Firewatch: The Multi-User Novel
The summer of 1986 was one of nationally publicised forest fires and the underwhelming force required to control the rampant waves of tonguing flames. The giant snail trails of ash criss-crossing their way across the forests marked a reminder that nature may do as it will, but humanity still needed it, if even just for the beauty. Char and ash was unsightly, at best. So in the winter of '86 and and the spring of '87, the National Forest Service sent out one of the largest seasonal advertisement runs in history. Forest technicians, smokejumpers, park rangers were all hired for the summer, in the great effort to preserve the land bestowed to us by evolution and rapid hunting of millions of species to extinction. And sitting in their lonely lookout towers, miles and miles from any reasonable person, were the fire lookouts. Those that, with nothing other to do or an inane need to finish a poorly written book, sat in their towers and watched. You are one of these fire lookouts, and your job this summer is to watch vigilant over the Santiam State Forest in Oregon. Keep an eye out for fire hazards, natural fire occurrences, and generally doing your best to preserve the Santiam Forest.
Things To Know:
1) I'm bullshitting most of this stuff here. Historical inaccuracies will be present. I don't know if 1987 was even a hot year, but it is now, so run with it. Try and keep most of the political, technological, and pop culture references as chronologically accurate as possible, but I'm not going to go ape if it isn't (I probably wouldn't even know, to be fair).
2) While the game Firewatch is a heavy influence, real life was also an influence on the game. Thus, this is based on real life (or the first half of the game if that helps you in any way). The characters are not present, and this has absolutely zero ties to the game, but 'firewatch' is a cool title. Also, this story will be following roughly the same age guidelines as the game, so be wary of innuendo (nothing too heavy, of course), strong language, and possible violence (not murder, but injury detail etc).
3) There will be no other characters in the game besides your characters, the radio operator, and the park ranger, the two last one's I'll be playing. There is also no plot, not yet anyway. In the beginning, we'll be doing standard fire lookout stuff, patrolling the area and keeping watch to ensure nothing dangerous was happening, as well as growing our characters and developing relationships. If we begin to tire of this, I'll be more than happy to work with all of you to decide on a vague plot point to pursue within the park.
4) I absolutely 10000000% encourage you to write most of your posts as collabs. About 80-90%, in fact. One thing I have actually learned is that collabs are not only easier, they make the entire story run infinitely smoother. No longer do people have to flick between posts to follow a poorly understood conversation. Characters can further develop plot points and push the story further than if it were just them as they no longer have the restriction of controlling other peoples characters (another big red no). Collaborations are some of the best posts a story can have, so I encourage you to pursue them. Not only do they help build a rapport between the writers, it also helps to smooth out some of the natural incontinuities that come with writing in a post-by-post format. Collaborating with other writers means not only is there a larger output, but a smoother one too. This is a great site for this use: https://titanpad.com/.
5) This is a weird one, but it's something I've only just realised; a healthy RP needs shit-posting. I don't care if you're posting awful meme's or just chatting with the other writers in the group, an active OOC means people become friends, and people becoming friends means there's a much higher chance of the story staying alive than if the OOC were purely for business. The OOC is the backbone of any IC, so please don't be afraid to keep it active.
Rules:
1) Act reasonable. Actually that's it. I won't insult your intelligence by carrying on because you've seen the list a million times. Everything you've seen on a standard 'rules' list before applies here. Don't be a dick.
Your Character
Be reasonable with your character. Remember, that anarchy punk character you've had stored for months and is pleading to get out may not fit with the theme of the story. Your character may be someone looking for experience, someone that cares deeply for nature, someone who's parents are sick of them fiddling with their 'game box thingymajig' and forces them to experience something. The gang kid who's life is involved in drugs and guns isn't going to pack his bags and hike through the Oregon forests. The greaser isn't going to volunteer his summer for this job. I'll call you out if it doesn't fit, in which case you have the opportunity to present your case and inform me why you're correct.
Your Home
As Santiam Forest doesn't have any active lookout towers, I'm making one up. See Things to know #1. Say hello to Tower Duniway, named after Abigail Scott Duniway, Journalist and woman-suffrage leader; lived in Lafayette.
Where We Start
You're dropped off at the gravel parking entrance to Santiam State Forest, with instructions received in the post that you would meet your group there and would do the six-hour hike together up to the lookout tower.
If you have any questions, feel free to PM me or post below.
