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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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as we gear back into new amsterdam, emma (jyn erso) and i have been looking into the girls' new apartment, which we are affectionately calling henceforth the barbie dream house thanks to its dreamscape origins. we have some questions about the building, and are curious how much leeway we have in playing with this! the below is kind of a mix between "here's where we're at" and "here are our questions", so we'd appreciate any heads up if anything is a no-go in game.
— we know the high-rise is located in the financial district, and from my understand of the setting, this would be considered a more well-to-do area of the city for people to have established residency. for visual & concept inspiration purposes, we've been playing with the new amsterdam equivalent of the real-world mckenzie building in downtown seattle, which is built as a luxury high-rise for affluent clientele in the city.
— we'd like to know if it would be kosher to play off some of the real-world inspiration's special amenities (things like their rooftop garden, dog spa, on-site concierge services, et cetera). in addition, we'd like to know what kind of futuristic adaptations to expect in the building.
for example: in the mckenzie building, there is 24-hour staffed security & a welcome desk, and all visitors are required to be on an approved list. if an outside vendor like a postmates clerk or a grocery delivery service comes, they are met by staffers who take the items and then personally deliver, preventing any "unvetted" people from accessing private resident floors. we'd expect something similar to be in place here, though with perhaps adjustments for scanning neural ids instead of checking physical drivers licenses for guest access to things like elevators and residences. if any of this is off-kilter or doesn't make sense, please let us know!
— daisy in particular would make it a point to learn about the people she'd be living in somewhat close proximity to. though she wouldn't go so far as to plant bugs or other surveillance equipment in public areas, she would use more traditional skills of eavesdropping and social engineering (posing as someone a little more cheerful and friendly, striking conversations in elevators or lobbies, et cetera) to get information about the other residents of the building and who they might be. is there anyone in particular that might be interesting or the subject of rumor that she could learn about? there isn't a specific avenue she'd plan to pursue here icly, and oocly i'm really open to any ideas you have for this!
thanks in advance!
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We'll try to cover everything, but if we miss anything, please let us know!
In Meadowlark's world, rooftop gardens are actually the norm, so a building such as the one where they moved into would have these and they would be kept up by the building's staff. They would have one on their roof, as well as on their balcony. There would be a scheduled time for them to come in that meets Jyn and Daisy's needs. Since they're new tenants, this would be a part of the move-in process when they arrive back in New Amsterdam. There wouldn't be anything like a dog spa, since even among the rich, dogs are very rare and this would be seen as redundant. Most of their rich neighbors would likely hire someone to come on site to pamper their animals, if they have any. There would be other amenities like a gym or a public bath that doubles as a sauna during certain hours, which is especially popular during the months with water rationing.
In terms of security, there would be a guard at the front desk, along with staff that can bring up deliveries when needed. In fact, none of these delivery services would be able to get into the lobby: they would meet a member of the staff at the doorway and pass off any of the delivered items. However, a lot of what you mentioned would be covered by the neural implant scans. Their building wouldn't be unique in terms of this. Since neural implants contain all sets of keys, no one can get into a building in Meadowlark's world without being able to pass that security check. (It's why some of our plots have deployed unexpected parties to find out information: because they'd have access even if society overlooks them.) When it comes to expected visitors, they can inform security and provide a temporary pass to any guests that will allow them to come inside, check in and utilize the elevators.
In terms of what Daisy can find out, there's a great deal. Many of the people in this building don't have to face the same stressors of trying to get approved for a child. There are some who aren't allowed because they're on their second or third marriages - and maybe well on their way to yet another divorce because their partner wants to be with someone who won't keep them from having children. Elsewhere, Daisy would have seen a lot of people who do face these limitations. There are some who will ask about Daisy's job and pedigree, wondering if perhaps she has a rich set of parents putting her up there from another city while she breaks into a job at Vyonation (though they likely wouldn't wonder this out loud). Overall, she'd get the sense of how carefully embedded the oligarchical society is in New Amsterdam.
In terms of specifics - we suggest reaching out to some of the players of characters rubbing elbows with the elite to see if Daisy can find connections there. It'll be easier for us to build a story once we know what angle would be most interesting for you! Peggy, Loki, Damian, Jason, Dick (for better or worse on these three), Prompto, Cain and Markus are all involved with plots involving the elite. For example, she can dig up blackmail to help Loki undercut someone in Pulsar or she can find out why Jose Mercado got a leg up there for Fitz, or she can find out that her neighbor is having an affair with her manager at Vyonation. These are just examples and routes you can take! If you have a separate idea in mind, please bring it to us! Otherwise, you can also create a bunch of rumors and ways of passing gossip that she might do herself, and we can approve them on our end once you bring them here. Another approach you can take is her rubbing elbows with the staff: they'll know more about the people living there, and they're more on her level. The fact that she's down to Earth will likely appeal to them.
Hopefully the above gives you some ideas, and we're excited to hear what you come up with!
