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synodiporia_ooc2018-02-14 08:58 pm
powersthatbe) wrote in synodiporia_ooc2018-02-14 08:58 pm
February Mini-SotG Follow-up
I. Jaunt vote results/walkabout vote
The next jaunt will be The Triad Creation Tourney. We have two walkabout options on offer, as well as a chance to make another suggestion:
Overcrowding: A catastrophic failure and chain reaction has resulted in the Melies lunar base being evacuated until repairs are complete. Oceania, one of the closest space stations, is taking on a group of refugees for the duration, but had to jettison much of its robotic workforce to make room for the extra people. Lack of space, clashing lifestyles, and difficulties understanding each other has increased tensions nearly to a breaking point. (This walkabout is designed as dark sci-fi, with a non-zero chance of mind manipulation being inflicted as a consequence for disruption. Please keep that in mind if it would affect your vote.)
Heroes over Hamburg: A Newport Prequel. During World War Two, when a bomber full of war heroes carrying state secrets is shot down behind enemy lines, the Manticore sends a squad of paras to the rescue: the worst superpowered criminal refuse the White Company has ever locked away, ‘volunteering’ for a suicide mission in the hopes of earning a pardon. But as the heroes & villains team up to sneak through the countryside to their pick-up at Calais, it becomes clear that at least one of them is leaking secrets to the enemy…
Write-in: If neither of these options appeal, suggest another! Keep in mind that we’re shooting for a walkabout somewhat more serious in tone than we expect the jaunt to be.
Voting will close the evening of next Wednesday, February 21, to allow us time to get all our waterfowl aligned. Please only vote if you are seriously considering the walkabout, so we have an accurate picture of how big it’ll be.
II. Profile navigation
While not many people weighed in on whether to change our profile navigation code, the answers we did get were wholly in favor of making that change. Accordingly, we’ve gone code-hunting for profile templates and done a couple of test mock-ups to see how they look. (Each code does allow for a banner, and we’d be interested in having one on it, but the two codes have different max widths, so these tests are text-only.)
Option one is pretty widespread these days, has the narrower max width, and allows a little more color customisation. Option two isn’t as colorful, but has a wider max width and allows for more links. (Don’t let the obnoxious yellow header or the small text put you off; those are both things that can and will be tweaked before we post to the comm profiles!)
III. Liminal Thematics
We’ve revised the skill description for Liminal Thematics, as its original version was very bareboned and didn’t account for important details as duration, area of effect, and length of cooldown. We’re hoping that the new one will be much more helpful!
Liminal Thematics - Once a month, deposit ideas into Liminal Space to help shape its theme. These ideas can be as simple or as complex as you need them to be, although more complex ideas will require more effort to deposit. Once you have finished depositing your ideas, the change in liminal space happens all at once and affects the entirety of Liminal Space if no Arcana is consciously shaping it or an area with a radius of 10 ft/hybrid skill possessed if one or more Arcana is consciously shaping liminal space (OOCly, during a Jaunt vs during the Intro or Return Mingles). It will last until the next liminal change or until someone else uses Liminal Thematics. When used, one random detail from the previous liminal space will persist into the newly shaped one. Additionally, if the Traveler using Liminal Thematics during a Jaunt has both Psychic and Liminal Bridge, a single detail from their newly shaped liminal space can leak into the walkabout if there is one. If you intend to use this skill during a Jaunt, please inform the mod team and get their okay before doing so. Requires Dimensional Senses and Psychic Detection I.
As noted in the skill description, because of the extent that Liminal Thematics affects Liminal Space during the Jaunts, players will need to get moderator permission to use it then. This is so we can alert everyone to the change in liminal space and also so that we can make sure that changes to liminal space are, well, spaced out. Currently, we are looking at an OOC limit of one large-scale change per week. We won’t be limiting the small-scale changes during Intro and Return mingles, as those affect a smaller area instead of all of Liminal Space itself and can easily be contained to a top-level. Both the large-scale changes possible during Jaunts and the small-scale changes confined to Intro and Return mingles have the same cooldown as they require the same amount of effort on the part of the Traveler. However, conscious shaping of Liminal Space by the Arcana has more resistance to Traveler-created Liminal Thematics than the during-Jaunt liminal spaces, which largely have not been consciously shaped.
