Question 19

[Voidus]

Non-canon playground sounds amazing. Much liek what we intended Salem to be, but it never really happened.

 

Especially duelling between existing characters. That would be very interesting.

 

 

 

sounds a tad complicated, but not unworkable. the mind control is too strong- the way it works in this setting is more like suggestion than full control, in most cases. the resurrection also makes her a High Epic, which we are drowning in anyway. 

Weaken the mind control, drop/replace the resurrection, and she can certainly find a place within not too long I think

 

and, she would be a good contender even as-is in the OoC arena

Well to make it semi-canonical we could have it be the result of Upgrade meeting Soulcaster.   

If we do get a new thread we'd need a new GM too, I have a couple of ideas for people to nominate if they'd be interested, but we'd first need a bit more support for a new thread and of course the approval of the grand master yodaSansparkles

[Edgedancer he/him]

I really like Voidus idea of the tutorial city to eliminate future one-posters from the main threads. If someone is patient enough to go through this city, then they can join our slowly moving main threads most will probably not have enough patience.

Well to make it semi-canonical we could have it be the result of Upgrade meeting Soulcaster.   

If we do get a new thread we'd need a new GM too, I have a couple of ideas for people to nominate if they'd be interested, but we'd first need a bit more support for a new thread and of course the approval of the grand master yodaSansparkles

Actually, I think it might be better to just have a collection of one-shots and the like, instead of making an actual location. Knowing us, we would be hard pressed actually letting a location that's supposed to be kind of empty of continous story actually remain like that.

Depending on the influx of newbies, it would also be possible to share the GM position around for different one-shots.

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

So, what do you guys think should be done about some of the one-post wonders? Adopting them out is one option; another would be hiding their posts if they didn't interact with anyone much. One middle ground option might be to put them up for adoption, then hide their posts; if a new player shows interest in adopting them, Voidus, Comatose or I could unhide the posts so the new player could read up on the character and integrate them into the story. That way, if they're never adopted, their posts aren't cluttering up the game thread, but the character will still be up for adoption. 

[Edgedancer he/him]

So, what do you guys think should be done about some of the one-post wonders? Adopting them out is one option; another would be hiding their posts if they didn't interact with anyone much. One middle ground option might be to put them up for adoption, then hide their posts; if a new player shows interest in adopting them, Voidus, Comatose or I could unhide the posts so the new player could read up on the character and integrate them into the story. That way, if they're never adopted, their posts aren't cluttering up the game thread, but the character will still be up for adoption. 

I'm fine with hiding them, especially in the cases like Stormgate or Blinks that are just the characters getting towards the city but doing nothing of actual consequence.

[Chandrian]

I have a question regarding the new rule with Vanillas. How many legitimate posts/how long would you need to write for the Vanilla to be allowed a new Epic? I have an idea for a Vanilla, but I can't say how long I could write for him without reiterating or growing bored.

Secondly, regarding Kitsune, do you think the total memory and power wipe resurrection would be fair at Nine tails? This would be for backstory and potential Deus Ex Machina rather than for the sake of having a High Epic.

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

I have a question regarding the new rule with Vanillas. How many legitimate posts/how long would you need to write for the Vanilla to be allowed a new Epic? I have an idea for a Vanilla, but I can't say how long I could write for him without reiterating or growing bored.

 

 

If you're only creating a vanilla character so you can get another Epic out of it, don't bother. The whole point of these rules is to cut down on the number of abandoned Epics and Epics in general, and adding an abandoned vanilla to their number isn't going to help matters. If you adopt a vanilla character, and create another Epic in addition to that, you'll be expected to stick with the vanilla character for the duration of the game. 

[Chandrian]

I wasn't aware we had many abandoned Vanillas. I'd be interested in picking one up if there's a list anywhere. The issue for me was that it feels like I can't really make an interesting Vanilla that hadn't already been done.

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

I wasn't aware we had many abandoned Vanillas. I'd be interested in picking one up if there's a list anywhere. The issue for me was that it feels like I can't really make an interesting Vanilla that hadn't already been done.

 

We don't have any abandoned vanillas, but that's my point—if we're exchanging a list of abandoned Epics for a list of abandoned vanillas, we're not solving the problem; we're creating a new one. 

