The Mystic Tavern

We need a space for people to suggest ideas to make this place truly magical, so here she be folks!

Sauron has just sent me a message full of good ideas so I am just going to paste them here for everyone to see:

Well, for starters, have a chat program that's not so complicated to get into. Logging into Lycos (back in the day) was a simple thing, and there wasn't a lot of other stuff to get in the way. Simplify the main page, and others won't feel so weird about logging in.

Secondly, there needs to be more advertisement and connection. People need to be motivated to continue doing something, or to start something new, or for anything really. You gotta try and find a way to get the name back out there.

Thirdly, post a discription on the chat page of the tavern! Let new comers see what they're getting into!

if I think of more, I'll let you know.

I love ALL of these ideas and will get busy on the chat main page tonight. As for the advertisement, TOTALLY down with that.

Can anyone make some buttons that we can use as a tagline (I dont know the official technical whatchamacallit term) but something that we can just copy and paste onto any site we visit and people can click on it and come straight here?

Keep the ideas coming peeps!!! And Thanks Sauron!! *showers in Gummi Berry Juice*

Sauron's got some excellent ideas! Way to go, mayne!

I posted over on our Facebook page regarding buttons/banners/etc. Maybe we'll rouse some coding masters from their non-coding slumbers. Hehehe. Also, do we have an "Archives" section yet? I've been peeking through my e-storage and have found oodles of old posts...even a "letter" of disgust I wrote when the Mystic was hit with all of that corruption and the mass exodus. (Man...y'all remember that? It's when I [...bunch of us, really] migrated over to Kylie's too-goo-to-be-true Morthika.)

Anyhoo, I thought I'd toss some of them up, for posterity if nothing else. There are things from the werepanther plot, the Cerata sisters, the first incarnation of Anima di Oggi, and lots of others!

Another Idea.....

Post a Document on the FB group page with links to both RPR, and to the Nexus chat site. It'd make it easier for people to find the correct pages without having to memorize it (and especially for people who have a lot of things in their favorites, like me). This would also ensure that new people who come to the FB group would be able to find the pages quickly.

LOL.. yeah we have the library depository thingy.. we can make an archive thread there?

And Sauron.. I'm not sure what you mean exactly. We have already put up several links on the FB page to the chat AND the forum.. is that what you mean babe?

Oh YEAH. I CAN make a section, can't I? ...Completely forgot about my moderator-y powers. Tee hee hee!

True, but those posts will fade as people continue to post on the FB page. What I mean is, make a DOC on the page, and post both RPR's link, and the Nexus link on the document, so people have an easy reference to both sites.

Also, perhaps consider figuring out a way to merge the sites somehow...make both on the same website. It would make moderation a ~lot~ easier.

Sauron, if you come online and read this.. click the launch chat button. I'll be in the chat waiting.

I had some more ideas I wanted to discuss with you guys..

First up.. back in the day, with my original MT crew, they made this site:
http://the_mystic_tavern.tripod.com

They had alot of ideas I want to incorporate such as the A - Z list

They also had a front door page Where you can go in and see where all the characters are hanging out.. my character for example was usually up in the rafters.

Once inside you read this:

Directly across from the door is a bar.
The barkeep greets you in a friendly manner
and offers you a drink as if she had seen you a hundred times before.
"All drinks here are free," she says, "but tips are welcome." *winks*
To the right of the door stands a jukebox which is missing the coin slot.
Behind the bar is a door and you wonder where it leads to...
To your left is the main room, tables and chairs litter the area, skattered about haphazardly.
Beyond is a fireplace and an enclosed area that emits a faint gurgling noise...and a wooshing..like that of a HOT TUB?!
Two chairs and a small table stand before the fireplace.
A trap door on the floor leads to what you can only assume is the wine cellar...
You scan the shadows in the corners of the room and note the glowing eyes upon you.
Your eyes scan further up the walls and notice that from the outside, the building appears to be two stories,
but notice that looks can be deceiving, as is the story with everything in the Mystic Tavern.
The upper level is partitioned off and a balcony overlooks the common room,
with a door leading out to what you assume is the outside balcony that you noticed on your way around the lake.
The other half of the room is simply rafters.
Wooden beams stretching across the open space above the main room where patrons leap, swing and dangle.
The room is lit only by candles, and a chandelier extends from this open portion of the room down into the common room.
A drink list is posted next to the bar, and at the bottom is written, "and anything else you could possibly imagine".
As you stand and watch, a man hops down from the rafters and crosses to the jukebox, where he knocks it with his hip and it begind to play a popular tune.
You shake your head in bemusement at the many activites going on,
just as a woman steps up onto a table and begins to recite her own composition.
You enter and join in the insanity....

