Bigger! Longer! And Uncut!

Now get your head out of the gutters, because that is not what I meant!

Ha, the hypocrisy of me telling other people to keep their heads out of the gutter--I myself spend a great deal of time with my thoughts lurking in those dark corners. Anyway, the title is reference to the ever growing boundaries of Valucre itself, and the way this blog is stretching its waistband. Four weeks into my adventures in weight loss, I have shrank noticeable amounts (again, head out of the gutters folks), and well, all that extra mass has to go somewhere- why not bloat up the blog, am I right?

Today, you get extra what's happenings, an additional highlight, and a new section- Valucre Trivia. It's in addition to that soon-to-be-changed Question of the Week, and it will tie into a new trial system I am going to implement. Now, don't expect this extra work every week- oh hell no, I have too much on my plate to be adding that much extra content to the blog- but the Trivia is a permanent addition, and the blog today has a bit more.

Think of it as a stimulus package to get the blood flowing in all the right places. That, my friends, you can take any way you like. ;)

What's Happening Valucre?

The Chosen Continues - The fighting continues, with most matches still going, only one having ended due to a dropout. The fights are in varying stages, and each has taken on their own interesting twists and turns. Some things are quite fishy, while others are... poetic? Hey, you never know what can happen, so go read up and discuss your favorites in the lounge.

Random Encounters: An Alternative System for Fighting NPCs- Well, that was a bit of a mouthful, but the thread itself is far from a mouthful of useless information- quite the opposite! It's a mouthful of useful and interesting information for role-players looking to add an element of suspense to their role-plays. Want to add some chance of failure to what you are doing, without having to decide how to implement it? Well, check out this alternative system, and see how you might apply it.

Grand Spring Festival- The Sword and Board Tavern is hosting a celebration of the coming of spring, with an invitation to come on down, have a free drink and enjoy the entertainment. They all but guarantee (see the disclaimer) that you will have an excellent time. Get the details over this way, and be sure to read the fine print...

Temp Agency of Genesaris- I have to admit, this is the first time I have ever seen a 'Temp Agency' on Valucre, let alone any role-play forum for that matter. I find the idea interesting and entertaining, and a good way for our new members to earn themselves some VB, for those interested in doing so. Soap (the employer) will pay 15vb per post on a weekly basis for your work in an RP thread that sends you on a specific task. Check it out, especially if you're broke. ;)

Horse Killer Quest- Hey now, something is killing Kethlerin's horses, and they suspect this brash murderer might in fact have eight legs and one creepy ass countenance. The thread author is looking for some members with characters not afraid of getting their hands dirty to come assist in this quest. If you are one of those people who keep posting about feeling board- go take on a quest!

Ingredient Hunt in the Athirat Desert- Speaking of taking on quests to keep you busy, here is another, this one centered in the Ahthirat Desert of Isyler. If you really, really, really feel like you need someone to help keep you busy, I cannot suggest enough that you ought to look into doing quests, as they give you something to do, a plot already outlined, and you have a chance to have an effect on canon! What more can you be asking for? Anyway, this quest involves finding some rare and vital ingredients in a really hostile environment, so make sure you bring out your hardiest character. Check it out.

Airships and Pirates OH MY- Hey now, now we're talking. Airships pirates running amok? If I were not so damn bogged down, I would certainly have to sit down and figure out which character I could toss into this, or just make a new one, because Airship Piracy is pretty damn cool- and, it has Supernal's seal of approval- seriously, what are you waiting for?

Property Available- Renovatio- Looking to legitimately hold some property inside the world of Valucre? Well, Renovatio has some good sized properties available, and the last update promises more on the way. I am not sure what the asking price is, but you can get your questions and take the tour by heading over to this thread.

