Anyone still listening?

[Troshen]

Hey all you adventgurers out there. Anyone still listening to this channel? Or has everyone moved completely to other places to create stories?

Troshen

[lkosov]

On Mon, 24 Aug 2020, Troshen wrote:

> Hey all you adventgurers out there. Anyone still listening to this channel? Or has everyone moved completely to other places to create stories?

Some folks are still listening, though not much happens here.

There was a post about a year ago, if your newsreader goes back that far,
listing some of the places folks have moved on to.

I've tried to get folks from the Tildeverse interested in this place, but
with no meaningful traffic here, and all the basic information (e.g. on
rdinn.com or dragons-inn.org) now mostly only available via the Wayback
Machine, it's an uphill battle.

[Cathy Mosley]

On Monday, August 24, 2020 at 6:28:36 PM UTC-5, Troshen wrote:
> Hey all you adventgurers out there. Anyone still listening to this channel? Or has everyone moved completely to other places to create stories?
>
> Troshen

Would love to get things started back up. Just the trouble of getting time to write,

Cathy

[Jace Draccus]

On Tuesday, August 25, 2020 at 11:28:36 AM UTC+12, Troshen wrote:
> Hey all you adventgurers out there. Anyone still listening to this channel? Or has everyone moved completely to other places to create stories?
>
> Troshen

I'm here in theory. Lack of time, energy, inspiration, but I usually check out the update emails to see if anything other than spam was posted.

[Troshen]

Cool!

It's Cathy and Jace! Could you guys do some kind of really, really short story? I mean like something humorous and short, just for fun.

Maybe a party? Maybe a retirement? Maybe a birth? Maybe all of the above?

For example, a [Market Day]. We would plan it out ahead of time with Introduction, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, and Epilogue, and then it would be over. A really short [Market Day] just for fun.


Troshen

[Cathy Mosley]

I really like that idea. Sounds good. :)

[Troshen]

Anyone got some time to join in [Market Day]?

Troshen

[Cathy Mosley]

On Monday, August 24, 2020 at 6:28:36 PM UTC-5, Troshen wrote:

> Hey all you adventgurers out there. Anyone still listening to this channel? Or has everyone moved completely to other places to create stories?
>
> Troshen

Will be able tomorrow.

[Troshen]

Yay!

Troshen

[Johnatan Duck]

On 2020-08-24, Troshen <rjca...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hey all you adventgurers out there. Anyone still listening to this channel? Or has everyone moved completely to other places to create stories?
>
> Troshen

New member joining! Hi!
I've heard good things of this ng.

[Cathy Mosley]

Welcome!

It used to be quite an acitve newsgroup and writing group. Hopefuly will be again.

[Johnatan Duck]

Super!

I don't know much of how it works. I know there are
archives I can consult, to get an idea. But as I
understand is some cooperative fantasy story-telling,
right? :)

[Cathy Mosley]

Dear Johnatan,

You are correct. If you work your way back through the posts on the group, back to around 2007, you should find some of the older posts. I will pull out the old FAQ that should help. Give me till tomorrow evening. What is going on right is an open storyline so feel free to start writing.

Sincerely,
Cathy

[Johnatan Duck]

Dear Cathy,

Thanks, I appreciate the effort! No rush though, I'm
not in a hurry! :-)

I'm excited by the idea of adding bits to the story,
but I'll start by reading first, so I can grasp the
conventions and the style.

By the way, I'm not a native English speaker, I hope I
won't mess up too much, should I enter the game :)


Johnatan

[Johnatan Duck]

[Cathy Mosley]

Dear Johnatan,
Over the years we had many who were not native English speakers, and it has never been a problem. If you are going to sample through the archives I would recommend going as far back as you can. You can follow a storyline by looking for the thread titles, which are marked with a [ ]. Example: [Traveler].

The basic rules are pretty simple. The Dragon's Inn can be used as a setting for meeting fellow adventurers. The innkeepers are Hugh and Judy, with a ghostly barmaid named Fawn (looks like a real person till she disappears). They too can provide introductions to the city of Montfort. The main thing remember is that there is no fighting in the Inn. If someone tries they end up in a floating bubble. Montfort is the city where the Dragon's Inn is located. Montfort is in the Kingdom of Claremont, and all of this is on the planet of Iffreann. Beyond that you can create kingdoms and continents and alternate dimensions to your heart's content.

The other rule is that you can't say that something happened to someone else's character. Extreme example: Writer Joe has created a character that is born of a powerful spirit and can read everyone's minds so there are no secrets from said character.

However, the writer can't have said character go up to someone else's character and say, "I know everything you are thinking and you have just revealed your secret hoard of gold." Now if the two writers decide to collaborate and agree on some variation of this - cool. If not, Writer Joe can create an NPC character of his for the great mind reader to show off their powers with.

In the heydey, when we had a lot of people writing, there were open and closed storylines, "threads."

[Marketplace] is an open storyline, which means anyone can contribute. Closed threads are just that - storylines were a few writers are involved in the planning and writing.

Not all storylines quite mesh in terms of timeline, history, or characters. There are a lot of "realities" for Montfort.

