Newsletter RpNation Newsletter: September 2024


a nation of creation |
september 2024 newsletter



storm
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Artwork by @AEONmeteorite

Tornado Warning

A low, ominous whine begins to cut through the stillness of a quiet afternoon, growing into a haunting scream which urges all to seek immediate shelter. Just as dark, foreboding clouds churn and swirl, billowing into the sky like a monstrous blacksmith’s forge, each one reaching higher and higher until they strike an unseen barrier, flattening and spreading wide across the horizon. They form a vast anvil, poised to be struck by the hammer of Mother Nature herself.

The sky is suddenly torn open by jagged chains of lightning, each bolt illuminating roiling masses of clouds, bubbling and churning like a cauldron about to boil over- And the midst of this chaos, a ghostly funnel begins to take shape, twisting and turning as it descends slowly from the heavens. It’s an ethereal, almost hypnotic dance, but one that brings with it a sense of inevitable destruction.

At first, the funnel is nearly invisible, a mere suggestion against the darkened sky. But within moments, the ground erupts. Dust and debris are sucked violently into the air, swirling around the forming vortex. The once invisible force becomes a towering column of nature’s wrath, drawing everything in its path into a chaotic spiral. Throwing trees and towers, the tornado rampages through the night.

By contrast, the morning after.
Always the morning after.
The sky is calm, and the focus shifts.
As, for all the spectacle of the storm,
It is never what survives.

πŸŒͺ️For Reader's Discussion:
What are your favorite stories/media where extreme weather is the antagonist or a major plot point? Please share in the comments!



housekeeping

🌩️ Newsletter Updates
β€’ To increase a broader range of content to showcase in the Newsletter and time for the team to showcase various talents, the frequency of publishing featured Members and Roleplays will now be on a quarterly basis versus monthly. For more information regarding the announcement, click here!​
🌩️ RPNation's Community Guidelines
β€’ Whether you're a newer or older user, click here to refresh what we allow and don't allow in the community! It's always good to refresh on the guidelines every once in while.​
β€’ To see the specific guidelines updates, check out our Patch Notes for more details.​
🌩️ Official RPN Merchandise
β€’ Be sure to head on over and see what available products we have for our users!​


guideline highlight

⚑Off-site Information
Recruitment information for roleplays, even those happening off-site, must be hosted on RpNation. Off-site contact information should only be shared in your profile identities, PMs, or the Off-site Ads. Discord servers can be linked from OOC threads or PMs for OOC purposes, but off-site roleplay links must be posted within Off-site Ads. RpNation does not moderate content outside of its webspace, so users should exercise caution when going offsite for roleplays. Please refer to the Offsite rule to learn what is and is not allowed when posting offsite links.

While RpNation is not responsible for what happens off our site, we can control who or what is advertised on our site. All of our Community Guidelines apply when making recruitment posts.
For example, users may not make an off-site recruitment post for any of the following (or any other rule-breaking behavior):
  • Bypassing Community Guidelines
  • Harassment
  • Seeking erotic content


roleplay of the month


What inspired the creation of "Terrorchild: Awakening," and what are its primary themes and concepts?
That's a bit of a story in and of itself - I've been roleplaying for almost half my life in various communities, and Terrorchild's roots come from one of those prior experiences. In a roleplay community that I used to be deeply involved with, a few of the writers there wanted to create a dark fantasy setting, and so they opened a wiki for other members within our group to contribute ideas. I've always been captivated by villains and their origin stories - especially young women who strike fear into everyone, regardless of their moral compass, so I took the opportunity to brainstorm ideas for a terrifying coven of witches which would occupy that world.​

That original game never came to fruition, so I later decided that I would take a crack at a more solo-based effort, which would become a 2018 quest called "Terrorchild: Lythrefang Induction." It followed a young woman who discovers that she's gifted with dark, sorcerous powers - a hexblood, in the setting's terminology - who winds up abducted and indoctrinated by the coven into becoming a sort of dark messiah figure. That version of the game never gained enough momentum to carry the weight of the story I was trying to tell, so I abandoned it. But these days, I co-manage an RP community of my own on Discord, called "Inko!" where I was able to shop the idea again.​

