EVENT 004 CHECK IN

[larkers]

> EVENT 004 CHECK IN

Hello Larkers! We're checking in and giving you all the rundown for how we see the rest of this event going. We've set some dates, so hopefully we can show how things are going to play out. That means that we're going to be a little flexible with IC dates, though that may be predicated on what's happening with the event itself and what changes are made on the world. Therefore, the IC date that started the event may not be the IC date when everyone wakes up. There may be a little bit of time warping that goes on depending on the range of IC action.

> EVENT END DATES

At this point, we're looking to stop accepting submissions to our WORLD CHANGES header on APRIL 14. We feel that this will give players enough time to explore the personal dreamscapes, work on anything that gets planned out in the CR meme at the top of the month of April, and come up with any fantastical ideas for world changes to see what might occur.

After APRIL 14, we will accept no further submissions for the World Changes, but people can backdate anything else - it just won't have a greater impact on the rest of the game.

> APPLICATIONS

If your thought in reading that date was, "But mods - what about applications?" – we'll be pushing our processing window to APRIL 14, as well. That means that everyone has an additional week to get in their application if they'd like to be processed for the month of April. With that in mind, we're looking to get the arrival log up on APRIL 20 or APRIL 21.

Our May app processing round will go as planned, but we predict that we'll have fewer applicants because of the pushed back April round. We intend to notify our reserves that the window for applications and reserves has been extended an additional week due to in-game events.

> THE APRIL CALENDAR

Our April calendar will only have OOC dates at this point in time. Once we work out the aftermath, we will put up an April/May calendar with the correct information. We're aiming to have the event aftermath post up by APRIL 19, if not sooner!

> THE MAY EVENT

Since our March event will be a March/April event, we're looking to make our May event much smaller. It will act as a precursor for the June event, not unlike the fire guided log for the apartment fire in October, or as a way to help provide information and worldbuilding like the Insomniac's Ball in December. Either way, we don't want to leave any April/May applicants hanging without anything to do, so we're keeping that in mind! However, even events are up in the air while this plot continues.

> WORLD CHANGES: PLOTTING

We've see people assuming things have taken place – like downing the largest monster – without having threaded it or planned a way for it to happen. but for that to actually be the case, we need it to be put under the World Changes header. To hopefully help alleviate the feeling of stepping on each other's toes, we've put together a couple headers to help. Not everything pertaining to the events of these headers needs to be planned out here, but we're hoping it may help with any event collaboration.

Monster Killing Plans. Primarily, we need to know how the largest monster was killed, and to get a sense of how many smaller monsters were taken out along the way. This will impact the status of the world outside, so we need to get a read on it.

For an indication of how we've done this before, we took a look at how many people planned to save Morningstar families, and also took people's plans with the UNA base into account before determining the range of success for our January event. Because things at the base were more improvised, we created a solution where they succeeded, but did not utilize or get to keep the weapons from the cache itself. None of this is an exact science!

The Facility Plans. There is a giant spear, and while it can't be moved thanks to anyone's hands, it may be able to be removed by other means. What is underneath it? Is there any way to get more of a response from the specters? Why are there human remains here, and what does it mean?

If you'd like us to put up another planning header, let us know in the comments below!

No change is too small. If someone goes and takes Jose Mercado's broom from him and does his work for him, that does count as a world change. We've had a few players approach us to ask if they can use the dreamscape to further their character's personal plots in the cityscape – please consider this blanket permission to pursue these plots as this event continues! We've had a few questions on plot engagement regarding this - feel free to go wild!

For an idea of some of the really wacky stuff that's happening in the dreamscape, check out our Questions Thread. We're down for writing up scenarios for you, since we're unable to "run" the overall worldscape while your characters explore it.

> WORLD CHANGES: REQUEST FOR FEEDBACK

Since we're extending the event, we have a single question for how this can play out, and how it might affect your playing.

Would you like for the characters to be more aware of the changes that are taking place, and how they might impact the outside world? We know that there are a few characters who are "dream savvy," so to speak, but we're willing to introduce a mid-stage circumstance that allows the characters to know that their actions may impact the outside world. If you're opposed to this, that's fine, too – we just want to see where people stand on this as we extend this event into the next month. If not knowing is limiting actions, we'd like to open up the opportunity for them to find out. It would mean that it would happen "after" some events have occurred.

If someone would prefer to play as if their character never learns, we can also open up an opportunity for them to go to a specific place and find this information. They could begin to see signs and choose to go or not go, or even ignore those signs as more dream nonsense. It's up to you!

This doesn't mean that characters will know what their actions will do. None of that will be obvious (least of all because we will need to look at the accumulated changes at the end of the event).

> NAVIGATION

Comments

[revlon]

I obviously cannot speak for everyone but given the character I write, her knowing about the impact of the dreamscape on the waking world would actually have her being overly cautious and therefore less likely to engage in any activity that could potentially alter their reality — especially without knowing how it would be altered.

Personally, I'd feel a bit stuck creatively in the current log if the reveal happened within the initial dream (since, as I understand it, characters will find out eventually regardless). So I'm all for having the reveal be at a specific location as an opt in/out mechanic for this event!

[forcevisions]

to piggy back off this -- I like allowing other characters to speculate bc it means people can opt in/out of whether they want their character to be held back (or bolstered) by that knowledge re: affecting the real world. more choices is always good, and so is fostering cr!

[larkers]

Hi Tifa! To clarify: does this mean you're in favor of there being an option put into the dreamscape by the mods, or for it remaining open-ended as things are right now?

Thanks!

[forcevisions]

Remaining open-ended! Needing to lean on characters to learn that fosters cr, and allows flexibility of people who don't want to be held back by knowing yet on this dream round.

Sorry for my lack of clarity.

[larkers]

No worries! To clarify on our end, we wanted to offer this option in case characters not knowing was limiting their direction for the event as a whole, especially as it's been extended into mid-April.