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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warfares: <user name="recadreuse"> (Default)

[personal profile] warfares 2020-06-24 08:49 pm (UTC)(link)
🤔🤔🤔

4. Okay, let me see if I can articulate what I'm thinking and then you can tell me if it's feasible and hopefully it can be taken from there.

What I'm thinking specifically would be event/party security. He has been working through a company that has had him doing smaller-scale club gigs and he's been cooling his heels there, more or less. So what I was thinking was looking at moving on to mid to higher level events/parties.
leaderboards: (Default)

[personal profile] leaderboards 2020-06-25 07:48 am (UTC)(link)
these are both excellent answers, thank you. i'll drop by el's inbox soon!
dragonwarder: (and the world's gonna know your name)

[personal profile] dragonwarder 2020-06-28 01:32 am (UTC)(link)
Daenerys is still talking with Cassius about a few specific elements of the research facilities, but I wanted to come back here before I forgot.

She's going to make the effort to drum up and encourage interest in the research down on Adelaide Island with her colleagues in the New Amsterdam research facility. If pressed about her reasoning, she would be able to reproduce a copy of the misfire message that was originally sent to Octavia Blake (which I unfortunately cannot link, since the original post is now locked and hidden).

She would be willing to bring Aramis and a few of the other, more knowledgeable scientists with her on the trip.

I'd like to open this whole thing up to more of the game, but I'm having some challenges finding reasons for additional Displaced to follow her there. I'm open to guidance or ideas here.

One idea I had was having her ask for funding to bring a Displaced-specific field investigation team along for data collection. She plans to ask Cassius about how the folks funding the NA research feel about Displaced in the wake of all the simulation aftermath, and if they feel positively, she would then reach out on the network to invite them along.

I know its been a hot minute since Dany's main objectives here were discussed, but her personal goals are focused on finding the cause of the genetic anomalies in the world's various creatures, figuring out if they have any links to the kaiju that have popped up previously, and finding a way to study/communicate with them on her own (and possibly establish formal, ethical ways of studying their existence in the world on a larger scale).

/jurassic park theme intensifies
Edited 2020-06-28 01:33 (UTC)
harmistice: (its not too late to say you're sorry)

[personal profile] harmistice 2020-06-28 01:50 am (UTC)(link)
HELLO AGAIN MODS!

So, following the ABSOLUTE DISASTER that occurred on Loki's post, Hux is quickly going to go into paranoia overdrive. He has convinced Kylo Ren to accompany him into some of the seedier areas known for merc activity to personally recruit some body guards. His purpose for bringing Kylo Ren is because he looks way more like a thug than he does, and he knows it.

He has a large background in building armies underground, but he's going to start small (like 2-4 people) and recruit more over time using a combination of his mind control venom powers (via poisoning their drinks and/or food) and what little money he can spare. His strategy will be to use both until he has them under his sway enough that they are willing to work for him on merit.

Since his mind control spit has a time limit and also a biology limit, consider this my attempt to lay some groundwork for him to get involved in the merc scene to make a small name for himself. He will not be using them to funnel funds into his pocket, but instead focus on attempting to cultivate his own cult family of muscle.

I would appreciate knowing how well this would work out, and how many he can be expected to hang onto and/or the rate at which he may accumulate additional people (or paths to further recruitment, if there is a cap on how long he could get away with this before people got suspicious).
Edited 2020-06-28 01:51 (UTC)
angerberg: (Default)

[personal profile] angerberg 2020-06-29 01:01 am (UTC)(link)
I think I'll go with archivist-in-training for Yen's profession.

To that end, when questioning about the relics, she'll mostly present herself as a friend of the Lynches who is a history buff. She will connect it to curiosity about her work, and she'd understood that these relics were dug up from a site that she hadn't heard about previously. She'd turn the question around and express interest as to why these collectors went for these relics in turn — Looks? Prestige? Scarcity?

On the subject of further research, she'll start pursuing the question as to which mega-corporations built the trains and when individual routes were completed. (A clarification included in this: were the trains built after North America was allegedly destroyed? Or before? Was there ever a plan to reach that area?) She'll also dig at who at the United Nations was making policies around approval of these train routes, budgets, etc.
dragonwarder: (mhysa)

[personal profile] dragonwarder 2020-06-30 02:31 am (UTC)(link)
My bad, I was going off the story so far document and misread the layout.

I'll throw up something tonight. Thanks!
purrsistence: mock yelling (Default)

[personal profile] purrsistence 2020-07-01 05:47 am (UTC)(link)
Sorry this response is so late, I've been a bit low-energy this month and had to take a while to think about things!

