By Care

While our chatters are the heart and soul of roleplay, rooms are what give their characters a place to become incarnate. Managing rooms can be a difficult but ultimately rewarding task, and each leader has taken their own road to the “top”. In this issue, Care draws us back in time to the romance of Victorian Paris.

This quarter, we had the pleasure of sitting down with Howl (previously known as Snapped|Bones), owner of La Romance De Paris. The room is set between the years of 1880 and 1910 within Paris, France. Let’s see her take on the world that she helped bring to life.

I already knew your name, but you are going by Howl now, correct? And with that change, I noticed the pretty new entry page you have created. Can you tell me a little about how you came up with the concept of the room?

I did change the page. With people coming in the room thinking it was something it wasn’t, I felt it helped to keep the confusion to a minimum. It wasn’t so much that they didn’t understand as that they didn’t want to read the boards to get the information. So in an attempt to meet all parties in the middle, I made the new entry page. It’s worked wonders.

As for how I came up with the concept, is it bad that I am a massive historical romance junkie? I mean, from Harlequin to Avon and everything in between, I’ve read them all, some even multiple times. I’ve always loved the more historical themed ones because there was more glamour about it. Things were less complicated. You had to work for your love rather than text for a booty call. Love was still seen as something that was seen as important, versus something that could be done without. It was love over lust. Men were chivalrous and kind. They still believed a lady was a lady, regardless. I also loved that in the simplicity of the style of living, there was a bigger connection to the world around them – a connection to nature, which allows people to actually imagine the world around them, versus four walls and a computer. So it was with these thoughts in mind that I created La Romance De Paris.

A romance junkie, eh? Well, that doesn’t surprise me a bit. Thinking about the room, was it hard for you to make the leap from being a Transilient Room (which for those of you who may not already know, are experiments that are easily purchased for 30 days – a shameless plug, there!). How was it switching from a Transilient Room to a Permanent Room?

LOL! It’s not shameless. I actually think the Transilient Rooms are amazing. It’s a great way to test your idea without making a full commitment. I love the option, because it let me get the idea out of my head and into action. It was the best way to get feedback, to see if I would get people who would want to play in there, or if it would Hindenburg on me. As for the transition? Not hard at all! To be honest, I love the fact that ReVo has this awesomely efficient way of stream lining things. They don’t make you jump hoops and brownnose to get your idea out. The staff is always prompt and dead on point, and the support is just the best. I would say that the only hard part is the same that every Room Owner faces – once it goes from Transilient to Full, it’s no longer the new toy in the sand box, so there’s more work keeping people aware of it and what’s going on inside of it.

So tell me, besides time period and setting, what do you see as setting your room apart from some of the others that are on the whochat? I know that might be hard, but it isn’t the only 1880s type of room, as we do have The Silver Horn, too.

Well, the Silver Horn (with Joy) is set in the historical Midwest of America, when silver and gold mining was in its boom. It was those actions that helped colonize most of the United States as we know it. The world out there was rough, rugged, unrefined. People died all the time from dysentery, the flu, poisonous sources of water, lack of water in desert areas, and mining in general. Coal mining is still one of the most dangerous professions we have even to today. The difference is night and day. In Europe, civilization had been on the up and up for some time. Even the great plague which decimated it in the 1600s didn’t stop the elegance and thirst for beauty that all Europeans share. Paris in and of herself is to this day the home of fashion, glamour, and all things couture. It was so even in the 1880s. Paris also had a better standard of living, cleaner environments, better health care, and a greater life expectancy. People could live in comfort – even the poor had soup kitchens and work houses which gave them board for labor. Plus, I will admit I tweaked a few things historically and brought some luxuries from two decades ahead of the era. There is indoor running water, both hot and cold, proper sewage disposal, and the cure for TB, which was not realized until the late 1930s. So true, it’s not 100% historically accurate, but the tweaks that are present do not diminish nor remove the glamour or beauty of the era of France, especially of Paris.

