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| Welcome to Sectarians of Eliraihah.. We are a group of those striving to create a utopia for roleplayers and writers alike, and provide a shelter from the normal confines of society. On our behalf, enjoy yourself. Your friendly overlord, --Crimson Knight |
| The Exercise; Expand your Mind! | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Sep 9 2010, 01:27 AM (1,189 Views) | |
| Post #1 Sep 9 2010, 01:27 AM | Azedos Sen |
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Well, here we go. My friends, bush and I come to you with a proposal. It's not an average proposal. We don't want to start up just any game here. In fact, what this is isn't a game at all. A more correct term would be an exercise. Now I've been with the forum for quite some time now, and I've RPed with pretty much everyone. And its been fun. You're all excellent writers, there's no doubt about that in my mind. The characterizations are quite excellent, and no one god-mods these days. In fact the very notion is pretty preposterious heh. However... Since the end of GW2 and the beginning of GW3, I've begun to notice a certain trait in the majority of players on the forum. As I've said, you're all very good players. You stick to your characters, and you react to the obstacles the GM puts forth, and you try your hardest not to do anything that would upset the GM or the players. And in a situation such as...A tabletop game, or something similar, that'd be quite excellent. Speaking from personal experience, players who try their hardest to go off the rails at every chance are quite annoying. But, we're not playing tabletop games here. I'd like to get back to the very definition of a RP; One that differentiates it from a tabletop game such as DnD or the like. In that situation, you are limited to your actions as characters, because the GM is the one who has control over the world at large. You mostly react to the situations at hand, possibly becoming active at certain points, but usually in a way the GM can figure into his story(assuming he's a good one anyway). This is of necessity, because if you didn't do that, the game would stall and stick and just not be fun. The GM worked out a story line for a reason; that reason being that its the story he wants you all to follow. However in a RP...That's not the case. While, true, the GM usually has a plot that he'd like to see through till the end; he is just one author. In an RP, we are all writers, not players. A RP is essentially weaving a coherent and interesting story from the threads of multiple points of view. Just because you didn't start the story doesn't mean you don't get to add to it. I suppose what I'm saying here is that, authors("players") in an RP shouldn't be afraid to just spontaneously add things they think would be a good addition to the story. It's the level of what you add that is the problem, so to speak. In an RP with an extremely established setting and world, you shouldn't just randomly add a new race etc. That'd just be impolite. But that's a seperate problem entirely. Getting back to my original point. I have noticed that the vast majority of authors on the forum are afraid to "expand" the story. As in, add their own creative touch to it. And I'm not excluding myself from this either, I've done it as well. Because its easy to stick to your character and just react to whatever happens, putting all the work on the GM. It's not particularly good writing though. True characters grow, they expand, they exist organically. Just to give an example, Bush's character in Legend, is something I would consider a piece of nice, organic character growth. Not only did his character develop, but it interacted with the world. It changed the world actively, instead of just reacting to Vlad's actions. Sure, he could have written a very well-done series of posts about fighting Vlad and then continuing on with the party. That would have been acceptable, he could have gotten a lot of character development out of it, the plot would have progressed just the same. But instead of that, he shifted the balance of the created world just a tad, and made that entire scene that much more interesting to read. Now, I have also noticed that people have been getting better. I've seen a much higher rate of good expansion in GW3 than in 2. But I feel like it could do with more exercise. And of course, bush and I are going to participate too. We need the exercise just as much as anyone else. So without further ado, let me move on to the actual proposal. ================================================================================================================= Basically, what we're talking about here is a world-building exercise. How many of you have ever considered just building a world from the ground up? I'm sure most of you have at least once. It's a fairly common thing for any writer to consider. After all, the world/setting is second only to the characters in importance to a story. Yes, you could have an epic story with great characters in a blank room with no doors or windows. However, a properly developed and intricate setting can propel those characters to even greater heights of depth and interest. Part of the greatness of tolkien after all was the loving care he had put into crafting the rich history of Middle-Earth. So, what better place to exercise the potential for growth than on an almost blank slate? My friends, what we offer here is a world free to mold and craft at your choosing. There's no GM to hound you about what you can or can't do (or to ask about what you can and can't do). There's no God-modding directive telling you "YOU CAN NOT INTERACT WITH OTHER CHARACTERS WITHOUT THEIR PERMISSION". There's no plot-rails that you must follow implicitely "Because the Plot Demands it!". Simply, freedom to do as you please. In the end, the exercise is about building confidence and trust in your fellow RPers. No one is out to "win" in the exercise, nor should anyone be in any other RP(excluding certain designs such as the GW lol). What we're all really trying to do here is make a detailed and engaging story. And we can do that best by working with each other, not against each other. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand we're live (except not really since by the time you read this, I'll have long since stopped writing it) with Bush here! Give me that. *Swipes the microphone* Ahem...Okay, so that's the plug. Now, let's get down to mechanics and all that fun technical stuff. When we say that this is a "blank slate", that simply means that whatever you want, you can add. That might sound like a lot of freedom, but remember that cohesion makes the story. Azedos and I have already come up with what we're going to do within the story, so while you CAN create your own faction of one winged flying ninja teddy bears who fight wielding giant battle spoons...you might want to think twice before you put pen to paper. Or...finger to keyboard. So before I go into cohesion, I should probably bring up immersion (I hate these kinds of definition entries, makes me feel so much like a teacher, but what can you do?). We all know what immersion is and why it is good, so I'm not going to spend too much time defining it. If you watch zero punctuation, you know it's yahtzee favorite thing in the world. When you are immersed in a story, you have personal involvement, you care about what's happening. For you to be immersed, the story has to be cohesive, it has to be tight and not all over the place. To stop talking in the abstract and theoretical, I'll introduce the setting as it is right now. 3200 Years Ago For many generations, hundred of years, the Andean Empire ruled most of the known world. Based in their capital city of Andea, they spread out from the land mass of Sarencia and expanded through conquest. Eventually their empire grew too large, their frontier forces spread too thin. Internal pressures and external threats weakened the once great Andean Empire, until around one hundred years ago, it began to fall apart. The reasons were multitude, that we can say, but exactly what caused it? Ah, that is up to you folks. Wouldn't be fun if we did all the legwork, isn't that right? But in the hundred years or so since the the City of Andea fell, the once ever powerful Empire has since been shattered. The lands of Sarencia itself have been fragmented, no longer united as one. Individual Princedoms and city-states have arisen from the ashes of the Andean Empire. To the east, the empire still lingers on, centered not on Andea, but the great city of Thasalium. The Thasalian Empire as it is now called controls a large expanse of lands, still clinging to the old system of government that once ruled the entire world. Though it has survived, it is far from being as strong as it once was. Recently, the young Emperor Iskandros I Maedranos has risen to the throne. Called the Lion, he has launched a campaign westwards, into the lands once part of the Andean Empire, to restore it all under one ruler. Rome Theme Sarencia as I have said is no longer unified. Petty princedoms vie for power, plotting and fighting against the other lords of the landmass for control. When the Lion invaded, he began to conquer the princedoms and the free cities, establishing a quick foothold in Sarencia. As of now, half of Sarencia has been claimed by the Lion as part of the Thasalian Empire. Andea still remains free, but the Lion's armies are marching on it, preparing for siege. To the north of Andea is the Princedom of Bastius, ruled by a man known as the Principe Arrone da Bastius, or more informally referred to as the Dragon. Arrone da Bastius sees the great threat the Lion represents, not only to his own princedom, but to the culture that has evolved on Sarencia as a whole since the split. For the Lion not only brings his government and his armies with him... He also brings his religion. Conflict stirs within the landmass of Sarencia. The once great city of Andea now is threatened by an army that claims to be its successors. The city states and princedoms that have arisen lie on the brink of extinction. With the Lion comes change...yet if he succeeds, the glory of the Empire will be restored. The lands will once again be unified. The two leaders watch each other closely, as the people of Sarencia pray. ================================================================================================================= Back to me folks lol. So there is the basic setting, courtesy of Bush. He will be following the events and actions of the Princedom of Bastius faction, while I will be following the Thasalian Empire. In the grand scheme of things, our conflict may be one of the larger events in the world, but it is far from the only or most important one. The world is a very big place after all, full of a myriad of people and places. And I'm sure there are plenty of other kingdoms and princedoms arising from the ashes and ruins of a once great empire. Now of course, the purpose of the exercise is to build and expand, but that doesn't mean you have to do things on your own. Or heck, even not be involved with any of the other stories. While the Thasalian Reconquering may be my particular story, I'm sure I'd be interested in participating in any number of