Wanna play DARKWORLD? From: pbem@aol.com (PBEM) Date: Tue, 15 Aug 1995 00:00:00 +0000 The following is an invitation to play in DARKWORLD, a play-by-electronic-mail, role-playing game. It is very different than many you may have encountered, and very loosely structured. -------------------------------------- You suddenly become aware of your surroundings. You are standing on an undescript piece of light green turf in a pool of soft, pale-blue radiance about fifty feet across. The only unusual feature you notice is a statue on a pedestle in the center of the area. You appoach it, and take a good look at it. It looks much like the religious statues you have seen in gardens and church yards, a robed figure, perhaps a priest. But the statue has been elongated, stretched and twisted. The upper torso has been bent to perhaps a forty-five degree angle from verticle. The face is almost twisted around to be flush with the figures heels. You start wondering at what such a statue might signify, when its marble eyelids flick open, revealing dimly glowing eyes. Then its lips move. "Darkworld. The Land of the Dead. Hades. Hell. Purgatory. Happy Hunting Grounds. This place goes by many names. It seems that everyone has their own opinion about the name and nature of this place. "Me? Well, I figure this is an artificail construct of some kind. Perhaps this place only exists in cyberspace, and we are all either computer users or artificial intelligences. Or perhaps this is a holeedeck, or some such high technology device or something. Of course the real problem is that there ain't much of a way to test it. "Now if you ever meet up with anybody from the Hierarchy, I wouldn't go venturing too many ideas or opinions. They are pretty stuffy about such things. Not that any of the Heretic groups are any less sure of themselves. And it is hard to predict what kind of position a Renegade will take. So I guess what I am advising you is to be a bit cautious about shooting your mouth off in these parts. The eyes close and for a moment, you think the statue has lost its vitality, its message delivered. But soon the eye lids again flip open, and the green-veined yellow eyes stare hard at you. The deep, rasping voice continues, "Well, have any questions? Most do, not that I think it helps them much. Some ask about themselves, but I can't help you much there. That seems to be part of the charm of this place...sort of an amnesia about where you come from and who or what you were before you got here." The twisted marble form stares at you and waits. ------------------------------- So begins DARKWORLD, a wild RPG PBEM ride through an ununknown diminsion. I have run a game similar to this before. Of all the games I have tried to run on the net, the one similar to this was the most successful. The rules? The format? Game turn around time? Don't worry, I'll make it up as I go along. (Well, its not that free format, but my point is that you do not need to worry about the rules. That is my job.) Of course players need some structure, so let me spend a few quick paragraphs trying to give you enough structure to get you started. Perhaps the best way to do this is to interview myself, and answer some of the questions you might ask me if you had the chance. What type of game is this? A very loosly formatted role-playing game, much like a group of kids playing cowboys and indians or cops and robbers. What genre? Well, primarily surrelistic horror adventure, with a dash of myth, mystery, gothic-punk, and popular psychology thrown in. What game rules and world are you using? I am borrowing much of the world from White Wolf's World of Darkness, but I am also grabbing some good material from GURPS and Palladium. I am also borrowing freely from literary sources (Milton, Lewis, Lovecraft, etc...) And I am throwing in original stuff everywhere. But if you want to read up on the world, White Wolf's Wraith game is probably the single best starting point. A secondary source might be C.S. Lewis's "Pilgrim's Regress," although his world is pretty bright and optimistic compared to DARKWORLD. What/who am I playing? How do I create my character? Ready for a big shock? You do not have a character. At least not yet. You start as a part of a collective consciousness. You and every other player participating are all 'memoryless' intelligences embodied within ONE being. Every player will send in actions, set goals, participate in conversations, etc.... I will take the input and implement a gestalt, a distilled sum, of your input. One being? Collective consciousness? What is this rubbish? Well it is not rubbish. It is just radically different from other games you may have played. That does not mean you will not like it. Although it worked wonderfully (until I started having computer problems) last time I tried a game like this, it did not work for everyone. If it sounds fun, try it. What kind of turn around time are you planning? Well I hate to commit, but I know every body wants to know what kind of time limits they have. I plan to let the game progress on a daily basis, regardless of what type of feedback I have from players. Because of real world commitments I may need to skip a day now and then, but one common problem with games I have run in the past is people losing interest if things go too slowly. So expect mail from me within 24-48 hours after each of your emails. What about tone? Should we be serious or funny? Definitly serious. Another way of looking at what we will be doing is writing an improvised horror adventure short story. Humor should be rare if used at all. On the other hand, I am shooting for delicate horror and adventure, like Poe and Lovecraft, not bloodsplattered chainsaws and animalistic brutality. Consider this as a PG rated project, although any work of horror might push that kind of rating here and there. How strong am I? Try to lift something. What do I look like? Find a mirror or ask somebody. How do I .... A lot of this you are just going to have to learn by experience. If you want to give it a try, feel free. Otherwise there is a lot of other, more traditional stuff on the net. I can't please everybody, and I am not going to try. Until further notice, try to keep posts short. And one last point about email protocol. The subject heading should start with "DW:" Example: DW:Turn This will help me keep the mail seperated from my other games. If you want to give it a try, just jump in to the above scene, asking the animated statue any questions you think you might have or taking any actions you think you might want to take. Mark PBEM@aol.com Referenced By Up