thusia_ooc | CONCERNING THE CURRENT WORLDPLOT AND SUCH THINGS

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CONCERNING THE CURRENT WORLDPLOT AND SUCH THINGS

Hello Thusia, it is me. Thusia, have you ever thought to yourself, "My character is probably the sort of person who would want to be involved in helping other people and doing useful society things, but I have other plots going on and I am busy IRL and I am more interested in playing other things that appeal to me more as a player and I am too shy to shove my character out into the spotlight of a big plot and etc. etc."

Thusia, if you have thought this, I just want you to know that I think that is totally valid and cool and honestly, sometimes world plot is just not what you want to play out explicitly, and you shouldn't have to spend tons of time playing out things explicitly that don't really interest you.

So purpose number one of this post is this: if you want to handwave your character doing anything whatsoever - giving sacrifices to Eizon or Selyir, offering to help grow some vines for our (future) shiny new generator, doing literally anything else that I haven't thought of yet, doing something completely unrelated to those plans, doing something actively against those plans, seriously I am so cool with anything - anyway, if you want your character to participate or think your character ICly would participate but don't want to spend a ton of time threading it out, please just fill out the short form here. It's very short for real.

And if there are any questions you think are boring or whatever you can just not answer them. It can just say something like, I think my character would really want to help in setting up the portal for people lost in the jungle, but I don't think they would want to help Eizon because he's a huge butthead. Or maybe something like, my character has a little bit of tech savvy, so maybe when the generator is made they can help get it up and running.

Mostly the point of this is so that we can get a gauge on how many characters are actively doing such things? So then ICly we can figure out how fast things are moving, what is going to work and not work, etc. ALSO I would like for this to be a general plotting post about the world things happening. So I have a little survey which you can fill out if you like. I'm really excited about this so far and I think it could be pretty cool, but I just would like to make it so that absolutely anybody who wants to be involved can be, even if they are like, lol whos yukari tho. So yeah.

By the way, do you want to be my friend? I want to be your friend, Thusia, so you can be my friend on plurk at NECROFANTASIA. Here I'll make it a link. NECROFANTASIA. Boom.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

→ Do you know about all of the world plot stuff? (And if not, how can it be made more explicit?) Err, not really, to be honest. All I really know about the world and stuff that's happened and place changes and stuff that's gone on is what I've... been told IC... ;_; I don't know if there's somewhere I can read that kind of stuff but if there is I'd love to.

→ How does your character feel about it? Do they care? Yes he cares! Mikado loves cliches so he loves being a hero and helping people and going out og his way for that kind of thing.

→ Are they going to do anything about it? Yup! He already talked to Eizon about burning things for the generator, so he's been gathering them up little by little and practising his fire powers in case they need a bit more oomph.

→ Is there anything that I, other players, or the mods can do to make this more awesome for you? I think this survey is a good start to get everyone's opinions and stuff!

→ Do you know about all of the world plot stuff? (And if not, how can it be made more explicit?) Yyyyes sort of. Up until it gets into technical modernity shit.

→ How does your character feel about it? Do they care? Honestly it depends on how the people around her feel. She cares to a point, but if say, Chrono said he cared about X, she'd care about it if only because of that.

→ Are they going to do anything about it? She's actually in the process of talking with one of the nature gods. :U THREAD IN PROGRESS or some such.

→ Is there anything that I, other players, or the mods can do to make this more awesome for you? THIS IS A GOOD START.

I was just catching up on that thread a few seconds ago actually! I think that is actually really great, especially since, uh, there are already dragons in the building so even if fleeing happens........ there are dragons. In the building.

So I think a good role for Tempest could be like, instead of GIANT BATTLE ROYALE DEATH MATCH AGAINST A BUNCH OF DRAGONS WHICH BY THE WAY WE PROBABLY HAVE A BUNCH OF PEOPLE DIE STUPIDLY, it could be like. Actual sensible solution? Communicating with nature?

And in particular I think having such a solution has some really great implications for later game stuff, because people can look and see, wow, it turns out it is actually sometimes better to just try to communicate sensibly with nature instead of just KILL KILL KILL.

So yeah, I saw that and I thought it was really cool, and I think it could be the start of a general trend in Thusian society which would be just awesome.

YEAH a lot of it is Tempest being raised the way she is and just. Well obviously killing them all the time isn't going to work, and she has ISSUES with nature being the way it is anyway. WAS BEING COMPLETELY HONEST IN THAT THREAD, she'd rather work it out the hippie way then moving the building or killing everyhing or w/e

Hm. I think something that might be a good thing is to have both ICly and OOCly a guide to Thusia's history. Just like a basic "WHAT HAS HAPPENED IN THE GAME'S HISTORY/WHAT HAS BEEN LEARNED/ETC"

Now you know, there are some characters I think ICly actually working on such a thing? So maybe it will be like, idk, if anyone is doing this and wants to pitch in here, that would be cool.

But if not, yeah, so much has happened plot-wise so I think it would be a good move.

→ Do you know about all of the world plot stuff? (And if not, how can it be made more explicit?) All of my characters are familiar with the Dead People Being Brought In To Bring Back Civilization plot in general.
- Prussia hasn't been involved with any world plots recently except for were-dragon attack because that effected people he lived with and the whole God Tried To Drown Us thing, so he's somewhat aware but it's only things that effect him directly.
- Kiritsugu has no idea about current world plot issues.
- Izaya is the most involved and has his hands in everything, currently.

