New RP Discussion Thread

[Formosus Viriustus]

Salve omnes,


I had no other choice, sir. I just had to SUBMIT.

I've noticed that Marius is the only one who has been titling his chapters so far. Isn't that a good idea to pick up on ?

Vale,

[Formosus Viriustus]

Hey, Marius,

Shouldn't you move the story from the New RP Thread to this place ? (Since it has twice as many views )

You see how I got confused ?

[Aldus Marius]

Hei Formose!!

I title all my posts; I put in little surprises there sometimes. But one has to do it on purpose; if you just click on "Reply" and start typing, the title of your post will be "Re: name-of-topic" unless you tell it otherwise. The old Board let you title them from scratch; but, while this Board is outrageously great in so many other ways, I have to manually delete the 'default' title before assigning my own. Another step...grr.

As for pageviews, the Discussion thread has been around since November of 2007...it's had quite a head start! I'm hopeful that the RP will catch up quickly. >({|:-)

In amicitia et fide,

[Formosus Viriustus]

Salve omnes,


(The troubles you go through, Marius, I really feel for you ! {8-))


About the plot and my character :

I have read the story so far only once thoroughly and part of the Disc Thread, but not all and I may have forgotten some details already by now.

I have no idea where the plot is leading us, but I don't mind that too much.
I like Iohannes' idea about a plot to murder the Emperor. You could fit just about any side plot in and some dramatic action scenes as well.

I have as yet no clear idea either as to who or what my own character is exactly. He sounds a bit like my Formosus character (how's that possible, you ask) except my Formosus is not a drunk of course. My character here could be an alterego of him, but he doesn't have to be. He could be called Spurius .... and he spends a lot of time in the taverns.

He is an ex-serviceman, a Belgian auxiliary (how original, I hear you say) who has been living for some time now in Rome in the Tiburtina area, not too far from the Castro Praetorio. It's a rather rough neighbourhood, and he is on speaking terms with Praetorians and lowlifes that hang around there. ( I do have a fairly good knowledge of the lay out of Rome and I also have my map at hand.)
He has served in Britain and in Gaul among other places. He knows Marius from his time in the army but how well they actually are acquainted is still up there, since he becomes familiar with just about anybody after about five or ten minutes.

I won't mind at all if someone else takes my character some places he didn't expect to end up or have him do things he didn't know he was going to do. In fact, I'd rather like that.

I gather we are all now in or right near the caupona.
Yes, Iohannes, I see where you are heading, but she is not as easy as she looks, that serving wench. Her name is Claudia. Isn't that a coincidence ? She likes the company of men well enough, certainly if they are the distinguished type. But she has a very jealous fiancé, so you better watch your step.

About the historical accuracy : I have a tendency to be rather liberal with that, certainly in fiction. But that might interfere with the plans of others and the developement of the dramatic plot.

Let me know what you think about that.

Vale,

[Aldus Marius]

> (The troubles you go through, Marius, I really feel for you ! {8-))

<humor type="webmaster" style="sadistic"></p>

*tosses Formosus the keys to the server*</p>

*saunters off whistling*</humor>

[Marcus Lupinius Paulus]

I am still kicking myself over losing my last entry in the RPG.

It was so well written. Everyone's death was tragic. From the moment when the serving girl came running in screaming how the gladiators had revolted and were rampaging in the street, only to have an arrow shot through her skull, to the next paragraph which describes how Formosis was drinking from his cup when he suddenly got run through by a spear. How the gladiators burst into the caupona, how Iohannes stood to up to fight back but had his head chopped off at once, to the part where Marius is confronted by several barbarians who say "What's in your wallet?" and gets impaled by a retiarus. And the ending where Medusa pulls out her hidden dagger and slashes open Paulus' throat, saying ,"Thanks for the wine!"

All gone because of a careless accidental delete. Gone, gone, ALL GONE!

I just don't have it in me to re-write it all. Inspired works of art cannot be repeated. So...I guess I'll have to come up with something else now.

[Formosus Viriustus]

Salvete,


Tragic, tragic, tragic ! Now, we'll never now how that story ended.
Maybe even some out of control chariots got involved ?
An immeasurable loss to humanity.

Anyway, I hope we have some action going with that 'Food with the Drinks' - stuff you came up with.
Good one !

Vale bene et nil desperandum,

[Formosus Viriustus]

Salvete,

Yes it's me again, I told you I can't keep my mouth shut for more than ten minutes (whatever they may be).

