From: hutch@agora.rdrop.com (Steve Hutchison) Date: Tue, 6 Dec 1994 09:00:48 -0800 (PST) Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Subject: ADMIN: How to write: Dragons' Inn Summary: info about our favorite eating and drinking place How to Write ... The Dragons' Inn This is a collection of the traditions and guidelines that have developed over the last few years for the Dragons' Inn. This isn't a guideline for writing posts to alt.pub.dragons-inn, but for writing about that central gathering place, the Inn itself, and the people who work there. The Inn was originally designated as the place where people come together to talk, to eat, and to serve as a springboard for getting characters into story threads. It still serves that purpose, but at times, there seems to be nobody there, because the story threads have all the active writers going off elsewhere. As a result, new people don't always have access to the traditions and history. This document is intended to remedy that problem, but it isn't The True Gospel. Some of this is my own opinion. There was, for instance, never a concrete description of all the Inn and there was never anything like a map of the Inn. Note that there is some variation in the way certain things are spelled and described. I always spell it "Dragons' Inn" where other people spell it "Dragon's Inn"; I say "Rowan LittleFair" while some people say "Rowan Littlefair" -- this is not worth getting wrought up over. Which brings up a point about this doc. Where I have marked a paragraph or section as [PROVISIONAL] it means that I am writing down things that have been discussed, but never formally agreed on. Feel free to make suggestions, changes, etc. as required by your story and to fit your taste. But don't try to change things that are marked as [FIXED] without getting group approval first. The Inn: The Dragons' Inn is a "fantasy" Inn and does not really resemble an English public house, a medieval inn, or anything out of Tolkien. This is in keeping with the Dragons' Inn group being a system-less common writing and storytelling group, not a MUD or a roleplay game. The building itself is located at a major intersection, of the Avenue of Unforgotten Heroes (north-south) and Dragon Lane (east-west). It's two and a half storeys tall, and has a large dining commons, three fireplaces, nineteen dark corners, a bar, and a stairway going up to the private rooms (there are about 20 of these) and the men's and women's common sleeping rooms. There's also a basement for the more subterranean customers. See the maps below for the layout of the first floor of the Inn (highly provisional) and its immediate neighborhood if you like that sort of thing. As far as I know, it's never been really described as to its appearance on the outside. It has a big sign with a dragon painted on it, a single customer entrance on the Avenue of Unforgotten Heroes, and may or may not have windows, white paint, Tudor-style exposed beams, stucco, or brick facing. It has windows on the Avenue as well, which are frequently closed with shutters. If there is glass in the windows it's probably not super fine optical quality glass, mostly for the comfort of the people who lurk in the anonymity inside the Inn. Amenities, food and drink: The Inn has a dining commons, which is not used as a sleeping area since the place is open at all hours -- Generica is a very busy trading city and has a large fishing fleet, and there are usually a few people who have come in for a meal or to trade news. The dining commons has a twelve-foot open-beam ceiling, and a number of tables with comfortable benches and chairs which can support creatures ranging from very small squirrel-sized folks up to fifteen-foot giants, trolls, and centaurs. However, the really tall folks might bump their heads if they're careless. Most tables are undecorated, but some have tablecloths, and one has a chessboard imprinted on it, which is the closest thing to vandalism you are likely to see in the dining commons. There are three fireplaces, one in front, one on the side, and one in back near the kitchen. There are plenty of dark corners, (extras were installed because of demand) and plenty of well-lit areas, for that matter. [PROVISIONAL] For reasons unknown, the numner of windows varies. Assume that there are windows, on the side facing the Avenue, and possibly a few in the upstairs rooms (but they attract the attention of thieves, so would probably be kept closed most of the time.) Perhaps they're not always there, or perhaps they are suttered and kept locked, most of the time. Maybe the magic protecting the place doesn't like having holes other than doors and makes them go away sometimes. Maybe some got taken out in order to fit in the Dark Corners. Maybe Rowan dislikes leaving openings for thieves and deadbeats. In any