Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Untitled's Storyteller's LiveJournal:

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Saturday, September 4th, 2004
1:48 pm	Alive, 6 days and counting Or is it 7? Anyway, I'm alive. This is the first time I've had the ten minutes to spare to update this, or any other, blog since getting back into Canada. All of my computer time is dedicated to Untitled in various ways, including inputting character sheets, designing the Players Guide and Player Packs, updating the website to some extent, and other various tasks. As a note, check out the website: http://www.lrps.ca/untitled/. First event is Friday, September 10th. We've got the room booked, and I've got a props master in charge of setting it all up. At least the fake walls and the like. I'm a little exhausted at the amount of work just getting that organized required. Our "regular" site bailed on us, and finding someplace else was a huge challenge with relatively little notice and not a lot of cash to work with. We've got a few players that I suspect will be problems in terms of either disappearing or just being problem players. I've got my eyes on them, and so does Tom, so I think it'll be okay. It's hard to say, though. I mean, I've been wrong in the past on who would be a problem. Almost all of the cabals are created. The Cabal Creation worked really well. I've got 1 to do entirely, and 2 to redo due to some changes after characters were completed. I'm sitting in a cybercafe, drinking white hot chocolate with a splash of peppermint, and wishing I had enough sleep. Is this typical? Matthew -- If you're still reading this, email me at troubled@gmail.com, okay? I miss you like ice cream. Anna Current Mood: exhausted (Comment on this)
Wednesday, June 23rd, 2004
1:41 am	Things you'll never see in Untitled Jon sent out a mail to his group about things they'll never see in his game, and I'm adapting it to Untitled. Here's what Jon wrote, with my own commentary thrown in. (Jon graciously agreed over email that I could steal it.) ( Read more... ) Current Mood: apathetic (Comment on this)
Thursday, June 17th, 2004
12:18 pm	Rules Suck, except when they don't... I'm really feeling frustrated right now. We're looking at a September startime, and it alternately seems so far away and way too soon. I don't know if other STs suffer from this problem. I'm also very anxious that no one will want to play. Oh well. If it comes down to it, I'll run the plot for six people in a TT and be happy. Cuz it's a damned cool plot. I recently got subbed to a mailing list that the organizers of another Mage game are using, and it really brought home to me a few things we need to keep in mind. Stuff we haven't fleshed out enough in terms of rules. 1. We have no real idea on what we want to do with Spirits. In Fade, we had Barry. Barry's excellent with spirits and a lot of the rules in the WoD. He's very creative. He's also not an option for the organizing staff of this game. Which means: A) We need rules and ideas for spirits that Tom and I can use. B) We need to remember that this is the Umbra, and that will change things signifigantly. 2. We haven't really fleshed out the benefits/disadvantages of having a "position" on the station. Hence why it's so vauge in the PG. I really *want* these positions to be meaningful, much like the ones in a WW game that ran in Edmonton called Lost Paths. They need to be more than just burdens. Something Jon's game suggested (Sorry, Jon, haven't read as far to see if you followed through on it) was a Research and Writing list for players/non players interested in doing related research for the game. Tom and I just discussed it, and decided that getting information from the players regarding things is a great idea, and one we totally didn't think of with Fade. Also, we had players who didn't really understand things they put in their backgrounds, such as their character's religion. So, we thought the idea of getting a bulleted list of things about their religion/Science/whatever for ones that Tom and I understand (such as Catholic, for an example that was poorly played in Fade), and one to two pages on things we don't really understand. Any thoughts on this? I'm also emailing other STs about the idea of a character meet and greet. Edmonton has a decent reputation with the local Boston Pizza, and Tom and I were thinking about inviting the player base for something hosted in their party room. Buy some treats for everyone to eat, and just relax, get the players and characters to know each other, and all that. We're also thinking of some sort of props making thingy there, but I'm a little stymied. Part of me wants to make matching jump suits (you can buy painters jumpsuits really cheap), but I think this limits what the players can do creatively. I don't know, though. Any ideas on this? I'm just randomly spitting out thoughts today. Watch me avoid packing.... Current Mood: guilty Current Music: Happy Hardcore - Time after Time (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, June 6th, 2004
