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midmonth post: august 2019
| Midmonth Mod Post: August Hello, Aefenglom! Here's your monthly midmonth mod post - a day later than usual, but we hope to cover everything! First, as always, some reminders. They're pretty brief this month:
• Smugha Cave, as you'll read in the update below, is now open for travel. The teleportation circle has been secured, as has the area, so those wishing to explore the cave or the area around it are free to do so. While the cave is still fairly dangerous in its lower levels, it's been deemed "safe enough" for ordinary travel - though the Wilders would like to remind everyone that a Bond makes everything even safer in the Wilde. • Our activity check also begins on August 25th! While we'll have the requirements on the activity check itself as a reminder, here they are right now so you can start figuring things out: 10 comments minimum from you across two threads OR one network post/log made by you with at least 5 comments from you and a second, separate thread with at least 5 comments from you.In addition, players are allowed to take a strike if they have at least half of the necessary activity. TDM threads are acceptable as long as they're from the last month's test drive - for August's AC, it would be July's TDM. Inbox threads and personal overflow threads also work - they just have to be from the current month! And that means they must be started in the current month; this goes for regular threads as well. • The calendar has been updated to reflect these changes as well, so check it out! The Aefenglom Journal The Aefenglom Journal is sad to announce what we've all already noticed: the cool Witch-made temperatures of Juril have faded into Aguril's usual heat. Take care not to get overheated, Aefenglom - though those more favorable towards warmer temperatures must be much happier for summer's arrival. If you happen to be one of those, treasure it: autumn is right around the corner, and the heavy rains that come with it as well. Lùnasa went smoothly this year as well, a fact all of the staff here are thankful for; we even have a few new marriages to celebrate! We here at the Aefenglom Journal hope all who read us had just a good a time, and perhaps made a few new friends and acquaintances at any ceremonies you may have stumbled (or been brought) into. And, speaking of things going smoothly, the Coven would like us to inform the city that the plans to set-up a functional teleportation system to the cave have been successful! Any and all of those interested in visiting the newly reclaimed Smugha Cave must simply go to the Coven's Leyroom, which is located on the first floor, where the Astralarium once was. For those looking for the Astralarium, please head up the floating stairs in the main hall - it's now located closer to the stars it was intended to study. Finally, we hope that everyone has a wonderful rest of the month! Meán Fómhair is coming up to herald in the fall - take part and take home some wonderfully delicious apples, cultivated specially for years around this area. OOC Updates
• We'll be looking to reformat our FAQ soon to make it easier to navigate, both for preexisting questions and for those that players may want to ask. Please keep your eyes peeled for that one - it should hopefully be up and running at the start of September, just in time for the next round of applicants to peruse for information and answers. • We'll be looking to better reflect the events that happen in event posts on the rest of the city, as we do know that these have fallen a little short despite the impact that the events have had. We also know that there have been some concerns about the levity vs seriousness of events, as well as the atmosphere of the social climate at large. With this upcoming event, we hope to better touch on this, as well as the tonal balance of the game itself. • Frequency and timing of posts, as well as breather vs heavy plot - this falls under the previous point, to a degree, but we want to make sure that we have options for everyone to explore, and that there's no lulls while still providing rest to ensure that there's minimal burnout. Plot after plot after plot can be exhausting, but we also don't ever want to completely put a stop to the release of plots via events. • We promise we're working on additional past feedback we've received as well! You have been heard, and we want to make Aefenglom as wonderful of a game for as many people as we can, while staying true to what it is. We're truly grateful that people care enough and want to see this game improve as much as it can that they would bring concerns to us, wherever they might be brought. Feedback Once again, we would like to offer everyone the chance to give feedback here, if there's anything that you've noticed or would like to possibly see implemented! Talking Points:
• Quests. In general, what kind of quests would you like to see more of? How can we improve with these? What's working, and what isn't? • Plot investigation feedback. So many of our investigations are amazing (and by so many we mean all, even the shitpost ones), though we apologize again for the delays in getting back to everyone for these. If you have any particular feedback or would like to comment on the execution of the checks, let us know! • General feelings on: the game, the timing of posts, how events and such are set up, etc - we're always looking to know how you feel about these things, to ensure that we can have the best results for the game as possible. • And more! Tell us what's on your mind. |
TDM threads and AC
Up to now, TDM threads from the previous month were eligible for current's month AC. Here is an example from the June midmonth post. To quote
In accordance with this, in July's midmonth there was a note that TDM threads rule does not apply since June did not have TDM.