[Edgedancer he/him]

We don't have any abandoned vanillas, but that's my point—if we're exchanging a list of abandoned Epics for a list of abandoned vanillas, we're not solving the problem; we're creating a new one. 

Actually, I think there are a couple around, just a really small number of characters that never were important anyway.

[Chandrian]

Got it, I'll see if I can maybe cook up a fun character in the next few days.

And wow, I realized how much of a jerk I just came off as, sorry about that.

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

Got it, I'll see if I can maybe cook up a fun character in the next few days.

And wow, I realized how much of a jerk I just came off as, sorry about that.

 

It's all right.  

[Comatose he/him]

Oops! I'm not as familiar with Astoria as I am with Portland and the Dalles, and I didn't know that 5-10 had been written out. My apologies.   I think that leaves… Aura, Kinesis, Lightwrought, Wraith, Tonedeath, Morpheus, See-Saw, Substance, Stormgate, Shatter Shot, Inhuman, Countdown, Coppercloud, Nighthunter, and Maverick (the last 5 might still be wanted by Anamaximder, though). So, that's a tentative 15. 

 

I agree with you that the characters who have already been integrated in the story should take precedence for adoption. However, I think that the one-post wonders should be in there as well, but maybe indicated as less wanted adoptions. I'm not really sure. Regardless, I  appreciate your input.

 

 

Nice compilation. As you've said, I think that we can combine the proposals to cook up a delicious fusion plate of RP rules (oh Calamity what did I just type  ). Our new cuisine can be found below (Twi Cog Edge Comatose)...

 

1. New players who want to play with an Epic character must first try playing with an adoptable Epic, and must try to make it work, before creating their own Epic. Player must prove themselves to be a responsible RPer through adoption before creating their own Epic.

 

2. When adopting an Epic, their powerset can be modified. However, these modifications cannot make said Epic more powerful, or add more than one secondary power to that powerset. This secondary power cannot turn the character into a High Epic. 

 

3. New Epics must interact with other player Epics before the new Epic's player can introduce more Epics/Establish a character in the setting rather than making up new characters for yours to interact with/New characters must be established in-setting before the player can add a secondary Epic character

 

4. No High Epics as a first character. 

 

5. Powerful Epics, who are not technically High Epics (e.g., Regalia) are restricted to players who have shown a strong indication of sticking around. This will be determined by the Jedi Council of GMs.

 

6.  If your first character is an Epic, you must create and play a vanilla character before introducing another Epic/If a new player creates an Epic of their own, they must create and play with a vanilla character before adding another Epic. This Epic cannot be a High Epic.

 

7. Ensure your Epics are taken care of—temporarily adopted or put on a bus in-story—before going on an extended absence. 

 

Yeah, that's right! Cog has color coding skillz!!   

 

So if you guys find this new dish tasty, we don't need to argue about it at all! 

 

edit: So if the GMs are the Jedi Council… does that make Twi Yoda?     

 

Thanks for this, Cog.  

 

I would combine Rules 4 and 5 into one, and merely say that highly powerful epics with the ability to drastically change any setting they enter into (Regalia) should be considered High Epics for the purpose of the "no High epics as first character rule" and that, instead of saying you can have a High Epic as your third, or fourth, or fifth character, allow the GMs to decide whether or not a person has demonstrated the level of commitment necessary to control one of these characters.

 

I'm not sure about the rule requiring players to adopt before creating an epic of their own.  Adopting a first character can be difficult, as sometimes first characters are used to get to know the story.  Also, people may come with characters already in their head, and while I think it's fine to ask them to change powersets or remove powersets, asking them to write a character other than the one they want to write for their first (and potentially only) character may drive people away.  Some people may not have the time to write more than one character, and requiring someone only writing one character to adopt seems a little over restrictive in my opinion.  

 

I agree though that we should be emphasizing epic adoption over epic creation.  I would say that either, (a.) once a person has created a first epic and vanilla, and has demonstrated they are ready for a second epic, they must adopt before making another epic of their own, OR (b.) adopting an existing epic is an option instead of making your second character a vanilla (while adoptable epics last).  This allows a person to show their own brand of creativity and unique style with their first character, and then show a commitment to the story with their second or third.  We might also run out of adoptable characters in certain cities, so if we do proceed with the first character must be adopted rule, I would argue that it should be city-specific, so people can still choose which city they want to RP in.  