11:49 am	Player's Guide, Part Two Here is Part Two of the Player's Guide. I'd link directly to Part One, but then you'd get the whole thing, without the lj-cuts, and that's long. So I'll just suggest you scroll down to the next entry instead. ( Positions ) ( Acolytes ) ( Familiars ) ( Rules Clarifications ) ( It Takes Two to Tango ) ( FAQ ) So... long.... I want to take this opportunity to thank Tom, Kris, and Matthew for their contributions to this guide. Each of them helped with ideas, comments, brain storming, and general support. Their fingerprints are all over this thing. Thanks, guys. Check out the whole thing in rtf format here Current Mood: crazy Current Music: Dead Alewives - Dungeons and Dragons Part 2 (Comment on this)
11:07 am	...It's done? No way! (I have obviously not gotten enough sleep. Either that, or all the mosquitos have sucked out my brain. Please take this in the silly manner in which it is intended. Thank you!) It's done! The Evil Players Guide of Doom is now ready for beta reading! FAQ: Anna, I have totally been fascinated by your struggle to make a players guide for your silly little Mage LARP! I so want to help you! How can I do this? Well, you could read a section (or more) of the thing, and make insightful comments about it. A section? How big is this thing? 63 pages. But part of that's because I changed the font up to 12 point. At 10 point is was under 50, I think. Plus, there are many many lists in it. What sort of things would you like people to read for? Lots of things, including but not limited to: - do the rules make sense as written? - do you think the rules would *work* as written? - does the grammar work? Are there any spelling errors? - Is it readable? Or terribly terribly dull? - Is something missing? But Anna! I haven't played Mage, either LARP or Tabletop! Can I still help? You are perfect for helping! Although some of the rules do assume you have access to the books, the majority of them should be self-contained. If you don't have a clue what something referenced in here is talking about, I've obviously done something wrong. Anna, your rules are so kick ass, I want to use them for my game! Can I? Um, sure. Let me know what you liked. I will be very flattered, and quite surprised. Will I get anything for helping you? Well, if you comment to this entry (or really, any other entry, since every comment makes me think about stuff), you'll get a thanks credit in the final product. But unless you're in Edmonton, I doubt you're going to see that. Um... I'll send you a post card from China, if you're willing to drop me an email with your snail mail address! anna@livinginchina.com So, what should I do? Well, after I'm done being silly (which should be shortly, I only have so much caffeine in my system), I'll be putting a series of lj-cuts with each section behind it. At the end of each section will be a link to the bottom, where you can leave comments. Even if you just want to leave a comment of "Read it, looks good", that's great! Or even, "read it, this sucks, come up with something better", that's great, too! But I'll admit, I'll be happier if you leave more than that. Well, stop bouncing around your computer room chasing mosquitos and get to it! Okey dokey! Oh, one last thing: This doesn't follow Mage's metaplot. I jump off that train when they made The War in Heaven trilogy canon. Untitled Players Guide ( Chronicle ) ( Game Play Rules ) ( Deep Umbral Station Brainerd ) ( The Character Sheet - Overview ) ( The Traditions ) ( Traits / Attributes ) ( Abilities ) ( Backgrounds ) ( Influence ) ( Rank ) ( Merits and Flaws ) This is where I discovered that lj does, in fact, have a character limit. Woah. I'll post the rest in a bit. If you're terribly impatient, check out the whole thing in rtf format here. Current Mood: drained Current Music: E Nomine - Deine Welt (Comment on this)
Friday, June 4th, 2004
3:48 pm	Grouping Like with Like I'm attempting to figure out some order to the Player's Guide, and I secretly suspect that writing about it here will somehow help. But, I shall put it behind an lj-cut: ( I am a cut ) I was right, that did help. If you have any suggestions about changing order of things, please feel free to give them. I'm going to reread the whole thing tonight, and then I will be looking for volunteers to read sections of it. (I would never be so bold as to ask anyone to read the whole damn 49 pages straight.) Current Mood: accomplished Current Music: Tindersticks - Trouble Every Day (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, May 29th, 2004
