|| -------- -- -----  A E R I E   O B L I V I A N A . singular book of text wandertainment by Frank Edward Nora ------------------- ----------- OSOAWEEK--ISSUE 151--6/14/97 <-------  ||  OsoaWeek  ||  Issues  ||  Book 12  ||  -------> (Cup OWis151, Created v1 (4/27/99), Copyright 1999) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = OsoaWeek Book Twelve 8 "OsoaWeek151" by Frank Edward Nora, Lord of Obliviana, Tarb 6319 (6/14/97), copyright 1997 OBLIVIANA REGISTRY NEW REVOLVERS None NEW CUPLINES None NEW CUPS SEVERE REPAIR I added 6 Cups to Goodbye Popcorn and 4 Cups to Office Complex. *OW* LORD OF OBLIVIANA Mon 6/9/97 * 12:00 AM Hone. I am at the "honing" stage in my development of Obliviana. This means that I now have the right idea, and I can go ahead and develop it. It's taken almost exactly 11 years to get to this point. If you read the last issue of OsoaWeek, you can see the complexity of what I'm dealing with in the development of Obliviana. My plan, though, is to make Obliviana very easy to deal with once I release it "for real". At the center of Obliviana are "Stormjaunts". A Stormjaunt is a period of time in which you endeavor to accomplish some goal, with the added factor of being "on" of the 209 "Storms" of Obliviana. A Stormjaunt has a very specific start and finish. Tue 6/10/97 * 12:00 AM Went on a Stormjaunt earlier and it was a great success. Faced with the same old commute home, I decided to 'Jaunt on the Friction Enhancer "Neverbeen", and head over to two stores I passed back when I was doing "Neverbeen" everyday, albeit not as an official 'Jaunt. These stores are "Other Music" and "Anime Crash", right across from the downtown Tower Records. I wandered around and had a Wonderful time. And I wound up at Strand Book at Broadway and 12th St. and I got "The New Games Book" from 1976. I have a vague memory of going to a park or something as a school outing and playing "The New Games". The only game I remember clearly is where all these people stood on a circle, and then all started sitting down, with the goal of everyone sitting on the lap of the person behind them. I possibly remember that it didn't work for us. I did a little research on "The New Games" on the WWW and didn't come up with much, mostly a lot of references to the slogan of the New Games Foundation, "Play Hard, Play Fair, Nobody Hurt". I guess The New Games must have been a seventies thing that has pretty much faded. But I do find the whole idea of The New Games very interesting, being that it has some similar aspects to Obliviana. So this bears more investigation. * * On the bus this morning I thought about possibly changing the word "Stormjaunt" to "Stormzone", because "Zoning" was the term I originally used for what has become "Stormjaunting". But I decided against the change. * * This evening's Stormjaunt was further proof that Obliviana does indeed WORK. More proof... Peter Litkey, who I 'Jaunted with two weekends ago, called me a week later and raved about the experience. This is an aspect of 'Jaunting--that the memory you get from it stands out as particularly Wonderful. In fact, all eight of the official Stormjaunts I've gone on so far have produced results, a majority of them quite fantastic. So Obliviana works. Pretty good that it works, being that I've invested so much of my heart and soul into the development of Obliviana over the past eleven years. I think The New Games are of an age when people got together in parks and stuff and frolicked with great innocence. These days, it seems like being alone and alienated is the big zeitgeist. In other words, I think that getting people together for something like New Games would meet with a lot of resistance with the people of today. If I were to incorporate New Games into Obliviana in some way, it would be as Friction Enhancers. With New Games, people had a lot of fun, with a lot of physical contact, with a lot of co-ed situations, with a lot of hippie mentality, so you can see the tear in the fabric of the reality of such games, leading to a dark side... That is, The New Games involve a lot of touching, and there has to be a lot of sexual tension in that. Not that sexual tension is a bad thing, but it relates to the big WHY, as in, WHY play The New Games? It was hippie idealism. And I know that I'm leaving a lot of you at a disadvantage cuz I haven't even described what The New Games are really all about. So where do Obliviana and hippie idealism meet? I have written in the past about my views on this subject, about how the dark side of the hippies was indeed very dark. This is proven somewhat by what eventually happened to all these people. And by the fact that they didn't transform society in the way they wanted to. In fact, they have achieved the opposite of their goals. Political correctness and a new kind of totalitarianism is the result of hippie philosophy. They did change the world, for the worse, a whole lot worse. Part of the problem was their wholesale rejection of mainstream culture and society, without offering any kind of a workable alternative. The alternatives were feeble. Communes? Come on. Organizing a society is a vastly complex thing. From the results of attempts to organize a society from the ground up, I conclude that such is far too difficult for anyone to do. The system that we have has evolved over thousands of years. It WORKS. Yes, it has problems, but in general, it works. Hmm. So, in being displeased with society, a group of people expressed this disdain and set out to change things. This may seem to be a noble effort. But as we can see, its results were terrible, extremely terrible. So are we doomed to be saddled with the foibles of our "evolved" society? Where am I going with this? Oh yeah. Being that I do want to change the world in a positive way with Obliviana, am I falling into the same trap as the hippies? Will I wind up causing as much damage to the future? No. Obliviana is a very different sort of thing. First of all, I am not rejecting society. I am saying "Open your eyes to the Wonder all around you! Stop complaining how bad life is with eyes closed--just open your eyes!" Obliviana is designed to fit in with your current life. What it rejects is how people waste their free time so miserably. * * In Obliviana, you go on Stormjaunts. You record the Stormjaunts. Aspects of these recorded Stormjaunts affect your presence in a little shared online world. [1] Stormjaunt [2] Recording [3] Octagon transformation [4] LWOR play These are the main aspects of the "Hone-level" system of Obliviana. ("Hone-level" in that the ideas are right, and now need to be refined) In fact, these four things are the main things to be developed. Each is a great challenge. At this point, I have to start listing types of Stormjaunts, the set of Friction Enhancers. Let me grab a list from recent writings... *********** [a] Classic Friction Enhancer (Mallball, Pebbleswitch, etc.) [b] Traditional Game (as opposed to the untraditional overall game of Obliviana) (Obliviana Classic, Vamershee, etc.) [c] Creation Games (Deluge of Primacy, Yargo drawing, Blamnoom, etc.) (also writing and comics?) [d] Passive Entertainment (as in, you drink it in, but don't interact much) (Severe Repair, Zope, etc.) [e] Active Entertainment (as in, you drink it is, and then do something with it) (SR Cuppaths, Superior selecting and using (as in "displaying" it on a side of one of your buildings, etc.), etc.) [f] LWOR "Cyber" (Game activities played with your Fonosta "Guy" in LWOR) [g] Obliviana Artifact (vague idea right now, but using Super Objects, Modern Saplings, etc. in some way) [h] Meeting (vague idea right now, but deals with interacting with other players in reality) ******************* Dizzying, eh? Let me delve into OsoaWeek past and get the set of Friction Enhancers... *********** FRICTION ENHANCER 1: Mallball You'll need a car and some money for this (and also a lot of malls). Start by going to a mall and getting string or something similar (like wire, dental floss, ribbon, cassette tape, etc.) Then start rolling the string or whatever into a ball. Now go to another mall, and get a different stringlike product, and add it to the ball. Each addition to your Mallball requires a different mall and a different type of product. Once you've used yarn, for example, no more yarn or anything similar can be used. If you buy a cassette and pull the tape out, you can't then do the same thing to a videotape, since they're too similar. My first Mallball has 7 layers (twine, ribbon, "Tucker" soundtrack, mint dental floss, TV cable, yarn, and fishing line) and cost about $15. Keep the receipts as the Mallball's "papers". Obviously, as the Mallball gets bigger and bigger, it's harder to find more malls and different products. I'm planning on going for 21 layers sometime, but as of yet, 7 is the record. Also, all Mallballs must be entirely created within a single calendar day. * * FRICTION ENHANCER #2: Pebbleswitch First you need to buy a book--any book will do--new or used (but don't use one you already have). Then take out a map and look at the title of the book. For each letter in the title of the book, you need to find a town which starts with the same letter. You need a different town for every letter, even if the same letter repeats. Now, go to the town starting with the same letter as the first letter of the title of the book. Find a pebble or little stone, pick it up, and note its location. Then, take the stone and scratch the cover of the book with it, enough so that the scratch is noticeable. Then go to the second town (starting with the same letter as the second letter in the title) and find another pebble. Pick up this second pebble, scratch the cover, and put the pebble from the first town in the exact spot the second pebble was. Now go to the