OOC: This is a placeholder for the new thread of Tadeusz, GMed by JohnA1nut.  :)

So you're waking up from versing out of Verser World. You're outside laying on grass. The grass is multicolored. Reds, blues, greens, purples, everything. Nearby are some trees. They likewise are all different colors. The leaves, the wood. All different colors.

The sun does not stand still for a very long time. As you watch, it rises from a random point, stops, spins a circle in the sky, and sets again at a different random spot. All in a space of about 15 minutes. Twenty minutes later, it again rises in a random spot, stops, pinwheels, and goes back down. Never rising or setting with any consistency whatsoever.

All of your Chaos magic weapons feel energized. More powerful.

There's a river running nearby. Like the sun, it does not flow in one direction. Some parts flow up, some down. And it changes on a whim.

(Doing Therapy)

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 2):

"Chaos." I whisper.

I get up, and check to see if my body is behaving normally with no arms stretching out weirdly long or anything.

The bright colors could mean Oz or some place like it.

I check my mental skills, basic ones, like math and memory as well.

Looking at the wildly moving sun, feeling the gravity under my feet, I begin to suspect that whatever that ball of light in the sky is, it ain't a giant million times Earth size ball of fusion and gas.

Your body is behaving normally. You remember your wedding, 2+2 still equals 4. Everything about your body is completely normal.

Gravity feels about normal. The sun never stays still very long. It will never be visible in the sky for more than a few hours, tops. Constantly moving.

A small group of people come walking up behind you. They look like homeless people. Dirty, smell bad, haven't seen a bar of soap in a while. They're heading in the same general direction. You overhear some talking about the city that's up ahead.

I feel relief that I'm not in a Tooniverse, I think.  Dealing with Bugs Bunny could get quite old quite quickly, or I might find a way to do him in.

"Brothers, I understand you go to a city.  I am lost, and wonder what is there?"

One of the guys turns around to face you. He's young, 25-30. He says rather jovially "Ah ya know Brother, it's just like every other city ya go to. Place to eat, place to sleep, place to get some work and put some coin in your pocket afore you move on to the next city. I'm just hoping it ain't too overpopulated. I could use an Indefinite Stay motel that lasted for more than 3 sleep cycles, ya dig what I'm saying?"

The rest of his party laughs. They dig what he's saying.

Hotel rooms are rented out in two categories. Per sleep cycle and Indefinite Stay. A sleep cycle is one awake rotation and one sleep rotation. Then you are expected to leave. Indefinite Stay means you pay once and you can stay for an undetermined number of sleep cycles. Minimum of 3. But as more people check in, those with more than 3 sleep cycles are asked to leave as the hotel gets more and more booked. But theoretically, if the hotel never got too overbooked, you could pay once and live in an Indefinite Stay Hotel until your Great Sleep Cycle.

You are welcome to join them. Two of the teens are playing with handheld video games whilst walking. A woman in the party asks if you've got any crossword puzzles she can do. Meaningless awake wasters like those are a valued commodity. She's got a newspaper. It's got two whole pages dedicated to nothing but crossword puzzles, Sudoku type puzzles, and the like. But she's done them all already.

(Doing Therapy)
This message was last edited by the player at 19:09, Thu 27 Oct 2016.

I join them, wondering what type of strange world this is.  But the people see okay, so that's good.

I see if they are interested in riddles.  I know a few, and while I'm bad at solving them, I can make them.

They welcome you into their party. You find out that they didn't know each other for the most part before they started walking together. Safety in numbers though.

Looking at the woman's newspaper, you don't see any dates or times listed. The only thing even remotely resembling a measurement of time is a sleep cycle. Apparently, these people stay awake until they get tired. Then they sleep until their bodies decide to wake up. That's a sleep cycle. Through idle conversation, you learn that newspapers are printed when there is news to print. Movies start when there are enough people there to see them. Buses leave when there are enough passengers on them to justify going. Same with airplanes and pretty much everything. They do a lot of standing around waiting for things to start. Hence why crossword puzzles and the like are so valued. It's called Wasting the Awake. Businesses are open when the owner opens them. It's just hit or miss when things will be open. There's a high demand for unskilled labor. You get a job and you work until you decide to leave. Or until the owner decides to leave. When you leave, you get paid on the spot for how much work you did. For example, a hotel maid who cleans 50 rooms in her shift gets paid for 50 rooms. A hotel maid who cleans 10 rooms gets paid for 10 rooms. They tend to be hard workers. Work hard for this sleep cycle, and then you can afford to take the next two cycles off.

