I am giving my Patrons an exclusive first look at Anna's options for her aspect. Please make any constructive comments you wish below. I am especially looking for insight into balancing and cool-factor. I hope you like them. The vote goes up in a few days on Discord.
FYI: the chosen Aspect will have far more influence over the story in the long run than Aspect Trope.
Aspects affect which tropes are awarded and also provide saving throw bonuses. Aspect choice can a...
2023-08-24 00:00:30 +0000 UTC
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It looked like all of the storylines that had been running at the time the Black Snow Apocalypse was triggered were affected.
The next trailer started to play.
~~~~
Trailer #3
Intense eerie music started to build as the screen faded from black. A high-tech lab came into view with equipment scattered and alarms blaring.
A soldier armed to the gills, whom I recognized as Garrett, one of the players at the lodge, said, “You opened the door and you...
2023-08-23 20:54:51 +0000 UTC
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As I awoke, I expected to hear Silas greeting me, but he didn't show up quite yet.
I reached up and felt that my mask was still on. The tuxedo I had been wearing looked like new.
I got up off the couch and started wandering the halls of the sorcerers' mansion. I found my way back to the ballroom where my teammates were standing about, eating hors d'oeuvres.
That seemed particularly troubling, seeing as we needed to get out of that place before the sorcerers started attacking...
2023-08-23 20:24:29 +0000 UTC
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I was really hoping not to die again. At least I got to watch how it all played out.
Try as I might, I could not force my eyes over to see the audience members in the theater. I eventually gave up so that I could pay attention to the rest of the movie.
~-~
"We can just get in there and knock over all of the casks, right?" Antoine suggested though I assumed he was just acting in character.
Chris shook his head. "That would be like hitting a beehive with a baseball bat. ...
2023-08-21 04:30:14 +0000 UTC
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I stood in the alcove right at the edge of the magical seal that kept people from entering the area of the cask room where the bodies were kept. I couldn't move. I couldn't speak. I fought the urge to even try. It wasn't time yet.
Cristobal went to the end row behind the casks and started to push them off onto the floor. He got half a dozen casks broken on the floor before he decided to stop.
“That should help convince them when they come down,” he said as he approached us. ...
2023-08-20 05:20:24 +0000 UTC
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I searched for Grace for so long that I started to suspect that there was a trope interceding in my ability to find her. While Grace did have an ability that buffed my grit in order to assist me in getting important information back to her, extra grit wouldn't guarantee that I would be able to find her.
As the plot cycle ticked closer to Second Blood, the urgency started to increase dramatically. That wasn't the only thing increasing though. There were sorcerers roaming up and ...
2023-08-18 06:11:59 +0000 UTC
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As I waited for the interviews to end, I started to survey the bodies in the casks. My Trope Master ability worked on them. As I looked around the room, I found that all of them were enemies. That made sense. It was unlikely that they would be NPCs
Unfortunately, they only had two to three tropes. Some were so old they would die with ease, apparently. One of the tropes appeared to block my ability to see more than that. Their Plot Armor ranged from standard NPC all the way up to around ...
2023-08-16 07:27:46 +0000 UTC
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As we stood outside the cellar door, the crowds of masked guests continued to rage and demand to be allowed in to see their bodies.
Many in the periphery of the crowd seemed to be less worried about their fate. They casually stared on and mocked those who panicked. Others stayed away from the main crowd simply so that they could gossip with each other, but they spoke in such hushed whispers that I wasn't able to pick up on the scuttlebutt.
Eventually, a group of people inclu...
2023-08-16 02:58:34 +0000 UTC
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The crowd grew into an uproar as party guests began panicking. Many wanted desperately to get downstairs.
“We need to go down there, Cristobal,” one man, Mr. Oakheart, yelled over the crowd. “The killer must still be down there!”
“Calm,” Cristobal cried out. “Mr. Red Rock, did you see anyone else down there when you went to check on Ms. Monarch?”
“No sir, I didn’t,” Mr. Red Rock said. “But I didn’t stick around too long. It’s possible the killer f...
2023-08-13 06:26:31 +0000 UTC
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Mrs. Cloudburst and I ran through the hallways, laughing and stumbling about like drunk idiots. She was a great actress. If I didn’t know better, I would think she was actually enjoying herself. Following her lead, I think I was putting on a pretty good performance.
We were On and Off-Screen throughout our time together in that scene. I tried not to focus on it too much so that I didn’t get too anxious.
“What year is it?” I asked with a laugh. It was an odd question to ask...
