The King's Players - Discussion/Planning Thread - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Mnemosyne · 03-07-2011, 12:48 AM

Sounds fine to me, phantom.

Due to people's various commitments across different times of day, and since not too many others have spoken about it, let's make this Half Time--i.e., the first 24 hours of play or so (I don't want to be so precise as to have a set deadline, especially with time zones) will take up from midnight till noon; the next 24 from noon till midnight, of the first day. That'll give the Players one week to get their act together (pun intended), and should make for a much more hectic situation. If anyone objects, speak now or forever hold your peace.

In the meantime, here's a tentative first post. I have probably messed up my harvest times and Sereth. Lommy, I hope you don't mind my having borrowed her, and let me know what I need to do, if anything, to fix her.

I'll post some notes later on stuff that should be useful to the RPer--the Gondorian time-keeping system (this first post is at about 8:00 a.m.)

Yavannie 24, F.A. 21

A sudden gust of wind brought the sound of two faint bell-strokes to Brinn's ears, as she walked alongside the painted waggon. That was good, then--she was a terrible judge of distance when it came to big cities nestled in the mountains, but surely they were close if they could hear the bells of Minas Anor. The lands of the Pelennor smelled ripe with harvest--fruit from the orchards, bleached barleycorn, punctuated with whiffs of the Anduin itself. Behind and before them were the carts of merchants and farmers for the markets in the first few circles of the City, laden with casks of wine and oil from the Emyn Arnen. Every so often they were passed by one of these, for they were in no real hurry, and the mules that pulled their carts were not meant for speed. A few of the folk stared at the lettering on the sides, recently repainted in the style of letters that Gondor seemed to favor--

The King's Players!

Tales of Joy!

Tales of Woe!

Tales of Derring-Do!

feat. the Finest Dwarven-made Mechanicals you ever did see, so true-to-life you'll jump out of your seat

Not that that last bit was entirely true, but Father wasn't there to see it and Asta hadn't complained yet. It drew more people, anyhow.

"Hear that, Rollan?" she called up to the man driving the first cart.

"Loud and clear, my love," Rollan called back. "Maybe we'll actually have time to settle before we rehearse tonight!"

"Ah, wouldn't that be a lovely change of pace?"

"'Course, now that I've said something, and knowing our luck--"

"Don't say anything further, then!" said Brinn, laughing. "I'd like this to be a peaceful run, thanks, maybe pull in enough money that we can take a holiday for a couple of weeks."

"Well, Cormare always brings in plenty, from all over. Don't reckon those merchants that just passed us could make a profit on silk otherwise. Have you got everything ready to get in the city?"

"I think so," said Brinn. She looked down at her dress, which was rather more respectable than most of their costumes--just right to make the first impression. And she had run over in her mind the exact location of the inn-yard where they would be staying, and the innkeeper's name, and the official she always spoke to when they needed that particular market square that was right along one of the main streets, and she had the papers...

The papers.

They were still in the cart. "Half a minute!" she cried, and climbed up the steps in back of the cart to get inside. There, sitting on the trunk where the papers were, squished among racks of costumes and crates of props, was a maiden of about twelve years, reading over a script.

"Seri, dear," said Brinn, "why don't you come outside? The light's much better out there."

It took the child a moment to realize she was being spoken to. She put down the script and looked up. "Do you think I'll make a good Frodo the Warrior Halfling?"

"Well, the audience loved you last year--I don't see why not."

"I'm taller this year."

"The better to charge the gates of the Dark Tower with, then. Do stand up; I need to get our papers out of that chest."

Sereth complied, and Brinn opened the chest. On top were the papers they had procured last year, authorizing and easing their return to the White City to perform for the Ring-Day festival. "Thank you," said Brinn. "Now, come outside and take the air with me."

Sereth did so, leaving the script behind, and immediately began launching into a dramatic recitation of her cues and lines. So passed the next half-hour, until they reached the great and majestic mithril gates of Minas Anor.

Brinn made a full courtesy to the guard on duty and presented her papers. "I am Mistress Celebrindal," she said, "of the King's Players, requesting admittance to the City to prepare and perform our annual play for the Cormare celebration."