We have had some players express surprise at Liminal Thematics having two mid-to-low level prerequisites when the skill itself has the potential to affect Liminal Space on a large scale depending on when it is used. Our reasoning is this: firstly, that the skill itself is a very simple process at heart once you know it can be done. Secondly, although it’s one of the lower-level hybrid skills, it has a comparable number of prerequisites to a higher level skill on either of the skill trees, such as Infiltrator Persona or Liminal Healing. Thirdly, when we first conceived of Liminal Thematics, it was as the potential culmination of a bunch of skill explorations that the pre-Moebius Travelers were pursuing, the achievement of which was effectively cut off by Moebius itself. Thus it feels right that the prerequisites for Liminal Thematics both come from Synodiporia’s original skill list.
IV. Plotting problems
We hear you loud and clear that there are several difficulties with effective plotting at the moment. We thank you for your feedback and encourage this discussion to continue; it’s a tricky problem with few obvious solutions.
First, things that are not likely to change: Directing all questions to a central toplevel on the jaunt info post has been a big help to us mod-side, in terms of gathering information and being able to determine whether a question has already been answered. Summaries are written by a non-jaunt-runner volunteer to save the mods time but still provide crucial information to the players, rather than asking you to plot in a complete vacuum. (To break with the ‘all the mods as one voice’ tradition of SotGs for a moment: Corralling the summary for Lightside/Darkside while simultaneously running the jaunt with Bii was a TREMENDOUS effort, and not one I would undertake again lightly now that I’m a full mod. -Jill)
And now, the potential fixes that look like the best opportunities for us:
*Summary posts used to include an Additions toplevel, which at some point we fell out of the habit of adding to the weekly posts, where players could include links to things that they thought should be folded into the main summary. We’re going to work on re-instituting that toplevel.
*Multiple players suggested, in the current discussion, adding a “what we learned this week” toplevel to weekly summary posts, so players can summarise things their characters uncovered that Might Be Important. This strikes us as a good balance for at least sharing information OOCly while not having a jaunt runner give away too much too soon.
*In terms of drawing plotting discussions away from plurk and into a wider forum, we as mods will attempt to direct all questions asked via plurk pings back to the Questions toplevel or appropriate side post, so that all the information ends up in one place.
We’ll revisit this discussion in the next SotG, so y’all can tell us what seems to be working, what isn’t, and whether you (or we) have had any good ideas to facilitate plotting in the meantime. Thank you for your patience!
The next jaunt will be The Triad Creation Tourney. We have two walkabout options on offer, as well as a chance to make another suggestion:
Overcrowding: A catastrophic failure and chain reaction has resulted in the Melies lunar base being evacuated until repairs are complete. Oceania, one of the closest space stations, is taking on a group of refugees for the duration, but had to jettison much of its robotic workforce to make room for the extra people. Lack of space, clashing lifestyles, and difficulties understanding each other has increased tensions nearly to a breaking point. (This walkabout is designed as dark sci-fi, with a non-zero chance of mind manipulation being inflicted as a consequence for disruption. Please keep that in mind if it would affect your vote.)
Heroes over Hamburg: A Newport Prequel. During World War Two, when a bomber full of war heroes carrying state secrets is shot down behind enemy lines, the Manticore sends a squad of paras to the rescue: the worst superpowered criminal refuse the White Company has ever locked away, ‘volunteering’ for a suicide mission in the hopes of earning a pardon. But as the heroes & villains team up to sneak through the countryside to their pick-up at Calais, it becomes clear that at least one of them is leaking secrets to the enemy…
Write-in: If neither of these options appeal, suggest another! Keep in mind that we’re shooting for a walkabout somewhat more serious in tone than we expect the jaunt to be.
Poll #19502 March/April Walkabout
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 11
What is your first choice Walkabout for March/April?
What is your second choice Walkabout for March/April?
If you chose a write-in vote, please describe the kind of walkabout you are requesting:
Voting will close the evening of next Wednesday, February 21, to allow us time to get all our waterfowl aligned. Please only vote if you are seriously considering the walkabout, so we have an accurate picture of how big it’ll be.
II. Profile navigation
While not many people weighed in on whether to change our profile navigation code, the answers we did get were wholly in favor of making that change. Accordingly, we’ve gone code-hunting for profile templates and done a couple of test mock-ups to see how they look. (Each code does allow for a banner, and we’d be interested in having one on it, but the two codes have different max widths, so these tests are text-only.)
Option one is pretty widespread these days, has the narrower max width, and allows a little more color customisation. Option two isn’t as colorful, but has a wider max width and allows for more links. (Don’t let the obnoxious yellow header or the small text put you off; those are both things that can and will be tweaked before we post to the comm profiles!)