→ How does your character feel about it? Do they care?
- Prussia doesn't really care about shit yet unless it effects people closest to him and doesn't have an opinion currently. He'd be against the idea of moving if only because Ikki and Luka and other people he knows are still out in nature (portals be damned).
- Kiritsugu would care a GREAT DEAL about these things, but as I said, he's not aware of them because he's been too busy with his own issues.
- Izaya cares so damn much because he's invested in the humans of Thusia (and especially former Sabrans). He doesn't like the idea that a god tried to take the decision out of the people's hand and he doesn't like how he was roadblocked to getting more information regarding the issue. He also doesn't like that while none of the gods have been doing anything about things like bity god and were-dragons and murders, they are reacting to something that he perceives as Not An Immediate Threat.

→ Are they going to do anything about it?
- Prussia won't react unless there is something to react TO. (which is to say, I need to get him out and about so he CAN react to shit)
- Kiritsugu... will likely not because a number of people would prevent him from endangering himself/he would want to make sure the people he care about are safe.
- Izaya is biding his time and can and will disrupt any plots that are god-assisted in realizing if he feels it's Too Easy or Too God-Involved...

→ Is there anything that I, other players, or the mods can do to make this more awesome for you? This is a good start, but I would like to have this plot not override or derail the number of other plots going on as well. In fact, tying them in would be more interesting and fun to play around with.

Edited 2012-11-26 09:55 (UTC)

→ Do you know about all of the world plot stuff? (And if not, how can it be made more explicit?) UHHH, a bit. I know that HQ was built to be mobile? Okay I guess that's about it. And about the stuff going on recently there's that too.

→ How does your character feel about it? Do they care?

Wander cares about the things that directly affect the people he cares about. Like moving the building he wasn't on board with until he found out there were portals and stuff as an option for those who are lost. Now he cares about moving the building if those dragons are a threat to everyone but more importantly about the portal thing. THAT'S AN EXAMPLE.

→ Are they going to do anything about it?

Wander's going to go into overdrive mode and gather lots of vines, but once he finds out what sacrifices can be made for the portals he'd probably spend most of his time on that since he knows people who are missing.

→ Is there anything that I, other players, or the mods can do to make this more awesome for you? Echoing what those above said THINGS LIKE THIS REALLY HELP A LOT.

Edited 2012-11-26 09:54 (UTC)

yesssss yes In general I think that how the thing with Tempest goes can end up being pretty instrumental. Even if it's not like SHE TALKS AND THE DRAGONS LEAVE AND WE CAN STAY IN THE JUNGLE, obviously just the idea that holy shit, we can communicate with nature? I think the implications for that, game-wise, are big.

Well, I know I can always tl;dr at you ICly.

I think I'd rather have it OOC! Some kind of timeline everyone has meta access to, to see where we've been so that we can get a better idea about where we are and where we may go, you know?

i dont know if the masaomis would like me having that much contact with you

→ Do you know about all of the world plot stuff? (And if not, how can it be made more explicit?) I know about like. The move. And then I either forgot or never knew the rest. Like Mikado up there said, I don't remember if there's a place to read everything, but if there's not, it'd be really cool to have one!

→ How does your character feel about it? Do they care? Michi is concerned since there are a few kids in Thusia, but ultimately doesn't care too much.

→ Are they going to do anything about it? Not unless there's not much other choice (read: I should stop being lazyshy and get her out more), but would try to solve things with as little help from the shrined gods as possible, just due to her personal preferences.

→ Is there anything that I, other players, or the mods can do to make this more awesome for you? Echoing the echo here, just having a survey like this was a really awesome idea, so thanks!

They don't have to know.

Plus, they've said it themselves, I'm good at what I do and I have relevant information

i need an adult

I am an adult.

i knew that was coming

You shouldn't set yourself up so easily~

Dirk and Haidmaiden were/are going to work on a CATCH ALL INTRO GUIDE TO THUSIA (which isn't to say it wouldn't be awesome if someone else jumped on that, even before they get to it. I am not at all dibsing, just saying yeah it's on this bro's to do list).

Tho they are fairly unlikely to get started on it until other stuff gets resolved.

→ Do you know about all of the world plot stuff? (And if not, how can it be made more explicit?) I know that:
-Veseiy has been around giving Thusians who drank the "medicine" a chance to combat nature-poison and investigating the lizagon horde up on level 5
-there's another nature(?) god cursing people so that they're essentially forced to priest to the civilized gods
-a shitton of lizagons have moved into level 5 thanks to BRIGHT FEATHERS from some giant birds and a matriarch is in the area so shit just got real, son
-and there's something about engines in the lower levels/HQ IS A SPACESHIP??

I think something like a gdoc with a quick bullet list of "what's happening/has happened/here are links on where to read relevant threads" could be handy as far as keeping OOCly up-to-date on world plot stuff goes. I know that ICly, there are several characters working to write out Thusia's history and add to it as things happen, but due to the way it's mostly handwaved (I think?), it's not OOCly accesible. My problem is always that I don't consistently read every thread in a post and sometimes end up completely missing HUGE PLOTTY THINGS because of it...

→ How does your character feel about it? Do they care? LENALEE CARES A LOT. About what's happening re: lizagons and moving and maybe getting a generator which could be powered by nature and/or solar light up and running, and also on what this means for the people lost in the area they're apparently going to leave behind. It's distressing and frustrating and she's sick of all these big things happening when she still can't even go out to nature-clear, and god, they already left people lost in the jungle LAST TIME THEY MOVED.