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for now, i'd love to look at two possible options if i can!
the first: with laura's permission, i'd love to jump into her plot re: jose mercado if that's possible! daisy is icly aware of jose as she and fitz are quite close, and they've talked before via text about the man and how frustrating fitz finds him. her interest would absolutely be piqued by his name and/or presence!
the second: with melissa's permission, i'd like to play with the manager & neighbor gossip! this would be really fun for us to work with as our goal for the two of them is to try and leverage work politics — hopefully in order to get better access to more proprietary information on vyonation security offerings so that they might better understand how it works! while i'm not really looking to get daisy her manager's job, it would definitely be fun to get to play with that info as blackmail to maybe get her name in the ring for a team lead equivalent or as point on a proposal for a high-end client?
** disclaimer: please as always let me know if any of the below isn't possible or wouldn't work within game mechanics!
as a bit of backstory, melissa and i have determined that daisy & johnny currently work on the same team at vyonation, a team that specializes in business-to-business applications of digital security softwares. corporate firewalls, data protection, futuristic equivalents of PCI or GDPR compliance in application software, that sort of thing — a holistic package customized and sold to businesses with the intent of being maintained and monitored by vyonation.
as far as daisy's actions that might benefit both plans:
— she would definitely be friendly/sociable with the staff on site, especially any resident managers or other building staff that would be able to grant requests or help make her life easier as a resident. she knows what it's like to be in a service position, and wouldn't want to make their lives any harder, especially if she witnessed some of the traditional "bad behavior" of rude/arrogant/elitist upper class snobs.
— she'd look to see if there was a distribution list or similar for building residents for things like email notices or resident event notices, or a digital registry of current occupants (though she expects the names to be presented even somewhat redacted, like L Smith or James B, for privacy)
sorry if this comes out rambly at five am but i was really excited to ramble on about this apparently!!! thanks in advance, you're all the best! ♥
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as a follow-up to building features, i wanted to get your stamp of approval before rolling one out into the housewarming/halloween party player plot we'd discussed via pm.
one of the features of the mckenzie building is a 40th floor resident lounge/screening room/all purpose entertaining space that can be rented by residents for private functions. (it can be viewed in their gallery if desired!) would a feature like this be available to daisy & jyn as residents, and if so, is it okay if we utilize that kind of space?
thank you in advance! ♥
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For now, we need you to choose between the Johnny and Daisy manager plot and the Fitz/Mercado plot! It'll make it easier for us to plan a trajectory when we're focusing on one direction rather than two.
We'll also keep those other notes in mind. There isn't a list of building residents that's publicly available, but this is one place where Daisy could easily hack in and find out what's there. There would be some firewalls and encryption, but with the other work she's done, this shouldn't pose much of a challenge. This should also help her get started on whichever plot you intend to have her take on first!
As for the party room - feel free! But if any glowing happens outside of that room, it might attract some staring. That won't lead to any consequences right now, but they might want to remind their guests to be cautious given the unique nature through which they came upon their new residence.
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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!
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1. Would she be going through the neighbors to find out about him or through the staff?
2. Is she going to find out the manager lives there through the roll list, or through other means? Will her manager know that she lives there now?
3. Is there anything that you and Melissa had in mind for their boss? We've already established that he's a disenchanted anime fan, but there is a lot of room for someone to work from there.
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#2. daisy isn't going to advertise on the clock that she's moved, but johnny is aware and they do talk about things quite freely together at work! i'm not opposed to her manager overhearing OR seeing her in the elevator/lobby/rooftop/other public spaces either if that helps to move things along.
#3. we've mentally imagined dwight schrute — but maybe a more attractive dwight, given the affair. but as far as workplace politics goes, having someone in a managerial position who's not technically competent enough to do their jobs would irritate both daisy & johnny, so perhaps something along those lines! how he got his job is likely a significant mystery that lends itself to plenty of workplace commiserating. did he kill someone? did he inherit the job? did he kiss exactly the right butt at the right time before someone died or quit or was fired? who knows... but they sure would like to!
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Thank you for providing this information! As a note, someone in that position on a security team is unlikely to be technologically incompetent, but it's possible for him to be incompetent in a variety of other ways, such as team management or communication. We'll lean on this in describing him in the future!
Gossip from the staff will reveal that the manager's long-time partner, a noteworthy philanthropist, has left him. They'll speak highly of her, but remark that they haven't seen her in ages if asked. Speculation from the staff will mostly be focused on the possibility that he's done something illegal, though they won't know what.
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as a follow-up to this plot, cassian and daisy will be attempting to plant a bug in daisy's managers office during his visit to the vyonation offices. will this be successful?
this will be under the guise of verifying that power was not lost to any important offices during his repairs. daisy's hope is that the manager's proven failures in communication strategies — not always thinking before he speaks, or not always writing the most professional emails — might mean he has loose lips when in the privacy of his own office.
as daisy and cassian have both established good relationships with the staff in their building, they are interested in learning more about the rumors of illegal/sketchy activity mentioned above! (we would also love to know if we are free to name him, or if you'd like to provide us with a name!)
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This may be an odd request, but since it's related to our event, can you bring this over to our discussion post!
As a spoiler, it's going to be a yes! We just want it all in one place for sake of ease. 💖