whatever other countries and stories the rest of you conjure up, and it may be that the feeling is mutual. As I said, we're all writing this story together. It's natural that we want our inputs heard, taken into account, and maybe utilized or maybe tabled. So that brings me to the organization of the exercise. We don't want to do things too complicated here. Nothing like the GW, where detail like that is necessary. No, instead we're going for something a little easier. Basically, we want two seperate sections. One for the actual world-building, the place where you can do your historical stuff and your character stuff etc and so forth. The basics. And another I'd like to call the debate section. Essentially, an area where we can bring up topics about the world, culture, magic, races, etc and so forth, and discuss them together. Debate various means or ways of doing these things, and eventually pass whichever one the majority agrees on and canonize it. We don't have the exact details on how debates will work and all, but we'll work those out later. Oh, and as a last thing, we'd like to put a sample debate topic on the floor in the proposal topic. The topic is "The name of the verse" or the world, or continent or whatever you want to call it. Basically, what we can call the place the exercise exists in. Remember, no such thing as a stupid question, only stupid answers! Or something. What, you expect me to get colloquisms right by now? |
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| Post #2 Sep 9 2010, 07:59 AM | Ultimus |
| How very interesting. This reminds me of my days of being a mod back at AO. You have my vote, I could get very used to this rather quickly. |
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| Post #3 Sep 9 2010, 09:09 AM | Grunt_of_War |
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You bring up an interesting point, Aze, and I have to agree with ya. If anything, I follow the GM way too closely most of the time, but I wasn't really ever sure if expanding too far beyond that would be acceptable. I suppose that's not much of an excuse, though, lol. Anyways, I like the concept of the RP. I definitely approve of this, and you can bet I'll be participating. |
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| Post #4 Sep 9 2010, 10:28 AM | Crimson Knight |
I've been waiting for an RP like this for a long time. I'm going to have a hard time picking what I want to do though.
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The power of friendship is unbeatable!
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| Post #5 Sep 9 2010, 11:46 AM | Feather |
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GW3 has been ripping me a new one since I am so afraid to go against canon and what not... I've been waiting pretty anxiously for an original roleplay like this that hasn't been proposed by me because I can't hold together a roleplay very well. As you've all seen. >.> The setting seems interesting, its too bad though that you didn't ask me about this before hand, I could have lent you the ultimate universe for something like this. |
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| Post #6 Sep 9 2010, 11:56 AM | Azedos Sen |
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Well that's kind of the point Feather. We didn't want an established verse. We want to make it as we go along, with everyone else. That's why its a world-building exercise and not simply a free-form RP. By all means though, feel free to bring some of that over. It's your choice what to do after all. |
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| Post #7 Sep 9 2010, 12:23 PM | Feather |
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I don't know how well it would work, but I designed my verse for something this. For some massive expansion whenever I needed it. I am looking forward to this though. ![]() In fact, now that I really look at it, this is very acceptable. I already have many good ideas. Edited by Feather, Sep 9 2010, 03:01 PM.
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| Post #8 Sep 9 2010, 03:22 PM | Thunder God Bush |
| Glad you approve. Hope this works! |
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| Post #9 Sep 9 2010, 03:29 PM | Feather |
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I'll help out when I can to make sure it does. You should totally get some more info posted and what not as to what sort of thing we make. It looks like you either want us to make characters or some sort of small nation/city-state that broke off of Andea or just one that was never even part of it. At least, I believe that would be one of the easiest ways to contribute to the overall world and setting unless you made very pivotal characters who play huge roles in the world. So, just some stuff that those of us interested could start working on, would be awesome! |
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| Post #10 Sep 9 2010, 03:56 PM | Thunder God Bush |
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Well, we have our ideas of how we want things to work, such as magic (which exists, but has a severe limitation on who can use it). We were thinking that since we don't want to just plop you guys into our world without your input, we'd propose this and then when it was accepted we go and finish worldbuilding. As of right now, the only things that are really unchangeable is that there is one sun and two moons over the sky. Animals, plants, cultures, all that will come when this "exercise" is accepted. |
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Kracka-boooooom
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