RPG location question

[Fireland]

I didn't know where to post this ... I was wondering how do the locations work when you play RPG?

Let's say the story starts on the Nomad, then I guess characters post in this section. But what if the story then happens to continue on the marketplace ? Do you have to switch threads to pursue the story ?

Is each different thread in the RPG sections, a different story ? Or part of one or a few different stories ?

I'm a bit lost. I'd like to participate but I still don't understand well how this works

Are there still many members actively playing ? Or is it more in the chapters section (fanfics) that people post now (and if you, do you need a character to do so, or you only need one when you do RPG ?)

Thanks

[Khei]

Generally threads sorta work like chapters. Every time a significant change in location or time happens a new thread is opened.

An example would be the threads we (Myself and Thea) have thus far in Baghdad. We started in the Marketplace then moved to Thea's house then the streets and back to her house. Soon We will likely end up back in the streets or the marketplace.

Doubar made up a Timeline to keep straight which thread happens in which order here.. distandlands.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=plot&action=display&thread=94

You need to invent a character (Everyone's entitled to a maximum of 2 Characters each. Separate accounts for each character.) ATM There's a couple/few locations where the story(ies) are taking place. The majority of the cast is in Basra (I think.. I'm easily confused.) and myself (Khei and Ashven) and Thea are all in Baghdad.

Sinbad or Doubar would prolly be better at explaining how it all works than I am at it.

[Doubar]

Hey there.

First of all: Yay, I'm happy to hear you think about joining the rpg, Fireland. We're always happy to have new poeple enter the story.

Next: Hah, I for one think you explained it pretty well, Khei!

Now, as for some further details maybe.

Concerning your first question: Yes, just like that. If we, like you suggested it, start off at the Nomad and then move to go to the market place, we usually open a new thread. In addition to that, if someone leaves the crew for example to go below deck in order to interact with another player there while the original thread is still being played (e.g. on deck the crew chat and Firouz goes below deck to talk to one of the other crew members there) that person opens up a new thread as well so they don't cause confusion in the main thread.


Same goes for major changes in time, like Khei said.

As for your second question: that's a bit tougher to answer. Because basically right now we have three (till now) seperate plotlines / stories going (there are some more inactive plots that for I will not mention now).

1) The main story including the Nomad crew, Caipra and some original characters like Kriss de Valnor, Kalani and Majid. Originally that one contained the baddies' threads as well, meaning it was planned to have Rumina, Plunkett and other characters cause trouble for the crew. However, due to real life issues our baddies cannot play currently/anymore which leaves us with the main crew.

2) The Baghdad-spin-off: That's what Thea and Khei/Ashven play right now. The plotline takes place parallely to the main story so there's chance that both storylines eventually cross.

3) The Basra-spinoff: That one actually takes place after the current main story and contains the characters Caipra, Ziad and Kriss de Valnor. It may happen that one day, this storyline, too, crosses with the main one, but no one knows yet.

Alright. That's the basics. Now, most old rpg-threads and all active threads you can see belong to either of the three stories. So, the rpg does not get seperated by the sections (which simply just symbolize locations) but by the stories themselves.

And in this regard, yeah, Khei gave you just the right tool. In the time line all threads are being listed. The Basra-spin off thereby has its own sections as, like I mentioned, it takes place at another time than the main play and the Baghdad plotline do.
In that table you will find each thread listed together with the time at which they take place. Threads which directly follow one another are linked with an arrow. For example:

Baghdad
Anthea's home - A new day of dawning
-> The streets - Nothing but Trouble

means that Nothing but Trouble takes place directly after A new day of dawning.

It takes some time to get used to the table and I guess as we are creating more and more threads I may change the outline one day, but for now I hope it helps.

Anyhow. That was an awful lot of theory I guess. For taking part in the rpg you'd basically just need to decide which story you want to join and create a character for that one. Please work together with the other players though, meaning: best would be if you planned on the new character together with them. You can simply open a thread in the plotting section if you like: distandlands.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=plot . There all members can muse on the character together with you; on which story to join and on how to best introduce the character.
Don't worry, though it all sounds like a lot of work, it's really all but that. Main thing is the character you think of and the story line you'd like to take part in. The rest we can discuss together and make it all work out.

Okay, and as for your last question: I'm not sure but I'd guess we have about 10 members playing actively at the moment. The fanfic section again is a totally different matter as it's nothing but our attempt to make our play be a fic to be posted on fanfic.net. A character however is only needed for the rpg.

Weeeeeeeeeeeell, I hope I could help you a bit there, Fireland. And once again: I'm happy to hear you think about taking part in the play. That's really cool.

