Blog: Steve is the Worst Storyteller Ever.

 

No, really.  I am.

(Skip to the “How to get all the cool lore in Mütvia” section)

Evindale, and Mütvia which is a part of it, came about because I turned inward as a self-conscious young teen with an active imagination.  My parents raised me with rewards for every project I started but I don’t recall feeling rewarded for anything I completed.  The end result was a never-ending imagination wherein many things were created but few things resolved.

Turns out that’s not such a bad thing in this case.

I tried writing a novel based in Evindale once.  it actually took place in modern times and was in sore need of editing, never finished, but those who read it really seemed to like it.  There’s even a chapter header within nothing after it.

That’s kind of the story of Evindale — there’s always the next chapter and no clue what’s in it.

“My world, welcome to it.”

Ugh, I hate those words now but I’ve said them more than once growing up.  It was a need for control over that which I created because I lacked control over my own life in the real world.  Then again, I was 15  when I said it.

My mom had some leftover macrame boards (really thick cardboard) I used to create DM screens for the first ever Evindale games using AD&D.  It even said the phrase in bold blackletter on the player-facing side.

Published fantasy worlds like Greyhawk didn’t exist until 1983 and while I ran some games in Greyhawk, I did it mainly for the old school D&D modules they used to release that were set in the world.  Between games, I’d go back and draw that map.

I maintained that philosophy for many years and in the early 90s was known for that as my DM style.

So wrong… so, so wrong.  I did allow me, however, to focus on something I had been doing for years prior and that was build a world the way I wanted to build a world.

The Gaming Guild

In 1990, I attended my first gaming convention at the suggestion of someone I worked with as an EMT.  I met other people and while there, they and I hatched a plan to form a company which was formed the following year.

The Gaming Guild, Inc. existed in Stamford, CT in the retail basement of a sci-fi bookstore and burgeoning gaming store.  We had 1,500 sq. ft. of gaming space.  The prior inhabitants were kind enough to leave massive 4×8 wooden tables which were perfect for the various chess tournaments, Battletech games, and the midnight Mütvia campaign that started the detailed development of the country your characters are now in.

The concept of “My world and welcome to it” continued in those days.  Great campaign and I think people enjoyed themselves but my storytelling method was still stuck in that totalitarian mode.

It wasn’t until about ten years later I realized there’s another way to tell a story.

Ye Olde Improvisational Acting

I worked off and on at New York Renaissance Faire since ’92 as a gamer and boothie.  In 2003, I was brought on as cast wherein I learned improvisational theater.  It took a while, but this changed my life.

The concept of improvisational theater has within it a simple premise: “Yes, and…”

“Yes, and…” means you enter into a scene with no preconceived notion of how it’ll start or turn out.  Someone says something to you, you accept it no matter what it is, and build on top of it.  In the context of running a LARP or tabletop game, it means releasing the thought you have control of your world.

This flew straight in the face of “My world, and welcome to it,” and I still held on to it for a long time for a bunch of other reasons.  I thought my life was out of control and blammo! I manufactured reasons to maintain control.

(If you were there during that time, I’m so sorry.)

Beautiful Lessons Learned: Carath Anon and EvinCon

“The Gate of the Gods stood before me and with thunderous falls of foot, the Great Lich approached from behind me.  We had arrived at the end of our journey, it was now or never.”

In the early 2000s, I had five campaigns running and each was in a different part of Evindale with their own facet of the same story: someone or something was trying to take over the realm of physical reality.

On April 13, 2013, members of three of the five games attended a single event called EvinCon that brought all of their stories together.  In attendance was the Mütvia crew, the Thursday Night crew, and the Mega Misfits.

By the end of it, the three forces had come together and forever changed the world I had spent the past 32 years creating.  What happened wasn’t in my control, it was in theirs and it was beautiful.

In-character, the resulting event of EvinCon was known as the Interregnum.  Out-of-character, you now play in a world shaped by players just like you.

#HowToGetAllTheCoolLoreInMütvia

There’s a persistent world developed over three decades out there for you to explore.  From the tiny village of Moldev, however, this may seem impossible or daunting.  How does your character even get a start?

Here’s the secret: we don’t send plot to you because plot doesn’t exist.  🙂

The world is simply moving forward and that means there are millions of things going on all at the same time.  We can understand your frustration, and that why we now present you with How To Get All The Cool Lore In Mütvia.

First, let’s get you up to speed.

What’s happened so far.

• Moldev is in the northern portion of a place called Mütvia which lies on the eastern portion of the continent of Erinnal in the World of Evindale.
• Mütvia is like mythological Transylvania on steroids mixed with gothic Victorian England.  You have nobles, commoners, and the travelling drósti all living in a land that is replete with horror.
• Everyone is superstitious, no one trusts outsiders, the nobles are cruel, the commoners down-trodden, and the drósti are outcasts.
• Moldev is one province of four in the principality formerly known as Vöhjesti (“Principality of Vöhj”).
• In the year 1132, the draconian Prince Vöhj allegedly slaughtered his entire court and the entire population of all four provinces through means as of yet understood.  Nature itself closed off the entrances and none could escape or enter.
• For five years it remained this way until Lastgather (October) of 1138 when the pathways opened and a ferry offered travelers a way across the surrounding River Gergi to the south.  With Moldev now open and a mystery to solve, people started entering.
• It is now 1139, in our year of 2017.
• Now one year later, a noble by the name of Radachek rose to power and oversees operations under the prince known as Ranov who took over Vöhjesti.

