OOC chat thread (Participants only pls)

[Wired*Nun]

Just thought I'd start an OOC chat thread, since the chat function doesn't seem to work. Anyone know if that is coming?

I'm starting to get the hang of this, more or less. I can see there is some small difficulty with those who post more often and those who don't. I certainly don't want to push anyone. There will be times I won't be online for a while too. See how it goes.

This is a good place for anything anyone needs to talk about OOC, whether that's about your schedule, complaints for the GM, questions about how things are run, or just whatever.

First, mind giving me a few basics about each of you? Here's me: Air Force, presently stationed at the NATO HQ in Mons, Belgium, 41 years old, married, 3 kids. Been playing games since I was 6, I guess, with chess and Risk. Really started about 12 with other various games an older friend was into. D&D came out that year and soon we were all playing the new craze. Went to my first con in 1977, Pacificon over in San Mateo, CA (grew up in CA). Been going to cons, playing games ever since. Been out of the US so much I really have forgotten what it is like to have a lot of available players. Best gaming I ever did though was at Yokota AB, Japan, which is a very big base (about 14,000 Americans including all the dependents) and the cost of everything was so high, and what with the culture and language barrier, a lot of people stayed on base and did cheap things. I ended up running a fantastic linked series of campaigns in the World of Darkness universe, as well as Amber on the side. Nothing like having 30 people show up for a LARP in what was essentially a small town. I had the LARP and 2 FTF Vampire/Werewolf campaigns linked, and some of the best players ever.

Anyway, been stationed in Germany twice for a total of five years; deployments in Turkey and Italy; Japan for 3 years, and will be Belgium for 3.5 years at the end. I look forward to retiring sometime before I'm 50 and opening a game store of some sort, to keep me busy. I am on my 7th BMW, I have an M5 now, I got it up over 160 MPH (260 kph) on the German autobahn the other day. Briefly. At that speed you get very dead very fast if something happens. Hey, take a risk once in a while!!!. I would like to write, too. I have an Amber story done, but it fits into the campaign so I can't post it yet. It's about 24 pages, not sure of the word count (12 pt single space). It's Lintra's story - "The hellmaid Benedict loved, and later slew." I'll be interested to see what you think. It's my first real attempt.

[LynMars]

Good idea. OOC threads keep the actual rp threads from getting bogged down with random comments.


Me? I'm originally from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. I joined the Army right out of high school with an MOS in Signal. Was stationed at Ft Riley, Kansas, where I stayed for 3 years, until our jerk new commander decided to get rid of a bunch of people. I didn't cry enough, I guess, when I said my legs hurt and that was why I couldn't run the 2 miles in the time limit given, so was honorably discharged a year early. I felt a bit vindicated when the Veterens Administration figured I had some very minor disability money coming, and vindicated again when the jerk lost his commision later (I told him once his attitude and choice phrases would get him in trouble...but why should the Captain listen to a lowly PFC?).

I stayed in Kansas to attend Kansas State University, where I'm majoring in English, going for teaching certification. I had to take some time off because they wouldn't consider me a resident for awhile (nevermind I've been in the state since 1999), then I was working, but I am finally going back this fall. I have a boyfriend, we room with another couple who are the parents of the infamous Super Sneaky Ninja Baby, who's 3 days younger than my own nephew, back in PA. When I grow up I want to be a writer, and am currently collaborating on a project with a few friends. The only Amber fiction I have is the prelude/backstory for my Gaming Guardians Forum (www.gamingguardians.com) character, Karina, a daughter of Benedict. I'd have to type it all out again though...

[Shutter]

Well, let's see. I grew up in the northwestern US. Then I spent a few years going to college in Arizona. After graduation I came back up to the northwest to go to grad school in physics at the University of Washington. On the side I gained a fair amount of expertise in martial arts along with the attendant concussion and busted up knee. the knee got surgery and the concusion got better but I don't fight for sport or money any more, which is probably all for the best. I live with my fiancee and our tailless cat....life is good....I've been gaming in theory since middle school, but in practice only for the last 10 months or so. I tried running a few campaigns D&D, RIFTS, Shadowrun, Amber etc... but they never got off the ground, largely because I could never find any roleplayers who would take it seriously enough for my tastes....let's see....yep, I think those are the key points on me. See you all around.

[Wired*Nun]

I may have asked this before, LynMars, but what's your name, at least a first name? I think I understood that Lynell Marsden is a pseudonym? Mine's Dave, if you haven't picked that up from the House Rules.

[Wired*Nun]

Shutter, I know where you're coming from. I was heavily into the art for about seven years in my teens and twenties, got pretty good, enough to feel confident in myself, which is what it's about I think. I tried picking it back up again recently, found out that hard striking styles are not for me since I seem to keep striking the floor a lot. Get old quick, I guess. I think Zelazny did Aikido until he died, maybe I should look into that, no blows.

I also find it difficult to find relaiable roleplayers who also have the seriousness and skills to make it worthwhile. I kind of started this PBP as a last resort. I kept thinking it would be kind of stale, but I am not finding it that way at all.

[Wired*Nun]

Oh, for the record:

Joss/Knarr/Michael,

Roland/Shutter/Conor,

Siodmak/Wolfkhaffen/Andrew

Raevyn/LynMars/Alicia

TheMultiverse/Wired*Nun/Dave

Anyone know what the + after the name of a "currently active user" means?

[LynMars]

First name is Alicia, pronounced Uh-lee-sha. I guess that's about approximate. Like Alicia Keyes. There are so many ways to pronounce it; my French teacher never got it right. It's gotten shortened down to Lici, and many permutations thereof, mostly by very young children (like the Ninja baby, who we think refers to me as She-She). :)

I started gaming while at Ft Gordon, during Signal School; my first game ever was White Wolf's Werewolf: The Apocalypse. I've played DnD, RIFTS, Shadowrun, BESM, just about anything by White Wolf (was on a demo team for them for a time, mainly for the now-defunct UniCon in Joplin, MO), L5R...I've played and run 7th Sea and Amber and several WOD games. I've been online rping for about 2 years now.

[Shutter]

Heh. That's my fiancee's name too.

[LynMars]

When I was kid, no one had the same name as me, it seemed. Now it's everywhere! :D

[Shutter]

She says the same thing.

[Gralhruk]

First things first: sorry for posting in your OOC. It's generally considered bad form for those not in the game to do so, but you don't have a visitor's thread so . . .

Second: Good call on creating an OOC thread. Things read so much more smoothly in the game threads if OOC comments aren't scattered throughout. Speaking of which, I notice you are posting threads for each location as opposed to a chapter format. Stuff like that is personal preference of course, but as a reader, things are alot easier to follow when you can figure out what order to read things in. Just a thought.

Third: I've been reading along and I think you all have been doing a very good job at creating an "Amberesque" feeling with your character actions and dialogue.

And finally:
Anyone know what the + after the name of a "currently active user" means?
It means that user is on your "Buddy List". On the old version of the boards, those users would appear in your User Control Panel if they were on-line. That seems to have gone away when we migrated. The only real use I can find for the Buddy list is private messages: if you open up your buddy list (from Quick Links), it will let you check off a number of buddies to send a PM to.

[Knarr]

Write a bio? Eek! Ok, Here goes-

Michael
Age-39

Born in Alaska, raised deep south- have lived in Alaska (twice), Florida, Alabama, Arkansas, Texas, West Virginia, Delaware, Washington State, Iwakuni Japan (I am in the Marine Corps by now), All over the far east, Back to Washington State, And have settled in Idaho. The only state I haven’t been to is Hawaii. (Can’t get there by car.)

Been gaming since I was 13 and pretty much tried all the gaming systems. Favorites have been D&D, Morrow Project, Amber and Cyberpunk. Went to a lot of Cons. When I got out of the Corps, worked on video games and pinball machines and married a woman who had just started a bookstore. Sold a lot of books and traveled to more Cons selling books. Had a daughter (Who is now 12) and brought her to work with me.

Closed the stores (competition with on-line and Barnes and Noble- Times change), but still sell books to schools (wife- high school teacher) and friends.

For the last 7 years have been home schooling my daughter and building a Monolithic dome house. Did all the work myself except for the concrete work on the dome.

I’m into alternative building, black powder guns and mountain man stuff, gaming, Chinese junks (no, I don’t know why), and general living. Now I’m pretty much a househusband (yes, I do all the cooking- Had to, couldn’t find anyone to make gumbo, jambalaya, pancit, or red meat and rice) living three miles from my mailbox in the middle of nowhere. I like it. I can fire my guns and good hunting and trapping abounds. (The only thing about firing guns in Idaho is, occasionally you get answering fire. This is the only state I know of that actually had to make explosive arrows illegal. I love this place. :)

[Wolkhaffen]

Andrew
Age-44

Born in Virginia, raised in Maryland - have lived in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Okinawa, Japan, Italy, Germany (I was in the Navy) and currently reside in Washington (though I have plans to move), I have been on every ocean but the artic and have visited France, Spain, Israel, Egypt, Canada (east and west coasts – they are very different, culturally), Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago (two islands, one country), Dominican Republic, Thailand, Philippines, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, China, and Turkey. I don’t think I’ve left anyplace out. I have visited District of Columbia and United Nations.

I was active in a support role during the Bosnian conflict and fought in the Persian Gulf War.

I started gaming when D&D was released in the box set with three pamphlets. I have played and enjoyed more systems than I can name. I will say I especially enjoy dice-less play. Give me a Storyguide that is creative over one who needs the crutch of dice any day. I use gaming to keep my brain active and enjoy creative writing. I, too, have been to many cons.

Upon retirement I became a kept man. It started out as a sex thing, but then my wife got pregnant. Now I am a Mr. Mom for my two year old daughter, Fiona Bronwyn.

Aside from gaming I enjoy reading, art, music, and being a father and husband.

[Wired*Nun]

First things first: sorry for posting in your OOC. It's generally considered bad form for those not in the game to do so, but you don't have a visitor's thread so . . .

