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PLOT ENGAGEMENT
What is Plot Engagement and how does it work within Meadowlark? This is the page where players can come discuss with us how to facilitate plots within the setting. However, there will be occasions where a plot doesn't work within Meadowlark's world, and we'll suggest alternative routes. For small worldbuilding or gameplay details, please direct your question to the FAQ. If you're ever not sure if you're at the right page, don't worry—we'll help you get it sorted out. We know we have a load of info!
In addition, you do not need to have a complete plot in mind when you come to us. We aim for plot engagement to be more of a conversation between us and our players. If we propose a plot angle and it's not to your liking, we're more than happy to work with you to come up with something more to your tastes.
WHEN WILL YOU HEAR BACK?
◉ All Plot Engagement answers go out on Sunday, except during events.
◉ The deadline to submit a question and ensure you'll hear back from us on Sunday is 11:59 PM UTC on Saturday.
PLOT ENGAGEMENT INCLUDES
◉ Player plots! If you'd like your character to become a mafia boss, this is your place to start. Typically, this involves anything that could impact the setting or other player characters.
◉ Character career advancement that gives the character additional power or status within the setting.
◉ Metaplot exploration and information! We plan all events to give characters something to explore after the event ends. This is the place to do it!
SUBMISSION TIPS
◉ Specify what your character is looking for when they're investigating. What questions are they asking and what angle are they trying to explore?
◉ If you have a specific goal in mind but don't know how to reach it, please let us know.
◉ If you link a thread to us, please summarize it! That helps us process the plot in question.
◉ Don't worry about not knowing the setting like the back of your hand before you submit the plot—that's up to us! We're here to help you with any adjustments to get you on the right track.
◉ Plot engagement is meant to help with IC play so that characters can continue to interact. If you're not sure how to loop in others, let us know so that we can work with you on it! While this page is meant to be a conversation between players and mods, we know that the fun part of a plot is how it can change character arcs, spice up CR, and more.
NOTES & THINGS THAT YOU CAN HANDWAVE
◉ Characters always start out in entry level positions. Characters can update their skill sets to the 2512 standard through paid apprenticeships or internships.
◈ If a character is advancing within a major corporation (as noted on the Setting or Locations page) or one of its subsidiaries, we will need to approve this advancement.
◈ If a character becomes a supervisor at a local bar or other small business, we do not need to approve this advancement.
◉ Joining the police force within a city requires three months of IC training (six months OOC). There will be instances where this changes, and we'll keep you looped in on that.
◉ We'll approve whether someone has social media fame, but we will not be providing social media follower counts. Once you have a plot for how to use those followers, that's where we step in!
◉ All Morningstar business goes on our Morningstar page. Please feel free to discuss specific plots here (including joining), and go there for signups and anything else.
◉ Characters getting jobs, finding apartments, participating in the fighting rings, getting married, making workplace friends, the creation of minor NPCs, etc. do not need to be run by us. Please let us know if these expand into player plots or other plot bits!
QUICK LINKS
◉ Archived Plot Engagement: Previous Plot Engagement.
◉ FAQ: For small worldbuilding or gameplay details.
◉ Setting: Our setting page! We'll update as needed.
◉ Jobs: A reference for who's working where!
◉ Locations: Both major and minor locations within New Amsterdam, as well as outlines for other megacities.
◉ Mod Contact: For wider game concerns.
◉ The Story So Far: Gamewide plot events up to current (your CTRL+F best friend!).
◉ NPC page: Includes NPC blurbs and inboxes.
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So, because I'm a fancy scientist and all that, I'm gonna get obnoxious here with the tech questions. I feel like I should also mention for the record that despite being extremely bright and that he could probably pick up on basics, Lance is definitely not an engineer; therefore this is more asking for generalized plot angles to go at, which would probably have to actually happen through characters that have more of a real idea of what they're doing.
That said, how do the implants themselves work? The brain-connected side I get (assuming it works in the 'traditional' way), since that's all electrical signals and such, but in order to communicate with other devices, other people, etc it presumably goes through a network. The networks we have nowadays are all based in electromagnetic waves (like radio), but is that the case here, and if not what's the situation?
For the data logs, easier question and not super relevant at the moment but may be useful later: where is that data stored? Is it in like, a chip in the door, or is there a sensor that then transmits to a log somewhere else (like a building's security server or something.) Relatedly, are there still normal computer-like servers for information a person wouldn't want to be storing on an implant?
Also, less technically, are there ever failures in the implants, like one just being unreadable for reasons other than a situation like the Displaced are in, such as just a simple tech failure or even an injury? If so, how do the police handle those sorts of issues, if that's information that'd be in a news story or otherwise available?
