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Paint CHiPs
Viva Le Me
Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Location Location
Posts: 26429 |
 Literary Gaming?
I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like this before.
The game is called mercenary. I friend of mine tipped me to it. I am not sure if anybody has ever heard of this sort of gaming before. Here is another example.
The mercenary game is apparantly an off-shoot of that wrestling one, wherein the best players have created a game of their own (my friend tells me most of these players are considered the best players of this sort of gaming on the internet). Something like that anyway, I'm a bit sketchy still on the details.
Essentially what it is is a small roleplaying game in which you advance not based on rolls of dice, but rather on how compelling the story you tell is.
In this particular game, it is set in the world of professional assassains. Every player writes an in-depth bio on their character on one board, then the head posts the available missions on another board. Then, players accept whatever mission and write in the story of how they want to try and complete said mission. The person who is credited with "getting the kill" and thus advancing (getting money) is the person who was deemed as having written the most compelling role-playing story.
It's a very intriguing concept, I think. I am still considering if I want to jump in or not. My reservation is that it seems pretty time-consuming (and it's not the sort of thing I would do half-assed). But still, read around those boards I linked at the top. A pretty fascinating game. And reading through the main role-playing board, some of those posts are damn good short stories in their own right.
This type of gaming is called "efedding" apparantly. Though you won't find a single example of an efedding game that has thousands of members (for obvious reasons), it is apparantly a fairly significant gaming sub-community, and apparantly (or so I am told), the mercenary peeps are among the best of the best in this type of gaming.
Even if you don't want to play the game, I highly suggest poking around the place. Like I said, there's some good reads in there.
Anybody heard of this type of Gaming before? Even if you have not, what are your thoughts? Anybody actually interested in playing this specific game?
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lego lady the dungeon is the best place in lego land!! YES LEGO MAN i agree!! but what is behind the wall over there!! NOTHING LEGO LADY PLEASE KEEP DRINKING THE DUNGEON WINE!!!
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07-21-2001 09:27 AM |
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Fiend
batshit crazy
Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Bangor, ME
Posts: 10191 |
this is really cool, i don't much care for that guy Nulls style but i like how they all intertwine
i would say get into it paint. myself being totally inept at writing, can't do this sort of thing. but i love to read and so far it is very intruging. i have already spent 30 minutes reading it
for those that have the talent, i find this sort of thing exceptionally cool and i have never heard of it. thanks for the links
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"An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools."
-Ernest Hemingway 
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07-22-2001 02:35 AM |
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WastedPotential
sociotard
Registered: Aug 2000
Location: the heart of an awl
Posts: 3692 |
It reminds me of the WWWF Grudge Match site. Back when i used to skip class for a living, I would find myself reading and writing at this site. It was fun. They present a scenario with two combatants, then they turn it over to the audience to write the outcome. they pick three or four winning entries for the week and tally the votes to decide the winner of the match.
I hadn't looked at that site for at least a year, maybe longer, until i read this thread this morning. Still not bad, a good distraction.
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POW!
[This message has been edited by WastedPotential (edited 07-22-2001).]
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07-22-2001 06:45 AM |
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Paint CHiPs
Viva Le Me
Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Location Location
Posts: 26429 |
Alright, I think I'm going to give it a shot.
I sent in my application. The guy running it is only accepting three more people, and apparantly my buddy tells me (okay, my buddy is CHiPsJr, plays BlackJack in the game) that there are a lot of people jockeying for the three slots. We'll see. I have a few reservations simply because I don't think I'd be very competitive. There are a lot of writers there FAR better then I am. I don't kid myself. I am a decent writer. But there are guys there that put me to shame. Still, I think it should be fun.
My one advantage is that the only novel I have ever tried to write is about a professional killer. I'm about 160 pages into it, haven't touched it in well over a year, and still haven't gotten to the climax stuff. But essentially, if I get in, my character will be the one from the novel, AFTER all the events in the novel (some of which haven't yet been committed to writing) have taken place. So basically I have 160 pages of back-story. I know the character pretty well.
Oh and fiend I LOVE Null's style. Reminds me A LOT of Feral.
And WastedP, I think the wrestling thing you mentioned may be the very same thing that these guys spawned from.
Well, here is my bio/application, if anybody cares:
HANDLER INFORMATION:
Name: Brad
E-Mail: paint771@hotmail.com
AIM:
YOUR MERCENARY:
Name, Alias, Nicknames:
Trent McKay. "The Arranger" is the name that most would know him by, though it hardly fits him anymore. "Burn Out", once used with sublime humor, is now ironically used mockingly from time to time (though rarely, if ever, in front of him)
Physical Data:
5'11, sturdy frame, maybe 185 lbs. He can't be more then his mid to late 30s, but he looks every one of those years. Handsome in his youth, he looks now like a weary private dick out of some dime store pulp novel. He almost constantly wears an old black suit, red tie, black wide-brimmed hat with a red sash, and red-tinted sunglasses, though his suit is starting to show its age too. A hold-over from the golden years or his career.
