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The Furcation Game
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Each game fork has its own rules. Additional forks may be possible if the particular game would allow it at the time. Reunifications must be legal in all affected forks.
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[matt] I take comments like "reckless" and "bizarre" as a compliment, by the way.
[rab] Just as intended, of course :)
Grr. I only play this so I can play the games I started. The rest is just a chore. And I don't have any fancy table-writing software, which I bet everyone else has.
Still, a few judicious early furcations should even up the score...

i
Euripedes
King Syze: What cause have I to think of suitors?
Do you not know of the dreadful curse
That binds each one of us into a terrible
Cycle of cruelty and death?
My great-great-grandfather, Exter-Lahj be his name,
Once insulted the god Apollo, him who pulls the sun
Each day across the sky. He thumbed his nose
And sacrificed a space-hopper in lieu of a sheep
Since that time all has come to naught
No crops can be brought to fruition in our earth
Nor can the ground be broken with our plowshares
Which means I shall have to prove my loyalty to Zeus
By amending my great-great-grandfather's foolishness
And sacrificing you this afternoon, my child.
ii
Brecht
Enter Angord, a courtier

Angord: My lord, the peasants are rising in the bailey. They are threatening to burn down this castle and kill everyone in it, including us.
Peugeot: With such a brilliant plan as that, how could they possibly fail?
King Syze: What! You think I concern myself with the petty trifles of the peasant class? I have a Floral Dance to arrange, for Heaven's sake!
Meediam: But father, surely if the workers starve, there won't be anyone to play the music at the dance?
King Syze: You're right, my dear. Honestly, I don't know why we keep them the rest of the time. Angord, go out there and buy them off with bread and circuses
Angord: What! But only a fool would go out there to die!
King Syze: Yes, you're right. Peugeot, you go out there. Or I'll execute you and your entire family in front of you in this very room

iii
Pinter
King Syze: Who's Bob the Dog?
Peugeot: Er.
King Syze: You must be pissed.
Peugeot: Bastard.
Meediam: 'Ere, whoss your game 'en?
Peugeot: ...
King Syze: I've seen an advertisement in the paper.
Meediam: Yeah, whoss it say?
King Syze: Dunno, I can't read.
Peugeot: No-one cares about me. I'm going outside. [Exit]
King Syze: Where's that geezer got to then?
Meediam: Dunno.
iv
Feydeau
King Syze: Or as my wife Sue Per-Syze doth crave for sleepless nights, maybe. You know, I'm sure she's two-timing me behind my back, and if I could only catch her at it...
Enter Francoise, the maid

Francoise: Your Majesty! There's a witch at the door outside, with a lutenist and 2 courtiers! Quick, we'll have to hide you!
Meediam: Why?
King Syze: Oh no! Quick, I'll hide in this cupboard! [SLAM]
Francoise: Because he's got a pathological fear of witches, didn't you know? Anyway, we'll have to let her in, so you'll have to pretend you're Sue Per-Syze instead.

Enter Graziela, Lutenist, Boleti and Azulejo

Boleti: Wahey, baby!
Meediam: Hi, big boy. I'm Princess Meediam [pause]...'s mother.

v
Alan Bennett
Princess Meediam: I used to dream of Custard Creams thirty year ago, back when they were rationing 'em, aye, we used to get t' biscuit coupons off of the old man in number 32. Or it could've been number 30. Any road, our mam always said, don't go nicking Custard Cream coupons, it's common and it's what the poor boys do. Well I were right chuffed to bits I were when this old man Charlie his name wor, he says "Ayup" and I says to him "'Ow 'bout them coupons then?" and 'e takes out his great butcher's knife and skims it across... no that's a different story that is, well I didn't know where to look when he got out his vouchers and ooh I felt like a proper one-day millionaire I did, that's what they used to call us down at the ol' rubbish dump where they was scouring around for mothballs.
Peugeot, King Syze: zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
vi
Sheridan
King Syze: Pray, dearest daughter, list awhile to my list, ha ha. Suitable suitors abound in this fair licentious city. We have Sir James Ugly, Lord Ripoff, Mr Samuel Thickasaplank, Captain Bragalot, his nephew Joshua Boringarse, the Fractious brothers, Viscount Fatso, the Duke of Nasty, Mr and Mrs Smalldong's son Ivor, Colonel Shit, Baron Nobrain and Ebenezer Fascist-Dictator. Meediam: Oh no, father, I want somebody young and extravagant, someone like poor John Lovelie. I have lately detected him in frequent conference with your steward Azulejo, whom I recently approached in the aspiration of arrangement of a meeting. It is my belief that when he returns, he shall bring that sweet-tempered gay young libertine in tow, whence I shall spirit him away to my boudoir.
Peugeot: gasps
vii
Two Words
Good move
viii
Tennessee Williams
Graziela: That's right, missy. Pregnancy ain't good, and Ah should know, boy Ah remember at the summer ball when the nice-looking woodcutter from Georgia was a-comin' round with his little blond moustache and his big silver watch and he said "Lady, I wanna take you back home for some good old-fashioned...
Azulejo: Hey, hey, hold your horses lady.
Boleti: We were talking about the sharpest tool in the box.
Graziela: Boy howdy, that sure brings back some memories...
Prince Charming: Maybe when we get there we can sting your father for a massive dowry as well.
Graziela: Ooh yays, jest lak' in tha old days. [Exeunt]
ix
Molière (trans. Neil Bartlett 1988)
Prince Charming: Good lord! is it I who's the one to be accused
Of stupidity, and be by my courtiers abused?
You all seem to forget I'm from a different rank from you.
I'm wondering how I could possibly sink so low.
Nevertheless, I'll have you all up in court
Except you, Graziela, whom I'm going to court.
[Aside] It doesn't look like anyone's realised
That I'm just a fake Prince Charming, though idealised!
I changed my name by deed poll a while ago
Just for the sake of going to the Royal Show!
I didn't know I could get in without much hassle
By scaling the outer wall at Windsor Castle!
And as soon as Graziela takes me for her own,
I'll get the King to abdicate the Crown!
[Not aside] Come on! I've had my little bit of bragging,
So now let's go and slay this terrible dragon!
x
Chekhov
Prince Charming: We are all tools within life's eternal construction.
Boleti: As the stars whirl and blaze about us, so we light our own paths before us
Azulejo: Until the Eternal Matter transforms us into stones, water and clouds and our souls merge into the pale spirits of the dark
Graziela:I can't agree with you at all there. However, it's a matter of taste. De gustibus aut bene, aut nihil.
xi
Oh Yes It Is!
Scene 2.