1:33 am	It's Alive! Again! First, thanks everyone for the suggestions about the three strikes rule. What we ended up with (this draft) is this: Misconduct: The Storytellers reserve the right to ask any player who is showing misconduct to leave the game premises atfor any time, and for any reason. If the player argues with the storyteller about this, they will be asked not to return. We reserve the right to eject you from game for any duration - even permanently - if you cheat or if your behavior is disruptive. Weapons Rules: A Storyteller must approve any and all weapons props before entering the site. Anything considered a weapon, you will be asked to leave outside of the site. The Storyteller's word is final as to what is considered a weapon. Our preference is plastic. Your weapons don't need to look fake, but we don't really want to be on A Channel's news, either. Disagreements: If you feel the storyteller is wrong about a rules call or plot issue, do bring it to their attention. However, there may be things involved that you are unaware of. Please don’t argue with them. If you still feel the solution is wrong, discuss it with them at another time, preferably several days after the event. (Immediately after the event the storytellers are usually too busy to give your concerns their full attention.) Any thoughts/comments/suggestions/mocking is appreciated and encouraged. *grin* I'm sending draft 4 to Tom now to look at. I wrote a draft, rewrote it, sent it to him, he made some comments, I changed things, and now it goes back to him. It's now 48 pages. Edited to Add: Trahari suggested this. What do you all think? Obviously, what you do on your own time is none of our business. However, showing up drunk, stoned, tripping, or high ("under the influence") is not allowed. If it becomes obvious that you're under the influence, or even if a Storyteller _suspects_ that you are under the influence, we reserve the right to eject you. Current Mood: chipper (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, May 27th, 2004
4:51 pm	You're out! I've been rereading Johanna's Rules for Larps, and it suddenly reminded me: We forgot to put our "three strikes" rule anywhere in the Players Guide. I'm trying to come up with a way of writing it all out that doesn't come across as preachy, but still gets our point across. We want consequences of poor behaviour to be both IC and OOC. Yes, I can pull aside a player and ask them to stop being a jerk to everyone else, but that might not change anything. When all of a sudden their character is getting messages from his mentor telling him to stop being an idiot or he's going to lose his position, things might be different. Or so I would hope. This is the transcript of the conversation Tom and I had about this some time ago: ( Which I have cut, because it's rather tedious and just says everything I've already said, but longer ) Basically, I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions. (I'm really thinking of you right now, Joy, because I know you've seen both sides of it, having struggled with what sounds like an unreasonable storyteller in the past.) One of my friends pointed out that some times people are problems OOC but not IC, so having IC responses might be a little hard to pull off with them. I'm not sure what to do about all of that, either. Thoughts? Opinions? Random mentionings of me in your life? *grin* Current Mood: enthralled (8 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, May 11th, 2004
8:19 pm	Things I've so far noticed that I refer repeatedly to the downtime section of the players guide, but there is no downtime section. Current Mood: sick (Comment on this)
6:07 pm	Traditions I know, you all thought I was dead. Okay, I am. God, I am so sick. I think I might die. But, after a much longer wait that I thought I would take, I'm back to slugging away at these rules. I'm glad I took so long away from it, frankly. I was getting pretty strung out by it all. (Note to self: Make sure self gets more rest during actual game.) I wanted to let everyone who reads this take a look at Tom's Tradition writeups, and the Tradition Advantages we came up with. Feel free to leave comments. Before I forget, sorry for all the references to page XX. We're still in the editing process. From the Player's Guide to Untitled: Although the basic nature of the Traditions remains the same from Laws of Ascension, we have done away with the Tradition Disadvantages entirely, and have altered or replaced the Tradition Advantages for each. Also included in