Emotional Profile: (How they act)
Once a consumate professional, Trent holds himself these days like a man with nothing to lose, who only has a passing interest in what happens to him. Generally a very level guy, though you get the impression when talking to him of a guy who resents the fact that you are forcing him the effort of moving his tounge. He also has a pretty hearty drug habit. Once the stuff of legends, these days he carries his booze and other assorted gear around with him like a dead weight on his soul; something he does more out of routine then anything else. The old addicts addage of "I could stop anytime I want to" is quite possibly true for Trent, but in his mind, why bother? Grizzled, resentful, he desperatly needs a second chance, and subconsciously he's looking for redemption -- albeit a very amoral one.
Background: (Why they act that way)
The name of The Arranger was once said in reverence and respect by hitmen around the world. He rocketed up the underworld ladder at a very young age, and by 22 he was one of the most sought after hitman in the world. He was pulling down 5 million dollar contracts, had offices in Los Angeles, Luxembourg, and Miami, was pulling jobs for everybody from the Yakuza to General Motors to Interpol. Everybody knew about The Arranger; even today some of the old school hitmen still spin yarns about stories they've heard about his work. Unfortunatly for Trent, at the age of 28, a complicated plot against him exploded onto the scene, executed in part by his best friend, who also happened to be his agent/manager. His reputation was destroyed, he was hunted like a dog for a few years by various syndicates, until he finally paid his dues, squared himself with the houses that were after him, but by then it hardly mattered. It looked like his career as a gun for hire was over. His reputation, which is the most important thing one can have in the world of crime, was gone. He tried a few straight jobs, but like a car with a faulty alignment, started drifting back towards the wrong side of the road. He's back in the business now, doing penny-ante jobs mostly, but in the back of his mind he has his sights set higher. He still has a lot of connections and IOUs from the old days -- and a lot of grudges and debts as well.
Weapon(s) of Choice:
Normally just the basic stuff: shotguns, handguns, assault rifles, the occassional bomb. He has a supplier in Alberta that can get him pretty much anything he needs pretty quickly. His moniker "The Arranger" was given to him because in his golden years he could make anything look like an accident, he could organize incredibly ornate and complicated hits. But finesse is for the young, the bright-eyed bushy-tailed up-and-comers. He just wants to get paid, and maybe start shoring up his rep again in the process
POWER: 7 Not a bad man to have on your side in a fist-fight, though he'd just assume shoot you in the face as throw a punch. Some pretty good Sambo training that rarely gets put to use and is pretty rusty (he'd just assume throw a punch versus wrestle with you). And even today through the haze of booze and burn out, he's still a crack shot.
GRACE: 4 Not usually a word you'd associate with Trent McKay, though he's quite experienced at dodging bullets.
INTELLIGENCE: 7 Above average. He's no Albert Einstein, but his instincts and intuations are top notch.
SKILL: 10. Even after all these years, he's still got all the right instincts and skills, now coupled with the weight of pretty impressive experience.
If I DO get in, it'd be much appreciated if any of you chose to read the shit in the game and give me pointers, criticism, etc etc. I treat this more as a literary exercise than anything else. Or even just for support. I'm real psyched about it.
And like I said even if nobody here is interested in playing, you really should read the roleplaying board anyway. Way cool fiction there. Pick a mission (right now there is Klondike, Knowledge, The Jungle, and Oz) and read all the threads on that mission. Cooperative fiction that, as I said in the beginning of this thread, is unlike anything I've seen before. If for nothing else, there are many good short stories about professional killers there (for that reason I very nearly put this thread in Suppository, and may still if I get in the game and start writing in it).
At the very least I can continually top this thread with updates.
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lego lady the dungeon is the best place in lego land!! YES LEGO MAN i agree!! but what is behind the wall over there!! NOTHING LEGO LADY PLEASE KEEP DRINKING THE DUNGEON WINE!!!
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07-23-2001 08:22 AM |
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Nutrimentia
plata o plomo
Registered: Sep 2000
Location: The Bottom of the Toyem Pole
Posts: 9461 |
This reminds me of that exercise where the Eng 101 students took turns writing a paragraph of a story and ended up calling each other names.
Except this looks cool. Best O' luck PC, I know you can run with the big dogs.
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The Law of Fives is never wrong. CzEch yerself b4 joo rEck yerself.
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07-24-2001 08:35 AM |
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MrSherman
NO MORE ASYLUM
Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Elysian Fields, TX, USA
Posts: 2618 |
Not my bag, baby.
