Author Archives: Gustav Holberg

With or without a destiny – Forewords

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Illustration by Disha Iris Lundberg.

This is an ongoing story. I will post one chapter at a time and make up the story along the way. I actually have no idea of what is going to happen next in the story, though I have some ideas for the ending.

When writing like this I might have to change previous posts so the story does not have huge holes or conflicting story lines. Some times parts might even be moved from one chapter to another. This is an important part of the process, that might confuse a few readers, but that is necessary for the completion of the whole story. I will try and comment in each chapter if I make big changes, that will hopefully help you a bit. If it confuses you too much I suggest you wait until the story is proclaimed finished.

My first goal is to finish the story after 10 or less chapters, I’m giving myself this limit to make sure I don’t take off on endless description, but cuts right to the chase. But if the story demands it I will write more (or less).

You are all free to comment each chapter and to make suggestions for the story line. I can not promise you that I will use these suggestions.

All the chapters will be listed here and can be found through the ..destiny category. First part can be found here: part 1 – home sweet misery

Enjoy!


Art of telling stories tip 2 – Dynamics

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Have you ever had to listen to a storyteller that has no idea of how to use dynamics? Blabbering on with the same intensity from start to finish.. Well, my mind usually starts to drift after just a few minutes and when the story is over I feel relieved, but can’t remember a single thing from the story.

When you tell a story, the dynamics can really seduce your audience. This is closely connected to the first tip about energy, but still a subject of its own. Every story has its own dynamics. Some have many intensity peaks, while others starts low and slowly builds up to a climax. Any way the dynamics must follow the story line. Telling at full intensity while the story line is at a calm stage just gives your audience a false impression and what will you do when the story demands full intensity and you already are there? The key is to keep the flow as close to the story as possible, but you can also change the dynamics when you need it for other reasons. Some times, specially when telling stories for children, you might experience that you are loosing your audience to something else, any kind of distraction really, this is the time to increase the intensity a bit, or even lower it by almost whispering. Because if you change the flow of the story you’ll regain your audience’s attention.

Dynamics is not only linked to the energy and intensity you spend, but to the whole of your body. You can lower your voice, but still keep a high intensity, you can raise your voice but still be in low intensity. It all depends on what your body communicates and the story it self.  There are hundreds of techniques and theories on how to tell stories dynamically, but my best tip would be: Experiment and gain experience! For only with real experience will you understand how it works.

Story: Scared rabbit v 2.0

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Once Rabbit were grassing on the plains and enjoying the fresh grass of the spring. Rabbit had no worries and was so happy that he had managed to get to the other side of the fence where the grass truly was greener. Chewing the tasty grass, his thoughts wandered to think of all the female rabbits he was soon to conquer. Fox was happy to, for he had managed to break into the local farmers chicken roost a few days earlier and now he had a huge storage of delicious food, spring was such a good time of the year. Fox was wandering alongside the fence, actually just to find a good spot to rest, and spotted Rabbit. Fox thought to himself: “Well, my storage is full and so is my stomach, but the winter has been hard, why not indulge in a small rabbit meal as well?” Fox first used his magnificent ability to sneak, and when he was right behind Rabbit, with the wind to his face, he made a leap to catch Rabbit with his paws and jaw. At the same moment Rabbit saw movement from the corner of his eye, his thoughtstream was broken and he jumped to the side and fled towards his hole. The chase was on, Fox leaping towards Rabbit and Rabbit jumping from side to side. Now and then Rabbit could hear and feel Fox’s breath on his back and every time he increased his speed, all the way to Rabbit’s hole.  Rabbit leapt in to his hole, but Fox was too big to fit into it, for he had eaten so many of the local farmers chickens and he almost got his head stuck, luckily he managed to pull his head out and since Fox was not that hungry and a bit tired after the chase,  he walked off to take a nap. Rabbit was so scared that he crept down to the inner most part of his hole and tried to dig deeper while breathing rapidly and shivering with fear. In fact Rabbit was so scared that he dared not go to even see if Fox was by the hole. Days went and Fox found other animals to chase, but no one ever saw Rabbit anywhere, for he had starved to death, to scared to even listen to his body’s cry for food.

