Book section
Moderator: Gamemasters
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Lysu Davanum
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Book section
I was thinking...why don't we add a book section to the forums? Where players can truly write books(Well..ofcourse just a few passages. Doesn't have to be a whole book) about things IG. It is not like it will interfere with history, because it will be from the CHARACTERS view. So..what do you think? And please..constructive critisism and suggestions ^^
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Brendan Mason
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Lysu Davanum
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I know that Brendan, very well even. But I mean create something like a library. To truly have books. In the RPG section they will dissappear into the archives too quick. And as I said, I meant player views to come forward through books maybe. Not just the official version, also other versions. And maybe books about recipes ( Like...Take 5 firnis blossom, and crush them thoroughly...etc.)
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Lysu Davanum
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And you could have a sticky, with all the titles of the books, and links to them. Doing them by sort. Like recipes with culture. This would create a sort of library, with all kinds of books. This could even result to letting your chars read the book IG (i.e. Lysu Davanum takes a book from the shelf, and sits down on a chair. As you look at the book, you see he is reading *******<--name book)
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Cassandra Fjurin
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I really like the Idea. The RPG Forum is for different IG events and IG Storys. Good books would be lost in the forum deeps. In such a book forum you can tell storys which are not truely IG (They should be in the illarion world but not only on the island) and have no real basis in life on the island. Only stories, myths or fairy tales written by some chars/Players.
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Lysu Davanum
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Moirear Sian
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I think it's a great idea. I could imagine it well as a second "RP"-section in the forums if you like, in the sense that it's only books and literature written out of the perspective of a character in the illarion-setting.
Following the idea of the sticky's being used to organize them, you could also have them organized by location, as in where you can go and read the books/where they are physically. (i.e. Mainland, So-and-so Monastery, Library of the Grey Light, etc.)
I also believe it would open alot of oppurtunities to conduct and support role-playing aspects not supported by the client. If say, a character constantly writes in a journal, and RPs that someone finds it, they could post it in the RP forum for that person alone to read or e-mail it to them. Buf if on the other hand, a character "publishes" a book, it could be posted in the IG-Literature section, as if placed in a library.
Following the idea of the sticky's being used to organize them, you could also have them organized by location, as in where you can go and read the books/where they are physically. (i.e. Mainland, So-and-so Monastery, Library of the Grey Light, etc.)
I also believe it would open alot of oppurtunities to conduct and support role-playing aspects not supported by the client. If say, a character constantly writes in a journal, and RPs that someone finds it, they could post it in the RP forum for that person alone to read or e-mail it to them. Buf if on the other hand, a character "publishes" a book, it could be posted in the IG-Literature section, as if placed in a library.
As I understand it, Moonsilver http://www.moonsilver.de/ is a kind of library in which written books can be found about histories and other kind of knowledge.
Also there are some "guild" sites, which have a library on their sites like Falks Eldan monastry, in which some books are stored.
Also there are some "guild" sites, which have a library on their sites like Falks Eldan monastry, in which some books are stored.
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Moskher Heszche
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I have to say, although I'm sure Moskher would have quite a few good books on the corruption of dwarves, the positive effect of criminality on economics, and the downfall of society following the destruction of Northerot, I think that another RPG forum would add more temptation to players to roleplay badly.
As things stand already people post on the RPG forum even when their characters wouldn't. People, drawn in by the simplicity of the modern message board technology, forget that their characters would have to be really driven to write something before they went through the trouble of not only writing something, but procuring the equipment to write, and then going the step further of nailing it to the wall.
As a result of the ease of use of these forums, ridiculous roleplay is created every day just because a player (not their character) couldn't resist the temptation to write useless spam and board arguments (common in the modern day, but in a day when it didn't consist of hitting a submit button, it was much easier to argue with someone to their face).
Occasionally, a player suprises me and writes something in the RPG board that is actually really clever and useful to my own roleplaying, but it is quite rare.
If we go further and add a library or book section, characters who, otherwise, would be functionally illiterate or uninterested in the very idea of writing will have whole libraries full of books written by them because of the temptations of their player.
As things stand already people post on the RPG forum even when their characters wouldn't. People, drawn in by the simplicity of the modern message board technology, forget that their characters would have to be really driven to write something before they went through the trouble of not only writing something, but procuring the equipment to write, and then going the step further of nailing it to the wall.
As a result of the ease of use of these forums, ridiculous roleplay is created every day just because a player (not their character) couldn't resist the temptation to write useless spam and board arguments (common in the modern day, but in a day when it didn't consist of hitting a submit button, it was much easier to argue with someone to their face).
Occasionally, a player suprises me and writes something in the RPG board that is actually really clever and useful to my own roleplaying, but it is quite rare.
If we go further and add a library or book section, characters who, otherwise, would be functionally illiterate or uninterested in the very idea of writing will have whole libraries full of books written by them because of the temptations of their player.
As Aragon mentioned and independent of the possibility of such a board, it was and is still possible to publish stories on moonsilver. There is only one restriction, those stories should involve either the gods, the already existing history or the races background.
But even though I have mentioned this a few times, to reflect the amount of people having made use of this opportunity it would be sufficient to show the fingers on one sinle hand. Of those I would especially like to mention Mariana Gutenhof with two nice stories (and most probably more to come) and recently Caranthir/Brendan with a very nice abstract of character name conventions which has yet to be published.
From this experiance I would assume that this board will seldom be frequented, unless people are more eager to write their own personal background. But don't misunderstand me, I do not argue against such a board.
