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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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We're really into this, but we have a few suggestions that would make it more compliant with our world, as well as what we've established with our political NPCs.
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• instead of white day (or perhaps in combination with white day), would it be possible to use arbor day, which is celebrated in march historically in the netherlands? i don't know if arbor day would still be celebrated so perhaps white day is more culturally appropriate? but it would tie in with the trees?
• lynch is a great alternative and i love the public info from peggy's investigation! would it be possible for caroline to try to meet with lynch at some point (even informally by stalking him to his preferred morning cafe or something, vampire hearing being what it is) — i'm okay with this and would prefer it to be after the event itself, as she'd like to try and convince lynch to bankroll another more personal charity endeavour. ofc she might not succeed at all
• as far as immediate npc & city area outreach, here's what i've got noted
— philanthropy through elin zepatka & joseph lynch
— banking and finance through dennys behrs (jyn + co's very friendly neighbor)
— art world through takeshi kovacs
— social media advertising / influencer sphere through lottie person
— extend invitations to keynote the event to all three big companies (if the event is tailored to white day, specifically to medea & meredith ling, focusing on the work they've done and the incredible role models they are as powerful women in the economy??? spitballing here but white day is very cool from my ten seconds of google searching)
— i don't think caroline would outright tell her mob family boss about her day job but she wouldn't deny/hide it either? so i'm wondering if there's some way to make that connection as well?
and then just a clarifying, functional question: does it make sense to split the event into two parts, with the silent auction vs the bachelor(ette) auction for the general public, or is that taking on too big a thing to balance?
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1. Instead of White Day or Arbor Day, would you be interested in having this function as being in support of the people who have given their lives to help advance humanity's progress in the colonies? It would be a subtle nod to the Mars colony uprisings, especially given Jovavich's recent failings in the debates. Lynch has spoken out in favor of how the people out there need support, but he would be cautious not to single out Mars itself. This has been alluded to on the most recent calendar, as well as the one from last month.
This ties into the idea of environmental conservation. Expansion to the colonies began because they needed more ground for people to eventually live on, making it so that the Earth could continue to improve. However, most people would understand that this was Lynch's way of supporting the people used and lied to when sent out to the colonies.
As a note, we came up with this idea in the interim week, so let us know if this works for you!
2. We're working on getting Lynch set up as an NPC, so this should be good to go after the fact! He'd be happy to meet with Caroline then.
3. We'll revise the bullet points after some of these other things are worked out! But there's one more note: Caroline's mob family would absolutely know her job already, especially since she was captured when she just started working there. They would be very supportive of the colonies angle, for what it's worth. That's part of why/how we came up with the idea!
4. Splitting it is fine, but we think that, for the most part, the public one would be the playable aspect! Does that sound good?
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i am also considering throwing up a network post asking for help but i don't want to overwhelm myself or anyone else currently doing gates stuff, so your suggestions on that are appreciated.
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Toward the end of February sounds good! We can work that into the calendar so that everyone's aware of what's coming up. We do have to ask you to handle writing the log, but please send it to us for review prior to posting. We'll definitely draw attention to it once it's up so the playerbase knows it's for everyone to participate! We're also still planning to do that NPC thread for you, if you're interested.
A network post sounds like a great idea, but it depends on what you're able to take on. Maybe posting it mid-February with late February for the actual log would work best? But that's ultimately up to you.
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also, i don't want to assume too much in terms of the success of the silent auction, but i'd love to know any outcomes there that i can tie into the mood of the day for the more public event — or any big npcs presence i can notate, that sort of thing. any info you can give me to bounce off of is appreciated.
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We're scheduling this log for February 29th, then! That's the last Saturday of February, so you have a bit of time! Since we're working on the event, we'll get back to you about the rest of this information. We won't be able to review the log itself until it's closer to the date, and we'll be providing the information on the NPCs and the silent auction around February 9th. Feel free to sit tight until then!
And that location is fine!
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1. We added a new element to the silent auction for players to get their characters some serious credits via the Event Aftermath (just ctrl+F Caroline!). They can also get their objects looked over in the days before the event and see if there's any interest in them! We still don't think this will involve a lot of RP, but it's an opportunity for getting information, especially since Caroline will have resources on hand!
We'd ideally like for the silent auction's success to be directly correlated to how many relics and old goods Caroline gets to have bid on, but we're willing to be flexible about this! We also think it's definitely believable for Caroline to come up with this idea herself, in case you're wondering!
2. NPCs on hand will be gubernatorial candidates Joseph Lynch and Simone Durcell, Elin Zepatka (a fondly thought of philanthropist in New Amsterdam), many members of the more elite members of the Riverside Mob, and Matek Kattan (first mentioned here under the Community Meals section!). Fun fact: Kattan is actually Ball's real name! He's a reclusive person who isn't often seen by the public, but he will make a brief appearance at Caroline's event on both days.
There will also be a lot of charitable folk in the city, but little presence from the big three corporations outside of friends who are close to Elin, Joseph, and Simone. This primarily means employees at Ibis from Giles Bell, as well as employees from Caudata Tech (the subsidiary that Durcell runs) will be present, as both Ibis and Caudata tend to work largely independently of their current corporate overlords (Ibis, for what it's worth, has a lot of clout and has functioned this way for centuries). Otherwise, the corporate boards are still throwing in with the Jovavich campaign. Leading up to the event itself, there will be rumors of them shifting their support to Lynch's campaign, but they won't be making that big move just yet.
For what it's worth, getting the backing Caroline does get on this event will speak well of her, even with her Riverside Mob connections.
Many of our other named wealthy NPCs are not going to appear at a function that is in direct contradiction to Jovavich's campaign and message, so please stick to what we provided here!
3. This location is fine, though if you want to make up a new one, go ahead!
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the intention of the auction, in my understanding, is that the proceeds are going to charity. while i'm happy to include relics and other artifacts from the gates event to it, i'm confused as to how characters would be able to make credits for themselves at a charity event? and if they are making credits for themselves, how would the collection of these artifacts make the event more successful?
if you could also let me know what kind of information you're expecting in the ooc post you mentioned in the cr meme, i'd appreciate it. i didn't have one drafted, so i'm unsure what you're expecting there.
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While most of the proceeds will definitely go to charity, we did want to include some benefit for the characters ICly to give them additional reasons to attend the event and also tie in the relics in an immediate way to get some plots moving! Another big part of the event is about drawing attention to the space colonies as well so giving NPC donors reason to participate would be another IC reason for it working this way. Charity is definitely still a big part of it!
You had mentioned an OOC post earlier in our discussion, so that's why we mentioned it! We figured it would just be a brief overview of what the event would entail to post in advance of the log going up so that people have a centralized place to discuss, plot with each other, plan threads -- and of course, sign up for whether their character would participate in being auctioned off. It doesn't have to be anything too involved!
Also, we saw the PM you sent us with your draft of the log and we'll get to reviewing that ASAP.