So according to these rules, July's TDM threads should eligible for August AC. Or is the system changed and TDM from the current month are eligible in the current AC round?
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Feedback on Event Structure, Mostly
It looks like a couple things that were on my mind have already been acknowledged here. It felt very strange having the NPC population seem to completely shrug off the doomsaying dream everyone shared, and also not really having any idea how that situation resolved itself until a while after, so I definitely look forward to whatever you guys do with it in the future. I know keeping everyone informed on ambient social changes can be a lot of work.
Beyond that, it seems like the structure of events have been a bit two-note so far? Almost all game-wide event posts have been either A) a festival, or B) a dream about something in the past or future (ostensibly). As I player, I’ve already sort of burnt out on festival logs. They are so frequent and similar enough in atmosphere that I’ve mostly just been skipping them the last couple months. I know other people probably feel differently (and may get more out of casual social mingle logs) but with them happening every month… it’s hard to stir up the energy to tackle similar prompts so often. Personally, I feel like it’s easier to get excited about the chance to party and mingle when it isn’t something that happens all the time.
As for the dreams, it’s started to feel a bit like all the interesting things have already happened in the past, and that nothing as interesting is happening in the present. There have been interesting scenarios put forward in the dreams, but the fact that they are not real and everyone is aware they aren’t real takes away a major sense of stakes. Helping NPCs suffering in the dreams doesn’t amount to anything because they aren’t real people, and nothing you do there will change the actual flow of events. (At least, as far as I can tell!) Dying and infection in that context doesn’t have lasting consequences, which means that upon realizing they are in a dream, it seems like the smartest thing to do for most characters is just avoid the drama and wait for it to be over (and to try to take in some information if they are the investigative sort).
That isn’t to say I think that dreams are a bad model in general - they work great for TDMs, because they allow the flexibility to mess around. It just seems like every noteworthy thing has been in dream form, or in a side quest that your character has to sign up for (and most likely should have a partner for). The side quest stuff has been great and I can see that you put a ton of effort into them, but in some ways its feels that you always have to be proactive to experience any of the conflict in the setting.
Make no mistake, I think proactivity in players (especially in a game this big) is mandatory for them to be constantly involved in plot and adventure, but it would be cool to have stuff happen in the actual city that is as dramatic and that could hook people into the situation without them already having to be ready to go looking for it. (Note I don’t just mean shade attacks or whatever, just anything with conflict, whether it be social, political, or anything like that.) Proactivity is important, but it is also nice to have a mix of reactive/defensive play. It’s great to go find trouble, but it can be really helpful to have trouble come to you sometimes as well.
Which, I think, is the role that dreams have been filling, but for reasons mentioned above, I think the impact they have is lesser compared to the impact of stuff happening in the present, current context. It gives people things they can affect and change, and sets up a situation where there is a reason to make a difference. With everything happening outside the city, it’s easy for everyone to grow complacent and remain uninvolved.
I think the Black City will be an interesting event despite all of this, but it is again something that is happening only in a dream context, which was a little disappointing. Not that the scenario set up there seems like it even could happen IRL at the moment, but having a mixture of both these things seems like it might be more ideal. Dreams for more outlandish stuff, but also some real drama and conflict in the city that can be dealt with in between. That’s my feeling, anyway.
