Wha? You obviously have a creative bone in your body or you wouldn't be interested in participating I'm very interested to see how the 8 of us approach this differently, what we put into it and what we get out of it and what the collaboration looks like as it evolves.

(I haven't been creative in, literally, years. Which is why I signed up for this, but also why I feel anxious -what if it's gone? What if it was never there in the first place? But this is not the thread to discuss my traumas so let's just move on.)

So. It's mighty windy today, like...

Well, maybe it'll help to know that the reason I'm so interested in this is to get my creative juices flowing in ways I've never tried to stretch before. I'm not sure what that means or where it'll take me, but I'm really hoping to pull away from my 'normal creativity' and try to really stretch myself. I'm a bit anxious about it as well, personally, because I'm really looking for something new from myself, something I'm not even sure is in me. We'll see.....

Heh, I'm more or less in the same boat. I have being working on music a lot in the past two to three years, but much less on writing, and this will be a good, and different, creative outlet.

Plus, it's fun, and I really really like writing very short stories anyway.

And this isn't for the Pulitzer or anything. As far as I'm concerned, I'm aiming for us to be the Rock Bottom Remainders of the writing world.

To put it another way, my current gaming consists of four people: the first is my wife who has never been in an RPG that I wasn't at least participating, and has only thrice been in a game I wasn't running. She doesn't play thieves, she plays "wealth redistribution specialists."

The second is a friend from a bookstore I worked at. She played D & D until she was fifteen, stopped, and picked it up again three years ago, just before her thirty-sixth birthday. She views gaming as therapy, and I take it as an honour to inflict as much trauma on her character as possible. When she was at a loss for a last name for a character, I suggested a Quenyan last name that roughly translates into "zombie chow."

The third is another friend from the bookstore, a guy with years and years of experience gaming. He knows almost as many systems as I do, and generally just sticks to roleplaying. He's possibly the best all-around gamer I've ever worked with, able to adjust to any setting or mood I can throw at him, but also quite brilliant when it comes to tactics.

The fourth is new. He's a buddy from the comic book store and is the stereotypical oily-faced thirtysomething living in his mother's basement eating Cheetos off his chest. He's an experienced gamer but tends to talk like he's from the area of medieval France that adjoins to northern Maine, which is distracting. He's a really nice guy and always brings food.

What I'm saying is, four gamers, all with different levels of experience, creativity and commitment, and we have fun every time we get together and have made some fantastic tales. We eight are all at worst acquaintances and I'd count some of you among my best friends. It doesn't matter if you contribute gold every week, Blanca, just have fun, let the story happen and when you look back you'll be amazed at how much you came up with.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Dweller in Darrkness,

I'd like to offer my illustrative skills on a largely ad hoc basis, that is assuming a) they are desired and b) the wiki is capable of having jpgs inserted into it without suffering terminal collapse.

I'm thinking sketches and diagrams of whatever your minds conjure up, just to lively up the encyclopedia entries.

That would be lovely, Joe, thank you.

I think the wikiware I'm looking at will all import jpgs. Or now they will *grin*

This intrigues me.

I'd like to read through all of this again, just to get a better idea of what needs to be done. I just need that and .... we'll see. If you'll have me.

Regrettably, our tablet is full. We do need alternates and subs, people who can step in for vacations, illnesses and so on, and I'd be happy to put your name down first on that list.

JP, on another note, does the wiki software you're looking at easily support a discussion page attached to each entry, the way Wikipedia has it?

If that is feasible with only a minimum of effort on your part, I think it would greatly enhance the roleplaying aspect of the game ("What do you mean, King Rufus's reign was long and peaceful? He tyrannized the poor and stifled our liberties!"), as well as involving us more deeply in the world, by allowing us to keep participating after our weekly entries are written and done.

And Joe, illustrations would be greatly appreciated!

Illustrations = good.

Out of curiosity, did anyone officially set a start date for the first entry?

I'm without power at home. Likely won't be at work on Monday (if M's school is still without power). Won't be doing any work on the wikiware until later in the week, and I'm busy Thursday night, and out of town next weekend, so it could be a while.

Sorry, guys.

Oh, if we wanted, we could post our scholar bios here to the thread to get a jump on things, then transfer them to the wiki once it's up and running. Just a thought.

I'd be totally happy to start next week if need be. Though I'd be equally happy to post my scholar bio sometime this week too. Either way is fine with me.

I shouldn't think the bios need to be in place and set in stone before we write the project, but how about we set it as a deadline that each person, collaborator or illustrator, must at least give us a character description by this Thursday, December 7th.

(My home computer's currently misbehaving, so I wouldn't be much use this week either)

Don't worry about it, JP. As far as I'm concerned, I'm just glad you're willing to take the time and effort to mess with the wiki, host this thing, and all that it entails.

If we need to start a bit later, it's fine with me.

Dweller, PMs or here in the thread? My scholar outline is ready.

Either our, but I should think they'd be more useful to others if posted here.

I'd say here. And I'll try my damnedest to get it done by Thursday. Yeah, it's 4 days off including today, but my head isn't exactly in the creative space right now and I don't have much time at home to do this. So we'll see, I'll try.

Alright. Here makes sense to me too.

JP, I think we can make allowances for your special conditions, man. I'm thinking of y'all.