The guard looked through the papers, and nodded. "You may enter," he said.

"Thank you." Brinn nodded and waved at Rollan, who started the line of carts on their way into the city.

"You should have a fine attendance this year," said the guard, as the waggons passed through. "The preparations for Cormare this year have been twice as splendid as any year I can recall, on account of the King's special guests."

"I am sorry," said Brinn, "but we are a travelling group and were not aware of any special guests. Who might these be?"

"Why, the pheriannath, of course! I am certain you'll see them some time while you are here, for the people love to see them--the lord Samwise, and his wife, and his daughter, who is a lady in waiting to our beloved Queen. And since it has been many years since we have had those people to whom we owe so much in our midst, everyone wants to make the celebration this year especially grand. Your show, no doubt, will be a boon to our City."

Brinn thanked him for his kind words--he was a younger sort and not half as dour as so many of Gondor's men were--but she could not help but feel a little troubled. Halflings belonged in the Breelands, or beyond, in the Shire, not in Gondor! What in heaven's name could they be doing here?

Pitchwife · 03-07-2011, 06:22 AM

Lovely first post, Mnemo! I'm getting first tinglings of stage fright already...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mnemo

I have probably messed up my harvest times

Well, in most of Europe barley and other grain would have been harvested in July/August, but with Gondor's southern climate, I suppose they could have one harvest in late spring and a second one in autumn, so no prob, I think.
Here's a nice article on the agricultural year, and another one here.

While I'm at it, some links about medieval/renaissance theatre which may be helpful (should have posted these way earlier):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_theatre
http://novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli/spd130et/medieval.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English...ssance_theatre

For historical background, I've discovered an old Downs thread about the political situation in and around Fourth Age Gondor which may be of interest to some of you.

the phantom · 03-07-2011, 12:26 PM

Just so everyone knows, pretty much every hour of the next three days is owned by a paper, test, or work. There's a slight possibility I'll be able to look in on the thread early this evening, and I may also get a chance late Wednesday afternoon, but don't count on anything from me until Thursday.

Mnemosyne · 03-07-2011, 07:57 PM

Thanks for the links, Pitch! I'm going to include some general resources in the beginning of this thread, under the character sheets. If anyone else has any good resource ideas, go ahead and post away!

First post will be going up in about 3 hours because that will be midnight EST.

Also, all character sheets that haven't been linked will be linked as "minor characters," even if the people who play them are going to try to post regularly and often.

JUST BECAUSE THE GAME HAS STARTED DOES NOT MEAN THAT NEW PEOPLE (or old people) CAN'T WHIP UP A NEW (or another) CHARACTER TO JOIN!

Boromir88 · 03-08-2011, 07:16 AM

Writing post now, but wanted to tell everyone I'm making a slight adjustment to Branor's character sheet.

He will not have a stage name, instead he rarely ever gets out of character. So, have fun with Branor acting like Aragorn most of the time...erm or, how Branor thinks Aragorn would act.

piosenniel · 03-08-2011, 11:43 AM

Just a quick reminder for all players:

Reminders for an RPG in play:

Please remove your signature from EVERY post to the RPG thread - including SAVES
Don't use smileys in your RPG posts or icons - e.g., etc.
Don't highlight any part of the RPG text.
Don't use the 'Reason for Editing' function on your RPG posts. If it's critical that other players know that you've changed something, then put a post on the Discussion Thread about your edit.
No OOC (out of character comments) on the RPG thread - use the Discussion Thread.
SAVES should be filled within 48 hours and may be removed from the game at the discretion of the game facilitator. The game facilitator may disallow any SAVES to his/her game.
If there's something crucial you need to post but can't at the time, you can place your finished post on the Discussion Thread and ask the Forum Moderator to insert it in the appropriate place on the game thread.
Swearing, sexual conduct, or obscenity of any kind are absolutely prohibited. There are no exceptions -- per The Barrow-Wight

Nerwen · 03-08-2011, 12:08 PM

Thanks, pio. I forgot about the signature business, but I've fixed it now.

