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Adventure or story driven cache?


clangedinn

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Our group of cachers are thinking of doing a few multi caches. We are all gamers, table top mostly, that have gamed for years and have recently got into caching as a group. We are thinking of doing some story driven caches or mini adventures if you will where you are a character that follows a trail in some way leading from cache to cache. most multi caches we have come across are math problems in the long run. Is there any rules stoping one from telling an adventure type story via the cache, granted that it is always kept family friendly. Example would be the cachers being an investigator trying to track down some unnatural happensing (a hp lovecraft kinda horror story but very watered down). So are there rules against this or any advice from the community?

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Our group of cachers are thinking of doing a few multi caches. We are all gamers, table top mostly, that have gamed for years and have recently got into caching as a group. We are thinking of doing some story driven caches or mini adventures if you will where you are a character that follows a trail in some way leading from cache to cache. most multi caches we have come across are math problems in the long run. Is there any rules stoping one from telling an adventure type story via the cache, granted that it is always kept family friendly. Example would be the cachers being an investigator trying to track down some unnatural happensing (a hp lovecraft kinda horror story but very watered down). So are there rules against this or any advice from the community?

 

Sounds like fun. Maybe a Tolkienesque (sp?) kind of a cache regarding hints like treebeard or ents for a tree placement, dwarves for a rockpile sort of placement, hobbits for tunnels or holes...... Man, that WOULD be fun if someone was familiar with the story. Could also encourage us to read more than just these forums...

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there is an idea the revewer didnt think of that. I am sure they will be a great resource. as for story ideas we have a few. we pretty much want to hit each genre that we play games in, horror, fantasy, cyberpunk, super hero etc. Just wanted to make sure telling a story where the cacher is the character is not against any rules or anything like that. and glad to hear that other folks would be interested in them. we were concerned that folks would not enjoy the story and just go for the numbers game and not deal with our caches. HAving two replies quickly stating that they are interested in the idea is very encouraging.

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something like that yes, the first basic idea we had was to ahve the "investigator" follow leads of strange going ons in an area leading them on a horror mystery path were they come across people performing some dark ritual of sorts. THe last step will be a choose your own adventure type where the wrong path will end the cache in a sorry you did not stop the ritual and the final cache being an idol of some lovecratian deity. Will ahve 4-6 steps counting the wrong selection or red herring. But the whole time the caches will have notes and story progression so the cachers characters is going through the story.

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we were concerned that folks would not enjoy the story and just go for the numbers game and not deal with our caches. HAving two replies quickly stating that they are interested in the idea is very encouraging.

 

We enjoy story-driven multi hides !

We try to stay "in theme" with cache logs and trades too. Fun !

 

Realize that others may not and simply hit stage-to-stage for the final.

-And if its gonna entail anything more than 400 feet from a parking lot, some today might skip it. So what?

Put out caches that are fun for you.

Many will have a ball doing them.

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Storylines and characters? Sounds like something Wherigo was made for...

<_<

 

That's what I was thinking.

 

But a multi-cache would be in reach of everyone, not just those cachers with specific gps units.

 

So, yeah, I think it would be a great idea to use stories and characters for a non-Wherigo adventure.

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Storylines and characters? Sounds like something Wherigo was made for...

<_<

 

That's what I was thinking.

 

But a multi-cache would be in reach of everyone, not just those cachers with specific gps units.

 

So, yeah, I think it would be a great idea to use stories and characters for a non-Wherigo adventure.

 

While I agree about special equipment in general, it is my understanding that Wherigo carts are less likely to crash if used with a smartphone instead of a special Garmin. And more people have smartphones than special Garmins.

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My favorite story cache of all time: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=1eb05205-d6f3-42e1-9186-0fe8ffed0ca8

 

Only 33 finders in 7 years. To do it properly you have to find 4 things and know what to do with the information.

I spent a couple days working on this puzzle in the NW section of Portland Oregon.

This is a classic by Danman.

This is probably still the highest rated D+T cache in Multnomah County.

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As a sidebar, is it possible to do a multicache with multiple routes to the final? I was thinking that a sort of 'choose your own adventure' cache would be neat (which I think is what the OP was kind of talking about), but I doubt it would be allowed. However, I don't see anything in the guidelines against it. Maybe something like that would work as a series? Anyways, just a thought.

 

But I would love to find a story driven cache!

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Last year I actually wrote an article about storytelling with geocaches (article link), so this sort of involving experience definitely interests me! In my opinion, this is what makes geocaching memorable; specific experiences that stand out from the rest, and attract people from more than just the neighbourhood (even across the world in some cases).

 

I've added a few caches linked here to the article for reference - some good caches in here! (I'll have to check out the Sixth Sanctum series from res2100 too at some point - it's somewhat nearby :) )

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As a sidebar, is it possible to do a multicache with multiple routes to the final? I was thinking that a sort of 'choose your own adventure' cache would be neat (which I think is what the OP was kind of talking about), but I doubt it would be allowed. However, I don't see anything in the guidelines against it. Maybe something like that would work as a series? Anyways, just a thought.

 

Sort of like this?

http://coord.info/GCM67M

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there is an idea the revewer didnt think of that. I am sure they will be a great resource. as for story ideas we have a few. we pretty much want to hit each genre that we play games in, horror, fantasy, cyberpunk, super hero etc. Just wanted to make sure telling a story where the cacher is the character is not against any rules or anything like that. and glad to hear that other folks would be interested in them. we were concerned that folks would not enjoy the story and just go for the numbers game and not deal with our caches. HAving two replies quickly stating that they are interested in the idea is very encouraging.

