Tarquinus

Happy birthday, Awi.

belated happy birthday, ladies.

ey up - happy birthday again!

For me, roleplay is about expression of character. No one says he spends enough time being himself; I roleplay precisely to be someone else. Tarq is not I, and I am not he. I use an aspect of my personality for part of his character. Keith is far closer to the real me - he's me as I might have been, 17 years ago, in a parallel universe. I did not create Keith to confuse anyone. I created him partly because I wanted to investigate a certain alternate path I'd learned about in story mode, and once that was done I had fun fleshing out his personality. And though his story is similar to mine, he's not I, either. That said, I've never understood two things about the way some people RP in MD (and other places around the web): roleplaying without reference to a system and roleplaying to the detriment of the setting. In any roleplaying game I've ever played, rules define reality and sharply constrain what a character can and cannot do. I once heard an MD player say, "It [RP] is like 'let's pretend' - anything can happen!" I strongly disagree. The 'anything can happen' approach to RP requires an implicit understanding between the players that they will respect each other's imaginings. I find that tedious. In a proper RPG, character actions (especially combat, 'powers', and skills) are maintained by the system, and therefore the system should be used. That is precisely why I find it odd and disappointing when MD players choose to ignore the combat engine and outer magic system almost completely in favor of their 'RP combat' and/or 'RP powers'. When using the setting to define a character, you help expand that setting, but when you ignore the setting to make your character a robot samurai werewolf fairy, you undermine it. MD has a very rich (and rather thought-provoking) setting. If you are going to ignore it, you should at least ensure that you do not detract from it with your character concept's oddities. Tarq is an older guy who thinks he was a wizard in another world, but there's reason to think he's more than a little crazy - and the powers he does have all come from being a character in MD doing things in the world of MD. Keith is just an ordinary guy who, like some others, learned about the MD world and grew powerful from his interactions with it. On a tangential note, I think it is just plain rude to ask game lore/systemic questions as an alt if you already know the answers to them. I can assure you from experience that such deceptions are not necessary for creating a character that the people who know your main account are not likely to recognize for quite a while.

Belated wishes for a happy birthday.

Congratulations on winning your trial. I'll bet it's nice to be home again.

Existence is random. Has no pattern save what we imagine after we stare at it for too long. No meaning save what we choose to impose. This rudderless world is not shaped by vague metaphysical forces. It is not God who kills the children. Not fate that butchers them or destiny that feeds them to the dogs. It's us. Only us.

All he needs is somebody to throw hand grenades at him the rest of his life.

I'm just going to have to find myself a new giant.

Fiery the angels fell; deep thunder rolled around their shores, burning with the fires of Orc.

I favor a system where people are held accountable for their votes. I do think it would cut down on the excessive neg-repping.

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday!

Okay, Fyrd. I'll be keeping an eye out for Fyrd Alyzer. Thanks for maintaining (and writing) your clickie quests.

Happy birthday! High Five!

Only partway through, but I can already say this is one of the best quests I've seen in MD. Bravo.

A bit late, but: happy birthday!

Happy birthday!

We would like to see the monarch's tools given to the Consuls, who are the executive heads of Loreroot (analogous to co-presidents or co-monarchs), but to my knowledge we have not yet broached the subject with the MD Council. Their ruling (or Mur's), of course, will be decisive. To answer the question of the powers and responsibilities of the Consuls and Judges of Loreroot, the Consuls are, as I've said, the executives. The Judges have no official powers other than one of judicial review with respect to matters passed as laws and to trials conducted by the Assembly. The Assembly is the actual ruling body of Loreroot, and is responsible for all legislation; on advice from someone on the forum, we will review the 100-day requirement for membership and decide whether it is fair.

Keith Moon will sponsor this quest with a gold coin for the winner.

I joined the quest because it sounded interesting, because of the spell doc, and because the CoE is focusing on dark emotions at this time, and at the heart of such emotions is fear. I think Seig over-committed to this quest, judging by how long we had to wait between his appearances. I have a great deal of personal freedom and sometimes can stay logged into MD for 24+ hours non-stop. Waiting for somebody to show up and provide direction for about 30 minutes at a more or less random time, and to do so for several days, taxes the patience. I was starting to get numb when the second challenge was issued, and by the time the third challenge came around I was too apathetic even to contribute a kind word to my fallen comrades. I don't think the second challenge was worded very well, because my response to it took the challenge at face value: roleplay a situation like this. I was well aware that my cursory treatment of the objects involved would not be satisfactory in terms of the strength of an essay, but I felt I wasn't really being asked for an essay - not clearly, anyway, and I wasn't too inclined to indulge elaborate hypotheses about something that is as wholly subjective as fear. I could have given Seigheart the benefit of the doubt and expounded upon the theories I exchanged with JadenDew, AmberRune, lashtal, Syrian, and Nava, but I chose to take the instructions literally. There is an element of grumpiness in that decision, I freely admit. What? I'm in a box? Hmm. Let's examine more carefully and then get out. Not going to do anything being stuck in a box. And this is where the disconnect hits me with respect to roleplaying and how some people in this game choose to view it: I didn't do what I would do. I didn't do what a scholar researching fear would do. I did what Tarq would do, and Tarq is arrogant and impatient (more so than I am, I think). But it's at best a simplification to say Tarq contributed little or nothing to the quest, since with lashtal's help I spearheaded the translation of the dog-Latin and prompted the rewording by JadenDew that Seigheart said was so dead-on. Seigh might not have noticed that I was around for the better part of the quest, but I was, constantly, mostly listening, but offering interjections when it seemed useful or appropriate. The third challenge really turned me off. Revive the dead people? Really? That felt like being invited to a party and then being told you needed to stay and help clean the house afterward. It is clear to me that both the second and third challenges demanded a great deal from the participants but represented very little preparation on the part of the quest "host". That seems lazy to me. In all, I think the concept of the week of fear was and is a good one, but I don't think it was well presented. If the quest cannot "run itself" based on clues, clickies, and what-have-you, the host should be prepared to be accessible and prompt in responding to participants' requests. I would like to see a bit more imagination used for the challenges: fear is a rich subject, and I don't think this quest went any further than ankle-deep into the water in terms of exploring it. If you want people to roleplay around the concept of fear, [i]you must give them a storyline[/i]. No story, no (or bad) roleplay. I feel I've been nothing but harsh in this analysis, and that is not my intent. I was very encouraged to see sparks of interest among players, participants and non-participants alike, and I think it says a great deal that the DoF questers were able to stay together and keep discussion alive as long as they did. Seigh deserves credit for giving that impulse a chance to be acted on, and I would try to characterize my remarks in the spirit of "lessons learned".

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday!

No, because I believe the tools were intended to be shared. It's a little annoying that certain tools aren't accessible to me, but I don't mind being forced to trade with others to get what I want.