third town, get the third pebble, scratch the cover, and put the second pebble where the third one was. Continue this process until you get to the last town. Switch the pebbles as usual, scratch the cover, but then take the last pebble back to the first town and put it right where you found the first pebble. And voila! Another book for your Pebbleswitch library! Pebbleswitching a book like Stephen King's "It" is easy, but try something like "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex But Were Afraid To Ask" for a real challenge. Build a collection of prestigious Pebbleswitched books to impress your friends and family--and fellow Osoans as well! * * FRICTION ENHANCER 3: Reality Tonic Based on the idea that reality is at its strongest doing what it's used to, one can briefly alter the nature of reality by presenting reality with unfamiliar happenings. A simple method for doing this is Reality Tonic, in which disparate beverages are mixed together and drunk. The easiest method is to obtain a Reality Tonic's constituents and pour them one after the other into a cup, regard the mixture, and then drink it. Here are some guidelines for acceptable beverage: --Use normal drinks which you wouldn't have any problem drinking by themselves-the idea here is not to drink gross stuff. --Do not use a beverage which contains any alcohol at all. In my studies, alcohol has been found to crash the reality-altering effects of Friction Enhancers. --Do not mix beverages in usual, expected ways, as this does you no good. The mixture must be an unexpected combination. Reality tonic works well in tandem with other Friction Enhancers, as it can be done quickly and easily, unlike such FE's as Mallball and Pebbleswitch, which are a lot more involved. Below are three official Reality Tonics. Enjoy! REALITY TONIC #1 "Actuality Classic" Mix roughly equal parts of... --Plain V-8 --Chocolate Yoo-Hoo --Welch's Grape Soda Let me tell you, this one's a real knockout. It's a flavor that's--well, you really have to taste it, I can't describe it. Quite wonderful. REALITY TONIC #2 "Continuumaide" Mix roughly equal parts of... --Diet Caffeine-Free Coke --Orangina --Hawaiian Punch Getting into strange beveragic territory here, this RT will send reality spinning out of control! REALITY TONIC #3 "Pinkflight" Mix roughly equal parts of... --Snapple Tru Root Beer --Country Time Lemonade --Cherry 7-Up This hazy pink concoction, smelling of licorice, tastes sweet but also strangely bland. It'll really Morc ya! * * FRICTION ENHANCER 4: Cup 14 First, you need to buy a cup. It can't be a disposable cup, but the sort that one washes and uses over and over again. You must BUY the cup--you can't use a cup you already own. Also, you must buy the cup from a store, not from a friend or something. Now, once you have the cup, the need to travel exactly 14 miles and then get rid of the cup. If you're in a car, reset the trip odometer, and at exactly 14 miles, dispose of the cup. If on bicycle or foot, the distance may have to be figured out via maps. On public transportation, you could find two stops exactly 14 miles apart, or another strategy would be to throw the cup out in a garbage can on a train or boat. As far as methods of disposing of cups, there are several, but as a general rule, the cup must be disposed of in such a way that neither you nor anyone else is in possession of it. For the most common method of Cup 14--driving--tossing the cup out the window or leaving it by the roadside are possibilities--but keep in mind that this would be considered littering in some (most?) places, so do so at your own risk. The ultimate goal of Cup 14 is to obtain and dispose of 14 cups in a single calendar day, without visiting the same store more than once OR travelling on the same section of road in a given direction more than once. That's at least 196 miles, but probably a lot more. It is advisable that to keep an artifact from Cup 14, you get a container of water, which is pour into and then out of every Cup involved in the day's Cup 14. Then seal the container and you have some very Osoan water! See how many cups you can Cup 14 in a day! * * FRICTION ENHANCER 5: Cup 14 Lite If Cup 14 seems a little involved to you, try the much easier Cup 14 Lite! First, get some disposable cups. Then, go to a location. As soon as you enter the location, hold one of the disposable cups and walk around for exactly 14 minutes. Then, after 14 minutes is up, dispose of the cup (see Cup 14, above, for details). Then, go to another location and do the same thing. You can use a container of water as detailed in Cup 14, above, to create an artifact of Cup 14 Lite. The goal is to do Cup 14 Lite at 14 different locations in a single calendar day. As far as what constitutes a distinct location, that's up to the individual Osoan, but use common sense--hanging out in front of different stores at a mall would not really be different locations, but different floors of a mall and the outside of a mall could be considered different locations. So give Cup 14 a try today, and see if you can get to 14! * * FRICTION ENHANCER 5: Lapmall For this amazing Friction Enhancer, all you'll need is an ordinary deck of cards and a mall--preferably many malls. For the purposes of this FE, the definition of "mall" is somewhat looser than in Mallball, in that strip malls are also accepted. The basic idea is simple. First, choose a card--any card will do. Now, while holding the card, start at a point outside the mall, near an entrance, and walk around the entire circumference of the mall. Once you're done, sit down, put the card on your lap, take an indelible marker (such as a "Sharpie") and write the name of the mall, as well as the date, on the card. And voila! Every card prepared in this manner is another Lapmall. There are a variety of challenges possible in Lapmall, such as doing an entire 52-card-deck (or 54 with jokers) for a single mall, doing 52 different malls, doing malls in each of the 50 states plus D.C. and Puerto Rico, and so on and so forth. So get yourself a pack of cards and be off on another Lapmall expedition, y'all. * * ***PROPULSION CARDS*** In 1991 I created a deck of cards called Storm Codex. Thirteen cards of the sixty-card deck were called "Propulsion Cards", containing all sorts of Friction Enhancing ideas. Here's the text of these cards, but remember, this is not a numbered FE, and a lot of the ideas herein may become individual FE's in the future. Enjoy! [1] YEAH * Freefall me in a supermarket. * consider Situation * go: Supermarket * get Action Figures * mix V-8 and... * Give power lines the middle finger * [2] NOPE * Touch me to a tree. * consider Location * go: Library * get Buttons * mix Yoo-Hoo and... * Ride a train to somewhere where you've never been * [3] PERHAPS * Let me set awhile on an ATM. * consider Atmosphere * go: Park * get Straws * mix Grape Soda and... * Write tiny words on a parking lot with twigs * [4] C'MON * Stroke me against something doomed. * consider Weather * go: Mall * get Sand * mix Tonic Water and... * Make two pebbles miles apart switch places * [5] WHAMMY * Hold me over a fence for a bit. * consider Chance * go: Another State * get Drill Bits * mix Skim Milk and... * Play games with string * [6] UH-OH * Smother me in an pile of paper clips. * consider Joviality * go: Bowling Alley * get Marbles * mix Iced Tea and... * Speak gibberish as if it were meaningful * [7] WHAT? * Bookmark me in an issue of Omni. * consider Bad Vibes * go: Restaurant * get Model Train Stuff * mix Grapefruit Juice and... * Sing dumb songs * [8] RELAX * Destroy a photocopy of me. * consider Clarity * go: Middle of Town * get Stupid Magazines * mix RC Cola and... * Perceive one thing AS another by bypassing internal logic * [9] JERK * Slip me into a VCR. * consider Confusion * go: Body of water * get Clay * mix Coffee and... * Attempt to think backwards * [10] YAWN * Shuffle me into a different deck. * consider Time * go: College * get Lollipops * mix Hawaiian Punch and... * Don't drink and zone * [11] SOON * Hold me very close to a brick wall. * consider Continuity * go: Arcade * get Garage Sale Crap * mix Ginger Ale and... * Create a web * [12] NICE * Tap me against a dry cleaners. * consider Velocity * go: Middle of Nowhere * get Cups * mix Yogurt Drink and... * Establish donexts and modify them every so often * [13] NOTHING * Balance me on a bottle. * consider Hierarchy * go: Historic Site * get Used Paperbacks * mix Perrier and... * Imagine nearby objects in different colors * * * FRICTION ENHANCER 5: Mobius Crochet Here's a fun and relaxing Friction Enhancer which just goes on and on. The basic idea is that you're crocheting a Mobius Strip, which has only one edge, even though it looks like a bunched-up scarf. The cool thing is, once it's started, you just keep doing the same thing over and over again, and it keeps getting bigger and bigger. And when it gets wide enough, it really starts to get weird. To crochet, you need a crochet hook and some yarn. The basic idea of crochet is that you have a loop, and you hook the yarn and pull it through the loop to make another loop, which then becomes the loop you pull the yarn through, and so on. When you're adding to an existing row, you stick the hook through the second loop from where you are, and pull the yarn through it. Then you'll have two loops on the hook. Pull the yarn through both hooks and you can repeat the process. I'm just giving you a basic idea of what's involved--I'm no expert on the subject, and I realize that these instructions are too sketchy. I was lucky--my grandmother taught me crochet when I was very young, and though I didn't do it for well over a decade, I picked it up again immediately. So to make the Mobius Strip, you start a row, and when it's the desired