Player Written Stories

[MitzaVolchenko]

There have been an abundance of player written stories lately, and I think that is a very good thing. These stories focus aroundone or more characters deepening their backgrounds and giving people a chance to get to know the skeletons in closets, the dark emotions inside osme of the do gooders, and generally expand roleplay.

I have a suggestion for some of the players writing them however. Be flexible with solutions. There is nothing that frustrates people faster than a one solution only puzzle. This is particularly true when the solution is only to be had from someone that is not online or who has to log off in the middle of things. The 'we'll just have to wait and see' solution when there are lots of viable options to try gets irritating. Five real time hours to discover that the first solution you offered but couldn't take until everyone was online is excessive. I understand the desire to let certain characters be present for the end or a story, but try not to punish the rest for the sake of one person, please.

[Hanah]

I'd like to second that... some of the player-driven stories have been marvellous and I'm always very, very appreciative that folks are willing to let me participate in them.

That being said Mitza's right: the somewhat fluid nature of Fredian makes it difficult to get all the pieces in the same room at the same time, so sometimes a little improvisation is valuable. Unless there is a really, really good reason why things are prolonged (it can be useful for creating character tension so long as it doesn't create player tension!) let's try to move things along at a reasonable pace.

If there's anything else I can add, it would be that I always really appreciate when players have a sense of continuity: instead of the 'episodic' events, the toss-offs that are shiny for a moment and quickly forgotten, I've always had a preference for things that *affect* characters in the long-term. These can be good effects but most often they are detrimental... guess we kinda like torturing our chars around here;-)

Anyway, storytellers please keep up the good work, it's admired and appreciated.

Hanah

[FaithIsTruth]

What are these stories and how are they done? I'd love to do some various underdark stories about Drow. or the underdark in general. I could also do a Valsharess narrative. Frankly I consider myself rather skilled at writing

[JoScMa]

Sorry if I wanted Hanah to be in the story that I made yesterday. This was the real first story thing I came up with so please be gentle

Going unconcious in town was something I made up on the spot and thought it was fitting that Hanah would help in this task since she was able to communicate with Mac the day before (luckily she logged on not too long after I started this thing).

Mitza, I'll keep your suggestions in mind the next time I decide to do such a thing.

[Cella]

Please be patient with us, We try to keep the people concerned informed of storylines via Tells, Mac always guides me and I him on our path on stories, I accept we probably both need to inform more (a point Frost made to me recently which i agreed with)

I also tend to keep the people concerned fairly close knit so as not to confuse a lot of people.
Timelines are difficult..example - Keira is now pregnant with Macs child, Do i now wait 9 months playing time, plus growing time to introduce his daughter into the scenery?

The one reason we do this so much is that we as Brits miss out so much on the DM quests....The last quest i went on left me sitting there on a tuesday morning at 5.00am with 1 hour before I got up for work...

I love to weave these stories, It adds depth to this world as well as to the characters...Continuity is hard and mistakes will be made, I made a mistake with Pero recently..which i regret ....I am learning too, My RP history spans only 3 months, so i have not yet achieved the skills you all have yet, I greatly admire Hanahs style of RP and I am not sure i will ever become that good.

The current situation for Mac is facinating, I intended for Keira to drop off the scene for some time now to allow Mac to takes centre stage in his turmoil....

For all that have helped us on these stories thank you. if you really feel out of place in them, tell us, we will not be offended.

Keira

[taylor]

cella i wouldnt call it a mistake, pero is dead, keira is hated, sure it will be hard getting back into the story line for me, but he's dead and id like veryone to please understand that he's dead in role play purposes, so i think his death has accomplished a lot, im quite glad that he's dead, and i will miss him, but as many have said i can bring him back at anytime, but it would be too soon.

as for you cella, when i met you the first time, i thought you was an expert roleplayer, my opinion has only got better of you you are great at playing in character, i am fairly new at roleplaying and i have made my mistakes.

keep at it and as for the child i think if you did it in game days maybe, so that would be over 9 days real time for the pregnancy as for the growing up, that will be much harder.

