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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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is there room for doing this kind of recruitment drive? obviously quietly/subtly and she would be open to how that should look bc rey is no spy, but the idea of let's take advantage and pull more people on board now. eta: her primary focus would be recruiting people who are disadvantaged by the current government in various ways because they are most likely to jump on the cause.
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We recommend that you touch base with Jen, Ellie and Laura about this, but we believe the focus right now on New Amsterdam and Morningstar is focused on rebuilding the structure and support system. We know that Jen is having Markus put out feelers to see who might be interested in helping, so Rey may be able to work in tandem with him. Overall, the focus is on creating a system that can support recruitment, rather than recruiting in general. This is what Gaby would recommend at this time, since the PCs still need to train as agents before they look into bringing on other people.
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The reason is pretty much as stated before! But to expand: the key thing is that Morningstar lacks infrastructure and a network at the moment in New Amsterdam. They don't even have a safehouse set up (for Morningstar business with refugees who need help), and the current PCs aren't trained to do Morningstar's work. Expanding beyond that and not linking up with some of the contacts that El and Gaby provided for Peggy and Fitz is thinking too big. They need a foundation right now.
As an additional note, Morningstar does tend to recruit from impoverished people who can make a stand themselves! They know that's the audience they're seeking to help, so that would be their focus once the infrastructure is in place.
Rebuilding Morningstar's network in New Amsterdam is going to take a lot of work, and they are also still allowing the Displaced to rebuild their reputations with Morningstar as a whole. While El and Gaby are warmer toward them - and people in other cities see them as superheroes - they need to know the Displaced won't rush and will take the time to create a fortified system in New Amsterdam.
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(1) My intention here is to have Rey expand the Morningstar network by recruiting people to the cause, effectively spreading public support. I.e., going for a more nonviolent approach to resistance by just trying to spread hope and positivity that Morningstar is helpful and good, like she's been trying to do in the dreams and by doing supply runs in the past. These things work out before, but now I'm wondering -- Is this in line with Morningstar's overall strategy? Is Gaby resistant because it's not part of how Morningstar wants to go about their rebellion on a larger scale? It would help if I knew some information about the general tone of their resistance movement and what their mid-range goals look like, as much as they would share those ideas with proven loyal agents.
(2) To that end, can you clarify what you are looking for from rebuilding Morningstar's network that ISN'T recruiting new contacts and agents? To me, these are the same task. Would you prefer I specifically picked out "here are people that are contacts provided by Gaby and El, and here's how Rey is following up with them" instead of Rey taking her own initiative with it? Because that seems like reinforcing a preexisting network instead of building one up again.
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1) The issue isn't recruiting, but that they don't have the systems in place to support impoverished people. Before they start recruiting them, they need to be able to help them. It's essentially skipping a step in the development process. Our concern with your idea, besides the timing, was the primary focus on impoverished individuals - Gaby preaches helping someone before trying to prey on them (and that's why they never actively recruited the Displaced). There is no infrastructure in place to help these people, nor are the Displaced themselves accustomed to working as Morningstar.
As a note, Gaby is extremely pacifistic in her leanings and would support Rey, but part of her cautioning would be because she'd want to make sure that the people in need can get help. She doesn't want Morningstar to become predatory by trying to recruit people in bad spots in their lives - as that's the tactic behind UNA recruitment practices, as well as how some youths enter strict and regimented training programs to become world class athletes.
2) They do need to reinforce the existing network because all of those contacts will need to interact with new faces. Many of those contacts weren't aware that they were helping Morningstar, and we also wanted to leave it open for people to bring in new points of interest in the city. That means people who aren't necessarily going to join Morningstar, but may be able to help with intelligence, goods and other services. Either way, it's a changing of the guard, and the large network of intelligence that was once in place is now gone. These new people have to work to build up relationships that the old ones had, but since Morningstar is a secretive organization, they have to do it discretely. The reason why new contacts can work in this system is because they wouldn't be joining Morningstar - it would be about relationship building so they can call on favors down the line.
