Entry tags:
Gloom: ☆ZRAEL
[The old-fashioned writing desk in the center of the room carries several blank pieces of paper, a fine wooden pen, and a piece of parchment covered in writing. When you take a look, you find the following epigraph in a vibrant scrawl:]
Congratulations, future wordsmiths, and welcome to your first exercise in the creation of a true masterwork of tale-telling. This evening you'll be penning a terrific tragedy, starring the family of unsympathetic ne'er-do-wells provided to you.
Your goal? Why, to construct the best story your mind can conceive, of course - and make their lives as entertainingly miserable as possible before writing one of them directly into an early grave.
Congratulations, future wordsmiths, and welcome to your first exercise in the creation of a true masterwork of tale-telling. This evening you'll be penning a terrific tragedy, starring the family of unsympathetic ne'er-do-wells provided to you.
Your goal? Why, to construct the best story your mind can conceive, of course - and make their lives as entertainingly miserable as possible before writing one of them directly into an early grave.

RULES
YOUR GOAL
Your task is to inflict as much suffering as possible on your family, by playing unfortunate events on them ranging from minor inconveniences to fatal experiences. Once any team plays a death card on a character, the game ends.
YOUR CARDS
Your hand consists of three cards. Each card contains an unfortunate event, assigned a number of points ranging from -10 to -30. The lower the point value, the more delightfully tragic the event. By playing a card on one of your family members, they will experience that misfortune and earn you points.
Some cards include an even more unfortunate death. While they earn no points, playing a death on a family member will not only end their life, but end the game. Hopefully you've brought your family's arcs to a satisfying climax by that point...
Each round, you may play up to two cards on your family. Cards may be piled on one family member, or played on different members as you see fit. You must play at least one card each round--you might find your own story has an unfortunate ending if you do not.
At the end of each round, you will be granted enough new cards to get your hand back up to three.
Once per game, you may swap out your cards for an entirely new hand.
YOUR STORYTELLING
Now, don't get too bogged down with talk of cards and points. At its heart, this game is about creating a compelling narrative.
Every time you play a card, you must narrate how the event comes to pass, under the STORYTELLING heading below. And of course the story must be a coherent narrative--if during round one, your family's patriarch is ravaged by raccoons while in round two they are lost at sea, your creative narrative skills must explain how that character got from the raccoon enclosure to the deck of the pirate ship that they sadly do not know how to steer.
Use your imagination and have fun with it! I certainly will.
YOUR VICTORY
The game will end after the first round in which a unit writes one of their family members to a fatal end via an unfortunate death card.
At that point, all of the negative points from all events played will be tallied. All you need to do is be one of the units with the lowest score, and you will be victorious!
Of course, any tale worth telling is about the journey, not just the destination. Victory will also go to one team for constructing the most enthralling tale.
YOUR FAMILY
YOUR EVENTS
ROUND 1
-15
...not to mention being bothered by bees and harried by hornets.
-15
There is no sanity clause.
-15
Is it still embezzling if they're embalmed?
ROUND 2
-10
All's well that ends well, unless it ends IN the well.
-20
There's a place for everyone. This is yours.
-15
Sometimes having too many points can be a dangerous thing.
ROUND 3
-30
Apparently you ARE a sore loser!
-15
They may look silly, but they can strip the meat off a rhinoceros in less than a minute.
Sometimes you have to take a dive.
ROUND 1
CARDS PLAYED
Re: CARDS PLAYED
Stole from a stiff -> Bounty Hunter
STORYTELLING
Re: STORYTELLING
However, by terrible chance, the crime lord was an old lover of his wife, Sophronia, the doctor. When the bounty hunter gave her the ring as a gift, she recognized it, and realized what had happened. The shock of her husband killing the man she still loved drove her a little mad.
OUTCOME
Re: OUTCOME
With all the blood around the carnival, Darius Dark has had medical staff bedeviling his carnival. Regardless of the tradition that has defined his family, in the modern era they have found it quite unhygienic. And rumors have been spreading... it is not just disease that must be worried about in this carnival. Rather, there are horrors that stalk it, and the Clown's dreadful countenance is not merely a mask. Non, he is a horror escaped from the dark, and though he may try to bring happiness to the children with his ever present smile, his past has not yet forgotten him. The horrors remember he is one of them, and stalk his every step.
With these twin threats, the carnival is forever moving, forever roaming. Their only attachments are to each other, a sad bastion against a hostile world, though they wish only to spread some meager cheer despite their circumstances and origins.
It is a lonely life, and Thumbelisa has started to yearn for something more... For perhaps, another. One that will see beyond her diminutive stature, and would understand the grandeur of her heart.
[As they unfold before you, some of you feel the effects of the words as though you are the character that has been written about. You recall the events as though you have lived them; the damage caused to the character is reflected in your own flesh.]
[You have received the following effects. Please decide OOCly among yourself who will take which. Each effect must be taken by at least one person, but if more people wish to, that's fine]
- Was bedeviled by doctors
- Was hunted by horrors
[You have -30 points.]
Re: OUTCOME
Re: OUTCOME
Re: OUTCOME
DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
ROUND 2
CARDS PLAYED
Re: CARDS PLAYED
STORYTELLING
Re: STORYTELLING
OUTCOME
Re: OUTCOME
Re: OUTCOME
Re: OUTCOME
DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
ROUND 3
CARDS PLAYED
Re: CARDS PLAYED
STORYTELLING
Re: STORYTELLING
OUTCOME
Re: OUTCOME
Re: OUTCOME
Re: OUTCOME
Re: OUTCOME
DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
Re: DISCUSSION
AND THEN
Every truly great story has a great ending. And some of you, o wielders of the mighty pen, have brought yours to the inevitable conclusion. Bravo, to all of you who dared to write a character from the script.
Linger a while, as I weigh the merits of your wordsmithing. It won't be long.
[No sooner have the words finished appearing than the door to your room opens up, leading back to the lobby.]