Balladeer

Tyran likes the idea of being the tardis. He said so at least twice in the chat after I posted it. if he hadn't liked it I would have changed it but he liked it. Yeah I didn't ask, but I wasn't doing something he didn't want to happen. I don't know why everyone has a problem with me transforming Tyran's character when he is perfectly fine with it.

Meh. There's enough work to do with trying to transfer all of the old content into the new format. I consider it rather low on the priority list. On the bright side, as CSS, once I DO decide to tinker with it more, I only have to change two files to have the menus change on every page.

fwiw, i did not intend the tardis to be used as anything other than a translator and a bit of comedy relief. it made sense because nikki and tyran are die hard dr. who fans. (just like sylae is a die hard mlp fan). anyone who tries to take it out for a spin has no sense of consideration for the actual goal of the rp. being able to talk to each other, on the other hand, is kind of necessary to progressing the story. no one has to know anything about dr. who to interact with nikki. he's still nikki. nikki in a doctor suit! just like sylae is still sylae as a pony. Edit: *reads new posts* "rrawrrar" (oh now that just makes it all better. what happened to nikki knowing that the tardis was tyran? what happened to nikki knowing he's nikki? what happened to actually being able to understand each other so we can figure out what's going on and fix it?)

I gots tired of not being able to understand anybody. >:oK

Jewels: Actaeon! I saw what happened! You just, BOOM, turned into a... a reindeer or whatever you are. And look at me! I'm a dinosaur! With sharp CLAWS! And deadly TEETH! Can you believe it?! ("Rarrw! Rraarr! Rrwa, RAWR, rrar... aaarrrwar. Rrarr! Rawwr! RrrRAAARr! ArrAWRRR! Arrawr?!") Jewels gesticulates wildly making a big point to show off her CLAWS and TEETH and then tries to smile at Actaeon who takes a tentative step back and cocks his head at her. Jewels: And you didn't understand a word I just said did you? ("Rrarwwwrrrarr?") She puts her heavy head into her clawed hands and shakes it in despair. Where's a translator when you need one? A little blue speck catches her attention out of the corner of her eye. It floats around her head then around the other spiderwebbers' heads until it finds its way to Nikki and Tyran, both popping a berry into their mouths as they stare at the speck. It begins to circle both of them first up high and then down around at elbow level. Tyran: "What do you suppose it wants?" Nikki: "How should I know? But I bet whatever happens, it will be brilliant!" Tyran: *gulp* "I hope so..." The blue speck spins faster and faster so bright it leaves an afterglow in everyone's eyes. No one ever sees it touch either Nikki or Tyran but when it shoots off into the sky and they blink back to sight, they are faced with a blue box. Actaeon: "What the heck is that?" (<< What the heck is that? >>) Trinit Eye: "It's a police box obviously." (Blink blink blinkety blink.) Jewels: "Not just any police box... I can understand you two! It's the TARDIS!" (Rawwrr... wwaaarrrraa! ArRRAW!) A man wearing a bow tie and a fez stumbles out of the door lifting his hands in the air in victory. Nikki: "I told you it would be brilliant! Didn't I tell you it would be brilliant? Oh, Tyran..." He gives the police box a pat on the side. Nikki: "You've never looked sexier!"

You must have picked up one sticking out of a rock somewhere. >.> I don't know how you got it man or why you're pointing it at me... you're supposed to make up that part. (maybe there's a giant spider on my head or something...)

That actually sounds incredibly fun. I say we make it a tradition at every SW meetup. >:)K Limiting all the PC's to a set spellbook (or like the last AIMHack I was in, a set # of approved spells per PC) would help with the players' desires to be top dog, but I do have a concern that a level playing field could lead to a stagnant storyline. Even in Jeff's games he always introduced more and more powerful villains to defeat and the best (imo) villains had to be defeated by wit and not might. I'm okay with having NPC's that are more 'powerful' than the PCs. I think that it leads to creative cooperation to find a solution. I think the best way to have an RP follow through to the end is to have a set goal from the beginning. What do the PC's have to accomplish to be done? Have at least an idea for the main protagonist which is an NPC controlled by the RP starter. Our AIMHacks usually make it to the end (have any failed to? idk?) because there is someone who already knows about what the end is going to be and that someone keeps pushing on whether people drop out or not. If the end is in sight, someone will usually keep plugging for it. (like why I keep writing Rebirth long after FT died. I already had an ending in my head so I'm gonna keep going until it's all down on paper in an word-ly aesthetic equivalent.)

