What's that, Furcadia?

Roleplay

Phoenix Speak and YOU!

by on Dec.29, 2007, under Digos, Dragons Eye Productions, Dragonspeak, News, Phoenix Speak, Roleplay

Recently Dragon’s Eye Productions, (Our friendly Furcadia hosts,) has taken it upon themselves to make Phoenix Speak available for everyone.

For those that don’t know what Phoenix Speak is, you can look here for some of the information related to Phoenix Speak. Suffice it to say, it is a server-side database system that stores information for your dream between uploads.

Here’s a list of the Phoenix Speak Lines available to everyone right now:

(5:600) memorize that the PhoenixSpeak info {…} about the triggering furre will now be #.
(5:601) memorize that the PhoenixSpeak info {…} about the furre named {…} will now be #.
(5:602) memorize that the PhoenixSpeak info {…} about this dream will now be #.
(5:610) remember the PhoenixSpeak info {…} about the triggering furre, and put it in variable #.
(5:611) remember the PhoenixSpeak info {…} about the furre named {…}, and put it in variable #.
(5:612) remember the PhoenixSpeak info {…} about this dream, and put it in variable #.
(5:630) forget all PhoenixSpeak info about the triggering furre.
(5:631) forget all PhoenixSpeak info about the furre named {…}.
(5:632) forget the PhoenixSpeak info {…} about this dream.
(5:633) forget all PhoenixSpeak info about this dream.
(5:650) use the PhoenixSpeak ‘just testing’ area to store info from now on.
(5:651) use the PhoenixSpeak ‘real and official’ area to store info from now on.

These are located in the DS Editor, for those who don’t recognize the format.

If you’d like some serious info on Phoenix speak, (including a list of PS Variables that you can use,) please check here.

How much Phoenix Speak can you have for your dream?

Well, if you’re a Silver Sponsor, you can store data for up to 200 people, and have a database of about 64k.
If you don’t have Silver Sponsorship, you can store data for up to 50 people; and you’ve got 10k in which to play.

Also out is a temporary banish command that players have been asking DEP to implement for a while, it’s for people you just want to get out long enough to cool your head.

Leave a Comment more...

Draygan’s Hollow

by on Dec.11, 2007, under Artists, Artwork, Location, News, Roleplay

This is the first of what I hope to be many informational messages about various different kinds of guilds, dreams, and groups on Furcadia that would like to make a little bit more known about themselves. Kaelin’yFiae sat down with me to talk about her dream, “Draygan’s Hollow”, in the hopes that the information shared will help gain her some new players.