→ Are they going to do anything about it? She doesn't particularly care how they solve this issue at this point, so long as it doesn't involve gratuitous violence towards her important people (and by extension, their important people), but like she's already said to Eizon, she wants to help however she can. With a preference towards helping with minimal god-contact, all the same. She is likely going to want to help with the generator despite knowing very little about mechanical things, because it seems the most long-term and useful as far as putting nature to a good, god-independent use goes.

→ Is there anything that I, other players, or the mods can do to make this more awesome for you? A survey like this was a great idea; it'll help involve people who want to be a part of this but haven't been able to glean the OOC info they need or haven't had the time to get involved as of yet. I really enjoyed the flood portion of the world plot that we had with S'vx, so I'm looking forward to this. Making sure that none of the other plots currently going (most of which.. I'm also only peripherally aware of) become overwhelmed by this one is also a priority, like Izaya up there said. 8)b

→ Do you know about all of the world plot stuff? (And if not, how can it be made more explicit?) CHRONO KNOWS JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING THAT IS CURRENTLY KNOWN, I think. Tide knows nothing but he also doesn't give a shit.

Unless this was an OOC question idk. Answer is the same either way, I think I am up-to-date :|a

→ How does your character feel about it? Do they care? Chrono is actually personally invested in unraveling some of that SPACESHIP BULLSHIT from a while ago. Aside from that he just wants to make sure everyone doesn't die. Tide still doesn't give a shit.

→ Are they going to do anything about it? He's gonna help Tempest talk to sum dragons :U If another hook comes along tho I would jump on it, too.

→ Is there anything that I, other players, or the mods can do to make this more awesome for you? STAY AWESOME??

Edited 2012-11-26 10:18 (UTC)

IIIIZZZZAAAAYYYYYAAAAAA ♥

I think it is pretty important that this doesn't stomp out the current plots happening too. In particular I think it's important that 1. nobody feels like "I can't have my characters doing other stuff because people will think I suck for not wanting to participate in this plot." ACTUALLY NO ONE THINKS THAT YOU SUCK, anyone who is concerned about this. And 2. other plots that are already in progress don't get rolled over here.

So in particular I know you've brought up two pretty bananas things that have been happening around HQ lately. Number one is Bite-y Puppy Goddess. Number two is Sometimes People Turn Into Dragons And Ruin Big Chunks Of HQ And It's Pretty Alarming. Actually if I recall correctly, Lady is involved in both of these? And Aviy in the dragon one, right? And then obviously other people, i.e. those involved in DRAGONBATTLE and those close to Aerta, etc. And of course anyone cursed by the Bite-y Goddess. (I hope I am keeping people straight here.)

Anyway. Um, I guess I don't want to say too much since I am not directly involved in these plots. But I wonder if the people who are have any suggestions in particular for how we might either integrate these plots or make it so that the larger world plot stays out of the way of these plots.

You know, one thing I think might be helpful is if the mods could give us a very loose idea of how long we have ICly before the dragon thing starts getting totally out of control. Like, will multiple people be getting eaten by tomorrow? Or will that only be super dangerous next IC month? Or what? Because knowing that helps us to know - should we just move fast and resume the plots after the move? Or should we keep them as they are and have them partially resolved before the move?

I like this too! Heads-up for parts of the event, so it's not like you wake up one day check your flist and the first post is

day 98
[ you get bitten in half by a fucking dragon ]

YES I DO PLAY BITEY GODDESS AND ADDRESSING THAT FIRST.

I don't really want to explicitly OOC dump about who she is/what she's doing/what she wants, she's only been in a couple post so far. Her actions and words should speak for themselves.

As for OOC info, I wrote up a primer that's in a locked NPC post about her background/powers/so forth so players who have heard of her (or are even just curious about the awful little pigdogs they mighta seen around HQ) can go to any god they would like to drill for info. Mods and player NPCs should have access to basically the same info, because I wanted this to be something that's really easy for people and gods to work together on w/o needing explicit mod involvement. (Though of course it should go without saying that mod NPCs can also be involved if they so wish/are prompted to!)

If any player needs clarification on things she's done so far, I'm happy to answer!

Likewise if any god players get questions they don't know how to play, they can comment to me in that post and I promise to get back to them ASAP. (honestly I can check gmail from work and I basically don't sleep).

Edited 2012-11-26 12:52 (UTC)

The problem I've been seeing is that there's a lack of assignment of people playing dragons. Like, yes, for general nature use

fuckingnature is all well and good for people to grab up and play out interaction with nature as necessary. But these dragons are a plot device and therefore should have the direction that is clearly meant for them. Running nature in general is very tiring for some players, so I get that a lot of people might call "NOT IT!" to running a dragon. But if there are any willing to do so, then I would suggest getting the dragons to being more of an Immediate Threat if Tempest's line of solution falls through.

Generally, there's a lot about this event that screams a lack of player accessibility. We get information and we react, but if we react one way instead of another, there's difficulty getting relevant information and therefore makes it difficult to come up with different ideas for solutions and thus movement from the players.

Aaaaalso, if there's any chance for success, this should be stated! Like, Eizon's warned that this is a Big Ass Problem That Might End With A Lot Of Deaths but in the long-run if it ends up being that there is an option that would benefit the people in Thusia, that would be ace. But really, just kick people in the teeth saying "NO IT'S TOO DIFFICULT FOR YOU--!" discourages players to do much and leaves them wondering what they CAN do for the situation if it's so bad they can't even fight back.