2023-08-11 06:37:21 +0000 UTC
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The party was in full swing, and I don't just mean the party phase of the plot cycle. People were dancing and laughing. They shared wine, champagne, and conversation.
Everyone I could see was wearing a mask, and because of that, I couldn't tell the enemies from the NPCs; unless I tried hard enough, I sometimes lost track of my team.
When we entered, Antoine, Kimberly, and I stayed, hovering near Grace. It was strange. We were getting used to entering into dangerous situations, but...
2023-08-10 04:11:04 +0000 UTC
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Player Stats:
Player Tropes:
Riley
Riley is the Film Buff. "Trope Master" grants him the ability to perceive enemy tropes, but at the cost of sacrificing half of his Plot Armor. "Cinema Seer" buffs the Savvy and Grit of his allies when they hear him predict cinematic and impactful plot elements. As an "Oblivious Bystand...
2023-08-03 16:34:06 +0000 UTC
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Dear Patrons,
I hope you're all doing well. I'm reaching out to inform you that, regrettably, I won't be able to release the next chapter of The Game at Carousel as planned today. It will not come until Tuesday at the earliest. Please accept my sincere apologies for any inconvenience this may cause. I will also be pausing the Royal Road chapters as well until Patreon is caught up.
As some of you might already know, I've been working diligently on finalizing the manuscript for the ...
2023-07-29 22:30:57 +0000 UTC
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[This is the first interlude I have written for this story. If it works, there will be many to come. I do not know if this will be posted on RR at the same point in the story as it is for Patreon. Consider it a bit of a preview or trial run. Please be understanding, trying a new POV can take some time to adjust.
The next post will be Saturday.
Thanks for reading!]
~~~
“Anna,” Camden said, as we strapped ourselves into the helicopter. “They’re going to be okay....
2023-07-28 03:54:58 +0000 UTC
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[The next post will come Thursday]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“You know where the airfield is?” Chris asked Travis.
Travis nodded. “I remember the place,” he said. “Over by Pit Boulevard.”
"You got it."
Chris turned to the bus. “We have a lot of players around or below level thirty. That’s dangerous. Omens at the airfield can be higher level than that. Grace will be dividing us into teams to try to make us more balan...
2023-07-25 19:04:39 +0000 UTC
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The players are on the run from The Black Snow Apocalypse that has arrived months early. They are going to try to avoid the Black Snow by triggering another storyline first. That may be tricky.
Omens are disappearing in the wake of the storm so choices are slim. Luckily, they have stolen a bus and are trying to make their way to safety.
As they race for their lives, they come across three Omens that still exist despite the oncoming storm. The Omens all have the potential to take t...
2023-07-22 07:15:39 +0000 UTC
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Bowling is one of the many things that I had never been skilled at.
Until I got to Carousel.
I gave myself all those points in Hustle to try to survive using Oblivious Bystander. I had never taken into account how it might help me aim a ball down a wooden lane.
In fact, most of the players were doing really well at bowling. Obviously, Chris was doing the best because he out-leveled us by quite a bit, but I bowled above 180 for the first time in my life in my very first game ...
2023-07-22 07:04:36 +0000 UTC
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The day the Bowlers planned to go to the alley was a Tuesday. It was important to them that we go on a Tuesday because different NPCs occupy different lanes on different days.
Tuesday was the least crowded day and the only one where the four left-most lanes were unoccupied. It was also the day with the fewest Omens to contend with.
Sunday night, my friends and I went to the Diner for a bite to eat and then headed across the street to find a missing poster with a woman named Zoe on...
2023-07-21 03:59:57 +0000 UTC
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It was a week before the Western Excursion left.
We had gotten the go-ahead that we could take a couple of weeks off from storylines if we wanted as long as we were ready to go at a moment’s notice.
The rules were starting to relax after Jeanette’s death. It was largely believed that the Grotesque Omen was sent because she had refused to go on storylines, not simply because she hadn’t been on one in a while. I wasn’t going to argue. I needed a break from being killed and i...
2023-07-18 06:53:20 +0000 UTC
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I got tired of Bobby staring in my general direction and decided to take a cup of coffee outside onto the porch. There was a table there that I could use. I needed to examine my tropes and decide which ones I would be taking into the next storyline. I finally had enough of them that I couldn't just take them all without exceeding my limit.
We had been told that background tropes would affect the storylines we were in. I had understood that but I never really grasped how significant the ...
2023-07-16 04:58:31 +0000 UTC
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Attention Carousel Connoisseurs!
