PLOT ENGAGEMENT (ARCHIVED)

[larkers]

> PLOT ENGAGEMENT (ARCHIVED)

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!

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.

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).
◉ 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

◉ 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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> NAVIGATION

Comments

[larkers]

Hi Mal!

We're actually covering this a bit in the arrival log on Saturday, but in short: since sex work is legal, places like this do exist. There are physical places and VR places, should anyone prefer to go that route instead! Participating in these venues requires someone to be of 18 years of age and to express explicit consent the entire way, as anything else would get tricky on a legal front. Plus, even though sex work is legal, there's still a stigma wrapped around it, so they don't want to get themselves into any sticky situations. Sniper is trying to change that, and did a bit in the dreamscape to work to improve mindsets toward this line of work. Sniper works out of a brothel, and used the Oktoberfest arrival log to advertise their work there - so this is likely pretty openly known, but you may want to check with Leigh on that.

[warfares]

oh, wow. thanks. and i'll do that.

[blyat]

This is all amazing, thanks for working with us on this plot! We're really excited for Hideki shenanigans. 👀

I didn't find Asylum from a quick skim of the locations page - is there more you could tell us about this club, or can we get creative and make it up ourselves? Also, would Cain and Prompto have to distract Hideki to snoop around once they're back at his place? Or can they roam around more freely?

Of course we'll be waiting until later May to set up a log for this, probably around the 20th when the IC calendar is closer to their birthdays. Let me know if there's anything we should be sure to include! Am I correct in the interpretation that you'll set up a thread with Hideki in the log, or should we plan to do a starter for him beyond the one you're writing that is open to others?

[evasives]

1. that's awesome, thank you! is there anything in particular i should do, or just make note of npcs in tags/logs/etc as he explores new amsterdam? i was thinking as it grows, maybe creating a post in his journal to keep track of names/details et all.

also, really feeling the maintenance worker idea, wowow. speaking of overlooked, i hadn't even thought of something like that! could i make up basic establishments he might gain access to at a more "entry level" and work his way up into fixing up the Big Leagues? or choose some that already exist on the locations page? cassian is a very quick learner and already technologically proficient, is it safe to assume he could grow his areas of expertise and figure out more about the tech along those veins in this work too?

2. of course! sorry it was not that clear, and thank you for being so cautious! personal control and autonomy is very important to cassian and i wouldn't want a metal spine to suddenly like... be able to completely control his actions or his body.

i suppose it comes down to i would be more interested in psychological aspects than physical trauma or new physical traumas born of it. the occasional malfunction would be fine (like making him limp, a sore back, arm going numb, etc), but nothing lasting that would destabilize his whole body for more than a day or so. does that help?

[larkers]

Hi Julia!

We made up the club for this party - we're happy to provide more information, but equally happy to let you do that yourselves! Prompto and Cain will be allowed to roam freely because Hideki is far too trusting (and dumb).

And yes, we will be setting up a thread for Hideki, with an open and closed section!

[evite]

after chatting with laura & melissa, let's move forward with the johnny and daisy's manager option for now!

i'll definitely have her look into a public option, and not finding one, she'll spend a day or so upon first move-in looking for that hack point and reviewing the files. she'd look for names that were familiar to her first — any "vip" names she'd know from vyonation, common web celebs or big name tech gurus (she doubts anyone along the lines of elon musk or tim cook, but people a few notches below that she would know but i certainly don't), or just people with straight up weird names that she wants to google later!

wrt the party room, daisy & co will definitely remind everyone to keep the glowing and party shenanigans in the room rather than on the roof or other public places — but if anyone does get out of line, i'll loop back in to see what results!

[blyat]

Perfect, thanks for the creative freedom with Asylum! Looking forward to this!!

[larkers]

Hey!

We're looping back to let you know we'll set up the log with Riko by the end of today or tomorrow. We recommend not setting any prompts in the safehouse and making sure people know that V won't be going back to the safehouse with anyone! If you have any other questions, let us know. He'll be out by the evening of the 22nd, but please wait until we tell you how that goes since we want to see how his conversation with Riko proceeds.

[verselet]

Hey there! That sounds perfectly reasonable to me, I'll keep an eye out for the log and keep it in mind/make a note on V's top level in the intro log. Thanks again for this!

[amstrdm]

Here you go!

[verselet]

Thank you! Quick question, would V still be under the influence of the compliance drug during the time in which this log plays out?

[larkers]

Hi Jen!

We wrote the warnings as if he was, just in case - but if you want the effects to have faded before Riko managed to show up, we're fine with that, too!

[verselet]

Okay, I’ll keep him affected! I just wanted to make certain. Thanks again!

[larkers]

Hi Jen! We're nearly done with this thread, and we're going to move on to the next stage soon. Is there anyone you'd like to see looped in on going to pick up V? Anyone new is out of the question, but anyone with a non-adversarial relationship with Gaby is open as an option!

[verselet]

Hi! Just to clarify, do you mean who will be around to usher V back to the safehouse once he’s released?

