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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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Stephen and Tony are looking for somewhere to live! I'm thinking either a multi-floor apartment or an empty business building, they need living space and a separate floor for Tony to gradually build a lab and keep his tinkering out of Stephen's face. Stephen's also got a preference for Open Space so somewhere with room and good light would be a plus (give me your overgrown buildings with missing walls)
Fixer-uppers are preferred, rent/lease or buying are both options, but whatever it is they need somewhere that they can take on as a long term place that will allow them free reign to make any renovations that they want to and won't have landlords checking in
New Amsterdam is Stephen's current preference but if they can get considerably more space for their money elsewhere they're potentially willing to consider it - though only really if they're able to set up a gate portal thing near to or on their property and near to the bar (is that doable? I'm not really up to scratch on fast travel mechanic) or find something that's affordable enough that he can both take it and keep his NA apartment for living in on work days.
Where should he be looking/what are his best options? He's happy to get a loan or mortgage if he needs one but they're not married to the idea of buying either so long as they can do whatever they want to whatever property they find.
no subject
Staying in New Amsterdam will likely be their best bet, especially if Stephen needs to be readily on hand for running Red Wings and the like! He would also need to buy property instead of renting it if he wanted free reign to alter the property to his specifications and not have to worry about a hovering landlord.
The good news is that property is on the cheap side at the moment given that so much of it has been damaged and so many people are down on their luck and therefore not in a position to buy in many cases. Given that Stephen has been in-game for as long as he has, it seems reasonable to assume that he has enough money to put down on a mortgage for a place, though it definitely wouldn't be anything fancy and would need a lot of fixing up.
Congrats on your home ownership!
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So I don't take too many liberties with the actual types of properties that exist in NA - are we looking at apartment spaces only or are there other options available (either is fine I'm just looking to get an accurate sense of what's available to generate some limits for ourselves before Laws and I start living our best home design lives), and is it okay to assume they can afford a decent amount of space owing to the damage reducing price and Stephen having been around for 84 years or is space still at a relative premium? What sorts of areas of the city are fair game?
Also are you happy for us to have them fix it up at what we consider to be a reasonable pace time and money-wise or do you need us to check in with specifics on that?
Sorry please forgive I'm just Detail Oriented 😂
no subject
So apartments are pretty much the only option that they'll have, but there are townhouse apartment situations where they would have two floors of space to work with. It wouldn't be an incredible amount of space, but it also wouldn't be as cramped and cozy as most of the starter apartments that the Displaced usually end up in early on.
The area of New Amsterdam is sort of up to you, but anything in the richer areas or the commercial/financial disticts where property is more in high demand would be much more expensive (so their mortgage payment would be much higher).
In terms of how long it takes, it probably depends on how much free time they have to put into the property! If they've got jobs keeping them busy and other responsibilities that they need to put their time toward, it would likely take a bit longer. Just throwing out a number for a ballpark, maybe two months to get it into better shape?
no subject
One last question looking into the future, if they take a top (two) floor townhouse apartment would there be a possibility when they next have the available finances of getting ownership of the attic/roof and planning permission to do something up there?
no subject
These buildings wouldn't really have any sort of attic space, and while Stephen and Tony would be allowed to use the roof periodically for gatherings or parties if they wanted to host, they couldn't have full ownership of it as it's a shared space for the entire building. On top of that, they probably wouldn't want to do anything on the roof that they wouldn't want people knowing about (super secret projects, etc.) due to surveillance.
Hope that makes sense!
no subject
So as the buildings are already flat roof situations and those rooves are communal gathering spots, is it safe to assume they can collab with their neighbours to contribute towards getting the space nice again or is there like an overall building owner who is responsible for that? I won't lie I mostly just wanted a roof hangout spot so this is already perfect, just checking how free we are to describe what it looks like up there if we ever use it
Also I know I said one more question but one more one more question - how many other flats are likely to be in the building itself and in general in the city are the townhouses usually part of a street of townhouses?
I'm sorry that none of this is particularly plot engagey anymore yikes, please do point me elsewhere if it's more appropriate
no subject
The situation with a particular building likely varies depending on the neighborhood, age of the building, etc. but chances are that the building owner would be the one in charge of fixing things up, but certainly wouldn't say no to the other condo-owners in the building helping out if they want to take part in that. The more hands the better at this point, and it feeds well into the concept of community being stronger than government which is taking hold in NA in particular. So a collab with the owner and at least some of their neighbors makes sense to us!
Your second question is a matter of preference more than anything else. Since most of the buildings in the mega-cities are more about vertical than horizontal space, chances are that it's quite tall and therefore there's probably at least five other units in the building, most likely more. The rest of the street/neighborhood could be similar in design (tract housing of a sort) or a hodge-podge of designs based on how old that particular part of the city is -- so it's kind of up to you!
no subject