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The Quiet Year: History's Shadow A map-making game of post-collapse communities  Majuju, nerdpony, Indigo Cephalopods and myself are playing Joe McDaldno's The Quiet Year, starting from the History's Shadow setup thread. Our community lives generations after the collapse of civilisation, in a world where both the night sky and the sea are black and still. We live on a densely-urbanised island in the ocean, connected to some place beyond the horizon by a massive road bridge. We make our home in the Beacon – the tallest tower on the island, the upper levels of which are strangely lit, emitting a beam into the sky and inaccessible to us. Life is tough in this world of concrete and steel, but we've somehow managed to make do. Recently we fought off the Jackals, an effort which left us without working weaponry and much of our food. Not only that, we haven't had much luck finding new books recently for our elders to decipher, and our practical wisdom is facing a wall of hardship. Fortunately, the island has a working water-purification system that subsists on some automatic mechanism, so clean water is plentiful. The Jackals kept us from properly exploring the island, but now that they're gone our scouts are more free to look closer at the landmarks we've only seen from afar and those we've never had the time to fully investigate. Among those are the Rookery, one of the other looming towers on the island that regularly plays host to a truly gargantuan murder of crows that fly in from whatever place lies beyond the road bridge, as well as a strange building by the bridge with a door that locks and unlocks with a pattern or will we have yet to make sense of. It's not just the above-ground world that we can explore now – under the city lie at least the Underground, a warren of tunnels that breach at various points on the surface, and the seemingly bottomless stairwell beneath the Beacon. Mysteries surround us, and now we have the time and the necessity to try and understand them.  The Rules Turn Cycle The order we'll post updates in is as follows: 1) UnCO3 2) Majuju 3) nerdpony 4) Indigo Cephalopods On your turn... Do the following: 1) Go to the Roll20 campaign and draw a card from the appropriate season deck into your hand. 2) Including the card text for the option you choose, write up a description of the thing/event and do any actions the card tells you to. 3) Choose your normal action for that week and describe it. 4) Find and add one or more images for each of the card event and the action (preferably just one each, otherwise the slowdown at the end of the page is ridiculous). 5) Go to the scribblar room and alter the map to show how things have changed. Use symbols, hand drawings, shapes or the pictures you added to the post. Add the map to the post when you're done. 6) List current projects, their current times (and whether any have been completed), current Abundances and Scarcities and current Contempt. Reduce all project times by 1 and remove any that people have finished. Normally this would happen at the beginning of your turn, but you'll be posting everything at once. Post Format Season – Week and number quote:The text of the option you chose on the card you drew, along with any general text like descriptions which fit both options. [A thumbnailed picture here for the card action] This Week's Action: a description of your action this week. [A thumbnailed picture here for the weekly action] [A thumbnailed picture of the updated map] Projects: Project 1 (weeks left, e.g. 4), Project 2 (completed) etc. Abundances: current abundances here, like food, shelter, respect Scarcities: current scarcities here, like trade, clean air, farmland Contempt: Player 1 (current contempt), Player 2 (0) etc. Here's an example from a previous game: quote:Project Completed: Katherine's quiet rabble-rousing has demonstrated that the war with the Jackals did not scar every member of the community alike. While most of us find the idea of more bloodshed abhorrent, the Jackals taught some of us that expedient violence prevents worse atrocities later. When Katherine makes her intent to kill the slaver public, a handful of people stand by her. They leave the community and establish a new camp in the woods between us and the mountains, vowing to do what we do not have the heart for. They will not let Taker return to the Cold Winds alive. Thread Rules Deadlines and Timing There's a 24 hour deadline for each turn. Only draw your card during your turn, and preferably while you're writing your post, so there's no confusion if you go beyond the deadline. Because we're playing online, and asynchronously, there are a few changes to timing. Firstly, when you start a project just decide on an appropriate number of weeks. Secondly, when a project of yours finishes, and its ownership hasn't been transferred to another player by a card event, describe the result when you can. Thirdly, in discussions you can make your statement in any order (unless you're the one who begins it and you start out with a question, in which case you still go last). Communication This is minimalist and pretty tightly regulated in The Quiet Year. You should only post if: it's your turn, a project you own just finished, the game isn't working out for you, you don't have the time to play any more, it seems like someone broke a rule of the game or, if you're waiting on other people to finish