this section is the name of each Primi (head of the Tradition, and representative on the Council of Nine) and the name of the direct contact for each Tradition from the station. These people will be the ones your character contacts primarily for requests for aid or information. You’re not limited to only these people, but they will be checking up on the characters, as well as demanding reports. More information on each is available in your player pack. ( Akashics ) ( CC ) ( CoX ) ( Read more... ) ( Read more... ) ( Read more... ) ( Read more... ) ( Read more... ) ( Read more... ) And there you have it. Comment on anything you like, including spelling and grammar, and earn not only my gratitude but a comment in the finished draft. If there every *is* a finished draft. Current Mood: sick Current Music: Wagner - Ride of the Valkyres (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, April 15th, 2004
9:39 pm	I forgot something *else* Arg! Well, now it's in there. On a related note, these things I'm forgetting to add were already written, just not inserted into the text. So at least I'm not writing all new stuff. It's now 45 pages, and the last sentences are part of the FAQ: Are you guys nuts? Yes. Current Mood: aggravated (Comment on this)
7:32 pm	Feel free to ignore this. Eh, I fell for a meme. gakked from impish1: I want everyone who reads this to ask me 3 questions, no more no less. Ask me anything you want and I will answer it (if I know the answer). Current Mood: I'm a follower! Current Music: Following the Leader... (4 Comments |Comment on this)
1:22 pm	It LIVES! Weighing in at a hefty 41 pages, the first draft of the Untitled Player's Guide is complete. It sucks. It's boring and pedantic, it has no purty pictures, and it is likely a horrible read. But that's why we have first drafts. My current plan is to let it sit till Monday, then take another look at it and start the editing process. Once I'm done that second draft, I'm going to send it off to Tom to look at. Once Tom's looked at it, I'll take another look, then we'll send it around to a few other people. I'm thinking Kris should be on that list, since he'll pick out any rules problems that Tom and I missed. Kris is very good at that. Damn, I just remembered a rule I forgot to mention in it. Maybe the first draft isn't done yet. Edit: Added the rule I forgot about. It's now at 43 pages. Current Mood: accomplished (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 13th, 2004
3:04 pm	Rules Changes I just made a list of all the rules we've changed from Laws of Ascension. Gah. This is not even including the list of optional rules that we're using. In no particular order: - magick (now being done with dice. I just never liked the rps system for magick.) - counter magick - Do - Experience costs - Instruction - Seekings - Magick through the Forums or Side Scenes (specifically as a change from Fade. There aren't rules for this in MET.) - Resonance - Influence - Healing - Rotes (the cost for them. We're going with a lower XP cost for rotes.) - Abilities + magick - Blue Booking (in Fade we offered XP for it, this time we're not) - Arcane - Quintessence *sigh* And I wonder why my Players Guide is so damned long. Current Mood: cynical (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, April 12th, 2004
8:35 pm	More on the Player Packs Well, I'm slogging away at the player pack, and so far it's 21 pages, without pictures or any of that stuff. Now, four pages of that is just a list of Merits and Flaws, but gah, that was a bitch to write. Let's see, what do I have? - Introduction to the game, which includes experience, costs, setting, mood, theme. - A brief paragraph on each section of the Character sheet that we changed. Lists Traditions, Abilities, Attributes, Backgrounds, Influence, Reputation, and Rank. - A paragraph on each of the backgrounds we changed. - Details on how we changed Influence. - A list of all abilities we've changed or added from Laws of Ascension: Companion, plus paragraph descriptions of them. (Side note: One thing I hated about Revised is how they stopped with the creative names, like "Book of Mirrors" and went with boring names, like "Storyteller's Handbook". "Laws of Ascesnion: Companion"? Blah.) - Allowed M&F, page number and book, and any notes about them. The number of times we wrote "Must be roleplayed" is equal to the number of times I saw that same flaw on a Character sheet in Noc that wasn't played. - 3 poorly written paragraphs on Acolytes and why you should want to play one. - 4 poorly written paragraphs on Familiars. - 1 paragraph on each tradition, followed by speciality sphere, Primi, and Immediate Contact. Also, their new advantage, cuz we game them all new advantages. And no, there are no disadvantages, because some of the ones they had didn't make any sense to me. And that's it so far. *sigh* I feel completely exhausted. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, April 8th, 2004