Vampires and Dark Stories- Normally, when an interest check is skin and bones, I tend to not list them up here- I expect effort people! However, in this case, what the person is looking for really does not have the right sort of content for an in depth interest check, and it does involve the ever popular vampires- so hey, I am listing it. This member has created a new vampire character and is looking for some dark oriented role-play, but due to his lack experience in both subjects, is unsure how to go about it. Do you have a dark plot in mind, particularly one that might benefit from a Vampiric cameo? Well now, help this guy out.

Valucrecon- Yep, this thread has definitely had some attention already, but in case you live under a rock, you can click that link to check it out. In just a couple short weeks, several of us are converging on the city of Atlanta, and will be bringing the biggest concentration of awesome that city has probably ever known (Jordan Con, Valucre meetup, and Malum's Epic Canadian Beard? Seriously, this shit is going to be hard to handle!). Now, I've already heard some talk about expectations of pictures and stories and whatever and whatnot, and well- this blog never fails to deliver. That's right folks, I fly out Thursday morning (at 6am)- the same time the blog goes up! On that fateful Thursday morning, you will get an early blog update, and then, for the rest of the week and weekend, you will get nightly blog updates with details on the Valucre meetup. Pictures as I can obtain them, stories, and possibly more- yep, uploaded nightly. Don't expect full length blogs like this one, but I will do my best to make sure I deliver some goods.

Hear that? It's the sound of Supernal filling his shorts. :P

Question of the Week!!!

I admit, I had one shitty question last week. That thing smelled a dairy farm besieged by an epidemic of rotting fish and flatulent Rottweilers (If you have ever been exposed to one, you know what I mean!). In fact, I had only one person give me an answer, and that was in chat, basically stating- 'Of course I don't fucking have one'. One what? The Question:

"Do any of your characters have a sort of catch phrase? If so, what are they?"

How damn lame is that?

Well, I was throwing something out there, and the lack of response was to be expected. However, the lack of responses lately tells me that this has become tired, and probably uninteresting. So, I present to you your last question of the week, a question to end all these questions! So, what could possibly end this thing?

"What do you think should replace this section?"

Easy, right? Question of the day doesn't seem to appeal, so tell me what might appeal to you!

A Change in the Prizes?

Hey, I tried Vb- people really seemed apathetic. Then I threw in the option of getting some actual cash value- people hardly nibbled. So, I am changing this up again. This new system will apply as the reward for doing whatever the question is replaced with, for giving the correct answer to the upcoming Valucre-Trivia section, and for giving me a new reader. If you answer the trivia correctly, you will get 3pts. If you refer me a new reader, you get 2pts, and the new reader gets 1pt. As for the new section- it will be weighted based on what you all come up with. So, what are these points for?

They mark your number of chances. I will take each person's points, add them up, and use a custom die roller to determine a winner for the month- the more points you have, the more likely you are to win. Now, what do you win?

Guest Writer for the Blog.

Hey, a chance to have your influence on the blog? Yep, exactly that. So what does that entail? Well, it amounts to as much as you want, or as little as you want to do- or do nothing at all yourself (you can pass your opportunity on to someone else that you know would like it, but *you* have to choose who). You can write:

The Intro (and Title of Course)
You Choose the Trivia Question
You can work the new section (depending on what is come up with)
You can choose the highlights
You can write the closing thoughts.

So, do you have a particular direction you want to take the blog for a week? Do you have a cool idea to write on for closing thoughts, a soapbox issue you want to speak about, or a rant you have to get off your chest? Hey, its up to you. Now, here is the caveats:

It must be *semi-appropriate*- By that, I mean that it cannot be explicitly sexual/violent/or anything that would get slapped with a hard R or NC-17 rating- notice, I use dirty humor and some curses here and there, but I keep it subtle and limit the language. In addition, let's avoid saying anything that constitutes has hate language (Purposely Racist or Offensive to certain groups)- fun humor is one thing, being a douche is something else entirely. Lastly- no singling individuals, or small groups of people out, with mean spirited humor. All your content will be subject to my approval (I'm lax, but I am going to be make sure what I am putting up is not going to be mean, hurtful, or piss a lot of people off). 

