Hello once again from the mists. It is I, Andrew the Bard, whom you may remember from long ago, when the lands of Acarthia were first recovering from the War of a Thousand Skirmishes. As a bard, I have traveled throughout the mists in search of stories of adventure. And in all these stories, through all the fields of human endeavor, I have seen one common thread, which I refer to as the Seen and the Unseen.
Consider a simple building, such as a tavern. If one were to walk in, one would see the chairs, the tables, the decorations, the kitchens – all of what make the tavern what it is. This is the Seen. But there are also the foundations, the load-bearing walls, the support columns – all of these which one may not see directly, but which the tavern could not stand without. This is the Unseen. What is true of a building is just as true of a town or nation. Recalling my time in New Acarthia, I remember many adventurers, nobles, rogues, villains, and monsters. But what of, for instance, the humble farmer? If my experiences were any indication, we rarely interacted with farmers in their role as agriculturalists – to us they were always the quest-givers or the innocents caught up in warfare. Yet were it not for the farmers growing food, civilization as we know it could not exist.
Thus I have made it my mission to reveal to the world the Unseen, to expose the workings and processes on which we all depend. Thus I traveled to the Maelstrom, a land ravaged by war, where such processes appeared in abundance – there was keeping track of supplies, researching the mysterious energy flows underneath the surface. But the more I delved into these workings, the more things appeared vague and inconsistent – as though they were naught but an illusion. But what is truth, in a world built upon illusion? But through the dream realms I have learned about the world that I left behind, and it seems promising. I know that such workings and foundations truly exist in the land of Acarthia, waiting to have stories and poems written about them. Thus I seek to return once more to Acarthia.
[OOC: I'm interested in visiting Alliance Denver again . I won't be going to the April event but I would be interested in going to Nationals and/or a later Denver event. I would want to go to one of the events at Jesse's new site to I can see the new site. I would want to coordinate with people here so that I can get involved in plot that I might like and to coordinate transportation from the airport to the site.]
I have also learned through my studies of story that every story has two sides. The first side is the side that is known as the adventurers, the mistwalkers, or the lantern-bearers in various lands. These are the ones who defeat the monsters, who overcome the challenges. But there is another side – the side often known as the plotters or the portrayers – without whom it would not be possible for the first side to even make the attempt. I have not decided yet which side I shall take, and I may be open to advice on which side to join.
[OOC: I would be interested in being either a PC or NPC. I know that many of the people I used to play with are still in Alliance Denver so I was wondering if any of you were particularly interested in either seeing my character back as a PC or in seeing what devious plots I could come up with as an NPC.]
There is one other thing I believe about the balance between these two sides. I have seen that in many lands, the adventurers wish to travel farther or engage more thoroughly than the plotters or portrayers can accommodate. I believe that this can be addressed by creating situations which create complex and intricate challenges for the adventurers, yet which require little work from the portrayers. Consider a devious cipher – it may be difficult to break, yet it is simple to tell whether or not it has been broken. Or consider the problem faced by a merchant wishing to travel to every city in the land while traveling the minimum distance – while it is simple to calculate the distance of a given route, it is very difficult to find the best route. Were I to join the side of the portrayers, perhaps I could bring some of these scenarios to New Acarthia.
[OOC: If I were to be an NPC, the kinds of scenarios I would be interested in running (or, if I was a PC, the kinds of scenarios I would be interested in playing in) are probably the kinds of scenarios I described a while ago in this thread. I'm interested in Plot's input as to whether Plot normally runs anything like that, or if Plot would be interested in having me run something like that.]
I will give you one more preview of what may lie ahead. In my studies of the Unseen, I have learned a great deal about the nature of the dream realms. The dream realms are based on a network of buried ley-lines and threads of energy that crisscross the world, anchored by devices said to be far more exquisitely constructed than any magical trinket. Perhaps I could use my knowledge of how such networks are constructed to help New Acarthia in some way.