Jewels is disoriented by all the sudden movement. First the iBeast's eyes start blinking crazily and then her whole surroundings shift. One minutes she is in the ruin of the Spiderweb forum and the next, she is in a forest next to the Spiderbus along with every other active Spiderweb member that had been poking around in the rubble. At least they're all together now. Her relief in being with Sylae and Actaeon again is short lived, though, as the reality of the situation comes into focus. Carnivorous dinosaurs?! Spiderwebbers bearing arms?! Jewels: "I thought they were just going out to the store!" The iBeast blinks at her a few times before taking off towards the mahem; a dangerous glint in its eyes. Jewels turns to Triumph who seems to be mouthing words without actually saying anything. She is relieved that he seems to be looking right at her. Jewels: "Thank goodness you can see me! Can you hear me too?" Triumph: "..." His lips mouthed yes but his voice said nothing. He looks just as frustrated at it as Jewels feels. Jewels turns back to the bus where some members have fled to the refuge inside and others have taken up battle stances outside, weapons drawn. Most curious is one with a guitar playing a gentle melody of magical warding. It seems to be working for the most part but how long can he keep it up? Jewels: "Come on, let's try to help." Triumph follows her soundlessly. Not even the crunch of leaves under his feet reaches her ears. Jewels: "I don't even know what I can do in this form... What do ghosts do?" She remembers how Nikki had shivered when passing through her. She could at least try to distract or disorient them with that... Jewels steps up to one on the fringes of the music as it shies back. It takes no notice of her floating there but the close up vision of it's razor sharp teeth and three inch long claws is still quite unnerving. At least... at least it couldn't hurt her... could it? Bracing herself, she slips into the same space as the raptor waiting to see how it will react. She feels the heat of the living, its blood pulsing, its heart throbbing. Hunger pangs and instinctual rage demand it hunt its prey, but the light... the glowing light, it hurts. Stabbing prickles of ice push it back. She hears its screech of surprise from the added cold but her cold doesn't hurt. Her cold actually blocks the pain. The beast gravitates towards her cold, accepts her protection from the pain... accepts her. Jewels: What the...? ("Rrawr...?") Jewels takes a step back, but so does the raptor. She tries to run away, but it follows her. She stops and turns to run the other direction only to have the raptor mimic her every move. She lifts a clawed hand towards her face with a sinking feeling. Jewels: Oh great... as if being a ghost wasn't bad enough. ("Rawrr.. rraaaawwrrr.") She slowly walks back towards the group only to come face to face with a sword pointed at her nose. Triumph is red-faced and exerting much effort in yelling but the silence from him screams louder. Jewels: Oh... hey Triumph. Don't suppose you can still see me... or hear me? ("Rr... raawr. Raaawwwwr... rawwr?") Triumph raises his sword ready to strike. Jewels: I was afraid of that. ("Raarwwr.") Jewels throws her stubby clawed hands in the air and runs away from the advancing Triumph and around the bus in a circle. Jewels: Somebody tell him I'm not really a dinosaur!! ("Raaaaaawr!!")

Iffy, you flatterer you. There was some other awesome writing going on in FT that wasn't me. My comfort zone is fantasy with magic but i'm up for whatever. I don't really like faction RPing but meh I just prefer being able to get on a personal level with other characters.

