Mutiny on the Bounty

Your writing is masterful as always, Will. The storygame itself is dense with content and choices, and it kept me entertained until the very end. I couldn't help but be curious in all of the possible outcomes and decisions that are so neatly and wonderfully placed in this story.

I have to say that I enjoyed every minute of this story. I'm tempted to say that you have outdone yourself, but your writing is always consistent in just how good it is. Thanks for yet another wonderful read, I eagerly anticipate the next storygame that you may create. Be it some inspired sequel to this storygame, or something completely different altogether.

At this point I think that it is safe to say that it is only right for me to look toward to your next piece. The level of care and attention to detail that you place into each of your stories is always a treat to read and enjoy.

Thank you once again, for writing this wonderful and enthralling story.

Well I really enjoyed this. Will, I remember you saying you were worried it was too dry but the actual pacing is fine, you focus on the important stuff and there's no place where it really drags. I suppose it could've used a little more imagery or other sensory details here and there to put the reader in the moment; more details of island life compared to the ship for instance, or more of what it was actually like in overcrowded open boats with a guy you'd like to throw overboard. (Showing not telling, etc etc...you know how that goes). But what you have here is still perfectly servicable and the featuring was well deserved.

The Mutiny was actually a really excellent choice for a storygame. Usually with games about historical events the challenge is in finding a place to put in the branching while not actually being able to change the real events, but here after the mutiny itself everything split up nicely with everyone going their own ways.

I did feel like the events of Pitcairn island could've been gone into a bit more as far as the gory details, as the RL events there were the ones I was mostly familiar with going into this so of course it was the first choice I picked. Kind of amazing those guys had that idyllic life on a private island most of us can only dream of and managed to screw it up so spectacularly!

Thanks for including your sources at the end by the way, I'll have to follow up on some of the details of the rest of the crew I hadn't been aware of. IMO on the Fates page you should've included the tidbit I just found with a quick bit of googling Bligh's death, the fact that his tombstone has a freaking bread fruit on it....which, given the result of his second attempt I have to imagine he wouldn't have ever wanted to see one of those again.

Although the Fates page btw has the line 'TO RETURN TO YOUR PREVIOUS SECTION PRESS THE GO BACK BUTTON' repeated twice. And honestly you probably didn't even need to make that one an item...since it's only ever going to be used on that last page, a normal link to the list with a Go Back attached would've been fine.

Although the link back to the original Mutiny page at the end of the paths was appreciated btw, as after the first time I'd just realized I'd forgotten to save and was preparing to do a lot of clicking to get back to the branchpoint.

Next is just a few notes on typos and such I made as I went, but there really are amazingly few here considering the amount of text involved. Great job on this, and as always hope to see more of your historical thingies in the future.

***

The women are, if possible, even more free with their affections and breath-takingly beautiful, here and one of your fellow sailors, a friendly, bearded man called William Muspratt, comes up to you one day with an excited whisper as you are moving breadfruit trees as part of a party under Bligh. // This is a long kind of awkward sentence, and the comma after 'beautiful' is misplaced which doesn't exactly help the flow. I'd recommend something more like:

The women here are, if possible, even more free with their affections and breath-takingly beautiful. as you are moving breadfruit trees as part of a party under Bligh, one of your fellow sailors, a friendly, bearded man called William Muspratt, comes up to you one day with an excited whisper.

“He deserves nothing better than to be shark bait for all I care. But this place is the closest thing to heaven on each I have ever clapped eyes on in all my years of sailing. // heaven on earth

You avoid helping Hall and predictably he becomes sick with malaria from mosquito bites while retrieving the boat and quickly dies. // ...no typos, just wanted to point out that TECHNICALLY the connection between mosquitos and malaria wasn't figured out until the 1890s. (Not a big deal, just wanted to be smug about at least one history fact.)

snappily titled A Narrative Of The Mutiny On Board His Majesty’s Ship Bounty And The Subsequent Voyage Of Part Of The Crew In The Ship’s Boat, which you never both to read. // never bother


Remain abouard the Bounty with the Mutineers and Christian // This one is a link actually, but just pointing out the typo.


You can join Midshipman Peter Heywood aboard the HMS Queen Charlotte or you could join Boatswain’s Mate James Morrison aboard the HMS Blenheim or you could join Carpenter’s Mate Charles Norman aboard the HMS Duke or you can join Seaman William Muspratt aboard the HMS Bellerophon. // Can we get some commas, maybe a split into two sentences, something?


Soon after you arrive one of the women falls to her death while gathering eggs from the clifftops, soon after Fletcher Christian’s wife gives birth to the first child born on Pitcairn. // These should be separate sentences.

