larkers: (Default)
MEADOWLARK MODS ([personal profile] larkers) wrote2018-06-17 09:38 pm

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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myownwoman: (Default)

[personal profile] myownwoman 2020-06-15 01:46 am (UTC)(link)
cool cool yes she will start studying for a certification in order to move up -- she wants the $$$$ to eventually move to new honolulu lmao so she wants that fucking promotion

is there an ic timeline for how long that would take?
Edited 2020-06-15 01:46 (UTC)
wittingly: (Yᴏᴜʀ ʜᴇʀᴏᴇs ғᴏʀ ɢʜᴏsᴛs?)

[personal profile] wittingly 2020-06-15 01:46 am (UTC)(link)
RAD thank you, I'll roll with that
myownwoman: (Default)

[personal profile] myownwoman 2020-06-15 01:57 am (UTC)(link)
thanks mods!

i will let you know if i have any more questions!
purrsistence: (096)

god it's so hard to find an icon on this account that doesn't look somehow snarky

[personal profile] purrsistence 2020-06-15 03:38 am (UTC)(link)
Sure! All good notes!

I'm happy to switch going the mercenary/ex-soldiers route here! Catra will probably try to appeal to them on the basis that she's a soldier/ex-soldier as well, was raised from birth in that system and has never known anything else, so she knows exactly where they're coming from better than anyone except maybe their own. So there's a double-whammy there of like "I have military experience, that's why we were able to successfully end the simulation, because of MY successful leadership" (even if that isn't actually entirely true and even if they weren't there to see it) combined with "I'm one of you guys and I get where you're coming from and I want to see you get justice."

Once she has a backer and finds out that they're missing their ALIGN tech and weapons/armor etc, she'll also probably try to further appeal to them by pledging to replace these things with something that's newer and better, something not controlled by the government that they can use to keep themselves "safe" and "connected," because that's also very appealing both to her and them, hey. (Whether she's actually able to do this or not is a different issue entirely, but it's something she'd pledge, and she'd definitely take a stab at genuinely trying it.)

As for patrons, Catra's probably going to take a two-pronged attack (because it's never good to put all your eggs in one basket) if she can! First focusing on a wealthy patron who isn't directly associated with any of the Big Three (I know all the Serious Money is in bed with all the corporations on some level anyway, but the important thing here is the ~appearance~ of being backed by someone "relatively" neutral, since she's coming at this from an anti-big-government angle, who won't interfere with her operations too much because of corporate interests or whatever, maybe because they BELIEVE IN THE CAUSE!!11) who she'll use as the public face of her operation/backing.

For the second prong, she'd probably like to more secretly target someone in Vyonation (or one of their subsidiaries) who is relatively high up but not satisfied with their current position ie someone she can flip, convincing them that if they work with her, they can overthrow the current leadership and take it for themselves. Because Catra knows the value of information technology, and Vyonation... has most of that, so that'll be her first port of call if they want to have any hope of fighting back against The Information Machine. (And especially if she wants to have any merits to her claims to develop new tech for the soldiers under her command later.)

ANYWAY let me know if that adequately covered all your points of concern and if everything I've suggested there is okay or needs to be modified further! Or if it's got the all-clear, lemme know and I'll work on crafting some NPCs!
reneger: (you should be scared of me.)

cw: gore things, body disposal

[personal profile] reneger 2020-06-15 03:49 am (UTC)(link)
Jason will be carefully disposing of Maeda's body over the course of several days. He'll be wandering in and out of the safe house, cutting her down to bits and pieces small enough to hide in plastic bags within his jacket (to not gain suspicion from carrying a large ass bag) and melting them down with acid in a warehouse claimed under the Kings' name. From there, he'll dispose of the liquid left over in various sinks of various establishments, using several different underlings. Once the body is out of the safe house, he'll take his time getting rid of the remnants of it. He will, however, take a bag once to take the arm of Maeda (double checking for any implanted trackers along her skin) and deliver it to Damian, because he's a good big brother.