03-07-2011, 12:48 AM	#1
Mnemosyne Ghost Prince of Cardolan Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Between the past and the future Posts: 1,159	Sounds fine to me, phantom. Due to people's various commitments across different times of day, and since not too many others have spoken about it, let's make this Half Time--i.e., the first 24 hours of play or so (I don't want to be so precise as to have a set deadline, especially with time zones) will take up from midnight till noon; the next 24 from noon till midnight, of the first day. That'll give the Players one week to get their act together (pun intended), and should make for a much more hectic situation. If anyone objects, speak now or forever hold your peace. In the meantime, here's a tentative first post. I have probably messed up my harvest times and Sereth. Lommy, I hope you don't mind my having borrowed her, and let me know what I need to do, if anything, to fix her. I'll post some notes later on stuff that should be useful to the RPer--the Gondorian time-keeping system (this first post is at about 8:00 a.m.) Yavannie 24, F.A. 21 A sudden gust of wind brought the sound of two faint bell-strokes to Brinn's ears, as she walked alongside the painted waggon. That was good, then--she was a terrible judge of distance when it came to big cities nestled in the mountains, but surely they were close if they could hear the bells of Minas Anor. The lands of the Pelennor smelled ripe with harvest--fruit from the orchards, bleached barleycorn, punctuated with whiffs of the Anduin itself. Behind and before them were the carts of merchants and farmers for the markets in the first few circles of the City, laden with casks of wine and oil from the Emyn Arnen. Every so often they were passed by one of these, for they were in no real hurry, and the mules that pulled their carts were not meant for speed. A few of the folk stared at the lettering on the sides, recently repainted in the style of letters that Gondor seemed to favor-- The King's Players! Tales of Joy! Tales of Woe! Tales of Derring-Do! feat. the Finest Dwarven-made Mechanicals you ever did see, so true-to-life you'll jump out of your seat Not that that last bit was entirely true, but Father wasn't there to see it and Asta hadn't complained yet. It drew more people, anyhow. "Hear that, Rollan?" she called up to the man driving the first cart. "Loud and clear, my love," Rollan called back. "Maybe we'll actually have time to settle before we rehearse tonight!" "Ah, wouldn't that be a lovely change of pace?" "'Course, now that I've said something, and knowing our luck--" "Don't say anything further, then!" said Brinn, laughing. "I'd like this to be a peaceful run, thanks, maybe pull in enough money that we can take a holiday for a couple of weeks." "Well, Cormare always brings in plenty, from all over. Don't reckon those merchants that just passed us could make a profit on silk otherwise. Have you got everything ready to get in the city?" "I think so," said Brinn. She looked down at her dress, which was rather more respectable than most of their costumes--just right to make the first impression. And she had run over in her mind the exact location of the inn-yard where they would be staying, and the innkeeper's name, and the official she always spoke to when they needed that particular market square that was right along one of the main streets, and she had the papers... The papers. They were still in the cart. "Half a minute!" she cried, and climbed up the steps in back of the cart to get inside. There, sitting on the trunk where the papers were, squished among racks of costumes and crates of props, was a maiden of about twelve years, reading over a script. "Seri, dear," said Brinn, "why don't you come outside? The light's much better out there." It took the child a moment to realize she was being spoken to. She put down the script and looked up. "Do you think I'll make a good Frodo the Warrior Halfling?" "Well, the audience loved you last year--I don't see why not." "I'm taller this year." "The better to charge the gates of the Dark Tower with, then. Do stand up; I need to get our papers out of that chest." Sereth complied, and Brinn opened the chest. On top were the papers they had procured last year, authorizing and easing their return to the White City to perform for the Ring-Day festival. "Thank you," said Brinn. "Now, come outside and take the air with me." Sereth did so, leaving the script behind, and immediately began launching into a dramatic recitation of her cues and lines. So passed the next half-hour, until they reached the great and majestic mithril gates of Minas Anor. Brinn made a full courtesy to the guard on duty and presented her papers. "I am Mistress Celebrindal," she said, "of the King's Players, requesting admittance to the City to prepare and perform our annual play for the Cormare celebration." The guard looked through the papers, and nodded. "You may enter," he said. "Thank you." Brinn nodded and waved at Rollan, who started the line of carts on their way into the city. "You should have a fine attendance this year," said the guard, as the waggons passed through. "The preparations for Cormare this year have been twice as splendid as any year I can recall, on account of the King's special guests." "I am sorry," said Brinn, "but we are a travelling group and were not aware of any special guests. Who might these be?" "Why, the pheriannath, of course! I am certain you'll see them some time while you are here, for the people love to see them--the lord Samwise, and his wife, and his daughter, who is a lady in waiting to our beloved Queen. And since it has been many years since we have had those people to whom we owe so much in our midst, everyone wants to make the celebration this year especially grand. Your show, no doubt, will be a boon to our City." Brinn thanked him for his kind words--he was a younger sort and not half as dour as so many of Gondor's men were--but she could not help but feel a little troubled. Halflings belonged in the Breelands, or beyond, in the Shire, not in Gondor! What in heaven's name could they be doing here? __________________ Got corsets?