[OOC: Outside of LARP, I quit my job at Google and now work at a startup called Common Networks, which is building a point-to-point wireless network based on antennas on customer rooftops. I can think of some ideas about how to incorporate the ideas of network building and planning into a LARP plot, like building a road network or a network of magical energy flows or something. Does this sound like something people would be interested in? If so I would love to run it!]
Consider a simple building, such as a tavern. If one were to walk in, one would see the chairs, the tables, the decorations, the kitchens – all of what make the tavern what it is. This is the Seen. But there are also the foundations, the load-bearing walls, the support columns – all of these which one may not see directly, but which the tavern could not stand without. This is the Unseen. What is true of a building is just as true of a town or nation. Recalling my time in New Acarthia, I remember many adventurers, nobles, rogues, villains, and monsters. But what of, for instance, the humble farmer? If my experiences were any indication, we rarely interacted with farmers in their role as agriculturalists – to us they were always the quest-givers or the innocents caught up in warfare. Yet were it not for the farmers growing food, civilization as we know it could not exist.
Thus I have made it my mission to reveal to the world the Unseen, to expose the workings and processes on which we all depend. Thus I traveled to the Maelstrom, a land ravaged by war, where such processes appeared in abundance – there was keeping track of supplies, researching the mysterious energy flows underneath the surface. But the more I delved into these workings, the more things appeared vague and inconsistent – as though they were naught but an illusion. But what is truth, in a world built upon illusion? But through the dream realms I have learned about the world that I left behind, and it seems promising. I know that such workings and foundations truly exist in the land of Acarthia, waiting to have stories and poems written about them. Thus I seek to return once more to Acarthia.
[OOC: I'm interested in visiting Alliance Denver again . I won't be going to the April event but I would be interested in going to Nationals and/or a later Denver event. I would want to go to one of the events at Jesse's new site to I can see the new site. I would want to coordinate with people here so that I can get involved in plot that I might like and to coordinate transportation from the airport to the site.]
I have also learned through my studies of story that every story has two sides. The first side is the side that is known as the adventurers, the mistwalkers, or the lantern-bearers in various lands. These are the ones who defeat the monsters, who overcome the challenges. But there is another side – the side often known as the plotters or the portrayers – without whom it would not be possible for the first side to even make the attempt. I have not decided yet which side I shall take, and I may be open to advice on which side to join.
[OOC: I would be interested in being either a PC or NPC. I know that many of the people I used to play with are still in Alliance Denver so I was wondering if any of you were particularly interested in either seeing my character back as a PC or in seeing what devious plots I could come up with as an NPC.]
There is one other thing I believe about the balance between these two sides. I have seen that in many lands, the adventurers wish to travel farther or engage more thoroughly than the plotters or portrayers can accommodate. I believe that this can be addressed by creating situations which create complex and intricate challenges for the adventurers, yet which require little work from the portrayers. Consider a devious cipher – it may be difficult to break, yet it is simple to tell whether or not it has been broken. Or consider the problem faced by a merchant wishing to travel to every city in the land while traveling the minimum distance – while it is simple to calculate the distance of a given route, it is very difficult to find the best route. Were I to join the side of the portrayers, perhaps I could bring some of these scenarios to New Acarthia.
[OOC: If I were to be an NPC, the kinds of scenarios I would be interested in running (or, if I was a PC, the kinds of scenarios I would be interested in playing in) are probably the kinds of scenarios I described a while ago in this thread. I'm interested in Plot's input as to whether Plot normally runs anything like that, or if Plot would be interested in having me run something like that.]
I will give you one more preview of what may lie ahead. In my studies of the Unseen, I have learned a great deal about the nature of the dream realms. The dream realms are based on a network of buried ley-lines and threads of energy that crisscross the world, anchored by devices said to be far more exquisitely constructed than any magical trinket. Perhaps I could use my knowledge of how such networks are constructed to help New Acarthia in some way.
[OOC: Outside of LARP, I quit my job at Google and now work at a startup called Common Networks, which is building a point-to-point wireless network based on antennas on customer rooftops. I can think of some ideas about how to incorporate the ideas of network building and planning into a LARP plot, like building a road network or a network of magical energy flows or something. Does this sound like something people would be interested in? If so I would love to run it!]