Discussion Thread Number 3 Of Wraiths-Kings-Friends-Rings Campaign

[Serenoli]

I spent twenty minutes laboring over a post where Tolvadok asks why the Nazgul were all here, I hit the post button, and find Udu beat me to it! And when I try editing, my internet connection decides to suddenly and mysteriously act up!

Anyway its edited, but now the two posts may seem a little repititive. I'm so sorry for that.

Either way, its upto Gordis now, I think, to continue.

[Lotesse]

Serenoli, liked your last post! Now we wait 4 Gordis; we need our Ilmenzor to break it down to us Nazgul!

[Serenoli]

And thank you for the sandwiches... Tolvadok appreciates!

[Rían]

geez, what's with the lost posts tonight? Bummer!


Eärniel - your go; I got them headed to your place.

[The last sane person]

*snerk* I tell you! Its the work of our Tartan McBeastie!

[Lotesse]

So, we have 2 time periods happening right now - the next morning already in progress w/ Earniel & Rian, and the evening still being wrapped up with CS, TD, Gordis, Serenoli, Udu, and me. Shouldn't we coordinate time-periods or is it O.K. with everyone to go back & forth in time like this? The reason why I'm waiting to do the race is because first Viv has to finish with the Nazgul night conversation, so she can then go 2 bed and get up early in the morning.

Wouldn't an Orrodel House greenhouse be cool, you guys? I was looking at pics of houses and ran across these gfreenhouses, and it looked fun. Anyway.

[The last sane person]

Yep, we are all at different stages of the next day and previous night...its kinda like there are several time warps in progress all over Tharbad.

[Lotesse]

I know and it's way annoying. How can characters interact with one another if everyone's writing at different times of the day or night? It just becomes a single-person writing project if it's done like that, you know?

[The last sane person]

Yep, but we have to ask those that are already well into the morning (RIAN) not to post anything until the rest of us are caught up. MEANING, the nazgul have their little power confrence, the trio have their horse race, and Val...Well, for Val to show up.

[Lady Marion Magdalena]

Evil time warps... *tries to banish Rocky Horror mental images*

I was wondering what time it was in the story... Our poor characters are gonna get no sleep whatsoever at this rate.

I think I'll refrain from posting on the story thread till everyone's caught up to the morning hours.

[Rían]

Originally Posted by The last sane person

Yep, but we have to ask those that are already well into the morning (RIAN) not to post anything until the rest of us are caught up. MEANING, the nazgul have their little power confrence, the trio have their horse race, and Val...Well, for Val to show up.

All right.

I asked for advice on this, and no one answered, so I just went ahead and posted, but I'll erase the post now since you guys have requested that I wait.

Earniel and I shouldn't have to wait for the horse race, tho, since it's at dawn; right? So we'll start posting when the Nazgul conference is over.

It's hard to coordinate times! I was posting 2 long posts a day because I had so much to get in before I thought the Nazgul conference would be over, but I guess I'll just have to wait now. Maybe I'll invent a love story for Arabud and another one for each of Arastud's 5 other siblings ... (kidding!) Maybe I'll just post some backstory stuff.

[Rían]

ok, I edited my last post, and now Rian, Earniel & co. are at the same point in time as Ray is (the race is at dawn, right? and that's the time that Ray is at now).

[Udukhaturz]

Originally Posted by Lotesse

Shouldn't we coordinate time-periods or is it O.K. with everyone to go back & forth in time like this?

Lotesse and all, for my part, going back and forth in time is fine. In other games that I have participated, there is not this rapid pace. There might be days between posts. I have seen time differences handled this way:

Tharbad, TA 49
Orrodel
September 17, 10 AM

That is a method, however, used in slower games, and it might not work here.