As a last note: the one city wide log that I can recall that didn’t follow this pattern was the group meeting that the Coven called - but unfortunately I think that was brought down by the mods not having the time to devote to it, which can’t really be helped. That was really the time that people needed to be able to communicate with Coven NPCs, to clarify information or at least have faster access to OOC answers, but real life got in the way, which is understandable.
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1) NPC Reactions
Only a few people went out of their way to check the reactions of the NPCs. That being said, on the event post, it was stated that the rest of the festival was concluded fairly quickly and in silence; this is entirely because of the dream.
2) The Festivals
ICly, the festivals are ultimately because of the conflict in the world; the civilians are trying to pretend nothing is wrong and being willfully ignorant. The game also happened to start during festival season - we are not going to be having as many in the future, and introductions for new characters are something we are trying to get characters to explore ICly. Either way, an abundance of festivals is not going to be routine.
3) Dreams
Not all of the dreams have occurred in the past! The dreams occurring in the past and future are primarily meant for info gathering. There are consequences for dreams occurring in the present; they simply haven't been revealed yet (that will be part of September).
4) Noteworthy Events
In our experience, people don't tend to like mandatory events. Things occurring in a one-day dream or in quests that people have to sign up for are to avoid the mandatory aspect and to try and have players engage with the setting.
5) Events in Aefenglom
Again, we are trying to avoid mandatory events! That being said, there are plans for more conflict within the city itself in the future; while the snow-in-Juril was city-wide, it did brush against some tensions. There are further tensions in the city, many of them deep, but we do expect players to engage with it themselves in many cases.
6) A Summons
That meeting was for information sharing between PCs and to the NPCs and was specifically because the native characters were unsettled. At that time, there hadn't been anything like the dream sharing before; it looked pretty bad. Parliament wanted the mirrorbound's take on events... they weren't going to share theirs.
on 4 and 5
But I do want to point out that there is a huge difference between avoiding mandatory events and setting things up so that every major happening that people can play with isn't actually happening. You can have a city-wide event with major consequences be opt-out by the simple fact that someone could be outside the city, laying low, or even just by offering a less extreme playground in the midst of the chaos (the witches have constructed a safe-zone in x part of the city sort of stuff). You can set fire to a city, and give players the option to say, "Yeah, okay, but my character's house didn't burn down because I don't want to play that."
I'm gonna use this black city dream as an example, since its theme is pretty clearly one that not everyone would want to play with. In this case, not having the twisted master/monster dynamics happen between any Aefenglom NPCs is a good choice! It could entirely break the ongoing premise of the game, and it really isn't very opt-out-able. But at the same time, it would be just as effective to have the black city be an actual city existing in this world. Even if the black city is revealed as an actual place, no players are required to interact with it because it is a separate city that their characters would have to travel to. Even if chaos from the black city is brought into Aefenglom, no player has to be a part of it since this is a big setting, and characters can always be involved in something else elsewhere. Everyone would want to save the captive monsters, but diplomatic (or not-so-diplomatic) relationships between governing parties could prevent that from becoming a playability issue. There's always something that can be used as an individual player's reason to not interact with something they don't want to touch.
Now, this is just another example. I don't expect every major event to be a catastrophe or for every dream to change the face of the city, I promise. I'm just throwing out extreme examples to show that if even the more extreme events can be opt-out, then all the others can be too. In my experience, players are much more likely to engage in something that will, in fact, affect their character. The dreams don't do this on their own, and most of the quests don't read as something that any character will strongly believe in so much as just jobs to do while everyone is stuck here. The quests are an awesome idea, so I'm definitely not complaining about them. Just pointing out why they don't necessarily work for this purpose.
+1
If anything, the ruined Aefenglom and Black City dreams were as mandatory as it gets - as part of the game, every mirrorbound was forced to go there and experience that. Even if they opted not to do anything, the Black City is a fairly disruptive experience. It being a dream doesn't really change that, with how much character triggering content it contains. So if things can be that mandatory and unavoidable in dream form, surely there is space to have conflict happen within the city that you can avoid just by staying home.
