Poe the Great

LITERATE RPG - A HIGH DEGREE OF QUALITY OF PLAY IS DESIRED. IF YOU CANNOT DELIVER, SOD OFF.


The polished mahogany doors slide open without so much as a whisper, and you are greeted by a man in a servant's uniform.

"Ah, welcome, milord! You too have decided to attend the good Baron's party? Most excellent. I'm sure you'll be quite welcome."

He turns his eyes down to a ledger in his arms.

"What did you say your name was?"

Your name? How on earth was it possible that this foolish oaf had no idea who you were?! You, the great hero, of noblest blood! Even your distinguishing smock should have made it quite clear. If this man knew, why, he would faint remembering the grand adventures you can boast of!


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This RPG is based on a set of (very simple) rules I recently came across on the internets.

Every player is a noble lord of worldly fame, who has been invited by the Great Baron Münchausen, equally famous for single-handedly defeating the Ottoman army using only a pen knife and a cheese board as infamous for accidentally inseminating the Pope, to his mansion to recount their various tales of bravery, virtue and searing implausibility under the enjoyment of a few nice drinks.

Rather than being a standard RPG, each player, in turn, recounts one of their tales to the rest of the players, being prompted to do so by the previous player (eg.: "Good Lord Bozworth, please once more recount the tale of when you so capably snatched the Kraken on the fishing pole you had made of a short length of bamboo, using only a slice of potato as bait!").

That's all nice, but here's where it gets competitive and/or funny.

At the start of the game, each player is given a number of tokens depending on the amount of players partaking.

At any time during the current story, another player may interject, presenting a fact that clearly proves that whatever is being told cannot possibly be true "But good sir, the apostle Peter's right hand was eaten by a lion when he was five years old!"

Two responses are now possible.

1: The storyteller accepts the interjection as fact, and masterfully weaves it into his story. This will cost the interjector one token, which is given to the storyteller.
2: The storyteller rejects the interjector, he is wrong, you are right, and the man's mother is a swine to boot! After this, two options are possible once more.

1: The interjector relents, apologizes, and allows the storyteller to continue. This will cost the storyteller one token, which is given to the interjector.
2: The interjector may decide to persevere. He is quite sure of all this. The storyteller must choose again as stated above, but this time, two tokens are at stake. If the storyteller denies again, the interjector may once again persevere, now staking three tokens, and so on.

Naturally, if a player does not have sufficient tokens to make or reject an interjection, they may not make one. However, because the token part isn't all that important anyway, you can lend each other tokens to allow a good interjection to come through.

Example 1:

"But the brunt of the Prussian army was already disbanded in 1832!"
"Ah, yes, of course, you're right. How could I forget? I got the dates mixed up."
((Storyteller receives one token from the interjector.))

Example 2:

"Well, excuse me, but I'm quite sure that the diamond on the fifth Fabergé egg weighed 32 carats."
"Of course not, you heard what I said! 28 carats, boy, did you learn your diamondology from a grocer?!"
"Pardon me. Please continue."
((Interjector receives one token from the storyteller.))

Example 3:

"Clearly you've never heard of Leif Eriksson. He discovered the new world much earlier!"
"Leif Eriksson is a Norman myth! He is as real as the teeth of your grandmother!"
"Knave! I will not stand for you insulting my grandmother, let alone the legacy of the great Leif Eriksson!"
"What legacy is there to speak of when a man with a giant red beard accidentally sails his boat the wrong way, gets lost at sea for several years, and then returns, claiming he discovered new land?!"
"Very well, continue with your story, but I object greatly to it's accuracy."
((Interjector receives two tokens from the storyteller.))


At the end of the game, every player elects a different player who they thought told the best story. That player receives whatever amount of tokens they have left.

Whoever has the most tokens after this, is the winner.

But winning isn't important, it's about the awesomely ridiculous stories you'll be making up.


Post your character profile in this topic:


Nomenclature:
Appearance:
Why you're famous:




A few pointers:

- Please keep track of how many tokens you have yourself. If you get confused, just ask me, I'll do the math.
- When telling a story, tell it in short bursts. This way, people actually get an opportunity to interject. I expect players to judge on their own what may be the total length of their story, and as such how long a 'short burst' is.
- Be so kind as to be patient when it's not your turn, but also be so kind as to not get lazy when it is. Turns should probably not take much longer than a week or two.
- Feel free to draft ahead and edit later if you want to, but keep in mind that improvisation is the whole point of the game, as it's actually supposed to be played in real-time.

