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Thought I'd post this here for everyone who cares or has been following the roleplay/story;

"Balto: Truth and Consequence" written by GodzillaWolf and HMXTaylorLee (me).

/board/balto-truth-and-consequence-me-and-hmxtaylorlee-t32378.html

As I'm sure you are all aware (if you've read it), my time to write it has come to a temporary close. In not 10 hours from this posting, I'm leaving to begin a strict regime of military training, hopefully to find my own place in the world.

After GodzillaWolf makes his final post, the thread will go dark for at least two and a half months. We both ask that the roleplay remain unlocked during this time. I promise that as soon as I get a chance to come back to it, I will. It's entirely up to the mods who are running it, though.

On a personal note, I'd like thank GodzillaWolf for sending me a message proposing the idea of a roleplay. I don't know why he offered, but I'm very grateful that he did. The allure of creative writing hadn't presented itself for the longest time, but with such a hearfelt premise, I couldn't resist. So glad that I got the chance to, it's occupied my last days of relative normalcy with something meaningful to do.


This is currently my first and only roleplaying experience, so I'd like to thank GodzillaWolf again for his saintly patience in regards to me learning the ropes, and dealing with my hectic schedule, and the sizable bit of time he'll have to spend waiting for me to return. I promise you, I will.

For those of you who are enjoying our fiction, there is a lot more in store. I don't think we are even halfway done.

For those of you who aren't, I'm not an author, and I don't strive to be one. I do, however, strive to improve wherever possible. If you can think of any suggestions to make the story more appealing, or writing style changes, please don't hesitate to post it here! Constructive criticism is always appreciated.

With that, I leave now to get some sleep, one last night in my old bed.

Much thanks to everyone for their understanding,

- Taylor

Hello fans, just to point out, Taylor is back and the RP is continuing! Thanks for reading!

Well, it's about that time for me to be making another change of scenery, overseas.

Luckily for anyone who still reads "Balto: Truth and Consequence", I'll be continuing the writing. I know I haven't been updating as diligently as I have (unlike my prompt co-author GodzillaWolf, bless him), but some progress is better than nothing, right?

Anyways, throughout the recent rollercoaster of events following the past eight months or so, this story has consistently been on my mind, always something to come back to, and I'd like to share some cool details with you all about the behind the scenes.

- The name "Truth and Consequence" is a reference to the Foo Fighters' song "My Hero", from their album "The Color and the Shape". The line used is "Truth or consequence, say it aloud.", which, given the story's heavy emphasis on honesty and expressing your true self, is fitting. That, and Balto is my hero.

- There are a number of quotes used in the story from Balto, for authenticity's sake. Slightly less obvious is Kodi's quote "I made a promise, Dusty. A promise!". This quote is from the "Lord of the Rings" films, where Sam (played by Sean Astin) pledges his conviction to stick together with his friend despite the risks. Sean Astin played the voice of Kodi in Balto 3.


These are just a couple of trivia bits from my end that I thought would be neat to share with all... two of you who actually read this thread. You've been rewarded for your diligence!

If anyone else would like to share their thoughts on our roleplay, please don't hesitate! Godzilla, if you have any tidbits of trivia to share, feel free to post them!

Two more fun facts for anyone who cares.


All of my posts following my return from Basic Training (Page 5) til the beginning of Page 7 were constructed using Notepad, sent via e-mail to myself, copied and pasted into Microsoft Word to check for discrepancies, and then proofread by my friend before being converted back to Notepad, e-mailed again, and copy/pasted/formatted/posted onto the website. At this rate, getting up a post a day was a rarity.

At one point, when Boris is forced to accept Sally joining him and Balto at their living quarters he says "...Get a man with pointy nose-hair from a travelling canine circus, THEN we'll have a real show!" This is a reference to one of GodzillaWolf's characters from a story, which he used to demonstrate his song-writing abilities to me.

The lovable communique named Morse gets the trivia spotlight this edition!

-Morse's character is to act as a relay between the neighboring towns and Nome. He performs exactly that role.

-Years of exposure to constant clicking and tapping have taken their toll on Morse. In this story, he no longer notices his ears bouncing in time with the telegraph, and his personality is a bit twitchier and exacting as well.

-In the original posts involving Morse, I had labelled him as Morris. Upon watching the film with subtitles again, and viewing the lovely art section on this site, I discovered that his name was in fact "Morse". Posts have been changed to reflect the correction.

-An intentional anachronism - Morse implies to Balto in one of his random conversations to "Buy stocks", and then tells him later that day to "ignore what he said about buying stocks. We got some bad information.". This, obviously, is referencing the infamous Stock Market Crash of October, 1929. Though not entirely correct (the story takes place in late 1928, ten months prior to the actual crash), it's inclusion is more to give some insight to Morse's link and role in relation to the outside world, as well as explain a minor detail later in the story. The Crash played a significantly larger role in one of my other stories, so this is sort of a reference to it as well.

More fun facts, this time about the character of "The Dog" from the "Night Life in White Mountain" story section.

