June 2019 Mod Report

[plungeintofire]

Good morning, everybody! (Afternoon by the time I finally finished typing this...) As I mentioned previously, I'll be providing a monthly mod report to keep everyone up to date of any changes or edits made to the game, the way it's run, or generally the things we've been up to. Even if there's a month where nothing significant happens, we'll still put these up so you have a place to provide feedback (maybe you think something significant SHOULD have happened!) and foster open communications.

• First, I'm happy to present your current mod team. Faetan is your head mod generally in charge of metaplot, events, delegation, etc. I'll also be handling the list work on the weekends so the other two get a break from the HTML coding. Mags is your list mod! She processes new applications, changes to housing, employment, and so on. It's not an easy job, so please lend her your support. Ryn will be in charge of our Discord and making sure people are using the right channels appropriately. Sharon is The Laminator Mod because she preserves things and makes them shiny. She'll back up Mags on list duties and help me out with events. So far, I'm very happy with the work my fellow mods have done, they've really stepped up to the plate and contributed a lot of work and hours to tidying up the game.



• Rules & FAQ - This was a big one! I also need to apologize for this, because I made a mistake when I first went to tackle this project. I saw a couple of instances where a mod answer to a question conflicted with current rules or had become irrelevant, and deleted those threads. What I should have done is screened them. I'm sorry about that, so if you had a question and it mysteriously disappeared, that's on me. They'll be screened from now on, and I'll try to let people know if something has changed. Here are some rules changes we've made:

  * Muncest has been tweaked to state that you can do some minor muncesting in order to avoid being OOC with your characters. For example, if something bad happens to a player's character, and you have two who would react to that, you can. They still shouldn't have lots of on-screen or off-screen interaction with each other, but as long as you're not using one character to boost the other (praising them, giving them charms or plot items, etc.), a little is fine to preserve your character's natural IC reactions.
  * Levels of Inference has been changed. It is fine to assume details of a character's past so long as those details don't conflict with the canon information that's given or carry a much different vibe than the show allows (claiming that Pokemon's Brock was abused as a child would never be used for a light-hearted kid's show). In short, it has to make SENSE. We won't police people about this, but if someone calls you out on headcanon that seems very questionable, you might be asked to retcon those details.
  * Activity Checks will be held every three months - February, May, August, and November. Think of it as cleaning the month before elections happen.
  * How's My Driving? This HAS NOT been changed, but I'm wondering if it should be. Do you guys still want this to go up a month before activity? Would you use it? Is it helpful? Weigh in to see if these should come back or be wiped away.
  * Dropping from the game and returning no longer has you start at square one with your business. As long as no other character is running the business yours left behind, you can reclaim it. The drop page also has some extra lines to help us keep the lists tidy (such as where your character was housed) as well as easier to find links to the Will & Trust (to say where your character's belongings and businesses went) and to Memoria Park (if someone else's character drops you can leave them an epitaph). Pokemon are still loosed if you drop, but a feature will be implemented soon to give you an option to reclaim them. Stay tuned!
  * Requiring a physical copy of a character's canon source in order to make that character appable is no longer needed, as there are many Steam and downloadable games of quality content.
  * Setting changes won't be made to the map shown on the Genessia City page. I don't think they have been for years, but I cleared away anything indicating we would because that's way too hard to keep editing!
  * You can randomize your apartment upon initial application to be sent to any unclaimed room. If you would like your character to be considered as a potential roommate for randomization, let us know and we'll indicate as much with an asterisk next to your character's name.
  * Info for Somorrah was added to the FAQ page for archways & subarchways.
  * You can escort NPCs to and from both archways and subarchways, but you do NOT have to constantly accompany them to keep them anchored. Once they're out, they're out! They can only be put back with another escort or by killing/traumatizing them to the point they'd need a reset. Subarchways were meant to serve as a resource for people who were willing to pay a price to open them up, so you get more than just a comfortable setting. The spirits/mods may override this if resources are being abused to godmode, such as importing a cop army to constantly watch everything and make sure no one can commit any crimes without immediately being spotted. Keep using those communication skills to plot things out!
  * You can regain a price you paid for a subarchway if you shut that subarchway down. But to keep from flip-flopping, note that you won't be able to pay that same price again. Your character may also choose the time frame of their subarchway as long as they've experienced that time, so anything from the present or past is allowed.
  * Magical and physical impediments to prevent people from entering a subarchway will disappear within minutes. It's fine to have your character do their due diligence to prevent entry into dangerous places, but those shouldn't completely prevent someone from OOCly pursuing fun RP involving that subarchway.
  * Dying no longer results in creepy plastic people carting away the body, as that was tied to Windgate Creek. If a character dies, their body dissolves after two hours as it did previously.
  * Employment no longer uses a system that goes beyond a five-star salary. If you own multiple businesses, your five-star salary represents the fact that you're rich and can afford just about anything. You are still welcome to play with the same mechanics if you like, but it's too much of a hassle to count stars, and it seems to focus the game on your character's work life. That's fine if you want to pursue this, and if so, do it with our blessing! But we'd like characters to be able to participate in the metaplot and other features of the game without having to be punished for not serving coffee to NPCs.
  * Living in any apartment building is now free for characters. Housing also no longer reflects multi-star requirements. Use your best judgment and common sense when purchasing a house or an estate (a single character who makes a five-star salary as a doctor still couldn't afford the upkeep of a giant mansion and would likely need to live with other people, which is more fun anyway, let's be honest).
  * City Guardians and Government Leaders will have more responsibilities ICly and OOCly. Only government leaders will be able to institute new laws, and will also have the option of leaving pre-recorded holographic messages at the entrance to their city much in the same way Weiss appears to newcomers at the Bay. Their duties will be primarily social in nature. Guardians will protect the populace by fighting threats, monsters, criminals, etc. They're effectively the town sheriff. There are some overlaps in these duties, so we strongly encourage guardians and government leaders to work together OOCly (up to you if they get along ICly, as the conflict can be a lot of fun to play with). Both positions must be won through elections (player-voted, not character-voted). Guardians and leaders will need to run at least one city-wide event during their term, and provide bounty hunt hooks for the newspaper. They will also get to work with the mods for future events and have access to a special channel on Discord for such things. These are prestigious positions that require a lot of initiative and dedication, it's definitely not for the insular type of player, so make sure you're up for that if you want your character to assume such a role.



