Loading the dream

So, I've been thinking about loading the dream in PRIVATE--meaning it'd be somewhere out of the way, and not technically open to the public. (though it doesn't matter so much if new folks wander in--we don't have to kick them out or anything) But we can start RPing and learning the ropes for the new system we've cut out for ourselves. The dream is still under construction, so there will be bugs and unfinished stuff. But the RP areas are generally done and fleshed out and such, so RPing will still work.

yes/no? If so I'll load it up on the SH alt in some corner of Imag and post the dreamurl here.

I'm all for semi-private uploading (aka we aren't kicking strangers out if they happen to come in)-- then again I am RARIN' for some Skuldhellir rp so maybe that's why I'm all "DO IT".

Anyway, YES YES YES please upload for the rps so we can GET THIS SHOW ON THE ROAD (and work out the bugs; can't forget the bugs). The dream IS just about ready to go 'cept a couple of bugs. That's all, so let's do it~.

I've only had two sodas today, promise!

Yes, yes and also yes.

As I've said before, we need to get our beginning members into the groove of things. If WE'RE confused, we'll just end up confusing the newbies, and that simply won't do!

If anyone's unsure about anything, including the new roleplaying style, just gimme a poke and I'll help you out.

On that note, should the continuity in the dream begin now, or will we wipe whatever we did when we open publicly and start over? I'm thinking our beginning RP will be riddled with fails and inconsistencies, which we're trying to iron out with doing this in the first place. I'm not sure if it would be easier to overlook/retcon these or just reset the continuity when we open officially.

What do you guys think?

Hmmm don't think a reset will be needed actually.
Wouldn't a whole bunch of Nkeep guys suddenly all coming together in this one village cause a lot of commotion and chaos anyway?

I don't think there'll be that much trouble regarding the switch in RP style.

For themselves, yeah, since they all ICly know each other and the SH's totally don't, but it could be implied that people have arrived at different times. WE OoCly will have already been around anyway so what do the newfolks know? *shot*

Oh yeah. Let's unfurl the sails to rping yarr. I also don't think we should really 'reset' the continuinity but perhaps we might try to avoid doing too major things, for now.
Like this we can perhaps try to already get some continuity feel going, and perhaps start some minor things (that might eventually grow into major ones) so that the ball of intricate plotlines in the village is already rolling when Newdhellirs arrive.

The worst issue will probably be PRESENT TENSE. I personally find myself switching over to past somewhere mid-post XD It'll probably confuse a lot of newbies too.

But yeah, we'll see about that reset. If it really gets that bad that a few small retcons won't work, I'd say reset. But that all depends on what'll happen.

Well... DEP (Talz in particular, I believe) actually encourages present-tense use in "posing" (aka postin', for us oldbies who rp'd long before Furc *shot*)-- we're just part of that old group who reads a lot and is used to past tense posting. *shot s'more*

But yeah, that'll take a lil' getting too, but hopefully it won't be too bad. Like yesterday, I went on a semi-IC-NPC adventure on Lauren for kicks and just started posting in the present without thinking about it. Ehehe...

Y'all are crazy--I've been posting in the present tense for ten freakin' years. Er, I think anyway. It just makes sense--the story is unfolding as you write, not in the past. There might have been a stint of time where I did past tense, but I have see'd d lite.

Sima, moving from Northkeep to Skuldhellir isn't just a change in scenery. We're completely revamping the way the dream functions and how we do things. It's a massive paradigm shift. :)

Anyway, yes, I don't want to retcon--that'll just be confusing. I don't think it'll be that hard to switch styles, and even if it is, that won't affect RP content TOO much.

So, since we all seem to be raring to go, the dreamurl is: furc://skuldhellir:wip/

Psst, Ulrin: You won't have a problem with that if you keep to shawt posts--and by short, I actually mean short.

We'll be cutting out irrelevant thoughts and feelings and following the 'show, don't tell' method of writing that makes things so much easier and faster.

I'm talking poses (let's call these poses, now, since they will NOT be the huge blocks of text that we know as posts!) like:

Quote :

Joe Furrypaws swaggers into the tavern, all confidence and poise. He seats himself down at the counter and raps his knuckles against it for a drink. "A beer t' celebrate me recent victory, 'tender!" he cries.

It's got quite a bit going on, but it's not very lengthy. (And yet, what I just wrote up there is actually pretty long for a pose.) ALL actions, no unnecessary descriptions of thoughts or intricate details. Y'dig?

An example from the middle of the scene would be much shorter, something like:

Quote :

Martha grins slyly and flips a coin into the air. "I'll handle it, lads."

Or:

Quote :

The dwarf struggles to keep up with the considerably younger furre, grumbling and cursing under his breath.

At last, you can put just dialogue in a pose, too, perhaps looking like this:

Quote :

"Nae, nae, I won't beh havin' any o' that!"

Just like I said on the Roleplaying and You topic, there will be no post orders. This means scenes can end up looking like this:

Quote :

Joe Furrypaws leans slowly towards Martha, wearing a hopeful grin. "Y'sure y'don't be needing any help, lassie?"
Joe Furrypaws: "I'm rather good a' this sort o' thing, y'know..."
Martha: "No, no, you dratted blackguard! Gerroff!"
Martha shoves Joe away and stomps off grumpily, fists clenched and tail swatting angrily at the air behind her.

So if you want to add something to your pose but you've already hit enter, you're not screwed. You can just pose it right on after if you're fast enough! This also means you can pace your longer actions to take up several poses, so people have a chance to interact with your character while in the midst of said actions, rather than being able to do so only AFTER your character has finished the action.

So yeah, like Heimdall said, there's going to be a lot to get used to, and learning how to pose is one of them!

(If you want even more examples of acceptably-lengthed and written poses, try bumping the NPCs in the dream!)

People may still be slowish typers and whatnot, so if you do want to double post, give the other person at least a bit of time... since they might be right in the middle of typing a response when you post again. I'mma personally avoid double posting to avoid confusion--though shortposts ftw.

Well if people intend to double post but want to leave some reaction time for the others then they could just tack ... at the end of their post. This shows that a follow up post is coming but still leaves anyone else free to interrupt.

Personal opinion: Double posts be EVIL!

I personally don't mind 'em on occasion-- used one today when I had to amend my post because of post-ninja work.

... Buuut what I don't want to see is
This over and over
And continuing.
For like five lines.
Of even the smallest font
Which is what I use.
So please don't throw in
So many damn actions.
Keep it to max of two,
And Lolren won't pwn you.

Exploring the dream a bit atm.

I love how populated it feels! Great job! ^^