[Gossamer's Scrapbook] The Ethereal Canyon I

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The player scrapbooks forum is literally a place for writers to warm-up, brainstorm, keep little scraps of notes, or just post things to encourage themselves and each other. Each player can feel free to create their own thread - one per account - and use them accordingly.

[Gossamer's Scrapbook] The Ethereal Canyon

Postby Gossamer on January 24th, 2015, 3:49 pm



Jen's Guide To
Epically Failing On
A Storyteller Application

(...or how to succeed?)


Yes, we see this a lot. Don't let this be you. Most storyteller applications repeatedly make us gnash our teeth with frustration and cry big tears of sadness for the Domain being applied for. Why? Because we know we have another mindless sheep that wants to lead the flock to it's demise when we get certain types of answers.

Below is a quick and dirty guide on how to NOT fail at an ST application.

  • What is your name?


    Refusing to give us your real name is a deal breaker. This should be the easiest question in the whole application. Sadly, it is not.


  • What is your age?

    Being vague or withholding this is also a deal breaker. Just tell us. Would it really kill you that we know?

  • Please list any characters you might play.


    Failing to omit that you have X number of alts, were an ex-st that was retired for inactivity, or any sort of lying is a deal breaker.


  • Please list the position you are applying for (RS, DS, AS, JrST).


    OMG I JUST WANT TO BE ON STAFF! I DONT CARE WHERE! Please be specific. We aren't mind readers and if you can't pick out a domain and list what you like or don't like about it, its strengths and weaknesses, etc. then you have no business writing out this application.


  • Please give a detailed accounting of why you want to apply for this position and how you want to improve this area. What drew you to this region? What is special about it? Please be specific.



    The players are amazing. The players drew me. The players are my besties. Anything about the players there is going to get you an epic big X in our book because the players are amazing all over the game. This shows a real lack of knowledge of the domain. This is supposed to be all about the domain. In this case, and in all cases on the application, we care NOTHING about how you feel about the players. Player dynamics change all the time. The people there currently may not be there five minutes from now. Even if the players drew you because they are special, NO NO NO. We don't want to hear about it. Tell us the OTHER reasons why you are there.

    Also, don't you dare tell us you want to write calenders, weather, and locations. If you use the word 'Development' at all, its a deal breaker. Why? Because any player can develop. That's not really a full time storyteller job. It's just a sideline hobby that ST's get to indulge in. The whole World Development Forum is for development. Go there if that's what you want to do.

    Now if you want to talk about concepts and ideas you want to work on, that's cool. New factions? Cool. Expand existing things? Cool. But most domains have set ideas, concepts, and locations in place. They don't need to be developed. Streamlined? Sure. But not .... torn down and built up from scratch.


  • Please list your favorite aspects of Mizahar and why.


    I bet you can guess by now what I'm going to say here. We know the players are special. But again, we don't want to hear about them adnasium for a round two. So many applications have five or six sections on why the players are amazing. We get that. We know we are surrounded by incredibly gifted writers. Say something about the site, the content, the set up, the skill system. This is a critical thinking section. Show us you have a half a brain and aren't some brainless hussy staring at your pretty nails, tossing your head, smacking your bubble gum and telling us how omg dreamy the players are.

  • Please list the aspects of Mizahar you feel need improvement and why.


    If I see one more application that has the obvious big two lacks on it I'm going to vomit. You get negative points for stating the obvious like the game has a lack of storytellers or the lore needs finished. We know this. We understand this. The situation is being worked on. Tell us about game systems that are flawed. Tell us about situations that are awkward and could be smoothed out and how.

    Also, don't tell me you are going to BRIBE players into doing work in your city by using things like perk points etc. That's utter bs. It's been done. Go get an original idea, mkay?


  • Please list any applicable experience you might have with storytelling (can be off site).

    Don't tell us you read your little sister bedtime stories every night. We don't care. We want to know what sort of STORYTELLING experience you might have in regards to putting plots together, including all sorts of players, being flexible... anything that might be related to this such as impromptu theater, work at the YMCA with kids, etc. can be considered pertinent. Do you herd cats for a living? This may just help you on your application if you have wondrous skills we haven't yet looked into as valuable for STs to have. Put it down. We do not, however, want to hear about your toenail clipping art nor your mock up of Mizahar made out of macaroni art. Oversharing is a good thing, but probably not in this section.


  • Please list any development projects you might have been involved with. Why did you get involved? What drew you to this sort of development. What made you enthusiastic about these projects?

    If you don't have any, don't put in an application. Go work on something in the WDF and see if you like creating things for the game first. If you don't.... then you won't like being a storyteller because 99% of your job is crafting plots for your domain. This can be development from anywhere on anything. Just give us lots of examples or take five minutes and donate some time to a city and make a location and a couple of NPCs so we see you aren't a completely uninspired blow-hard here. If you wrote a church play, helped landscape your grandma's garden in a sexy Mediterranean theme... anything. Just talk about it here. We just want to know you are creative and imaginative!


  • Please provide a recommendation from an existing storyteller.


