The Overlook Hotel - 2014-10-07 (page 2 of 2)

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10:01 PM

@KitFox Characters have a set of pithy phrases like Grimly pragmatic or Not afraid to speak her mind which describe them and their interaction with the world; they also have a set of skills like Athletics and and Engineering which define what they're good at, with numerical values attached.

user116848

@KitFox I see. Thanks for the info!

To do something when both success and failure would be interesting (if not, just say the interesting thing happened), you roll a set of four six-sided dice (which are marked to produce a strong bell curve toward a result of 0) and add the numerical value of the skill you're using to achieve the action.

Higher results are better. If you're not satisfied with the result, you can spend a game currency called Fate points to improve the result.

You can also spend Fate points to declare story details, like "noticing" that there's a convenient feature in the room--basically Fate points are spent to gain more narrative control over the situation and make your character succeed at things.

You earn Fate points whenever your character runs into obstacles (internal or external) which make their life more dramatic and keep them from accomplishing their goals.

And every time, for both earning and spending Fate points, it should be tied to one of those pithy phrases describing the character--those phrases are the lynchpin of the system, defining what's important to the story in both good and bad ways.

So, the phrases (called 'aspects') define who your character is, and the skills define what they're good at doing but have a small random element from the dice. Fate points are used to influence the narrative non-randomly by using aspects to justify making things easier or harder for your character, creating a story flow in which every defeat contains the seeds of the next victory.

user116848

@KitFox So what is your goal when you write 10 mins stories here? Or when you write a novel like story?

@Arrowfar My goal with the ten-minute write is to get the words to flow. It's a warm-up. When I write a novel, I like to entertain.

@BESW That sounds intriguing. What's the role of the game master?

user116848

@KitFox Oh, so your goal is to provide a good entertainment in stories. Well, same here I'd say :-) I was thinking it in a complex way that 'what is my goal here to write?' when you asked me that question :)

10:16 PM

Running the non-player characters, bringing setting and character elements together dramatically to further the story, keeping the pace up by choosing when scenes start and stop, deciding when actions should be rolled for because both success and failure would be interesting, and --most importantly, and as an overarching mission statement for the above-- listening to the players and processing their input and ideas into the story.

The GM in this system is often described as chairman of the storytelling committee, responsible for keeping things running smoothly at the table and dramatically in the story, by synthesising the group's input.

user116848

@KitFox Because when I write a short story or even a long story I never say it falls under the 'persuasion', 'humor', 'information', etc. heading. That's why I got confused over what my goal should be. I thought you were saying that it should be something very useful to the readers unlike general entertainment.

The generic system engine used by the Atomic Robo RPG is called Fate, but ARRPG customises it to more effectively support the Action Science ethos it's trying to create.

@BESW I've wondered about Fate. I was interested in trying it out, but I'm not very experienced as a GM and I don't get to play much.

It's my favourite system, and ARRPG is quickly becoming my favourite iteration of it.

It sounds right up my alley.

Kind of science-geeky.

I mean, Indiana Jones. Come on. Love it.

Steampunk and The Doctor and stuff.

Lovecraft and Alice.

Sounds like all those kinds of things would live there.

10:24 PM

In the Atomic Robo comics, magic is impossible--leading to lines like, "They're not literally vampires. Sunlight, garlic, crosses, none of that applies. But we call them vampires because they're ageless super strong monsters that feed on the blood of the living."

(They're beings from a set of parallel universes which Atomic Robo calls, aptly, enough, Vampire Dimensions.)

But yeah, Fate is super-customisable and its generic iteration (Fate Core/Fate Accelerated) comes with guidance on making your own setting and gamestyle.

You can read some chat-based play logs here, mostly from a fantasy kitchen-sink game we called Enchanted Forest.

@Arrowfar Free writes are a very fast throw away draft of an idea. They are not a good means to assess writing ability. If you want to do story-telling, you'll want do some revising and editing to demonstrate that. Do you have any other work besides the free writes?

@BESW Thanks, I'll give a read.

@Arrowfar Even within "general entertainment," there are a vast array of ways to accomplish that goal. Deliciously frightening, indulgent romantic wish-fulfilment, exciting action-adventure, puzzling mysteries, historical recreation...

If I write something that I wanted to scare people, and everyone loved it because it was so funny... I entertained them, but I didn't achieve my goal.

user116848

@KitFox No, I don't at the moment. But I can write a long story or I can expand one of them. What do you suggest?

user116848

@BESW I see :D

(See: Eye of Argon, and everyone who likes Twilight because it's silly.)

10:36 PM

@Arrowfar Do you want to write stories or would you prefer to write informative pieces?

user116848

@KitFox I think I'd stick to stories because for informative pieces I would have to research a lot.

OK. I'll give you an assignment, shall I?

user116848

OKay :-)

user116848

But I'll take time to complete it because I am always busy with my studies etc. too.

For next week, I'd like for you to write 500 words about a joyful experience you had as a child. I'd like you to do this in a particular fashion.

user116848

10:39 PM

But I'd appreciate a good assignment :-)

user116848

So, by particular fashion you mean?

1. Write as much as you like, but capture all the important details of the story.
2. Wait a day. Then read it again and organize what you wrote into paragraphs.
3. Wait a day. Read it through again and start rewriting your sentences to remove "I", "me", and "my". Take yourself out of the story in this way, but leave the experience. Make it a goal to use first-person personal pronouns only three times at most.
4. Wait a day. Read it again and revise it again. Make it longer or shorter to get it as close to exactly 500 words as possible.

If it takes you more than a week, that's fine, unless you'd prefer it if I made it a hard deadline.

user116848

@KitFox Thanks. I'll see what I can write in a week. I have a question though: How can I define my experiences in that story without referring to myself as "I" in that story. I know that good writers use third person but here the story is about what were my joyful experiences not someone else's.

And that's the point of the exercise.

Run to Glory comes to mind.

10:51 PM

Here is an exercise I did on a similar theme, writing narrative without (much) first-person.

The point is to stop telling the story, which is our habit, and start showing it instead.

user116848

I see. That is one good story.

Is it? Thanks.

user116848

Yes it is :-)

user116848

But you have used 'I' too in that story :-)

user116848

Although it is a short story :)

10:57 PM

Yes, no more than four times. The original version was full of me. Almost every sentence started with I.

user116848

In the story your main focus is on the love you have for your kids, which looks great. That's how you achieved third person "he" there. How can I achieve that without having any of that for my joyful experience. For that I'll have to make new main characters in my story that are in the main theme.

Not necessarily. You don't have to have people to have the focus elsewhere than yourself.

Your focus is on the joy you experienced. Instead of telling me that you experienced joy, show me the thing that did it, and describe it in a way that evokes that same joy.

user116848

I see.

It's often as simple as (to draw a sensation from one of my memorable experiences) changing The broken tiles shifted and crunched under my feet to The broken tiles shifted and crunched underfoot.

user116848

Good example.

11:08 PM

Often excising oneself from an experience just means describing the experience instead of one's interaction with it. The sun glinting off the Shrine's golden dome blinded me becomes The sun glinting off the Shrine's golden dome was blinding.

Or simply: The sun glinted off the Shrine's golden dome.

user116848

Yes, those are good modifications to hide 'I/me etc.'

Yes, good examples.

user116848

Okay, I'll see you guys. Nice talking to you both! :D

user116848

Bye!

ttfn

Hmm. I might try an abbreviated version of that myself.

11:17 PM

It's a good exercise.

Hrm. One big issue I have is choosing a tense and sticking with it.

Tense can be fixed in revision.

Hmm, but it's so distracting.

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The Overlook Hotel

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