Scarburg Meadhall Discussion Thread

[littlemanpoet]

I changed it. Your go, Firefoot.

[Galadriel55]

Umm, Elempi, small correction - Theolain is of no help at all to anyone who doesn't want to demolish the place.

[littlemanpoet]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

Umm, Elempi, small correction - Theolain is of no help at all to anyone who doesn't want to demolish the place.

Oops! Sorry about that - still getting to know them. Fixed.

[Firefoot]

Elempi - I was just looking over some old conversations between Scyld and Rowenna and discovered that Scyld has already told her a much summarized and somewhat falsified tale of his connection to Scarburg. I'd totally forgotten and in case you had too it's the first post on page 6. I don't know if that background information will color their conversation at all but I figure it might.

[littlemanpoet]

I read it, Firefoot. It's a pack of lies! Worth remembering.

I'm going to be on the road Friday through Sunday, so I probably won't be posting then.

[Firefoot]

Elempi - any thoughts on what would have happened to Osfrid and Muriel? I looked through the old Eorling Mead Hall thread and couldn't find any mention of them.

[littlemanpoet]

Sorry for my delay. I do not know about Osfrid and Muriel. I believe we are free to create their history. Do you have a sense for whose body this was? I had not thought that it could be a female, though it was never stated that it was not.

I'd like to get a sense for what you and others think before I post on the thread.

[Firefoot]

I really have no idea. Sorn's household as potrayed in the Abduction RPG was quite small, so there's a pretty limited list of options if we want it to be a character who's been introduced before. Otherwise, it could be anyone... and regardless of who the body is, the perpetrators are really up for grabs. Also, was it a deliberate murder? An accident of some sort?

[littlemanpoet]

My opinion was that it was supposed to have occurred during the burning, and was probably an accident. But it need not be that way. So it could be one of the arsonists, or not. And the arsonists, to my understanding, were looters who had resentment and decided to take it out on the memory of Sorn by burning what they couldn't take with them.

[Firefoot]

That sounds like the most likely explanation to me as well, though I would say that if you wanted to hide a body, an old burned out homestead would be a good place to do it. Probably the simplest explanation is best though.

[littlemanpoet]

Sounds good to me.

However.... ... this will give Rowenna a chance to suggest her suspcions, however carefully and as "their little secret" that Scyld has more to do with the dead body than mere acquaintance with the soul that once lived in it.....

[Galadriel55]

It's possible to tie in the dead body with toMorrow's plot, hm?

*walks off to ponder on it*

[Folwren]

Okay. I am sorry about my long absense.

Have we discussed further about the more involved plot that was being discussed a couple months ago with Nogrod and others?

I will put an effort into being here more.

[littlemanpoet]

Dinna fash ye'sel', Foley.

I'm trying to recall what that plotting was all about.

[Folwren]

Heh...I am not recalling perfectly, either. It involved the other landlords, so to speak - uprisings, and the like.

[littlemanpoet]

As far as I'm concerned, this day is now done. Anything having to do with follow up on Scyld and Rowenna can be written as remembered stuff, I think. Shall we move on to a new day? How far in the future?

[Firefoot]

Yes, let's move the timeline forward. Anywhere from the next day to a week, I'd say - I don't really have a strong preference.

Is Nogrod around at all? I feel like he was really key in some of the subplot planning that was going on around the uprising of the local lords.

[littlemanpoet]

Originally Posted by Nogrod

Tancred made war as a great commander and beat the enemy at the Pelennor fields. When he got home he realised it had been for nothing to himself as all his efforts hadn't saved his family. Despite the victory of the nation he felt he had lost everything he had - which is kind of true. So he grew nihilistic or at least cold of emotions to shut the tragedy out from his mind. And that might then explain how he was able to turn into an oppressive "landlord" at his late years. A bitter old man who thought he owed anyone nothing and that others owed him everything...

Alboin was shocked in a similar vein, but being so young when all this happened and brining the corpse of his father back to his home he had only been given all the responsibilities and troubles of leading the family, when he would have just wished to cry for his dad. Now why Eodwine thought him a coward might come important here: maybe it was partly because of Alboin's cowardice his father died? In that situation he would be haunted by his bad conscience - and even if many people carry that kind of loads for no good reason - they feel very real for those who carry them. And that would be the starting point of his "downfall" into a brutal exploitation of his surrounding farmers and trying to raise his status...

