Novelizing your Armageddom role-play stories (special project)

[gobbledygookie]

Hello everyone,

I'm a long time role-player and "creativity enthusiast", 

My current project is to compile RP stories from various gameworlds and turn it into a single compilation published work of novelized RP stories from online gameworlds. The stories could be anything regardless of length as long as it's happened in the server (or "based" on something that happened in the server). It's a project that I've recently started and have launched a website for - http://www.nwvisuals.com/rpstories/rpstories.html

I know Armageddom MUD has some pretty great role-players and some pretty intense settings, so I'm expecting greatness 

I'll be using this thread to keep track on the suggestions, submissions, thoughts, etc. So let me know if you feel inspired to tell a RP story you've experienced here, or if there's one you've already written?

Waiting to hear from you,

- Or Bar

[Ourla]

If I may direct you here: http://www.armageddon.org/original/showType.php , some of us already have some stories and the like written up, although I'm sure permission from the authors for reproduction would be in line.  I can't think of many Armageddon players who don't want to share the wealth of tales we've created here.

[gobbledygookie]

Did those stories happen in the server, or are based on something that happened in the server?

[Ghost]

I do not exactly understand what you mean by "server".  If you mean whether the stories are actually played in the game or not, I would think not.  They are, as far as I know all fictional stories but all based on the Armageddon MUD world.

There are player logs however, they are directly taken from the game.  Everything that is in the player logs section happened in the game

[Gimfalisette]

Some of the stories are based on actual events that happened in the MUD. For example, this story that I wrote is based on events mentioned in the history: "An army of gith holds Allanak in an extended period of loose seige, using the citystate's extensive sewer system to infiltrate the city from beneath the ground. An organized defense effort consisting of the Arm of the Dragon, the T'zai Byn, and the Great Merchant Houses beats back the majority of gith forces within the city." The story itself features VNPC characters and particular situations that were played out virtually rather than by PCs. Really, all of the stories in the submissions are "based on what happens on the server." They are screened by the imms to be fair representations of the gameworld.

[gobbledygookie]

Gimfalisette, first of all this is brilliant writing! Just phenomenal, the details and emotions are very well captured and I am easily drawn into the story. You say the story features VNPC characters, does that mean that story was pre-scripted? Are there any PC's in that story?

Between you and Ghost I don't know whether most of the stories are in that section are based on what happened in the gameworld or not, I know yours is since you said so, so if I'm referred to the stories that are based on the MUD's events from that section that'd help me sift through.

Oh and yes I did mean MUD by "server", it's a habit of mine to refer to gameworlds as servers I picked up from other games...anyway, thanks for the replies.

[Gimfalisette]

Gimfalisette, first of all this is brilliant writing! Just phenomenal, the details and emotions are very well captured and I am easily drawn into the story. You say the story features VNPC characters, does that mean that story was pre-scripted? Are there any PC's in that story?

Between you and Ghost I don't know whether most of the stories are in that section are based on what happened in the gameworld or not, I know yours is since you said so, so if I'm referred to the stories that are based on the MUD's events from that section that'd help me sift through.

The gith war on Allanak is a real event that happened in game. PCs participated in that event, but you can't have a full-on war of race vs. race with only 50 to 80 PCs. Even if the PCs were just one side of that war, it wouldn't be a war, it would be a short battle. During events such as this in ARM, as well as all throughout the world and daily play, we employ VNPCs (virtual NPCs). These are the people who are all around, all the time, but who are not codedly there. VNPCs are who pack the streets of Allanak - there are 500k people in Allanak, but only a few hundred NPCs and PCs.

So, the people in that story are VNPCs. They were neither NPCs nor PCs. That story is 100% based on what really happened during that event; except instead of seeing the PC side of what happened, you're seeing what happened from the perspective of some of the other 5000 of Allanak's soldiers who fought to defend the city.

In ARM we have a rule that IC events and PCs cannot be discussed until a year after the fact, thus I wrote the story from a VNPC perspective rather than from the perspective of my PC, even though I was there and witnessed it all.

[Southie]

I've written plenty about what my PC has seen and done, but I can't publish any of it yet since it's all IC information. The typical staff rule is not to publish anything that involves a character until 1 RL year after their death. But as other players have pointed out the logs and stories sections have plenty of awesome stuff.

[gobbledygookie]

Thanks for clarifying, Gimfalisette, I really like it. I'll post back tomorrow since I'm tuning out soon.

Southie, it'll probably be a year or close to a year by the time I finish this compilation, I don't think it's anything to worry about. I also hope the tribute the story would create shall transcent any spoilers,  but that's besides the point.

Now I can't use "RP logs" since they're...logs. They're raw, unnovelized material. And I still need to know what stories are based on MUD events before I sift through them, so I'll be keeping a constant tab on that topic for links and referrals.

[Barzalene]

I have a couple up that are based on ic events/pcs/circumstances, though, from the point of view of a vnpc. However, you might find them a big gory for your purposes. Oh, and riddled with typos.

[Lizzie]

From what I've read of the stories, they are -all- based on actual mud (server) events. As for spoilers, Armageddon takes a very strict stance on them. They're not allowed, period. So you won't be getting much in the way of current events, I'm afraid. If you wanted to know what's going on in the game now, you'd have to play it. And if you were found to be publishing the information somewhere, it's very likely you would not be allowed to play anymore. But that's just current stuff.

