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Path of the Dreaming King: 1 Path of the Judge: 0 Path of the Storm: 1 Path of the Soldier: 1 Path of the Artist: 0 Path of the Pioneer: 0 Path of the Speaker: 0 Path of the Pleasure Seeker: 1 Path of the Blind Seer: 1 Path of the Protector: 0 |
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Stream Nothing After 72 hours on her feet, rest was coming to greet her. The blankets embraced her like a warm mother, diluting her aches and her anxieties. She had made it, and now she was allowed to sleep. The smell of tuna never left her fingers, but she didn't care, at that point. Survival had become a full time job, and she was becoming extremely good at it. Just when she was slipping into a placid state of blissful relaxation, the noise began. The depository of all her love was also the source of all her stress, and the affection given was returned in the form of screams and fetid refuse. She pushed a pillow over her own head, hoping she would quiet the screams, but it was not working. The high pitched wailing struck her body like a lightning, leaving that acrid taste in the roof of her mouth. She was, again, wide awake, trembling, and feeling her life was being drained through her eardrums. She stood up, and walked towards the little angel. It had been born with teeth and hair; huge, grotesque, misshaped. It had broken her on arrival, and destroyed her life afterwards. And she was supposed to love the screaming beast. She pressed a pillow against the gaping hole of its mouth, and didn't move until the noise was long gone. She felt a cold finger tracing her spine, but the noise was gone. She went back to sleep, to relax, to forget. Silence hugged her tighter than any blanket, with its cold breath whispering "Murderer" in her ears. She was surprised to discover that a whisper inside her head was so much powerful than a scream from a cot. |
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| Basic Board Rules; What to do, what to avoid | |
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| Topic Started: Feb 18 2016, 11:33 AM (196 Views) | |
| Creator | Feb 18 2016, 11:33 AM Post #1 |
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HOW TO PLAY THIS GAME If you are used to playing board oriented Role Playing Games, skip this first bit. Otherwise, read on. This board, itself, is an RPG, a Role Playing Game. In this sort of game, one player takes the role of the StoryTeller, and the rest play the characters populating the story. Think of it as interactive, improvised theatre, with a clear external guidance. The player taking the role of the StoryTeller plays all the characters and events around the leading characters, while the rest of the players inhabit the skin of their characters, reacting to whatever happens around them in a coherent way. In the case of board oriented Role Playing Games, the game is focused on one expressive tool: the written word. As such, the end result is closer to cooperative writing than it is to theatre. Each character action, or reaction happens in the form of a Post, which is hosted within a Thread. Let's look at it this way: Any story is, by default, divided in three parts; the three basic acts. Each of these acts, is also divided in sections; the scenes. We call these scenes Threads. Within each Thread, there are smaller action units, which correspond to the specific character actions. Each time a character does something, says something, or reacts in some way to some event, that is expressed through a Post. Posts are not just basic action descriptions, such as: "Barry points his fork at Gemma, and screams all the fruit names he knows" Posts involve descriptions, character speech, action definitions, and even the internal monologue of the character. The way a post is written gives many clues at what the character really thinks. We only accept posts that are a minimum of 150 words in this board, but we'll get there later. For the time being, suffice to say that the example up there wouldn't be acceptable. However, if that line was: "The heroic Barry drew his signature weapon, the Legendary Soup Fork, and extended his heroically trembling arm, pointing at the evil witch Gemma, while screaming: 'Mango, Kiwi, Orange, Banana, Pineapple, Grape, Peach!!!', in heroic fashion" That would give a greater deal of information to the reader; namely, Barry's perception of the situation, and his point of view about it. CONFLICT RESOLUTION Every now and then, situations arise that seem conflictive. Two characters have engaged in an activity in which they compete against each other (wrestling, speed reading, counting pigeons in a park...), and the outcome of such competitive task is uncertain. It is possible for the players to post how great (or poorly) they perform. In fact, it is highly desirable for that to happen. But the outcome of the competing action cannot be determined by one of the players. Particularly when that player is concerned about winning whatever is the competition. In that sort of situation, the Storyteller, or Moderator, has the last word regarding who "wins", and who "loses". The only exception to this rule comes when one of the players decides that his character "loses", in which case the story can progress without Storyteller or Moderator intervention (although they can intervene, anyway). Let me put this down with an example: "Barry challenges Gemma to a game of Jenga. Barry is great at Jenga, but Gemma has a very steady pulse."
