The Mother of All Gooses
A Pantomime With An Edge

An Atelier/Graphic Ants Production

Artwork by Amy the Ant and Asteroid Lil

Being for the benefit of the Salonistas of Lil's Atelier as well as friends and lurkers throughout H2G2, we are pleased to present a pantomime of indefinite plot, size and duration. We respectfully ask that all participants adhere to the following rules, in order that the greatest benefit and amusement may be derived from the experience.

PLEASE READ THIS PAGE BEFORE YOU POST!!

Declare Yourself

Are you a player or are you part of the audience?

Players are expected to create an account with a character's identity which will serve as your disguise. Once you have your new account in hand, please proceed to the Thread labelled THE CAST and post to that thread once. Give a short description of yourself and whether you are a protagonist or an antagonist. In the case of character duplication, first post wins possession of the identity.

If you are a member of the audience, please proceed to the thread labelled TICKET STALL and post once. As in all traditional pantomimes, you are allowed a certain amount of ritual participation, but please endeavour not to get between the ball and the goal, so to speak. That is, you may not directly participate in the plot! You may only shout from your seat. Please do not throw food or interrupt the pantomime with unrelated conversations. Thank you.

CONTINUITY!!

The laws of Adventure Continuity are to be respected here. Please read and make sure you understand these laws. They contribute immeasurably to the fun of participation and longevity of the experience! :-)

1. Respect your fellow players' free will. Do not foist actions on other players, no matter how much you desire a certain outcome. You may throw a custard pie at Player X, but it is up to Player X to say whether they caught the pie, hurled it elsewhere, or took it full in the face.

2. Respect the plot, such as it may be. If a number of players seem to be in consensus about something that is happening, it is very rude of you to leap in and change the plot entirely. Heroes and villains are of course contending for the outcome, but as part of respecting free choice, we refrain from taking over the story or twisting it violently in midstream.

3. Respect the possibilities inherent in your character. Long experience has shown that an adventure or quest is much more satisfying all around if participants restrict themselves from instant solutions. If you should be imprisoned, you could magically burst your bonds in the very next post, but where is the fun in that for everyone else? In the long run, super powers are boring.

4. Respect the environment. You may post that you discover items, but it is an imposition to invent anything which contravenes the story so far. If a group of players are in the dining room having tea, it is rude in the extreme to invent a rhino charge going through the room. Broken cups and furniture would forever have to be accounted for.

5. Respect other people's devices. Once something has been brought into the action, whether it's a pair of pliers or a garden gnome, it becomes part of the story and its existence becomes a fact of life for all other players AND audience members. Per rule 4, this power of invention must be used carefully and with consideration.

ARGUMENTS ABOUT CONTINUITY

These always happen, especially with inexperienced players. If you have a complaint, take it to the STAGE MANAGER thread. The Laws of Continuity have evolved through experience, and you should not hesitate to raise a point if you feel that your or someone else's rights have been infringed upon. At the very least, you will receive a proper explanation for why something has fallen out as it has. At best, the stage manager will intercede and set the plot straight.

Get On With It!

In order to set the mood, Amy and Lil have devised a virtual environment entwined with a little goose egg hunt. This is open to players and audience alike, but we ask that you keep your eggs to yourself until everyone has had a chance to take the trip. At that point a new thread will be opened for participants to share their spoils.

Once you have toured Magoose Island, you will be ready to start playing. You can sign up immediately as CAST or AUDIENCE, but please do not post until you have been to the Island. A picture is worth a thousand words, yes?

Oh, and by the way, the eggs are off-limits for being carried around or stolen, let alone vandalized. OK?