Second: Good call on creating an OOC thread. Things read so much more smoothly in the game threads if OOC comments aren't scattered throughout. Speaking of which, I notice you are posting threads for each location as opposed to a chapter format. Stuff like that is personal preference of course, but as a reader, things are alot easier to follow when you can figure out what order to read things in. Just a thought.

Third: I've been reading along and I think you all have been doing a very good job at creating an "Amberesque" feeling with your character actions and dialogue.

And finally:

It means that user is on your "Buddy List". On the old version of the boards, those users would appear in your User Control Panel if they were on-line. That seems to have gone away when we migrated. The only real use I can find for the Buddy list is private messages: if you open up your buddy list (from Quick Links), it will let you check off a number of buddies to send a PM to.
No problem, we're all learning (well, at least I am) and not easily offended.

As far as the format, I've looked at both, but the chapter format seems to work much better for those games where theyre is a "party" or "team" that is always together. Amber isn't usually like that. I think we'll try this for now, and see how it goes.

Thanks for the kudos. Cya.

[Wired*Nun]

Thanks, guys, that helps me. I am used to getting to know my players as people as well - have barbecues as well as games, etc. This is different, but that's OK too. Makes me realize how much I am giving up by being overseas, but I get a lot of unique experiences too.

So Michael, how do you get internet if you are three miles from your mailbox? You on dialup, or is it just that you go in to town to pick up your snailmail? I like the lifestyle you describe, except for the building thing. I don't mind some manual labor now and again, but I confess I get bored easily. Strangely enough, I find backpacking not boring at all, and yet it resembles manual labor on the move. Maybe it's because the view keeps changing, and I like the feeling of self-reliance. Idaho is actually one of my top choices for retirement ideas. Somewhere in the pacific northwest anyway.

Anyone been to actual Amber-cons? Much as I love Amber, I have never managed to make it to one. Perhaps its because I have never liked roleplaying in a con setting. Kind of like preferring novels over short stories, I love campaigns. Con scenarios are usually too short and you spend half the time getting ready instead of playing in my experience. Unless, of course, you do nothing but one 3-day game, but I also like wargames and things, so anyway, cons have not been my preferred RPG venue.

[LynMars]

*reads along with the Great Hall thread*

*Snerks at Siodmak's want for "company"*

Well, Dave did say he wanted more Amber-like conversation... ;)

Ever notice that for all their knowledge and power, Amberites really do have one track minds...like the Greek pantheon, only a bit less flashy, but just as screwy... :)

Anyway...never made it to an Ambercon, no; didn't even know they existed until a few years ago. I don't think I'd mind going at least once. While I also prefer campaigns, a con every now and then is an interesting change-up, and you can meet some neat people; we still communicate with a few people we met at UniCon (which should definately have had some Amber stuff going on!).

I'd love to live somewhere where there's not a lot of people; one of the other big reasons I've stayed in Kansas (besides education and my boyfriend of 4 years) is that it's much less crowded than my former home now is...everytime I go back to visit, something else has been changed or a new building put up. Not enough room; I like the fact that I can wander away a bit and see nothing but rolling prairie, nothing man made in sight. :)

[Wired*Nun]

Well, sex, power, money, love, jealousy, hatred, curiosity, fear, there are most of the motivations for most characters. Most people for that matter. Not surprising, considering the male biological imperative, that men of power are usually men obtaining sex. Sometimes it's the stamp of conquest, or amusement, or validation. Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar.


Actually, I find it odd that Amberites are NOT bedding around even more. No STD worries, most have a personal rather than a societal morality, few repercussions if you keep it to shadow - as long as you pay attention to progeny. Always the crone with a twig option. Still, they seem to regard certain sins as important, others, as just good fun.

[Knarr]

My mailbox is for snail mail. I have a phone line so I have internet. (cost four grand to bring it up, but I save on cell phone.) I even have power with a generator back-up. Living away from people is pretty cool, but you have to know how to do for yourself.
Idaho is great as long as you stay in the north. Winters can be hard though. Washington and Oregon have to many laws and taxes for me to live there. In Idaho, people leave you alone for the most part. There are some crazy people though.

[Wolkhaffen]

Snerks! Snerks! Why I aught to...

[LynMars]

LOL Aught to what? Better back that up with somethin'... ;)

[Wolkhaffen]

If only I had a Trump.

[Icebird]

I'm a bit slow on all this- my charicter will probably be joining you guys a bit later (not too long, hopefully). As for about me, I feel so young all of a sudden. I turned 16 this summer, so there isn't really all that much that I've done. I'm from Colorado, and I've been playing Dnd for a few years, but just discovered the Amber books, and the game soon after I finished reading them.

[Wolkhaffen]

Welcome, Icebird.

Age has nothing to do with creativity.

Besides we need somebody we can squish like a bug :)

[LynMars]

And here I was thinking Shutter and I were the young-uns...Join in whenever you can, Icebird; I still haven't met the rest of the party IC! hoping to fix that soon...maybe... ;)

[Shutter]

Welcome! My forum gaming experience has taught me that age is a nigh worthless variable when it comes to predicting maturity. You've just had less time to absorb trivia : )

[Wired*Nun]

Just in case anyone was wondering, we are about ten miles from the big explosion in Belgium you might have seen reported on CNN. We know right where it is; when it happened, we thought someone was flying jumbo jets around. It sounded like a half hour of C-5s overhead, which was the burning of the natural gas leaking though the pipeline, plus the factory building burning etc. We had no idea. The trees where we live blocked any sight of the smoke, but it was pretty huge.

[LynMars]

...whoa. not watching CNN at the moment--or much ever; what happened? Or is that unknown?

[Wired*Nun]

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/cgi-bin/news/news.cgi?category=belgium

You can tell im not a cybernatural like my kids.I should have thought to put the link in above.

[LynMars]

No problem! wowsa; nasty. Glad no one in your home was hurt by that.

and in other, happier, less pressing news...

*glee* contact with another PC! The novelty! :)

[Shutter]

Wow. Glad to hear you're ok at any rate. My sympathies to you and your neighbors.

[Wired*Nun]

I am filling up with many PMs. Please, guys, if you want to communicate privately with me about your character or whatever, use the "GM Comms" thread in your private forum. If one doesn't exist yet, start it.

[Wired*Nun]

To recap: The outer keep is a huge square donut, with outer dimensions of 300 yards on a side, innner dimensions are 200 yards on a side. The main outer keep has 3 levels; the bastions at the corners are a fourth level. The inner keep is inside the inner courtyard, and is 40 yards square, and 5 storeys high. Four enclosed walkways lead from the 2nd/3rd storeys of the inner side of the outer keep, to the inner keep. There is no free standing wall, except what goes from the floor to chest high on the battlements (the roof of the third story and the roof of the inner keep).

[Shutter]

This auto notify feature is great. Instead of camping out on the forums waiting for updates and ignoring my work (bad habit I know, but research can be a bit dull and one seeks diversion even when one shouldn't) I just get email whenever it's my turn to post. I wish the other forum I frequent had this feature.

[Wired*Nun]

Is that the same as "subscribe to a thread?" I am just starting to get the hang of all this forum stuff. I guess I have some admin privileges within this forum, so you will notice me starting to rearrange and edit things for better reading. I am also copying some stuff out of your preludes, into the public forums, so that players and visitors can see more of the beginnings of things. I hope that's no big problem.

[Shutter]

Certainly not a problem with me, feel free to share Roland's prelude. And yes, it's the subscribe to thread thing. you subscribe under the "additional options" box while replying to a thread, there are a few levels of subscription. Took me a few tries to get it working, but now that it is I quite like it.

[LynMars]

Also, Wired, you can edit the titles of the threads/posts as well as the posts themselves; that way you may not have to keep changing threads when people change location/people are added/subtracted from threads; Like instead of making a whole new thread for Joss, Siodmak, and myself, for example, just edit the title of the thread. Perhaps general locations, or chapters or parts, then followed by names of people or places, could be used.

Having titles for individual posts can be handy, too; if someone does move location within a thread, that can be their post title, displayed in different text above their actual post. In the other forum, when posting in an RP thread, we commonly do Location Checks in boldface (different kind of rping from here; just one forum, with rp threads instead of subforums) at the top of our posts. I kinda like having one thread for each location, though; keeps the narrative flowing rather well.

And I don't mind if you repost my prelude, either. :)

[Wired*Nun]

I seem to be having difficulty accessing my thread tools. Hopefully this is a temporary situation.

[Shutter]

LynMars, could I convince you to teach us that cool single post citation thing?

[LynMars]

check your pms, but I'll repeat it here;

click on that post number in the upper right of each post; takes you to a page that is just that post. Link from there. I like that better than the way we have to do it on The Nice! :D

[Pygysys]

Hi all,

Dave's been kind enough to let me join the fun, so in keeping with the above, here's a quick bio on myself:

Name - Illona
Age - 31
Nationality - Australian

Let's see, like most kids grew up with boardgames and the make believe in the school yard and that all changed when the family got the basic boxed set of D&D for Christmas when I was 12 and needless to say I never really looked back. I'm the kind of Roleplayer who loves interaction more so than dice rolling, which isn't to say I hate dice, I am a big fan of Vampire and Werewolf afterall, not to mention Pendragon, but for me it all comes back to character development. So I just LOVE Amber. :)

Currently I'm a full-time student at the local university, studying Medical Laboratory Science... just a fancy way of saying Pathology really. I tend to have a lot of free time between classes and the like, but come exams and study takes a priority, but that's not for another 14 weeks yet when second semester will end. :)

This is my first play by forum game, so I'm looking forward to it and getting to know you all as the game progresses. Well I think that's enough about me for now, otherwise I'll end up writing an essay and bore you all to tears. Oh and for those who may be curious, I live in North Queensland, the tropical region of Australia where Summer has a nasty habit of lasting about 9 months of the year.

Illona.