As for the other plots, they're moving fine as they are, since they're more Immediate Threat and people have been responding to them accordingly.

TIMELINE... we are playing REALLY REALLY loose with this event, tbh. The original plan was "We will do things and see if people react/want to play with it, and if not we'll have a god take care of it and move them to a new area that might be fun". But since people are playing we are pretty chill with going in any direction. We are also pretty flexible on the speed. Myyyy way of doing things is to let them roll and then if stuff is slowing down/seems like needs something, throw out a thing. (I was going to put up a post with parts for a generator tomorrow, for example, so people could get going on that if they wanted? If that sounds cool?)

Right now as long as people don't go piss the dragons off the dragons will probably not abruptly decide to eat everyone. Tho notably being TOO SLOW means... running out of food and stuff, since humans are prey and going outside would be dangerous =|a

But basically yeah. We are not going to abruptly fuck everyone over because they did not accomplish goal Y by undisclosed point in time B. But certain actions might make shit WAY MORE DANGEROUS, while others might make stuff... not actually as dangerous? But since AT THIS MOMENT people are Doing Things like figuring out how to talk to dragons and power up cores and such, there will be definitely be time to do those things as long as they are being worked out =|a

THAT WAS A REALLY ROUND ABOUT ANSWER. Sob. I don't know how to properly convey "as long as people are playing with it we are cool and if they stop we will do something or if they do something we will do something in response to that and basically we have no idea what is going to happen because it all depends on what people do".

did that answer your question 8(

AS FOR AERTA BERSERKING

(spoilers: lady loev girls turn into monsters)

She as a dragon has made several community post and I WOULD LOVE AT ANY TIME ANYONE FOREVER to hit those up because I'm a creeper and I love playing my Mary Sue Jackass Dragon. Please feel free to notice/comment? She is a fatass dragon with moss and pink flowers growing out of her hide. Always allowed to notice that shit.

So far she has:
rampaged and caused (mild?) structural damage in level 3 (ALSO SABER USED HER SPIRIT BOMB SADNESS SWORD)
Took a couple naps in the middle of everything
ate a baby lizagon (also in the middle of everything)
ate a dude (but this was late and not explicitly in a top-level post)

I think some other were have wigged out in other places and honestly I dddddddon't think even the other were know who explicitly know about this? Like the idea of were are that they themselves have little to no recollection of what they do particularly when the shifting is out of control like it is right now. And so I am OK with anyone being aware of this and having spotted her. (Though unless you know her, caught her shifting, you might not connect the two? But even that I'm not too worried about.)

If anyone has questions about what Aerta is doing, or would like to see the dragon, or would like to confront her on it, or would just like their characters to be in the know I hope they feel OK in approaching me about it.

I know I can be kinda excitable, which I'm working on, but honestly I am mostly just stoked when people want to be involved in my dumb crazy girl junk. You can hit me up @laserdragon on plurk, or true.wutai.style on gchat, or a PM to this journal.

just a quick YES YES to that generator thing

Y-YES YESSSS //////

WERE STUFF: to be honest, I have not really been thinking of this as a plot so much as... stuff my characters are doing now and will be doing for the indefinite future. There really isn't an end point here, or a resolution for me, just shifting characters interacts? =|a The characters who play weres... we honestly haven't been very good about hooking up and being a pack or anything. Which is totally cool, and yanno just. timezones and business and something we have been talking about needing to get on for like two months now. But also part of why I don't think of it as a plot, because, to me at least, it's just daily character play that sometimes overlaps with other things. I have no plans to PUSH KIDA'S WERENESS out. He will spazz and turn into a dragon as there is need of it. Maybe IN this very event. Since he and Aerta seem to be the only ones freaking out and hurting people, and since the community hasn't done anything in response to it, he's just gonna keep his head down =|a

I can't speak for other weres at all, but it's not like I think we had any real specific plans or anything.

Other occasion has been during the handcuff post where Kida berserked and attacked Izaya, but Robin shielded him and then Breeze/Yayoi jumped into the fray to calm Kida down.

WERE THOSE YESSES ALSO TO ANSWERING YOUR QUESTION BECAUSE

I AM SO BAD AT CONVEYING WHAT I MEAN APPARENTLY

I JUST WANT TO MAKE SURE

Yes also bedding now more things tomorrow

Those are the known weres so far.

However, there was also Leo's berserking and whatnot before the player dropped. So that's been four weres with multiple berserker moments.

We could put up a “here there be dragons” post and invite people to interact with them in whatever way they want! But let me first explain why we didn’t to begin with:

The situation is honestly bad enough that running out and fighting them would be suicidal and we thought it wouldn't really be in the spirit of things to put up a 'interact with nature, but if you are dumb enough to attack 100 dragons you are going to die' post. Yes, the dragons are plot devices, but they are sort of a wall plot device. A wall composed entirely of intelligent poisonous death spikes. There are a lot of things you can do with that wall, but punching it isn't one of the smarter options. A post full of dangerous nature, however, kind of invites punching. A lot of people default to fighting even when it really shouldn't be feasible solution. So... basically that was my concern and why we didn't do that to start with. I didn't want people to feel mislead, that we gave them a post full of aggressive nature and then punished them for attacking it, even though fighting a hundred dragons and their matriarch bird thing that is bigger than the building while depowered on an alien world is just a very bad idea. Thus Eizon info dumping and trying to convey all that without making people go through falling back on "PUNCH ALL THINGS" and then just getting their asses kicked.