For our readers who are new to "Terrorchild: Awakening," can you provide a brief synopsis of the storyline?
Terrorchild follows the story of a tabaxi peasant named Agranne, who has her life disrupted by her titular awakening to dark magic when she accidentally kills a rich merchant - literally ripping his soul out of his body in retaliation for slapping her. We learn that she had an older sister named Rigatte who was also a witch, and whom was burned at the stake by local authorities a year prior - a fate that Agranne tragically had a hand in causing. Amidst this fear and guilt, Agranne is rescued by the same coven to which her sister belonged, and is taken to the Kingdom of Turadal to hide and be inducted.​

Agranne, however, is a powerful and unpredictable witch, driven by vengeance and grief for her lost sister, and she seems to disrupt the order of things wherever she goes. And although a conniving and manipulative changeling is able to push her into joining the coven, Agranne is no one's puppet... except possibly, and alarmingly, the dark goddess Syrith herself - to which she pledged her soul when she joined the coven. Not only has an evil artifact with a limitless supply of magic fallen into her hands, but all who have tried to control her have wound up dead or destitute, often by Agranne's own hand, including the very master who gave her the moniker of "Terrorchild."​

Now, Agranne seeks to unite with the mad spirits of the faerie world and topple the royal family of Turadal in the name of the coven, in hopes that they will finally share with her the one piece of knowledge which drives her: the secret of walking in the land beyond death - so she can finally undo the past and resurrect her sister, Rigatte.​

What distinguishes Quest roleplays from other roleplay formats, and how does it enhance the storytelling experience?
Quests are interesting because even though the author is the only one actually telling the story, it's the readers who decide the most about the main character's personality and motivations. With Agranne, the players have different ideas about how she should act, and in our private Discord server, they joke about being different voices in her head, pulling her in different directions. And that creates situations for me as a writer where I have to reconcile behaviors that would seem inconsistent on the surface, but which could be explained by examining these competing concerns in Agranne's mind.​

As time has gone on, I've influenced the overall direction of the game by gradually cutting off the milder, friendlier options available to Agranne, which are less compatible with her current status as a villain. This is an evil campaign, after all. But there's often options in there that are really out of pocket, particularly brutal, or surprisingly tender. And I'm always impressed with how careful the players weigh each option and debate the merits of each. There's been more than one occasion where the players have outsmarted me completely - casually mentioning possibilities that I hadn't even considered - which I then proceeded to slip into the narrative like it was always my plan. Just don't tell them I said that!​

What are some challenges you encounter in managing this interactive element, and how do you ensure that players remain engaged and invested in the narrative?
Early on, we had a tendency towards tie votes, which would slow things down as we waited for one player to catch up with the story and offer their input. If it was a particularly tough tie, I would initiate "Dealer's Choice" and just select whatever option I thought would be the most fun to write, even once picking the option that was the least popular out of the bunch. But I don't like doing this too often, either, because it's disappointing for the players to not get their say.​

On the other hand, I've recently had to address a flaw in the voting system, in which players treat it like they would an election. That is, they vote for whatever they think will be popular enough to avoid the things they don't want to see, as opposed to voting for what they do. The players have even taken to calling it a "voting bloc" system. I don't like this, because we've had a few choices where almost no one was happy with the end result, so I'm going to try out a new system starting with the next update (the 101st since the game began!) wherein every choice that gets voted on has a chance of happening, proportional to its popularity. I'm keeping Dealer's Choice around for true ties, too! Mainly, it's just about keeping things a little bit unpredictable.​

Can you share a memorable moment or highlight from "Terrorchild: Awakening"?
When Agranne made the decision to join the coven, the players were provided a few different ways to initiate contact with dark deity, Syrith. And they chose to be vulnerable - asking about her lost sister, Rigatte, and expressing their desire to see her again. So in the next scene, as Syrith appears and wordlessly impales Agranne's spirit, giving her a frightening taste of death in the process, the players are brought face-to-face with Rigatte from beyond the grave. For the one and only time (so far), I invited the players to ask a single question directly to faciliate reconnecting these two siblings. I had intended to take the best question and have that be the center of the next scene.​