This was quite the fun story. There's a limit to the feedback I can give story/plot wise because it was based upon history, but there are a few things I would like to touch on.

Items: I feel this use of items is seriously underrated. I'm not a huge fan of items to begin with unless they are used effectively like in Berka's stories, or, in this case, yours. Having an item here and there to help me keep track of the cast is extremely useful especially in a history game. I do question, only slightly, you putting on the cast who mutinied and who stayed loyal. I suppose it was a little bit of a spoiler, but the main thing (as it pertains to my experience in the story) is that I looked at the cast and saw the surgeon had no letter beside him. I came to the conclusion that he must die before the mutiny happens, and was thus able to avoid a drunken death when the time came. It isn't anything story/game breaking, but it is something that might want to be thought about.

Pacing and Expansion: I, personally, felt like it moved just a tad too quickly. Some events passed without a ton of information given, and I was left wishing there was more. I felt the story could have been expanded upon a significant amount. Whether that be through fleshing certain parts out more, or describing some of the encounters more fully. I don't know how you feel about taking creative liberty with historical stories, but I, for one, think it can enhance the story greatly. Perhaps an encounter where we talk with Bligh and he tells us of his troubles? Maybe have an encounter where the loyalists meet together to see what they can do in order to keep the crew from falling apart WITHOUT disobeying Bligh. It would add a little more perspective on the whole thing, and make at a lot easier to side with the loyalists.

StoryTELLING: This definitely has to be my biggest criticism. Now I don't know if you intended this to be a story from a journal or something like that, but I sure hope it was, because that would at least give a solid excuse for the massive amount of telling in this story. Here we see the age old writing topic of showing vs telling, and, quite frankly, you heavily sided with telling on this one. I really like history, so it wasn't the worst thing in the world for me, but this story kinda read like a CYOA textbook. almost nothing was shown to me, and everything was told. There was no, 'The corded rope bites into your back again and again. Once the lashings stop, your back is left a bloody mess and you have trouble walking...,' and instead we're left with, 'You receive 10 lashings.' It would take this story up to the next level if you'd shown more instead of constantly telling. For the less historically inclined among your readers, they might even consider it boring. This is my major criticism, and it might not be able to be fixed in this storygame, but keep it in mind for future games.

Overall, and despite the telling, the writing was quite good and really enjoyed the story. Keep up the great work Will!

it was a kinda boring but also fun i'd do it again

What a great historical epic, and well-researched, it appears. Thanks!
The only nitpicky details I could comment on are that there were no images for the two items used except the default ugly telephone thing; and there were a few sentence construction or grammar issues that aren't worth going into. But basically this was a ripping yarn, horrifying in parts. The desire to seek a paradise and finding lust, division and murder instead is one of those basic human tragedies that we don't seem to learn from.

Amazing as always. Your stories are so detailed, immersive, and informative. Do you have a PhD in history by any chance?

You know you've made a successful edutainment storygame when it both entertains and educates, and is damn good at achieving both. This is a great idea for a storygame, telling the remarkable true tale of a group of dozens of sailors, detailing their many conflicts against each other, other groups and the perils of sailing the sea. By including one fictional character, the protagonist, and by giving him choices which determine his own fate but not the overall sequence of events for the whole group, Will is able to have the player experience almost every different fate which befell the crew members, keeping the story accurate and consistent. It's very neat how you can take vastly different main paths, but there are still plenty of ways to die along the journey or survive until a ripe old age and learn the fates of your other crew members.

MILD SPOILERS:
My single favourite character out of the cast was Bligh, by far. I went through a whole rollercoaster of thinking he was reasonable and maintaining discipline at first, to thinking he was no fun to the point of being a despicable villain (the 'disgusting perversions' of a sea-weary sailor are incredibly important to him, thank you very much!), to still despising the man but begrudgingly respecting his stubbornness and draconian efficiency. I thought it was funny how his efforts didn't matter in the end, too.

If I had to pick a negative in this great game, I would have to say that sometimes, it reads like a history fact book rather than a story, listing long, exhaustive lists of exactly who did what. I get that this is edutainment and that it places emphasis on learning, but I just found it a little jarring when compared to some parts that read more like a novel. Still, a minor gripe, and overall this storygame did a fantastic job of making you feel the ups and downs of the voyages and adventures, but most importantly, making you hate that fiendish scoundrel Bligh.

I personally enjoyed this story. I had never heard of these events before and find them rather interesting. I am a sucker for history and this is my intro of sorts into edutainment. I am glad it was this story that was my first one. Also I hope you get the chance to visit Pitcairn Island, I know I sure do after reading this story.

that was so fun and intreging

It needs more special symbols, mostly commas. Also rather inappropriate.