What, is the Average Air Speed Velocity of an Unlaiden Swallow?

Which One? Swallows from Terrrenus, or those from Iselyr?

That's right, as a role-player of Valucre, you should just simply know these things. While it might not realistically feasible for a Genesaris based swallow to grip a coconut by the husk and carry it over to Rosinder, it is quite the possibility that you are going to find some damn fine role-play going about. It's not just a baseless claim, it is a divine providence passed on from The Lady of the Lake, from bosom of the water, as she bequeathed Valucre upon the landscaper known as Carlos. Of course, if you believe that strange women hanging around in ponds handing over forums is no basis for a system of roleplay, you might be inclined to say that great role-play derives from a mandate from the writing masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.

Well, I say that you are just hanging on to outdated imperialist dogma which perpetuates the economic and social differences in our society, thus setting a basis for illiterate versus the literate, where some feel so inferior to others they cannot participate equally, and that you might as well go build yourself a castle in a swamp. Now get to reading the blog, before I send you out to chop me down a tree using nothing but a forage fish.

Annnnnd just in case you forgot, this is the second to last Thursday of the month, so that means this is your last update for February :(

We will be back in action on March 7th! :D

5pts to whoever can guess who I was just blatantly ripping off. :P  

What's Happening Valucre?

Valucre's Next Writing Contest is Here- I spoiled it last week, and now that contest is up. The Valucre writing contest is up, and this time there is a real, tangible prize. If you win this one, you get a hardback version of The Red Wolf Conspiracy, book one of the Voyage of the Chathrand Quaret. It's a great series, so winning this will certainly be worth the effort. This contest's theme is Cleverness- and we leave it to you clever folks (ooohh, shameless plug) to decide how to use that. No hard limit on size, the format is completely up to you, and this time, the voting will be done on the basis of deciding on your favorite three, in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd based order (the points given in that order are 3pts, 2pts, and 1pt). The one with the highest point total gets 1st prize and the book, the next two placers (2nd and 3rd) get Valbullion.

So, get out there and write people!

Gladiator Gambling Halls Will Open- Well, if you like to gamble, or are interested in testing your ability to predict fights, the Gladiator betting pools are going to open in the very near future (like, probably today). On top of that, the fights are going to get a little more interesting. Watch the odds change, and then get in your bet! Strike it Rich!

Project Pandora- An old project that never quite launched, Project Pandora is back online and ready to go. This is a rather interesting idea, with some homage to those dystopian futuristic novels where things have gone awry. After cloning became legal, many clones were cryogenically frozen, so that one day they could be restored. 200yrs later, their services are needed, so that they can assist in shutting down a still active defense plant that continues to make life on impossible. You get to play as a survivor (someone who was frozen and brought back), or as someone in the Bio-force military. It's an interesting idea, and you can check it out here.

Le'Chery Killer in the Night- An Iselyr based quest, the city of Le'Chery has had a real problem with murders as of late, and Zenophoenix is looking for one to two people to assist with this quest, role-playing out finding and stopping this killer. He says he has some leeway granted from Nette, Iselyr's board owner, so this one has some flexibility. Just keep in mind Iselyr's tight rules on tech, and stick to the canon so you can have your quest officially completed. ;) Can you catch a killer?

Shrine City, Available for New Management- Unfortunately, Shrine City's last manager has taken leave, and now the city is back open for those who are interested. We have had one member step up with definite plans, and it looks like a couple others as well. I know that the first has some great plans and ambitions. If you are looking for a chance to get in on the development of a major capital, you should head here to state your interest, and I would recommend talking to Alexei as well.

Terrenus Bulletin Board- Once again pimping out an awesome resource for finding your fix of Terrrenus based RP. If you are having a hard time locating something, it always pays to check this out. Take a look over this way.

The Chosen Tournament is Back- Shamelessly beating this dead horse, because hey, that's what I do- ask the regulars in Unvalchat. ;) Anyway, the Chosen is shaping up to be a huge tournament, with 21 confirmed participants so far and still plenty of time to get signed up. That doesn't mean I am endorsing sitting around and waiting longer- no, go down there and sign up today! Sign ups end March 5th, the tournament starts a couple weeks thereafter, and so you can chill out and wait inside the lounge. This is a no death tournament, so don't worry- no matter how bad it gets, it shall only be a flesh wound!

Question of the Week!!!

Yep, seems like this little section of the weekly blog is gathering a little dust. I pulled two answers to this blog this week. I am not sure what else I can do to get you guys to drop more, so I am just gonna get down to the answers and see what happens next week.

"What trait about you most often becomes a trait within your characters?"

Response One: Probably a general tomboyishness. Some combination of athleticism, physical strength, appreciation for alcohol, distaste for romance, and a tendency to be or appear somewhat unemotional is present in almost every female character I write. I have been trying to make my characters more varied, lately—especially in terms of allowing them to experience emotions (-.-)—but this is still the trait that pops up most often.

Response Two: The trait I find that always manages to work their way into my characters is the feeling and almost need to be kind and care for all those around them. Trust me...I've tried to change it, kindness never dies though. No matter the excuse for doing it.

Well, I only got two answers for you today. Maybe next time we will get some more. So, with that, we move on to the next question of the week. This is a user submitted question, so thank you to the one who is almost always late, but was nice and early this week. ;)

Which do you prefer to read/write: A character driven story, or a plot driven story? 

Obviously, both come into play eventually, but how do you like your story to get running off the ground, and maintain its speed. Is it by means in which the character is creating a need to move forward, or is the character moving forward because the plot has swept them up and taken off with them.

Tell us Valucre! Or bring me a shrubbery. Yes, a shrubbery, in fact, make it two. Only, place one slightly higher so you get a two layer effect with a little path running down the middle

New Members and Returns!

Welcome, Thisismeandmyplayers 

Welcome, BeautifulGothGirl

Welcome, Lawman

Welcome, Alora Veta

Welcome, Nam3lessOne

Welcome, Alixandria13

Returns:

Welcome back, Omerta

Welcome back, S t a r s c r e a m

Welcome back, The Hound

Bah, another low week, with only 6.While low, we did have three older members come back around once again. Speaking of which, if you see The Hound (Aka Kilos), give him a hard time. This guy is the most notorious person in all of Valucre for promising an extended stay and then disappearing. Make sure to razz him and ensure that he knows we'd like him to stick around for longer than a week. >_>

Other Highlights?

For many months now I have tried to gripe my way out of this one. After all I throw into this blog, I still get hounded over coming up with something else to add a little more spice to your old blog. Is it now enough that I spend upwards of three hours on these things? Is it not enough for you that I manage to keep a weekly schedule, and update you with lots of good content? I should have known, look at who I am asking. Sheesh, take your highlights. If only this animator could suffer a sudden and fatal heart attack >_> 

Quick Links- Hey, have you noticed that there are some useful buttons along your header tab on Valucre's topside? If not, you should have! I've made note of several of them already, so here is one more for you to explore, if you have not done so yet. The quick links button sits right below the what's new button, and contains several handy options. You can see all of the posts for today, see all the most recent posts in your subscriptions, open up your friends list, view the site leaders and see who is online. Several useful tools, all packaged in one convenient place. ;)

Did You Know- You can nominate role-plays for the spotlight in the newsletter. The newsletter comes out monthly and is seen by nearly everyone. What a way to give your favorite thread some love by getting it underneath the spotlight. :) Check out the other did you knows over here.

Closing Thoughts?

A little while back, there was a discussion brought up about how to become a better writer. Part of this pertained to developing talent, and the other part of it had to do with the networking aspect of writing. There was a particular comment made that just did not sit well with me at the time. Without outing anyone here (as in no names you silly folk), it essentially amounted to that Valucre will do nothing for your writing career. This particular person went on to elaborate from a perspective of the networking side of it- which I can find agreeable- but made did not say anything else to the effect of whether or not Valucre could have a positive influence in your writing ambitions.

