hear). He'd mentioned ancillary details about it in passing often enough that he felt he might as well let most of the rest of it out, and, most importantly, the group was at a decision point and his personal history could have had a major impact on what happened if they made one specific decision.
well i did wait for two weeks ... and after that long I thought it would be wise to nudge things.
and im working 11-12 hour days and can only type this waiting for autocad to reboot, so it might take a bit to scan a sketch.
you are right before the city gates, close enough to see the livery of the guards (from the previous post) which is pretty close. the crossroads is near the gates of the first ring so it can be controlled from the battlements.
The reason the keep towers are "in the distance" is because Talantal is bloody huge; it's the London or Paris of the Heartwood - so yes, the towers rise in the distance, because you have to go through *five city rings* to get to them.
I was waiting on Kelly, who told me she had a post started. However you don't have to wait for her ... conversations are organic things and there were several conversation hooks in my last post - hints and clues of at least three different newsworthy tales.
You can talk where you wish - at the keep, at Mikal's barn.
The barn you may consider a "safe" place. Unless you go looking for folks no one's going to really care if a bunch of vagabonds rest at an abandoned farm.
I expected we would, Owain. Mikal has some personal business to attend to here, and I expected it would be 2 or 3 rounds of posts to finish that up. Just wanted to let everyone get reactions in before he moved it along. I would think we'd end up with a "barn meeting" afterwards to talk about why we're here.
If no one else intends to post to the latest thread, let me know and I can post again for Mikal and finish up so Wolf can move us along. Was waiting to let others in.
Dazi might possibly, perhaps, have said something in a thoughtful and comrade-in-arms sort of way, except Kel has NO TIME TO THINK WORK IS H3LL AND I HATE IT LIKE THE PLAGUE.
Also, Dazi's in LaLa Land inside my head and obviously isn't the warrior Wolf seems to think she is because when Andi takes up all my thinking power, Dazi just says, "Meh... have fun. Wake me when you're done." You know, instead of saying, "HEY WARRIOR! IT'S MY TURN!"
Whenever work gets like that for me I resort to the tried and true "management by procrastination". I have found that 90% of emergencies either fix themselves or simply disappear if you pay them no attention.
But I will wait until Wolf prods me to move on. No problem.
Oh, none of these things are emergencies. One's a major implementation (they want to go live in January and I hurt myself when I fell off my chair laughing), two are projects that have been waiting over a year for attention (one of which just keeps getting larger and larger in scope), one is a set of modifications to ridiculously complex database views, one is a request for yet another ridiculously complex database view, one is troubleshooting why the last piece of the previous major implementation isn't working . The problem is that, as a single person, I can only do so much. I can do the job of a single person, but I'm expected to do the job of two... well, closer to two and a half at this point.
It's not helpful or productive to have a boss who tells you that everything HAS TO GET DONE. <shrug> I do ignore pretty much everything except (currently) the major implementation. I've given up on trying to get Windows Task Scheduler to successfully execute a flippin' batch file and just manually do the job every morning. A waste of my time, but until the Systems guys can figure it out... whatever. My boss isn't happy all these things aren't getting done... but then, she's the one who hired a librarian to be a programmer, not me.
Mokie: When we move over to Siena Hall, I'm going to figure out whose space is directly above yours and dance like an elephant every afternoon. It will wake us both up. It will be fun for everyone (except the people whose space I dance in... and if it's the space I think it is, one of them doesn't have a sense of humor).
Almost textbook definition of an abusive manager with no spine.
Come work for me. I have no problem telling my bosses that 9 women can't have a baby in 1 month. I have got them to the point that they tell me what projects they want and I tell them how many they'll get.
You're not near me. Also, while there's a possibility you'd give me more money, I'm pretty sure my other benefits are unmatchable.
And it's not that I don't like my job. I enjoy programming the ridiculously complex views. I enjoy working with the people whose Banner modules I support (Mokie is a BLAST!). This implementation is gawd-awful mostly because the campus scheduling office is even more understaffed than ITS, and my counterpart on the functional side just doesn't have time to do most of what she needs to do. And the timeline wasn't well thought out in the first place. Somehow, I'll get the program ready for testing after Christmas break. Somehow, I'll manage to get the class scheduling portion working so Mokie can schedule classes in... March? Please say March, Brad. Okay, I'll really be aiming for the end of February, but... please say March. (But wait... if we're still in TESTING mode in February... we can't run schedules for Fall in the live database... so... oh boy. Whose license can I usurp for a while? Chris over in Facilities. Yeah. That'll work.)
I don't have a problem telling my boss certain things can't get done. She does, however, have a problem hearing that... which would seem to be her problem, not mine (though somehow it does work out to be mine).
We are talking. About things. Specifically, in my case, things that are filling up my brain. So I dunno who you're poking there, buddy, but just come up here and try that. You know what will happen. I'm from Chicago.
<chortle> I think Mikal only mentioned his birth name to Darian and Dazi.
Also, Dazi thinks it's very interesting that she's friends with people named after the young warrior in both versions of the song. What are the chances of that not being some kind of sign from those Fates of Cesare?
I used his real name purposefully, for the same reason he left his armour behind. He wanted to pay respects to his family the way they knew him, before he was forced into becoming a mercenary.
Well bigger than Kadri but not big for a guy. Slim, about 5' 10". You can judge better by his pic.
I assume your questions is to do with Lisica. I know you describe her as small. I rode for years, worked at a stable in fact. Horses are incredibly strong, even ponies can carry two people - maybe not at pace and for a long time - but the only problem with smaller horses is the length of stirrups. To make contact with the horse (most signalling is done with the legs) the stirrups need to have the foot positioned so that the bent leg has full contact. Means it is less comfortable for the rider.
That was what I was picturing, more or less. And what I was reading said a good general rule of thumb was a horse comfortably carrying about a third of its weight.
Just to avoid clutter ... Kadri was hoping to partly avoid Romana's distinctiveness by being an attention sink herself. If she is playig he role she is going to play she will be noticed anyway, so might as well take it to eleven ...
Mike, Owain isn't going to be around much at all. You are probably aware of the issues with the new baby. Just a suggestion but his character could decide to take some time out to gather herbs etc, rather than go into the city. If Owain returns, he could then come and find us?
Just a thought and better than killing off the character.
Wolf, the crossbow Mikal & Cesare are using is the one Cesare bought in the last town. That cleared him out of funds, hence Darian is paying for them both currently. The lessons from Mikal are to be repaid by the forging of a Rhoni dagger for Mikal.
Folks ... I understand that with Owain and Ividia there are RL pressures that are keeping folk quiet. The rest of you are available to chatter and plan.
Bekkah - if you want to take Romana aside, just start a private thread.
Kay will talk with folks too, if you ask her things.
That said this is your fair warning. The next post will probably start:
" .... three weeks later ..."
if there are matters you need resolved between then and now, either start a conversation of let me know in an IM. This time can be used for rest, study and practicing.
It's also your choice where this happens. It can happen here in the broken down homestead, a tavern in Brockman's Holdfast, or a tavern a day out from Talantal; the latter is tempting because you'd have access to most any kind of shop for resupplying and re-outfitting yourself.
Well, Kadri needs to get herself all dolled up, so to speak. Figure the only appropriate one for that is likely Bekkah or Romana; Dazi isn't really the fancy dress up sort, I kinda get the idea that Kay isn't either. I think it highly unlikely that Darien is. And that isn't the sort of thing that is going to be asked of the menfolk. So for the moment, being the odd person out, I suppose I can take the opportunity to give some of those riding lessons to our erstwhile Rhoni.
Depending on the ultimate decision Mikal may or may not need things, so the "day out of Talantal" tavern sounds good. If he ends up being Kadri's bodyguard, and Kadri gets dolled up with "house colours" and such, he will need better clothes for sure. As bodyguard he will expect to accompany her anywhere she goes, and for some "court" functions he needs better outfits.
BTW, this may have been discussed, but has Cesare's role been determined? I can see him as Adviser/Major Domo to Kadri or as a assistant bodyguard working with Mikal. Former role might be better.
Well, if Kadri is going to pose as a high member of a noble house we already discussed she needs a staff. That staff should (I'd think) consist of (at least):
- Be the person who would control her schedule, make her appointments, be the person others would come to to try to setup meetings with "Lady Kadri" (after all you can't expect a Lady to handle those mundane tasks herself, can you?). - Offer her advice on political matters - Guide her in dealings with other nobles - Be in charge of her household staff. Make sure her mundane tasks are taken care of. Purchase what she needs so she doesn't need to "dirty" her hands with money. etc.
That's all well, fine and good, except that our party isn't big enough to support Lady Kadri having such a staff.
Bekkah, Dean and Romana are Imperials (that is seriously mind blowing, by the way, thinking that Romana is now an Imperial) and are -- in the order of the universe -- above all of us.
Daxia and Kay are Dayalans, and while they might be temporarily attached to Lady Kadri's party, once the Allaine delegation shows up, that's where their place is.
That leaves Mikal, Cesare, Jankin and Darian with Kadri. Except that Real Life is causing both Jankin and Darian to sit out this part of the adventure for a while. Mikal could maybe double as both Bodyguard and Major Domo, and Cesare could act as Manservant. This does leave the problem that Lady Kadri does not have a Maid... and she really ought to have one.
Kadri might broach the subject with Kay, who hasn't the faintest idea what it means to be a Maid, as Dayalan culture doesn't possess the concept of "servant." Kay might find it amusing... Kay might think Kadri is out of her cotton picking mind... Kay might get so confused that she wanders off to ask her mentor what the Amberite is talking about. Being an NPC, Kay is more unpredictable than PCs.
I'd suggest someone ghosting Darian for ividia, except that I can't see the Hunter playing the part of the Maid, either.
Now, despite being Imperials, it would be possible to combine the Bekkah/Dean/Romana group with the Kadri/Mikal/Cesare group because Ladies of Attera can do whatever they darn well please. It would be up to Bekkah and Kadri to work out their relationship to account for their traveling together, and to come up with a plausible story as to where Kadri's maid went and why Bekkah and/or Romana are helping her (out of the goodness of their hearts and all that) with pesky things like dressing.
Or maybe Kadri has some sort of chronic illness that requires the attention of Bekkah, and requires her to have help in dressing, and Romana, being a trainee, is doubling as maid/attendant?
Kadri is a bit delicate looking, actually. So needing some care would not be a far cry. The other advantage is that it would provide some cover to be traveling in in the company of a lady of Atterra until such time as she can get herself announced and announced publicly, so that the Terilanquel KNOW that she is off limits connected to the Kories.
It's quite possible that she could simply tell more or less the truth on that; Bekkah the Imperial is her friend, and they decided to travel together to attend?
Cesare is happy with the role of manservant. What is he being given to wear? Presumably some sort of house colours to mark him as one of Kadri's entourage? Sash maybe?
Sorry, kel, changed the formatting. I was using the 2003 format which put things against a dark background and didn't think about how hard it might be to read against the others, it's been changed.
It would indeed be interesting to hear what sort of rumor mill is going on among the servents at "Casa de Montague". Probably running quite wild about now.
The truth is that your post, in the Court, tossed the Kories and Montagues, previously in Control and Making Sure Everyone realized that ...
... into complete confusion.
Quote
It would indeed be interesting to hear what sort of rumor mill is going on among the servents at "Casa de Montague". Probably running quite wild about now.
Thus any rumors or speculations that ARE going on in the Montague Household are a direct result of Dean completely pushing the other Nobles off balance.
Thus, it's all Deans fault.
But in this case, that's not necessarily a bad thing.
...Kadri was actually saying much the same thing as Daxia. She was referring more to being in the city at all rather than acting the part. Doing the right thing(rescuing the brother) is more important than the smart thing(staying hidden in the woods).
It will happen this weekend. In the end waiting was best as Daxia realized they needed Bekkah to help Lord Tray and sent Kay to fetch her, which - if Bekkah agrees - will swing her into the Keep threads in the best timely manner.
Pffft. It could take DAYS to write up my post so that it's coherent. Even I -- Super OCD Woman -- am staring at this mass of data trying to analyze it and distill it into something that makes sense.
It was NOT a book! It was a thesis! My notes for the bloody thing printed out at 19 pages!!
And thank ye, Gypsy. It only took two years, but most of the loose ends of the story begun on the Brementown Road are tied up. Maybe the GM will be a nice guy and tie them all off with a bow. Um, without me having to keep track of all this for another two years.
I'm suitably amazed. I can barely keep track of where Bekkah is let alone the happenings in the world generations past. Are your fingers cramped and blistered?
Nope, no cramped or blistered fingers. And wasn't it you, my dear Nivek, who pointed out how much I write for BTS and gave that as your "excuse" for not joining us? While this post packed in considerably more information than a typical BTS post, it was also shorter than many of my BTS posts. Plus, I average writing around 2000 words a day anyway... so... meh. No big deal. For me.
While writing this was fun (and Dazi insisted that it needed to be done RIGHT AWAY, DO IT NOW, to the detriment of poor Nivek in BTS), it kind of felt like a combination of school and work... more so, I think, because I work at a college. Data analysis meets research paper meets roleplaying. Really weird.
And Wolf, please... PLEASE... don't make me connect that many dots again.
Dear People Who Edit Your Posts Substantially After They Are Posted:
Could you let a sister know, so she doesn't write up a post based on the notification that came through and then have to rewrite it when she goes to post it? Working from the notifications is how I roll. Just a wee tiny note here, yes?
My posts are always drafts until someone posts after me. I almost always think of something I forgot or something that needed saying differently.
For example the taunting post to Jakal/Hadrian. Originally I had Mikal using his horse's name as a taunt to Hadrian. But upon reflection I did not like how it made him sound so I deleted that portion.
As long as no one has yet posted on top of me I consider editing my posts as free game. Once there's a reply to my post I only edit in unusual circumstances.
I will be heading out of town on Saturday morning, May 31st, taking some vacation. I expect I'll have access but it's likely my posting will be sporadic. Probably times with a few days between posts. Probably thru mid-June.
Am I presuming from implications and the like that one of her elder sisters, likey the immediate elder, is marrying Rikart? or were the sisters already married and its someone else?
So why not just SAY it came before Mikal's? It's not like I've never done that one. And will likely have need to do it again.
People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint - it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly... time-y wimey... stuff.
Which translates to Demon King and Hero ... or Archenemy and Hero. Then he'd just be ........ Blacksmith.
For those of you who don't know Maoyu Mao Yusha is a High fantasy light novel that became an Anime. it has a very interesting premise:
There has been a war between the Humans and Demons for hundreds of years. The Hero decides, as all Good Heroes do, to end the war by Slaying the Demon King. So he leaves behind his companions, infiltrates the Demon King's castle, gets right up to throne room (he did question where the guards had gone, ran up to the throne, sword out to slay the vicious Demon King.
Only for her to turn around. You see the Demon King happened to be a cute girl.
"It's a traditional title"
He then raised his sword, proclaiming he would end the War by her Death. Even if she was a ... hey! quit waving those things in front of me.
And she basically said, "No."
"Why not?"
And then the Demon King quite properly explains that if she were slain, it wouldn't matter. Both Humans and Demons have so much invested in the war effort that killing one person won't solve a thing. In fact, as it stands now ... if one side won the war things would even get worse.
She does this through a magic lantern illusion ... yes, that's right ... a powerpoint presentation.
By the end of it, the Hero, dejected, realizes she is right.
So they join forces to end the war using weapons most foul to change the nature of the world so peace can actually be brought about ... terrifying secret weapons like ... four field farming, the potato, corn and ... uhm ... education.
It's an excellent treatise on medieval economics and politics disguised as a fantasy anime.
What Spice and Wolf did for the merchant class, Maoyu Mao Yusha does for wartime politics. I watch it and go, you know they should show this in a history class - because, in general, they really did the work.
Call him Blacksmith, I can live with it. Seemed like a reasonable question though When you write this all in a book, you can search and replace with his real name
OK, leaving tomorrow for Barcelona. Won't be returning to regular posting until a week from Monday, September 22nd. I am taking my reference materials with me so if I have time to get in a few posts during the week I will, but I expect to be much slower.
Other than this recent convo with Daxia that gave Darian information that affects her near future goals, I haven't read any of the other posts so as far as I'm concerned they didn't happen or will have no affect on me. Yes, it was a passive aggressive way to deal with the fact that I got completely run over while work was keeping me so busy I could barely form a coherent sentence at the end of the day.
Also, as a player I didn't have that information as I didn't read any of the previous posts. It is information which directly affects my character and influences her decisions. If time is just going to move forward and things happen regardless, there isn't any point in continuing since whatever my character says or does isn't going to make a difference anyway.
The only reason I have time to do this right now, as in today, is that I took a couple of days off from work just to recoup. The insanity of my job is continuing even if I'm not looking at my email, and I will be buried again come Monday until the next holiday.
There are two possible ways to continue; which should have been passed on by now:
a) Move on West to Talesan's Village. Things happening there should be right up Mikal and Dean's line of work, Bekkah will be in her second "home" and Romana will be as far away from the East as possible.
b) use the "Interesting Court Proclamation" to hunt down Jakal Montague. This would suit Mikal and Dean and since peeling him away from his men at arms would be the major challenge this is one of the few things where Darian and Kadri could work together to pull off, as it would be helpful to have BOTH their talents in this.
Romana and Kay would stay in the first ring of Trundle, Dazi with the Horde and then come February the whole group could go down to Talesan's Village. bekkah would be need for healing because this will require a modicum of martial machinations.
The only things I have on the plate at the moment is: Kadri wants to speak with Rikart and Darian wants to find the Talental Hunter. If you decide to go after Jakal, a post outlining your preparations would be good, so the rest of you have something for me to respond to while Kadri and darian have their discussions.
My next major post WAS going to be the montage to Talesan's Village. However with this second option, I need to know which way you folks want to go.
Stop saying February like that's a magical time (there's nothing magical about February... it's winter, and winter is hell). I never said that. You did. I did say it could be as early as February, but could stretch through the next concert cycle. That would make it something like May. Ish. Also, it depends a lot on the status of that *#^#%@&*# project at work, because it's going to kill me if it doesn't stop soon. Or I'll go postal, which is frowned upon in most work environments but even more so in a Catholic institution of higher education.
Also, Option B may need revising to Options B-1 and B-2. The Hive Mind is still buzzing.
There are two possible ways to continue; which should have been passed on by now:
Wolf,
First of all, just no.
Darian has no reason to participate in either option, and I, as a player, am having less and less reason to participate since I am being posted over though I have made perfectly clear that my time has been extremely limited. If what I say & do in character is not going to have any affect on what happens to said character, there is NO point in continuing.
That said, her conversation with the local Hunter will affect her near future goals. ATM, I cannot see how that would lead to either option. Hunting down Montague is a Revenge thing, and even if I hadn't already figured that out, it was made perfectly clear to me by you that Hunters don't do revenge.
If that is how you feel, it was certainly not intended on my part ... and for that misunderstanding I certainly apologize.
I admit I am very flexible and adaptable and always try to look at matters in a manner that allow conflicting posts to reconcile each other - trying to build from rather than tear down. No one, the least of which me, was trying to run you down and I had absolutely no problem at all letting your and Dazi's conversation run its course at its own pace, especially since it was taken away from the other players.
You don't need Tray (who legitimately doesn't know) to find the Hunter. Between Longtooth, Cook, the Korie heir and Cesare there are definitely ways to find him.
The whole intent of my previous post was to open up a dialogue that would help scenario be developed that would allow you to find the Hunter and follow your desires and while also accommodating Mikal, Dean and the other players, to get them to a place where they could accomplish their desires in a manner of play I was informed they would prefer.
It is very true that hunting down Jakal is probably been a revenge thing for Mikal and potentially one for Darian. The Hunter from Talantal probably has a very different take on the situation, which could open up possibilities.
If the conversation with the Hunter changes things ... they change. That's the way its always been, figure out what they might be and let them adapt what happens as folks move forward.
As I said, if you were overrun, I apologize.
The reason I made my previous post was to start figuring out how to move forward to satisfy a whole party's worth of concerns.
Aw, come on. We had this conversation yesterday. You were standing in the kitchen. I was in the hallway.
If we were overrun? No, sir. We absolutely were overrun. At least admit that much.
That said, I will repeat what I said yesterday... there's a lot of Not Reading All The Posts that happens here. Based on things I've seen posted in this game, everyone except Super OCD Woman has done it at least once. And the only reason I haven't is because of that OCD.
When you ask, "Are you going to post for Heartwood?" and I say, "I'm waiting on Pam," this is what's called a "clue." Ok, yeah, I know. Fine. You don't get subtle, and I should have been clearer. My bad.
I think discussions need to happen here. Not just clarifications on game mechanics, but character development, too. At this point, I'd say our characters know one another well enough that we can talk about what she or he wouldn't do... what she or he would do... and even the reasons for those decisions. I'm sure we're all good enough at this RP thing to know that we shouldn't reveal cult secrets in OOC.
Unless we're plotting behind the GM's back (yeah, we did that... nyah), there's no reason not to discuss character interactions here.
Or maybe there is. You guys tell me.
No.
Tell Wolf. Playing Monkey-in-the-Middle is part of what's killing me.
[The usual disclaimers apply: This is a G-rated forum. Be nice to one another. Speak from your experience.]
Wolf, just so you are aware, Ividia and I are discussing where our characters may or may not be going. We still have things to discuss but one proposal is for the two of us to have a breakaway thread for a while. This would allow us to sort out Hunter/Rhoni/personal relationship direction and allow Ividia to have a more flexible posting rate. We could rejoin the others later - not beyond a Rhoni & Hunter to track them down fairly easily I would have thought.
We don't know yet if we definitely want to go down this route but probably should ask you if this is possible early on in our discussion stage? Thanks!
The biggest problem I have with the whole "Kill Jakal" concept, Wolf, is that according to what you told me during pc creation time a New Jvrillian does absolutely nothing without a contract and being paid. In fact an example you gave me during pc creation was that if we were in a bar, and one of the party got into a bar fight, unless Mikal was under contract to protect that pc he would just sit there and not get involved, unless he was offered payment to do so.
That was why I made such a big deal of getting Daxia to sign a contract with him to join the group originally. I was actually a little surprised you did not push me to get payment from Kadri to agree to be her bodyguard in Talantal as the contract with Daxia had expired by then.
And also according to what you told me it can't be a token payment just to satisfy the requirement. It actually has to be appropriate payment for services rendered.
So, that means as much as he might like to do it, somebody would have to pay Mikal to go kill Jakal. And the payment has to equal the job. Killing a noble, and the attendant risks that creates of Mikal becoming an outlaw, or losing his life, or being hunted by the Montague in retribution, means a VERY LARGE payment as well as a letter from some other High Noble sanctioning it so Mikal doesn't get hung out to dry afterwards.
I can role-play that, but it almost sounds like it'd be easier for that Noble to hire a follower of Jagnar to assassinate him.
And for the record, said Noble who might want to hire Mikal to kill Jakal absolutely CAN NOT be the Allaine Heir. And not just because she's already spent all her allowance on the Horde, either. In doing so, she would revoke her status as a Dayalan, and jeopardizes her relationship with Daxia.
It's not that Daxia has a specific problem with Jakal becoming a dead person. But as a Dayalan, she can't have any part of it. She can't even know about it. While warriors, they may not kill without legitimate reason, nor will a Dayalan stand for torture or for allowing a death or harm to occur by inaction. It's almost the opposite of Mikal's issue. A Jvrillian will sit in the bar and ignore the fight unless he has a Contract; a Dayalan will be in the middle of it trying to break it up and keep anyone from getting hurt.
Yes, it's true that the Wild Dayalans are less apt to follow the letter of the law and tend toward the spirit of the law. But even in a matter of vengeance against the scum of the Heartwood Jakal, Daxia would be exceptionally uncomfortable knowing beforehand that someone, especially a friend, was off to kill him.
Just laying the roleplaying obstacles from my end... which are still obstacles even if I'm on hiatus.
Meanwhile, Kadri is massively moe about the spirit than the letter, although she will edit herself and her actions to try to avoid hurting the sensibilities of friends and those she respects.
It was a thought. At the time it seemed an interesting one. There are ways to handle Jakal that doesn't involve the player group and normally I'd rather PCs do things than NPCs. That this one becomes problematic, that happens. its why it gets discussed .
For information the Rikart thing is the only other specific immediate thing for my pallete and Kadri would certainly go along if there were a Jakal hunt, as Jakal meets her definition of 'a bully that needs to be knocked down'.
As stated above, Mikal could go along on a mission to kill Jakal Montague, as long as he was contracted to do it by a leader of one of the Noble Families.
However if others have their own ideas about next steps that lead in a different direction I am not opposed to that either. I just need to hear them.
Daxia will stay with the Horde at Brockman's Holdfast, training with Barris and Dandy and Rafe. Maybe The Marcy-Darcy will come along, too, because she's going to need them. She expects the snot to be beaten out of her on a daily basis.
Alternatively, the quest to go to the Forest of Roth, while the enemy has been decimated from the recent battle, as well as demoralized from losing their leader and at each other's throats trying to pick a new one, in order to reclaim the Fortress there for Jvrill sounded cool the first time I mentioned it. It still does. Would need a much bigger contingent than just 4 or 5 of us though.
So seems like there isn't a strong feeling one way or the other for the two Mikal suggested, and I haven't heard anyone else suggest anything else (pending Gypsy and Ividia talking to the Hunter in Talantal), so Mikal can put out feelers that he is now available for contract and see if he gets any nibbles.
All-in-all, it seems going after Jakal would be more straight forward and involve far fewer npcs (i.e. no need to try to bring in Daffyd's Swords and Molkhavin's Horse to support a move to retake Castle Roth), and I heard no objections to that idea either.
I know Ividia is a little snowed right now but we can't finalise any plans until the Hunter conversation has taken place - maybe a side thread? Pretty please. It will probably just be for Darian as this is Hunter business.
before I start crafting posts I'd just like to confirm a few things ...
Daxia has a private conversation with Morning Star incoming ...
Kadri and Mikal seem to be on the edge of discussing terms for a true contract - is this something you want/wish to bring to fruition? Kadri certainly has the connections - especially now - to actually do this. however, then its her choosing which path you follow next. Are you up to something like that Art?
Darian and Cesare will be looking for the Talantal Hunter first thing the next morning.
Wolf - One other option could be Kadri using her connections and influence to surreptitiously sponsor Mikal forming a Troop. She is the "Silent Partner" as it were. Perhaps in exchange for a share of the profits she allows Mikal to choose his own missions, unless she has something pressing for him to take on. That would give Mikal more influence in directing future paths.
It also would create some intrigue as Mikal's Troop would have no "publicly known" sponsor, thus allowing him to act for Kadri and Dominie (and perhaps by extension the Korie's and Amber Clans on occasion) without any direct fingers pointing back at them. He'd be a bit of a mystery. Instead of a "Independent Jvrillian" he'd be an "Independent Troop".
Main issue I see, presuming this all flies, is how this impacts his availability for small missions with the party. i.e. If he is busy forming a Troop how often can he simply run off on his own with 4 or 5 others to do things without bringing the whole Troop along?
However, it could give Daxia a means to be involved but for Kel to take a break. Mikal could get things started and then if he has to go off on a small mission he could hire Kel as his "Second" and let her recruit the unit of Dayallan archers he needs and leave her to take care of the training of the Troop while he takes care of "other business".
It also gives the party a "backup", as it were, as there could always be a unit of the Troop who could be called in as backup if things so sideways.
The best thingI like about this is that it is a player generated plot line It's definitely possible and the "secret troop" is a very intriguing idea
For Kadri, she'd need to start with Kathi - who manages Dominic's money (which is now also hers) and well uhm ... ah ... uhm ... she may also be on good terms with the new Seneschal.
For Mikal, we'd need to know how he would collect folks ... especially for such a clandestine troop.
This is what I was looking for - what you wanted to do and now we figure out how to make it work.
Other advantages, as I think about it more, with Dazi as Mikal's second.
I am sure you (Wolf) know, that it is typically not the Leader of the Troop who does the training and the day-to-day admin work to keep the Troop functioning. That is usually done by the Second in command, the Quartermaster, and other key support staff. The Leader is usually out recruiting new talent and bringing in new Contracts. He is the "face" of the Troop and can't be bogged down with clerical work. He leads the Troop into battle, but he isn't required to manage the daily affairs.
So, for Mikal's availability for small missions, he could have Dazi doing all the grunt work as an NPC or part-time pc and it leaves him free to do other things, making appearance for battles, parades, and so forth. Even bringing in Bekkah and possibly Romana as the Troop's resident Healers would allow those pc/npc to stay around and be available at a moment's notice if their players wanted to re-activate them.
