NEW ROOM COMING - PLEASE VOTE HERE & writing contest

[Web Janitor]

20:52:28 [Von] "I want new public rooms, namely a Desert, Cathedral, and Cemetery."

A discussion in the OOC lobby lead to the desire for new rooms in tK.

Rooms that no one uses are wastes of space, so adding something that won't really be used isn't something we can do. We have room for adding one more room about now, from the choices up there. We may add more.

So vote for which one you'd most prefer.

You may also suggest new names and I will add them to the poll.
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[Web Janitor]

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One last thing. I will need someone to write a description. You're all welcome to do so, and I'll pick the best one based on what people seem to think.

Some guidelines:

The description should be short. Aim for 1-4 lines.

The description should Encourage roleplay, not discourage it:

EXAMPLE #1
e.g, "This desert is next to the kingdom of Lydia on the island of Xomato where King Zomar rules and is really dry. There's a spaceport in the middle of it." is a bad description.

It is bad because it has world-specific information that would discourage people from using it as a generic room, such as having an actual location (Lydia, and on an island) and mentioning a specific NPC person. It's also bad because it mentions something that would come from a specific time period (spaceport) that wouldn't belong in a fantasy world.

EXAMPLE #2
e.g, "This cathedral is very tall and beautiful. It is well constructed." is an okay description.

It's okay because it's very generic and players can bend it to whatever purpose they see fit.


EXAMPLE #3
e.g, "This cathedral has a marble finish and many pews inside. The name of the cathedral was once engraved above the door, but has long since faded and is now illegible. There are long stone steps leading up the wide oak doors and occasionally there are people sitting on them. There are many small nooks and crannies inside the building where people talk and exchange secrets." is a good description.

It's good because while still being generic, it mentions several elements that can serve as "glue" for roleplay and for characters to mingle. It gives suggestions of what a character might be doing there (sitting on the steps, or on the pews) and gives a suggestion that there's "more" like nooks and crannies without being too specific. It deals with the issue of "well, who is this a cathedral to?" by having the name no longer visible. There's hints of a design, but nothing too specific: oak doors and marble is mentioned, but the cathedral could be anything from mostly wood and dilapidated ramshackle building in a forest, or a well polished building in the heart of a downtown core.

The key to a good description is to offer enough hints of a detail in a short series of sentences to give roleplayers a common ground that encourages their roleplay, to hint at possible use, but to do all this without forcing players to use it only in a certain way. I'll note it's very tricky to write those sort of things of that into four sentences or less. The above took forty minutes for me and it's not even that good. : )

Why is a good description important? Look at the Pub. The Pub is a mainstay in nearly every fantasy chat and among the most used room. Why? Because it's obvious to players what to do there with their characters. The social interaction is very established, and even newbies can get into things without needing any previous experience. i.e, your character gets a drink, sits at a table, has a bar fight, whatever.

That's what this hypothetical new room will have to compete against. If the name isn't good enough to give players the "glue" and props that help support roleplay, it won't get used.


That's it for guidelines and advice. Writers - have fun!

[Moondog]

I voted for the Desert, but I've got a minor descrip up for the current Cathedral room.

An ancient Cathedral, so old, few remember what, if any original deity it was constructed to exalt. Fewer still, perhaps none, remember who built it. A masterpiece of classical Gothic architecture, its parapets and gargoyles lend it a forbidding look. The interior is divided into twelve evenly spaced and sized sections, each section segregated by a heavy piece of cloth whose color depends on the faith it separates. A cobblestone road, worn smooth by the passage of many pilgrims and their wagons leads up from a small village.

As for the Desert, I'd go with something like

A sprawling, nigh-endless field of red sand, broken only by the occasional rock or the thin branches of a lonely Joshua tree. Oases (oasises?) dot the otherwise barren wastes, small pools of life-giving water, patches of blessed green in otherwise oppresive red. The days are scorching, with winds whipping the gritty sand into deadly storms, and the nights are freezing cold. Travelers are reccomended to bring water.

[Furr]

>[description] >> The rolling dunes of the desert wave out infront of you, a hot wind blows past. Ahead is endless stretches of rough sand, blinding sunlight -- And a slow and painful death, if you enter the area unprepared. There are safe spots, the occassional oasis, but they are difficult to navigate in the everchanging dunes.

My take on a description.

[Cupcake]

I think, given that The Keep was predominantly meant to be a fantasy/medieval chat we should have a Tavern & Inn room.

The Pub should have been used for that but its not a gaybar. Rooms like The Pub and Cafe which are modern and laaaaammeeee belong on CC. I vote for a Tavern & Inn.

I also voted for Cathedral, but. Make a Cathedral, delete Cafe & make a Tavern & Inn as well.

