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integrating2017-03-13 12:43 am
onemind) wrote in integrating2017-03-13 12:43 am
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IMPORTANT GAME CHANGES AND RULE UPDATES
HEY GUESS WHAT...
Hey everyone! We just wanted to take the opportunity to touch base with everyone on an ooc level and let you guys know about some game changes and rule adjustments, as well as addressing some questions about power usage as we move into the second year (?!) of the game.
First, let's talk about the symbiotes and abilities. As some characters have been in the nest quite a long time now and many of y'all are leaning into bonding your character with their symbiote and training their abilities, we wanted to take a moment just to refresh and make sure everyone is on the same page with regard to repercussions of ability usage etc. We want to take a moment to remind everyone that progress both often slow and inevitable - a character refusing to utilize their symbiote from day one will still be more attached to it by day 50. Also, we want to take a moment to remind everyone that using the symbiote and strengthening abilities results in a certain loss of self, including strengthening their mental barriers. Drawbacks of ability usage specifically may be headaches and other status effects as outlined in the abilities section of your app, but we encourage we to also consider the long lasting effects of all symbiote growth - does your broodmate love cheese and suddenly you find yourself craving it? Are you sharing dreams with other hosts? Are you having difficulty separating your own memories from those of others? Are there things you used to care about that now seem far less important?
We want to do everything we can to encourage this kind of exploration of the "negative" effects of ability usage and symbiote growth without actively policing for it (for a multitude of reasons, not just that it sucks and ain't no one has time for that). What can we do to help with it? We're game for pushing your characters with our modly hands, but ultimately a lot of this development rests in yours and we want to make sure we've given you the tools to use it. Do you have questions? Thoughts? Concerns? You can always drop us a line about how you want to approach this development if you think you could be doing more but are struggling to come up with ideas or trajectory.
Second: retconning characters. We strongly feel that it's beneficial for players in game to have an opportunity to have long-standing broodmates when possible. While loss of those connections is part of the game, from day one we've felt that drama was best utilized after some cr opportunities were had. While retconning characters has always been an option, we're implementing a new rule where if a character has less than five IC posts in the comm at time of being removed from the game then they will be automatically retconned. There may be special cases where we discuss retconning dropped characters who have more than five posts in the comm, but this should clear up confusion and processing time in most cases. Please be aware that this is still up to our discretion, but for the most part you can reliably assume this is the standard operating procedure from here on.
Last but not least, we've decided to [drumroll] allow second characters. This is going to mean some big changes for the game in terms of structure, play and rules. Lots of people have talked about the potential of second characters and while we agree with the theory, in the past we've stumbled over the tight knit build of the game and how to utilize second characters without the game becoming unfairly unbalanced or difficult to play in. But we think we've hit on a way to make this work, so for those of you looking to app a second character here's how:
STEP ONE: To qualify for a second character, you must have no current activity or behavioral strikes and make double AC for three consecutive months. You may take hiatuses, however you must still make thirty comments within your hiatus period to count towards these three months (your proofs can be submitted at a later date if you're unavailable during AC time, but the comments must fall within the AC period dates). STEP TWO: There will be no post for you to apply for your permission to app your second character. Rather, when you have met the above requirements you will need to reach out to us via PM providing the above proof as well as filling out a small form which we will have in the game resources section. This short form will ask questions like what you plan to do with the character, how you believe the character will differ from your current one and how you plan to tackle playercest (ie threading with yourself) so it's easy for other players to juggle both characters. There are no wrong answers for this form, but because activity requirements are high and dropping characters can be detrimental to in character stuff we just want to touch base and make sure anyone applying for a second character has a plan. STEP THREE: Apply for your character as usual. You will be processed separately from anyone else in the queue, but you will have to go through the standard process and may still be required to make revisions or even have the current version of your app rejected.
By opting to allow second characters, the big changes to the overall game are:
STATION 72 IS MOVING TO A PLAYER CAP INSTEAD OF A CHARACTER CAP. We will have a thirty player maximum as opposed to a thirty character maximum. At this time we do not have any plans to hard cap the number of second characters allowed, but we will let you know if that changes in the future. PLAYERCEST IS INEVITABLE, ALLOWED, BUT CAN NOT BE USED FOR AC PROOF. Some players may find playing with themselves awkward but due to the close knit in-character nature of the game, situations may arise where both your characters are in the same room, interacting in the same space, or another player's character may have a close relationship to both of yours characters and - due to side effects of the Nest - your characters both experience personality or emotional bleed with one another. As such, playing your characters off each other is allowed, however these instances cannot be counted for AC. When in doubt be conservative with what does and doesn't count for AC, but as this is rare territory for dwrp we expect there to be a learning curve. If you have questions about a thread or interaction, don't hesitate to ask. SECOND CHARACTER LIMITATIONS INCLUDE: Second characters may not be from the same canon or an au of the same canon as your first character. Second characters may not be in the same brood as your first character. THE APPLICATION QUEUE IS GONNA BE A LITTLE FUNKY. Because we're moving to a player cap instead of a character cap, there may be an instance where the game is at cap and a new player is waiting in the queue. Should a current player in the game wish to app a second character at this time, their app would be processed before the new player's. New players can only join the game when there's place in the player roster while current players can app their second character regardless of how many players are in the game. We realize this sucks for new potential players waiting in queue, but unfortunately this is a case of unavoidable suckage.
