No character ever stays the same. They always change and grow from their experience, much like in life. If Maria has changed lately versus two months from now than you’re doing well.
[quote=Gideon]The second, is there a way to play a scene with more than one player using the message system?[/quote]The only way this might work is if you role-played the characters writing actual letters to each other ("Dear X, you’ll never guess what Y told me in her latest missive…"), with everyone relying solely on the information conveyed through the letters. That’s actually an interesting idea…
But anything more extended is impossible. In fact, this is exactly the situation that led me and three other players drag a scene that began in FL over here… where it’s still chaotic enough, of course ;)
If I might ask another question… the famous russian patronymics DID work back then,right? So something like Arkadi Kirilovich Renko would be a name? I think whether Władysławowina would work or, due to the russians it should be a more russian name for Marias father instead. And since patronymics seem very official… she would use it when expected to state her full name (I wish people who try to write that down luck, even if it isn’t Grzegorz Bręczyszczykiewicz ze Szczebrzeszyna w powiacie Lękołody.)[li]
Russians did. I have no idea about the Poles.
As I write… Poland didn’t technically exist. Silesia was prussian and Austrian, the east an warsaw were russian, the rest prussian… so Maria is a citizen of the russian empire. That’s why I ask. But poles don’t use them.[li]
[quote=Professor Sketch][quote=Rysiek]If I might ask another question… the famous russian patronymics DID work back then,right? So something like Arkadi Kirilovich Renko would be a name? I think whether Władysławowina would work or, due to the russians it should be a more russian name for Marias father instead. And since patronymics seem very official… she would use it when expected to state her full name (I wish people who try to write that down luck, even if it isn’t Grzegorz Bręczyszczykiewicz ze Szczebrzeszyna w powiacie Lękołody.)
[/quote]
No offense meant, but I take it you don’t really know that much about Russia, do you? I encourage reading a few of the Russian classics of the 19th Century, they’ll give you a good idea of how Russia operated back in the day. Yes, a Russian middle-name would be derived from the father’s name with the difference depending on the gender of the child. Patronymics are not exceptionally formal - they are, at times, used in replacement of the surname.[/quote]
[li]
No, I don’t know much… I like Kino and Leningrad… but the only russian book I ever read was Metro 2033… and fairytales as a child… and Ну Погоди… but classics could be hard. I am not even sure if we habe GOETHE (or Göte?), so I might habe trouble with Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky… or are they aviable online likw Kafka?
Poles would have followed Polish habits in either empire. The ethnic groups tended to keep to themselves in their own villages or neighborhoods. They even had their own laws in many situations. A person with a Russian and a Polish parent would become adept at switching habits depending on the situation.
edited by Beau Mercy on 6/26/2016
Now, I just need a Pragan or Warszawiak to tell me whether Praga was as dangerous back then as it is portrayed sometimes today.[li]
I feel like I have to point out that some of a character’s origin details are actually really important to them. But not always in a 'this is their nationality therefore they fit X stereotype’way. For example, I have a secondary FL character, Siobhan O’Malley, who is Irish, and angry, but the anger comes from actual historical stuff. The Irish Potato Famine happened not long before the Fall is supposed to occur, and Queen Victoria et al worsened it, leading to many deaths. Therefore my character has a very specific grudge, from an experience she wouldn’t have had as part of her history if she was, say, Bavarian.
This is a very good point and not exactly exceptional. That said, he holds a grudge against England and the game takes place in England, so that often isn’t the case. That said, England roughed up a lot of people in it’s day, so plenty of countries might share a similar outlook.
Yes indeed, plenty might, but not that specific grudge. Sometimes culture and history can be the making of a character, I think? Like thinking on what superstitions they grew up with, what traditions, to determine how they might react to something. For example having a Russian character who gives odd numbers of flowers to people because even numbers are for funerals traditionally. (This one I got from a blog by a Russian person telling people about it to avoid a faux pas.)