So I could put up a post, and try to explain in that post why attacking them would be a terrible idea? But that honestly seemed like something that people wouldn’t enjoy. Perhaps a post of like “THERE ARE SO MANY DRAGONS but maybe you want to go look for food anyway do you think you can gather while avoiding their notice/run back before they eat you?” type of thing would be better?

As for accessibility, it is true Eizon is not the best dude to info dump. But Yukari very quickly put up a post conveying most of the info Eizon had to give and also making herself accessible for talking about it, so I think she did a lot to make it pretty accessible to anyone who might be interested. The whole purpose of the bulletin board is that people can have an excuse to know stuff that they missed. Like, even if Eizon was the BEST PERSON IN THE WORLD to info dump, you are always going to have the accessibility issue of “what if I just wasn’t around for that”. But I think people really just need an IC excuse to know what is going on? Then they can jump in on future stuff whenever they like, and the bulletin covers that. I am hoping that also as more posts go up DOING THINGS that will gather some steam, like “oh you see people doing stuff, go to investigate, hear about what is happening, decide to help”. But if there is something else that might help, I am all ears.

There are definitely many chances for success! Eizon openly encouraged several ideas and didn't discourage and provided info to facilitate several others. Some ideas he pointed out the flaws in, which people then came back with other ways to address those. We’ve done our best, OOCly, to facilitate the ideas that are most workable (and if you or anyone else feels like they need mod attention on THIS IDEA BUT HOW, let us know!)The only idea flat out kicked in the teeth was fighting them head on.

And honestly, we very specifically made the situation so that fighting them head on would obviously be a bad idea. We wanted it to be so clearly a terrible idea that no one would rationally consider it. And obviously that didn’t happen, and in the future I’ll try to be more explicate about that. Lesson learned. But, there are lots of times when you can solve a thing by getting enough shounen characters together and hitting it. I’ve played in those a ton of times, and they are great! But when it is an option it’s what people are going to do, and we wanted to force some exploration of other stuff that can be done (and also, to me, something more interesting than fighting a lot of dragon npcs), which is why there is an overwhelming number of dragons AND they have backup that could, as Eizon said, dismantle the building. The idea he was trying to get across was not ‘Humans suck’ just ‘Trying to fight them is suicidal’.

People have already come up with like three things I never considered and they are all great ideas so I am excited to see where that goes. People have also not even touched on several other options I did consider, and hell, they may very well not even need them! There are a lot of things to do in this scenario but yes, it was designed to not be surmountable with a sufficient number of fighters. I’m very sorry if anyone feels mislead on account of me not properly conveying that. However, the purpose OF Eizon’s post was to make that clear, ICly, so it’s ok if people didn’t realize it before! Once it was made ICly clear, a lot of other possible solutions were immediately being suggested and honestly I think it went really very well.

First, let me just say that a lot of what I say here are my own experiences, so I'm sorry if people don't feel the same but yes. And a lot of what I have to say are my feelings about how the plot has played out so far, true. BUT, I am looking for solutions to any of the accessibility issues that may be present now, not previously. The event's already well underway so whatever mistakes were made have been made, but there are ways to pick it up from here.

Secondly, I do agree there has been some good ideas coming out from that post! In fact, I was relieved that there was a post at all regarding the issue to explain what was going on so the populace was alerted, because as I said, it didn't seem like there was a lot of public notice going on re: ZOMG DRAGONS!!1 because they weren't an immediately threat. A lot of the details you're mentioning in the above comments are things that didn't really come to light for me, personally, until I read the threads that went on in that post. I didn't know there was a matriarch, and I certainly didn't know that it could demolish the building, nor did I know just how many dragons there were or if there were even more than the ones that were roosting on the 5th Level. None of my characters knew any of this, and I play three--one of them an informant who likes to be in the know. So idk if other people have been facing that issue or not, but that's what I've experienced.

Thirdly: But I think people really just need an IC excuse to know what is going on? <-- this is exactly what I mean about accessibility issues. You can put in flavor text all you want that there's dragons and it's dangerous, but if no one has an IC excuse to interact with this point, they can and will handwave--leaving things open for people to avoid the plot is all well and good, but having something like a "Welp, food is running low, some brave souls better try to get to hunting!" event would help with establishing and confirming that this IS an Immediate Threat and thus needs an Immediate Decision. Much like how a lot of people will be going "??? Bitey god, what?" up until they go, "OMG, DID YOU SEE THAT GIRL BITING THAT DUDE?!" or with the were-dragons, where just recently one of them nommed a dude and people worked to get him revived. These are plot elements--events that can effect the community. They're very open and very much accessible for their visibility and for being able to play with if people choose to.

Fourthly, while it's good that you're able to look back and see what worked and what did not, I'd rather focus on how to rein in the plot now and give the players some time to have fun with it. Yukari making a quick post about it was a brilliant idea, but it's a notice board--not everyone is going to read it. tl;dr, even--think if someone in an apartment complex posted up fliers about things like that, would a lot of people even notice if they're busy in their day-to-day? Again, see point three. Not only that but other people have pointed out that there's a lot going on that they are not aware of. So while Yukari's post can help with explain wtf Eizon was saying, it leaves out all the rest of the current issues and shifts the focus on that plot instead of maintaining the others. I'm sure Yukari will be willing to work with people to keep that from happening more and help with making sure people are aware of all the elements going on, so that's fine.