I present to you my rebuttal, and thoughts for the day. :)

Valucre is not a hub for connections in to the writing world- you are going to have to find your own way of achieving that end of your goals. As it stands right now, Valucre is not a resource for editing, though there is talk about how we can establish a feedback group who will look over your stories and work to help you improve in the areas that are in need of it. Of course, that is future talk, and future talk speaks of what might be, and not of what actually is. Valucre has many ambitions we hope to see fulfilled over the coming years, but it also has ways of helping you as a writer, now.

One thing to appreciate about play by post role-playing is having the ultimate sandbox in which to experiment with characters. If you feel a little weak in the area of practicing taking a character and developing them over the course of a storyline, online role-play is your opportunity to do just that! You have many different stories you can write in, with a varied case of scenarios that will just hand you opportunities to sit and think about- how would this character react, how would it affect them in the moments, hours, days, weeks, and months after? In the circumstances they face, will they lead to changes, or can they come out of it the same as they were before?

You are in a collaborative environment, where elements of role-play will come at you beyond your control, forcing you to adapt and think on your feet. Sometimes you might plan what happens, sometimes you will know what is going to happen, but there are those occasions when another role-player throws a monkey wrench at you and now you are forced to figure out what your character will do. Use these opportunities to grow! Develop skills in thinking from the viewpoint of the character and not yourself. Detach from yourself, and allow the personality of the character to break through and react to these changes.

If you learn to do this in role-play, it will be easier to do it down the road when you are on your own. 

In speaking of characters, and trying to learn to develop their personality and get behind their reactions, you are also working on finding comfort in writing out the perspective that they see the world, and making the character unique. With some characters, this is easy for us, because we know the elements that make up that character and can portray them well. But what of those cases where you want to write from the perspective you are not comfortable with. What if you are someone who never writes as a male/female, always writes about heterosexual/homosexual characters, always athletic, always happy, or maybe always a particular mold. Role-play is the perfect place to overcome that.

For example, in our question from last week, I asked if there was a typecast character you play more often than characters of a different personality. Our first respondent admitted that the majority of their female characters come out as tomboys, who hate romance, love drinking, and have athleticism too. This style of character is fine, but what if they wanted to write a book, and wanted to insert a few different notable female characters. If all of the females were like this, and did not live in some cleverly constructed culture where all women are like this, wouldn’t it strike a reader as odd that there is no variation in the females’ base personality?

This person said they are working on it- and they have a great place to do it. They can join and already active thread with a new character made from the top of their head, or join an RP that requires something a little different, so that they purposely get stuck in a situation where they must write a character who is not these traits. Once again, I point out that play by post role-playing is a great facilitator for sandboxing characters. If you need to experiment more with personalities, or just work on developing them over the course of a storyline, here is your place to do it.

Experiment with characters, and the way they grow. 

Another thing that play by post role-playing does for you is that it does encourage writing. Part of writing a book is doing the actual writing. If you cannot get yourself to sit down and write a few posts a day, how do you ever expect yourself to sit down and put some time into writing a book each day. In realizing that the thousand mile journey begins with a single step, you must build yourself a practice of sitting down at a computer and writing something. Role-play posts are not books, nor are they close to it. But it is written material you are producing through effort, and if you can get into the habit of doing that, you have pulled yourself one step closer to having a continuing habit of writing.

Looking above, we can see that we want to develop skills with our character production, and that we are getting into the habit of writing, but there is another thing that comes to mind in these situations- getting used to continuity. It might sound silly to say that there is an inherent risk that you might get information mixed up, but I have seen famous writers (Ahem, R.A Salvatore) who struggle to keep information straight on their main characters- who knows what else might be mixed up. This is not a skill you will develop automatically, but one that is going to require some work- you have to want to keep your continuity straight in order to glean anything from this.

In thinking of that- always remember to make all the effort you can dealing with online role-playing. 

If you are writing a role-play, and you have to bring in some element from before, you have a three options- fudge it based on what you remember, find a way to find out, or work around the event. Assuming this is not something we can leave out, we are stuck with our first two choices- finding the answer, or hoping we can make something passable. MAKE THE EFFORT. Get into the habit of stopping and thinking- ‘Am I upholding continuity, and if not, how can I fix it?”. You will start by having to scour your old posts and/or threads, in order to dig up information. You might get into the habit of putting it all on your character sheet- that is a good thing, keep track on notes.

I keep notes on characters for a story I plan on writing out, because I need to keep track of certain aspects of them, and of their history. For my characters, I do the same, but I also link to where in the story events occurred, so I can always show them off later if someone wants verification of an ability or context to what made my character the way he is now. You can do the same for your work as well- perhaps write down a note on the character, and then write what page it was on when this occurred. Build those habits of looking back and trying to find answers, and then trying to manage information intelligently, so that way it will no longer be an issue.

Develop your methods of keeping your information straight. 

We got character aspects, we building productivity, and now we even have continuity, so let’s look at developing your own writing style. This one is a bit tricky, because sometimes people mistake a personal writing style with having poor grammar and conventions, and then trying to justify these routine mistakes with simply having a style. We have our own unique writing styles, I am sure you have noticed it when reading a book or reading an internet post. We want to have our own style, because that is what is going to set us apart, make us unique, and possibly more interesting.

Use role-playing posts as a place to experiment with styles. Do you right more to the character’s internal process, or more based on the external processes and the plot itself? Do you carry a certain pace, a certain tone, a way you like to put phrases or describe characters? Develop a rich tone of your own, make it your own voice and your own unique way of writing, and just be sure to do it with proper conventions and grammar in mind. Of course, the rules can sometimes be broken, but in order to get away with it- you must first actually understand them! Even the greats, who break the rules as part of their style, do it in a way that shows they know what they are doing otherwise.

Build a voice, but make sure you stick to the important foundations. 

Speaking of foundations, you can use Valucre as a place to build upon the basic skills. We might not have English teachers here to mark up your papers with red ink, but we do have some capable people who can help point things out to you- if you ask (and ask nicely). You can also simply read the work of other people, and see how they are doing it. Do you think you put a comma where there should be a pause, or do you think you let your sentences run on too long? When comparing yours to another’s, do you see things they capitalize that you might miss? How do their sentences flow? When you see them use the common mistake words (to, too, two; their, there, they’re; your, you’re; alot vs a lot, etc), are you using them in the same way as they do in their own contexts?
You can gain this same information by reading more books, but you can think of a play by post role-play forum as a way of further cementing those principles in your mind. You see them come together in your stories, which you have a bigger investment than just the stories you read.

It comes back around again to making that effort, because while there is some potentially good info there to help you, you have to be the one to go out there and hunt it down. I have seen people improve their basics in grammar and vocabulary over time, as they write more and more on the forum. I have also seen people who never improve, because they are not making that effort- or they are just too oblivious to see that they need to make some improvements. Make the effort, and read posts to see what you can improve, and if in doubt- ask.

The opportunity to learn the basics of decent conventions and grammar are present, but the onus is on you to use it. 

The last bit I want to impart is on how writing on a play by post forum encourages the exercise of imagination and creativity. Akin to how we are building the habit of writing at all, we are also building up the regular use of trying to imagine new things. I must see what my character is doing, and decide how they act upon it. In developing a new character, I must decide on their traits, the equipment they carry, their abilities, and how they interact with the world. I must decide how to develop my plot, and create the story that my character will participate in.

In short- I must use my brain!

The ability of our minds is much like the body, in that the more we exercise it, the more benefits we reap from it. If I want to be better at thinking up ideas and being flexible in my planning, I must be doing both on a regular basis. In regards to aspects of writing, the two best ways to do this is to write, and to read. The forum itself presents an opportunity to write, and write with others in an environment that can be unpredictable and require some stretch of the environment. It also presents you with some regular reading, assuming you are in threads that move decently enough.

Use these opportunities to stretch out the abilities of your imagination, increase your mental acuity, and really build your creativity’s muscles. 

