Post by Iron Kaiser on Jun 13, 2014 22:06:47 GMT -8
Greetings, friends and fellow authors!
Before you jump head-first into the world of Talland, it's important to have a good sense of the principles and rules that will be guiding our interactions. Please take some time to read through these principles...
...and the Rules
Please comment below with any questions or suggestions you may have! Again, we're still figuring this out ourselves, and interaction is just as key to organizing this game as it is to playing it!
Before you jump head-first into the world of Talland, it's important to have a good sense of the principles and rules that will be guiding our interactions. Please take some time to read through these principles...
-First, have patience with us as we try to figure things out. There are a lot of parts about this Round Robin thing that are totally new to me and to most of us. I think we're all going to have to wade into this awesome adventure with the expectation that there might be some procedural bumps and bruises along the way.
By the way, also have patience with each other as writers. Some of us are really, really good at this whole writing thing, while for others this will be their first role-play experience. Whichever side you fall on, prepare for a little bit of discrepancy in skill, and don't lose heart. Try to build each-other up (as people and as role-players) and enjoy in the talent and fun that ensues.
-Interaction is everything. If there is one thing this Talland RP is about, it's interaction. I've invited a fairly elite group of people here to this forum and this game for an experience I trust will be unlike any other. With that in mind, come into this game with the intention to interact with others. I mean this in two senses. First, out-of-game, write your stories in tandem with other people. Get involved and talk back and forth about ideas and what characters could be doing and interacting to make the story awesome! Leave comments for the other authors on what was awesome about their stories, how they inspired your own ideas, and (ever so gently) ideas on how they can make their writing even better.
-Interaction is everything 2.0. Second, in-game, realize that interaction is the name of the game. My hope for this game is that we don't have X number of individual stories that nebulously happen to relate at the most tangential level, but rather that we have X number of stories that weave together like threads to create one amazing fabric/narrative. Look for ways to incorporate other player characters into your own story, and look for ways for your story to enhance the stories other people are telling.
-The more powerfully you affect a character in a story post, the more likely it is that you should talk with them in advance. Now, you shouldn't feel the need to update the other players every time you use their characters. The characters are in this world to be used by everybody. But if you are planning on making major changes to a character (say, grievously injuring them, or suddenly resolving an emotional difficulty the other player's author has been building up), then you should PM the author and make sure he/she is cool with your idea. Following this rule will make the game more fun for everybody, and it'll even lend you an authenticity that you might not have been expecting otherwise!
By the way, if you've got an idea that is going to shake up the world, the overarching story, or all the characters (for example, killing off the evil overlord we've spent twenty chapters building up to), then you should at least talk it over with me, and maybe with everyone, if appropriate.
-Conversely, don't get disappointed if the story takes a turn that you weren't expecting. Again, the name of the game is interaction, and implicit in that idea is interacting with the unexpected. Trust me, it's actually more fun to work with the challenges that come up in group interaction than it is to ignore or avoid them. This leads me to another point...
-If it's really important to you, telegraph it. How was I supposed to know your character was deathly afraid of ice cream?! Keeping secrets can be good, but don't keep too many, and related to the above, don't get frustrated if someone messes up your secret plan because they didn't know what you had in mind. Don't get mad, improvise.
-Finally, last but definitely not least, be the one to take initiative. Nothing will kill this roleplay faster then if everyone is too timid to post and leaves it up to somebody else to make the moves. Go big! Get involved!
-Oh, and HAVE FUN!
By the way, also have patience with each other as writers. Some of us are really, really good at this whole writing thing, while for others this will be their first role-play experience. Whichever side you fall on, prepare for a little bit of discrepancy in skill, and don't lose heart. Try to build each-other up (as people and as role-players) and enjoy in the talent and fun that ensues.
-Interaction is everything. If there is one thing this Talland RP is about, it's interaction. I've invited a fairly elite group of people here to this forum and this game for an experience I trust will be unlike any other. With that in mind, come into this game with the intention to interact with others. I mean this in two senses. First, out-of-game, write your stories in tandem with other people. Get involved and talk back and forth about ideas and what characters could be doing and interacting to make the story awesome! Leave comments for the other authors on what was awesome about their stories, how they inspired your own ideas, and (ever so gently) ideas on how they can make their writing even better.
-Interaction is everything 2.0. Second, in-game, realize that interaction is the name of the game. My hope for this game is that we don't have X number of individual stories that nebulously happen to relate at the most tangential level, but rather that we have X number of stories that weave together like threads to create one amazing fabric/narrative. Look for ways to incorporate other player characters into your own story, and look for ways for your story to enhance the stories other people are telling.
