Chapter 3: Q&A / Discussion

[Jeff]

Just one note up front: since everyone's currently on an airship, think of it is as a moving building. Unless a very precise situation is taking place that requires us to know where everyone is, you can just assume you're constantly moving around the ship. That is, you don't have to constantly say what room you're going to at what point in time, etc. We can keep this fluid. I think there'll be sporadic jumps in time.

My next post will include a more thorough map of the ship. But I want to give you guys a chance to ask questions—and for some of you, to catch up.

[Jeff]

Y'know, Jeff, you'd think that Kalarian would have recognized when someone comes from the same place as him. Would have been valuable information in earlier flirting attempts.

Nope. And I was conscious of that very thing. Misha didn't speak more than one word at a time until now, so no one could identify her accent yet. As for physical appearance, it's not enough. The people of all the Five Nations have too great a spectrum. While many are dark-haired in Karrnath, not all are.

However, I should have said "Both Kal and Torhak" identified her, in that moment, as Karrnathi.

[Darren]

Damn straight. ;D

[Jeff]

Take note. Most of you have just leveled up. Have a look at your character sheet threads for details. In-game, this doesn't mean this all happened instantaneously...these have been abilities/skills you've been honing for some time but now can make use of.

[Josh]

Okay.... so this:

1. NPC initiates conversation
2. A series of PC-generated soliloquies follow
3. Characters storm out
4. Accomplishment = 0

... seems to be our M.O. around here. What's the deal? When someone asks a question, be it PC or NPC, that person is completely ignored by the rest of the PCs, who would rather just move on with their own idea than engage in a discussion or conversation of any sort.

Recently, Ralsor gathered everyone so that a discussion could be had. Grafth asked a few questions and both seemed to be flatly ignored in the following posts. Streko even decided to cut off the answers so that none of the NPCs had to respond. I'm not sure how we're supposed to proceed in these circumstances.

Could we opt for more dialogue, less monologue?

[Darren]

Yeah, I agree with you Josh, and I suppose I'm as big an offender as anyone else. I was thinking about this very thing this afternoon, and I think part of our problem is the format we're playing in doesn't really easily allow for conversation. Conversatioin has a lot of back and forth. One sentence or question, following by a one sentence answer, and back to the other person. But to have a conversation like that in a play-by-post format could take weeks. And that would be one conversation between two people. So I think most of us try to get out everything we want to say before the action moves too far beyond what we were trying to say. I don't really know a good answer to that problem, though...

[Jeff]

I hear your concern, Darren. We can't really do it like regular dialogue, but we can try. We can emulate it a bit more.

On the whole, if you're ready to say a bunch of stuff...just say some of it. See what comes next, then say more of it, if it still applies. That's a bit more realistic.

Of course, there are times when you may feel the need to get all of an idea out. That's fine. But it might help to keep the conversational notion in mind.

[mike]

New as I am, I guess I've adopted the soliloquy format just because I often have a few things that I want Torhak to say ... and it's hard to piecemeal them out in different posts. Particularly because if I only ask two of the four things I want to ask, and then the group goes to do something else - well, then, I don't feel like I've accomplished much.

I would suggest that rather than having characters just leave a conversation, stick around until there's some sort of resolution. Torhak didn't need to eat breakfast as long as he did, but I was trying to make sure the storyline played out as long as possible - I didn't want to interrupt anything.

Let's just all make a conscious effort to avoid "Characters storm out". I think things will work themselves out much better if we can avoid that.

[Josh]

On the whole, if you're ready to say a bunch of stuff...just say some of it. See what comes next, then say more of it, if it still applies. That's a bit more realistic.

Right... that's what I'm getting at, I think. Give people INs to respond, rather than completing every though... pose questions to each other rather than state definitively the end of your idea. Weave the dialogue a bit more.

Frankly, I wouldn't mind a conversation that took a week, if people weren't arguing or naysaying each other.

