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RPG hypersigel narrative project

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20:28 / 16.07.03

I'm considering infiltrating the narrative, but I'm a little wary of how to go about creating a character that works with the magical concept(s).

My previous RPG character creation was pretty simple: come up with unusual power or weird antistereotype (say, Euthanatos filmmaker) and then attach personality traits that might have created such a person. But this is a little more, y'know... heavy. I'm not sure where to put any 'me' in, and how much. Anyone want to come into the Roleplayer's Studio and give an interview on process?

21:29 / 16.07.03

Well, there are a lot of ways to go about it. Playing up the hypersigel aspect, one approach is to start basicly with you as you are, and then start tweaking the character to enhance parts of your personality or abilities that you would like to focus on or bring out, suppress others and generally warp the character into a sort of idealized fantasy version of the person you would like to be, with magick powerz

Basicly, the more you tie the character into yourself (or at least are able to identify with it, even if its completely different from the real you) the more the hypersigel working may effect you. Though you could as easily have a completely different person as the character, who is perhaps involved in something you are interested in or is working through something you want to work through. There are many many levels to approach it at. Or you could just fuck about with something you think is cool and see where it goes. Really, its a pretty open sort of working that way.

Near as I can tell, the magick is based on the sympathetic link between you and the character. So however and to what extent you make this link is the extent you may see effects from the story in your life. Beyond that, the rest is just foci...

22:43 / 16.07.03

My approach has been to tie aspects of the character to aspects of my own life, interests etc.

I've done a suprising amount of "head work" on myself just by thinking through side plots which I have not even written down.

I've also been adding aspects of my own life and those of people around me. For example the description of people looking after Elsie is from a similar real life situation recently.

23:32 / 17.07.03

Alright, I've got a character in mind (and a bit of statement of intent/goals, too). Should I just put him up on the character page? Is there a preferred insertion or d'you wanna see the character first?

The other questions I have stem from having not been watching this thread from the beginning:

Have some folks gone inactive (as is typical, no value judgment here)? Who?

Is there a storyteller in charge of the overarching plotline or is everyone basically playing the part of their own character, plus the portion of the environment which is not the other PCs? (Main reason I ask is, there seemed to be a feeling against having an antagonist, but Tepeth appears to be a big evil scaly, from what my skimming has told me... happenstance or masterplan?)

And lastly... Since I'm on vacation, it's *possible* that I'll get carried away and start writing with a hammer. But, that's only under the assumption that y'all are perfectly willing to engage in radical revisionism--the core concept of this project makes me want to see people doing 180s with each others' contributions. Is that cool?

00:20 / 18.07.03

It's very cool with me.

I'm having a lot of trouble staying in this story long enough to contribute, partly because my three major projects right now are so very different in flavor and I'm trying to keep pace with them. However, I think a minor "ensigilation," if that's a word, which was unplanned and collaborative with another writer, is slowly starting to happen to me out here, and that is way cool.

So, yes, take your hammer to me, at least--just make sure I come out on top.

01:01 / 18.07.03

OK. This is an experiment. We're totally just finding our way. Try an approach and go with it.

If you totally lose interest it'd be nice to write your character out, or ask someone else to take over/write 'em out.

Quantum claims to be in charge of over all story line, but he's not really. We all are. Thelemocracy. Rule of will.

Maybe we can give guidelines and advice to similar future projects, based on all our fuck ups!

But PLEASE continue the story, I'm really really fucking desperate to see what happens next...

I am running the technical side, but I'm deliberately not forcing ANY rules on the thing, join in. You change it, you change with it. As it should be.

Have fun.

09:59 / 18.07.03

Cool, more meddling

I'm having real trouble with the formatting, I want to link nodes to other parts of the story but it just doesn't want to do it. I keep having these really basic problems, even after reading the FAQ etc. because some of them don't apply. How about a 'top 10 useful commands' list in the help? e.g. making a node, linking a node, etc?

Also how do I go 'up a level'? e.g. I looked at 'Dazed' in the recent changes and wanted to check where the passage was it appears in, how do I backtrack from a node?