And you have alot of options to choose from...

Click on the link I provided and have a look around. Its an old site.. so its buggy and I have to sometimes go back and reload pages.. but the information is there.. and its some ideas.. There is a wedding page there.. *gets misty eyes* Listing marriages and divorces.. and a baby page..

http://the_mystic_tavern.tripod.com/weddings/

its a similar idea to what I envision for our Depository /History pages.

Let me know what you like/dont like or would like to see modified.

Ahhh I'm enjoying walking the halls of that old place. *grins*

I also like how there are PICTURES of the different sections of the tavern you can click on and go to.. of course this is very primitive, and our grand vision will leave that in its dust.. but what do you guys think about that as a feature?

Awesome. Yes. Totally dig the idea of a "front door" page and pictures. I love the idea of pictures, actually. I'm a super-visual person, so illustrations (or barring illustrations, really wonderful descriptions) are ridiculously helpful when I try to imagine/envision stuff.

Yes.. as an artist, I am all about the aesthetics and I plan on lots and lots of pictures for the MT. Speaking of descriptions though, here is what Shannon has been working very hard on (Thanks so much Shannon!! ) She still has sick kiddies so she hasn't been able to work on them too much and has asked for us to all add our bits to them as we see necessary:

The Forest

For days, the expanse of green spreads out, hiding the world beneath its embrace. Many things lurk here, and not all of them could ever be truly named. Some call it home, some call it Hell, it merely depends on one’s view of what is what…

The Lake

Crystalline and beautiful, the depths never fully explored, it shines like a mirror in the light until its beautiful surface is disturbed. At various places around, clumps of boulders can be found. Nearest to the Tavern, a dock can be seen, though a boat always seems to be lacking, unless someone brings their own from beyond the reaches of one’s imagination…

The Cemetery

Two paths diverge into a wood, one more traveled than the other…Though the answer of which is in one’s heart…One path leads to the Cemetery, beautiful in it’s cryptic glory, gates beckoning for the living to visit the bodies of the dead and the mausoleums beyond. The second path takes one to the secret place of death, the unmarked graves, fields of partially buried bones and remains, the place where the most vile come to die, or the heart tries to hide its darkest secrets…

I have added a new forum strictly for the Grand Ball and each section has been given their own topic, which should mean that we can have five different chats open if we so choose.

Any other ideas? Or feedback on the ones shared so far?
Come on peeps.. let's keen this momentum rolling!!

I've got all day off. Should I start adding to/tweaking these excellent "starter" descriptions?

If you have time sweetheart, that would be uber awesome.

We do need a permanent addvertisement of some kind.. something simple and clean that points the way to here. I was thinking of a sign.. for the Mystic Tavern... like a swinging olde skool tavern sign? I have put the call out to a few graphic artists to let me know what they could come up with by having a little play around. *grins* Gonna send them on their way here to show what they come up... *grins at Minerva*

Just to keep everyone updated:

The last few days have seen alot of discussion and mini meetings about what people would like for the new forum and chat. We are keeping record of everyone's suggestions and will share them on here so we can all be on the same page with the vision of what we would all like for this place. *grins*

Alot of people have mentioned the colour scheme, so tonight I had a little play around. We were using the darker background with light writing for a reason, however the community has all basically agreed that they wanted the colour scheme changed. When asked what colours people liked, there were several responses.

The main one was a .. Neautral pallet.. The Mystic Tavern conjures up so many different images for so many different people that it will be near to impossible to please everybody with personal preferance and style. However, when I asked most of you (who I have either talked to on here, in the chat or on messenger) the general consensus was that we all see it as a place to WRITE. Therefore, the general "creative vision" of the Tavern (thus far) is to go for a neutral pallet and when possible we will incorporate imagery, textures and colours relating to parchment, old torn leather, dusty libraries, ink on a page.. etc.

If you have not had a chance to express your opinion on the colour pallet please either do so on here, or find one of us in the chat, or on messenger.