[Wired*Nun]

I see your private forum just showed up, Illona. Unfortunately the other player didn't get his screen name and number to me in time, he'll have to wait another couple of days:disa.ed:

[LynMars]

If you mean Jon, he didn't get his confirmation e-mail before having to go to an L5R game, so while he could look around on the forums, he didn't seem to have a member number. Hopefully that's fixed by now.

[Shutter]

Hi Illona, welcome to the fun:)

[Wolkhaffen]

6 players, excellent. Now we're cooking with butter!

[Wired*Nun]

not sure what happened at the main thread. I think there is some misunderstanding, waiting on Wolk to sort it out. Until then, feel free to go on without his input, I'll be monitoring.

[LynMars]

Shutter: Knarr suggested we spent quite a bit of time small talking, which would have given Siodmak plenty of time to do the sketches

And Illona, I didn't say it before, silly me, but welcome aboard! :)

[Shutter]

Yep, LynMars, I thought so. There was some confusion though on this, so I just wanted to make sure we were all onthe same page.

[LynMars]

I'm confused...is that "bump" a noise, feeling, or something for our characters, or was that to get people's attention? cuz it's a stickied thread, so it's not going anywhere, which is my general experience with bumps.

And if that's what it was, and their purpose is doen, can they get deleted? I have this unnatural dislike for bump posts...

[Wired*Nun]

lol. you'll see. I couldn't resist, though.

[LynMars]

More images up in the contribution forum, including smaller versions that can be used as avatars if you wish. If Icebird would like one, a description of your character (preferably in the descriptions thread where it's handy) would be good. I really wish school would hurry up and get here; only working 3 hours a day leaves me waaaay too much free time, in case you couldn't tell :bored:

[Wired*Nun]

What a terrible thing to have free time. I wish I had this problem.

I haven't heard from Icebird in a day or two. Dunno what's up with that.

[Shutter]

I'm trying to tone down my bullet-time posting tendancies. If I'm getting in the way at all, feel free to politely yell at me. So far I've bee trying to keep all the rapid reply posts confined to what seems to be reasonably independant of other posters, but I may be missing the mark.

Like I said, please let me know if I'm causing any trouble.

[Wired*Nun]

I certainly don't mind. Does anything else? It seems that Knarr and Wolk don't post quite as much or as often, but that isn't a problem per se. Maybe they are happy to play that way. Personally I like lots of posts, but that's because right now I'm off work and have time. The good thing is, you ask questions others probably would too, or some they wouldn't, and so things can go forward. The bad thing would be if they felt that you were constantly doing things they were going to or would have. Personally, if I didn;t have time to post as much (as a player), I would still want others to go forward with things rather than wait for me. However, I can't speak for them, only for me.

[LynMars]

It's pretty much why I'm holding off at the moment; that, and I need to formulate exactly how Rae would deal with a request to maybe kill someone...'not well' being the general response, even if it is the guy that killed her teacher...which would by now be common knowledge, I think; he's known to be under the Queen's protection, and she was trying to get the blood feud called of...and if they read the book Dunstan provided, everyone knows that.

[Wired*Nun]

Trey's forum just showed up. I will be loading his concept and we can start on the prelude ASAP.

[LynMars]

Okay; I got busy in the middle of posting and then...that stuff happened. Think I'll wait until this clears...

[Wired*Nun]

As far as being under the Queen's protection, logically that would end when he is crowned. The idea that a sovereign monarch would need to be under the protection of a foreign queen qouldn't fly very well, for a lot of reasons. Makes him look weak, rumors of an affair, favoritism in the face of other Golden Circle kingdoms, etc.

[LynMars]

*forehead smack* duh, nevermind me. :)

[Wired*Nun]

Since I am working on three things at once, I though I'd tell you my priorities for the next hour or two. First is the main thread. Second is Kat's prelude. Third is Landon's prelude. I will try to rotate work among them as I can.

[LynMars]

Trey's out at the moment, so take your time on Landon's; I'm not sure when he'll be back online, but you have plenty of time.

And I'm trying to do this and an IRC RP for Guardians...oy...

[Pygysys]

No rush on my part either. I'm enjoying what the others are getting up to. Pickle anyone? ;)

[Shutter]

Exciting stuff isn't it?...As much fun as this is, I can't be keeping up this level of posting every day...at some point I do need to finish my degree :)

[Wired*Nun]

Lol. Is Trey's first name Trey, or is he Jonothan? Does he go by Jon if so?

[LynMars]

Jonathon, goes by Jon. Like my screen name, his comes from a former LARP character...funny thing; the chars were friends before we were; we were friends about a year; I was dating someone else at the time. After that guy and I broke up, our friendship continued to develop. We've been together 4 years now. We met through gaming; neither one of us has ever been "the gamer's sig-o" ;)

[Wired*Nun]

Sounds like a good way to do it. You are fortunate people to be compatible in gaming. I used to try to date gamer chicks; rapidly realized the competition was just too intense. Even the unattractive ones had plenty of geek suitors,and the pretty ones, hoo boy, mostly too full of themselves. I resolved that I would find one that could handle my gaming habit and enjoy things from the periphery, with hopes of involving her more later. As it turned out, that worked; both my former wife and current (and final, God willing) wife enjoy boardgames and dabble in roleplaying, when she has time, and lets me do entirely too much gaming. Helping out with the housework goes a long way toward leeway!

[LynMars]

the competition is scary at times; I pity the guys who try so hard, especially the nice ones...but I will admit, I have learned the value of halter tops at LARP...yes, I am evil...

[Wired*Nun]

:worry: Halter tops go a long way in real life, too, but it's less problematic to risk your reputation in-game than out, I imagine;)

[Pygysys]

I feel for you Conor, I really do. I have a deferred exam coming up on Sunday and then second semester resumes the day after. So between studying, I'm able to check on the posts and continue to watch the pickle grow. ;)

As for you Alicia, that's very evil. I have a friend who loves to tease the boys of the local wargaming community. Whenever she and her boyfriend enter into the tournaments, she inevitably shows up dressed in black leather and namely a thigh split in her skirt and plenty of cleavage on show. I swear she wins half her games because the poor boys can't think straight. :P

Not that her boyfriend minds, he's always quick to point out that he gets to take her home, win, lose or draw. :)

[Knarr]

I have no problem with a game going forward when I can't respond.
I live a life that things have to get done (just as most of you do), so I understand if people have more time than me sometimes.
Most of the time I will check my e-mail 3-5 times a day. I rarely am able to stay on for long. Most times just to catch up and post is about all I can do at any one time.

[For instance, I'm getting off now because I have to finish staining a stained glass window frame I just sanded and then I have to feed my horses and start cooking chicken for a dinner of gumbo and french bread later. :) ]

[LynMars]

Yum! I'm goin' to Knarr's house...:fun:

[Wolkhaffen]

I just chase a two year old around all day.

Anybody want to stop by and change poopy diapers for awhile so I can post more often?

[Pygysys]

I'm following the trail to Knarr's house for Gumbo. Don't get it here in Oz, but I've heard it's good.

The way our courses are structured here, once lectures/pracs resume next week, I'll still have ample opportunity to post between them. The trick is being able to find a free computer on campus or if I have enough time, sneaking home.

And as we're connected 24/7 at home (Three geeks without a life, though we protest otherwise), it's never hard to check up on the posts. :) Sometimes life is blessed.

[TreyKincaide]

Hi,

Intoductions, Hmmm... Let's see...

I'm orginally from Kearney Missouri, a suburb of Kansas City, that has the dubious distinction of being the birthplace of Jesse James. That being said the only things the town had going for it was the yearly festival where we celebrated a murdering bandit and rich folks could move out of the city and commute. I went to college in northern Missouri for two years in a town named Maryville. That was a big mistake. The town was smaller than the previous one and I spent the time in a doldrum working graveyard shift at a hospital, driving over an hour to buy gaming books from a non gaming shop, and driving 3 hours to game once every other week for lack of anything else better to do.

Finally, I moved to Manhattan, Kansas so I'd stop driving and go to a better school. I've been a Information Systems student for quite sometime and should (knock on wood) be free at the end of this school year.

I've been gaming for the last ten years, and the Amber books were some of the first fantasy books that I've read and contributed greatly to my choice of hobby. Currently, I'm absorbed in Star Wars Galaxy crack....crack I tell you and I'm enjoying playing the first unattractive person that I've ever played in a computer game.

[Wired*Nun]

When an NPC asks your PC a question like "Tell me all about it," feel free to take Zelazny-like shortcuts. Example:

"I filled him in with everything that happened since Tuesday, leaving out the part about the ammunition."

"I told her my entire life story, except I said I do not know who my father might be."

"I hit the highlights, leaving out details, because the bomb is going to explode in 37 minutes."

"I give him some vague line about having been wandering in shadow, because if he had any idea what I'd been up to, I'd be in Corwin's old cell pronto."

[Wired*Nun]

Going to bed, all. Thanks and gnite.

[Wired*Nun]

Funny, we have an smile for "shit" but I test-posted more objectionable words with no problem. Personally I find that little pile of crap more objectionable than the word itself if I am trying to read a serious narrative. All you have to do is disable smiles in your post to get rid of the icon.

Although I don't want to see George Carlin-esque paragraphs of vulgarities, we are all grownups here, I am presuming (yes, even you Ice) and can handle an APPROPRIATE level of strong language. After all, Zelazny didn't hold back when the narrative warranted.

That's my personal take on things, comments welcomed.

[Wired*Nun]

Hey, anyone know if the online-roleplaying chat function works? I can't get it to work.

[LynMars]

do you mean the thing titled "live gibbering"? you'll need some sort of IRC client if that's what you mean.

And here's the instructions from our other forum had for some different IRC software clients:

Go to www.mirc.com (http://www.mirc.com/) and download and install mIRC. When you run it, an "mIRC Options" dialog box will appear. There will be a dropdown menu labeled "IRC Network:", scroll down until you see the entry "Sorcery". This is irc.sorcery.net. The box below it should read "Sorcerynet: Random Server", which is what you want it to say.