As for who to recruit, beyond seeing if Dazi could get some Dayalan horse archers and Kadri could find some Amber Clansmen who could train the cavalry or even obtain first class mounts, first thing he'd do is put out feelers for any New Jvrillians who were left from Cameron's Light Horse and the other disbanded Troops who used to work for Brockman.
From Mikal's background material:
"After a time, some of the mercenary troops tried to stand up to Montague, but that stopped after the first month, the month of the fires, the month their commanders were burned at the stake. Soon Cameron’s Light Horse was forced to disband; they had a Contract, but Brockman could not afford them. The Swords of the troop got together and discussed their options. They were strong enough to Break the contract ... and then ... then each to take their own way; between Montague and Talantal there was little need for an organized group of new Jvrillians. But there was plenty of work for the ones and twos; guarding a caravan on the Highland Path, hunting gryphons, or even taking bounties offered by the local manor lord or sheriff.
Within a handfull of days Cameron's Light Horse was no more. Derrick Cameron headed east, to Bordertown, his second Josef the Dark worked the wagons heading west. Haldrick and Jennis actually did end up hunting gyphons; Jennis was the better crossbowman, he heard later that Haldrick got himself et."
Between the remnants of several disbanded Troops, Mikal might be able to find the core of a new one. And with all of those having experience as "Lone Jvrillians", they'd have learned discretion.
Well Cesare is happy to help Darian in any way, and could certainly help try to find the Hunter.. but as far as he knows Hunter business is Hunter business and that part is likely to be Darian's alone.
If this business gets resolved quickly and in a way that frees them up, rather than involves them in a side plot, might be worth exploring what place Cesare & Darian might have in Mikal's new world. The only thing I could think of is that they could be 'hired' as scouts? Anyone any other ideas?
Definitely good in the scouting department. Kadri, personally, would value them for their advice as much as anything. And Cesare has a bonus motivation that Kadri could continue his horse lessons.
Apologies folks … it was a very hard week – I worked my 40 hours even taking in the days off for Thanksgiving and Black Friday. That and somewhere along the lines I strained some muscles in my back making typing a painful thing. With luck I’ll be able to rest up and get back into the swing of things over the rest of the weekend.
'Twill nae matter te me if ye'll be backfillin' a wee bit, as th' backfillin'll be happenin' as Dazi'll be returnin' from her mornin' prayers or mayhap breakin' her fast with Kisa. Sure, an' will I nae be on hiatus?! 'Twill nae be m'self who'll be needin' th' convincin'.
<shrug>
As I'll hae said te Zeim, if there'll be overlappin' in th' threads regardin' timin', I'll be considerin' there te be multiple dimensions upon th' Heartwood, an' ye'll hae been in one that'll nae be th' one Dazi'll hae been in.
Oh, an' I'll nae be translatin' th' Moira-speak, fer th' lass'll be needin' te stay in me head so she'll be finishin' her part o' th' BTS story.
It is finished. It was painful. (Sorry, Wolf dear... but it was.)
All Heartwood related documents have been updated. All current players should check your stats sheets... your stats have changed! The document format has changed somewhat and should be easier to read. I hope. You tell me. Under the hood, I got rid of all the 1990s code and implemented the use of CSS. The Main Page is now HTML, not Flash. I may bring the animation back, but it will be with HTML5 and CSS, and maybe a dash of jQuery and Ajax. The file names and locations have not changed, so if you have anything bookmarked it's still exactly where you left it. If everything looks the same, you'll want to refresh the page and/or clear your cache. (I've semi-implied to some of my fellow ITS folks that I'm going to write a song called Clear Your Cache to the tune of Let It Go. We'll make the on-hold music for the Help Desk.)
If you have any questions or problems with the public pages, lay 'em out here. If you have a question or problem with your personal character pages (stats, cult file, background file if applicable), PM me. Do check your stat sheets, please, and let me know (in PM!) if anything looks really out of whack. Although I had Super OCD Woman staring over my shoulder the entire time, I'm not perfect. (I know... you're all shocked.)
This is the largest project I wanted to complete before returning. I'm getting there. But Wolf was overly optimistic (like... insanely) when he implied I'd be back in February. March looks possible, but I'm not promising anything. It still depends on stuff.
Kel - I believe (IIRC) that Mikal chose to use the lump of Darksteel to create a Short Sword and a Main Gauche, rather than a Broadsword. It took up about the same amount of volume of metal. PC sheet shows it as Broadsword.
<glares at Internet> Apparently, for some reason (possibly having to do with someone rebooting the router while I have programs open, but maybe not) Dreamweaver has decided not to automatically upload files when they're saved. And here I thought it was just my site misbehaving.
I'll upload when I get home. Rest assured you no longer have a broadsword, and your short sword and main gauche are made of Darksteel.
Thanks for the Calendar, Kel. Very nice. I presume, from how I am reading it, that the seasons are of different lengths? i.e. It would appear that "Dry" is fairly short.
Possibly of the House Koromov, although I don't know how well that would go over when talking to a Koromov about someone who isn't a Koromov.
As steadfast as a unicorn is the common phrase used when referring to something unpredictable. A Dayalan would certainly say as steadfast as a white unicorn. (And anyone who has had the "pleasure" of meeting a Dayalan's unicorn might well do the same. Or not. Might be best to do so if said unicorn is standing close enough to mash your feet.)
Wanting to say "I'm a bit of a wild card but as I've recently discovered, that works better when you also have the rest of the deck with you" or similar.
<shrug> Dunno if there are cards other than the Rhoni Deck, and one certainly wouldn't be playing games with those. On the other hand, that's not to say the Rhoni Deck doesn't have a card that means 'chance' or 'unpredictability'... in essence, a wild card.
"steadfast as a unicorn" does mean unpredictable, however it is very much a whimsical manner of being unpredictable. And the clarification being white unicorns, as Kelly noted, is important - black unicorns are EXTREMELY steadfast.
The Rhoni Deck may at times appear whimsical and provide unexpected outcomes, but that is an outsider's view and is contrary to the true nature of what the deck does. It does have a card that represents "Change" and when reversed means "Drastic, Sudden and Unexpected Change" but that's as close as it gets.
While only truly known to Imperials and Nobles, I did not suggest House Koromov as a jest; the House does have a reputation of basically being "unpredictable" in the manner of a "wild card" ... that is, having a tendency of not only bending but breaking rules to their manner. This is the basis of their ability to be the "Conscience of the Empire" - they are the House that will do whats Right as opposed to whats Law - and subtly different from the Atterans ability to suspend the Laws in the name of Mercy.
So you could say something along the lines of "I seem to have spent too much time in the company of Koromovs ..."
I was informed last night that the behind-the-scenes issues I had been patiently waiting on have finally been resolved ... so fair warning; tomorrows post will undertake a major setting change to move everything westward and forward!
Oh, come on, Nivek! Sure, it won't be as easy to turn Talesan's Village on its ear as Bekkah did in Talantal... but that's no reason not to try! Bwahahahaha
You all now have been formally welcomed to the Amber Inn ... between now and next weekend you folks should:
Post whether or not you are going in; otherwise we will presume you do, and the stablehand from next door will take care of your horses.
Decide where you want to go in the Village; there is a cathedral to visit, the fairly unique docks (being cut from stones and all), the rest of the town to explore if you with ... you can visit anyplace in town and return to the Amber Inn before dark.
If folks want to follow Khorall Larsen's advice and take a hot bath, just say so and we'll have that happen.
If you want to move on the Mikailsson's farm, you can - you'll get there around nightfall. Waverider's Watch is even further away.
If you dont go anywhere, night will fall and you'll end up part of the diner rush!
The next set of post will be dinners; it is presumed that Kadri, Cesare and Mikal will be at the Amber Inn, Bekkah, Dean and Dazi at the cathedral. Darian and Longtooth - greatly missed - should be considered undertaking their own affairs, where ever they wish to be, until real life allows Pam's return.
If you wish to do anything before dinner, please let me know and post those actions
Super OCD Woman apologizes for not keeping the Hive Mind apprised of all the OCD things they should be remembering. Apparently Super OCD Woman is neglecting HWD in favor of silly things like work. The nerve of some people! I would chastise that part of my brain except that might cause Super OCD Woman to neglect work to focus on rearranging her books in Dewey Decimal order after Wolf has made a mess of them by TOUCHING THEM. (He still doesn't believe in the OCD. It's not like it's a fairy or a unicorn, for goodness sake.)
Wolf - I'd like to request a favor. I cannot speak for others, but for myself I have not understood a single GM long post since we started this game. I completely depend upon Kel to translate for me what is going on and what it means.
I am talking mainly about the initial posts where we enter a new place or setting. The ones that consist almost exclusively of snippets of conversation we overhear from people around us.
They make no sense to me and I simply do not have the time or energy to try to track down and infer what the implications of those statements we hear mean, cross reference them with the history and culture threads, and come up with anything meaningful.
If it was not for Kel telling me what was going on I would likely have dropped out of the game from frustration some time back.
Now the GM has to enjoy the game as well, and if you enjoy creating those posts I would not ask you to stop. But would it be possible for you to add an "OOC" summary at the end that summarizes the whole thing into a:
"Here is what you see. Here is what you need to do and where you need to go to advance the game"?
Oh, and a tactical map now and then would be unbelievably helpful for me.
Just a request. I don't know if others have this same issue.
this what the OOC chatter should be for; i m always happy and glad to field questions here, especially concerning the length and breath of the world, or even the exactly what do you mean.
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Now the GM has to enjoy the game as well, and if you enjoy creating those posts I would not ask you to stop.
that's actually very important. just as you have your frustrations, so do i. the more i get excited by what you folks are doing, the more i , in turn invest in my posts and posting. lately work has taken a big hit on my time, and my midweek posts and lunchtime post have taken a big hit on that. but more importantly, i have been trying hard to maintain my enjoyment of the game too; it has been extremely frustrating because for me a post needs to be more than a simple narrative exercise - its all about stepping into a world, becoming immersed in it, to have it living and breathing - so when you walk into a bar, its like walking into a bar - noisy, colorful and full of life.
language, word choice and the crafting of the scene are the only tools i have to do that. thats where my fun comes from.
when i open a scene like that, it is an attempt to show a full world, where things are happening beyond your immediate environ - to go back to the bar scene, its like walking into a bar and overhearing two people talking about their cars. now there are a few things you can discern from such random conversations:
1) they do give a hint of things that may be going on locally 2) they may be things that may be hooks to another adventure 3) most probably they are bits of local gossip that are there for just color and flavor
I will only, very rarely, hide something critical to the play of the game.
they may give a hint on how folks are acting around you or feel about something. if a named npc makes a statement, it'd probably worth listening to.
and more importantly, if one of those comments piques your interest, never be afraid to interrupt and ask whoever said that to explain.
now a very important thing to remember -will doing so work? Mosttime but not all times. sometimes it will blow up in your face. we once had a player go all 'mighty imperial' in the fisher's tavern here in talesan's village. that did not end well. usually, if you read back, there's always warnings that things are about to go south. so while they may not be critical for actual information, these snippets of conversation are best used to get a handle of the tone of the situation - friendly, hostile, uncaring, caring, distracted. if the goodwives are gossiping about romance things are probably fine - you don't have to cross reference who is getting married to who - if folks are happy and celebratory it's a good thing, a chance for a free meal ... if they are speaking all hushed about the bride and groom's families not liking one another, you might want to skip the reception. that's the important thing to take out of them.
and if they blow up? never take it personally. if it is vital to the story, there will usually be another chance or another way to solve it. most of the time when i present a problem to you folks i have no idea how to resolve it - i let you folks figure that out and as long as it isn't a bad idea, go with it.
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Here is what you see. Here is what you need to do and where you need to go to advance the game?
I can work better on that - and lay out the critical things in a more definite manner. I'd prefer not to do it in an OOC manner, but I understand what you are looking for and can work to summarize - no that will take to long - sum up in a more concise manner.
i will take exception to part of that statement - "Here is what you see. Here is what you need to do and where you need to go to advance the game". I can do that. the heartwood has enough documentation and depth so that pretty much anywhere you go there will be something going on. consider that the default.
it is the equivalent of walking into a tavern and being told there is a group of orcs in the nearby cave that need killing. traditional D+D adventuring.
but it is not the only game in town.
i would much rather be responding to what you do than creating things for you to respond to. i admit the latest turns of events have confused me greatly, and thus, seeing little action in terms of direction and goals from the group, i have pushed another tale to the forefront. and one that - while it draws from the depth of the worlds culture, is, at its core, a very straightforward quest.
so if mikal follows cesare, he'll probably need that nice new sword of his.
as for a tactical map, if you enter the vestibule you have a choice. I can provide the tactical map - or like any good table top game - one of you folks can get out the graph paper! this is actually a response to something i was told was wanted - a straightforward, black and white fantasy adventure. and then for someone else i custom created a scholarly aspect of the adventure so they could participate without poking folks.
and thats very important.
i'd rather react to you folks. but that mean you have to take an active role; if there's something you want done ... go out and do it. if there's something you'd like to see, ask me OOCly. i don't like having to spoon feed an adventure. i provide opportunities. they won't jump into your lap.
but they will be there if you choose to actively go after them.
Sometimes Wolf, I lose who is saying what. It might break things up so they don't flow as prettily, but even something as simple as:
Serving girls: "The master seems quite on edge today" Other serving girl: "Well, have you seen his wife. There is no pleasing that woman."
Sometimes, I have to read it over and over and then I usually guess who is saying what, especially in a court scene with 5 or 6 people talking. If it's just two speaking back and forth, but when more get involved it's not always clear.
I know I've missed many a clue. I still think back to Lord Trey and I had 3 choices and I got it wrong twice before you finally explained it. I was convinced I was right because I even had clues that interpreted the way I did, made perfect sense.(to me at least). Now to be perfectly, I'm not very good at solving mysteries. I honestly don't mind being led by the nose at times because I still get to write my characters actions, and thoughts and so on, which I enjoy. I never enjoy having to go back through many posts to understand clues. The character may well put together the things that happened in the last few hours or day, but remember for us, those actions usually take place over months, which make it nearly impossible to remember small details. I'll try and make some notes, but unless a memory sparks something, I'll rarely go back and read 4 or 5 pages of posts.
So it's my long winded way of saying, we each need to have fun, but that fun varies greatly by person. Some people need perfect order and reasoning. (<Cough> Super OCD woman <Cough>) Some of us are super simple and will just go with the flow. So if time gets skewed, I'm fine. If characters suddenly change, no problem. Just nudge me and I'll write.
More or less. It works out alright for me, because Kadri reacts, at times, impulsively, so if I miss something and do something impulsive, it is still in character, but perhaps, even just in the ooc or in a seperate post, a simple line drawing when it comes to things like tactical maps and such. It doesn't have to be in post so to speak, just a bit of vanilla 'Here's the really important facts, ma'am' ub the OOC thread occasionally or such. I don't necessarily want to be spoonfed, but if I'm missing something that would be obvious to Kadri but is not obvious to me, perhaps a nudge?>
When I wasn’t creating fractals and listening to podcasts, I spend Saturday writing words... so many, many, many words in response to this thread.
And then I decided that most of them should just stay in my Thinking Thoughts About Stuff folder. But I do have some things that I need to say.
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well this is interesting.
finally someone’s asked me a question.
Mr. GM, this is a level of snark usually attained only by me. I’m surprised. (Also, I question your sincerity but mileage may vary on that point.)
My fellow players, this is exactly what I was talking about when I said I was a lone voice in the darkness. Nothing any of you ever said in any of the “Hive Mind” threads mattered one whit because my voice could not be heard. Yes, I carried your various and sundry concerns to the GM. All of it fell on deaf ears. No, not exactly. But in effect? Yes. Exactly that.
Now, the GM said that he did have his reasons for ignoring what I was saying, and he thought his reasons were good reasons. But as it turns out, it decreased the Fun Factor for all of us and, therefore, were not especially good reasons. However, what’s done is done.
The core problem in all of this is right here:
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...it has been extremely frustrating because for me a post needs to be more than a simple narrative exercise - its all about stepping into a world, becoming immersed in it, to have it living and breathing - so when you walk into a bar, its like walking into a bar - noisy, colorful and full of life.
language, word choice and the crafting of the scene are the only tools i have to do that. thats where my fun comes from.
On the surface, you would think that the GM and I would be in complete agreement. And if you thought that... you’d be wrong.
First, because I believe that the GM has an obligation beyond immersing the players in the world. The GM has an obligation to give enough information to the players so that the players can make decisions. If the GM paints a glorious panorama of a fascinating world and the players are confused, then what was the point of painting the picture? While I’m always happy to translate Wolfspeak into English for my fellow players, I shouldn’t have to do the translating. The GM should be writing in English.
Second, because one of the deals the GM and I made when I returned from hiatus was that I would proofread his posts before they go up.
As I said, I believe a GM has an obligation to convey information to his or her players. Maybe I hung out with the wrong crowd back in the 70s and 80s when I was playing D&D and taking on the role of Dungeonmaster myself. Paint a picture, but make it a Renoir and not a Dali. Never, ever, ever create an Escheresque painting! Make the rules of the world known and available at all times; above all, ensure that the rules of your world remains internally consistent.
Now I’m going to put on my hat of copy editor. After all, that’s what started this whole avalanche. Proofreading the Heartwood posts is exhausting. Some weeks are more exhausting than others; last week was very bad. So I asked the active players if it really mattered if I continued to proofread and copy edit the posts before they were posted by the GM. (By the way, the consensus was “yes, please.”) Some discussion in that PM led to Zeim posting the OCC that started this particular conversation. (Thank you, Z.)
On the one hand, the GM is trying to bring the world to life — something that is useful or useless, fascinating or just something to wade through, fun or not fun... it’s different things to different people. And yes, language is the only way to do that.
On the other hand, the players have a need to know what is going on around them and have a right to understand what the GM is trying to convey about the world around them.
No one is a bigger proponent of shaping the world with language than I am. With the possible exception of the GM, no one here knows the world as well as I do. But this is truly a copy editing job and not just proofreading. I have to make sure words are spelled correctly and sentences are punctuated corrected. Oh, and make sure that sentences are actually sentences.
But beyond that simple ( ) task, I try to do the sometimes impossible: keep the painting from becoming Escheresque. (Everyone please reference last week’s discussion of “hands” versus “feet” versus “handful.” ‘Nuff said.)
Unless the GM actually follows through on either making posts much clearer or adds a summary for folks who just want the Readers Digest Condensed version, that’s all I can do to help.
I also want to address another phrase that rang false for me:
Quote:
but it is not the only game in town.
This (I assume) is in reference to the dungeon crawl under the docks. Because I don’t think any of us is clear on what those other games in town might be, it might as well be the only game in town. If we can’t see beyond the painting of the world, if the attempt to immerse the players in the world obscures the very options the players supposedly have, then there really is only one game in town: whichever one you push to the forefront. You have pushed this specific story to the forefront because you didn’t get clear directions and goals from the players. You didn’t get clear directions and goals from the players because even I’m confused by Talesan’s Village (or bored... it depends on what day you ask and how you phrase the question). There were other options? It would appear as though there were not other options.
And this is exactly how players wind up feeling like they’ve been “railroaded” into doing a particular thing. (And then there’s this one: “You have Option A or Option B or Option C. Decide what you will do!” This becomes highly frustrating when the only option I can choose is Option C because Options A and B are wildly out of character.)
Quote:
...for someone else i custom created a scholarly aspect of the adventure so they could participate without poking folks.
Yeah, definitely not on the same page... and now I’m rethinking my position that we’re in the same book. But that’s a different discussion. And since I have a feeling we’re speaking different languages, it’s a discussion that can be tabled. I just wanted to point out that you didn’t quite understand my motivation for having Dazi follow Lew to the library.
i am quite serious. i truly appreciated zeim asking and i think its a good thing.
my literary heroes are folks like chip delaney, cordwainer smith and gene wolfe. i truly appreciate zeim remembering that the gm has to have fun too. i want to be able to look forward to writing a heartwood post and i'd love to be in a place where lunch time rolls around and i have something that snares me enough to do a middle of the week post.
Quote:
but it is not the only game in town.
this is, and ever since the introductory scenario, always been the case. as i said, i'd much rather respond to your actions than instigate something on my own.
there are many "games" in talesan's village:
1. the fisher/farmer conflict - will it tear the village apart? how can that be prevented from happening? does anyone care if it happens? why can't the larsens do anything about this?
2. the farmer's compound - beyond the opportunity for training, learning more about horses, just why is it away from the town?
3. who taught father canna how to garden?
4. investigating the dirkwood - talesan's is the stepping point for investigating it's mysteries.
5. investigating history - the port of lys and the forgotten fleet.
6. you could even make a boat, find a navigator and go looking for the lost bankorpool empire.
7. just who is broke anyways? why did broke create such an incident?
and those are just the possible opportunities i know that are there.
8. there's even a neighboring hamlet you've been given as a resource to help build a troop - which was created specifically in response to a player generated desire. talesan's village is flooded with jvrillians who are about to lose their contracts. they don't know mikal is looking. someone should take an strong positive action and tell them.
9. or ... and most importantly ... anything else you want to do. getting involved in trundle politics wasn't my idea. going to talesan's village wasn't my idea.
all of these are opportunities. you can take them or leave them. that's up to you. if none of them interest you that's fine - then come up with something you want to do.
have an idea that you don't know will work or generate play or not? ask here. this is what this thread is for.
something in the world is confusing you? don't ask another player. ask me. right here. i like questions about the heartwood.
there is a part of his that i can't do. if there is a path you like to take, if you - as both player and character - have to step up and transition from talking about doing something to actually doing something.
for example, for better or worse there's currently a kidnapped girl. you are standing at a dungeon entrance. one of you four - kadri, mikal, cesare or bekkah ... should step up and say very definitively "this is what we are going to do" because if you wait for me to toss things at you it's probably going to go downhill very quickly.
what should you be worried for? light, traps, guards ... typical dungeon things. you've been given an airlock so you don't have to worry for the time and the tide. you can presume you brought some manner of common gear with you, and don't forget you also have common magics.
i do recommend keeping this secret. the consequence of the general town hearing that the fishers may have kidnapped a farmer girl could start a small civil war.
i also think this conversation has been good and hopefully helpful. i also think its pretty much run its course. if anyone wishes to continue, that's fine, but lets do it through pm. we need to get back to the more important matter - playing the game.
please keep using OOC to ask questions or get clarifications. i'd much prefer hearing things direct.
to sum up:
there's always been choice.
go anywhere and there will be something happening that will involve players.
have your character take a definitive action based on what they want to do, and it can go anywhere.
now there's a girl who needs rescuing. time for someone to take charge.
Well, honestly? Sometimes, I wonder why I bother. I did say that mileage may vary on the perception of your sincerity. Other people will have their take on it, and others might take you at your word and believe you are absolutely sincere. There really isn’t any need to try convincing me that you’re sincere because I know you. And I have my jar of salt right here.
And, as usual, you completely missed the main point. But... sigh. I’m used to that.
I had some things to say about your List of Possible Games in Talesan’s Village. I don’t think posting those thoughts will make any difference in the conversation, so... [snip]
And since I’m not going to talk about what I thought about the List of Possible Games in Talesan’s Village, I don’t need to keep the section wherein I felt compelled to derail the usual argument you pose for some of the thoughts I expressed, so again... [snip]
However, I do have a problem with other things you said. Here’s what I see as the problem:
[Note: This is JUST MY PROBLEM. No one else needs to jump on board. Or, to put it in terms my grandmother might use, this is my cross to bear and no one needs to play the part of Simon of Cyrene.]
[Also, I’m not going to bother with the quote block and actually copy the GM’s actual words. Doing that yesterday was enough pain for one week, and I still haven’t looked at the weekly post that needs copy editing. I will do my usual job of correcting spelling and grammar.]
“I also think this conversation has been good and hopefully helpful.”
I am glad you feel it was good. I do not feel that way, and that is only my opinion. I do not feel that it was particularly helpful, either. Again, that is only my opinion.
“I also think it’s pretty much run its course. If anyone wishes to continue, that’s fine but let’s do it through PM. We need to get back to the more important matter: playing the game.”
This is called “shutting down the conversation.” The message it conveys is: whether or not anyone else has something to add is irrelevant to you. You have decreed that there will be no more conversation on this matter in public. The Game is NOT more important that the discussion of the dynamics of the game and the people involved in it, however. Both are equally important, and conversations about problems and issues should have the light shone on them, rather than hiding them away in dark private PMs.
I’ve lived my entire life hearing this kind of thing.
“Children should be seen and not heard.”
“You can’t do that... you’re just a girl.”
“You’re just a woman... what do you know?”
“You’re a freak, a dyke... what do you know?”
“You’re not like us, like [insert dominant culture group of choice]... what do you know?”
I know that I have to fight, and I have to fight CONSTANTLY and with more energy than I seem to have to have my voice heard.
And so I know that I can’t let this attitude of “now be quiet, children” stand.
I know that I have to fight for what I want and for what I believe. Every day. Every minute. Every second. (And yet, I know that this is not a fight I can continue to fight and still maintain some semblance of sanity.)
I know that I am not perfect, but that I need to give the impression that I am... because I’m a woman. Because I’m queer. Because I’m smarter than the average bear. Or person.
Be bold. Be brave. Be true. Be you. [Today is National Coming Out Day in the US. As I was writing this, MarriageEqualityUSA posted this message on their Twitter feed. It feels appropriate.]
Like every other person in every other minority on this planet (i.e., everyone who is not a cis heterosexual white (preferably Christian) male), I have to be twice or four times or eight times as good as anyone else in order to be considered “good enough.”
After more than half a century of doing this, it’s no wonder I am exhausted.
And on top of that, add a few tragedies to the mix that would have killed a lesser person and see what happens. This is what happens: stress. A lot of stress. And stress is bad.
[According to the most recent research in the field (and there isn’t much research in the field), a person may or may not have a tendency to develop fibromyalgia. But if a person does have that tendency, extreme mental, emotional and/or physical stress will trigger it.
And fibromyalgia is a bundle of joy and laughter... assuming you are one of those people who enjoys pain. Me? I hate it. I hate it a whole lot. So the fact that I’m in physical pain pretty much 24 hours out of every day? Just consider it part of my charm. And accept that I’m snarling at you (“you” being any human or non-human on the planet who happens to work my nerves, causing stress, thereby exacerbating my pain) from a place of stress and pain. Also, for some people, the snarling is caused by disbelief that a person can be so clueless and/or stupid and still function enough to get dressed in the morning. (Mokie knows who I’m talking about... the one who probably falls somewhere on the autism spectrum and the one who is so narcissistic that she needs to share her personal life and the micromanagement of her four f*ck*ng living daughters with the whole office.)]
So, I’m coming from THAT place when I read... hell, just about anything. And because that’s the place I’m coming from, I can’t help but take umbrage at the condescending idea that we should stop talking about any issues we might have with the way the GM interacts (or does not interact, to be more accurate) with the players... or with the confusion sown by the GM while he’s weaving a tapestry of the world... or at the idea that all of this should stay hidden in private places if we dare have the audacity to want to talk about it.
Problems do not get solved in darkness. Sometimes problems don’t get solved at all and issues don’t get resolved, but they certainly can’t be solved or resolved if they’re tucked in the closet.
There are problems here. Has ANYONE noticed that Pam left? Hmm?
I’m going to quote (with her permission) something Pam said to me this past week: “More of that not funny stuff.... [Wolf] is the only GM who has not asked me if I intend to continue, not that I have many GMs. You, Jim (3 games) and Mud.”
(As a caveat, I am not a GM. BTS is a writing forum. Pam and I are co-writing facilitators, not co-GMs. But yes, I do badger her regularly about writing for BTS and FS.)
And really? Given the way the GM stepped all over her last year when she did have a few days of relative calm and was able to post, I don’t blame her for just walking away and not looking back.
Oh, here’s something the GM said: “You have these hive minds and I’m excluded. If you’re talking about the game, I should be part of the conversation.” And then there was this gem: “I feel like you’re keeping me from talking to the players.”
Trying to explain how the messaging system on DreamLyrics works was like trying to explain the inner workings of a specific and ridiculously complex relational database to New Person. (Or trying to explain quantum mechanics to a cat.)
(Also, that last statement... NO WORDS, people. NO WORDS!)
“All you have to do — if you want to talk to the players — is start a group PM. It’s very simple.” I said this. I said this many months ago, before I even dropped out of the last “Hive Mind” PM.
This conversation must be public because there’s not enough impetus anywhere to start a private conversation. (This is on top of the fact that a private conversation is a bad idea to start with.)
I have ceased caring. (More accurately, I’ve decided it’s bad for my mental health to care. Shut down, numb it all up. Smartest move in terms of HWD. Of course, the fact that this is the story of my life and isn’t particularly healthy in the grander scheme of things... Well, compromises must be made.)