Friduhelm in turn could have been like Tancred's second in command or something along the lines during the war: like that they would have been really close and admired each other (at least Athanar thought highly of him and I think it was written somewhere that Eodwine both knew and honoured him as well). So Friduelm - who had been able to come back to a family - had not faced such troubles the other two had and stayed sane on his mind. So even if a war-experience always tends to leave it's mark on people, and Friduhelm surely had his own problems, he never got into that mode Tancred and Alboin got into. But appreciating Tancred so much he didn't wish or dare to rise up against him (and we could come up with endeless possibilities to the nuances of this storyline) and in the end rather gave up his lordship to his son to "wash his hands" from everything he saw happening. Lord Athanar's visit might have awaken him from that state, but if he will be killed because of that... then that's bad (but a good story).

There. Good reminder. So let's use this, and Rowenna's and Scyld's questionings as some of the bases for the new day, and Athanar chooses which of the three to deal with first. But never that simple.

Shall we start the new day a week later?

[Galadriel55]

I'm putting this down as a reminder to myself mostly, but also as a thought of what else except for the main plot could be going on the next day.

-Ledwyn will approach one of the women (either Rowenna or Saeryn) to ask about what she overheard.
-Ledwyn will eventually have to talk to Laerdil, but not necessarily the next day.
-Laerdil and Harreld also wanted to have a chat at some point, I believe?...

I think that's all, and I am sure I will be corrected quickly if I missed something.

[littlemanpoet]

Is my last post problematic?

My thinking is that Athanar and Eodwine both learn of the matter and Athanar delegates it to Eodwine since Rowenna is Eodwine's guest/friend/charge.

I left it a cliff hanger because I want to think and have some input as to what Rowenna may have found. It may be that she has found nothing but folks unwilling to say who has gone missing; or she may have a list of a good half dozen. Of this list, maybe the body can be found, or maybe the list doesn't include the body at all.

Thoughts?

[Firefoot]

I think it's fine - just to be clear though, this is a private meeting?

I'm planning to post... soon... the last week has been busy.

[littlemanpoet]

Yes, private.

[littlemanpoet]

If We're All Too Busy For The Complexities, Should We Perhaps Go Back To The Simple Stuff? At Least That Way We're Enjoying Ourselves And Are Not Intimidated By The Amount Of Energy And Time This Would Take. Thoughts?

[littlemanpoet]

It seems we're all too busy for a serious plot, so I changed up my last post.

Since Christmastide is near, I thought it might be fun to brighten spirits around Scarburg for yuletide. Perchance this will make it so it won't take so much brain power to post, and it just might be fun. I hope you like the idea.

[Kyani]

Hey everyone.... I was wondering if I could introduce a character who might come to the Meadhall occaisonally? She's a character from a fanfic I'm working on, a girl orginally from Rohan who disappeared in one of Saruman's earliest raids, and then reappeared briefly in her village--pregnant--and was put out by her father. She now lives in the forest with a child, and is sure she can't come home. It would be fun to see how she is greeted, now that the war has ended... but of course she can't bring her child.

[littlemanpoet]

Originally Posted by Kyani

Hey everyone.... I was wondering if I could introduce a character who might come to the Meadhall occaisonally? She's a character from a fanfic I'm working on, a girl orginally from Rohan who disappeared in one of Saruman's earliest raids, and then reappeared briefly in her village--pregnant--and was put out by her father. She now lives in the forest with a child, and is sure she can't come home. It would be fun to see how she is greeted, now that the war has ended... but of course she can't bring her child.

Welcome, Kyani. You're welcome to write on the Scarburg Meadhall thread after you "jump through" the small set of hoops the moderators have set up in order to make sure you're for real and willing to be a good barrowdowns role player. Read the "Sticky" and follow the directions there, and you're good to go. - Elempi

http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showthread.php?t=17230

[Snowdog]

So where does a thirsty Ranger get an ale around here? There hasn't been any activity in the RP forums since December last year. Is there no room for a light RP Inn around here? Just curious.

[littlemanpoet]

Light may be just the thing. If you post, I'll post. Let's see where this goes, eh?

