larkers | PLOT ENGAGEMENT (ARCHIVED)

PLOT ENGAGEMENT (ARCHIVED)

> 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

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

yes of course!

hey guys -- i just want to get clarification on a few things as i'm editing the draft to include what you've already announced to the playerbase.

the intention of the auction, in my understanding, is that the proceeds are going to charity. while i'm happy to include relics and other artifacts from the gates event to it, i'm confused as to how characters would be able to make credits for themselves at a charity event? and if they are making credits for themselves, how would the collection of these artifacts make the event more successful?

if you could also let me know what kind of information you're expecting in the ooc post you mentioned in the cr meme, i'd appreciate it. i didn't have one drafted, so i'm unsure what you're expecting there.

Hi Jenna! Thanks for reaching out.

While most of the proceeds will definitely go to charity, we did want to include some benefit for the characters ICly to give them additional reasons to attend the event and also tie in the relics in an immediate way to get some plots moving! Another big part of the event is about drawing attention to the space colonies as well so giving NPC donors reason to participate would be another IC reason for it working this way. Charity is definitely still a big part of it!

You had mentioned an OOC post earlier in our discussion, so that's why we mentioned it! We figured it would just be a brief overview of what the event would entail to post in advance of the log going up so that people have a centralized place to discuss, plot with each other, plan threads -- and of course, sign up for whether their character would participate in being auctioned off. It doesn't have to be anything too involved!

Also, we saw the PM you sent us with your draft of the log and we'll get to reviewing that ASAP.

OKAY SO I just really want Godric to work with Old Things with a slight bent towards doing translations of dead languages. I was kind of thinking that El might've been able to fudge his physical age a bit so he's not perpetually a sixteen year old (the actor was 19) so he isn't just an egregiously uncanny baby who's Good at Knowing Historical Stuff. Even something like working as an assistant on an excavation/dig site for something Ancient would be a neat thing to explore. I don't need it to have any plot relevance or anything fancy.

I'm flexible on a lot of things (including the amount of groundwork involved in leading up to whatever or he could work in a different city since #fasttravel or w/e) so idk, go nuts.

Hi Roy!

First of all, you're right that El would be able to fudge Godric's age! Anyone who is physically 16 or 17 is fudged to be 18+ on all their papers in order to avoid the logistical issues that come with being a minor.

As for his employment, after discussing it among ourselves we've decided that Godric could work with digital manuscript translators online. They would give him a test with a manuscript from, say, the 13th century, and have him send back an annotated text, along with a good translation. There are a lot of bits of margin notes and information that they would especially want to know. Given the difficulty of translating manuscripts, the neural implant wouldn't be much use (since how they drew letters, etc. is all difficult to discern information).

This would largely be a freelance gig, but since Godric would be good at it, he would be able to make a nice penny. This is more of a Rich Hobbiest interest in 2512.

In time, after he has done enough work with the digital versions and established himself as talented in the field, he could eventually work with the physical manuscripts themselves! A lot didn't survive to 2512, but what little there is would (eventually) be at his fingertips if he so chose. We can discuss this more after he's been at the job for a while!

Hey Brandon!

1. Klaus could get away without a call put into the NAPD, if just barely. Did you have someone in mind for which member of the Displaced he would recruit who's technologically minded?

2. We were wondering if Klaus or Hope would ask any questions at any point that might get an answer from Doctor Johann Grey, or if they would be too caught up in Hope's monstrous transformation. Let us know!

3. We'd need a little more information on where they would go digging. We'll say in advance that all disappearances are people vanishing into thin air and no one knows what happens after someone leaves, but if you wanted them to stumble upon a metaplot significant thing in New Beijing, we're all ears! We just need an idea of where they'd go looking.

Feel free to use our New Beijing write up for inspiration!

Hey Gee! Sorry again in advance to Stephen.

Hideki won't be able to deliver much information. Aoi and her husband don't make a habit of telling Hideki when they'll be out, as he's their clueless asshole of a child. They submit any keys to his neural implant, as well as any identifying information. He does sometimes bring home friends, so Stephen may be able to figure out the likely types to go. But Hideki is extremely … fickle, to put it mildly. For instance: while he was mad that Cain and Prompto stopped calling, he forgot them rather quickly. He was a kid raised by a live-in nanny who was directed to spoil him and keep him happy, as his parents were too busy to deal with their child. He's used to shallow, distant relationships with them. Then again, Stephen has the power to nudge things along if he so chooses, and ensure that people do get into Hideki's place if they need a new set of eyes on it.

We can add a few other pieces of information that Stephen would get: yes, the apartment is kitted out and difficult to break into, especially now. There are guards around it around the clock (he'll think of them as major pains in the ass), even more so than there were when Cain and Prompto visited back in the day. He'd be able to find out the security via a vague, shallow memory of Hideki going through clearance digitally, as if he's used to it and accustomed to it. The security is beefy and has been for some time, only following the EMP, it's also EMP-proof because Aoi Maeda is paranoid and wants to protect her home even further.