Go and rescue the girl. Dazi will have a good time with Kisa and Lew reading in the library. Bright and early “tomorrow” morning, Dazi’s going to take Kisa home via the Compound (there will be hand waving and no adventure; we’ll just assume that Dazi and Morning Star get the training they need). When she gets home, she’ll round up some willing horse archers and send them to Mikal, if that’s what Mikal still wants. Again, more waving of the hands... just assume it happens. All your Dayalans will be NPCs because Dazi will leave Kay in charge of the Dayalans. MAYBE Dazi will make a guest appearance here or there or somewhere. (It would most likely be in or around Bordertown; she really doesn’t like Cragside. Unless you somehow wind up in Dawnview Vale.) Or maybe she’ll just be someone who gets mentioned every now and again: “I wonder what Dazi’s up to. Didn’t Bekkah get a letter from her today?” Right along with, “Do you think Darian actually found the Pack she was looking for?” and “Does anyone know where Jankin went?”
Yep, I’m already planning another “hiatus.” Except I don’t plan on coming back from this one.
Does that make me sad? Yes. Yes, it does. Because there is a lot of potential on the Heartwood, there are a lot of interesting things to learn. But the stress and aggravation aren’t worth it anymore. I spend more time being upset at the Heartwood and anything related to the Heartwood than I do enjoying the Heartwood or writing anything for the Heartwood.
If I leave the game, the GM is obligated to tell me anything I want to know. That, too, was part of the agreement we made when I returned from hiatus: if I ask a question and the answer isn’t something that can or will be learned in the course of RP, the GM has to answer the question. He’s already tried to wiggle out of it by saying one of my questions could be answered in the course of RP. However, the only way it could have been answered in the course of the game would be if the motivations of my character that he believes she has actually are the motivations my character actually does have. And Dazi’s motivations are not what the GM believes them to be. Also, I think I know my character better than anyone else does.
Strip all that stuff away — would Dazi do this, would Dazi ever do that — and the questions become so much easier to answer. And since the GM has already admitted that some of the questions don’t have answers... well, that’s just more fodder for my imagination.
I prefer to play, not to have long OOC threads. If I have issues I tend to talk to my GM. If he/she doesn't listen, then I leave.
The thing that has most frustrated me in this game has been Pam's absences, though I do understand how work & family can swamp free time. I have kept going in the hope she would be back. Now I learn that is not happening.. and I feel I should have been told directly.
I have enjoyed HWD, including Wolf's style. Yes there is incomplete understanding of every post but I considered the depth of culture made up for that. I had picked up on the farmer clue and was hoping to investigate that. Plus I thought as a group we would need to tackle the forest.
I don't know where we go from here. I have no wish to continue is a relationship with an absentee character. It is too constraining. So either we recruit another player or the character has to die/leave in a way that Cesare could carry on.
But listening to the rest of you, does this game have a future?
Are there things you like about it?
I found much to like, so I will wait to see if anything can be salvaged.
I've enjoyed Bekkah. But I've always maintained that she is a sidekick. So I'm at the mercy of the rest of you. Yeah, yeah some of you are going to argue, but that's what I want from her.
Well, from what I just saw above it seems it is just you, Art, and me, Gypsy. Nivek only wants to be a side-kick, Mokie has posted 3 times in the past year, and Kel said she was leaving along with Pam?
Go ahead and be a sidekick, Nivek. But in the argument that followed the posting of my last post, I did say that Dazi's love for her sister would be the one thing that might make me change my mind. (You'd think it would be her love for Kisa, wouldn't you? But no. Kisa is an NPC and Bekkah is a PC. Plus, we both know Dazi has always adored her big sister.)
I work with Mokie, and the situation in his department is no less maddening than mine. We're all understaffed, overworked and going insane. (It probably helps that I started that way; on the other hand, I think Mokie did too.) Plus, Real Life™ has been relentlessly evil to him and Mrs. Mokie.
The GM will continue to badger me to play HWD until he drops dead. If we start from the assumption that everyone who participates in HWD needs to have fun, and acknowledge that everyone has a different idea in their mind for what constitutes fun for them, then the nature of the game needs to shift. In the aforementioned argument, the GM did at least indicate he was willing to attempt to do that.
I think recruiting DOES need to happen. Fresh perspectives could help.
Even if I stay, I will probably be on a separate track that might cross the main track occasionally.
I think Pam should speak for Pam here.
(I am NOT going into the Forest. You can't make me. There is nothing the GM can say or do to convince me it's a good idea, since everything in the background documents and everything we've learned during play has made it sound like The Worst Idea Ever In The History Of Bad Ideas. (Your mileage may vary. I seem to be saying that a lot.) There are no bribes big enough. Have fun with the Forest Adventure. Don't get eaten. Don't take Romana. Find a Covener.)
it will take a bit to mull on all this, and to do so without it degenerating into a tit-for-tat confrontation, which I have no heart for or desire to get into.
Art has a very good point; the question is, if there was more recruitment, what sort of role would you like to add? Or is a smaller, more focused group preferred?
As for the rest of the party make up and how we got to where we are, there are many reasons why they have turned the way they did, which is unfortunate. I am sure there's constructive resolutions for all of them, we just need to look at it from a 'how to make it work' scenario.
As for Bekkah, she can be coaxed out of her shell! Kicking and screaming maybe, but she hasn't failed you guys yet!
If we do add another, it would seem ideal to have that person have a connection, either established or new, with someone in the party. Not sure what that is yet, but ...
I know, I can just hear someone in the background saying "Oh dear God, there goes LMS again."
Just remember folks, this is a game. Meant to be fun. Nothing more.
Also, I've tried to GM, it's hard. And it takes time, especially if you intend to do it well. And I appreciate anyone doing that for me. And it actually makes me feel guilty because I'm unable to give back by running a game myself.
So fine tuning is great. Everyone likes feedback, especially if they can make minor changes that make everyone happy. Failing that, I say Wolf makes it clear what he wants to run, and how it will be run and everyone decides for themselves if they want to be a part of it. After that, we continue or not, but at least everyone knows what to expect.
Agreed! But until we get that commitment and know who is continuing then we cannot decide how many or what type of characters we need. It might not be too hard to bring characters in, Kadri & Mikal are here to recruit after all! Yes mostly combatants but any troupe needs its support staff!
For once, I’m not sitting here saying, “Oh, dear gods, there goes LMS again.” Because you’re right.
We’re supposed to be having fun, and it seems pretty clear that some of us aren’t. Some of us haven’t been. So the question to put on the table is: what can we do — individually and as a group — to bring back the fun?
As I look around at the players we’ve got, I think all of us have taken on the job of GM and/or DM. You’re right, Niv... it’s not an easy gig.
What I’m going to disagree with is your last paragraph. Wolf has both made it clear that he wants to run (a player-centric game) and at the same time made it so vague that even I don’t know what he really wants. He’s stated how it will be run: he presents scenarios and we choose the ones we will pursue. Or we think up something else. The fact that a non-zero number of us don’t understand what he’s presenting in the scenario choices is a different conversation. (But it’s the most important conversation to have, I think.)
I know that both Zeim and I have decided that our characters have different agendas that weren’t part of the original story “concept.” They’re storylines that can run in parallel, that work better with separate player groups, and can be woven back and forth between groups as much or as little as the players involved want or need.
But knowing what to expect — from both GM and players, for both GM and players — is absolutely vital. That can only be accomplished with communication. Communication means the person saying a thing must say it in a way that the person hearing a thing understands. Communication means the person hearing a thing then tells the person who said a thing how it sounded to them. That’s where we’re going to discover whether or not we’re playing the game we think we’re playing, and the GM will know he’s running the game he thinks he’s running.
I think Zeim’s example is better, but I’ll use mine... because it’s mine. Daxia wants to go to Glacier Keep, to the Jambles above Glacier Keep. She wants to go because after an entire lifetime, she’s just learned that she has more family than just her sister. She’s excited to meet her grandmother and her cousin, and she’s scared. And she wants Bekkah to come with her to meet grandma and cousin Starwatcher, but understands that Bekkah might not be able to do that. This is absolutely the kind of scenario Zeim would hate, hate, hate... but it’s definitely my cup of tea. It’s about the people.
I’ll grant that it was my own mistake to have even mentioned Starwatch Reaches. That is not and should never have been part of the equation (other than the geometry equation of locating the three Dayalan Temples were Ironsilver can be cast... and the reality of the world means the Bordertown Temple is the only one that’s viable, using a very loose interpretation of “viable”).
(I can’t control what the GM will latch onto, but I can keep saying over and over and over and over until he understands what I’m saying: I do not have a burning need to visit Starwatch Reaches / the Dall Gwynn. The GM is free to continue presenting scenarios that might pique my interest. BUT NOT UNTIL AFTER I DO WHAT *I* WANT TO DO! I picked my scenario already.)
The purpose for going to the... Highbeck Jambles? I think it’s Highbeck. Anyway, the purpose for going there is Family Reunion. That’s it. Simple. Easy. And after that? I don’t know. Maybe it will depend on what happens at the Family Reunion. (Well, Daxia does need to go to the Temple in Dawnview Vale to see the High Priestess, and it would be fun to drag Kay along... but after she sees her family!)
So the issue isn’t having the GM make it clear what he wants to run (already clear: a player-centric game) and how he wants to run the game (present scenarios for players, riff off players’ actions). It’s not an issue about the players deciding if we’re on board with that. It’s what we’ve been doing (with various levels of success) since the beginning. The issue is a matter of communication between GM and players about what the players in this player-centric game want from the game. This truly is the insurmountable problem I see: an inability to communicate.
It took a year — a YEAR of my life to get the GM to understand what I meant by, “Do Bekkah and Daxia have any other family?” I asked in writing, both in character and out of character. I asked verbally, in tones ranging from polite to strident to enraged. I was explicit in my request... who was Yuri Tashasdotter’s mother... father... siblings... other relatives? Who were Eelia Darksmith’s parents... siblings... other relatives? In this, I’ll admit to having an advantage over the rest of you because I can get in the GM’s face when he is hearing and seeing words and interpreting them in his way, not mine. And because I was the one asking the question, my interpretation was the correct one. (And to this day, I still don’t know how the GM got “How is Dazi related to Kisa?” out of all that.)
The frustration and unhappiness and lack of fun we’re having is all due to a language barrier.
(Or, if we think sinister thoughts, we are all merely pawns on the GM’s chessboard and have no free will. But let’s go with the language barrier option. It’s less depressing. And at least that can be remedied.)
I've been following / lurking the ooc thread, as I do have something to say, but haven't the first clue where to start and have been taking time to recharge from a brutal work ... can't even call it a schedule.
That said, this will likely ramble here and there. You are forewarned.
I like my interpretation of the character. I've enjoyed her interaction with the other player characters from the initial discussions with Mikal (is that bow decorative? )to the sharing and potential recruiting of Cesare (which came about as a response to an awkward situation we were put into).
For the most part Darian has not had much to do other than shooting things / people as the need arose. The couple of occasions where there was a vested only for her interest, much was skimmed over, or plainly flat out ignored. The last case, when I was able to post, not only did my explicit details get ignored but I was offered a non-apology. "I'm sorry if you were offended" kind of BS. Then the NPC was the worse kind of a$$. That kind of thing takes time to respond to, and stuff happened in RL, and, well, next time I looked, everyone seemed to be in a different town.
To me it seems, Darian does just fine on autopilot. My presence has not been necessary to the game or any plots/scripts. The couple other Hunters we've come across have been rude and condescending. It's a bit like complete strangers being nicer and more reliable than your family. I don't need that in game life, got plenty of it in RL.
Also, the whole posting rate thing...we wait weeks on weeks for a GM post and for certain others, but, heck, if I can't post, too bad, so sad, we're moving on. What's the point of even f'ing bothering?
I waffle about coming back because I really like ineracting with the other PCs. Is that enough? I don't know. And the point may be moot.
The only reason I can sit down and write this now, is because I took a week off. It's taken me this long to have enough coherence to put this in words. I'm juggling ~16 projects in various phases and even some other people on those projects and know that come next Wed I'll have a list of 16 more. My time isn't going to get any freer for the foreseeable future.
I had thought the updated HWD post had been returned; I was mistaken. I had wanted both that post and my reply here to go up at the same time. When I get the HWD Weekend post back I'll repost!
You can't win an argument, because if you lose, you lose it; and if you win it, you lose it. Why? You will feel fine. But what about the other person? You have made them feel inferior, you hurt their pride, insult their intelligence, their judgment, and their self-respect, and they'll resent your triumph.
I think that’s where we are right now. It’ a difficult place to be. And it’s why I am stepping away from any direct responses, accusations, explanations and conditions. Tit-for-tat, back and forth are destructive engagements and as I have said before I have no heart to go there.
Have there been miscommunications? Obviously. Whether you wish to acknowledge it or not conditions arose that only served to make communications more difficult. And after the week’s reading, it seems equally true that these misunderstandings still exist on all sides of the coin.
So I am simply accepting the situation, working to understand the parts I don’t and am endeavoring to move forward in a constructive manner.
I really appreciate Zeim bringing this up and continuing to talk to me in a constructive manner. I think it helps lots.
Where to next? There are at least four folks who have expressed a desire to see things move forward – Zeim, Art, Gypsy and Nivek. The question, that hasn’t been truly answered, is whether you four wish to expand the group or continue as a more focused group.
That’s a question I can’t answer. That would be a good discussion and we can decide to recruit or not recruit together.
As for Pam, Darian and Longtooth, that is a matter of concern. The quiet on my part is deeply tangled in the previously noted miscommunication quagmire. In some ways I should have practiced what I preached and reached out; one problem with a break in communications is that what you honestly believe may be the case really may not be.
For that I apologize.
Pam, you and Darian will always be welcome to stay. Darian'sinteraction with theothersis always great. I also understand your extremely heavy workload; to that end much – if not all - of my quietness was an acceptance of that and simply maintaining Darian in an off scene holding pattern waiting for your return at your own time, manner and without me having done something with Darian that would have been unacceptable. That, considering how long things took, probably wasn’t the smartest of decisions.
Kelly’s made it very clear what she wishes and I’ve always said I will do my best to work with a player’s desires. The only question then is the manner and mechanism. And that can too be worked out approached constructively.
Right now, we are in a simple situation in the game; a very straightforward one. A girl needs finding. We have four who are set to do so; if it is appropriate for Darian to join them that’s an easy matter; it is a hunt and they would be easy to follow and catch up.
Darian has options – it might also have interesting tracking down Broke, Talean’s Village is big enough to have a Hunter, try hunting in the shadow of the Dirkwood, staying back at the tavern or realizing that who ever took Dydd had to come from somewhere and this might be somehow trackable. Or Darian can remain in waiting until a better time arises. Opportunities, not limitations and always in respect for the time you have available.
Daxia has a library and two scholars. A library bigger than Dawnview’s - for Kisa at least this is a once in a lifetime chance. We just need to look at it from a what can we do as opposed to what can’t be done.
And as for posting, my weekend schedule is very stable. I’d like to get to a point where I can enjoy writing HWD during lunch every now and then.
Rory has arrived with lamps, which will illuminate a sphere of the underground sections large enough so that will be time to react to anything anything jumping out at you.
If it can easily be carried by one person running Rory probably could have gotten it or you; I do not want to have you folks thwarted by missing a reasonable length of rope or a ball of twine, for example.
Looking forward, those going in should set traditional dungeon roles - who is leading, who carries the lamps, what is the party order. Rory will go where you want him to.
Right now the noise of the bay is louder than anything that can be heard from the underground area.
If you could give me an idea what you will be keeping an eye or ear out for, that would be appreciated.
Super OCD Woman does not see a reference to Cesare obtaining a crossbow, just training with Mikal's. If you could point me to the appropriate post, I will be happy to remedy this egregious error.
I am pretty sure we bought one for him in Bordertown. The same place he made a Rohni Dagger for Mikal (not sure if that's on Mikal's sheet).
Also, Mikal had placed the following spells onto his Darksteel Weapons:
Harden - 3 Points Blaze - 3 Points Absorption (Divine) - 1 Point Slipperiness - 2 Points (adds +10% per point to chances to retract a stuck weapon) Morale (Divine) - GM gift (can be cast without requiring normal prep time) Weapon Blessing - 2 Points
most importantly, I have no problem with Cesare picking up a crossbow between Bordertown and Talesan's ... there would have been ample opportunity too.
Found the references, Z. Thanks. I'll need the GM to give me the correct numbers to go with Cesare's crossbow and Mikal's new dagger. Once I have all the information I need, I'll update the sheets at the earliest possible opportunity.
Also, as the stat sheets were originally designed (and are currently designed), spells aren't bound to a weapon. They're invoked at the time the weapon is used. If the GM has made changes to the system, I was not informed... so I'll just make sure all your spells are up-to-date.
They are spells embedded in the Darksteel weapon (per my understanding). These are above and beyond what Mikal has available to him as his normal spell complement and can be called upon from the weapon whether it is used or not. It is simply a storage pool for extra magic.
Um, okay. I have no idea what's going on with any of this stuff (especially with newly made-up spells, happy fun times there, says Super OCD Woman). So, I'll just let everything stay the way it is until the GM gives me the correct numbers for the weapons and explains what the heck is going on with the spells. I do not grok. I need to grok.
I mean, I know you're Numbers Guy and all, and I'm sure there's a jolly good tactical advantage to what you've done. Yay, you! But... spells that don't exist... making head hurt... PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN.
Imagine the Darksteel weapon as a blank spell scroll that can hold a certain number of spells. As Wolf explained it to me Mikal invests the spells (either Divine or Mundane) from Jvrill or himself by spending POW points. The limit is up to his total POW, but if he invests them all at once he would topple over exhausted.
He then recovers the POW the next day, after rest, so he can add them to the weapon over time if he wants to.
So, for Mikal, limit is 11 spell points into the weapon. Each point of POW invested is then held in reserve and expended when the spell is called forth.
All of the spells (except for Slipperiness) should be in the background material. I created 'Slipperiness', with Wolf's agreement, as a means of trying to reduce the chances of Mikal's short sword getting stuck in opponents rib cages.
Does that make sense? If you know D&D it works very much like a "Ring of Spell Storing".
The numbers make sense. The concept makes sense. There's no way to account for it on the stat sheet, however. And I had it out with the GM last night for not informing the webmaster that there were two spells that needed to be added to the background files (Slipperiness and Weapon Blessing). (Does he believe information drifts there by magic just because he thinks the thoughts? Well, Luddites have believed stranger things, I suppose. )
We now wait for the GM to get me the necessary information to add to the stat sheets. (Based on past experience, you and Gypsy could be waiting a while.)
Here's the details of Weapon Blessing and Slipperiness from my PM w/Wolf:
- Weapon Blessing - +1 damage & +5% chance to hit per POW pt, maximum of 3 POW points. - Slipperiness - +10% per POW point to chances to retract a stuck weapon (normally chance is Strength x3)
There is also this (not sure if you have it or not):
- Battle Matrix - allows you to store POW in your sword for casting, 1 point per 1 POW invested up to 3. This POW can be used to power your spells or a spell stored in the blade.
I didn't choose Battle Matrix, which is sort of a way to store raw POW without pre-assigning it to a specific spell so you can be flexible and use it as needed.
1. Do the stats for Mikal's crossbow apply to Cesare's crossbow? 2. Do the stats for Cesare's Rhoni daggers apply to Mikal's Rhoni dagger? 3. How is the HTML coded to account for weapons that hold spells? (I'm using DIV tags and CSS; give me not any of that TABLE nonsense.)
NOW do you understand what I'm trying to extract from you, Mr. GM?
I am going to the dentist. Super OCD Woman is going on holiday. Labhair leat níos déanaí.
apologies for that being late; i had wanted to do a midweek post but work got in the way.
now you have true dungeon challenges to consider ... a long passage ahead that has at least a modicum of water over the floor and the poor lighting preventing anything to be seen beneath the surface - and an ominous something waiting in darkness ahead!
When you saw "look to the right" (which would be south) do you mean the walls immediately to the right (in the gray area) or retracing your steps, going past the airlock and looking down the corridors further south (and in the black)?
In the meantime... I will send Art the results of Kadri's spell casting.
I think it is sensible to start close to where we are but then spreading further out if we don't find anything. I think we should stick together though.
Yes. First to look to the immediate right and see if there is a way forward that isn't filled with water, then to double back and look at the other passages.
Portions of the underground labyrinth have been filled in over the course of two ages plus. Thus large black areas on the map do not necessarily mean that there is a room hidden within.
Second, remember that the suspected users of this place are fishermen and not, for example, master builders or dwarves.
So you want to feed a Lizard-thing. This is interesting. You would have some jerky-ish snacks on you and you can probably find a trapped fish or two in small pools where the walls have collapsed and are rubble-like.
Just to confirm: are you going to try down the lit or unlit corridor?
And are you going to do anything special as you walk down the watercovered areas?
Suggestion was to go down the lit corridor and try to distract the lizard thingy with food.
I haven't heard replies from everyone on those ideas yet.
As far as special, well using a stick or other thingy to prod ahead and make sure there are no holes in the floor we might fall into would be a good idea, presuming we can't see the floor thru the water.
A) The other splashings and growlfs are far enough away that you will have time to deal with zombie-lizard before they get any closer. The noise is simply a warning that there are more of them further in and they may have noticed the commotion.
B) Between the time of the lizard falling and getting back up again you will have time to get Bekkah, Cesare and Bekkah on the other side of the pit. You will also have time to cast healing magics. Simply put these actions in he beginning of your nex post if you wish to do so.
C) Obviously the issue is not just taking down the dumb lizards, but figuring out a way of keeping them down or rendering them harmless once they’ve run out of hit points …
Simply put, once a Lizard-Thing is past its hit points its attacks are significantly weaker and less coordinated – too deadly to be ignored but if confronted not as much to worry for.
Stopping it requires attacks that will cripple it. Take an arm it can’t use its spear, take a leg, it cant chase you. Even then it takes a long time for it to die – but it will, eventually, die. This is probably fine if it can’t follow you. Taking its head stops it completely.
Tactics above brute force.
The other splashing and growlfs are still far enough away that you will have time to heal and prepare for them, and yes they appear to be getting closer.
Your strategy is working well ... you are pulling the bad guys from their ports to you.
Kadri can - if someone helps her - retrieve her dagger before the others arrive. Rory may be presumed to keep up his singing until he is asked to stop.
With three of them, I recommend having a coordinated plan before they get to you!
In general the attack went well; while things fell apart your first attacks - from surprise - hurt the lizards significantly – enough to throw the odds – however slightly – back in your favor. So good planning prevented this from becoming a disaster.
At the moment, you have a chance to heal and come up with a plan for moving forward – you hear no further splashing ahead.
Kadri is lightly wounded in her head and leg. Cesare is badly wounded in the abdomen and slightly less in his chest. Mikal cannot use his left arm, has a light wound in the leg and a major wound in his chest.
A) If Cesare wants to use Elsewhere to get out from under from the dead/dying lizard thing, he may. Otherwise he’s going to need his companions help to get free. Lizard things are fat.
B) I’d recommend letting Bekkah take care of the worst wounds – Mikal’s arm and Cesare’s chest. Between her and your own skills you can stanch all wounds and be restored to full effectiveness (taking about a quarter of Bekkah’s power). You will need to be careful because you will still be hurt – you will not want o be hit again where you have been wounded. You can be completely healed by Bekkah but that would leave her with almost no power for healing if something goes wrong deeper in the dungeon.
Bekkah would have a few more magic points available if Kadri just healed herself.
C) Bekkah can totally heal one person, but she can only do this ONCE today (she can also reattach a limb and resurrect someone, but we haven’t gotten to THAT point!)
D) Yes, Mikal’s shield is now busted. However, Mikal can return to main gauche/shortsword- which may prove more effective now that you know how the lizard things act and can plan accordingly. It is good knowing multiple attack forms!
L1 – Armored, with a sword and shield. L2 – Armored, with sword and shield. L3 – Makeshift armor, with a big rusty greatsword/cleaver L4 – Not well armored, the lizard-thing munching on the bone. He has a spear. L5 – The best armored, with a spear. F1 – The disgruntled human Dd – Dyddplentyn. Her chains and manacles are black metal.
The Grey Rectangle – the large, circular black metal wall hanging.
At this moment, they do not seem to have noticed the Group.
Am leaving Saturday morning for a 2 week business trip to Barcelona. I don't expect to have a lot of time to post, so please ghost for me while I'm gone if needed.
It can be used *once* per combat. But it is not forgotten and can be used later.
For example:
If you had used Elsewhere in the first fight with the lizard things, at the rope, you could only use it once in that fight. The fight had a definite "ending" and then you walked down the corridor.
The lizard-things in the shrine, however, are a new batch and thus a new fight. So you would be able to use it again!
Reinforcements arriving while fighting is not considered a new batch!
yes, a per encounter spell is a good way of putting it ... and you are not being ignored this weekend; I am waiting on a Bekkah post and I believe it will be better to wait until Zem returns and posts bwfore moving on.
Your own tactics on how to solve the problem of overwhelming numbers of lizard-things have been great, I wouldn't want to jinx that streak!
L1 – Armored, with a sword and shield … limping slowly on one leg L2 – Armored, with sword and shield … bleeding arm-stump, no sword, only shield L3 - down and bleeding .. and it just isn't stopping bleeding ... no longer a threat Sh – Incoming shark.
Bekkah – A heal 1 will stop the bleeding, get Bekkah up and active, but still very hurt, with the least amount of power used. A heal 4 will completely close the wound, eliminate a major amount of hurt, but she’ll need a day or two of rest to completely heal.
This is a shark cult! It would be just wrong not to have a shark-boss!
And there are only three 'living' foes in the room until the hark arrives ... L1 and L2, who are not in good shape, and L5, who has yet to move from his door.
laughs ... nope! well let's correct that ... you could chain her up hang her from the manacles or the big shark medallion on the wall ... like a sacrifice or something!
Can we get a status summary? There are still lots of creatures shown on the map and I am not sure who is who and who is still a threat? Or is it only the Shark?
Was still waiting for an update (see above). The map is awfully crowded and I am fairly sure many of the things are dead or no longer a threat. Can we clean up the map? Otherwise it looks like we are in the midst of several enemies. If it's just the Shark it'll make it clearer where we can move to.
I thought I answered that! Where did that message go?
I certainly remember typing it out. I have this funny feeling It posted three times and I may have accidentally deleted one too many extras! I suspect thats what happened, and if so, that's my fault!
To sum up - there is only one threat remaining ... the shark.
The only other living "foe" is the fifth lizard-thing by the door, who is trying not to be seen.
There is still one lizard-thing left alive, but he is guarding his door. You may presume that if you don’t get within striking range he will stay put.
Mikal, luckily, was bitten in his OTHER leg, so while close to unconsciousness he is still up and alive. A heal 1 will stabilize the wound and keep him from hurting more. Bekkah can use a heal 4 to fully heal the leg. Mikal – while once healed he can move around and do things without issue – will still need three days to completely heal (unless he can get another Atteran to cast the proper Divine Spell on him)
The next step – how to deal with this situation – is up to you folks. Fair warning; you should look to the nature of relationships in Talesan’s Village when considering what to do next!
(OOC - And of course the person in the group who knows the most about politics and has some abilities to divine impact of actions is out of action. That would be Mikal's first thought. Get input from Daxia.)
so there was just a mention of "hiring day" during the market. Is that the common practice? Is there something like tables or booths setup and those who wish to hire jvrillians sit there while applicants line up?
Most Jvrillian contracts to Talesan's Village are one way ... to Talesan's Village and away from Talesan's Village. This protects the merchants who aredoing the hiring in case they get to the Village and don't make enough money to hire guards on the way back.
Thus, as part of the Marketday trading the now contractless Jvrillians look for new jobs for the trip back, making it their hiring day.
It is nothing so formal as stalls and vendors ... its more a case of watching the market and seeing which merchant is doing well and trying to get hired by them before the next Jvrillian gets there first.
Wolf - Leaving on a cruise and will be out of touch for about 8 days, so ghost for Mikal is you need to. I don't have time to write up a post that's not just off the cuff.
Mikal mentioned Swordmaster because the Jvrillians at the table mentioned one first, btw, and he presumed if there was one that he might be a good person to pass word along.
Letting Kadri answer the question about who actually is hiring, though being non-committal is probably a good tactic there.
I suppose if we need to be out of town by nightfall then Mikal will try to let as many jvrillians know as he can and tell them to come to Waverider's Watch if they are interested and to bring other jvrilians with them, and then we will head there ourselves after an early supper.
He won't exactly tell them here that he is forming a new Troop, but he will tell them he will interview any jvrillian who is interested in work and will hire as many as pass his interview.
During the interview he will bring up the topic of the Troop and that it will be a "mixed" unit, including others such as Dayalans. He only wants those who are willing to work with non-jvrilians and are at least willing to consider working with Dayalans. He expects to have a lot of sexism crop up but isn't looking to take on hard-core male chauvinists that will cause trouble.
