Watch the Footage archive

I figure we could use a place to drop random factoids. Like this:

The Phantom's play was named "A Shadow Under The Ice" because Mark couldn't think of what to make the play about when writing that article -- So I told him to use one of his own works. As a result, the title and premise of "A Shadow Under the Ice" is the same as a screenplay mark wrote a while ago.

A Mr. A tweet is the only google result for "Gubbly wub thurb".

I typically would be playing Pokemon while doing work on the ARG, since it's nice and turn-based. The sheer number of Pokemon I have named after things in this ARG (both players and characters) is astounding.

That said, I wasn't really paying attention to anything beyond gender when I named them. So, taken in a vacuum, I imagine some of them seem insulting (I'm not saying whose name got attached to my Garbodor).

I liked to also slip in little Easter Egg references to other things whenever I could. Like, for example, my forum avatar.

When we were first talking about incorporating fiction writing elements, we were not sure how people would feel about having a game based around fanfiction.

So we (see: Eddie and I) decided to call it MANFICTION. This actually stuck for a month or so.

It took a week to find a printer who could properly print Mr. A on the envelopes that we sent out to players. Apparently custom printed envelops like we had is not a standard thing that Office Depot does....

Rick Healey wrote:I typically would be playing Pokemon while doing work on the ARG, since it's nice and turn-based. The sheer number of Pokemon I have named after things in this ARG (both players and characters) is astounding.

Ok... Now you're asking for it... Did you name a pokemon after me? If so, which Pokemon was it? (Side question, Gender Confusion points from it being a female Pokemon?)
I can take it, seriously, shot away.

Connor Fallon wrote:When we were first talking about incorporating fiction writing elements, we were not sure how people would feel about having a game based around fanfiction.

So we (see: Eddie and I) decided to call it MANFICTION. This actually stuck for a month or so.

So weren't just being silly when you said that on Twitter?

Really, if at the beginning of the ARG you had told me "Okay so the way we're gonna fix everything is by writing fanfiction" I probably would've backed away slowly. But by the time that was revealed, I was already too involved to consider doing anything but writing the best fanficiton I could.

Calling it manfiction would not have made me any more amenable to the idea.

Rick Healey wrote:I typically would be playing Pokemon while doing work on the ARG, since it's nice and turn-based. The sheer number of Pokemon I have named after things in this ARG (both players and characters) is astounding.

Please, I beg of you ;_;
Provide a list?

The Seattle Wall Piece was inside a My Little Pony Bag with Pinkie Pie on it. Eric and I were responsible for this, as we were very much on the Brony Bus at the time, and the character has a reputation for breaking the forth wall.

...I still think that one is kind of brilliant in it's subtlety, actually.

On this note, It's funny: when our game first started we got a lot of messages from different players saying they figured out how the wall broke, and it was Deadpool/Pinkie Pie/some anime character.

narrativedilettante wrote:Calling it manfiction would not have made me any more amenable to the idea.

Not even a little bit? =P It has a Saxon Hale sort of appeal to it.

Here is another one: Some of you noticed that, towards the end, one of the comic links was actually named something guessable, and then another was given a sequential number. Yet another didn't require a password.

They were the only ones. Eddie did this just to mess with you.

I said this in the chat, but realized it's more apropos to have it here:

It's fun having a group of GM's who don't agree on every single moral detail. The trick is in getting them all to keep it ambiguous, and consistent with both viewpoints. Basically, you agree on a central set of facts, and then take up your positions, and argue them for four months.

At least that's what we did.

MY FANFICTION IS THE MANLIEST OF ALL FICTION. IT PUNCHES BEARS IN ITS SPARE TIME.
Ehhh, why not 'manfiction' indeed.

Connor Fallon wrote:The Seattle Wall Piece was inside a My Little Pony Bag with Pinkie Pie on it. Eric and I were responsible for this, as we were very much on the Brony Bus at the time, and the character has a reputation for breaking the forth wall.

...I still think that one is kind of brilliant in it's subtlety, actually.

On this note, It's funny: when our game first started we got a lot of messages from different players saying they figured out how the wall broke, and it was Deadpool/Pinkie Pie/some anime character.

Connor Fallon wrote:Pinkie Pie
subtlety

I call shenanigans.