Art ot telling stories tip 1 – Energy!

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I can write page after page on how to tell a story, but I’ll try not to. Therefore I will rather post a few tips every now and then. If you are interested to learn more than covered by this and coming posts.. you’ll have to attend one of my courses or take private lessons.

Me telling a story with full intensity. Photo by Elin K. Nilsen.

Use all the energy you have, use your whole body not just your words. Every single watt you spend on telling the story counts when it comes to your audience interest in you and your story. With the right use of energy even a crappy and short story will be greatly appreciated. This being said it is also important to distribute your energy and intensity through the story and the whole storytelling session. Usually I start out with high intensity to get the audience’s initial attention, then lower the intensity slowly, only to increase it towards the end.

If you spend all the energy you got, you’ll probably feel like you just finished running a marathon at sprint speed afterwards, but it will be worth it because the joy of your listeners will quickly fill you up again.

Nothing is more uninspiring than someone telling a story with the lack of energy and intensity. If you haven’t got the energy, don’t tell the story. Of course some stories demand that they are told in low intensity, but that I’ll cover in another tip: Dynamics.

“Spend all the energy you got, don’t save a single watt!”

Story: The oldest man with the oldest secret

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Once upon a time in a far distant land, there was a very old man, he was in fact so old that no one remembered anything else than this man being old. His name was known throughout the realm and many came to visit him, all came to ask his secrets to his long life.

A young adventurer came to this village, this was no ordinary traveller, but a prince from a magical realm. He was both handsome and strong, but his knowledge and wisdom was even greater. But there were limits to his knowledge: nor he or any from his land knew the secrets to a long life. No magic had ever been strong enough to tackle the force of old age and now this prince came to the old man to ask him how he have withstood the ageing.

The adventurer approached the old man, bowing deeply and with respect and honour in his voice he said: “Dear Old man, I am a traveller from the land beyond the rising sun, by the other end of the rainbow. My people are full of knowledge and wisdom, but still I have come to you, for you seem to be the wisest of all. ” The old man grinned, for he knew exactly what the adventurer was to ask next, he scratched his long grey beard and said “Stop with the bragging and the flattery, I care not for such pretty words. I will tell you, boy, what you need to know. But believe me when I say that you won’t like it at all ” The adventurer looked at the old man with surprise in his eyes and just as he opened his mouth to speak the old man continued: “You may forget all your precious knowledge, all the wisdom you think you possess, because the answer is so simple that you will not understand it otherwise. But first we have to eat”. The old man limped away, with support from his crooked cane and signalled for the adventurer to follow him. After a short walk he stopped by a old house. The house was so old and torn that it barely seemed to stand by it self. The roof was poorly thatched and the door barely hanging on the hinges. The old man took a seat on an old rotten log, by a wooden table that was resembling more a stack of firewood than an actual table, he asked the adventurer to sit on the log besides him. The adventurer brushed off the log and sat carefully down, as if the log was full of sharp spines. “You see, there are two simple rules to follow to become as old as I am. The first rule, you know of already: Food!” The old man grinned even wider and then put his index fingers in his mouth and whistled loudly, not long time after an old woman came out from the house, bearing a large tray full of meat and vegetables. She seemed almost as old as the old man and the adventurer stared at her wondering how she could be able to carry that large tray with such a crooked back and when he saw her wrinkly face clearly, he nearly fell backwards off the log. The old woman put the tray on the table and limped her way back in to the house. “This is what I am talking about, young boy. No one will live for long without it, now let us eat”. The old man grabbed a piece of meat and took a huge bite. The adventurer looked at the huge pile of food and hesitated before he took a much smaller piece and a moderate bite. The meat was tastier than he had ever tasted before, it did not take long before he took as big pieces and big bites as the old man. They both ate until there was nothing left on the tray. The old man dried off his mouth with his already greasy sleeve and then he said: “Well, food was the first rule. But the second rule is something that will baffle you a bit”. He paused a bit and exclaimed:  “Water! I never drink water”. At the same time the adventurer tasted the salt in his mouth, the food was tremendously salty and all he wanted was a glass of water. The old man said: “If you can live with that strange wisdom, then you will live to be older than I am”. The old man humped into his rusty old house and closed the door, at least as good as that door could be closed. Had the adventurer stayed for a while and not rushing to the nearest tavern, then he would have heard loud ringing laughter from the old man’s house, but instead the young adventurer ended up drinking his mind out on beer to put out his thirst. Whether he lived to be old, died young or drunk himself to death, the story tells nothing about. One thing is for sure, the old man got be be much older and every time someone asked for his secret he would teach them about the rules of food and water, because the truth was that fun and laughter was the answer to his long life.

