The Talking Drum

[Incognito]

Idea, for tribals and perhaps bards:

Example 1

Tribal PC 1
Change language talking drums.
OK.
hold drums
OK.
tell tribal PC 2 Meet me later.
You tap out a gentle rhythm, while looking at <tribal PC 2>.

Tribal PC 2
You make out that Tribal PC 1 beats out the words "Meet me later".

Non-tribal PC 3
Tribal PC 1 plays a gentle rhythm on his drums.



Example 2

Tribal PC 1
Change language talking drums
OK.
Hold drums
OK.
shout Danger! Do not come near!
You beat out a reverberatingly-loud staccato beat on your drums signaling the words "Danger! Do not come near!

Tribal PC 2 (standing 2 rooms north)
You hear the echo of talking drums from far off to the south, signalling the words "Danger! Do not enter!"

Non-tribal PC 3 (standing 2 rooms south)
You hear a reverberatingly-loud staccato beat on drums far off to the north.


Think those examples should sum up the idea.
A signal communication which might (with the help of code) be used to communicate over distances, without fear of eavesdropping over the Way.
A communication system which cannot be "acquired by listening" but only by "teaching", and as a result - not known to many.


A realistic spin to it would be that shorter messages would travel longer distances, while longer messages would echo to nearby locations only.
For instance, if you shouted Help, it'd echo a few times....help....help....help....

But if you shouted Hello, my name is Lord Poopsie of House XYZ, can you come to help me? -- it'd probably echo back on itself :)

[Tamarin]

Uh...yep.  This would be a great idea.  I've thought about it for a long time, and I just can't think of an implementation that satisfies me (yours included), but I really wish someone would.  It works in theory, but there's a lot of holes, you know?

[Maybe42or54]

I like it, but I don't see why you couldn't create things like this for. Four quick beats means one thing, and 4 slow beats means something else.

This has great potential.

[RunningMountain]

Man. I want that byn horn damn it.

[Anonymous]

I really like this idea - and in a more bardic context, too - not just tribals.

However, the one flaw in "just rping" something like this is 1) communicating it to those who should know it without gross OOC effort, and 2) keeping those people who shouldn't know it from "poof" knowing it because they broke your simple crypto.

Implementing this as an actual language would be the only feasible way I can think of to do this on any larger scale.  So that everyone in the room (or adjoining rooms) sees "the loud boom of drums comes rumbling from the south" but the people who speak it see "From the south, the drums say: "Do not come near""

Or "the bard plays a lightly dancing melody on the flute" and people who understand it see "the bard's pipe says: "That noble over yonder is a total wanker who humps trees.  Let's kill his ass when he leaves here.""

[Maybe42or54]

Uh. What's wrong with teaching someone IG? If drums started talking ina  normal everyday thing. That would suck. Next we'll have talking chair.

The skinny, agile-looking boy says, in sirihish, "When I tap out this pattern, it means you stay calm."


The skinny, agile-looking boy beats a slow, steady rythm on the small drums.

The skinny, agile-looking boy says, in sirihish, "When I do this, it means charge and start killing."

The skinny, agile-looking boy starts beating out a fast, thunderous beat on his small drums.

The skinny, agile-looking boy says, in sirihish, "When I do this, it means get the fuck out of there."

The skinny, agile-looking boy pounds out two loud beats and waits a couple seconds before doing it again.

The skinny, agile-looking boy pounds out two more beats.

[Maybe42or54]

I really like this idea - and in a more bardic context, too - not just tribals.

However, the one flaw in "just rping" something like this is 1) communicating it to those who should know it without gross OOC effort

Post it on your clan boards somewhere.

[Anonymous]

Uh. What's wrong with teaching someone IG? If drums started talking ina  normal everyday thing. That would suck. Next we'll have talking chair.

Because the nomadic concept of talking drums implies 1) characters who are largely isolated from one another and don't spend all their time in a tavern wanking about with drums, and 2) knowledge that might have been conveyed as part of a culture or rearing, which is not something you would normally have to have extensive one on one sessions to work out.

You didn't have to rp out how you learned to identify the cities Tuluk and Allanak - because there are some things that certain cultures Just Know.

[Morgenes]

There have been many IC languages that weren't spoken but communicatable between people within Armageddon.  Something like this should be roleplayed out, and won't get code support for translation of the messages.  If you want an instrument that could be played loud enough to echo into multiple rooms, now that is a fine idea.

[Maybe42or54]

That can be solved with NPCs that can demonstrate when talked to, or it could be posted on the clan boards, or this is an idea.

Instead of Pc1 saying "I don't know this. I should." They could say "I forgot what it is exactly, mind showing me?"

"You hear a pair of loud war drums shout form the east 'Get back here!'"

No thank you.

You hear loud sets of two beats every few seconds from the east.

[Agent_137]

I'm with Maybe42or54 on this one.

fight the code, live and die by the IC.