• Newspaper is back! The Horoscope and Puzzle Corner sections have been eliminated since they're a lot of extra work for things that don't really affect game play. However, if you have a character who would like to handle that section of the paper, you may.


• The CPU now has an inbox for any brief IC interactions your character needs to make with the spirits. Directly contacting them with questions will be something they can do soon, watch for the IC announcement! Keep in mind that the mod's schedule is often busy, so I can't guarantee that responses will be quick.


• Taken Characters, Player Contact, Housing, Employment, and Setting pages have all been updated to reflect the characters currently in game. Thank yooooooouuuuu Mags! Also to keep things a little easier on the eyes, comments to the employment page are screened after a year. So if you dropped and come back with the intention of reclaiming a business, finding your original comment will make writing up a request so much easier.


• Somorrah employment options were added to the open employment option. Windgate Creek options were NOT added as the city will be changing drastically in the near future. You can still work there and buy a shack (but WHY, when apartments are free and also have indoor plumbing!!!), we're just saving ourselves the effort of putting things there only to edit them out again.


• More information was given to ranch owners that allows them to specialize in one particular area, which will soon become relevant to the plot. Blackstone Ranch is available for purchase, just know you'll be pretty busy there if you want to claim it, ranching is very hard work. If you have a character who already runs a ranch, you can't claim another one.


• 'The Plot So Far' has been changed to a more compact list of metaplot points your character can find out easily from other characters or by visiting the Genessia Scientific Research Foundation. It also contains hints about how to access other interesting features of the game and/or potential metaplot events. We hope this makes it easier for players who want to pursue the mysteries of the game but aren't sure how, without giving up too many spoilers.


• The Events Calendar is up to date and linked to my own Gmail account so I can add and edit events. I will try to provide links to relevant pages as well so if an post gets buried, you can find it easily. Requesting events and plots should also be easier now, as you don't need to notify a mod every time your villain character wants to do something bad. You do need to notify the relevant guardians though so they're at least informed!