length, attach it to the beginning. Then go around once more, building on the first row, and when you get back to the beginning, you have to apply the half-twist--a 180 degree turn from the beginning. And once you get it started, you just keep crocheting along the single edge! So you pretty much have to be familiar with Mobius Strips and crochet to get into this FE right away. Otherwise, you can do some research at the library. Hopefully, I'll be able to present more detailed instructions for Mobius Crochet in the future, but for now, just believe me--it's worth it. * * Friction Enhancer 6: PRESH PARK Presh Park is a fun FE that's pretty easy, since it mostly involves just doing nothing! What you basically do is go to a park and stay still for a certain amount of time, after which you go on to another park. You have to decide on a starting number of minutes, and an increment number of minutes. So for example, if you do Presh Park 60/10, the first park you go to, you'll stay still for 60 minutes, the next 50, after that, 40, and so on. After the sixth park, that Presh Park is accomplished. In terms of staying still, it's not like being stone steady, but rather, standing or sitting in the same place. You can look around, shift your weight around, etc. But you can't read, play Game Boy, do your homework, or anything like that. You should keep your eyes open, look around, and take in the atmosphere. If you're with someone else, you should determine beforehand if you're gonna talk or not while at parks--ideally, there should be no talking, but a talking option is acceptable. As far as what constitutes a distinctive park, it basically has to be a named, recognized park, that would appear on a map that way. Yes, you could do a Presh Park 5/5 and sit in one park for 5 minutes, but you wouldn't get too much out of it. The suggested baseline is Presh Park 30/5. Have Morc! * * Friction Enhancer 7: VAMERSHEE SOLITAIRE OVERVIEW Vamershee Solitaire is a cool game which can be constructed from a single sheet of lettersize copier/laser printer paper. It does take a fair amount of skill to construct, though--and it's tough to describe the method of construction in text. But I'm gonna give it a shot. There are four basic types of game pieces you'll need to make from the sheet of paper. The first step is to divide the sheet into seven vertical strips--one 1/4 sheet strip, and six 1/8 sheet strips. To do this, first fold the sheet in half longways, so the crease runs from the top to the bottom of the sheet. Run your fingernail along the crease, then open the sheet and fold it the other way along the same crease. Again, runs your fingernail along the crease. Finally, reverse the crease again, and again run your fingernail along it. Unfold the sheet, and you should be able to carefully rip the sheet in a straight line along the crease. This takes some practice, but once you get the hang of it, it should work easily. This process of creasing and ripping must be done five more times. First, rip one 1/3 sheet strip into two 1/4 sheet strips. Set one strip aside. Then rip the other 1/2 sheet strip into 2 1/4 sheet strips. So now you should have three 1/4 sheet strips. Each of these must be creased and ripped, so as to make six 1/8 sheet strips. At this point, you'll have the one 1/4 sheet strip and the six 1/8 sheet strips you need. From these, you will make one GOAL, one ROD, one MEASURE, and four PELLETS. TO MAKE THE GOAL Fold the 1/4 strip in half, so that the short ends touch (i.e., not into 2 1/8 strips halves). Open, and fold both ends into the center, so that the strip is divided by creases into four segments. Now, take one of the corners and fold it down diagonally, as in a paper airplane. Then turn the sheet over and fold the 45 degree edge down again, also as in a paper airplane. Perform the same two folds on the other side. Now, recrease the sheet along the original three creases. Set the Goal down on a flat surface, and adjust it so that it's a square, and the two points are touching. The Goal is done. TO MAKE THE ROD This is the most vital component, as everyone will make it a little bit differently. Basically, you wanna start by curling one corner of a 1/8 strip between your thumb and index finger. The idea is to start to roll the whole strip up at approximately a 45 degree angle. So getting a good start is vital. Once the entire strip is rolled up, the Rod need to be shaped up--and again, this is a matter of personal taste. But a number of flexings, rerollings, etc. are involved in shaping it up. The final result should look something like a screw, and should have a lot of spring to it. If you don't get it at first, keep trying! TO MAKE THE MEASURE Here's the easy one! Just fold one of the 1/8 strip in half longways, making one crease dividing two 1/16 sections. Strengthen this crease, then open it up a little. And that' it! TO MAKE THE PELLETS Okay, here's where it gets ugly. This one is real tough to explain. But anyway, here goes... Take one of the 1/8 strips and fold one corner down so that the short edge rests against the long edge (like a paper airplane). Then, fold over the perpendicular line where there's overlap. Then make another paper airplane type fold, and so on, all the way down the strip. If there's less that a square left at the end, cleanly rip it off. Now, go down the strip and reverse all the perpendicular fold. Now, you can begin to shape the 6-sided diamond-like shape. Loosely form it and go around and around, until you reach the end, where you fold the final square into a triangle and tuck it into. And voila! You have one of your pellets! Now do the three others. Note: I know this is a totally inadequate description, but it's the kind of thing you just have to see to understand. SETTING UP THE GAME Set up the Goal, with the two points pointing toward you. Then place one end of the Measure at those two points, and point it toward you, so that the two ends of the Measure and the opposite end of the Goal form a straight line. Now, it's time to set up the four pellets into a Diamond. Each Pellet has two sides which are perpendicular to the ground, 90 degrees from each other. Using these sides, position all four Pellets together into a square--it will form a structure looking something lie a Diamond. Then, position the denter of one edge of the Diamond at the close end of the Measure. Remove the Measure, and the game is set up. PLAYING THE GAME Hold the base of the rod in one hand, and pull back the tip with a finger on the other hand. Now, position the Rod as you like, and let go with the finger, keeping the base of the Rod absolutely still. The spring action will cause the tip of the Rod to fly forward. Using this mechanic, the Pellets can be shot. And indeed, this is the idea of the game--keep shooting the Pellets until all of them are in the goal. Keep count of how many shots are used. Once all Pellets are in the Goal, write down the number of shots on the Measure. Then set up the round again. 12 rounds are played, and the final score is the sum of all but the highest two scores. That is, the two worst rounds can be crossed off. Or, if you're doing really bad, you can abort up to two games. The final score is then recorded, the lower, the better, of course. If you accidentally move the Goal or the Pellets, or move the base of the Rod when shooting, or screw up in any other way, it's considered a foul. Abort the round and set up again. Record the foul on the Measure. In my first attempt at this game, I got 216, with my lowest round being 15, and having two fouls. I suppose a score of 10 is theoretically possible, but highly unlikely. A score of 50 is much more realistic as a near-perfect score--that is, after the break shot, taking one shot to get each Pellet into the Goal, in 10 out of 12 rounds. CONCLUSION I realize that with these instructions alone, it would be very difficult (though not impossible) to actually construct Vamershee Solitaire. So I will endeavor to produce instructions in a more visual, precise manner. ADDENDUM Vamershee Solitaire is descended from a game called Zarball, which I described in a four-page publication in February of 1988 called "Zarball Special" (I am thinking of creating a Vamershee variation that uses these ancient rules). I came up with the basic idea for Zarball about four years before that, in high school. * * ***Strip Lapmall*** No, this isn't a version of Lapmall (see OsoaWeek005) where you take your clothes off--it's just a minor variation, involving strip malls. Call them what you will, strip malls, shopping plazas, shopping centers, or whatever--these entities are far more plentiful than true malls--and offer and more Friction Enhancing challenge in many cases. The reason for this is that while the front of the strip mall is easy, the back is usually a weird, scary place--farther away from Corridor. In this variation, forget the deck of cards--just pick up a little pebble at some point in your lap, at each strip mall, putting each in a Ziploc-style bag. See how many you can collect in one calendar day, never repeating the same strip mall twice! As always, use common sense in Enhancing Friction. The backside of a shopping plaza COULD be dangerous in certain areas--and that sort of danger--the possibility of being attacked by a criminal--is not a part of Friction Enhancer at all. * * Friction Enhancer 11: "Deluge of Primacy" Here's a cool game you're gonna love! What you need is a wooden board and a lot of candles. Put the board on the table, and start dripping wax onto it--the idea is to build towers, walls, bridges, and other structures. The sort of wax the candle is made of has a major impact on game play--the candles I have work the best--but you should be able to find acceptable candles. I hope to be able to sell this game