 

Overall, I think that while, the different ideas could be integrated a little more to make them flow better, these ideas are quite good and would make a good set of rules.   

 

That is an excellent question, and one I plan on working out soon. Sorry again for my recent sporadic appearances. Moving houses right now so internet access is limited. I will be organizing stuff in Salem shortly!

 

As already mentioned he's not up for adoption

There are some backstory characters for him that could be adopted I suppose but not any Epics.

 

Since I've long since called dibs on red in collab docs it is greatly confusing to me to have someone else writing in it now

On the topic of rules regarding our overcrowding issue I have suggested this before but I'm a fan of a kind of tutorial city, one where there's not a lot of long term plots and Epics don't usually stick around for extended periods, there'd be very few characters from long term RPers there, a maximum of one Epic per player. Then if there are any new abandoned characters they don't really affect the storyline of other threads and we can just assume they left the city to make room for more new players.

That doesn't solve the problem with Epics who are already in other threads and have been abandoned but for those the only two options really are to either write them out of the story or else get them adopted.

I like the rules. They seemed to work pretty well on MBI while I was there. Another one that was fun for new players was the Arena, where players were allowed to organized fights with another player. The Arena was an OoG place, completely non-canon. Characters could be created that were solely for the Arena, and those could be Mistborn, Feruchemists, anything one wished.

This let one play with a Mistborn, or in this case a powerful Epic, while not detracting from the story of one dropped out shortly after. You could also use canon characters in the Arena for fun WHOOC fights.

I just thought I'd propose that as another option for new players.

 

Since we already have an OOC thread, we could use it for this purpose.  Maybe we could require new players to give their character a test drive in the OOC thread (or make a separate thread for test drives, but use the OOC for arena style fights).  Another fun idea could be that, if we have multiple new characters at once (which usually happens) we could group people together and ask them to come up with an OOC scene to show their ability to collaborate.  

 

I have a question regarding the new rule with Vanillas. How many legitimate posts/how long would you need to write for the Vanilla to be allowed a new Epic? I have an idea for a Vanilla, but I can't say how long I could write for him without reiterating or growing bored.

Secondly, regarding Kitsune, do you think the total memory and power wipe resurrection would be fair at Nine tails? This would be for backstory and potential Deus Ex Machina rather than for the sake of having a High Epic.

If you're only creating a vanilla character so you can get another Epic out of it, don't bother. The whole point of these rules is to cut down on the number of abandoned Epics and Epics in general, and adding an abandoned vanilla to their number isn't going to help matters. If you adopt a vanilla character, and create another Epic in addition to that, you'll be expected to stick with the vanilla character for the duration of the game. 

 

Bluefingers, I think it's important too to understand the purpose of these rules.  Creating collaborative fiction is difficult, and that job is made more difficult when people jump in and then leave, or create important characters they are not ready to write.  Instead of thinking of the Vanilla rule as a "quota" you need to fill, think of it as doing your part to make the story more well rounded and balanced.  It's not fulfilling the character quota that entitles you to write more characters, its the demonstration of both your skills as a collaborative story teller, and your level of commitment to this particular story.

 

 I forgot to multi-quote this, but regarding the hiding of old posts, this is something I've struggled with on MBI as well.  I'm generally against ret-conning things, and working with what we have as our canon, but I see the purpose of it in some instances, even if my personal preference is different.  My opinion would be that, if we do hide posts, that we do it as little as possible.  Since this decision involves story flow, it could be a decision left up to individual thread GMs, and that way we can all prune our threads to our own tastes and needs.  

 

One thing that would be nice is to consult with some new or prospective players, explain the new rules and the rationale behind them, and see if they have any feedback to offer, or ways to make the RP accessible while still achieving our stated goals behind the new rules.  The goals I'm seeing people talk about are as follows (feel free to add more):

 

1.  Generally, to privilege story more over the wants of individual players.

2.  To balance the number of epics and High epics with the number of Vanilla characters.  

3.  To encourage players to commit and contribute to the collective story before taking on roles that can have serious impacts on other players.  