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Do me.
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07-26-2001 05:36 AM |
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flocat
PINKO
Registered: Aug 2000
Location: LfuckinA
Posts: 3377 |
Wow, that sounds cool actually. I'm not one for RPGs and the like but that sounds really interesting. BTW Paint, I hope you re-read before sending off that thing. One of my pet peeves is seeing homophones used in place of the correct word (I honed in on your "then" as opposed to "than"). I would hit you over the head and yell at you until you got it right. Alas, you are not here for me to do that to you. Oh well.
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Whenever you see someone struggling to be free,look in their eyes and you'll see me.
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07-26-2001 05:45 AM |
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Paint CHiPs
Viva Le Me
Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Location Location
Posts: 26429 |
quote:
Originally posted by flocat:
Wow, that sounds cool actually. I'm not one for RPGs and the like but that sounds really interesting.
Go read the first link I gave. Read around. Some really top notch fiction there.
Yeah, I did send it out like that, and noticed most of the mistakes right after. Oh well.
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lego lady the dungeon is the best place in lego land!! YES LEGO MAN i agree!! but what is behind the wall over there!! NOTHING LEGO LADY PLEASE KEEP DRINKING THE DUNGEON WINE!!!
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07-26-2001 06:07 AM |
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Paint CHiPs
Viva Le Me
Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Location Location
Posts: 26429 |
ROCK ON!!! I GOT IN!!!!
Man, I was really getting nervous that I wasn't going to make the cut. They only picked 3 freelancers and apparantly there were a lot of applicants for those 3 slots.
But I got accepted, and now I am full of glee.
me = psyched.
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lego lady the dungeon is the best place in lego land!! YES LEGO MAN i agree!! but what is behind the wall over there!! NOTHING LEGO LADY PLEASE KEEP DRINKING THE DUNGEON WINE!!!
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07-27-2001 02:10 AM |
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Fiend
batshit crazy
Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Bangor, ME
Posts: 10191 |
grooooooooooooooooovy!!!!
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"An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools."
-Ernest Hemingway
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07-27-2001 03:46 AM |
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Paint CHiPs
Viva Le Me
Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Location Location
Posts: 26429 |
And CHiPsJr won his mission, which was the one being the most participated in.
Here est me: http://pub84.ezboard.com/fmercenary...opicID=14.topic
Just my profile, as a freelancer I can only do 1 out of every campaign (this campaign having 12 missions, 5 of which are already posted), so I may have to bide my time for a good one.
I'll let you know when I start actually writing on a mission.
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lego lady the dungeon is the best place in lego land!! YES LEGO MAN i agree!! but what is behind the wall over there!! NOTHING LEGO LADY PLEASE KEEP DRINKING THE DUNGEON WINE!!!
[This message has been edited by Paint CHiPs (edited 07-26-2001).]
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07-27-2001 04:01 AM |
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Paint CHiPs
Viva Le Me
Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Location Location
Posts: 26429 |
Meet Trent "The Arranger" McKay!
I posted my introduction. Go check it out on the Roleplaying board.
And like a shithead, amongst all those people I am trying to impress, I forget to check the little box that allows HTML when I posted part 2. Doh!
Part One
Part Two
I am deciding between The Brat and Gigolo as potential missions. I decided I can't wait for the other jobs to be posted as that may take up to a week and I am moving to Maine in slightly over a week.
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lego lady the dungeon is the best place in lego land!! YES LEGO MAN i agree!! but what is behind the wall over there!! NOTHING LEGO LADY PLEASE KEEP DRINKING THE DUNGEON WINE!!!
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07-28-2001 02:08 AM |
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Paint CHiPs
Viva Le Me
Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Location Location
Posts: 26429 |
Heh. Well I re-posted Part 2 so they could just delete the one that I messed up on.
Part 2, Take 2
Man I feel like such an idiot.
At least though when I re-posted I was able to include some German that iglo was nice enough to translate for me.
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lego lady the dungeon is the best place in lego land!! YES LEGO MAN i agree!! but what is behind the wall over there!! NOTHING LEGO LADY PLEASE KEEP DRINKING THE DUNGEON WINE!!!
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07-28-2001 02:40 AM |
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Paint CHiPs
Viva Le Me
Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Location Location
Posts: 26429 |
Well, I started a mission. I couldn't wait for the next ones to be posted as I am moving a week from Tuesday.
Part 1
Part 2
I posted Part 1 8 minutes before Vice posted HIS version of the story. He had to post a disclaimer immediatly following asking to disregard his last post.
Man I'm just a walking accident over there. hehehe.