at some point, but let me tell you, it's a wonderful, hypnotic pastime--especially good to play on a date with a love interest! In the dark, in the candlelight, heat and liquid wax, all that. Romantic, dude! Stay with OsoaWeek for any further developments in the world of Deluge of Primacy! * * Friction Enhancer 12: "Four of Things" The idea here is simple--to get four little objects and put them in a bag. The challenge is to find the four most diverse objects--things which would never normally be found in a bag together--ever. As an example, there could be a Han Solo action figure, a corn cob holder, a calculator, and a handball--you get the idea. The nature of the bag is up to you, anything from a Ziploc style sandwich bag to an elaborate pouch. Carry a "Four of Things" bag with you while Dashing to help generate lots and lots of Morc! * * Friction Enhancer 13: "Buildings Over Yonder" This is a game based on a pastime I partook of in high school. I'll give you a brief overview of it here, but I'll have to go into it further another time. The basic idea is pretty simple. All you need is a sheet of paper and a couple of pens. The central action of the game is the "penshot". This is accomplished by placing the pen perpendicular to the paper, it's tip touching the paper. Then you put one index finger on the other end of the pen, so that you're holding the pen steady. Now, you move the top of the pen with your finger, while continuing to apply pressure. When you start to lose control of the pen, the tip will shoot quickly over the paper, leaving a trail of ink, or the "penshot trail". So basically, how the game is played is, each player starts off with a set of little circles or squares (fighters). The players take turns, each doing one penshot per turn. Each penshot originates from a fighter, and can either move the fighter, or fire its gun--the player must announce which before doing the penshot. For movement, the fighter is crossed out and redrawn at the end of the penshot trail. For the gun, the first enemy fighter the trail crosses, if any, is crossed out and destroyed. If a player is moving and the trail hits enemy fighter, it's considered a kamikaze run, and ALL enemy fighters the trail touches are destroyed, alone with the kamikaze fighter. Before the game begins, a playfield of any sort can be drawn--with walls that limit movement (ie, when a moving fighter's trail hits a wall, it must stop there). As well, crossed-out fighters act as walls. In the basic game, each player draws a home base on his side, and the goal is to destroy the enemy's base--which requires only one shot. Another rule is that a fighter can go through and obstacles in one turn, so long as one other fighter is sacrificed. That is, by destroying one of your fighters, it will allow another fighter to be unaffected by walls, crossed-out fighters, etc. FOR ONE TURN ONLY. For the basic game, start with ten fighters each. As I said, I need to get further into this game later on. I'll probably produce pre-printed battlefields sometime, which will make the whole thing a lot easier. Until then, see if you can get a game going with the description I give here--and let me know how it goes! * * Friction Enhancer 14 TRANSPORTING FRENCH FRIES The idea here is to buy some french fries and transport them. Fries in transport may not be eaten, and must be left at the site of their final destination. Record the number of french fries and the number of miles you've transported them. Multiply these two numbers together to get your Transporting French Fries score. The standard challenge is to see how long it takes you to get to 100,000. Getting to this goal could take weeks or months. It's okay for the fries to be put in the garbage--just leaving them somewhere might be considered littering in some states. You may not give them to someone else--ie, going to McDonald's and picking up fries for someone is not allowed. The fries must be purchased purely for the purposes of transporting. Fries may be eaten during the playing of the game, but these cannot be included in the score. Have fun, Transporting French Fries! ******************* First of all, I know the numbering of these Friction Enhancers is all whacked out, okay? Anyway, there's a lot of great ideas in these 15 FE's. 15, that is, including the "Propulsion Card" entry, which contains MANY FE's. In this new system, all Friction Enhancers will be very specific and they'll all be numbered. Another thing is the idea of open options. I want to make the rules for each FE as clear as possible, with standard rules, and acceptable rule variations. Ah, 1:06 AM, gotta go to bed. Wed 6/11/97 * 12:52 AM I've been reviewing notes of mine from January 1990. I tellya, the past seven years have been well spent by me. See, while I created a detailed system back then, it was hopelessly amorphous and naive. The experience and maturity I've gained over the past seven years is priceless in terms of creating the system for my Core Endeavor. I am now going to present one of the files from that time period, which contains a massive amount of Friction Enhancer ideas: *********** The Eight Areas in Detail 1/22/90 * Frank Edward Nora OTHERGRID GRAPHIC: (((Note: this part was originally a picture. I have converted it to text here.))) 1357 2468 -1- FLIP activity capacity, (encyclowhim, hypothetplace, systems), DISORDERTYPE -2- RATIONAL language capacity, (runes/letters, wordtypes, meanings), GLOTTOZH -3- IRRATIONAL language capacity, (motif, object, ism), FOCUS -4- DIRE activity capacity, (building up), nodes, super object), BAUBLE -5- interaction with SURROUNDINGS, (fuelmethod, navigationstyle, zoneways), ZONING -6- interaction with OTHERS, (webtype, interstyle, options), INTERWEB -7- interaction with YOURSELF, (designations, areas, zodiac-type), DOSSIER -8- interaction with BEYOND, (visions, dreams, imagination), SOTUMOTA END OTHERGRID GRAPHIC [1] FLIP activity capacity / Disordertype ? (The idea here is to practise a sort of flippant, spur-of-the-moment, childlike kind of game, art, craft, etc., doing the things for no reason other than to do them. Also, the idea of building something over time, according to a set of general rules. (flippant arts / Moshose)) ? * DISORDERTYPE. Chaotic script / fast writing / mad calligrapher / mirrored text, etc. / Disorder Typography / (w/graffiti?) --> now, related = * Silly talk -- gibberish -- but -- enunciating spontaneous good-sounding nonsense is hard -- maybe good as 30ART. (& also -- nonsense words) (& also -- voweling (speak in all vowels)) * Dark Whimsy (Carrolian? Manholian?) -- (stand-up storytelling?) -- (& Fables.) also --> * Meanderbook / Meandertome / Meanderlit(erature) * Reality Poetry * Wonderful Reality Show * Mean-Spirited Book * 'Hypothetical Place'-- The nomad records on paper with diagrams, drawing, and text the nature of an imaginary location or place, getting as detailed as is wished. * LTR = Little Tiny Reality (as Meander/Permu book? or other? or multi?) * The Hypothetical Place -- virtual reality * 'owning' places? * "owning" characters, interacting w/other characters, etc. * Systems * Voarfez <<(i.e. cloudbow -- with Black, Checker, Silver, Grey, Clear, Grid, White)>> * Fake reference / Deep reference / +++ Encyclopedia +++ (Encyclowhim) * Documents --> Document Holder --> (related to webs?) --> no -- not really, as documents should have specific rules as to what can be on them ----- but specifics? * Hand Outlines w/ logo switches )force switches) for each finger -- for whatever... ? [2] RATIONAL language capacity / Glottozh The idea here is to examine language, and in this create a mini-language which contains words whose meanings are either of an extremely basic nature, or of a nature where no words exist in 'real' languages to express that idea. This mini-language is a supplement to real language, and to be used as such. Coining terms here is also an open-ended thing, as the groundwork for innumerable possibilities will be opened up. Also included is a symbolic alphabet, and phonetic system to incorporate 'real' words. (nomadi mini-language) * 'Learn It'-- The nomad learns the basic mechanics of glottozh through various techniques, such as learning the alphabet, the basic meanings, etc. * Words / Explanations * zhTalk / Runes / 26 Cleona (but -- is it 30ART?) (& zhSigning; hand gesture/symbol) * Cast shadows / shadows / hand shadows / (or as ism?) -- hand gestures * Linetypes -- i.e. -- with certain dashes, circles, etc. thru them, i.e. -- : [ [ [ , O ) , N { } ( , etc. (& connect w/ certain phrases/meanings.) * Logos and symbolics (glyphics?) * Word types -- phonetics, syllabic, words, 209 words, etc. [3] IRRATIONAL language capacity / Focus The idea here is to take a specific subject, like an object, a type of object, an idea, a motif, or whatever, and focus upon it, dealing with it, obtaining examples of the focus, writing on them, using them, etc. (also motif and "obsession") * The basic focus concept,,,--- * 'Bedeck'-- The nomad carries many decks of cards around and becomes familiar with them, writes about cards, makes up decks of his/her own, and generally focuses on the idea of a deck of cards, discovering new uses, turning other people on to them, etc. * Decks of Cards -- Bedeck * Spheres (spherics -- spherism) -- collecting, comparing, etc. -- (as zhObsession?) (& also circles and ?) * Nanobook * Cat's Cradle / Ignotwine / etc. / String Figure * Origami / Vamershee / (flexagon) / Paper Model / etc. * Cut out and build * Pinball -- zhMotif * Scariness / Scareism (obsess?) * Wood theme as zhObsession (also -- spider web theme (INTERWEB)?) (or B&W?) (etc.?) or Iconic humans (pirate, indian, robot, etc.) Shiny? etc. ~~~ * Very Voidy ~ (on nothingness) ~ Voidism ~ (as zhObsession?) * 'On Time' -- clocks, hourglass, sundial, etc. -- like