.... the floor of the caupona was already strewn with corpses, gladiators running amok in the streets, when an out of control charioteer burst in. The wheel of his chariot hit a stack of amphorae and oil spilled all over the place. An overturned oil lamp soon set the whole place alight. Within minutes the caupona was one burning inferno and the fire didn't take long to spread to the neighbouring houses and a couple of hours later all of Rome was ablaze. The emperor, from the terrace of his countryside villa, looked at the spectacle with a demonic grin on his face . 'Finally I have something to stick on those .... christians !' he laughed hysterically and grabbed his lyre ....

Seriously, I think we have a great story going on the other side. So, alea iacta est and the rubicon is crossed. We're gone have a fight ! Go for it Medusa and Marius ! (And where is Pulla ?). And I think that lookswise we are almost there too.
Most of us already do title their episodes and if we could keep the OOC as much as possible on this side we have something that is also visually attractive to the outsiders. Excellent !

In amicitia,

[Marcus Lupinius Paulus]

Hi all,

I sent Pulla an email yesterday, and hope she's doing ok. It would get pretty awkward to keep her character around, not saying anything. So I thought best to have her flee from the caupona. If Pulla comes back, she can always resume the character and rejoin us anytime.

As to the time frame. I think I recall Marius mentioning walking through Trajan's Forum. So I have been assuming we are in Rome sometime between 117 and 128.

Paulus

[Valerius Claudius Iohanes]

Okay, Paule - I still can't stop laughing at your 'lost chapter' synopsis! You obviously learned to write at the National Lampoon School of Writing ("... and then they were all run over by a truck. The End"). But how well you and Formosus have adapted it to Rome!

Now I have to see if anyone's added anything further to the story itself....

[Valerius Claudius Iohanes]

... And now I've read the latest episodes in the story, I'm laughing, I'm sitting in my cubiculum at work, I can't stop laughing, my co-workers are wondering...

But I think typing this out is slowing my chuckles down, there we go, there we go....

Excellent, excellent, excellent. I hope Cleo has a minute or two to add to it!

And where is our dear, busy Sempronia Pulla!?

[Marcus Lupinius Paulus]

Quick note: Paulus didn't throw the wine into Iohannes face. He threw it into the faces of "the soldierl looking one" {Marius} and the "rougher" lokking one {Formosis, who I guess had gotten off the floor.} Maybe some of it hit Iohannes by accident?

I can't wait to see how this all plays out.

[Aldus Marius]

Salvete conlusores (Hail, fellow-Players)!

Well, well, well. Looks like we're about to have our brawl. There's still ***some*** (very small, but non-zero) chance that Paulus and/or Medusa can talk their way out of this one, or that Marius will tamp down his killer instinct for that one more fraction of a second it would take to avoid disaster. Maybe he'll just take a vine-staff to Formosus fro having broken ranks? But if things *do* come to blows, this is how message-board RPs usually handle it:

• Each player can only declare actions for his/her own character. If you say "Scrubius chucked Pius several feet into a stone wall", it would definitely qualify as "moving" Pius, and his player would have every right to complain.
  
  
• The defending character must have an opportunity to avoid or resist the attack. He may dodge the blow, take a step back, try to reason with his assailant, run like hell, throw his arms up in front of his face...or, of course, make a counterattack.
  
  
• The defender's player decides whether an attacker's blow actually connects, and if so what damage is done. It's good form to take some hits; realistically, nobody would emerge from a melee unscathed unless he was highly skilled or very clever.
  
  
• Do not cripple or kill another player's character without that player's consent. (Discuss these things here.)

Finally, this is supposed to be fun; Scrubius can knock Pius silly by mutual consent, but Pius doesn't have to make it easy for him! >({|;-)

[Valerius Claudius Iohanes]

Salvete, Amici -

Paulus didn't throw the wine into Iohannes face. He threw it into the faces of "the soldierl looking one" {Marius} and the "rougher" lokking one {Formosis, who I guess had gotten off the floor.} Maybe some of it hit Iohannes by accident?

Oooops - my goof - sorry, Paule. The two pocula were for two specfic targets, eh? Take out the two most threatening ones with the -er, somewhat less than crippling - pre-emptive strike? Perhaps one of the acute and quick-reflexed soldier-folk, whether Marius or Formosus, deflected enough to blind that old windbag Iohannes? Let me know if that's feasible - but as needed, I'll gladly edit my post to fix the discrepancy, of course. Maybe some further rough-housing was the cause? Or maybe Paulus 'reloaded' and shot again?

This gets nice and complex, doesn't it?

Audiens maneo,

[Formosus Viriustus]

Salve Omnes !

I hope we don't get you in too much trouble at your job, Iohannes, you're supposed to be working instead of wasting your time.