Now, enter the information in the boxes at the bottom of the window (not necessarily truthfully, the information in the boxes besides "Nickname" will be publicly viewable by anyone.)
"Full Name" is just that (mebbie character name),
"E-mail Address" a duh as well,
"Nickname" is what will appear by your messages in the chat. GG Might have his be "Graveyard_Greg", or he might have it as "Chromedome" or "Geekboy". They're not like AIM screen names; you can change them whenever you want. One thing, it has to be one word (use underscore for spaces).
"Alternative" is a backup nickname, which will be used if what you put in "Nickname" is already taken. You shouldn't need to worry about any of the other panels.

Now, click the button marked "Connect to IRC Server." If you've done everything correctly, the "mIRC Options" window will dissapear, and the window already open will say something like "Connecting to irc.sorcery.net". Then a bunch of text will probably scroll by too fast to read. This is information from and about the server you've connected to, including the Message of the Day for the server. Feel free to read it. Just a note: if you hit the Enter key instead of clicking the "Connect" button, the window will save your options and close without connecting. If that happens, click the button that looks like a lightning bolt in the upper-left corner. Clicking it again will disconnect. The button to its right (a hammer by a folder) will bring the options dialog back up.

Alternatives:
Here's the Javachat address. It doesn't allow chatting in multiple channels, as near as I can tell, so it's a bit of a pain. However, it seems to be a reliable backup if nothing else works.
http://adrastea.jtan.com/~ircd_/javachat/chat.html (http://adrastea.jtan.com/~ircd_/javachat/chat.html)

This one just click on it, it works at any computer, I know, I tried at work once:
Here's the IRC client. It's free and mostly reliable. Unlike mIRC, it doesn't require a download or registration. It DOES allow chatting in multiple windows. Use this before you use Javachat.
http://www.iuturna.sorcery.net/irc.cgi (http://www.iuturna.sorcery.net/irc.cgi)


you'll want to get on the server listed in the summary: irc.devcore.co,uk It'll auto-connect you to a host (at least on mIRC; I don't know the others), then you type /join #Online_RPG in the dialogue box and it'll take you there.

Alternatively, if you want to find me (and occasionally Shutter and Trey) in IRC chat, try sorcery.net, /join #GamingGuardians I'm usually there as Karina|GSC (or some variant thereof)

[Wired*Nun]

I dunno, I just know that when you go to the ORPG homepage is says there is a "live chat" function. Click on it and nothing happens.

[Shutter]

doesn't work for me either. I don't think it would be too hard though to just grab ourselves an IRC channel somewhere.

[Wired*Nun]

Yes, if I knew what your geekspeak meant. What's an IRC channel? I think it would be great if we could have an in-forum chat to discuss things more immediately, though we have to guard against actually roleplaying that way or we'll never have it recorded in the forums.

[LynMars]

edited above with lots of stuff as to how to get onto IRC; I don't know about setting up a permanent channel; I'd have to ask our ops and the guy who maintains the 'bots about that...but if you want to try Online-RPG Community's chat, that should do it...

Edit again, since Dave posted same time I did; You can log IRC chats, clean them up, and post them, but we did come here for forum rp, so we should probably keep the rping here. :)

[Wired*Nun]

My brain hurts. I'll take a pass for now.

[LynMars]

I understand; took me forever to get the hang of it. I'm no techno-geek; I just live with one...

[TreyKincaide]

Hello. My name is Jon and I'm a recovering techno geek. I've been off the wagon for about 15 years now....

[Shutter]

Hi Jon!

[Wired*Nun]

Hello. My name is Jon and I'm a recovering techno geek. I've been off the wagon for about 15 years now....
Isn't that ON the wagon? Or did you really mean OFF?

[LynMars]

Are we all waiting for something to explode, or just run out of filler actions for the afternoon before dinner? :)

[Shutter]

I seem to have lost track of where exactly Roland is in space and time, so I'm just laying low until I figure out where he is and what time it is....or something can explode.

[Wired*Nun]

Last time I heard, he was hiding in some corridor talking to Raevyn on a Trump. Probly best to head on up to the room and get ready for dinner. The next segment will begin with dinner, but I need to spend time with my neglected wife a bit.

[Shutter]

Very reaonable....I need to spend some time with my neglected research:)

[LynMars]

Just wondering something here, a concern at least one other player and I are having; at this point, my character knows a great deal more about Joss, and a bit more about Roland, than I as her player do. We glossed over quite a bit of time in the Keep with small talk, with the vague understanding that it concerned the current situation and what we each knew about it, and a bit of background information. It was what individual backstory was shared that we have no idea about. At dinner with Gerard, we're glossing over about 1-2 hours of personal conversation that may be pertinent; What would Joss tell Raevyn about his life? How much of their histories is shared? Raevyn's is fairly short; she really is a young Amberite, but Knarr doesn't know what Wired*Nun and I do.

I know many people don't want to necessarily roleplay through lots of small talk, but it's where we're getting some of the slight timing problems that may get worse later (or improve, as we begin to filter out into Shadow where time is weird anyway), and information is being presented that isn't really being shared. I don't mind a bit of glossing, but describing better what exactly is happening in that time may be necessary. Just a thought, and it probably has a simple solution we can use to everyone's satisfaction.

[Shutter]

Might as well take a moment to wave my hand in the air and say "I'm that other person LynMars was talking about." She expressed my concerns very nicely though, so I have little more to add.

[Wired*Nun]

I suggest that everyone edit their character's appearance entry to include a "public history" of their character - what their character would tell a comrade in arms, a new friend, something like that. Like, "I am Fiona's daughter, and I grew up in a shadow of high magic until I was about twenty-five, learning sorcery. Then she sent me to Earth where I was forced to endure law school, because she thinks it's good training for the mind..." etc., etc., Not, "I have a pendant that allows me to project all your secret thoughts onto my bedroom wall..."

That would be my idea.

[Shutter]

Excellent idea. Done. (http://www.online-roleplaying.com/forums/showpost.php?p=70663&postcount=5)

[Pygysys]

I concur, a very good idea. Reminds me of public and private info on MUSHes and the like.

Excellent idea. Done. (http://www.online-roleplaying.com/forums/showpost.php?p=70663&postcount=5)
Nicely done, especially the split between what's known and what family know.

Will get to mine once I know what would be known or what Kat would dare to offer up.

Our wonderful GM has caused her head to spin a full 360. ;)

[Wired*Nun]

Dang, was going for at least a 540. Nite all.

[LynMars]

Mine (http://www.online-roleplaying.com/forums/showpost.php?p=70594&postcount=4) was simple; Rae's so darned honest, and really doesn't have much to hide. Helps that she's very young. Poor, poor Kat; if I knew her, I'm sure I'd feel sorry for her. ;) Night, Dave. :)

[Pygysys]

Okay, curse the GM, he's done it, Kat's head has spun 540. :P

And when I return home from my exam today, I shall post what will be publically known about Kat. :)

[LynMars]

So does this mean we'll be meeting Kat soonish? Like at the party for Joss and Roland, maybe? ;)

[Pygysys]

I don't know, but I have an inkling of a suspicion it might... Just don't quote me on that. ;)

[Wired*Nun]

Things may slow down for some, speed up for others, as I try to get everyone who is located in Amber onto the same timeline. So, hang in there, folks.

[LynMars]

Sorry if my latest action is going to make that more difficult, but it seemed logical; I realized how much time has passed for Rae since the begining of gameplay. So I don't know if it'll make it easier or harder to get us all back on the same track or not. I can wait for a time to post next, believe it or not. :)

[Wired*Nun]

It's ok. As Kucharski pointed out in AZ 12, Trumps should actually take more time to make than we often require, just because it is kind of "dead time." I usually assume people are making them for functionality rather than for artistic merit, primarily. Dworkin probably made a sheetful of identical ones at a time - 20 Benedicts, 20 Corwins, etc. Maybe he had figured out to make a printing or litho process take Trump...

[Shutter]

I've never read Amberzine. How is it, what's it like?

[Wired*Nun]

Hmm well, depends. All mine except 12 are in storage. There is fan fiction, some good, some...painful. Several of them contain shorts (I think a total of 3) by the master himself, and so those have become sought-after items because they haven't been reprinted to my knowledge. I think they have one last Amber short that they have the rights to publish. It would be nice if the reprinted them all somewhere, somehow. I'm sure a lot of fans would buy all four put together in a paperback without any qualms. Heck, if they got some good illustrators they could make it larger and charge more. There are a few articles on the gaming aspect. The article I was referring to talks about the way Kucharski does his drawings, designs paintings, and so on, and likens it to trump. He does point out some interesting possibilities for using them in-game. I suggest you get copies of any Amberzine under 15 dollars if it's in good condition, since they retailed for 10. They are worth it. They only printed 1000 copies of each issue.

[Pygysys]

Woohoo! I made it a group thread! ;) Maybe Kat will meet Rae and Joss at breakfast. First she needs to get through dinner with Siodmak and Roland though. :P

[LynMars]

I have 6 short stories by Roger Zelazny; several were printed in other magazines. Most of them were connected, as if Zelazny had ideas for yet another chronicle. A short about Merlin essaying the Logrus ("Prologue to Trumps of Doom"); "The Salesman's Tale", a story from Luke/Rinaldo's perspective, involving the Queen; "The Shroudling and the Guisel", a story about Merle and his childhood sweetheart in Chaos after he defeats Mandor and Dara; "Coming to a Cord", Frakir trying to get back to Merle with Flora's help (and a sequal to 'Guisel', and also features Luke), "Blue Horse, Dancing Mountain" is Corwin on his way back to Amber from Chaos, and seeing an odd chess match between Suhuy and Dworkin; "Hall of Mirrors" is Luke and Corwin meeting in the Hall in Amber, after the previous stories, where they are forced to fight each other using their legendary blades; Grayswandir, and Brand's Werewindle, which Luke holds.