That about sums up what I wanted to say in response to that comment at the time I saw it, but I never had the chance before it became an irrelevant point. I decided that it would serve well as a piece in the blog, giving everyone a chance to think about what Valucre can do for your writing. There are things our humble home cannot do- advanced structuring and critiquing, expert advice on pacing or the use of language, or building your connections into the writing world- but there are things you can use to your benefit through participating in play by post role-playing.

I challenge you to utilize it.

- Acies

"My mother drew a distinction between achievement and success. She said that achievement is the knowledge that you have studied and worked hard and done the best that is in you. Success is being praised by others, and that's nice, too, but not as important or satisfying. Always aim for achievement and forget about success." 
 ~Helen Hayes

The Perfect Valentine...

Who Better to Be Your Valentine This Year but Valucre? 

Think about it- love at first sight, with no strings attached! It never wants anything from you but the words you share. In return, you gain a community, friends, and a place to come together and share your prose. No need for chocolates and flowers, expensive dates and cliche hearts printed over cheap cardboard. This year, worry not about whether or not you have a date, or someone special to share the day, because this year, you've got Valucre!

What else could you need?

[Let me preface the rest of this blog ahead of time with an apology for anything feeling... lacking,  by way of the usual quality in which I try to present with your weekly update. I have had an incredibly busy night, and I am starting about and hour and a half late. On top of that, I have had some rather big ups and downs in terms of how I am feeling physically, and with my ability to focus. Without delving too much into personal matters, it may have something to do with my chronic low levels of Vitamin D, so it can be easily rectified- as soon as I get to it. Anyway, just wanted to get that little bit out of the way, and I hope by next week I am back to provide something I feel my readers are deserve.]

What's Happening Valucre? 

Carlos' Useful Articles- Supernal is always looking for ways to make the lives of our members a little easier, and while sometimes his efforts backfire a little (I tease, I tease), sometimes he comes up with something really neat. Supernal has written many articles to help out both newer and older members with information pertaining to role-playing, writing, and T-1 too. Digging these articles takes a little work, and so to make things even easier for you, Supernal has wrapped all of them up into one handy thread. If you want to browse through these useful bits, look no further than this thread, where you can find all that you need. 

The Daily Weekly is Hiring- Well, that daily weekly is always looking for some full-time help with covering Valucre news, and with all these events cropping up, there is certainly much to cover. If you enjoy writing journalistic based writings, you can get paid vb to do it! Report to the daily weekly and drop down your fees for a press badge, then get out there and there and start covering these events. Write them up into a well thought out article and you are on your way to making that deposited money back, and then profit as well. If you are not looking for a full time gig, you can go freelance, and submit articles as you have time to write them. Potentially a whole lot of fun, and the report starts here. 

Dates are Set for The Chosen Tournament- The chosen tournament is coming, and we now have some more official information to put up for prospective fighters. The signups will continue through March 6th, and then tournament will then start March 18th. You still have time to get your character approved and registered, but you would be surprised with how fast time can get away from you. If you plan to go for the crown, make sure you get in and register today. ;) And as an additional note- if you want to talk about the tournament, please visit the lounge thread. 

Rich Characterization in a Dark Setting- This will be a Terrenus based role-play, looking to start out in the town of Last Chance. The thread creator is looking for a basic story at the first, fulfilling classical roles of taking on a few bad guys here and there, contributing to the society at large. Eventually, these heroes are going to end up stranded in the woods with limited supplies, and that is when the darker aspects kick in. The thread looks to explore not only the process of trying to survive, but also having to deal with the rest of your party, especially in those uncomfortable and awkward situations. Are you up for the challenge?

The Next Valucre Writing Contest- Whoo, kind of a spoiler, but a thread should be going up not long after this blog does, if not before. That's right, it's been a little while since Halloween, so we are kicking off another contest. Because we are upon the Chinese New Year, and this is the Year of the Snake, we thought we would do something along those lines. Those born under the year of the Snake are supposed to be clever, so we thought it would be clever (ohhh this is getting redundant already :P ) and make the theme of this contest 'Cleverness'. The medium is any of your choice, just so long as you are able to work in your theme. We are going to begin accepting submissions from the 18th to the 22nd, and then a vote begins the 23rd to run through the 28th. Winners announced March 1st! There will be more details to this, but you can get them from the upcoming thread- watch for it. Prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place will be 500vb, 250vb, and 100vb respectively. Good luck!

Question of the Week!!! 

Okay, I thought we could not do any worse than the worst we've managed to do with these, but it looks like that at times, we can really outdo ourselves! I only got one answer to this question, and it really didn't go too much into depth. I suppose I will supply an answer myself, just to give you a little more flavor. 

What is the most unusual character you ever role-played?

Response One: 'Cookie the Squirrel'

Response Two (Mine): Strangest character concept I have had, and still use, is a Schizophrenic Cleric who calls himself 'Stupple Hupple', though that is not his real name- obviously. The character is a fully fledged Cleric, who completed his apprenticeship and was raised to the position of a Cleric within his order. Unfortunately, he suffered a fully psychotic break not long after and after cutting off his ear and trying to kill himself in a fire, he fled the cathedral and his order (while stark naked no less) and disappeared. Due to the fire, the majority assumed him dead. Stupple is primarily a paranoid schizophrenic, though he has a lot of disorganized traits- he is quite paranoid and delusion, hears voices, and speaks with a great deal of word salad most of the time. Another interesting thing about him is his choice of weapon- a boat oar with wood duckies tied on with hemp.

Despite this, he is a kind-hearted man with good intentions, who manages both to get himself into trouble, and do some rather remarkable stuff at the same time. Just because you have a mental illness, it doesn't mean you cannot go on to do great things. :)

Surprise Response Three: Dot is an unusually introspective half-troll-thing.  Too smart for her native clansmen, but not quite on par with your typical human mind, Dot's grasp on language is tenuous at best, and she has a tendency to underestimate her own physical strength.  What she lacks in tact and fine motor skills, she makes up for in heart.  She appreciates the beauty of the world, and she wouldn't hurt a fly (or a bird).  At least not on purpose.

[Wait, surprise response three? Yep, we have someone who has made it a real habit to submit answers to me just before, or just after, I get the blog up. So, this answer did not come in to me until just as I put the blog up. A surprise response, at the last second! :P ]

That's all I got for you in terms of answers. If you want more- make sure you submit! Anyway, let's throw a new question out there for all of you: 

"What trait about you most often becomes a trait within your characters?"

So, do you have something about yourself that you might find unconscionably appears within your characters? It's a good question to ask, because it is certainly something worth determining. Let's see what you guys have to say. :)

New Members and Returns! 

Welcome, Jtiger14

Welcome, Hopingfordestiny

Welcome, Morcac

Welcome, Enness

Welcome, Leofrick

Welcome, Apollonie

                                          Welcome, White Chocolate

A bit of a slow week this week, with only seven new members and no returns for those are not currently with us. The numbers fluctuate, and I'm sure in time we will see the long lists once again. I think it will certainly accelerate when summer rolls around. :)

Other Highlights? 

Only because Valucre is my special valentine, I will give you your highlights without the usual griping. Take them and be thankful. >____<

Lore Tab- Hey, you probably hear this come up quite a bit- Valcure's lands have a lot of lore- sometimes, depending on the place, you might have a ton of it! Yet, where can you find all this nifty writing that gives you a better look at where you might want to go? The Lore tab of course! It should be fairly obvious, but just in casedyou missed it, there is a Lore drop down menu located between General and Community.

Did You Know (Thread Ratings)- Hey, did you know that you can rate a thread, thus showing the community at large the opinion of those participating and those who are following along just to read. There are search features that filter by the amount of stars coming up, so if you really want to get your thread noticed- take the time to rate it. You can read more about this here and read more of these handy 'Did You Knows' over here. 

Closing Thoughts? 

A funny thing, regarding the closing thoughts for this week. 

