Fuzzy Yarns Help Page

-- Now how do you participate? --

First off, when you come into the Gaelic Circle, (This is where the circle is held on the MUCK.) you must join the Circle in order to write in it. Just type join, and you'll be placed at the end of the current lineup.

The story progresses from player to player in that order (which you can see if you type list), with one exception. If I find that I am in the middle and will be starting the story for the day. I will go first.

If you are not sure who is writing the story at the moment you can use the command idle to look. The format for the command is simple and easy to understand. Just look for the arrow pointing to the writer at that moment. It will also tell you the idle time and who is within the circle. It is a very useful command for everyone.

                       --  Idlin' Furries  --                            
 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
    Name:           In Circle?  Type    Idle       Owner:
 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
    Caden                No    Player   Asleep!    
 *  Keith                No    Player   50s    
    ShadowKat            No    Player   30s    
 -> Tarka                No    Player   0s         
 *  Twohart              No    Player   42s    
    Vealoux              No    Player   Asleep!    
 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
   [   -> = Current Speaker | * = Contributed to current story ]     
 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
 + Created:  Fri Feb  5 19:07:31 1999   
 + Modified: Fri Feb  5 21:53:25 1999
 # Current Story:  "Meeting the Otter. 2-5-1999"

A participant may pass if they do not wish to write at that time. Be advised, if everyone passes, I'll assume there is no further interest in the story and end the session there.

You may also see more than one story when you type list; you can use the view command to see the old story (view #), or just type view by itself to see what has gone along in the current story. The view command is fairly straightforward, but you do need to (E)xit the viewer before the Fuzzy Yarns will take any other commands. If you just need to see what has been happening within the story recently you would use the review command.

This command will print out the last 30 lines of the story.

Within the view command you will find a (S)etup option. This will let you make personal defaults for the view and review commands as well as other things.

 --------------[ StoryViewer Configuration ]-------------
  
  1.   Display '15' lines per page.
  2.   Line numbers are 'OFF'.
  3.   The options footer is 'ON'.
  4.   The story header is 'ON'.
  5.   Line position recall is 'ON'.
  6.   End of document footer is:  "##   Fin   ##"
  
  7.   REVIEW command will display the last '30' lines
  8.   Circle join/leave notifies are: 'ON'.
  
  9.   Reset settings ( Back to default )
 --------------------------------------------------------
 >> Enter number, or anything else to quit:

-- Ok, ok, where is the good stuff? --

It's your turn, and you take the reigns of whatever has come before... To write, you type your responses one line at a time by using the st command. Try to keep your lines about 75-80 characters long. Many MU~ clints will only display 80 characters at a time. So keeping the lines this short makes it more interesting to read for everyone else. If you are not sure how long 80 characters is. There is a test command that will tell you how many characters are in a line. Try the command out!

Let's say the next line you want to do is "Release the moshing otters!"

You would type...

st Release the moshing otters!

What you type will appear like this:

> Release the moshing otters!

Typing st by itself inserts blank lines, which are useful for those reading along.

Keep going until you complete your section. I would suggest only doing 3 or so paragraphs, to keep from hogging the story. If your imagination is running away with the Circle, I'll give you a gentle nudge to pass the story along.

-- Okay, I'm done...how do I pass the story? --

Just say or pose that you're passing the story. The next person then goes from where you left off, and then passes to the next person, and so on. Eventually, it'll come back to you.

-- Hey! That wasn't what was supposted to happen!!!! --

This happens a bit... you think the story is going one way, and it winds up going 180d in the opposite direction. This is half the fun, and much of the challenge, to Fuzzy Yarns.

The best way to deal with unexpected surprises is to fire up your imagination and write out the solution when your turn comes back up. I do expect everyone to respect what has been written before. Blatantly ignoring previous contributions will lead to a warning; continuing to powergame, or making a scene, will result in being ejected strait into the Otter Yiff Pitt of Doom.

-- So, what happens when the sessions done? --

The session ends when:

1. The story is completed.
2. Everyone gets very tired and needs to get to bed. (In that case we might continue the story later.)
3. Everyone passes as interest in the story faulters. (In this case I put the story into the archive and do not continue it later.)

Completed stories are left in the backlog of list untell the story is placed into the web archive.

-- Any other rules, oh Floppytail the Magnificent? --

Oh! I am so glad that you asked.

Keep talking, posing, snuggling, etc. to a minimum while someone is writing. It distracts them from writing, and the rest of us from following along. Use whispers and pages.

Unappropriate behaviour will be grounds for warning or expulsion from Fuzzy Yarns. This includes, but is not limited to, flaming other writers, profanity, blatant yiffyness, and excessive mischief. Common sense really. You will be sent to the Otter Yiff Pitt of Doom if you are ever asked to leave.

There is only one other inportent command that I didn't cover above. The leave command. If you don't want to take part in the circle anymore but are not leaving the room as you want to listen into what will happen to the story the leave command lets you take yourself out of the list.

As your host I am quite happy to answer any questions that you might have about Fuzzy Yarns. Most of all... you otter have a good time.