Wait... what?? I'm in charge? WooHoo! One big giant complicated plot twist, coming up! *turns to find Sylae and Diki standing in her path with frowns on their faces* Or... maybe I'll just stand over here and kick the rubble... Hey, Sy, if you want me in the loop can you PM me the pertinent chat logs? @SoT: Don't worry about the forum rubble. That's what backups are for. >:oK

Jewels tried her hardest to follow Actaeon and Sylae when the ceiling collapsed. When Sylae took off to circle the ruin, Jewels found she couldn't fly up after her. She made for the bus but found she couldn't climb on board. Her body phased right through. And when the Spiderbus finally took off, she was left behind. Jewels: "Great... what am I supposed to do now?" It was incredibly frustrating, this being a ghost. She couldn't talk to anyone, she couldn't move anything... what use was it to be a ghost if all you could do was float around? Having nothing else to do, she returned to the rubble and floated through it. Out of habit, she looked for things that could still be useful if salvaged though without the ability to pick anything up it was pretty much useless. After the third time of having her hand pass through something she thought interesting hopelessness set in. Jewels: "Stupid bus! Stupid trip! Stupid... everything!" She kicked at a chunk of rubble in her frustration only to be left dumbfounded when it flew across what used to be the commons room. As if the movement itself weren't enough, it skittered to a stop in front of the floating iBeast which unnervingly stared straight at her with it's largest eye. One by one each of its other eyes, which had watched the progression of the masonry, turned upward to stare in her direction and a shiver of trepidation ran down her spine. She floated towards it in a round about way keenly aware that its eyes followed her every move. Jewels: "So... you can see me?" It only stared at her. Jewels: "I mean obviously, you must be able to see me, but can you hear me?" The big middle eye blinked slowly at her followed by each of the eye stalks blinking quickly one by one. Jewels: "Um... is that a yes?"

can i eat a grapefruit instead? me likes grapefruits. Ruby Red Squirt FTW!

The essays aren't graded. The essays are presented to the voting public to read and decide which candidate they want to represent them based on their answers. Essay questions are picked based on current events and issues. Things that pertain to our country today. ie. What would you do to help the economy? How important is balancing the budget to you? or Is the current government budget deficit a concern to you? Why or why not? Do you think the powers granted to the government after 9/11 are enough, not enough, or too much to help the gov't protect the country from terrorists? How would you like to see them changed or why would you keep them the same? It could even be an open book test. They don't have to know the ins and outs of every situation when they sit down, but by gum they'd have decided their stances on the issues by the end.

...tmi, sy. tmi

'first' == 'original' close enough at least @Sy: lol, now you've spoiled me. i'll always consider the master as imban.

The Code of Conduct has always been CoC. Would we change that one too? >.>

yea, ur rite... my view of a perfect gov't is just a fairytale dream that'll never happen doesn't mean i have to quit dreaming

I don't think you understood the whole of my intent. As much as I think it should be important for the president to know what the constitution says and what countries have what leaders around the world, it was not the major part of my proposal (not that it's even a real proposal, I'm just thinking out loud). The major part would be the essay questions (I said an unrealistic '1000 questions' to emphasize its importance over the others) in which the candidates express their knowledge and opinions and even their solutions on the current events around the world. There is no memorization needed to answer an essay question (past knowing what the situation is even about) and any solution to any problem presented by the current events would be entirely critical thinking. Doctors have to memorize tons and tons of medical information to prove they can do the job. AFTER they memorize the information and PROVE that they know it, then comes the internship training that gives them the RL experience and critical thinking skills that makes them brilliant doctors. Knowing the constitution and the bill of rights should be BASIC knowledge required for the job. Not just the president but ANY governor, senator, or congressman. I don't think it's asking too much to have the leader of our country know what our country government is founded on. That's just it, though. I don't WANT a corrupt government. I don't WANT a gov't that feels they have to lie. Running the city/state/country shouldn't be mostly about keeping people happy and in the dark about the truth. It SHOULD be about working towards a better world. The only reason keeping everyone happy is important is because of the current voting process which requires enormous amounts of money from special interest groups. If we take away the need for lying, i.e. no expensive campaigning, therefore no need to kiss butt to raise funds, AND take away the punishment for telling the truth, i.e. special interest groups' ability to deny campaign funding, we might just be able to get our politicians to do something productive with their time and pay like figuring out a national health care plan that isn't going to drive companies out of businesses because they can't afford to offer insurance to all their employees. What I ultimately want is for everyone to be able to vote on the issues without worrying that the people in charge lied to them about their real stance on the issues, (If they can only give one stance/issue in an essay question, instead of varying their stance for the group of people they are talking to, then they may still lie but it would benefit them nothing by alienating those with the same views as themselves.) That's not going to happen with the status quo. Not saying I have all the answers, but I hate the current need to lie and I don't want it to stay the same.

