Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Ascension Address: Ascension Address

THE FIRST DYNASTY OF 75TH TROMBONE
©2005 Lanny Heidbreder, distributed by BlogNomic

RESTART, RESTORE, or QUIT?

> restart

You are standing in a colorless void.  Foggy, charcoal emptiness stretches to infinity before and behind you. Beside you, thirteen others—whether companions or adversaries, you do not know—stand nearby.  A bold, commanding, omnidirectional voice emanates powerfully from the nothingness:

“Phew, I’m glad that’s over.  Interactive fiction (“IF” in the biz) is so pompous sometimes.

“Anyway, it should be painfully clear that you’re now in a text adventure.  Not an ASCII-for-graphics maze like Nethack, but a paragraphs-and-prompts adventure that uses actual prose for description and interpreted commands for interaction.

“Except, there’s no interpreter.  In fact, at this point there’s no prose or commands, either.  Those are (naturally) up to y’all.  By the time this dynasty’s over, we might have a full-fledged adventure on our hands to complete. Or we might have an almost pure Nomic with just prompty game mechanics.

“Oh, and speaking of ‘pure Nomic’:  Repeal all Rules.  Repeal Law 10.  Change ‘Voice’/‘Voices’ to ‘Protagonist’/‘Protagonists’.  Change ‘Ego’ to ‘Narrator’.  Wipe out all GNDT fields except ‘Name.’

“In any case, I’ll get this thing going.  After that—arbitrary commands or collaborative fiction?  Your call.

“(But remember:  Good fiction doesn’t have to be pompous.)”

The feeble, obnoxious voice fizzles out, leaving you with nothing but the blankness and your fellow Protagonists.

>

Comments

The Lone Amigo:

14-12-2005 05:49:12 UTC

Angel, Devil and Fred still appear to be with us…

Excalabur:

14-12-2005 06:17:58 UTC

I turn my back for /10 minutes/ and what happens!

Congrats, 75th.