examining -- being obsessed by -- etc. Time -- but specifix? (i.e. -- "That's the tickest, man!") -- clockism * Chess "moron" -- zhezz -- involving chess pieces -- etc. ---- * Tea... * Coffee? Caffeine? (as zhObsession?) * Spoon Magic (or Spoonism (obsession)?) also --> spoonerism talk * Checkerboarder -- checkered patterns * About the body (i.e., funnybone, inside of mouth environment, behind the knees, etc.) As what, though? Body explore? * Isms -- (as separate thing, i.e., 30ISMS? or -- whatever) -- examples: Mockism, Coldism, Terriblism, Blatantism, Cuckooism ("You must all go cuckoo!"), Complickism, Silentism, Mammockism, Nicenessism, Orgasmism, Scissorsism (and whole phayryArea), etc. [4] DIRE activity capacity / Bauble ? (The idea here is best initially described as "a great fake encyclopaedia", as the idea is to invent things, such as objects, theories, places, systems, people, etc. in a reference-type environment, for no real reason other than to deal with these imaginary things. (systems & learning) ? * Bauble -- (like -- revering small objects? Dealing with small objects and "baublize" them? Rel. to object historian , revering stuff , and Super Object * Giving things more importance than they deserve / revering / admiring / etc. * Object Historian (& collect water, dirt, flora as well -- like water from Indian Ocean, etc.) * Super Object * Weirdness Machines (like Super Object (? or more complex Mock-Machines?) * specific existing books -- like Finnegans Wake -- reading -- reorganizing -- 'baublizing' -- etc. -- -- ? * zhParaphernalia -- (types of objects) -- i.e., flea market crap, etc. * Boxing / Box-O-Stuph / (ref: Holly Hobbie lunchbox) --i.e.-- containers with cool things inside -- for zoning -- or whatever (but as art?) ---- <<NODES>> * Nodes (of both things, printed matter, and/or set of personal work and/or personal work in progress, etc.) * Idea of "General Building up according to rules" -- see waxdrip blamnoom, paper universe , etc. territorial game, as well? * Wax Drip --/ build structures --/candles --/and as Go-like * 'Tabras Book'-- The nomad obtains a book, and then proceeds to alter in many different ways, such as rippinf pages out, adding new pages, writing notes on pages, crossing out words to create new meanings, pasting things into/onto the book, etc., until such point as the nomad deems it finished. The purpose is to create a unique and possibly useful object. * Book Usage -- book as tabula rasa -- write-in / paste-on / rip-out, etc. <<also, similar is game-in-book, like multilevel B.O.Y., or other, or with bookmarks as piece???>> * Zone Art idea -- creating things in transit -- putting together, etc. * Blamnoom / (crescents?) / set of guidelines for creating abstract designs on paper... * Paper Universe (ref: castles/cities/landscapes) also -- see 'Buildings of Yontaro' -- etc. * Buildings of Yontaro [5] interaction with SURROUNDINGS / Zoning The idea here is to do things and think things which disrupt the flow of reality, causing reality to alter around you as you take zonal trips, for purposes of entertainment, enlightenment, curiosity, and things such as that. (fuelmethod, navigationstyle, etc.) * 'Zonal Trip'-- The nomad goes on a little 'jaunt' by choosing a zoneway and then fueling or powering the endeavour by doing odd things. * Fuelmethods * Navigationstyles * Description * Walking Cards (i.e., hold & look at while walking or whatever; travelling) * Recording -- (audio - video - written) -- as in whatever... ? * Presenting... (whatever) * Mixing -- foods (edible) -- or other products (inedible) -- or whatever -- mixism -- cool recipes -- etc. --...? -- supermarket zhAlchemy, etc..... and mixing other things -- like magazines, etc.? * Irrational Applications (i.e. base on software?) * "400" (was like a new drug or something) (".4K") but what could it be? ~~-- * Rubbery Technology (i.e., creative use of new technology) * Naming (everything/anything) -- like naming and recording (names thereof) of such as columns in a malls, trees in a park, bookstores, etc. ... * "As" -- see one thing as another -- definite zhFuelmethod, but as 30ART? * Other older zonal fuel items -- think backwards, addressing, etc. --> but again, as 30ART? * zhSense(s) -- one zhSense -- or many fake senses? (see more as FUELMETHOD) * "As If" (i.e., as if we were in Scotland, as if this were a warehouse, etc.) -- -- -- ? * Place Connosieur -- i.e., railroad station, supermarket, library, roadside, etc. * Places = supermarket, mall, library, airport, etc. -- but more of a FUELMETHOD really. (?) * Getting Lost --~ * Regarding (&zonify w/ zoneways (ref: Pixies concert)) -- fuelmethod -- addressing things ~~~~~ * Chair Noticing * Pretend! * Rational Madness * Avoidance... ? * Insincere Disdain * Delaying * Relaying * Get All [6] interaction with OTHERS / Interweb The idea here is create specific works of art/literature/and the like, called 'webs', which you then copy and send out to other people, who do likewise for you and other, so there is an interactive flow of creative material, which both serves to help one in his or her art, and also to help others, and also as a medium of intercourse with others. (webtypes, conversationtype) * 'Create Web'-- The nomad decides upon a web format, such as one-page short story, and then goes about writing or otherwise creating it. * Webtypes * Interweb System * Interweb / webs / concept of creativing and experiencing the created as means to zone (thought -- all arts as webs? Or what?) * Communication in all forms -- graffiti, phone, mail, and all else ---- also -- filler content just to facilitate communication in some cases? * Conversation in all forms -- in voice, mail, graffiti, etc. * Severe Repair -- audioworks / Weird University -- videoworks * Archivism --~-- Idea Bank * Pleasant Little Publications [7] interaction with YOURSELF / Dossier The idea here is to create a set of personal information and designations, which help to define one's identity, and also can be compared to others who have similar sets of information, as a basis for conversation, interaction, and perhaps friendly argument and factionalism. (dossiertypes & styles) * 'Designation List'-- The nomad uses a set of designations and chooses a personal entry for each designation, creating a personal portfolio compatable with those of other nomads. * Work Types * <<-- zhFables? --part of DOSSIER?>> * refer to idea of 'interactive page' -- with designations (like, 'write a stupid sentence', 'draw a picture of your distorted cube', 'list five most unrelated things', etc.) (also -- create your own designations?) -- also * based on already-existing info, akin to zodiac signs, etc. (dossier = personal set?) [8] interaction with BEYOND / Sotumota The idea here is to explore the area of ones percetion beyond the physical world, and deal with the visualization of images in the mind, vision which appear, dreams, imagination, ways of inducing visions, other spiritual states which we can experience (all without naming or even attempting to define the cause of any of this), and to philosophize about the beyond. So what we want to deal with here is not the cause behind these experiences, but simply the experiences themselves. (also, deja vú, hypnogogic, etc.) But important to keep open mind, explore what could be beyond, whether or not your mind is made up. This practice should reaffirm religious beliefs, since you can get a broader view of the whole area of "the beyond", and not just blindly accept beliefs. (beyond-styles) * 'Vision Construction'-- The nomad begins with a blank space, names it, and then, over a period of time, visualizes it and develops the contents, until it is a realistic and detailed vision. * Thoughtfamilies * Visions * Thought families / Veins of logic -- for zh (nomadi) -- but as 30ART? * Visions/symbols -- idea of short descriptions for a person to visualize in his or her own mind............. (also -- building up specific visions in your mind over time. (--> DOSSIER?) * Mentalmeander... * Is this all a card game? (i.e., all of Noyage) * Philosopher (in similar role as psychiatrist) * Dire/Flip Yaw * Make-believe obliteration ******************* See? A lot of great ideas, but the whole system was totally bogged down with forced ideas. This document is full of awesome possibilities, and will be quite useful in developing the initial set of Friction Enhancers. Goodnight. Wed 6/11/97 * 9:40 PM Last night and today were tough, as if reality were all fucked-up. I think that when I started working on coming up with a list of Friction Enhancers, it was a real indication that I had indeed completed the foundational development of Obliviana. This, after my hypnopompic vision of "HONE", which was a BIG indication that I had indeed arrived at the right foundational idea for Obliviana. So I'm on my way. The "Othergrid" file above is rather dizzying. Reading it, I am brought back somewhat to my state of mind back then. As usually happens when reviewing past notes, I am surprised at how CLOSE I was to the right idea, while also being so far. The four "stages" of Honing as I see it are the same as my current list of O attributes. That is, Stormjaunt, Recording, Octagon Conversion, and LWOR Play. Indeed, this is the order I must follow in Honing Obliviana. See, first I have to develop the idea of Stormjaunt and Friction Enhancers and all that. Then I'll be able to develop a coherent Recording system. And then, I'll be in a far better position to figure out the whole Octagon system. And with all this, I'll have a great foundation for developing LWOR. So I'm at the Stormjaunt level right now. And key to Stormjaunts is Friction Enhancer. Let me talk a bit about the term "Friction Enhancer". It's been around for quite awhile. The word "Friction" is what I