clark

Totem

@OneEyedChurro I haven't yet. When I do, I'll make it into a new post so everyone notices it.

Totem

Thanks @Neon! Haha, I think that'll be fun.

"Hri afa sohré hraka sil, hré kafra." - Overheard during a break up in a Lessir reality TV show.

@Commodore Robot@OneEyedChurro I always imagined "Dj" like the 'J' in Jacques Cousteau.

Candlewick [CLOSED]

ENGINE ROOM - Samira

God, is it morning already?, Samira thought as she peeled open her raw, groggy eyes. She expected to see the idle title screen of the Romeo + Juliet DVD she had fallen asleep to last night. Instead, she found herself nowhere she knew.

Her clouded senses came alive with panic. She was at once aware that instead of lying on a soft, living room couch, she was instead sprawled upon on a hard, coarse floor. Instead of being wrapped cozily in her comforter, her legs were bare and chilled. Samira remained motionless and terrified. Where was she? Nothing was familiar. But more than unfamiliar. This strange old other-worldly place, it was terrifyingly alien. Dilapidated, industrial, overgrown... Her imagination began to spiral out of control as every horror movie she had ever seen began to spool out of her mind like a reel of terror.

Samira dared to look around her, and her heart nearly stopped when she realized she was not alone. Not far away stood three people. Two men. A woman. They were talking in calm voices with each other. She couldn't grasp what it was they were saying. Are they the ones who kidnapped me? her mind screamed.

Holding her breath, Samira quietly crept backwards, away from the mysterious threesome towards the far end of the room. The three strangers seemed unaware or unconcerned of her movements, but Samira's heart raced with the possibility that any moment they might turn around. After an excruciating minute of crawling slowly backwards, keeping her eyes locked on the strangers, Samira finally had her back against the wall beside an old, picked-over toolbox. Her thin hands darted over the pile of strewn tools and carefully removed a heavy, wrench-like tool, pulling her sweater sleeve over her hand first to keep the oil from causing it to slip from her grasp.

Heart pumping, she scanned the walls in either direction, looking for a way out. Having a weapon did not make her feel any safer.

How to be a good GM?

What makes a good GM?

Someone with a strong, clearly articulated vision that remains flexible.

How does one GM a fairly linear plot without making the other RPer(s) feel like you are just pulling them along without a choice?

I have a lot of thoughts about this, but I'll just share this one for now:

I think if you want to tell a linear story, one thing that will help you out a lot is curating what characters you let into the game. If you take just any character from any background, aligning all of those disparate personal trajectories with your story will be pretty much impossible. Tell applicants whatever you need their characters to be before they start crafting. Common enemies, common goals. For a very simple example, all the characters in my game had to belong to a particular mercenary company. To get them started on the same path, all I have to do is have their boss give them orders. Even though in one sense you're "pulling them along without a choice," really it's their characters that chose that life and now they have to deal with the consequences. It makes a huge difference.

Also, to specifically address your point about the story that had crucial events that needed to happen before the main story, don't be afraid to give your the players a prescribed a backstory. Since so many games die because the story hasn't really kicked in, I highly recommend rethinking your story structure, and starting as late in the story as makes sense.

How can one GM a roleplay and still be involved as a character?

I personally choose not to. Maybe it can be done well, but every GM I've seen do this seems to have just figured out the socially acceptable way to god-mod. That said, technically speaking, NPCs are a way to be involved as a character or characters. Just don't get too attached to any of them.

And any other failures or successes you'd like to share?

Here's a failure: there was a point when two of my players were getting along really well and having a lot of back and forth while the other three had nothing to do. So I pushed the story forward, cutting the scene short. What I probably should have done is add something new to the scene for the three players and let the couple keep making magic.

Totem

Oh I'm in no rush, enjoy your Spring break. I was just making sure I didn't rain on everyone's parade.

I might edit in some more information, because Gisele and Gaivus would both would have very strong reactions to this turn of events, reactions Marcel might be forced to deal with before anything else.

Totem

Maybe I'll post next.

The speaker shifts uncomfortably from one foot to another as the silent minutes roll into hours of awkward filibustering. He turns to the deformed creature beside him, whispering "Are you sure we have the right house?"

What's the most things you've seen in RPs?

Taverns.
The word "dark."
Leather dusters.
Dead parents.

Totem

Don't look at this too literally, counting numbers of enemies or trying to figure out how many wagon lengths away this is from that. This is meant to provide a basic layout of roughly where the major pieces are.

Super Professional Battle Map

Legend:

Pink: The Carriage, where Adele and Rook are located.
Blue: The Wagon, where Marcel, Gaivus, and Gisele are located.

The light blue arrow indicates the direction the wagons are facing.
The red Xs indicate clusters of enemies (note, not necessarily 1:1 ratio between Xs and enemies)

Djonn can be wherever you would like, though I would imagine that he's probably close to the front door.

EDIT: I don't know if I'm doing a good or bad job if everyone is afraid to post. O _ O

Candlewick [CLOSED]

Name: Samira Najani

Age: 20

Appearance:

Hider

Samira is of Iranian descent and has inherited some of their features. Dark hair and olive skin; almond-shaped hazel eyes; thick, striking eyebrows. Her small frame is thin with subtle curves. While she loves and appreciates fashionable clothes, she doesn't have the money to invest in them. As such, Samira is typically dressed in her university sweats. When she fell asleep that one night in 2004, Samira was wearing a TSU sweater, pajama pants and wool socks...

Occupation: Samira is a waitress at an upscale, American-style steakhouse restaurant.

History: Samira was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1984, the daughter of first-generation immigrants from Iran. In 1996 her family moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where she lived out her high school days like most kids: listening to grunge music and bubble gum-pop, watching Seinfeld and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, eating Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Toaster Strudels.

After graduating high school in 2002, Samira enrolled into a local university, though she has yet to declare a major. To help pay for school expenses, she applied for a job as a waitress working in a local upscale restaurant called B. Elliot's and has been working there for two years.

One night in 2004, after a long, exhausting Friday night shift, Samira collapsed on her bed and drifted off to sleep...

Personality: Having struggled all her life with identity, Samira is just beginning to articulate the conflicts within herself; being an United States citizen with former Iranian parents; having spent the first half of her life in a big city surrounded by ethnic diversity and being "normal," then coming to Nashville where she was suddenly in an extreme minority and becoming "exotic." Because she hasn't quite settled into who she is exactly, she often questions her feelings and actions.

Samira is a goofball and gravitates to those who can reciprocate her silliness. She's young and naive and ignorant like most twenty year olds, but she has a mind with an intellectual bent, and responds well to people who demonstrate perspective and intelligence. She has a fear of being abandoned, a fear that often displays itself through preemptively pushing people away. Samira is also quite stubborn, and usually won't back down from a argument even when she really should.

She's not entirely sure what she wants out of life yet, but she is determined to find it.

Candlewick [CLOSED]

Looks like everyone is using anime style portraits, I'll find myself a new portrait to fit in. Check back in on Samira for an update!