No schedules, no clocks, no calendars, no birthdays, no holidays of any kind. The people tend to be nomadic. To purchase property, you have to pay for it in full up front. No installment plans. So only the very wealthy tend to put down roots.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:20, Sun 30 Oct 2016.

This sounds very cool, in a way.  I tend to ignore days when I can, and I used to be, and still somewhat am, a very hard worker who is happy to get it done, and finished.  I suspect I can relearn how to do that.

I walk with them to the city, and get an IStay hotel, and then go to work.  I pitch myself into it enthusiastically, pressing myself to keep upgrading my speed as I get familiar with the work.

OOC) Something told me this world would appeal to you.



Perfect place for it. You work until you're tired. Then sleep until you wake up. The sun keeps moving around randomly. There's no way to tell when it will rise, set, or how long it will stay up. It's not even moving at a consistent speed. It might be going slow when it first rises, then accelerate to 10x normal speed before it sets right back where it came from. You get the feeling that the indigs would not notice if the sun stopped moving completely, unless it had been risen or set for several weeks. And even then it would be debated.



Do you have any preferences? In the city, there's a vast array of choices. It's kind of a mishmash of late 20th century and 19th century tech. Cars driving alongside horse drawn wagons. An advanced metal shoppe right next to an old-timey blacksmith. There's no shortage of fast food places. Some of them have signs that say "Almost always open." A lot of businesses have signs like that. There's warehouses and a boat wharf on a large lake.

What work are you looking for?



GE 7

The manager of the IStay hotel is happy to see you. The hotel is only at 25% capacity. It seems before he awoke from his last sleep cycle, there was a mass exodus from the city. That happens sometimes. You won't be asked to leave until it reaches at least 80% capacity. So you've probably got more than 3 sleep cycles.

The hotel manager also asks you and the members of your party if you would like to work as hotel maids. Seems the exodus left them short staffed. The woman with the crossword puzzles volunteers. Anyone else?

So you pay them with gold coins and get a funny look. But they give you the room keys.

The hotel room is small. There's a shower, waterless toilet, television, and a single bed. Waterless toilet doesn't need any water to flush. You are allotted 50 gallons of water and so many kilowatts of electricity for your initial payment. There are meters in the room which tell you how much you've got left. The utilities will shut off immediately and with no warning once they run out. If you want the utilities to stay on, you have to pay for more usage. (You pay once for the room. Utilities are extra.)

Paying for additional utilities is optional. If you're fine with them off, they will be left off at no charge to you. As a matter of fact, you can get the room somewhat less expensively if you request one with no utilities. And some people do.

(Doing Therapy)
This message was last edited by the player at 09:04, Wed 02 Nov 2016.

I get a job at a warehouse, and start moving boxes and stuff with a dolly.  My muscles complain at first, but I tell them to quit whining.  I also make a point of either using the dolly, or lifting with my legs.

I thank the manager at the hotel, but skip that hotel maid job.

Curious, I watch the television at night, I was about to say, but at rest is correct, both for amusement, and to try to understand this new world.  Fast food is my eating, if my money holds up.

You get a job at a pet warehouse. They don't sell pets, they sell all of the paraphernalia for them though. Cages, leashes, food, etc. (OOC) I worked at the PetsMart warehouse for almost 4 years)

It's hard work at first, but it's a no-brainer. You get the swing of things quickly. You're placed on the shipping dock. Stack boxes on wooden pallets, wrap with shrink wrap. You get paid for how many pallets you stack to their specifications. So many feet tall, so many feet square, etc.

And you keep going for a really long time. But you're the only one who realizes that. By the time you're ready to go home, you've got a fairly large wad of bills in your pocket. You could probably survive for a few sleep cycles without going back to work. Of course though, they ask if you are coming back.



Crossword puzzle girl comes by your room once and asks if you'd like it cleaned "Or any other perks" and flashes a fair bit of cleavage at you. The hotel maids also serve as prostitutes if they choose to. She's choosing to. What happens is between you and her.

