From durrant@mentor.cc.purdue.edu Fri Jan 29 21:49:55 1993
Date: Fri, 29 Jan 93 21:44:22 -0500
From: durrant@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (unknown)
Subject: Storytellers and Zebras


I realize that this doesn't have a whole lot to do with Vampire, but 
I am pring to embark on the adventure of Storytelling (or GMing any 
game, for that matter) and it gave me some new perspectives on the 
idea, so I thought I'd share it.


                           THE ZEBRA STORYTELLER
                              by Spenser Holst

     Once upon a time there was a Siamese cat who pretended to be a lion 
and spoke inappropriate Zebraic.

     That language is whinnied by the race of striped horses in Africa.

     Here now:  An innocent zebra is walking in a jungle and approaching 
from another direction is the little cat; they meet.

     "Hello there!" says the Siamese cat in perfectly pronounced Zebraic.  
"It certainly is a pleasant day, isn't it?  The sun is shining, the birds 
are singing, isn't the world a lovely place to live today!"

     The zebra is so astonished at hearing a Siamese cat speaking like a 
zebra, why--he's just fit to be tied.

     So the little cat quickly ties him up, kills him, and drags the 
better parts of the carcass back to his den.

     The cat successfully hunted zebras many months in this manner, 
dining on filet mignon of zebra every night, and from the better parts of 
the hides he made bow neckties and wide belts after the fashion of the 
decadent princes of the Old Siamese court.

     He began boasting to his friends he was a lion, and he gave them as 
proof of the fact that he hunted zebras.

     The delicate noses of the zebras told them there was really no lion 
in the neighborhood.  The zebra deaths caused many to avoid the region.  
Supersitious, they decided the woods were haunted by the ghost of a lion.

     One day the storyteller of the zebras was ambling, and through his 
mind ran plots for stories to amuse the other zebras, when suddenly his 
eyes brightened, and he said, "That's it!  I'll tell a story about a 
Siamese cat who learns to speak our language!  What an idea!  That'll make 
'em laugh!"

     Just then the Siamese cat appeared before him, and said, "Hello there!
Pleasant day today, isn't it!"

     The zebra storyteller wasn't fit to be tied at hearing a cat speaking 
his language, because he'd been thinking about that very thing.

     He took a good look at the cat, and he didn't know why, but there was
something about his looks he didn't like, so he kicked him with a hoof and
killed him.

     That is the function of the storyteller.


Comments anyone?  I think it tells me, at least, to keep searching for new 
ideas that will leave the players "fit to be tied".  Always try something 
new.

Anyway, if anyone has any tips or suggestion for a first time Storyteller, 
I'm sure I need them.  All help will be appreciated.

Christine ;-)=