case, the place isn't stuffy or dismal because of this. It's remarkably clean, and well lit except where Dark Corners are installed. [END PROVISIONAL] Bunks in the common sleeping rooms are available and there are a number of private rooms, both upstairs and in the basement. Hot and cold baths are available either in the Bath room by the kitchen, or in the private rooms, and there is a stables next door. There is a bulletin board (see the weekly ADMIN postings) and the Inn is a good place to hear gossip (either from other writers or within your own story). Just about any beverage you can imagine can be gotten here, but the usual fare is a decent beer or ale, good wine, and pure drinkable water. Coffee or equivalents, and varieties of tea are available. Chocolate is available but expensive since it mostly comes from off-Nexus, or at least from _very_ far away. There is no such thing as a "drink Rowan's never heard of" and it's very likely that he has the ingredients for almost anything. If you do know a drink he's never heard of, he'll make it for you for free, as long as you're not making it up on the spot. The food is a fairly traditional "fantasy inn" fare. There's at least one main "roasted meat" every day, which varies. There are always at least two kinds of soup, one of which is a pease or lentil type, and one which is more of a broth style. Rice or pasta are available. At least one kind of steamed or boiled root vegetable will usually be available, as will "greens" of some kind. Salad vegetables are available. The breakfasts are traditional eggs, cheeze, sausage, and fried root, as well as journey-cake (treat as hotcakes). They serve coffee and equivalents at breakfast, and oatmeal... basically, whatever "traditional breakfast food" you like. "Small ale" -- a very weak beer, just alcoholic enough to kill the germs -- is the strongest beverage served with breakfast as a matter of course, but you can get stronger for an added price. Pizza and other weird snack foods, and sandwiches, are available sometimes, having been introduced by off-Nexus tourists or traders. These are all that's available outside of the regular meal times. Regular meals are served starting just after dawn for two hours, for the three hours around noon, and in the evening. A late supper board is sometimes laid around midnight when the tides are such that merchants or sailors will be coming in around then. Prices: This whole section on prices is [PROVISIONAL] but based on some discussion that happened in summer of 1993. No concensus was reached because it's inconvenient being too picky. Note that the concensus on the prices was split -- some people thought they were a good idea, others didn't like nailing them down. If you want to do something different, feel free. Barter is always popular in Generica. Feel free to overpay if you want. We're using a "silver" based economy by convention. Don't sweat the fine details on this. Generica is a major trading center and Rowan can make change as appropriate for your story needs. Local conversion, for convenience: 10 coppers to a steel piece, 10 steel pieces to a silver, 10 silver to a gold, larger coinage varies. The size of a coin is deliberately unspecified. Bank notes are not usually accepted except at banks. For rough comparison, a silver is about ten dollars american, at the 1994 economy, based on the ability to buy a meal. The prices at the Dragons' Inn are moderately high. Other Inns in town might charge less, or more, depending on costs and on the rate of exchange and on what the market will bear. In the past the silver piece has been called a "shekel" but that is extremely inconsistent. A tankard of cheap wine or house beer, and a light meal off the common soup kettle (with bread and cheese) is one steel piece. For people who don't want alcohol, coffee, tea, and pure water are available. At those times when the common soup kettle isn't available, quick meals can be put together by the short ogre cook, for one to two steel pieces. A bigger meal with more wine is a full silver, and special drinks range from five steel to a gold, depending on rarity and the difficulty of getting more. A meal served to a private room is a half to full silver plus a two-copper service charge. A sleeping bunk and locker in the upstairs common room is five coppers. There are two commons, one kept for women and one for men. At most 20 people can sleep in each. A small private room is about 2 silver a night, and can accomodate up to four people in cramped conditions. A large private room can accomodate six to eight, and costs a gold; there are more amenities in those rooms. A hot bath, in the Bathing Room, is a half silver. A hot bath, in a private room, is a full silver. Hangover cures and sobriety potions are five steel pieces, and are not especially nice to take, but