Some good feedback we have received is that the option to have a mini book as it were for all of your Character's history and relationships is a welcome feature and is helping players to collect and store all of the information pertaining to their Character and their time in the tavern.

It is a truly DAUNTING task trying to record everything our Characters have done since the moment we took them for a drink in the Mystic Tavern for the first time, but I am thrilled to see Andrea Chitaro is already starting up her chapter in the book of the Mystic Tavern.

This process is also in the Alpha mode, so we are going to learn as we go. To secure yourself a chapter in the pages of our epic tome, just let us know what Name you want (as in the title of YOUR chapter.) From there, people will be able to click on your characters bio, history, family tree, photo album, journals, maps, .. anything really.

Regarding the chat feedback and other suggestions for the RPR:

I have a few more to add to the growing list.. *retrieves from chat transcript with permission*

20:47:39 [Melfice_Angelvamp] ((I like the character pages, that's huge if anyone is interested in seeing what your character is like or basic info on them.))
20:48:10 [Melfice_Angelvamp] ((Yep, funny thing was the moment I decided to go that route, I had to go back in time and clear up a story with Alex. Thankfully I got that taken care of or at least semi taken care of.))
20:48:21 [Moridanu] (( Yes.. that was one of the features I DID lke as well.. *scribbles this down* ))
20:48:47 [Moridanu] (( Yeah alot of our characters are very entwined.. its... epic.. *laughs* ))
20:49:07 [DamaetriRahl] ((you have my permission. I think a chat that has a more live interface would be nice. Having to refresh this page every now and then can get tedious. It is a minor annoyance for a free chat service but can still end up creating lag time between posts when we all spend so long typing as it is. Possibly a text entry window that increases in size as you type...being able to see maybe 8 words at a time in a post can make it hard to see the typos. I type in word and spell check and stuff normally but still...nice to be able to proofread a second time before posting it. So far the repository seems fairly user friendly. I have no qualms about it as of yet. The hardest part for me is having to remember all of my storylines. I am going to have to try and remember things that happened 10 to 15 years ago...gods im old. ))

20:50:45 [Melfice_Angelvamp] ((I noticed that too, so I brought in a character I thought up for some other online game thing I do that requires a lot of writing. He wasn't designed for MT RP so I had to modify some things about him, but he's a complete 180 from my other characters, and it helps with my development writing for him in the game he initially came from.))

20:50:57 [Moridanu] (( With the character pages... what would you think of an option to create a.. kind of picture of your character. Like.. when you create a Sim? This wouldnt be an avatar to use in any 3D format or chat.. more like.. a handy tool that you can use to literally draw/paint/create the character you see in your head and then dress that character in clothes you can choose and perhaps even pose them against backgrounds you choose ( for character bio art and stuff.) ))
20:52:29 [Melfice_Angelvamp] ((That would be cool if I had any artistic ability to speak of aside from being semi competent in photoshop.))

20:52:37 [DamaetriRahl] ((I have the benefit of having an artist for a roomy. He is going to draw up a likeness of Damaetri that I Can post into the profile for peoples to see ))

20:54:21 [Melfice_Angelvamp] ((At the very least a proper area for a pic would be nice instead of the 95 x 95 pixel avatar. Or a gallery. ))

20:59:05 [DamaetriRahl] ((when it comes to storylines for characters in the repository. should we post what universes we gathered certain characteristics from. for example dama is a cross between the sword of truth universe and the white wolf VTM world. Should that be in there or do we go into descriptions of what the characteristics are versus where they may come from as well as what they are for those that havent explored them))

21:00:05 [Moridanu] (( I am glad you brought up that point Dama.. Unfortunately I am quite naiive in this regard, as most of my characters are out of my own head.. the only thing I have had to reference lately was Supernatural.. so yeah.. I guess.. you should mention character influences? ))

So.. I think thats everything..

If everyone agrees, then I think we are going to post up an introduction on the forum thread for the ball this weekend. I can offer to write it up, however if somebody else would like to take care of the description and introduction, you are more than welcome to. *grins*

Once the thread begins, we call all either reply on the forum or launch the chat and commence live play, depending on our time frames and time zones.

Thanks to all of you for offering your feedback, suggestions and support. *grins* It's beginning to feel like a community around here again. And that makes me have all warm and fuzzies.

Keep the ideas comin' peeps! A new chat is still being researched, so let us know what you think the Mystic Tavern chat and forum really need.