Deathtrap Dungeon; Freedom is Slavery! (OOC; Closed)

[Mechanisto]

Understandable, and appreciated. But it doesn't really matter whether the silliness is accidental or intentional. Either way, it goes against the grain of the RP's original concept.

[VAE]

Well, as one of the guilty parties in the whole thing, i think i should say something too.
As far as i am thinking of it, reopening the entries would be a good idea for several reasons:

1) As you said , this is going to be mainly of character interactions. That (and even if you do not post a lot as a GM) becomes much easier to handle when there is lot of people.

2) Most of the players that left outright . or are inactive were the experienced ones. I think that such a thing is a matter of numbers - the more experienced folk usually "pull" the less experienced with them, so the overall result becomes better - i have seen things like that in netrek for example (is a team startrek themed game relying heavily on good cooperation)

[WhiteFox]

danman: I really don't want you to feel like you, or anyone, is "on trial" here. There are a few issues that are bothering me, and I'd like to see some effort put into resolving them. Thats all.

tech: No, your posts haven't been silly. They have been rather lengthly and humourless, in fact. Your character spends most of his time talking about himself and his awesome-sauce powers, and you seem to dedicate whole paragraphs to superfluous descriptions.

[VAE]

Don't be mistaken - i am not prone to such things and i like direct approach - especially since i am no good at picking up a clue if i stepped on it
The thing is that although of different opinion about the silly stuff, lot of it could have been executed far better, specially to the end - (and shorter written, too )  which makes you be correct.

@Drayco84 - I was re-reading the stuff and came across a slight consistency problem - at one point Dee is telepathically speaking with Kittrick, and is in half a sentence, while a post later she is holding signs behind  your back. (although i found that really amusing ,and used a similar idea in a DnD game to taunt a boss while in battleraven form )

[Drayco84]

Ugh... Not only did I lose a rabbit yesterday, but my body seems to have finally succumbed to an illness... (80 degress F in a room with at least 60% humidity and I'm still cold!)

Well, let's grab the easiest first...

@Danman:
Dee is trying to get Zyrais killed, preferably in a gruesomely entertaining fashion. A sign behind his back is a bit harder for him to notice than a telepathic broadcast.

@WhiteFox
You're right... My mind wandered and instead of building an Ovan or Lelouch, I made a clown. As for the shoddy writing, while I appreciate the "You're doing it wrong", specifics on what I screwed up and pointers on how to fix it would help. Hell, I thought silver text on a bright purple background was legible! (Well, to me, it was...)

@Mechanisto
Considering that I introduced myself as a newb and even used that term before the game started, I just don't know what to say because it is the truth. Unfortunately, being completely new to RP in general (And that obviously includes forum RP, btw.) I'm making a bunch of educated guesses. So, it's not really going to surprise me much if I screw up, just make sure to point it out before I start running with it. In that respect, I probably should've checked with you earlier before pulling Dee out of a coat as I have little idea of what to expect in terms of a grand scheme. (In that respect, are subplots even allowed?) And please also bear in mind that IRL, I'm painfully shy and usually go out of my way to avoid people. In a similar respsect, also bear in mind that my writing style has been "reverse engineered" through reading, and I've never gotten much any feedback on it.

I'm going to go along with reopening the RP as well.

[VAE]

Ouch.
No, i did not mean that - that is obvious, just the continuity - she noticed Dee speaking to her, did something, and a post later Dee appears somewhere else doing something else entirely. That is why is a small fix - you should have IMHO closed it up and mentioned she went somehow and somewhere, because ,again in my opinion , is unclear what is happening and leaves it difficult to respond to it

[WhiteFox]

Ugh... Not only did I lose a rabbit yesterday, but my body seems to have finally succumbed to an illness... (80 degress F in a room with at least 60% humidity and I'm still cold!)

You have my condolences.

@WhiteFox
You're right... My mind wandered and instead of building an Ovan or Lelouch, I made a clown. As for the shoddy writing, while I appreciate the "You're doing it wrong", specifics on what I screwed up and pointers on how to fix it would help.

Cutting back on the silliness would be a good start. Mech pretty much summed that up with his post.

I can see what you're going for with Dee, but at the moment she's more annoying then funny. Plus, things like holding up signs and making gestures behind Zyaris' back are visual gags. They work much better in animation and comics then they do in writing.

Aside from that... your writing isn't bad. There's a few spots where you could have trimmed back the word count a little, but that's about it.

Hell, I thought silver text on a bright purple background was legible! (Well, to me, it was...)

I use the boards "default" themes, which has black and dark blue backgrounds and white text. I didn't notice any silver text.

...I just realized that lime green on purple probably looks awful.  

danman: Just a tip; I've noticed that the less often a critique uses the word "you," the less harsh it is. This goes double for "you should."

[techmaster-glitch]

To Drayco; For what it's worth, I think Dee is funny

[Mechanisto]

To Drayco; For what it's worth, I think Dee is funny

Isn't that kind of the problem? Things being funny?

[techmaster-glitch]

Isn't that kind of the problem? Things being funny?