[Jeff]

Let's just all make a conscious effort to avoid "Characters storm out". I think things will work themselves out much better if we can avoid that.

Yeah, what Mike said.

I won't say no storming out. Let's just keep storming out to a minimum. Use it when it's really applicable. That'll keep its sense of drama. Otherwise, you get:

Kal: Hi, Grafth. Is that a peanut-butter sandwich you've got there?

Grafth: It's mine! Grafth storms out.

or

Tangat: Bark!

Grafth: What is it, Tangat? Did Kal fall into the well again?

Tangat: Bark!

Grafth: Did Goran get caught in the drapes again?

Tangat growls and storms out.

Note that neither Grafth nor Tangat have never stormed out in this game.

(No animals or shifters were harmed in the writing of this post.)

[Joe]

Well, to be honest, I think there was some SERIOUS over-reaction to what occurred. The players do not know everything that is happening with other characters and, I suppose, there needs to be some level of trust involved.

As Streko is the character who INITIATED the group meeting, there was no way that he was going to just "storm out..." even though that is how it appeared.

I, as a player, had no intention having Streko storm out completely, for various reasons I won't divulge here...but I also felt that it was entirely within character for Streko to be insulted by Kalarian's snide comment to him...and his antagonism down in the sickbay...and all the crap he has had to do in three (!!!) days...and none of it...NONE...seemingly getting him closer to knowing what happened to his sister...which is his primary motivation here...if you can put yourself in a similar real-world predicament, I mean, how much of this crap would you deal with before blowing up at someone (and probably the wrong person to do just that...the one you feel closest to)? Fortunately, Streko is a cleric, with a high wisdom score...I'm trying to play him as close to the numbers as possible.

So, if players feel that that other players are making things difficult, perhaps some communication between the players might go a long way to avoid misunderstandings and overreactions.

Just a thought. It is, after all, role playing, yes?

[Joe]

In replying to Josh's last post, the issue with that is simple: neither Kalarian nor Goran (nor, I suspect Torhak) are necessarily the talky type (unless you don't want to get a word in edgewise, eh, Darren?)

I agree that talking is an excellent form of communication and one that should be utilized as frequently as possible...but sometimes, storming out at just the wrong time is exactly what is needed to put another character in his (or her) place. And if it makes the offending character feel just a tad guilty, then all the better.

Again, trust the poster, or at least get an idea of what is happening before assuming that the scene has just erupted into pure chaos for no reason. And feel free to ask...I'll answer if I can (assuming it concerns me).

[Jeff]

I don't think anyone's doubting Streko's motives, Joe. In fact, that's exactly what should drive your actions. I think the greater concern (which applies to almost everyone) is mostly about format. Big giant monologue or conversation weaving, as Josh said.

Both have their place. I guess we just want to try more of the conversation stuff.

So, if players feel that that other players are making things difficult, perhaps some communication between the players might go a long way to avoid misunderstandings and overreactions.

I agree with this whole-heartedly. Use this very thread for talking about stuff out of character!

[Joe]

Hahaha....yes...Streko does have a tendency to...drone...alas, he speaks for Olladra and who doesn't want to listen to her?? ;D

[Darren]

Yeah, I'll go with what Josh and Mike said. If we can all just be more conscious of trying to let a conversation finish before we interject, that might help the flow. It means things might go a little slower, but it'll give a more realistic feel to our conversations.

[Josh]

It's not "slower", it's "more interesting". Sure, we're not leaping hours at a time ahead in the game, but what fun is that?

Not fun at all, I say. Characters talking and figuring stuff out is the only reason I'm playing.

[Darren]

I agree Josh, but it is, technically, slower. I've found myself in the past few days restraining myself from posting because I want to let someone else finish their thought, or let someone else respond before I do. So, to me, that is slower. But it is also, as you point out, much better.

[Josh]

Why not just jot yourself some notes to use later if you feel like you're being held up by waiting to have someone post. At most, you only have to wait a day before saying "I'll post anyways" and move on.

