<I imagine the first criteria was Participation.

Hundreds play Dragonrealms.

Five participated.

Of those five...

Three placed, I was just trying to figure out the criteria to place.


And what Shenney the character did, that was above the rest, of the five participants.


This will help me next year with my soufflé entry.

<So I wonder what the GM found more suitable about character Shenney's role play and act commands which made them superior to the other contestants.

To be more forward.

I was hoping the GM that ran Bottura and the The Glaes Spatula Cooking Competition event could perhaps post and enlighten us all on what they found more appropriate in Shenney's role play as opposed to the other four contestants that made the character stand out in their mind! I'm just curious!

I mean the event descriptions says

"Entries will be judged based on presentation as well as taste and originality."


But its all so open to interpretation when you read the log!

Because Nakori clearly had the most unique dish. But you cant judge taste.

<I want to make clear that these kinds of passive-aggressive statements toward our GMs integrity are unappreciated by other players.

If you feel the need to defend someones integrity be they whomever, that compulsion is your own baggage. Ask yourself why you feel the need so strongly?

And if you're honest. Write feedback. Don't bring it to the forums.

My questions and statements despite YOUR implications are exactly what I wrote.


I was hoping the GM that ran Bottura and the The Glaes Spatula Cooking Competition event could perhaps post so I could work out a strategy for my entry next year.

Shenney was attributed first place, indicating superior role play to the other four participants.

If there is a competition I'd like to win it. Clearly Shenney's role play is the one to emulate.

As an aside, I dont think its fair to label someones intentions.

ITT: Someone passive-aggressively pretending to be scientific, and QQing that subjective opinions are subjective.

>but never have I questioned that the GMs running the ship are being unethical or unfair in their roles.

Even if one perceived that the GMs were being unethical or unfair (which I don't believe - I think they do a great job), I don't see how it would impact roleplay or even ability to enjoy the game. My point is that is it a moot point either way and GM decisions, regardless of intent, should be taken as-is and generally without question except for rare exceptions of extreme slight. There, I said it. Even though we are customers.

I remember way back when I played a messaging-board based Star Wars roleplaying game. There were like 20 of us and it was all moderated by some dude somewhere, still don't know who he was. It was just some thread of a board on AOL. The GM - being the Game MASTER - had god-like authority over the outcome of critical things. I mean, like, I waited 3 months for some ship to be built and then first battle with it I mis-typed something, he ruled against me, ship blows up. No discussion, no arbitration committee, no "let's slice and dice the nuance of this situation" - more, "you man, you messed up, decision made, ship gone, let's get back to the game. That battle was awesome, pivot with it." So, I did. If you want human interaction, that's kind of what you get. If it's clearly a nature of the game you are playing, you either sign up for it, or you don't.

On this event specifically, first, based on the description it was obviously entirely a subjective mechanism. Should you get to know the logic behind the decision? I'm not convinced the answer is yes. Robert Parker's scoring? "Top 100 wines to try in 2017" by Wine Spectator? - totally subjective and they won't release their criteria. Even if they gave you a quantitative rubric every dimensions would be subjective and the appearance of a quantitative component is just that - appearances. When Kevin Zraly would pick a Cabernet for his wine list, and someone asked him why he preferred that one over the thousands of others, he'd say because to him, it was the best representation of a Cabernet he had found. Totally subjective, all in his head, end of story.

Second, more broadly, there is just TOO MUCH in this game for one player to engage in. My main complaint is that I wish there were more things that I could participate in that were not "you must be there in the moment" type stuff. Like, for example, could there be a new critter that infests somewhere and the Ranger Guild offers a bounty on their skins? I don't know. Anyway, that's a tangent. Point is rather than trying to nudge each and every event that has a log posted, why not spend that time participating in more events?

Honestly, my character is a 24 year old Trader and could have walked into a Baron's court and listened in on court proceedings if I wanted to let him. That's insane. I didn't go and waited for the log to be posted on the forums because I thought that it was so unrealistic that my character be able to attend something like this at this stage of the development of that character I just couldn't do it.

