The King's Players - Discussion/Planning Thread

[Pitchwife]

Whoopee!

Originally Posted by Nerwen

So, Asta's had her fireworks now. I'd say the explosion follows the dinner-gong by no more than a few minutes.

(I'm assuming here that Coldan didn't leave through the back gate.)

No he didn't - which is to say, he hasn't yet.

Originally Posted by Nerwen

And yes, I know this goes against the idea that we should wait for Cirdacil and V., but the way the conversation between Coldan and Aldarion went, I thought it was important that he have no chance to report back to the other two.

My thought exactly (as you probably guessed).


EDIT: Coldan has rejoined Harry and Asta in an, er, rather tempestuous way. Just to up the tension a bit more, he hasn't yet gotten round to telling them about Aldarion. He will, of course, but whether he'll manage to dissuade Asta from crashing the party is anyone's guess. (I think he'd at least try not to mention Gloredhel here and now, but, well...)
Oh, and if he can't stop Asta, I think you all know what he'll do.

[the phantom]

Ang- since the house is owned by your characters, would you mind setting the scene that Aldarion and Gloredhel have walked into after the dinner bell?

And feel free to write Aldarion's reaction to the big bad boom (I'm assuming we hear it inside). He would likely immediately recognize it as a calling card of Asta's powder prowess. In Gloredhel's company despite the seriousness of the situation I imagine it would strike him a bit funny, thinking of poor Harry being drug along by Asta to "rescue" him from a party. So, initial surprise at the sound followed by a grin would be likely. Gloredhel would be the type to laugh at such a thing anyway, so Aldarion would probably then laugh with her.

[Galadriel55]

Arrrrggh, I can't resist! I wanna play the servant that gets knocked out first! Probably his role will only last one or two posts, but it will be fun! I should be able to fill in the save in a couple of hours.


NAME: Belegon, usually addressed as “you! servant!” by the Lords and Ladies

AGE/GENDER/RACE/WHERE FROM: Late thirties/Male/Man of Gondor/Minas Tirith

APPEARANCE: Short dark hair, no beard. Grey eyes. Expressionless face.

BITS OF CHARACTER/HISTORY YOU FEEL MIGHT BE HELPFUL IN DEFINING THE CHARACTER: A character with no character (). Servant of Ecsichil’s house. Used to obeying orders, but cannot really think on his own. Dignified, and up to his neck in pride for his insignificant duty.



Edit: posted. It felt like writing what my computer thinks as I do work on it. Pitch, Nerwen, Dim - are we sticking to the idea that your characters knock out three servants to take their clothes? Your first one is here!

[Pitchwife]

Originally Posted by G55

Pitch, Nerwen, Dim - are we sticking to the idea that your characters knock out three servants to take their clothes? Your first one is here!

Well, since you've set him on us, we'll have to, won't we? Way to make Coldan's life harder!

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Pitchwife

Well, since you've set him on us, we'll have to, won't we? Way to make Coldan's life harder!

I set him on you? I believe I just gave the steps that were approaching from the inside a character!

[Pitchwife]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

I set him on you? I believe I just gave the steps that were approaching from the inside a character!

Right, so you did, and quick thinking on the spot!
I hope I've made Beregon wooden enough for you (like you said, thinking doesn't seem to be his forte). Sorry about the headache.

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Pitchwife

I hope I've made Beregon wooden enough for you (like you said, thinking doesn't seem to be his forte). Sorry about the headache.

That post was brilliant! I laughed so hard that its a wonder my head didn't fall off.

I think a couple hours of game-time later he'll get up with a very bad headache and no memmory whatsoever of what he's doing there. That should be fun as well.

[Anguirel]

I'm reading but not yet writing; I'll hope to have a post up tomorrow, probably one of those combined action long asterisk asterisk asterisk Sador/Cirdacil simultaneous jobbies. Sorry, this is the last weekend of my academic life...

[the phantom]

Galadriel- since you control the servant character, why don't you make him die from the blow to the head! That ought to make things quite interesting for the troop.

Kidding.

Or am I....

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by the phantom

Galadriel- since you control the servant character, why don't you make him die from the blow to the head! That ought to make things quite interesting for the troop.

Kidding.

Or am I....

A second attempt to murder my characters?

As I said in Thiliel's case, as long as I'm not involved in writing the law debates that would follow, I'm ok with having my characters gruesomely murdered.

I can see Belegon saying this: "I felt something hit my head, and then I died. I did not live to tell the tale."

However, tp, your efforts are futile, since Coldan already confirmed that Belegon is just unconcious. But there's always a chance that he'll have a heart attack when he realizes that he's late for dinner...........

[Anguirel]

writing, honest

[Mnemosyne]

Any ETAs on the end of the Massive Party of Intrigue?