[Icon]

Coarse grains of sand lie underfoot and the desert winds whip them up against one's skin. The abrasive feeling of the grit is but the simplest and earliest warning to those who dare venture forth through this wasteland. Over the horizon the air ripples with heat and the sky holds but a single wispy cloud that hovers high in the air and the sun taunts those along the borders to dare cross the sands.

[Viken]

Here is a simple suggestion for a room description for the Desert:

Stretching from horizon to horizon without end, the desert lands of The Keep is home to various wandering tribes of men and various beasts of mystical propertions(sp?). Once a great Kingdom in and of itself, a curse ravaged not only the once great realm of men, killing thousands and laying waste to crops; but the very soil itself, eroding it far faster than what nature had desired. All that is left is this end result, a land of red sands and achingly hot sun.  Weary the traveler to traverses this land, for the single one step will cause harm that would kill all but the greatest of heros.

[Vivi]

I'd argue the desert would be best since we have a forest and several buildings. It'd be a great place to set up a desert nomad kind of deal or certain dragons or other creatures. Anyways, heres a shot at a description:

The desert stretches out as far as the eye can see in every direction. One might find an oasis or two amongst the sea of sand that could provide some kind of shelter, and sometimes rock outcroppings, mesas, and the rare but occasional ruin provide some protection from the sun. There is in some places signs of life, even outside  an oasis there's some cacti, some barely alive shrubs, an occasional buzzard in the sky, and a few other desert creatures, but not much. Who knows what else might be lurking in the ever shifting dunes?

I'm going to go back to never posting in here now.

[Boogie]

Dropping lurkers and newfolk off in the desert sounds like the most reasonable/amusing thing to go for. And who knows, it may spawn a sudden spike in things that are more comfortable in said area. Always interesting to see what crawls out of the sand. With a Cemetery there's just going to be a leap in..Hell, I don't even have to say it. You all know what i'm getting at.
Cathedral? Maybe.

[Arsenic]

Cathedral seems like the best suggestion, as far as new default rooms go.
It's very versatile.
Unlike the other two suggestions.
True, both are capable rooms to roleplay in comfortably, though. Not feelin' it.

[CharcoalBlack]

Honestly, I believe that we should keep all of the current default rooms ASIDE from the East and West Tower, perhaps even maybe the Garden.

I'd replace the two towers with the Desert and the Cemetery. Or something like that. >_>
I'm just tossing my opinion out there. Those seem to be the least used rooms in tK, imo, from the several years that I've been registered in tK.

[Dalton]

Voted for cemetary and desert. I'm actually against the cathedral because I can only imagine it bringing up lots of pissing contests with people wanting it to be about THEIR god(s). I mean, hell, event he pub has had a resident who came in about a year ago and decided the pub belonged to him, and as far as I understand he's still there. A cathedral is just asking for it.

Don't get rid of the garden!

[Celaeno]

I think, given that The Keep was predominantly meant to be a fantasy/medieval chat we should have a Tavern & Inn room.

The Pub should have been used for that but its not a gaybar. Rooms like The Pub and Cafe which are modern and laaaaammeeee belong on CC. I vote for a Tavern & Inn.

I also voted for Cathedral, but. Make a Cathedral, delete Cafe & make a Tavern & Inn as well.

Pub's not modern if you don't want it to be.  It's very rustic, and always has been, and always will be in my vision of it.   It's also always been part of the Keep. 




As to the room... I want Sanctuary back.

[Xachariah]

I voted Desert, because deserts are bigger, and also more loose - the Cathedral and Cemetery would end up being exclusively hangouts for religious folk and goths, while they'd fight over which god it was to and, probably, which coven the Cemetery would belong to. Desert... not so much.

That said, if it ends up being the Cathedral, possibly include a note in the /describe about it being to all gods equally, or something, to maaaybe nibble at the bud of the "No it's THIS god" thing. If it's the cemetery... well, not much to do about "oh, a cemetery! what a good place for all my DARK BUDDIES to hang out!" or whatever.

In the end, though, Desert would be less inherently cliqued - Cemetery would pretty much immediately have a bunch of vamp covens trying to claim it, unless I misjudged people pretty badly, and the Cathedral would end up with the "This god!" "NO, this god!" groups/thing. Although, that could be an interesting touch - leave it completely unspecified so people can fight over it. "Who's the Cathedral to?" "Who do you want it to be to?" "... buh?"

[Soja]

I'm gonna give a description for all three rooms since they all seem like a good idea to me. Cathedral would be the most classic one, in honor of the old Sanctuary from the first chat.

Desert
Stretching away to the endless expanse of horizon ahead is little but parched, arid land. The days are hot and dry, the nights bitterly cold and windy in this hostile land that rebukes all but the hardiest of travelers. Granules of sand and the occasional stone offer no shelter but to the natives of this environment, among those the scorpions and lizards that scurry across the coarse grains that sometimes blow across the bleak landscape. There seems to be little respite in this land with air so dry that it scratches the throat, but an oasis is apparent through the haze. However, is it real, or just another illusion of this deadly, sandblasted place?