they work. First aid can be gotten for free most of the time, but getting a Healer, Cleric, or Doctor costs whatever they would cost plus a couple coppers for a runner to go fetch them. Behaviour in the Inn: Courtesy is expected. If you're too drunk to be quiet, you might be slipped a sober-up potion (added to your bill) if they can't get you to quiet down by other methods. There's a room under the stairs in the basement (see map) that sometimes gets used as a crashspace for severe drunks. Depending on circumstances this might be charged for as space in the sleeping commons. But usually, if someone comes in so drunk that they aren't rational, they'll be served only enough to keep them going, not to get them more drunk. [FIXED] Fighting is discouraged, whether magical or physical. This is part of the groundrules for this newsgroup. Having seen other "group spaces" turn into a moil of one-up-manship fighting, rather like a bad MUD, the concensus was that IN THE DRAGONS' INN ITSELF there would be NO violence, not even "pose" violence where your character is introduced as Tuff N' Nasty by picking out a cardboard-cutout character (or someone else's character) and turning them into a scorched bleeding heap of dying pain. For character and story purposes, there is a very subtle set of immensely powerful spells on the Inn which that increase good-feeling and slows quick tempers. In addition, people with murder on their minds sometimes find themselves in a completely different Inn (see Drag On Inn, below). If things start to get hostile, Listener (the Bard, see below) will play a tune that is a stronger anti-violence spell. If that doesn't work, there are any number of people who can act as bouncers, including Rowan the owner, who is a very competent fighter. Oh yeah, and magic wielded with hostile intent usually finds itself drained of power and reduced to harmless illusion. Note, this is not saying you can't write conflict, fighting, etc; just don't write it happening in the Dragons' Inn. There are plenty of other places in town that welcome and even encourage it (e.g. the Spitting Cobra, see the Tour Guide for details.) Yes, this does not make perfect sense, and it's at odds with the philosophy of "no absolutes" that I encourage and which I have written for other town features, but it's intended so that the group can always have a "peaceful" place where the newcomers can be introduced and get acquainted with other people's characters. Another general guideline, don't write Absolutes. The problem with doing that is it presumes you know more about other people's characters than they do. If you want to have, for instance, a character whose mind cannot be read, then in the description of the character that you will eventually submit to the Character Summaries maintainer, indicate that you want the character to be immune to having their mind read, so please contact you before writing any scene where that might happen. In addition, don't write your character randomly reading the mind of someone else's character without contacting them first. Also, as a general guideline, do NOT write the reactions of other people's characters unless you've discussed it with them. This includes the "everyone ignores the newcomer even though he's bleeding to death from a sliced throat." That sort of thing tends to cause "I did not" "you did too" wars. If you want a reaction and don't want to wait for others to give it, write to someone who's got a character active at the inn and negotiate it! [END FIXED] There's usually conversation, good times, good meals, and the opportunity for games, intrigue, storytelling, all the things that an adventurer wants, without the danger of getting a dagger in the back or poison in your drink. It's a safe place, and that's its main selling point. There is NOT a "Bar" in the sense of a long mahogany-wood counter where everyone stands up to drink -- there's a Service Bar that has the drinks and sometimes food being made ready to serve, laid along it. It also has the room keys and private mail slots and the magical safe, money-changer, and meal tabs. One popular feature of the Inn is The Rabble. This is the convenient name for the crowd of regular patrons from town, a mixture of sailors, dock-workers, adventurer-wanna-be's, and civil servants, who hang out at the Inn because it has good food, a very safe atmosphere, and you can hear the most outrageous stories from the wierdo Adventurers who collect there. Two key figures are Cliffy (a postal courier and Royal Messenger) and Norm (an accountant at the Merchant's Guild) who (for non-Americans) are based roughly on characters in a popular television program now available only as reruns. Dark Corners have been installed -- there are 19 of them, far too many than should fit even in an L-shaped common dining room, so it