[Caelum's Scrapbook] Use Your Words.

[Taylani]

Just saying, playing an Akalak that is sparring with such a pretty man...its kind of hard to get into the masculine bruiser mentality when that picture flashes up

[Gossamer]

You know, hes hot, but I like him a whole lot better with clothes on. He's too lean without them. I'm way more apt to go gaga over the akalak body type - wide shoulders, big chest, strong sculpted arms. I have plans for Taylani's Green Guy's Avatar.. oh yes... yes I do..

[Taylani]

Now don't make him too distracting for me so that I can't write on him Jen!!

[Gossamer]

Lets just hyjack Katie's Scrap to not talk about her PCs but talk about ours. My boy was a pleasure to write for because I loved his piercing eyes.

[Caelum]

Ya'll can totally talk about your PCs in my scrap. I happen to be fond of them.

[Taylani]

I have to really agree with you there Jen, your boy's eyes were very mesmerizing!

lol I am learning more about Caelum, and finding myself really eager to learn more. Yes I get easily excited, especially when it is about delving into a character's history.

is why unless I have to I don't like to read CS's histories too closely I love finding them out in RP, though finding that more difficult to avoid these days lol

[Caelum]

It thrills me to no end to learn that someone out there is excited about playing with me. Like, seriously. You just gave me a warm fuzzy. It's also super cool that you're learning stuff about my emo eth. Are you actually reading his solos? Someone reads his solos? Wait, wait. You're a grader. You have to. In all seriousness, we're going to have a lot of fun.

[Taylani]

Wait am I suppose to be reading the threads I grade?

All seriousness aside, I am super enjoying the Akalak's thread with Caelum, though really since Your thread with Favchean and Kaie's thread with Favchean is really officially my very first ever combat writing experience (my characters have always been lovers not fighters..Healers and Artsy people) its distracting

but the thread(s) you and I have planned for Taylani just fits so well with the plot she is on I am super excited..plus I am not at all sure how she will react with your pretty-boyness Yes that is a word.

[Caelum]

A note on the Intelligence skill. The Intelligence skill has been a point of confusion for players, storytellers, and graders of either group since the beginning. As the author of the skill (though to give credit where it’s due, I received extensive editorial assistance from another active player at the time), I have attempted to clarify when the questions are posed to me; but recently I’ve heard a few disappointingly inaccurate interpretations and so have decided to write this scrap. In my experience the Intelligence skill is often overcomplicated by those attempting to achieve it as well those attempting to award it. I think that the three most important things to remember in both regards are: 1) Intelligence at Novice and even Competent levels is relatively easy to acquire and should be awarded generously. 2) Intelligence absolutely should be awarded in conjunction with related skills and with specific, relevant lores. 3) Intelligence has multiple benefits, uses, and applications. When combined with other related skills, it vastly expands not only a character’s understanding, but also their analytical ability and, perhaps most importantly, their capability to impact and change the societies they come into contact with. Intelligence can be learned at lower levels from books. Of course, books on intelligence on few and far between. Therefore, the quickest and most common way to begin learning the Intelligence skill is be an active and thoughtful participant in your own society. What do I mean? Intelligence should be awarded when a character is actively observing, deducting, and analyzing the information offered by their surroundings. When you’re walking through a marketplace and studying the locations of stalls, the interactions between customers and vendors, attempting to draw conclusions of how successful the market is or whether or not it will close early due to the appearance of storm clouds on the horizon, you are practicing the art of an intelligencer at its lower and most basic levels. Graders should consider whether or not the Intelligence skill applies, therefore, when they are awarding skill points in things such as Observation, Stealth, Planning, Deduction, Interrogation, Investigation, et cetera. This list is potentially endless. It is inclusive due to the often subtle nature of the intelligence skill rather than exclusive. A character can earn Intelligence when – personal example – they are performing an autopsy at a location they’ve never been before and are attempting to understand the nature and potential threat of their surroundings and the people with whom they are interacting. Or when they’re attempting to come up with solutions! There are other aspects and more advanced complications in the higher levels of the Intelligence skill, but it is at these lowest levels I’ve heard tell of confusion. That’s enough for now. I hope this helps someone, somewhere. - k.

[Caelum]

Intelligence Skill, con’t. It occurred to me to explain what I meant when I said to award specific, relevant skills. As some are aware, I’m a little bit of a lore nazi. The Intelligence skill is one of the reasons why. Using the marketplace example from my previous post, it is important for the grader to award related lores. Possible examples are – Riverfall Location: The Zonjgie Market The Zonjgie Market: Layout, Hours of Operation, Number of Vendors, Guard Rotation, Types of Wares, etc… Why is this important? Because acquiring, assimilating, and ultimately employing data of this nature is the foundation of the intelligence skill. If you award Caelum 3 points in Intelligence but with no explanation, he could potentially have detailed and extensive knowledge of the crop rotations in Lhavit for all anyone knows. So who cares? The answer to that is simple: you should. Because when you decide to create or become involved in a city or game wide plot and would like to impact it in some way, shape, or form, having lores on your CS that accurately explain your especial knowledge on the relevant material allows you to do it. It’s just like Wilderness Survival or Medicine in that. An expert in medicine can do surgery, but without the lore of, say, Surgery: Appendectomy, then they have a lower success rate performing one and would be less well able to teach someone else how to. I’m holding out hope that any of this makes sense.