I Will Act as Editor- Meaning, I will check over for errors and what not, but I might need to trim for space or ease of reading. I am going to try and limit any and all changes, but if there is a sore need to, I will do so- but I will be open about it. We can work on compromises as need be. I'm not a hardass about things, but if you ramble for 8 paragraphs about the benefits of colon cleansing on Tuesdays, I am going to have to... assert some limitations. 

Your Thoughts Should Pertain to What Valucre is About... in Some Way- This remains pretty open, I am more than happy to work in most topics. The above however, probably won't fly at all. Yet, anything pertaining to the arts, role-playing, similar interests, community, etc- if you can convince me it fits, it will work. But outlandish things might meet the ax.

That's it!

Valucre Trivia Question!

This new section is going to be trivia about Valucre Canon- I will be scouring threads looking for occurrences that are considered canon, and see if you can answer them. Good way to help brush you up on some lore information. The first question:

About a year and a half ago, 'The Architect' made his way towards an infamous prison in the company of trusted allies, disguised as homosexual lovers. They sought to validate rumors they heard pertaining to this prison, and they found much more than expected.

Questions:

1. Who were the characters involved (3 involved)

2. What Prison did they break into?

3. In reference to what they sought, what answer did they find?

One point for each correct answer ;)

New Members and Returns!

Welcome, Chrisdena

Welcome, Micheal Webber

Welcome, Hollow Man

Welcome, DalVlodan

Welcome, Flippy

Welcome, Umi

Welcome, Spinrobin

Welcome, Escsriet

Welcome, Ozton

Welcome, Eightbit

Welcome, Darkpane

Welcome, Ezra Lesatiel

Welcome, Professor Ent

Welcome, Shionhimirai

Welcome, Vanath

Welcome, Ezuri

Returns:

Welcome back, Armin

Welcome back, Avvercus

Welcome back, Sx.

Welcome back, MerrygoRoundofLife

Other Highlights?

Well now, this section always makes me feel a little deflated (ha, more innuendo), but today, I am going to suffer through it anyhow.

Dice Roller- This ties in with that new NPC battle system, but this also helps any who are doing dice based role-plays of any kind. There is a built in dice roller on the board, and you can read up on its uses (and unfortunately, some of its bugs) in this thread.

Did You Know- You can leave feedback of your first impressions, and earn VB while doing it! It is a great way to contribute to the betterment of Valucre as well! See the information here  and you can check out all the rest of the Did You Know Archive over here.

Bonus Information- Hey, looking for an image that fits your character? Well now, someone was kind enough to put together a huge archive of images for you to sift through. Check it out here, and if you find something you like, drop some rep on the guy. ;)

Closing Thoughts?

Believe me when I say, I do my best to write something interesting when I do up these closing thoughts.

Most of the time, I manage to come up with something I feel strongly about, something I can relate to and from that, put my thoughts to this blank white screen (I write out of Microsoft word most of the time). I invest enough interest into these closing thoughts to think of things outside the blogging timeframe, often having a spark hit me when I am days and days away from writing the blog. For example, this week, when I had what I remember to be an awesome idea for the closing thoughts- well, the key phrase is ‘what I remember to be an awesome idea’. I meant to write it down, I just was unable to at the time. By the time I could have, I forgot to write it down. Now, fast-forward four days, and that topic is lurking somewhere deep in my subconscious, too damn far to reach right now.

I’ll remember it sometime, but for now, alas, it shall be missed.

Getting back on topic, with these closing thoughts, I try to write about something I feel strongly about- something I relate to, and think others can as well. I’d like to think I do a decent job on most of them (I get good feedback), so it stands to reason that something I am doing is working. The one common factor in all of these:

I am writing first and foremost for myself, and from somewhere I feel something.

Yeah, those feels, and it has nothing to do with what’s going on below your waist.