am now using for what I used to call "Zonal Motion", "Thrust", "Propulsion", and "Morc (Motion Relative to Corridor)". Out of these terms, Morc was the most recent, and the most descriptive. I have been considering whether or not to keep "Friction Enhancer", but I am leaning toward keeping it. Now, in terms of Stormjaunt, it is very important to emphasize that a Stormjaunt has a very specific beginning and end. Therefore, Friction Enhancers are things that you do WHILE a Stormjaunt is happening. The Stormjaunt is a thing apart from the Friction Enhancer. This is a vital aspect of Obliviana. Because of this aspect, I feel that there should be a little more ceremony to the beginning and end of the SJ than I currently have. In my current system, the closing of the Jukewand is the official start, and the opening of it is the official finish. Friction Enhancer is that which you do while in a Stormjaunt. But it is important to emphasize that you will define one FE to be the FE OF the SJ. That is, even though you may incorporate other FEs in whole or in part in the course of the SJ, there will be one which is the focus of the SJ. With this in mind, I see that while FE is something that happens during a SJ, a SJ is "tied to" a FE. So it's a duality. Now I want to discuss the range of FE activities. Especially, traditional sorts of entertainment, as in written fiction, comics, talk, music, video, etc. I absolutely want to make FEs of this sort of stuff. The obvious formula here is to drink the entertainment as the FE. That is, the activity that you are engaged in is the drinking. The big question that this raises is whether or not the Obliviana-produced entertainment has any special qualities which set it apart from entertainment produced elsewhere. That is, if "reading Zope comics" is a FE and "reading Dilbert comics" is not, why not? I think that this question cuts to the very important issue of Obliviana as a subculture, with commonality of experience. That is, Obliviana is not just a system by which you explore reality, but it contains unique entertainment, personalities, graphics, etc. You can read Dilbert comics while on a SJ, but if it is not an official FE, it will not "count" toward "buying" Octagons. And the point of buying Octagons is to be part of the Obliviana culture, in LWOR. So this system is beginning to make sense to me. 10:34 PM I read some more of "The New Games Book". And indeed, it seems that the New Games have disappeared because of the wishy-washy philosophies surrounding them. That is, the games are so amorphous and "modification-friendly" that the whole thing gets kind of foggy. It seems to me that New Games was mainly a hippie thing, and that hippie energy is all gone now. My ideas from seven years ago are similarly amorphous. I have to keep this in mind, if I ever feel negatively about STRUCTURE. Structure is a necessary "evil". But the New Games bring up the issue to me about people using and being aware of their bodies. Obliviana doesn't have a lot of that. And I don't know if I want to put it in. But part of me does want to perhaps bring back the New Games philosophy, at least its core philosophy, without all the liberal bullshit. I suppose that maybe the New Games sort of energy is perpetuated now in the very popular Renaissance Fairs that I hear are getting bigger and bigger. It's interesting that people seem to need to take on different personas to get together and have fun. That is, once you establish the pretense that you are recreating a historical atmosphere, THEN you can cast off the chains of "modern society" aloofness and get into Wonderful play. See, the hippies HAD that kind of environment. They were part of a subculture that embraced this kind of stuff. But that kind of stuff doesn't really exist anymore, for "real". And, hippies, New Games, and Renaissance Fairs have their dark side. Fairs at least acknowledge that such behavior is temporary and doesn't mesh very well with real society. Hippies wanted life to be all New Games and stuff, and that doesn't work. Transportation, infrastructure, manufacturing, raising a family, all this stuff requires lots of pretty much unpleasant work. And without it, society disintegrates. But technology holds the promise of being able to do all that dull stuff cheaper and with less human labor. So eventually folks will have a lot more free time. Will this mean a return to hippie energy and New Games and stuff like that? Or will we all continue with our current aloof forms of entertainment, like TV, Walkmans, online, VR, etc.? I think it's a safe bet that the latter will be the predominant case. So where does Obliviana fit into all this? If Obliviana is like The New Games, it is with a much more cerebral bent. But Obliviana does embrace the idea of going out and doing things in the real world rather than sitting in front of the TV/computer. Thu 6/13/97 * 12:00 AM Wow. Another day where I start writing exactly at midnight. Just think, this moment for me now is in the far past to those of you in the far future. And you--myself of the future--I know you'll be reading this someday. Do you know me well? Today I was thinking PROSPERITY, opening my heart and soul to success. And my sister came over to work. So, in Obliviana, I have to establish some very basic stuff. Focusing on Stormjaunt. Friction Enhancer is a large part of Stormjaunt, and is a huge part of Obliviana as a whole. A Friction Enhancer is an activity which has a beginning and an end, and some sort of goal. It is a thing that you do to generate Morc (Motion Relative to Corridor). It is also a thing you do to have fun. It is also a thing you do to be part of the culture of Obliviana. I touched on this before, but it is very important to emphasize that Obliviana is not a general method, as it COULD be developed, but rather, it is a specific culture. That is, Obliviana establishes a WAY of doing things, and THEN presents a set of SPECIFICS. So instead of saying "do whatever you want as a Friction Enhancer", I say "Do X, Y, and Z as Friction Enhancers so that you can be part of the Obliviana culture." This idea does not preclude a person from doing his own thing, but in reality, people have a hard time "doing their own thing". So I am presenting a "default", which can be deviated from if one so wishes. But the whole cultural aspect provides a very strong point of reference for the whole thing. This idea of Obliviana as culture is key to understanding how the drinking of entertainment can be considered a Friction Enhancer. See, regarding the Zope vs. Dilbert question from before, read a Zope comic is very much an Obliviana culture thing while reading a Dilbert comic is not. This is a very important answer for me, because this question of entertainment as FE has always been a thorny issue for me. Now I have to start defining the whole FE system. This system is the pattern on which ALL of Obliviana will be based. So where do I begin? Well, ultimately, there will be an ever-expanding set of individual Friction Enhancer, which will be organized in various hierarchical categories. I like the idea of eight major areas, quite diverse, with rivalries and loyalties very possible. With the eight areas, I want to cover all the possible FE's that will ever be made. This is a difficult task, but of course it can be done, with the definitions being broad enough. I mean, you could do it all in one category, if it was defined as "All Friction Enhancers". But I do want to inject some personality into each area. So at some level, I am going to have to preclude some sorts of FEs for the purpose of creating an Obliviana culture with some personality. Some categories that come to mind are: Mental vs. Physical, Real vs. Computer, Creative vs. Experiential, Weird vs. Normal. But I do have to keep in mind the idea of limitation for the purpose of personality. That is, of all possible Stormjaunt systems, Obliviana shall be only one, but the main one. As in, for all possible games you can play with a chess set, CHESS is only one, but overwhelmingly the MAIN one. Okay. So, I guess I should start taking specific FEs that I know will be in Obliviana and start to build categories around them. Traditional FEs, as exemplified by Mallball, are activities where you go out into the world, usually driving and with some money, and with a specific goal in mind. The activity involves ordinary sorts of activities, but in a very extraordinary combination. In the case of Mallball, you go to malls, buy stringlike products, and roll them onto an ever-expanding ball. Each of these activities by itself is fairly normal, except perhaps the rolling part, but the whole activity is utterly apart from any normal sort of activity. So this sort of FE involves mobility, money, a good deal of time, and the creation of objects. This qualifies as a FE category. Some people will embrace this FE Area, while others will focus more on other areas. Entertainment is another sort of FE. At its most basic, this category involves simply drinking in a piece of entertainment. It occurs to me that there should be some other element to this, such as doing something else at the same time, such as "Read ten Cups of Severe Repair with a lemon in your pocket." (This example just came to mind, but I quickly realized the use of "lemon" on blues music as a euphemism for "penis". Oh well.) Anyway, doing something else while drinking entertainment serves the purpose of doing something you wouldn't normally otherwise do, ie, the combination. And it also serves as a focal point for the memory of the entertainment drunk. I'm getting tired, but I want to set forth a plan for the near future before I go to bed. Certainly, establishing the Eight Types of Friction Enhancers is of the utmost importance. I really need to keep the idea of "personality" in mind while developing these eight areas. I don't want Obliviana to be all things to all people. But I do want it to be a Wonderful thing for many people. Goodnight. 