CR MEME #9 & GAME PLOT THEMES

[abraxasmods]

CR MEME & GAME PLOT THEMES

Welcome to our OOC intro and CR meme. We encourage you all to get out there, plot, and introduce yourself!

For this round, we've added a separate form below for Game Plot Themes Of Interest. You can find the form on this comment. Fill it out and reply to the comment if you want to let us know what you're interested in for future mod plots.

Filling the form is optional, but we encourage you to do so as the mod team will take this into account when planning events and the game's direction. While Abraxas will overall retain its more serious tone to explore darker elements of war, horror, fantasy, and politics, any specifics regarding the above would help guide us in terms of what to emphasize and incorporate into the overarching plot.

You can list general themes such as body horror, cooperative missions, inter-faction fights, monster battles, festivals and mingles, etc. Or you can go into particulars such as "Events that create conflicting morals for my character."

If you want to fill out this form but not the CR Meme form, that's completely fine. You do not need to participate in the standard CR Meme to offer us your thoughts on the game's direction.

CR Meme Form

For the standard CR Meme, copy and paste the form below and post it as a regular comment as per usual:

<font style="font-size:20px; color:#1b5684;">OOC INFORMATION</font> <hr style="border: 3px solid; width:100%; border-color: #1b5684; margin-top: 5px; margin-bottom: 0px;"> <b>NAME:</b> <b>CONTACT:</b> (Plurk/Discord/PM) <b>ABOUT YOU:</b> (A personal introduction, your fandoms, what's usually on your plurk, etc., feel free to delete this section if you'd rather not fill it out.) <font style="font-size:20px; color:#1b5684;">IC INFORMATION</font> <hr style="border: 3px solid; width:100%; border-color: #1b5684; margin-top: 5px; margin-bottom: 0px;"> <b>CHARACTER NAME:</b> <b>CANON:</b> <b>SIGN:</b> <b>FACTION:</b> <b>CHARACTER INFORMATION:</b> (Give us a blurb about your character! As long or short as you like.) <b>CR YOU WANT:</b> <b>CR YOU DON'T WANT:</b> <b>PLOTS/THREADS/THEMES YOU'RE INTERESTED IN:</b> <b>ANYTHING ELSE?:</b> (A gif or a meme or anything else you want to say.)

Upcoming event plot will be announced on the OOC community and signal boosted on Plurk! Event #10's OOC plotting post is scheduled for the 12th of this month, while the IC event post itself is scheduled to go up on the 15th. Stay tuned! Characters will find that the arrival of war brings with it more than battles and politics. Other forces are beginning to stir, both in the real world and within the Horizon.

Reminder that the TDM, reserves, and applications have been moved slightly. Check the Calendar if you aren't sure about upcoming dates.

Comments

[nightwash]

GAME PLOT THEMES

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PLAYER NAME: Pana
CHARACTERS PLAYED: Ronan Lynch
FACTION(S): Thorne

GAME PLOT THEMES OF INTEREST:

• Player-Character Involvement - At the moment, most of the plot is dependent on NPC decisions and/or threading with NPCs. I believe the work load on the mods would be eased and player engagement would benefit from shifting some of the IC power from NPCs to PCs. Several characters from each faction are at high enough levels to be granted positions of influence by NPCs, and I would like to see them allowed to take the reins in plot development rather than meeting with dead-end walls of "such-and-such NPC is handling this and refuses to meet with your character". This is the equivalent of roleplaying against cardboard.
  
  
• Emphasis on Faction Divisions - Characters are naturally inclined to resist aligning with their assigned faction, and as a result, a sort of fourth faction has developed in the majority of the playerbase which puts their character in with the "Summoned" faction rather than Thorne, Free Cities, or Solvunn. This is a tendency that I believe ought to be discouraged, as it ruins the entire purpose of a faction-based game with a faction-based plot and turns the conflict into PCs vs NPCs when it ought to be Faction vs Faction. I think the worst contributor to this problem is the existence of the Horizon, which encourages cross-faction friendship at a time when characters ought to be aligning with the people in their faction. Limiting access to the Horizon can prove beneficial here.
  
  
• Character-based Conflict - Most of the events in the past year have been focused on either battling monsters or destruction of some kind. This is fine on an occasional basis, but I think a lot of characters would be better served by plots that involve intrigue or manipulation. I understand it's a lot more work on the part of the mod team to develop a plot around politics and scheming, and it's much easier to just throw monsters or explosions at something, but making the primary conflict dependent on actual plotting would be doing what DWRP games are best at doing: developing character relationships.

Thanks, mods! This is a tough job and I appreciate the work you've done.