All very interesting, well written, and intertwined in that Zelazny way.

[Wired*Nun]

Woohoo! I made it a group thread! ;) Maybe Kat will meet Rae and Joss at breakfast. First she needs to get through dinner with Siodmak and Roland though. :POne of the beauties of Amber is, with Trump and flexible time, splitting up and getting back together is not nearly as hard to manage as other games.

One thing I miss in this PBP is that, in my FTF games, I use actual cards (things like MTG cards) as the Trumps, and people then have to keep track of their trumps as props. Many's the time the conversation went so:

"I pull out my trump of Josh"

"Okay, pull it out."

"Ummmmm....shit! Where did it go!"

Keeps the players honest.

[Pygysys]

We tend to do the same thing and sometimes we get into little competitions to see who can collect the most trumps during a campaign. We steal, beg, borrow, lie, cheat... the usual tricks.

[Shutter]

LynMars, do you have those stories electronicly? I'd love to look at them.

[Wired*Nun]

I would, too, but I'm not going to violate copyright to do it. If there is anywhere I can download them legitimately, I'll gladly pay for the privilege - ebook or whatever.

[Wired*Nun]

It warms my heart to see RPing without need of GM. Kudos to Roland and Kat, thanks guys.

[Pygysys]

*Grins* It's been fun, I'm enjoying it. I love 'conversation' in Amber games, especially the potential that can arise from it.

[Wired*Nun]

Yes, some people seem to want to skip this part and go straight to armed conflict. I think of it as social combat.

[Pygysys]

I agree and I also include information gathering as well. :) From this one dinner sitting alone, Kat has gathered quite a lot. I'll admit, it might not all be correct or incorrect, but it will be fun finding out what is and what isn't. As for the gathered, I'll PM you and Shutter so you can chuckle about it and that way I won't prejudice anyone else's facts. :) That will be tomorrow my time though, time for bed all, got an early lecture in the morning. G'night all. :)

[Shutter]

A nice change of pace from the hack and slash I'm accustomed to. Good RP is hard to come by. I'm content to keep Smoke in his scabbard.

[Wired*Nun]

More or less waiting on Kat right now. Also, another player asked to join, I'm going to let her. I'm not overloaded yet! In fact, I'm not even loaded.

Ahmmm.

Didn't come out right.

Everyone who hasn't yet, need to post a "public knowledge" addendum on their character's description.

[Pygysys]

More or less waiting on Kat right now. Also, another player asked to join, I'm going to let her. I'm not overloaded yet! In fact, I'm not even loaded. Everyone who hasn't yet, need to post a "public knowledge" addendum on their character's description.1 - I've added my next installment to the dinner chit chat. ;)

2 - I've finally added my public knowledge. Apologies for the delay and the limited information within it. I'm hoping to expand on that once more information comes to light ICly... I blame Roland. :P

3 - Now that uni has started again for me, I won't be sitting in front of my computer all day, it'll only be half a day, so here's hoping I don't hold things up for too long at any given time. :)

4 - The more the merrier until Dave's loaded that is. :evil:

[Icebird]

I haven't posted common knowledge for Arrotel yet, because the fact that he even exists isn't public knowledge yet. I'll post that as soon as he is seen by anyone else, unless Mr. GM Guy (grin) wants me to.

[Wired*Nun]

I haven't posted common knowledge for Arrotel yet, because the fact that he even exists isn't public knowledge yet. I'll post that as soon as he is seen by anyone else, unless Mr. GM Guy (grin) wants me to.
Yes, probably when people encounter other people is the appropriate time to post common knowledge things, but there wouldn't be any harm in doing it a little early. Since Arrotel is not unknown in Amber, it could be easily picked up by a dedicated gossip.

[chalice]

Hullo folks - just a quick greeting from the UK, to see if I'm getting this to work. I've enjoyed reading all your threads enormously, and am hoping to join you as soon as I can finalise my character with Dave.

Dave, I screwed up and sent a Word attachment at first - many apologies - I've now sent an RTF replacement - but I'm not sure if any of my emails are reaching you? Can you confirm?

Teeny amount of personal info - my real world name is Jane Winter, I'm based in Cambridge, England, aged 38, the slave of the four cats who allow me to share their home and long time Amber addict.

See you soon, I hope,

chalice

[Pygysys]

Heya and welcome Chalice,

Hope you enjoy the game as much as I am. :)

Look forward to interacting with your character soon... I'm still looking forward to actually meeting the other PC's soon too. :)

Illona/Katarzyna/Kat/Pygysys.

[Wired*Nun]

I guess in some way or form, I am going to have to raise the price of Trump stuff.:cry: Every fricking one of you except Joss and Landon wants to be a dang Trump Artist, :x which to my gamer mind means its undercosted. Even though the total still adds up to 40, I guess it seems easier with partial powers, and a lot of people are not taking full Pattern powers. Ahh the joy of minimaxing. I'm considering requiring Advanced Pattern/Advanced Logrus for Trump - there weren't many Trump Artists in canon after all.

Don't take this to mean I don't want you to take a character with TA, Chalice, I'm just venting;) But to continue about this, I do think on reflection it's too easy. Siodmak and Raevyn have solid background justification for having TA. With Arrotel and Roland, it seems more of a "this is useful" thing, no offense to those players.

What would your thoughts be, players, on a future revision of TA to increase its cost, make it more exclusive? Bumping Artistry up to 20? Requiring Advanced Pattern/Logrus? Requiring having all Basic Pattern/Logrus powers before getting Principles? Something else?

[Pygysys]

Howabout having to have full Basic Pattern/Logrus before you can progress beyond Trump Principles to Trump Sketches. It's one thing to be able to use Trumps, etc, but another thing to make working ones.

If we go off the premise that only Pattern/Logrus lumps can do Trumps, would make sense that Trumps/Sketches cannot be made nor powered to work without the Artist having the full oomph of the driving power behind him/her. Yay, nay?

Mind you, that would have to be revised houserules, because if it wasn't, then anyone who has Trump Sketches, etc, and not full Pattern/Logrus, will be left scrounging for points, so to speak.

[LynMars]

It's one of the risks run when using the partial powers system, and with the secret nature of Amber characters, it's hard to tell when someone else has already filled a niche. Trump Artists are more common in the Courts (Merlin spoke of it as part of his usual training, I believe), but in Amber, it really isn't as of yet. It is one of the handier powers, and one I had intended to take before you posted your House Rules, despite the high cost. With the partial system in place, I found there were some Pattern abilities that it didn't make sense for my character to have learned quite yet, otherwise I would have taken a few more, maybe.

You may want to disallow anymore new players after Chalice from buying it for a time, if you take more(All available teachers near Amber had their hands full already, apparently ;) ). If you up the cost now, would we have to make up the difference in our first advancement, considering we wouldn't have the points now to do so and it would be somewhat unbalancing? Or would we have to make it up by somehow gaining all the Pattern/Logrus abilities we don't have yet? Or would it just not affect us, which wouldn't be fair to anyone who wanted to gain it in the future? Maybe making the normally advanced abilities more expensive, though if any players currently have those we're back to the previous arguement.

This is going to be one we're all going to have to work on for a satisfactory solution.

[chalice]

Just to say - I don't have any problem altering Agraynel (my character) so that she isn't an Artist. I can easily tie her madness to something else:S - it's the character concept and background I like, and those can work with or without trump.

I didn't realise from the threads that so many other people had gone down this path.

I'll look at some alternates...

[Wired*Nun]

Well, what I would like is that we have fewer trump artists by proportion. It's very hard to go backwards in these things. Therefore, I am not going to mandate anything for Chalice. It's fair that she get into it with the same requirements as everyone else. I am going to amend the system soon, taking your inputs into account, for future players. I don't think that is particularly unfair, it will just tend to channel them in different directions. For example, I know of one GM who, when bringing a new player in, gives them the average advancement points everyone else has. That's a different kind of fairness - character parity - even if it seems unfair that they didn't "work for it."

[chalice]

It's funny - in most of my face-to-face games, my fellow players have been falling over themselves for some time now *not* to be a Trump Artist, grumbling that they just end up chained to a desk producing useful means of transport for the rest of the guys....

Perhaps the game title, and the (gorgeous) lyrics behind it, may have encouraged people to 'think artistic' when designing characters?

Oh - and I've found an alternative I like. A lot. <giggle>

[Wired*Nun]

OK, good. I have replied to your e-mail, Jane, and put in the request to the forum gods.

[Icebird]

I'll admit it- trump artistry is just a "usefull thing" for Arrotel. I was going ot go with more patern powers then pick up sorcery, but figured that trump artistry was very cheap and usefull. If you want to, I'd be willing to change Arrotel, because no powers except shadow walking and manipulate probability have been used yet.

[chalice]

OK, good. I have replied to your e-mail, Jane, and put in the request to the forum gods.
Great!

Version Two is on her way to your email address right now (I hope) as an RTF attachment.

[Wired*Nun]

Waiting on V3.

[Shutter]

My sense of it from canon is that there were quite a lot of Trump capable people running around, they simply all played it fairly close to the chest. Brand, Fiona, Caine, (I think Bleys), Rinaldo, Merlin...quite a few people had some Trump abilities, specificaly because they're so darned useful.

I've always liked Trump artistry for the possibilities, seems like a versatile power that is a bit more subtle in its approach...The raw power of it has perhaps been boosted a bit now that we require a Trump to hack in to someone's brain.

I'd offer to re-write some of Roland's abilities, but I'm pretty sure that's not feasible at this point.

As for altering costs or requirements, I'm not generaly in favor of altering rules mid-stream. I would guess that this little flurry of posts will have done enough to discourage further Trump Artists.

[chalice]

Waiting on V3.
Blast - my machine is really excelling itself at swallowing email instead of sending it today:devious:

I've just sent it again - fingers crossed,

jx

[LynMars]

If it weren't so worked into Rae's previous posts and actions, I'd have made the same offer as Icebird; but at this point, it isn't feasible.

