So, bad example:


Players: "Oh okay. So that's why there were lots more pirate encounters. Well, moving on."

Good:


Players: "OK, we're tracking these pirates to a base!"
RP guide: "OMG they've got a giant whale!"
Players:"We attack it!"
RP guide: "It's too heavily armored! But your attacks prompt it to depart from the dock, not yet finished. There's a chance you can finish it off before it eats Echo!"

Awesome:


Skyrate devs: *introduces legendary combat using scaled up Cetacea sprite*
Players: "OMG awesome! I did 1% damage to it!"
Players: "YAY! It's destroyed!"
Skyrate devs: *forget to turn it off*
Players: "OMG how many skywhales can there be?!"

Re: RP Guides

I'd be generally hesitant to go with info dumps via RP Guides if there's a faction that didn't have regular representation. I would prefer an equal standing for all groups/players.

Moreover, the notion of drafting more Guides can run into issues when a Guide has to drop off, or starts to lose attention in what's going on. Additionally, I wonder if a semi-official presence actually stymies things a bit. As in, will people hold off on doing things to wait on an official ruling on things? I've kind of preferred the practice where you all just run forward with a loose set of constraints, and then we pull it back where needed.

In which case, it would come to us to figure out what's the best amount of information to give. I think ... rather than a massive full info dump, of all the secrets, I present problems and situations that are around. I lay out what's there, and what you stand to find (a general end condition). Players then roleplay and have a grand old time until they get to the end condition, then I give the next bread crumb (probably prompted by someone emailing me to check the thread).

So...basically, I'd act as the impartial RP Guide breadcrumb giver. I'd give out listings of various things going on in Skytopia, players can take them on, I'd describe the kind of things they'd find there, you all play, you get to end, I provide resolution/next steps.

We could try that and see how it works.

I think we've done this before, with the blue expeditions and the like. I think it's a great idea, because it lets the players bumble around and enjoy themselves.

Well, well.
whatever happens, it has the potential to be AWESOME.

I think infodumping is a legit way to go, though. It might spoil things for the players, but it will make the surprise of the *characters* more realistic because we'll be able to plan it better.

perhaps prefacing the impartial breadcrumb giving with a more generalized overview infodump? I really look forward to seeing what all comes out of this...the potential for awesome is growing

So if I understand this right, it'd be like - "You're in a mansion, guests are gathered in the banquet hall when the butler comes in to tell you that Master Robinson is dead, the guard closes the estate and declares no one's leaving until the murderer is found. To start with, there are clues in the parlor, the library, and the bedroom, have fun RPing and PM me which clues you're following up."

Then if someone PMs you, you just check the thread to make sure they really are in those locations, and give them feedback, which they can incorporate into their subsequent RP. "Okay, in the bedroom you find a threatening letter from Lord Whasisname." "Hey guys! I found a letter!"

Something like that? So, you don't have to spend a lot of time writing RP, sort of like a self-serve RP guide system?

Except there'd be a lot less of you all messaging us about specific clues. I think that's a bit too much response right now. We're trying to find that right balance of hands-off and hands-on.

In the case of a murder mystery, that could be so much as, "Someone here did it. Figure out who." or "The Butler did it. Figure it out."

Murder mysteries are a bit trickier as it requires a lot of prep, and a lot of clues that have to consistently point at one character. More likely you'd see things like, "You can infiltrate a Hidden Platform. This is what it's like inside, these are the defenses, there's these locations which are blocked by X. There's a central chamber where Secundus is. Go."

And then basically you'd message me when you all reached Secundus.

This is cool with me, like I said. It lets the players have fun with it and the devs don't have to stare at it all the time. Win win.

Fair enough, that works for me, and it's probably better for the genre to lean toward action and drama than mystery! As long as, when things get to Secundus, it's not 'how many weeks has it been? We should poke the devs.'

Caught up on this thread far too late. My $0.02:



Personally I agree that it'd be good to get things rolling again, and not waste all the hard work that the devs and RP guides have put into the Hidden War faction stories. My concern would be that things would slowly lose steam and wind up languishing in a semi (or semi-semi) finished state. Again.

When it's on the players to keep things going, another player can pick it up if somebody drops it. That's very different from the bottleneck of Dev approval for everything.

Sold-
lets begin.

I think I'll have time this weekend to start doing the info dump.

As for the info dump, I would like a lot of basic questions answered. Such as:

What is the most advanced gun we have?
The most advanced plane?
The known uses of the unob and it's limits (not strict limits, but something general, like it can't bring people back from the dead or blow up the whole world with one ounce of it, or it's not magic)
How advanced is radar tech?
Is technology so advanced that you can recreate steam punk body parts, such as, but not limited to mechanical arms?


Even general everyday life tech:
Do they have movies?
Do they have TV?
Do they have phones (at least on each skyland, clearly getting phone lines to long distance skylands would be somewhat unbelievable)?
Do they have cars?



I don't want to limit everyone on what they RP, lord knows people still go against what is considered cannon all the time, but I would like to know, for those of us who do want to follow at least mostly, just what the devs think. I know sometimes people think too much info is a deterrent to creativity, but in these cases, I think most of us are afraid the answers are going to be no, and so we don't RP around those things, but we maybe surprised at the answers, and it could open new lines of RP. I know if you guys say they have movies, I'm creating an actress character ASAP.

I would personally be surprised if not. The time period should be right, there were forays into movies as early as the 20s.

If so, you have a PM.

Link for historical info: http://www.filmsite.org/40sintro.html