[Butterbeer]

yes, UDU i concur, with the pace and number of players, it is best we do not get too far ahead.

also as UDU says there is a slippery slope when we start to argue too much ..discussion is good and needed on some points here, his 2 year council of arguments point is a good one to consider ... personally i prefer playing without a GM and like it how it is, but we should work together to smoothly build in henceforth the balance we all seek ...

let what stands, stand but let us move forward with some clearer guidelines, that are not set in stone but are there for guidance ... and for balance ...

best comment so far: Lotesse:

Yes, the bottom line is - The Story.

thats the bottom line here in a nutshell!

some time differences are naturally going to occur and are fine, but we do not want them to skew too much or happen too often.

thanks, Rian, for being so reasonable. ..after all we all have at times had to wait sometimes for a week or more to post ... and lotesse patiently waited ages at least twice.

also Rian and CS ... to me it was very clear that CS said clearly she very much likes your writing, and it is very hard not to agree with her, because the writing has been great ... i think she just said she was not so concerned about the servant's love stories so much .. ok that is fine comment but NOT (as i read it) in any way a criticism of your writing .. we all have stuff we like more than other bits in terms of rpg development ...

so can you guys knock this on the head please?

CS your note about it being one-sided was lost on me: i did not quite know how you meant that, one way or another, sorry ... and don't be upset! ... just whistle .. always look on the bright side of life ... wew- we-eew, to-dode doody do ...

but one thing i would like to say, please guys we are not taking sides here: there may be a good v evil thing brewing plot wise, of course!, but please seperate that from your characters and yourselves discussing the rpg!

the bottom line here is the story and enjoying rpg-ing together

with regards to the nazgul powers, there appears a difference between merely reading the RPG to knowing what is thought here in the discussion thread ... so that to me is fair point .. i think the main concern is not what has happened so far ... we can all live with that largely i suspect ( and i enjoyed it too to boot! ) ...

but a genuine concern that i share is: what might then happen later, as powers once accepted now grow and grow .... now no one may actually intend that but it is normally how these things go ...

thus i have no problem with this being brought up: of course should the nazgul be discovered and it comes to fight, there are enough there now after the battle on the slopes of Orodruin that will know all they will need to do to fight the nazgul (if/when it comes to it) is cut their ring hand or finger off: thus with the combined forces of Arnor and tharbad around, this evens things a fair bit, IMHO

there are eight very vulnerable nazgul amidst enemies .. thus all the concerns over secrecy, no matter how individually skilled they are ...

so lets all look at the bigger picture ... the odd post for realism perhaps in the rpg about some occasional animal unease ... but for story and contnuity sake we have no choice now but to carry on as we started out ...

and nazgul being careful not to make themselves TOO powerful

and perhaps the Elves and Arnor mob ( ) ... love that word ... developing a few skills too, in moderation of course

best all
BB

[Gordis]

Originally Posted by Udukhaturz

Lotesse and all, for my part, going back and forth in time is fine. In other games that I have participated, there is not this rapid pace. There might be days between posts. I have seen time differences handled this way:

Tharbad, TA 49
Orrodel
September 17, 10 AM

That is a method, however, used in slower games, and it might not work here.

I think it is a VERY GOOD idea. We already had some posts about morning activities, then some about the night activities. I believe it is perfectly OK, but still it is difficult to sort out. Please, everyone, try to put time and place in the headline of your posts. If you have time, it will be great to return somewhat back and insert time in the after-reception posts. OK?

Rian, I believe the second stableboy was NOT climbing the facade of the house? That would give the watch a lot to think on. We have FINALLY agreed that Lilly's bodoir and the Master bedroom faced the street. So how could Arabud see light on the side of the house facing the court? Hear noises, yes, but light?

[Gordis]

All

I have questions that I wish to put to VOTE.

1. Do you believe and accept that Khamul was able to DELETE FOREVER ALL MEMORIES OF THE NIGHT from Melwen's mind?

2.Do you believe and accept that Khamul was able to heal the effects of Black Breath ENTIRELY?

3. Can others (e.g. Oreturion) tamper with her brain and make her remember the night?

I need only yes or no, for the three questions.

[Serenoli]

1. No
2. No
3. Not sure. Do you mean, Can others tamper with her brain and make her remember? In that case, yes. Also, I say yes to the first two questions if the effects are only temporary.

And Gordis, you're going to have to do some explaining as the Morgul-Lord, but as that involves some plot, I just wanted to know if you worked out a solution yet. I mean, I'm as puzzled as Tolvadok, really. Why did the butterfly call them? Does the Morgul Lord know? Or will Boomerang fly in (which he can't do, given the heavily draped room) and do some explaining?

[Gordis]

Originally Posted by Serenoli

1. No
2. No
3. Not sure. Do you mean, Can others tamper with her brain and make her remember? In that case, yes. Also, I say yes to the first two questions if the effects are only temporary.