I'm not arguing that the Black City was too much, here, I'm just saying that if you are okay with that amount of forced involvement, having some ruckus in the city would actually be LESS invasive.
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Starting off with the easiest: your note regarding quests. We mentioned them as they had been brought up on the post at large, and wanted to address them as an example of something that is entirely optional as opposed to mandatory while still holding incentive for players and characters alike.
As for the rest - the Black City is one that exists in the setting, and is very much real. Consequences of characters' actions in the dreamscape version of Dorchacht will be very real, but we ask that players wait and see what next month's event will be in regards to what those consequences are.
Our apologies at large for not better clarifying that the dreams aren't mandatory. Much like the festivals, players can opt to take the information we provide and run with it elsewhere for something entirely different. There's not anything to read between the lines, here, despite our fondness for open-endedness and mystique in logs. Not every character is going to participate in the TDM dreams, after all, and the same goes for events in-game. Both are canon in the overall game, and have hints into the setting at large - but they will never be mandatory, and that information will be provided in other events or quests. This can be follow-up for people who participated in them, but also access for those that didn't.
Characters can sleep through dreams without ever participating in them or remembering them, much like we often do in our real lives. They can also realize that they're in a dream - which we'll always indicate at the beginning of a dream post, whether TDM or event - and do with that what they will. Some can wake themselves up, or decide to seclude themselves in a corner of the dream to resume "sleeping," or even use Dream Rules to change the dream and effectively leave the collective dreamscape.
We also want to clarify that shared dreams are indicative of PCs being Different, and the Litha one for the Midsummer Nightmare was a special case. NPCs/natives in present day Aefenglom have only been present once, after all, and there are nearly no records of unintentional dreamsharing on such a large scale; this won't happen often, and is a sign of something afoot.
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If so, I feel that clarifying that could be helpful in future dreams that contain heavy subject matters players aren't comfortable putting certain characters through for whatever reason (example: if someone has a kid character and there's a dream that's heavy on the murder and horror, they can have the kiddo sleep peacefully through it and not be scarred for life). I'm personally unlikely to do so because getting exposed to horrible shit is just true to the spirit of Elliot's canon, but it's always nice to have the option.
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FAQ questions
With all due respect mods, I'd feel a little more confident about this new system if there weren't currently 20 unanswered comments in the FAQ, some of them are getting to be a month old. The Intro log from this month has 4 unanswered comments, and Wilder Training Log has 3. I've also heard that some PMs haven't had responses in over a week either.
I understand modding is a lot of work, and that you guys have been busy. Really I do! And I hate being that asshole who is voicing complaint, but often not getting a question answered means a player can't participate in plots or build CR. Or, they get frustrated enough to go rogue and make stuff up like I often do - which isn't ideal either and I know it!
So is there any possible reassurance you guys can give us that this new system will be effective? I'm not at all saying you guys need to be around 24/7 to answer questions, not at all! I am one of the first to say mods have a hard job! But usually a reasonable maximum wait time for a mod response is one week - is there a way that your new system will achieve that? I'm honestly asking that, since I don't know what's going on behind the scenes.
I'm sorry mods, I don't mean to come down as hard as I am, but this has been a rather sizable sticking point for me and other players that I feel like it's important to voice my concerns.
+1
+1
But, as mentioned above-I do have a character who can't leave the city, and it's difficult to figure out what to do for plans!
Is there something we can do as players to assist? Should we expect that there will be a few day delay, or a particular day that FAQ questions or IC inboxes are responded to? Just as a thought!