Re: Police; awesome thank you! Definitely interested in that politicking strife angle there, though I'm not sure just yet how to actually icly get into (or really find out about) that, but maybe one of the Displaced joining up will provide an opportunity. Speaking of, noted about Displaced disappearing; it makes sense that any solution based on someone working there and being able to provide info would only work while they're in game, though is there any reason why something like that couldn't work as a temporary solution at the time but then have to be abandoned if they left?
Re: The mob stuff; got it! Could definitely be interesting stuff for more experienced Displaced regarding activities down the line, so I'll just kind of put a pin in that as we see how Nate's plot develops.
Re: Task force; this is definitely what I think he's gonna be best suited to dealing with. Noted about not knowing that many Shrikes (he probably wouldn't have even without the secrecy thing, since he probably avoided a lot of them anyway, especially when he started to play double agent) and this potentially being something useful that Cardinals, Rooks, etc might be able to help with. Starting off with a post about trying to pay attention to notice the people following them seems like an easy place to start, but I have a quick clarity question about this that I'm gonna pop onto the intro log questions thread real quick so it isn't lost in all the rest of this.
I THINK that's everything I meant to cover but I'll edit in stuff if I remember anything else.
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For the first half of your question (before the Re: Police), we wanted to know if you wanted to reframe this into a plot or something actionable to Lance? We weren't sure if you were curious about the answers or if you had something specific you were looking for in these types of questions, and wanted to clarify direction since we assumed the bulk of the questions had to do with helping newcomers bypass police attention. We're not sure these answers will help illuminate a new direction for that plot, and we're working on alternative solutions for more enjoyable playability (moving arrivals around town again, for example, while helping with a new incarnation of the Welcome Committee). We're concerned that incoming players will have to devour and understand a wealth of new information if all of this is executed into a plot, and want to try some different methods of engagement before we add even more information. Don't worry – this isn't something we'd expect you to think about, but we wanted to be transparent about where we were coming from.
We definitely don't want to stall you, so if it's just curiosity, or a matter of Lance realizing and accepting the state of the world, that's great! We just wanted to be sure we were on the same page. We're not fancy scientists, but we'll indulge you with the sci-fi explanations we have.
We'll get back to the rest of this on Sunday!
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So although ICly Lance has mostly switched to pursuing the former solution for now since it's something he's better with and seems more accessible, OOC I was asking about the latter a bit more mostly because although other players might have characters with the IC knowledge to work on solutions, but they may not OOCly know what to ask about or where to start. Therefore I was kind of just looking into some potential angles from a more strictly OOC perspective, to be able to bring up potential solutions that could then actually happen IC (if anyone was interested) by other players with characters that would know what they're doing (which is certainly not Lance, who got a B in college statistics and is still mad about it a decade later.)
I definitely get not wanting to overload people, so no worries, this is all just much more a behind-the-scenes sort of technical curiosity with the goal being coming up with other ways to go with plotting, both on this subject and in general.
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Thanks for clearing that up! We're going to add a bullet point or two under the Neural Implants part of the Setting, and cover the rest with regards to the Police angle on our next Plot Engagement drop.
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If there's someone who'd like to utilize this for a plot, they're free to head our way! In this case, we'd like to give the information directly to them and work around potential plots suitable for them. As a note, we've also updated the setting with neural implant malfunctions that you had under the Neural Implant header! If your plot and their plot coincides, we'll happily link you guys up. If they'd like to piggyback off of this thread, that's also fine, and they can comment here. We don't want you to feel pressured to feel like you have all the answers for other players in this situation.
We do want to add that you can hit us up on the FAQ if you're ever not sure about how something works world-wise! We're happy to expand on what we can—if we've forgotten something, it's usually a mistake that we're happy to rectify.
As far as the police go, Lance should be able to find out about the friction between the NAPD and UN in his research to figure out police resources. There are both news articles and forum discussions about it! Though he would also be able to find out easily from anyone who's joined up.
The reason why we want a long-term solution is because it takes the onus of the plot off of a smaller group of players, and instead uses IC development to make concrete relationships that the entire playerbase can use moving forward. What we'd suggest is that you utilize the good will in the New Amsterdam community to build long-term relationships with the NAPD. The Displaced have done a lot of good for the community, and continue to work to build on that even now. In addition, Lance in particular can use his Quarry experience to begin making those overtures with the NAPD, developing those ties that other players would be able to pick up on. This action would involve revealing some things about the Displaced (IE their lack of registered implants), but that's where he could pull on his IC ties to make sure he's trusting the right set of officers.
We've tried a temporary solution in the past (based upon characters slowly building ties within the force), but it ultimately ended with these plots on the backburner until now. Now that the Displaced have made roots in the New Amsterdam community, we think other angles are far more viable and will create a lasting impact on the game as a whole.
These are ideas that we've noodled up, but you're free to rework and ask us about specifics if it doesn't fit, or if you want to use something differently. We're here to help generate some ideas since this could largely be a change for both the playerbase as well as us mods!
And sounds good on the Task Force! Feel free to let us know if there are any other questions that come up.