6/13/97 * 10:26 PM Weird dreams last night. Today I was reading random parts of OsoaWeek Year One, the first 52 issues. I went through hell working on OsoaWeek back then! It seems like I was always tired or screwed-up or weirded out or something. It's amazing to me that OsoaWeek is still around. This is issue 151, for goodness sake! And I was thrilled back then to have gotten to issue 14! So my first goal now is to establish the Eight Types of Friction Enhancers. It occurs to me that there are types of recreation that I may not want to include as Friction Enhancers. Such limitations are key to establishing the "personality" of Obliviana. First off, there is the issue of intellectual property that is not part of Obliviana, such as books, comics, music, movies, etc. In general, I do not want to include drinking such material as a FE. This is in the context of the FE Type of "Entertainment". In terms of other forms of FE, such material may be used, such as using a specific book, like taking "The Chocolate War" to a stream, or juggling chess pieces while watching "The Bowery Boys" on TV. Stuff like that. But such material will never be the focal point of a FE. I am split on whether or not to include sports in Obliviana. My reading on The New Games has stimulated my imagination in this regard, but at a very basic level, I am against traditional sports being any part of Obliviana. But The New Games, and the whole Renaissance Fair thing, and the vision of young people frolicking in the woods and stuff... well... Another thing that occurs to me is that if some FEs will occur in LWOR, the cyberplace, then I need to define LWOR a little better before I can develop the FEs that will be played there. Sat 6/14/97 * 4:56 PM Just went on a Stormjaunt, my ninth. Pretty cool. Let me finish it now... Okay. So, back to the Eight Types of Friction Enhancers. 5:37 PM Gee, I'm making a lot of progress here, eh? The answer to this current question shall serve to define Obliviana and all the activities of people playing Obliviana. Limitation is an important aspect here. As I said before, Obliviana is not going to be all things to all people, but a Wonderful thing to many people. I went to Sportsworld in Paramus today, a huge arcade/entertainment center. In it there was a miniature golf course with waterfalls and rivers and stuff. I really like cool indoor artificial rivers and waterfalls. Another question that I've been thinking of is whether Obliviana will be mainly a solitary thing, or if more group-oriented activities will be a part of it. This is a difficult question. I think that for the most part, the actual activities will be... well... certainly, I want to make most FEs doable by oneself. I think that a lot of the sort of people who will be into Obliviana won't have anyone to do Obliviana with. But, I also like the idea of bringing together folks who are into Obliviana who might otherwise be loners. But being a loner is pretty cool. But so is social interaction. Going around in circles here. Look, I gotta make some progress. Okay. Let me begin to make some categories. [1a] Involves travel and freedom of movement. [1b] Movement is not important. [2a] Player is actively involved in what is going on. [2b] Player is passive (as in, drinking entertainment). [3a] Activity takes place in reality. [3b] Activity takes place on computer. [4a] Game involving competition (ie, Obliviana Classic, Vamershee, Deluge of Primacy) [4b] Game involving cooperation in the seeking of a common goal. [5a] FE results in a new artifacts (ie, Mallball, Deluge of Primacy, etc.) [5b] FE results in no artifact. [6a] FE is difficult. [6b] FE is easy. From above: Some categories that come to mind are: Mental vs. Physical, Real vs. Computer, Creative vs. Experiential, Weird vs. Normal. Now, I want to deal with some issues. First of all, I want Obliviana to be focused on reality, with the cyberspace portion "supporting" the reality-based focus. Another issue is that of Artifacts, objects created or modified while Stormjaunting. Also, Digital Artifacts, as in the Octagon system... The idea of "Object Historian", where you put an object through many "experiences", and record the experiences, so that when you look at the object in the context of its history, you see something different. I should go through all the lists and features above and come up with a distilled list of FEs. Okay. I'll work on the 1990 file, which is called "The Eight Areas in Detail", by the way. What I'm going to do is list idea that appeal to me NOW. DISORDERTYPE--This idea of focusing on messy and screwed-up typography, calligraphy, and writing was an interesting idea, but now that such typography is so mainstream, the idea is a little flat. Some kind of typography-based FE would be cool, but it would be hard to keep such from being "precious" and overly artistic. LITTLE TINY REALITY--This idea has some merit. The idea of creating a tiny world populated by a small number of characters. But this idea intersects with LWOR, so any implementation of this idea will be in LWOR, which is, really, a Little Tiny Reality. WRECK DOCUMENTS--This idea actually came after the above file, but the seed idea was there. WDs are 8.5x11 sheets of paper that are crumpled up and reflattened many times. There would be rules as to what can be on these WDs. Idea of "document holder", where you roll the WD up and hold it in your fist dramatically. GLOTTOZH--making up my own language has always been a seductive idea for me. I seek a language which would be a supplement to existing languages, not an entire language in itself. I have done a lot of work in this regard, and I think some sort of Obliviana jargon is called for. In fact, with words like Stormjaunt and Friction Enhancer and Jukewand I already have a jargon going. FOCUS--the idea here is to take a subject and get very involved in it. The implication in the 1990 file is that it is the act of "obsessing on" such subjects that is important. But the specific subjects listed do point to an overall stylistic unity in the subjects. I like the idea of coming up with a limited set of such subjects, which will be established and a good thing to choose one out of many. The whole issue of themes and variations is very important here. Present a theme and a number of variations, and the act of choosing a variation for your Fonosta is quite compelling. BAUBLE--The idea of using objects in various ways is definitely a part of the system. There is implied in this system a "blessing" of objects, make them "of Obliviana". Objects can be created, modified, put through "experiences", mixed together in containers, etc. MIXING--as mentioned above, objects can be mixed (see the "Four of Things" FE, far above). Also, Reality Tonic, where beverages are mixed together. And also, mixing together various sorts of mundane activities--this is the basis of most Friction Enhancers, at some level. FUEL--I propose that there shall be small activities that will not be FEs in themselves, but which will add Morc to a SJ in progress. I will list some, but keep in mind that some may be worthy of being FEs themselves: * NAMING--I really like this one, to quote from above: "like naming and recording (names thereof) of such as columns in a malls, trees in a park, bookstores, etc." This is clearly strong enough to be a FE on its own. Players will have a "Book of Names", and go around and name all sorts of stuff. (Recall Jay Beadle, naming his skateboard, deck of cards, etc.) * AS--Choose two things in your immediate surroundings, and then see one AS the other. Purely mental, but quite powerful. Also, impose different colors and/or patterns on things. Or a consistent color and/or pattern. As in, see everything as if it were orange, etc. * THINK BACKWARDS--Attempt to think backwards. Weird. * REGARDING--very simply, seek out some obscure element of your surrounding and regard it. Or could involve specific things, such as corners, which I like to Regard. A FE could be Regard Corners. Or Regard Chairs. * AS IF--Similar to AS, maybe the same thing, but more like pretending your environment is something else. * PLACE CONNOISSEUR--mundane sorts of places, where you try to go to as many as possible, such as railroad stations, supermarkets, parks, etc. * PEBBLESWITCH--may as well mention this here. The act of switching is very Morcful. WEB--Back in 1990 there was no WWW, so it's interesting that I had this thing called the "Interweb". Anyway, the current descendent of Web is Yargo, and an Interyargo is possible... DOSSIER--this is now known as Fonosta. Again, importance of theme and variation as regards Fonosta/Octagon. SOTUMOTA--this has to do with visualization, imagination, etc. I want to de-emphasize such stuff, since it is interaction with physical reality that is at the heart of Obliviana. Okay. A lot of this stuff overlaps, but I think I can start to make some sort of distinction. After briefly looking over the 15 FEs from OsoaWeek past, I see that they fall into the two rough categories "Fun With Reality Through Mixing" and "Cool New Games and Activities". May as well get specific! ***"Fun With Reality Through Mixing"*** Mallball Pebbleswitch Reality Tonic Cup 14 Cup 14 Lite Lapmall Presh Park Strip Lapmall Four of Things Transporting French Fries ***"Cool New Games and Activities"*** Mobius Crochet Vamershee Solitaire Deluge of Primacy Building Over Yonder So, I will establish that "Fun With Reality Through Mixing" will be one of the FE types. It is certainly what FE has been about for a long time. See, this category has been defined as a way to generate Morc. I then tried to take the other categories of stuff in Obliviana and conform them to this standard of Morcfullness. But now, I am defining FE as an Amusement, so now, the "Fun With Reality" stuff is "conforming" to being an Amusement. 