1) Sounds good, maybe can I get back to you on this point? I've been trying to think of alternate angles but really kind of drawing a blank atm!

2) Awesome!

3) I've run this by Jessi, but ultimately we both agreed that a) Jessi has enough on her plate and we both have enough balls in the air between our two characters CR-wise already without adding more, and b) Catra has already ICly identified Jason as someone who would be opposed to her goals and so would be reluctant to go through him directly (and dislikes Loki), so I'm probably trending more towards pursuing it from the second angle rather than the first! I'm happy enough to do some mafia/mob NPC write-ups if you'd like, but yeah considering I already have a lot of CR with Jessi, I'd like to use this an opportunity to do things with players I don't necessarily already have tight CR with! I get that this is also just making my life... harder for myself... but oh well sometimes it just Be Like That.

4) My original plan for the Vyonation angle was to have her go through Daisy since Catra knows she works there, but it's looking likely that isn't an option anymore, so! Unless that can be her Simulation Rescued NPC then yes would probably lean more towards the Hi-Jacks, since she doesn't have any other connections/ways to get an in with a large company like that, but she is familiar with how gangs operate ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
realists: (Default)

[personal profile] realists 2020-07-03 06:55 pm (UTC)(link)
throwing in an idea for a late candidate for governor

amabel delafield-chapin, a youthful aquacultural scientist (specifically fish farming) running on the platform of increased city independence from the un, citing the number of calls for the government to abandon the city during the simulation, inflating the number and inflammatory nature of those calls to make them seem much more widespread. amabel is basically stealing wholesale from the displaced's call for independence from the una and shifting that to the un, itself -- she is calling for increased infrastructure that supports the very poor amongst citizens (affordable housing, namely) and more social programs to uplift all citizens (opening up more apprenticeships, building an easier ladder to scientific industries, easier to access vocational training) because a smarter, healthier, safer society is a more independant and sustainable society. reform, prosperity and peace.

amabel's parents have reupped their marriage contract every ten years since it was signed, despite her mother being from a wealthy family who looked down on the marriage to someone not at all as well off, and she was raised comfortably on their income from a giles-bell research scientist (mother, lissa delafield) and a nurse (father, jonas (ne meijer) delafield). she is herself married to a maternal health specialist called cressida delafield-chapin.

amabel for governor 2512
harmistice: (or what you say)

[personal profile] harmistice 2020-07-05 12:15 am (UTC)(link)
The discharged UNA soldiers actually makes more sense and will angle better for what I'm going for long term, so I'll redirect to that. c:

Is there a rough idea of how many of them are living in NA and how easily Hux would be able to track them down? Just want to get a rough idea of how long it's going to take him to both get a handle on using his power well, and how long it will take him to organize them in any meaningful way.

I know Emiri discussed some pro-UNA stuff for Catra to focus on, and I imagine the two will end up connecting on this at some point (and Hux already has Kylo on board...ish).
dragonwarder: (Default)

[personal profile] dragonwarder 2020-07-05 04:16 am (UTC)(link)
I am going to give you a list, plus some basic relevant skills to make planning/writing easier. This is based on who confirmed they were interested in volunteering on the network post, and what they told Daenerys ICly.

(I tried to sort them by relevant experiences. If I get any updates between now and tomorrow, I will edit)

Daenerys - Field experience with Aramis and co, specific knowledge surrounding that
Catra - Experience with research missions
Kylo Ren - Tracking, hunting, previous research experience
Kyna Medina - Tracking
Riku - Reconnaissance, observation
Akechi - Ren handler, special detective eyes
Jon Snow - Cold weather survival, hunting, muscle for hauling/fighting
Rey - Cold weather survival, muscle for hauling/fighting
Jyn Erso - Cold weather survival
Gabriel Reyes - Bodyguard
Sora - Bodyguard
Tommy Shepard - Superhero (go fast bodyguard)
Marian Hawke - Bodyguard
Ren - ?
Traejen Lighrend - ?
Ian Fowler - Mechanical engineering and chemistry experience
William Clayton-Queen - Hacking
Edited 2020-07-05 04:16 (UTC)
purrsistence: mock yelling (Default)

[personal profile] purrsistence 2020-07-06 06:49 am (UTC)(link)
Excellent! All right. Sounds like a plan!

In that case I'll probably go the mob + fighting rings angle since that seems to be easiest and most IC!