4.  To create a more substantive 'orientation' process that will help prepare new players to meaningfully contribute once they do enter the RP.

5.  To avoid the abandonment of characters (especially characters with key plot-lines).  

 

Feel free to disagree or alter any of these, but if we keep some sort of list of goals in mind when brainstorming and explaining new rules (which I think we have done thus far), it will help us avoid making rules that are arbitrary or unduly restrictive.  

 

Good brainstorming team

[Edgedancer he/him]

Thanks for this, Cog.  

 

I would combine Rules 4 and 5 into one, and merely say that highly powerful epics with the ability to drastically change any setting they enter into (Regalia) should be considered High Epics for the purpose of the "no High epics as first character rule" and that, instead of saying you can have a High Epic as your third, or fourth, or fifth character, allow the GMs to decide whether or not a person has demonstrated the level of commitment necessary to control one of these characters.

 

I'm not sure about the rule requiring players to adopt before creating an epic of their own.  Adopting a first character can be difficult, as sometimes first characters are used to get to know the story.  Also, people may come with characters already in their head, and while I think it's fine to ask them to change powersets or remove powersets, asking them to write a character other than the one they want to write for their first (and potentially only) character may drive people away.  Some people may not have the time to write more than one character, and requiring someone only writing one character to adopt seems a little over restrictive in my opinion.  

 

I agree though that we should be emphasizing epic adoption over epic creation.  I would say that either, (a.) once a person has created a first epic and vanilla, and has demonstrated they are ready for a second epic, they must adopt before making another epic of their own, OR (b.) adopting an existing epic is an option instead of making your second character a vanilla (while adoptable epics last).  This allows a person to show their own brand of creativity and unique style with their first character, and then show a commitment to the story with their second or third.  We might also run out of adoptable characters in certain cities, so if we do proceed with the first character must be adopted rule, I would argue that it should be city-specific, so people can still choose which city they want to RP in.  

 

Overall, I think that while, the different ideas could be integrated a little more to make them flow better, these ideas are quite good and would make a good set of rules.   

 

Since we already have an OOC thread, we could use it for this purpose.  Maybe we could require new players to give their character a test drive in the OOC thread (or make a separate thread for test drives, but use the OOC for arena style fights).  Another fun idea could be that, if we have multiple new characters at once (which usually happens) we could group people together and ask them to come up with an OOC scene to show their ability to collaborate.  

 

 

 I forgot to multi-quote this, but regarding the hiding of old posts, this is something I've struggled with on MBI as well.  I'm generally against ret-conning things, and working with what we have as our canon, but I see the purpose of it in some instances, even if my personal preference is different.  My opinion would be that, if we do hide posts, that we do it as little as possible.  Since this decision involves story flow, it could be a decision left up to individual thread GMs, and that way we can all prune our threads to our own tastes and needs.  

What would you say to essentially giving people the choice to either make up their own character and have to go through the OOC plot first or if they want to jump in directly let them adopt a character?

 

I'd agree that posts whouldn't be hidden to retcon but given that we are only talking about one post wonders, we aren't so much retconing as we are editing out a superflous scene.

[Comatose he/him]

What would you say to essentially giving people the choice to either make up their own character and have to go through the OOC plot first or if they want to jump in directly let them adopt a character?

 

I'd agree that posts whouldn't be hidden to retcon but given that we are only talking about one post wonders, we aren't so much retconing as we are editing out a superflous scene.

 

1.  I like that idea a lot actually.  It adds incentive to adopt a character, but it still provides people who perhaps only want to create one character a chance to be creative.  Both pathways also support the goal of people demonstrating commitment to the story (either through their time or writing in the OOC, or through adoption of an abandoned character), so I like it.  

 

2.  And that makes total sense, even if my personal preference militates against doing even that.  

[The Swan Dragon he/him]

If someone is patient enough to go through this city, then they can join our slowly moving main threads most will probably not have enough patience.

  Totally not me... 