[larkers]

Yes! We're planning on having Gaby bring in some Displaced as reinforcements to go get him.

[verselet]

Oh boy. Gotcha!

I didn’t have anyone in mind, but there are a couple of individuals who would be aware of V being taken away by the police in the first place. Dick (because he works at the NAPD and might have seen him taken in?) and Prompto (who literally saw him get arrested by the authorities in his intro log thread). Maybe they would make the most sense? I spoke with the players and they expressed interest, as well.

Otherwise, I don’t have a preference if Gaby would reach out to anyone else specific!

[larkers]

Hi again!

Those two sound great - and we'll maybe pull in Doctor Strange if Gee has time. We'll be reaching out to her and starting threads with Gaia and Kira in the meantime, as well as putting up a log for his release.

[verselet]

Excellent! I’m looking forward to seeing where all this goes. Thank you for your help in ushering all of this along, as always! I'll keep an eye out for the log in the meanwhile.

[rehandle]

Hey mods!! Just checking in to ask how you'd like this log to run with the splitting up - one thread with a tagging order or individual Walking Through The House threads to then meet back when they find him or ?

SORRY HAHAH sweeps in at the last minute as the extra party only to realise I don't have a clue how to group log thank you for including me sorry that I'm This Way 😂

[larkers]

Hi! We're fine with however you four would like to do it! It might be easier to have Stephen and Dick tag in next to go do their sweeps in single tags, and then come back to V then Gaby. We'll make a note in the log for all communication to happen here so everyone sees it there, as well.

[verselet]

Hi! In preparation for answering Stephen’s question in the thread, did V pick up any details about the men who came to collect him? Anything that would describe them, etc?

Beyond that, even though I assume V was drugged during the transfer process from the station to the haunted house, did he overhear or see anything on the ride over that might’ve stuck with him?

[larkers]

Hi Jen! They would have handled him with polite deference - their grip on him would never be too firm, and they would make sure to carry him between them when needed (especially when he's thoroughly passed out). There would be nothing from his release to now that would give away that he's been roughly handled.

They wouldn't have said much, and it's likely that if they were communicating, it was via their neural implants.

[personalwar]

Hi there, mods! I had a question about hoverbikes.

Relevant post/thread is here.

So, given that the move to the hoverbike shop as the new safehouse is imminent and the Displaced are planning to use it as a workshop space, I was thinking it would be cool if there was a way for the Displaced to get their hands on a hover bike (or two) that they could fix up and then have available for communal use!

I understand that outright buying a hoverbike is extremely expensive and not within the means of the PCs, but is there any sort of junkyard within the city where a character could find a discarded hoverbike that's broken and could possibly be repaired back into working order?

Thanks in advance!

[larkers]

Hi Tomato!

1. Yes, making notes of NPCs is fine! You can feel free to create your own NPC network of people who are otherwise overlooked in society, but definitely see things that are happening. We believe that Jessi has been doing a similar thing with Jason and the gangs in the city, so Cassian tapping into this resource isn't unusual. This will allow him to have witnesses to things going on without having to hack into surveillance 24/7, and he may even be able to have someone pass messages for him. There is really a lot of potential here, so long as he's not developing that network from big corporate people.

We actually have Rey working as a maintenance person for Giles Bell, so he can take up a company-specific job, or you can have him take on an apprenticeship (this is a common practice in Meadowlark's world!), too, to make it seem "legitimate" to handle higher tech things. Whoever takes him on can come with more network connections for Cassian's larger goal. Going in solo is likely fine, but being an apprentice to someone who knows their stuff will give him a wider reach and more opportunities to slide under the radar (since he won't be a "natural").

2/2.5. We have a plan in motion now, so it really depends on where you take it! Cassian would likely find out about his injury through going to a doctor and not reporting it. Metal detectors don't pick up on cybernetics because of the extremely advanced nature of the cybernetics (and it would make life very inconvenient in the world). So many people have them, even if most people don't seem like they have them. Even if he goes to a doctor, not reporting that he has this would turn up as a bit strange to any medical professionals (as he likely has some naturally recurring compound in his blood that helps manage the cybernetic, especially as it interacts with his implant).

This wouldn't immediately lead to where he came from, but the bigger question would be this: why did Cassian get a new spine? Other people have come in and either been given slightly more advanced prosthetics (in the case of Hiccup) or not provided one at all. What necessitated this for Cassian? Even his doctor will be surprised given the sensitive nature of that kind of surgery. Most of the time, doctors will stick someone in a medi-unit to fix them up when their injury is that severe. Why were things different for Cassian?

Any psychological effects of finding this out is up to you! There won't be any physical effects or points where his cybernetic spine fails, unless someone decides to specifically do damage to that area of his body.

Otherwise, there won't be any point in which Cassian may be at risk for losing control over his body, having his spine ripped out because he's undeserving or any other potential consequences that we feel would slide into areas that are uncomfortable for you! While we're keeping the overall mystery here, we'll be keeping in mind your wishes as you move this plot forward (and are more than happy to adapt on the fly).