Next war discussion

[Malcor Sylverwood]

Did some cleanup in preparation for the new stuff. Most of the old stuff I thought we wouldn't need I moved to the War Memorial forum. If there's something I missed (in either direction), let me know.

-Malcor "Admin" Sylverwood

[sir archely]

we'll need to decide on a location. just one city, if we're doing it that way. maybe the land for a few miles around. the map is here but we can always add a new place or two if we want.

James' map is also HERE (if you don't mind James).

Angelfire is perhaps the worst host EVER.

[Malcor Sylverwood]

i'm against this. i think lyle proved in the last war how well a two-character combination can be used, and i personally enjoyed writing vic and yuvna together.

OK...how about this...we'll allow three characters, no more than two of those can be allied. I think if we can get people writing in different places/storylines...well, that might be a good thing.

As for the timeline, are there any objections to just being more sensitive to the time issue? I think if we get too technical about it then we are going to end up getting confused and confusing everybody else (HA, like thats never happened).

I'm thinking if we force at least *some* passage of time, it might provide some addition kick in the pants. I could be wrong. Even if its nearly trivial...say that a minimum of one game day passes for a real week? And we probably want to set some sort of maximum too. That way, if one storyline get the hell written out of and it leaps forward weeks...we don't have other storylines struggling to keep up. So...hrm...

Per one real week: Minimum of one game day passes, max of 10?

-Malcor "Seeing what sticks" Sylverwood

[LaughingTurtle]

Ah the many iterations of the war map...

First...
Second...
Third...
Fourth...

Sorry I don't remember who all modified the original for the other versions...


EDIT: Question... If we do sorta quasi enforce a timeline, how would we deal with people who miss writing a week or two weeks, or a month and their storyline falls behind... Would it be on the shoulders of those who are/had been interacting with the absent writer's character to carry them along to ensure everything is still on time. Doesn't sound right or fair to the writers who stick around, yet if not various storylines will fall behind cause not everyone writes at the same pace and sometimes events occur in real life that preclude internetage and whatnot.

This happened a bit in the last war and really put the breaks on a few plots occuring in a small place/time frame for a while and caused others to jump ahead with people waging wars in the meantime.

It may become detrimental to active people's characters who rely on people that get left behind, not to mention keeping everything straight overall. Sticky situation, but in the end if people don't write to keep up with continuity I guess they'll just have to accept people writing their character as what they deem fit in their own posts. Nature of the beast with group writing...yay/nay?

[sir archely]

well, if someone falls out and you depend on them, write 'em out of your story for a bit. and yeah, i agree that if you just can't do that, then it's their fault for not writing if something happens they don't like.

also, that first one is mine, but you have like the worst possible version of it. where did that one even come from?

[LaughingTurtle]

It's because I converted it to a .jpg for easy uploading and size restrictions rather than the .png I had it in.

[Amos]

OK...how about this...we'll allow three characters, no more than two of those can be allied. I think if we can get people writing in different places/storylines...well, that might be a good thing.

~nods~ much agreed. we can't be too stringent, cos as the war progresses alliances will probably change, but i think this leaves it open enough. if later on someone wants to write all their three characters into an alliance, it could be approved/disapproved by everybody.

if we find it isn't working to keep wartime relative to real time, then we can just stop.

i might as well update the map a little. it doesn't need much, but i kind of enjoy it and will happily get carried away yet again ~takes notes from arch's~

~steals arch's compass~

[Malcor Sylverwood]

How about starting the war again 5 or 10 years later? I would LOVE to write the opening post because I already have a couple of ideas.

Alot of interesting developments could have occured in those five years to everyones characters (perhaps the land has returned to a semblance of stability) and give people fresh ideas to work with, but without having to relinquish their characters. Though of course it can be fine to start with new characters too. What dost everyone think?

heh, I guess I had in my head that this was basically a reset so that a change of scope and power can occur. Granted, that may be becuase its simply what I wanted. heh.