[Mckeedee123 he/him]

Since we already have an OOC thread, we could use it for this purpose.  Maybe we could require new players to give their character a test drive in the OOC thread (or make a separate thread for test drives, but use the OOC for arena style fights).  Another fun idea could be that, if we have multiple new characters at once (which usually happens) we could group people together and ask them to come up with an OOC scene to show their ability to collaborate. 

 

For what it's worth, I actually really love the idea of the tutorial city. Basically just a tiny, walled town built along I-5 with a handful of vanilla farmers and a bar. Epics could pass through as they travelled along the interstate, moving in and out, maybe ending up in one of the established threads.

Edited May 23, 2016 by Mckeedee123

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

So, the tutorial thread seems to be a popular idea. How would you suggest we push new members toward it? I've noticed that a lot of newbies seem more inclined to just jump right in, so how could we get them to go toward the tutorial? And how long do you think would be a good length of time to stay in the tutorial thread? 

[Mckeedee123 he/him]

Perhaps we could say that the town's place in the timeline is a few weeks before most of the RP, and so posts made in it can either stand by themselves or function as introductions to characters that could make their way to other threads later on.

 

Or perhaps we could just have the town's timeline be extremely convoluted. We could, say, have a set of 14 days, where at Day One the town is relatively stable and by Day Fourteen everything has gone to pot somehow, then have everyone sort of fill in the gaps in this crazy set of events. If we make the intro post on Day Fourteen ludicrous enough, the thread might just write itself.   It's a weird idea, but it sounds sort of interesting to me, and it's perfect for a setting where activity is likely to vary wildly. We'd just have to have a formalized system for showing when events take place.

[Blackhoof]

I'd be concerned about it becoming another Salem- intended for just cool fights and then stalling because the fights don't sustain themselves without plot.

[Voidus]

So, the tutorial thread seems to be a popular idea. How would you suggest we push new members toward it? I've noticed that a lot of newbies seem more inclined to just jump right in, so how could we get them to go toward the tutorial? And how long do you think would be a good length of time to stay in the tutorial thread?

Well one idea I had was for the featured character for the month kind of chaperone the thread. That way people can interact with some of our favorite characters and avoid any long term plots still.

EDIT: incidentally I've had 0 sleep lately so if i speak in gibberish just let me know

[Comatose he/him]

So, the tutorial thread seems to be a popular idea. How would you suggest we push new members toward it? I've noticed that a lot of newbies seem more inclined to just jump right in, so how could we get them to go toward the tutorial? And how long do you think would be a good length of time to stay in the tutorial thread? 

 

I think the tutorial thread should be out of continuity, otherwise we will run into the same problems we have with our main story threads.  One way to direct people towards it is to just make a requirement before joining one of the main cities.  I'm not sure if that's the best idea, but I'm not opposed.

 

Well one idea I had was for the featured character for the month kind of chaperone the thread. That way people can interact with some of our favorite characters and avoid any long term plots still.

EDIT: incidentally I've had 0 sleep lately so if i speak in gibberish just let me know

 

I really like that idea!  It could also give players a chance to use characters who maybe haven't gotten much action lately for plot reasons.  

[Voidus]

I think the tutorial thread should be out of continuity, otherwise we will run into the same problems we have with our main story threads.  One way to direct people towards it is to just make a requirement before joining one of the main cities.  I'm not sure if that's the best idea, but I'm not opposed.

 

 

I really like that idea!  It could also give players a chance to use characters who maybe haven't gotten much action lately for plot reasons.  

If it does work out we'd need to open a thread asap so we can get some Funtimesy goodness

(Or perhaps the last two months' featured characters could co-chaperone, that way it's not all resting on one player if we get a sudden influx of new posters)

[Edgedancer he/him]

If it does work out we'd need to open a thread asap so we can get some Funtimesy goodness

(Or perhaps the last two months' featured characters could co-chaperone, that way it's not all resting on one player if we get a sudden influx of new posters)

The quest of the newcomers and Funtimes campaining to kill Nighthound.

[Voidus]

The quest of the newcomers and Funtimes campaining to kill Nighthound.

Actually maybe that's a bad idea, then everyone will want to join the newbie thread

[Edgedancer he/him]

Actually maybe that's a bad idea, then everyone will want to join the newbie thread

Join the RP now and get one dead Nighthound for free!