+1
it takes away from the desire to actually get involved, and that can heavily affect one’s chances of staying in the game or wanting to play anything that isn’t sol flavor. I really do hope that this implemented system will work better, but some clarification on how it’s going to work would be nice. it gives us a better way to gauge how much wait time there should be. The mod contact page says “let us know if you don’t get a reply in 72 hours”, which, to be honest, I’m a little lost on how to proceed from now on. It’s been a lot more than 72 hours for a lot of things, and poking you guys individually on plurk doesn’t feel like the best way if I need to reach all of you as a team, and when pming the account doesn’t seem to work either.
not saying that you guys aren’t looking to getting to these or that you aren’t aware. as you’ve said, the summer came hard for all of you at the same time, and this happens. you guys are at the beginning of a game, it’s still got that new baby smell. a back up plan is a really good idea, in case these things happen, and whatever else is being planned. hence, some clarification (on the new system) would be nice for those who’ve been waiting.
+1
i'm kind of at a loss on a solution but i do agree that efforts have been made to reach out and it seems to be silence
+1
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Mods, you've gotten quite a bit of feedback here already and I don't have too much to add to what's been said already + what I already gave in the last mid-month post.
A lot of players have raised the question of questions taking a long time to get answered. While I understand the desire to balance keeping things in suspense/mystery and not outright handholding us through every single detail such as, say, what color my character's underwear can be, I think a model of logs/information being highly dependent on mods dispensing it isn't working. I've greatly enjoyed the investigations I've done and been able to carry out, but I also struggle with being able to get information I do get out more widely in a format more interactive than a network post, and then I also worry about the information being wasted since it's not in a place where anyone could pick it up and run with it if necessary -- which is why I've been making an effort to link interesting investigations results I get in the Discord chat, where people can play with them.
I'll admit it worries me that the latest event log -- while it's a setting I'm enthusiastic about playing in -- seems to invite more questions, when my impression is that the mod team is already struggling under the questions it already has.
I want this game to succeed and I want to help it succeed. I want to know what from me, as a player, would actually be most helpful for the mods at this point. I don't believe players/threads should be so dependent on the mods that they can't play without input from them, but I also don't want to overstep any bounds -- but in the current system, I find myself running into that a lot. I think it might help if it was clearer what the lines are between what people should feel free to make up themselves, or if we could set up a way for players to co-create things more with the mods? For example, re: follow-up events on dreams, should players feel free to submit suggested quests/events that tap into NPC reactions more?
+1
It comes out a lot in an event post like Black City, which made me realize the issue I was noticing. Your event posts are generally written in a way that provokes intrigue and invites questions, rather than answering them upfront. Which would be fine if you had all the time in the day to answer individual questions, but it already sounds like you're struggling with the work load, so it may be helpful to focus event posts more on answering questions instead of asking them.
"Take care that your friends, your peers, the strangers you've arrived with, don't find themselves attending the auction block - it's a very real possibility in this place, with an unknown Monster unattended and uncollared.
It should all be harmless, though. After all, this is only a dream... isn't it?"
I noticed this in particular in the current event post. This is RP, so obviously we all love suffering. Of course people are going to want to be kidnapped and sold on the slave market. Yet, in the actual post you only sort of coyly refer to it at the end of a detailed explanation of what the NPCs are doing, without spending much time explaining the mechanics of what will happen to a Monster that is caught alone or gets in troubles, as opposed to just implying where they might end up as if it is a theoretical that won't actually happen.
Which, of course, invites a lot of questions in turn. You'd save yourself (and players) a lot of time by trying to anticipate what character will likely try to do/how they'll get involved, and explain some of those scenarios in the post instead of waiting for them in the questions. Overall your posts give a lot of interesting world building clues and ideas, but don't tend to give concrete answers where they will definitely be needed.
In summary: the event posts have been super evocative and interesting as flavour text, but could stand to focus more on the outcomes of inevitable player actions and explaining limitations.
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The new FAQ system is going to be a combination of things. First, a restructuring so that questions that have already asked can be more easily found; a lot of the questions we've gotten have been repeats, and making the answers more easily available will save time for the person wondering and the modteam replying. Second, we are dedicating set days/times to answering questions (both on the FAQ and PMs, the plotting page, etc.) While bringing on additional moderators for answering questions has been discussed, because of the type of questions we tend to receive (delving deep into world structure and lore), we think it would actually delay answers more. While we would love to promise that this is going to give the 72 hour turnaround time that we want, life happens; while we think it's unlikely that the entire modteam is going to be hit at once again, the universe definitely showed us that it could. Still, we can promise that we are going to try our very best.
