fbpx

Cut Up progress – The hooded un-man

I am getting quite into this cut up method of solo play. I am getting a little faster as well.

What I am doing is grabbing 20 snippets at once, pasting them into word and then deleting all the times that don’t seem to add much. What I am left with is sometimes needs rearranging, and I could edit it to make it more legible but I don’t really feel the need to do that.

Drink a little of // and gagging on a mouthful // remembered great horns of foaming // vein of sparkling gold running //

the men who killed your// merchant of Velitrium[1].  They // Each was named Salome.

I decide to try and hear more of what they are telling.

shores of Lake Zuad and// columns glimmered among the trees// and led him toward the //  up to the palace steps// like a black opening to // call that carried strangely.

I have never heard of Lake Zuad[2], I try to see if I can learn anything more from these drunken thugs.

lives in this city // guide turned eastward and led // him, and a hood // man?’  ‘He’s not

As the evening draws on, I managed to glean a few more hints to go by. There is this mysterious hooded figure from the east that may be able to tell me more.


You can see that the game has not progressed much further, but I have been a busy chap. In the above example, there were two oracle calls. These are in the footnotes. I am working in Word and CTRL + ALT + F inserts a footnote. This is a really tidy way to keep the game mechanics out of the journal. The oracle I am using is my Mörk Borg book from last week. I prefer Hyperborea over the two-headed basilisk.

I have done some other bits of cut-up play, mainly to test drive a different set of snippets. The method I described above, paste in and then delete seems much faster than searching for suitable snippets using a concordance tool and then bringing them across. Maybe because I am not sure what I actually want, so I cannot search for it. I could search for tavern, and choose a tavern snippet, then search for drunkards and grab one of those, but I found myself trying to find the ‘perfect’ snippet. Rather than letting the snippets inform me. I think that that is not how this is supposed to work.

I cannot remember the word for it, but it is common for humans to attempt to see patterns in random data, often patterns that do not exist. I think that is part of what makes cut-up work. Put two or three snippets together and my imagination can start to create relationships between them, that simply do not exist.

That last cup-up block, the hooded not-man, I can almost see him in my mind’s eye and yet I have no details about him at all barring him having a hood.

I was asked today when I would be able to publish something based on cut-ups. The best answer I could give is 2020. It could end up being sooner rather than later. I may have some spare time next week to play more, and I am keeping copious notes on what is working and what doesn’t work for me.

If you are using cut-ups or a variant and you can share some advice, I would love to hear it.

[1] Am I related to the merchant? DR12 Yes.

[2] Have I heard of Lake Zuad? DR12 No.

Leave a Comment

WordPress Anti-Spam by WP-SpamShield

×