I had a really good idea come to me a couple days ago, something I thought would be a great thing to write about when it came time to work on these closing thoughts. I stored it way as a mental note, and so doesn’t it figure: The next night, I completely forgot about it! This was a great idea too- one of those that you just felt right about, and thought that it would really tie up a nice blog for the week. Leave it to me to not write this idea down anywhere and let it get away from me. 

Granted, it works out somewhat this week, because I am running behind and not feeling so well, so I think I would have ended up not doing the subject any justice, by writing quickly, plainly, and without the detail that topic deserved (I cannot remember it, only that it was certainly worth writing!). I can still make something out of this situation though, because it reminded me of something important that we can do as a favor to ourselves with any writing project-

Keep notes. 

I know, sometimes walking around with a notepad permanently affixed to you might not be realistic, and it could be quite inconvenient. However, there are those times where you just have an idea come to you that you know is something that just cannot be ignored- those ideas that border on epiphany, and you just know it will make a huge difference in your writing project. If you have nothing to write it down, you might end up losing the entire thing! As I am experiencing right now, losing an idea can be incredibly frustrating, and no amount of rummaging around is going to find it for me. It will come back when it is ready. 

With that frustration in mind, I strongly encourage anyone serious about writing to always keep a writing utensil, and a surface for writing upon, whenever you go out anywhere. It’s good practice, and it will lessen the likelihood that you are going to lose a nice idea. This time around I forgot to write it down, but I often come up with things while at work, and most certainly do not have the time to hop on a comp and write these ideas out- most of the time, they come while I am supervising a constant (working 1:1 with the patient, watching for behaviors). 

In these cases, I often do have some paper in my back pocket and a pen tucked behind my ear. Looks nerdy, but it does get the job done, and it allows me to write down cool ideas for role-plays, or stories, or in this case, could have saved the topic for the closing thoughts tonight, so they would not be eaten before I even had a chance to use them. 

Write your ideas down, and make sure you get it to a safe place and have a long term plan backed up. You never know if that idea will help finish your book, create an awesome RP session, or soon could be the basis of your new RP thread. 

Get your info on paper!

That’s all I got guys, sorry this blog is kinda lousy. I will see all of you next week, until then- Later!

- Acies 

"Usually, when people get to the end of a chapter, they close the book and go to sleep. I deliberately write my books so when the reader gets to the end of a chapter, he or she must turn one more page. When people tell me I've kept them up all night, I feel like I've succeeded!"

~ Sidney Sheldon

So Much Stuff...

It's Too Much! I Think I'm Going to Have an Asplosion!

Seriously, look at how much stuff is going on here. We have Gladiator Fights. The chosen is coming back. There is... SPOILER ALERT... another writing contest just around the corner. All of this, in addition to the multitudes of daily occurrences happening around Valucre. With so much stuff to do, who needs a life outside the internets, right? 

Well, don't take that as an endorsement to become an internet addict- there really is a little more to life than hanging out on Valucre, but it certainly isn't the worst way to spend your time (I'd like to think I could put it up near the top of any list ;) ), but you do have to balance out your lifestyle diet! Certain foods are good for you, but if the only thing you eat is fruit... well, look at what happened to Ashton Kutcher. 

Anyway, enough about celebrities trying to cause their pancreas to have an asplosion. Let's get down to our usual business, and see what's up on Valucre. 

(And because I keep saying Asplosions, and Traxien Cion thinks everything needs more explosions, I now present to you a 100% increase in explosions inside the blog: Aslposions!)

What's Happening Valucre?

Chosen Tournament is BACK- What is the Chosen you ask? Only the biggest tournament in all of Valucre. Do you wish to earn great prestige? Do you wish to have your chance to face the best fighters Valucre has to offer? Are you after your own sub-board (inside Terrenus), where you can do as you will for the duration of a year? Well now, I think you can see where this is headed. Join the Chosen tournament, because you never know if you might be the next chosen. Do you think you have what it takes to beat the former champion? We shall see. Come here to Register, and come here to hang out in the lounge.

Where Men Win Glory (Betting)- Well, if you like to gamble, or are interested in testing your ability to predict fights, the Gladiator betting pools are getting ready to open. So step up and take your chance to earn some VB. Can you bet who shall be the victors, and who shall go home with nothing? Go for bust!

Soldiers' Arrival- It seems that Valucre will soon have visitors from afar, and who can say with certainty what their intent shall be? A queen arrives with 48 soldiers, she in pursuit of an estranged husband- one who likely isn't aware that he's now married to a queen. This will be starting out in Morgana, Orisia, and likely will involve some extensive traveling. If you'd like to RP with a foreign group of folks who have some interesting, and certainly different, customs and cultural ideals, then you might have just found your next thread to start posting in.


North Sea for Pirates- Hey, did you notice the recent changes to the Genesaris layout? Did you notice that you now have a new sub-board for the North Sea? That's right folks, you now have the first official sub-board dedicated to pirate activity. If you are a sucker for pirates and pirate based role-plays, you now have a wide open playground, fresh and ready to accept role-play. Plunder and pillage this way, lads and lassies.

Free Legion is Recruiting- A knightly order seeks men of all stations and backgrounds to join, to pursue honor and glory, fighting for the needs of others. In the Free Legion, all men are free and equal, each having given up their pasts, including estates, titles, and riches. The Free Legion is for those looking for a fresh start, and never will they ask questions. Gain your freedom, and join today.

Untitled Fantasy RP- I think it's sort of funny that this has no title- not because of the lack of title, but because I am calling it untitled fantasy rp... okay, I have a weird sense of humor. Anyway, this fantasy rp has a wide variety of roles available for filling, looking for a colorful cast of characters to give this story some flavor. The tale involves a wrongfully accused woman who is whisked away and imprisoned on her wedding day, taken so she can be coerced into going willingly with a villainous figure intent upon using her for dark magic. Her husband to be must get her back, and recruits the help of a harlot and a something called a Shadow Savior. The story has a basic plot laid out, but many details are left open, so other players have a chance to give some input on story direction. Check it out over here.


Escape from Antigone- No one escapes from Antigone Isles, or so it is said. A dystopia disguised as a utopia, magic users are the slaves of the rich and powerful, exploited for their talents and treated as nothing better than potentially dangerous cattle. Their treatment is poor, and their outlook grim. Trouble makers disappear, rumored to be taken to a tower where dark experiments take place. Naturally, magic users trapped in this place are eager to find a way to get free. Will you be the first to escape Antigone?

Question of the Week!!!

Two weeks to receive answers, and all I got was three answers. Three! I'm not sure how to motivate more of you folks into giving me answers to fill this section, but I will have to think about it. Maybe if we added more explosions...

If you could have a day (all to yourself) with the writer of your choice (Alive or Dead), who would it be, and why?

Response One: Sir Terry Pratchett.

I have no idea what we'd talk about after I said "Thank you so much for giving fantasy fans Discworld," but there's no other writer I'd be more honored to meet and spend time with. I like comedy. I like wittiness. I like puns and wordplay. I like comedy wrapped around serious things, and serious things accentuated by comedy. I've never seen that done better than I have in the Discworld novels. I also like having a lot of canon to read, a huge world to immerse myself in. Forty-ish novels gives me that.

Response Two: Gail Carson Levine. 

I'm big on young adult fiction, and Ella Enchanted is one of my all-time favorite books. Levine mixes action and adventure with tenderness and (believable) romance, and she packages it in a lighthearted story that's easy to read with vivid scenes that have stayed with me since I was eight years old. I envy her sense of character and setting. I would love to meet her, and while I'd like to say I would pick her brain for writing and publishing tips, in all likelihood, I would probably just spend the day gushing about Ella and feminism. But I'd like to meet her, all the same.