Back to the original poster: The fact that you want to discuss the outcome of every GM decision, and every element of the game, and "discuss it" can be exhausting even just as a player who reads the forums. I can't imagine what it is like as a GM.

<Even if one perceived that the GMs were being unethical or unfair (which I don't believe - I think they do a great job), I don't see how it would impact roleplay or even ability to enjoy the game. My point is that is it a moot point either way and GM decisions, regardless of intent, should be taken as-is and generally without question except for rare exceptions of extreme slight. There, I said it. Even though we are customers.

This is a case by case issue so I agree and I disagree.


<It wasn't picked, and when I read some of the other entries that were creative pieces, I could see why. The other pieces were better.

I think people are conflating my aspiration with irritation.

I wish to emulate Shenney and the role play that she/he had in some fashion. And in a way the GM's opinion of good role play.

Shouldn't we all ask? Shouldn't we all aspire to be better role players?

And by requesting a GM commentary on that role play, it is my intent to derive insight into what made it exemplary above and beyond the other four contestants role play.


As they say "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery"

So I hope I am flattering Shenney and the GM in question.

>A while ago there was a Necro Library event. I submitted a collection of pieces I'd written about my Necromancer, and while kind of sloppily thrown together and requiring some edits, I was really happy with it, because I really like my Necromancer and I really like writing.

Could you still post these - maybe on the boards - somewhere? Or, does it contain necro secrets? If postable (or editable and postable) then I'd be interested in reading it. If you've already done so, could you post a link so I could take a look?

Hah. I got told about this thread on the boards, so I figured I'd chime in.

To be honest, if this Glaes Spatula event was judged purely on RP, I totally feel Aislynn deserved to win more than I did. I love how Aislynn's player is always dedicated to roleplay and details. I admire that. It's something I'm constantly trying to work on.

Now, what I did personally.

I woke up and saw the Twitter about the event. Cooking/Baking happens to be one of my RL interests and my character Shenney is really into Tamsine and food, so it seemed like the perfect event to participate in.

My character joined the list and we had a great group of people all roleplaying together and having fun. Chef Bottura showed up and explained the contest rules, etc. I think all the participants did our best to RP out the "making" of our dish. We presented our dish to Chef Bottura and answered any questions she asked.

In my case, my character "baked" a dish that I made in RL last month (an apple crumble with an apple whisky caramel sauce) so it was pretty fresh in my mind. I tried to convey detail in my ACTs on how I made the dish. My character peeled and diced apples, sprinkled flour and spices into the apple mixture to thicken and season the mixture, made the crumble pastry topping mix, put it together in a baking dish and shoved it into the oven that she had preheated at the start. She poured apple whisky, apple cider and sugar into a pot and let it boil off and caramelize for the sauce.

Basically, I tried to convey in detail her baking actions, but also tried to avoid making the phrasing clunky or too wordy. I split the actions so that they didn't come out in large blocks of text which are difficult to read. I limit ACTs to one or two sentences because of that. I didn't have a script since I found out about the event last minute, but my experience with RPing a Bard and writing songs and plays for DR was useful. I have spent a lot of time thinking about how other players are reading the game window in DR.

We were told that the winning contestants would also have their dishes on display, so I attempted to convey to Chef Bottura (the GM) the tap and "taste" of the dish, so that it would be easy to make the item in DR. I've been lucky to have purchased a few Queen's Wedding packages, so I've also had previous experience to writing DR food.

I like to write pretty words. I like word flow and descriptions that also aren't overly wordy.

I had a lot of fun with the Glaes Spatula Cooking Contest event and I would say that even if I hadn't won. It was great to RP with other players about a subject that I love.

Do I think there's one winning RP formula? Not really. I would however suggest that people flesh out their character's background story. It's not always something you will be telling others, but it's good for the player to have/know one on their character so that their actions/reactions can be based off of it.

Relax. Have fun. Don't be afraid to improv. Don't feel like you need a script for every thing you do. Don't beat yourself up over typos, they happen. Just hope that your typos don't end up being profanity or rated-R stuff.

Shenney

@Shenny - Ossim :D

@ADUCHNOW1 - Sure, feel free to email me back.

>>So I was HOPING the GM that played Bottura would post and weigh in. But it's no big deal.