7:12 PM So, let me list what I have so far. [1] Fun With Reality Through Mixing [2] Cool New Games and Activities [3] Drinking Entertainment Let me present this list for the third time (it's also at the top of this feature): *********** [a] Classic Friction Enhancer (Mallball, Pebbleswitch, etc.) [b] Traditional Game (as opposed to the untraditional overall game of Obliviana) (Obliviana Classic, Vamershee, etc.) [c] Creation Games (Deluge of Primacy, Yargo drawing, Blamnoom, etc.) (also writing and comics?) [d] Passive Entertainment (as in, you drink it in, but don't interact much) (Severe Repair, Zope, etc.) [e] Active Entertainment (as in, you drink it is, and then do something with it) (SR Cuppaths, Superior selecting and using (as in "displaying" it on a side of one of your buildings, etc.), etc.) [f] LWOR "Cyber" (Game activities played with your Fonosta "Guy" in LWOR) [g] Obliviana Artifact (vague idea right now, but using Super Objects, Modern Saplings, etc. in some way) [h] Meeting (vague idea right now, but deals with interacting with other players in reality) ******************* Now... [1] Fun With Reality Through Mixing [2] Cool New Games and Activities [3] Drinking Entertainment [4] Creating Entertainment. [5] Racing in the Little World of Racetracks I want to go back to OsoaWeek001 for some inspiration now. 9:42 PM Well, here's a list from OsoaWeek001, which is germane to this discussion: *********** FLOWER 1: Foxglove Plug The electronic realm, irrelevance of the physical, fonts, Classictronica (classic video games), clip textures, programs, utilities, and secrets. (red family--circle) FLOWER 2: Snapdragon Bite Short audiovisual segments, video and sound snippets, Xappen, other sorts of bites. (orange family--square) FLOWER 3: Daffodil Scribble Disorder, destruction, and confusion. Worn-out, crazy, random, and gibberish. Mixing all sorts of stuff together, such as beverages, foods, etc. Boxes'o'Stuff, cool assortments of things. Messy writing and out-of-control typography. (yellow family--triangle) FLOWER 4: Pussy Willow Harvest Obliviana Artifacts, gathering items, object historian, baubles, spheres connoisseur, books as items, collecting water from a variety of sources, and Super Objects. Confounder, cool little electromechanical diversions. Aversion to electronica and the virtual. (green family--rectangle) FLOWER 5: Dandelion Lost 209. Strange, night, clocks, chess, and mirrors. Weirdness engines, nothingness, holes, and shadows. Candles, incense, and smoke. Dashic, Friction Enhancer, and Wield of Transit. Swift, speeding along, and coffee. Wandering, getting lost. (blue family--crescent) FLOWER 6: Forget-me-not Stream Peaceful, rocks, wood, nature, beauty, serenity, sand, spider webs, visions. (purple family--hexagon) FLOWER 7: Crocus Basis Philosophy, philosophical combat, Actuality Destructor, and theories on the nature of reality. Severe Repair, and the realms of imaginary universes and their mechanics. (black & white--heptagon) FLOWER 8: Lupin Lazy The low-impact, easy way to play! Requires a minimum amount of attention and involvement. (gray family--oval) FLOWER 9: Honeysuckle Rover Exploring places, delving into different sorts of locations and comparing them. Finding all sorts of cool stuff and reviewing it for people. Irreverent, fun, brainy life. Halfevil Times and Hemisinister Review. (brown family--octagon) FLOWER 10: Lily-of-the-Valley Whim Little games, decks of cards, and diversions. Whimsical worlds, childishness, fairies, and wonders. Origami, cat's cradle, and meanderliterature. Blamnoom, Deluge of Primacy, Vamershee, and Buildings of Yontaro. (magenta/aquamarine--pentagon) FLOWER 11: Black-eyed Susan Crest/Aquamarine Sign and symbols, visual identity, and devices. Codingseeds, and all sorts of communication. Hidden messages, naming everything, overlay on reality, recording, and shows. (yellow-green/blue-gray--cross) ******************* Flowers. Flowers. Man, I've gone through a lot of different permutations with my various Obliviana systems. This Flower system is a great example of how I could work very hard on what would turn out to be a flawed system. I remember spending an awful lot of time matching the flower names with the other word so that they sounded good. Sun 6/15/97 * 2:30 PM Okay. I gotta get moving. When on an unexpected, unofficial Stormjaunt with Denice before. We set out to find flea markets or garage sales or whatever, and wound up at an outlet mall at Harmon Cove. It was about 11:30 AM, and the place didn't open till noon. Still, there were a lot of people hanging around, waiting for it to open. So I proposed doing a Lapmall, and we started walking around, when we saw a cool place with trees and grass and stuff and went there and sat and played with the little floating seeds and Denice made leaf scrolls and all that. It was cool. From recent experience, and also from Stormjauntings past, it is apparent to me that there is a reaction, maybe a day or so later, to a Stormjaunt. Sometimes it is good, and sometimes it is bad. I call the bad one a "reality blam". So this is an issue to investigate further. Now, back to the matter at hand, the Eight Types of Friction Enhancers. The 11 Flowers are very interesting. First of all, it's clear that I based the Flowers on the same 1990 file as I presented earlier, or one of the many previous and subsequent revisions of it from that time. When I set about analyzing the 1990 file, I did not recall that I had done the same thing back in 1994 with the Flowers. The Flowers are not bad, but are also not usable in my current system. I can glean much from the Flowers, though. Let me distill the info: [1] PLUG--computer stuff [2] BITE--video and sound snippets [3] SCRIBBLE--worn-out, chaotic, destroyed [4] HARVEST--objects and machines [5] LOST--209, weirdness [6] STREAM--peaceful natural beauty, streams, visions [7] BASIS--philosophy, nature of reality [8] LAZY--expend little or no effort [9] ROVER--places, reviews, humor [10] WHIM--games, whimsy, childlike [11] CREST--graphics and communication Compare to my current incomplete list: [1] Fun With Reality Through Mixing [2] Cool New Games and Activities [3] Drinking Entertainment [4] Creating Entertainment. [5] Racing in the Little World of Racetracks Hmm... Let me deal with this in the context of what a player is actually going to be DOING. I do not want to put too much pressure on players by requiring them to do overly-taxing things. In this, I am not condescending, since there will be nothing PREVENTING players from doing more. But people have limited time and effort resources, and if too much is asked, you blow their attention span before you can even get going. One thing about the Flower list is the theming of the categories. I'm don't think I want to theme at the FE stage, but rather, later. What about working on Octagon/Fonosta? Wouldn't this be a sort of Friction Enhancer? Yes, being that it is an activity in Obliviana... so I'll add it to the list... [1] Fun With Reality Through Mixing [2] Cool New Games and Activities [3] Drinking Entertainment [4] Creating Entertainment. [5] Racing in the Little World of Racetracks [6] Octagon/Fonosta Work The main activity in Obliviana is deciding of a Friction Enhancer, setting a Storm, going on the Stormjaunt, doing the Friction Enhancer, finishing the Stormjaunt, and then recording it. Now, the Octagon Transformation involves turning your completed Stormjaunts into Octagons, which are "installed" into you Fonosta. Being that this is an activity as well, there's no reason why this process cannot also be a Friction Enhancer. This is where things get a little tricky. But maybe it doesn't have to be all that confusing. When you are doing anything related to Obliviana, it can be considered a Friction Enhancer. It gets confusing when the activity itself is the transformation of Stormjaunts into Octagons, with the idea that you are creating ANOTHER Stormjaunt while working with the ones you have already done. I find nothing wrong with this idea. Well, almost nothing... No, I think the idea is sound. With the overall idea of "capturing" the effort you expend which is normally lost, it follows that all activities relating to Obliviana should be "capturable". Now, once you have the Octagons, you then have to "install" then into your Fonosta, which is another sort of activity, but I am grouping it with the Octagon transformation. And then there is the whole idea of interacting with others in Obliviana. "Racing" is a formalized sort of competition, but what about just plain old chatting and interacting? This too should be a category of FE. So... [1] Fun With Reality Through Mixing [2] Cool New Games and Activities [3] Drinking Entertainment [4] Creating Entertainment. [5] Racing in the Little World of Racetracks [6] Octagon/Fonosta Work [7] Interact with Other Players [8] Everything Else So, I have my set of 8. This set will have to be refined, but I do have a basic set. I want to touch on the idea of recording. I do not want the recording process to be cumbersome. And to distill a lot of thinking, in order for recording to be an unobtrusive as possible, there needs to be a little portable computer of some sort involved. But for now, I want to developed the non-computer, analog system, which involves the Jukewand and Stormjaunt Scrolls. Sun 6/15/97 * 6:50 PM Well, I just added 10 Cups to Severe Repair. Go on over and check it out! (I know there should be a link here, but screw it.) Anyway, gotta finish this issue up. Get All Obliviana! *OW* -------> ------------------- ----------- -------- -- -----