[TreyKincaide]

Hi all. Just letting everyone know that I've finally gotten around to updating my Public Info in the character description thread. Not to big a deal right now, but there are a few elder Amberites who know who I am.

[Wired*Nun]

If it weren't so worked into Rae's previous posts and actions, I'd have made the same offer as Icebird; but at this point, it isn't feasible.
As I kind of implied, Raevyn and Siodmak have the most solid IC reasons for being TAs. So, thanks, but that's not the solution. I am actually asking Arrotel to rework his character some, and chalice has reworked hers, with beneficial effect, i think.

[Wired*Nun]

My wife and I are going to Antwerp overnight, I'll be back tomorrow evening, my time. Cheers!

[Wired*Nun]

I´m at an internet cqfe in Antzerp: I qn not drunk, the keyboqrd is screzed up royqlly - so,e kind of French setup zith the zrong letters in the zrong plqces111:::itùs feaking ,e out, lolI cqnùt stqnd it; Iùll reqd your posts then go on. Toodles!

[LynMars]

wow...that's all I can say...wow...

[chalice]

Just for you, Kat :nod:

I've posted Agraynel's description in the appropriate place - but I don't know how to create a link to it from here. Can someone more electronically gifted give me a clue?

[Shutter]

type {url=http://www.whatevertheheckyouwant.com}nifty title{/url}

excpet replace my { with [ and } with ]

[chalice]

Agraynel's description (http://www.online-roleplaying.com/forums/showthread.php?p=72839#post72839)

[chalice]

Agraynel's description (http://www.online-roleplaying.com/forums/showthread.php?p=72839#post72839)
Gosh - didn't mess it up. In shock now.

Thanks, Shutter:nod:

[Shutter]

Works like a charm...Reckon I'm going to go do the same thing now:)

[Pygysys]

I just got myself a job! I'm an official pizza delivery driver now. Mwahahaha... drivers beware. ;) Figured I'd supplement my student allowance with some pocket change.

So apologies to LynMars and Shutter for taking so long to post, but I didn't realise my post had been eaten by the board before I took off and then I had my job interview (Out of the blue - Manager told my friend to call me in, which he did and boom, I have a job).

Anyway... yay me! I'm going to smell like pizza! :P

[Shutter]

Congratulations!
If you have to smell like something, let it be pizza, for pizza is quite tasty.

[LynMars]

New jobs are good. Congrats!

[Wired*Nun]

Back from Antwerp. I never used an internet cafe in Belgium before. Apparently they are the only country in the world (except maybe Algeria and Congo) that adopted the French arrangement for the keyboard, based on French letter frequency. Funny, because the poor Flemish are stuck using a French keyboard for the Dutch language, mandated by the Belgian government. Wonder what the German-speaking Belgians do? What a screwed-up country this is.

[Shutter]

I think I might miss having you type funny. That was pretty entertaining:)

[LynMars]

I liked the Antwerp keyboard effect as well! LOL Anyway, I'll post again to the picnic when Kat and Roland get outside; the conversation's taking a bit longer than Rae getting food, which is okay. What made Roalnd think she'd forget wine?

Nevermind that she did...

[Shutter]

She seems a little too....good to realize the importance of wine with a picnic.

Notice that Roland has complete faith that she'll remember treats for the horses:)

[chalice]

I just got myself a job! I'm an official pizza delivery driver now. Mwahahaha... drivers beware.
Go you! Congratulations and all that. What are you studying, when you aren't zooming pizza around?

[Pygysys]

Go you! Congratulations and all that. What are you studying, when you aren't zooming pizza around?
Medical laboratory science - pathology in other words. Get blood tested, get something cut out, need DNA compared... all that wonderful stuff.

Though personally I'd rather end up doing research, so I've got a big decision to make at the end of the year in regards to my course. Still that's many months away and no need to rush it just yet. :)

In the OOC Thread to begin with, we've got little bio's. Read all about us and tell us all about yourself. ;)

And thanks all, there are indeed worse things to smell like than pizza and having 3 cats, I know firsthand.

[Wired*Nun]

Better than having 3 pizzas and smelling like...cats.

[Shutter]

I don't know....three pizzas is some good eating.

[Pygysys]

3-4 slices and I'm done these days, but in our house we say: Breakfast!

[LynMars]

We had pizza last night...and I've been munching on the leftovers all day...'scuse me...*goes to check that she doesn't smell like pizza*:fun:

[Pygysys]

That made me laugh! In case you're wondering, it became an in joke with my gaming group due to our GM. He's a very fine fellow and when I say does not swear, I mean does not swear. In game once, his NPC turned around and called a player's character a Sloot! It cracked us up and hence sloot was always used in place of slut. I know it's one of those, you had to be there, but it was still awfully funny.

[Shutter]

He's just a friendly guy, that's all. :)

[chalice]

In the OOC Thread to begin with, we've got little bio's. Read all about us and tell us all about yourself. ;)
Hm, OK. It seems traditional to start with 'began gaming with Basic D&D' and this is true for me too. Branched out with Cthulhu, and then other stuff when I went off to Cambridge to study History (Dark Age/Anglo-Saxon/Byzantine). Love Cambridge, and have, I think, settled here for good.

Since college, have bounced around various jobs in publishing and events organisation; roleplaying spilled over into this area of my life on a couple of occasions when I worked for the UK branches of TSR (when it existed...) and WotC (when it...). More recently, I worked as a volunteer in an animal shelter for a while, and am now re-training to be an archivist. I work in the Huntingdon Archive, just down the road from where Oliver Cromwell went to school.

I live with my partner near Cambridge, in a converted barn that our four cats - Hecate, Oliver, Beltaine and Beowulf - generously consent to share with us. 'Wulf is still only a few months old, and is the reason I'm up at this ungodly hour doing email instead of peacefully asleep ('ooh, you moved a bit. Want to PLAY?') Bengal kittens are loud.

These days I play mostly Amber; other favourites have been Champions, Cthulhu and a friend's homegrown diceless system, Qabal. I used to LARP a fair bit (OK, more than a fair bit) but these days those muddy fields and damp woods just don't have the appeal they once did - hasn't put me off Civil War re-enactment, though. I was training to be a musketeer, but an injury to my right hand makes me unsafe with a 'live' matchlock (hm, like they're the safest things to begin with?) so I sold my lovely gun and play powder monkey now.

I also freeform a lot, am a total costume junkie, and talk about myself too much in email messages.

[Wired*Nun]

I see Thanos (screen name) is visiting us a lot lately. Anyone ever talked to him? Is he interested in playing? Thought I'd ask before I PM him.

[Shutter]

Hmm...I thought Elress was Bleys's daughter, not Fiona's...did I misread something?

[Wired*Nun]

Hmmm...that is interesting, isn't it?

[LynMars]

sneaky, sneaky...misinformation, perhaps? or something else? Will be interesting to see how it develops either way.

[Thanos]

Heh Did you get my email Wired-Nun? I am not getting anything at thanos_infinity@yahoo.com, so I changed my profile to my primary email Thanos@lycos.com.
Also, I am on AIM and added you, but the name there is Magistius. ICQ is also listed on my profile if you like that better. IRC available, but not preferred.

[Shutter]

Gah, sneaky GM!....either that or...nah....sneaky GM.

[Wired*Nun]

I got no e-mail. My e-mail is wirednun111@yahoo.com. I did not put my e-mail into my profile, because spammers mine sites like this for e-mail addresses, among other issues. They haven't picked up anything in the actual forums yet, as far as I can tell. I don't open AIM that often, unless I think I need to.

[Thanos]

That would make sense in why I haven't gotten anything until just now with your 'test'.

If you want a live chat, AIM-ICQ-IRC is great. I have played more than a few games in those kind of chat rooms. Not a bad venue, but I like posting like this better.

[LynMars]

Posted fast just before going to LARP, come back...and realized I somehow missed when the wine bottle was offered, so the debate continued...silly me. What I get for speed reading/posting...ah well; made for more interesting conversation. :)

[Pygysys]

That it did, and it meant bigger mouthfuls of wine for Kat. :P

[TreyKincaide]

Just noticed I've obtained Ghoul status. Please pass a femur.

*munch, munch*

Sorry. It's late and I guess I'm a bit loopy.

[Pygysys]

Ooo Ooo, Me too! Pass the bones around. :P

Everyone's entitled to go loopy when it's late.

[Thanos]

I think I have a bit to go before I get to be a Ghoul, as it were. Still enjoying this though, Landon is doing a good job of things all by himself. I antisipate my own lumps and bumps if my character starts poking around the universe at large.

[LynMars]

*Points Thanos toward the contributions forum* Hope it meets your liking. Chalice, thanks for the nice words. I like the first one, too; like I said, the expression was what got me. The variants are neat in their own way (not too happy with the really sunken, sickly one, but that's just because I don't think I did a very good job on it through lack of ability more than anything else). So thanks to everyone for putting up with my excuse for an artistic fit. :)

And Trey, since when do you need lateness of the hour as an excuse for being loopy? ;)

[TreyKincaide]

I resent this coming from you. Thanks for the compliment Thanos. I'm sure you'll be up soon enough from skeleton to having a bizarre affectation for "Braiiinnnsss...." like the rest of us poor sods.

[chalice]

I resent this coming from you. Thanks for the compliment Thanos. I'm sure you'll be up soon enough from skeleton to having a bizarre affectation for "Braiiinnnsss...." like the rest of us poor sods.
I got to be a Tiny Skeleton. Anyone else have to be tiny to start with?

[LynMars]

Yes, but don't worry, enough body parts and we'll have you a ghoul in no time *pats the tiny skeleton's shiny skull*

[TreyKincaide]

Yeah I did. Tiny tiny.

[chalice]

Thanks, guys. I feel better now :nod:

[chalice]

Weird - now I'm a zombie...wha....?