-The more powerfully you affect a character in a story post, the more likely it is that you should talk with them in advance. Now, you shouldn't feel the need to update the other players every time you use their characters. The characters are in this world to be used by everybody. But if you are planning on making major changes to a character (say, grievously injuring them, or suddenly resolving an emotional difficulty the other player's author has been building up), then you should PM the author and make sure he/she is cool with your idea. Following this rule will make the game more fun for everybody, and it'll even lend you an authenticity that you might not have been expecting otherwise!
By the way, if you've got an idea that is going to shake up the world, the overarching story, or all the characters (for example, killing off the evil overlord we've spent twenty chapters building up to), then you should at least talk it over with me, and maybe with everyone, if appropriate.
-Conversely, don't get disappointed if the story takes a turn that you weren't expecting. Again, the name of the game is interaction, and implicit in that idea is interacting with the unexpected. Trust me, it's actually more fun to work with the challenges that come up in group interaction than it is to ignore or avoid them. This leads me to another point...
-If it's really important to you, telegraph it. How was I supposed to know your character was deathly afraid of ice cream?! Keeping secrets can be good, but don't keep too many, and related to the above, don't get frustrated if someone messes up your secret plan because they didn't know what you had in mind. Don't get mad, improvise.
-Finally, last but definitely not least, be the one to take initiative. Nothing will kill this roleplay faster then if everyone is too timid to post and leaves it up to somebody else to make the moves. Go big! Get involved!
-Oh, and HAVE FUN!
...and the Rules
-Write at least two or three paragraphs per post. The actual size of your post may be much larger, and you should feel free to go big! We do suggest that you try to be fairly punctual about writing your stories - we'd much rather have a new 500 or 1,000 word post every week or two than a 10,000 word post every two months. The actual size of your posts will likely depend upon your own writing style. But as a good starting point, aim to have at least two or three paragraphs worth of content in your posts.
-Who Writes Next? We've been debating whether or not to enforce strict rules on which author goes next, or loose guidelines, or go laissez-faire with it. For now, the rules will be pretty simple. First, try not to post the next story snippet if you were the last person to post one. This basically doesn't apply if some time has passed and no one else has posted or is imminently working on a post. Second, if you've posted recently (say, in the last three posts), then you must ask in the general chat if it's okay for you to go ahead and write a new scene. This is a good idea anyway, but it's especially important if you've gone recently.
-Regarding Supporting Characters. By Supporting characters, I'm talking about other characters you create who exist in relationship to your player character. They can be family, friends, accomplices, rivals, whoever. In short, go ahead and create them and use them! The only point of caution is to remember that the focus needs to be primarily on your character and the other player characters. Don't let yourself get too wrapped up in your own character and all the supporting characters you've created, to the exclusion of the other players.
-Regarding Secondary Characters. By Secondary characters, I mean other characters you create who exist largely detached from your main character and the player character groups. For example, if you wanted to write a side story/story arc about an assassin in the Ryn desert while the player characters are hunting around in Dashale (perhaps to set up some potential future story hooks), that assassin would be a Secondary character. In short, go for it! However, you should not post a secondary-character post immediately after you post a character post, and you should ask for the okay before posting one if you've posted very recently.
-Who Writes Next? We've been debating whether or not to enforce strict rules on which author goes next, or loose guidelines, or go laissez-faire with it. For now, the rules will be pretty simple. First, try not to post the next story snippet if you were the last person to post one. This basically doesn't apply if some time has passed and no one else has posted or is imminently working on a post. Second, if you've posted recently (say, in the last three posts), then you must ask in the general chat if it's okay for you to go ahead and write a new scene. This is a good idea anyway, but it's especially important if you've gone recently.
-Regarding Supporting Characters. By Supporting characters, I'm talking about other characters you create who exist in relationship to your player character. They can be family, friends, accomplices, rivals, whoever. In short, go ahead and create them and use them! The only point of caution is to remember that the focus needs to be primarily on your character and the other player characters. Don't let yourself get too wrapped up in your own character and all the supporting characters you've created, to the exclusion of the other players.
-Regarding Secondary Characters. By Secondary characters, I mean other characters you create who exist largely detached from your main character and the player character groups. For example, if you wanted to write a side story/story arc about an assassin in the Ryn desert while the player characters are hunting around in Dashale (perhaps to set up some potential future story hooks), that assassin would be a Secondary character. In short, go for it! However, you should not post a secondary-character post immediately after you post a character post, and you should ask for the okay before posting one if you've posted very recently.
Please comment below with any questions or suggestions you may have! Again, we're still figuring this out ourselves, and interaction is just as key to organizing this game as it is to playing it!