The roleplay you have going on, what kind of scenes could a person walk into and observe within La Romance De Paris? Anything good and juicy? Or is it more the standard everyday living back in that time frame?

Oh anything but! You might walk in on a murder scene, you might walk in on one of my many random little story tellings that I like to do, such as the street fair or the Worlds’ Fair that I will be doing some time this month. The room is open post too so you could very well walk in on the middle of a sex scene, which I can understand for some people it’s not quite as um – Fun? But this is an adult site with adults on it so I don’t feel like limiting my players to private scenes which can sometimes accidentally not be private when the pd acts up. We also have a lot of spy business, poisonings, underhanded dealings, horrible family drama with some nasty skeletons in the closets! We have a few cases of incest, murder most foul, and women being stolen to be shipped off to China as concubines. Really? Any and every day is different. It all depends on what myself and my players get into!

That’s kind of funny as I believe the same thing; why hide behind private whispers when we are an adult site? Anyway, back on topic. What is one of your favorite things about the style of roleplay done in La Romance de Paris? Is there something that sticks out to you?

Hmm. To be fair? Our style of RP is very varied. We have everything from soft sweet romance to twisted love affairs, from murdering of whores on the street to the murder for the sake of bodies to study to advance man’s knowledge of the body. I would honestly prefer to say what makes us stick out more is our variety of RP. (Seriously, we can do any kind of RP a person would want to do – within the site rules, naturally.)

What makes us stand out? Is our support. We all believe in ReVo and we believe in treating everyone fairly. We don’t clique up in the way that we won’t RP with someone who comes in, we won’t ignore someone because we don’t like who they hang out with, and we don’t give two pins about your post size so long as content is there. It’s the fact every one of us will create new chars, NPC or otherwise, to interact with someone; to help further their story line, their character development, or to help them work an idea out in their head. IC and OOC, we are one of the most supportive rooms. We believe in maturity and respect for everyone, and we follow that out to the letter, 100% of the time.

Interesting, as we are all here for a variety of reasons but that’s a good first one. As we all know I love and adore ReVo to no end, and I try to make it work. Okay, stepping away from that a moment, tell me – do you have a favorite character in the room? One that just catches your eye and holds it, not just with roleplay but even avatar wise?

-laughs- That one is hard! I have a few favorites but those are personal reasons, RP reasons, as I have two very different but amazing lines going with both of them. But if there was one I had to pick, just one? It would be Mason Maybrick. Avatar, character style, writing? All of it. The guy is a sick puppy, the French Ripper, and I adore that sort of twist. It’s why I love La Romance De Paris. We have a mix of everything. I can also attest that the player behind him is fantastic and is always coming up with awesome new characters and story branches both in the room and on the board since not all of us have RT calm enough to RP on the regular. It’s fantastic! But, if we were to go personal for just a moment? It would be Adrien Chevalier. You ever get that RP that becomes your ‘happy place’? You know where at the end of a super shitty day, you know the second you get to rp with that person, your day’s just better? It’s like that. But those are my choices!

I like those kind of characters, and that last roleplay is something that I tend to love, too. I have seen a few things going on lately and I know that La Romance De Paris has been a host to two events, since opening. I know the first one wasn’t as popular, but you did have people that showed up and played within that night. Could you explain to the readers what the two events were and how you feel they went and if you would do it again?

