T -6 hours (and counting)

[ysobel]

I ought to be doing NaNo prep work, given ... well, given the fact that NaNo starts OMGSOON.

For instance, my main characters don't have names. Nor do the country or city they live in. Nor do I have any clue what sort of cultural feel places have. Nor have I decided on what language to steal names from, which may or may not be related to the cultural feel. Nore have I figured out how much I can steal from existing Earth cultures without doing obnoxious cultural appropriation... but anyway, I should at least have *names*

Instead, I am refreshing Echo Bazaar waiting for more actions. *facepalm*

(By the way -- for those of you that play ebz -- um, how do I get money? I mean, I know I can sell stuff at the bazaar, but a) things I have only go for 1 or 2 pence, and b) I need them for questy things anyway. But at the moment, I have very little clothing, no weapons, etc, and can't buy anything because I have all of one penny to my name. Well, that and two fate. And zero actions.)

(Also I am resisting the temptation to buy more fate, for a second candle and/or for action refreshings. It is hard because ebz is whispering "you know you want it" in the back of my head. Er, not literally.)

Really, the universe (and my subconscious) is conspiring to make the first week of NaNo as difficult as possible, what with rehearsals, and birthday, and going to see a movie (Secretariat! *horse-obsessed inner twelve year old flailings*), and birthday celebrations, and new addictions like ebz, and knittings that will probably seem really really attractive and must be started right this minute zomg and stuff.

...anyway.

My mom, who knows about NaNo and is decently supportive even though I don't know that she entirely Gets It, asked me today if I'm getting up early tomorrow so I can get a good start on the novel.

"No," I said, "duh, the time-honored strategy is to stay up until midnight and get a good start *then*."

"And write until 2 or 3 am?"

"Something like that."

"You aren't serious, are you," she laughed, kind of like I had proposed swimming the Atlantic or fighting velociraptors or something: this was a joke, and she was in on it.

>_>

I assured her I wasn't.

I mean, I'll probably only stay up until 1...

Comments

[darthneko]

Re: Echo Bazaar - money was totally this thing that I just didn't have for the first week or so of playing. You can take off all your prison garb and sell it, which should get you just enough to get a proper suit of the cheapest clothes. After that... I spent a week or so doing quest things and being flat broke, and then it's like you just get past the first hump and start doing quests that have you rolling in tons of stuff you can sell. You'll want to keep your wine, your rats on a string, and your secrets, but things like silk scraps and rostygold are easily come by and can be sold in quantity to get you cash. ^_^

[ysobel]

So far, I don't have much enough of anything to be worth selling -- wine and rats and secrets seemed useful, and the rest is, like... *checks inventory* lamplighter beeswax, jade fragments, moon-pearls, and nevercold brass slivers? I'm kind of assuming "hang on to everything until you find a reasonable place for re-acquiring it".

(I did sell my prison stuff and get a dress. And a goldfish.)

[darthneko]

goldfish are good! ^___^ I've heard the foxfire candle stubs are valuable too (as in, don't sell them). I got to a point where once I had anything over a hundred of something I'd start selling it (retain the base hundred, then sell the surplus). I've opened up the rest of the city (except the tiger gardens... I don't have enough rats, darn it. If you get infested by rats, keep the rats on a string!)

It starts small - yeah, you're just selling stuff for a penny here, a penny there - but you'll turn around have have a few echoes before you know it (I've routinely got about 20-30 echoes right now, and that's after buying new clothes/boots/gloves/weapon/pets).

[facepalm] And I just remembered I'm dead. AGAIN. (I've been insane from nightmares, imprisoned, exiled to the tomb colonies, and dead - twice now!)

[disastrously]

Icon is love!

[darthneko]

Heee! Thank you. ^__^ I am a huge fan of the cat rhymes.

[sineala]

Man, I just signed up for NaNo and I barely have a world, or characters, or a plot. I figure I will see where inspiration takes me. Starting in, uh, half an hour.

I keep wanting to play Echo Bazaar, but -- okay, this is probably a stupid thing -- I'd be worrying about playing it wrong. Like, if it's an RPG, putting points into the wrong skill or selling expensive items inadvertently. Are my fears justified, or is it hard to permanently screw yourself over?

[ysobel]

*snicker* I overthink things sometimes. I just ... I don't want to go with "Adam, Bill, Charlie, Dorothy, Edward" as my naming scheme, but I need names in order to tell the story properly, and different names shape the characters differently, and...

...overthinking. Right.

Re ebz: As far as I can tell there isn't really a way to Do Things Wrong. And I don't think things like death or insanity are permanent *grin*

(p.s. totally not a stupid thing. or at least, I worry about things like that too.)

[disastrously]

Oh oh and more Ebzishness, uh the way I got clothes (If you just escaped out of New Newgate is to sell what clothes you've got and that should bring you enough pence to buy soberdress at least which is better than prison clothes.

[disastrously]

Three things.

Thing the first: HOMG NaNo icon! Where'd you get it? I need one but don't have one.

Thing the second: HOMG you're in Ebz? If you ever have nightmare issues, ask us (Scatterbeams on Twitter) and we'll gladly help you. We didn't even know you had a twitter :O and we refresh EBZ like crazy.

Thing the third: we're sugarcherries on the NaNoWriMo.org site if you'd want to add us.


Aaand the bonus thing the fourth: We just did the stay up till two writing thing. With no plot, no character names, no nothing, so we feel you. Good luck! We're cheering for you.

Deleted and edited because I realized I entirely used the WRONG icon!

[rho]

As a general rule, the items that you get for successfully completing an action will have a value in pennies -- if you sell them at the bazaar -- that is equal to the level of [stat] that you need to succeed at that action. So if you're doing something at shadowy 10, you might expect to get about 10 whispered secrets from it, or 5 cryptic clues. If you were doing something at shadowy 80, then you'd expect about 80 whispered secrets or 40 cryptic clues.

This means two things:

1. Money becomes a hell of a lot easier to come by as you progress.
2. It's pretty much impossible to screw yourself over long-term by selling things now that you might need at an unspecified point in the future.

To elaborate on that second one a little, while it's possible that you might need a lot of deep amber in the future, for instance, what constitutes "a lot" changes over time. What constitutes a lot for you now will be a drop in the ocean long-term.

The most of anything I've ever needed is 40,000 prisoners honey, which I paid to move into my current lodgings. A few hundred simply weren't relevant by that point, but they were relevant back when I was low-level and selling things.

So in short, don't be afraid to sell stuff. Yes, only sell things when you have something you're going to immediately buy with the money, and yes, prefer to sell things that you rarely see a use for over things that you seem to use often, but beyond that, sell sell sell. The absolute worst that can happen is that you're left slightly out of pocket by having to rebuy stuff very soon, but that happens rarely, and you can cover the costs by selling other stuff.

[mjules]

You're in EBZ? Do I have you on my Twitter!? *flails*

And yes, as everyone says, money comes eventually.

[ysobel]

I do not know if we are twittered! (hah I made up a new word) I'm on as isabeautiful (since isabeau was already taken)