I think, particularly part 2, that mine is the best stuff posted yet in this mission, but we'll see. Now is where it will get hairy, I'll have to REALLY interact with the 3 other people playing this mission (two of whom seem to be working together).
Anyway, check it out. I think I did a good job.
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lego lady the dungeon is the best place in lego land!! YES LEGO MAN i agree!! but what is behind the wall over there!! NOTHING LEGO LADY PLEASE KEEP DRINKING THE DUNGEON WINE!!!
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07-29-2001 04:16 AM |
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Fiend
batshit crazy
Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Bangor, ME
Posts: 10191 |
VERY nice
that board wastes hours of my day away
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"An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools."
-Ernest Hemingway
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07-29-2001 04:51 AM |
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tack
jackaroo
Registered: Aug 2000
Location:
Posts: 4875 |
Fuck, paintchips.
Your an amazing writer, but I demand you quit playing that game. Go finish your god damn novel and get rich instead of getting little mini efed-fame via mercenary eboards!
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07-29-2001 10:35 AM |
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Nutrimentia
plata o plomo
Registered: Sep 2000
Location: The Bottom of the Toyem Pole
Posts: 9461 |
Looks good paint, but you need more spacing to make it easier to read. Sorry, no time for more comments right now.
Question: Did you colloborate with the mask-guy in that scene?
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The Law of Fives is never wrong. CzEch yerself b4 joo rEck yerself.
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07-29-2001 10:43 AM |
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Paint CHiPs
Viva Le Me
Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Location Location
Posts: 26429 |
quote:
Originally posted by Nutrimentia:
Question: Did you colloborate with the mask-guy in that scene?
No I did not, and apparantly you understand the rules better than I do, as I got admonished for using a person's character without their permission. 
Hopefully it will be worked out quickly. I hate the fact that I may be at fault (i.e. in infraction), mostly because it gives me a sense of angry guilt.
So because of that there is a chance that the posts I linked above may be deleted soon.
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lego lady the dungeon is the best place in lego land!! YES LEGO MAN i agree!! but what is behind the wall over there!! NOTHING LEGO LADY PLEASE KEEP DRINKING THE DUNGEON WINE!!!
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07-29-2001 12:00 PM |
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Nutrimentia
plata o plomo
Registered: Sep 2000
Location: The Bottom of the Toyem Pole
Posts: 9461 |
I'm sure you've read the whole site, but I found the forum "The Bad Place (OOC Crap)" to be very informative.
Don't let it worry. Everyone has growing pains.
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The Law of Fives is never wrong. CzEch yerself b4 joo rEck yerself.
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07-30-2001 04:53 AM |
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Paint CHiPs
Viva Le Me
Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Location Location
Posts: 26429 |
quote:
Originally posted by Nutrimentia:
Don't let it worry. Everyone has growing pains.
I know, I just felt like a shithead because I fucked up on both of my first two pieces.
I got it squared away though (at least I think so), even though it required that I download AIM. For some reason everybody there uses AIM.
But in any case I had a conversation with Reuben the Cuban earlier (I'm still talking to him actually) and we worked out what will happen between us tomorrow (assuming he gets to it before the other two players step up).
And as the mission ends Wed and I had gotten in on it two days late, I figured I needed to post about once every 24 hours to get noticed and possibly win the mission.
So I have a scene here which is partially just a way of getting out there more, but also partly a set-up for Reuben to beat the shit out of me. hehehehe.
Tanked.
I'm getting a lot of very positive feedback from some of the veteren efeeders though, one of whom was voted the top wrestler of the year in that wrestling thing you guys mentioned. So apparantly I'm impressing the right people.
And it's hella fun.
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lego lady the dungeon is the best place in lego land!! YES LEGO MAN i agree!! but what is behind the wall over there!! NOTHING LEGO LADY PLEASE KEEP DRINKING THE DUNGEON WINE!!!
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07-30-2001 08:52 AM |
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Nutrimentia
plata o plomo
Registered: Sep 2000
Location: The Bottom of the Toyem Pole
Posts: 9461 |
I just read tanked. That is your best one so far. The shark bit is really cool. We see a bit of Trent, is it fun literary movement, adds depth to the story, etc. etc. Love it. Nice tie in at the end.
I also like how you are simultaneously opening yourself up to let others run with your story. You can't mess with their characters, but you can do any thing else. Part of what makes this fun to read (and I'm sure this is part of the writing fun) is to build yourself up in your piece but at the same time open yourself up to let the others have a shot at you. Blackjack was awesome with that by destroying his own vials in Oz.
Yeah, you are doing great. I can see you going far in this. Can't wait to see what you and the others are going to do with this.
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The Law of Fives is never wrong. CzEch yerself b4 joo rEck yerself.
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07-30-2001 09:14 AM |
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