i think keira is a major plot character as is mack. it is about time mack had a major part to play, mack you probably have had a main part before hand i wouldnt know as i havent played long enough, so it will be interesting.

worst part about having a new character is intergrating him with stories, very hard but i am working on it, so my roleplay will be a bit dodgy so please forgive me as a player.

i also dont think you should act like you all cared about pero when im around, i am no longer him so you can stop the act, though his body remains in an infinite amount of pieces his spirit remains inside you all... (( that sounded sad lol))

the fact that so many of you was stunned amazes me i didnt think i had that much of an affect on most, prooving that with his death only good roleplay was to come, truely great my mission was a success,

shame i missed it once again gremlins keep taking my computer and it will crash and remain down for about 1 hour 30 mins to a couple of days, so i apologise for my disapeearences, bad roleplay by me

[Cella]

If all goes to plan, little Celdor is going to have a major part coming up...I hope you are ready for the return of the woman who killed your brother...As i said though, the choice is yours on how you want to handle him and we will go with anything you want to do....I was thinking about 2 weeks or so for Cella/Keira.....

[taylor]

wow, im not sure celdor is ready, and i think im rushing into roleplay that is beyond him at the moment.

i am not sure i am ready, but just like fate you are never ready, be funny if you mistook me for pero, "aaaagh ghost" lol

i would seriously like ideas on how to deal with this, how would you deal if you met someone who was beyond you and they killed a loved one?

[Cella]

The beauty of it is that it's entirely your choice, you have a couple of weeks to bed your character in anyway, See how it flows, sometimes situations develop themselves....You may just want to leave it or work with someone like Mala or find yourself too close to the situation and become sympathetic to Cella/Keira...Its an empty book that needs filling...you are the author.

[taylor]

i know entirely my decision a fresh opinion is it fear or anxiaty (( if thats how you spell it)) so far celdor know pero is dead, a person turned bad called cella killed him she goes by the name of Keira, and a couple people were under her influence, thats pretty much it,

why wait, i havent really seen hanah in a while so i want to get her opinion of pero's death along with a few others like macks, but thats for celdor to find out, dam timezones lol

[JoScMa]

I'm glad I accepted the decision to have Mac charmed by Keira for a little while. It really made things a lot more fun and interesting. Mac's a total wreck, lost a few friends, respect, and his emotions have been shot to hell.

So it will be interesting how this all turns out in the next few weeks. When Mac's child and Cella return, things are really going to get interesting. I'm looking forward to the interaction between Cella and everyone else.

Pero's death couldn't have been planned at a better time.

[Preedy1978]

I personally enjoy writing the backgrounds for my character, and as i have said before, i totally encourage people to do so. It not only adds depth to their character, but it also helps you figure out HOW and WHY a character behaves as he does. (Sometimes, not all lol)

Also....I do agree, that some things do have to remain persistant with characters, for example, Karls well famed hatred of drow.....or maybe the fact that he's self concious of being an Albino as well.

All adds character. :-)

About leaving plot threads wide open Mitza...i have to agree with you, but to be fair, sometimes, its just not possible without certain people around to finish off what you would like, and how you would like to. *sighs* In a perfect world...we could all just sit down at a computer and play NWN all day.....

[Silentus]

FaithIsTruth said:

What are these stories and how are they done?

These vary ALOT. As they are player generated, alot comes back to who you know and where you happen to be.

As a player character: If you are in the right place at the right time, you just get swept in (as with Vugors case with Vehdred the first time). After you get in a plot thread, others usually want to see you back and you tend to get an invite via tell on the spot.

As a player DM: side it gets alot more complicated. Obviously any player can make thier own event at will. Some are not exactly events, just rp that gets kind of large and somone decideds to take the reigns and start developing things behind the scenes with tells to enhance the RP. However, if youre trying to run a 'structured' player event of sorts, just like a PnP game, you get your plot together, draw in a couple key PCs (instead of NPCs) that have some idea of the general direction you are headed from a plot perspective. If they like it and want a part you run from there. Invite who you want and players will come as the plot weaves.