Those posting guidelines are probably more time than the 8 days I'll be gone, but in case you wanted to move things along I wanted to paint the outline.
Can I perhaps somewhat assume that Mikal would have given some pointers on 'How to talk to Jvrillans about contracts" and if so at least some points on big things to avoid?
Wolf - Isn't there a non-sequitur in the last post? My background material on Jvrillians states that the hold reading and writing in disdain, that their contracts are verbal and "my word is my bond" is a very literal statement for them. Thus they hold memory very important and do not write contracts on paper.
Super OCD Woman says you are correct. Dazi remembers well how Mikal sneered at her ability to write. (It was early on, they hadn't had time to get to know one another, and all is forgiven.)
"Most people on the Heartwood can't read or write. At most, they might be able to scratch out their name." ~ A quote from the GM ~
The only people who field armies numbering in the thousands was the Bankorpool Empire.
Most small Jvrillian troops are between 50-100; Bordertown can afford larger ones.
The task of turning Waverider's Watch or the fields nearby into something that can support even a small troop is something you folks will have to manage carefully, from financial, social, environmental and economic points of views.
Somehow I imagined the scope and scale of the battle we fought against the Chaos Army alongside Donner's Swords and Molkhavin's troop of Heavy Horse to be much larger than a few score swordsmen and a few dozen horsemen.
Perhaps it was good, descriptive writing, but I imagined 15k-25k chaos hordesmen versus 5k-10k on our side. From what you just said, was it more like 1k-2k for the chaos army and 300-500 for us?
Pssst. Bekkah is Daxia's sister. That makes her Bekkah Yurisdotter. Kay and Dandelion and Camelia are the Koromovs (and Erika, but she's way off in Trundle and, from what I understand, you don't want to meet her).
General question... are y'all still using the "everyone posts once before anyone posts a second time" guidelines? (Not that it matters at the moment, but having the information for later might come in handy... or not, as Keiko might just talk to one person to the exclusion of everyone else. YOU DON'T KNOW! And neither do I. )
If I'm in a thread with someone else, I go with the 24 hour rule. Also, like usual, never wait for me. If you're in a thread with me and want to post, knock yourself out.
Generally agree with Nivek (as usual ). If I am in a 1-1 situation I will reply as soon as I see a reply from the other person. With a velociposter that could mean several back-and-forths in a single day.
In a general setting I try to wait 24 hours to let others reply before I reply to a message.
But Niv!! If I'm in a thread with you (or scene, I suppose, since these threads often move different characters to different parts of the geography), I'd want to talk to you!
(And now I'm feeling all unloved and everything since no one wants to talk to Keiko. Oh, woe is me! Oh, woe!! <snicker>)
Sorry, we've been doing inventory at work and it's been a little slice of hell. Figuratively and temperature wise, which has led to much exhaustion. Working on it now.
Ah, inventory. I remember doing inventory at the co-op. Great fun. (Not.) It was especially delightful when I had to do the inventory in Hell (the freezer) or the entire back stockroom was Hell (way too cold). While I suspect your version of Hell vastly differs from mine, doing anything in Hell is undesirable. (Zandru runs Hell where I wind up. He knows not of this entity called "Satan.")
Oh, great and mighty GM... is it too late to escape? It's not, is it? I hear it's nice in Talesan's Village. And interesting in Bordertown. Keiko might like that Card Reader in Bordertown, despite her family connections. <nods nods nods> Oh, oh, oh! Or that old guy at the cathedral in Talesan's Village... he seems like fun. Talking to his garden! Glorious!
I would like to note, as a helpful piece of advice ... that any time you want to get information from an NPC your character should actually talk with them; and post what and how your character would icly ask as that will frame the manner of response.
Questions posed as "I ask whats up around town" will not garner much useful information.
Most of the NPCs actually love to talk but you need to interact with them to do so. I usually bury a ton of important information in such conversation in return.
Second, I do understand that Waveriders Watch may not be what was expected. How well it serves as a base of operations (which could be very well) is completely up to you folks. Just like a dungeon adventure your actions have to make it so ... it is not something that will just happen on its own accord.
Oh and Kel\Wolf Bekkah would ask about "The One Rule", but looking back through the conversations, nobody has ever said that phrase to her. So don't assume she wouldn't be curious. She definitely would.
Have we needed to mention the One Rule to Bekkah? Nah. Bekkah's not going to get all rowdy. The reputation of the Ladies of Attera has meant that there's no need to mention it.
Note - I am being terse mainly because I've been rather sick for the last little bit here I think I'm finally getting over it but as soon as I can figure out how to catch myself up all reinsert myself more fully into the set of posting. Sorry about that. But being a bit sick combined with being out in 95 to 100° weather and high humidity is had me feeling rather exhausted.
Not quite the time or place, so he heads back towards the settlement, avoiding those visiting the market, to find a place to sit and observe at a distance and wait until Keiko returns.
To explain .. no that would take t long ... to sum up!
As Cesare returns he saw the kerfluffle at its peak and then slowly dissipate. Keiko took Bekkah "away" but that was just away from being the center of attention and where that group of forest folk were trading. The only thing she didn't do was bring Bekkah to where she was standing before.
Thus she is still in the hamlet, just not where she was ... and it was also close enough for Renyard to wander over and join the conversation.
So if Cesare wants to go that way its fine.
He can also mingle with the Forest Folk who are still at Market.
[OOC Cesare is not going to approach the forest folk, any of them, not without an invitation anyway and he doesn't expect one. The warning to stay away from the market is interpreted as a warning to avoid the forest folk. He values his privacy, he respects that of others. He is curious, sure, but wants to learn more first. He will wait until Keiko is free of the forest folk, he has time, he has all day. ]
So, based on the map (thanks Wolf!), and as I thought, no one is anywhere near Mikal, Kadri, and Broke. The trading is taking place on the other side of the bridge. It should be impossible for anyone else to heat their conversation without magical assistance.
Actually the trading is taking place between the nearest two houses ( spread out at the base of the steps up).
The Merchants who will arrive tomorrow (with leftovers) are on the other side of the bridge.
Whether or not Mikal and Broke's conversation could be heard depends on how close you are to the base of the rock and the listener's Listen Skill and/or other mitigating factors. That said, Mikal is correct in believing that most folks and those in the market should not have overheard.
Kel did not hint that they have or are a hive mind. Kel suspects they have better hearing than those of us who are mere mortals... plus their Listen skill is probably something like 500%. (I might be exaggerating. This is only the impression Keiko has from living here for a while.)
Well, as I mentioned in chat, Mikal would have been careful to speak at a volume audible only to Broke and Kadri.
BTW, there is almost nothing Broke could have done to piss Mikal off more than what he did. A man who arbitrarily decides for everyone what they can and cannot do based solely on his brute strength. That is EXACTLY what the Montagues did and thus to Mikal Broke is no better than Jakal Montague.
Worse, Mikal personally, as well as his actions in the inn to ensure no violence would occur, were then insulted. mocked, and derided by that very same bully, to his face.
He is thankful he left his weapons up above or Broke would be staring at a sword sticking out of his gut.
Yeah, so Keiko didn’t hear him. Keiko also doesn’t care. However, she DID note that he went back up the rock.
Now, Super OCD Woman is going to say that, based on your posts, Mikal is three to five steps away from Broke. And he must speak at a certain volume in order to be heard by Broke. You’ve got Super OCD Woman wondering about the acoustics of the area (some places carry whispers for miles) and who might have heard Mikal — despite his best intentions — simply due to the nature of the acoustical structure of the place.
However, in deference to our dear Little Mary Sunshine, I’m putting SOW back to sleep... at least for that issue.
I’ll go back to my first point. Third point. Keiko noted that Mikal stopped to speak to Broke. Keiko noted the tension. And Super OCD Woman says Keiko was looking at Renyard when Mikal walked away.
That doesn’t mean she didn’t sense the ripples of tension. Let us say for the sake of argument that Keiko is far more interested in whatever Renyard has to say than in the Drama of the Stairs (we’ll say that because it’s the truth).
Keiko is where she always is on Marketday... at the market. Bekkah, being a sidekick and all, is quietly sitting and watching. Cesare, being a wuss, is sitting even farther away and watching. Mikal has gone back to the tower. Kadri... well, we don’t know because it’s too hot in Georgia (I still don’t know if that’s possible, but I guess it is for other people).
Where does that leave the characters?
Isolated.
Interacting with NPCs.
Which is fine, because players should play their characters with integrity, doing what they believe they ought to do in any particular situation.
I only know how things are from my character’s point of view because I haven’t been reading any Heartwood (well, one post in the dungeon but... eh) since Daxia and Kisa went to the library.
Keiko has been here for two months, give or take. She gets on just fine with the locals and the Forest Folk. There are these newcomers that her Cards have been telling her about.
So far, they aren’t impressing her... and she might need to have a stern talking to with the Deck because she isn’t sure the Cards having been playing with her. (Go away, GM! I haven’t asked a question of the Cards yet.)
From a player’s perspective — as a player who is supposed to be integrating into the group — I see that things are not going well.
Mikal and Broke? Eh. Broke will be fine, Broke’s feelings are not going to be hurt, Broke is going to go back to watching over the Forest Folk. Out of sight, out of mind.
Keiko was facing away from the Drama on the Stairs when Mikal walked away. Who heard what doesn’t matter. The potential for chaos decreased when Mikal walked away so, in that regard, no problems! Keiko knows how well all of the Guardians around the market space can take care of themselves and the Folk they guard. She witnessed it firsthand.
I should probably say this in character, but at the rate that no one is talking to anyone else, it may never come up. So I’ll just say that... ah... No. Broke would NOT be staring at Mikal’s sword sticking out of any body parts. I don’t care how good you think Mikal is. When Broke says, “No fighting,” Broke MEANS “NO FIGHTING.”
<shrug>
Even I can recognize that this is all minutia. What does it matter? Well, consequences of actions matter, yes.
But how is any of this moving the game forward?
I need to get over to the office now. No doubt we will have further opportunities to discuss game mechanics later!
"I have this nifty sword here, darksteel don't you know. Want to see it? Yes? Well if you look closely you can see this cool pattern to the steel, yes a bit closer, closer, hold it near your belly if you want a good view. Yes, that's it... <thrust> .... no time to react."
Well, okay. That might work somewhere else. Like on those ninnies in Cragside.
Ya know, you should have... <slaps hand over mouth>
<chants to self> You're just a sidekick. You're just a sidekick. You're just a sidekick. You're just a sidekick. You're just a sidekick. You're just a sidekick. You're just a sidekick. You're just a sidekick. You're just a sidekick. You're just a sidekick. You're just a sidekick. </chants>
Just checking - the way I read the posting sequence the guy down below, Reynard, heard Kadri's comments to Bloke on the stairs and chose to reply? And this then is occurring before she followed Mikal back up to the top of the tower?
So I will have to wait for that conversation to play itself out before she and Mikal have the conversation we previously posted?
Would I e right presume that while she can hear Reynard where she is, Mikal probably cannot? If MIkal could hear her and Broke but not Reynard that would make editing and getting things in order the most simple, because then Mikal's reaction would not have to change much.
Then I will wait for Zeim to tell me if he heard, and if he did to repost what changed, if he didn't, I'll do the necessary editing to my post and repost.
Mikal could have heard. Changes things only slightly though. The rule itself is not a big deal. It is the default rule for all life, after all. It should not even need to be a special rule. Fighting is already against the law most places.
The fact Dominie is OK with it lessens the impact of a non-Korie making rules (laws) in Korie lands, sure. But the larger issue is enforcement. (Not to mention you'd think Dominie would have said something before we left him to come here. He knew where we were headed. You'd think something like this would have been mentioned.)
Anyway, number 1, no one should be enforcing law on Korie lands other than Imperials or those deputized to do so. If Broke has a deputization from Dominie to be the Imperial "Police" here instead of the soldiery, that's again slightly different (and again is something you'd think would have been mentioned). If not, he has no authority to enforce anything, other than with the Forest Folk. If someone fights, the soldiery should be responsible for intervening with the Korie people.
Number 2, the rule is "No fighting", yet a Hasturian Investigator was killed. Either by Broke or at his direction, since he is the designated custodian of the "No fighting" rule. He is responsible for that death. That is at best a breaking of his own rule, and at worst murder. (And it implies the "No Fighting" rule is enforced by...., fighting?)
Number 3, he still made several wrong and extremely insulting statements towards Mikal, unprovoked, to the point that there is zero chance now that Mikal would have anything to do with him.
But sure, for the sake of everyone replying you can assume Mikal heard Reynard. I will let Kadri edit her reply first and then I can edit Mikal's. But short of a deeply sincere apology from Broke, Mikal views him like he does Jakal Montague.
... also notes that while it may be a perfectly reasonable thing for Mikal to say, especially if Mikal believes it, peace has never been the law of any territory on the mainland.
Peace has resulted from the laws of a particular era at particular periods of time, but for many reasons - totalitarian dictatorship, benevolent rulership, rule from afar, or even in Kh'Lhy'ra when enough Princes say 'I'm bored ... lets have a party'.
I believe the following clarification should be made;
Quote:
Were I to beat one of the soldiers in the tower unconscious, I would be subject to arrest. Were I to beat one of the farmers here it should be the same.
While true, the reason why Mikal could be put under arrest is not that he assaulted a member of the guard or a commoner. The reason would be that Mikal assaulted a person higher in the Imperial hierarchy than he.
Any follower of a pagan cult is of lower social rank than an Imperial citizen. If Mikal put up the least bit of a fuss about it, he could even be burned at the stake.
Quote:
Were I to beat one of you, unprovoked, it should be still the same.
This is not the case. If the Forest Folk are indeed below Pagans, the only way Mikal could be brought up on charges is if a person of equal or higher rank complained about it. However the worst that could be charged is not assault, but perhaps destruction of property. So, unless the Forest Folk have a patron in high places, acts of violence against them do not have to be accounted for.
Thanks for the notes. Always appreciate background materials.
Note the key word "should" in several spots. Mikal does not care about rank. It has been imposed upon him at times, but he is trying to make the point that he doesn't care about it and that it is a great example of why Law does not equal Order. Law is not the opposite of Chaos. Order is. Law is arbitrary.
Okay, so you know that I consider Bekkah a sidekick. I read a post and reply. So I'm very guilty of not pushing the plot and reading a lot and Lord knows my memory is so bad that there is no way I'm remembering things from months ago. So with all that in mind, you have these next questions in context and hopefully you'll forgive me but ...
What are we doing here? Is there some goal or quest or something we're supposed to be doing or are we simply relocating and learning about the world?
OOC in response to action thread (because this is too long to be there):
The way Super OCD Woman is reading it, Renyard moved away toward the other bigg'un; Keiko would have certainly followed and urged Bekkah to come along in order to continue their conversation. I don't think they have gone very far, although possibly far enough away that two separate conversation groups now exist: Bekkah + Keiko + Renyard + Lady... and Kadri + Mikal. Cesare has just joined the first group, although I suppose he's close enough to nod or wave or otherwise acknowledge Kadri and Mikal. If he wants.
The confusion might have arisen in that the GM stated that Mikal and Kadri were free to do as they wished, Mikal asked about the food, and based on things said in posts too far back for me to look up this early in the morning, implied that IF Mikal and/or Kadri decided to check out Mrs. Heatherson's excellent meat pies or anything else in the market, one of the Guardians who isn't Broke would keep an eye on them.
And Sidekick Kel is not going to answer Sidekick Nivek's question. Kel has her own agenda here with Keiko that has nothing to do with the main party's agenda. What Keiko is doing here, what her goal or quest might be (from her point of view) has nothing to do with the larger group at the moment.
All y'all are going to let our wonderful little airhead know what's going on.
In general Kel's summary of positions is close enough to be correct; especially considering that a Market is a dynamic condition.
In general Bekkah, Keiko and Renyard ... now joined by Cesare, are drifting away from the base of the stairs to hold their conversation.
Mikal asked about food and got his answer and my post included some conditional actions of the Forest Folks if Mikal and Kadri decided to move from the base of the the stairs. They have the freedom to undertake whatever action they wish and the best that I can tell they have chosen to pause and wait.
Art and Zeim, you may wish to reconsider your actions; you could be waiting until the other conversations run their course ... and by that time the Market may be over.
Due to the tensions that opened the scene it is only natural for the Forest Folk to be distancing themselves from the newcomers. This is fine and if its what you folks want they will continue on that course. If it is not what you wish, I recommend posting actions that work towards your character's own goals ....
Even if it a Bekkah-ish non-goal introspection. Perhaps Bekkah is a practicing Taoist ... where NOT having a Goal is the best way to attain one's Goals!
There's a Trundle native that lives that way. Why did Konrad lose his head? Because it was where my sword was at that particular moment ...
There are the three close Bigg'uns ... bigg'uns and lill'uns trading ... merchant apprentices, the local farmer folk, there is the local environs that could be explored, a creek, a river with hungry fish, a scouting of the area to see if the greater environs suite your uses; guardsmen who could be re-interrogated based on what you've seen and at least one past event that you've only heard a partial one sided version of.
If these - or any other - opportunities are of interest, you should post an action that moves you towards those goals, and if it involves other characters, what you say so they may respond.
Otherwise if nothing happens ... well then I'll eventually stir the pot, but I'd rather not have to. I'd rather be responding to you folks.
I've had two days out of town walking campuses and poking through buildings and walking on black roofs beneath the hot sun. Right now there are a ton of good HWD things going on in the background that will take time to work through ...
except that the couch, a fan and closed yes are needed before I can attack any of them.
A major part of my slowness this week is that we will be adding two new characters to the adventuring group.
One new player and one returning player!
Exeter will be bringing a follower of Lord Rames the Protector into the group.
Phoenix Prime will be bringing a minstrel on our adventures.
Lets welcome them both and thank them muchly!
Thus if I'm still slow over the next week it will be because we are prepping them for their grand entrance ... well as far as grand can be in the middle of nowhere and in the shadow of the Dirkwood Forest!
Thanks... would someone be willing to give PP and me a list of players with their characters and a sort of thumbnail description of each so we can get an idea of who else is around?
That's not how Wolf's game works. When you show up... or in the case of the lost women in the Forest, when they show up... you get to know who we are and what we look like.
Glad you're here. Welcome to the Heartwood. (Or in Jim's case, welcome back!)
Well having been here before, I know the 'usual suspects' already...
I hope that I can bring some fun to the game and help open some new story possibilities up... the desire of any player joining a story intensive game I suppose.
I'll help. Mine is easy. Wolf, you really should have a stickied Character thread to put up known things about the characters.
Bekkah Yurisdotter: Age 30 (not getting any younger ...)
Sister to Daxia (Dazi) Yurisdotter (7 years older) Priestess of the Lady of Attera (i.e. Healer)
Kind, well traveled, trusts that nobody would ever hurt an Atteran (Sane people wouldn't). Has shown some healing, I believe has healed a broken, maybe severed arm and someone quite badly hurt.
Kadri djinn Lisica al'Izgon. Or Kadri djinn Khayriyah djinn Terilanquel al'Korie. Or Kadri of no name in particular. Or ...
All I can say is ... She's complicated.
Short of five feet, mischevious mein. From the look late teens or early twenties at best, often looks younger. Quick. Nimble. Stealthy when she chooses. Tricksy. Stubborn. Proud. Humble. Quick tempered. Forgiving. She is many things.
Any more than that, well, you are going to have to suss it out for yourself.
A follower of Jvrill, Mikal is in his late 20s. He is currently under "contract" as Kadri's bodyguard, although he is also something else.
Earnest and passionate about helping the poor and unfortunate, Mikal has spent several years working with a mercenary Troop and several more years as a lone mercenary all along the Highland Path helping farmers and small villages. He has garnered a reputation among those farmers and villagers as being someone who will stand up for them against those who take advantage of them or take them for granted.
Maybe the GM should make that Sticky Thread for characters.
I'm not going to tell y'all about Keiko. Everything you need to know about her is in the To Waverider's Watch thread. She's a new character, too. So everyone gets to learn about her along with the New Folks. (There's a picture of her in the Gallery... and now that I have my own precious desk set up with room to actually work, I'll probably jump back into Photoshop one of these days and do a better job.)
(Ye know... as much as I like to go into a new situation already knowing about the characters who are already there, I'm having a hard time reconciling the Sharing of Information here with that desire. I think I alluded above to the belief that part of roleplaying is learning about the world and characters as you go along. I actually had a harder time with Keiko than with Daxia because I, the player, already know these characters. I have to very consciously separate what Daxia knows / thinks / feels about each of the characters from what Keiko is learning. That would be why Keiko and Cesare are going to have quite the interesting [fine... volatile] dynamic where Daxia and Cesare have a comfortable friendship. [Hey, remember when they first met and Cesare was flirting with Dazi and Kadri and Dazi was oblivious to it? Cuz she was thinking about her girlfriend... Ah, Kisa. Good times!]
And the flip side of the coin is this... are you [Exeter and Jim] going to share information about your characters here, too? Or let us learn about them as they're introduced in the game? If I were to look at the previous posts as an outsider, I'd assume that sharing here would be the norm. And as someone who has been here since the beginning, I'm more confused than Nivek usually is. )
I will be sharing nothing. The GM will present my character and you will all have to deal with it<g>. If the GM reveals anything(directly of indirectly) to the players(publicly or privately) then that is within his right to do so. But for my part- you will have to get to know my character with each step we take together.
It pleases me to see we are not only in the same book but in the same chapter. <checks notebook> Hmm. Even on the same page! Now if we can manage to keep our characters from killing one another, we will have sunshine and unicorns...
What? Where are the unicorns? Far away from the Forest? Oh. Even the white ones? Hmm.
...well, sunshine during the day and maybe a good Harvest season. Yay!
I had no intention of any of you providing me with an extensive character history. I just wanted a very brief idea of each character. That way, I - not my character - would have some idea of who I'd be meeting up with.
I normally have no problems keeping what I know separate from what my character knows. I tend to prefer a slight advantage over the character in knowledge since my character would see and experience things directly and immediately while I have to figure out what the descriptions mean and get the scenario straight in my head so I hopefully won't make my character look idiotic - or at least not too idiotic.
As for what I'd be willing to tell the other players, I'd be pleased to let them know pretty much what they'd see, recognize and realize about my character from first meeting him. That's pretty much all I was asking for when this whole thing started.
Being clueless is an advantage here! Look at Nivek, being all adorable and blonde, and walking off into the Dirkwood... just because! Who does that? Bekkah does! And Mokie... gosh, I miss Mokie. The funniest Squire of Rames on the entire Heartwood. "I have a sword!" Hee hee hee I need to go email him again.
Nah, man. Clueless is fun. I wish I could be clueless sometimes. Alas, Super OCD Woman takes over my brain and I must fact check everything. Le sigh.
[Note to Super OCD Woman: consider translations of GM posts in addition to copy edits.]
[Note to GM: consider more drawings... SketchUp is bomb diggity, isn't it?]
[Note to Self: don't forget to install Illustrator.]
Well, I posted a brief bio for Mikal both because it seemed others were doing so and also because Mikal has a reputation across the central Heartwood and depending on where the new pcs are from it is possible they could have heard of him.
Reputation includes, "Has been known to associate with those... those... swordbi... er, Dayalans."
On one hand, that gets you bonus points in the Frontier Keeps up past Cragside and the Rock. On the other hand... not so good among people who aren't friends of Dandy, Gilly, and Poppy... or are opened-minded like, oh, not too many people.
Oooh, that is a sharp sword you're standing on, my friend.
A thing the GM might want to put in the Reference Section:
How does SIZ relate to height? From what I understand from the words of the GM is that SIZ is the intersection of the absolute value of Height with the abstract value of Body Type. Super OCD Woman has a long rant about that, but y'all don't need to be subjected to that. This is the height part, as handed down in stone tablet form from the GM to your humble scribe. (Although the stone tablets were probably index cards.) The centimeters have been rounded to the nearest whole centimeter.
well I certainly didn't see my character as being 5'2" tall... but I did choose that number as my SIZ score- i saw that as more of a build thing overall. I saw her taller and willowy... I didn't have a number though.
And this is why I donnae like these numbers. Trying to meld an absolute construct with an abstract concept is going to be problematic. If one wanted to keep SIZ as a stat that's used in whatever way it's used behind the scenes, then create sub-statistics that are purely descriptive, (HGT in cm; TYP as body type determined by in-world standards) but that then can be used to calculate SIZ. It's possible; I already have a fairly complex spreadsheet that calculates all manner of things.
Our beloved NPC Romana has a SIZ stat of 17. Yes, she's very tall for a woman at 6'0"... but she also (if I understand the GM correctly), more on the Very Thin end of the spectrum rather than just Willowy. Of course, Romana is an Easterner, so there's also the factor of racial differences.
<shrug>
Super OCD Woman and Webmistress can update formulas and web pages. But the nuts and bolts gotta come from the GM... assuming the GM wants to make SIZ something that means what I think he believes it means.
the quick read i had on some links he provided indicated that a size score also affects a character's reach and attack rank factors. Little folks just aren't getting past the dude with the pole-arm weapon quite as effectively as that tall thin Romana lady!<g>
so siz does have some crunchy stuff to it, but that doesn't mean that there can't be some flexibility to accomodate the personal vision of the player in regards to their character- that being said, as long as it does have some relevance to size related crunchiness that needs to bear some reflection in the physicality of the character.
and, by the end of that I had no idea what i was talking about anymore so i will shut up
Well, yes... 6'0" lovely Romana is going to have a reach greater than just about everyone else. Not that she'd do anything with that reach other than try to heal someone these days, but... yeah.
And all that crunchy stuff makes my head hurt, which is why the spreadsheet exists. I don't care about any of the numbers except the totals fields... which, when they are peculiar, I mention them to the GM. And the GM says either, "Oh, that's fine" or "Ooops, change this or that."
When I was putting Daxia's stats together, it was more like a game of Pick Up Sticks. Didn't know what the heck I was doing and didn't care. Putting Keiko together, I have a better idea of what I'm doing... sort of. I kind of know who I want her to be, so the crunchy bits of the spreadsheet helped me get some of the numbers that reflect that. I have no clue how she's going to fit with the party, however.
Especially given that she and Bekkah seem to have been et by the Forest. Ooopsie.
Let us not speak of the crunchiness of numbers. I have carrots here that are crunchy, too, and they taste MUCH better.
the quick read i had on some links he provided indicated that a size score also affects a character's reach and attack rank factors. Little folks just aren't getting past the dude with the pole-arm weapon quite as effectively as that tall thin Romana lady!<g>
actually that's one of the very first things you learn in medieval recreational melee combat. no matter how fast, dexterous or sneaky you are the person with the longer reach and/or longer weapon will always have the first chance to hit you - the skill was getting past that first hit.
I - with my boring sword and shield - got to the point where I could pretty much win against most (again, skill trumps all) two handed great sword users .... If I could survive and pass through the two to three foot zone where they could clobber me and I was not effective against them. Once you got past that they were now at a disadvantage - you could press with your shield and if you couldn't pin their great sword you were too close for them for their attacks to be effective (simple high school lever physics)
This meant two things ... a) if they were smart they would back off while I moved forward and on an open field it was a TON of chasing them all around and the loser (oops) was the one who got tired first. b) if they were smart enough to be using a recreation ricassoed blade I could still be in trouble in close combat. or c) as I stated before they could just be better than me and kill me before I could cross the danger zone or still kill me when I got close in; skill always wins out.
That said there's a very good reason why sword and shield stayed the predominant weapons style for centuries. Of all the disciplines it tends to be the most effective with the best balance of attack and defense capability.
And that is why Keiko's strategy of "RUN AWAY" is so useful against those sword and shield types. She's smaller and (also being less encumbered by armor) faster.
Also, "Don't go into dead end alleys" is an excellent motto. Or, having spent time in Trundle, she'd probably say "just don't go into alleys at all" would be a better motto.
(Actually, wouldn't the loser be the one who got tired first?)
And Kadri would generally give her a fist bump on that strategy. Only two options. First, 'away' second 'up in their grill, yo'. Either get really close or really far away. Far away is preferable. Far away from her and closer to Mikal's sword.
But now, having made a big splash in Talantal, I suspect there are members of the Church of Rames, Hastur and even Attera who are discussing who to marry Bekkah off to.
Dazi "Bekkah." Sigh. "Bekkah, dear. I'm sure no one in their right might would ever try to hurt you. The rest of us are not so fortunate."
Bekkah has her eyes on a certain charming blacksmith in Talantal. And I'm so sure she'll just meekly do whatever the plotting ninnies in Talantal want her to do. Definitely a giggle-worthy thought.
There may even be poppies on the Heartwood. Lots of pretty little flowers that are the same. Also dandelions, which are weeds, but apparently not on the Heartwood.
