Thread for Brainstorming and Planning Games/Proposals

[Bêthberry]

My dear, truly beloved Aman,

Please read the BarrowWight's post here.

Bêthberry

[Brinniel]

Brinniel...is there any chance of getting this game started any time soon?

Due to school and other commitments, I have decided to hold off on sending the proposal until my school year ends and I can breathe again (that'd be June 5). My apologies.

[Amanaduial the archer]

Thats fine, I have exams coming up in a few weeks, and I cant really take on any more games right now.

Bethberry....is that some of the famed non-sarcasm of Bethberry? [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

[Bêthberry]

Bethberry....is that some of the famed non-sarcasm of Bethberry? <http://forum.barrowdowns.com/cgi-bin/smilies/biggrin.gif>

Always, Aman, always. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

[dragoneyes]

The 5th of June has come and gone and I was wondering quite where that proposal had got to. Any news?

[Brinniel]

Actually, I was just working on it yesterday (after finally finding exra time). I'll probably send it in next weekend. A few more days won't hurt, especially since Vanima will be gone for awhile.

[Amanaduial the archer]

Thanks Brinniel. Oh, would you mind sending me a copy before you send it to Bethberry? Just so I can have a look. And dragoneyes, Vanima, Elentari and Helka will probably want a wee look as well, if you dont mind. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

[Brinniel]

Don't worry, I'll send you all a copy. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

Aman- Please check your PMs.

[Brinniel]

Due to the new policy of having only two owners to a game, I am unable to list all returning players from the Shadows of Umbra as owners.

I have decided to remain co-owner of the Silvandl, as I am writing the proposal. Since she helped write part of the proposal, I have asked Aman to remain co-owner with me, and she has informed me that she is interested.

Dragoneyes, Vanima, and Helka- You are all still welcome to help plan the game once it is running. I will be happy to see future PMs about ideas for twists in the storyline. And as I said earlier, I will send you all a copy of the proposal before I send it in. If any of you for some reason object to have Aman and I as co-owners, please let us know.

[dragoneyes]

It has been sent in yes? What was the outcome?

[Brinniel]

Oh, it's been a big mess.

I originally sent the proposal on June 22, but since the box for Rohan proposals hasn't been working it wasn't received. I sent the proposal again about four or five days ago, this time to Bethberry, and still no word.

Hopefully we can get this started soon, as I will be out-of-town for two weeks starting on the 20th, then I will be gone again from August 5 - 12. I really don't want to be gone when this RPG gets started.

BTW, is anyone else going to be gone in the next month? It'd be best if I knew ahead of time.

[Bêthberry]

The Rohan reviewers are working on the proposal as I type this, Brin and everyone.

Please remember that the proposal process is a legitimate procedure for application and not an automatic acceptance. The Reviewers work seriously to ensure that a proposal will produce a game that will not run into problems which could derail it and that will be of high quality for both the players and the readers.

Thanks for your patience. Until you notified me, we had no idea that the rohanproposals mailbox was not working.

Bethberry

[Helkahothion]

Dragoneyes, Vanima, and Helka- You are all still welcome to help plan the game once it is running. I will be happy to see future PMs about ideas for twists in the storyline. And as I said earlier, I will send you all a copy of the proposal before I send it in. If any of you for some reason object to have Aman and I as co-owners, please let us know.

Buttocks, ohw well, guess I'll have to start my own RPG some day. Do we have a starting date yet?

Abedithon le

[Amanaduial the archer]

Helkahothion, look at Bêthberry's post.

[dragoneyes]

Is there any news of this game? I have been looking forward to it and regularly checking on this thread for news. But alas! There was none.

[Bêthberry]

dragoneyes,

Mithdan sent a proposal review to Brinniel and Aman on August 12 with suggestions for revision. We have not heard anything back from them.

Bethberry

[ September 23, 2003: Message edited by: Bêthberry ]

[Brinniel]

Aman and I have been revising the proposal for the past month. It took some time since we rewrote the entire plot. Actually, we are almost done revising.

But alas, Aman seems to have disappeared. I PMed her two weeks ago, but she has not responded. In fact, I don't even think she's been on the BD since the 10th. Does anyone know where she's been lately? Perhaps I'll try emailing her later...

My apologies for the extremely long delay.

[Amanaduial the archer]

And mine.

Alas would be the words some of you are now muttering, eh? Well, I'm back [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] Apologies for my extortionately long absense, not my fault (probably. Not entirely anyway...) - my computer finally gave up. The hard drive was entirely wiped of everything...*sob*...and, to cut a long story short, I was therefore without a computer or connection. *sigh*

Once again, sorry for the delay.

[Brinniel]

dragoneyes- Check your PMs.

[dragoneyes]

I'm beginning to woder what's happen again... I feel like I'm being pushy, am I being pushy?

[Amanaduial the archer]

No, no I wouldn't say you're being pushy and I'm sorry for all of this, but there have been a *heck* of alot of problems and bother over this RPG. Brinn and I are working on the changes which have been requested again, and although the new game is starting to look rather distant from anything to do with Shadows, we are doing our best. Apologies - things get hectic around here, it would have been perfect to start it in the Summer as planned, but, hey, there you go.