But even though I have mentioned this a few times, to reflect the amount of people having made use of this opportunity it would be sufficient to show the fingers on one sinle hand. Of those I would especially like to mention Mariana Gutenhof with two nice stories (and most probably more to come) and recently Caranthir/Brendan with a very nice abstract of character name conventions which has yet to be published.
From this experiance I would assume that this board will seldom be frequented, unless people are more eager to write their own personal background. But don't misunderstand me, I do not argue against such a board.
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Moirear Sian
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Moskher, you have some good points there. On the other hand, I don't think it's possible yet to tie the forum and the client so strongly together that you need to procure ink, parchment and feather ig before you can actually post messages on the wall of the basic RPG forum. In other words, I believe alot of the bad roleplay is just compensation for the fact that there are still many things that are not possible alone ig - for one, going on-line, and meeting 50-100 players that are as well online, and of all things, the same ones, regularly. I too though would appreciate it if some people would self-moderate their "postings to the bulletin boards" a bit more harshly, outruling when something would be written by a character and when something would not (i.e., writing half a book and and then stating it's written on a simple parchment. Besides - how weather-proof are these parchments? 
).
That all being said, I'd like to move on to the points Nanuk addressed, namely the frequency of how such a "book-section" would be used. I believe in the contrary, it would be over-used, if not strictly moderated, and would be filled quickly with endless amounts of unedited, unrefined trash. Of course, it can be in-character to add in typographical errors and such, but I believe the case of the unintended errors would be more likely.
I'd propose two things in this case:
Either A) keep it as it was so far, and let the scripts be published discreetly over www.moonsilver.de, or B) add a "Book"-section in the forums where you first have to roleplay for long and good enough with a character, until a GM gives you some access rights to write in the section (making it read-only for the rest of the accounts).
).That all being said, I'd like to move on to the points Nanuk addressed, namely the frequency of how such a "book-section" would be used. I believe in the contrary, it would be over-used, if not strictly moderated, and would be filled quickly with endless amounts of unedited, unrefined trash. Of course, it can be in-character to add in typographical errors and such, but I believe the case of the unintended errors would be more likely.
I'd propose two things in this case:
Either A) keep it as it was so far, and let the scripts be published discreetly over www.moonsilver.de, or B) add a "Book"-section in the forums where you first have to roleplay for long and good enough with a character, until a GM gives you some access rights to write in the section (making it read-only for the rest of the accounts).
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Moskher Heszche
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Hmmm.. Maybe you have a point here. Possibley it could be done like this:
A character in-game is given the title of Librarian by Neon Rift or some organization (Grey Rose, Triumverate, the Priesthood of Elara). The player of said character is made moderator of a "Library" board.
Said player takes submissions via e-mail, and his character chooses if it's accepted under his character's own beliefs. If the manuscript is acceptable, he posts the book to the Library Thread, possibley with a small amount of editing by the Librarian himself in cases of impropriety or the librarian's own bias.
The Library thread would be read-only by anyone but the Librarian.
A character in-game is given the title of Librarian by Neon Rift or some organization (Grey Rose, Triumverate, the Priesthood of Elara). The player of said character is made moderator of a "Library" board.
Said player takes submissions via e-mail, and his character chooses if it's accepted under his character's own beliefs. If the manuscript is acceptable, he posts the book to the Library Thread, possibley with a small amount of editing by the Librarian himself in cases of impropriety or the librarian's own bias.
The Library thread would be read-only by anyone but the Librarian.
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Moirear Sian
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You're right there, Aragon.
But Moonsilver.de has one weakness:
When I was new to the game, and had applied for my account, I had to post two or three long entries that went in-depth over the game's roleplay on the Newbies section, until someone informed me that moonsilver is the "source of background information for Illarion".
One way or another, I believe Moonsilver.de has to be pointed out much more clearly by the main website. I know for my part I hardly ever click on the "Links" of any site, especially when I'm looking for basic RPG background information which seems to be provided nowhere on the main site.
But Moonsilver.de has one weakness:
When I was new to the game, and had applied for my account, I had to post two or three long entries that went in-depth over the game's roleplay on the Newbies section, until someone informed me that moonsilver is the "source of background information for Illarion".
One way or another, I believe Moonsilver.de has to be pointed out much more clearly by the main website. I know for my part I hardly ever click on the "Links" of any site, especially when I'm looking for basic RPG background information which seems to be provided nowhere on the main site.
Reviving the thread, if you do not mind.
Adding to this, I think Moonsilver should remain as the source of true history, so people could base their chars on this.
The actual booksection could contain books on everyday life, maybe a book on mining (cryptically written, roleplay style =3). Or maybe the history from the view of one of your chars.
And, on the side of this, maybe we could have a moderator to look at those "books". If they are bad/useless spam, he could delete them, and sent the player a PM, giving some points on how to improve it, etcetera. And do you not agree that this would also give a whole lot of RPing ways IG? (as said in first post) You could be reading your favorite book IG, or maybe burn a few openly on the marketplace, from your not so favorite book. What do ya say?
/EDIT
Oh, and as they do on some forums when reviving a thread: "Bump."
Adding to this, I think Moonsilver should remain as the source of true history, so people could base their chars on this.
The actual booksection could contain books on everyday life, maybe a book on mining (cryptically written, roleplay style =3). Or maybe the history from the view of one of your chars.
And, on the side of this, maybe we could have a moderator to look at those "books". If they are bad/useless spam, he could delete them, and sent the player a PM, giving some points on how to improve it, etcetera. And do you not agree that this would also give a whole lot of RPing ways IG? (as said in first post) You could be reading your favorite book IG, or maybe burn a few openly on the marketplace, from your not so favorite book. What do ya say?
/EDIT
Oh, and as they do on some forums when reviving a thread: "Bump."