As always, the number one rule of the game is Be excellent to each other. If we notice something going lopsided, we may make further adjustments and revisions to the system. You may begin tabulating AC toward earning a second character beginning immediately and may count previous AC checks if they meet the requirements (meaning if you made sixty comments in the months of December, January and February and had no strikes to clear in those periods you could theoretically PM us to get the ball rolling on your second character now).
Otherwise, please use this post for discussion and questions! We'll be working to get all the game information up to date, but in the meantime if you have any thoughts, concerns or feedback you're more than welcome to put it here so we can get our eyes on it. Thank you everyone for hard work, enthusiasm and creative input!
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ok so first of all i'm really excited!! particularly about the second character opportunity wooooo
symbiotes and abilities - i'm not going to lie, half the time i forget these are a thing. my fault entirely, i keep focusing on the development of the power alone because - at least for me - that's the easiest aspect to be proactive about! it's very your-own-character-centered, so everything else you refreshed us about requires more research, so to speak. having never really played a character arc with a consistent loss of self, i think it would be pretty cool for those with more knowledge/ideas to contribute with possible interpretations, possible paths, things to remember in specific, etc. sort of like a resource page for us without much of a clue.
also, i realize everyone can make an info sheet about their character in general, and their powers as well, but the whole adopting each other's characteristics could do with more information that's also easier to access/go through. that gives us more to work with and lightens the load on the mods ?! maybe ?!
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If we were to change out a character for a new one, would it be possible to use our second slot to pick the old one back up (obviously if we comaed them instead of killing them off)? Because I've been heavily leaning towards cycling out to recharge my Sambattery a little anyway, but being able to pick him back up if I feel I can handle him and the new one would be kind of amazing and would solve my main dilemma of BUT THEN I'LL WANT TO HAVE THEM BOTH, aaaaaaah
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My thought was to start a little record for myself, to have like a little rolodex of things she's acquired from others to bring out at times?
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I remember it being brought up in the past, but I'm also wondering if maybe something like "things going on with your character that your brood could notice" or "strong emotions/memories about people/places/events that happened" would be useful for this? Maybe either something like the quick CR reference guide or even an occasional meme like the handwaved CR meme, to give people who might not be able to stalk what's going on a resource to go to.
Bouncing off that, maybe even an extended version of the CR reference where people could list specific emotions or opinions their characters have of the other members of the Nest for people to use for potential bleedover.
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RE: Symbiote stuff - while we're definitely happy to help in any way we can, ultimately we do really encourage collaboration with your fellow players about how to affect that loss of self side-effect that pairs with ability strengthening. There is no right or wrong answer to who to approach this, but you're of course welcome to collaborate with each other on how to effect that.
As for the info sheets - that's basically what the permissions posts are meant to act as. If you're not seeing enough there and you want to pull something from a particular character, we think a good starting point would be to contact the player and chat a bit about what might be interesting for your characters to potentially share with them. At this stage, character bleed is likely contained to other player characters which means a good first step might be collaborating with someone your character already has strong cr with. If you have ideas for which directions you want to push your character in with regard to this and want mod help spring boarding that, then we're happy to help out.
Basically this isn't to force anyone to do anything but merely to act as a reminder that if your character is strengthening their connection to their symbiote or the usage of their ability, that this character 'bleed' is something you should be thinking about integrating as you play forward. That said, if players come up with a more effective resources list or guideline then heck yeah - we're happy to make sure that's accessible long term by linking it in the navigation and so on. At the end of the day, if you're finding something uncomfortable to write then that's probably a good sign that it's something that would also be making your character uncomfortable - bleed is inevitable, but it doesn't a mean a character has to be okay with it or unwitting to the fact that it's happening. That might potentially be a good starting point.
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There are other things- like remembering things and feeling like they happened to someone else, or feeling like things you used to appreciate you no longer care for. Additionally, the bleed isn't just losing track of where one person's identity starts and another begins, it can also be a heightened awareness of other hosts. An understanding of their current mental and phyiscal states, and a deep empathy. It is very easy to get lost in that.
There's basically no wrong or right answer when it comes to this, though we're more than happy to drop things in your lap and help you along with a goal if you have something in mind. Our intervention is likely to be pretty hamfisted (see: those dreams Ilde and Sam experienced while on Concordia), but if it helps you accomplish a goal then we're happy to assist! Our general advice is mostly the same as to Noodles: collaborate with your fellow players and figure out what would be interesting. If you have thoughts and want additional mod input, give us a holler.
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Long answer: If your character was extremely close with one of their brood or if there's a neural similarity between your character and a coma'd character (blood relatives, clones, etc) then it might be possible to experience some faint bleed. Whether that bleed is something happening actively while the broodmate is comatose or if it was subconsciously internalized bleedover prior to the character going comatose is unclear.
Most characters will only experience bleed with comatose or dead hosts who shared similar depths of connection to with their symbiote. The deeper the connection to the Nest, the easier it is to keep pieces of comatose or dead hosts 'alive' in the minds of functional hosts.
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