As for Vyonation, a security underling sounds like the perfect person for Catra to target. I'll let you know when I've written up some details for him/her \o/
Edited (edited for clarity) 2020-07-06 06:50 (UTC)
evocation: (Default)

[personal profile] evocation 2020-07-06 03:52 pm (UTC)(link)
Kyna wants to look into some of the depictions/murals the characters found in the ruins, how the rulers linked to those ruins might have been connected to the relics found there and maybe to the Displaced. Back home, she had a pretty good knowledge of folklore/mythology, largely because a lot of her job involved separating pure fiction from kernels of truth in hunting monsters/banishing spirits, etc.

So, with that in mind, Kyna is going to be looking at folk heroes, more specifically historical (or questionably historical) rulers, military heroes, and saints who have a distinctly mythological bent to their story. For example, Joan of Arc’s visions, Romulus’ connection with Mars, King Arthur’s everything, etc. She wants to see if there’s a familiar link between stories like these. She’ll also be looking for mentions of visions, dreams, supernatural powers, and of course, the blue glow, plus similar connections in any famous weapons or objects those figures were said to have (Excalibur? All those magical Celtic spears? That kind of thing.)

Kyna’s background is mostly in folklore and mythology, so she won’t know much about art history or archaelogy as it applies to these heroes, and might be at more of a loss there. She’ll be trying to dig up information in museums, research institutes that are open to the public, and online, but won’t be trying to get a job to help in her search right off the bat. If asked, she’ll just lie and say she’s a grad student doing her thesis on folk heroes and the concept of apotheosis. If that doesn’t get her anywhere, then she’ll try getting a job as an intern, low level research assistant, or whatever she can manage that would get her foot in the door. It's totally cool if this stuff takes a while for her to dig through, because it's a Lot.

So, more specifically:

1. Will Kyna find any folk heroes or famous figures beyond the ones the Displaced found at the ruins that seem to have links to the blue glow? If so, will she discover anything that expands on how those powers or mythological connections seemed to affect them, or how they were used? 


2. Will any of this ring similar to the experiences of the Displaced? Will she find anything that hints at how those people gained their powers or “blessings”? Do any of those famous weapons or relics seem similar in glowy function to the ones the Displaced found?


3. Do any of those stories differ from the ones she’s familiar with? The versions in her world are essentially identical to the real world. 


4. Will she find any evidence of cults or religions similar to Ball’s that worshipped those figures, and is there anything that stands out among them? Is there anything that would link those groups together as being part of a network or an older religious tradition?
nonscriptum: to a non-believer? (Default)

[personal profile] nonscriptum 2020-07-07 01:16 am (UTC)(link)
HELLO MODS IT'S ME but in Plot Engagement instead of the FAQ this time.

I've been trying to parse out a way for Nate to a.) get involved with Crimes (TM) and b.) figure out what his power is for some time now. Since he got an upgrade, I think this can be facilitated by a potentially dangerous scenario, which would be very on-brand for him.

I wanted to see if he could do really, really, really unreasonably well in a gambling den or casino over the course of an evening. Either would work, and he'd dress the part for whichever was the intended venue, though obviously a blatantly advertised casino is easier to get to than an underground gambling den. Given his power's slight unreliability but tendency to be more accurate and effective when he concentrates - say, the way one would when playing various games of chance - he might have a few flubs but ultimately be graced with Lady Luck's presence.

Obviously, this is not something without its consequences, and has the very real chance of making some powerful families unhappy. Some possibilities could be wanting to kill him or wanting to hire him, or both (he's used to that), though that's just the general idea off the top of my dome.

Either way, I really liked the idea of Nate both learning that he does have a power (FINALLY) but also really ticking some people off/getting involved in the Crime Sphere, since that fits the whole theme of his equal-opposite reaction thing I'm trying to aim for.
ishotyouuu: (this is bullshit)

[personal profile] ishotyouuu 2020-07-07 01:43 am (UTC)(link)
if Wade is not involved in this I swear to god
lifetothefullest: (ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴀᴛᴇʀ ɪs ʀɪsɪɴɢ)

[personal profile] lifetothefullest 2020-07-07 02:24 am (UTC)(link)
Jumping in here real quick to tack on a question; if Lance accompanies Nate on this adventure and lurks around playing poker (gotta use that psychologist/criminal profiler experience for SOMETHING and if that something is reading poker faces and making money then that's just how it goes) would there be any interesting gossip to pick up on? Whether through direct conversation or just overheard in the place?

Specifically he'd be interested in any rumors or sentiments from the native population regarding the displaced, but if there's anything else noteworthy that might come up that's great too. And of course if there's nothing, no worries! Just figured I'd ask while he's gonna be there anyway.