General Hangout!

[Nighteyes5678]

4 hours ago, Varen Tai said:

If it's the same Nighteyes, he likely grabbed his questionnaire from my old one. ;) We've been working together a long time.

I've not given any real context aside from being in the FR after Avernus. You are free to create even unknown locations or homebrew stuff and we can adjust as needs be.

Okay, in my defense, I changed it a lot.

I think.

But yes, that was me!

[Rumrunner]

I remember seeing a few other GMs using it and giving you credit, which is why this all makes me laugh.

That said, it's all in the name of having better characters, so I'm glad to say to have come across it in my relatively early days on the weave.

[Varen Tai]

3 minutes ago, Rumrunner said:

I remember seeing a few other GMs using it and giving you credit, which is why this all makes me laugh.

That said, it's all in the name of having better characters, so I'm glad to say to have come across it in my relatively early days on the weave.

LOL, I'm just offended that NE didn't give ME credit on his edited list. Look at me being offended! 😆

[Fwog]

I posted my concepts... now wat do? :(

[Quillmonger]

It has been a long time since I've been here posting anything, but I have been peeking in at this game for a little while to see what everything is shaping up to be. Considering making something if I can think of a concept that is good enough and makes sense.

[Varen Tai]

16 minutes ago, Quillmonger said:

It has been a long time since I've been here posting anything, but I have been peeking in at this game for a little while to see what everything is shaping up to be. Considering making something if I can think of a concept that is good enough and makes sense.

We'd love to have you on board as a reader or a player. :)

[Civit]

posting interest... mulling ideas :P

[Nighteyes5678]

I'm making my rounds through the characters! Please be patient as there is a lot to get through.

 

One of the more valuable pieces of writing advices that one of my mentors gave me is the concept that all of us write two stories at once: Our Internal Story (Story/Character) and Our Written Story (Manuscript).

Writing is actually taking something from our brains and communicating it in a series of coded black marks on a page, so that someone else can interpret that code and receive a story in their mind. It is quite magical and wonderful.

When we think of a story, or a character, we have a lot in our brains. Images, impressions, snippets of story, words, and feelings. It is complicated and nuanced and perfect. I believe that there are no bad stories or characters. Whatever you're dreaming is amazing and wonderful.

Then, we try and take that huge packet of sensory data and inscribe it on paper. We use words, organize them into sentences, and break them into paragraphs. We do our best to use our language to give the tone and information that we want so that another person can appreciate our wonderful character.

When we read our own work, we frequently will not see the manuscript, but the story/character in our head. We'll fill in missing information with what we already know. We'll instantly understand what WE meant when we said a thing. Which means that often, when someone else reads what we've written and gets confused, or interprets it differently, we can't easily understand how they could do that.

"Why isn't Sally hurt after the dog ran into her?"

"Oh, because the dog weighs like six pounds. It's just a little guy!"

"I see, because you forgot to say that, so when you said 'dog' I thought of my first dog when I was a child which was this massive brick of a beast that always knocked me over when he tried to play with me!"

Unfortunately, we can't sit there with every reader and explain that sort of thing to them. What they read is what they get.

So when I come along and leave thoughts and questions on your character submissions, please understand that I am not critiquing or judging your character or story. All I'm doing is responding to your manuscript. If there's a problem, or something needs fixing or reworking, it's not saying that your story is bad, or that YOU are bad. It's just saying that your manuscript if flawed, or could be better.

And that's not a bad thing. There's no such thing as a perfect manuscript. We're human, and in our imperfection is much of our beauty and wonder. It allows creativity and collaboration to flourish.

TL;DR: Please try not to get defensive when I critique your application; I'm talking about your manuscript, not your character or you. Thanks!

[Rumrunner]

Can confirm, nighteyes is nice... Even has typos in explanation that nobody is perfect as case and point. :p

Edit: just thought of another example of the difficulties of writing a communal story. I'm sure most here have read books, then seen the movie and been disappointed. It's the same thing as above, you create so many inferences when reading that may or may not have been intended by the author, and we assume our interpretations are correct. They can be very different than other peoples or the authors intent.

If you consider a GM kinda like a director, clarifications to make sure the GMs understand will only lead to a more accurate direction for the story and then a better experience. So, when a scene comes up that has to do with your character it's not then, that they find out that they interpreted your backstory as something completely unintended. This explanation is likely largely unnecessary, but I like hucking a few pence around whenever I can.

 

[Civit]

For backstory and character purposes, did I miss what year this is starting in on the FR calendar? And how much of the FR history is cannon? (ie. I know some GMs don't have the ToT or Spellplague happen, etc...)

[Rumrunner]

On 12/4/2023 at 3:41 AM, Maester1216 said:

For the sake of clarity, what would the start year of this story be? 1492 DR - around the time if BG3/Descent into Avernus - or earlier?

 

On 12/4/2023 at 6:35 AM, Varen Tai said:

Sure, that'll work.

 

[Rumrunner]

3 hours ago, Civit said:

For backstory and character purposes, did I miss what year this is starting in on the FR calendar? And how much of the FR history is cannon? (ie. I know some GMs don't have the ToT or Spellplague happen, etc...)

Answer in previous post.

[Fwog]

How is everyone doing with their characters?

[Varen Tai]

11 minutes ago, Fwog said:

How is everyone doing with their characters?

I'll just say that I have been delighted with the character submissions! I can tell everyone has put in a lot of work and it shows. We've had some absolutely wonderful applications and I'm excited to see who we get to join with us on this journey. :)

[PixCO]

48 minutes ago, Varen Tai said:

I'll just say that I have been delighted with the character submissions! I can tell everyone has put in a lot of work and it shows. We've had some absolutely wonderful applications and I'm excited to see who we get to join with us on this journey. :)

It helps to work with real pros. Thank you both for the pushes. Yopine's world continues to grow, whether in game or out. I've really missed these in depth dev sessions.