i'll design it, you administer it i'm sure whatever we turn out will be better than the system we have now But seriously, standardized tests are administered across the nation. There are already good policies in place that can be drawn upon. The design could go in any direction but there are examples to look at. It could be designed in a like manner as, say, the SAT or the ACT. @Sylae: Not saying just a test is a perfect process, but neither is voting. Why shouldn't the President be a good test taker? Why shouldn't they have to prove themselves competent before being allowed to lead? Why shouldn't they be required to know certain things like the laws they are supposed to be representing for us? If they don't work well under the pressure of taking a test, how well are they going to work under the pressure of an imminent threat to the country? If they cannot concentrate well enough to read the test questions and answer them coherently, how well are they going to be able to concentrate on reading their daily briefings and make coherent decisions for the country? I know the test wouldn't be enough. I know that any test/results could be manipulated. I know that the people will demand the ability to choose which candidate they want based on the policies they stand for, but something's gotta be better than what we have now. Maybe it's just the books I've been reading of late, but intrigue just galls me. I'm sick of listening to both political parties with their rhetoric and accusations and half-truths. Give me a list of competent candidates with their opinions on the issues (part of the essay test) and nothing more. No charming speeches or winning smile, no gender or race, I don't even want their name; just give me their proven ability and their stances on the issues I care about and I will vote on that.

I have a second account because I didn't really join the community past getting my game questions answered back in 03. Then I quit coming. Decided to be more active in the community in 04 but I'd forgotten my password and made a new account. Later one of the mods helped me get back into the old account but this has been my primary for... seems like years.

Jewels Member Since 19 Aug 2003 Member ID: 2,264 "Original" account.

I think voting should be thrown out the window all together and any candidate who wished to become President of the United States must first undergo a rigorous testing period in which they must recite the Constitution and Bill of Rights from memory, name all the current countries of the world, their leaders names and their gov't types, demonstrate the ability to balance a budget, understand current economics, pass the same psychological/background testing that the secret service must, and take a 1000 question timed essay test on current events around the world. The person who does the best on the tests becomes President. Votes will no longer be bought. Voter fraud will be a thing of the past. Instead our Presidents will be well educated persons who might just be competent enough to lead our nation into a better world. >:oK

I have never really paid attention to my mem# much, but I do believe my current mem# is pretty close to the original # of my first account. I registered only slightly before Nikki did. Can't say I dislike being 3131.

Good idea. Just need to add some CSS code and such... Edit: But not happening. It will not let me have the number AND a list style image for each <li> and I do not intend on spending all the time it would take to position each of those squares individually wherever I have a list. For #5 I've deleted reference to everyone except *i and just let #4 speak for the Spidweb account. I think it flows better. #13 I think is still valid. We don't have any harsh trolls any more but I still see posts I would consider troll-ish. And troll-ish behaviour is reprimanded much quicker for new members even if not officially given. To update #16 I'll need the current policy/standard actions for reprimanding spammers. And while 'CANNED' may be obsolete, is being banned for excessive spammage after warnings not still valid in #17? 18 may do better with an addendum. Drakey may not give out the custom titles any more but the not getting one if asked for is still valid. #33 Bablefishing is not common anymore but it is still considered spam, yes? #39, I think should stay whether he frequents or not. If he stays away or deigns to come back, he will still be 7.