[Jeff]

So mostly it seemed things stalling a bit, right? Almost a full day went by with no posts because I assume you're all waiting until the next big transition, right? I can't honestly tell.

But I just saw Josh's post (and now Joe's).

I wish there were more posts like this. At least during the "slow" moments. (Not so slow moment can certainly have more thorough posts.) But essentially what Josh just did keeps things moving along. Not a whole lot of action, but it's a quick way for him to say, "I'm still here and I'm ready for what's next" while giving other players at least a slight mental picture of what Grafth is up to.

[Darren]

I thought that was what I did when I said, "Knowing there's nothing else to do but wait, Kal goes to practice." Was that not clear enough?

[Jeff]

Hey! I'm just giving a good example of one post...I wasn't yelling at anyone. You did right, Darren.

[Jeff]

Darren wrote:

I was just assuming that someone was going to help....lower him on a rope or what have you. Do we need a specific plan for getting the dog on the ground?

Not necessarily every time. But some things are challenging and need a little bit more than assuming it's done with no work. Same reason why in combat you need to tell me what your character is doing each round, rather than just saying, "So-and-so does whatever gets the job done."

I'm not saying you have to be fully descriptive on the whole dog-going-down process. But Kal needs some cooperation from someone else; they should volunteer, or he should ask. Can't just assume it'll always happen.

Sometimes I'll skip past these things, given the circumstances. But not always. I certainly wouldn't need this every time! Once he knows the best way to pull it off once, successive times can be "skipped" unless there's something requiring more detail.

Make sense?

[Darren]

Yeah, it makes sense. I just assumed that someone would help, so I was trying not to slow things down by waiting for someone to say, "Yeah, I'll help," and then making a second post that says, "With X's help, Kal gets Tangat to the ground." Figured I'd just skip that step.

I've altered my post accordingly.

[Jeff]

There still seems to be some confusion cropping up as to what time of the day it is in gameplay. I really do try to include direct references to such things (dusk, blue sky, darkness of night, dinner, breakfast, etc.) to make it clear, but if it's not getting through I can propose another option. Of course, it may also just be a matter of not reading. Play-by-post games involve reading, inevitably.

But here's my proposed solution: I can make it so that my avatar indicates the time of day. Somehow, I can figure that out. That way you have a visual indication everytime I post as to what time of day it is at any time.

Would this help?

Please, I'd like to hear from everyone on this.

[Darren]

I'm in favor of anything that provides us more immediate information. I know there are times when I check in and don't really have time to go back and thoroughly read everything to try and find some piece of information, and so end up posting based on my best rememberance of what happened. Now, normally that would be appropriate to role-playing, but there's a big difference between what I remember happening 3 months ago and what Kal would remember as having only been yesterday.

[Jeff]

Well, this time-of-day indicator would my avatar, so it'll change across all my posts. In other words, the time indicated on the avatar will tell you what time it is currently, not what time it was on an old post.

[Joe]

sounds good to me...as time moves that much more slowly in gameplay than in RL...whatever makes it easier for everyone.

[Jeff]

Didn't hear from everyone...

But I'm going to go ahead and start experimenting with my avatar. Here's my initial idea: the avatar I use will give you an indication of location (generally speaking, as in country or region) and time of day. When it becomes night or the dark hours of the morning, I'll change it again.

We'll see how it goes. Comments are welcome!

[Jeff]

Also, Jeff....what's up with the weird new icons?

More experimenting. I'd like to customize this board as much as possible. I'm not done.

Currently, all boards (from the main page) appear as little chests. The idea was that when any new post is made, the chest now appears in a pile of gold and is slightly open. Just so you can see at a glance if there's anything new since your last visit.

Only...it looks more like a mini chest in a puddle of mustard. I need to fix that sometime.

[Darren]

Damn! If only Kal knew what was going on, with his upgraded Diplomacy skill, he could totally start a riot right now! That would've been sweet.