Poppy Gwynn ... a flower named native. You know, that is a clue. Run into a native Heartwood charachter named after a flower and they can probably kick your backside.
On the Heartwood, one of them become an Imperial Dayalan Warrior known as Captain Koromov, who leads a little group you might have heard of... the Wild Horde? Hmm.
Folks ... I believe conversations are organic in nature and from my point of view you can talk back and forth as often as you want and in whatever lack of order you wish!
I would hope - but I could understand if this is not the case - that we are all flexible enough to adapt our posts as necessary to account for such naturally occurring conversations. Pose order doesn't happen in the real world ... well except at parliamentarian debates ... and this certainly ain't that!
Well, I amn't gonna start talkin' to myself. Yet. And Nivek says never to wait on him. So... flip a coin... one of ya post. Else I'll be obligated to start talkin' to myself and no one wants to be seein' any of dat.
my comments on post order should not be over analyzed. as I said to wolf in PM, I like an organic conversation that feels real and flows. that is just me though. when i was writing my post i had something almost finsihed and then my realtor showed up an hour early and my wife wasn't there to entertain her(realtor is her sister) so I had to leave a nearly finished post.
sure i grumbled that it would no longer fit in the particular idiom to which I am accustomed to writing(but it wasn't directed at anyone in particular)... then I realized it was just two more posts hat had been added and I could do my own bending of game reality to work for me and for everyone else I also hoped- and thus get caught up- the result was two posts. and while I realize i could have just done it as one, my brain needed the separation because I am a little (a lot) ADHD with a touch of OCD mixed in.
sorry if I flummoxed the phlogistan generator here. Not my intent.
Considering that Wolf's post placed Pietro, Bekkah, Keiko, and Lyric on the other side of a small bridge from the tiny town, literally not more than a dozen yards away from where Mikal, Cesare, and Kadri are wandering the merchant stalls, you guys are doing a heck of a lot of "walking" to still be in your own thread ;-)
i will pause here- so that exeter can reply to kel and that those two can get caught up in the timeline because i think more voices would be helpful here now
I suspect Gypsy is sleeping at this point. If not, she can still certainly post, but I'd like the rest of you to hold up and give me a chance, too. Thank you. Well... PP might want to answer you. Or not. Up to him.
Aw, Keiko isn't going to bite Cesare's head off! She's just going to snub him like crazy, at least until our Lady of Attera gets around to introducing them all proper like. THEN she might bite his head off. (Nah, probably not. It wouldn't be properly Rhoni to do so.)
But I have a feeling they are not going to wind up being BFF.
As long as things don't slip too far out of sync, I have no problem with folks finishing up "At Waverider's Watch" while those involved also move over to the "Room with a View" thread.
As long as I'm only in one of the threads, Super OCD Woman will not try to make my head explode! (Oh, gods, once I finish the Daxia thing, we're going to be so far out of sync that it's good that Daxia and Keiko will never, ever meet. EVER.)
Oh, ha ha! This is one thing I do know! If Daxia ever meets up with the group again, it will be temporary and Keiko will be conveniently elsewhere. I had two characters in the same place at the same time in STS (on the Eclipse after they picked up the folks from the Hellbound). Nope... ain't doin' that again.
Not so easy... Dazi's default setting is to like folks and give them the benefit of the doubt. Keiko likes Bekkah, who loves her sister, so there's a default of provisional acceptance there, too. I don't think either one of them could do something to cause the other to hate them.
Great. Now you've got Super OCD Woman involved. Let's not go down the road of what's logical and reasonable behavior for the Voices in my head. They'll stage another revolt. The last one was the springboard for the Tale of the Eclipse that Moira is still nagging me to finish.
Nivek, that's in Real Life. Well, and then I kill the people who did me wrong in my stories. Just wait til Chris comes up against the first person he needs to turn into a corpsicle... it will be someone from The List.
I will be away all of next week, but will have access but i don't know exact availability. visiting stepdaughter and grand child, so wife expects that I act social and don't hole myself up in the condo room and post all vacation.
... as long as its something simple; tunics, surcoats, and similar everyday non-martial items (eating daggers are fine) ... those returning to shop may presume they can find such things in the Market before it completely disperses.
Wolf - when I click on the "Runes of the Heartwood" in the References section I get a 404-Error.
Also, at one point either you or Kel told me what the Horsemark for the Knights of Roth were. Mikal saw it on the horses during the dream sequence at the Lone Pine Inn. He had intended to resurrect it and start using it for his Troop. Can you tell me again what it is?
If I recall correctly what Wolf said, Mohlkavin's Heavy Horse is the descent of the Knights of Roth... their horsemark is the used by the Knights. Didn't you say you wanted to use the same colors, but with chevrons? I think I recall Mikal telling Dazi that when they were talking about the Dragoons.
Yes, I think we had that conversation, i.e. using chevrons. So, Just looking for the colours. Harry has them? Sop I can look at what it shown there.......
.....ok, so red and black checkerboard pattern. And it appears no one uses chevrons of any kind. So, a black chevron above a red chevron. Like this:
....that actually works out well as he already has those paint colours for his shield.
Yes... certainly more easily paintable than the Double Star horsemark I designed for Morning Star (which I still need to redesign). It would probably look something like this, I imagine:
Keep in mind that you're not going to see the black paint on the neck of a black horse. Bekkah's little artist Rhoni friend would suggest just giving the impression of a black piece by outlining it in white. Gosh, and her friend just brought her a LOT of white pigment. Of course, it's not easy to come by, and her friend put herself in some amount of danger to get it for Keiko.
Sure. Anyone with a black horse wouldn't paint the black, though. Or paint white on a white horse. Use less paint, let the horse's natural hair color do the work for you. <shrug> But you're the one who's going to be paying for the dyes!
Well, just apparently the invitation has now been completely ignored by absolutely everyone, including apparently even those that accepted it. I'll try to find a way to get back in again at some point, I suppose.
Look at it this way... you get to make friends with the locals. That's good business there. And by the time you head back up to the town, we might be finished in Keiko's loft.
I'll tune back in when my input has some impact again, I guess.. I had thought it might work out so people could still do the dinner thing In the theoretical evening instead of being pushed forward and presumed skipped.
Yes, Art. Mikal (and I presume Cesare and Peitro) are coming for dinner. It has been only a few minutes since Kadri left. All we've done since we left the stable was walk up the stairs and chat. Can't be more than 5-10 minutes. It is not possible that Mistress Heatherson could have gotten dinner setup in 10 minutes, unless we're not eating hot food.
I expect to show Pietro a bed (5 minutes), head down to the Mill to see about his getting some grain for Djinni (10 minutes, unless we run into Keiko et al there and get distracted), and then go to meet Kadri.
All-in-all shouldn't be more than 1/2 hour since Kadri left them before they show back up.
On one hand I am moving things forward so we do not get bogged down and the Sunday posts have meaningful content ..
On the other hand it will take more than a half hour for the trip up to the watchtower and back .... Heck I can't get from my office to my car in the parking garage the quickly and I have an e!evator to help!
And the distance to the tower is just a Lil more ... Add to that not being in a rush and conversations along the way ... It is not inappropriate to have kadris meal starting ... It isn't over yet!
Yes. Since we had committed to dinner, and we knew how long these things would take, we'd certainly have arranged the order to make sure we didn't miss Kadri's meal.
On one hand... sorry, guys... you should have figured it out. I know *I* have tried to make a point of indicating it takes a while for Keiko to get up and down. The distance from the Mill to the ground is twice the height of the Victorian-style Naylor Manor when looking out the attic window... so, rough guestimate about 100 feet. Plus all the switchbacks will add time. And the Millhouse is about halfway from the ground to the tower, so that's 200 feet of elevation. Give or take. (And just when I thought I had Super OCD Working on another project... sigh.) More switchbacks. Stone steps that are not equal in either the risers or the threads... slow going.
On the other hand... in giving the height of the rock, Wolf sorely miscalculated the height of people. Maybe he was thinking about giants.
Also, no one is going to walk up those stairs quickly. Not even the uber-dexterous and fleet of foot Keiko. Those stairs are UNEVEN AS ALL GET OUT.
Let's just have fun at dinner, eh? At least you guys are GETTING dinner! Missus Miller is known to be rather gruff... Keiko might have to share her dinner with Lyric. (Cuz who can say no to a Lady of Attera, right?)
No issues. Just confused about why we couldn't climb up a set of stairs a couple of hundred feet high in a few minutes and still be back for dinner. I've climbed mountains 12,000 feet high in a few hours (and yes, base camp was at 9,000 feet, but that is still 3,000 feet of elevation without the benefit of a staircase in 2 hours, and carrying a backpack).
So the only problem was we'd agreed to join Kadri's dinner invite and then suddenly it was past time.
Reality is different there. Sometimes, even most of the time, it's frighteningly the same. And so we forget that it's quite different. Trust me, my butt's been bitten by that different reality of the Heartwood.
(As a female person who has experienced two pregnancies, I still want to throttle the GM for insisting that human physiology is the same as ours while at the same time insisting that a 225-day pregnancy is considered "full term." Sorry, Charlie... that's a preemie.
So I have to suspend belief about how babies are made, which is just has hard for me as you having to suspend belief about how rocks are climbed. As I sang earlier, ♪ welcome to my world... ♪)
And as the GM rightly pointed out, it's not Kadri's dinner.
It's Missus Heatherson's dinner. And Missus Heatherson didn't invite you. (Or Kadri either, for that matter. But Nobles can get away with such things.)
Kadri invited all of you to Missus Heatherson's dinner. Which was very, very rude of Kadri.
So let's all rejoice that the GM saved Lord Tone-Deaf's wife from some embarrassment, eh?
Um. It's a family household, yes. The Heatherson family. Not Kadri's family or Dominic's family. They are the common folks who live here. Dominic is the Lord of the Manor (that doesn't actually exist). So... there's that aspect of interpersonal relations going on.
From what I know of Dominic, and certainly what Keiko has learned of Dominic, it would absolutely not point to any implication of ownership on his part. Although, to be fair, that would be a Korie trait... for a Korie who isn't Dommie. Or probably Tray. It's more a matter of stewardship. His relationship with the people of Waverider's Watch and the Forest Kin would be seen as a much more Allaine way of dealing with people. "We are here to serve the people" is something Daxia has heard both Linnell and Kisa say regularly.
Oh, the lad is a Korie, that's true. But his way of dealing with people is much more Allaine. (Which probably annoys his father the Khorall and his brother the Heir, but Tray is likely rather proud of the lad.)
Your intentions were spot on... your choice of location was not. And it could be chalked up to the fact that Kadri doesn't know and understand her husband as well as she thought. Interesting, isn't it, the implications a marriage of convenience can have? There will be opportunities to change that. Just saying.
But now Kadri will have had the opportunity to get to know some of the people Dommie cares about. And the guys will be doing Guy Things at the tower. If Kadri is charming and endearing with the Heathersons, word of that will spread like wildfire. "Oh, our Lord's Lady wife is so sweet! Didn't she just have the young one giggling at her stories? And even my husband was won over by her charms, so it's good she's married to our Lord. And she even offered to help clean up! I nearly fell over at that, I surely did!"
It would have been a far different story spreading like wildfire if everyone squeezed into the Heathersons' home. The story would not have been as nice. You have a better story playing out, even if it's playing out in the background.
Perspective.
[Edited to add: And this is what happens when you delete your post after I've read it and written a response.]
i just finished a day at legoland california... and i found it rather apropos when we moved from one 'land' to another at the park and there was one transition that we made going both ways... first up then later down... and since we were pushing a 3 year old in a stroller we had to take the large walk and make about 6 switchbacks... in each direction... instead of taking the more direct steps up and down.
wow that seemingly took us 'forever' to make those switchbacks.
Just saying... it takes longer than you might think (or longer than the seeming actual distance would otherwise dictate), especially if you are carrying anything like gear... and what of Lyric's rucksack which was being carried by Djinni? Lyric didn't get it before she was ushered off to a new thread.
Still would have preferred a pm poke or something that that was what I was about to do because there was no way in hell Kadri would do that with any intention. It would be pretty much exactly opposite to who she is.
Nope- her rucksack was on Djinni, slung over the horn- september 21 was the posting date and i read back. I never made the move to have Lyric grab her stuff since it seemed so sudden that keiko was pulling her away to join her. Hence Lyric's plaintive gesture to Pietro to find her later.
well either he is carrying her pack up those steps as well as his own when he noticed it still hanging on his horse- or her stuff- including her mandolin is in the 'stable' or whatever serves as one in this village.
that will be for pietro to determine and i will go from there.
I have now gone back and re-read the Waverider’s Watch thread for the third time. I even mapped out the messages by number and date to ensure I did not miss any posted action by the players.
From a gamemaster’s point of view all I found was:
(A) One character talking about taking an action but not saying they were actually going to do it. In subsequent posts, the player reiterated that they were intending to take the action but provided no description of how they were going about doing so.
(B) One character deciding to take a different series of actions with no acknowledgment of the first character’s action. This character was then joined by two other characters, still without any acknowledgment towards the intention of the first character’s desires.
We are not even going to get into the length of time it takes to get from point A to point B, because after reading Phoenix’s post, I realized we are quickly heading into “African or European swallow” territory. The only thing that matters is that it took some amount of time to get from A to B and in that time Missus Heatherson was able to set her dinner, which she could easily accomplish because she had begun that “commoner’s” task while everyone was still dealing with their horses.
As the gamemaster, all I have to go on is what is posted. I can do many things, but one of the things I both cannot and should not do is run a character for a player... nor can I assume that some action is or is not in-character for that character — the only one who can determine that is the character’s player. I also may have many skills, but mind reading isn’t one of them. This means that unless I get a question from the player, all I have to go by is what is posted in the thread.
If there is a disconnect between intent and actions taken, if there is miscoordination between players, the first place to start is your posts. I’m not perfect and have made many errors and mistranslations of intent. In this case, every time I go back over the posts, I keep returning to the same consequences for your actions. If the posts had had more content, had better described your intentions and coordinated your actions with each other, the resolution would have been significantly closer to your expectations.
Take a look at Art’s subsequent post for Kadri — #862473. In this post she engages the native characters, her intentions are both much clearer and in-character. This is a post that will have a much more successful resolution than one line with no back-up. And it gives me, as a gamemaster, actual content to respond to. This also worked better for Mikal previously.
As the gamemaster, I would also suggest being a bit more flexible. While there is a value in trying to maintain your original intent, often — as a scene plays out — these conditions change, and new information becomes available (such as Kel’s reading on the current feelings in the village). You may wish to consider the possible consequences of your actions before taking them. In my own play I am constantly making mid-course corrections for my characters, I've never believed there's anything wrong with that.
I have no problem with considering consequences f actions IF those actions are made with all of the knowledge that the CHARACTER would have. I play the character. I am not, however, myself the character and do not necessarily have time to do a full study of every past post before posting. Consequences of actions are only meaningful if they are consequences made with knowledge. Having stayed a night, if it was just someone's house and not something that operated like a manor I'm pretty sure she would have realized it.
Again, I have no problem whatever taking consequences for actions, but I want to at least know the details at the character would know going into it and not have to be a detective to figure them out. There is some value to original intent. There is more value to not violating something pretty core to the character based off a misunderstanding of a bit of information she would likely have had but the player didn't pick up on. As playing the character but not through their eyes of necessity actions are taken on detail coming 'through a gIass darkly' so to speak. I like the long posts, I really do, but sometimes they ARE rather dense with detail and it's easy to miss something and a nudge on missing a detail comes in very handy
'This is just someone's house and she might have trouble arranging that'.
Or at least had a choice point to realize it much earlier in the evening to alter course and try to make other arrangements and said to Pietro 'silly me, I have no facilities to get a proper meal here, let me delay a day and I'll try to figure something out tomorrow."
Likewise at some point in their journey, Pietro and Mikal likely would have at least figured out it was taking longer than they expected and possibly made a choice to either hurry it up or turn back or continue.
Just a request, ok, and I'm dropping it. The occasional 'turning back point' or memory nudge. I do ask questions. I have long message threads of asks. But you can ask a question you didn't know was a question to be asked. Presuming there were facilities to whip up something simple wether through some sort of staff or just paying someone a few coins didn't seem that weird of a supposition.'you would be barging in and forcing someone's own daughters off their dinner table' would seem notable. I used the vaguer 'make arrangements' because I'm not aware of those details myself and figured, worst comes to worst a quick trip to the market.
Again I'm done with this and moving on at this point, but my two cents and the source of some frustration regarding the consequences bit is the bull rushing past the no return point on them without a turn back opportunity. Just a brief short 'you look around and all you can find is missus Heatherson' would have prompted a dramatically different approach at that point.
I have other issues with HWD. I know that folks are very keen to post when first starting out with new characters.. and I know my being away for a few days didn't help.. but all Cesare has done today is eaten a kebab. I feel sidelined and I don't feel I have a role in this game. Maybe my fault. All of you guys are in the same time zone where I am not, it makes life difficult. Plus we have too many OOC posts for my liking. And I have a stinking cold right now which is not improving my mood.
This isn’t the first time this little problem has cropped up in HWD. I still have Super OCD Woman’s spreadsheet from the Long Ago Times that kept track of who posted when.
I’m not going there again. One, because I don’t need the stress. Two, because technically, we’re all adults.
In the past three months, I’ve put more time and effort into “behind the scenes” work on this game than I’ve put into my own writing. That is not a complaint; it’s a statement of fact. I’ve said this privately, but I might as well say it publically, too. I love this world and care about it every bit as much as the GM does. He and I don’t always see eye to eye on things, but at the core of every discussion — whether it be the friendly discussions about various NPCs and locales or the knock down, drag out arguments that make my head explode and have me looking for my mallets — is my deep commitment to the world of the Heartwood and my belief that we have barely scratched the surface of the possibilities the environment holds.
The Heartwood, whether I like it or not, is important to me.
If it weren't so important, I wouldn’t proofread the GM’s posts so the players have the best possible chance of understanding exactly what he meant in each post. If it weren't so important, I wouldn’t spend countless hours talking to other players in PM to answer questions and help resolve issues.
Regarding Gypsy’s point, I’m feeling the same sense of being out of sync. Rather than being in two time zones (Gyspy and The Rest of Us) that are five hours apart, with the addition of two players and my move to California, we’re now spread across four time zones (Gypsy, Most of You, Jim and Me) that span an eight hour time difference. I used to be able to post from work, and then I was unemployed and could post anytime I wanted to post. Now it’s much more difficult to post from work, and that will only be worse over the next few months.
Let’s review those simple guidelines:
If one character is having a discussion with an NPC or two characters are holding a conversation, go to town... post as much as you like.
Once you get three or more characters in a scene (not to be confused with a thread), let everyone have their say before the cycle starts again.
Granted, there will be exceptions. If someone is away from the computer for an extended period of time and can’t post, at least remember that their character is in the same physical space. Nivek claims his character is a sidekick and has said never to wait on him.
(On a lighter note, both Gypsy’s character and my character recently got overrun. Now, I know the Rhoni have some fair amount of stealthiness, but neither one of us cast the spell that would make the rest of you think we’re not there. )
To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven
Sometimes you need to look at the details. Sometimes you need to step back and see the big picture.
Sometimes you need to just trust the GM. (If you’re not sure you’re in one of those times, just ask me. If *I* trust the GM, you can trust the GM... because my default setting is to not trust the GM. He’s twisted and a little evil (but mostly twisted). However, if he’s answered all my questions (and I ask them incessantly) or has given me a good reason why he can’t answer them... I’ll trust him. For that round.)
There is one absolute truth among us... the players and the GM: We are humans (or we’re aliens among you trying to blend in). We are going to make mistakes. We are going to have good days, and we are going to have bad days. There is going to be miscommunication... even by yours truly, the avowed Word Nerd.
<takes off HWD player hat; puts on Writing Facilitator hat>
In this message-based environment, we need to be cognizant that words matter. Yes, we all know that what we say matters, as does how we say it. But we also need to remember that our characters’ words matter just as much. And what we write (or don’t write) for our characters matters.
If a player does not have their character speaking, then how are the other players and characters (and the GM) supposed to know what their opinion is on the matter at hand? What their intentions are? How will the other character even get to know the newcomers until they speak? (And for the record, Keiko has been at Waverider’s Watch longer than any of you. YOU are all the newcomers. ) Keeping everything to internal dialog is a dangerous path to take. At best, if a player has the highest integrity (and remember... we’re all human), it can create awkward situations. At the worst... well, it can range from hurt feelings to the desire to introduce telepathic abilities where they don’t belong on the Heartwood.
(Side note: As the Writing Facilitator in a forum one section over, I specialize in Weird Metaphysical Stuff. If telepath abilities are going to show up where they don’t belong, I’ve already warned the GM that it’s going to be with Daxia and/or Keiko. Just saying.)
What will work in a face-to-face tabletop game is not going to translate well to the message-based world. I’ve been a player and a DM/GM on both sides of the screen. Sitting around the living room table, I could tell from DCDP’s weird gesticulations as he tried not to choke from swallowing sideways too much Diet Coke what he wanted his character to do. I could tell from the way Jeff tried not to smile and the glint in his eyes that he was sending us into a dungeon of orcs wielding puns instead of battleaxes.
In my efforts to introduce the concept of collaborative writing to Truthseeker, I sent more emails in the beginning that said things like, “How is Shia supposed to respond to Bryan when he never asked her a question? She’s many things; a telepath is not one of them.” Or “You realize, don’t you, that for all his thinking, Bryan is still standing in the middle of the street, right? Good thing it’s a side street, eh?”
The same applies to message-based roleplaying games. While the GM has an overview of everything that’s happening in the world, in the area, in the tiny village, it’s up to us to tell the story of our characters.
Bekkah, Cesare, Kadri, and Mikal have been together for nearly a year. They know one another very well, and may even consider one another to be family.
Lyric and Pietro met yesterday on the road and have at least begun to form a friendship.
Keiko has been in the village for over two months and knows the villagers and the Forest Kin better than anyone. She met Kadri and Mikal briefly two nights ago. She met Bekkah and was offended by Cesare yesterday. She met Lyric and Pietro today.
Each character has a unique perspective on the world around them and the people (both player characters and native characters) who intersect their lives. Because we are the Player Characters, it would be reasonable to assume that we should find a way to all be on the same page. While we all have different goals for our characters and have reasons for being at Waverider’s Watch, it would be reasonable to assume that we can find a way to work together to achieve our individual goals and any goals the group sets as a whole.
Do not discount the importance of the native characters of Waverider’s Watch and the Forest, for they are Keiko’s friends, her allies. The native characters are every bit as “real” as the player characters... they just have different constraints in what they can and cannot do.
From a storytelling point of view, it’s not the numbers on our stat sheets that are important but the way we bring our characters to life.
(Speaking of stats... veteran players, if you care about stats, you should check your sheets.)
From a storytelling point of view, we have all the right elements: We have a story arc (creation of Mikal’s Dragoons). We have obstacles to overcome (something wicked lurks within the Forest). We have interpersonal relationships (personally, I’d love to have entirely too much fun with Gypsy). And we have each person’s individual motivations (what drives each character to continue toward their personal goals, and why would they want to be part of this group anyway?).
When writing a story, everything comes out of the brain and onto the page (or screen). And then the revisions come... the many painstaking and painful revisions. Whole scenes get cut. Beloved characters are told to take a hike... to wait for their story to be told at some other time.
From a storytelling point of view, the GM played fast and loose with the dinner scenes because the dinner itself is not significant. Well then, what is significant? Dama Kadri (at this point) is most of the way to convincing the Heathersons (and by extension and by way of gossip the rest of the Village) that she is probably just as good as their beloved Lord Dominic. The new Squire got to meet the eccentric guards of the Tower. Keiko has offered a way for Lyric to be welcome in the Village.
End scene.
Long Post Day is tomorrow when the GM will write about the consequences of our actions to this point and (hopefully) set up another scene in which we can tell our stories in the coming week.
<takes off Writing Facilitator hat; puts HWD player hat back on>
One of the most frequent points of friction between the GM and me is the fact that I am more of a writer than a roleplayer. (Just friction... not to the point of pulling out the mallets or anything. Maybe seething frustration is a better term. But I digress.) Collaborative writing (for me) is one of the best ways to write a story. So, I’m not actually playing a game here in HWD, I’m helping to write a story. Our story.
There are forests, and there are trees. Sometimes it’s good to inspect each and every tree. Sometimes it’s good to fly above the forest and see the whole of it. (This weekend is the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. Oh, to be there!)
Please! This is supposed to be a happy occasion. Let’s not bicker and argue over who killed who.
Nothing has happened which has upset me. The eccentric guards miffed Pietro somewhat, but not to the point where it would keep him up at night or tempt him to resort to violence.
I did not mean for Pietro to just desert Kadri... it is just something that happened when I - perhaps - was not paying quite close enough attention.
I hate it that Gypsy felt her character was left out or written around, but I was not sure what to do since I knew she was going to be out of touch for several days and, in cases such as that, I tend to rely on the GM to ghost for that character so my character can interact somewhat. I am not likely to have my character to walk up to a character and begin a dialogue or interaction when I know that character's player is not available to respond.
Apologies, Gypsy, if you felt run over. I also knew you were going to be away and just went ahead with Pietro presuming you'd chime in when you got back. If we ignored you it wasn't intentional.
As to the rest, to be brief and I'll be done as well, I know it is no surprise to Wolf and Kel but I agree with Art.
Guys.. no issues with any of you. My fundamental problems with Cesare go back much further. Talking to the GM to see if we can find a resolution. Thanks!
Well, Mikal had always intended for Cesare (along with Darian back at the time) to lead the Scouts of the Troop. But that is my quest. If Cesare has other ideas no issues.
Yes. In the commons at the Hart & Horse in Cragside. Specifically to Camelia that first time, but I suspect we were all close enough to have heard. I suppose it's up to each person to decide if they heard and remembered.
Well, GM did note above that our replies to the thread should be our current ones. I would assume that's the reason for the lock. I mean, that's why I'd lock down a thread. <shrug>
And I also presume Kadri has no point of reference to know more or less what sort of thing it is? So she is more or less in the dark abut the light, so to speak?
The information available to the characters is in the Intervention post; that is what you saw or felt, based on where you were. So you may not have seen the bolt through the sky, but the expanding wave, yes.
What you do and how you interpret it is up to the individual characters, save to say whatever it was it was significant and important.
Neither Bekkah, Lyric, Keiko or this new person, Tomomi, are hard to find. It is a Small Village After All. If anyone wishes to go speak with any of them, simply post in the "Room with a View" thread, begin your conversation and run with it!
Do not expect Tomomi to speak much with strangers, she's shy! (ie: don't let me hold up your posting)
In my not so humble opinion, y'all might want to wait for Bekkah to check on Tomomi before you pester her. Because once that's done... Keiko and Tomomi can leave. And find another outcropping from which to play music.
Room with a View was the proper place until Bekkah decided to head out on her own. It happens! I can do many things but not tell a character what to do!
So those who want to follow Bekkah seek Pietro should then go to their thread, including Bekkah!
and fair warning - I'm going to strip the OOC messages out of the Room with A View Thread.
Well, considering Bekkah is leaving her thread to walk up the stairs to the tower while at the exact same time everyone in the tower thread is leaving that thread to walk down the stairs, we are all like to meet at the Mill in the middle.
Fair warning! I will be posting based on the threads - it will move things forward quite a bit and I simply ask a bit of flexibility in dealing with it to keep the two threads in sync. It may mean that some tasks may need to be adapted; for example going out into the fields to get wood for lances. We can either:
a) Have that occur the next day or
b) do it as backfill for Bekkah, Mikal, Cesare and Kadri.
c) continue as two separate threads, which will become out of sync, and tie them back together when the Waverider thread catches up.
Any of the choices is fine for me; option c, however, may end up limiting player interaction.
Just do it as DM fiat. There's no point in having to play out riding around looking for a good campground and cutting down some trees (unless there's something special that was going to happen there). Just say it happened, a spot was found, trees were cut and brought back, and we're moving on.
The only thing of RPing note that might happen during those tasks is a conversation between Pietro and Mikal (presuming Kadri gives a nod of approval) to tell him what we're about.
anyone in the waverider thread posting? GMs sunday message was last thing posted there. just checking... if we are to get together again, we will need to move forward to converge the threads
So I am a bit confused. Keiko is not at the Tower so why is Kadri suggesting we go to the Tower to talk to her? Or was it to go there and wait for her?
Based on the posting, I'd have to presume that Mikal, Cesare, Kadri, and Pietro came down the stairs and met Bekkah in the middle. Pietro continued down the stairs to meet Lyric and Keiko.
Keiko and Lyric and Pietro (last I saw) went to Mistress Heatherson's (which Mikal and the others should have been able to observe from the stairs).
So shouldn't we be going to Mistress Heatherson's if we want to talk to them?