Tepeth is the servant of a more powerful master (Romof), who is the one holding the auction for the crown in his country manor in chapter 4 (IIRC). Her murder of Nail was partly accident, and she's more an evil acolyte than a big scaly scary. Think Face from the A Team but evil and a woman.

Have some folks gone inactive?
It seems that Shem, Jim Blackthorne and Kos have gone a bit quiet but I'm sure they'll be back once the nice weather declines.

I am going to reorganise the material a little for ease of use and narrative flow, let me know if you don't like it (and see 'subpages', good idea cusm)

Please send an email notification by checking the box if you make any big additions or changes, otherwise it's easy to miss 'em. The 'recent changes' is useful for that but there's a lot going on...

*

14:35 / 18.07.03

I invite people to tinker with my scene. The folks who "wish to speak with" Carrick aren't from Tepeth's group, but I'm not quite sure what group they are actually affiliated with. Something rather unscrupulous, clearly, and some group that would know something about Carrick's psychology, but not that much. A group that might have been watching ta back in the states, perhaps, or perhaps they have information from someone else.

Carrick has to survive this, but Jessica can either come out of this a better (stronger) person or die or just end up wounded or abandoned to come back into the story later. I'd appreciate having someone run the bad (?) guys, if anyone has time or inspiration.

20:55 / 18.07.03

I kind of stalled out a bit due to the "horser gets a lucky break" someone threw into the blurb for chapter 4. I figured someone had a plan there and was waiting for it to manifest so I could play off it before I stuck myself back in otherwise.

00:39 / 19.07.03

I m having trouble figuring out where to insert myself into the narative, am I suppose to be in the lovers?

04:51 / 19.07.03

I'm kind of waiting for Koyne to answer his cell phone, myself. Thinking about other details to add whilst I wait.

10:30 / 19.07.03

Hurr? Zbuh? Fwah?

10:32 / 19.07.03

(sheepish)

You don't have to wait for me--write my parts in and I'll change em if I don't like em.

11:03 / 19.07.03

Suggestion for new rule (of thumb (which you can always ignore anyway))...

DON'T over-respect other peoples plots and ideas. Fuck with them. Don't ruin or break them, but bend and subvert them. I enjoy creating characters and situations and then seeing what happens, my own figments start doing unexpected things.

Don't kill or completely their primary character, but feel free to throw shit at them. Any character is not listed as one of the The Players should be considered fair game to do what you like.

If you do have a specific plan then leave scraps or notes in place to anchor it. If you don't then assume people will fuck with it. Things like the "Horser gets a lucky break" are a challenge, you gotta keep writing but make sure Horser does get the break!

The magick aspect works best for me when other people fuck around with the aspects of my working that I've placed in the story.

If in doubt, do it! If somebody really hates it they can always undo it, I've set the history to 100000 days!

*

12:20 / 19.07.03

Great idea! Now, someone help me move my little side adventure along so's I can get back to the group and make m'self useful! If you've got an idea for another group of evil sorcerors to throw into the mix, now's your chance!

*tap dances excitedly, snoopy-style, with a rakishly angled top-hat*

05:27 / 20.07.03

oh ok

07:41 / 20.07.03

"You don't have to wait for me--write my parts in and I'll change em if I don't like em"

Sorry, I still have to get used to this - I'm used to more traditional styles of role-playing, where assuming someone else's reactions is the worst form of bad manners.

16:18 / 21.07.03

One tactic you can take is to write out some of what happens, leaving spaces for the other person to fill in their reactions later, like [he replies]. Then, the two of you smooth out the narrative over the course of a couple revisions.

21:29 / 14.08.03

Hi folks,

Sorry I started doing a bunch of work on the narrative and then pretty much disappeared. Life has become very busy for me between work and moving.

Please, anyone feel free to take over Adam Nox for a while until I can find more time.

Also, I may use that character for an actual book I've been toying with. FYI, for legal or whatever purposes (seems like I should mention that just in case...). I you like I could extract him entirely... But I have no intentions of drawing from the hypersigil narrative for something that may be a personal commercial endeavor in the future.

