[If you haven't seen the note in the Great Game tab, this is going to be an ongoing a reader-driven story. At the end of each section, I'll provide a poll that gives you a chance to decide what happens next. I have no 'game plan' -- your decisions have meaning, and will define the story, and it's style. They will take it in directions I can't imagine yet. Just read the current events, and pick the option that appeals to you the most. If you don't like any of them, leave a comment! The one with the most votes wins, and will shape what happens next.
As the story progresses, I'll keep a summary on the Great Game tab, as well as links in order to the whole, ongoing saga.]
"cheap-a$$ hotel room in michigan" by the Doodler
I wake up like a gunshot. There’s no hint of lingering drowsiness or dream’s feather-light intoxication. Just reality, as sharp-edged and dreary as ever. The room is just this side of cold, and smells faintly of something unpleasant. It’s dark outside, and I can see the glow of cheap lighting reflected off the wall outside my window. I fumble with the lights for a minute, and then slip out of bed. There isn’t even a TV in here. I rake my hands through my hair and make for the bathroom.
It is every bit as unappetising as the rest of the suite, of course. There’s a dirty sink beneath a dirty mirror, but when I turn the faucet, clean, cold water gushes out. I splash a handful into my face, and look into the mirror.
There I am, looking straight back at me.
It's strangely reassuring to see that I'm still...
- made of flesh and blood and bone. (32%, 12 Votes)
- keeping it together. (30%, 11 Votes)
- surrounded by an indigo aura. (24%, 9 Votes)
- deceptively beautiful. (11%, 4 Votes)
- lean and mean. (3%, 1 Votes)
Total Voters: 37
Loading ...Edit: You chose to be relieved that you were still made of flesh and blood and bone, you strange people.
The Great Game continues at its permanent home, http://www.ghostwoods.com/greatgame. You’ll always find the most recent installment there, along with links to the story so far.
Interesting concept Tim, interactive story writing sounds like an interesting direction to take it. I hope you continue on more. If there is a tie will you write both directions and then have people vote on them as well?
Hey Alison! Thanks for the kind comments. I’m planning to update three times a week, which gives time for votes to roll in :)
I really hadn’t thought about ties. Um. Yeah, I might try doing both ways. I’ll think about it!
It’s an interesting story, but why are you advertising it as an RPG? It blatantly isn’t one.
Using the shorthand of ‘RPG’ to describe it may help some people understand what the idea is (if ‘collaborative’ is too long a word for them). Personally I thought RPG was short for Rocket Propelled Grenade. I guess I play a different kind of game.
Great concept indeed, Tim. It reminds me of both the gamebooks popularized ages ago by Jackson & Livingstone and their late incarnation, the “choose your own adventure” kind of movies like The Outbreak (was, before it got pulled down) – yet it’s an original take, as it will obviously be as suprising and exciting for you, the “99% writer” creatively, as it is for us, the “1% writers”. This approach feels closest to oldschool pen and paper roleplaying, and that’s just great. :)
Good luck, and hope to see this grow into something big.
Josh, the line between ‘collaborative story’ and ‘rpg’ got blurred many years ago. An example from 2001 is De Profundis…
“De Profundis”, the new horror RPG bytop Polish games designer Michal Oracz. “De Profundis” is a radical new game, blending the imagination of H.P.Lovecraft with elements of psychodrama and the correspondence-based story-telling methods of classic horror. “De Profundis” is designed to break down the borders between gaming-time and real-life, and
between reality and illusion. It runs without a GM, and can be played solo.
Oooh fun!
Hey Tim! …. not sure Im bright enough to understand this stuff …. but hey!