Also, you sure wouldn't want to go to the tower to wait for Keiko because she usually just goes up that way when she feels like hanging out with Mikkie. You could be waiting for days.
Hmm. Yanno, I'm looking at Wolf's picture of the Rock... and it would be logical to assume that the Heatherson's house is the one near the pseudo-barn for the cows. So, no. Unless you're sitting up top of the Tower with Mikkie, you probably can't see Keiko, Lyric and Pietro.
but we don't need to make it any harder to rejoin the two groups than absoultely necessary. small town. it could be inferred from seeing pietro going down that we are somewhere down... and then finding us shouldn't be that hard... we aren't hiding, we aren't even indoors.
And there's even a thread waiting for them to jump right in!!!
I know. The water is cold. I grok. I hate that too. Cold water, I mean. I don't even like to drink it. There's no way I'm gonna jump into cold water. Gyah!!! <shudder>
correct ... the "Room with a View" post was specifically written to allow those who wanted to find Keiko, Pietro and Lyric to do so; it gives a window of opportunity to re-sync the threads. It's an open opportunity.
If, of course folks want to do that. That's not up to me!
So are you saying, for complete clarity, that if we just post into the other thread and assume the inbetween it's ok? Or is there something further we need to do in THIS thread to get there?
The Waverider's Watch thread is for Kadri, Cesare and Mikal to hold whatever conversations they wish and to take whatever actions they wish.
This can be anything the three wish to do, from packing it in and going to sleep for the day, visiting the Mill, fighting fish in the Blackwater River, burn down a farm house or going their own separate ways. I am not being mocking in this list, I am just trying to illustrate that this is your thread for you to take any actions your characters wish - its not my choice, its yours.
For coordination purposes the only thing I asked was that the other thread, which has been ongoing, not be disturbed until it had a chance to resolve, in respect for your fellow players involved in that thread. I'd do the same thing for the Waverider's Watch folks if the situation was reversed.
If one, two or all of you you wish to roleplay with Pietro, Keiko and Lyric, that is what the Sunday Post in "Room With A View" is for. It allows the two threads to be synchronized. Thus, if one of your desired actions is to have your character look for those three, you should post in that thread and include how you go about finding them.
Then I can describe what you'd find and then the other players can then join in with their responses.
He nods to the others, but addresses Pietro since the man replied to him. "I wonder if it is the same errand we just spoke with Bekkah about?"
He glances around, seeing the farmer and noting the new arrival, and the new horse.
"Perhaps it would be better to discuss details inside?"
The bold italics are mine. This post has not been edited or otherwise negated. Just like Players can respond to previous posts when they get overrun, so can the gamemaster. It is a flexibility that is required by the nature of message based gaming; it should never be of a case of whoever posts fastest wins. It also allows me, as the gamemmaster, to not have all the posts after #864790 be retconned. That's not fair to the efforts of the other players. However, if you wish we can delete all the messages after #864790 to allow Dommi's post to be put in its proper place.
If you are referring to Message Number #864795:
Quote:
Mikal
"Certainly, however Master Heatherson and his helper", he nods his head to the nearby pair, "are not likely to be involved."
He refrains from adding that the less people who know what they discuss the better, so as to not insult the farmer.
Glancing at Lyric, he shakes his head no. "The Tower is private, or can be made so, and imposes on no one."
He pauses. "We met yesterday. You offered to sing." He smiles at her.
This does not negate the previous post. If the placement of the post disturbs I suggest seeing it as a very strong affirmation of Lyric's previous statement. I can also edit the post to account for Message #864795, because Dominic could have a response to one of the statements within, which I chose not to include.
The easiest thing, I believe, is to simply let things stand as is. It's a logical progression based on the actions and statements of the characters, with a properly in-character response by one of the native characters.
The opinions expressed by native characters on the Heartwood are their own In-Character opinions and beliefs and do not reflect the Gamemaster's personal Out-Of-Character beliefs or opinions.
If this is going to be another lecture post about the earlier dinner scene which I found a bit annoying that it occurred in the first place, my enthusiasm for posting much about the resultant conversation is going to be rather lacking.
guys- let us see if we can role-play through this- this is a game. and both viewpoints(in game viewpoints) deserve to be heard and recognized.
we are word crafters, and this is a game- let us use words- turn the tension into fun and keep the perspective that we choose to play this game and we choose to play within the universe. we don't all know the universe in depth so we all feel a little frustration from time to time, but we can work it out.
i am trying to do that with zeim right now- make it fun where we both can play our characters, talk, learn about each other a bit...
Then as a word crafter, perhaps I should elucidate and expand upon my statement to save us all some time and further misunderstandings.
I have never made a secret of the fact that I suffer from mild depression and a handful of other mental health issues (Super OCD Woman, remember?) in addition to the very real and physically taxing fibromyalgia. This time of year — beginning just after Samhain and ending around Ostara (vernal equinox) — is horrific for me, and my depression modulates between moderate and serious. Now, I don’t have New York’s weather making everything worse anymore, but the fact remains that three of the most important people in my life — my grandmother, who practically raised me, and both of my daughters — died between Thanksgiving and the end of January. Despite what certain insensitive and abysmally ignorant cretins I used to work with advised, that isn’t something one can “get over.” Winter is a time for grief... profound grief. I abhor Christmas. I don’t celebrate Yule, and some years I can barely bestir myself to acknowledge it. I hurt just as much as I did in 2000 when Mackenzie died. I hurt just as much as I did in 2013 when Megan died. Unless you have walked through this particular Hell, there is nothing you can imagine that is this awful. I don’t want pity, and I don’t need sympathy.
What I need is a lack of stress. This is a game. It’s supposed to be fun and exciting.
Stress is the single most destructive thing that exacerbates my fibromyalgia. Mental, physical, emotional — it doesn’t matter where the stress is coming from, it’s going to beat on me mercilessly. For most of the year, I have enough methods of self-care to manage it. Not so in winter. The stress of profound grief frickin’ HURTS. Literally. In every muscle and many of the tendons of my body.
Hiatus means I don’t have to deal with anything on DreamLyrics that I don’t feel like dealing with. Hiatus means I can write stories that interest me without having to worry about hurting someone’s feelings. Hiatus means I can still have fun without needing to worry about stress.
Hiatus means a Kel who might just be able to get through days without narcotics.
So, my friends, work this out or don’t. I would prefer that you did, but you’ll do it without me being in the middle. Without being in the middle, maybe I can write for Keiko.
<passes a chime-like bell to Phoenix>
Congratulations, Jim. You are now (what we called in the old days of feminist consensus-building) the Vibes Watcher.
I will be leaving the game. I've told Wolf separately so now I want everyone to know in the game Forum. I am turning my pc over to Wolf to run as an npc and do with whatever he chooses.
I certainly have no problem with it- Anything to be more inclusive in the game works for me. I only placed my character a little bit away so I could get a post in during a time when my RL was hectic with house hunting and stuff. I wasn't intending for a deep conversation to develop. I am enjoying it, and feel fine if others want to organically join by walking the short distance_ never established what that was, just put a rock there which I felt might be a reality give the huge rock that sticks up out of the ground with a watch keep on the top. just saying is all<g>
I have looked a where Lyric said she would be, and then the others by their posts, Dominic's non-specific location and my conclusion is that it's Bekkah's fault.
<smile> <<< see a smile.
That is, Nivek's post could be seen to bring folks together not far from the Mill, which also is close to the largest road going away placing everyone in near enough vicinity to find each other and overhear each other if they wish.
For future reference, like Phoenix, if a discrepancy arises I tend to prefer inclusive rather than exclusive solutions!
and I was not napping ... I was just not at the machine! It happens .. so you'll just have to be patient sometimes.
Well, because you jabbed Super OCD Woman, I'll note that we're not near the mill because it is halfway up the rock... but we might be near one of the farmhouses.
I still think partying is a good idea. I'll even leave the Stargate... ahh... well, elsewhere.
OOC Note: For those who don’t know a coracle is indeed a very simple boat. They are very primitive crafts, akin to a simple life raft. The most rudimentary version takes a big circle of cloth, turns and brings them inward and down, creating a tube around the edge of the circle. The tube is stuffed with leaves and grass, forming a ‘donut’ with a bottom. This is the life raft version.
The more sophisticated (and modern) version is very similar; one constructs an open-weave basket in the shape of a shallow dish, then covers the bottom of the basket with the leather/oil cloth.
They aren’t easy to control, but all you have to do is make it to Home.
Can everyone take a breath? We dont need to fight. It's a game. It's a game i am enjoying quite a good deal. But i know people can be frustrated with each other.
We all develop expectations and when things rub against those expectations we find ourselves in need of venting. But then our venting rubs others and they too want to vent. And things get said or typed we might regret in our heart of hearts (when time passes and feelings cool).
Please remember that when posting in character especially... but OOC is often tbe avenue for us to share our thoughts feelings and frustrations. Might i suggest talking with the GM in private first?
And sometimes we just have to bite on a bullet and try to find common ground to nudge our friends (and that is what we are here) to remember/look up details previously mentioned OR to nudge them gently when the frustrations get the better of our true kind hearts.
I want to play and tell my part of a story and experience the larger story together with the rest of you. We need to be tolerant and remember everyone has feelings and everyone plays differently.
We also need to bear in mind that there are real life stresses that are less forgiving on us and build stress that a place like this should lessen... not heighten... but we have to work at that together to make it work. We need to be forgiving and willing to help each other.
Please forgive the typos... i am on my cell phone and i am not much of a text typer. But I felt i needed to get this message up quickly.
Thanks Phoenix! The Holidays are very hard for some of us and thus a stressful time is even more so.
I think I should be clear - when I said "you know who to talk to" I meant Dommi, not me!
I think we should all take a breath, shake out the dust and remember we are all here to enjoy the exploration of a very different world.
You are in a place where you don't have enough information to make a strategy on how to enter the mines. I understand that. I (through Dommi) am trying to help you get to that spot. Continuing to request strategy information at this point is just going to be frustrating.
Somewhere in the recent set of posts someone made an excellent list of "things you need to know". They are great questions ... the party simply lacks the resources to answer them - in terms of their knowledge and the knowledge of the native characters with them. I would recommend looking at those questions and not expect an answer, per se, but ask two questions 'how are we going to find out those answers' and 'what can I do to help' and then take action to do so.
You are already embarking on step one of this - I can use Pietro's statement (thank you) as an indication of an action to build what you need to get to Home, which is a much better staging point (a base camp per se) than Waverider's Watch. Keiko's direct question to Tomomi will get you a simple map to start with.
also ... I had a hard road trip today and tomorrow i have a site review at a local town and they go from 7 PM till whenever ... I know I got good stuff to respond to, it just might take a bit to get to it!
While it is likely incumbent upon me as an adventurer character’s player to respond rather than waiting for a native character to do so, like the GM I have Real World issues I’m dealing with. I’d like to be able to say I’ll manage to get a post written for HWD before the GM does, but if I said that I could be lying. Who knows? Anything is possible, right?
Today's Post is like a public service ad - it supplements the posting schedule to answer some very interesting and good questions that were asked and pushes folks towards their actions of the day. There will be a Sunday Post moving things on.
Thus it is not imperative to answer this one, unless of course you have another question or a follow up question for the native characters.
It is true Bekkah, Lyric and Kadri have no specific tasks coming up for today but this is the one rare case where this is fine - unless you want to add a quick post giving a different task we can presume they are helping with the makeshift boat building.
The"chalky cliffs" range from 5 feet to 15 feet high, varying along the length in random changes. Thus they are more like tall river banks and not like cliffs found in Dover, Navarone or Montaukettston.
Kel- I will wait on you to post since there is room for you to post a bridge that gets us from my last post to the sunday big post. my next post is written and I will edit/post it after yours.
Oh. Um. Well, I was kind of looking at the situation as Tomomi dragging Lyric and Keiko off without Keiko having a chance to say anything... or that anything she might have said got preempted by Guardian Soft.
Go forth and post. There's all week to chat ("What you said before..." kind of thing). Assuming work cooperates, that is.
Expanded part of my post in a way that should not effect anyone who has already posted, but might merit rereading by those who have not, at least if they are listening to that conversation and can hear it.
Because two players specifically mentioned my character, I shall note here that I will not be posting anything until next week at the earliest. These are the dark times of the soul, and I have no interest in trying to write something joyful for this character.
Seasons come and seasons go And somehow they were meant to show That life and love are never really gone So when my journey here is through I'm certain there is just a new hello And so, when I travel on...
Let me be the music The music of love I have known Let me be the melodies In the wind and the trees That sing to the lost and alone Let me be the sweet refrain In the sound of the rain And the rippling stream Let me be the lullabies That close the eyes of children When they dream
For music has no walls or bars It bridges time and space It only asks the senses to surrender It sweeps us to the stars And makes us one in its embrace It has no fences, it has no gender
So let me be the music The beautiful music of love Let me be the voices of Spring That rejoice in the things That blossom and grow Oh, let me be the music To come again as music The beautiful music of love When I go
I understand and I wasn't trying to prompt you to post sooner than you were ready. I wrote what I did in the organic sense that my character would do what she did in including Keiko.
When the time is right, and only then, you will post. You will do a catch-up post I hope and it fill in the spaces left uncolored and I will enjoy reading that post when Keiko resumes.
I am so sorry your heart grieves as it does. I am sorry for your losses. everyone copes with grief in their own ways and I hope you find the music of love to give peace to your heart.
its a shared issue ... also, considering the holidays for everyone, and what day Sunday is ... it'll probably better if the HWD long post happens on Monday orTuesday.
so thank you Jim, for the kind thoughts. they are greatly appreciated.
I hope you can find solace for your grief in whatever ways help you most. I won't try to pretend I can know exactly how you feel because I know I can't. But I know it is a pain born of love. My thoughts are with you.
psssssssssstttttttttttt ... Cesare ... could be in deep trouble Only ONE of his companions is a Mouse. The other? Black mask on face, ringed hair pattern ... and specifically noted in the post before the last? That's a raccoon-kin!
Don't you have raccoons in England? Wait a minute? You don't? We can import some!
and while I am here, there's something I'd just like to note. The Forest Kin are actually some of the oldest native characters in The Heartwood, dating from its original College incarnation. They aren't runaways from Disney or Bluth films .... they are a homage/tribute to Cordwainer Smith's Underpeople from his Instrumentality of Mankind stories.
I've been bonked by work this week - I have enough for a mid week post but it may have to wait until Friday or Saturday. Apologies!
Two questions:
b) is Kadri going with Clever, Pietro and Cesare to investigate the Keep? (Escorted by the Pack)
c) is Lyric joining them or staying at Home with Keiko and Dommi? The "Come back, friend... and I will do the same" seems to hint that she is staying while the Wuffs are going.
On the images, the Forest trees are not shown, as they would have blocked the view. For all intents and purposes, if it is green consider it forested.
The only exception to this is a triangle in front of the dam, there is enough room to park the punts and move about before getting eaten by the Forest.
The Keep Shaft is thick. There is enough space in the shaft walls for large rooms, such as living spaces, work spaces and forges.
The Keep Shaft is FAR deeper than the lake itself.
At the moment there appears to be no one on either bridge. However, Clever and Deer would make sure everyone stayed behind the tower top crenellations – so if there was a patrol on the top of the shaft they would not be seen.
... comes back from a work meeting only to be blindsided by an out-of-character explosion.
First, I believe here is a better place for these discussions and would appreciate keeping this type of discussion out of the in-game narrative.
Second, I get into enough trouble for the things I do let alone the things I don't. And in this case I haven't done anything - I gave no instruction to merge the threads. Case in point, the only direction I have given in the thread was:
a) asking one of the players if they had more to post before getting folks together; the answer was yes, they still had things to say ...
b) letting Phoenix know he didn't have to wait for me to post an answer to Keiko.
So no, I did not instruct the other players to join the Keiko-Bekkah-Lyric thread.
I do appreciate Gypsy's post. It was an active post and one that brought Cesare into a place where he could interact with other players. In general, this is a good thing and the type of forward-thinking play I like seeing in The Heartwood.
In this particular case, however, Kel is correct - the timing is a bit off. Cesare and Company are due back in the afternoon, and while Keiko and Lyric's conversation could have taken up a good bit of the morning, they should be able complete it before paths cross again.
In MY review of the situation, the folks who went out to the Keep came back and are still on the pier, with the intent of looking for the others ... and from my interpretation of what was posted, you were waiting for me to get folks back together again. Which I haven't done yet!
I was planning (and yes I've been slow because I'm still recovering from this stupid cold and have been spending my evenings under the covers) on revisiting the question whether or not Keiko and Lyric had wrapped up their conversation so that I could move them to the afternoon on the weekend post and synchronize the group once again. This is a common issue in message gaming when a party splits, so a bit of flexibility from everyone would be appreciated.
It seems from whats been posted Kel has more to say; she should be given the chance to say it. I'm sure everyone would like the same treatment for their players.
If things take longer, they'll take longer.
The ones who have just returned should remember that they do have a ton of resources at their disposal. First, three of the Forest Folk have definitely had an upgrade (grin) since they got their souls. These are three powerful resources you should be able to use in your rescue.
Clever, Broke and Lady could also be used for advice, beyond the previously mentioned Dommi and Tomomi. But you need to be a bit more particular in your questions. For example, "How do we assault the Keep?" is far too general AND it sets the responsibility for the planning in the Native Character's hands - and that never ends well. On the other other hand a question along the lines of "How many ways are their into the Keep" is more productive - in that it gets you information so you the players can make your own decisions on how to get in.
Last, don't over think things. Imagine if this were a typical dungeon adventure - you get your gear together, go in the front door, and then start exploring. In some ways this is exactly the same except you have a specific goal and you actually know a whole lot more about the Keep than most folks do before they dive into an adventure. This time you also have a potential field of supporters ... but they are supporters, not leaders.
So to summarize - it looks like Keiko and Lyric aren't quite done discussing things.
If that isn't resolved by the weekend, the folks who have just returned should return to the sources they do have to garner more information. You've scouted ... no comes the planning and the execution.
Well... hmmm... i can't speak to that. I have not the words nor the insight. I guess that is between you and the gm. Sorry you feel that way. I am enjoying the game and trying do my part to help everyone else enjoy it as well. I feel, as a player i will only get something out of a game if i put something in it. Your mileage may vary.
Gypsy- You had already posted twice ahead of the potential midweek GM posting... You were not on my mind when I made the OOC comment. my post was more generic and not directed at any one person. Rather I was just trying to stir up a little interest (or notice) and there were three of the 6 who hadn't gotten a post into this thread.
Why are they not forestkin (aside from the fact it's a proper noun that should be capitalized (but the Word Nerd isn't even talking about that at the moment)?).
Look at the word: forestkin
Every bloody time I read that, I don't see the 't' in the middle of the word.
Look at the word again: forestkin
Look at it without the 't' in the middle. Keep looking at it. No... keep looking at it!
You'll spell it correctly henceforth, I suspect, lest we all start thinking about various bits of anatomy we need not be thinking about while writing for The Heartwood.
My mother thanks you, my father thanks you, my sister thanks you, and I thank you. Also, the Forest Kin thank you. (And, if we're being honest, none of my relatives thank you because two of them are dancing with Krysta and the other one is touched by Chaos. But the Forest Kin and I do thank you.)
Actually Kel's right and in truth I did the same OMG what double take too.
Now the truth of the matter:
The people are The Forest Folk ... as in "They are the Forest Folk."
When you refer to an individual in individual terms, you sometimes use the term Forest Kin, as in "Miss Mouse is a Mouse and Mice are one type of the many Forest Kin" or "He is my Forest Kin" (which presumes the speaker is one too).
Me ... I chalked it up to cultural clumsiness ... like not knowing the difference between "sayonara" (I may never see you again) and "mate ne" (see you later)
If we break the word down into its base components and study the etymology from there... then compare that with the entomology of the post praxial subjective conjugation offering a bias for the aesthetics of using words that start with an 'a' then and 'e' I think you will realize what it was we were trying to achieve when we used the colloguial archaic 'forestkin'.
Fores, of the wilderness, in the neo classical bavarian, serves as our adjectival root. Mind you I realize I should have used an Umlaut, but I can't figure out how make one on my keyboard. i know, right? philistines!
anyway... that leaves us with the base root noun 'tkin', only loosely translated as 'folk'. In truth, this should be 'stkin' (as in Fores` Stkin')but in 14th century the Great Bavarian Language Reformation Movement (GBLRM to those of us in the Bavarian Language Reformation fan club) concluded that it is acceptable though not entirely appropriate to create the conjunction 'fores`tkin' as a nod to the peasant scholars of the day. They based this decision on the High German consonant shift of 535AD as evidenced in the scattered Elder Futhark inscriptions.
Now, please forgive us this lack of couth and linguistic etiquette though because where we have truly slipped is in the dismissal of the glottal stop. It is a horrific oversight on our part and a travesty to language masters for whom we are ever so grateful for the language we speak today. In fact without them we might not have the 'elipsis' to overuse and abuse in the daily discourse of our writing. .... ummm... yeah... anyway...
Thusly, wheretofor and henceforth we whereupon took Fores'Stkin and made it Fores'tkin (as allowed by the GBLRM) and created the abomination of language known at Forestkin through sheer laziness and a complete disregard for all the elder family members touched by Chaos that haunt our own genetics and make our very ability to communicate coherently an abject nightmare of abrahamic hellish proportions.
so accept my apology on behalf of the other members of the Great Bavarian Language Reformation Movement's Fan Club (that's GBLRMFC to you and me) and please know that we will take up this clearly contentious issue at our next meeting in 2269. We meet every 500 years, well, actually the club meets every 500 years, and none of us were at the last meeting, and probably won't be at this upcoming one either, but we are excited, all the same, by the current fundraising projections. (we are pretty excited that I managed to use 7 commas in the previous sentence too)
With this important issue on the agenda I think it is safe to say we will be able to call for an actual 'Congress of Bavarian Language Speakers (that's CoBLS to you and me). There hasn't been a CoBLS (or 'cobbles' to you and me and said in mirth and jest only since language faux pas are very serious things indeed) since the very first meeting in 1369. Actually there have only been 3 meetings total (remember we only meet every 500 years) and I must admit, keeping up with the dues has been a real chore. Plus there's the whole hereditary legacy membership issue that normally bogs down our centennial regional conferences that usually ties up the majority of our legislative agenda subcommittee meetings.
Anyway, as I was saying, this issue just might serve as a unifying factor in allowing us to call for the Congress of Bavarian Language Speakers (that's CoBLS... sorry, you know this already) and for that I am eternally grateful (well not eternally, because if I was eternally grateful then I would be able to attend the next meeting Great Bavarian Language Reformation Movement's Fan Club and be able to participate in the historic vote for the establishment of a Congress of Bavarian Language Speakers (that's CoBLS to yo... whatever)
I'm giddy with the excitement that comes with the consideration of such a possibility, that, well... isn't actually a possibility, but rather just a fanciful notion born of an overactive imagination, and a little too much free time on a Sunday afternoon. (4 commas and an elipsis- not a record but I am pleased with it)
I hope you enjoyed reading the response as much I as I did in writing it (well, typing it anyway. You have to be touched by Chaos to actually write things anymore. Right? Write? See what I did there?)
Ah, so much fun with the English Language. Now that's a whole different fan club right there and they don't actually have meetings to discuss linguistic changes... Instead they just wander down dark alleys and assault other languages and steal their vocabulary and sentence structures. But they are a hoot whenever the conventions for other langauages are in Las Vegas, that's for sure!
And, has thou slain the Jabberwock? Come to my arms, my beamish boy! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!
Given the nature and origins of the Heartwood languages, let’s assume we’re speaking about the melding of Forestalk (whose root is higher in the language tree than Bavarian, although it may have had a parallel evolution) and Colonial to arrive at “Forest.” The root of the Forestalk word, forst (no umlaut) is modified somewhat by the High Imperial foris, to give the meaning of the word “Forest” something slightly different than what most might expect: “a bound wooded area” (as opposed to simply “a wooded area”). Now, after the Great Curse at the end of the Second Age (somewhat prior to the influence of the Colonial language), we can see that the “wooded area” did, indeed, become bound by the Curse.
(There are those who argue that the Forest — as it is observed today — is bound more by the efforts of humans cutting back the trees than by the Curse itself, but that is a matter more appropriately discussed at the Science Societies.)
Despite being a primary language of the Second Age, Forestalk is, as you know, a language not in favor among the Ruling Elite. With the introduction of Colonial (or more accurately, Colonial Imperial and, thus, a hybridized form of Imperial) in the Third Age, those who still speak Forestalk will generally elide any glottal stops. Given that there never was a written form of Forestalk, we can also see why an umlaut would be unnecessary.
Now, as the man mumbling in the corner pointed out, “Folk” is likely a more accurate terminology for any group of people, being a holdover of the Forestalk folc (people). The “Kin” appellation appears to be derived from the High Imperial cynn, which had a more restrictive meaning of “family” as well as a broader implication of “race.” However, some scholars believe it evolved from the either the Forestalk kint (child) or ken (a diminutive suffix denoting affection).
In either case, “Folk” would likely be the standard word used by those outside a group of individuals, whereas “Kin” would be reserved for relatives and close friends.
I look forward to seeing you at the Language Society’s next meeting. It is scheduled for Midwinter 2630 (six years hence) and will be hosted by Khorall Tieg Larsen and Hastur Brother Llewellyn at the First Cathedral. May Sir Kevin have time to fix the roof!
[And in case you’re interested, on a Windows computer, hold down the ALT key and type 148 on the number pad: ö
For obvious reasons, I have the codes for all the acute accented vowels memorized, however, I still need to continually look up the multiple accented vowels of Diné Bizaad when I’m not at home (where they are conveniently programmed as universal macros).
Well, if it's beer, that's a new hobby and the basement wouldn't be a good place for it. Not that basement anyway.
However, in Wolfspeak, "domestic chemistry" means "cooking." Far less interesting, I fear, than either a brewery or a meth lab. (By the way, you might consider putting one of those in the basement. Don't tell Kevin about it, though. It might void the insurance.
I've looked at the posts that went up while I was away. Concerning the approach to the Rescue, it currently comes in multiple flavors, some building on each other and some offering different points of view. This should be a good discussion for the entire party.
So this is your chance to have that discussion - either that or let me know otherwise, and then (You guys come first) I'll post the Native Character's response to the plan and the discussion as they see it.
... today's post will be late. I had a significant post written and after reflection I've decided to tear it apart and put it back together again in a very different structure.
The posts will move the party forward, into the breach, per se.
In the posts to follow the terms "Mill Tower", "Gate Tower", "Sluice gate Towers" and "Windmills" all refer to the same thing - one of the double tower structures with the sluice gates between them.
There are three different tower sets being used by three different groups.
All group assignments and destinations were set not by my choice but by my best interpretation of everyone's desires based on their posts.
Phoenix has met her, too, so you might want to revise your thinking there, bub.
<Also makes notes for Chris' "adventure" in WY... Cattle? Check. Abundant snow? Check. Ninja and Mother Earth versus Chris? Bwahahaha. Check. Peacekeeper and Father Sky versus Chris? Check. >
The Pentad will be sure to knock that attitude out of him. If necessary, when he gets back to Chicago, Emerald Shark will dump him in Monroe Harbor. Fully clothed. In January. You know, just to convince him that there really are bad people in the City who want to hurt him. Cuz, you know, if an ally will do that, just imagine what an enemy will do.
And then, to top it all off, Miranda will start matchmaking again.
Note: I did the best as I could with the combat resolution, it fell out based on my best interpretation of the posted actions. where there was one contradiction, that was dealt with in private and represents the most descriptive intent.
folks! to be honest ... this weekend packing comes first ... it may mean a late or postponed HWD post depending on how thing fall out tomorrow! Thank you all for your patience and unnerstandin'
woah ... I got stuff up! Apologies if anything is scattered or even more tangled than my posts usually are. I thank you ahead of time for your patience!
Umm... you can still write. the character hasn't been injured to an extent that she is physically incapacitated. well, okay... she has been injured pretty badly it seems... but she isn't unconscious. At least not to my reading. An NPC type used a special ability and that ability affects people. Maybe it is inherent in Kadri that this particular ability would affect her. Maybe she failed her HWD version of a saving throw. I don't know. I am reading it just as you are... but I see all kinds of room to write and explore this aspect. You know, get inside her head and explore who she is at the core... the kind of stuff where you can write about her childhood and just be free as a writer to explore.
The way it is written, and the stuff about being prey seems sort of like you know this aspect of kadri, or that it is built into the character. I've read it elsewhere related to Dommi too...
I think there is all kinds of room for you to write and actually explore the character... she is being affected by one of the most primal emotions we have...Fear. what does that mean to her? How does kadri deal with it... this seems like fertile ground for you, for as long as you have played this character and have had her living in your headspace...