There are some ways to expose Maeda, though. For one, her guards will know her movement, as they are hers to command. While Jason did try her office once, he didn't have mind control on his side. In addition, Hideki seems to be a major asshole and goes through life untouched. That can't all be money, right? Aoi may be a distant, uncaring mother, but she does care for her son.

Depending on Stephen, he can manipulate Hideki into position to find out more or see Aoi's response time for things, utilize the guard, or even utilize a receptionist at Giles Bell. All of these run the risk of exposure for Stephen, but they are directions he can take.

Thank you mods, this is great! I'll be back once he's picked his poison 💃

3. Discussing with Bobby and will get back to you!

1. He doesn't know! Would there be an easy way to find whom he should? He's gotten around for sure, but he still isn't as nosy as canon has let him be. He's quite preoccupied a lot of the time and hasn't gotten that proper foothold/introduced himself to everyone yet. Would it be common knowledge that one of them is quite proficient in hacking etc?

2. I do think Klaus would ask the clichéd, What is it you want? What do you get from this? Is this just for your sick sadistic pleasure? And even, do you know why we all have this power or are you in the dark as all of us? Thus the doctored theatrics? He would stay strong of course, but listen carefully.

So, re: books

I know that paper media is a rarity/collector's curiousity, but exactly how rare are they.

Would it be possible to purchase/steal one or several books? Are there any NPCs with private book collections and how difficult would it be to learn about them?

hello! once again related to this event:

since diana has/will put a lot of legwork into putting people into contact with private buyers, both before and during the upcoming charity auction, i would like to use this as a way for her to move a step or so up in the new amsterdam art world. my preference would be for some wealthy patron to take her on as a private consultant based on her time put in at the lilly & moki gallery and the sheer amount of knowledge she has about the specific artifacts up for auction/the fact that she acted as a go-between for a large amount of antiques deals within the past few weeks, but i understand if i'm aiming a little high, and i'm definitely open to suggestions. with the future formation of a justice league, she'll want to put herself in a financially stable position so she can funnel money into the team, and also have a better in with the new amsterdam bougie crowd.

Hey Brandon,

1. It's all through the grapevine here! You can do a call-out if you're looking to diversify CR, and we'd definitely suggest poking around the CR meme in this case. We're also fine to keep this open as long as you need to find the appropriate person.

2. Johann would not be inclined to answer anything in a particularly straight-forward fashion! It would become increasingly obvious how Johann treats Cassius and vice versa, though. Johann is clearly the one in control, while he orders Cassius to fulfill more menial purposes. Johann would make it clear that what he gets out of it is looking out for their best interests and ensuring their personal freedom.

Hey Alex!

Books are still around, but aren't produced anymore. As you stated, they're collector's items, and for the most part what books have survived are either more resilient hardbacks, or paperbacks that were mass produced in huge quantities (think Stephen King, Tolkien, even things like Twilight). Oftentimes, books are bought and sold at the same sort of high-end auctions that fine art and antiques would be in our world.

Because humidity and light can wreak havoc on paper, especially cheaper paperbacks, most collectors keep their collections in climate controlled rooms and rarely actually read them. They've become display pieces rather than functional items. However, most people don't have reason to be secretive about these collections, so it would be easy enough to find a few collectors among the upper classes. The upcoming charity ball would be a great place to start!

Stealing a book would be a bigger task. Most of the people with the means to collect them also have the means to protect them, so security will be tight, and breaking in will require some creativity.

Hi Iola!

While she'd be able to schmooze and rub elbows with the right people, she may not be able to get a private consultant job right away. The profession is extremely competitive, and she'll need some sort of edge if she wants to secure a more private profession.

However, there will be a more lucrative opportunity at the upcoming charity auction. It wouldn't necessarily be a step-up in income, but there is a connection that Diana can make depending on who she speaks to. While it's widely reported that Kovacs (the former Displaced) was the mastermind behind the more artistic and lavish shrines that have been going for hundreds and thousands of credits—even after being removed from buildings—there will be a rumor at the charity auction that the true artist isn't far from earshot. Given Diana's identity as a member of the Displaced, she has a natural leg up in the eyes of this mysterious person—but she'll need to find a way to make herself known at the event to catch their eye.

This is where Diana will have to make a choice. She can continue to schmooze with the people there, or try to catch the eye of the mysterious person. She can seek out information about them, or try to make herself known in some other way.

Bear in mind that if this person is at the auction, they are likely to be the very person that Diana is trying to seek out as a patron. She'll just need to stand out to get it to work in her favor.

Let us know what path she'd take here!

Hello mods!

