How goes it, writers?

I'm Raker, and I'm a fantasy addict. I've been a tabletop DM for nearly two decades, and I've been part and parcel to more adventures than I care to count. I've laughed. I've cried. I've grit my teeth in frustration, and cheered in triumph. I've watched characters grow and change and learn; rise and fall. It's been awesome.

And now I've got kind of a crazy idea. Bear with me.

There's nothing more "human" than swapping stories around a campfire. The smoke, the crackle, the tales that grow larger by the moment until they just carry you away. There's a reason that this kind of oral storytelling has been with us from our earliest beginnings.

So, in the spirit of campfire stories among friends, I come bearing a plot.

I want five hearty souls with a love for stories to join my adventuring party. Whatever fantasy skillset or race tickles your fancy. Imagine that we've been a fellowship of adventurers, explorers, and tomb-raiders for a long while. We've overcome challenges, vanquished foes, and seen things that others may never see together. We're on our way to the final encounter, the Big Bad Evil Guy, which awaits us over the hills and far away. It's a long and dangerous journey, to be sure. It'll take days. But every night we pause beside the fire to recount some small vignette from our time together. Just the best bits of the campaign; stories to steel our resolve. Imagine it as a frame story, or a series of playable flashbacks.

It'll all start with an OOC prompt which we'll decide on ahead of time. For example:

-What was the greatest feat of magic we ever witnessed?
-What was the most fearsome beast we ever overcame together?
-Who, of all of our many foes and foils, pulled the slickest doublecross on us?

We'll take it in turns, playing each out to its conclusion. When we come to a good stopping point, we'll end the arc and set up the next one. Our characters will grow. They'll learn. They'll win and lose. And by the end, we'll have a host of adventures that'll be roared at in taverns across the world.

Basically, I want a kinetic, story-forward, Free-form Fantasy with a plot.

That being said, we'll need some strong, committed writers. I'm looking for creative types who can help drive the story. Not the sort who dump 1500 words of random prose for the sake of 1500 words of random prose, but the sort who can take the prompt, tie themselves into it, and make the world breathe. A flair for the dramatic and a sense of humor are an absolute plus.

Sound like your kind of party? Post in. Hash it out with me.
This message was last updated by the user at 02:56, Fri 07 July 2017.

Consider me intrigued!

So would you consider this a good post? With a crash. He was hurtled through the window. Bloody and in severe pain he stood back up to face the threat once more. A human. He had no idea why the human was terrorizing the monster's nor why he was so high level. All he knew was he had to stop him from descending anymore and with adrenaline rushing through he would do just that. He stood up and rushed at him aware that if he failed his friends might be at risk. course world building is my favorite thing. I have been in multiple games where i help build the world and enjoy every single one of them.
This message was last edited by the user at 18:56, Thu 06 July 2017.

Honestly, I'm a little rusty and my toolbox of writing skills needs a good dusting, but this sounds like a lot of fun. The premise reminds me a bit of The Fall of Magic story game that was Kickstarted a while ago, and I'm a sucker for collaborative world building and camraderie.

Fall of Magic. That was the name of that crazy awesome story-forward, rules-light game. You win my internet heroism point of the day. Collaborative storytelling and world building. That's absolutely the feel I'm going for. I run a couple of games on Roll20, and world building is absolutely my jam. But I want a game where my players are a little more invested in building the adventure as well. So this is my ham-handed attempt at building a communal sandbox that some like-minded creative types can populate with awesome little flashback stories.

So, there's a little interest, I'm seeing. That gives me more than a little joy.

I'm in. As always. Stalked you all the way to RPol, after all.

Appreciate the vote of confidence, Navi. Even if you did phrase it in the most terrifying way possible.

Iceseer, there's a nugget of a great post in there. As far as action-posts go, it gets the point across, but doesn't convey a sense of place or much in the way of the "why." Also, the structure is a little wonky. I'm having trouble deciding who the point of view character (your He) is. Man, monster? Is he fighting a human? Why is the character aware of his foe being "high level?"

In the midst of a gripping combat, short, punchy posts are awesome. When you're coming in cold, I like a little more to sink my teeth into. Who's fighting? Where? Why?

Let me take a crack at it.

With a crash, he was hurled through the window. Glass tinkled to the wet paving stones, and Valdrem Kell skidded away from the tavern with a clamor of steel on stone. He whipped his hair, black and sodden, from his eyes as he scrabbled to his feet as his opponent appeared in the doorway. Whip-lean and dressed like bad-news in black leather and silver gypsy beads, she stood in the doorway, one fist pressed into her hip. A sneer creased her lips, and her skin rippled as the magic coursed through her. Valdrem took a halting, stagger step backward and raised his fists. He knew this trick.

His opponent's skin shifted, as if restless serpents crawled beneath. Her jaw became a muzzle; her hands, massive paws. Her dark hair grew, spreading across her pale skin. In a moment, it wasn't a waif in leather, but a man-eater grizzly charging from the open tavern door with a thunderous bellow.

Every bit of sense that hadn't already been knocked clear in the scuffle was begging Valdrem to turn tail and run. But his blood was up, and the adrenaline sung through his veins louder than his primal monkey-brain could scream for him to find a tree and wait for morning. This was his fight, and he wouldn't have his friends caught in the line of fire.

So he charged, a wordless battle-cry rending the air as he ran to meet the enormous beast. When had he ever been one to walk away from a bad idea?

In short, Ice: it ain't bad. I just want more.
This message was last edited by a moderator, as it was against the forum rules, at 02:14, Fri 07 July 2017.

This message was deleted by a moderator, as it was against the forum rules, at 02:16, Fri 07 July 2017.

For what it is worth, if you like the Fall of Magic you might want to check out Follow by Ben Robbins (the guy who wrote Microscope). Its another nifty little game that was successfully Kickstarted that is light on rules and big on collaborative, episodic story telling.

And please don't take my offtopic rants to mean a lack of interest. I really love the idea you've proposed for a game.

In reply to ApolloEnder (msg # 9):

I've heard of Microscope, though I've never gotten hands-on with it. I've heard nothing but good things. Maybe I'll give it and Follow a look-see. Never bad to broaden one's horizons.

Off-topic doesn't offend me in the slightest, and I'm absolutely tickled that I haven't completely lost my noggin. So long as there are a couple of other creative souls who are willing to throw in with me, I think this could very well be a fun way to spend some time.

Maybe I'll see how the Game Creator works.

So are you going more for a Decameron/Canterbury Tales style, where each person tells their own little tale? Or a round robin, where each person has to pick up the next segment of the current story as it comes round to them?

In reply to Fyrerain (msg # 11):

Good question!

I was leaning toward the round robin style, personally. I like the idea of everyone in the little adventuring company basically building the story up together. Sort of "Yes, and..." improv-style storytelling. It lets everyone help build the world and our shared history as we go along.

That's not to say that there might not be a few in the vein of The Canterbury Tales. Might have a couple of prompts that point further back than the formation of our fellowship. Backstory flashbacks and the like. Those will probably be the exception and not the rule, however.