Kaelin’yFiae: I’m alive. XD My eyes are burning because I got the wild idea to sprinkle baking soda all over my floor, but I’m ALIVE.
Damadar grins. “So, what would you like to say first about Draygan’s Hollow?”
Kaelin’yFiae: “Weeeell, I guess the first thing to say would be a little bit about what Draygans Hollow is. It’s a roleplay guild, and a pretty laid back one. We don’t have a lot of standards that have to be met before going IC. The dream looks medieval fantasy, but we have elements from sci-fi and modern settings too. We’re all pretty friendly, too. Some of us are a little shy and sometimes players need to be coaxed IC, but we’re working on that.
Damadar: How old is the dream?
Kaelin’yFiae: We’ll be celebrating our fifth birthday come June 2008. (With a festival! Which’ll be the cap-off to our dream-wide storyline).
Damadar: Ah, so you run a continous storyline?
Kaelin’yFiae: We started a dream-wide storyline earlier this fall. It was kind of on whim at first, but it blossomed after the first couple of events and we dubbed it ‘The Burning Year’. The Burning Year is about the Hollow’s history coming back to life. (Not literally, but you get the idea). About twenty-eight years prior, the village burned down, and now impressions of what happened the year the Hollow burned are popping up at random. Accompanied by magical ‘backlash’. (Which is a phenomenom that changes the behavior of objects, making them fall through tables..chairs melting into the floor, black ink turning yellow, that kind of thing along side some considerably less harmless side-effects). I am narrating events and clues, and it’s to the villagers to find out for themselves what happened, what’s causing it, and how they can make it stop before it gets worse. (The storyline has been designed to keep players from claiming single hero or single villian roles, the fun spreads >
Kaelin’yFiae: to everybody.)
Damadar: Are you the one writing and working heavily on the storyline? If so, how long’ve you been working on it, and do you miss being an unconscious part of it?
Kaelin’yFiae: Sometimes I have to carefully throw in my own characters to get the storyline moving forward. (In the storyline, the original residents of the hollow had either moved on or died a few years after the burning, save one or two characters I already played (Draygans Hollow has been part of my roleplay experience for almost as long as I’ve been playing, so when I started the guild I already had a little history with it). It was important that there be no historical records of what went on, so it would be harder for the characters to figure things out. ). To tell you the truth, I’ve been making a lot of it up as I go. I could say I’ve been writing the storyline, but the truth is, these players are hopping in and a lot of the time they guide it themselves. I make decisions depending on what’s already been written and logged away in my mind, and depending on how the characters are moving forward/reacting IC. So I haven’t been an unconcious part of it, I’ve been just as involved.
Damadar: Ahh, so the ‘conclusion’ as it were isn’t really planned out, you’re leaving space for your players to come in and really twist the storyline around?
Kaelin’yFiae: Yeah. I have a general idea of what happened, and how the storyline can conclude. But I want the players to have the freedom to change the outcome. So nothing is set in stone.
Damadar: Are you planning to continue having dream-wide story arcs in the future, or was this a one-time plan?
Damadar: brb, going to go get a soda. #SD
Kaelin’yFiae: I’d like to continue doing it. I’ve really enjoyed narrating this one, and it’s given the Rp a boost that it didn’t have before. (You can only have a plain village-roleplay for so long before it gets unbarably boring). So I think there will be more storyline’s in the future.
Kaelin’yFiae: Next time, I might pass the torch over to another player. It just depends on the circumstances, what the story is, that kind of thing.
Damadar: So, tell me about the map and the design.
Kaelin’yFiae: Design.. Pffft. I’ve thought about rebuilding the map from the ground up so many times, but I can never find the time to do it. We have a little bit of a problem there. You get lost on our map, easily. Nothing is really where it should be. But on the up side, I try to keep the areas unique, and I try to provide a lot of variety in places to roleplay that still have practicality IC(also, there are shortcut commands for every area). We have summer, fall and winter versions every year. Weather conditions and night and day patches. (And bats that fly out of our well! .. No one drinks out of it anymore.)
Damadar: Interesting. And you did most of the patchwork yourself, right?
Kaelin’yFiae: Yeup! As far as I can remember the patches in that are currently in there (that aren’t default) are my work. But I can’t remember for sure…

You can find Draygan’s Hollow’s website here.
Their forums are located here.
Information on their current storyline can be found here.

Kaelin’yFiae is a 22 year old female who lives in North Texas. She’s the Co-AIC of the Masons and Pixels. She likes chatting with her friends, working on patches, and occasionally roleplaying.

Leave a Comment more...

Oracle

by on Dec.07, 2007, under Artists, Dragons Eye Productions, Location, News, Private Dreams, Roleplay, Talzhemir

I wanted to share with everyone a new tool that Talzhemir has been working on for Roleplayers. It’s called Oracle. It isn’t meant to revolutionize or change the way you approach roleplaying; there’s something in there for everyone.
However, it is meant to help facilitate roleplay seamlessly into a group of players. Behind the cut below there is a lot of information, (the entire class Talzhemir gives out) on how to use Oracle. Some of it won’t make a lot of sense; it’s best to catch her on Furcadia when she’s about to give a class so you can get whatever information you need form her directly.

The oracle project started earlier this year in March. Talzhemir was working on the first draft of “Furre!” and was nearly completed and ready to publish. It has all the usual accouterments that one would expect of a paper-and-pencil RPG: Armor, Hit Points, weapon types and special abilities.