must be some kind of magic, don't sweat it, and most of the Corners have the requisite Dark Mystery Figure. Feel free to be one of them, since the number of Lurkers In the Dark varies over time, but you might prefer to sit in the middle tables because you'll get better service. Lighting in the place is a combination of magic and enclosed hurricane-lamps, so it varies to be convenient to whatever is being written. There are NO "resident tarts" here. That's not to say women and for that matter men, don't come here to get picked up, but they are discouraged from making a living doing that at the Inn, usually by referring them to some other place in town which can accomodate their profession better. Patrons who try to pick up on other patrons after being told "no" are usually removed from the premises one way or another. Staff: This section is [FIXED] but character development is always welcome. Make sure that you clear major changes with the group first though. Rowan LittleFair is the owner and principal barkeep. He's a man of average height, with the stocky build of a retired fighting adventurer. He is NOT fat, and does not have a paunch or beer-gut, though he does have the expected amount of gray hair and wrinkles appropriate to a very fit 50 year old man. He is congenial and friendly, does not use casual vulgarity, and does not sound like a back-country hobbit tavern keeper. He does accept jewels to create a tab, and can change practically any currency you care to mention, though off-world stuff may be ruinously expensive to convert. Rowan is never rude to his customers, though he's been known to play practical jokes on his friends. Rowan brews his own beer and wines, in the building behind the Inn, and manages to make enough to sell to other Inns, but this is a sideline for him. Listener, a golden-elf Bard, is Rowan's "silent" partner in this venture. He is an old adventuring companion of Rowan's, having fought alongside him in war. They were mercenaries together and rumor has it they even plundered an ancient lost tomb together. In any case, Listener is the musical entertainment at the Inn, and the magical support for the peace-spells that keep it pleasant. He welcomes other musicians, on a temporary basis, but so far has not set up any other performers as regulars at the Inn. He always takes formal holidays off, when the Inn isn't open for regular meals. He also goes wandering a few months of every year, in order to keep current on the latest songs and stories. He usually comes back from these trips completely broke -- he has no sense for money and the only good investment he's ever made was his share in the Inn. His favorite place to stay in the Inn is in the rafters over the second fireplace, which have been smoothed and shaped to resemble the tree home he hasn't seen for years. Listener knows a very large number of songs, many of which are anachronistic and not in the "fantasy" genre. However, he prefers the traditional stuff. He speaks in a very florid, formal style, as one would expect from a Bard. He dresses like an elvish version of the medieval Minstrel -- green tights, long floopy sleeves, etc. Assume he can play just about any instrument, though he mostly has been seen to play flute, lute, and mandolin at the Inn. Mary LittleFair is Rowan's wife and true love. A motherly woman with gold-and-grey hair, she learns everybody's names and calls all her regular customers by name, or "love", and will chide her favorites to eat their veggies, or to try some new special dessert or recipe. She is in charge of most of the service side of the Inn and is the one who trains the waitresses and barmaids. Like Rowan, she is not rude to her customers, and makes sure her trainees aren't. She also handles any customer who gets too familiar with the waitresses and barmaids and lets new waitresses and barmaids know that their jobs are to serve food and clear tables and be friendly with the customers, but not to be _intimate_ with them. She is the chief cook, but she's been training Bob and a new young man from the Low City (Vondi, a player character who doesn't appear in the latest Directory) how to cook. Bob LittleFair is a young man in his teens, combining the features of both parents -- he's rangier than his father and taller, but more tough-looking than his mother. He enjoys his job and does not want to become an adventurer though he's been trained how to handle himself in a fight by his father and his father's friends. He runs the bar in early morning and part of the afternoon and has learned a lot from his father. He's been written as a younger and more mischievous version of his father. Marux Ariendel, the mop boy -- Marux is an eager young fellow in the 8-12 range, who may be slightly brain-injured. He takes a great deal of pleasure from his work, which is keeping the