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meadowlarkooc2020-03-18 11:57 am
METAPLOT ENGAGEMENT
Hello all! Back in October, we did a Raplid Plot Engagement, which allowed us to work with our current playerbase to help them propel themselves into a number of plots. Our goal this time is a lot more focused, as we want to know what plots players would like to see play out over the next six months or year. Therefore our focus for this post has three primary aims:
① Determine which aspects of the metaplot players would like to have access to at this time. Even if we don't go ahead with a plot, we will find a way to give your character this information so that they can explore it in their spare time. Keep in mind that once we develop this plot tidbit, it will be up to you to find a path to executing it with your character.
One of our other hopes is that this will get Meadowlark's characters discussing these plot elements. We will have a signup below, but it will be with the understanding that you'll find a way to disseminate this information in-character. We are also open to characters getting information they may not personally be invested in, as we believe that the act of them disseminating it to others could make for good CR opportunities.
② Our other goal is to create a roadmap for all of our outstanding plot threads. Some of these plots may end up being resolved via characters exploring information, and they may eventually dovetail together.
③ Give the players a place to discuss among themselves, as well as with the moderators, how to pursue certain metaplot elements!
Beyond that, we want to know what kinds of plots you'd like to see converted to Meadowlark's setting, or what types of plots or events you'd like to see return. Meadowlark has been open since August 2018, and we don't want to keep anyone from being able to play with plot elements that were introduced early on. Some elements—such as smaller versions of the golden-eyed monsters, the rage sickness, and the dreams—will continue to come up because they're now permanent fixtures in the game. However, widespread, larger versions of these events will depend upon player interest.
We have multiple lingering metaplot threads that we would like to see move forward. Our focus is to not introduce anything until we have a clearer idea of what we're doing with these elements. In order to be explicitly clear, these are only metaplot elements that are in play. Other world aspects—such as the criminal underground, or even the political arena—are still there to be explored, but they weren't introduced as metaplot (that is, they're related to the greater question of why the Displaced are here and what their role is within the world).
In addition, these aren't the only metaplot elements that could be introduced, as we have a wealth of content that hasn't been touched on. We primarily want to look into providing answers and solutions for the metaplot aspects below, either through characters exploring it during their downtime, or through gamewide events. It is possible that these elements won't turn into events, as a lot of that depends upon player feedback! At this point, we're trying to get a read on what our playerbase wants moving forward.
Onto the remaining elements! A lot of this is a repeat of what we listed in our 008 Event Wrap Up, with some new elements added. Down below, we want to open up discussion for how to explore these six points! This is where the moderators will be more actively involved.
In addition, you'll also be able to sign up for plot tidbits related to these six points. We will be prioritizing players accepted within the last six months for these tidbits, as we want to help bring our newer players into our larger metaplot elements. However, we will try to deliver to everyone who's interested, and there may be some overlap.
① The Mystery of Johann Grey. During the Brain Surgery Log, Johann claimed that Cassius had the Displaced steal Judas for him, and he even thanked Laura previously for giving Judas to him. Since Johann experimented on most of the Displaced within his care, he likely has a target on him. His experimentation is rather thorough, showing that he has a deep well of knowledge in how to manipulate the biological responses of the Displaced. In addition, he also has noted involvement with Katelin Jovavich, one of the gubernatorial candidates in New Amsterdam.
Cassius and Johann also seem to have exhibited knowledge of why the Displaced are in-game. El also has an investment in retrieving Judas from Cassius.
We'll add that there are more places where Johann's influence can be seen, but we'd like the characters to work that out themselves! If you have any theories or suspicions you'd like to explore and are wondering if they're directly linked, we're happy to confirm or deny anything outright.
② The Mystery of the Three Remaining AI (El [Lucifer], Cassius, and Judas). While El and Cassius seemed to survive the AI war, there is still an obvious narrative to be challenged there. All of the artificial intelligences in the world were wiped out with the exception of these three, and one of them was found within the headquarters of the United Nations Army's base. How long had Judas been held by the UNA, and what does that say about the AI/human war as a whole? The official history of the world takes the side of the humans, but even so, they were happy to keep an AI locked away in their military base, and were likely utilizing him to fortify and increase their strength.