*shrug* Just saying, he succeeded in his intention...

[Drayco84]

Feeling better for the most part. No need to hold back on my account. (I'm a speed reader anyway.)

Hell, I thought silver text on a bright purple background was legible! (Well, to me, it was...)

I use the boards "default" themes, which has black and dark blue backgrounds and white text. I didn't notice any silver text.

I was referring to my website design...

Anyway, I was working on a real character background for Zyrais before the crap storm happened, but I'll hold off as I don't think it'll fit the theme. Instead, I'll wait and see how things develop...

[Drayco84]

Is there going to be some kind of time limit to posting? Or some kind of signal that everyone's waiting for the plot to continue?

[Liatai]

Okay. Now that I have two minutes where I don't need to be studying, am not trying to fix something, am not asleep, and am not at a convention, I can put forth my two cents on the matter and catch up.  

I also vote for reopening the RP. Some new blood might help move things along a little bit, especially if the focus of the RP is supposed to be character interaction. More characters equal more chances for characters to bounce off each other, and more potential conversation starters. I know I'm sometimes sitting there, reading posts and thinking "Okay, so people are talking... but there's nothing here that Kittrick would respond to. So, I guess I'll just wait..." And then I stall. New characters with more varied interests/specialties might help get some of us who are sitting on the sidelines involved.

Speaking of stalling... Drayco, I'm sorry, I kind of dropped the ball on Kittrick's conversation with Dee. By the time I got back to a computer on Saturday, she had already left to help Zyrais, and I've just been waiting for a chance for Kitt to jump back into the conversation. It's a little late now for her to do that now, but would you mind if at some point later Kittrick tries to start up some dialogue with Dee again? She has a few more serious questions than "are you talking in my head?" that she'd like to ask her, especially about her relationship with Zyrais.

[Drayco84]

It's fine by me, especially since I'm all too well aware that RL is a bitch. Although, her backstory with Zyrais is going to be on the fence for a bit, at least until Nadhiya gets done with... Whatever it is Mechanisto is going to have her do.

[VAE]

Why? there is nothing happening plot-wise, so this is the perfect time to sort this out....
besides is not like we are sitting behind the board and only one thing can go on at the same time

[WhiteFox]

Why? there is nothing happening plot-wise, so this is the perfect time to sort this out....
besides is not like we are sitting behind the board and only one thing can go on at the same time

True. I'm pretty sure Mechanisto was waiting to find out for sure if I was staying or going. Since I'm staying, I guess we can all get going.

[Drayco84]

You spend years trying to develop and hone a particular style, and then find out that such habits are hard to break... Well, I do have some jokes, but I'd need a redshirt bartender...

Q: How do make a Blackened Bartender?
A: Cast "Fireball" at a bartender, duh.

Q: How do you make a Dry Bartender?
A: Suck out all of their blood.

Yeah, needs some work... On the other hand, I never thought of The Far Side as black comedy before, though...
Nor Peanuts for that matter...
Nor even Futurama...
Hell, even The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy are on TVtropes' list...

[WhiteFox]

Can we, please,

Stay.

On.

Topic?!

[Mechanisto]

Finally, posted... terribly sorry about the delay. And now, in official DM orange...

As has been mentioned, I've decided to reopen recruitment for this RP, in the hopes of giving more experienced RPers a chance to join in! This is also an opportunity for people to bow out, temporarily or otherwise, if they wish. Remember that this RP was intended to be episodic in nature; characters can come and go at the end of each chapter.

All in all, I'll  be content if we end up with two or three more than when we started. A few of the people who originally submitted characters were unable to join up for various reasons. Since their characters were already accepted, these people will be given priority if the should show interest.

Completely new recruits are of course welcome, though as mentioned before, I would prefer that new applicants be either experienced role-players, good writers, or both. We're still in the introductory phase, so it's a perfect time to slip people in. Everything you need to know should be in the first post of this OOC thread; as always, please feel free to post question here for me to answer. You may also send questions and character ideas to me, via Private Message, if you would like to keep certain things secret from the other players.

That being said, getting new players isn't essential to the survival of the RP. If we don't get any takers, things can still continue on.

[WhiteFox]

Lazy GM has been playing too much SupCom2. Something must be done. 



(Five minutes later)



Did something.

[Drayco84]

Lazy GM has been playing too much SupCom2. Something must be done. 



(Five minutes later)



Did something.

Hmmmmmmmmmm... Nope, it's still funny.

In the sauna level, (The new one.) Is there any form of natural light entering the area? It's a little hard to grow a fair amount of plants without some kind of light, usually sunlight. Well, except for fungus, but some mushrooms have little nutritional value, while the rest are poisonous.

[WhiteFox]

Is there any form of natural light entering the area? It's a little hard to grow a fair amount of plants without some kind of light, usually sunlight. Well, except for fungus, but some mushrooms have little nutritional value, while the rest are poisonous.

You might find this interesting:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemosynthesis

[Liatai]

Okay, I'm going to be a pretentious biologist here for a second. How many plants (that is, eukaryotic multicellular organisms in the kingdom Plantae) do you know of that are chemoautotrophs? As far as I know, the only chemoautotrophs we know of so far are bacteria and protists. Methanogens, sulfur-reducing bacteria, what have you.