Well, what ended up happening is that we got a bunch of cool questions, and I didn't want anyone to feel like they were asked to do something more than vote, only to get snubbed. So instead of using only one response, I managed to write a conversation between the two characters that wove everyone's questions in, during which Agranne is struggling to stay close enough to get answers, even as Rigatte is trying to turn her away, before her visit to the world beyond death becomes a permanent stay. It wound up being the first really character-defining moment for Agranne and one I come back to when I need to remind myself why she's going to such awful lengths to get her sister back.​

What role does collaboration play in "Terrorchild: Awakening," both among players and between the game master and participants?
The players have pretty strong feelings about Agranne and her actions - everything from lamenting her lost innocence and voicing disgust at unjustified acts of violence and terror, to celebrating every anti-social notion she acts on. I have one player who often compares the game to playing a Dark Urge run in Baldur's Gate III, while another (who happens to be my wife IRL) treats the game as a fantasy romance novel. One of them is hellbent on killing Syrith and has been gathering support for that cause in the Discord channel. That's what they do- they argue and lawyer their points with each other.​

And let me tell you: I antagonize each and every one of them. Genuinely: I love teasing them about the consequences of their choices, and giving vague warnings of unintended side-effects. They, in turn, rally around their favorite characters, and talk about their hopes and wishes openly so that I can better understand what kind of adventure they want to see shape up here, even as we all know it will end with Agranne becoming the setting's premier nasty baddie. I want to make it an absolute blast to read.​

Have you encountered any unexpected twists or outcomes in the roleplay that surprised you or the players? If so, how did you adapt to these developments?
All the time.​

So one thing I think is absolutely essential for running any game is the ability to adapt when things don't work out the way you expect them to. And experience has taught me that going in with a strong blueprint of the exact story you want to tell is a fool's errand because the players might be on board with the overall idea, but they hate to be railroaded. So as a quest GM, you have to be bold enough to put choices out there that can absolutely screw up what you have planned, and be ready to figure it out in the aftermath if they pick it. Have faith in your players.​

Early in the game, the players voted to have Agranne jump off a bridge. That choice forced me to completely change plans, getting us off the course that I originally charted in the 2018 attempt. They so deftly avoided the plot hooks I threw out early on that it later sparked me to quip in the Discord: "no, I was not going to allow you to go Bear Grylls in the wild drinking your piss to avoid the adventure," which has become a running gag in our community. But all jokes aside, I had to cook up new locations, events, and characters that became recurring, and they're still around - 30 pages later.​

For roleplayers who are as captivated as I am and might be interested in diving deeper into the aspects and technicalities of "Terrorchild: Awakening," will there be a chance for them to observe or even participate in an OOC discussion to share their thoughts and commentary?
First and foremost, I'd recommend anyone with an interest in the game to send me a private message so I can send them an invite to the Discord server I mentioned before - "Inko!" Most of the current participants in the thread are already members who have known each other for years, having played in each other's games before. However, I'd be happy to create a thread for those who aren't able or willing to use the server to interact with us. I've just never been asked! πŸ˜…

When did you first start roleplaying, and how long have you been writing?
Oof, this is going to be a long answer. I first started writing and roleplaying when I was a young teenager, about seventeen years ago. And if you're reading this and thinking - wow, she's like... thirty, isn't she? - the answer is yes. Lucky people get to grow up and keep their passion projects alive. Just today - and I wouldn't lie about this - I logged in at work to discover an obituary posted for a coworker who was younger than me. Please just try to live your best life - every day, every moment.​

