Introducing Winnow

Greetings. I am Dave, 48, longtime gamer of all sorts (RPGs, wargames, miniatures, PC but not console) known around the internet as WiredNun, or Wired*Nun, but I have registered my account here for this game as Winnow, my prospective character name, as per the GM's instructions.

As this is a new forum to me, forgive any faux pas I make, and feel free to contact me at wirednun - at - yahoo - dot - com for gaming matters.

I have looked all through the Crimson Unicorn and I have some questions.

First, have I missed where people are setting up their characters? Should I be e-mailing the GM, or did I miss something? I only have my own experience on OnlineRoleplaying to draw from, and on that, normally each character had a development/prequel thread. There was also normally an OOC thread to chat OOC about things and keep OOC asides to a minimum within the story proper.

DavidGM, I am also interested in the overall tone and flow of the game you envision - unequivocably vicious and nasty politics? puzzle-solving? Amber-centered and all about the power? Exploration-centered? "Save the cheerleader, save the multiverse" type of stuff?

My man Winnow as he stands (from another game that did not last - yes, I am all about not creating something new when something I already did will do) is a Chaosite, son of Chinaway, the Lord of Chaos that the Ghost-Gerard defeated in the Merlin chronicles. His mystical abilities are minimal - Logrus to allow movement through shadow and whatever else he may need. He is hugely strong and built like it. He resembles a Sumo wrestler, a bit less fat, a bit more just...solid. His signature personal item, given and grafted to him to his journey through the Logrus, is a suit of living, malleable armor. It was a 24-point item under his previous incarnation. His mother's line has some thin Amber blood, opening things upto the possibility of Pattern, but that's wayyyy down the line.

I am very open to reincarnating him for this game however works. If of Amber, he could be a lost son of Gerard or really any other Elder. The key internal parts of him I can preserve - how he thinks, acts, views the world. Of the externals: his strength, size, appearance, and armor need to be preserved. Beyond that, I am very flexible.

People have been contacting me via PM. As they have, what I''ve done is set up subforums for each Player Character which only they and I can access. Be glad to set up the same for yourself!

Winnow sounds cool! Let us discuss him a bit more at your subforum which I'll set up within the hour.

I would prefer him to be Amberite, yes. As for your parent, if you prefer Gerard that is fine. I know my own preference would be to "cast against type." Someone big and strong and battle-tested? I would probably choose Flora or maybe Random. But--that is just me. Go with Gerard it that is who you prefer!

As for the theme and type of story--excellent question!!! Methinks I will answer it in the Questions and Answers subforum because that seems to me the best place for same (so everyone can easily find that answer).

OK, have to leave work now, in about an hour I'll log in at home and hopefully we can continue all discussions in our private sub.

I'm here, Will check once before bed, otherwise at work tomorrow. One thing good about this site is it gets by my work's website filter, unlike Online-Roleplaying.com

OK, further introduction of Winnow for the players:

Winnow is big - wide, thick, huge. Bigger than Gerard. Heavier, certainly. Stronger? Of course not. No humanoid is. But imagine a Sumo wrestler, minus some belly fat, or one of those Hawai'ian warriors from before the United States annexed their Kingdom.

He looks vaguely Polynesian, with straight strong black hair, lots of subcutaneous fat, smooth golden skin, epicanthic fold. Pillars of legs. Fingers like sausages. Teeth of ivory. Dark blue eyes like spears, and when he laughs, you can't help laughing with him.

His voice is booming, but he walks quietly, like a dancer, a darvish, like Kwai-Chang Kane across the rice paper. He is often clothed in shining armor, enameled with blue and white checkerboard, like the Bavarian flag. He's been known to use a mace from time to time, occasionally a shield, but most of the time his enormous hands - or his laugh - are enough to resolve any dispute.

By the way, for those who like some Amber fan fiction... http://online-roleplaying.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=526

My story, "To Live And Die In Avalon" was published in the final issue of Amberzine...

Cool - a semi celebrity in our midst

Very semi...lol. But I'll take it.

Cool I got it to work. Now imagine this guy at about 6' 10" and 400 lbs.

For those characters that at least keep up on the family gossip - attend Flora's tea parties, read the local broadsheets, whatever - some more background on Winnow:

He showed up about a year ago, in company of Gerard. The first anyone really knew about him was when he walked the Pattern and was accepted as Family, swearing fealty to Unicorn and Throne. After that, he stayed out of the limelight. He might be seen every few weeks for a few days eating in the dining commons, training with the castle guard or any relative who cares to spar or wrestle, but mostly he has stayed out of Amber.

He has been reported to sail with Gerard or one ship or another of the Fleet, apparently on their usual Golden Circle trade routes; he has visited Julian in Arden, learning to ride - poorly, in all frankness. He gets along wonderfully with horses - until he tries to ride one. It is said that he has taken a few forays into surrounding shadow, and has hunted what top predators have not been killed off by Julian's Rangers. He prefers not to kill them, though, but rather, to subdue them by his hands, then let them go. He has accumulated a number of additional scars to add to his marks of manhood - the keloid-and-ink designs carved into his skin on his native Tagaloa. It seems he likes nothing more than to test himself physically against any opponent, but even when defeated - specially when defeated! - he seems free of any malice or rancor.