As far as what players can do to assist: there are a few things! Definitely expect that there may be a delay of a few days, with longer delays for in-depth plotting comments. Most importantly, though, is that we don't want players to feel like they have to ask a question for everything they're getting up to. If it's investigation, of course, but no one needs to ask for things like house features or if they can work a permanent job or even if they can start a business! Small scale things like that are perfectly fine.
Submitting follow-up events and quests after events like the dreams would be a great way for players who are looking for answers but want others to be involved to contribute, as opposed to just an investigation run by themselves. We can also certainly try to be more detailed in the event logs themselves; honestly, our biggest concern with that is that the posts will get even longer and that it might restrict creative freedom. For example, in the Black City, not everything the NPCs did to capture Monsters was the same or even something we wanted to spell out. If you wanted your character to be enchanted to follow or caught in a bear trap, we want you to have that option. Still, we can certainly try and make sure that concrete details are written down.
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As for me personally, I know 72 hours is a time limit the mod team has set, but I still say a week is probably more reasonable. Mods are human and your lives are pretty busy. I mean feel free to try to aim for 72 hours as your own personal goal, I'm not about to break out torches over it.
Finally in regards to the event logs, I'm going to politely disagree with some of my other players in that I don't really mind the open-endedness. I mean some stuff could probably be made slightly more concrete, but length is a legitimate concern and I've been in games where the prompt descriptions were very specific and didn't allow for much creative freedom - and it was honestly more restrictive than helpful, especially if you played a character who would do things differently than what the narrative was heavily suggesting. I like the amount of freedom I get with Aefenglom when it comes to plotting events/quests/witch powers out.
I guess a compromise is make sure there's concrete details on important parts of an event or quest, but don't feel like you have to do it with everything.
anyway, thanks for the response mods! I appreciate it!
Feedback on Events
The festivals themselves are really fun and cute ideas, and I think they've served well to create a little bit of a light-hearted atmosphere, their close temporal proximity to one another leaves me feeling a little burnt out with them. I've found myself looking at the logs trying to find something more unique about them to play off, but am really scraping the bottom of the barrel by just picking out like one or two sentences that make it feel a little different (if anything at all). If there was more time between these types of logs, I think I'd enjoy them a lot more and get more out of them both on an IC and OOC level.
Additionally, I don't feel like a social mingle type log is really necessary every month, not even on an app month. As I said, now that the game is a handful of months old, I think breaking up the pattern and allowing for maybe more serious city-wide event logs to happen earlier in the month might be a good way to shake things up. They don't have to be overly-dependent upon game mechanics so newbies don't feel overwhelmed, but it would probably be a good way to throw people right into the action. Similarly, skipping social mingles altogether for the month as things ramp up and then using those to balance the rising tension would also be baller. I won't speak for everyone else since I cannot do that thing, but I know for me personally, my IC and OOC enjoyment of the more light-hearted and social-focused events/logs would increase dramatically!
That being said, I think in terms of the more plot-oriented events, I would also like to see more consequences associated with the city-wide events and/or larger ramifications from the plot-oriented quests. Right now, the city feels really empty and hollow. Like it feels almost like outside of specifically named NPCs, the mirrorbound, and then a handful of unnamed NPCs that are necessary for the daily functioning of the city, there's no other life here. It can definitely be a difficult thing to do, but I think breathing a little more life into the city with NPCs having more reactions to what's happening around them as Quix suggested would make the game feel more well-rounded and create more motivation for characters to not be complacent within the city or solely focused on their struggles with monster changes, Bonds, and magic.
