midmonth post: august 2019

[moustre]

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: • The Black City will be ready for exploration at 3PM EST on the 18th! It'll be rather similar to the midsummer nightmare that characters previously experienced. But, mind, there'll be some... rather obvious differences. • 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! And now, the journal! 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 • Our apologies as a whole for how the summer has been so far, our mirrorbound friends. We know that things have been slow and sparse, but we're working to catch up with everything now - we hope to be up to date shortly, but a great deal many real life obligations hit the entire modteam at once. A new system is being implemented to ensure that we get to FAQ answers and PMs as quickly as possible, and we'll be looking to include a similar one for investigation checks as well. Thank you so much for your patience - we look forward to getting everything squared away for August soon! • 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: • Info posts that you'd like clarification for, as always. We should be able to get the Bonds rehaul completely finished soon, as we do know that there were quite a few requests for this one. • 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. We honestly appreciate all kinds of comments, and we want to make Aefenglom a wonderful, fun, and comfortable game for everyone who joins. This post will remain unscreened, so if you'd like to take something to a more private venue, you can either PM us or comment here.