Discussion Dimension

It's been a (mostly irrelevant) secret that my adventures share a setting! Each story is another perspective of this collaborative storytelling and world-building effort, all set in the same universe. As such, this right here is a general discussion thread for these adventures and suggestion games. Questions about the settings itself, the rules systems the games use, feedback, or any other sort of brain-picking are all welcome. Since these are part of a collaborative storytelling and world-building effort at heart, I'm trying not to nail down details in advance as much as possible... so there's a lot of stuff I genuinely don't know yet! Also, note that the contents of this thread are likely going to verge on the Spoilery, so be advised if that is a thing that matters to you!

Thanks a bundle for reading, playing, and creating these stories with me!

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Links:
◦ Ashwood
◦ Firmament
◦ Elsewhere

F'narts:
Ashwood:
◦ Rockin' Out, by Dexexe
Firmament:
◦ Mlem, by Myeth

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bookmarking

when is rainbow gonna mlem, 'fuge

If they lick, does it not mlem?

Ingrates.

Skateboards in thru the digital window, drops mlem, skateboards into the horizon

SpoilerShow

where did you even get that skateboard

and why doesn't rainbow have one yet

i mean it might be a little hard to ride when they're only a tail but

I got it from my grandma

Aww heck, that's my first ET Fanart, Myeth. It's going in the OP. I shall treasure this mlem!

P.S. Though I cannot spoil important plot points, Skateboard-based speculation is also A-OK. Perhaps, with your help, Rainbow can find their true calling as freshest ghostworm in them celestial spheres.

So hey ghost fans, I admit to having a terrible habit of including meta bits, codes, and other secrets in my adventures. Only a few in this one so far, and nothing extravagant... but anyone at least found the hidden text in a few updates?

Just idly curious. Wanna make sure I'm making 'em at least noticeable enough.

Do you mean the white text? I've noticed that.

The hidden link to the tricked threat was a nice easter egg.

All I've really "noticed" is that Marlowe calls us by our U(ser)ID number instead of our display names. To anyone who is able to "listen in" to us, we're numbered but not named (which is probably best since a lot of us are affecting personalities or quirks that are not our own).

I saw the hidden text, but didn't realize there was more stuff hidden.

After seeing what's posted here, though, I found the tricked thread link. Clever.

Are the birdpeople a reference to OneShot or just a coincidence?

I've not gotten far enough in OneShot to meet Birdpeeps yet, so not intentional. Are they irresponsible birdnerds too?

But I can say that Firmament shares a setting with my earlier adventure, Ashwood Cross, as well as a few other projects that aren't public yet. Earthlike animal folks are just a thing in the setting, and individuals are varying degrees of Animal and Folk. Cassie's just in the inconvenient position of happening to have wings for arms. Makes participating in a school for human-shaped bipeds kinda hard.

They aren’t really a ‘nerd’ type and they’re responsible (save for Alula) and also there’s these two called Alula and Calumus and they are a good big part of the plot. You’ll find the bird people in the Glen.

So, people don't need to (and probably shouldn't) play into my shenanigans in Firmament. The "thing" I imagine that I am is not stupid but broken. It is, or was, fairly intelligent. At least, averagely so. But it doesn't have enough of itself left to fully function. It is why I try to make it sound childish and why I have it speak in fragmented sentences with dubious grammar. It can't put the pieces together in the right order, because they all aren't there. I imagine that the thing I am portraying is dimmer (in color intensity, not intellect) than most and is also probably closer to not existing than the majority. Being so close to the edge is why it is prone to have... lapses.

At least, that's how I'm playing it for now. It may just suffer mildly from D.I.D. and depression. Who knows? >.>

My angle is dissociating alien intelligence. Limited comprehension as a reflection of an incomprehensible mind conveying its thoughts into a very different mindspace.

Had to give this some thought, but I think I know where I'm going.
Current* direction is a continuation of earlier attempts to be whole, given a different tact.
Instead of continually trying to seamlessly meld with others into one whole soul, the fragment decided to be whole through remembering who they were, looking for other loose fragments of the same soul, and that following up on this incessant pull of the earth is as good a lead as any. If success in this endeavor has consequences, the fragment can deal with them when they become relevant. Surely.
*Admittedly, I'm foggy on when I settled on what reasoning for various actions during and before the demon meeting, but that shouldn't come up. Probably.

I've really been enjoying watching characters emerge in y'all's suggestions for Firmament. It's also fun to think about how to use the tidbits you're establishing about the setting with that, too.

One of the tropes in how I run adventures is to let suggestions, tone, and all that jazz quietly establish hooks and facts about the setting. Even comments or suggestions that don't immediately pop up in the plot tend to float around in my notes, so I can bring them back if it's appropriate. There's been little details, like how folks mentioned being hungry for panopticakes or forbidden fruit; that's why the Joe d'Esprit Cafe had them on the menu (and is also what indirectly inspired the cafe's name, by establishing that puns were a thing there).

There's also been some bigger things that affected the plot and setting as a whole too. I've known what Eidola were since before Ashwood Cross, but the theory that you proposed to Cerulean is what established that you (as the players) were each quasi-individual identities making up an Eidolon, with all the consequences that proceed to stem from that. I'm constantly taking little notes about the offhand comments y'all make, and seeing if I can fashion the ones I like into a hook for later, plug them into some part of the setting or plot, or see if they can inspire a new aspect of the setting I hadn't filled in the details on yet.

Anyway, it's really neat to see what you guys are doing here! Though I may do this quietly at first, I want to "Yes, And..." everything as much as I can. Unless it hard-contradicts something, the characters you play as facets of Rainboa are as canon to the setting as possible (with some bonus creative license for me, taking advantage of the confusion y'all have established as part of Rainboa). So yeah, just remember that how you portray your piece of Rainboa potentially has as much power as your suggestions themselves. Use 'em responsibly!