January/February State of the Game / Schedule Update.

[powersthatbe]

It’s pretty obvious that we’re far behind schedule. Matt’s pending move has been absorbing far more time and psychic energy than expected, so a lot of this, unfortunately, won’t be resolved until the end of the month. With that in mind, the date of the final event mingles is being moved back to the 17th, and the return to Liminal Space / end of the Jaunt/Walkabout to the 24th. Apps will still be open from the 21st-29th, and new characters introed on March 1st. Thank you very much for your tolerance and patience.

Because of the ongoing delays, any comprehensive attempt to address any other issues in the game is also going to have to wait until March, but people are more than welcome to mention, catalog, and discuss those issues here - it’s just that voting on and implementing solutions will have to wait.We’re still working on sorting out and implementing some of the suggestions from last SotG

That being the case, the only business for the State of the Game which will be getting its own header is the vote for the next Jaunt. As always, voting is weighted - first choice receives two votes, second choice one vote, third choice zero votes. Voting will be open until 11:59 PM CST February 16th, after which results will be posted and Walkabout voting will go up.

Compass Fell:
A team amnesia plot. Dropped onto a hex-grid of wilderness terrain with no tools and no memories, the Travelers must find a way out and determine just who or what has hijacked their Jaunt - or what the Trumps really have in mind for them. Both infiltrators and investigators will have the option of total or partial amnesia, and some investigators will be able to avoid memory loss altogether if they wish, but this is a jaunt that will blur that investigator/infiltrator line - whether that sounds cool or terrible to you, please keep it in mind.

Hearts of Hypnos:
In a bleak and empty extradimensional space float the mindscapes of a few troubled souls. The mysteries of who they are and what they need to be healed can only be answered by diving into those minds, where emotions, concepts, and archetypes of the collective unconscious made physical threaten the minds of the Travelers, who may join the lost souls here if they can’t successfully confront their own inner demons. This jaunt contains elements of the player-plot concept known as a heart game, a confrontational journey through a character’s psyche with ramifications for their relationships and state of mind, and would heavily prioritize investigation over infiltration. In the poll below, please let us know if you’d be interested in running a Heart Game for your character - if not enough players would be interested, we will not be running this plot regardless of how many votes it gets.

Code of Dishonor:
A Ninja Fantasy plot, with warring martial artist clans and traditions, spirit-summoning and elemental magic, lies, betrayal, and assassination against a background of forbidden cities, imperial demands, and the threat of foreign invasion. The most straightforward and swashbuckling of the available plots, it will still, like the others, contain metaplot elements.

Poll #17304 Jaunt Voting

This poll is closed.
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 34

View Respondents

My first choice for the March/April Jaunt is:

View Answers

Compass Fell
10 (29.4%)

Hearts of Hypnos
4 (11.8%)

Code of Dishonor
20 (58.8%)

My second choice for the March/April Jaunt is:

View Answers

Compass Fell
15 (50.0%)

Hearts of Hypnos
5 (16.7%)

Code of Dishonor
10 (33.3%)

Comments

Thoughts on the Next Jaunt

[powersthatbe]

[littleladyluck]

yes hi hello I would like to offer Monaco for a heart game?

[leftbehindagain]

Since there isn't a space in the poll for it: Should Hearts of Hypnos win, I'll probably only do a heart game if I infiltrate one of mine. Otherwise, no thanks.

[experimentore]

For HoH I'd be happy to offer a heart game with Vilari, Dick or Asa.

[senpaidol]

With the wrong account, should HoH win, I'd be up for a Heart Game with Beatrice. I had plans for a Shadow Dungeon in a few months that I could adapt, so why not.

[morbirdinterest]

Tentatively signing up for a Shuu heart, is Hearts of Hypnos wins. /o/

[howexciting]

If it wins, which it likely won't at this point, I'd volunteer Leo to run a heart game.

Re: Thoughts on the Next Jaunt

[doitforhim]

I feel like Hearts of Hypnos would do best as the second jaunt that we have when we pick two in a row in one poll. Because of the nature of Heart Games, even if it's not quite as intense as a straight-up heart game, I feel like having some world info and planning time well ahead of the jaunt would be best? That way everyone's not scrambling last-minute to get everything oriented.

+1

[mysunnydisposition]

I really want to do this some time, but yeah, I would like a lot more time to prepare if we're going to.