place clean. He doesn't talk much but when he does, it's in complete sentences without idiot-speech, so be careful not to portray him as a moron or anything like that. He's just very good at cleaning and likes it a lot, and he's proud of his skills. Serene Uhtsong is a Player Character who is the sometimes Barmaid at the Dragons' Inn. Contact Dreamer (asg102@psuvm.psu.edu) in order to use her in a post; otherwise assume some other waitress. Waitresses have been coming and going in the last year or so, since Serene had her baby and went part-time. None of them have yet been written as staying very long. The Short Ogre Cook has never been seen to speak much. He's a cook, he does fast food, he's a four-foot-eight ogre, and he's kind of gruff with people who get in his kitchen. For those of you who don't speak English as a first language, his name is a pun on "Short Order Cook," which describes a person who cooks quick, small meals to a customer's order. Seldom seen of late, Martin is the accountant of the Dragon's Inn. He is a pudgy middle-aged man with dark hair and an ever-present 5:00 shadow. He always wears the same conservative grey business suit with a red paisley tie (as per modern America). Martin is the invertor of Quantum Accounting: the only system that can account for Generica's random time fluctuations in it's billing scheme. After all, how can you charge someone for a day's rent if time is subjective? Martin is completely and totally indestructible and unchanging due to a strange quirk of fate. He can't cut his hair, shave, lose weight, or be harmed by anything. After discovering this, various races have used him as a projectile, reactor shielding, a battering ram, and a plasma waste container. Generally, Martin is depressed and cynical. [Martin is a Player Character. Contact Dreamer (asg102@psuvm.psu.edu) if you want to use him in a post.] "Enn Piecy" is a character introduced in 1993 to provide a convenient Voice Of Doom. He's a seer, dressed in a hooded cloak and robes, but he's really this skinny, kind of geeky-looking, shy fourteen year old kid with mild acne and a voice that's always changing. Strangely enough, he was fairly well characterized, even though his primary use is as a Plot Device. He spends most of his time in the Inn, where he will sometimes come out with a great pronouncement, such as the warning that the Great Storm (major spring crossover 1993) was coming, everybody take shelter. He uses all sorts of obscure forms of divination: disembowelling stuffed animals, reading crystal bulls (not balls, bulls), tarot credit cards, etc. He tries to appear mysterious, and sometimes succeeds, but he's really just a kid with a very powerful talent. Vondi is a young man from the Low Town who has come to the Inn in an attempt to escape the Gang life. He's very skinny, but he's started to look less starved since he's been at the Inn. He works as a jack-of-trades at the Inn, doing whatever Mary needs him to do, and in return is fed, clothed, housed, and given a wage that is, by Low City standards, extremely generous. He's in his early teens, has long, dark hair that presumably gets pulled back in a pony tail while he's working, and he speaks with a version of the Low Town accent -- "me" instead of "I" and generally sounds a illiterate but not stupid. If you want to use him for more than "color" contact his player, clayton@austin.ibm.com (Clayton Colwell). Note that this is an old address and not much has been seen from Clayton since the end of December '93. The Story Buyer: As an incentive for people to write stories, and so they won't feel shy about them, there's a Story Buyer in the Inn. He was created as a way for people to post when there's nobody "in the Inn". He's an excellent way to bring in a new character. See the "Story Buyer" description for details. The Drag On In: Sometimes people will post a wildly inappropriate story which misuses the characters in the Inn. A custom developed of saying that they had accidentally fallen into the OTHER Dragon's Inn, the one in the Domains of Terror (similar to the AD&D (tm) RavenLoft(tm) dimension but much nastier). In an early story thread in the newsgroup, a "dark mirror" reflection of Generica was described, and the Dragons' Inn there was a concentration of all that is horrible about cafeteria-style cheap all-night restaurant/coffee houses in America, combined with gothic horror. After the end of that story thread, two characters in that thread (Alita the succubus, acting Ruler of ak Ir'neg, and her pleasure-slave Noira, a priestess of the Pain Goddess) took over the alternate Dragon's Inn as a way to pass time; they will occasionally "take" a person who tries to come into the real Inn with violent intentions, or who wants a fight, across the dimensions into their imitation of the Inn. They've also been