Kidding aside, what I am talking about is realizing that writing, in my opinion, is an inherently selfish act- yep, you write because it brings you pleasure, it fulfills you, it satiates some need, it does something for you, and often, by extension, for others. Do not feel ashamed of this selfishness, it has nothing to do with you being a selfish person or some terrible human being; it simply has to do with fulfilling your needs. Writing is filling a need for you, and sometimes that need is filled by giving something back to others, or by the approval of others, or for whatever reason you want other people to read your work. You might have genuinely kind aims when sharing your work for others- but make no mistake, the number one reason you fervently write is for yourself.

You write first of all for you, and that’s just fine.

Be okay with it.

Accept it.

And don’t you dare fill yourself with guilt.

Now that we have looked at that inner demon and validated its presence, we can get back something very important, something I have certainly seen people overlook- writing for you. Yes, in realizing that you are writing for yourself, why the hell aren’t you actually writing things for yourself? Sure, there are situations where you are going to have to write on a topic you don’t particularly care for, and possibly in a style that appeases a person who has a very dramatic effect on future outcomes- employers, teachers, etc. Outside those exceptions, what you choose to write, and how you write it, should reflect directly upon what is important to you, and what your voice is.

Now, this isn’t free license to write terribly, there is a difference between style and poor use of grammar and conventions. This is permission to write in the way that suits you. Just like that last sentence is probably considered wordy- I could write it as, “This is permission to write how you want”. Yet, it does not quite carry the same inflection, it doesn’t convey what I want to convey in the same way. In this case- I stick it to the system, I am not writing a formal essay, I am blogging my thoughts, and I will write it the way I damn well please.

By the way- the use of damn was a colloquialism.

I could buckle under the pressure of writing in the way that is considered proper- I could decide that I should be writing this entire piece in the way that might appeal to my average reader, but then I am going to end up writing something that bores me. It will not have my voice; it will not have my way of emphasizing certain words and the way I want to express my thoughts. It will be packaged crap that I am spewing through my keyboard in an attempt to appease certain people. Sure, I think I am capable of making that garbage looking pretty good, I can usually pull off a convincing job on a paper that holds no interest to me, or where the expectations I have to write from are completely contrary to my own.

But it will lack my passion.

It will not have the uniqueness I lend it, just as when you do the same, it will lack the uniqueness you lend your work.

Sometimes, our ‘needs’ drive us to irrational actions, such as trying to earn approval by being something we are not. This can apply to any situation, from dressing different, to acting to different- or in this case, writing differently. I want to earn the respect of these people, so I will try to change the way I write to appeal to those people. Yet, this other group likes this style, so maybe I have to write like that. Or perhaps I just want to get something out there so damn badly, I will write exactly the way someone with success does it- after all, they are successful, so won’t I be as well?

No. If that worked, we would have a lot less variety and a lot more published writers.

In this world, we have assholes who will appreciate nothing short of whatever appeals directly too them- often, the way they write and communicate themselves. Close-minded fools who cannot appreciate true artistic expression- the hell with them! Write how you write, put those words to that paper in the way that just exudes your presence. Find your voice, and with that voice, shout! Make yourself heard, and never let anyone tell you otherwise.

As an aside, again, I remark- don’t take bucking some rules as permission to disregard understanding them. Learn how to write properly before you decide to bend the rules ;) 

A good writer can fudge some work so it looks good, and passes by the person for whom it was written. A good writer can detest the subject, and yet manage to contain that anger, rage, revulsion, just long enough to get that paper written and passed along. Good writers can do that when they must, but why do it any time other than when absolutely necessary?

Write first for you and the rest will fall into place.

That’s my thoughts of the week.

I’ll see you next week folks.

- Acies

"To grow in craft is to increase the breadth of what I can do; but art is the depth, the passion, the desire, the courage to be myself and myself alone." 

 ~Pat Schneider