[TreyKincaide]

*Feeds a tiny brain to the tiny zombie*

[chalice]

Oh good. Needed one of those :nod:

[LynMars]

aww, what a cute little zombie...*pets the tiny zombie while she eats her brain*

[Shutter]

Do undead count as canibals if they eat other undead? Or is the nastiness level of undead sufficient that they don't bother with labels like "canibal" anymore?

[chalice]

aww, what a cute little zombie
Just great.

I have become My Little Zombie (TM).

[Wired*Nun]

Ever feed a pig bacon? "Makin' Bacon with Macon..."

[Shutter]

No, but I fed chicken to chickens. Felt kind of wrong.

[Wired*Nun]

So do they get mad chicken disease from that? After all, that's where Mad Cow came from, feeding cow and sheep products back to the animals. I bet that's where SARS came from. Now look what you did!

[LynMars]

*Happy dances and points toward the Fiction forum*

If you haven't read Dave's story, go do so now! Yay, new chapter! Then make comments and helpful critiques in the Commentary thread, it's what it's there for!

*Goes back to gnawing on random legbones like a good little ghoul*

[TreyKincaide]

Wow! That's a great idea. My Little Zombie. Comes with it's own squishy little brain for it to munch on.

[chalice]

My Little Zombie. Comes with it's own squishy little brain for it to munch on.Plus collectible extra limbs, don't you know...

Wow...I grew up. I'm Small now. Look out, world!

[TreyKincaide]

Now you've grown into a small skeleton. Yay!

[LynMars]

My Little Alien (http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/8768371/)

My Little Scorpion (http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/8774600/)

By Wirrit, a friend from that other forum. They can be My Little Zombie's buddies. Aren't they cute in a somewhat disturbing manner?

[Thanos]

It is so demeaning to be classified as a minion like walking undead creature ;-)

[Wired*Nun]

Ur not even walking yet, ur unanimated

[LynMars]

Actually, a friendly ferret pointed out on another board, it explains a lot...about me, anyway, he seemed to think...Besides, if you work real hard, I'm sure someday you'll have your own minions! :fun:

[chalice]

Small, tiny, skeleton, zombie...this place is messing with my brain.

Uh, sorry, my Tiny Brain (TM)

Lyn , no more buddies, please, you're scaring me :tsk:

[LynMars]

Really? This is fairly tame. You should see me on IRC sometimes. ;)

[Thanos]

We will have to hook up some night and chat on IRC (although I like ICQ best ;-).

[TreyKincaide]

Well, I'm off for the night to go play my misguided and naive Lion courtier in L5R. Night all!

[Shutter]

Sorry to derail something that was good and amusing, but could anyone fill me in on the basics of what I've missed by not owning the ShadowKnight sourcebook?

[LynMars]

ShadowKnight: Rules for Broken Pattern, Making broken Constructs (I don't like them much); definitions of terms from Merlin's saga; alternate Elder mock-ups, or at least new perspectives on a few. Um....Rules for making npc Demon characters; a few more ally/friend/devotee/demon ally options....summaries of all 10 novels...High Compelling, a higher level variant of Conjuration...Updated Character sheets...Dueling and Summoning rules/ideas..."Quest for Frakir" adventure...mock-ups for NPC chars from the Merlin Saga...Implants (another silly rule I tend to ignore)....ideas on how to better RP beings as powerful and alien as Elder Amberites, and things like Trust in a political game...I think that about covers it.

[Shutter]

Overall then it doesn't really sound like something I'd need/want to be trying to get a copy of eh?

[LynMars]

meh. Some of the ideas for characters and the advice on GMing and RPing are good, and the art's by Kucharski again, so it's good, but it's not really necessary.

[Shutter]

Gotcha. Thanks for the rundown:)

[Thanos]

You forgot to mention that it gives guidelines for creating such monstrously powerful things as Ghostwheel and Spikards, which as a GM has given me nothing but headaches with how simple some of it was explained as being. 
For any future reference, if anybody ever plays in one of my games, a Spikard with the addiction problems that Merlin has in the series is 80pts! ;-)

I have allowed the rules for Demon creation (with a few tweak) to be used to make PC’s in two different games that I ran. I was very satisfied with the outcomes, but I only allowed it because each of the players were very excellent and looking to play something totally different than anything they had ever played before. They were also excellent plot tools, whether they knew it or not!

[LynMars]

Spikards and Ghostwheel are constructs, under those rules, and what I refered to. Yes, I had one player make a Construct. Never again. I could deal with that player, but it was still a pain in the backside.

[Pygysys]

Constructs - my rule of thumb - Never heard of them. :P Evil things, eeeeeeevil! Still, I'm glad to get my hands on my own ShadowKnight book, just cause I'm an Amber romantic at heart. Finally got the Visual Guide to Castle Amber too. Do you have any idea how difficult it is/was to get those books in Australia? I'm still kicking myself for not checking out the PhagePress page sooner and getting myself a new copy of Amber when I had a chance. Blah!

[Thanos]

Oops, sorry. I read broken constructs as a short for Broken Pattern Constructs, if line with the first part. Sorry.

One of my friends and I were going to play in an online game some years ago (7) and we wanted to just 'kill' the competition so we set about making a few of those kinds of constructs. We ended up having the means to spy on anybody, just about anywhere, at any time. Past that we could reconstruct pretty much anything back to the big storm that ended Courts of Chaos using some kind of chaos theory and fractal geometry. We soon decided that we would want to have no part of a game where we were playing with such cut throat characters as we were making and promptly quit the game before it even started.
None the less it was a growing experience for the both of us.

[LynMars]

"Visual Guide" is kinda 'there' for me; Zelazny may have had a hand in it, but something about it all just doesn't quite ring true for me. I would like to get my hands on the big Encyclopedia thing by Theodore Krulik, but am afraid it will end up like "Visual Guide"; couldn't find it, got it on ebay, found it in a local used bookstore for cheaper the day after I sent payment.

[Pygysys]

I used to think I was lucky just being able to read a friend of mine's Amberzines. Damn friend moved away and now I miss out. *Shakes fist fondly* Can you believe how much some of those things have sold for?

[Shutter]

Knew I should have gotten a subscription when Amber first came out...'course I didn't quite have a credit card then.

[Pygysys]

Hey I didn't even know the game when they first started coming out. Got introduced to it by my Amberzine family (<--- that was meant to read friend, Amber is so insidious) after he tossed all 10 books at me and said, "Let's play this awhile instead of Pendragon, I'm all Arthured out." So away I went and then a week later I was buying my own copy of the gamebook. Tried to get all the novels but wouldn't you know it, they were out of print and only what was left on the shelves was available. Thank GOD! for the most recent releases of the combined novels. Still need to get the Great Book of Amber though for Merlin's chronicles but I have the first 5, yay me.

[Thanos]

I was lucky to get into Amber in the mid 80's in terms of readin the books. They had just started reprinting them in small paper backs. I read the first 9 pages of Nine Princes in Amber in the book store and bought the first 3 books on the spot. Then I kept getting a new one each month or so when it released. I had to wait a year to get Signs of Chaos. Knights of Shadow was my least favorite book, but Prince of Chaos made up for it in spades.

I think it was 1992-3 when I started getting interested in the DRPG, or thats when I found it it existed. In 1995 I ran my first two games, one was a summer one with my friends back home and I went back to college and ran one there. Both ended up including almost all the RPGers that were in our circles. The college one had a cast of almost 20, 12 regular players and 8 different people from the drama club who wanted some practice. It all ended up with a Demon at the Center of the Pattern with Oberon telling him he was his first real son. ;-) Much fun!

[LynMars]

My mother had a copy of "Nine Princes in Amber", but I didn't find any of the others until I was in Junior High, and then I tore through them all. Got the first five in compilations from my uncle, who was giving away the majority of his massive sci-fi and fantasy collection. I bought the individual Merlin books. Bought the "Great Book of Amber" to have them all in one place to save space (important when you move a lot in the army, then in college. Off campus) and because someone walked off with Volume 1 (books 1 and 2). Didn't learn about RP at all until I was in the army, then discovered both RP books by chance in a local gamestore. Never have gotten a hold of an Amberzine, though.

[Pygysys]

I didn't mind the majority of the stuff I read in the Amberzines, especially the character tales/diaries, etc. Was really interesting to see how other characters developed, along with how they played various powers, etc. So I liked it for the perspective it offered.

[Shutter]

I'd just like to say that I quite enjoyed Arrotel's latest action. It gave me a nice Amberish feeling deep down.

[Wired*Nun]

Yes, it's nice to see people doing Amberish things in an Amber game. I got NPIA by chance, my dad is a voracious but uncaring reader (damn him) - he read like a book a day but would trade or give them all away at the drop of a hat. What a collection he could have amassed! It was the edition with what looked like a knight of some kind on the cover, I remember, this was around 1975. I then hunted down the books in the local libraray, then got the (in)famous cheap sci-fi book club edition (I still have it, it is deteriorating as we speak) of the Corwin chronicles. When Merlin came out so much later, I read the first one and it pissed me off in a way, because I wanted to read the rest right away, so I actually waitd until they all came out, then bought them all in a used bookstore. I started playing ADRPG in 93. I had had the books for a bit but never got anyone to play, but being assigned to Yokota AB, Japan turned out to be great for RPGing (see mybio-lette). Then a huge hiatus, and now. I must admit that although I got all the AZs, I really didn't like some of the far-afield crap that came out in them. The things some GMs allow are completely unbalancing, just Amber Monty Hall, or Haul if you prefer. If I can spend 10-20 character points for the sword that will kill (unenhanced) Benedict, why buy attributes? That's why I pay close attention to bought items in my campaigns. Constructs you say? Ballocks. Merlin was a special case, by virtue of whathe tried never having been tried, using something new (computer technology). How much did Dara and Mandor facilitate things? It may have been only due to the AI nature the Ghostwheel that it remained a non-tool of those two. Spikards? I don't buy them as pre-Pattern, because the creation of the Pattern reshaped all of what was shadow at the time, which would have crippled their connections and power sources, in my view. The near-automatic nature of their function also makes them god-items in my book as well - how do you beat something like that? So, at the very least, not something PCs can obtain for any length of time. 80 pts? An elder would gladly give 200 for one, I suspect. Notice also that there were 9 rings...9 rings given to Men, who above all, desired power. Sound familiar? Maybe there is a One Ring out there somewhere. In any case, good plot device, bad PC-owned thing.