Response Three: Piers Anthony

To spend a day with a writer of my choice is would be a great day indeed. To chose only one....now that's a hard decision. Who can really know what writer would be a good time spent for not every writer is the same as their attitudes in the books. And thinking longer on it makes more come to mind! It would also come down to the reason of spending the day with them. So coming up with the solution of spending the day with the writer to improve my own writing, I would chose the professional writer of Piers Anthony (Xanth rocks!). Out of those that I've seen here within Valucre....Boiling it down to writers I've spent enough time reading to get an idea of the direction of their work. Irene or Hummingbird. No particular order.

There you have it, the people a few of our members would like to hang out from the writing world. With all that said, we have to move on to picking out the winner of the month. That's right- first blog of the week, new winner in the drawing!

The winner is.... (man, we could really use an actual drumroll about now)... Praetorian!

Congrats Praetorian! You get your choice of a $5 E-card to anywhere, or 500vb. :)

Alright Valucre, here's your question of the week: What is the most unusual character you ever role-played?

Let's see what fun answers come up. 

New Members and Returns!

Welcome, TheBeautifulSin 

Welcome, Polar

Welcome, Foxrally

Welcome, Ella Bailey

Welcome, FactoryKat

Welcome, Senna

Welcome, Mugen

Welcome, Black Rock Shooter

Welcome, ChiNekoGami

Welcome, Kuukakulily

Welcome, Jericho Nash

Welcome, OatmealCreamCookie

Welcome, Celtic Deamon

Welcome, Bartholomew Butcheroo

Welcome, Pulse

Welcome, Varmac

Welcome, Ruzo

Welcome, Eango

Welcome, GBE

Welcome, DarrenHodge

Welcome, FightForWhatIsRight

Welcome, Mindi Ikkoku

Returns:

Welcome, Tiem

Whoo, that was 22 brand new members and one new return- a lot of work getting all of those up there! Well, I think 22 is a great number for two weeks, and I am happy to greet all these new members. 

Other Highlights?

Groan! Never a rest from these damn highlights. Not only have I given you a ton of content, I even gave you explosions, and still you want more. Entitled bastards. >_>

Ignore Feature- I've covered it before, but now we got some new news regarding it- Ignore has received an upgrade! If you put someone on ignore, not only do you not see their posts, you do not see that they even made a post! That's right, you no longer even have to see that temptation to go look at their comments. Just ignore them all together. 

Did You Know- Did you know that if you are new to the site, you can take a couple quizzes to prove your knowledge of the site. If you get all the questions right, you get 50vb per test! It's a great way to get your self started on VB collections. Check out the other did you knows over here.

Closing Thoughts?

This subject has come up quite a bit lately, so I thought it would be a good time to touch upon it, for all of you aspiring writers among my readership. I’ve suffered this pitfall many a time myself, and I’ve heard many others describe great trials with this… urge as well. What am I talking about? That dirty, dirty, dirty little habit of trying to edit your work before you have even finished writing it.

Admit it; you’ve probably done it a time or two. Hell, if you are like me, you’re a chronic editoholic, constantly looking over your prose and with a twitching eye and shaking hand, working on an excuse to go back through those lines and improve upon them. I suffered from this for a very long time, when doing personal projects, and I only truly escaped this tendency for the first time while doing NaNoWriMo. During that one month period, I convinced my inner editor to put down his red pen and sit this one out, letting me write uninhibited for 30 days, pouring words onto paper no matter how bad I thought they were.

Why not, right? Ernest Hemmingway himself said, ‘The first draft of anything is shit’. Now, if you don’t know who Ernest Hemmingway is, I’m going to assume that you either live under a rock, or you liked picking fights with cows as a young child, antagonizing them by pulling on their tails- don’t muck around with cows. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2sB5ZJsV3A Like him or not, we can all agree that Ernest Hemmingway is among the biggest names in writing, and if he himself is considering the first thing he rights to be about as charming and attractive as that road apple you saw the other day, I think it’s safe to assume that our manure isn’t really any worse off either.

When I quelled that inner editor, telling him that he will someday have his turn, just not yet, I found it was much easier to let the words just flow. I wrote without worrying about the quality of what I was writing, just allowing the ideas to spill from my mind to the paper. There were times I could just write and write, and other times that I knew what I was doing, but had to make a push for it. I completed NaNoWriMo in 28 days, and wrote over 50 thousand words- more than any other writing project I ever wrote. Had I let my inner editor take over, I probably would not have passed the first 10 thousand words.

It’s been said many times, and so I will repeat it all for you again- write during the writing stages, edit during the editing stages. The most important thing you can do for your story is to get it out! Look, it might be a hideous baby, but even the ugly duckling managed to become a swan in the end. Let the story come as it will, and when the story is finally arrived, you can then go about reworking the wording, finding better ways to handle a scene, tying up the plotholes, adding in other elements you think are needed, etcetera. This is also the time you can reach out for help from others, and get their feedback.

Do NOT do this before you have finished the work.

Take it from me, the guy who spent a great deal of his time trying to rewrite passages he was unhappy with, when I had not even finished the chapter, let alone the story itself. I have become hung up on parts so much, that eventually I lose interest, get discouraged, and abandon the project. Now, I have other issues I’m working on (I am such a basket case when it comes to follow through on personal stories :P ), but that one I have managed to put down. The inner editor has been slipped some tranquilizers, and is put to bed. He isn’t waking up until I go dump a bucket of ice water on him. >_>

With that said, that’s about all I got for this week. Sorry if it is a bit brief, but there is only so much I can say on this, and I have other stuff I need attend to- always more work to be done.

I’ll see you next week folks! Until then, take care, and keep writing. ;)

- Acies

You expect far too much of a first sentence. Think of it as analogous to a good country breakfast: what we want is something simple, but nourishing to the imagination.

~ Larry McMurtry

ONE FINAL EXPLOSION!!! -> Boom goes the Blog

It May be Bitter Cold Outside...

But Valucre's Got All You Need to Warm the Soul!

Well, it looks like winter has really come down hard on a large chunk of the country, bringing in temperatures colder than John Boehner's heart. A few places aren't too bad- my neck of the woods hasn't found temperatures below 20 at this point- but for most of you, I'm willing to bet you could use something to warm you back up. I can't offer chicken soup, funky microwave slippers, or Tauntaun guts* (Environmentally friendly method!), I can offer you some good reading and exposure to role-play so damn awesome, your soul will warm right up.

With that, let's get to the blog, shall we?

*No Tauntauns were harmed in the making of this blog. No animals either for that matter. In fact, the only thing likely harmed was my pride, but I'm not sure any of that was left anyway. 

What's Happening Valucre?

Where Men Win Glory- Do you enjoy gladiator style fights? Do you wish to participate in glorious battles in matches pitting you against men of all kinds, with limited crude weapons and your wits? Or perhaps you have always wanted to play the role of an owner, someone who dictates the fate of his property, fully in control of his (or her) near worthless life. Perhaps you like gambling away Valbullion, betting on which  fighter bests another, using your knowledge and educated guesses to increase your wealth. Did we also mention royal invites, setting up the opportunity for political conflicts and scheming? Oh yes, there will that and a whole lot more, if you would just click this link and take a look. ;)

A Trek through Nightwood- Well now, we've got someone here whose been brainstorming ways to stay busy while going on a walkabout through the dreaded Nightwood, in search of some pesky trolls. He has a myriad of potential conflicts about, meaning you should have some opportunity to flex a character's muscles and wit. Check it out. :)

Heaven, Hell, and Earth- This is one of those types of role-plays where I feel like I can do the extensive description little justice by paraphrasing it down. The best I feel I can do is to say that it involves a complicated story of Angels fallen from grace, mistakes made by humans and divinity alike, and the webs of their lives intersecting into an intricate pattern of chaos. I strongly suggest taking a moment to read this one through.  

Needles- Certainly not something for everyone, but I'm sure this will fit someone's taste. The person heading this one up is looking to do a romantic plotline involving a scientist doing genetic alterations on another person. The author of this one is set on wanting to play a male, and so the catch is that if you too are set on playing a male role, you need to be prepared to take on a plot involving homosexuality. You can get in touch with that person over this way. 