[littlemanpoet]

Anybody still want to do this?

[Mithalwen]

I would love to RPG again but haven't been in this hall IIRC

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Oho, such ancientry... I would enjoy being part of some RPGing again, and this one was nice, but I think first big project would be trying to figure out where we are and what in the name of all is currently happening...

[littlemanpoet]

Mithalwen, feel free to read the beginning posts of this discussion thread for the basics here. We'd love to have you.

And Legate, we can take time with getting this restarted. After all, we have to recruit enough people to be involved, and that could take time. No hurry.

[Snowdog]

I could be up for it as long as it doesn't bog down into 'this rule' or 'that rule' and 'can you edit your post to make the one I'm going to post fit' type of stuff.

And yeah, archiving as we go.

[Nogrod]

Seeing that it has been a couple of years the Mead Hall has worked I'd strongly suggest we'd come up with a new one - or even better - take a time-leap to let us refresh the company of writers and characters. A leap in time (aka. not a leap in space) would allow using some of the old characters - which would be nice as I think many of us who wrote them the last time were growing quite fond of or even close with them - while giving us a natural opportunity to bring on new writers and characters.

I agree with Snowdog up to a point.

I really disliked the over-control freaking of some game-hosts - or players - of the earlier days (even if someone is the host / mod / patron, that doesn't mean it is your story alone), but I have seen the other side of the matter too where someone has fex. used my character in totally odd ways in no way fitting in to the personality, or rushing things forwards unnecessarily just for one's impatience when others have had clear and openly expressed intent of writing something for their part in a day or two on a particular situation before things get moving forwards storywise.

With good will and wish to do things together and honoring each others' contributions we can achieve a lot without unnecessary or constraining rules.


Talking of organizing, I'd be happy to give you Littlemanpoet the reins of the Mead Hall again (I don't think I have the time or resources to lead it), but I could think of letting Athanar or Stigend (and Cnebba!) to stay and to write for them - or then take on just a totally new character.

So count me in.

[Mithalwen]

I have read the bits at the beginning but I don't have the time to read 35 pages of story before getting started really... so a time leap would work for me. My old character, won't work since he is tied to the Edoras area so I must start from scratch there.. so if there is a need for a particular type of character I would consider running with that. However if the extant characters want to pick up where they left off brief idea of what is going on would help or at least a suitable jumping in point in those 35 pages....

[Galadriel55]

Oh gosh... I would say I would join (time not-very-permitting), but I've forgotten who all the characters are! I will have to do a major review if this is to be revived.

[Nogrod]

If we're not in a super-hurry, I think lmp and myself could come up with a short(ish) intro into what has happened before, and maybe some ideas as to where we'd jump.

Although I think it would be nice to have ideas as to where to jump especially from you who have been at the Mead Hall already and have at least a rough idea where we have been thus far.

So which things, relations, general background trends, overall developments etc. you'd like to keep and which you'd rather get rid of?

Any brand new ideas from people who haven't been writing to the Mead Hall previously?

[Firefoot]

Yes! Count me in.

Aside from a general drop off in writers, I feel like where we really got stuck there at the end was with figuring out what to do with that body that was discovered... I at least didn't have any good ideas.

[Inziladun]

I never was involved in this game, but I got my feet wet a while back, and had fun with a minor role. I think I'd like to do it again.

[Thinlómien]

After disappearing for several years, I could humbly stalk back. But I need to do some research about what my characters were up to, or maybe somebody could quickly brief me -

I suppose you've been using Modtryth as a background character, her being one of the household serving women, right? Nothing special? (Even though if I keep writing for her, I should probably also figure out if anything special happened to Stigend or Cnebba, and maybe what happened recently in general!)

And what of Athanar's good-for-nothing sons whose names I have momentarily forgotten? (Great, now Legate reminds me: Wulfric and Wilheard. Oh gosh they were awful.) Did they stay around or were they sent away to do some soldiering and growing up?

Mmm, maybe I'll plague Nogrod (or Legate?) irl about all this...

Anyway, I need to think if I want to keep playing these folks, or whether I should introduce a new character again (and leave Modtryth as a NPC and/or keep W&W out of Scarburg) - I think I should try to keep a sensible amount of characters...