projects before you do your turn, to let people know that. Keep an eye on card details other people post in case project ownership changes hands because of an event. There shouldn't be any OOC talk until the end of the game, after the card signifying the arrival of the Frost Shepherds has been posted. Keep the Following in Mind Actions and Card Events If a card tells you to take an action (discovery, project or discussion), it doesn't replace your action for that week unless the card explicitly says so. Changing the World All significant changes to the world must happen as the result of a project, a discovery or a card event. Resources Not every resource the community has will be an Abundance or Scarcity and resolving a Scarcity or removing an Abundance doesn't necessarily mean it flips from one to the other. Furthermore, Abundances aren't necessarily good things, Scarcities aren't necessarily bad. We could have a lot of Corpses, or not very much Hate. Of course, those might actually be good/bad in the community we create. As mentioned in the recruitment thread, a few abstract resources are okay, but it's easy to overdo them. Scribblar Image Problems In my experience, scribblar adds a small-to-massive opaque white border to the bottom and right of any images uploaded from the internet. You can avoid this by downloading images and uploading them directly to the site. Another issue is that it treats every object as a quadrilateral, even things like curved or diagonal lines. If you add any lines to the map, make sure you split them up into several smaller parts that are as straight as you can make them (this is mostly important for drawing major contours or coastlines). Finally, we're probably going to end up with a lot of pictures around where the community lives (because a lot of events and other things will happen there) so it'd be good to keep images smaller there. Credit Again, credit goes to Kestral for the cards for roll20.
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| # ? Mar 16, 2013 14:07 |
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| # ? May 24, 2013 22:14 |
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Here's something to start us off. Spring – Week 1 quote:Where does everyone sleep? Who is unhappy with this arrangement and why?  Action – Begin a Project: Our greatest concern is food. Our scouts have begun scouring buildings around the Beacon for more tins of the food we had before.   Projects: Foraging for food tins (3) Abundances: water Scarcities: books, non-perishable food, weaponry Contempt: UnCO3 (0), Majuju (0), nerdpony (0), Indigo Cephalopods (0)
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| # ? Mar 16, 2013 14:10 |
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Spring - Week 2quote:An old piece of machinery is discovered, broken but perhaps repairable. What is it? What would it be useful for?  At the north end of the island, while battling the Jackals, we were pushed into an old warehouse, its contents long-gone. However, there was something left behind - an old, rusted-out forklift. It doesn't appear to be in truly terrible shape, and might be repairable with a lot of work. If we could get it working, it would undoubtedly prove useful to the community. Action - Start A Discussion Do we want to repair this forklift? Is it within our best interests? We could make use of it for moving and clearing debris and supplies, pushing down walls and previously-locked doors, and there are certainly other situations in which it might come in useful. However, it's going to take a lot of work to repair - both for scavenging parts & fuel, but also for the labour required (and more importantly, the knowledge to actually get it running, which we are in short supply of). It's a large project, certainly, but I support undertaking it.  Projects: Foraging for food tins (2) Abundances: water Scarcities: books, non-perishable food, weaponry Contempt: UnCO3 (0), Majuju (0), nerdpony (0), Indigo Cephalopods (0) Majuju fucked around with this message at Mar 17, 2013 around 01:15 |
| # ? Mar 16, 2013 19:08 |
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The machine will be useful once repaired, so long as we can move it through the cramped streets. OOC: Don't forget to add the updated map to your post. You can get an image of it by clicking the camera icon in the menu on top. Also it's better to limit discussions in size. Edit: by limiting in size, I mean that each person should post a statement, and the question (if there is one) should just be one question. The question here is pretty much 'Should we repair the forklift?'. UnCO3 fucked around with this message at Mar 16, 2013 around 19:33 |
| # ? Mar 16, 2013 19:25 |
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If finding fuel wouldn't be more trouble than the machine itself would be worth, repairing it sounds like a good idea. OOC: We're all supposed to weigh in on this before I take my turn, right? Edited to fix the pronouns. nerdpony fucked around with this message at Mar 16, 2013 around 23:07 |
| # ? Mar 16, 2013 22:43 |
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OOC: Yeah, the turn a discussion starts on ends once everyone's had their say (including whoever started it if they began with a question). By the way, we need to avoid first-person pronouns in future discussions - we're summarising the thoughts of some of the community rather than any one person's views.