known to "bounce" people out of their own plane into Nexus when they're too peaceful or well-intentioned; this lets people who like the place have a convenient way back and forth. Between the two of them, and some of their numerous slaves, they impersonate the real Inn, causing fights, acting rude, etc. As this is mostly my own invention, I hereby grant permission to use or abuse it in any way you like, since Alita is always messing with things. Just don't make them nicey-nice unless they're doing it to torture someone. The alternate staff include: Rowen NeverFair, a physical duplicate of Rowan LittleFair, actually is Alita using her shapeshifting powers. He is coarse, vulgar, and likes to fight with his guests, and no matter what you order he will give you a rather sour, too-concentrated beer that will ruin your meal and start ulcers. He's got a tendency to overcharge. Screamer, a fellow who used to be a heavy-metal guitarist. He looks like an elf on amphetamines, and Noira has cursed him to be unable to sing rock music any more -- everything comes out as a bad lounge singer act, or as elevator music. He's dressed in really tacky imitations of Listener's florid Elven garb. Muxup Ne'erdowell, a withered old geezer who comes, if you spill something, or when told to clean your table, and takes his very stale, greasy, grey-black mop out of the bucket of vile-smelling stuff he keeps it in, and slops it across the tabletop, the floor, and as much of you as he can get. This creature is really a zombie. Barth J. Kobold, the Short Ordure Cook. If you've ever seen the Nickelodeon show "You Can't Do That On Television" you know who this is. Otherwise, just remember that the food is not that color because of the lights; if someone puts out the lights, the food will still be glowing that same sick green. And that's the fresh stuff. Sireen (generally portrayed by Noira) is the waitress/barmaid/hooker, and she is at once rude, vulgar, inept, snotty, and insulting. If you take her up on her not-very-subtle sexual suggestions you will definitely need a very good doctor, or someone who can "remove curse" and "cure disease" for you. One contributor has suggested adding Beavis and Butthead, but more grown-up, to this place. I wash my hands of it. Maps and Descriptions: \ |__________| ______\/ / NORTH | !! / _______/ | !! / / \ A ~ ~ | !! / / | | \ !! / / | | \ _The_Ceruputhon__!!_River_/ / | /|\ ~ ~ \ / _______________((________/ /\ | / / !! \/ | / /========================================+ ~ ~ | / / !!X + \ / / !! /\ The Great / !! \/ Blue Sea \ !! | ~ ~ ~ \ !! \ This segment of the Map of Generica shows the location of the Inn; it's at the X. Directly south is a stable and light-work smithy, and directly east is a large warehouse-looking building which houses the brewery setup where Rowan brews his own wine and beers. This general map piece is [FIXED]. Below is the map of the Inn itself, which is HIGHLY [PROVISIONAL]. I'm only including this because I spent a lot of time tweaking it into place, and I'm rather fond of it. It seems to match the general description of the Inn's ground floor. The Basement and the Upstairs and the Attic I am leaving completely undefined except to say that the common rooms are near the stairs. The Inn has one main entrance, and two service entrances in the back. It has a basement, an upstairs, and an attic on top of part of the upstairs. The first floor is pretty close to what has been described over time, but it should be considered a very rough idea especially since it's hard to draw nineteen dark corners in a 2-d map. Feel free to change the layout if you can come up with one that works, but leave the main features: dining commons, stairs, kitchen, baths, and service bar, and the three fireplaces. These have all been used repeatedly in the past and to change them would require major renovations. Note that the baths next to the back fireplace means that hot water is available if you want it. Note also that I left out a restroom -- too many complaints about it. Assume it's in there somewhere, along with a room where there's enough floor space for sword practice. BREWERY ===================================================# =================================================# " +-----------+==+---------++---------------------+" " | + + |ba | |" " | storage | | | th | |" " | and | | kitchen +--+--+ |" " | pantry | | + |" " | | +----- -------+ |" " STABLES |-----------| |down bar | |" " | | +-----========+ |" " | Rowan& | |" " `down' goes to | Mary's | |" " the basement/ | | |" " winecellars |-----++-+--+ Dining Commons |" " |--------+-++ |" " | |s\ |" " there are stairs | Staff |t\ |" " down to basement | rooms |a\ |" " rooms under regular | and |i\ |" " stairs, for the | office |r\ |" " customers. | | |" " +---------------+=+-----------------------------+" "