War Orientation Pep Talk 1. INTRODUCTION 2. TERMINOLOGY 3. BASIC WAR STUFF **** 1. INTRODUCTION We're not going into a history of war here--you can see that on any number of web pages. What we WILL do is show you the communication behind a simulated war attack and counter attack between two affiliations. The communication posts will demonstrate a variety of potential situations and possible responses that may arise when creating a war story. You'll notice the word . That's what the FKFic-L wars are about, talking to other people, communicating, meeting people, understanding other people. War isn't a place to serve a personal agenda, to get back at someone with a different viewpoint, or to promote a particular character. War is about meeting people and having a good time with them. This means that you'll need a sense of humor. If you don't have one, go out and get one or DON'T PLAY. You'll need patience and diplomacy to get through the war, as well as a really sneaky imagination. If you're new to this and haven't played before JOIN AN AFFILIATION. The best way to learn to play in a war is to start slow. And how better to meet people than to join a group where you share certain interests? Playing by yourself is a lonely business. ****** 2. TERMINOLOGY: WAR MISTRESS/MASTER (WM) - This is the person who plots and runs the war. The War Mistress/Master is the absolute authority during war. The big cheese. The top kahuna. As a lowly player, you don't go to the War Mistress/Master unless you have a REAL problem (and have already tried to resolve the issue with your faction leader) and then it had better be a big one. The War Mistress/Master has got more to worry about than whether you get to wear red or yellow to a party . . . but she's also going to be concerned if you're part of an affiliation where the affiliation leader is glorifying him or her self in EVERY post and not mentioning any of the other players. In the end, big disputes get decided upon by the WM and the WM has the right to toss you from the war, so be nice. LOOP LEADER OR AFFILIATION LEADER (also called Faction Leaders): The Loop or Affiliation leaders are the people who organize the individual affiliations. They're kind of our version of municipal governments--they take care of petty squabbles, keep track of the train of thought of the affiliation, help the members work out a game plan. Some affiliations also have charge of the MAIN CHARACTERS (like Nick, LaCroix, Natalie, etc.), so they're often asked when a character will be busy or if they're free to be loaned out to a group at a particular time. If you're looking for volunteers from a particular faction to be in a story, the loop leader can pass on such requests to faction members. The Loop or Affiliation leader is actually part of two loops--a Leaders Loop (which provides communications between affiliations) and their own affiliation loop. A couple of words on leading an affiliation--it's a lousy job. Half the time, nobody's going to like what you're doing because it doesn't fit their view of the plot, the character, or reality in general. Loop leaders have to be diplomatic and make an effort to get everyone in their affiliation involved in play, they also have to make certain that the main characters aren't in two different places at one time. Loop Leaders are NOT supposed to impose their interpretation of the character on everyone else--they can tell you WHEN to use a character but not HOW to use a character. LOOP - Basically, an e-mail loop that includes the address of all of the members of an affiliation, so that everyone gets the same mail. Some larger loops are run through a list serve similar to ForKni-L. Some loops assign a special header so that they can filter their loop mail into a special box or can recognize it easily. Loops are where affiliation war business is discussing--tasks are assigned, people volunteer for duties, action is discussed and sometimes voted on, information is collected and disseminated. Basically--THIS IS WHERE IT HAPPENS. PERMISSION SLIP - This is an email that says that you'll allow yourself to be written as a character for this war. This email is sent to your loop leader or someone else in the loop, who collects them and forwards them to the War Mistress. If you don't send in a permission slip, you can't play. This is to protect the listserve. Permission slips do not serve as blanket approval to be written into stories. Unless you explicitly state otherwise, permission must be obtained each time someone wants to use you. HEADQUARTERS (HQ) - This is where an affiliation generally hangs out. The Knighties usually take over Nick's loft, the Ravenettes use the Raven (although it did belong to the Cousins for a bit), etc. TIME OUT - Sometimes people get so behind or the action gets so muddled that the War Mistress will call a time out--nobody is allowed to post for a period of time so that things can be straightened out. This is actually good if it happens, because it gives you time to catch up. GETTING TO TORONTO - These posts can drive you crazy, so in the past a rule was made that if someone had a post to get themselves into the war, they were to keep it to a paragraph or two and send it to the Loop Leader. The Leader would collect the small posts and post them in ONE post to avoid hundreds of 'I'm going to Toronto' posts clogging the listserve on the opening day of war. Some affiliations are allowing members to write their own short posts (usually a few people are doing them together) and drop them