How Have You Benefited From Dragon's Egg?

[Sparkie]

I'm curious as to what everyone feels they have gained as writers, players, readers, ect. How has playing this game affected you? What are the positives? Any negatives? Would you recommend play-by-post gaming to others?

*****​

I'll start.

The best thing I've gotten from Dragon's Egg has been getting back into a daily routine of writing. Before we started at the turn of the year, I had drifted away from writing every day. This game has me back into the habit of getting off work, going about the daily tasks of life, and then going straight to my laptop to write. In that way, this game has been the best thing to happen to me creatively in a long time.

Another benefit has been the way in which most of us write. I'd never seriously considered using a 1st person POV prior to January 1st, 2013. And now look at us! A few days ago I remarked to Steerpike in Chat that my experience with Dragon's Egg has taught me that 1st person is remarkably flexible. Thinking about it now, it has also helped me (along with The Mythic Guide to Characters) to really get inside the minds of my characters. Who knew that writing in 1st person could be so cool?

An unexpected consequence of this game was finding out how attached I get to my characters. There was a singular moment that made me realize that I needed to distance myself somewhat from Rydh. (In case you're wondering what moment that was, check this link: http://mythicscribes.com/forums/dragons-egg-rpg/7263-dragons-egg-act-ii-31.html#post94539 ) Rydh may, and probably will, die at some point. When that happens I'll be sad, but I won't feel like I would have before I understood his mortality. I'm prepared now, and I have a backup character ready just in case.

We've had a few fights over the game. I don't like it. It's a game, that's all. It may have different meaning for all of us, and we may all feel more or less strongly about it, but it's still just a game. I think that everyone, including myself, needs to do a better job of communicating and offering compromise when differences arise. We'll have our squabbles, but we can avoid the messy stuff if we all work to avoid it.

Overall, I would recommend this kind of experience to other writers. There is value in it, I'm sure of it. I'm not sure I'd recommend it to an average reader of Fantasy novels. The threads get too convoluted and difficult to follow at times. Having participated in other PBP games on different sites, I'd also have a difficult time recommending this campaign to other PBP gamers. We definitely have our own thing going on here, and some of what we do may be a bit too far from what those other potential players are used to.

So, what do you think?

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

I've always enjoyed writing in first person, but this game forced me write from a female POV, at least when I saw the pantheons and realized Brynhild best suited the type of character I'd want to play. In fact, several game elements forced me to write something contradictory to what I would write if I had complete control over plot and other characters.

Character creation: Steerpike forced us to choose, either be average in everything, or take steep penalties for awesomeness. I like the fact we have an intelligent barbarian, a strong wizard, a priest who prefers the sword over the healing spells and a barbarian man built for combat but played as comic relief—a lot of us played the archetypes atypically while remaining true to archetypes.

Circumstances: beyond our control or not, I like writing and reading characters' reactions to events. Cadell losing his hand and Darin getting his throat slit were the most frightening moments so far. For me, gambles like arm wrestling and that extremely successful rescue that could have much more easily failed were tricky to write knowing my character will look either very heroic or like a chump.

Character interactions: always fun to write. I felt fortunate that Steerpike gave Nissa a physical form. I hope players enjoyed meeting her as I enjoyed being able to bring that into the game.

 

[Ireth]

I don't typically write in first person, let alone present tense, so this was an interesting challenge in that respect. Even though Cadell has been in my head for months, and his backstory is basically copy-pasted from where he originated, this RP has allowed me to play him in an entirely new way. I love seeing different sides of him as brought out by the other characters' reactions to him, whether it be Baldhart's kindness or Ankari's abrasiveness, among others. (Gotta say, for all his lack of tact, Ankari's nothing if not honest.) It's rather fascinating to play a knight who, while striving for excellence and perfection as dictated by his Code, is nonetheless hampered by the emotions he can't properly express, for his own sake and those of others -- anger at having to be here against his will, self-esteem issues from the loss of his hand, and now fear for his standing in his queen's eyes. I look forward to seeing where the plot takes everyone in the future. ^^

 

[Nihal]

Well, yes, first person in present tense. I don't enjoy reading books in this format, so, as you can imagine, writing in first person is challenging. It's even harder to write the character's thoughts—what I felt it was needed to play Mauve, who is a overthinker—, without giving everything away at once. I hope I'm not boring you all with her.