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| # ? Mar 16, 2013 23:02 |
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The amount of work required to repair, maintain, and learn how to use it could be better spent on other tasks.
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| # ? Mar 16, 2013 23:45 |
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Spring - Week 3quote:Are there children in the community? If so, what is their role in the community? There are a small number of children in the community; every once in a while, a new one is born, but all the scarcities mean that people are pretty careful about reproduction. The adults are torn between what to do with the children -- do we try to create as close to a "traditional" childhood experience as we can, or do we focus exclusively on preparing them for life in whatever this new world might be? Regardless, they go to school, where a rotating group of adults teaches them the basics -- and beyond, when they can -- of skills like reading, writing, and maths. History, natural sciences, and other subjects occasionally come up as well, but the memories needed for that are fading and the few books we have are starting to fall apart rapidly, regardless of how well we care for them.  Action: Begin a Project If we want to keep up our children's education, we need more books. Let's look for them. Projects: Foraging for food tins (1), Looking for books (5) Abundances: water Scarcities: books, non-perishable food, weaponry Contempt: UnCO3 (0), Majuju (0), nerdpony (0), Indigo Cephalopods (0) 
nerdpony fucked around with this message at Mar 19, 2013 around 02:47 |
| # ? Mar 17, 2013 23:18 |
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OOC: Remember to add something (a symbol or picture) to the map for any card event, project and discovery you describe, and add the updated map to your post as well. You also need to give us a length (from 1-6 weeks) for your project.
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| # ? Mar 18, 2013 00:15 |
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Spring - Week 4quote:Where are you storing your food? Why is this a risky place to store things?  The food is kept on the same level of the Beacon as the able-bodied adults' quarters. It needs to be kept above the defenders' floor, so that in the case of the lower levels being blocked off, the young, sick, and elderly have both food and people who can prepare said food for consumption. This location is also useful in the effort of rationing the food to the hunters, warriors, and defenders, the most voracious eaters in the Beacon, who would face too much temptation to eat larger amounts of food if allowed direct access. Action - Discover Something New  While taking inventory of the food stores, it was found that every night someone is breaking into the pantry and breaking open exactly one can of food and eating the contents. At the moment, it is not an urgent issue, but if the amount of cans being eaten increases, it has the potential to be a major problem.  Projects: Foraging for food tins (complete), Looking for books (4) Abundances: water Scarcities: books, non-perishable food, weaponry Contempt: UnCO3 (0), Majuju (0), nerdpony (0), Indigo Cephalopods (0) Indigo Cephalopods fucked around with this message at Mar 19, 2013 around 03:02 |
| # ? Mar 18, 2013 06:15 |
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Project Completed: We found a bounty of tinned food - not only were there stores in the buildings around the Beacon, the scouts found hidden caches with the Jackals' scrawls on them. We still do not know who the thief taking from our previous stock was, but hopefully they will stop taking food in the night now that we have enough for months. Spring - Week 5 quote:There is a disquieting legend about this place. What is it?  Action - Discover Something New: A white crow is seen flying with the murder. It behaves like any other, landing only at the Rookery and never coming close to the ground.   Projects: Looking for books (3) Abundances: water Scarcities: weaponry, books Contempt: UnCO3 (0), Majuju (0), nerdpony (0), Indigo Cephalopods (0)
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| # ? Mar 19, 2013 02:26 |
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Spring - Week 6quote:A charismatic young girl convinces many to help her with an elaborate scheme. What is it? Who joins her endeavours? Start a project to reflect.  The first to spot the white crow was a young girl, born with strange-coloured hair, but otherwise normal amongst the rest of the children. Leaning out one of the accessible upper floors of the Beacon, she watched its return from the mainland with a stern expression, and reported her discovery to the elders, as she should have. The next morning, however, she claimed the crows were speaking to her, telling her it was time. That it was time to visit the rookery, time to see what the crows had been hiding. Swayed by the break in the normal routine, many of the group began formulating plans to enter the rookery tower through an elaborate construction of scavenged scaffolding, using material cleared from other buildings to fashion a bridge from a neighbouring tower.  