With helpless hands,
Aman

[dragoneyes]

Perhaps we can make it by next summer [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img].

[Bêthberry]

Just a few reminders here about game proposals.

While it is very understandable how love for a game can motivate gamers to create a sequel--and there were several Freestyle games which were a cut above most of the chat-style games and which would lend themselves nicely to sequels--gamers should realize that all proposals, even those for sequels to old Freestyle games, must develope a plot with a clearly structured narrative purpose and unique, plausible characters which either develope aspects of Tolkien's world or represent a clear interpretation or analysis of it.

All of the game proposal reviewers--myself, Mithadan, Piosenniel, and Child of the Seventh Age--work very hard with game proposers to help them achieve a game which will not only meet these new writerly standards but which will also be fun to read as well as to participate in.

If you wish to propose a sequel to an old Freestyle game, please spend some time considering how to make it achieve this level of gaming. The closer the proposal meets this level, the less likely it will require substantial revision.

If you have any questions about how how achieve this, you can contact either me, Aylwen Dreamsong, or Mithadan.

Bêthberry,
Moderator for Rohan

[Amanaduial the archer]

Exactly. The main problem under which all the others are subtitles is the fact that Umbra was a Freestyle game. The other problems have occured such as:

- why, plausibly, would the elves want to retrieve the Silvandl?
- Because it was stolen?
- By whom? At this point the whole lovely history and the part about the blue mountain, wild men, abandoned children, dwarves....went completely out of the window [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img]. We came to the conclusion of a group of assassins who, foiled in their attempt on the king's life, stole the precious Silvandl instead. [This caused the name change from 'Silvandl' to 'The Assassins' Intrigue']
- Why would the Silvandl be in the open to get stolen?
- Because it was a gift given to the king from Lorien ambassadors, who are now leaving Mirkwood, in thanks for the help of Mirkwood in...[something which I'm not entirely sure of right now, as the only copy I have since my computer got a virus is on a school computer and I am on Christmas holiday, ergo I have not currently got a copy...]. They are formally leaving now and will present the Silvandl, an item of very substantial sentimental and tangible worth and beauty, in a ceremony that will mean there is only a skeleton guard around the palace. This means it will be easy for the assassins to strike.

- Who are the assassins?
- Now at this point we came up with some rather large problems of when exactly the story is happening. SoU was set in Thranduil's time, but this is not a very large problem; the only evidence of it being in that time are about three references to Thranduil and maybe two of Legolas. So we moved it back to the time of Oropher, in the second age, date SA 1698. A significant date! I quote from one of the critiques:

This is just one year afterafter the fall of Eregion, the Elven kingdom that stood just west of Moria. It is also one year before Sauron invaded Eriador, the lands west of the Misty Mountains. So if you intend your assassins to be in league with Sauron, you’ve picked a great time.

Lovely! Ok, so now we have a time and a possible motivation for the assassins - they could be fallen elves in league with Sauron. This also means the wood is not called Mirkwood, but Lasgalen/Greenwood. And that gives rise to possible alterior motives perhaps to drawing the elves out of Greenwood, which would add some more depth especially on the parts of the assassins, which would be excellent.

But....(why must there always be a but?!)

- Characters
- A fundamental problem! See, two of the principle characters are human, one with elven blood (something the reviewers didn't like) in a time when elves are suspicious of pretty much any other races. Which gave rise to Ascahyandel - a new character, her purpose being as the elven leader of the pursuers, as obviously to have Raye/Corr or Tallin leading the group would verge on being completely unbelievable. However, the very fact that they are human still presets a problem, but it may be got around - Tallin has her wolves, excellent trackers through the forest (the mindlink between Tallin and her wolves will remain, as the reviewers have not said this is a problem - if they do, I may have a way of getting around it...as compensation her abilities of speaking to other animals will probably be toned down rather, maybe a little more than normal humans). Also, she is a healer. Raye's reason will be that she can track almost as well through towns as the wolves can through forest, and the elves could have a problem through human towns.
Hwesta is not a problem, as she is elven and could be working in the palace as a courtier maybe - perfectly plausible, especially as her family have lived for man years in Greenwood.
However, Berethion may be a problem, Dragoneyes - we are pushing it getting two humans, to get another through, without really, really good reason might not be possible. What do you think?

Dragoneyes: also, have you any idea if Elentari still wants to play in this game? Is she too busy with Imladris?


Hope this helps a little [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]
-Aman

<font size=1 color=339966>[ 12:02 PM January 02, 2004: Message edited by: Amanaduial the archer ]

[Bêthberry]

Because this game was abandoned, I am closing this thread and will be sending it to Elvenhome in two days.

If any of the participants wish to resurrect the game idea, they should contact me via PM within two days.

If other games wish to brainstorm a game idea on a new thread, they should also contact me.

Bêthberry
Moderator for Rohan