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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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no subject
Moving past the first one:
2. Would Cain be putting himself out there for modeling or applying for these positions, or would he ask people to come to him? As far as we know, he's both a fighter in the fighting rings and doing construction work, which might make it reluctant for these companies to use him as their face.
3. This direction would be far easier for Cain! However, Simone would be reluctant to hook up with someone over social media while showing support for the brewing rebellion on Mars, so he would need to find a direction to meet her. Thankfully, Alex - a friend of Cain's, we believe! - has that in thanks to her time working as a singer in a number of Petrov clubs. We recommend moving Cain in that direction.
4. As Hideki walks them inside, he would remark that they usually have a lot more staff, but his mother "threw a tantrum" and fired everyone recently. That means she hasn't hired new staff, and he's forced to do take out every night. He misses having a personal chef! He wouldn't have any clues as why the staff is gone if they ask, just that his mother has been more stressed and irritable than normal.
Their apartment would actually take up three floors. The main entertainment would be on the main floor: there is a wall set up for watching movies, as well as very, very nice couches that … may somehow be made out of leather. The dog will be here, too, trotting around and looking cute. There is a nicely stocked bar on this floor, and this is where Hideki would plop down and put on music very loud by syncing up his neural implant with the apartment's speakers. This music will be able to be heard on every level.
The second level is where the Maedas keep their pretentious art and other cultural artefacts. The temperature in this area is carefully regulated. This is where Aoi keeps her shrine that she had sliced out of a wall, but there is nothing about it that makes it seem as if it's especially treasured, as well as a number of other paintings that she bought throughout the years. She has other art - and some of it was purchased and installed recently, bought off the art walks that were set up following the Halloween festival. None of this art is from the Displaced, however, so it doesn't seem as if she has a particular proclivity toward them. She also has a library on this floor dedicated to a lot of books, but they're held behind a glass door and someone needs to have the neural implant access to open them.
The third floor is where the bedrooms are. There are four of them, with the master bedroom having a locked door. They won't be able to get in unless they break the lock, which would be difficult to do without sending a security signal to Hideki's parents. There is a way to do this by shutting down the power on the apartment building, but it would, again, cause some issues because the senior Maedas would be informed.
ETA we left out that's critical: What won't be obvious is that there are security cameras all over. Usually apartments don't have these to the extent that the Maeda family does, but they monitor movement in all parts of the apartment. The second floor with the gallery is especially monitored, as it has the family's prized possessions. These cameras won't be visible to the naked eye, as Maeda doesn't want people to know she's watching them when she's not in the room.
We know that this isn't a lot of information, but they would be able to have a map of the apartment. Let us know if they'll be going through more extreme means to get into the locked bedroom, or if they'll be happy to report on this to Jason!
no subject
For Hideki, I don't think at this time they would try to get into that room if it would lead to alerting anyone (plus they still need Hideki's sweet sweet influence power), but the map will definitely be useful to have. It may be an interesting plot element later down the line to pursue, so let's just say they take a map of the layout and don't do anything suspicious. Would this map be something virtual they store somehow using the implants? Just curious how it'd be done.
Also for my own curiosity, how would someone go about discovering if there are cameras? Let's say down the line if a more involved mission happens, would they need fancy tech to find them, or would turning off the power to the building be enough to disconnect the cameras?
no subject
It would just be a digital map, essentially drawn in a paint program!
For the cameras, the more high-class establishment, the more hidden the cameras will be, and the harder they will be to get past. For a house like the Maeda's, finding the cameras would either involve elaborate detection equipment or very thorough snooping paired with sophisticated infiltration knowledge. Keep in mind that snooping for the cameras may alert whoever's manning the cameras that someone's looking for them. Even in modern times remote cameras can operate on an internal power source and be extremely small, so multiply that by a few hundred years of improvement.
no subject
So am I correct in assuming that even if power is shut down to the building, the cameras would still operate?
no subject