Looking back, I've always loved telling stories, but I my childhood was a difficult time for me in a lot of ways. I'd later figure out that I'm transgender, but at that time, all I knew is that I was getting picked on a lot and nothing I did seemed to appeal to anyone. I remember buying lots of those cheap little spiral-bound notebooks you could get for like fifty cents each, and keeping them in my backpack at school. Anytime I got caught drawing pictures of course, classmates would get nosy and then tease or bully me over it, but nobody ever cared what I was writing about. So there was a lot of wonderful privacy there that I could use to breathe. I explored fanfiction, mainly, since I was inspired by fan works on the internet like Lynne Triplett's incredible tributes to NiGHTS into Dreams and its fandom - I wanted really badly to create things, just like her!​

But, there came this moment where the fanfiction I was writing was so out of step with the source material that I realized it would be easier to just start from scratch, and create whole little universes of my own. And then, of course, I had to deal with the big downside - it's much harder to convince people to read something when it's not based on something they already like. So by the time I was in high school, I was getting involved with roleplaying games on the internet, because each new idea gets an immediate reaction.​

What was your first experience roleplaying like, and how does it compare to the way you approach it now?
I was in a strange place in my early days, because I was pretty mature for my age, and that led me to seek out a niche group on a small nation-building RP forum that felt grown up compared to the more age-appropriate material that was available to me. The group was probably 90% comprised of men who were older than I am right now, and in hindsight I realize they took themselves much, much too seriously, and that led me to do the same.​

So right from the start, I wanted to be one of the "best" players in the group, and I dedicated a lot of effort toward winning their approval. I didn't really understand that being serious all the time didn't equal being more mature, or especially more worthy of respect; it just meant that I was creating a persona for myself that would wear me down over time. One day, I just stopped posting and moved on from it, and it was a couple of years before I tried again. These days, I don't try to hide that inner angsty teenager, nor any other shade of me that might have embarrassed me in front of my classmates or in front of those men.​

The temptation to paint over myself in charcoal gray and blend into the background is a self-destructive tendency, and I'm much happier saying, "yes, this character is a vampire princess who became a demon - and her primary motivation is to overthrow the King of Hell so she can save her friends and be reunited with her lesbian girlfriend." Read Infab's "Hunter's Moon" trilogy, btw. It's wild.

How did you initially learn the ropes of roleplaying, and what tips would you share with newcomers who might feel a bit intimidated?
Well, as I implied above, there were a lot of misadventures and a few discouraging moments along the way. When I was new, a more experienced player took me under his wing for a bit, but he was also very controlling and kind of treated me as a sidekick on his adventures. While our collaborations helped me understand the basics of planning things in private chat before introducing them in character, it also showed me that other players can sometimes be gatekeepers who will want you to march to the beat of their drums.​

To be clear, he had been a part of that setting for a very long time, and I was a newcomer, and if you're a brand new player stepping into an old and well-established world, the existing players have a right to protect what they've worked hard to build. On the other hand, the role of more experienced players should also be to foster your interests and see what you have to offer. If you feel like you're not being given the chance to explore your characters or ideas in an established universe that appeals to you, maybe you should try finding a group that's newer, or at least more welcoming. The nice thing about imagination is that it's free and it's basically inexhaustible. There's space for you somewhere.​

Do you have a favorite roleplaying experience that stands out in your memory? And, of all the roleplays you’ve been a part of, which one holds a special place in your heart?
I'm going to answer this one backwards - that special game that'll always be close to my heart would be "Starpath II: Scoundrels of the Interstellar Highway." To sum it up, after a few years of bungling around in search of a group, I joined a game on the old version of the Facepunch forums that's now defunct and sadly now only exists in internet archives. The forum didn't really have an active character-driven RP community to that point, so someone started a thread called "Spaceship Crew RP" and it was a major success. We later retroactively named it Starpath, and when it was over, I stepped up to run a second iteration. That game would be about 60% longer, spanning ~8400 posts and roughly 1000 days.​

I wish I could send a link to a easily-read backup, but almost immediately after it wrapped up, Facepunch was taken offline by its owner, and this was after the website had been rehosted once already, causing other woes. Archives exist, but they're difficult to use and many of the embedded images and songs, and even some of the formatting of the text itself broke due to the site's final, turbulent months. Locked away in those pages is a record of this handful of strangers sharing a journey with each other that, as we neared the end, we knew was about to be wiped off the internet by an admin throwing a temper tantrum, and we couldn't save all of it. It was like we were trying to write the end to a book while its pages were burning right in front of us, so we dumped everything we could into that story.​