Finally, I never have issues with a plot that has a WELP THIS MIGHT BAD END or even something with a known outcome. It's not the end-point that's the fun, it's playing to get to the end point. So my mentioning "Don't let it be 100% failure" was less about what happens at the end of the plot but more to do with giving characters and players motivations. A lot of Thusia's early issues were "This is too dark", "This is too depressing", "There's no way to Good End here", etc. And this plot had the same feeling for me before that post with Eizon, so it's still a concern for me now. With Tempest's idea and even Yukari's idea, there's some home for things to end well, but a set ending with a set outcome--say, like, no matter what we do, the place will move anyway--is something that I worry about. Multiple endings and multiple possibilities are ace. Because even if you say "Well, if you had done this, you could have totally gotten everything you wanted, but instead you did this and now we're moving," it's more fulfilling?

I dunno if that helps. LIKE I SAID: I'm not as concerned about the reasons why xyz happened. All I know is that xyz has made the plot hard to interact with up until this point. Acknowledging that and working with people now that there's an opening to do so is what I would be looking for in general.

Ok, I think I understand what you mean by accessibility. We do fully intend to have more posts which will hopefully draw more people in. I'll try to keep in mind different ways to go about this. Obviously we don't want to flood people with them, but there will be a generator post tomorrow, and while food scarcity shouldn't be a thing this early, as becomes a more obvious concern (if things aren't resolved before then) we'll definitely try to make sure it gets to people's attentions. It's a process, though, we can't dump all of that down at once. Eizon's post was part of the process (in response to realizing that we hadn't gotten X and Y across). We'll also try to push a little more to give people need to get involved, even if they don't want to deal with Eizon head on.

As far as "Can we win". The answer is simply yes. That's what I meant by saying there was hope for success. That people were considering lots of stuff I never thought of, and that we don't have any set plans. We really do not have any set plans. We had stuff we figured was pretty likely, which is now looking a lot less likely, and that is awesome. What happens is entirely about how people play, what paths they pursue, etc etc. We are literally building this as we go because trying to figure out what people will come up with always proves immediately futile, so I honestly only have slightly more idea of what is going to happen than anyone else.

→ Do you know about all of the world plot stuff? (And if not, how can it be made more explicit?) Been following posts and stuff, so I know there were big feathers (though there was some talk in the intitial posts of "maybe they would make valuable trade fodder" but idk if that was ever confirmed). OOCly I know that there are a looooot of lizagons (though I'm not sure how they got in because I thought the dome was sealed) and that in the exposition post ideas were brought up regarding moving HQ and that there is a Big Awesome Matriarch out there somewhere.

→ How does your character feel about it? Do they care? Not really, TBH. :( Both my characters have their own things going on, and both have personal reasons to not approach the gods who have been out about this. Also I mean even if she did know, Rota at least is a crazy little creeper and isn't all that opposed to getting killed and eaten because idk maybe that would be fun and interesting \o/

→ Are they going to do anything about it? If someone asked her to, Aerta would, but won't involve herself unless someone in her circle cares, or someone else badgers her.

→ Is there anything that I, other players, or the mods can do to make this more awesome for you? I really really really would love to see things (by which I mostly mean actual lizagon danger) explicitly played out. I am that player type that even with OOC notes and exposition posts, it's hard for this plot to feel "real" to me unless there is some danger like, actually happening. Even if it's only to other characters, mine can talk to them and at least hear a visceral, first-hand account. Talking to someone who talked to someone else and was told that it's a big deal is practical IRL, but not... what is fun for me to play with.

Personally I didn't even know that lizagons were supposed to be that big a deal, because the last time I recall them being mentioned before this was a post of hand-waving a hunting party that had killed one of the XL ones (It was a three-man party IIRC). There are lots of other things happening currently, explicitly in HQ that have proven to be a danger to the safety or even lives of people in Thusia. (Were, Sparkles vs Apt C wigouts, Straight Up Murderous Douchebags being Straight Up Murderous Douchebags for example.) I just have an easier time reacting to things that I have personally interacted with, so those are the things my characters are gonna pay attention to.

Edited 2012-11-26 12:46 (UTC)

→ Do you know about all of the world plot stuff? (And if not, how can it be made more explicit?)
Husky knows...some? He got a summary from a few people and was also pointed to the compilations people like Nikki have been making. For more recent things, he heard some were-person berserked out and had +Anima feelings about it, but I haven't explicitly played out him finding out one of them was Aerta '-'

He also hasn't on-screen threaded about the recent plot with moving HQ, though he knows the lizagons are getting more numerous. But since there was a bulletin and he would pay attention to stuff like that, I'm probably just going to say he read it...

→ How does your character feel about it? Do they care?
He'd like to...not die by lizagon...also see above note about +Anima-freaking out about were-berserks.

→ Are they going to do anything about it?
He's a tiny child without tech skills who's still kind of cranky/suspicious about Thusia in general. But he's practical and, like I said above, doesn't want to die (or for his friends to die)! So he'd probably want to talk to people/gods first before doing the sacrifice shebang, but he'd most likely give some energy eventually. And he would be tentatively interested in the vine thing, but he'd want to learn more first.