Still, we are in a magical setting. If we're in a place where people can reanimate the dead, communicate telepathically, and summon fire with a snap of their fingers, I'm willing to extend my suspension of disbelief long enough to believe in chemoautotrophic plants. Now, some algae can generate energy without using photosynthesis, but they'd have a hard time flourishing... And fungi are heterotrophic, so they could survive if the soil's fertile... But I digress.

My guess is, any plant life that may have existed was supported mainly through magical means. Once the people/objects/what have you that supplied the magical power disappeared, plants lacked the energy necessary to sustain life because there's not much light, and poof, no more flora. (Hence Nadhiya's comment about druids, I guess.) The magma may also give off light, but it's likely that the temperatures would be far too high near it for the light given off to be of much use to plants. Another possibility is that the luminescent crystals our characters saw earlier are used; they could work like sun lamps, especially if the light given off is blue, red, or white. (If they were green, though, you'd have a heck of a time growing anything green.) I guess we'll have to explore a bit IC to find out.

[Drayco84]

While the Mechanisto says that new players aren't needed to keep the RP alive, I feel that it can't hurt to get some veteran RPers in. Although, I will understand if most wish to wait until the intro is done to figure out how things are going to play out.

Well, it took me a few minutes to track down the post where I compiled it, but here's the list of races still available should any new players wish to sign up or something.... Obviously, this does NOT include dragons

Mer
Were
Cubi
Insectis
Phoenix A? (The immortal ones.)
Phoenix B (Avians)

Now, since this is an admittedly small list and everyone has pretty much agreed that D&D monsters can be used, I'm also aware that not everyone has access to those books. Well, I'm fixing that...

http://www.d20srd.org/indexes/monsters.htm

While this information is copyrighted, it ALSO falls under the Open Game License.
Why did I do this? I'm kinda tired and bored. Yeah, I could add to the RP...

EDIT: Added to the RP.

[Mechanisto]

I would like to clarify that it isn't just D&D monsters and DMFA species that are acceptable. You may select any kind of creature from any kind of magical/fantasy setting you like, as long as it's appropriate for the RP. You may even, if you truly wish, make up your own creature.

The assumption is that the world of Furrae may well be home to all kinds of classic monsters and creatures; we simply never see them in the comic because we don't usually follow the characters on a classic dungeon crawl or wilderness adventure. In some rare cases, your critter may not even be from Furrae at all. If it's well designed and thought out, I may allow it anyways.

[WhiteFox]

Liatai: I'm pretty sure there's a lot about this dungeon that doesn't make much sense.

Another possibility is that the luminescent crystals our characters saw earlier are used; they could work like sun lamps, especially if the light given off is blue, red, or white.

Huh... Good call.

Drayco: Actually, bringing in some new players before the intro is over would probably be easier.  

Mechanisto: Do the inactive players still have "dibs" on their races?

Edit: Do we want to mention something in the first post about accepting new players?

[Mechanisto]

Also!

It has been brought to my attention that Otaku999, responsible for our local Demon character, has not actually posted for over a month... anywhere in the forum. I think it's safe to say the character is either inactive, or no longer interested.

As such, that means the Demon race is once again up for grabs.

EDIT: This also means that the position of official dungeon torturer is also open.

[Mechanisto]

Mechanisto: Do the inactive players still have "dibs" on their races?

Yes, this is the case... unless, as mentioned above, there is reason to suspect the character might not be returning.

Edit: Do we want to mention something in the first post about accepting new players?

Hm... I believe it does note that in the first OOC Post. I have further updated the message to make things a little clearer.

[techmaster-glitch]

Hold on, I've noticed a little inconsistency...

At the pace everyone was moving, they reached the next level soon enough. This area was only slightly less hot, but was far more humid. This area had aqueducts and waterways like the main level, but the flowing water seemed to be piping hot. A thick mist hung in the air, and water condensation coated every visible surface.

"I suspect this area might once have been a garden or arboretum, perhaps for a jungle environment. Most of the halls have dirt floor areas; all barren now, but they may have held rich soil in the past. I don't know that we have any druids on the guest list, at this point..."

Zyrais' search for a light source was in vain. There were obviously no sunroofs, magical or otherwise, and no current source of light. it was hard to imagine real, natural sunlight ever having touched this place. The "soil" was barely even that; it was more like dry, dusty dirt. If it had been soil once, that had been a very long time ago.

How can the dirt be dry and dusty if everything's wet? Shouldn't it all be mud?

[Mechanisto]

How can the dirt be dry and dusty if everything's wet? Shouldn't it all be mud?

*pause*

A minor setback!

Ahem. I wanted to imply that it was barren and lifeless; forest soil has all kinds of loamy, squishy bits. This "dirt" is more like a crunchy, raspy mixture of sand and flakes than anything. There would be condensation on it's surface, like every other surface, but it doesn't actually soak up any moisture.

Regardless, that is pretty confusing... Edit Man, away!