Not sure if this is stated anywhere but what is the setting toward gambling/poker like? If you have a character who is a gambler/expert poker person, would they be playing it online/VR since lack of paper, and would you think that their skills would translate here? In general what is the gambling situation like?

Also regarding the relics: If Q has no interest in giving up his relics any time soon, even for sweet, sweet money, will they still be coming up later on in plot so holding onto them instead of engaging in this plot will be okay?

THANK YOU

Edited 2020-02-25 02:07 (UTC)

hi mods!! so, after the whole mercenary thing on everest, tim wants to look into global spiral and MAYBE see if he can fudge his way into a job of some sort there, with the intent of trying to track back whoever hired the mercenaries to get the displaced to their destinations in the last event. he's obviously qualified to be a mercenary, but he's also wondering if his name and/or the fact that he's one of the displaced might put him at a disadvantage or flag him up somehow. would it be possible to get a job or somehow otherwise get access to global spiral's accounts a) AT ALL and b) while remaining undetected as one of the displaced? he would love to be ahead of whoever's orchestrating this whole thing so he wants to be as lowkey as possible.

Hi mods!

Just as a heads up, Mini-Jason, henceforth forever known as Mason is doing a bit of undercover work.

1. He's going to be working on snooping around Tempo by getting "lost" occasionally, but also curious about what he'd gather from just being a fly on the wall, in between being bored out of his mind?

And 2. He's going to be working on getting into Hideki Maeda's social group to see if he can get access to the wild parties at the Maeda place. You know. Useless, party bro stuff. I figure this one might take him some time, but he's gonna be looking to see how one might gain access to that room, if they were trying to commit some violent crimes.

It's "Mason goes deep undercover" month.

Hello mods, I have a job-related question!

I saw we need to contact you guys for jobs that might require extensive training, and I was thinking of making Drake a sober companion instead of going for any of his canon jobs (cop, bouncer, bartender, etc) and was wondering if his background in vice and undercover work would be helpful towards creating any certification necessary... and also was wondering how much you guys think he'd make. In the real world it's like ~30k but the ML npc demographics skew to pretty dramatically so if he worked for the rich due to experience and discretion what kind of place could he afford?

And now that I'm on this page I'm also interested in having him join Morningstar, and I comment here to discuss recruitment first?

Thank you! ♥

silena and cass had the clever idea of making a food blog/cooltalk now that they can sneak into any city they want, but they also had the clever idea of doing so in secret so they won't get flagged jumping from city to city without going through the proper channels.

is it possible for them to make a cooltalk or blog that won't trace back to them?

hi there! sorry for the belated reply.

once diana catches wind of this rumor, she'd be interested it trying to figure out who they are/make contact with them. after going to the ruins at everest, she's more invested in figuring out who originally created the shrines and what they may know about the displaced.

as far as making herself known to them, she still doesn't know her displaced power (inspiration manipulation), as she thinks her amazonian abilities are it and hasn't really worked to dig deeper than that. trusting that this person has an eye for detail, once she hears the rumor at the first day of the auction, she would make a quick exit to rummage through her jewelry box to find some geometric earrings and a pendant necklace to wear for the second part of the auction. she would also casually insert herself into conversations about the shrines, make it known that she's on the lookout for this mysterious artist, and that she truly admires their work and the thought behind it.

in the event she still hasn't managed to make contact with them by the second day, when she'll be up for auction herself as a bachelor, she would wear the same jewelry, and list her "special experience" as a private tour and wine tasting at the gallery where she currently works.

if this isn't enough, she would continue to pursue this outside the auction.

1. He'll offer them a job within his own gangs + 80% cut of his own earnings from the fight rings and the Kings' stolen goods. notably not what jason makes personally, but what he takes as earned income from the gang's involvement with both

2. altered blueprints (changed to his own specification to differ them from morningstar tech) for the stun guns that morningstar passed out several events ago. jason kept a few for himself. notably, the blueprints wouldn't include how to turn up the power on the guns from stun to kill, but it wouldn't be impossible to figure it out

3. as the maeda plot is shifting directions ( because tbh, jason would have just killed her and taken any consequences ) he won't be using them to assist him there!

Follow up to this as well: If Quentin goes to the silent auction as food staff and tries to take neural implant photos of all other relics or info he sees, will that be allowed? Is that something that could lead somewhere? Still new to the plot engagement angle so floating it!

Hi mods!

1. Ginia is focusing her attention on putting two upgrades into the (current) safehouse: a VR entertainment system and setting up curtains or partitions for privacy. With the VR entertainment system, she's already reached out to El about the possibility and is going to ask for donations and largely fund it out of her own pocket. Ideally, she's looking for a system that's easy to set up without much management, but also something easy to move in case they have to vacate. With the money from selling her music festival ticket, and the income of multiple jobs (landscaping, working at Red Wings, betting at the fight clubs) plus donations, would it be possible to have a system set up by the first round of arrivals in April?