Anyway, in my mind we are starting with new chars at about the same time as the other war started. Now, try to keep up here, many of the characters we created before still exist. Unique and Monique are waiting for the king to keel over in Bloomingdale, Ohne is still a powerless prince in Ameloct, etc. But, for now they are general world type chars and the EVENTS from the first war don't happen. This is they way I've typically handled new games starting in DnD anyway

-Malcor "2nd level abjurer" Sylverwood

[LaughingTurtle]

I dunno, I sorta don't like the idea of starting at the same time...because how you would have to re-explain the flood, dragons, a huge frigg'n multiple nation/city war, not to mention the redundancy factor. I'd rather have people explore new plot lines/devices especially because of a "fortune teller syndrome" as we all know that these events would eventually occur.

I'd either start fresh from the beginning, no concurrent characters from the other war or move it forward a few years and have the past only alluded to vaguely. So those events from the other war people could be referenced but since they already happened would only be a launching pad for new paths.

Laughing "monkey wrench" Turtle

[Waffles]

Can I bring back Cap'n Jack Waffles though? He got dumped in the first war...

[Anita Blake]

~has missed so much of this conversation~

~flails about in confusion for a bit~

so wait...

we must have 3 characters, or can have up to 3 characters? terry pratchett-like tomfoolery is allowed as long as it's stylized? anachronism is bad, mandatory posting each week... have i got this all straight?

ok, my question, then, from a foolish-girl standpoint, having never been close with the DnD/war-fantasy stuff - must there be a "war", as in battle between nations/armies? is the overall purpose of the story to determine the outcome of such a war between enemy states? is the main conflict to be determined prior to the start-up, and should the main conflict take precedence over all conflicts of character/personality? By this i mean, should Character A be mostly concerned with the "War" and not with his own personal interactions/conflicts with Character C who has stolen something of his. Should character interaction be limited to the pursuit of the overall conflict?

I ask because i notice that in the last war, there were so many minor conflicts that characters could become bogged down in, subplots that were difficult to brush aside and became main plots. Should the main plot be pre-planned? not the details, just the broadstrokes of things that must occur? I know that for myself, as a writer, i prefer to immerse myself in the character and let things sort of happen to the character, and quite frankly, battles interest me not one bit. armies, weapons, fights, these things make not a story!

~dodges bullets~

just my questions and 2 cents.

[Amos]

we must have 3 characters, or can have up to 3 characters? terry pratchett-like tomfoolery is allowed as long as it's stylized? anachronism is bad, mandatory posting each week... have i got this all straight?

can have. unless we don't like you, but you're pretty safe there.

ok, my question, then, from a foolish-girl standpoint, having never been close with the DnD/war-fantasy stuff - must there be a "war", as in battle between nations/armies? is the overall purpose of the story to determine the outcome of such a war between enemy states? is the main conflict to be determined prior to the start-up, and should the main conflict take precedence over all conflicts of character/personality? By this i mean, should Character A be mostly concerned with the "War" and not with his own personal interactions/conflicts with Character C who has stolen something of his. Should character interaction be limited to the pursuit of the overall conflict?

i think it's up to each person what they do, at least in the quill wars. for me the battles and such are incidental. elevator music. like you, i find developing my character is much more interesting, and i put more thought into that.

~dodges bullets~

show-off!

[dark fuschia]

I REALLY don't like starting at the same time as the last war started. Its like saying those events didn't happen, which is against some unwritten cosmic storylaw in my head. If we want to proceed as though those events did happen, it would be a bit boring and rehashy, even if it did have a diff spin from diff characters point of view. If 5 or 10 years later isn't any good for people, how about starting in a different age, say a few hundred years later and the events of the last war can be reffered to as sort of vague legend or history. I really like that idea too.

Maybe we can do a poll on this too? I'll start one.

[Malcor Sylverwood]

I dunno, I sorta don't like the idea of starting at the same time...because how you would have to re-explain the flood, dragons, a huge frigg'n multiple nation/city war, not to mention the redundancy factor. I'd rather have people explore new plot lines/devices especially because of a "fortune teller syndrome" as we all know that these events would eventually occur.

...and the EVENTS from the first war don't happen.

hehe

-Malcor "Repetitive" Sylverwood

[QuirkyTemplate]

Per one real week: Minimum of one game day passes, max of 10?

I think this solves the problem. And like you all said, if you fall behind, your characters are free game sucka! heh, not exactly, but something like that.

Now to think of a character. I think I have at least one, and he/she/it is pretty interesting too. Oh, and do we get lackies like we had last time, or no?