Changes to The Tutorial (Patreon)

I told you that I would be editing the Tutorial ending based on feedback and then tell you what changed.

The lead-up to the Silas Dyrkon monologue is largely the same. The only difference, really, is that I have tried to improve many of the character motivations and situations. I didn't want to change too much.

Silas's Monologue

Silas's monologue, however, is very different. One of the most worrisome notes I received was that some of you felt the Tutorial was a waste of time or that it didn’t amount to any progress. That was never true. So many things that will be important in the series were started in the tutorial. I realized I needed to sacrifice some of my future reveals to create a more solid foundation for the readers going forward.

Changes Made

To that end, I made the following changes:

Explanation of Throughlines

I explained that throughlines are not just a series of stories but are themselves a type of powerful ancient magic in Carousel. By following a particular theme or goal, you can change the very fabric of Carousel's reality in order to achieve that goal. Narrators can do this, yes, but also players can. This is made much more explicit as I reveal that Project Rewind itself was a throughline.

Broken Throughline and Project Rewind

I then go on to reveal that the reason players kept being added to the broken throughline, necessitating the existence of Project Rewind, was that Carousel's throughline had a theme of escaping Carousel.

Because of this, anyone who ever tried to escape would get added to its throughline. It was obviously designed as a trap for new players, but it also made things impossible after the narrators messed up its throughline. If you couldn't escape without being added to a broken throughline, then there was no happy ending possible.

Architects' Solution and Dina's Quest

The architects of Project Rewind had a solution. Not only did they find a way to guide the party of promise out of bounds without telling them why, but they also added a ringer: Dina. Invitees have their own quests that don't involve escaping Carousel. Dina's quest is to revive her dead son. Because they agreed to help her on her quest, they were technically not trying to escape Carousel and were able to be the party of promise.

Black Snow Apocalypse

It is further revealed that when the whispers began that Chris might take Antoine, Kimberly, and Anna on a run toward the mountain and that Bobby was going to go with the other players to try and do a test run, the insider set the Black Snow Apocalypse upon them. It was better to risk killing some of them than to have the rest of them be added to the broken throughline when they tried to escape Carousel prematurely.

Removal of the Contract

Another change is that I removed the contract that Silas showed them. That is still more or less canon. It’s just that it distracted from the conversation on throughlines, having their own magic, so I removed it. The contract itself was never that important. It was more of a formalization of the magic underlying what happened.

Also, the contract was a bit cliché even if I personally thought it was fun.

Throughline Tracker

Finally, I gave them a throughline tracker. This tracker not only shows that Silas's plan with the Geists to use them as a sort of time machine is a throughline that the players have accessible to themselves if they ever want to access Carousel's ancient past, but it also shows that they have made no progress on Carousel's throughline (because they are not on it yet), that they completed Project Rewind, and that they got 10% done on Secret Lore, which, of course, some of you may have realized was also a throughline if you remember how it worked.

Characterization of Silas

More than that, I tried to characterize Silas a little bit more, but not too much, because at the end of the day, he is giving a villain speech.

Conclusion

If you want to go back and read these chapters, be my guest. I'm sorry that you didn't get to read them in their final form the first time around, but your feedback was essential to helping put an end to the tutorial in a way that can set the story up for what is to come.

Thank you.

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The Posts That Changed

Chapters 82 and 83