For the partitions/curtains, she's looking for rope/twine/cable/etc. to run closer to the ceiling and then using old blankets or other old fabric to run along as curtains. Her first step is sectioning off an area that could be used as a changing area or a quiet meditation spot, or a section someone can retreat to. Her next step is working on the sleeping area and setting up curtains around the cots. First sectioning off the room into quarters, then working on individual cots. This is also something she'd like to have started by April.

2. Ginia is also starting some vigilante action at the dead of night. She's mostly intervening in the case of violence and intimidation, but is also on the lookout for people trafficking weapons/goods/drugs. Looking at the settings page, this means she's probably intervening the most with the Warlocks and Kings, maybe Riverside Mob.

Given how she's a trained up operative, she's mostly hitting hard and getting away and leaving a wake of unconscious people and probably some broken limbs. Maybe an accidental death or two because head injuries can sure turn fast.

Negative and positive, what kind of attention is this going to draw from the gangs and law enforcement? Ginia is definitely working in areas where homeless and impoverished people are more likely to be targeted, the people that might not otherwise get protection or priority from the law.

3. Ginia was recently killed and taken to the hospital for revival via med-unit. Would there be any questioning about her cause of death? Notes on her medical history? Follow ups from the hospital or law enforcement? She also had a weapon (extendable baton) concealed on her so would have this caused additional problems? Been confiscated if found?

Edited 2020-03-03 17:50 (UTC)

I want to have Faith follow up on the warehouse that Cassius gave her information on. Obviously, she tried and failed with surveillance, but she was talking to Ren and Akechi recently about the fact that anybody with that much power and money to erase a paper trail is probably on someone's radar.

Faith is working security in a casino right now, and will be getting recruited based on her high performance to work security for a more prestigious firm. I'd like it to be one that serves one of the gubernatorial candidates of New Amsterdam, one who doesn't mind taking on troubled youths and grooming them. She'll be doing her first test as security for fancier people as one of the short term hires for the silent auction.

I'd like to dovetail these two things together, because my thought with Faith is this: she can expose the Displaced to either this politician she comes to work for, or if possible, to the UNA in hopes of getting in return some of the information about who could have done that with the Warehouse. She'll offer explicitly information on the blue light stuff, and she'll tell them all of what she knows (barely anything tbh) short of the gates and their location. The information she provides on the powers they have and the fact that those powers are all distinct will obviously confirm what they already know based on Rey's interrogation, so they'll know her info is good. (She will NOT immediately identify herself as one of them because she doesn't want to get experimented on and she's not That Stupid.)

I'm not in a BIG HURRY for this, so I don't mind developing it over time, but basically I'm curious about how long it would take and how viable it is, as well as if it would be better for Faith to share this with the gubernatorial candidate (or some other politician) she winds up working security for on-and-off or with a UNA official or if it's even feasible.

(Which involves also the question of whether there are like ... UNA officers at all, basically. Because the way the real military works is that there are officers who run administrative tasks and who manage assignments/etc. — that's done by military members, not by politicians and bureaucrats. So I'm curious about if the UNA has something similar: people who work for the UNA but who are high enough in the ranks to be individuated people, either because they worked up from soldier status or because they entered at that rank. Do they have their own lives? Are they accessible? Presumably some of them liaison with the government officials?)

This is VERY BROAD SPITBALLING so obviously all of this is super flexible but I wanted to explain my goals/intentions/direction as much as possible to make it easier to find a feasible path forward.

3. Regarding New Beijing adventures! Since, Tim and Klaus will be investigating any sorts of disappearance, we wanted to know if population control in New Beijing and the raids for children from the lower levels are common knowledge. In that case, our idea is to investigate the idea of kids being taken from their homes, possibly ending up on the black market or something worse... Ultimately, we'd want them to maybe go undercover in an illegal adoption scheme and maybe find/help kids or something. Or, reuniting even one family and maybe helping get them out of the city. Something side-questy and more about their setting and the awful realities it's evil to avoid.

We latched onto this paragraph: In these lower levels, it's nearly impossible to uphold the laws around population restrictions. As a result, these raids also often result in children being separated from their parents who weren't approved for having a kid. These parents would also be arrested to further justify this action. (Having a child without permission is not enough to get someone arrested in typical situations, so it may seem as if the officers are trying to meet a quota by slapping these parents with arrests for other, unrelated "crimes.") This can happen at any age.

1. I will give the CR meme a gander, but I could also have Klaus on the lookout for someone with expertise in computers. That, I'll noodle on!

2. Looking out for the Displaced's best interests and personal freedom? Dick thing to do, then, to torture two of them, Johanne! But, OK. Thank you!

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

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PLOT ENGAGEMENT (ARCHIVED)

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