Event: An interesting job

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From Cupido's event facebook page.

My next job brings some interesting new aspects to my storytelling. I have told stories for that are only for adult ears before but this time I am going to tell stories for an audience who is used to hearing, watching and taking part of such stories.. I am to tell stories at the 25 years anniversary for Cupido, a magazine on sex. The main attraction for the party will be a burlesque show by the fantasic Fleshoticas, there will be a huge Orgasm-cake where 25 candles will be lit, one for each orgasm given..(?). There will also be a kissing marathon, burlesque dancing competition and of course some challenging tales by me! The party will be in Oslo the 13th of March and you can buy your tickets at Cupido’s web shop.

Scripting events for MMORPGs

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I must be honest to say that I don’t have a lot of experience in making events for mmorpgs as I ave only been doing it for a bit more than half a year. But what I do have is many years of experience of ordinary table top RPG (mostly as a Game Master) and LARP experience (also mostly as an organiser). I’m not going to discuss the dynamics of an event or how to build a story, as there are so many theories and ways of doing this. And mark that I’ll only scratch the surface on the theories of how to script an event.

What makes an event enjoyable for players?

The player must feel that she is a part of the story and can change the course of the story..

The player must feel that the story affects her character..

The main characters must be complex enough to give depth to the story..

The main characters must be simple enough to quickly be defined..

Introduction

A small merchant's event in PlaneShift.

How you introduce the event is crucial to how the players follow, how many will follow and what kind of players you attract. Make sure the main character gives a clear picture of the event that is to come, and if the event is announced in forums or other media, make sure it is written well. If you promise something and does not give it your players will slaughter you and your event. Though you can some times surprise your players too, by saying it is an event about x and serving them y. Just make sure the y is exeptionally fun for the players (see “Surprise” below).

Characters and the story line

As I said in the introduction of this post, I won’t ramble on about dynamics and how to build your story, but I have to say this: Make sure the main characters match the story. They should be well though out and they should all have a very good reason for participating in the story. They should be a natural part of the story so to speak. If you need a character to drop a clue, make sure that character has a reason to do so. This means that you probably have to make more background material than what actually will be revealed.

Challenge

The players should be challenged and so should her character. An event plot should not be easy to solve, it should be challenging. A bad plot will give you two options, if you choose A you loose if you choose B you win. A good plot will give the players several choices, where A will lead to X, B lead to Y , C lead to Z and what ever choice the players take  they should feel that they won. If you mix a moral dilemma in to the choice you will give the players a even harder challenge. They must then decide what kind of moral their character support and players will often end up in a discussion of right and wrong. This is good, because it gives the players the possibility to show the depth of their character or even give the players some more depth to their character.

Surprise

An event should have surprises, but be sure that the surprise is one that brings out more good roleplay and challenge.  Have you ever seen a movie with an extremely surprising ending? When you talk to people about that movie you will quickly see that some just loved it, while others hated it. Those who love it do so because they enjoy change and surprises. They want to be surprised. Those who hate it, hate it because they feel tricked, as if someone stole the ending they expected. This is the reason why you should be careful of the surprises you put in to your plot.

For example: You are making an calm storytelling event, but your surprise is that the nice atmosphere will be broken by hoards of monsters, killing everyone. This will most likely enrage your players unless you make sure that they know that the place this event is held is a dangerous one (then again your surprise is spoiled). So the surprise must still be within the settings of your event. A nice surprise would be for example that the good guy is revealed in the end to be a bad guy. Remember also to give the players a chance to avert or at least reveal the surprise.