For the record - we think a recruitment drive is a great goal to work toward, but they may want to think up a way to encourage people to feel emboldened to join Morningstar. Right now, most of the boldness is happening on Mars, and the government is nervous. It is the right time to strike - but that's to capitalize on these sentiments to increase them. We know that you wanted Rey to do some propaganda, so that may be a fun direction to explore - making it less about the propaganda, and more about what Morningstar has accomplished and will continue to accomplish. She just needs to be cautious about not conflating the Displaced with Morningstar, as their interests aren't one and the same.
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eta: i think this miscommunication came as a result of conflating impoverished with the word "disadvantaged," which is not exclusively economic at all. i did not intend for rey to be pursuing economically impoverished ppl specifically, but rather any kind of group that is disenfranchised in a general way.
i just wanna make that extremely clear before i decide what to do with the rest of this lmfao.
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We didn't think she was being predatory! It's something that would be on Gaby's mind when Rey approached her with this idea. Economic disparity is the main reason behind the disadvantages of Meadowlark's world, as it's the key contradiction to the otherwise glossy surface that it tries to present. We think that might be where the miscommunication happened - Meadowlark's world is one where corporate greed and influence has created the majority of the world's problems (up to and including many of the environmental issues).
Otherwise, it's a bad time to focus on recruiting new people to their numbers before New Morningstar has settled in. Everything is in flux, and even we don't know if those donations will be going to Morningstar or the Displaced (as they are separate entities). They just got into the new safehouse, they haven't started missions and they haven't started reaching out to those contacts. In addition, Morningstar has a lot of resources at their disposal, but they are waiting to see how the Displaced handle operations in New Amsterdam before offering them freely.
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Rey will be pursuing developing and recruiting contacts for Morningstar to network with. Specifically, she will be following up on anyone in Peggy and Fitz's list that can work with heavy machinery (e.g., transports, inspections, repairs/garage work, modifying mechanical systems) because she can network with them easily as both a current Giles Bell technician and as someone who used to work in a repair garage!
Related to this, despite Gaby's warnings about recruitment, Rey will be seeking to create new contacts too by feeling out who might be amenable to Morningstar's activities from those who dislike her old boss (who she got along badly with and was fired by following the fire/rage sickness event). She's interested in people in the above category of mechanical workers who aren't on the preexisting list, who she already has a connection to and potential to develop a positive relationship with.
Lastly, Rey's going to follow up with some of the specific people she helped following the monster attack by providing supplies in the tent cities, just to check in on them and see how people are doing. Similarly, she'll be feeling them out for attitudes towards Morningstar in order to prime them for future roles as contacts and possible agent recruits.
To find them without revealing Morningstar, she'll mostly be looking to exchange favors, do small jobs for them, and testing their antiauthoritarian sentiments gently in conversation.
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As a quick follow up question: can you tell us a bit more about her former boss? We were under the impression that you originally followed that lead to get her in to the underground aside of things, and that he wasn't someone with a whole lot of status. Are we mistaken, or is there some other reason behind Rey's appeal to his enemies?
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These directions sound great, and she'll be able to make a foundation with the machinery people, as well as the individuals in the tents. We recommend that Rey continue to stay away from mentioning Morningstar at this time, but she can speak to the tents people to figure out what they do for a living and perhaps see if she can work with them and help them out, earning these favors in turn.
Anyone who had an issue with her boss - competitors or former employees - will be reluctant to deal with her, though they will understand why getting fired was relatively unfair. They may not offer her much help in her recruitment efforts, but they will offer her a job and other insight into businesses.
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2. Would there be any reason to believe accepting one of these job offers would open more doors than her current position as a mechanical technician for Giles Bell?
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1. Handwaving is fine, but feel free to touch base with us in the future.
2. They'll be similar jobs to her first one, so that is up to Rey ultimately!