And then, as it was nearing the end, Emperor Sagan came along and launched a game called "The Lost Sea." The first portion of that game were hosted on Facepunch as well, but the final pages were hosted here on RPN, and a summary of the game's plot to that point can be found in the OP. While TLS was eventually cancelled, it stands as my favorite roleplaying experience, because it was the game that made me realize how much I love fantasy, and especially, the occult, and Terrorchild owes its existence to the mysterious and frightening themes of that game.​

Would you like to give a shout-out to your players, friends, etc.? If so, please feel free to tag them here for us!
Oh boy! I get to name off the Inko! roll call (and sorry ahead of time if I miss anyone):​

@Infab - My creative partner since the days of Starpath II, I owe a lot of my success as a GM to Tyler's patience and goodwill. Inko got its name from the beginnings of our handles!​
@Breadman - Has been with us since the very beginning in Starpath I. A voice of reason in the community, but also the Dark Urge whispering in Agranne's ear.​
@joshuadim - They joined the character RP side with the Lost Sea, IIRC. Their ambition is huge, not only are they running two RPs and a quest of their own, but they're trying to save Agranne's better half!​
@hardcore.munchkin - My lovely wife, Ashley. Sooner or later, Embryx will get Agranne to stop being so crazy and hold hands for a bit, and all will be right in their world. I promise. πŸ˜‰
@DG-117 - A personal friend of mine and a major player in Starpath II. Can't wait to see you next month!​
@Radley Another who was there at the very beginning, and one of my first real friends in the hobby. There'll always be a spot open for you in my games, sekadera.​
@Emperor Sagan - Possibly the most talented writer I know, and the creator of some of my favorite-ever characters. Glad to have you back in Hunter's Moon.​
@Damian0358 - The recordkeeper for our little merry band. I've lost count of how many times I've had to ask him for links to the archives that I should have already saved by now.​
@Dmaster - We've come a long way since the Lost Sea. Maybe you should run a game sometime?​
@turtwigwins - All around awesome person, launched a spiritual successor to a nation-building RP I abandoned earlier this year. Best of luck!​
@dikdik - Genuinely a sweet person, I hope Agranne's story goes on all the way to the end for you.​

And two more Inko-adjacent friendlies:​
@EdwardDewey98 - Ed, what can I say except that I hope it all gets better soon. I hope to see you around so much more often, again.​
@bat_hacker - Danny, thanks for being a part of all this. I know it's a hassle, taking a break from making more than double what I make, but as your sister I think it's important that you to have a role model for success you can look up to.​


member of the month


How did you come up with the username, FireMaiden?
I wish there was a better story for how I came up with it, but there's not. When I found the site and decided to make an account, I tried a few things that had been taken already and turned to some generator for other ideas. FireMaiden wasn't one of the suggestions, but halves of two others and I decided that sounded pretty good.​

If you could describe yourself in three words, what would they be? And why those words?
I would say I'm...loyal, kind, and open minded. Questions like these are always a little hard because sometimes it's hard to see what others see if you only focus on the negatives. I chose these words though because at their core, it's what I always work on trying to be. You never know what someone else is going through, so being kind and open minded to the experiences of those around you can help keep yourself level headed. Being loyal though, it's easy. I'm dedicated to my friends, my love ones, and my writing partners (as best I can be anyway, sometimes real life just gets in the way).​

What’s been something that’s been on your mind? Like has there been a certain phrase that’s become your mantra? Perhaps it’s a song that’s just been on replay? What’s been on your mind?
There's been a few things in my mind, but I think the biggest thing has been my boyfriend. We're set up to take two trips this year, one in September and one in November. He plays a sport called Dagohir (nerds fighting other nerds with foam weapons) and he's supposed to be moving up in rank. It may not seem like a big deal, but he's worked so hard in bettering himself, I'm so proud of him. Other than that, I have been playing a lot of Hozier since his new album came out, Empire Now is definitely stuck in my head.​

