Vicinities & Room Objects

Room Objects

Intro

When exploring the world of Avaria, you should read the room descriptions. Besides giving you a setting that can inform your roleplaying writing, you can often look more closely at details in the room and interact with those details in many ways. These details can be anything from a faraway view, to a tree, to a hearth, to a barrel of water, or an inobtrusive lever. You might sit beneath a tree. You might light a fire in a hearth and cook with it, or stand next to a lit hearth to dry off more quickly when the weather is cold and rainy. You could refill your canteen from a barrel of water. You might PULL the lever, and fall straight through a trapdoor into a dungeon sewer full of crocodiles! Explore, it'll be fun.

Interact

You can't sit down on top of a panoramic view of the bay, and you can't lie down on a barstool. You can stand next to a cliff, though, and you can lie down on a cot. Some interactions are applicable with some objects, and some aren't. You can try to SIT, MOVE, STAND, KNEEL, CROUCH, LEAN, or SLEEP relative to room objects. Positional words such as BY, ON, AT, IN, TO, and so on can be used as part of the command. Think about what you're doing and if it makes sense. You don't want to STAND IN a FIREPIT and get burnt. And if you shove someone into a firepit, they're going to get burnt, and might hate you!

Manipulate

It may be possible to manipulate a room object. You can attempt to PUSH, PULL, TOUCH, RUB, TURN, or USE objects. Most of the time this will do nothing, or very little, but other times there might be mechincal consequences. Again, think about what you're doing and if it makes sense.

Spatial Relationships & Positions

Interacting with room objects will send a message about what your character is doing to the game, and change your pose in the room. However, the vicinity and positioning of your character is not just flavor. It is also an important mechanic that you should be aware of, as spatial relationships come with their own risks and rewards.

Distance

When you're in the same room with an object or another character, there are three ranges of distance to be observed (the fourth range is out of the room, but in line of sight, and the fifth range is out of the room and out of sight). We'll use the example of Aleph and Donna.

Far

Aleph has walked into the room, and is automatically in the 'general area' of the room. Donna is sitting in a red armchair by the hearth. From here, if Aleph murmurs something, Donna is unlikely to hear all of it. Aleph is not in any danger of being pushed into the fire, either.

Nearby: General Space

Aleph moves over to stand next to the hearth. "I hate you," murmurs Aleph. Donna hears it now. "I hate you too," she whispers to herself. Aleph does not hear the whisper.

Touching: Immediate Space

"What's that?" asks Aleph. Donna closes the distance and places a hand on Aleph, whispering, "Goodbye." Now Aleph heard it. Aleph is also immediately on guard and a fight begins, because Donna just tried to push Aleph into the fire!

Conclusion

Warning

Antagonism using proximities will tend to be delayed by the onset of a fight that begins due to a violent gesture. However, please take care and be conscious of your vicinity while playing. Many things outside of a fight will automatically update vicinities, or won't work if you are incapable of moving for whatever reason. Socials that involve contact with another person aren't just flavor text. If you hug someone, you are going to be in their immediate proximity. If you whisper to someone, you will no longer be sitting at a table with your other friends. Just remember, if you spam contact socials against someone, they may just push you off a cliff.