[639] in Daily_Rumour
[chope@ATHENA.MIT.EDU: Generic Blurb and Questionnaire]
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU)
Wed Feb 7 00:22:43 1990
Date: Wed, 7 Feb 90 00:16:25 EST
To: assassins-guild@ATHENA.MIT.EDU, rumour@ATHENA.MIT.EDU,
From: Philip J. Nesser <pjnesser@FENCHURCH.MIT.EDU>
From: chope@ATHENA.MIT.EDU
To: pjnesser@ATHENA.MIT.EDU
Subject: Generic Blurb and Questionnaire
Date: Wed, 07 Feb 90 00:12:00 EST
Hey Phil. Please forward this to assassins-guild, rumor, and whatever
else seems appropriate. Thanks,
Charles
The Generic Assassin Game
The Generic Assassin Game. Many of you have heard the name. Many of
you haven't. Regardless, you probably don't know very much about it
yet. That's good. You're not supposed to. We're trying to do some
experimental things here. They might work. They might not. They
might not even be as experimental as we hope they will be. After all,
we still have heros and villains and plots that will change (or end)
their lives. In any case, part of the experiment is that we aren't
going to tell you all that much about the game before it begins. Not
even the setting. We want you to go in without any expectations.
Here's what we can tell you. The Generic Assassin Game will be
running from 9pm, Tuesday April 11, to 2pm, Monday April 17. This
includes Easter Weekend, Passover, the four-day Patriot's Day weekend
(April 15-18), but not Spring Break. (At least not for MIT or Harvard
students.) Please keep all that in mind while you answer the question
about how much time you'll have. The game is being written for about
forty people, so send in your questionnaire soon.
And now for something completely different ...
"We gave the players free will. We've gotta compensate for that."
-Jen
"You'll love it. It's better than Cats. You'll want to play it again
and again."
-Charles
"I missed two meetings and it took me three months to catch up."
-Wes
"SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!"
-Donna
"I am Elmer J. Fudd, Millionaire. I own a mansion and a yacht."
-Mike
"AN ORIGINAL LIVELY PLOT THAT'S RIGHT ON THE HEADLINES ... writing is
smooth and elegant ... characters are vivid, maybe unforgettable ...
greatest achievement is its almost unbearable suspense ... another
winner."
-People Magazine
Return this questionnaire to generic@athena, or hand in person to
Donna Bell, Wes Carroll, Jen Hawthorne, Charles Hope, or Mike "THE McGUIRK"
(We're the GMs.)
******************************
Administrivia (The Boring Part): Please fill this out and send it back
even if you send us no other information.
Name:
Address:
Computer Address, if available:
Phone Number (Home):
Phone Number (Work):
Answering Machine (Y/N)?
Roommate/Housemate also playing?
When do you not want to be called? (12am-8am is the default)
How much time and energy do you expect to be spending on the game, and
what other major time committments will you have during the game?
(i.e. a real job, a heavy course load, a UROP, home for Easter
Weekend, etc.)
**********************************************************
Everything Else (The Not So Boring Part (at least for us)).
Do you trust us? Implicitly?
Are you willing to trust us for five days in April? Why or why
not?
What were your three most recent real-time, real-space
roleplaying experiences? (Assassin, SiL, or other)
Please order the following types of books in the order you would
prefer to read them, from your highest preference to your lowest.
Romance Fantasy Comics
Science Fiction Western Horror
Cyberpunk Gothic Classics
Swashbuckling Adv. Spy Childrens'
Historical Fiction Magazines Weekly World News
Non-Fiction 18.02 Text "C" Documentation
Please define "generic" (in your own words, please -- we don't want
several dozen Webster entries.) What do you think it means when
applied to an Assassin Game? What do you think WE think it means?
What do you like to see in an Assassin Game?
What don't you like to see?
Would you enjoy a serious roleplaying challenge?
How do you feel about combat? How do you feel about real-time/
real-space combat vs simulated combat? (i.e. plastic guns and foam
swords/daggers/katanas vs index card abilities.)
Please complete the following sentence: "When I was growing up, my
best friend was _______"
In more detail this time, who/what is your character's best friend?
How loyal is your character to his/her best friend?
How do you feel about Death? About killing? About dying?
Do you mind being cross-cast? (I.e. playing a character of a
different sex.)
What's the worst thing one person can do to another? The best? Or
simply put, what's your definition of good/evil and how good/evil do
you want to be.
Donna is building a quotes collection. Feel free to include several
neat quotes or some of your favorite lyrics.
Given that Terrans will have guns and computers, and Darkovans will
have psychic powers, would you rather be a Terran or... whoops, wait,
wrong game. Oh well, answer it anyways.
If you would like to, please give us an idea of a character you would
enjoy playing. Please keep in mind that this doesn't constitute a
promise that we'll give it to you, but we will try to keep your
preferences in mind when we cast this game.
Within reason, describe a couple of abilities that you wouldn't mind
having. Do you like unusual character quirks? How about character
conflicts?
Feel free to make up your own questions and answer them.
Which of the above questions is most important? (i.e. which should we
pay the most attention to when casting?)
What did we forget?
(Disclaimer: We didn't forget to ask you who you want to work with.
It was deliberate. If there's someone that you really really have to
work with this game, you can tell us, and we'll do our best, but we
can't promise anything. Also, if you do want to work with someone
else that badly, please make sure they want to work with you, and that
the two of you are asking for characters that could reasonably work
together.)