While showing some roleplayers everything she’d come up with, Talzhemir came across an interesting problem:

Talzhemir:
I was showing some RPers the game mechanics, and the reaction was, “That’s nice; somebody will probably like it, but we’ve got much more important problems, Talz!” More important than whether or not that sword or that spell kills you…??? I took a few steps back and started to question the entire RPG paradigm that Gary Gygax & Co. spawned out of the historical wargaming miniatures hobby: an obsession with hitpoints and armor class and weapon size and special abilities that every major computerized multiplayer online game still follows. And it dawned on me that none of them really felt like being somebody else. They feel like puppeteering a robot paper-doll in an enormous boardless boardgame. You feed it, you put a bandaid on its knee when it gets hurt, you dress it up, and you pick it up by the neck and shake it to play nice with the other orcs and elves. It’s not you.

She went on to talk about how the Arbiter is an analogous persona inside the system that works similar to a GM, in the fact that they help settle disputes. They’re different, however, insofar as they don’t have to spend hours crafting out an adventure that the players are going to go through. That kind of GM is getting pretty rare, in her opinion.
Instead, the Arbiter is able to play in the game with the other players. The only time they use their ‘power’ is when there’s a question that needs to be answered. That way, there is no real power for them to abuse. Situations such as “if a woman is pregnant” are the types that Arbiter’s are meant to help with.

The entire interview is posted behind the cut if you’re interested in reading it, along with a copy of one of Talzhemir’s classes.

(continue reading…)

Leave a Comment more...

Power Supply Meltdown

by on Dec.07, 2007, under Artists, Artwork, Digos, Dragons Eye Productions, Emerald Flame, Felorin, Gar, News, Roleplay

Recently Dragon’s Eye Production’s has had some… problems.

According to Emerald Flame, three power supplies went out on three computers in as many days at DEP HQ recently. Felorin’s, Gar’s, and Leah’s all failed or had something else happen to them.

Emerald Flame:
Gar’s computer made a cool wind up sound and a large *pop* and sparks and smoke came out the back

Gar was actually in the middle of doing graphics for some of the new items up for sale on the Digo Market. Unfortunately, because the computer he is currently using doesn’t run Photoshop very well, they are still graphic-handicapped.

Seasons Greetings
Throwable Snowballs
Candy Canes
A hot “Cuppa”

I have no idea what the hell a hot “Cuppa” is, unless they’re trying to say it’s a hot cup of cocoa or coffee. It doesn’t really roll off of my tongue well, but that’s my personal opinion. There are also some flower arrangements available that seem more like they belong with a “spring” kind of sale, but…
(Well, it is summer down in the southern hemisphere…)

Some of you might notice that the Digo Market has been changing a little bit. That’s to better facilitate customers, and offer a new category for people to order from. Unfortunately, Gar was doing the work on the site when his computer decided to kill itself.

I wonder how a psychologist would interpret that… (Just kidding, Gar.)

Felorin and sanctimonious attended this year’s “Austin Independent Game Conference. It revolved around helping indie games, (such as Furcadia) manage to become successful. Emerald Flame told me that Felorin was a guest Speaker for “Project Horseshoe” at this conference.

Slated for the next update, (hopefully) should be accounts. With accounts will come things like Character Pages and (possibly) legit alt trading for those who like to trade their alts around a lot.

Edit: It has come to our attention that sometime yesterday Gar’s PC stumbled upon another failure, this one of the Hard Disk Drive failure variety.

Leave a Comment more...

Groups and Guilds day!

by on Sep.03, 2007, under Artwork, Groups and Guilds Day!, News, Roleplay

The Groups and Guilds day dream was by and far a successful event for Furcadia’s guilds. They got a lot of exposure, they talked with the players, and everyone seemed to be having a good time.

A lot of people had questions for Emerald Flame, though not all of them where group/guild related. Gar was the ringmaster, helping to control the flow of questions using specific DS to keep everyone quiet, (except the questioner.)

The dream itself looked good, too. It seemed that a lot of extra time has been put into this sub-dream for the groups and guild leaders. Each booth had the representative guild’s name on it, which made it easy to find specific people you were looking for.

In front of each booth there was a totem that you could bump into to get a little info about the guild and a link to websites they used.

The only thing that might have made things better for the dream owners would have been to arrange specific times for public talks about their guilds, groups, and other ideas so they could give a big presentation about what their guild was like. Maybe next month.

Here’re some screenshots!:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Leave a Comment more...

Looking for something?

Use the form below to search the site:

Still not finding what you're looking for? Drop a comment on a post or contact us so we can take care of it!