Now that he has explored the Amber surrounds, he has of late begun to socialize a bit more with the Family. He has been seen speaking to Dworkin, and has spent perhaps more time with Vialle than almost anyone else. He has visted Rebma but does not seem comfortable there.

That photo might make a very good avatar!

Ladies and Gentlemen (and others, if it applies),

It is with wistful regret that I am withdrawing from the game. I've had a great time and David the GM has been an excellent intermidiary between Winnow and the multiverse, but I'm finding myself caught up in other things in my life right now and I am struggling to maintain my interest, through no fault of anyone but me.

Thanks for letting me play Winnow to a much fuller extent than I did before; as with all situations like this, I found out some things about him that I hadn't known myself. To me, that's the mark of a good character in a good game - when he takes on a life of his own and almost plays himself.

So, cheers everyone. I'm heavily focusing on my fiction writing now, under the pen name David VanDyke;

http://www.amazon.com/David-VanDyke/e/B008EZHPC4/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

if you want a decent cheap Kindle read, look me up on Amazon at that link. If by chance I achieve some success, you can all say "I knew him when..." and then gossip nice or nasty things about me.

I'm sure I'll lurk and say hi from time to time. All the best to everyone.

- Dave van Dyche

That's a shame Winnow - I really enjoyed all the roleplaying at the start.

Anyway good luck with the writing carear in the future. Hope it all goes well for you!

Awww. That makes Baby Jesus cry. If we get our acts together, Leeland and Xue might actually try to follow Winnow to Amber somehow.

Perhaps Winnow will sail off to return the body and out of the story for now....but could return later if RL things change.

Well I have enjoyed reading your posts, and regret that Karlsen and Winnow haven't had a chance to travel together.

Thanks for the other help you gave me. {Boy do I understand the time commitment thing!} It is taking a long time to do the rewrite, someday soon I hope it will be ready for another round of reading.

Karlsen,

My experience recently has shown me the following pithy yet oh-so-applicable truths.

1. If you want to be a writer, write. And write. And write some more. You can't do it if you don't just do it. (Most people give up or just tinker around.)

2. All writing is rewriting. If you won't rewrite until it's good enough, it's not a profession, it's a hobby. On the other hand, good enough is good enough. A good book today is better than a perfect book next year.

3. It's great to go to writing groups, creative writing classes and things like that. Listen, learn, improve, then ignore the naysayers and just write. See #1. Most aspiring authors fail because they give up.

And that's all the wisdom I have today. For me, I found my calling. My days are brighter, I'm sleeping better, I still hate my day job but not as much, and I wonder why I didn't do this before. Probably I thought I wasn't good enough, because the old print publishing model put up so many barriers. But just like YouTube has done for ameteur video and self-production and distribution has done for new rock bands, ebooks have done for publishing, and now the only barrier is yourself (the author) and marketing (getting noticed). It's the wild west out there and I am determined to go out and stake my claim. I don't even have to disposess any Native Americans to do it.

I'm sorry to see you leaving DvD. You wrote some great stuff in this game. I hope you wander back every now and then and say 'hi'.

Thanks for the kind words. But you can always get more of my writing off Kindle. In fact my "Low Justice" collection is free today through the weekend. Neo-noir style tales of a supernatural hero.

http://www.amazon.com/Low-Justice-ebook/dp/B008FH6G9E/

If you don't actually have a Kindle, you can download a Kindle app to your computer.

I'm also doing a promotion for my sci-fi novella "Unfettered" starting next Wednesday so you can get it for free then. Three famous men encounter a very unusual afterlife.

http://www.amazon.com/Unfettered-ebook/dp/B008H9YCKA/

Thanks again to all,

Dave

Just got Low Justice. Now that I have been graduated, I can resume pleasure reading. Might as well boost the right people in the process, right?

Thanks! Right now I'm in the newbie "giving it away" stage. I'd love a review, you could be the first. Don't softplay me; be honest, be brutal; I can always fix and rewrite.

Later on when I'm rich and famous you can come up to me at a convention and say "Hey remember that Crimson Unicorn game?"

I can dream.

Good luck bro.

Finding something you love and embracing it is the first step down the road to happiness. And the Kindle truly has opened up doors for people who wanna write without having to fight publishers to do it.

And the best part of the ebook is, even after you publish it, you can always upload a newer version to the cloud. It's like crowdsource editing. And it's awesome.

Best of Luck David VanDyke :-)

Thank you sir!

I think Winnow must have been David's favorite character. He logged in several hours after Winnow posted his withdrawal from the game, and hasn't logged in since. He's so shattered by the news...

Yeah David hasn't posted since the Monday before last. I wonder if he's OK or if his new job is causing him hassle.

Damn damn damn. I really like Winnow. But I understand how little time one might have and priorities emotional as well as chronological shape our lives.

I had a bit of a crisis, in which I was almost evicted (almost only), had a minor bout of something, then had to ready my apartment for fumigation. Sorry for being gone so long.