separately, so check with your loop leader to see what the local policy might be. LISTSERVE HELD - The listserve can only handle so much traffic. At least once a war, and now and again more often, the listserve will have to handle so much traffic that it will shut down. If you get this message, DO NOT POST AGAIN. Send a note to your loop leader, who will notify the other loop leaders, the WM , and the listserve owner. When the listserve is released, you'll be able to post again. If you don't see your post, wait a bit before trying it again, as posts tend to get backed up. ********** 3. BASIC WAR STUFF WHO AM I? You are . . . you. That's the easiest way to put it. When you play, be YOU. Don't be a superhero or a vampire or a warrior ninja queen from hell unless you're really like that in real life. Use your abilities to their utmost. You can use your student status to get into a museum to case the joint, use your library connections to track down a possible copy of the Abarat (which usually turns out to be a gardening book when it finally arrives), use your knowledge of what happened to your own car to make some 'adjustments' on the *ahem* Caddie . . . that kind of stuff. Be you but be MORE you. Be willing to use your weaknesses as well as your strengths. If you let someone know that you're afraid of cats, you can be certain you're going to be 'catted' at some point during the war--so deal with it and make the best of the situation. Now, we make some exceptions, like you can have the money to get to Toronto, or wrangle a leave of absence, or LaCroix can arrange a 'work study' program that your University will accept for the two weeks you're away from home--but be CLEVER. Don't go to the characters for every little thing. Try to fix things on your own. There's also some stretching of reality in terms of possessions--so, okay, you suddenly have a double deck VCR by which you can make copies of the surveillance tape that makes it look like Vachon was attending a disco dance party, or you have a laptop computer with a modem that can access the internet. The point of the war is for people to meet YOU, so that when you meet in real time, it's like meeting an old friend. PRE-WAR PLANNING Affiliation loops use the period of time before and during the start of the war to get to know each other, float ideas for possible attacks on other affiliations, and find out what each person wants out of the war. Some people want to meet a character, others want to set up a certain 'surprise' for a friend . . . find out what your fellow loop members what to do and see if there are ways your wishes could dovetail. WRITING WAR POSTS Writers are at a premium and very little of the war should be pre-written (that only leads to frustration when things don't go your way and instead of being able to play with everyone else, you get locked into your own little story plot that no one else cares about--makes for a lonely and boring war), so war posts are usually written on the fly and it's very easy to get backed up. The best thing to do is KEEP IT SIMPLE. Find out up front how many people in your affiliation can write and when they'll be available. Be willing to have your affiliation members write different parts of a longer story. IF YOU'RE NOT A WRITER, don't despair. You can still have a wonderful war. Maybe you've got wonderful ideas - throw them out on your loop. Or you're a great editor - offer to alpha or beta read. Or you just want someone to put you in a story where you get to meet a character - ask or it won't happen. ALL war posts have to begin WAR: so that only the people who want to read the war get it and all war posts MUST be sent to FKFic-L. Someone usually makes one or two mistakes during a war and it makes them look silly, so remember to CHECK YOUR HEADERS BEFORE you send out the post. All war posts should have the time, date, place, and TITLE of the post right at the beginning (some people are even asking you to put the affiliation up there too, which might make it easier for those trying to keep track of posts). TIME is up to the War Mistress--if she says that it's the time the post is supposed to take place, then that's when it is. Back-dating is frowned upon, so do it only when you have to. DO NOT SEND A CORRECTING POST OR REWRITE OF YOUR PREVIOUS POST TO THE LIST. If you made a mistake or the formatting went funky, write a new post that either corrects your mistake or explains what happened (a misformatted post can be easily blamed on another affiliation messing with your system and can start a whole new series of attacks and errors in posts can do the same). FINALLY, REMEMBER THAT ATTACK IS A FORM OF AFFECTION! Do not do anything to anyone that you would not have them do to you. Also, please remember to have a sense of humor and make applesauce out of apples. War is 70% improv, so deal with it and move onward. ******* This concludes your basic war orientation. The following post will introduce the War Training Session, including the plot, the characters, and the attack/counter attack. This will simulate a real war experience. PLEASE DO NOT RESPOND TO THESE POSTS ON THE LISTSERVE. The training exercise is to be read ONLY and is not interactive. If you have any questions, please contact any of the following people: Laurie Schlagel lschlag@reporters.net Bonnie Rutledge br1035@ix.netcom.com Susan M. Garrett susang@vitinc.com susang@vitinc.com -- http://www.vitinc.com/~susang EVER Faithful Ravenette. "Friends help you move. Real friends help you move bodies."