Do what you will.

09:56 / 20.08.03

I wouldn't do this if it weren't for the fact that everything is archived for all eternity, but I think I'm going to extract Adam Nox for the time being. (I'm not just deleting everything you wrote willy-nilly, though--I dig the eagle sequence, but I'm going to allow it to happen to someone else.)

This is the biggest destructive change I've made--please, pretty please, undo it if you find time to play around again. It just feels like... bad feng shui, I guess, to have a character with that much influence on a plot thread to be left unplayed.

10:03 / 20.08.03

duuuuuh, hawk, not eagle.

12:54 / 20.08.03

Tommy: I was actually thinking about making a "bad guy" plot thread of him if it was okay with the character's owner. We've got lots of shadowy other factions and no real characters in them but someone who's gotten shot in the head, for all I can see.

LVX23?

18:27 / 20.08.03

Faething & tommy,

I'd rather see the character written further by someone else than destroyed/removed. I think the character is really good but, as I said, I'm just spread really thin at the moment and it won't likely ease up until November (literally).

Fae, go for it if Tommy is OK with it... At some point in the future I'll step back in and add some flairs here & there, but anyone can take ownership as much as they wish...

c23

19:01 / 20.08.03

I'm absolutely okay with it!

*

01:47 / 18.09.03

Okay, okay, I give.

*sigh*

Classes have started up, I'm working, I have huge overdue academic projects, and I've suddenly discovered I have to find somewhere else to live. I hardly have time to check my e-mail anymore. Would anyone mind "unwriting" Carrick back to the point te was on the side adventure? Or otherwise, write ta off on a new sidequest somewhere. If you don't feel comfortable messing with pronouns just make sure the link gets e-mailed and I'll edit them.

I'm sorry. I feel like an errant schoolboi who hasn't done tai homework.

07:03 / 18.09.03

I'll see if I can't work on it, I'll need some help from someone else though, I doubt I'll catch everything. And don't be such a work horse, remember, you have an excuse, because work sucks.

10:08 / 18.09.03

I'll help (gradually). But don't feel guilty! There's no deadline for this project, it won't die if left untended, take your time and write when you can. It's better to add to it when you feel inspired and have the time, than to force yourself to do it like a chore.
I think the same about magick- feeling guilty about what you haven't done is a waste of energy, just do it.

10:45 / 18.09.03

yeah, do what thou wilt, baby!

I plan to keep the site up indefinitely. At least a few years, although the URL may end up moving.

I've just been told to produce a research paper on wiki's, ha! I have been using you all as unwitting pawns in my experiments!

If anybody wants me to generate a "snap shot" of the site as a static website that they can save to CD-R or something, I'm sure I can manage it...

14:58 / 18.09.03

Participation has really slowed lately in general. I get the feeling everyone is waiting for someone else to make a move. Hrmf. In any case, I'm still in, even if its plodding about lately. There's no real rush for it, so you could probably check back in a month or two and not miss much at this point.

18:44 / 18.09.03

You can always introduce a friend to it...

I'm more than happy to have it go at a slower pace, we've all got plenty of other projects and can each come back to it when the mood takes.

17:48 / 16.06.04

... well holy shit, you people have been writing in it again... sort of.

this is me bumping it to remind myself to write something sometime soon. Honestly, I figure it kind of died for a while not just because we all got busy but in part because we'd gotten to where we really are in our lives... mmm... time to start Thinking on where things Go From Here, inside and outside the story, then...

10:04 / 17.06.04

Hot Damn! I wonder why nobody remembered this when I broached the subject of Invisibles roleplaying back here...
Invisibles RPG
Good stuff- this calls for some serious lurking. ^ ^

12:24 / 17.06.04

It's still there, and still open.

A new bunch of players are welcome to take it new directions.

The story started here and you can add to any part...

Also I'm happy to set up a new copy of the wiki (with all the mods players suggested) with an empty database, and let a new story begin. Just email me (elseware AT totl.net) - I don't check PM's very often right now.

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