The first visit from the maid for cleaning is on the house. If you want it cleaned after that, you have to let them know and pay an additional fee. So she won't bother you again unless you request it.



Your money will hold up. The dice say you've got enough gold coins to last you a while even if you don't work.

Since there are no times of day, there are no "appropriate" meals to eat at any given time. There's a guy eating pancakes with a side of mashed potatoes and gravy. Somebody else is chowing down on a slab of meatloaf with a bowl of cornflakes to go with it.

You watch a nature documentary. The multicolored trees and grass are standard. Even the wood is multicolored. You get the feeling you could probably make some sweet wooden Chaos weapons from it.

The documentary shows that the landmass is one giant landmass. It's all under one ruling body. No countries. The landmass circumnavigates the world's equator and is roughly shaped like the zigzag pattern on the front of Charlie Brown's shirt. It covers roughly 50% of the planet surface. The north and south poles are oceans. You could realistically travel on foot completely around the circumference of the world.

You'd see furry animals and scaled animals. Hibernation isn't a thing. Or maybe they just don't realize it.

There are zero shows set in a future time or in outer space. Your assessment that the sun is not a giant star was correct. You gather from the TV that the entire universe is a single planet floating in the middle of a sphere of some sort, and the sun is a light and heat source of not quite understood nature. Might as well be in the middle of a huge planetarium.

You find the equivalent of a history channel. Except it's not called History. It's called "Stuff we dug out of the ground." Archeologists go around digging things out of the ground that people used. When it was used is irrelevant. It's presented sort of "Look at what we found. Isn't it cool?"

(Doing Therapy)

"I'll come back in two sleep cycles." I start to say, but then realize that I'm only slowing down getting used to the load.  "I'll be back tommorr....err, some time after my next sleep cycle."

Hot water shower that night.  Turn down the girl with a smile.

Bowl of cornflakes to start, then giant hamburger without the bun slathered in mushrooms, then veggies will do nicely.

That wood reminds me of something, and I wish I had wood skills to carve it because it could be astoundingly beautiful.  Then I realize that yeah, I could learn wood skills.  Still not up to it tonight, but I think next sleep cycle plus, I might.

I enjoy the casual wonder of the 'Stuff' show.

Next day I work hard, pressing myself despite my sore muscles, to keep going.  But when I notice most of the ones I started with are already gone, I pack it in, and go in search of a wood carver.

Your boss says "Sounds good. You're a decent worker."



You use up 20 gallons of water with the shower. You've got 30 left. Utilities is where the IStay hotels make their money.



OOC) That does sound like a good meal.



OOC) The first world where you met Magehammer. He normally teaches players woodworking and blacksmithing. I ran you a little differently than most players. And you ran a little differently from most players. But if you want to say that he taught you 1@3 blacksmithing and woodworking, that's cool with me.

IC) Your coworkers are used to working for 20-30 hours at a stretch. Then they sleep for about 12-18 hours. IOW, you're exhausted long before the ones you started with decide to leave.

You push it as long as you can, but eventually you decide to go to the hotel and sack out. The manager pays you.

Finding a woodworker willing to train you takes some legwork. Somebody tells you to go two blocks that way. The person there tells you the woodworker has left. Then that person tells you to go 2 blocks that way. Same story. But then, on your third attempt, you find the guy.

He's older. Doesn't mind being called Pops. He's not planning to go anywhere for many sleep cycles, and he will teach you. He likes having an apprentice.

And the sun still circles the sky at random.

(Doing Therapy)

"Pops, I think that sounds good."

I begin to stack up wood, sweep the shop, and whatever until he tells me what to do.

OOC) What kind of woodworking are you looking for? Wood carving? Building furniture? 1@1 whatever kind you want. Or are they all the same?

So he sets you to work cleaning up his shoppe. Once it's clean, it's time to make it dirty. He gives you a chisel and takes a bit of admiration at your blacksmithing hammer. He's never seen one like that before. He sets you carving wood.

The wood is multicolored. Reds, blues, greens, yellows, etc. Looks like a bad acid trip. But he's made some beautiful sculptures with it.

I'll go for woodcarving.

I'll start with decorative staffs as that's probably one of the easier things to do, if I can.

So you sit down and begin carving your staff. It's slow going as Pops is constantly interrupting you to clean or fetch or carry. You really only get to work on your staff for a matter of minutes at a time between his chores. And of course he's going to make you pay for the materials. But you've got more than enough cash to cover that.

