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trans_pilgrims2012-01-03 03:32 am
cityship) wrote in trans_pilgrims2012-01-03 03:32 am
State of the Plot Post
It's the State of the Plot post, folks! This is hopefully going to be a regular thing. Since we want to help people that want to play around with the universe know what they can and can't play with, get feedback on the over-arching plot as we go, and give people ideas of what's upcoming, I'm going to be regularly communing with the mods to do periodic posts (probably once a month) to let you all know what's coming up in terms of the over-arching game plot and plotting in general and to see what you want to see coming up.
As the mods said here, they are aware of some of the complaints about the plot, and they are working to fix them. To add to the changes there:
MOD-RUN OVERARCHING PLOT
The plot with the Catastrophists and the villainship was pushed to after December due to Karl and I getting slammed in our last semesters of school and graduation, and because of the move to Dreamwidth, will be pushed back until after the move, most likely to February. A lot depends on how quickly we move and how smooth the transition is, so we'll post the new dates for the plots after the move is finished. Both plots will consist of smallish missions rather than being gamewide, selected by a RNG, though the villainship may have a small confrontation that everyone can react to.
After that, a lot of background info will be put on the wiki about both groups to allow for people to use them in their player-run plotting. We'll also run a Q and A on the Catastrophists and Villainship after the info is on the wiki, to see if there's any details we didn't think to give that you might need, and we'll discuss how npcing for the villainship will work, as we want feedback on the system before setting it up.
PLAYER PLOTS TYING INTO THE OVER-ARCHING PLOT
To allow for people to poke and prod at the world as much as they possibly can, over the next few months, we'll be putting all the info from our "game bible" pages on the wiki now, other than two or three major tidbits of spoilery info. I'll also be periodically doing these discussions to give you information on all the directions you can go in, plot-wise, and what limits there are (like why certain things might lead to endgame too early), since that changes as more of the over-arching plot unfolds and we get closer to endgame. Hopefully, with enough back and forth and opening things up for questions, we can allow for you guys to use as much or as little of the over-arching stuff as you want, and go off the rails in new directions if the characters choose. The big part is figuring out how to do that and balance necessary game mechanisms like the ones we need to explain hiatuses and all.
These posts can also work as a periodic setting/plot faq, where new info discussed will be added to the wikis or appropriate pages after the discussions.
PODPOP MONTH SCHEDULING CHANGE
The mods have discussed it and decided on one more scheduling change for podpop month, after a bit more debate on it (it was the last issue undecided as of their update post) and they figured I should just announce it here since it's plot-related. During podpop months, the mods are now also limiting small plots that are closed/private, i.e. have all the characters preselected. The only plots that can be run during podpop month are newbie runs where older players/characters and newer players/characters are paired up for a mission or task, or small, open plots with no preselected characters other than the characters of the people running them.
It is the mods' hope that limiting large plots will prevent confusion over what's going on and that limiting closed/private plots during this time will help encourage CR. It will also hopefully give people who want breaks from plots a breather, while still leaving some plots open in case new people want to use plots to kickstart their CR.
This rule affects podpop months only. During months that are not podpop months, any plot, with any players, open or private, with any mix of preselected or random characters, large or small, can be run, so the scheduling for that hasn't changed. This new rule also does not affect any private/closed plots that have already been approved and scheduled. It will only affect future scheduling, so start keeping that in mind when you figure out which plots you'd like to run when for the future.
If you'd like to discuss anything, ask any plot-related questions, or ask any faq-ey setting/plot questions, please do so below. If anything needs to be discussed by the mod-mods, I'll take the issue to them and get an answer for you. Also, please comment if you want to discuss the podpop month plot scheduling change.
~Saph
(I think I've now typed "plots" so many times the word has lost its meaning.)
As the mods said here, they are aware of some of the complaints about the plot, and they are working to fix them. To add to the changes there:
MOD-RUN OVERARCHING PLOT
The plot with the Catastrophists and the villainship was pushed to after December due to Karl and I getting slammed in our last semesters of school and graduation, and because of the move to Dreamwidth, will be pushed back until after the move, most likely to February. A lot depends on how quickly we move and how smooth the transition is, so we'll post the new dates for the plots after the move is finished. Both plots will consist of smallish missions rather than being gamewide, selected by a RNG, though the villainship may have a small confrontation that everyone can react to.
After that, a lot of background info will be put on the wiki about both groups to allow for people to use them in their player-run plotting. We'll also run a Q and A on the Catastrophists and Villainship after the info is on the wiki, to see if there's any details we didn't think to give that you might need, and we'll discuss how npcing for the villainship will work, as we want feedback on the system before setting it up.
PLAYER PLOTS TYING INTO THE OVER-ARCHING PLOT
To allow for people to poke and prod at the world as much as they possibly can, over the next few months, we'll be putting all the info from our "game bible" pages on the wiki now, other than two or three major tidbits of spoilery info. I'll also be periodically doing these discussions to give you information on all the directions you can go in, plot-wise, and what limits there are (like why certain things might lead to endgame too early), since that changes as more of the over-arching plot unfolds and we get closer to endgame. Hopefully, with enough back and forth and opening things up for questions, we can allow for you guys to use as much or as little of the over-arching stuff as you want, and go off the rails in new directions if the characters choose. The big part is figuring out how to do that and balance necessary game mechanisms like the ones we need to explain hiatuses and all.
These posts can also work as a periodic setting/plot faq, where new info discussed will be added to the wikis or appropriate pages after the discussions.
PODPOP MONTH SCHEDULING CHANGE
The mods have discussed it and decided on one more scheduling change for podpop month, after a bit more debate on it (it was the last issue undecided as of their update post) and they figured I should just announce it here since it's plot-related. During podpop months, the mods are now also limiting small plots that are closed/private, i.e. have all the characters preselected. The only plots that can be run during podpop month are newbie runs where older players/characters and newer players/characters are paired up for a mission or task, or small, open plots with no preselected characters other than the characters of the people running them.
It is the mods' hope that limiting large plots will prevent confusion over what's going on and that limiting closed/private plots during this time will help encourage CR. It will also hopefully give people who want breaks from plots a breather, while still leaving some plots open in case new people want to use plots to kickstart their CR.
This rule affects podpop months only. During months that are not podpop months, any plot, with any players, open or private, with any mix of preselected or random characters, large or small, can be run, so the scheduling for that hasn't changed. This new rule also does not affect any private/closed plots that have already been approved and scheduled. It will only affect future scheduling, so start keeping that in mind when you figure out which plots you'd like to run when for the future.
If you'd like to discuss anything, ask any plot-related questions, or ask any faq-ey setting/plot questions, please do so below. If anything needs to be discussed by the mod-mods, I'll take the issue to them and get an answer for you. Also, please comment if you want to discuss the podpop month plot scheduling change.
~Saph
(I think I've now typed "plots" so many times the word has lost its meaning.)