As a rule of thumb, when a Storyteller or a Moderator intervene in any conflict, their word is the law, and there is nothing to do about it. That is why it's generally advisable to negotiate an interesting outcome with your scene partners before calling in a Storyteller to assist you; otherwise, you can end up facing an outcome that you never wanted in the first place. In any case, this leads to the next point: NOBODY WINS "Winning" a combat situation doesn't equate to winning the game. In fact, winning that sort of situation generally ends with a character going to jail, fairly accused of aggression and bodily harm. Even when a character accomplishes his in game goals, there is no winning. This concept may seem a bit frustrating for players who are not used to RPGs, or for players that have only played computer RPGs, where there is a clearly defined winning line that characters cross; in the sort of game we are in, there is no winning. The character struggles to achieve his goal and, as it happens in life, as soon as he achieves it, it stops being a goal, or even relevant. Players that play RPGs with the idea of winning are bound to get disappointed, and to create endless confusion and disruption around them. The experience is not about winning, or about demonstrating that the player is better in any way than the rest. It is not a competing game, but a cooperative one. The real goal is to tell fantastic stories in a cooperative environment. THE BIG DEVILS There are a few terms that trigger all sort of negative connotations in experienced players. These words are the Devils of RP. Simple enough:
UNDERSTAND, RESPECT, CONSENT It is awfully easy to play a one sided game, focusing on the character's life and events, and ignoring the world around him. Many players take that route, and do not make any effort to read what other players post. As you well know by now, that is just wrong. When interacting with other players, it is always important to try to get to know their characters. Reading their biographies, and their sheets, is only logical. In some cases, some players have particularities that can only be known by reading; if Barry has the strange ability to cause repulsion and disgust in everybody around him, and that information is clearly stated in his sheet, it would be of poor taste approaching Barry in game without factoring in the disgust and the repulsion. The player of Barry would -very logically- feel offended. Once there is understanding of the environment, and the other characters in the story, the next step is the respect. All of the "Devils" quoted above are, after all, ways of being disrespectful towards other players. Respect is earned by being a good player, finding solutions to conflictive situations, communicating with other players, and behaving in a cooperative way towards the moderators and storytellers. Respect is lost when players try to win the game, when they throw public tantrums for no reason, when they behave in ways that are insulting to other players out of the game, and that sort of thing. Respect buys a player access to bigger chunks of the board, and to more outlandish and supernatural oriented adventures. Consent is the peak of the pyramid. It's the mortar that holds the construction all together. By signing up to the game, you are consenting to accept the mod team's rulings, to accept the universe they propose, an to respect the rules they propose both in and out of the game. By signing up, you consent to respect the rest of the players, and to try to find friendly solutions to any hairy situation that might arise. By signing up, the people in the board consent in treating you with respect, and trying to assist you finding stories to join in, and playable situations for your character. Consent is present in every aspect of the game; replying to a post is a form of expressing consent. This is very important; if a player starts metagaming in a thread you are involved in, and you reply, you are consenting to the metagaming. It is also present in all conflict resolution issues; the losing player gives consent to the other to become the winner, both players give consent to the Moderator to decide on an outcome, etc... In case of doubt, seek consensus and ask the Moderation Team. You cannot go wrong there. CLEAN POSTING There are a few rules regarding what a post can, and what a post cannot look like. Namely:
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7:14 PM Jul 11