Ebon Night

[UloDeTero]

I'm currently putting together an idea for a 'forum-type' game. If it works out, it'll be awesome! It'll be somewhat like Singular Space, in that there'll be an adventure to undertake and mystery to solve. Unlike that game, though, this game will not be played on the forum, but via email. Like the very early days of Cantr, each event will be processed by hand, personalised, and forwarded to each relevant player. This will make things quite difficult for me, as co-ordinator, but it should make for a good game experience.

I'm still fine-tuning details, but for now would like to hear from anyone who might be interested in playing. Players will eventually need to:

- provide me the email address they'll be playing with
- check their email fairly regularly (say, daily)
- come up with a name for their character

Apart from name and gender, character details will be assigned by me. Gameplay will run almost the same as Singular Space. I'll email the players with the first 'chapter'. Then the players will email me with commands they want their characters to perform. I'll decide what happens based on that (for example: is the character able to do xyz?), and each characters viewpoint of that event will be emailed to the relevant player. Then the players decide what other action their character should take and email that to me. And so on. The characters will have to explore the in-game world and figure out what to do. Players would also be able to email me with any queries (for example: Can I do xyz? Can I use abc on def?).

As I said, I'm still working on this, and it's fairly ambitious for me, but it should be great!

Looking forward to your responses!


PS - It won't be on-going! It will be one interactive story.

[Tangential]

hmm never played Singular Space before, but I see there's an thread in this forum that I will look into later.

I'd be interested though.

[Piscator]

What's Singular Space?

[toon]

I was wonderin the same thing.

[Sparkle]

If there was some kind of description of the Singular Space game I am sure I would be interested.

[UloDeTero]

Singular Space

This game won't be exactly like that one, though, as I explained above. If there's anything else you want to know, just ask!

[toon]

I'll try to play. I don't usually check my email much, but I think I might make and exception. Do I post my information here, or do I message it to you...???

[Piscator]

Well, I'm interested. Can you perhaps say a few words about the setting? And how will we learn about the other players actions? Will you mail us everything relevant?

[UloDeTero]

Message me please, toon. The idea is that, like Cantr, characters only see things from their own point of view, therefore there'll be a similar Capital Rule kind of rule.

Setting will be in space. Can't say much more. Find out in-game!
Yes, I'll email every event! As I said, I want a Cantr-like experience ("Adam: You hit Bob." "Bob: Adam hits you." "Chris: You see Adam hit Bob") Therefore I'll try to cover everything relevant from every 'angle'. (I just hope I can manage the workload..!) Players can also ask me anything at anytime.

[Bowser]

It sounds interesting. I'd like to try it out

[Piscator]

When are we going to start?

[UloDeTero]

When are we going to start?

When:
(1) there are enough players
(2) I've finalised the story and background details

Thanks to everyone who's expressed interest. Don't forget to send your details to me, otherwise you won't be registered.

[UloDeTero]

Well, sorry for the delay, but you'll be happy to hear that I've been busy in the background, working on story details, rules, etc. I've generated page after page of messy notes and diagrams, and am beginning to wonder what I let myself in for! Yes, it was my idea, no-one forced me, yada yada, but still...

I have everything pretty much mapped out now. I'm just waiting for one more player, then I guess we kick things off and see how they go! Anything I haven't had time to do or that I haven't anticipated, I'll have to just wing it!

...which leads me to a few other points for the players:

1 - Considering the background workload, and that this is my first forum game like this, please bear with me and have patience. Don't "overload my system" with "command" after "command". It will all get done, as quickly as possible. Also, if you only get a simple reply when you expected something more eloquent, please understand.

1b - When sending your "commands", feel free to RP them as much as you like, including - if you wish - the reply you expect to get. Especially so if they're well written. I probably won't use your expected reply exactly, but I may use an edited version or select snippets.

2 - Although it'll be a lot of work, the aim will be to create a good game experience for you, the players. If you have any questions, suggestions, comments, etc, let me know.

3 - It might be a good idea to 'flesh out' your characters as far as personality, appearance etc. (Appearance particularly would be useful for me to know, so I can 'describe' your character to others). But bear in mind that the setting is in space, in Starfleet-like vessels. Also, if anyone wants to change their character to a female, that'd be okay too! Not a big deal, though. I'll send out some 'role' info tomorrow.

Well, I think I've said everything I needed to.

Edit: By the way, the names I've asked for are for my reference. Like in Cantr, characters will have to introduce themselves to each other.

Edit again: You probably can't tell by the text, but I'm quite excited about this! I hope everything goes well and you guys enjoy it!

[Piscator]

How much freedom do we have in designing our characters? You said that you're going to assign the character details and I wonder how far that will go.
It would be quite pointless to imagine your character as a heavily musceled guy and you say he's weaker than average. Or are you going to provide the background story and leave the other details to us?

Btw, do you need more females or why are you offering gratis sex change operations?

[UloDeTero]

I'll just quickly answer Piscator's question before I start this post proper. I emailed out the character roles last night. You'll find that they're fairly basic and relate to their working lives rather than their personalities. Everything else about your character can be crafted by your own fair hands, as long as it fits within the game-world of course. If there are any doubts, email me.

We're still waiting for our final player to join (Could it be you?? ). In the meantime, there're a few questions I can answer:

Is it possible to fail, and have everyone die? Or do we, no matter what mistakes we make, survive in the end?

There's no real way to 'fail' as such, and it's highly doubtful that everyone will die.

What exactly will I be doing? Just RPing my character in a space setting, or will there be something specific that I am trying to do?

Yes, and yes. You'll be RPing your character, like in Cantr. But there's also a storyline that you'll 'live through', which will eventually come to a conclusion. There are no 'secret motives' or anything like that.

I hope that explains things somewhat. I can't tell you everything, of course, otherwise there'd be no point playing the game.