How did you get into roleplaying?
So I was always the one driving the games of make-believe when I was a kid, but everyone kinda grew out of it. I was bored, I wanted to write, so much one day shortly after I started homeschool I decided to look for an RP site. There was two other sites I looked at but didn't like before I found RpNation. I thought it was gonna be just a little experiment but here we are 8 years later.​

What has been a memorable moment of yours from all your time of roleplaying?
There's been quite a few, but a lot of them revolve around Patient Zero run by Maj, a zombie to that's been going on for at least 4 years now. We reached the climax of the second arc where the characters were getting attacked at their home, my character and the GMs character being kidnapped is pretty memorable but at the same time, a character named Millie was written off in a very sad way. I was devastated and I'm looking forward to getting to write my character's reaction to it.​

Is there a genre you prefer roleplaying more than others? And why?
I really enjoy fantasy and realistic and modern. It's easy to enjoy fantasy as a genre, everything is so whimsical, it's the primal genre I look for. I even want to write a fantasy book, and a couple times I've even tried starting up my own RP based on those ideas. Realistic and modern though let's you focused on the cute side of life, or the resilience of humans in general.​

Do you have a favorite character, or if not, do you have a character that reflects you the most?
So I love a lot of the characters I've made, but my first one Leona Hall has a very special place in my heart. She was the character I made for my very first group RP, The Tyranny of King Valerian. She was a spy for the king and ended up joining the good guys to help topple his rule. A lot of her story was left unfinished, but I've never been able to bring her back to an RP and give her the story she deserves because nothing feels right. She's definitely my favorite though.​

What is your favorite part of RPNation?
My favorite part of RPN is definitely the community. Everyone is brought together by their shared love of writing and creativity, and it's very rare you encounter someone who's problematic. You end up seeing a lot of the same names, and making friends with those people even if their screen name is all you know.​

Are there other hobbies you like to do aside from roleplaying?
Reading is a given, I love books. I also play a lot of video games, mostly RPG and FPS/Action games like Dragon Age, Mass Effect, and Tomb Raider/Uncharted. I also dabble in Archery a bit, it's really fun.​

Do you have any upcoming projects for RPNation or maybe even outside of the site?
So at the moment, I am trying to find some spare time to get my fantasy RP For Astoria! back up an running, but I'm not really in a huge rush to do so. I'm juggling work and college so I want to be able to dedicate the time it deserves. I wrote quests, a calendar, towns and cities, and more for this world, and it's no going anywhere.​

What advice do you have for the Newsletter readers?
Take your time. Nothing out here is a race, and I think it's important to keep them in mind when you're trying to improve on your writing and interact with fellow writers. Nobody sees improvement over night.​

Any shout-outs you’d like to give?
The entire group for Patient Zero - @shadowz1995 . @Maj , @Togy . @Rumble Fish , @Corgi . @TheMightyRedLemon , @Hyped_Taco . The woman who runs it, @Maj is an incredible person and everyone who's stuck around this long and kept is going are all so nice. They're the group I've been apart of the longest here on RPN, they're all incredible writers and even better people.​



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What are your favorite stories/media where extreme weather is the antagonist or a major plot point? Please share in the comments!
Ohhhhh my RP. Pursuit of Azrael. My obsession, despite it being long over by now πŸ˜‚
Storms, rain, and lightning had some extremely heavy themes in this one - as well as ravens, death, and obsession. It was very gothic/Edgar Allen Poe. So maybe not EXTREME weather, but unnatural weather in how intense and persistent it was.

I wouldn't say the storms were the villain, but they never stopped being thematically relevant. The entire plot of the RP revolves around the fact that my character drowned as a child, thanks to a storm hurling him overboard. He was resuscitated and this sprouted both a lifelong fear and a lifelong obsession.

He continued to be very afraid of storms, but at the same time, undeniably allured to them. Hiding from them in the basement on most days, but on a select few, standing out in the middle of it and getting soaked.

The entire story ended in bittersweet tragedy, on a sunny day.
 

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