Thank you for the answer, Serenoli. I reworded the 3-d question as you suggested.
Wait for my PM.

[Rían]

1. Udu - Good input re posting time and place info for others! You've had some good input for us based on your experience. That's probably a good idea to do, given the complexity of times and places and people here. Is that OK with everyone?

2. BB - good post, and you've expressed some things that I'm concerned about - the kind of "but what will this kind of stuff lead to down the road?" concern. I remember thinking when the first thought-plant came up (was it really Val? I don't remember) something like, "Well, this is odd, but whatever...", because it wasn't about something important. Then it started appearing more, and about more important stuff, and I got concerned about just how far it was going to go. Then the Melwen incident just seemed like it was getting out of control. I agree - there's not sides here - but there are at least 5 people with major characters that have a concern and wish to get some type of limits set, and are asking for discussion. I totally agree that story and enjoyment are the top goals.

Gordis - I left the exact spot that Arabud started his climb purposefully vague, given my poor map skills - it was something like "a likely-looking spot". Since I wrote that he could see the lights, then it was obviously a spot where he could see the lights.
Good questions - that's the type of specific things I've been wanting to get straight - I'll think on them and get back to you.

[Valandil]

Well - over THREE pages since I posted about this time yesterday. It's hard to keep up again, and hard to answer all the questions asked of me - and I'm behind in my reading once more.

It was Game Post #247 where Oreturion planted a suggestion to Marty - it was basically that he address the beautiful young (so he thought) lady whom he was admiring. He did so by speaking to her and taking her hand to kiss it. If one does these things, I would imagine that encouraging someone to do what they would like to do anyway would be easiest of all.

In Post #405, Khamul cures Melwen, wipes from her mind all memory of the past several hours (or was it days?), gets her drunk and firmly implants an image of Arastud in her mind, along with a good measure of lust - where she did not have this desire before. (EDIT: all while keeping three other very powerful creatures secured with invisible bonds)

CS - I don't see how it's a 'double-standard' for me to see the second as going significantly further than the first.

Lotesse - I was expressing some built-up frustration. As I said, some if it had to do with the highly increased power level of the Nazgul - and the way it affects game balance, especially with lack of limitations. Earniel brought up the corollary that I didn't mention - that you guys could just do as you would and take what you wanted, the way you were making things seem. Do I WANT the game to come to an end? Not necessarily. But if things would continue down that road, it would be hard for me to maintain my interest or desire to play.

Also - I had hoped we could protract some 'suspense' in the mind of the Nazgul characters about whether Valandil had the One Ring - but as I said - that seems to be out of the bag, perhaps.

And... goodness, everyone else besides me is pairing off! And my two best friends want to date Nazgulettes - and that may be what I'm headed for as well!

I agree with Earniel that we not make changes to what has been done already - either that or they be minimal and agreed on by consensus.

Butterbeer - maybe it was a half-empty day.

ALL - frankly, there's something else that bugs me some, and the storyline with Melwen comes into that too. We're probably playing some of the game a bit too close with the 'PG-13' limitations of Entmoot. And - even if we can make an argument that we have not crossed that line - I personally would just as soon keep well short of it. I just don't see the need to go too far into descriptions of intimacy between characters. Maybe some flirting and teasing and innuendo can be fun - but I'd just as soon not put my time in here if we're going to be taking things further than that. For THIS, I probably have the lion's share of blame to take myself (as a King should always get the lion's share! ), by pulling my first 'sword trick' - so here, before I could point my finger at anyone else, I certainly have four pointed back at myself (well... three - I'm not really sure what my thumb is doing). So - that's been bugging me a little too. As a father of three boys, I'm would rather we keep within what I think should be acceptable for younger people - and what I would be comfortable with my sons reading once they reached 12 or 13.

What do the rest of you think? Can we tone down the really 'hot and heavy' stuff?

Meanwhile, no time to post in the game thread once more. I have one or two planned for the wee hours of the morning - just before dawn maybe, or shortly after.

Say - do classes start today... Monday?

Gordis - I wondered if the Chancellor would really WANT to let Udu take some time off to get acquainted with the town. Or if he would assign Udu to jump right into teaching right away to keep him out of trouble.