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Howzit

Unread postPosted: Wed Apr 07, 2010 5:15 am
by Watercleave
So, hi. I'm a teenager from South Africa, although far from your typical teenager. I'm an avid reader, especially of Terry Pratchett, and am currently writing a book which is slowly creeping towards publication - should be sent to the publishers by the end of the year, at least.

I started roleplaying at a little-known site called Fantasy World Creations, but that stagnated due to the site's current regular population of two or three. I found this forum via the Dwarf Fortress site, and just decided now to join.

My posting will be relatively frequent over weekends, and sporadic at best, non-existent at worst during the week. This means that any roleplays I start or participate in might have to slow down a bit so I get a chance to post - sorry guys.

I like reading (as above), computers, Dwarf Fortress, Discworld and all things fantasy.

Just a quick question at the end: How populated and frequented is this forum? On a scale of one to ten is fine, where one is a post a week (From anybody) and ten is so many posts you can't read any one thread without the posts getting ahead of you.

Thanks,
~Watercleave

Re: Howzit

Unread postPosted: Wed Apr 07, 2010 8:26 pm
by Idran1701
Hey, welcome! Glad to meet you, hope you like it here. I'd say this forum is probably around a 3 or so, myself; it's not hugely active, but not especially inactive either. We usually get at least daily posts from someone in RP threads, and overall we get a couple dozen posts a week in and out of the RP forums.

Re: Howzit

Unread postPosted: Thu Apr 08, 2010 1:13 am
by ChristianC
Welcome welcome! Hope you will find this place enjoyable.

Indeed, since most of the people posting here are past their 20s, full-time workers or students, and generally really lazy, we don't make that many posts, but it depends on how many games you're in, and if you feel like making an effort. Most people will happily post in response to someone else.

Hope you'll like it here!

Re: Howzit

Unread postPosted: Thu Apr 08, 2010 1:36 am
by Watercleave
Thanks for the welcome!

One question: GMs creating characters in their roleplays: Good/bad/okay?

Also, the link to Gaera Main from the index is broken. Can somebody give me a working one?

~Watercleave

Re: Howzit

Unread postPosted: Thu Apr 08, 2010 1:43 am
by ChristianC
Do you mean making Player characters of your own in the games? I'd say it's good, unless the focus of the story turned away from the players too much. If you've got a plot in mind that requires some extra characters to work with, go right ahead.

Re: Howzit

Unread postPosted: Thu Apr 08, 2010 2:33 am
by FlamingDeth
Holy crap, we're linked from the dorf fort site? How is it we don't get more newcomer traffic here?

Anyways, howdy. Normally I prefer to avoid making characters for my own RPs, but that's just me. Some people have the GMing skill to pull it off without making them too much of a focus, I know I don't. So try it out, worst that'll happen is that it doesn't work.

Re: Howzit

Unread postPosted: Thu Apr 08, 2010 3:16 am
by Watercleave
Okay, thanks.

Not good at not having it focus around me... I'll try without a PC first.

~Watercleave

Re: Howzit

Unread postPosted: Thu Apr 08, 2010 11:32 am
by Idran1701
Watercleave wrote:Thanks for the welcome!

One question: GMs creating characters in their roleplays: Good/bad/okay?

Also, the link to Gaera Main from the index is broken. Can somebody give me a working one?

~Watercleave


Oh hey, the wiki went down when we moved servers. Whoops; it's back up now. Thanks for the heads up.

FlamingDeth wrote:Holy crap, we're linked from the dorf fort site? How is it we don't get more newcomer traffic here?


I've wondered that for a while now. But yeah, we're set up as a download mirror; that's why we've got the download link up in the header.

Re: Howzit

Unread postPosted: Thu Apr 08, 2010 2:04 pm
by Capntastic
It's because I scare all the DF people who've listened to the podcast away.

Re: Howzit

Unread postPosted: Thu Apr 08, 2010 11:28 pm
by Kai
Welcome! Glad to meet you, and please feel free to PM someone (like me!) if you need anything.

As far as how populated we are, I know that there are people who basically only come around to participate in their RP threads (myself included for the moment), but you'd have them for your threads if they were in them (again, myself included). So it's often hard to judge. Hope you find plenty to do and, again, don't hesitate to drop a PM if you need anything.

Re: Howzit

Unread postPosted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 10:45 am
by la_chibi
Hey there!

Incidentally, I commend your choice in reading material.

Re: Howzit

Unread postPosted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 5:49 am
by Watercleave
Aha! A fellow Discworld fan. The world shall bow before the awesomeness of Terry Pratchett!

What's your favorite series?

~Watercleave

Re: Howzit

Unread postPosted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 11:20 am
by la_chibi
Series, or novel from the series? I like most of the books dealing with the Watch and Vimes, as well as Susan. Off the top of my head, I'd say my current favorite is "The Night Watch," (or whatever the title of the book is where Vimes goes back in time).

Re: Howzit

Unread postPosted: Mon Apr 12, 2010 11:59 am
by ChristianC
GOOD choice, Night watch is one of my favorites as well.

I think THUD! or Monstrous Regiments are my two favorites.

Re: Howzit

Unread postPosted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 3:59 pm
by pd Rydia
Hi! Very happy to see you here, hope you enjoy it enough to stick around!

We used to be a lot more active, then everyone got old and went to college/got married. Now a lot of us don't post nearly so much anymore. It's a bit of a self-perpetuating problem--when I come to the forums, I often don't post, because I don't find anything worthwhile to post in, y'know? I really ought to just post something new or something.

At any rate, a lot of GMs make their own characters. In fact, I'd say they all do. You are, after all, creating a setting for your gamers, and characters are a part of that. Also, characters are a very useful way to move plot along, when necessary (though, generally speaking, railroading is bad).

The thing to keep in mind, when making characters, is the purpose of your role as GM: to create a game for others. If your characters don't contribute to that, then you need to adjust what you're doing.

One of the biggest pitfalls I had when I tried to GM was that I tried to use really detailed characters or--worse--my regular RP characters. It didn't really work out all that well. Loose outlines or caricatures seem to work better, as they adapt to the weird-ass shit your players are undoubtedly going to pull out on you.

Re: Howzit

Unread postPosted: Sat Apr 17, 2010 1:28 am
by Watercleave
"Railroading"?

MY favourite Pratchett novel would have to be Maskerade. Hilarious and incredibly deep at the same time.

~Watercleave

Re: Howzit

Unread postPosted: Sat Apr 17, 2010 1:58 pm
by Idran1701
Railroading's when you force your players to go along with the storyline you've got in mind from the beginning step for step regardless of their actions. Basically ignoring the choices your players make in favor of your own plot.