Tom wrote:I said this in the chat, but realized it's more apropos to have it here:

It's fun having a group of GM's who don't agree on every single moral detail. The trick is in getting them all to keep it ambiguous, and consistent with both viewpoints. Basically, you agree on a central set of facts, and then take up your positions, and argue them for four months.

At least that's what we did.

I know how it feels to write like that. Mimsy and I once entered a writing contest where we each wrote the same story, but from totally different points of view. Each of our characters was absolutely convinced that the other side of the fight was the devil incarnate or something, but overall the entire thing was written so that it wasn't clear if one or the other was right, or if both or neither were.

Pixelmage wrote:

Rick Healey wrote:I typically would be playing Pokemon while doing work on the ARG, since it's nice and turn-based. The sheer number of Pokemon I have named after things in this ARG (both players and characters) is astounding.

Ok... Now you're asking for it... Did you name a pokemon after me? If so, which Pokemon was it? (Side question, Gender Confusion points from it being a female Pokemon?)
I can take it, seriously, shot away.

Well... sorta.

See, generally, I'd look up when catching/hatching a new Pokemon, and I'd go with an appropriate name based on gender and what I was currently looking at.

For whatever reason, you were only immediately catching my eye once during such a case, and the 'mon was female. As I did know your actual gender, I did the next closest thing. So you're responsible for the fact that I have a female Lotad named Alice.

RotavatoR wrote:

Rick Healey wrote:I typically would be playing Pokemon while doing work on the ARG, since it's nice and turn-based. The sheer number of Pokemon I have named after things in this ARG (both players and characters) is astounding.

Please, I beg of you ;_;
Provide a list?

Well, the fun is that it's supposed to be a flag for those who'd get it. I'm inserting a ton of references in like that all the time - like when I referenced Real Ultimate Power on EFP.

That said, I'll give you the avatar pic as a freebie, because the glare from the flash and the size of the pic makes it very hard to tell unless you're very familiar with the book. In my avatar pic, the book I'm reading is Swords At Dawn, which is a supplement for Changeling: the Lost. This is a multi-layered reference. For one, the fictionals in this world were displaced from their original world, just as characters in C:tL are. For another, the prime cause for problems for characters in Changeling are eldritch abominations called the True Fae - both Cthulhu and Mr. A have sharp parallels there.

But the big one, the one that is the reason to have that book in the picture? That's the book that gives rules for the magic system known in-game as Talecrafting. Available to any Changeling character, it gives the characters the ability to cause elements of fiction to happen in their lives if the situation is set up for it. In other words, it's the power to actively make tropes happen in-game. And if that wasn't enough, page 65 explicitly recommends going to TV Tropes to get inspiration for ways to make Talecrafting work. So the reference is a puppet master in the TV Tropes ARG reading a role-playing supplement about how to use TV Tropes in your role-playing game.

For the record, I actually haven't seen Inception yet; I'm told my brain just naturally nests ideas like that for the hell of it. Or maybe it's dealing with ARGs in various forms for 7 or 8 years. One or the other.

Rick Healey wrote:I typically would be playing Pokemon while doing work on the ARG, since it's nice and turn-based. The sheer number of Pokemon I have named after things in this ARG (both players and characters) is astounding.

Is there any named after me?

*puppy eyes*

The idea of references to me intrigues me. XD Anything I caused?

Rick Healey wrote:Well... sorta.

See, generally, I'd look up when catching/hatching a new Pokemon, and I'd go with an appropriate name based on gender and what I was currently looking at.

For whatever reason, you were only immediately catching my eye once during such a case, and the 'mon was female. As I did know your actual gender, I did the next closest thing. So you're responsible for the fact that I have a female Lotad named Alice.

Rick Healey wrote:For whatever reason, you were only immediately catching my eye once during such a case, and the 'mon was female. As I did know your actual gender, I did the next closest thing. So you're responsible for the fact that I have a female Lotad named Alice.

Rick Healey wrote:As I did know your actual gender, I did the next closest thing. So you're responsible for the fact that I have a female Lotad named Alice.

Rick Healey wrote:So you're responsible for the fact that I have a female Lotad named Alice.

EDIT: Ok... Now that I'm stable again and not laughing mad... That's seriously awesome!