Maybe you have a lot to write but it just isn't about combat.
I don't know, not my character, but it sounds like good stuff could come of this.
I'm talking more about being pretty literally disarmed, not the fear thing. That doesn't bother me - just seems like physically, no use of arms is going to be rather limiting on doing much physically.
hey now, everybody just take a breath... it's a game... and a fun one. so much depth in it... sure it can get deep and a little confusing and i will admit i have to read posts a bunch of times. The GM doesn't spell out the options but I have seen where he writes clues and ideas in posts and if you give it a chance to sink in and read it again after that, then things start to make sense.
this game is more than numbers on a sheet and a written up history... you need to be that person on that page. even combat requires you to role-play it out because the hidden system doesn't care a numbers based tactical system... it cares about telling a story that the GM can figure out where some numbers might go.
you get out of this game more than you put in, for all of us, but you have to put something in... Kadri is not my character and i don't know what other skills and any magic she might have... but I think there are plenty of options... just be the character and tell a story with the GM.
I think that is good, right? real good, as in the best. The skills are based on d100 scale and the better the skills the higher the number... so, if i were to read this in the context of my poor association with gaming systems I might say this player could sell Ice to Eskimos by convincing them the stuff they have is the wrong kind!
That's an interesting observation, Gypsy, and probably explains (to some degree) why I dislike dice. My brain can get so much more random than any dice -- tangents, digressions, weird thoughts. And then dice add randomness when logic should prevail.
For instance, if you start with the premise that there are Grue (Grues?) on the northern path (something the GM knows to be true), you only need to use logic when the player says, "I go north." The logical response would be, "You have been eaten by a Grue." Sure, you could roll the dice to determine how many Grue (Grues?) there are, but what does it matter to the player when they're being eaten?
<shrug>
I've explained this to the GM so many times that I've lost count -- I'm a writer more than a roleplayer. If I need randomness*, I have Random.org give me a couple of lists of 130 integers from 1 to N**, then write my queries to grab 130 last names and 130 first names. (Exception: when I plan to kill someone, I pull a name from The List Of People To Be Eviscerated In Fiction ("The List").)
*Oh, let's say the names of all 130 engineering officers left on the original USS Eclipse after the initial attack and hull breach
**Where N = maximum number of last names in my Names database, then where N = maximum number of first names in the database
actually Kelly stumbled on my dice cubes - basically a set of about 20-30 small d6 dice that fit perfectly in a clear plastic case with a perfectly fitted bottom cap.
She was entranced ... and vexed that over the years a couple had gotten lost so the case wasn't completely full.
and I found most of the missing dice plus the second still full case during the move!
Oh, yeah. Those are totes adorbs. And Super OCD Woman did not like the fact that some of them were missing. Good to know you found some of them. Not that you need more dice. The only person I've seen with a larger dice collection is Wil Wheaton. Yeesh.
a first batch of midweek posts ... and then i ran out of time! I hope to have more tomorrow if appropriate. For example, a combat heavy post (like Pietro's) may get rolled out and outlined tomorrow for the weekend's writing
Nope, Cesare isn't being ignored, however as Gypsy so kindly understands, he is in waiting mode, until he gets the signal to raise the gates and flood the keep.
Also, on top of everything else, not only has my schedule blown up by work but i've pulled a muscle in my shoulder which makes typing hurt - so I apologize if the posts are a bit rough.
last, anything else is called on account of dinner with Mom.
i caught some mistakes in my most recent post- apologies. as I explained to Wolf in PM- it has been a rough couple days for work and unpacking and remodeling and little time for anything else. I was not expecting this post to drop but it appears to me that the GM is trying to get things to a point where everyone can get a sunday post this week. I wrote this last night, sacrificing sleep time and looming 4am wakeup alarm. But since keiko was joining the location where Lyric was at, I wanted to set a bit more scene so her player had more to work with in terms of descriptive text.
I dropped a few words, added a few extra letters. Please forgive. I edited a couple times but my brain was just not catching everything. Not sure that it is ready for prime time even now. I will read one more time and hope for the best.
Keiko's player has Brain Freeze and may or may not get the HWD portion of the brain thawed out today. Or tomorrow. As you said, I shall hope for the best.
also forgot to mention that the GM replied with a funny story about a dog since i shared that one of my woes last night was my old girl just having to explore in an area she need not be and getting tangled up in my tv/stereo wires and then fighting her way out. I watched helpless from a distance as it was too late when she decided to 'freak out' over her realization of sudden confinement and then watch as my directv receiver flipped up in the air and landed upside down on the hard floor. The receiver decided it wasn't going to work anymore in protest of the poor treatment it received. fun times. I will let the GM recount his story if he wishes, just thought it notable to mention.
hihi! I've responded to those I could this week and I suspect with the holidays here things will be slow.
I can certainly understand why Exeter/Pietro may be at a loss; and for that I do apologize. He's in an odd place with Lady Bekkah - who we need to hear from about her impending courtship. On one hand I can understand the warrior's frustration. On the other hand, between the two of them - both Bekkah and Pietro - they are succeeding very well in what they were supposed to do.
Tie up the Prince's force for as long as they can.
I also understand Kel's position and will respond when her bullet points become in-character actions.
Cesare has a very interesting question to answer ... but there's no rush a the moment.
The separate threads will be coming to a point where they will weave back together; how well that happens is up to you folks
I also understand Kel's position and will respond when her bullet points become in-character actions.
You probably meant "...if her bullet points..." rather than "...when her bullet points..." Right? Just saying that you might have to go with the bullet points because trying to force creativity usually has unpleasant consequences. I should go make some fractal art.
Neither Pietro nor I feel very good about the situation or the way with which it has been dealt. I managed to back Pietro into a corner where he cannot fail but to see himself as a complete failure and a disgrace to his position as a Squire of Lord Rames.
folks ... there is a 70-30 chance I'll have to work this weekend, both Saturday and Sunday, and if that happens I apologize, but HWD and ARAOK may be delayed another week.
yup real work on a Sunday ... some folks need to learn simples things.
a) When you have to choose between deciding a paint color and making sure your project has doors and frames ... CHOOSE DOORS AND FRAMES
b) that you can't reference schedules or anything else that ISN'T IN THE SET.
(this goes right along with along with "Don't use abbreviations that aren't in the abbreviation list" and "don't use the same abbreviation for TWO DIFFERENT things").
c) when someone spends weeks documenting the office Millwork system, which in turn took years to develop and actually WORKS ... you USE it.
d) that there is something fundamentally wrong with your drawing set when 50% of a sheet is WHITE
e) Kelly says I need a copy editor? She would commit homicide after reading drawing notes. It would be justifiable.
f) You know those nifty things that close a door behind you. It's called a closer. They have so many options and flavors it's a whole bloody speciality to get right. So you can tell the Contractor they - since they are ordering it and installing it - are responsible for getting one that that works right OR you can spend an hour and give them your best guess at a catalog number. Fine. Who then gets blamed and pays for it when something goes wrong? Worried they will get it wrong? That's what shop drawings are for. Don't take responsibility for something the Contractor should be responsible for.
g) Saying "oh I was going to fix that in the addendum" translates to "I screwed up my deadline but I don't care."
h) Make sure your bloody arrowhead points to the right thing.
i) Don't dimension to something that has an indeterminate location.
j) Don't try and use drawing notes to replace specifications. Whatever you leave out for brevity and convenience you'll end up paying the contractor an extra for.
Exeter and Nivek- care to join us for some conversation? Maybe get some play in before the sunday post... who knows, maybe the GM has a small wednesday post for us... (hopeful)
...yet doubtful, given the work situation. Sometimes I wonder if he's the only person in the firm who knows how to do the architect thing. <smh> I'd say the same thing to him that I'm always saying to ividia (New job, blah blah blah) if I thought it would do any good. (It won't.)
A successful Quest! Yea! And once again you have shown how Player Actions can change the very face of the World. Once folks rest up at Home we will be continuing our explorations - I have heard of a desire for a trip up the Flowered Path, which would be of interest to all, including both Rhoni (for different reasons) and of course Minstrel and Healer.
Pietro, however, will be traveling on to Talesan's Village.
After long conversation we have come to the conclusion that, by its very nature the Heartwood and Pietro were not a good mix. It was a matter of conflicting play-styles and their consequences. Over the length and breath of the quest this created several recurring issues and associated misunderstandings.
I have always believed that differing manners of play are never necessarily a bad thing – and with complete sincerity I believe this is why there are many, many types of games out there and that there is no better or worse, just different.
Thus Pietro will be traveling to the Cathedral on his own and I wish Exeter best of luck with his play elsewhere.
Thanks for playing- our opening scene was really fun and it was great play too. we didn't spend much time together after that... but Lyric meeting the Squire with the sinnomon bread and the horse who ate the apples still stands out as one of my favorite introductions yet.
sorry again- got in a little later than i had hoped and it was a long weekend where i got too much sun. (fun weekend- dock diving competition with the dogs a couple hours away from home) We emptied the RV, ate some dinner and watched an episode of the orville and I was simply falling out.
Okay- HWD is posted. Mostly thoughts and then a single line of spoken word... but that's what seemed right for this moment. I hope the emotion conveys. I felt a little hurried, but it was flowing pretty well.
So sorry for the delay- I really thought i might have some wifi at the campground... but this place was boonier than i expected
Your next posts should decide where you go to next – you may trade, rescue your horses and undertake similar tasks for without worry - but mostly decide where and how you want to go next – true, Dawnview is a destination but it is a ways away and there are many paths that lead that could lead there!
It looks like we are still waiting on a reply from Bekkah and for Lyric and Cesare finishing their song smithing and joining up with Keiko.
So, please continue! Especially for Lyric and Cesare, don't wait for me to intervene and keep on posting. If you are waiting on me to complete these tasks I will be tempted to wrap things up and set the scene for the for a few days hence and decisions for traveling. Which is fine by me if its okay by you folks.
What might be better, however, is for Lyric and Cesare to loop around to Keiko, perhaps even grabbing Bekkah, so the next big post is not just 'what do you do next' but actually moves you along the path you'd like to take
I am back... Sunday, but it was mostly a washout day trying to recover. and to top it off... half way through the week I accidentally dumped my phone into the dock diving pool and had even more limited means/ ability/opportunity to stay connected with the world after that.
strange feeling being forcibly disconnected from the instant/constant connected aspect of modern society. Strange but not bad. In some respects it was kind of freeing... the initial feelings of 'withdrawal' faded quickly. The most troubling part was not being able to tell what time it was at any moment since i don't wear a watch either. But I got used to that as well... it was either daytime of nighttime<g> It was like being back in the 80s when you had to actually tell someone else in person that you liked what they did or said.
I will start to catch up today and, depending on workload, try to get everything updated as quickly as possible.
Or how about not? Maybe let Bekkah and Keiko get a post in first? (Or at least Keiko, because the merchant asked her a question.)
Or we can do it your way. I can work with it, but the GM needs to let us know how he wants to proceed (I'm ignoring his "arrival" game post for the moment) because I would write a different post for each scenario.
Also, a note for the GM to fix his post:
Quote:
...For Keiko, however, what was most apparent was the twitching of her whiskers...
The new computer isn't due in until the 6th .... And I may not be able to get to work this weekend to write posts ... So things may slow up till next weekend
I will be gone through this next week anyway. As much as i want to post and eagerly await each player post and especially GM posts... this delay does ease things for me a bit.
I will try to reply to Kel's old woman post but it won't be significant since Lyric wasn't addressed by the old woman.
<wanders off to make notes in Scrivener... er, GDoc>
<giggling all the way>
(Too bad the only reason I got the gig was that Grumpy Old Woman is primarily around because of many other Native Characters and not necessarily because the Adventurers are here. Oh, what fun we could have had in a one-horse open... wait, that can't be right. Haha! Yes, it can! Ask the Yurisdotter sisters about winter in Dawnview Vale. Ooooh, so pretty! With one-horse open sleighs and dashing through the snow and probably even singing of seasonal songs. Ah, good times, good times.)
I may or may not get a post written this week for Keiko. I need to troubleshoot internet issues and even with a keyboard, writing on the tablet is a PITA.
This was one of those posts that began writing itself in my head as each post was added through last week, and even earlier when kel did the dance thing with the old woman.
this is quintessential Lyric, and I hope that comes through. She told me what she said and what she did this day in this imaginary far away place.
and Wolf, I hope the realization of her personality has been as much fun for you as it is me, given you know things others do not.
What's so funny? The fact that someone asked a Lore Master enough questions that the majority of the truths about the Dayalans can be told without falling on deaf ears? The fact that our resident Disney Princess is bringing that mythology into your world? (That should actually scare you, by the way.) The fact that I'm going to write a novel answering the questions?
Don't laugh too hard. It will quite likely take all week to write the post.
Nice photo, by the way. Did you get the hat? I think blue might be your color, though. Skintone is such a difficult thing to gauge from a picture on the monitor.
Nah- I started doing this a few trips back where we would wander the stores and i would take a photo of me in different hats- a different hat per day in whatever park we were in. I just pick one off the shelf or rack, put it on and Cathy takes the pic. Some place i have some pics when Nivek and I took a Dis trip together and we did this... both him and I wearing hats
Wolf is on a bus and will then be in airports and two planes and therefore probably won't get a post up today -- unless we do something interesting that compels him to post when he gets back to ALB!
People (meaning me... and a certain Voice in my head) are still quite displeased with Squire Conrad, bucko. Just back away slowly and you might survive.
I admit I took liberties with Bekkah - but we had gotten consensus from everyone else about going to the tower!
You should make plans for your next bit of traveling because come sunset the Forest Folk will be heading back to Home and won't be coming out for a week. By which time you should be on the road again
You people are giving me a fracking migraine. Please stop. I have enough problems without Heartwood making my blood pressure go up into a range that makes me very uncomfortable.
Nivek, does Bekkah want to talk to Kassia or not? If so, get her in the right thread to do that.
If she's in the tower, who the heck is she talking to????
It's possible that Keiko would answer Cesare's questions if she didn't have to worry that our Healer was losing her mind.
(On the other hand, she might think he's asked a couple of rhetorical questions and not say anything. Or she might decide she's had enough time in the company of crazy people and go hang out with her friend Henrik. Or I might decide third time's a charm. Who knows?)
This is what happens when you throw too much Chaos into the game, Mr. GM. I will maintain my position that balance is what's important. This wild swing into incomprehensibility only encourages my inner Trickster and the desire to find the Stargate. There's a linguistic anthropologist who's just itching to talking to people... over in ALS.
Well, when I made that request, we wound up in the mess we're in now. So...
<shrug>
I suppose it can't get much worse than it already is. Although if the GM could refrain from moving other people's posts for them, that would be awesome.
Yes. The GM was apparently once again demonstrating his ability to imitate a person with early onset Alzheimer's and moved it because... well, early onset Alzheimer's?
I believe the biggest problem, the greatest confusion, came about when you posted in the old thread after the GM moved your character to the Tower. But you said you wanted to talk to Kassia, so we can pretend the GM never wrote anything about Dommi talking to Bekkah if we want. I'm not sure that the Heartwood universe is set up to have a person in two different places at the same time, but if you want to pretend Bekkah is both talking to Kassia on the stairs and up on tower with everyone else talking to Dommi...
<shrug>
That's cool. The more ways other people warp the Heartwood's reality, the easier it will be for me to build my Stargate there.
Not that anyone has asked, but no — you won’t be getting any posts from me this week... not for Keiko, not for Kassia. Why? Because:
Wolf*
Victim Impact Statement to Judge Peter Lynch before the sentencing of the pustulant sack of diseased feces masquerading as a human (may he rot in the worst prison in New York State for the rest of his unnatural life, eventually dying from infections due to being shanked by an avenging Angel taking the form of a fellow inmate)
A Thesis on the Languages of the Heartwood, Part I: Ancient and Eastern
Work and doctors and dentists, oh my
* If Wolf does not know why he is at #1, then he is also reasons 5 through 15. If he does know why and uses the usual excuse, he will be the #1 reason each week why I won’t have a post until I get around to posting (which, if he knows the reason why, could be never). (Yes, that probably would count as my monthly “I quit” notice. Or was I up to weekly resignation notices before I took Daxia out of the game? Hmm. Probably.)
Anyway, no post. Kassia is NOT going up to the tower. Other than that, I don't have any particular reason to care about this game at the moment. Kinda busy trying to stave off a breakdown.
To get to this place I looked at all the previous posts and sifted them until I could put forth a post that best represented what could be gleaned from your previous discussions.
I paused at a decision point; there are interesting things along the Path and you should have the chance to say aye or nay about investigating them. Whether you do or not is completely your choice; there is no right or wrong and I have no vested interest if you do or not.
It's fine if you do and its just as fine if you don't
I also spoke with Kel about moving on without her posting in the Waverider's watch thread first.
Well, from my point of view, we can choose between:
A) ICE CREAM!!!
or
B) Put your hand in this meat grinder.
To Bordertown it is! (Okay, if the rest of you want to investigate the Grove, Keiko will wait for you right here. Like the Adventure Under the Docks, I won't do more than copy and paste the posts into Super OCD Woman's reference document. I know just how gruesome the GM can be and still maintain his PG-13 rating on the forum. And because the Story of the Grove itself is rated R or NC-17... well, have fun storming the castle, boys.)
And I believe almost everyone would understand the concept of "hallowed ground." As an Imperial, wouldn't any of the churches or cathedrals be considered holy places, just as all wells are considered holy ground for Dayalans?
It is awesome to see how quickly we all posted to the new thread. a breath of new life and an eagerness for new adventure.
Maybe I am painting too rosy a picture with too broad a set of strokes... (LMS stuff for sure) But... It felt good to see everyone's reply on the thread before I got to it.
I am looking forward to discovering new things about the world and learning more about HWD- my character was tailor made for me in this regard... to learn as I go. A flowered Path, a story to be told... a mystery even? The dark and foreboding end of the trail to the left.... hmmm. Yes, Jim has a basic understanding of the story, but I want to hear it, read it, feel like I am living it.
The first adventure with Lyric was a lot of fun and had all the elements of great fantasy storytelling and excellent role-playing. I enjoyed it. Thank you one and all.
The Story of the Grove... no. I've said all I'm going to say on the matter. Unless Lyric and Cesare (and possibly Bekkah) want to investigate on their own, what I said is what you'll get. I WILL NOT participate in another one of Wolf's Grand Tragedies again.
<deletes another comment>
Work... revised victim impact statement... BTS and/or FS and/or ALS then HWD.
(GM: Consider this your boot to the head reminder to re-read the Therapy Session and to stop sending me random and cryptic PMs that you then refuse to clarify.)
Not sure who you are principally speaking to here. I have to assume it is me.
Let's be clear here- My character will go where the game takes her in this instance. But no where did i advocate for going into the Grove, which I can only presume is to the left. No other player has done this either.
telling us you are deleting comments means you want us to know you are frustrated. we already know this.
is keiko frustrated with us? my character does not believe so. Keiko promised to tell stories since talk of dawnview vale was beyond Lyric at the end of the last segment of the game and we have jumped forward in time.
My understanding is that we are taking an expediant path to bordertown, which I believe is to the right. I just want to play and learn about the Heartwood.
Keiko is fine. Keiko will tell stories. Keiko just won't tell this story.
Keiko's player is reiterating that any story Lyric wishes to know about the Grove won't be found here, won't be told by me, and won't be told by the GM unless I'm not a party to the telling of the story.
Keiko's player is also making not so veiled threats to the GM to stop acting like he has dementia and to re-read the last screed I sent him on the topic of his dementia.
Keiko's player is reminding the other players that HWD is not her #1 priority. Or #2. Or even #3.
You haven't done anything wrong. It's mostly the GM. And life. And depression. But mostly the GM.
STOP SENDING ME RANDOM PMs THAT MAKE NO SENSE, MICHAEL!! I SWEAR TO CTHULHU I WILL WALK AWAY FROM HEARTWOOD AND PULL KEIKO INTO THE ALTERNATE UNIVERSE IN ALS IF YOU KEEP THIS UP!*
*This is no longer a warning. It is now a threat. I just want the other players to understand what kind of "special treatment" I get in Heartwood. I wish they could all have this same kind of "special treatment."
NOW I'm going to work to make a ridiculous spreadsheet that has no purpose but needs to be created because my boss wants me to make a spreadsheet of everyone's Go-Live tasks, despite the fact that everyone has their own checklist and I don't know what other people are doing and I'm going to pour a bucket of ice water on Jay today if he doesn't stop talking.
i put my post up because i was running out of time at work and didn't want to lose these thoughts- it was mostly complete as it was... BUT, if anything needs to be changed or edited... please say so- I have no issues with adjusting any of it. It's just a post
folks ... i had a rough week writing wise last week - a massive specification binge, which makes coming home and writing more kind of bleah.
I was hoping to catch up today on my games and get HWD tomorrow as usual. so i woke up this morning and went ... omg ... i feel horrible. cold, woozy, headache-y and feeling all in all awful. so i said i can't do fun stuff like this ... went to take a nap and ... six hours later finally woke up.
i apologize if i can't get anything posted this weekend. my ancient bones are aching and it feels like i need lotsa water and rest under the covers kind of time.
So... the party followed the Flowered Path all the way to Bordertown instead of going up the Highland Path at MacMurphy's? (I am assuming that the GM is looking at the detailed map of the Heartwood.) That adds a few days to the journey, but sure, why not? Keiko would probably prefer to stay off the Highland Path anyway. (Okay, not really; it would just be smarter if she did.)
It's not the season for griffins, is it? (If so, there's another Dayalan the party might have run into. If not, said Dayalan might be in Bordertown. Of course, that would mean it's less likely for Dandy to be in Bordertown because, well, would she really want to inflict herself on two unicorns? Good grief, the complications of putting Dandy (and the part of the Horde not remaining at Brockman's) in town at Midwinters with two unicorns and her sister... golly, gosh, gee whiz, that could be fun!)
And FYI for Bekkah and Cesare, Dazi and Kisa have been waiting in Bordertown for y'all. Maybe I should work on the backfill for that part of the story. Maybe.
Our resident airhead and LMS would know in character. And Bekkah probably would have mentioned it to Cesare, although knowing Bekkah, maybe she'd want to surprise him? Guess we'll need to wait for March Madness to release its grip on Nivek to see what he has in mind.
But since y'all still need to get into town before you can find Dazi (if anyone other than Bekkah knows where she is) and March Madness ends... um, at some point soon, it probably isn't a big deal at the moment.
My questions for the GM have not been answered, so I'm going to have to pass on writing a post until I get clarification. I can make the assumption that we followed the Flowered Path all the way to Bordertown (because it kind of seems like that's what the GM was implying), but given the number of times I've been contradicted when making assumptions, it really isn't worth my time and effort to even start a post until until I know for sure. And the question about griffins is totally legit. I have PLENTY of other stuff to work on.
So to answer your question, Bekkah knows. Nivek will let us know if anyone else knows.
And don't you have an admirer to deal with anyway?
Cesare is going to be a potential target for SO much teasing! Good heavens, he's as clueless as Dazi was in the very first scene of the game! Hinata is totally sweet on him. Keiko is taking notes.
Oh, there are so many questions. (I just added more!) And because of the descriptions in your post (see our PM for All The Things That Have Pushed Kel's Buttons This Time), I am once more paralyzed to inaction. (And it's fine, really, because I'm editing stuff for my website, and that takes time, so... you know. Whenever you resolve this is fine. La la la, no one is in a hurry here, it's a relax-a-game. Nivek is still watching Sportsball.)
I will reiterate my biggest complaint, however: after having spent more than six months working on that detailed map, you don't get to ignore it. Especially since it's your map and I merely traced it and made it beautiful in Photoshop. But I put a significant amount of work into that thing, so you should pay attention to it. Thank you.
<grinds teeth hard enough to piss off the dentist... and give Kel a headache>
Quote:
They could see the Flowered Patch behind them, sweeping west the way they came. Ahead they saw a second path; this one of worn dirt and well used. A pair of carts were on that trail, heading west while a little further beyond a much larger caravan was moving in the other direction. Keiko knew that trail. So did Cesare and Bekkah. It was the Highland Path, the long merchant route that started in Talesan's village.
And there, below them, perhaps a half day away - just in time to get through the gates before evening, was Bordertown.
1. Let me point out that they have already crossed the Highland Path, at MacMurphy’s Tavern — given the way the Flowered Path meanders out into the plains east of Skaefla Plateau, I’d guess nearly three weeks ago.
2. If they are heading toward the origination point of the Flowered Path and are able to see the town itself, then they can also see all THREE roads that are leading into Bordertown: the Highland Path, the Road East, and the Greenlands Path.
Here. Have a picture. That dot by the number 9 is MacMurphy’s Tavern. (The textured bit in the corner is part of Skaefla Plateau, and the reds dots along there are the Horse Trail. You don’t need to care about that. Probably only Keiko would know the name of the Trail anyway.)
Ahead they saw three paths converging on the town: the Highland Path on the west, which they had crossed some three weeks past; the Road East on the north, coming from Brementown; and the Greenlands Path on the east, which led to the Forest Roth.
Also, based on experience from the previous outing in Bordertown, I would add the following note:
The party will need to leave the Flowered Path and go around the Temple and town walls to get to the Highland Path Gate. (I mention this only because Phoenix was not part of the group at the time and Nivek will certainly have forgotten and I don’t know if Gypsy remembers that the Temple Gate has been walled off. Completely.) Now, *I* know this out of character. It probably wouldn’t be a stretch for me to know this in character, as well, even though Keiko herself has never been to Bordertown. The Rhoni pass along that sort of information.
And the party would want to go to the Highland Path Gate because it’s the closest to them at the moment. (The last time Bekkah and Cesare were here, they entered through the Eastern Road Gate.)
FINE! And there’s a map of Bordertown in the Gallery, too. I would have added the Marrennen Market, too, except DL is having none of it.
A. Dragonstooth Inn (Marrennen) B. Crossbows & Quarrels (Jvrillian) C. Leatherworker (Marrennen) D. Stable House (Marrennen) E. Wine Shop (Hythanian) F. Cobbler (Marrennen) G. Wheel & Cartwright (Marrennen) H. Smithy (Marrennen) I. Coppersmith (Marrennen) J. Horse Trader (Marrennen) K. Cooper (Marrennen) L. Butcher (Hythanian) M. Mason (Marrennen) N. Pottery (Marrennen) O. Perfumes & Medicines (Hythanian) P. Ale & Beer Wholesale (Hythanian) Q. Sign Painter (Marrennen) R. Vegetable Stand (Marrennen) S. Breads & Pastries (Marrennen)
<stalks off to ignore HWD and destress with... maybe music, maybe BTS | FS | ALS, maybe Stargate Atlantis... anything that isn’t the GM’s job> <grumble>
On second thought, let's not go to Camelot. It's a silly place.
why are the Eastern Gate and the Road East on the north side of the city? is there a historical story that explains this bit of strangeness of logical town planning?
The East and the fact that east is "up on the maps" traditionally represents NOT a cardinal direction nor the place where the sun rises. It is a reference to the lands occupied by the Eastern races.
The majority of the population resides in the lands between Talantal and the Sea of Opals. The Great Bankorpool Empire is located in an archipelago even farther to the west.
Thus for most people the lands where the folks who follow Marin, Dieta, Palinate and Forlal are east of where they live.
As the term "East" is geographically tied to a physical location it is possible for The East to be north of your location.
That is why the Road East (the road to Romana's home town) heads north.
Kind of like the Far East being west of San Francisco
... folks ... I had a post; after review I decided to edit it and give you a chance to update your post against the minor changes that were edited into my previous message.
Then Nivek posted! Yea!
I went into a full rewrite. I have that full rewrite mostly done (but designed for editing) and am now just waiting for one more thing to be settled before what should be the final edit and posting.
My turn. Sorry. The fibro slammed me really hard this week and messed up my brain while sending my body into a wicked pain spiral. I think I'm feeling a little better today, so hope to get something up for Keiko around lunchtime. Unless work interferes, in which case it will be this evening.
all good. It was a nudge. Gypsy posted that she was offline again so I figured we wouldn't see anything from her. And the GM might wait until someone posted before he replied and I really like my HWD posts on sundays so I figured i would nudge.
Am fighting many fights -- fibro, bursitis (STEROID SHOTS ARE FUN... no, they really aren't, but maybe it will help, we shall see), recent diagnosis of arthritis in sacral spine, dealing with the ever-changing Chaos that is Grief, and then the normal nonsense that happens as one reaches a Certain Age. This whole "body falling apart" thing is really stupid. I want Ninja's healing factor.
But the me who told me this. He seemed really, really scared."
You state that Bluebell is a little girl, but the statement she makes goes from one gender to the other over two sentences. Maybe we are supposed to be confused by this and there are questions we must ask. if so, that I am content to let Lyric be confused by the words as she sometimes struggles to follow conversations. Just trying to get some clarity or maybe i am misreading it altogether.