Development time: Frequently player run events will have ocasionaly 'dead' times as the Player/DM coordinates key events with key PCs. IMO, if needed it is better to ocasionally ask the players for a little time to coordinate than to drop plot points you want in.

Real DMs: even if you are runnign a player event, dont be afraid to ask for some DM support. If they are around and have time, they might be willing to help you out with a special effect or 2, a monster drop, insti-death, etc....

Plots: As this thread implies though - if youre running it, try to avoid forgone conclusions. Dont be afraid to use the emote wand and roll some dice either. Its no fun if failure is not an option - or is the only option.

Nice idea: If youre running an event that will involve death, its nice if you have some raises around. Generally people dont want to lose XP if it can be avoided - not a must, but I would do so.

[Hanah]

Just to build on Silentus' points:

Flexibility (IMO) is critical. Just like in pnp and heck in real life for that matter, there is always more than one way to solve a problem/make a problem worse. In fact players are often really really good at coming up with that option you never considered...

Flexibility in terms of scheduling is also important and unfortunately one of the hairier aspects to deal with. Sometimes yeah, you really want certain folks around. If everyone is willing to be patient that's cool, but if not, maybe a slight deviation in story is an option to consider. (That being said I'm flattered that I was wanted around for part of the development of Mackenzie's tragic tale:-) )

My personal stance on storytelling is that it is a very organic process. Having a very strong sense of character for all PCs involved is in my opinion, critical to this organic process. If characters change their attitudes/beliefs/mentalities at the drop of the hat it is extremely difficult for other players to respond. This isn't an appeal for predictability or *boredom* so much as consistency. If I may indulge in a bit of ego, I believe that by and large, I've kept Hanah pretty consistent. People know what she's like and how she is *likely* to respond and this I think is how I can best contribute to the stories others build.

This is me talking as a mediocre DM of several years and a somewhat better player of several more years... I've always most loved the stories that were being told by *all* involved, rather than a DM reading a choose your own adventure novel out to the players. And the best DMs always at least provide the *illusion* of some self-determination for the players;-)

Yes I'm rambling, I know and I apologise, but I've got one more point to make. As lovely as our DMs are and they're all great folks, they really aren't *necessary* for a great story. One of the best stories I've been involved with had no DM involvement but had me totally riveted and to be honest, I was getting a little spooked so I was turning on some extra lights in the apartment;-) I totally lost track of the time, and poof it's six hours later and I'm still eager to keep pushing forward in the story. But on the other hand, recent experiments with incorporating well-known PCs into DM-driven quests are promising... I'd be ecstatic if all of these wonderful creative people who wear player hats and DM hats could collaborate more often.

I apologise if I'm not totally clear, once again I will blame the cold medication;-) I haven't named any names in terms of my favourite storytelling folks mostly to protect them... I sure don't want these people getting swamped with tells/IMs/whatever because I was name dropping. But they know who they are, if they want to come forward and take their bows I'll leave it to them;-)

Hanah
... has her fingers in tooooo many pies

[Preedy1978]

That sounded clear enough to me hanah...i would also like to add my few pennies worth into the pot.

Another thing to consider, when rping ANY type of plot or scheme even, is that it is for the enjoyment for ALL...not just you, I realise that I sound a tad unfair here, but I feel that some players (NOT the majority, whom i feel are excellent in rp) Rp to merely to benefit themselves, and act as if it is a Me vs. you sort of situation.

Whenever i always rp a plot out (or try to lol) I always have in my mind the solution(s) to the problem beforehand....and if the other players around me get to this solution quickly or slowly, then thats fine by me, and again, as other people have stated above, i try to be flexible about it too. (Well, i like to think i am)

Some people have actually approached me and asked me to be involved in some stories, and Ive had to turn them down, as so much is going on at the moment, I dont think I could handle anymore at the moment lol....I would like to say sorry, and also a big thank you to all those people who even considered me for taking part, I am really flattered, and i hope we can rp together soon. (You all know who you are...thanks!)