I think it's worth pointing out that the PMs have had (amongst other things) two marriage proposals, two of the leads moving cross-country and a pregnancy announcement during the course of planning and running the game. Real Life (tm) stops for no-one and nothing, even Mr A.

Rick Healey wrote:

RotavatoR wrote:Please, I beg of you ;_;
Provide a list?

Well, the fun is that it's supposed to be a flag for those who'd get it. I'm inserting a ton of references in like that all the time - like when I referenced Real Ultimate Power on EFP.

That said, I'll give you the avatar pic as a freebie, because the glare from the flash and the size of the pic makes it very hard to tell unless you're very familiar with the book. In my avatar pic, the book I'm reading is Swords At Dawn, which is a supplement for Changeling: the Lost. This is a multi-layered reference. For one, the fictionals in this world were displaced from their original world, just as characters in C:tL are. For another, the prime cause for problems for characters in Changeling are eldritch abominations called the True Fae - both Cthulhu and Mr. A have sharp parallels there.

But the big one, the one that is the reason to have that book in the picture? That's the book that gives rules for the magic system known in-game as Talecrafting. Available to any Changeling character, it gives the characters the ability to cause elements of fiction to happen in their lives if the situation is set up for it. In other words, it's the power to actively make tropes happen in-game. And if that wasn't enough, page 65 explicitly recommends going to TV Tropes to get inspiration for ways to make Talecrafting work. So the reference is a puppet master in the TV Tropes ARG reading a role-playing supplement about how to use TV Tropes in your role-playing game.

For the record, I actually haven't seen Inception yet; I'm told my brain just naturally nests ideas like that for the hell of it. Or maybe it's dealing with ARGs in various forms for 7 or 8 years. One or the other.

I'm sorry that I wasn't clear
I meant a list of the Pokémon's names. I'm sorry I made you write that wall of text >.<

RotavatoR wrote:I'm sorry I made you write that wall of text >.<

It was a great wall of text, though, so I'm not sorry he wrote it.

Victin wrote:

Rick Healey wrote:I typically would be playing Pokemon while doing work on the ARG, since it's nice and turn-based. The sheer number of Pokemon I have named after things in this ARG (both players and characters) is astounding.

Is there any named after me?

*puppy eyes*

A Minccino... sadly, not a particularly good one. I might use it for breeding purposes, but that's it.

Sicon112 wrote:The idea of references to me intrigues me. XD Anything I caused?

Remember how I said that some of the Pokemon names would seem insulting? Yeah... I have a Muk named Sicon.

RotavatoR wrote:I'm sorry that I wasn't clear
I meant a list of the Pokémon's names. I'm sorry I made you write that wall of text >.<

Dude, my 'dex is at 574. Even accounting for the ones that I got from trades that don't have nicknames, that list is way too long (and it gets even longer if I start pulling out previous editions - I started on Blue and have one of each generation's pair). Please understand that when I say that there's no way in Hell that I'm going through and listing all of those, I mean it in the nicest way and only curse because of the sheer enormity of the task.

narrativedilettante wrote:It was a great wall of text, though, so I'm not sorry he wrote it.

Well, one trick to writing that I at least try to apply is to write to your audience and try to make it entertaining to them. If you're good enough, you can get people to read anything.

Besides, you haven't seen Wall Of Text until you see my review of We Love Katamari... sadly, because we shut down the review site that I used to run, it's not online anymore (well, maybe on the Wayback Machine, but that's about it).

Rick Healey wrote:I typically would be playing Pokemon while doing work on the ARG, since it's nice and turn-based..

So that's why Mr. A likes Pokemon Red!

Rick Healey wrote:

Victin wrote:

Rick Healey wrote:I typically would be playing Pokemon while doing work on the ARG, since it's nice and turn-based. The sheer number of Pokemon I have named after things in this ARG (both players and characters) is astounding.

Is there any named after me?

*puppy eyes*

A Minccino... sadly, not a particularly good one. I might use it for breeding purposes, but that's it.

At least I'm cute!

*makes an "I'm awesome!" pose while resisting the urge to make a naughty joke*

SuperKing93 wrote:

Rick Healey wrote:I typically would be playing Pokemon while doing work on the ARG, since it's nice and turn-based..

So that's why Mr. A likes Pokemon Red!

Of course. He knew I have Pokemon Blue, and that made it much easier for us to finish our Pokedex.