• Playing with villains should be much easier and less restrictive. The setting page for Somorrah lists all active villains and plots they're willing to do if you'd like to go shopping for some good old-fashioned character conflict. Just keep their ratings in mind, and as always, communicate!

Things I'd Like to Change

Below is a list of things I'm considering changing, but would rather check with other players first before making such changes. If you feel strongly for any of these items, please let me know!

• Bounty Hunts - Currently the rules allow two hunts to be handwaved and the third to be logged. Honestly I find this frustrating! For one, it requires the mods and players to keep track of what's handwaved and what isn't. For another, handwaved bounty hunts aren't very fulfilling or fun, especially after you (the bounty creator) wrack your brain for something that seems like it would be creative and interesting for bounty hunters to play with only to have the entire plot solved with one short paragraph. I'd like to change that so bounties are distributed with preference given to people who want to log it out. If no one steps up within two weeks, then the handwaved bounty is the one that takes place. You won't need to keep track, and it will encourage more logs and RP.


• Object Permanence - Currently, whatever's destroyed in the city stays destroyed. Before that, damage to public property would slowly repair itself. NPCs too have retained long term memories of interactions with characters when originally they'd reset and forget the person after a couple of days. This is one I have no strong preference for, and I can think of an IC reason for both options happening. Which do you prefer? Note that the CPU will ICly poll characters about this too, asking what creates the strongest emotional resonance. Either way, it'd be good to settle on just one thing and stick with it.


• Ways Points - The criminal tracking system borders on godmoding and discourages IC conflict, so I'd like to do away with that element entirely. I'm not sure the feature has seen any IC use in any case. I've also heard people want more teleportation points in general, and if so, I can have Aster Tech make some requests for characters to fulfill in order to earn more Ways Points ICly.


• Subarchways - The current rule states that if no characters from a subarchway's canon remains, it will close. I'd rather just make them permanent. From an IC standpoint, a price was paid, and it stays paid, so access would be available. From an OOC standpoint, the subarchways don't list the canon they represent, so it would be difficult to maintain and keep current. If this results in too much bulk to the settings page, we'll provide hyperlinks and possibly a separate page just for subarchways. I haven't seen much RP take place in subarchways, which is a shame as that's a relatively untapped wealth of fun setting elements (Skeletor is trying to take over Ponyland, won't someone stop him??), so if there's interest, I'll see if I can come up with charm quests to encourage further exploration.


• Key Pendants - Who has them? They're currently dormant, but I know key items can be fun for plot stuff, so if you've got one, let me know.


• Charm List - Please review this list and let me know if your character has any charms. After AC, dropped characters will be removed and their charms vanished if there wasn't a previous agreement to transfer them to someone else, so please help us update this thing!




My Personal Modly Wishlist



These are things I'd definitely like to see happen, but it's up to the players to make it so! Fulfilling this wishlist is not required or necessary, it would just make me very happy.


• Have a character start up a new bounty hunter's guild. I loved what Dave did when Sun Wukong had a list of projects and jobs to do so bounty hunters had more options than relying solely on the newspaper. Obviously this takes time and management, it's not an easy task! But it was a great one, and had a lot of fun ideas.


• See more rivalries between competing businesses. Two bakeries open across the street from each other, for example. There could be sabotage! Food fights! Crazy sales to woo customer loyalty away from the competitor! Forbidden romance between employees! It would be amazing.


• More character conflict in general. As long as the players are all on board, RP is generally more interesting when things go wrong, characters butt heads, and/or characters make mistakes. If you have a villain, give them some exercise!



I think this covers it, but honestly there was so much that I tweaked here and there I might have forgotten to mention something. If you can spare the time, please review the rules and FAQ again, and make sure your conctact info is up to date. Also check the housing, employment, and taken page to make sure we've listed everything correctly (some characters were living in three different places and we weren't sure which one was the most current!).

I also want to say thank you for making this transition so surprisingly easy. You guys have been great at providing feedback and answering questions, and have been really positive and supportive. Who says modding is a thankless job?