With Durcell, he'll be going to a few of the kids he managed to snag off of them and ask them to try and deliver a message up the chain. He won't be particularly determined so if that doesn't work, he'll retry at a later date!
Edited 2020-06-15 03:49 (UTC)
angerberg: (Default)

[personal profile] angerberg 2020-06-15 04:09 am (UTC)(link)
focusing first on clearing up and resolving employment stuff, i'll return for more research later:

my understanding (from friends working there) is that modern museums hire some people who are lower skilled/expertise to do legwork. i get that this might not be the case anymore in 2512! but is there a comparable space that would have academics in the field of history available to basically serve at the behest of the wealthy to provide their cultural arts fix, but also have people who are basically there to do the legwork, as our museums of today have?

yennefer obviously doesn't have the world-specific knowledge of art and history, but she has the social skills for this type of labor, and lots of rich people don't actually have the knowledge either (again basing this off friends who are in the field) and wouldn't recognize bullshit if it was fed to them, so that's basically the kind of space/position i'm trying to find. i'm open to suggestions of what kinds of fields/positions might have that still in the ML setting.

in short:
- frequented by """cultured""" rich folks
- linked to / done in coordination with experts in the field of history (not art-exclusive)
leaderboards: (ε; consult)

[personal profile] leaderboards 2020-06-15 08:16 am (UTC)(link)
hey mods! let's just pretend i got this in right after the event and not however long later this actually is; life got away from me. i'm following up on this comment, concerning carolina and maine wanting to help judas, based on their interactions with him before and during the event!

once information about cassius and at least the acknowledgement that judas is probably still alive, somewhere, gets around the displaced, carolina is going to start working on some ideas with regard to helping him — even if it means judas gets a little vacuum house, too, for everyone's sanity. this will involve reaching out to el, asking if ze knows where judas is and if there's any relatively easy way to contact him. if there's not, but there's a sidequest available to make it easier to communicate with judas despite johann grey and everything else that might be in the way, she'll be quick to volunteer herself and maine to do it. (and i am still coordinating with kas on this! the volun-telling is only IC, because surely that's how friendship works.)

ultimately, she'd like to see judas somewhere safer for him and more easily accessible for any allies he might be able to make/keep. ideally, this would be somewhere with the displaced, but if el would rather see him being babysat by someone from morningstar, carolina would help facilitate that, too.

questions here boil down to:

1) how does el feel about people wanting to help judas?

2) what information (or avenues for investigation) would ze give carolina once she'd expressed that desire to help?

3) what are the next best IC and OOC steps here?

and not actually plot related (probably?) but, 4) if carolina played the "i'm one of the displaced with martial training" card, would she be able to land herself a security job at one of new amsterdam's larger technology businesses (ideally at an R&D lab for something that seemed vaguely weapons related, but offices would also do) like pulsar or vyonation? this is less for immediate payoff and more so that she can attempt to establish herself as trustworthy in case there's ever information she might need to steal from whatever company she got on board with. she's keen to play the infiltration long game, even if she has no idea what she might need the access for in the future.
thanks in advance!
realists: (ro » explaining)

[personal profile] realists 2020-06-15 05:42 pm (UTC)(link)
slides back in for a completely unrelated question, if two people are going to casually be married should we just note it for y'all? ie they apply for the marriage license on may 8th and finalize the contract (10 years, even financial split, each other's power of attorney and health proxy, composting after death, no provision for a baby at this time) on may 22nd (pending any event upheaval)?
realists: (Default)

[personal profile] realists 2020-06-16 07:34 pm (UTC)(link)
👌👌👌👌👌
warfares: <user name="recadreuse"> (Default)

[personal profile] warfares 2020-06-17 12:56 am (UTC)(link)
hello modlies,

i realize i'm still on hiatus technically but i thought i'd slide in a few questions as they occurred to me.

1. forgive me, by the way, if this topic has ever been covered somewhere else but is it possible to live in other cities now or are we still expected to be based in new amsterdam?

2. what is the underground situation in new prague like? do they have gangs similarly to those of new amsterdam.