Dragon's cavern. Bones on floor, torches on walls. Dragon wakes up.

Dragon: YAWN! [smoke billows from nostrils]. Oof, I'm too young to smoke.

xii
Butler Did It
Anger Management - Money wasted *fume*
xiii
Fork Charm 48
Millions Wood [rab, matt] How come Blob gets all the comments and no-one even notices I exist??
xiv
Douglas Smith
Matthew Hopkins' ducking stool breaks, 5 women go in, only 2 are witches?
xv
Reverse Comment to Projoy
[Proj] Dammit, you know my Korean's rusty. Can you translate it please? (PS. the move, worthy of the mighty Gazuga himself, brings a lone tear to my eye as 'twere a glistening raindrop on the pinnacle of human endeavour)
xvi
Baker Street
Covent Garden, home at Baker Street. Has that been done before?
xvii
Small Earthquake
POPE
xviii
Dull anecdotes
That's interesting, because when I went to the Post Office to get my provisional driving licence all those years ago, there was a man standing in front of me wearing a big, thick overcoat and a shifty expression, and I was absolutely 100% sure that as soon as he got to the front, he'd press a button in his pocket and the kilos of semtex under his coat would blow us all to the moon! Well naturally I didn't say anything as I didn't want to appear rude, but as I watched, he slowly undid each button on his coat, as if he was geting hot, which of course he would be, and it was the that I realised... he was just really fat!
xix
Sound Charades
[matt] I didn't post another one as I didn't think I was right with Signs. This one must be based on some fashion house or other... The French Connection? This Is Spinal Gap? Citizen Karan? Shopping and FCUKing? Alexander McQ? Monsoon Wedding?
xx
Inside the mind of a cat
Ooooh! A new garden! Thank goodness I had that liver & onions cat food this morning, I must mark my territory in the most invisible way possible. Nnnnnnn! Phew, eat less fibre in future. And scrape a token bit of grass over it, what a master of disguise I am.
xxi
Limacres
As my sins are uncloaked 'Cos I value my life Which were killed by a snake To a dealer in eggs
Like my ego", he joked. Whom I keep up in Fife With my pal, Cut-Throat Jake Where the match-seller begs,
xxii
Presents penelope wouldn't get for her godchildren
Annie the miniature porcelain Ant. "Collect the entire anthill!" Just £5.99 each. And don't forget the bonus trading card game.
xxiii
10,000 Celerity CD's
9,995 copies of "The Trainspotting Tour of Edinburgh"
xxiv
Just a Minim
I just can't get you out of my head
Boy your loving is all I think about
My cranium cannot expel you
Lad, it's more than I dare to think of

La li luh, lo lor lay lee lu,
Lum loo lur, low lully lar lin

I certainly don't have the ability to extract thou from my skull,
Child, I'm obsessed by your amorous advances,
The brain of me has no skill in the repelling of thee
Youth, I have the courage to cogitate neither this nor other things

Every night, each day, only to be in that place in thine arms

xxv
Nostalgia for Last Week
That moment when Jon and Federico came out of the house within an hour of each other, it was almost impossible to believe that the two housemates who'd been most heavily backed at the start of the series could leave just halfway through. I mean, nothing had happened like that since, I dunno, Sissy left, who I'd had my hopes on getting to Week 9! It was a life-changing moment, a real landmark of televisual history, and anyone who missed it will be kicking themselves in 30 years' time. Mark my words.
xxvi
Been to any nonindigenous eateries recently?
China Red is well worth a look in, except for their penchant for discounted shark-fin soup. Did you know the fishermen hack off the sharks' fins while still alive and then chuck them back into the sea to drown? I mean, if they used their boats to start a shark sightseeing tour industry, they'd make 100 times as much money from the same animals. Which is why I never go to China Red. So the answer is no.
xxvii
Tasting Notes
A nice woody bottom to this Chateau Briand '72, which means it's undoubtedly aged in an old oak cask for 30 years. One that was previously used for storing antifreeze, I think, and Duckham's Hypergrade, the '58 mixture IIRC. It was then tarred on the outside with a coarse badger-hair paintbrush, remnants of which remain in the wine to this day. There's also a more recent hint of Castella Classic, Tixylix and berry pomeroy saliva. I give it 87% and a star for effort.
xxviii
Let Me Check My Oats
My oats have dwindled in number to 25,872, a difference of 30% on last week. This may be owing to the huge number of rats that infested my barn two weeks ago, after an explosion at the uranium factory nearby contaminated their previous living quarters and food supply. Fortunately they're now dropping like flies, so that's good. Now I'm off for more porridge.

Over to you, matt.

*peeps round corner, blanches, runs hastily away*
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