 

I think it's pretty clear from the responses so far that a story driven cache is a type of cache that many would appreciate and I can't think of anything in the guidelines that would prevent a cache which was constructed such that the finders played a role in the story. That said, if you're going to proceed with this make sure to read the guideline thoroughly to make sure that there are not other guidelines that will get in your way. It would be a shame to spend a long time constructing an elaborate cache based on a story only to have it fall apart because one of the stages was too close to the final of a mystery cache. Also be careful about commercial implications, make sure that you don't ask finders to send email to obtain answers or clues to proceed.

 

It seems to be really common for newbie geocachers, with no previous hides, to come up with some elaborate scheme for a new type of cache. While I applaud their enthusiasm I would suggest hiding a couple of traditional caches first to get the hang of cache ownership and the review process.

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Storylines and characters? Sounds like something Wherigo was made for...

<_<

 

That's what I was thinking.

 

But a multi-cache would be in reach of everyone, not just those cachers with specific gps units.

 

So, yeah, I think it would be a great idea to use stories and characters for a non-Wherigo adventure.

 

Wherigo was what popped into my mind also.

 

There's also an option to do both at the same time, for the same cache. Create a Wherigo cartridge for those properly equipped and wishing to have a richer experience, and a regular multi setup for those who can't or don't want to do the Wherigo.

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Wow didnt expect such a response, Thank you all!!!

 

We will be working on our story caches as a group. some of our group ahve put out caches. I ahve not as of yet as i just ahve not gone out to do it. I know this is an undertaking and will be some effort but we wish the caches we put out as a group we wish to be in this story format. SOme of the genre we have thought of are horror, fantasy, cybertech, superhero, spy etc. All of the story will be family friendly as will the caches themselves. Plan on placing a few traditional caches this weekend on my time off. Not tying to recreate the wheel here as i love caching for what it is. Our group that caches together wants to put items out as the group and we want them to represent how we all met and our other mutual intrest which is gaming obviously.

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One of the questions i have come across in our meetings to create these caches is how would we register them as multi caches, adventures, mysterys and so on.
Well, if you're using Wherigo, then list is as a Wherigo Hybrid. If there are puzzle aspects to the adventure, then I'd list it as a Mystery/Puzzle Cache. If determining the location of each stage is straight-forward, with no puzzle aspects, then I'd list it as a Multi-Cache.
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As a sidebar, is it possible to do a multicache with multiple routes to the final? I was thinking that a sort of 'choose your own adventure' cache would be neat (which I think is what the OP was kind of talking about), but I doubt it would be allowed. However, I don't see anything in the guidelines against it. Maybe something like that would work as a series? Anyways, just a thought.

 

But I would love to find a story driven cache!

 

It seems like it would be possible, but to do something similar to those old books would require a bunch of stages, which would mean more maintenance work and more open spots needed. A Wherigo cartridge would be another possible way to do it. That could include a longer "story" and even endings that don't get you to the cache. (Much like how those books had good endings and bad endings.) And you would only need space for one container, thus reducing maintenance work and allowing more room for other caches as well. A nice place for a multi-path Wherigo might be a park with a trail system that has multiple branches, some of which might connect to each other further on.

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As a sidebar, is it possible to do a multicache with multiple routes to the final? I was thinking that a sort of 'choose your own adventure' cache would be neat (which I think is what the OP was kind of talking about), but I doubt it would be allowed. However, I don't see anything in the guidelines against it. Maybe something like that would work as a series? Anyways, just a thought.

 

The existence of a previous cache which does this doesn't mean that your own will be approved, but yes, people have definitely done "choose your own adventure". http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GCJC0M for example.

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As an erstwhile professional storyteller, I'd love to see more of this type of thing. I have heard about The Journal and would love to get there one of these days. There is one not far from us we still want to do, called The Gray L Quest. As I understand it, it has many false leads until you figure out the true final location. It's on our fall "to do" list.

 

I had a lot of fun creating a little different kind of series of storyline caches. I put out three episodes, in the nature of an old radio serial. I had a loose storyline in mind, but waited to see a few logs from first finders of each to incorporate into the next episode. The women depicted are all real birding friends who allowed me to use their photos and basic personalities. (Well, the last one is me and I told myself it would be okay!) Where we live, there aren't very many people who truly enjoy puzzles, but each one is a puzzle cache in its own right. No "find these to find the final" kind of thing. Even though people around here profess to mostly hate puzzles, many have taken them on and enjoyed them. Plus, they aren't park and grabs, but hikes in the woods. I think the reaction of the locals here has shown that this kind of thing is really appreciated, even if they claim to hate puzzles and hikes in the woods. There are a number of different ways to approach it, and the examples here are more to add to our own "if we head that way" list.

 

Here's episode one of ours. The featured birder is worth the look alone, guys! :blink: Not me, btw.

 

http://coord.info/GC2RM2V

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As a sidebar, is it possible to do a multicache with multiple routes to the final? I was thinking that a sort of 'choose your own adventure' cache would be neat (which I think is what the OP was kind of talking about), but I doubt it would be allowed. However, I don't see anything in the guidelines against it. Maybe something like that would work as a series? Anyways, just a thought.

 

That type of cache works well as a multi, like this : GC127QE

 

The main issue is finding an area with room for all those stages. If there are 3 possible choices after the first waypoint (A, B, C), and 3 possible choices after each of the second waypoints (A1, A2, A3, B1, B2, B3, C1, C2, C3)... well, you probably see what I mean. Of course, you can reduce this effect a bit by mergin paths if, for example, A1, B2 and C2 lead you to the same coordinates D1 :)

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