    No recommendation? No deal. And don't ask someone who doesn't know you. Ask someone whom you perhaps did some development for. But you MUST have a recommendation. That doesn't mean you need a 'name' to give us. You need the whole recommendation posted.


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[Gossamer's Scrapbook] The Ethereal Canyon

Postby Gossamer on January 25th, 2015, 2:38 am

Quick Heads Up - Adware/Malware/Ransomware


As you know, I got my first new computer in years and years. Along with that I got my first Virus. Only, this wasn't a real virus, it was something called ransomware/adware... like Malware only something different - it floods you with ads and asks you to pay a ransom to get rid of it. Fancy name huh? I wasn't sure how I got it because I didn't click on links or do things that stupid people do that get virus'. But then, Thurs, while listening to NPR, they had a whole program on exactly the virus I got.

It was a program that fed Ads to everything and shut down my PS, my Firefox and absolutely destroyed AIM. Gillar, who is something of a computer guru, fixed it, but only after letting me try to do it while he was at work. That took six hours before I gave up rather than throw the laptop across the room.

Well, it turns out the NPR program explained exactly how I got it, and man do I feel dumb. But I'm going to share this with you now so you don't even remotely fall into this trap. So, it seems, when your surfing around the web and start to watch cute cat videos or things that interest you, there's a message that drops down that looks like it comes straight from your browser - in this case Firefox - and its SOOO REAL that you think oh yea... right... I'll click that. It basically says your FLASH is not current or some other program like JAVA needs updating. It looks like its absolutely from the company that puts out these programs and you click on it, thus downloading the adware onto your system and kissing most of your functionality goodbye.

The program experts recommended if you ever get this message just go directly to the manufacturer of the software's site - in most cases Adobe - and get any and all updates FROM them and not from popups. I feel like a serious re-re over this. But I'm just sharing so you guys don't fall into my same brainless trap.

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[Gossamer's Scrapbook] The Ethereal Canyon

Postby Gossamer on January 31st, 2015, 10:57 pm



There are currently now 50 graders total on the Grader List. I challenge all of you graders to grade at least one thread this weekend. That will make a huge dent in our grading backlog. Just one. Please take the time to do so.


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[Gossamer's Scrapbook] The Ethereal Canyon

Postby Jashkataal on February 1st, 2015, 4:21 am

Challenge accepted!


May the Grades be ever in your favor!
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[Gossamer's Scrapbook] The Ethereal Canyon

Postby Timothy Mered on February 1st, 2015, 10:38 am

To my shame, I haven't graded in a while. I'll do my best to reduce the pile.
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[Gossamer's Scrapbook] The Ethereal Canyon

Postby Brandon Blackwing on February 4th, 2015, 5:46 pm

Ha! Only one? :') Don't make me laugh. That barely is a challenge. :P :lol:

Are we doing this next weekend too? I kind of noticed belatedly that this challenge was meant for last weekend :paranoid:
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[Gossamer's Scrapbook] The Ethereal Canyon

Postby Gossamer on February 6th, 2015, 12:48 am

I love this.... it was sent to me via pintrest from a friend.

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[Gossamer's Scrapbook] The Ethereal Canyon

Postby Gossamer on February 8th, 2015, 11:18 pm

So, I'm no Traverse the Movie Reviewer Extraordinaire, but I did head out to Jupiter Ascending today with Gillar. We both really liked it. The plot was different and it kept you guessing. The main actors did a great job, and it was a really beautiful movie to see. The action was enough that it kept the plot flowing, but not too much that you just wanted the movie to die (like the last transformers one). I enjoyed the romance too and the crazy family interactions.

It's not a remake, its not a retelling, its utterly original. Are there a few troupes? Yep. There's a lot of them. But I enjoyed them despite itself. The movie doesn't take itself too seriously, but it is a serious sci-fi. Does that make sense? Go see it. You'll understand what I mean.

I think its the best one I've seen for a while. Poo poo on those reviewers that only like things like American Sniper and give crap reviews to sci-fi fantasy movies. Back in the day, they hated Star Wars too.
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[Gossamer's Scrapbook] The Ethereal Canyon

Postby Irriari on February 8th, 2015, 11:23 pm

I might go see this. I tend to shy away from sci-fi movies since I prefer fantasy as a genre, but I'm also starting to lean away from horror movies. It leaves me with few options (other than rom-coms) and Disney movies.
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[Gossamer's Scrapbook] The Ethereal Canyon

Postby Ball on February 9th, 2015, 4:08 pm

Wifey wants to see it...I might just watch it with her...
Avatar CreditsMy lovely Avatar was drawn and created by the most awesome Nivel

Graders Please Note :
As Ball is getting closer and closer to maxing out Pyken as a skill, I would like to request that in places where Ball is not doing enough to constitute Pyken XP if Pyken technique lores could be issued instead.

Examples of proper XP level for Pyken would be: Ball developing or refining his technique by adding new thing against an actual moving target, not a dummy.

The use of basic skills alone are not enough to accomplish XP at Ball's current level of Pyken.

Thank you.

I will be handling all Ball related posts on Mondays @ 1800 my time *
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