Action - Start a Project: Explore the Rookery Led by the charismatic young girl, we will finally begin to explore the rookery. We will attempt to enter through one of its upper levels, with the goal of reaching the top floor where the crows roost. Action - Start a Project: Find a Source of Fuel  Before we start devoting effort to repairing the derelict forklift, we should first secure a source of fuel that we can use both for the machine, and to help our survival overall. We will begin by checking several stacks of drums left around the island - hopefully there are a few that still have something inside them. Projects: Looking for books (2), explore the rookery (3), find a source of fuel (3) Abundances: water Scarcities: weaponry, books Contempt: UnCO3 (0), Majuju (0), nerdpony (0), Indigo Cephalopods (0) Majuju fucked around with this message at Mar 19, 2013 around 22:18 |
| # ? Mar 19, 2013 05:09 |
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OOC: Remember that any action a card tells you to take is in addition to your regular action that week, unless it specifically says otherwise.
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| # ? Mar 19, 2013 11:27 |
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OOC: okay, started a lengthy project as well as the smaller one. I hope I am not starting too much!
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| # ? Mar 19, 2013 18:25 |
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OOC: The maximum limit on project length is 6 weeks.
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| # ? Mar 19, 2013 19:02 |
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OOC: Okay, fixed. That was what I had originally wanted to put anyhow but went with 8 because of the monumentality of it.
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| # ? Mar 19, 2013 19:39 |
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OOC: If a project would last for longer than 6 weeks then it's probably important enough to be split into multiple smaller projects (e.g. 'repairing the forklift' and 'finding fuel', each 3-4 weeks or whatever you choose).
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| # ? Mar 19, 2013 21:51 |
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OOC: Oh god, I'm ruining everything. Updated again.
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| # ? Mar 19, 2013 22:19 |
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OOC: Don't worry about it  It's better to get these kinds of things understood early on.
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| # ? Mar 19, 2013 22:22 |
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OOC: It's been over 24 hours since the last update, so we're moving to Indigo Cephalopods' turn.
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| # ? Mar 20, 2013 16:02 |
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Spring - Week 7quote:An old man confesses to past crimes and atrocities. What has he done?  One of the elderly members of the society came forward and confessed that it had been he who had broken into the pantry and eaten a can of food every night. He claims that a few weeks ago, he began to be hit by painful spikes of incredible hunger, despite no change to his diet or daily routine. At first he could stand the pain until breakfast, but it kept getting worse and worse until he couldn't stand it and decided to break into the pantry. According to him, the pantry door was always unlocked when he got there, to which the workers responded that they made incredibly sure that every night the pantry was secure when they left. Action - Start a Discussion Should the old man be punished for his actions in some way?  Projects: Looking for books (1), explore the rookery (2), find a source of fuel (2) Abundances: water Scarcities: weaponry, books Contempt: UnCO3 (0), Majuju (0), nerdpony (0), Indigo Cephalopods (0)
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| # ? Mar 20, 2013 18:38 |
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I believe that the man's confession should be sufficient punishment, and despite the nature of the crime, further action is unnecessary.
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| # ? Mar 20, 2013 19:37 |
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We will remember what he did, but for now we have enough food to spare a little more for him.
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| # ? Mar 20, 2013 19:42 |
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OOC: I'm supposed to weigh in too after everyone else, right? The man should not be punished, though we should keep an eye out for him or others to repeat his actions.
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| # ? Mar 20, 2013 20:21 |
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OOC: Yeah, though nerdpony hasn't posted in the discussion yet, so I'll wait to do my turn until they do.