Feel free to post comments down below to weigh in on potential changes, leave feedback for current changes, ask questions, suggest changes, or point out errors we need to fix.

Comments

[om_nom_namur]

HMD: I'm indifferent. I've rarely received useful feedback from them (though the buttpats are nice), and if I have an issue with a character or player I tend to take it up with them in private at the time of the issue instead of waiting to call them out publicly. That said, I assume there are others who find them useful, both in terms of receiving helpful feedback and it being another channel to give said feedback. And really, the more potential channels of feedback someone has, perhaps the better. TL;DR an hmd meme isn't an essential part of my particular play style, but I will accept that it's still important and potentially essential to someone else's, so having one every so often is not going to be a bad thing.

Object Permanence: I am actually for keeping the NPCs as natural and real as possible. Of course, the point is to get players to focus on each other's characters, but for some characters, being well connected is a thing, and it's possible somebody might want to come up with a slow-burn arc over the course of a month or two, which would be impossible in some instances if the NPCs forget their own plots after a few days. As for buildings/objects that got destroyed, it makes sense that there would be npc construction crews that work on them day and night, and so if they are inexplicably back to normal more quickly than in the real world it wouldn't seem that out of place, and of course the NPCs wouldn't know anything was off or different about it, if that's the way their city has always been. It's a good discussion point, though. I look forward to reading everyone else's thoughts on the matter!

Wayspoints: Yes, more please! That would be great.

Charms: Namur has a Fayren charm, and that is accurate on the form.

[corpsacorps]

Object Permanence: I was always unclear on this honestly, because I think at some point there may have been some conflicting information? I've seen more references to things repairing themselves than, say, the one academy in Nova that was destroyed in an attack and stayed destroyed. Personally, I like the idea of NPCs retaining memories and damages remaining. Mags already said the important stuff on the NPCs, but also if damages remain, that could give villains a little more impact and a more threatening presence if things weren't back to normal quickly.

WayPoints: Gale (the last one, not this one) worked with Aster when he was Guardian to put more WayPoints throughout Nova City, particularly in places of import and high traffic, if that helps. Also I think the criminal tracking thing was brought up for potential use, like, once? Doing away with that could make for fun getaways for villains so they can go "Later, nerds!"

Subarchways: I'd certainly be interested in seeing them getting a more substantial use, other than just being kind of... there. If they remained open, I for one would be down for using my OC's subarchways (Celestia Island in Everglade, Hiltraud in Nova City) for plotting. Sure would be a shame if someone got lost in a monster filled labyrinth.

Charms: The Gale on that list, as well as Mobius, are both no longer in the game so their charms are gone!

Bounty Hunter Guild: Would this be to replace the Beacon Bounty Board, since that's pretty effectively dead? I feel like my idiot would be interested in starting up something like this (he sorta did something similar in canon already??), so I'm curious how to go about it.

As one last question, regarding character businesses, if a character wants to take over businesses that were all under one umbrella and owned by one character at some point, would anything particular be required? Would working in one of them for a month allow them to just snatch up the others, do they have to work in all of the aforementioned businesses, do they need to compete in a life or death dance competition? (You know why I'm asking, I'm sorry, s-sob)

Also, thank you for the work you and the new team are putting in. It's honestly exciting to see all the care and work that's being put into the game now.

[plungeintofire]

Re: Bounty Hunter Guild - Yes, essentially! It's similar to what I did with Mother Brain's Board of Evil Deeds, too. Make up a bunch of small jobs, criminals on the loose, treasures to seek, etc. and list them for people to sign up and tackle.

And for Gale's business, you could do something like having all his employees recognize him and be all "Boss!" "boss is back!" "Boss!" and then be stopped by his surliest bodyguard who doesn't believe it's really him and dares him to prove it...ON EXCALIBUR! Which is what they named the stripping pole, only the true king can dance on it. I figured you had plans for these places so I made sure not to delete any of the branches when I was doing clean-up. Feel free to have fun with it!

[light_of_willpower]

I'mma ask a really dumb question--but I don't remember reading about it before OR encountering it ICly at all.

What is a charm? why are they important?

[plungeintofire]

Here's a link to the FAQ page where you can read all about them!