[Anguirel]

I'm sorry I didn't mean it to be a bore or take so long. Post some time today chronologically really

[Mnemosyne]

Ang, you haven't been a bore at all, at least on my end! The attenuated intrigues of toDay have been most helpful for me, actually, because I've been moving and getting settled in, and fortunately, there's not too much going on for my characters. It's this kind of initiative that I appreciate in games, because then the game's survival isn't dependent on one person.

Now that I have the time to return my attention to the game, I was just looking to see how much more time this was going to take--if it's going to take more time to get everything out in the air, then that's fine for now. All of this intrigue is adding more layers of depth to the game, and I look forward to discovering what all has actually happened (I've been only half-following what's been going on, both because of time constraints and because my characters know nothing of this).

[Pitchwife]

Originally Posted by Mnemosyne

Any ETAs on the end of the Massive Party of Intrigue?

In Auden's words, "If I could tell you I would let you know". As far as Coldan and I are concerned, the ball is with Nerwen at the moment, but I'm afraid I've maybe complicated things a bit too much by deviating from the original jailbreak plan in the garden scene with Aldarion and then bringing Coldan back too soon and putting Asta in a tight spot.

To be clear, although Coldan is doing his darnedest arguing against it, I'd still love to write a cloak-and-daggery (read: crowbar-and-livery) party intrusion - but character-wise, I think Asta would have to sort of charge ahead somehow and thus force Coldan to go after her (yeah, I know - "let the women do all the heavy work"; sorry).

On the other hand, if our burglaring trio stands around quarrelling for a little longer, we could have more than another servant surprise them... just to toss that into the debate.

Anyway, I think we could actually wrap this plot thread up (or explode it and pick up the pieces) in a couple of days, except some of the people involved are also busy with the Arda Cup and WW - which is of course fine (no intention to play Urwen here), it just tends to slow things down, so I've no idea about an ETA.

EDIT:

Originally Posted by Mnemo

Ang, you haven't been a bore at all, at least on my end!

I absolutely second this.

[Nerwen]

Originally Posted by Pitchwife

In Auden's words, "If I could tell you I would let you know". As far as Coldan and I are concerned, the ball is with Nerwen at the moment, but I'm afraid I've maybe complicated things a bit too much by deviating from the original jailbreak plan in the garden scene with Aldarion and then bringing Coldan back too soon and putting Asta in a tight spot.

To be clear, although Coldan is doing his darnedest arguing against it, I'd still love to write a cloak-and-daggery (read: crowbar-and-livery) party intrusion - but character-wise, I think Asta would have to sort of charge ahead somehow and thus force Coldan to go after her (yeah, I know - "let the women do all the heavy work"; sorry).

On the other hand, if our burglaring trio stands around quarrelling for a little longer, we could have more than another servant surprise them... just to toss that into the debate.

Anyway, I think we could actually wrap this plot thread up (or explode it and pick up the pieces) in a couple of days, except some of the people involved are also busy with the Arda Cup and WW - which is of course fine (no intention to play Urwen here), it just tends to slow things down, so I've no idea about an ETA.

Well, now that I'm out of the WW game due to being horribly murdered , I've got a little more time to spend on this.

So, it's up to you, now: either Coldan lets himself be persuaded to change clothes with the servant, or Asta will do it herself (which I suppose would fit in with Ang's endless Shakespearean references). Or, as you say, another servant might turn up to complicate things.

[Pitchwife]

Great - er, I mean, condolences on your gruesome death!
I love the idea of Asta doing a Cesario/Ganymede, and besides Coldan will look more convincing as a 'caught' burglar, won't he? Unfortunately I'm busy today & tomorrow, but I should have time to write on Sunday.

Originally Posted by Nerwen

Or, as you say, another servant might turn up to complicate things.

Nah, repetitions are boring. What I had in mind (and apparently didn't phrase very clearly) was the idea that some loftier personage about to arrive at Ecsichil's pretty soon might happen on us - but I'm not sure that would be a good idea, more like instant catastrophe.

[Galadriel55]

Mnemo, I'm sorry I stil lhaven't replied. I'm going away for the weekend, so I'll do that on Monday.

(Blame the same WW game for not doing it earlier.)

[Thinlómien]

Just popping in to say I'm still alive, but meh, this game was supposed to be a short little writing adventure for me and now it's prolonged (which I think serves the game itself better so I have no complaints) and I find it difficult to have the time and energy to keep up... But I'm trying, maybe I'll even post again at some point.

[Pitchwife]

SAVE filled. They're inside.
Dim, if you're around - I feel it makes sense to leave Harry behind at this point (and I hope we've handled him OK), but it's of course up to you to let him have a last minute change of mind if you'd like to.