Order of Summer- The Order of Summer is looking for recruits to join their swelling ranks of Paladins. This group is one where you start out low in the ranks, but have plenty of opportunity to rise above the masses. If you want an RP surrounding destroying evil and working hard for your place in the world, look no further. 

Terrenus Bulletin Board (Updated): I was going to skip this one this week, but then Supernal went and updated it, compelling me to list it once again. This bulletin board is quite handy for fighting Terrenus based role-plays. If you want something there, or are having trouble finding what you want in the water cooler, come by and take a look!

  

Question of the week!

Three answers this time around, not a bad number, although I wish I had more to give you. Let's take a look at our answers, and then we'll come to this week's question, I think I have a good one. ;)

Response One: 4 months, that's how long it took me to develop my current writing style. I started role playing back in 2004 and what I was doing could hardly be called role playing. I barely typed 15 words per minute and I was barely spelling anything correctly. By 2009 I had developed a some what flowery and poetic style of writing. I was gone from 2009 until 2011. Upon returning in 2011 I wrote in a disorganized unattractive manner. This persist with me until later in 2012.

It wasn't until October of 2012 that I made a conscious effort to revise and change my writing style. While I have always loved flowery writing it isn't something that comes naturally to me anymore. So here I am actively trying to develop a new style.

Response Two: I'm twenty-eight, and the first time I remember deciding to do some Serious Writing was... hm, was it fifth grade or sixth? I think fifth. So, according to math, it's taken me eighteen years to develop my current writing style.

I started writing much more often in '02, when I first started roleplaying. Not counting high school creative writing assignments, it was the first time I wrote for an audience, and the first time I was under pressure to get a story done quickly. It's when I started learning to worldbuild, and when I started really caring about characterization.

Ten years?

But then, there was a point when I got comfortable with my writing. I started feeling like I could convey what I wanted to convey, and make my writing have a point other than "I got this idea and I put words around it." If there's a time when I've settled into a writing style, that was it.

That was somewhere in the middle of '09, the first year I signed up for a year-long writing challenge. I haven't stopped developing my writing style- never have, never will- but the biggest milestones I can point to are '02 and '09.

The most specific answer I can give is seven years.

Response Three: As far as my writing style, it’s always been the same as far as I can tell. My narrating has gone downhill though, lol. There are even days I see my old work as my better works.

With those three answered, let's look at today's new question! 

New Question: If you could have a day (all to yourself) with the writer of your choice (Alive or Dead), who would it be, and why?

Remember- you got two weeks to answer this one ;) 

New Members and Returns!

Well, this was defintely a slow week for new members coming in. We did get one return as well, but it didn't really help balance things out all too much. That's okay, we'll have a large load soon. :)

The New Folks...

Welcome, Shannrak

Welcome, Mikayla

Welcome, Lyriad

Welcome, Silvercontamination

Welcome, Shuji

Welcome, Akiko

The Returning Folks

Welcome, Palmtop Tiger

Slow week, but we'll soon have more. :)

Other Highlights?

If it weren't for the fact that I had something I really wanted to highlight, I'd be griping now. Always with these additional extras... these entitlements! Yes, that's what they are. The dirty 47% (well, in truth I would love it if 47% of our active member base read these blogs, it would like quadruple my readership :P ). Well, today you get your other highlights without too much griping.

Canonization- I think we deal with quite a bit of confusion in this area, as it seems like people haven't used it much, or feel like if that it' not canon, it never happened. A canon submission is the process of getting something added to the lore that has an actual impact on the lore- and is not required to count it in your history. Your character's canon is up to you, and you have the ability to decide what did or did not happen to them. Now, you might run into trouble if you claim your guy is a marksman expert with guns in Islyer- there are no guns there and cannot be any. But if you reasonably follow the lore, no one will question your character back-story  If you complete a quest, you can submit that for canonization. Now, the board leaders process these, and will delegate it off to sub-board owners when it pertains to their land.  

Now, anything not put through the canonization process never happened on an 'official capacity' in that- if you think that something lasting should have happened, you best get it through the canonization process. If you are going to actively pursue canonization, I strongly encourage you to read up on the lore, make sure you stay within the boundaries of it, and if in question, talk to a board leader to find out what your limits are. We love seeing changes occuring through role-play, but we want to make sure that those change are reasonable and possible. You can see the write up on canonization over this way. 

Did You Know- that you can exclude forums? That's right, if you don't care to see a section of the board (never use it, never plan to, etc) you can remove it from your sight any time you are logged in. Get the know-how here. Get some more Did You Know info from the archives. ;)

Closing Thoughts?

Well now, here we draw towards the end, hitting up the closing thoughts for this week’s blog post, and for the month in general. You know, it’s actually sort of funny, I always worried that my rambling thoughts would become the least interesting part of the blog- the section people glance at and move on. Instead, I’d say that some of the best feedback for I’ve gotten for these blog posts comes from this very section. Sometimes things work outside our expectations- for better or for worse- and in this case, it was a rather pleasant difference between what I thought and what actually was. Now, this is only an aside, I won’t subject you to an entire wall of text surrounding my sentiments. 

I just wanted to say thank you for your readership, support, and kind words. They really do make my day. :) 

On to the subject of the week, something I thought we could all stop and spend a little time putting some thought to. We’re living in a time where we’ve been brought up to have high expectations, something that borders entitlement in many of us, and crosses that line in some of the worst. This is not to attack anyone in particular or even a group, it’s just a simple observation of cultural and generational changes. Many (but not all) of us have grown accustomed to a certain degree of met needs and demands, and over time, we’ve grown accustomed to it. It becomes far too easy to lose sight of the good things we receive. 

There’ an old saying, it’s actually much older than you might think, dating all the way back to about a century before the fall of the Western Roman empire- although the original translation is something far from familiar. You might derive the meaning, if I only told you ‘A given horse's teeth are not inspected’, which is the direct translation from the old Latin. It is funny that we say it differently, because this translation actually explains the origin behind the phrase. 

Never look a gift horse in the mouth. 

Now, I assume most everyone is familiar with that old saying and what the general meaning of it is, but that original translation gives you a closer description to what the problem is with that action. One of the ways used to identify a good horse was to examine its teeth, to ensure you were getting a good buy. If someone was willing to just give away a horse to you- a very valuable commodity in early times- you were being rather rude and unappreciative! Even a horse worse for wear is a rather kind gift when give free, and so you shouldn’t be trying to examine the beast to see if you were given the greatest horse ever. Be thankful for what you got!

So there you have it, the spirit of this closing thought for the month- looking at the things we have, the things we do for each other, and having appreciation for those things. It’s all too easy to lose sight of those good things, especially when things aren’t going so well, or what we’re offered doesn’t seem like all that much. In a world where we can be instantly gratified through technology and convenience, we tend to build up some expectations. I admit, I’ve been guilty of it some, especially when I was younger. Going forward in my life, I’ve really worked on having an appreciation for what I do have, and the help I get. 

So, think about it! Do you have someone in your life who’s always been there for you? Is there someone you can think of would step up and give you hand with little to no expectation of return, except perhaps a return favor someday. Or, wrapping this around our RP world- do you have someone who constantly strives to give you their best, posts back dependably and you know you can count on them to do their best to give you a damn fine role-play? 

If so, take a moment and thank them, and don’t take it for granted. Maybe their very best isn’t the absolute best, or something terribly desirable. It might seem like something less than glamorous, but it is still their time they’re giving you, and that work means something to them. Rather than looking that gift horse in the mouth, look at the gesture itself. Perhaps the gift could have been better, but it may be all they have to give, and regardless- they didn’t have to give you anything at all. ;)

That’s the closing thoughts for the week, and that’s the blog for the month. We’ll see you February 7th!

- Acies

Write your story as it needs to be written. Write it honestly, and tell it as best you can. I'm not sure that there are any other rules. Not ones that matter.

~ Neil Gaiman

Everyone's a Winner...

When they come to Valucre for Role-Play. 