I tend to write in the "Ifreann" my characters were developed in - sometimes that meshes,and sometimes it doesn't, but usually there is enough overlap for my characters to interact with others.

The main thing is to have fun, be creative, and know that the writers respect one another.

Sincerely,

Cathy

[Johnatan Duck]

Dear Cathy,

On 2020-09-02, Cathy Mosley <whitefoxs...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Over the years we had many who were not native English speakers, and it has never been a problem.

I'm happy to know! You might need to excuse some typos or some grammar
errors, should it happen.

> If you are going to sample through the archives I would recommend going as far back as you can. You can follow a storyline by looking for the thread titles, which are marked with a [ ]. Example: [Traveler].

Thanks. I've been busy these days, and I still need to do my homework... :)
But I was able to retrieve some mbox from archive.org. 168 MB of text is a lot
of text! I've located the "Quasi-FAQ" post, I'll start there.

I've got a couple of questions (that might end up answered by reading better
what I have, so feel free to redirect me there):

> The basic rules are pretty simple. The Dragon's Inn can be used as a setting for meeting fellow adventurers. The innkeepers are Hugh and Judy, with a ghostly barmaid named Fawn (looks like a real person till she disappears). They too can provide introductions to the city of Montfort.

Are Hugh, Judy and Fawn backed up by people posting? If not, whose
responsibility is to handle NPCs?

> The main thing remember is that there is no fighting in the Inn. If someone tries they end up in a floating bubble.

Not that I plan to break the rules, but... Who throws me in the bubble? And how
do I get out of it?

> [Marketplace] is an open storyline, which means anyone can contribute. Closed threads are just that - storylines were a few writers are involved in the planning and writing.

Closed in that no external people can add bits to the story. Are threads
declared "terminated" eventually, or do they potentially go on forever?

> I tend to write in the "Ifreann" my characters were developed in - sometimes that meshes,and sometimes it doesn't, but usually there is enough overlap for my characters to interact with others.

Sorry, I don't understand this sentence :)
What is an Ifreann?

Thanks for the introduction! :)


Johnatan

[Jace Draccus]

I guess I can try and come up with something. I didn't really like how I did the last story though, once the dust was settled, so... I dunno.

But while I'm here I can try help Johnatan and save Cathy some time. (Although if anything I say needs correcting, that's fine).

On Saturday, September 5, 2020 at 9:07:13 PM UTC+12, Johnatan Duck wrote:

> I've got a couple of questions (that might end up answered by reading better
> what I have, so feel free to redirect me there):
> > The basic rules are pretty simple. The Dragon's Inn can be used as a setting for meeting fellow adventurers. The innkeepers are Hugh and Judy, with a ghostly barmaid named Fawn (looks like a real person till she disappears). They too can provide introductions to the city of Montfort.
> Are Hugh, Judy and Fawn backed up by people posting? If not, whose
> responsibility is to handle NPCs?

They are not posted by anyone specific, and nobody really handles the NPCs. Not those ones, anyways. They're background characters and ideally, at least in my opinion, should not feature heavily in the story. The Dragons Inn is simply a central point to start stories from, and they are there to provide writers with a consistent reference point as far as the staff goes.

So you might have a scene where a character talks with Hugh to request a room at the Inn, or order a drink, etc., but shouldn't really 'take over' and try to act him out for everyone else or have him join the adventure, etc.

> > The main thing remember is that there is no fighting in the Inn. If someone tries they end up in a floating bubble.
> Not that I plan to break the rules, but... Who throws me in the bubble? And how
> do I get out of it?

The Inn has protective wards, or spells. If anyone attacks someone inside the walls of the Inn, the attacker is magically and automatically put in a bubble. The bubble can only be broken by the person they tried to attack, or (from memory) there is a very hard to find needle sticking out of the ceiling. With some effort you might be able to get the bubble up to the needle and pop it... but it's probably easier to apologise and have your intended victim let you out.

> > [Marketplace] is an open storyline, which means anyone can contribute. Closed threads are just that - storylines were a few writers are involved in the planning and writing.
> Closed in that no external people can add bits to the story. Are threads
> declared "terminated" eventually, or do they potentially go on forever?

That depends on the writers. Some stories have a definite end point, others go on for as long as the writers want to write them. And sometimes they just fade away because real life intrudes and people don't have the time or energy to post anymore.

> > I tend to write in the "Ifreann" my characters were developed in - sometimes that meshes,and sometimes it doesn't, but usually there is enough overlap for my characters to interact with others.
> Sorry, I don't understand this sentence :)
> What is an Ifreann?

Ifreann is the world where everything is set. There used to be a website with some world-building stuff but I don't know if that's still around.

One other point about the world, there was a prohibition on anything like modern or futuristic technology. It just didn't work, anti-technology magic field or something.

Hope that helps.

Jace

[Cathy Mosley]

On Sunday, September 6, 2020 at 6:56:43 AM UTC-5, Jace Draccus wrote:
> I guess I can try and come up with something. I didn't really like how I did the last story though, once the dust was settled, so... I dunno.
>

If you don't like where a story is going always talk to your cowriters - it helps.