Poll #19503 Layout Options
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 15
Which layout do you think we should go with?
III. Liminal Thematics
We’ve revised the skill description for Liminal Thematics, as its original version was very bareboned and didn’t account for important details as duration, area of effect, and length of cooldown. We’re hoping that the new one will be much more helpful!
Liminal Thematics - Once a month, deposit ideas into Liminal Space to help shape its theme. These ideas can be as simple or as complex as you need them to be, although more complex ideas will require more effort to deposit. Once you have finished depositing your ideas, the change in liminal space happens all at once and affects the entirety of Liminal Space if no Arcana is consciously shaping it or an area with a radius of 10 ft/hybrid skill possessed if one or more Arcana is consciously shaping liminal space (OOCly, during a Jaunt vs during the Intro or Return Mingles). It will last until the next liminal change or until someone else uses Liminal Thematics. When used, one random detail from the previous liminal space will persist into the newly shaped one. Additionally, if the Traveler using Liminal Thematics during a Jaunt has both Psychic and Liminal Bridge, a single detail from their newly shaped liminal space can leak into the walkabout if there is one. If you intend to use this skill during a Jaunt, please inform the mod team and get their okay before doing so. Requires Dimensional Senses and Psychic Detection I.
As noted in the skill description, because of the extent that Liminal Thematics affects Liminal Space during the Jaunts, players will need to get moderator permission to use it then. This is so we can alert everyone to the change in liminal space and also so that we can make sure that changes to liminal space are, well, spaced out. Currently, we are looking at an OOC limit of one large-scale change per week. We won’t be limiting the small-scale changes during Intro and Return mingles, as those affect a smaller area instead of all of Liminal Space itself and can easily be contained to a top-level. Both the large-scale changes possible during Jaunts and the small-scale changes confined to Intro and Return mingles have the same cooldown as they require the same amount of effort on the part of the Traveler. However, conscious shaping of Liminal Space by the Arcana has more resistance to Traveler-created Liminal Thematics than the during-Jaunt liminal spaces, which largely have not been consciously shaped.
We have had some players express surprise at Liminal Thematics having two mid-to-low level prerequisites when the skill itself has the potential to affect Liminal Space on a large scale depending on when it is used. Our reasoning is this: firstly, that the skill itself is a very simple process at heart once you know it can be done. Secondly, although it’s one of the lower-level hybrid skills, it has a comparable number of prerequisites to a higher level skill on either of the skill trees, such as Infiltrator Persona or Liminal Healing. Thirdly, when we first conceived of Liminal Thematics, it was as the potential culmination of a bunch of skill explorations that the pre-Moebius Travelers were pursuing, the achievement of which was effectively cut off by Moebius itself. Thus it feels right that the prerequisites for Liminal Thematics both come from Synodiporia’s original skill list.
IV. Plotting problems
We hear you loud and clear that there are several difficulties with effective plotting at the moment. We thank you for your feedback and encourage this discussion to continue; it’s a tricky problem with few obvious solutions.
First, things that are not likely to change: Directing all questions to a central toplevel on the jaunt info post has been a big help to us mod-side, in terms of gathering information and being able to determine whether a question has already been answered. Summaries are written by a non-jaunt-runner volunteer to save the mods time but still provide crucial information to the players, rather than asking you to plot in a complete vacuum. (To break with the ‘all the mods as one voice’ tradition of SotGs for a moment: Corralling the summary for Lightside/Darkside while simultaneously running the jaunt with Bii was a TREMENDOUS effort, and not one I would undertake again lightly now that I’m a full mod. -Jill)
And now, the potential fixes that look like the best opportunities for us:
*Summary posts used to include an Additions toplevel, which at some point we fell out of the habit of adding to the weekly posts, where players could include links to things that they thought should be folded into the main summary. We’re going to work on re-instituting that toplevel.
*Multiple players suggested, in the current discussion, adding a “what we learned this week” toplevel to weekly summary posts, so players can summarise things their characters uncovered that Might Be Important. This strikes us as a good balance for at least sharing information OOCly while not having a jaunt runner give away too much too soon.
*In terms of drawing plotting discussions away from plurk and into a wider forum, we as mods will attempt to direct all questions asked via plurk pings back to the Questions toplevel or appropriate side post, so that all the information ends up in one place.
We’ll revisit this discussion in the next SotG, so y’all can tell us what seems to be working, what isn’t, and whether you (or we) have had any good ideas to facilitate plotting in the meantime. Thank you for your patience!