See? SEE??? Jim is proving my points right here. Just because *I* understood what was happening in that specific sentence does not mean anyone else will, even the schmott guy with a big hat.
(I think the point is that we're all supposed to be confused, Jim.)
I'll be off writing not-HWD stuff if anyone needs me. <wanders off to FS>
wolf- I am not sure if you were going to try a midweek post or not- but I am trying to get a reply in for the sunday post- a response to cesare. Life and Work is such a struggle, and my health is feeling it right now. I will do my best to get this in today, maybe around 11 central- seems i have a small window to take a breath there (for now)
actually I am planning on a very simple mid-week post; probably today. That said, all the post will do is have Blue repeat what she said to Cesare and Lyric to Cesare again.
well, it would since Lyric was going to repeat it, and save blue the trouble of saying things a third time... but if you prefer your post that's fine too. work is not co-operating with me at all
1. Hinata’s name isn’t Hinata Cat, it’s Hinata Anzen-sei. Calling him Hinata Cat would be like saying the GM’s name is Mike who is a Human Being. We know he is (because I’m the only Alien From Another Planet in the family). You’re driving Super OCD Woman and the player of Keiko (the person who gave him his name) crazy. Crazier.
2. As I have mentioned to the GM (who refuses to believe me or accept the fact), I need to take a break. It’s likely that the constant pain I’m in is contributing to my inability to appreciate the farcical nature of this scenario, as well as exacerbating the problem I have with the GM’s complete misreading of Daxia’s state of mind and his erroneous initial message for Keiko. To wit: Dominic knows nothing about Daxia’s sense of humor today, this year... and if the camp is going to have a horde of unexpected “guests,” it’s not the “Grandfathers” who should be warned but the Grandmothers. These two faux pas on the GM’s part have led to some... less than productive conversations that have further reduced my interest in the farce.
3. In re #2, today’s scene that was lifted verbatim from my favorite movie did not help, but rather (in combination with a waking pain level of 8 on the Allie Brosh Pain Scale [I am experiencing a disturbing amount of pain. I might actually be dying. Please help.]) reduced my interest in participating in this not-mystery, not-scavenger hunt, just Thing The Characters Can Do (aka “farce”) even further.
4. Nivek didn’t miss Lyric’s question (or maybe he did). I asked him to leave me (Daxia) alone.
5. My sincere hope is that by putting this note out here in public, the GM will finally believe me and stop trying to pressure me into participating in something that isn’t fun. I would very much appreciate it if the GM would respect my desire to be left completely out of this Thing That Makes No Sense. (Note: It might have had some semblance of logic if the GM had started with the correct base assumptions. Or not. But I’m sure it would have helped. What’s done is done. We’re too far down the road to utter chaos for my brain to find a way to return to a balanced state regarding the scenario.)
6. The aforementioned constant pain has led Super OCD Woman to focus on things that are the most soothing and most distracting from reality, which in this case means Future Shock. While visiting the Rhoni encampment would be lovely, I’m not sure it’s the best idea (although I don’t have a say in the matter, as I’m not participating). I have been tasked with developing the Rhoni culture. That is a task I had barely begun before Dr. Evil sent me into this tailspin and morass of pain. So instead of creating Rhoni culture, I have been rewriting the history of the Xavier School for Gifted Youngers and creating a family tree for a particular family of (mostly) mutants who have a connection with said school. Unless the GM rescinds his offer, anything written about the encampment or the people there may or may not be true. So, you know, take it all with a bucket of salt.
Tomomi chose to use that way of naming, which has been seen before in the speech patterns of the Forest Folk.
As I told you in private, the difference between Grandfathers and Grandmothers is something familiar to Rhoni but not others; it is very likely an example of a native character not being perfect and making a mistake. If he also made a mistake about Daxia's state of mind, fine. That's two. If that part of his plans falls apart, he will just have to deal with it.
I have often paid homage to favorite scenes in my posts, all in good fun. There was also a Wallace and Gromit reference in this post. It wasn't the first time (which you enjoyed) and it won't be the last.
How am I supposed to know you spoke to Nivek? I can't read minds. There's a Cool Hand Luke reference that could be made,
I am not pressuring you. I do have to work around and respond to what has and hasn't been posted. The native characters are reacting and doing as they will. If you feel it being pressured, I apologize, that is not the intent. Let the other players deal with it. As I have said many times this whimsy is not what it's been assumed to be. In fact, it's a departure from the usual serious investigation of cultural ethics that has been the at the core of The Heartwood's major themes and storytelling since the game was first created. Again, let the other players and native characters deal with it.
I certainly do appreciate what you said, about Doctor Evil and your constant pain interfering with your enjoyment of this much lighter side of The Heartwood. I have tried my best to reconcile your issues and understand that you may not be able to be in a place to join the rest until after this scenario has completed. Now that the other players have made their overall actions known, it could be one, maybe two more long posts. As for the Rhoni culture, I offered you that chance because you said you wished to contribute more. That is supposed to be a good thing. If that's not possible for a while then what happens at the camp, if anything happens at the camp, simply becomes another piece of the overall tapestry, to be weighted and balanced and considered. It's always been the case that as The Heartwood develops and gets more detailed things change - even within each incarnation. It's just like I tell our interns - when I red mark a drawing it's not because its wrong per se, it's because we are all working together to a better end. So if you are still interested in helping with the Rhoni culture, we'll just work through things like that.
As I also have said, I really, really do hope you find a better doctor, the summer weather stabilizes and doesn't add to your hurts and the pain is finally able to be dealt with again and vanquished. I don't like it all when you hurt like this and I truly want you to be feeling better.
Stuck in chambers arizona, passing through the navajo nation on i40. Flat tire on the rv and we are stranded until roadside assistance arrives. Had no internet and super limited cell the past 4 days in the sierra nevada mtns. Thought i could get my hwd done tonight in Albuquerque. Doesnt look good. Have limited cell service as it is. Sorry guys
Don't worry for it ... I was just about to post that I think we should wait for you to post - Lyric's reaction to the rascal and his bride should be something we are all looking forward to!
technically, this can easily close up the scene. That said we have, in one location, a whole lot of interesting Native Characters gathered together. The rest is completely up to you folks:
You may presume - and include in your posts - the traditional wedding happenings - dancing and huggings and such. Just leave their dialogue to me
You may talk to anyone on Midwinter's Hill. Including named characters (like Dandy and Tray and Lady Kara) and un-named folks (like the Rhoni teenagers who have been swept up in this event). As I said, it's an interesting bunch of folks, so use this chance while you got it!
We can continue the hilltop conversations as long as you folks wish.
Keiko is happy to help. Let's see how well Kel's brain is going to work this month, eh? Maybe this Chinese medicine tincture (which tastes like dirt, as all such tinctures do) will help clear up one or two of the health issues. Whee.
Kisa does not use the Cards. She does frequently lay out her Doublebluff tiles, however, to my knowledge, she hasn't done so since she and Daxia met the rest of the party in Bordertown. Daxia has told her more than once to keep her hands away from them. That doesn't mean she isn't arranging them inside her head and seeing how they're going to fall.
[Kel OOC: The GM has been informed that he will no longer be allowed to do this to the players. I suspect Super OCD Woman was the only one able to keep track of What Was When, and even I had a hard time of it. The Proofreader will henceforth be ruthless in the cutting of Time Jumping sections. If the GM wants to Travel Through Time, joining the Falcon in ALS would be a better option.]
Hey! I have already noted that the evening thread was closed Lyric's had her last word and now a morning word and now I need write what a sleepy Eleni thinks of all this.
As previously noted, from here on out all posts are morning posts
I don't mind running dual time lines on occasions where there is something of value to be had in terms of roleplaying and character/group development. The new concurrent timeline allows others to keep the momentum going while the few wrap things up. It is incumbent on all of us to help the gm and label our posts when we are doing the concurrent or the side stage type of thing. With that being written, i would ask the proofreader to be vigilant but not necessarily ruthless
I DO mind the dual timelines and the GM knows this. The GM should have known better than to start this, but part of the blame is on me because I should have stopped it before it started. There might be a value for some players in this kind of structure, but it has the opposite effect on others. Where has Keiko been? Is she even at the breakfast table? I don't know because I haven't written anything for her in a while. I have even considered dropping that character, letting Keiko go her own way. She served her purpose in Waverider's Watch, in the Forest, on the Journey to Bordertown. Yes, she certainly could have responded to Tomomi and/or Lyric. But that would have kept us on "last night" through the end of the month and perhaps even into November. I'd already tried to get to the morning once. I wasn't going to try again. My post was misinterpreted by Gypsy as being for the previous night, so I dropped it and gave the ball back to the GM so he could move us forward.
He often (oh, so very often) says that he wants the players to move the action forward. He was Evil enough in the beginning, in Cragside, that I got the message. I will admit that I have my own agenda in Dawnview Vale. It's Daxia's and Bekkah's home, there are things the GM has been hinting at since the very beginning, and I'm going to take the opportunity to explore those things. I'm happy to have the rest of you with me. If Daxia's Quest holds no interest for the rest of you, that's perfectly fine and the GM can run concurrent threads. He's done it before. It works just fine.
There was no momentum to keep moving forward in the "new" (morning) timeline. I tried. I failed. We had a tangled mess that I absolutely will not allow Wolf to create again. A proofreader is vigilant. When I put on my Copy Editor hat, I am ruthless. Sometimes, that's what the GM needs. If *I* don't know what in the world he's talking about, the chances of anyone else understanding what he's written are approximately nil. Ultimately, as it turns out, running two timelines isn't something that has been proven to work in HWD. It's best to avoid the entire problem. If the Copy Editor must be ruthless, so shall she be.
Then I suppose that I will have to make sure that we don't move to a new thread until we all are ready to do so.
I get that this Dawnview vale story is a Daxia-centric story. That's cool. It's good to have her in the game. This might even be a Bekkah thing too since the Vale is her home. That's up to Nivek and his willingness to commit to it. I understand he considers his character a sidekick despite what the rest of us think. But then there is also the change with his work that has limited some of his time as well. I certainly hope we have a Cesare-centric story to play along with in the future. As for myself, I can tell my story in any story as my character is the Data of the Heartwood.
Please do not make Keiko go away. For purely personal and selfish reasons. I get that it can be difficult running two characters and their motivations in a complex setting like HWD. But she was and still is Lyric's principle connection to this world. (As Kel was mine for reintroduction purposes)
GYPSY: [OOC How far away is Cesare from Daxia? I cannot imagine what he might do but sit there and do nothing is not an option. ]
There are several factors, some of which only the GM can answer. But to start, where would Cesare have positioned himself during the court session? Daxia would have made sure that no one was blocking her view of the court, but Cesare does have the advantage of holding her trust, so if he's in a corner in her blind spot, that's acceptable. Standing as close to her as Rishka is would be out of the question, but I think Cesare would understand that. As far as anyone is concerned, we all came into Court today to enjoy the spectacle that is Eleni's Court, or to learn something, or to teach something. While there are suspicious people among us, no one -- and I can't emphasize this strongly enough -- no one expected an attack on Daxia. Not here. Not in the Vale.
My guess is that Cesare would probably be closer to Eleni's table than the door, simply because Eleni is more interesting and Cesare is a curious guy. I do have a question awaiting the GM's answer, but if I rearrange things in my head, it may not matter AND I can incorporate Cesare in my post to give him something to do.
This was the only direct information from the GM. I am sure you saw it but i figure that posting it here will help us all frame things in our mind.
Quote
Cesare was able to enter with the others and find a place to watch among those waiting at the back half of the hall.
It looks like the GM left plenty of wiggle room for Cesare to find his spot among the crowd
While I can imagine a scene in my head after a couple readings, I am sure it is not what the GM sees. That is fine for me though, my character is somewhat stationary at Eleni's table as her guest.
Kel maybe you could rough up a sketch(with GM approval of course) since this scene might have some tactical aspect for a couple of the players- that way we know where PCs and NPC are in relation to each other and the tables and such???
I don't really feel like I have much more of a picture of the room than this, but I hope it's what the GM had in mind and that it helps:
Code
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
x x
x Kisa x
x Nadya empty x
x x
x x
x x
x x
x x
x Eleni x
x xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx x
x x x x
x x x x
x xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx x
x x
x x
x x
x x
x x
x x
x x
x Rishka Dazi x
x x
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx doors xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
(Oh, so very much not to scale)
Lyric (assuming she stays at the table with Eleni, would be either to Eleni's left or right. Given the nature of court politics (even Eleni's court), but also taking into consideration Eleni's personality and Daxia's influence, my understanding is that Cesare could be just about anywhere except the empty chair.
what I am reading is that the Guard Captain and the blonde initiate are stationed at the doors as gatekeepers. Slink is in the gallery overhead.
the position of daxia and whoever has the greatsword (rishka?) are not clear except to say they are occupying the location where the guard captain normally stands for Court-
re-reading again- this table must be really long and span quite a distance across the room so that the finely appointed merchant types try to go around it to get to Kisa. and are stopped to be disarmed at some distance from eleni and then called before her. thus leaving eleni, they have to go back down the length of the table to get their weapons.
the same for the brementown merchants and guards- deposit weapons, make their petition, step aside to pick up weapons Wolf's post then indicates they go all the way back to the doors carrying their weapons and belts. then the attack move on daxia.
That is going to create some chaos- but all four of them are down there... Hard to wade into that to assist Daxia(not that she needs it against one, maybe two- but all four? And a Greatsword in close combat is not helpful- awesome for the ceremony and display of power though.
am i right to assume that all of this action is then happening at the far end of the Hall, away from the noble sisters?
With the table rotated, that changes a lot. I will retract my post until the GM has answered all the questions.
My questions are: (1) which side of the room is the table, left or right... or is it in the center of the room? (2) What is Rishka doing that I didn't account for?
And then other people have their questions, of course.
whichever way Eleni and lyric are facing, Lyric will be placed on the side closer to the general populace, that way, when Eleni glanced at her sister during GM's post she didn't have to lean to look around the Minstrel.
And I would like to voice (YET AGAIN) my ire at the lack of notifications about posts from DreamLyrics. Sigh. I received a notification for Phoenix's last post, but not his first one after mine, nor Wolf's, nor Gypsy's. It's quite annoying.
Phoenix's post that has a timestamp of 08:05 PST sent a notification that arrived in my inbox at 14:05 PST. I really hate to keep complaining about this, but I rely on notifications to do anything on DL. This isn't a place where I can sit all day. This isn't a place where I want to sit all day. It's just not comfortable. That's why I am scarce.
Okay. Fine. Whatever. Just breathe. It's all good (not, it's not, but maybe I can convince myself).
* * *
I've uploaded Wolf's sketch of Snowgate Keep's Hall to the gallery. I'll repost my somewhat revised post later.
I've already mentioned it to Pak. So... <shrug> It is what it is. Right now, it's an annoyance. Come January or February when I (hopefully) manage to get back into the swing of things, it could turn out to be an actual problem.
in my SCA days, I was our local Baron's bodyguard.
Once a Knight of higher rank - a Duke I believe - approached our Baron, in court, forgetting he still wore his sword. When I stepped up and stopped him he went:
while the post is in for proofreading, I'd just like to note I truly enjoyed everyone's posts in these two threads, and while I may have not been able to specifically address things directly in the replies they were all much appreciated!
This post should close out the courtroom scene, your next posts should finish up any last thoughts and then prep for moving on to your next goal
I have been following the conversation in the aftermath of the Court. And as best I can tell we have two things going on:
a) A desire to join Tomomi and Bekkah in the market, which is the court by the front gates plus the first part of the ring-road leading up to the keep.
b) Yet it seems that the conversations in this thread have not quite wound down. I know Lyric is some of her own mulling matters. I really like it when folks talk together, but then there's the issue of figuring out just when the conversation is over.
I am loathe to just move you to the Markets without properly ending the Court thread - I'd rather not create two separate timelines again. So I need you folks to wrap up your words and move on, for if I was to just move folks to the markets I'd be afraid of leaving the characters with matters left unspoken.
fair enough. with my recent act of self-inflicted trauma resulting from an ill-fated effort at animal husbandry I haven't had much concentration for posting this week. No matter how much heroic and gallant wordsmithing I apply to the story... chasing a duck around the yard because he was tangled in some plastic netting, grabbing said duck, and then tripping because said duck panicked in my grasp, causing me to fall, and possibly cracking a rib at that moment of 'sudden stop'... the undeniable truth is that it was still a duck and i fell and hurt myself. No problem with a delay on my part.
BTW- the duck survived, unscathed, and once the panic subsided, his pea-sized brain promptly forget he thought he was in danger. And for the record, he never said thank you either.
sorry for the lateness of the post- I was up til 2am desparately trying to get the thoughts out of my head. work week had been rough and still dealing with the lingering issues from breaking a rib... jus can't stay seated in front of a computer for very long. The thoughts and ideas for this post came to me right after reading kel's post last week... just couldn't find time.
not rushing anyone- just making sure we don't have any miscommunications
i know i was super late last week and i apologize again for that.
I was waiting on Kel this week since I dropped an interaction hammer on her just prior to the GMs post so I figured i would giver her a chance to unpack all that and blend something into her next message before I posted again for Lyric
Kel has had another one of those “Why is the world insane? Why won’t my brain cooperate with me?” weeks and is shocked — SHOCKED, I tell you! — that she actually managed to write a post for BTS. Kel does not even have any notes for HWD yet this week and, oh, look, it’s already Friday. How did that happen?
Not sure I’ll get anything up for HWD today. <looks at email Inbox, whimpers> No, it doesn’t look likely. How about tomorrow?
When I’m stuck with a day that’s gray and lonely, I just stick out my chin and grin and say, “Oh! Tomorrow! Tomorrow! I love ya, Tomorrow! You’re always a day away!”
Uhm, Phoenix, you may wish to edit your post. Remember, tunics, in general, are full skirted. Thus the long belt is not a problem at all. Here's a link to a far older HWD document that should help a bit - I can't remember why it wasn't part of the references, save that the sketches are ancient and a bit .. fine ... sketchy.
Full skirts for both men and women lasted throughout most of the middles ages. Full tunic, surcoat, and the long belt was my preferred garb for my SCA days so many years ago. So I know the belt doesn't interfere with walking from personal experience.
What was a real problem was whenever anyone hung a scabbarded sword from their belt or belts. One quick turn could clobber anyone standing close!
and i was imagining the shorter tunic look as she had been wearing her riding breeches. I can still make something of this comic scene- since Lyric has spent most of her life wearing very little. Those slips and wisps of sheer fabrics in layers when she was first arrived in Waveriders reach being a case in point. So, yes she brought a heavier and finer garment in her bundle, but heavy long clothes are confining... I can make the post work with some edits to get the same effect i think
BTW- the sketches are just fine- I say update the resource site and get this page in there- plus any others you've been hiding, It was quite informative and for sidebar images these worked really well.
WHY WON'T DREAMLYRICS SEND ME ALL THE NOTIFICATIONS???? This is actually becoming a problem.
I was sitting here wondering if I ought to respond to Phoenix's post when I received a notification for only Wolf's last OOC post. And then I had to go check to see if Jim revised his post because "nodnods" is a freaky weird thing to say out of the blue, even for Wolf. And Jim did edit his post. And I like it. But I'm going to pass on a reply today because it's Long Post Day, but then I run into the same problem I had with Wolf's last two Long Posts (unless the GM declares today not a Long Post Day), and since I'm the only one who jumped back to the Keep, do I jump back to the market and reengage in that conversation and split my timeline (thereby hurting my head almost as much as our jolly storms are hurting it, only in different spots in my skull) or just stay in one place?
THEN I decided that I'd try to write a BTS post for Nivek because that's the next post to write my FIFO queue anyway and just walk away from Heartwood because it's causing me to write run-on sentences, and that's never a good thing.
just watched the 1st two episodes of season 2 with the wife- i have enjoyed and am happy they dropped season 2 on us
Now- I can add three more stars and do a bit more writing to jump to the keep as well just to put my character there but thought i would wait on wolf's post on that part
actually, Phoenix, if you could jump to the keep that would be great - unless you try and do something, oh like try and rob the place - the most that will happen is the tailor would explain about quarter paneled skirts
Another weekend wherein I break the game... sorry everyone. My last breakage threw off everyone's timing and it is still affecting things a week later it seems
Uhm. Nope, I don't see it that way. The GM got a late start on writing his post (which was really more my fault and his fault than your fault). And because he started late, he continued past the point where his brain coherently created sentences and fell back into his bad habits of not writing full sentences and not writing sentences that made sense. This is not really a problem for the game because that's where the Word Nerd comes in: making sense of what Wolf wrote. Because Wolf got a late start and wasn't making as much sense as he recently has been making, and because, therefore, I got a late start, it got harder and harder for me to edit the posts. My brain tends to start winding down around mid-afternoon... before Wolf even sent his draft to me.
None of that is on you. It's between me and Wolf.
I'm still waiting on one more clarification. However, Wolf has said repeatedly (to me, at least) that Mondays are usually not days for being on the computer. Again, not your fault.
(Also, the game isn't broken. Silly, Phoenix! I might even be able to get Keiko back into play this week. MAYBE. I hope so.)
Kelly's right, I had a late start with everything yesterday ... i also happen to have President's Day off, and while I may be watching Umbrella Academy, I do peek on and off here!
(and that's because Dragon Prince stole me yesterday!)
Yeah- loving Dragon Prince. Fish and I binged season 1- season 2 going a little slower- just a couple episodes a day right now because free time has not been in sufficient quantity where both of us can sit down and watch together.
well it's 10:00 AM and I've been at work for about two hours now, and that's after 76 hours of work previous. it looks like a full day ahead of me, so even if i did get home at a decent hour I'm probably in no shape to write anything.
on the bright side I know exactly what the post wants to be, so when i can think straight, it should be easy.
and on the brighter side, while next week is just as bad as the previous, that SHOULD be the end of my rolling deadlines. for a little bit.
Hi hi! What does {placeholder} mean? Should the rest of us not post? Will you write another post so Super OCD Woman can find it in my notifications? Enquiring minds want to know!
Kel sent me an email from work- she's jammed up there but because of the relationship keiko and lyric have she is asking a favor- if she be allowed to post as Keiko before anyone else posts.
sorry for the inconvenience guys. I got her email a little late- my bad
hihih folks ... just a note ... Kel's asked to have keiko get first reasction in to phoenix's poast, but we are both at work so shouldnt even be peeking in ...
should i answer the questions as posed? as in, answer bekkah now, and then Daxia or Keiko or cesare as each other player posts... as if fielding questions in turn... or wait for everyone to pose them and then answer them all in one post- since the GM has to run a few native characters his various roles should be factored into the appropriate answer to this question
I am still running two games on the forum and am introducing another game in the Fun & Games arena. At times I find myself struggling for time here and elsewhere. I seem to have lost track of HWD for various reasons, all my own fault and think maybe it is time to let it go.
Can I say I have had a ball overall and have loved playing Cesare through all the wild adventures we have had. Wolf you are a great GM and the rest of you - a great bunch of players! Maybe too good for me! I am in awe of the quality of posts you guys make and have come to realise that I cannot measure up!
So I'd like to wish you all interesting adventures, lots of depth of character interaction and a fun time! Been an experience!
Hi folks! I had been hoping we would be able to get to the Jambles this week, but the more I looked at Lyric's post, the more I saw that would have to be resolved first; otherwise, we could end up with Lyric badly out of time-sync with everyone else. If things go the way they are supposed to, I could be looking at a temporary lull at work this week, so I hope we can get this mini-thread finished before next weekend's travel-and-arrive-in-small-icy-village post. (So dress warmly!)
This also means that while everyone else's "night/early morning posts" are finished, closing posts from your characters is something always appreciated!
and, as is now quite obvious, on top of melting and the downstairs (sans computer) being ten degrees cooler than upstairs where the computer is, things did not go as planned ...
Okay, I’ll take some of the blame for people’s confusion. Keiko is fluent in Colonial and near-fluent in Eastern. She has a fair grasp of Forestalk. So when she hopped up on the table to tell the Storyteller not to mess with Friend Lyric, she was speaking Forestalk at the beginning:
Quote
“NIN!” ... “Nin, nin, nin, nin!
Colonial translation:
Quote
“NO!” ... “No, no, no, no!
I apologize for the confused state this caused my fellow players.
The Storyteller’s name is Nizhentska... or Niz, for short (not “Nin”). Yanno, like Daxia’s nickname is Dazi (and not “Dax,” as a former player once called her).
I hope you will accept my apology, and Super OCD Woman hopes you will use the correct name going forward... and also thanks you in advance for doing so.
OOC note: Nizhentska is battered, bruised, and she did have her breath knocked out of her, but she is not hurt per se — no broken bones, no cuts or lacerations — she just got bopped similar to a bean bag in a bean bag toss!
The Heartwood started in a dorm room in Lee Hall at Virginia Tech in 1979 because a group of us had had enough. We just didn't understand why an orc would be standing in a little ten by ten room all their life. We wondered what the life of the innkeeper was when he wasn't serving beer to the players. Why did all adventures start in a tavern? In the end, of the three of us — Ron, Peaches and me — I was the one who ended up telling the Heartwood's story.
Why do we do this?
It was the way I could not just tell a story. I had seen so many folks write things and the pages end up in a box in the corner of the bedroom closet. This is something I could never have done alone. I had lots of help.
Each incarnation things got better. This time, Dominic Korie became more than just a scoundrel. Broke taught me the difference between fighting for something and protecting someone. And finally, finally, I got Romana right.
The Heartwood changed because of you.
There will not be a second Snowqueen of Dawnview Vale. Linnell Allaine lived to watch her daughter become Khorall and relations between Talantal and the Vale were strengthened, not destroyed.
Montague was defeated in the only way that actually mattered.
The tale of the Forest Folk was new and very precious to me.
None of this would have mattered if it had not been shared.
It's interesting. It's not what happened that I will remember. It's the people who walked upon The Heartwood.
Kisa Allaine. Dommi and Emmi, Dandelion, Broke, and Tomomi, Tashka and Linette. Kay and Romana. One Fang. Lady and Girl and Renyard the Fox. Eleni Allaine. I will remember the story of Lorelei MacLaine. I will remember the story of Gweneth. I will remember the story of Daxia, I will remember the story of Lyric. Of Darian and Longtooth. Even Bekkah, who was never just a sidekick.
I will remember the stories of all of you.
And isn't that the way things are supposed to be?
It's not what happens in this world that is important, but who we share them with.
I don't know where The Heartwood will go next.
Despite rumors to the contrary, I have never planned beyond the next post.
While it’s true that you’ve driven me daft over the past eight and a half years of this iteration of The Heartwood, it is also true that there are few characters for whom I’ve written that have gripped hold of my imagination and brain cells the way Daxia Yurisdotter has. She’s edged out every single “minor” character, nudged (nicely) the Irish Starship Captain out of the way, and has been going toe-to-toe with the Not A Redhead Superhero since said superhero came on the scene.
Like the Heartwood itself, Dazi still has so many stories left to share.
And as soon as my brain rests and resets, you best believe I’ll be writing those stories. There’s so much to do in Bordertown.
I would be interested to know if the Fae realms have become part of the Heartwood again, merging themselves back into one world... and I imagine there would be mixed feelings about that, but mostly negative ones, fear driving much of that. and Fae in the world... that is going to upset the balance of the old Heartwood. so much change... so much Chaos to come... and one day, Order will find a way to achieve the balance it always should have had.
yeah, i will await the return of the game. there are still many unresolved thread to weave into a new story
Thanks for this Wolf. It's an amazing world and as Kel tells me repeatedly, I'm way to flighty so I was never really ever able to write for it well enough for what you deserved. I've never written deep characters so I knew that this was always going to be a massive struggle for me, which is why I went for Sidekick mode. I'm glad you let Bekkah tag along. She felt real to me, but that reality never including anything remotely close to leading. It's just not in me or her.
Just checking in with you as I am on my round of monthly game checks. Has HWD finished? If so I will move it to the Hall of Fame for all to dip in and out as they wish!
If this is a temporary close - because let's face it the world has changed for everyone recently - then can you give me an idea of when it mey reopen again?
As the link explains, that's a TV tropes thing and NOT a Forest Folk thing. Some of the Missing Mice that are being considered are:
1. What happens when the Fae discover they are once again part of the Mortal World? 2. The Temple at Bordertown and their neighbors 3. The Quest for a Certain Forgotten Somebody
A Certain Somebody has not been forgotten, you know. There are two Player Characters interested in knowing what happened to a Certain Somebody in addition to the handful or more of Native Characters who would like to know. I don't think either PC could take part in that quest... at least not yet.
).
![[Linked Image]](http://www.aerten.com/hwd/whatever.jpg)
![[Linked Image]](/lib/user/gypsy/cesare.jpg)