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| # ? Mar 20, 2013 22:00 |
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We should remain vigilant, but this man is not the one out of whom we should make an example. ooc: sorry for the delay; I'm getting over a serious illness and trying to deal with my coursework and teaching sometimes means that I don't sit down at my computer for way longer than I anticipate.
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| # ? Mar 21, 2013 09:10 |
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Spring - Week 8quote:What group has the highest status in the community? What must people do to gain inclusion?  Action - Discover Something New: One night, we heard a horrible grinding noise coming from the East. When our scouts worked up their courage and went out the next morning, they found a rusted metal hulk of some kind had nearly beached itself on the Eastern gravel shore. How it was able to move in its condition, they have no idea.   Projects: Looking for books (complete), Explore the rookery (1), Find a source of fuel (1) Abundances: water Scarcities: weaponry, books Contempt: UnCO3 (0), Majuju (0), nerdpony (0), Indigo Cephalopods (0) OOC: If it's okay with Majuju and Indigo Cephalopods we could extend the turn deadline for you to 48 hours.
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| # ? Mar 21, 2013 16:18 |
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Spring - Week 9quote:You see a bad omen. What is it? After a concerted effort, our search team makes its way through the building housing the rookery and stands at a large metal door, rusted and corroded from the salt air, but still barring their path. They wait until mid-day, when the crows have left for parts unknown, and, putting their backs into it, grind the door open. The room beyond is caked with crow droppings and packed with a huge quantity of junk and debris. The crows appear to be using it for a nesting area, and there are eggs nestled in various clutches around the space. Hesitant to enter due to the accumulated filth, the expedition observes cautiously from the doorframe. One of the eggs begins to twitch and stir, and something pierces its shell. Rapt, the group watches as larger and larger bits of egg begin to break away...and a black cat emerges from the egg, sits down, and stares. The terrified explorers fled the building immediately.  Project Complete: Seek Fuel Along with the massive hulk, several drums have washed up on the shore. Inspecting them, it appears a number are filled with fuel. We recover all we can find and bring it back to the Beacon. Action: Start a Discussion Strange events are occurring with greater and greater regularity on the island. How should we prepare for what is to come? Does it merit changing our day-to-day routine to gear towards self-defense? I believe we must increase our guard. After the war with the Jackals, we are unstable, and I think we would benefit from more regimented behaviour and being more prepared for what is to come.  Projects: none Abundances: water Scarcities: weaponry, books Contempt: UnCO3 (0), Majuju (0), nerdpony (0), Indigo Cephalopods (0)
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| # ? Mar 22, 2013 01:21 |
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We can't let a few mere oddities drive us to cowardice. Now more than ever is it right to grow and be free.
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| # ? Mar 22, 2013 02:16 |
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We should add these events to the growing list of strange events; however, drastic change now would be unnecessarily preemptive.
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| # ? Mar 23, 2013 00:35 |
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We should be wary of these strange occurences, but we must not let them impede progress.
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| # ? Mar 23, 2013 00:53 |
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Spring - Week 10quote:What belief or practice helps to unify your community? Once a week, we gather together for a communal meal. We share the progress that has been made on various projects and also share a story of a positive event that happened to us that week. This practice came about during the war, when sometimes the communal meal could hardly be called a meal and negative events far outnumbered the positives. But now, in this time of more prosperity (but of course still struggles), this tradition remains an important part of keeping our community together, and reminding us that even when things are scarce and the threat of war still looms, the community is what's important.  Action: Start a Discussion At today's meal, a few children reported seeing a person coming across the bridge. They called out to this person, but there was no response. They discussed following them, but were too scared. What do we do about the possibility of an outsider on the island?  Projects: None. Abundances: water Scarcities: weaponry, books Contempt: UnCO3 (0), Majuju (0), nerdpony (0), Indigo Cephalopods (0)
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| # ? Mar 23, 2013 23:44 |
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OOC: Your project to find books also finished on my last turn, so you can add the result of that too.