Things about Precentor Kul, the early beginnings of Muk Utep the northern sun king, the formation of some of the Houses, information about some of the more colorful characters to have lived and died in Armageddon, all of this stuff *really* did happen in the game, by actual characters of real players. The Copper War was around a RL year or two ago, but there are actually still characters in the game, who were involved in it. And if everyone knew -here- about the war, then there wouldn't be anything those characters would need to tell about it. Cause we'd all know OOCly, and the story would be spoiled server-side.

That's why we keep that stuff to ourselves until a year after someone has died - not a year after the event was over. If the characters who attended the event are still alive, then the story isn't finished yet, right? It ain't over til the characters are dead. And it isn't a legend until at least a year after the last character in the plotline dies (in the Arm tradition of telling stuff OOCly, that is).

[gobbledygookie]

Well, don't worry about that Liz, I won't jepordize IC sensitivity even if I had a chance. The point is to expose the greatness that can come out of online role-playing and even give Armaggedon some publicity, not to spoil to those who play. That's the last thing I'd do!

Besides, like I said it'll probably be a year or close to a year by the time I finish this compilation, so such stories would not be shared for that time. If needs be, I can ask for the staff's permission worst comes to worst, right? But I don't have any stories that occurred less than a year ago anyway, so we'll cross that bridge when we get there. 

Gimfalisette, can you write an OOC introduction to your story? (background details, credits, interesting facts, etc) Include whatever you want in there. (You can send me it via a PM)

Barzalene, what I "might" consider your stories I don't know, if you feel like they're worthy of telling tell them!

I'll be reading all the stories and be on lookout for replies if someone wants to direct me to a specific one or give endorsement.

Thanks,

-Or Bar

[Dalmeth]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't all stories, even the ones made by the players, still covered under Dark Sun intellectual property?  I don't know if you can really publish anything without getting permission.  Freeing ourselves of that little snag is one of the reasons the game is being remade.  My brain's a little fuzzy at the moment, so I can't say for sure, but I'm fairly certain publishing our player stories is going to be more trouble than it's worth.

[Maso]

Wouldn't that only be the case if there were direct references or links to Dark Sun creations? Names etc could be editted out or changed.

[Gimfalisette]

I was using my story as an example of the fact that there are many stories in our submissions that are based on stuff that actually happened in game, that's all. I didn't mean that it could or would or should be used elsewhere. I believe when we submit, there's something that says the submission becomes property of the MUD or something, so permission would have to come from game admins. (But I could be wrong about that.) Otherwise, I think what Dalmeth mentions would need some looking into as well.

[psionic fungus]

If you're not going to be capitalizing on the story, I'm pretty certain it is fair-use to publish it... With acknowledgments.

If you are going to capitalize on it, it's probably pretty easy to remove any Dark Sun IP... Sanvean did it with one of her published stories.  The real issue, of course, is probably the Zalanthan IP, which is more integral to both the project and most stories...

So, how does the Staff feel?

[gobbledygookie]

If there are any objections they'll simply have to be spoken, I can't work by speculations. Regarding settings permission (Dark Sun, Forgotten Realms, Ravenloft, etc), also something submitters shouldn't be worried about, that's part of my project.

Gimfalisette, do you not want your story to be included in the compilation?

Well, if anyone has any RP stories they want included in the novelized RP stories compilation, let me hear about. Again, this project's intent is to show the greatness of online role-play, the intesity, complexity and beauty that can be created from many different worlds, and I certainly think Armaggedon is one fascinating RP gameworld. I still don't have any stories coming from Armageddon so all this peripheral talk seems a little premature.

As always I'll be keeping a close eye on this topic and the stories,

Thanks for the replies,

-Or Bar

[Sanvean]

I've got no problem with people writing stuff set on Zalanthas.  I have a half-finished novel, Poet's Circle,  that is set just after the expelling of the Nakki presence in the north.  With it, I have been careful to not use Dark Sun material, because I would like it to be publishable. You are welcome to write things with Armageddon concepts and IP as long as you credit us somewhere in the acknowledgments or introduction to the piece. We prefer that you include a URL to http://www.armageddon.org in the mention.

On the other hand -- and this is important -- if you have Dark Sun references, you are infringing on the WotC intellectual property and the only place where they might be OK with it being published is on their message boards, or perhaps otherwise under their copyright.

[Gimfalisette]

Gimfalisette, do you not want your story to be included in the compilation?

That particular story is about a gith invasion, so it's at the very least Dark Sun-influenced. Assuming there's no DS IP conflict and/or you get permission from WoTC, I'd be OK with you using it as long as there's a very clear link back to ARM, so that it's a marketing tool for us.

[brytta.leofa]

Gimfalisette, do you not want your story to be included in the compilation?

That particular story is about a gith invasion, so it's at the very least Dark Sun-influenced. Assuming there's no DS IP conflict and/or you get permission from WoTC, I'd be OK with you using it as long as there's a very clear link back to ARM, so that it's a marketing tool for us.

New story: The Hith are Coming!   

[psionic fungus]

Apparently derivative works of shared worlds are still not fair-use...

There used to be quite a bit of Dark Sun fan fiction on the internet, but after a little look around it seems like WoTC has definitely started to crack down on anything that doesn't use Open Game Content, apparently in an effort to protect their copyrights...

Which is a bummer... Still, they haven't done anything about this:

http://www.fanfiction.net/game/Dungeons_and_Dragons/

WoTC is Lame.

edit:  Gobbledygookie, after looking into this, and the NWN fan-fiction you have so far, I'm going to suggest that you get licensing permission from WoTC (and any other copyright holders of games these stories are based in) before going any further with this project... You might do a lot of work collecting these stories just to find out that it is illegal for you to publish them in any format, and that wouldn't be any fun at all.