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Random Birthday Greeting
Feb. 21st, 2009 10:21 amHappy Birthday, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
miurnin!
miurnin!Feb. 21st, 2009
Come Play The Pipe!
Feb. 21st, 2009 06:31 pmWhat is The Pipe?
The Pipe is a role-playing forum created and maintained by the partner team Alan (Radiant) and Nolan (Tenth). It's best described as a text-based MMORPG.
Unlike many other RPGs, this game is not based on leveling up but on character developement. Nor is it a place to place established-canon characters, but to create and flesh out new, original, complex characters.
This is a space to explore gender, interracial relations, culture, isolation and other such emotionally-charged issues. It's THE place where you can ask questions like, "What DO cheese and spiders taste like?" or "Do plumbers dream of pipes?" or "If androids fell in love, does that mean love isn't really just a hormonal response/chemical reaction to emotional and physical closeness??" and - and so on.
What is the world like?
There are two major settings in the Pipe: One is the nation-city Kosseid, a megalopolis of several tiers, the inspiration of which could be drawn from movies such as Blade Runner and Battle Angel Alita.
Kosseid bears a lot of similarity to Earth's first-world nations but is more advanced technologically, and has developed a method of traveling to other dimensions using a wormhole-esque technology called "The Pipe".
The other is Pella, the more typical fantasy-type setting. It is populated by a dominant race of sentient beings called tinkers.
What kind of characters can I play?
Humans and tinkers are the primary humanoids on Kosseid and Pella, respectively, although some tinkers have made their home in Kosseid as well.
Odeans are mysterious creatures who live in the deep wilderness of Pella. Inspiration for Odeans are typically drawn from general mythology, although we've got some "out there" types.
Marks, an android race with a politically-charged history, are playable characters, and limited to being only 20% of the player population.
So there's really plenty to work with.
Click here for more on the setting of The Pipe
What are the greatest benefits of playing?
Playing the Pipe offers a space to practise creative writing skills with other people. Collaborative story-telling is a huge benefit. Often, writers can find themselves isolated when writing their own story, and being faced with a lot of empty space on a blank .doc file can be daunting.
The reactionary style of interacting with other characters also provides good practice in developing character voices, writing styles and specific details in setting, thought processes and imagery.
Free-form roleplay like this tends to be organic, allowing for a great amount of freedom in working through character growth. Rather than worry about how a plot unfolds, players have the benefit of discussing how a situation could potentially play out, and simply react accordingly.
The Pipe is a safe space. Nolan and Alan are firm but fair moderators who do not allow any abuse of players.
But-But-But I don't write well...
That's okay. Many of our players are of varying talents in writing. Some of us have written very little, while others are working on being published. All of them, however, are very supportive, and the Pipe allows you a space to practise writing, just a little, every day. The only way to become a better writer is to just keep writing everyday, after all.
What if I don't have the time to commit?
Most of us on the Pipe are adults with full-time jobs, so we're very forgiving of busy schedules, and the game can be played in such a way that it could take you weeks to resolve a single thread, and that's okay too.
But how can I play with you guys if I'm not in the same time-zone to post?
While being online at the same time is awesome and fun, it's not actually necessary for RP.
What if I get tired of a character?
You retire them. Just let the mods know you don't want to play them anymore.
How many characters can I have at a time?
There's no limit. I've got four, and two more in the works.
You can only apply for a character once a week, and your character has to be approved and been played in two threads before you can apply for another one.
Can I play a canon character from another established universe?
Hmmmmmmmmm no. The point of The Pipe is to provide a space where we can challenge ourselves through creating original characters and fleshing them out through roleplay. You can certainly draw elements for a character from an established character.
Seriously, are there any real downsides? There must be...
Nolan and Alan are seriously kick-ass writers. They even intimidate me, and I'm pretty confident in my own writing skills. They set such a great example for other aspiring writers and are such awesome people, sometimes I doubt they're real. The cool thing about all this is that they really ARE great living examples of awesome people and writers.
Do I have ANY reason at all NOT to play this game?
Well.... I'd excuse laziness, I suppose ^_~
But seriously - great setting with something for everyone, great writing, great RP crew, great mods... what's there not to like? Come on and join us on the Pipe!