Cathedral
An old and stately house of worship. To what god or goddess or force of nature this holy place was built in honor of has since been lost to the dusts of time, but there is a peculiar air of reverence beyond the heavy doors of the arched gate. A short passage opens up into an airy interior whose marbled grandeur is enhanced by the vaulted ceiling and the light that streams in as colored ribbons through the gothic stained glass windows. Rows of pews face the same direction as one entering, all standing in respect to an empty altar upon a raised tier. Chambers that may have once housed men and women of the cloth lie beyond the worship space, and further up from a vestibule on either side of the entrance hall is a narrow, treacherous stairwell that allows the more daring an access to one or the other of the building's two bell towers.

Cemetery
Low, wrought iron gates do little to impede access to this hallowed ground, the final resting place of many men, women, and—yes—children. It is a graveyard whose age is beyond reckoning; indeed, many of the headstones and grave markers have been weathered to ineligibility by the elements. A few of the more stately tombs take the form of raised crypts and small mausoleums, but that hasn't protected their names from the ravages of time. Those who find peace in the still will feel at ease among the thistles and granite slabs that are but the only proof that someone—perhaps much like themselves—once lived.

[Blank]

Looks great Soja. =)

[Inquisitor]

I voted for the top two, despite thinking we don't need any more rooms. I'll write up a description because I'm bored.

Desert
A clear and blue sky is the only thing of note in the expansive wastes. The arid, dry land stretches on far beyond what the eye can comprehend. The air is impossibly dry - what little winds offer no refreshing breeze, serving only to kick up grating sand and shift the dunes and landscape ever more. There is no hint of life, no single blade of grass, no scurrying, hard backed creature digging hopelessly into the scorched earth for some feeble shelter against the oppressive heat.

Cathedral
The heavy, stained wood doors open with a creak that echos throughout the domed building, bouncing back with ferocious tenacity, moaning sorrowfully against the empty interior. Light illuminates the dust-covered interior, streaking through stained glass windows of various depiction, and through cracks and holes in the Gothic architecture. Pews surround a raised dais, some dusty and some recently wiped clean, many cracked and forgotten. A stone altar raises from the center. Statues line the walls - hooded, armed, winged, human, faces worn away by purpose or by the sands of time. A blank canvas watches you enter the still place. Doors lead to stairwells that head up, to bell towers and rooms for the clergy, or down, to catacombs and hidden horrors.

Edit: of course, I realize that my personal enjoyment of "darker" themes may not be as well liked, but I figure I'd toss 'em in anyway. A dusty, forgotten, and mysterious temple is more interesting to me then one that has been mysteriously well kept over the years. Plus, maybe people will start to look after it and clean it up, who knows.

[Fresa]

Wow...so many ideas and opinions.  Really though, the desert is very appealing.  Here are my reasons:

1.  You have an open playing field to basically rp any story line.  I mean it's a great lead into any other setting.

2.  SPACE SPACE SPACE, see open above.

3.  Anyone can create an apocalyptic wasteland, but we're talking a barren area, with meger if any surroundings.  You're either helpless or you are epic.

P.s.  I like tavern ideas.  Pity that wasn't in the vote.

DESCRIP FOR DESERT>>>You are now leaving urban society.  Welcome to endless plains, and silent unpredictability.  Should you venture far enough in these barren lands, take caution to whatever may come your way...

[Von]

I like Fresa's description.  It's got personality.

[Fresa]

And it's not really personal, so people can make it what they want! cold or hot...oasis or not...and plenty of room xD

[Bane]

I'd crap myself if there was a Desert. I've got egyptian Mages rotting away on the harddisk.

[Xachariah]

Von probably suggested it for his Egyptian Lich. I might make a Sand Viking.

[Moondog]

I've got a sand-gypsy kobold in the works.

[Pitch]

Desert. Totally.

[DMD]

My shot for describing the desert, wich is the room that got my vote.

The unblinking, unforgiving sun stares down out of a cloudless sky, blasting away any hope for the relief of rain for the scorched earth and withering life below. The grounds cracks open like split skin, while the hot wind howls across it's scarred surface like a wailing spirit lost to roam the trackless deadlands for eternity, tearing at the scarce vegetation and any unfortunate exposed flesh and bone that it encounters . High above the vultures circle, watching, waiting, for the inevitable end to any journey began into this noman's land. But there, just on the horizon, past the tearing wind and shifting dunes, through the shimmering heatwaves you see it, just barely, like a promised kiss from a phantom lover, so tempting, and so far away the sheen of the sunlight reflecting off of.....water, now all you have to do is survive long enough to savor it's saving embrace. A scorpion crosses your path and somewhere beyond the dunes a jackal calls. You take the first step, just one foot in front of the other, is all you have to remember.....