[Shutter]

Amen to Wired's post. The spikards drive me nuts from a gaming perspective. Even bother me a good deal from a plot device perspective...but an excellent illustration of Too Damned Powerful, which is useful to have seen.

[chalice]

The following simple instruction appears year on year in many AmberConUK character creation guidelines: No Shadowknight Nonsense.

Says it all for me.

[Thanos]

Thats been my general feeling. Unless a player gets totally hosed in the auction, then nothing in the Shadow Knight book is accessable to start. Broken Pattern being the kinda of saving grace of that book, IMO, it allows people that do not like having to be part of the family to get around. Traveling the broken way, as I call it, will never get you where you want to go in one piece :devious: . I always thought that if it was broken, then you should be to after your travels through shadow. Made getting full Pattern a big incentive, if at all possible.

[chalice]

Two of my regular GMs now use the following guideline for Pattern possession, especially in convention games:

You can have Pattern (or indeed, Logrus, if so inclined) for free. Your points are for building the rest of your character.

If you want to start without Pattern (or Logrus) - or be limited in your use of them at first - for in-character reasons, that is fine. But you can't get more points by starting without. When/if you do walk the Pattern or Logrus later in play, it will be free, and you'll roleplay through learning how to use it bit by bit.

Seems to work well.

[Shutter]

Interesting. So, people start these games with 100 points for stats and other powers, or 50?

[Thanos]

Pygysys,

Your characters picture-sake is the new Lara Croft btw :-)

http://www.cubeit.com/ctimes/rhona/ects.htm

Very nice on the eyes!

[chalice]

Interesting. So, people start these games with 100 points for stats and other powers, or 50?
Usually 100.

50 or maybe 75 if they're 'just kids'.

[Pygysys]

Pygysys,

Your characters picture-sake is the new Lara Croft btw :-)

http://www.cubeit.com/ctimes/rhona/ects.htm

Very nice on the eyes!
*Chuckles* Oh that was years ago. She actually did go for the role but lost out to Angelina Jolie.

[Thanos]

Ah..... either way :-) both seem to have more than enough talent and of course the looks to do a good job.

[Wired*Nun]

That's one reason I require Pattern (or Logrus) to start. Looking back on this game, I think I should have made them 100-point characters, since some folks just too 20 points of Pattern (Imprint/shadowwalk) and used the points elsewhere. This had the side effect of encouraging TA in characters whom it may not have completely suited (old news, over and done). The last game I played I required Pattern or Logrus, but it was "whole" (50 or 45)...so I essentially discounted these powers by 25 points and gave them a 100-point character. The minimaxing I allowed in this game made for some minor problems, but nothing I can't handle, and one of those issues has departed. I'll post more on that later, but not right now.

Play and learn.

[Thanos]

Perhaps I am mistaken, but doesn't Logrus require Shape Shifting (at some level)? It really takes a big hit on a 100 point character to put 80pts into SS and Logrus ;-)
Add Sorcery to that, like a gentleman of chaos should have, and you pretty much know why Lords of Chaos lack in the basic 4 stats a good bit compaired to those of Amber.

[Pygysys]

Yes they do, they both also seem to be getting better with age and experience. The majority of my friends (both male and female) agree, they wouldn't kick either out of their bed. I have a strange group of friends...

Switching over to the points thread:

If our GM wants us to have points to flesh out our characters with, he just ups the starting points to 150 but you must spend 50 on Pattern. If you don't want Pattern, then you must spend the 80 to get Logrus. None of us mind too much, it's nice to have a few more points to spread round. Of course, when one player proceeded to spend 50 points on friends, allies, house support, devotees from both sides and so on... we wondered if he would have done so if he only had 100 points to start with.

[Pygysys]

And I see that this is a good time to catch everyone online. Must remember that... next time I can't sleep, log on around 2am and say hi. ;)

[LynMars]

Logrus does require Shape Shifting. My last game, however, I stressed I was running an *Amber* game. I had one player with some partial shapeshifting, enough for animal forms (Harry Potter-style animagus), and one actual Chaos Lord (Trey's character Elias) who had amnesia, so had only partial access to his powers anyway. And Chaos rank exists for Chaosites; so they can afford those powers, cause they aren't as naturally strong as Amberites. So SS with Logrus. Unless of course you want to be torn apart...or just not be able to exist in Chaos. The game I'm in right now, we went to the Courts once, and the GM made it very BAD for those of us without SS. *shudders*

Don't know why so many players want SS and Logrus in an Amber game...I've had to restrict it a couple of times.

[LynMars]

And I see that this is a good time to catch everyone online. Must remember that... next time I can't sleep, log on around 2am and say hi. ;)
That's what ya get for being an Aussie. :fun:

[Thanos]

Heh, I am normally at work about 1:15 minutes ago and access is limited to my daring to go online......
However, I took the morning off cause I wanted to ;-) (thats what you can do when you have over 3 weeks of sick leave backed up and the company only lets you have 4 max).....its nice sitting around for a morning once in a while.

[Shutter]

I'm jealous that all of you have been able to actualy play Amber before. I've never made it through more than one or two sessions of any gaming group. Just never found the right people.

Also: Welcome to primetime Pygysys!

[Pygysys]

Yes it's what I get for being an Aussie. :P

And I enjoy playing a Chaosian every now and then... but I've had bad experiences too, especially when Oberon resurrects himself and strips SS and L from you and imbues you with pattern energy... long story, but my poor character was traumatised for weeks... weeks I tell you. ;)

Just to rub it in, Shutter... I've been part of games that have run for a year or two, others for 6 months and even those that have died after a few weeks. For my gaming group, it just depends on our mood. If the game's good, we keep playing, if school interferes things go on hold and so on. I admit though, tis better playing the game for an extended campaign. Not a big fan of short scenarios myself. I like the time to develop my character and take over the universe!

[Shutter]

That would be quite a plot twist wouldn't it?

[Pygysys]

Taking over the universe? I thought it was the aim of the game? :P

And don't ask me about the time I went to Chaos as an Amber spy. That one had ME screaming in game and suffering from cold sweats. Gak.

[Pygysys]

Time to try that sleep thing again. Night all. :)

[Shutter]

Bah, why take over the universe when you can't appreciate the entire thing at once?

...I suspect I'm just not a conqueror at heart.

[chalice]

[QUOTE=Shutter]I'm jealous that all of you have been able to actualy play Amber before. I've never made it through more than one or two sessions of any gaming group. [QUOTE]

Go to an AmberCon! Short games can turn into longer ones.

In fact - come to AmberCon UK - we have lots of spare crash space here in the barn. Open invitation for next year's ACUK, anyone...

The face-to-face I'm in at the moment, The Last Enemy, has been running for about 5-6 years now - though since we only get together maybe 6-8 times a year for weekend-long sessions (less this year, as the GM has wedding plans to deal with), that's not quite as impressive as it sounds.

I may be biased :nod: but I think we have ended up with some beautifully rich characters as a result of such a long run - we've had the luxury of time to develop and cherish them. (Actually I'm on my second. My first ended up in an unavoidable vendetta situation with Finndo, and since I didn't want the game to become about that, Beltaine 'retired'. Though her presence is, as they say, 'felt in Amber' from time to time.)

If you want to see an example of how a longterm game fits together, you can check out the details on my GM's homepage at http://www.wolfram.demon.co.uk/rp_am_tle_top.html

There are some very neat partial powers ideas stashed there, as well as some off the wall variant ideas courtesy of the Insidious Dr T. (Only did his PhD so he could call himself that. We know this to be true - uh, hullo, Dr J, if you're reading like I said you should.)

[LynMars]

I think I've heard of that game, or one very similar to it, before...weird...maybe I'm just being silly, though...

Edit: Nope, after looking at Beltaine, I know that I have seen that page before; in fact, Beltaine was the character in that particular game that caught my attention. I read up quite a bit, up to the point where she wrote Random a very hurt-filled letter when he allowed the destruction of a Shadow she was in at the time, though he knew she might no be able to escape. Odd coincidence. Haven't checked it out in quite some time, though.

[TreyKincaide]

I've always wanted to go to the UK. Anything to get outa KS. Maybe I'll be able to travel after graduating (knocks on wood.) next summer.

[chalice]

Beltaine was the character in that particular game that caught my attention.Haven't checked it out in quite some time, though.
Well, Story Arc 5, she may just get her own back :mad:

[Wired*Nun]

Well, next summer's Amberon UK would be good for me. I will make a point of it.

she wrote Random a very hurt-filled letter when he allowed the destruction of a Shadow she was in at the time, though he knew she might no be able to escape. Odd coincidence.

Yeah, very odd coincidence. I really didn't read that before, I really didn't.

[LynMars]

By "the other two" in the Raevyn, Roland, and Kat thread, you mean Joss and Kat, right? Rae will have to find something else to do until the actual party, unless she's supposed to show up for rehearsal too...or I can wait a bit. :)

[Pygysys]

I've love to attend a Con, unfortunately my partner and I aren't going anywhere till after I graduate. Better to have two working members to save towards a holiday than one. Our three cats still haven't sought employment, lazy critters.

[chalice]

Hey, get here and we can feed and house you :nod:

Cats are good for...uh, looking good?

"And purring."

Adds my lurking Other. Who greeted me this morning with a cup of tea and the loving words

"And how is my Tiny Zombie this morning?"

You should Know, I blame YOU, Dave.."