New Business

[powersthatbe]

Feedback

[powersthatbe]

[bite_the_hand]

I'm not entirely sure what header I should put this under but

What if, instead of a Jaunt, Heart Games were added as an official option for dungeons? It seems like there are some people that really want the Jaunt, but also plenty that really don't, so making it more optional than just being forced to go on Walkabout to avoid it might be good? Plus it seems like a really good way to fix broken or breaking characters without having to fight a Shadow, but that requires careful timing. And there's no way the timing of a Jaunt will ever by right for everyone. Plus then people wouldn't be completely missing out if they aren't ready to run a Heart Game right now but were hoping to do so down the road.

[thornsofmalkav]

I'm definitely in favor of it being a dungeon option.

+1

[morbirdinterest]

I would prefer this more than them being a Jaunt. I feel like, as a game mechanic, they have a lot more in common with dungeons than with Jaunts.

+1

[amadine]

It may just be the lack of info talking, but Heart Games sound pretty personal and small-group in scope in a way that's really suited for a dungeon.

+1

[leftbehindagain]

While Shadows (or even bosses) are by no means a required part of a dungeon as thing stand, I think this is a great suggestion. I know Lita was talking about doing one before she dropped, but it'd be great to have heart games down as a possible option officially.

[laceandcarnage]

With this jaunt too, I think the need for a short description is also kind of working against it. Like, just Heart Games alone sounds very limiting - you don't know if you're stuck in the one Heart Game the entire time, or if you can interact with people in other Heart Games, or if there's anything outside of Heart Games in the setting. Presumably it's not just Heart Games alone, but it does make it hard to know if it's something that your characters will fit into if you're not interested in running a Heart Game.

+1

[whydoyoushine]

Yeah, I'm kind of on the fence about this as an entire Jaunt concept, but they sound like they'd be excellent on a dungeon scale.

[littleladyluck]

Seconded. Er... Sixth'd? As a jaunt it seems interesting but it may work better as a very involved dungeon.

+1

[professorwolf]

Yes, this. I'm not even sure how it would work as a Jaunt, with lots of little... mini-dungeons for characters? It sounds divisive. But as a dungeon option, I heartily approve, especially since a lot of people are already planning dungeons and would probably be happy to use mechanics like this in them.

+1

[memorizza]

I'm about it for all of the reasons already stated and since I'm on mobile all I have is this here Plus One

[what_do_you_see]

Not sure what this should be under, but can I suggest maybe a shorter Jaunt? I have heard there were 4 week ones in the past, and the 6 week ones seems to have been stretching out and dragging a bit. This is possibly just me, but I thought I would put it out there.

[laceandcarnage]

Tentative +1 here - since for the jaunts I've been in so far, it does seem like at this point nearer to the end of the jaunt things seem to slow down, possibly due to people feeling a bit burnt out.

I don't think that jaunts always need to be shorter, though. More that it could be good to have some variation, with some jaunts having six mingles but others having just four or five, depending on what suits the jaunt best. And if it's shorter, we could just have some extended downtime in liminal space.

[amadine]

Continuing the trend of "I'm not entirely sure where to put this, but...", a couple of things that might just be me, but I thought were worth mentioning:

1) There seems to be a trend recently of mingles being pretty spread out - across a city, across a country, anywhere on a ship, ect. - and centered largely around reacting to various environmental factors, be they physical (a storm, a lunar phase) or social (a festival, an upcoming election). It's made it a little hard to engage with some of them, and has led to the most recent couple of Jaunts feeling pretty scattered and disconnected. It's a little better this Jaunt, since while the characters are split between the two ships, the area's more contained, but there's still a sense of everyone reacting adjacent to one another rather than being in the same place. Having a couple of mingles per Jaunt that are a short-term event might help both to bring people into one place (for easier exchange of information/spying/other shenanigans), and give people who're having a bit of a harder time grabbing hold of the Jaunt pin down a direction by giving them a couple of concrete things to do.

2) I know a part of the overall slowdown recently is life being determined to gnaw people to bits, but just from general chatter, it feels like there's also a degree to which we're starting to drown a bit in heavier plots. It might help to - not this next Jaunt since we're votiing for options now, but maybe the one after - have another lighthearted Jaunt, along the lines of Questing Country or Doki Doki, where there aren't any city-wide/country-wide/world-wide stakes, and any drama or betrayal is strictly interpersonal. It'd give us all a bit of a break to shore up CR and process various metaplot developments and figure out where people stand, as well as giving us a unicorn chaser to offset the weight of several darker Jaunts in a row.

In general, honestly, I feel like it might help stave off burnout to have something lighter (whether just in tone, or in tone and metaplot content) every third or fourth Jaunt, just to give some breathing room and a chance to air characters out and tie up loose ends.

Questions

[powersthatbe]