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You don't know jack about OoT. Think you do? Come and prove it in my edition of OoT Jeopardy.

Tom

I like everything about this

Nomenclature: Duke Moses Von Runfast VI, of the Runfast Estate, Forty Second Heir to the Throne of the Proud People's Republic of Robonia (PPRR)

Appearance:


Why you're famous: Invented the rarely heard of but STILL VERY IMPORTANT AND NOT AT ALL PRIMITIVE OR OBSOLETE Aero-Carriage, which he personally piloted into enemy territory during WWI against the Bulgarians in an attempt to assassinate a top officer, General Karush Facelift. It was a success... kind of

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RUFFUZZIVIA

This sounds interesting. But I have a question: does the character absolutely have to be a lord, or can it be a lady? If not that's fine, I'm just wondering.

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Poe the Great

It doesn't really matter. In fact, your character profile doesn't matter much at all.

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You don't know jack about OoT. Think you do? Come and prove it in my edition of OoT Jeopardy.

RUFFUZZIVIA

Oh. Well then.

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Poe the Great

You do have to make one, though! It's more to get into the spirit of it all than anything functional.

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You don't know jack about OoT. Think you do? Come and prove it in my edition of OoT Jeopardy.

symuun

This is an awesome concept, and I would be all over it if I wasn't already overburdened with writing projects. But I'll be watching from the sidelines with great amusement.

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Poe the Great

I just had a brilliant idea.

We ought do this in podcast form.

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You don't know jack about OoT. Think you do? Come and prove it in my edition of OoT Jeopardy.

RUFFUZZIVIA

That would be cool. I swear I'm getting around to making a character thing or whatever.

HERE IT IS... If this is still alive anyway lol

Nomenclature: Countess Darya Ivana Konstantinovavich, widow of the late Count Pugh Konstantinovavich. She is the last surviving member of a distinguished dynasty which once thrived on a small island in the Sea of Okhotsk.

Appearance:

Why you're famous: When her husband was alive, he was very strict, and whenever Darya would ask him something he would respond, “When pigs fly.” Of course, pgs didn’t fly at that time so Darya took it upon herself to remedy that problem. She drew upon the local village’s supply of swine and conducted sophisticated genetic experiments on them, attempting to meld their DNA with that of various birds so that the pigs would develop wings. It worked. Several of the pigs developed tiny little nubs on their backs. Pig Wing-Nubs became a delicacy in the area in which she lives. However, the Count Pugh died after choking on a pig wing-nub.

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ifm2181

where are the awards

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Muffin Mage

I think I will have to do this, now and forever.

Nomenclature: Orion Simeon Puglesconi, of the Estonian Puglesconis, Duke of Lancaster, Warsaw and Lithuania, Baron of Königsegg-Rothenfels and Kokkola and, through a thoroughly embarrassing portrait mishap, Marquess of Lorraine.

Appearance:

Famous for: Discovering seven new diamond mines in Africa, taming the savages of Siam with naught but a pruning fork, mapping previously unmapped jungles in the Far East and deepest Hind, that is, India, and finally, commanding the only successful anti-tank cavalry unit in the Great War.

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Current mood: Slaying your children, stealing your women and cattle, and setting fire to your miserable collection of huts.

Poe the Great

Nomenclature: Werner von Svensenbergersson, Grossherzog von Spötele, Viscomte du Drezzôles, Earl of Logsey, CEO of Slub-R Incorporated.

Appearance:

Famous for: Developing a method do distill human saliva into crude oil. Going from rags to riches within days, Werner used his newfound wealth to travel the world, establishing himself as a lover of exotic quisine (and notoriously violent basher of bad cuisine), philantropist, and complete and utter asshole to climate change activists.

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You don't know jack about OoT. Think you do? Come and prove it in my edition of OoT Jeopardy.

Poe the Great

Now I reckon you're all going to have to decide wether you'll be willing to play this thing over Skype or not. If you are, let me know when you're available, and we'll get it on the road ASAP.

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You don't know jack about OoT. Think you do? Come and prove it in my edition of OoT Jeopardy.

RUFFUZZIVIA

Well, this would have been a great week for me to do it since it's spring break, but unfortunately I'm going back to school on Sunday. If we're going to be doing this in the coming weeks, I'll PM you with my schedule or something.

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