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Ladies, Ladies pretending to be Gentlemen, Gentlemen pretending to be Ladies, and Gentlemen,

If the actions and interactions on the server are considered the meat and bones of our characters, then the PC story forums is the juicy fat that gives the meat its flavour.

As far as amateur writing goes, I've been impressed with many of the stories in the PC stories forum for their depth and their associated themes. For someone who is not that active anymore, it allows me to keep a foot in the setting so to speak and I just wanted to acknowledge the work some have gone to in order to deliver their stories.

Keep it up please.

Personally, the only reason I use the PC Stories forum is because keeping all of Laura's doings in a PM draft is just plain untidy, and they don't look pretty in Word or Notepad.

I'm no Edgar Allan Poe, mind you. My vanity in wanting my posts to look nice and organised overrules my anxiety of what people will judge of me based on my writing style.

Also, what do DMs think of DC rewards for excellent RP in the PC stories forum?

So will my ability/dissatisfaction with writing the multi-page essays that seem to be prevalent in the PC stories subforum, mean I don't get DC's, if that happens? ;_;

(Of course not judging people for writing long stories, it's just not something I enjoy doing/am capable of doing without wanting to throw my laptop across the room.)

I love reading the stories, and different writing styles.
And I promise, that I separate what Crow learns IC, from what I may know OOC. It's no fun for me to cheat, and no fun for you.

Right back at you, Galenson. I have been and am enjoying your contributions to the PC Story Forum.

I use actual RP for inspiration as much as I can in what I post there, cause, who doesn't like reading about themselves or actually their characters. Of course, it's from the perspective of my character so it may not be exactly how the other player might remember it. :twisted:

So much excellent RP, so little time....

MisterLich wrote:

So will my ability/dissatisfaction with writing the multi-page essays that seem to be prevalent in the PC stories subforum, mean I don't get DC's, if that happens? ;_;

(Of course not judging people for writing long stories, it's just not something I enjoy doing/am capable of doing without wanting to throw my laptop across the room.)

Nah dude, you get DC's for being cool IG.

And whilst I actually do spend a great deal of time writing (fuck, I even got published a few years back), I don't like writing about my characters. Idk why. Just doesn't float my boat.

I'm pretty sure the idea of DCs for PC Stories has been brought up in the past, and was shot down by the team that was in place back then. Not sure why, though.

Personally, I'm not great at checking up on PC Stories, unless it's a story of a character I'm involved with somehow. In the past I've written up stories for a few of my characters, and I've had fun with it, too, but as much as I'm wanting to write these days, I just can't seem to really get into it once I start. Give it a month or two of me spending way too much time on Amia, then I'll probably have something to write about which ever character I play. :wink:

Hehe,

I thought about doing Journals for Nyacelil, but then I feared that there's just so much to write and not everyone would read it. So I thought that comics would be good spin!

I do want to do back story comic soon. Though I fear i might need to go through some DM Approvals. Which I'm starting to organizes myself now. Though my interest is to release a 6 issue story arch about it. I've been making some custom areas in the Aurora to help me give the feel for Evereska. I want to include certin characters from Nyacelil's past and such. It's going to be exciting work i think. So I can take unquie photo shoots for the art.

so ... STAY TUNED

I've got to say that I also love reading these stories and even writing a small tidbit here and there.

That specific aspect of the forum is a testament to the skilled writers and imaginative minds we have playing on our server and it's pretty cool to be able to get that small bit of insight into so many different characters.

I have started journals for so many characters. Normally it's the death knell for that character. But, lately, I've been enjoying it.

What I do is use ingame occurrences from the character's viewpoint. I try to involve as many other pc's as possible. I mean, who doesn't like reading about what -their- character did, right? I also infuse some backstory and personal thoughts.

DC's for stories? Ehh, I dunno. I've seen some amazing stories on the forums, then met the character ingame and was like.... "Wait... do I have the right person?". Writing a story and actual roleplaying aren't the same thing.

On a personal note.... Since I wrote the entries at the time they occurred, it's interesting to read over them sometimes and see how much the character has changed and grown over time.

My take on DC's is that they are rewards for observed, in game development. Stories are great representations of that development and allow us another avenue of creative expression and capturing those moments that stand out to us in game, but they are just seasoning. The real meat and potatoes is in game.

I am torn on the subject.