Mark your calendars because exactly one week from today, a bone-chilling poll will be released where you will get to choose the players' next storyline and their fate. The poll will only be open for the weekend, so I am telling you about it in advance.
I promise the stakes have never been higher!
If you thought the previous vote was a hair-raising good time, hold onto your seats because Carousel has an arsenal of diabolical surprises aw...
2023-07-15 02:52:13 +0000 UTC
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As soon as we walked through the front door of Dyer’s Lodge, Todd got a look at us and immediately ducked his head out the back door and yelled, “They're alive!”
Things had changed since we had left.
The chalkboards with all of the Secret Lore information had been filled out with tons of new stuff, but they had all been moved away from the main area and new boards were being set up where they had been. At the top of one of the new boards, the words “Western Excursion” we...
2023-07-13 18:25:41 +0000 UTC
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As I walked out onto the sidewalk where my friends and Silas were, I noticed right away that Kimberly and Anna were having an emotional moment.
“I’m so sorry!” Kimberly said.
“Don’t. I said it was okay,” Anna responded gently. She had been crying. Her eyes had that empty look that I now associated with dying in a storyline.
They continued their conversation with Kimberly continuously apologizing through tears.
As I approached the others, I asked, “What’...
2023-07-11 07:19:59 +0000 UTC
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The elevator doors opened slowly.
“Something is wrong,” Antoine said. “I told you he should have been back by now.”
The hallway was empty.
Antoine squeezed his way out and held the doors open for Anna and Kimberly to leave.
“Hush,” Antoine said. “Someone is coming.”
He brandished his bat and hid near the corner, ready to bash whoever appeared
As the footsteps got closer, Kimberly held out her hand and grabbed the bat. “Don’t.”
An...
2023-07-08 21:29:17 +0000 UTC
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Kimberly sat on a crossbeam just under the elevator door. She leaned back against the wall. Directly above her, Camden peeked out through a crack between the doors.
“It looks like there is no one near the elevator,” Camden said. “They’ve moved the Mercers somewhere.”
“What about Dina’s family?” Anna asked.
“I have no idea,” Camden said.
“I hope they haven't found them yet,” Kimberly said. “That little girl is so precious. She reminds me of mys...
2023-07-06 21:00:31 +0000 UTC
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Of the twenty or so armed men, only one of them stood out. He wore a red helmet whereas all of the others wore black. He was a head taller than the rest and he was clearly in charge.
The armed men's faces were covered to the point that you couldn't tell anything about them except that they were lethal.
“I'm not making entry until I know for certain that my men will be safe,” he said to Nancy Cartwright. “As far as I'm concerned, we could just block the doors and knock this b...
2023-07-04 20:13:09 +0000 UTC
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My friends were on the floor directly below ground level. Just one more set of stairs and they would be home-free. They stood in front of the elevator doors.
“We need to pry open the elevator and climb up,” Camden said. “That’s the only way out we know of for sure.”
“Are you kidding?” Kimberly asked. “That elevator shaft is hundreds of feet deep.”
“Then we don’t fall. We have one person go up with a rope and then the rest of us climb the rope after he t...
2023-07-01 18:33:28 +0000 UTC
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Suddenly I was standing in the control room alone. All around me was still. All around me was silent.
The poltergeist was gone.
The bodies on the floor were gone.
Was the storyline over? Did this mean we had won?
I looked at the red wallpaper. No, the storyline wasn't over. In fact, we had just entered the finale. But how was I alive?
I wasn't.
The red wallpaper had me listed as Written off and Dead. Must have been really special to get both.
But what...
2023-06-29 05:30:26 +0000 UTC
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As soon as Antoine, Kimberly, and Camden got to Room 347, Antoine found another stairwell like the one we had used earlier. At least we had that success.
The Mercers had found a staircase too, one that would lead them and the Distortion straight to us.
“The Mercers are on their way up,” Anna said. “We need to finish here. How do we stop HQ from locking us in the building remotely?”
“In order to sever the remote override, I'm going to have to reboot the system," I s...
2023-06-27 21:32:54 +0000 UTC
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As the truth of our situation was revealed, a lot of things started to make sense. The ease with which we had gotten employment, the requirement for head scans, the questions about my “psychic” grandmother, the strange job descriptions and schedules. We weren’t employees at all. We were test subjects. We had so readily assumed that all the weirdness was because we were in Carousel that we never suspected the truth.
I never suspected the truth.
It was my job, wasn’t it? I k...
2023-06-26 05:24:22 +0000 UTC
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