Just what is going on with Judas? What does he have to say about all of this? It seems he's gone from one hand to another, without being able to speak for himself.
How did both Cassius and El survive over the last few hundred years?
We have some additional ideas in the works, such as: Would you be interested in your character experiencing the human/AI war for themselves? This experience would likely be a fully immersive VR experience (think .hack or The Matrix), but we're still spitballing ideas on our end.
What happened there, and what would happen if the truth came out? Is the truth all that different from how history says it would be?
③ Disarmed UNA? In addition to all this, now that Judas has been taken by the Displaced, what does that mean for the UNA? Whatever it means, they're still keeping quiet about it. In late February 2512, the UNA began to issue new wetware to all of their soldiers. Oddly enough, that process is still ongoing in late March 2512, as if they keep needing to repeat the process.
Is the UN's biggest weapon weakened during this time? Many of the Displaced see the UNA as their enemy, so this unstable time might be the right one to strike, or to at least begin planning for a strike.
④ Mercenary Groups. During the gates plot, several mercenaries operating on limited knowledge helped ambush and kidnap several of the Displaced. If any of the mercenaries made it out alive, they'll be difficult to find for one simple reason: they're all dead now. Some characters got information about their mercenary outfit (the Global Spiral), but little else. Why were these mercenaries hired to bring the Displaced to these gates, and why were they forced to operate on so little information? Why were the Displaced able to travel between megacities on commercial trains as if they were cargo?
As a note, some characters are exploring these plot elements separately. Given that, we would touch base with those players and allow them to take point as needed!
⑤ Mysterious Drop Offs and Assists. There is the mysterious individual who drops off the Displaced with notes to carry (so to speak) to the other Displaced, and this individual also sent a note to Gaby back in IC late October declaring that he protected her from the UNA infiltration of Morningstar agents' home in IC September. Who is this individual? What is their involvement in everything that's going on?
More recently, the Displaced received expensive, hard to get tickets for the Stony Weather Festival with the signature "PM." The following month, the Displaced were dropped off directly at the Red Wings Bar, making it clear that whoever is handling these drop offs, they very much know what is going on with the Displaced and their activities.
Given the guards involved in the drop offs, this may dovetail with the mercenary groups! After all, those guards must be hired from somewhere.
⑥ Mariana Trench and Project Spinetail. Somehow, the Mariana Trench seems to be a significant piece of information tied back to the Displaced, especially Project Spinetail (as reported by Ren Amamiya here) and a resulting earthquake (as reported on by Cassian Andor here). What does this mean for the Displaced? What can they do in order to discover more?
Out of the six of these, we believe that the Johann Grey, AI, and UNA elements would be the most likely to springboard into an event in the nearest future. The rest would require the characters to explore and discuss. As a result, we've set up headers below for each of these points so that you can begin to discuss among yourselves which directions you can take. We'll also be participating in the discussion to help you know what's feasible, what different paths may be available, and more.
Since Meadowlark has been around for a while, we would like to offer up the opportunity to revisit previous events. As a result, we've made a list of our eight events below. We'll make notes on the likelihood of their ability to return, and you can also let us know what elements you like from each event so that we can try to incorporate them in other ones.
> EVENT ONE
◉ A MONSTER ATTACKS NEW AMSTERDAM
◉ Our very first event in Meadowlark revolved around a large godzilla-like monster attacking New Amsterdam. Monsters of these size showed up at the beginning of our fourth event, but were wiped from the collective memories of the people of Meadowlark's world (with the exception of the Displaced).
> EVENT TWO
◉ A VIRUS INFECTS NEW AMSTERDAM CITIZENS.
◉ Our second event revolved around a fire in an apartment building, as well as a rage sickness that occurred afterward. Elements of this event still play out in other ways: the Displaced were infected with a similar sickness during the eighth event, and there is a berserking drug in New Amsterdam that's used as a performance enhancing drug.
> EVENT THREE
◉ UNA OPERATION TO TAKE OUT MORNINGSTAR IN NEW AMSTERDAM.