> But while I'm here I can try help Johnatan and save Cathy some time. (Although if anything I say needs correcting, that's fine).

Thank you.

> On Saturday, September 5, 2020 at 9:07:13 PM UTC+12, Johnatan Duck wrote:
>

> > Are Hugh, Judy and Fawn backed up by people posting? If not, whose
> > responsibility is to handle NPCs?
> They are not posted by anyone specific, and nobody really handles the NPCs. Not those ones, anyways. They're background characters and ideally, at least in my opinion, should not feature heavily in the story. The Dragons Inn is simply a central point to start stories from, and they are there to provide writers with a consistent reference point as far as the staff goes.
>

Jace, that pretty much sums it up. They were originally created by the founder of alt.dragons-inn, David Womack, who isn't really doing that much writing anymore. Hugh, Judy, and Fawn can be written to provide information that you need in a story - say, you need to know where the blacksmith is, or have they heard of anybody putting together a party adventurers (if you know the answer to that already).

> So you might have a scene where a character talks with Hugh to request a room at the Inn, or order a drink, etc., but shouldn't really 'take over' and try to act him out for everyone else or have him join the adventure, etc.

Correct.

> > > The main thing remember is that there is no fighting in the Inn. If someone tries they end up in a floating bubble.
> > Not that I plan to break the rules, but... Who throws me in the bubble? And how
> > do I get out of it?

> The Inn has protective wards, or spells. If anyone attacks someone inside the walls of the Inn, the attacker is magically and automatically put in a bubble. The bubble can only be broken by the person they tried to attack, or (from memory) there is a very hard to find needle sticking out of the ceiling. With some effort you might be able to get the bubble up to the needle and pop it... but it's probably easier to apologise and have your intended victim let you out.

And worse case scenario it will dissipate after a few hours (letting everyone cool down) before it lets you go. (A bit of backstory - the inn was enchanted with protective wards by a wizard that befriended Hugh and Judy - they are basically immortal and the Inn indestructible. Can't remember how Fawn attached herself to it, but it was centuries ago).

> > > [Marketplace] is an open storyline, which means anyone can contribute. Closed threads are just that - storylines were a few writers are involved in the planning and writing.
> > Closed in that no external people can add bits to the story. Are threads
> > declared "terminated" eventually, or do they potentially go on forever?

> That depends on the writers. Some stories have a definite end point, others go on for as long as the writers want to write them. And sometimes they just fade away because real life intrudes and people don't have the time or energy to post anymore.

Again, summed up very well. With open threads it depends on the scenario. Something like Marketplace might go along for a few months, and even if it stops, storylines that have branched off from it can continue on. They can be declared "Open" or "Closed" threads as the writers' wish. The main thing would be to change the name of the "thread" from [Marketplace] to something else.

> > > I tend to write in the "Ifreann" my characters were developed in - sometimes that meshes,and sometimes it doesn't, but usually there is enough overlap for my characters to interact with others.
> > Sorry, I don't understand this sentence :)
> > What is an Ifreann?
> Ifreann is the world where everything is set. There used to be a website with some world-building stuff but I don't know if that's still around.

Unfortunately the website is gone. I have been saving many of the stories, and keep trying to get time to build a new site.
Monfort is in the kingdom of Claremont on the planet of Ifreann.

>
> One other point about the world, there was a prohibition on anything like modern or futuristic technology. It just didn't work, anti-technology magic field or something.
>

Jace, thank you! I had forgotten that point. Granted your character can come from a world with technology, but none of it will work on Ifreann. Many writers have characters coming in from various other dimensions - realities. Depending on what the writer wants the characters can be forever stuck, or have the ability to move back and forth.

[lkosov]

On Sun, 6 Sep 2020, Jace Draccus wrote:

>
> Ifreann is the world where everything is set. There used to be a website with some world-building stuff but I don't know if that's still around.

It's offline these days but saved copies exist via archive.org's Wayback
Machine.

https://web.archive.org/web/20070811200350/http://www.dragons-inn.org/inn.html

This will take you to a saved copy from mid-2007, with working links to
the world-building stuff, FAQs, et cetera. For example, here's a copy of
the last(?) revision of the beginner's FAQ from 2003:

https://web.archive.org/web/20071109183738/http://www.dragons-inn.org/Exp/Inn-FAQs/dragon-faq-a.htm

--lkosov, digital archaeologist and cyber-spelunker

[Lost Archivist]

Hey have you considered gathering the information and starting it up again
as maybe an app, Discord server, or a BBS?



--
"The Lord is my Shepard,I shall not want."

[Cathy Mosley]

On Monday, August 24, 2020 at 6:28:36 PM UTC-5, Troshen wrote:

> Hey all you adventgurers out there. Anyone still listening to this channel? Or has everyone moved completely to other places to create stories?
>
> Troshen

There are still some of us around, and interest has been expressed. Part of the challenge is that real-life usually sidetracks us. I have done video conferencing for a writers' seminar on Dischord, but am not sure how well it would adapt to a share world writing project. Unfamiliar with BBS. I mainly work off a laptop, and only deal with mobile when I have to for my business (social media marketing). Other than that I loath mobile apps.