That's right, if you come over to Valucre for a bit of writing and Role-play, you are a guaranteed winner, and believe me- we don't hand out participation ribbons. You're not winning just because you're that unique and special snowflake that no one can get over- of course not! You're a winner because you joined up with the best place to find some fine Role-play and quality writing. While I can't promise you the keys to paradise (Supernal jealously guards those and says I can't have them until I get more work done -cringes-), I can promise you that you're not going to find the same level of talent anywhere else- period. 

Bold statement? Perhaps.

Hyperbole? Absolutely not! 

There's plenty going on, so we have a good deal to cover before this blog is done. As January is another one of our long months, you are getting four full weeks of blog, the skip week being on that rare 5th Thursday that comes sneaking around from time to time. Even though you get an extra helping this month, I'm not going to skimp out on anything!

All that said, let's see what's going down. 

What's Happening Valcure?

Let’s Go Demon Hunting- Demon hunting... hmm, I bet that never sounds like a bad idea. Well, since adventurers are the type to always hold a reckless disregard for their own well-being, this will likely entice many and more. There is someone putting together a group to go demon hunting in the lands of Islyer, and he's looking for anyone interested in joining up, or providing some of the fight. If this suits you, then bring your best. 

School of the Rising Sun- Hey there folks, do you like playing magic users, but think the same old same old has gotten a bit stale? Well, isn't that such a wonderful coincidence that Genesaris has a city that boasts an array of unique magic users, and they seem to have some openings in that school of theirs. If you like school based role-plays, and perhaps like magic as well, you certainly have something going on. Come on over, and then hit the books. 

Prophecy in Tea Leaves- A brand new people have joined Islyer lore, and now someone has an interesting idea on how to incorporate this new group and their recently added lore. A fortune teller get's more than she bargained for after giving a fortune of dire importance to a character (or characters), and well, ends up dragged along for the ride in whatever mess was predicted. It's always bad enough being the bearer of bad news, well now not only do you not get to kill your messenger, you're stuck bringing her along in your disaster ride as well. What do your fortunes hold?

Skirmish with the Mer Folk [Quest]- Looking for opportunities to participate in canon effecting events, and make VB while you are at it? Well then, quests are by and large the best way to go about this! In this case, we have a quest taking place in Morgana City, an Orisia Isle City, who seem to be having some troubles. You can come assist in the quest over this way.

Genesaris Ranger Corp- I love it- it seems like that Guilds may yet make a comeback, and now we have an organization putting together a group for the better of the people. This Corp is comprised of truth seeking investigators seeking to up hold the values of Honest, Trust, and Brotherhood. They function independently of lands and answer only to the Council of Union City. If this tickles your fancy, maybe they will have use for you. 

Terrenus Bulletin Board- As it is such an easy way to include the happenings of Terrenus, even when watercooler activity for them are going a bit slow, I love tying in the Bulletin board here at the end. this is your comprehensive list of things to do and ways to shape the land. If you want something in Terrenus but have found postings in the Watercooler to be a little slow, check out the Bulletin Board. 

Valucre 2012 Awards!

Did you think I could go right past this without saying anything? Of course not! In fact, it got me to thinking- I need to be including any time someone earns a medal, not just this big event- so I am going to work on doing that as well. With that in mind, let's get this Week's medal earner put out in the front, separate of this so she doesn't get lost in the lists of other awards coming through. 

Congratulations Shades of Grey, on Receiving the Activity Award!

Shades has put a tremendous amount of work into making Shrine City more than just a city on the Genesaris map, contributing lore, bringing in other members, and just writing like crazy. Definitely hard earned and long over due. Congrats ;)

That is our award for this week, so now let's go look at these 2012 results, just in case you live under a rock and missed it. Hell, even if you didn't- these hard working folks have earned a brief moment to shine. :)

Valucre 2012 Fan Favorites: King, Praetorian, Roen, Acies ab Vesania, and Supernal! 

Valucre 2012 Role-Play of the Year: The Masquerade Gala! Started by .Irénè Gabriela DuGrace.; participating members include: Acies ab Vesania, Aleksei, Alexei, Alukai, Ayden, .ϾђɑɍĮόϯϯɛ. , Eternity, GodlyUnderdog, Liontolamb, Lunadrakla, Malaysia NightReaver, Master of Chaos, Neru Amhran, onyx2047, Paradise, Praetorian, Roen, S0m3thingr4nd0m, Sickly Sweet, Suta, Teddy-Son, Thaiis, The Hummingbird, Titan, Transall Abyss, Vehement Agony, & Wolfbat9008 

Valucre 2012 Role-Player of the Year: King!

Valucre 2012 Best New Role-Player: Rounini!

Valucre 2012 Most Improved Role-Player: Suta!

Valucre 2012 Character of the Year: Roen, By Roen!

Valucre 2012 Best Hero: Alazar, By The Hummingbird!

Valucre 2012 Best Villain: D'eon, By Hiss the Villain

Once more, a big congratulations to all of this year's winners. :)

Question of the Week!

Well, I did get three answers this week, so I guess that's not all that bad. I don't know what I have to do to get some of you folks to participate! Well, in the mean time, let's answer last week's question: If there was one aspect of Writing and/or Role-play that you could suddenly develop perfect skill, what would that be?

Response One: Imagination and character development. In all my writing, I have a lot of very similar characters. When I do make an attempt to give someone a unique personality, I find myself having trouble staying true to that character. I'm always making the mistake of having the character behave the way I want the plot to go, regardless of whether that's something the character would do. I'd also like to have a better sense of where I want the character to go—how I want them to grow, what I want them to learn.

The whole process of roleplaying—controlling just one character in a story—helps me practice staying in character. It's easier to write actions and reactions when I don't have an idea of how the plot's going to go and I don't know how the other characters are going to react. But I still don't think I'm very good at it, and I would not object to becoming so overnight. :)

In my writing overall, I wish I had a better imagination for characters, settings, plots… everything. I know there's nothing wrong with drawing on existing works for inspiration, but sometimes, it feels like all my writing is just a mashup of hundreds of things that have been done already. I don't desire to be completely ground-breaking, but I'd like people to read what I wrote and go, "Oh, that's a cool idea. I haven't seen that before."

As an afterthought, I'd like to be better at not worrying about achieving perfection the first time through. I hit major roadblocks in my writing because I can't think of a good way to word or explain something. Roleplaying actually hinders me a bit, here, since I don't really get the chance to go back and change the way a post goes. Once the next person posts, it's set in stone; while I can always go back and fix spelling or grammar errors, I can't completely rewrite my character's actions. But in my personal writing, I want to be less afraid of sounding clunky or making mistakes on my first draft. I'd like to be a little more dedicated to working and re-working things until I get them just right.

Response Two: If I could magically make a writer's or roleplaying skill perfect which one would I do?

Well if the option was there, I would say interacting with confrontations I'm good at running from fights or unfavorable situations but not staying and fight it out with that sense of confidence.

If I can't have that...than I would want to perfect the skill of making my characters unique and different from each other.

Response Three: If I had to pick one to instantly become a master of it, it would be description. There are some beautiful writers on this site that writes some amazingly flowery things that are pretty awesome to read. I'd like to have the ability to write like that. That being said in all honesty I'd rather not put all of my stat points into a single category. I'd much rather elevate all categories to the point in which I am actually happy with my writing. I mean let’s face it I could be the most descriptive person in the world but if my grammar sucks the post is going to suck.

There you have it, what a few of our readers would like to improve, should they have that ability. Wait! You do! It's not magic, it's not a pill, but each and every one of you can achieve these goals- hard work, perseverance, a willingness to learn, and the refusal of giving up- all you need. ;)

Anyway, I expect that you would like to get your question of the week. I had a reader send this one in to me, so thanks for the free question!

Hey Valucre- How long has it taken you to develop your current writing style? 