Balance

By balance I do not only mean balance when it comes to mechanics, but balance within the role play it self, balance between players choices and the script, the balance between the status of the characters and the story it self. This is is a very tricky part, specially if you don’t know who will turn up for the event. If you notice during the event that the balance is off, you’ll have to do something about it. It is hard to come up with any good tips on this, as it will always depend upon the situation. What I can say is that you have to pay attention to the balance of the plot at all times and do whatever in your power to keep it. If your players are peasants, be careful of introducing an all powerful king to the plot, though some times the king is needed to restore the balance. Your players should not feel too inferior (unless this is an important point to the story).

Be true to the settings

The settings is the world you play in, its history, its society, creatures and races, ideas and philosophies. If you want an event to be true to RP it has to be true to the settings. This means that you have to study the lore of the world before you even write down your basic ideas for an event. Some settings are so huge that is is nearly impossible to keep track of it all, but don’t let this be an excuse not to follow it and do your share of research. If you are not sure if your event follows the settings, ask those who would know.

Community support

Large events need support from the community. Get the players involved at some point in the planning, but do not let them control the planning. Don’t ask them what they want, but tell them what you want. For example if you wanted to make a big festival you would need a large amount of hosts. Some would take care of the food, making it and serving it. Some should take care of security and other would be responsible for the entertainment and community rituals. The more responsibility you give the players the more they will get involved. Avoid using them as “slaves”, rather give them a challenge. Some events demand that you are open about everything, like a festival, while others demand a certain degree of secrecy, like when you add a few surprises. If you keep secrets from the community, tell them that you do and why.

Pitfalls

There are many pitfalls when it comes to scripting events. First off is to make a too predictable story or just a rewrite of old used up stories. There have been so many stories written, not just for events, but in books, novels, movies, television series, comics and so on. Make sure the story you are scripting is not a copy of one, at least not a copy of one that has been used oh-so-many-times.

The second pitfall is scripting an event without many possible outcomes. Players does not always react as you would expect and if your script has only one possible outcome, you might end up being screwed by the players and the story falls dead to the ground. There is a fine balance between controlling the story and giving the players freedom to develop the story. The perfect script would give the players a good start with a nice dilemma/task. But once it is set to life the players may choose any path to the solution of the plot. This is hard to do, and most of the times you will end up with a script with a few select endings. What you should avoid at all costs is a fixed storyline, because that will make the players more like an audience than participants of a role play. Players actions should always affect the outcome of the story, even if you don’t like how it all turns out.

Controlling the crowd

A bit larger merchant's event in PlaneShift.

The main problem when it comes to hosting large events is lag and server crashes. This means that you will need a way to control the masses of players and stop them from gathering all at the same place. To do this you can spread the event over a large area, make things happen in several places at the same time. For example in a festival event you could have several “stations” spread out within a city, like it would naturally in a real life fair. Because of this problem GM events are best run in games with fewer players. But sometimes even small events get too crowded and then you will have to act quickly so the event isn’t ruined by lag or a crash. The best is absolutely to find an IC reason to disperse the crowd, but if that fails you’ll have to resort to OOC means, like telling the crowd to disperse or simply teleporting players out of the area (If you are a GM with such powers).

Words and expressions used

RP – Role play. To define role play is like defining the word God. But take a look at this article to get an idea: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roleplaying

IC – In Character. Everything that your character does within the settings. As opposed to Out of Character.

OOC – Out of Character. The real world is OOC. Anything that has no relation to the settings is OOC.

GM – Game Master, those who organize the event and play the “main” characters of the story.

GM char – Characters in the story played by Game Masters.

Mechanics – The rules of the game, the mechanics that makes the game it self. Including but not limited to Stats, skills, combat system, etc.

Inspiration and resources:

http://www.fantopro.com/blog/2009/11/go-farther-mmos-as-caracters.html#more

http://www.mmorpg.com/showFeature.cfm/loadFeature/3354/Another-Perspective-on-Live-Content.html

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