That is only russian? I was thaught by my mother you buy them in uneven numbers unless it is a dozen. What makes me wonder. Were names with twenty names like the one of Picasso common back then? And does someone have a link to advice with weapons, not to overarm characters. A character with a Nagant revolver (like Maria) or Mossin rifle- could pass. Gattling- NO! But what about in between. I only found a guide for blades. But there are also guns and clubs… and fists…[li]
How I deal with time is to remember that time is weird in Fallen London. It’s how you can leave a canon character in the middle of a conversation and go grind some material for weeks on end.
Basically, time is not linear, and time should not be constraint when setting up roleplays.
As for nationality, I try to use it as one of the basic building blocks - it’s something that can be central to te character, but it usually built upon by other experience and events that shape their personality. Research into nationalities is a good way to find some interesting ideas and opportunities to develop a character but should not be constraint.
[OOC: ARISE, O THREAD OF USE AND DUSTY TOMB, FOR IT IS I, V. N., THAT SUMMONS YOU.
Necromantic rites completed.]
How would one go about managing an RP based on the Great Game? I’ve wanted to attempt such an RP, one-on-one, of course, and it is quite interesting how others would attempt to turn the Game into Roleplay and deal with the mystery-based essence of it.
[quote=Vavakx Nonexus][OOC: ARISE, O THREAD OF USE AND DUSTY TOMB, FOR IT IS I, V. N., THAT SUMMONS YOU.
Necromantic rites completed.]
How would one go about managing an RP based on the Great Game? I’ve wanted to attempt such an RP, one-on-one, of course, and it is quite interesting how others would attempt to turn the Game into Roleplay and deal with the mystery-based essence of it.[/quote]
OOC: I would probably suggest setting up a thread here in the forums that acts as a meeting grounds (i.e. bar, alleyway, marketplace) or someplace where a lot of activity within the Great Game goes on if you want a large amount of people otherwise pming and in game messages might do the trick.
[quote=Lord Gazter][quote=Vavakx Nonexus][OOC: ARISE, O THREAD OF USE AND DUSTY TOMB, FOR IT IS I, V. N., THAT SUMMONS YOU.
Necromatic rites completed.]
How would one go about managing an RP based on the Great Game? I’ve wanted to attempt such an RP, one-on-one, of course, and it is quite interesting how others would attempt to turn the Game into Roleplay and deal with the mystery-based essence of it.[/quote]
OOC: I would probably suggest setting up a thread here in the forums that acts as a meeting grounds (i.e. bar, alleyway, marketplace) or someplace where a lot of activity within the Great Game goes on if you want a large amount of people otherwise pming and in game messages might do the trick.[/quote]
Not quite the type of answer I was going for, I’m thinking more about the stylistic choices: writing, stories, etc; than how one would physically/technically set an RP up, as I already have a bunch of RPs going via social actions, and may be joining another one on the forums in the near future.
Short version: More abstract answers about writing and conveying the secretive nature of the game, and less technical setup.
P.S. Still thanks for the answer, tho.
edited by Vavakx Nonexus on 8/4/2016
OOC: In that case I would have to suggest using a lot of notes and messages some with double meanings attached. When it comes to people doing things it should be less verbal and more about the actions the characters are taking. Also you should make pming a part of the game to allow characters to keep secrets from one another.
edited by Lord Gazter on 8/4/2016
I think it would be interesting to have an RP revolve around an actual set of rules, or a board, or some sort of actual game system possibly hosted off-site. It would make the RP decisions more tangible, especially if you’re dealing with something like The Great Game
My Particular Friend and I often do a lot of RP explicitly using the cards we draw – or storylets that we play. You might be able to come up with a good Great Game RP by focussing on retelling opp. cards and storylets that match the Great Game. Stuff from Wilmot’s end, or conflict cards, for example.
You could write public messages with codes (aside from your obvious alphanumeric substitution and Caesar shift, the Playfair and Pigpen ciphers were both used in the 19th century ) and code words/phrases in plain sight.
Your obvious period source is Kim, though the focus of the historical Great Game was Central Asia which is obviously removed from Fallen London. The Code Book, by Simon Singh is a good historical overview of tons of fun stuff, as it where, though it covers the development of computation during the 19th century and Poe, if I remember.
As for an idea, I always wanted to do something where you have an agent and a spymaster who don’t know each other try to identify each other.