Over the past year, Moldevians have discovered:

• Their village is the center of spiritual power for some reason
• One theory holds this is where a god died
• Weird things happened that caused people to realize “No, the gods are real”
• There’s the land, and then there’s The Land, the very essence of brutal nature.  Some say it’s an old god, one called Nor’dagha
• A cult known as the Creed of Star wants in, they bear the symbol of Tyrla, an ancient goddess of nightmares
• Another cult, that swinging the symbol of Medres, a deity of undeath and disease, also wants in

• 

  Vöhjesti, circa 1132

  Vöhj is not dead, he’s now a powerful jerk that’s part shadow, is shadow, or … something else weird

• Jan Strachvas, an “evil necromancer” and former scholarly noble of Prince Vöhj, died protecting the village from shadows only to die horrifically.  Vöhj now runs around in his body.
• The sanji, or forest spirits of Mütvia, have turned dark and more bestial.  They used to talk, now they don’t.  They used to be out in the light, now they’re not.
• The superstitions of old actually do serve a purpose.
• Supposedly the entire village is one giant illusion, that the real Moldev reeks of the horrors from six years ago.
• Someone calling themselves “the Herald” is telling newcomers on the outside about Moldev and blatantly lying about it: the rivers run with wine, there are gold mines abound, and dreams come to life.  Yeah, well, that’s b******t as so many quickly find out.
• Rumors have started to spread that Moldev is nothing more than a fear factory feeding something that’s rising to power.

Player-driven: We provide a world.  You tell the story.

If you’re having difficulty finding plot, that’s because there isn’t any in the sense of “You, come here, do this for me.”   Instead, the highly detailed world of lore around you moves, reacts, ebbs and flows here and there in a dance with the actions of everyone who participates.  There are LOTS of things going on that all lead to the unfolding story, but you need to seek it out.  This is a game of active involvement.

Fact: With all the stuff going on, did you know there’s only two official stories we created?  Yep.  Everything else is a single tendril that leads back to the story you’re helping to create.  We’re not creating new stuff, the world is reacting to what you’ve done. 🙂

Some things going on that are known by many (but may not be obvious):

• People have started to recognize the divine.  A new “vyer”, or priest of the old Mütvian faiths, has made himself known.  What’s up with religions?
• A tavern popped up overnight.  It’s called the Fortune’s End and there’s a name attached to it, the Black Rose.  How and why?
• Some say there’s an ocean of dark black icky stuff under the land that resides in some form of existence like an overlay of this reality.  Sometimes, people detect something under it.  Some have collected samples of actual “black bile” and apothecaries now know how to reverse engineer stuff.  What’s it really about?
• The “twins”, two “echo” or “repeater” spirit siblings, have gone beyond their original pattern of repeating behavior for some reason.  Why?
• The sanji changed from one year ago to something nastier.  Is this normal?  Why?
• Something’s risen amongst the sanji, some witnessed it.  What happened?
• Dedicants of Nor’dagha have begun to show up wondering if anyone else has noticed anything.  What’s their story?
• Everyone at some point or another has had nightmares.  Is this normal for Mütvia?  It’s not, not even for this place.  Why is this happening?
• The website’s front page has superstitions rotating like a slider on it.  How much of that is actually viable?
• Strachvas said something as he died… anyone remember?
• Creatures inhabit the waters and sometimes show themselves.  Ready to gamble for your soul?  What would happen if you stayed in there too long?
• What the hell is going on with House Maristev which is, like, a thousand miles to the south.  Why have they sent in scouts?
• And this Tyrla-worshipping Creed of Star thing.  They, too, want in but why?  Take control of the Veil?  Of Moldev?  Of something else?  Are they behind all the nightmare stuff?
• Medres?  Who the hell is that and why have our ancestor spirits turned into the walking dead when they’re supposed to join us as silent guests for dinner?
• The Veil, an area of excessive spirit activity in the woods, has been “closed off”.  Why’s it there, what does this closing represent?
• Drósti: lore has it the true drósti homeland lies within the Veil, yet to be there for more than a few minutes is to go mad.  Does it actually exist?  If so, how do you get there?

This is beta.  Help us improve.

I may have years of storytelling experience and know how to write, but we’re still learning how to be LARP storytellers.  Some of you took the chance to offer incredible advice and opinions, some of it wasn’t favorable.  This helps us tremendously.  Keep doing it.  We don’t learn if we don’t fail.

If you haven’t heard back from us yet, we sincerely apologize.  There’s a LOT to get through, but keep the feedback coming!

We use you to focus.  Ask questions.

Some of the lore participants have latched on to is amazing.  I had no idea this would be this intriguing!  Whenever someone asks us something, we start taking notes and writing.  We respond very well to questions about the setting from superstitions to gods.  You ask it, we respond.

And this is why I’m the worst storyteller.

Because all I did was create a world.  You are the storyteller.

I’ll catch up one day, I promise.