Other Worlds Than These (Discussion Thread)

[Earniel]

Oooh talking badger! Nice.

Originally Posted by Midge

Let me know when you are ready for Indigo's entrance. My next post will shoot Lantie and Lur into Middle Earth.

Well, I'm having a few planning issues. The point is that I'll be away in July and without internet at all. One way, I don't want to rush Indigo's entrance and his meeting with your twins. But on the other hand, if I wait too long with it, you will be stuck for an entire month, unless we make sure they have met up with the other characters before then.

[Varnafindë]

There's about a thousand years between the Golden Age (of the Pevensies) and the Telmarine Conquest. Baru lived through the last five hundred of those thousand years, and left before the Telmarines arrived. Two to three hundred years before the time of Mrs Badger (I want to find a first name for her as well - does she need a bio?).

[Aikanáro]

A talking badger! Curiouser and curiouser.

As she's a secondary character, she doesn't need a bio, though if you want to tell us anything about her in this thread you can. (A name for the first post would be good)

Let us know if you need any help introducing her.

[Midge]

Originally Posted by Eärniel

Well, I'm having a few planning issues. The point is that I'll be away in July and without internet at all. One way, I don't want to rush Indigo's entrance and his meeting with your twins. But on the other hand, if I wait too long with it, you will be stuck for an entire month, unless we make sure they have met up with the other characters before then.

I could wait. If we wanted, we could even get rid of my posts and wait to put them out there for a while. It looks like there's going to be plenty of stuff going on, between Anahera, Fearghan, Ashkaio... not to mention all the Middle-Earth bound characters.

We can let them get going, then introduce our other characters. Not only will it ease up on all the intros at the moment, it might give the group of investigators (I'm loth to call them "the Company", if only because of LLL) something new to think about after they've gotten used to the idea of the portals.

I can maybe pick up with some made up temporary characters until we're ready to get going with Lur, Lantie and Indigo... or I can just sit here and wait and read up on all this stuff. Whatever.

[feawen]

hmm Badgers! maybe Anahera will think they are tasty!

[Varnafindë]

Badgers shouldn't be particularly tasty ...
Probably a good thing I didn't choose a talking stag, though

I've been looking for a flower name for her, but not something too dainty - and I think that Nightshade is a suitable name for a lady badger.

Baru is going to be thrilled beyond all reasonable limits. She will need to restrain herself, other than perhaps when she's alone with Nightshade. To her, this is someone from home.

It might be best if Baru was not the first one to meet her - especially as I'm playing both of them. And if there will be more portals later (the Perelandra portal), perhaps the Narnia portal should wait for some time in between? Should I do as Midge has done with Perelandra, and introduce Narnia before the portal opens?

[Midge]

Until such time as Lur and Lantie are ready to find their portal - I'm considering another character. Hm. I'm not sure I could do another elf without basically re-doing Aerin. Unless I could pull her in to this, which I don't know how that would work, because we've already got Baru from LLL.

.. I'll think on it.

[Aikanáro]

I shall put Nightshade into the first post, then. It's up to you where you want to start her story, whether you want to show us some of her life in Narnia first, or begin with portals.

Is there any reason Aerin couldn't get involved, Midge, if you felt like writing her? This story can't be taking place at the same time as LLL, because Baru's here, but neither is it hundreds of years away from it. Aerin and Baru might be pleased to see each other again?

If Varna thinks it would be better if someone other than Baru met Nightshade first, and you want to bring in another character - maybe your character could meet her?

I know it seems a bit chaotic right now with all the portals and introductions. Once everyone who can comes together at the inn, though, those different experiences will give them plenty to discuss as far as the portals are concerned, and we can also have some calmer conversations between characters to get to knowthem a little better.

[Varnafindë]

Originally Posted by Aikanáro

Alright, so if it's okay with everyone I've decided on starting in Fourth Age rural Gondor, about twenty years after the end of the War of the Ring.

While LLL is only about five or six years after the end of the War of the Ring, if I got that rightly?
Baru and Aerin can only talk about old memories as far as we have played them in LLL, though - they cannot talk about the final solution yet

And I'll play Nightshade in Narnia before she gets to the portal.

[Earniel]

Originally Posted by Midge

I could wait. If we wanted, we could even get rid of my posts and wait to put them out there for a while. It looks like there's going to be plenty of stuff going on, between Anahera, Fearghan, Ashkaio... not to mention all the Middle-Earth bound characters.

We can let them get going, then introduce our other characters. Not only will it ease up on all the intros at the moment, it might give the group of investigators (I'm loth to call them "the Company", if only because of LLL) something new to think about after they've gotten used to the idea of the portals.

It sounds good to me, as long as you're okay with waiting.

LLL takes place about four to five years after the destruction of the Ring, and this about twenty. So the chronology works out, you've only got to decide whether you want to play a character that already has a connection to another character. I am planning to wrap up LLL quickly (before the new shiny game in town a.k.a. Other Worlds Than These (OWTT?) steals all my players. ) so that would leave LLL-characters very soon able to talk about their Entwives-adventure including its ending.

[Midge]

Okay. I love writing about Aerin. I can have her meet Nightshade if that's what you want, Princess. I'll find her bio and come up with a reason for her to be in Gondor. Probably it will have something to do with Magor (who I won't bother to bring in to this story). I'll go ahead and post an intro post for her, placing her in Gondor, at least.