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| # ? Mar 23, 2013 23:58 |
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Spring - Week 11quote:There's a giant, man-made structure of the map. Where is it? Why is it abandoned?  Action - Begin a Project: A band of our more confident scouts sets out to locate the former home of the Jackals. We drove them off, but we lost much in the process, and while our supplies have been improved over the past few months we could always do with more. Thus, they reason, they should loot the well-guarded hide-away of our enemies. However, all we know is that the attacks came from the stairway North of the Rookery.   Projects: Find the Jackals' home (4) Abundances: water Scarcities: weaponry, books (until nerdpony completes their project, presumably) Contempt: UnCO3 (0), Majuju (0), nerdpony (0), Indigo Cephalopods (0) OOC: It's past the deadline for Indigo Cephalopods' turn, so I'm going ahead and doing mine.
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| # ? Mar 25, 2013 00:57 |
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Spring - Week 12quote:What's the most beautiful thing in this area?  Near the western edge of the island, there is an old building that was once an indoor garden. Despite the toll taken on the surroundings, the building has held up remarkably well, and the plant life inside has grown wild over every surface therein. It is a calming place, and when the light from the setting sun hits it in the evening, it is clear why it's the most beautiful place on the island. Start A Project: Repair the forklift We have progressed much over this season, and it is time to begin the process of repairing the derelict forklift. Thanks to the efforts of our entire community, we should be able to cobble together enough scrap from recent discoveries to get it up and running.  Projects: Find the Jackals' home (3), repair the forklift (4) Abundances: water Scarcities: weaponry, books (until nerdpony completes their project, presumably) Contempt: UnCO3 (0), Majuju (0), nerdpony (0), Indigo Cephalopods (0)
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| # ? Mar 25, 2013 03:12 |
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ooc: Sorry, today was a hell of a day. I'll post tomorrow morning.
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| # ? Mar 27, 2013 05:32 |
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OOC: It isn't morning anymore, but here we go. Spring - Week 13 quote:Someone new arrives. Who?  A few women are standing outside and chatting when a young man walks up to them. He introduces himself, asks if he can stay, tells about how he lost everything and his family disappeared and he walked here. He's dirty and skinny in that way that shows remnants of having once been clean and well-fed, but quite some time ago and probably a great distance away. He asks for shelter, even if it's only for a few nights, and says he has a lot of mechanical skills so could surely do something useful. The women aren't sure what to do and so bring the issue to the community. Project Complete: Looking for books Recently some young men came across a large stash of books while they were in an old building and, in a few trips, brought them back. The adults who help coordinate the school are very excited about this, particularly because the books are both fiction and nonfiction. Action: Start a discussion What should we do about this interloper? Should we give him shelter? Projects: Find the Jackals' home (2), repair the forklift (3) Abundances: water Scarcities: weaponry Contempt: UnCO3 (0), Majuju (0), nerdpony (0), Indigo Cephalopods (0) OOC: When I opened up the map it was all messed up and a bunch of stuff was missing and I hit undo a bunch of times but nothing happened so I don't know what's happening did I break it  . Also the photo of it is taking forever to upload to imgur, so I'll post that soon hopefully.
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| # ? Mar 28, 2013 02:03 |
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If it's just one, then we can afford to carry the burden until they're well enough to work alongside us. OOC: scribblar will screw up everything's positions occasionally. I just checked and the map was messed up - then I went to the second page of the whiteboard and back again and the only thing out of place was a black rectangle just below the bridge, which I've since fixed. This problem happened a few times in the last game I was in and it was resolved in a similar way (exiting and re-entering the map page one way or another), though some people thought someone outside the game was screwing around with the map. I don't know what causes it (maybe having a lot of items on the page), but it resolves itself easily so it's nothing much to worry about.
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| # ? Mar 28, 2013 02:33 |
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One more mouth to feed is no tremendous burden, but he must be made to realize that being a member of the community means participating.
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| # ? Mar 28, 2013 04:47 |
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| # ? May 24, 2013 22:14 |
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With all the strange occurrences lately, allowing someone we know nothing about in could spell disaster for the beacon and all it's inhabitants.
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| # ? Mar 28, 2013 04:54 |
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