But after quite a while and a lot of practice attempts, you produce a multicolored staff of good quality. The kind of thing you'd be proud to beat someone down with.

1@2 wood carving.

OOC) This world is really Chaotic. The other player I ran through here was able to make Chaos weapons like they were going out of style. Is that something you're after? If so, you just made a Chaos staff.

OOC: No, not what I was going for.  I want to make something beautiful and practical.

I put up the staff, if I can for sale, and start on another.

Pops grins when he realizes what you're doing. "Walkin' sticks. High demand for those. I kinda got out of makin' em. Not enough money in em."

But he gets 50% commission on all sales and that will henceforth cover your wood expenses. If you quit or get fired, he keeps all the unsold walking sticks you've made.

Contract accepted? And he spits into his hand and offers it to shake.

(Doing Therapy)
This message was last edited by the player at 18:44, Fri 11 Nov 2016.

"I figure its the easiest thing to do that will be useful.  And hey, there are a lot of walkers so..."  I grin, and go back to work on my next one, trying to keep the cool bits, and add one or two.  After a while, I want to move on to some different styles, but I figure that will take some time.  For now, focus on displaying the varied colors, and tiny bits of decoration.

I spit on my hand, wincing inside, and shake.  Gross, but when in Rome do as the Romans do.

GE 10

The first staff you put up for sale is gone almost immediately. Pops gives you your cut. The next staff you make is gone almost as quickly. You figure if business keeps up like this, you should be able to make a halfway decent life for yourself here. You're not gonna be drinking champagne with your caviar anytime soon, but a full stomach and a roof over your head looks feasible.

You get tired long before Pops is ready to quit work. It seems that with no set schedules, these people have pretty strong stamina. They work for what you would understand to be 25-30 hours or more without batting an eye over it. You'll just take some time to get acclimated.

Pops tells you to come back if you want to. If he's not here, just go ahead and get to work. He trusts you. He figures if the few coins you could get for stealing all of his tools is worth losing a steady income, there's nothing he could do about it anyway. The only catch is nothing gets sold if he's not here. These people like to dicker over prices and you don't know where the dickering lines are.

So make your walking sticks and he'll sell them when his sleep cycle is ended. You come back for your cut.



And with that you earned his respect. Then he immediately washes his hands. It is still a rather gross custom, if a respected one.

(Doing Therapy)

I join him in washing off hands.

I'm not sure I'll be able to keep up with these people.  After a certain amount of hours without sleep, I get clumsy.  So I put in fourteen hours, take a walk and an eat, and then go to bed.

Next day, I'm back at it.  I can't press so hard on working here, because I have to be careful with a knife, and there is an element of artistic judgment involved.  But I to keep at it.

Accidental double posting.

(Doing Therapy)
This message was last edited by the player at 02:37, Fri 18 Nov 2016.

You get the feeling that the whole thing, from spitting to washing is an honored deal ritual among some. You now have a binding contract.



First things first, it occurs to you to take off your watch and any other timepieces. At least while you're at work and out and about. What's the need for timepieces here anyway? Now you have no idea of the passage of time. You are as ignorant as they are.

Maybe you worked 14 hours. Maybe it was 20. Maybe it was only 10. Who can say? All you are sure of is that Pops is still up and ready to work when you decide to leave. You are at least 15 years his junior, so you should be able to catch up to him eventually.

OOC) Another function of this world is that without the time, you can get heavy bonuses on building stamina. You work until you get tired. How many times do you press on and keep working only to wake to full alertness 20 minutes later? Happens to me a lot.



Pops teaches you how to use power tools too. Lathes and whatnot.

So you work building your walking sticks and do the lion's share of the cleanup. Pops isn't really that demanding. He is a cantankerous coot, but you quickly get the hang of how to navigate around him. You get the feeling he was lonely and wanted the company more than the extra worker.

You get asked occasionally if you can make weaponized staffs. Put blades in them. Makes swords or nunchucks from them. Pops says it's totally up to you. Once it leaves the shoppe, it's out of your hands. You are not liable for it. He's made things like that before. It's good money. If your work is quality you can pretty much name your price. He still gets 50%

(Doing Therapy)
This message was last edited by the player at 02:32, Fri 18 Nov 2016.