Also - if Lur and Lantura are going to have a little break of about a month, perhaps we should move their introduction a little further on - perhaps that way it will be a little more cohesive... Yes?

[Midge]

Aerin's bio - I found it when I made it for LLL - apparently I wanted to do more with her than I did. Anyway, I edited it to be more like what she is, instead of what her original bio says she is (not true, either).

Name: Aerin
Age: 422
Appearance: Standard Lorien female elf

Personality: Generally shy, she keeps to herself mostly, only letting one or two people get close to her. She's loyal and true to her companions, no matter how alienating her shyness makes her seem.

History: She trained to be a Messenger of the Lady Galadriel before the War of the Ring. Her training ended just as the Lady left Middle-Earth. On her first (and last) Message run, she fell into Dol Guldur, which is how she came into the journey to find the Entwives (See LLL). Since the end of that journey, she's been touring Rohan and Gondor, and now is leaving Gondor to find a place to settle.

Skills: She is best with a bow, though a fair hand with a sword. She generally prefers to avoid battles if at all possible, but she could fight in one if she had to. Fast and quiet when traveling in general, even more so than Elves usually are.

[Varnafindë]

Yes, we'll have Nightshade meet up with Aerin!
She hasn't reached the portal yet - say you have another post (now or in a while) where Aerin sees the portal, and then later I can post about Nightshade falling through it.

Make sure that Aerin is within hearing distance of whoever comes through the portal ...

Is there more you can post about your characters still staying in Perelandra? If you come back to them occasionally, we see that they are still a part of the story, only not having arrived at Gondor yet.

[Midge]

That's fine. Aerin was just setting out for the plains... she'll run across the portal when she's quite deep into them, I expect.

EDIT: How typical of Aerin to make friends with a talking animal, instead of other humans or elves...

As to your other suggestion... Life in Perelandra is chiefly joy and pleasure, and as such, it would be difficult to write about them and keep them interesting for a long time without a plot twist.

As the wise and venerable Bilbo (from There and Back Again of course) once said, "Now it is a strange thing, but things that are good to have and days that are good to spend are soon told about, and not much to listen to; while things that are uncomfortable, palpitating, and even gruesome, may make a good tale, and take a deal of telling anyway."

I think I would rather move their introduction further down because it makes the most sense for them to only be on the floating islands for a short while, instead of me periodically posting things like "The twins came upon a different fruit today and it was just as good, though very different tasting than all the others" or something like that. I feel I might as well just not say anything. There will be plenty to reveal about their lives in Perelandra once they've landed in Middle Earth. Possibly things I can't even fathom right now.

Now I really want to write about how they were called to the floating islands a little more... but I doubt it would keep them floating along even for a month on RL time. Is it okay if I replace my previous Lantie and Lur posts with "post moved" or whatever for now? Or would you rather wait and fix it up when I decide to actually start the posting - probably about mid-July, assuming Earn will be back in when August rolls around.

[Earniel]

Originally Posted by Midge

Now I really want to write about how they were called to the floating islands a little more... but I doubt it would keep them floating along even for a month on RL time. Is it okay if I replace my previous Lantie and Lur posts with "post moved" or whatever for now? Or would you rather wait and fix it up when I decide to actually start the posting - probably about mid-July, assuming Earn will be back in when August rolls around.

I'd say keep them for now. And when we do get to their meeting with Indigo, just report the posts you have so far and I will remove the first versions for you. That way you don't have to rewrite the entire post next month.

[Midge]

Meh. I got a little excited and I've already added three posts that must go before the ones I've already posted. I like what I've done. It shows just a little more of how life is in Perelandra and also how important Maleldil is to the inhabitants.

I would just replace the posts that are already out there, but they're less likely to be read (at least by the current players) if they're in the middle of the already-written part of the thread.

I'll wait three or four weeks and then I'll start posting what I've got. I'm excited about this RPG!

Also - I'll be paying attention to LLL, if we're wrapping up pretty quickly, I assume you'll need people to help and move around and stuff.

[Varnafindë]

Originally Posted by Midge

I would just replace the posts that are already out there, but they're less likely to be read (at least by the current players) if they're in the middle of the already-written part of the thread.

I'll wait three or four weeks and then I'll start posting what I've got. I'm excited about this RPG!

If/when you replace them, tell us in a post in here and link to the post you've changed (or to the page it's on), so that we (or at least the current players) can go and read the new version.

I'm excited, too - I enjoyed playing the badger!

[Midge]

I'll probably just add in the new posts in the course of the thread. I'll mention when I've restarted their story here.

*stupid rule... [grumble grumble /]

[Aikanáro]

Originally Posted by Midge

I would just replace the posts that are already out there, but they're less likely to be read (at least by the current players) if they're in the middle of the already-written part of the thread.

Yes, please don't put your new posts in the middle. I don't want to miss them! 'Post moved' placeholders are fine, if you need them.

It's nice to see Aerin, too!

And yes, Feawen, Elspeth doesn't get rid of Ashkaio that easily.

[feawen]

no one has told Anahera where she is so shes thinking she is still in her world! Its going to take her a while to catch onto stuff, wait until she sees her first city!

i am sorry to report but as of tomorrow i am on holiday bad timing. ill post if need be tomorrow after work and then i am away for 9 days.