They did weigh in, but they did it in-character at the event. If you read the entire log, you will see where, during the judging portion, Bottura expressly mentions what she loved about each dish, and any aspects that caused her to take points away.

-Persida

>>To be honest, if this Glaes Spatula event was judged purely on RP, I totally feel Aislynn deserved to win more than I did.

I have to agree. Aislynn was there way in advance, setting up props, cooking her piglet way before the starting gun. She set the mood, helped us get into the swing of things. I would have been pretty lost without her.

What I did: I knew about the event about a week in advance, and wanted to go, knowing it was perfect for my character, but didn't read up anything about it until the night before. Seeing that it involved writing stuff with ACT, I was nervous, since I'm usually very slow at writing, especially in a fast-paced game like DR. I've been a forum RPer for over a decade before DR; this is my first "live action" game. I'm used to having hours to think of how to respond!

I didn't get much sleep--stayed up late, and woke up two hours before the event. I planned on writing some stuff the day before so I'd have something to work with when it came time, but I didn't start until about 40 minutes before.

I ended up writing my entire thing before Bottura showed up, working on it in bits and pieces while roleplaying with Aislynn. My plan was to edit each little bit, adding in reactions to others' ACTs and so on, adapting to the unfolding of events. In the end, I edited or added maybe one line after the official start of the 10 minute timer. I felt rather guilty about it... like I was showing off instead of roleplaying.

In writing, I feel like I focused more on actions than other things... a bit of emotion here and there, but I didn't try to go in-depth describing the smell or anything, which I might have done given more time, and might have backfired anyway given how wordy I felt like I was compared to everyone else...

But I kept my ACTs in large chunks for the exact opposite reason Shenney cut hers up, I find them EASIER to read. There was so much going on, I didn't want anything to get lost in the crowd. In the end I was so nervous that I didn't adapt what I'd written very well to anyone else's actions, and I regret there was little banter during the cook-off itself. But the ten minute time limit would have had me bow out if I hadn't prepared earlier, so I think it all worked out pretty well for me.

The idea for the dish came from a few things... One, Nakori loves rats. Her Best Food list has rats at the top, followed by ham, eggs, and bacon. So why settle for cooking something that tastes less than the best taste ever? But then--stuff it with the second best taste ever! Her love of honey and barbecue sauce has come up a few times in casual RP over the last few years as well. I just had to think of the best way to combine them. I'd just eaten some barbecued pulled-chicken a few days before, so the idea of a rat simmering in barbecue sauce was appealing. I've never actually cooked with honey, but I've made ham slices with maple syrup, so I figured... maybe the same? Thick and sticky. I had her eat the rat's head to spare Navesi from reading about rat brains, and because Nakori herself wanted to spare the judge from having to try to digest a whole skull.

And who doesn't fantasize about just chomping down on a thick block of butter? The bacon crumble topping was a very last minute thought. The butter was originally meant to be plain. Because that's just the very thing this silly character of mine would think of.

I didn't have much hopes of my dish placing, considering how unusual and... kinda honestly gross most people (myself) would consider it. Next to pork and fish and apple crumble and everything else? No way. Maybe that's why I got as high as I did? I went 100% into "Nakori the Prydaen would love this, even if no one else does", and apart from biting the head off (and killing it pre-event so there wouldn't be squealing to put people off), I didn't try to make anything about it more palatable for anyone.

I am also mad at myself for posting two of my bits early--nerves, again. Not sure what I should be doing or when, so I just started... doing. But I guess it worked out.

I'd love to see another event like this, and I think the only thing I could suggest about it is to maybe make the time limit longer, to allow more random stuff to happen between everyone frantically racing to type out their ideas. Maybe make a halfway point where the judge goes around checking out incomplete dishes! I dunno, I never watch those cooking shows on TV.

:D Aw, thanks!

"BARBEcEwt sAws". Because barbs are cute. At least she thinks one particular one is...

I really need to get a real container labeled that, in some alteration session. Wax Labels are 2 characters too short to fit it.

More posts were hidden. As I stated before, please move on from discussing why people won this event.

Helje
DragonRealms Senior Board Moderator