That being said, I do really appreciate the open nature of the logs/events. I feel really free to get what I want out of each log, which is not something I've experienced in previous games I've been in. I also think that there are really great foundations here already for something more to evolve and develop, and I'm really looking forward to where things head in this game. Lastly, I appreciate y'all being open and frequently asking for feedback the way you have been!
Thanks for doing such a good job with what y'all got going and making this game!
+1 on consequences!
Characters here are turning into monsters, learning crazy magic, fighting an unknown and very contagious enemy, and yet the biggest changes that have taken place in the game's world have thus far taken place... outside of the game's world. Outside of reality even. This definitely adds to the disconnect between us players and the world we're playing our characters in. Even dreams, especially ones shared by an entire community, can have lasting effects on said community, and it'd be cool to maybe follow-up those dream events with something related that's entrenched in the game world. From something as small as goofy news tidbits ("leviathan dream leads to deep sea fishing craze!") to something as impactful as the next month's big event ("monster riots break out in capital! newcomers drafted to evacuate town hall!").
This game is still pretty new, honestly, and you guys provide a lot for us to delve into, so I have yet to feel wanting even when I'm not interested in a particular event. And for all I know, these dreams are a set up for something bigger. I'm just a sucker for long-term consequences and changing status quo in my games! So I thought I'd chime in with my two cents.
+1
+1 on dream consequences
my character knows this is a dream, why would they waste energy and fight back? why would they try and do anything if they know there is no repercussion, just a “warning”? some might even urge themselves to sit and wait until it’s over, then start searching the town for clues and ideas in the real world. it may be lessening involvement here too.
+1
My character is one who normally is proactive about wanting to help people, but the whole "it's a dream" thing makes him a lot less motivated because he's also pragmatic and reality-based. Plus as a healer, he's kinda useless because no one's actually getting hurt in these or they're already dead. So while I like the ones for TDM, I feel like many of these dream events I'm just twiddling my thumbs and waiting for it to be done because I don't have much to do.
+1
But adding my +1 here as well because the dream events also make it difficult for me to get invested OOC, personally. My character knowing it's a dream to begin with makes it less likely for IC pressure to force him to act in the first place, but I admit I feel a bit of the same lack of... urgency? I'm not quite sure how to phrase it. I like the ideas but I feel less inspired to actually play with them because I know there will be little actual impact, aside from some unpleasant post-nightmare feelings.
That said, I'm honestly enjoying this game a lot! There's so much to work with, and even if the dream events haven't been grabbing me, I'm never short on actual things to do. The world you guys have built is really cool and rich as a concept, and I'd definitely like to see more plot-related, ic actions = ic consequences type stuff to keep it dynamic!
Thanks so much for being so open to feedback!
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Quests
For me, I'm a little confused in how investigations are supposed to be conducted? And I would love to conduct some IC investigations, and make it possible for other people to be included in them, either on the network or in logs.
Maybe it would be possible to make a separate form or table in Quests that lead to investigation? Or just make it more clear for clueless people such as myself? These could be special quests of one quest per character of investigating going ons within the city or outside of it-like the Wilder Quests have been with expanding exploration! Things that can help expose us to politics, to culture, to the possible tensions between the different groups of people in the city-heck with how there's no theater in the city-or magi tech or things of that ilk!
Basically investigations that paint the world a little more. It could just be tidbits, and we as writers could expand on that!
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If there's something that you want to look into or that your character would like to look into, whether it's from a quest, a mod event, or just something in the setting, please comment on the Plotting post. It doesn't have to be anything grand! If you need a lead, you can PM us and we can offer a few interesting things to ask about. (We know there are currently things waiting on us; we are catching up after the disastrous summer that hit the mod team.) What people then do with that information is up to them - dispensing it via the network, threading it out, or contacting a few trusted people and having it slowly dispensed that way.
We don't want to start special quests of one per character because that could accidentally introduce a competitive element. That being said, we are planning on changing the quest system slightly to show more differentiation between low-impact, day-to-day quests and higher-impact quests that may reveal overarching plot and/or setting information.