→ Is there anything that I, other players, or the mods can do to make this more awesome for you?
Posts like this are AWESOME

→ Do you know about all of the world plot stuff? (And if not, how can it be made more explicit?) I do, as do my three. Toph only has partial information.

→ How does your character feel about it? Do they care? Zel is cranky about it, because he'd like a chance to build things up, but he also realizes that if they continue to fix HQ, they can build more of a civilization. He's a bit at a loss long-term for what he'd like to do, so this is a goal.

Melisan is a bit frustrated since he just got back from survival training and an environment shift is a pain in the ass since it makes some things useless (unless he was working in the plains, which would be a handy plot seed if I have permission...). On the other hand... well, he knows how well Sparkles deals with lizagons, so getting away from them is fine. He also personally likes Eizon, being a voice for law and order himself.

All Toph cares about is we're going somewhere with actual dirt that she can reach. She's cool with anywhere except 'in water' and 'up a tree'.

→ Are they going to do anything about it? All three will. Zel would probably more favor helping with generators and such than godly sacrifice, since he'd rather gain sufficiency from the gods. He's pretty limited in technical skills to around the state of gunpowder, but he understands basic things like clockwork and machining.

Melisan will do whatever he can. Which includes being Sparkles' voice of reason if they need it.

Toph will totally use the excuse to be bossy and domineering, but you can also rope her into metalworking for you.

→ Is there anything that I, other players, or the mods can do to make this more awesome for you? As I noted above, Melisan having been on the plains would be convenient. I also need to consider Zel's general goals. And, as always, I like making Melisan actually have to use all his mental powers that he tends to hide (because he wasn't supposed to know them back home).

Also, again, since Melisan has some divinatory abilities (he can sense the past of objects and he's an untrained weak precog*), if the mods want to use that for terrorizing people/dropping hints/etc. I am open to it.

* Usually only relevant when the story demands it.

→ Do you know about all of the world plot stuff? (And if not, how can it be made more explicit?)
Kind of.

→ How does your character feel about it? Do they care?

Izumi cares, but she's usually not one to pull an initiative together -- right now she wants to try finding a solution that isn't running not because she's thick-headed but because with the world overrun by nature she expects 'problem comes up, we run away again' to just keep happening. Faika...there's a whole essay in her considering herself part of nature but participating in the effort to clear it out anyway, but long story short she's a little bloodthirsty but will go along with the decisions of the hunting goddess and/or Tempest. Isabela dun care (until that pesky conscience makes her.)

→ Are they going to do anything about it?

Yes, but none seem to know what to do yet.

→ Is there anything that I, other players, or the mods can do to make this more awesome for you?

Dunno! Just kind of along for the ride.

For the timeline thing, I was actually thinking about more in general. Like, if you're brand new to the game when something like this happens (hello), you read the game info and you're like okay sick we're in a building that's like a castle and there's some plants and--

and then someone ic is like "actually we're in a tree". I just think it would be useful to not just have a plot timeline, but a brief "Previously, on Thusia" doc or something? I totally don't mean everything that happened in every post and everything that was revealed ever, just the general gist of what people have gone through so people have more sympathy for situations.

→ Do you know about all of the world plot stuff? (And if not, how can it be made more explicit?) I know about some of it, as do my boys. I think there's been some posts and stuff about it and it's more just my slight distraction with class stuff that's kept me from noticing? Though a side link of world info might be nice too (and if there is one and I didn't see it, oops).

→ How does your character feel about it? Do they care? Ed mainly cares in that he wants to keep people safe and then go home. Ryner... is lazy. But could probably become interested if he gets the right bit of info.

→ Are they going to do anything about it? Ed definitely. Ryner, see above.

→ Is there anything that I, other players, or the mods can do to make this more awesome for you? My schedule is always a little wonky, so things that are open longer periods/different times are definitely plusses. In things that are being run by NPCs, having it easier to tell who is running it/who to ping to see if it's still open/etc would be really good, too.

Yes! I do get the desire for an OOC resource of SHIT THAT HAPPENED BEFORE. It is totally a thing we should have. I was going to ask if anyone would be interested in doing that, perhaps getting mod input where necessary. A lot of times, projects like that are manned by players. Which would be very helpful =|a But if not, the mods can get one going, it might just take a little longer.

Or perhaps if I got something started and opened it up to community editing and people could add stuff? Hmmmm.

Also yes the OOC info is like. sob. WE WANTED THUSIA TO BE A GAME WHERE THE SCENARIOS CHANGE REGULARLY but I'm so bad at making sure the info pages reflect those changes. If you know of any specific places where they off, or just notice something say you are looking around, you can always drop the mod box an email just saying "sup, this is out of date" and we will get on it.

I think a big public project where people could add stuff and edit together would be great, so we're not pushing it all onto one person who's been here for the longest to know everything. It doesn't need to be a recap like "Some guy got his arm cut off and beaten with it - Day 27", just basic "this is what's happened in the world" stuff.

→ Do you know about all of the world plot stuff? (And if not, how can it be made more explicit?)

I keep track of things! I don't follow every post like I did before the flood/S'vex/Gods' backstory, butI'm generally aware of what's going on.

→ How does your character feel about it? Do they care?

Both my characters are noncombatants, so they've dealt with 'there's a lot of dragons on the roof that will kill you' by staying away from the roof.

→ Are they going to do anything about it?