I love some stories and feel they add a lot of flavor. So I am for it if it is that. An addition to the chara that is actively played.

I am not keen on rewarding people though who only post on the forum and do not actually play.

I've always thought some type of reward for some of these wonderful writings is warranted. Over the years and several servers, I used to write like a madman, I wrote so much stuff for the BloodAxe Realms I burnt myself out! I still write a bit, just shorter tales and far less often. Ideas I've implemented before on other servers have been:

1) Other servers didn't have DCs like Amia does, so rewards for writings were always XP, gold, and/or some kind of item that made sense for the character or story. Here on Amia the reward could be a DC, but I am also with Amarice as well, we don't want to reward folks that don't login and play. Perhaps a quarterly discussion within the DM team as to who deserves the coveted DC for their efforts. That would only be 4 DCs a year, but at least something to reward those that take the time to write.

2) I've ran forum based writing contests where I get sent the various writings, I post them anonymously, and the playerbase votes for their favorite. Journals, war stories, love stories, hell one year a god damn cookbook full of hilarious badger recipes won! I'd turn the winner over to the Staff and they would add a book of their story/journal/whatever into the libraries in the game along with a small XP/Gold reward, Amia could also reward a DC for such a thing. Lots of good stories and fun for only one DC!

We've just got to be careful about this line of thinking.

I cannot envision a happy medium that does not involve DM's spending more of their time on the forums, (when we need to be spending less) reading stories and trying to reward forum writing, rather than actually delving in game and reengaging the server and players in stories and situations where DC's are easily rewarded and where plot lines are substantively progressed.

At current capacity, it's just not possible. At max capacity, it might still be impossible. I honestly just don't know.

gorgometh wrote:

We've just got to be careful about this line of thinking.

I cannot envision a happy medium that does not involve DM's spending more of their time on the forums, (when we need to be spending less) reading stories and trying to reward forum writing, rather than actually delving in game and reengaging the server and players in stories and situations where DC's are easily rewarded and where plot lines are substantively progressed.

At current capacity, it's just not possible. At max capacity, it might still be impossible. I honestly just don't know.

Yes, the self-centered, ungrateful, malcontents, need to stop running off our damn DMs! Totally agree.

I see the DC suggestion, if this goes through, I see an incredibly wealthy DC wise Anatida.

Well I tell you, I get all twitterpated when people tell me how much they like my stories, but I spend an exorbitant amount of time writing them. That is very likely because of my high level of OCD and the fact that by the time I post anything I've read it about 20 times already, but still... I expect few people have the sort of time I do to spend on such things.

Since it has been mentioned in this thread though, I will just point out (though it should be obvious from the amount of dialog) that 98% of what I write is made up of my PCs perspective of what happens in-game.

Sure I'm vain, and I like the attention it gets from the few that read it (avg #24 - that OCD thang), but I mostly write it because it is how I process things for the character. It lets me get a better feel for the RP and how it is, or will, affect the character. It's also great to look back over the old stuff and be shocked by how I don't even recognize "that person".

I think Journal Entries, and Story boards are key component to getting request approved. There interactions such as training and such in game, screen shots of stuff happening too. Though story board allows you to record that, or fill in the blanks.

One thing about journals though is that not everything can be put in there due to metagaming risk, subconscious or not.

Alaria- wrote:

One thing about journals though is that not everything can be put in there due to metagaming risk, subconscious or not.

This is true, I think it's unintentional for the most part. Still, I've had to be careful about how I presented certain situations. Although, I think I give enough emotes that other characters can figure out whats going on, for the most part.

I've got backstory mixed in with my drow since I spent /way/ too much time developing it with the help of other players and I wanted to give a flavor of how he got to Amia and some of the why is he like he is.

There have been so many great RP interactions that I have left out because they involve information that is on a need-to-know basis, mores the pity. Not to mention that, like Anatida, it's purely from the characters perspective which has all the best *cof* drow qualities and motivations.

Maybe the winner of the Amia yearly award can be handed a DC or three for their excellence?

The Amia yearly award is something of a player launched and player executed initiative , but I understand the spirit of what you're trying to say.

The PC story forums are awesome for helping towards a request, or alternatively for a creative outlet, but they're also QUITE dangerous for those who want to keep secrets. Though.. some clever writing and you could be just fine with putting up posts that only you or those relevant get the context.

Acknowledgement of the PC Story Forums

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