Spoilers be here, so steer clear if you haven't read that far into the story. Although, why would you be reading a discussion about a story if you didn't the story?

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That about does it for this episode. I'd love to discuss some of the inspirations and motives behind other characters, but it's just too early for most of them without revealing too much in the future!

Video games are my favorite way to pass the time. It's no surprise that they end up lodging themselves in my work in some way, right?

Here are a couple of instances, focusing on the horror themed video games "Alan Wake" and "Left 4 Dead 2".

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Another place in time without a great divide

Something I've noticed about our roleplay compared to others is that it jumps about more frequently as far as it's linear timeline goes.

For example, at the beginning of the story, Kodi can be found walking around scared out of his mind in the middle of the night under duress from a predator. Yet, in the same post, Balto is still carrying on a conversation that happened (according to Kodi) hours ago! I can understand why some users might be a bit put off regarding the offset.

Especially when distance is involved, the story can become split temporally. However, in as many instances as I could, I will put a key moment, or an indicator in place as an event marker for WHEN an action is taking place. For the example above, both posts from Kodi's and Balto's perspectives mention the sun's coloring and position. Even though Balto's point of view is described later (later in regards to the placement in the narrative), this time of day indication notifies readers that the time has jumped backwards from the "earlier" Kodi sections.

Although time of day and the setting sun are great tools to utilize (as well as detail in writing), other more audible examples are used. The most striking example of this is in the "Christmas Eve Morning" section, where Kodi and his team meet Sakak as they prepare to embark on the journey back to Nome. The "Event Marker" for this part is when Kirby, frustrated by Ralph's suggestion, barks loudly in protest. From the other two perspectives, Kirby's loud bark is "replayed" from their point of view. This key event that all of the perspectives witnessed serves to let the reader know that all of the events in that section are running parallel to each other, at the same time. In other words, when Kodi hears Kirby bark, that moment is taking place at the exact same time Mr. Simpson hears the same bark.

Most of the time, unless I am haphazard with my editorial process, I will try to separate these time differences with the "dashes of difference", or, more easily seen, as this;

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When these appear, it usually means that there is a difference in time and place between the two events, and that the general linear flow from A-to-B that encompasses the vast majority of the role play.

For more information on when to use these (and other great tips to increase your roleplaying potential that I know you all possess), check out this wonderfully informative post from several of our veteran roleplayers (including Truth & Consequence's very own Godzillawolf!)

/board/roleplay-tutorial-t33905.html

It's not as much of an insider thing like I'd usually post, but I think some clarification is a good thing. Most of the people reading in this abandoned section probably understand it well enough anyways, but it's hopefully something to chew on.

Again, if anybody has any questions regarding our roleplay, PLEASE post here, or message me and Godzillawolf. Unlike our roleplay, this topic is free for anyone to post in, so I actively encourage anybody who may be confused/intrigued to do so!

Granted, there was a three month period of it's existence where nothing happened, but our roleplay has made it to the one year mark!

Happy Birthday?

It's probably not a big deal, as I'm sure there are plenty of roleplays that have held strong for much longer, but for my first, I'm pretty proud of it!

To think, we are just about reaching the end of Act 1. Can it go for year two? I hope I don't delay that much, but we'll see!

Special thanks to GodzillaWolf and his paramount precision with punctual posting, and for his unwavering patience!

Not too long ago, our story passed the 3000 views mark. With an estimate of 700 of them coming from myself and Godzilla, that's a hefty chunk of folks who have been perusing it! That, or the google adsense bot has been hard at work!

I figure for an update on some behind-the-scenes. As of this post the main characters are at an especially volatile situation, so I don't want to give away anything TOO important regarding some of their motives or actions!

I've said so before, and this post proves it true again - I'm hugely inspired by films and games.

The character and scenario of the character Robert Elswit is inspired by the 2007 film "There Will Be Blood". The cinematographer (cameraman, in laymen's terms) was also named Robert Elswit. His character was inspired (much less intensively) by the film's main character, working his contacts and being unafraid to shed some scruples for his own benefit. His nephew, Ciaran, was named after the actor Ciaran Hinds, also in "There Will Be Blood". The photographer's mother, mentioned only once as "Joanne", is named after one of the film's producers - Joanne Sellar.

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The setting choice for a Christmas Party was inspired from the All Dogs Go To Heaven Christmas Carol's cafe setting. For the reasons being that they are almost always home to "life, laughter, and an overall sense of good cheer."

At the complete opposite end of the spectrum, the bar's name and proprietor are derived the game "Silent Hill 2." The named previous owner in our story is James Neely. This is a combination of the character James Sunderland, protagonist of the game, and setting in the game, titled "Neely's Bar". This bar famously featured writing on the inside window, citing "There was a HOLE here, it's gone now." In our story, the bar allegedly had a hole that was repaired.

More on Neely's significance with our story, but a bit spoiler-riffic for both the game AND our story.

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Thanks for not-locking this topic, and for the few of you that check it out, thanks!

Once again, feel free to ask any questions pertaining to our story you so desire here. GodzillaWolf or myself will try to answer them!