Well the first one actually ended up having Murphy come and bugger it good! My DJ’s power was gone, so there was no play out going on the radio, no other DJ was able to step up since so many of them had the same issue, and of course we had a bit if a hiccup getting the word out in time too. But it was awesome because if you can overcome that sort of stuff and still host? You can handle anything! The first event was a Masqued Ball, which had lots of prizes donated by some amazing people, but sadly with the small turn out many of them were just saved up. The second was the street fair that some people had a grand bit of fun with. Every event I make has an entire section of pulldowns devoted to it, and I think that sets it apart from anyone else, and any other rooms. I take the time to write each of the pulldowns by hand, and more than that, I also make sure that the pds are self sufficient. We use the dice a lot in our room because it not only keeps things fair, but fun, especially the way we use them. Every pulldown has a list of choices and the dice roll for them, so all a person has to do is roll and the outcome is right there for them, so they can respond to it. This means they don’t have to wait for a Story Teller to get around them, or wait for someone else to be in the room. You can solo or jump in whenever you want to. It’s so much more fun this way, because no one misses out, no one has to wait for their turn. We also list a lot of information on the boards, such as pictures of some of the main draws or events, which give people a better idea of what they will be seeing in the room.

Are you planning any events our readers should be aware of? Anything juicy coming out of the
creative minds of you and your staff?

Oh, but we are always plotting! That’s the danger! We are looking at hosting in our room the Worlds’ Fair, The Olympics (I’m leaning for winter as it gives us more time to work on such a vast undertaking as that would be); Halloween is going to be amazing! We are going to have a surprise turn of events and not have zombies or the like. That’s a little cliche. We’re going to do worse. A pack of rabid animals will be set loose during a huge outdoor party and the idea is to survive the night! And if the animals aren’t bad enough? A bite from them gives you rabies and you have to go mad and attack your fellow man! What’s worse is that the people who infected these animals are on their way out too. They’re a cult that worships death for the sake of death, and because of that, they will be seeking to slaughter anyone. Survival will depend on both
how clever you are and how the dice treat you!

After that we have the Harvest, which will be an event in the vineyards where a bunch of people will get together and enter the harvest and romance will be in the air! Then, a massive Thanksgiving ball dedicated to families and the like. Christmas will be another large ball and a huge outing in the snow, with picnics in igloos and all sorts of fun things like that.

Sounds like you guys have a lot planned. That’s exciting. Now to take us off that topic and to roleplay a moment. Have you ever seen a roleplay that made you go “What the Fuck?” within the room yet?

Hmmm. Now that one is a toughie! I think one of the ones happened by the same character, Mason
Maybrick, when I came into the room and walked in on a murder scene. It was early-ish in the morning and I literally when hoo leee sheet wat da fuk? It was wild because it was just out of the blue! A murder of a whore, Ripper style, and it was awesome! It was one of those where it was so fucked up you couldn’t help but applaud it. One of those train wrecks, you know?

Those train wreck type of scenes are so freaking awesome. So, expanding a bit on the topic of the roleplay within the room, Have you had a scene yet where you just laughed your freaking ass off at it?

-faceplants- Yes. This was between Adrien and Bella. And it was, uh – God, trying to get through this without cracking up is hard.

What was the scene about?

So, Bella is, or was, totally innocent. She had no idea about sex, where babies came from, or anything of that sort. So Adrien and Bella had what we call foreplay, and she sat up in bed and looked at him, completely serious, and asked when she should start to look for the stork. Adrien looked completely baffled as she explained that perhaps she might not see a stork as they weren’t married, and only ‘good women’ got storks. The bad women had to get their babies from the cabbage patch, and those were called brothelsprouts. She said she wasn’t fond of them at all, but she would start to look through the cabbage patches in the area to find their baby. Now, Adrien is a doctor, and trying to explain what sex was and where babies came from to a woman who was one-hundred percent innocent outside of heavy petting had him utterly fumbling all over the place as he tried to figure out what she was talking about before it clicked.

That’s kind of funny. No wonder you couldn’t hold it in. Well, I think that about wraps up this interview. Is there anything you would want the readers to know or you want to say to them?

Yeah. Don’t be afraid to step out of your boxes. Comfortable RP is good and fine, but it also gets stagnant faster than a puddle of piss. Give something else a chance, a change, because RP is an adventure. Go off the beaten path, toss the compass, and have remember – Not all who wander are lost.