Originally Posted by Lommy

meh, this game was supposed to be a short little writing adventure for me and now it's prolonged (which I think serves the game itself better so I have no complaints)

Yes, we've come a long way from the "short, intense game" this was supposed to be, and I feel in part responsible for this deviation from the original plan (I just love plot complications too much!) - but I also think it's more interesting this way. Still, once this Day is done (and we've hopefully avoided half the troupe being convicted for various crimes) we'll probably do well to cut down on intrigues & shenanigans a bit and concentrate on preparing the play. After all, we want to finish this sometime before the next RPG reform, don't we?

[Anguirel]

I'm taking down my SAVE as its honouring today at least will be tricky

[Galadriel55]

I'm going away for 2 weeks this Sunday. If Thiliel doesn't report back to Rollan by then, I think someone will have to write for her. Or she could forget to do that (that would make next morning in-game more interesting...)

[Nerwen]

I'm without internet access except via cafe until the end of the week. Just letting you know.

[Mithalwen]

Master Anguirel.... must I seek my gauntlet?

[Anguirel]

am not really an Oxfordian outside the educational/geographical sense but I like to think the Prof was...

[Mithalwen]

Hmmph as the Prof was near enough a Warwickshire Lad himself, he might have had some county loyalty even though not exactly a fan...

[the phantom]

All right Ang- I wrote one from Gloredhel's perspective to get things started. I'm assuming that there will be a few exchanges written in your play for Gloredhel and Aldarion to start off with? If so feel free to PM the first bit of "script" to me so that I can write a bit of Aldarion's outlook as the reading gets rolling.

[Anguirel]

um yeah I'll bowdlerise some more Shak - er Oxford, and send it to you, I just felt there was some important reacting to do first!

[the phantom]

Thanks, Ang!

Heh heh- and I see my last post was edited by the filter. I didn't realize that word wasn't allowed, but I'm certain you can tell what it is.

[Anguirel]

great phantom. I will write a post about Cirdacil tonight, and after that let's make our next Ald/Glor/Sador posts skip the rest of this run-through for drama and speed, and address the real performance to the assembled guests

[the phantom]

Don't let them skip over it entirely just yet, or at the least allow for Aldarion to make comments directly afterwards. He's going to like it generally but he will have a bit of a problem with something in particular that he will feel the need to comment on.

[Anguirel]

OK well I'll do Cirdacil as planned and then leave the next bit in your hands. As Sador doesn't perform till later in the script I sent you that all works pretty well actually

[the phantom]

Anguirel- I've decided that Aldarion would only make his comments about the reading at the end, but I'm not certain which individual he will address his concerns to. It depends upon how things are at the end, and I have no idea what Sador has planned for the end of the reading, so I think I'd like to have you set up the way in which we finish and then I'll decide how to get Aldarion's thoughts out there. (i.e. Does Sador ask for comments? Leave the room? Whatever...)

[Pitchwife]

Just popping in to apologize for my appalling lack of posting recently - between celebrating my Mom's 80th birthday last week (which involved a load of preparations) and getting ready for Finlandmoot, I just haven't been able to get my mind into writing mode. Once I'm back (which will be from the 12th onwards), I'll try to breathe some life into things on the burglars' side (and in the meantime, maybe Nerwen hasn't entirely abandoned the stage in favour of a movie career [read: WW]).

Question for Ang to chew on while I'm away: would there be a dramatically ideal moment in Sador's play for us to interrupt it?

[Galadriel55]

So what's the plan? Let the party rock? I'll make sure to wake Belegon up in time to at least see the grande finale...

And - surprisingly - I still remember what I had in mind for Thiliel...

[Nerwen]

Originally Posted by Pitchwife

Just popping in to apologize for my appalling lack of posting recently - between celebrating my Mom's 80th birthday last week (which involved a load of preparations) and getting ready for Finlandmoot, I just haven't been able to get my mind into writing mode. Once I'm back (which will be from the 12th onwards), I'll try to breathe some life into things on the burglars' side (and in the meantime, maybe Nerwen hasn't entirely abandoned the stage in favour of a movie career [read: WW]).

Question for Ang to chew on while I'm away: would there be a dramatically ideal moment in Sador's play for us to interrupt it?

I've just had too much on my plate as well– and this seems to go for everyone else, too.

Also we need the play to progress a bit further before we interrupt. Though, I could probably start start writing about what the burglars are doing in the meantime...

[Anguirel]

I sent a script to the mighty Aldarion. Basically there are two scenes and the second should be at least partly done ere the interruption...that's why I kind of wanted to 'skim' over the rest of the reading and 'cut' to performing it in front of the guests artificially quickly...as a result, maybe the phantom can delay Aldarion's emotional reaction to when we're writing the 'live' performance?

I'm sorry to have been hopeless - especially to Inziladun whom I left dangling very cruelly - I'm currently abroad which is not necessarily bad news for writing p&q, and aim to get back in the game in all senses

[Inziladun]

No drama, Ang. Whenever you're ready is good.

[Anguirel]

Really really quick one to advance the sailor-boy's tale!

[Inziladun]

All right, Ang. Cirdacil's going to love this.