7:36 pm	Stress Moment! AAAAAAAAAA! A A A A A A A A A! I have been STARING at this writeup all bloody week! AAAAAA! What difference does it make? AAAAAA!! I have been attempting to write a player guide type thingy to the game. Since we've done so many rules changes, it's important that everything is clarified. I also want people to have at their fingertips key information and a walkthrough for rotes and countermagick and all that other stuff, and AAAAAAAA! I don't even know if anyone will play in the damned game, let alone read the damned guide! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!! I think I feel better. Current Mood: drained (Comment on this)
Wednesday, April 7th, 2004
7:54 pm	Found it! One of the things we hadn't looked at was experience costs for various things. I knew there was something. Current Mood: accomplished (Comment on this)
6:44 pm	Costumes Something we did in Fade that was a great idea but didn't work was giving prizes for the best costumes. We did this by having each of the three main organizers pick someone who they thought had done a great job costuming, and then putting it to a player vote between the three at the end. The ones being voted on couldn't see who did the voting, and if you won, you couldn't be nominated again for three months. The prizes were pretty cheap, and mostly prop stuff. Usually under 5$, which was nice. We figured we'd do it that was to avoid the same person winning all the time, no way to tell if your friends voted for you, so less pressure, and there was no experience award. I always hated experience awards for something that was player voted. Anyway, it tapered off because of the setting of the game. Most of the action did take place in the Chantry, yes, but despite us setting it up so the characters could live and work at the Chantry, they didn't. So they typically dressed up like you would normally, or dressed very sexy, but not very mage like. I'm hoping that the fact that they're living on an Ether Station and *not* seeing anyone who is UnAware will mean more costuming for this game. Of course, since we're charging for the events this time (instead of donations, which never worked *sigh*), we can probably afford a bit better prizes. Current Mood: artistic (Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 6th, 2004
1:24 pm	M&F - Merits and Flaws I'm going through the M&F list we made up for Fade. Basically, Laws of Ascension had just come out and there were no M&F in it. So, we went through all of our old Mage books for tabletop and the M&F lists for the other live games and figured out what we would allow. Now I'm going through the Merits and Flaws done up for Laws of Ascesnion: Companion and it's really clear to me that they just copied and pasted almost all of them from Vampire. Things like Iron Will refering to Dominate as opposed to Mind Magick. Plus there are so many M&F they could have taken from the tabletop books that they just didn't port over. It's kinda frustrating. It's not that I'm horribly unhappy with the MET rules for Mages, but I often feel that the system could have used about another four months of playtesting, away from Vampire players. But that's just me. As I wrote in an email to a friend back home: We've done so many rule changes that it's no longer MET, but more Anna and Tom do Mage Theater. Current Mood: Bored Current Music: Def Leppard - Pour Some Sugar on Me (15 Comments |Comment on this)
9:03 am	I'm convinced we forgot something really important in the rules. I must go through Laws of Ascension with a fine toothed comb again, I guess. We thought we had covered all the bases in Fade, but were wrong. Very very very wrong. So wrong. *sigh* So, I'm really concerned that this feeling is a false sense of security. Now, of course, the game won't be starting anytime before July, and probably not till August or September, so it's not like we're hurting for time to look at things, but I'd love to be able to stamp DONE on the rules and never have to adjust them again. I think we may do a playtest of some sort when I get home. Bring together some people who were in Fade and some people who weren't and do a run through of as much of the rules system as we can. Interestingly, I'm not as concerned about the plot points, but then, a lot of that can't come together completely until the players start submitting characters anyway. I wish I could just do something with this, instead of sitting on my hands over here! Current Mood: anxious (3 Comments |Comment on this)