P.S.: Don't you worry. This is just the right section to post questions like this.

[Fireland]

Wow thanks for both your answers, it has been really helpful. I think I get the basics, however I'm still confused about what you call the timeline. But it's maybe because I think of the RPG in terms of ''fanfics'', meaning the story develops in a linear way (chapter 3 follows chapter 2, you need to follow this order to follow the writer's storyline as well as coherence of the story). Therefore, I'm really confused when it comes to read the RPG (some, more than 2 years after they were written), because I don't know what to read first, and how to keep up with the story that's already be written before I joined DL.

I guess RPG is not meant to be read as we would read a fanfic (?), so therefore once you actively 'play' (write in the forum), you don't get confused about timelines and locations. I'm just wondering how to eventually fit in as a newbie, because some things have happened in the past during RPG (the main characters have evolved since).

[Doubar]

No, actually you're right. Our rpg, just like a fanfic, develops in a linear way. However, the three different plotlines that are being played may take place at another time (like the Basra-spinoff does) but still follows the laws of time as well.

The confusing thing about the rpg though is that the threads spread over many locations and thus seem to be a sheer mess. And while you're definitely right in assuming that this is not a problem anymore once you are part of the game and take part in the developments, I understand easily how confusing it must be to try and sort it all in when the play has been going for so long already.

But being honest with you: I would not advice you to read up on all previous posts (not of the main story that is) - not unless you have like a month off from uni that is and have no other plans for that time. x) But we could give you a summary on the same, tell you what has happened up till now. The Basra- and Baghdad spinoff however aren't that long yet so you may well read up on those.

Concerning how to understand the timeline: The timeline is nothing more but the attempt to collect all created threads and put them into order so that we may keep track of them.

Now, if you want to know what happened in the Baghdad-spinoff so far, go down to the end of the timeline. You'll see the following there:

[glow=white,2,300]In the city of Basra[/glow]
The story line begins after the crew has left Basra.

preludes	covered in
Other locations Islands - The journey only begins	-
Basra The tavern - Oh no, that guard, I have to hit him hard	-

Day one	covered in
Basra The forest - The walk through the forest -> The tavern - The new lodger of tavern's attic --> The forest - Back to the forest	- - -

Day two	covered in
Basra The streets - Princess' shopping -> The tavern - time to restore some order	- -

Now you can start with the first thread in "Day one" and then read one thread after the other in just the same order in which they are listed there.

For the Baghdad-spinoff you have to look into the main table and look for all threads that are listed under "Baghdad".

In the evening	covered in
Basra The tavern - inside Under The Crown of Ogotay The streets - the dark side of the moon (takes place in between "inside Under The Crown of Ogotay") -> The tavern - Doubts and fears (continues the storyline of "the dark side of the moon"; takes place in between, see page 14 of the "Inside Under The Crown of Ogotay") The tavern - An important matter (takes place in between, after Ziad and Caipra leave the crew, see page 16 of "iUTcoO")	-
Hell House Scratch's lair - back to plotting (takes place parallely to "doubts and fears")	-
Baghdad Market place - A new arrival -> Anthea's house - Home and Hearth

[/color]
[/td][td]
-
[/td][/tr] [/table][/quote]

Do the same like in Basra - simply read one thread after the other.

Now for the main story I suggest you start with reading the first chapters of our fanfic:
www.fanfiction.net/s/5275703/2/A_New_Adventure
as, like I said, the fic is nothing but all the threads put into order and edited slightly so they make for a good fic. And the rest I suggest we summarize for you.

I'm just wondering how to eventually fit in as a newbie, because some things have happened in the past during RPG (the main characters have evolved since).

Oooh, don't worry too much there. Usually newbies easily fit in. Plus, as you will notice when looking at the time line, we're at day 4 now so while we wrote dozens of threads already, the main characters didn't evolve much simply because hardly any time has passed. Lol! ;D

P.S.: In the timeline... the section "covered in" refers to the fanfic.

[Doubar]

Oh, and I guess I forgot to mention: the date when threads have been created isn't that important, really. Some ran over a rather long period of time as there were (and as you can notice still are) times when hardly a post was being made.

[Khei]

A thought just occurred to me. Yet another thing we could import from ye old MZDM.

First off it might help "newbies" to figure out which thread fits where if we add links to the previous thread in the first post of a new thread

IE:
All just a dream

{Continued from By the light of the day}

and in the final post in the "By the light of the day" could read..

{Continued in distandlands.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=house&action=display&thread=490]All just a dream?}

Might make things a bit easier

[Doubar]

Khei: That's a splendid idea!