3. what is the art scene like in new prague? i know it draws a lot on old prague in terms of its inspiration so will it be more traditional or will it be a less structured.

alternatively 4. and forgive me for not necessarily knowing how to frame this but are there any security firms in new amsterdam that could potentially be looking for new hires?
filloryfanatic: (Default)

[personal profile] filloryfanatic 2020-06-18 12:46 am (UTC)(link)
Hi I did see the replies to my comments, just going to chat with Tifa about these and brainstorm more about what I meant in my other comment. Didn't want you to think I was ignoring. :D Thank you!
commend: (asked logically)

[personal profile] commend 2020-06-18 04:02 pm (UTC)(link)
hello mods!

a few things!

for Scott, he's planning on taking the mantle of welcoming committee chair. this will include trying to stock up on better clothing, doing grocery runs, light manual labor, laundry, cleaning. is there any kind of safe house expense account or is this all going to be out of pocket?

also, he has been given the idea of the very few pets that may exist, probably under the wealthy's care? is this true? if this is true, is there a certain network of information he could fall into? he could very well be an on-call at-home vet for the elite should they have some of the few animals in existence? (obviously, this could all be IC conjecture)

separately, for William! he's finally going to start to delve into how tech works in this particular year. is there something out there like a low level geek squad type deal that could help William fix or alter tech in this century? furthermore, if he went digging into code and tried to crack anything, what would he find? could he modify the code of say, a message, to include a ... Gif or something that so far hasn't been utilized?

How would hacking work, or is it even possible?

Essentially, I want to know what the process would entail with William really tinkering around with the network and the tech at this time. Genius level intellect is a moot point when you're completely unfamiliar.

Barring hands-on futzing, are there basic classes William could take to get a better lay of the neural network?

ALSO, is there also a place of old tech, like a repair shop? he could do that, too.
forcevisions: (tros_178)

[personal profile] forcevisions 2020-06-20 02:49 am (UTC)(link)
Thanks for the quick response, mods! Dee and I had a chance to chat over it and here's what we came up with. Some parts are questions, some parts are vague half-question half-plans, so apologies in advance for the muddiness.

Regarding a plan of how to establish connection:

1) Rey and Quentin will definitely still be looking into Ball's death, and will share any information with the worshippers. This means asking them for known connections, googling his real name, and trying to follow-up with any known associates to the name (i.e., work, family, estate management even). They don't buy that his death was a tragic accident at all.

2) Otherwise, what work are the worshippers doing right now? What could Quentin and Rey potentially help with? It's not really clear to us what the worshippers do other than construct murals and organize festivals. If there is an upcoming festival, they're happy to help, or if they need lookouts to keep the cops from interrupting mural stuff lol. But we'd like a bigger picture, if possible, of just what being a part of this Worshipper group involves in terms of actions they take that Rey and Quentin could join or contribute to.

And regarding information they're pursuing about the worshippers:

3) What is their religion called? We'd like to have a way to refer to them that isn't Ball's people or the Worshippers. Names are important.

4) How is their group currently structured? Who is in charge now that Ball is gone? (Will there be a new NPC leader?)

5) What was Ball's role? How did he financially support them? What will they do without his financial support, or what happened to his money when he died?

6) Again, touched on this before, but what do they DO exactly? As an organization, what are their goals for this world? What actions are they taking right now to get towards those goals?

7) What are their goals for the Displaced, or put another way, what role does their religion see the Displaced playing? What do the Worshippers want from the Displaced, or how do they want to engage them?
commend: (attention intrigued)

[personal profile] commend 2020-06-22 06:47 am (UTC)(link)
thank you, mods!
reneger: (Default)

[personal profile] reneger 2020-06-22 07:19 am (UTC)(link)
bone can be sanded down, no worries. ;) jason will take his time slowly throwing out bits of maeda all over new amsterdam. he'll be careful to keep evidence to a minimum and spread it enough that it'd be extremely hard to track down to jason himself, if not impossible.

he'll also be careful to keep her dna from spreading from the arm before handing it off and (possibly, pending what damian decides to do with it) after.

as for jason: he goes to redwings often enough that the increase in trips won't seem out of place, but after getting all of maeda out will lower his trips down significantly. he'll head out to a nice fancy hotel with loki and after--not leave his apartment much at all for a while!

aside from that, jason doesn't visit displaced-centered places much at all. and he's tired enough post-event not to rise to the bait. if there was evidence, he's sure they'd be coming down on him a lot harder / with law enforcement involvement so he'll wait it out.

he'll get back to durcell after some downtime, and ask them to meet him in an abandoned building right on the edge of the outlaws' territory.
overrate: (pic#13977170)

[personal profile] overrate 2020-06-23 05:00 am (UTC)(link)
Mason is dropping Hideki as fast as he can. If he calls him and/or texts him, he will be an extra super dick about it.

Can't let things go quietly after dealing with his bullshit friends, and then hell month.