Some material yoinked from threads on the Pipe and fromnolan_ash's post featuring the same shameless self-promotion, although Nolan says it better than I do.
The Pipe is a role-playing forum created and maintained by the partner team Alan (Radiant) and Nolan (Tenth). It's best described as a text-based MMORPG.
Unlike many other RPGs, this game is not based on leveling up but on character developement. Nor is it a place to place established-canon characters, but to create and flesh out new, original, complex characters.
This is a space to explore gender, interracial relations, culture, isolation and other such emotionally-charged issues. It's THE place where you can ask questions like, "What DO cheese and spiders taste like?" or "Do plumbers dream of pipes?" or "If androids fell in love, does that mean love isn't really just a hormonal response/chemical reaction to emotional and physical closeness??" and - and so on.
What is the world like?
There are two major settings in the Pipe: One is the nation-city Kosseid, a megalopolis of several tiers, the inspiration of which could be drawn from movies such as Blade Runner and Battle Angel Alita.
Kosseid bears a lot of similarity to Earth's first-world nations but is more advanced technologically, and has developed a method of traveling to other dimensions using a wormhole-esque technology called "The Pipe".
The other is Pella, the more typical fantasy-type setting. It is populated by a dominant race of sentient beings called tinkers.
What kind of characters can I play?
Humans and tinkers are the primary humanoids on Kosseid and Pella, respectively, although some tinkers have made their home in Kosseid as well.
Odeans are mysterious creatures who live in the deep wilderness of Pella. Inspiration for Odeans are typically drawn from general mythology, although we've got some "out there" types.
Marks, an android race with a politically-charged history, are playable characters, and limited to being only 20% of the player population.
So there's really plenty to work with.
Click here for more on the setting of The Pipe
What are the greatest benefits of playing?
Playing the Pipe offers a space to practise creative writing skills with other people. Collaborative story-telling is a huge benefit. Often, writers can find themselves isolated when writing their own story, and being faced with a lot of empty space on a blank .doc file can be daunting.
The reactionary style of interacting with other characters also provides good practice in developing character voices, writing styles and specific details in setting, thought processes and imagery.
Free-form roleplay like this tends to be organic, allowing for a great amount of freedom in working through character growth. Rather than worry about how a plot unfolds, players have the benefit of discussing how a situation could potentially play out, and simply react accordingly.
The Pipe is a safe space. Nolan and Alan are firm but fair moderators who do not allow any abuse of players.
But-But-But I don't write well...
That's okay. Many of our players are of varying talents in writing. Some of us have written very little, while others are working on being published. All of them, however, are very supportive, and the Pipe allows you a space to practise writing, just a little, every day. The only way to become a better writer is to just keep writing everyday, after all.
What if I don't have the time to commit?
Most of us on the Pipe are adults with full-time jobs, so we're very forgiving of busy schedules, and the game can be played in such a way that it could take you weeks to resolve a single thread, and that's okay too.
But how can I play with you guys if I'm not in the same time-zone to post?
While being online at the same time is awesome and fun, it's not actually necessary for RP.
What if I get tired of a character?
You retire them. Just let the mods know you don't want to play them anymore.
How many characters can I have at a time?
There's no limit. I've got four, and two more in the works.
You can only apply for a character once a week, and your character has to be approved and been played in two threads before you can apply for another one.
Can I play a canon character from another established universe?
Hmmmmmmmmm no. The point of The Pipe is to provide a space where we can challenge ourselves through creating original characters and fleshing them out through roleplay. You can certainly draw elements for a character from an established character.
Seriously, are there any real downsides? There must be...
Nolan and Alan are seriously kick-ass writers. They even intimidate me, and I'm pretty confident in my own writing skills. They set such a great example for other aspiring writers and are such awesome people, sometimes I doubt they're real. The cool thing about all this is that they really ARE great living examples of awesome people and writers.
Do I have ANY reason at all NOT to play this game?
Well.... I'd excuse laziness, I suppose ^_~
But seriously - great setting with something for everyone, great writing, great RP crew, great mods... what's there not to like? Come on and join us on the Pipe!
Some material yoinked from threads on the Pipe and from
nolan_ash's post featuring the same shameless self-promotion, although Nolan says it better than I do.