03-07-2011, 12:26 PM	#3
the phantom Beloved Shadow Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: The Stadium Posts: 5,971	Just so everyone knows, pretty much every hour of the next three days is owned by a paper, test, or work. There's a slight possibility I'll be able to look in on the thread early this evening, and I may also get a chance late Wednesday afternoon, but don't count on anything from me until Thursday. __________________ the phantom has posted. This thread is now important.

03-07-2011, 07:57 PM	#4
Mnemosyne Ghost Prince of Cardolan Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Between the past and the future Posts: 1,159	Thanks for the links, Pitch! I'm going to include some general resources in the beginning of this thread, under the character sheets. If anyone else has any good resource ideas, go ahead and post away! First post will be going up in about 3 hours because that will be midnight EST. Also, all character sheets that haven't been linked will be linked as "minor characters," even if the people who play them are going to try to post regularly and often. JUST BECAUSE THE GAME HAS STARTED DOES NOT MEAN THAT NEW PEOPLE (or old people) CAN'T WHIP UP A NEW (or another) CHARACTER TO JOIN! __________________ Got corsets? Last edited by Mnemosyne; 03-07-2011 at 08:18 PM.

03-08-2011, 07:16 AM	#5
Boromir88 Laconic Loreman Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: USA Posts: 7,521	Writing post now, but wanted to tell everyone I'm making a slight adjustment to Branor's character sheet. He will not have a stage name, instead he rarely ever gets out of character. So, have fun with Branor acting like Aragorn most of the time...erm or, how Branor thinks Aragorn would act. __________________ Fenris Penguin

03-08-2011, 11:43 AM	#6
piosenniel Desultory Dwimmerlaik Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Pickin' flowers with Bill the Cat..... Posts: 7,779	Just a quick reminder for all players: Reminders for an RPG in play: Please remove your signature from EVERY post to the RPG thread - including SAVES Don't use smileys in your RPG posts or icons - e.g., etc. Don't highlight any part of the RPG text. Don't use the 'Reason for Editing' function on your RPG posts. If it's critical that other players know that you've changed something, then put a post on the Discussion Thread about your edit. No OOC (out of character comments) on the RPG thread - use the Discussion Thread. SAVES should be filled within 48 hours and may be removed from the game at the discretion of the game facilitator. The game facilitator may disallow any SAVES to his/her game. If there's something crucial you need to post but can't at the time, you can place your finished post on the Discussion Thread and ask the Forum Moderator to insert it in the appropriate place on the game thread. Swearing, sexual conduct, or obscenity of any kind are absolutely prohibited. There are no exceptions -- per The Barrow-Wight Last edited by piosenniel; 03-09-2011 at 02:33 PM.

03-08-2011, 12:08 PM	#7
Nerwen Wisest of the Noldor Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: ˙˙˙ssɐןƃ ƃuıʞooן ǝɥʇ ɥƃnoɹɥʇ Posts: 6,694	Thanks, pio. I forgot about the signature business, but I've fixed it now. __________________ "Even Nerwen wasn't evil in the beginning." –Elmo.