◉ This event focused on the UNA targeting Morningstar contacts and agents in New Amsterdam. In response, Gaby requested help from the Displaced in order to protect the remaining contacts and agents in their homes. An event of this exact makeup is unlikely to occur again, but we are always happy to develop additional conflicts with the UNA.
> EVENT FOUR
◉ ALL THE DISPLACED DREAM.
◉ Our biggest event in Meadowlark was our dream event. During this event, all of the characters slept and changed the world around them. These changes were both big and small, and radically impacted the world as a whole. We've introduced the personal element of the event as a permanent aspect of the game through our Dreams Mechanic, but any larger changes would need to be handled through an event. Given how intense it is, we would prefer that players begin to work toward this event via dream training.
> EVENT FIVE
◉ AN EMP HITS NEW AMSTERDAM.
◉ Our EMP event was meant to open doors to the characters in-game, allowing them to pursue some plot elements while picking up pieces of other ones. Our hope for this event was to allow players to see how they could use this event to their advantage and plan around it. In hindsight, we would slim down a lot of the present conflicts (the deaths, the pyramid) so that players could focus on taking advantage of their characters' plots.
> EVENT SIX
◉ THE DISPLACED VISIT AN ALTERNATE WORLD (ZERZURA).
◉ For our sixth event, we had the Displaced dragged off to an alternate universe utopia. In this world, they had telepathy to speak to one another, and they began to be subsumed by the fantasy of the utopia. In the end, the Displaced had a choice: save Zerzura, save the world they recently came from, or save both. Ultimately, they picked both. The exact setup for this event would be difficult to replicate, but we have some thoughts in mind on how to approach a similar concept again (albeit more spaced out with clearer opt outs enabled).
> EVENT SEVEN
◉ CASSIUS OFFERS A DEAL.
◉ During this event, Cassius offered a deal to help out the Displaced in return for getting Judas out of the UNA Headquarters. While this exact premise of an event is unlikely again, we'd be interested in exploring a similar setup in the future!
> EVENT EIGHT
◉ THE DISPLACED VISIT THE GATES.
◉ As this event just happened, we're obviously setting it on the backburner! However, let us know what elements you'd like to see return in future events.
> ARRIVAL LOGS
◉ ARRIVAL LOGS.
◉ Some past things that we believe people enjoyed: Animation Naexpo (an anime convention that took place in late September 2511), Halloween (set during Halloween), the frozen out New Tokyo (as an excuse for cuddling and body heat), and the Insomniac Ball (the first time the Shrine-hints entered the fray).
Down below, we have a header for events you'd like to see return—or what elements you'd also like to see come back into play! Let us know. We will never run the same exact event twice, so don't worry about that if you've been with us for a while.
As a general rule, we like to play with elements of DWRP tropes and try to adapt them to our game. We know a few players have been hoping for an opportunity to suggest event premises, so this is where we're doing it! Got anything in mind? Go ahead and comment. If you like someone else's suggestion, go ahead and give it a +1. It'll make it easier for us to discern interest!
All event suggestions will be adapted to Meadowlark's setting. For example: our EMP event was designed around giving people an opportunity to break into anywhere they wanted, but we also wanted to let players do misfires while they had the opportunity. Our dreams event was based around dream sharing, but we adapted it to Meadowlark world build elements. Your suggestion or request can be as simple as "everyone tells the truth" and we try to find a way to work it into the setting. (And yes, you can use that one, too!)
So, feel free to suggest whatever comes to mind!
Overall, our goal is to let our players tell us what they'd like to do! We have a lot of organized comments down below for discussion, and we're eager to hear what you have in mind! We also have a section for "Larger Plot Proposals," which is where we assume things like "How to Make Dreams Event 2.0 Happen?" or "What if the Displaced go Public and How Does it Go?" come up.
If you have information about the six metaplot points that might help to springboard other players into events, go ahead and share that info!
Overall, we are aiming to do an event in April based on the information gathered in this post, though—depending on the feedback we receive—we may do a mini event that springboards into a larger event in May.
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