I suppose all of our styles are always evolving, but how long did it take you to get to what you consider your style, more or less, at this time? I'm interested to see the response to this one. :)

Say Hello to Our New and Returning Friends 

Uh oh, a strike through. That doesn't mean I am going to start neglecting returning friends, does it? No, of course not. I just didn't really have anyone who qualified for it these week. Instead, we can shower all of our attention on the small handful of members who joined us this week- short week this time. It happens, but I bet we'll have more join our ranks soon enough.

Welcome, Cry

Welcome, Ilexiariever

Welcome, Esana Bridges

Welcome, Sharksaremyfriends

Welcome, Drake

Welcome, Lethe

Welcome, Firehair

And that's it. Yep, really- when I said a short list, I meant it, ha. Seven this week, perhaps double that next week! Considering double is only slightly ahead of our average, I say it's perfectly doable. Hell, we should shoot for triple. :)

Other Highlights?

You give and you give and you give, and yet, someone is always there ready to take and take. How many words have I showered you with already? How many more will I give you in a short time here. I'd tell you, but I don't think it will change anything. Have your highlights then.

Complaint Process- That's right, we do have one, and not everyone follows it the way they should. If you want to know what that process is, come check it out over here in the code of conduct.  

Did You Know- About the Bestiary? This is our ever growing collection of nasties you can find in the world of Valucre. It's organized by land, and you can find your future beast here. For more on the Did you Know Series, take a look this way. 

Closing Thoughts? 

As I often do, I thought I would use the closing thoughts this week as an opportunity to spread a little bit of knowledge. As of late, I have noticed that many of our incoming Storyteller requests are marked as requesting a GM, but nothing about the following request suggests that someone is looking for a GM (Game Master, a non-D&D version of a DM). In fact, the majority of those who say they want their thread to have a Storyteller GM it are actually looking for something much less involved than what typically a GM does within a thread. It makes me think that what defines GMing is perhaps a little unclear.

Now, by no means do I need the space of these closing thoughts to clear up the distinction, but I thought I would tie it in with another piece- some information on GMing itself. Here on Valucre, there is no requirement for a GM to be a storyteller- in fact, we ask people to avoid having us do the DMing for threads, because of how much more time consuming and involved it can be. The service is available for those who feel it is of absolute importance that a storyteller GM their thread (a high-level quest perhaps, or something intended to have great impact on canon), but in many cases, you could have another member fulfill that role for you. Anyone can do it, but whether you can do it well- ah, that takes a little know-how.

I started DMing D&D campaigns about ten years ago, and over time, I have certainly had my share of ups and downs with the experience. You learn a lot as you go along, experiencing a myriad of growing pains and headaches. However, as you go along and do it, you do learn useful skills and means of managing a group, keeping things on track, and providing a quality story that folks enjoy playing. I'm going to detail some of these things I've learned, and see if they can give you a good foundation for GMing role-plays. I've personally found it enjoyable- maybe you will too.  

So, you want to GM a game. What do you need to this?

Patience, Patience, and even more patience.

Yes, the number one thing you should develop is your patience. Imagination is nice. Organization helpful. The ability to adapt is quite nice too. Patience, however, is going to make you or break you as you try to lead a game. If you don't have patience, you are going to find yourself quickly frustrated by not only trying to keep things on task, but also in dealing with the players innate talent for messing up plans.

Innate talent for missing plans you ask?

Oh yes, all people who participate in GM'd role-play have this quality to some extent, some more than others. You make a nice plan; you have all these details laid out and events to generate when, BOOM! Some character just went and did something that made everything completely irrelevant. Does this mean you should stomp your feet and get angry? Should you force them back on course and chastise them for their inconsideration? Should you rip all your hair out and run around babbling like you just lost all your wits?

I'm sometimes inclined towards the last option, but the answer to all of them is no. We have to suck it up, think of a way to modify plans and in doing so, salvage what we can and want to, and toss out the rest. Sometimes, people have this unusual ability to find your plot and then wreck a train right into it- must be one of those natural phenomena or something. If you are going to deal with this constant disruption, you have to have patience. Especially because this is not going to be the only place that people get you.

Depending on whether or not you are in a game with some actual rules, you might get people who want to argue with you every step of the way. Can't do this, doesn't work like that, I hate your shoes... you never know what is going to come up. Now, you can bite someone's head off, but that is a little bit much to chew, and who knows where that thing has been. I find the more practical solution is to just be patient, be firm, and redirect them back to the game. Patience also helps when you are leading a group (in person) who are as task oriented as a box full of kittens.

If I haven't made my point well enough yet, I am going to have to drag a dead horse with the word "Patience" branded on its side and then beat it with my bat imprinted with the word 'Point'. I'm going to assume that you haven't fallen asleep yet and you're understanding the virtue of patience.

Once you are feeling ready to deal with all those possible headaches, we can get into some of the more actual GMing related stuff. As I mentioned earlier, a bit of imagination, organization, and adaptability are all helpful as well. You want to keep your people interested, and that means you are going to have to come up with new and interesting stuff so they don't get bored. You have to keep track of what everyone is doing, where they are going, what they are doing, and what their motives entail- all in addition to trying to setup your plot and follow through with it- this takes having some organization (Keep notes!!!). The last one is quite helpful as well- being resilient. If someone blows up your plan, be ready to modify and/or completely change plans on short notice.

So, you have patience tucked away. You are a regular writer, so I am going to assume you have some imagination at the very least, and you feel like you can adapt and change as needed. Great, you are on your way. From here, it's more about how you are running the game and where you are going with it.

First: I recommend that until you get more experienced; do not play a character at the same time. Some DMs never feel comfortable playing a character in addition to DMing a thread. It takes some work, as you want to play your character, but also have to devote time and energy to the plot itself. You have to work at identifying what your character can or cannot figure out or do, so that you don't accidently metagame based on your knowledge of where the game is going. This can be a little tricky at first, but the easy way to go about it is to pretend that you're not just GMing, but writing a story. If you were writing this as a story, ask yourself- would your character be able to do this or have that knowledge on their own?

If not, make sure your character doesn't have those advantages. If in doubt, underplay, not overplay .

Second: Keep everything reasonably fair. In D&D, it's easier to pull off- use random die rolls for who finds what or gets what help, and how good it is. In a setting more like ours, make sure you treat everyone equally, and if you find any one person is getting more of the help/hindrance than another player, give the other player a hard time for a while instead.

Third: Maintain enough control to avoid having the game thrown off because of a player unknowingly creating problems. If you really need the Bartender to act in a certain way, by no means should you allow a person to play that bartender. With that in mind, decide ahead of time: Can players play non-essential NPCs, or do you want them to stick to their characters only. This can vary depending on your style and on how the game needs to flow.

Fourth: Give a little here and there. If people are really struggling, or if someone is arguing a lot and they are just getting to you- it's okay to give a little now and then. Throw them a bone so the game can keep flowing. Let someone win a minor argument so you are not always the badguy- hell, for that matter, pick your battles as well! Some stuff is not worth arguing about, and it's just much easier to let something go. Now, if one person is chronically abusive, undermining, and unfair- it might be time to give them the boot.

That's a lot to chew on, so let's summarize this up all nice and pretty:

GMing takes a lot of patience, and other helpful skills include imagination, organization, and adaptability. As GMing is time consuming and sets up a potential for abuse, I recommend not playing a player chacter until you get practiced with dividing attention, and can comfortably separate what you know from what your character knows. Metagaming is never any fun for anyone, so avoid it at all costs! You should maintain fairness among players (although a character reaping what they sow is fine, just don't pick on players). Maintain the degree of control needed for your role-play, and absolutely make sure that key people or items are out of player's reach. Last, remember that power struggles end in futility, so it is okay to give a little here and there, especially if it gives you more leverage later where it's more important. ;)

Well, that's all I got for this Closing thought for today, hit me up if you have more questions!

Well, that's it for this week's blog. I'll see you next week folks!

- Acies

~If you're not failing every now and again, it's a sign you're not doing anything very innovative. 

Woody Allen