Though I've been a bit sloppy last month or so, I have the additional benefit of training my English while playing. I've learnt a bunch of new things, I felt compelled to seek suitable synonyms so my writing wouldn't be so repetitive; I knew these synonyms but rarely used, happily standing inside my comfort zone. I've even noticed some writing rules, like never closing the quotes when you break the same dialogue in paragraphs. Whyyyy?! Every quote should be closed. D:

I'm aware that I still have more challenges to overcome in this regard, like giving distincter voices and demeanors to my characters or just better phrasing my sentences. I believe I still have more to learn, not only how to use the language efficiently but on how to better characterize different personalities.

I'm also glad I've got the chance to play Mauve, she's a character I first played years ago. Her first version was a cleric of doubtful behaviour and she was my first tabletop RPG character; she was changed into a warlock years later for another RPG, earning the name of Mauve and her more physical fighting style, and now she's DE's Mauve. You might ask yourself why I keep using basically the same character. I believe there is something worse than your character's death: When he or she doesn't live up to his/her purpose. I would rather have her dying in a bright flame than suffering another unfinished campaign, for in neither of these games we ever achieved the main objective nor had the chance to develop our characters—the game stopped way before. Her death would sadden me, for sure, but would bring a fulfillment feeling, for at last I gave her some destiny. It'll be one less "unfinshed" ghost haunting me!

Oh, and I've been stretching my empathizing ability to its maximum. It's hard to put myself in the shoes of a character who can have some thoughts radically different from mine. I know it's still in "easy mode" for these situations are rare and that in the future they'll get more frequent. I wonder if I'll gave the guts to play her as I should, or if I'll be spared from it by roleplaying events.

 

[SeverinR]

It was hard writing with the different pov.

Sparkie: If you care about what happens to your character, you get attached. (Be it RPG or char in a book.) And you will be sad.

If you don't care, you won't have them react properly. (DEII showed me this.)

You learn from positives and the negitives, and use it to make your art better.

 

[Ankari]

I know this is a dead thread, but I have to thank everyone for participating in this RPG. I've since taken Ankari's attitude and incorporated it into my novel/universe. I know have an entire faction of druids who think as he thinks, and rangers who seek to evolve into a balance of nature and civilization.

Great stuff. Thanks everyone!

 

[Steerpike]

Hey, that's cool, Ankari. Glad to hear it!

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

I know this is a dead thread, but I have to thank everyone for participating in this RPG. I've since taken Ankari's attitude and incorporated it into my novel/universe. I know have an entire faction of druids who think as he thinks, and rangers who seek to evolve into a balance of nature and civilization.

Great stuff. Thanks everyone!

Speaking of Ankari's attitude, I was reliving some of his hilarious descriptions of Baldhart on vacation while reading Storm of Swords. Jamie's descriptions of Brienne are similar in nature, including the comparison of woman warrior to cow. Although the Jamie POV didn't need help to be extremely entertaining, the Ankari-Baldhart/Jamie-Brienne similarities added to my enjoyment.

 

[SeverinR]

With the new character,
I can slip into each character quickly. Looking at the same encounters from two perspectives, one a suspicious thief the other a confident outspoken barbarian.

 

[Ankari]

I've been working on my FPOV writing. FPOV brings the reader right into the character's emotional journey throughout a story. I think it's a powerful tool, but I find it the hardest to employ. The hardest part is limiting the usage of "I". I'll write a post, read what I've written, and try to restructure sentences to remove as many "I's" as I can. Who knows, maybe the next novel I write will be in FPOV.