Unless they're directly approached, probably not. Kururu's been focused on dismantling the second-floor laundry machines for Zhen Ji, and Zexion's been dealing with some unexpected losses/gains in the population of his household.

→ Is there anything that I, other players, or the mods can do to make this more awesome for you?

As a player, I'm the kind of person who needs something (someone) to engage with in a thread in order to find it enjoyable. I don't handwave well; I really need to interact and play things out in order to have them feel 'real'. That's why I started the IC bulletin board in the first place; there could be all the OOC announcements and communication in the world, and I still will not feel a part of anything unless I've threaded it out.

I also need plot growth to be a little more . . . organic? Than Thusia's world-plots tend to be. More 'because you did X and Y, Z happened', and less 'because you didn't do A and B, C is happening'. Plots that are centred on, and grow with the characters—with their ideas and actions and solutions—are what I love.

On the flipside, plots where the course of action and the right solution are dictated by the storyteller/NPCs tend to be what I go to video games or tabletop RP for, rather than journal RP. It's just not my thing in this kind of setting. So when things start to go that way, I tend to pull back and let the people who are enjoying it play it out.

→ Do you know about all of the world plot stuff? (And if not, how can it be made more explicit?) Well, I have a vague idea of what's going on for the main thing (dragons, moving) but I admit I'm probably not fully aware... And Akiha, having just arrived, has even less of an idea. But yeah, can't think of a way to make things more explicit than the bulletin board, which is quite handy.

→ How does your character feel about it? Do they care? She uh, probably would care if she found out about it? Her job is to protect humans, after all.

→ Are they going to do anything about it? Well, she would probably help out wherever she thought she could -- one possibility that occurs to me off the top of my head is the possibility of rewiring the generator so that it can also be powered with magic directly -- probably still won't be as effective as gathering vines and burning things, and is probably fairly likely to burn people out if they try it, but it's a possibility for an emergency situation. She also has stealth powers which would probably help with gathering vines.

→ Is there anything that I, other players, or the mods can do to make this more awesome for you? I can't really think of anything in that sense. I am not too useful in that regard.

→ Do you know about all of the world plot stuff? (And if not, how can it be made more explicit?) Mostly yes! I'm not 100% ~in the know~ but I've kept up enough to work with it. As mentioned above a guide would be great for quick reference but I'm good!

→ How does your character feel about it? Do they care? All 5 of mine "care" at least in some capacity. Basically it is like this:
Saberlancer: Well gosh what a mess I SHALL BE A HELPER AND ALSO PROTECT MY PEEPS.
Tokiomi: I guess the right thing to do is to be involved if an opportunity presents itself but as long as I can keep studying w/e.
Byakuya: :| This is annoying as shit but I'd rather stuff not get any worse.
Eshara: YAY ADVENTURES AND VIOLENCE MOVE OVER LADIES I GOT THIS.
Kida: I have no idea what's going on but I will pay rapt attention to anything that could affect what's mine.

→ Are they going to do anything about it? Saberlancer & Eshara will go out of their way to do stuff and I'll probably play that out. Kida & Tokiomi are hit and miss depending on what's presented to them. Byakuya just isn't really capable of doing much, but he'll try in a background way, as in putting his furniture quests on hold to dedicate his gathering to the cause.

→ Is there anything that I, other players, or the mods can do to make this more awesome for you? o7 Everyone's doing good! I just need to be more aware of the subplottings going on. Mostly I'll just handwave them doing sacrifices and things but if anyone wants to ping me for Saberlancer or Eshara, please do.

BELATEDLY, since the move isn't actually absolutely decided OOC (though that's what is being ICly "officially" pushed for) you can have Melisan know some plains stuff if you're okay with having the info for that once the move becomes decided for sure and the info is fleshed out.

:|a Otherwise it may be easier on your play for you to go with what's familiar, since we tend to flesh things out as play in an area develops and there would definitely be a wait before you'd have useful info to play with. Since there's talk of a portal that stays in the rainforest if the HQ does move, those skills will still be relevant if Melisan needs to get anything from this side.

BELATEDLY there was indeed a post about the dome sealing, but that was just partially. The parts of level 5 that weren't quite cleared out still open to the sky instead of glass.

→ Do you know about all of the world plot stuff? (And if not, how can it be made more explicit?) I KNOW LIKE... BASICS and some other stuff, I'm sure I'm out of the loop for some things =|a I KNOW NOW WE HAVE A DRAGON PROBLEM AND THERE IS A MATRIARCH AND IT'S NOT SOMETHING WE CAN BEAT BY FIGHTING, but no gears about it

→ How does your character feel about it? Do they care? Allen, Yamamoto and Darc all care in their own way! Darc is sort of befuddled and crotchety but Allen is a seasoned Random Deadly Shit Happening expert, as is Yama tho to a lesser degree.

→ Are they going to do anything about it? O yes very likely. My schedule is ahahawful, but if they're on their game and see an opening, they'll take it. Allen is being careful about his missing arm but he'll find other ways to help. Yama is always a helper and Darc is angry about everything but he knows where his bread is buttered.

→ Is there anything that I, other players, or the mods can do to make this more awesome for you? HMMM I am kind of seconding Kururu here =|a

As well as the thing about actually playing these big things out - flavortext dumps are good and all, but the ability to interact with events instead of constantly re act is good =|a

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

CONCERNING THE CURRENT WORLDPLOT AND SUCH THINGS

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BITEY GODDESS: THE STORY SO FAR

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