How to play Day 2 and 3.

[7:24]  Grace7 Ling: btw, XXX (and I) was wondering how the mountain rp works .. without knowing what is happening on the subsequent days will the characters do something that is not following the storyline?
[7:24]  Grace7 Ling: or will you introduce new elements or new information each day
[7:24]  Federico Perenti: well the first 3 days are only for the main characters to interact
[7:25]  Federico Perenti: so they are free to have sex, not to, fall in love, not to.
[7:25]  Federico Perenti: fight, get high....
[7:25]  Federico Perenti: (Ronald is carrying 10 grands worth in drugs)
[7:28]  Grace7 Ling: ah
[7:28]  Grace7 Ling: so will some people burst into the house on second day
[7:29]  Federico Perenti: no, at the end of day .
[7:29]  Grace7 Ling: mass invasion?
[7:29]  Federico Perenti: ... well that's supposed to be a secret :-P

The Cottage

As you (who?) all know, the action is now - at the end of Day 1 - moving to the cottage.

Now where IS the cottage in SL?

Well, the answer is: wherever you want to play it. I don't care if if looks different from time to time. The only things to remember are:

• The cottage has 2 double bedrooms and a large common area with kitchen.
• There is plenty of space outside, with no other houses in view, high mountains and snow.

We can play it at the HARP platform (you should know how to TP there) with the rezzer. You can use

• Third screen, loft 2 is good for the inside - though only people with HTM land privileges can change the background to mountain.
  Fourth screen, winter cabin for the outside (no bedrooms tho)
• Last screen, winter wonderland for outside scenes (a bit strange with the dome, oh well)

Other places where we could, um, squat, include:

• Taloha (take the cable car!) - a little too many buildings, but looking good. (the cable car passes through a private area - but there's plenty of time to move away)
• Ski sims
• Last but not least,  from AM Radio - best snowing in SL.

Have fun! And DO play the story...

Questions about acting

In this story, I ask people to play one of the main four characters. For many, this requires an effort - I've found that in SL most people want to play their own character. My opinion is that contributes to the feeling of disconnection and to the individualistic solipsism that makes most tentative stories fail. 

Here's me trying to convince Lydia of my point. I failed.

14:35]  Lidya Maven: oh i sure like long stories, and i do like them, my only prob is that i dont usually know when ill be online
[14:36]  Federico Perenti: yes, been fighting with this problem for years. Now I'm trying a new idea - wearable characters.
[14:37]  Lidya Maven: oh wearable characters?
[14:38]  Federico Perenti: There are 4 characters in the story - all pretty stereotyped - when you are online, you just choose one, read the last scene for that one, and continue from there if you like it (if not, you just create an alternative version of the story)
[14:42]  Lidya Maven: hmm i only see one problem in that,.. each person has a way to develop a character, me myself dont usually know where lidya goes , just follow the events,... dont know if maybe the person that 'continues' with my character  doesnt like what i did, or doesnt do what i feel my charcter would do,..
[14:47]  Federico Perenti: Of course. I was the same with my character - and in my main stories, I keep doing as you say. But the fact is - this attitude restricts greatly the chance to play. So I tried simpler chars and even found them a lot of fun. Imagine as if  Lydia would be an actress - interpreting a part - simpler than her "real" character.

New rules - new universe - new play style.

So, months (RL months) have passed and we didn't start. Why, you will ask, or you will not - I will tell anyway. Well, the usual time problem. I wanted to start with a proper scene with Wren, and we never met.

This style of waiting does not work, I knew it too well from previous experiences (see the Sandon blog - I hope Grace will put that off one of these days).

So from next week we start with another approach. Bear with me. The new rules are:

- one week IRL is one day of play; the story lasts 8 days at most.

- everyone can play every part. So, you can be Ronald, Wren, Marya, or Michael - or just someone else.

Imagine the story as a set of possible worlds (link, but NSFNG - not safe for non-geeks) that will unfold in narration - or as a test that a writer is doing with its characters. You can choose if you follow up from the previous scene, or if you just play it anew, or make an alternative play.

The only common part will be the "day theme" announced at the start of the week. Please try to play - and send the plays to Federico.

How does it work

Actors and the script

This story is played in Second Life by a bunch of characters, that we can consider as actors. They have a character description and a draft script - however, they do not know in advance all the details of the story. So, this is not a complete freeform play - if the story needs one character to die in the third act, then that character WILL die. The fun is in the interpretation, not in a power struggle.

Flow of time

As in a 24 issue - or as in the Big Brother - this story is always under the camera. Time can flow directly on the blog (unplayed scenes) or in SL (played scenes)

Presence
The location is conveniently separated in different rooms. Players that arent' present in SL when a scene is played are supposed to be sleeping (maybe drugged, or something worse) in another room.