My fellow players : if any of you feel like giving Spurius Formosus a good thrashing, if that would help with your storyline, go ahead. I can take a few knocks. If you knew my wife, you'd know I can. Why do you think I spend most of my time in the caupona ? But the running through with a spear, Paulus, hold that a bit. Unless you have a good doctor at hand of course.

Vale optime !

[Formosus Viriustus]

Hurray !

So we are the Magnificent Seven now ! Who is going to stop us now hè ?

Two questions about historical accuracy : 1° I had never heard of female gladiators before, but since Cleo is playing one I assumed they actually existed. 2° I thought that the Emperor giving the thumbs up or thumbs down sign was a myth. That it was the general public who decided that and that actual killings were rather rare. (Seeing that gladiators were a very expensive 'commodity'.)
Marius, you are right, I am a nerd who takes things far too serious sometimes, even if they are just for laughs, and I do have a tendency to poke my nose in things that are none of my business. I promise I'll behave. But ..... dear, Marius, why does the board clock says it gives UTC time. It does not I believe, unless that new medicine is really playing havoc with my brain. When the board clock says it is 10.50 (now) it is 9.50 here in Belgium and 8.50 in Britain. Thus the board clock in my opinion indicates Nova Roma (i.e. Istambul) time. Are we going not only by the Greek Calendar but also by the Greek Clock ?

(Don't hit me, please ! I have an imaginary wife and six imaginary children who depend on me !)

[Valerius Claudius Iohanes]

I hope we don't get you in too much trouble at your job, Iohannes, you're supposed to be working instead of wasting your time.

And of course the time-waste is always so much more urgent than the crap on one's desk!

It's that old problem - I have to make my free will sit down and stay ("Good dog"), then empty out some ego (put it in the storage locker); all that so I can give myself to the work.

Valete omnes.

[Cleopatra Aelia]

In order to answer your questions I would strongly suggest that you check out the following links re the matter of female gladiators and gladiators in general then you know that at least I'm very accurate concerning gladiators:

:Two questions about historical accuracy : 1° I had never heard of female gladiators before, but since Cleo is playing one I assumed they actually existed.

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=1408
http://www.societasviaromana.net/Colleg ... iatrix.php
http://www.ludus-nemesis.eu/en/gladiatrices_en.html

2° I thought that the Emperor giving the thumbs up or thumbs down sign was a myth. That it was the general public who decided that and that actual killings were rather rare. (Seeing that gladiators were a very expensive 'commodity'.)

http://www.societasviaromana.net/Colleg ... ptions.php
http://www.ludus-nemesis.eu/en/origines_en.html

On gladiators in general you will find loads more information on my homepage:

http://www.ludus-nemesis.eu/en/index.html
http://www.societasviaromana.net/Colleg ... _intro.php

[Valerius Claudius Iohanes]

Salvete, Amici -

So - who's thrashing whom, at this point? We had Paulus about to fly, Formosus on top of Paulus, Medusa about to fly, and now Marius wrestling with the 'buffoon' - ???

And Aule Flavii, I'll suggest that your Tribune's sight of Marius's wolf-cloak must be simply an intense flashback, for Marius been at pains to point out that his character, now established in Rome, is sporting a civilian tunic !

[Aldus Marius]

Bene, I may have gotten confused too, but here's what I thought was happening...

• Marius was standing on the far side of the table, slightly behind Iohannes, when Medusa smeared snackfoods all over Iohannes.
• Marius managed to restrain himself that time...barely, and only because Iohannes himself was taking the incident well.
• Formosus didn't manage to restrain himself *or* take the incident well, and so got tripped up by Medusa.
• Then Paulus, who had just been identified as the instigator of the culinary assault, tossed a poculum of wine apiece at Formosus and at Marius, quite a bit of which hit Iohannes.
• Marius went absolutely feral. He was going to grab an edge and vault over the table, pivoting on one wrist so as to plow into Paulus hobnails-first. (Those caligae are still the only decent pair of shoes he's ever had, even though they are frowned upon at the office.)
• Paulus picked the same moment to grab Marius (by the lapels if he'd had any), disrupting Marius' momentum but giving him a chance to engage Paulus at (very) close quarters.
• Marius grabbed Paulus' shoulders in turn, picked him up, and body-slammed him onto the table (since Paulus was headed there anyway). Paulus was presumably still lying there when he gave his I-was-only-trying-to-save-you speech.

Does this sound about right? (It's also possible that story-Paulus didn't get to grab Marius until Marius had already vaulted the table, but that depends on how player-Paulus pictures the incident.) >({|:-\

In fide,