In Darkness - OOC

So, the marvelous entity we refer to as the one!brain came up with the idea that, at the end of the break plot, some characters go missing for a few days to continue the illusion that some people did go home, and to cause a couple of days of angst.

So that'd put the end of that plot around the 15th, with the lottery winners announced on the 17th, and the lottery being held on the 18th, which leads into the plot for the 20th.

We don't have a set number for the vanished people, so we're calling for volunteers. This will mean that the kidnapped characters will not be available for posting/tags/network stuff for the duration of the period they've gone missing (the 14th/15th - 18th), so please be sure you're willing to have your character in a coma-like state, hidden away, for the duration of that time.

You don't have to decide right now if you want them kidnapped, but it is something to think about. Please also clear with any players of characters your character is close to if they're willing to deal with the subsequent angst. I've already been informed that Jaime and Jasper cannot be among the kidnapped because Mandy doesn't want to deal with Alice and Mal's reactions to it XD because the characters have no idea it's only temporary. For all they know, their friends went home. Or, more likely, they're assuming their friends are dead >:D

As always, la la la.

This may need clarity. I have a migraine and am going to go have a nap now.

( Volunteers )

Okay, so, as you can see, the Big Giant Head has made his announcement, and the "two week give or take" break has begun. The line is gone, the weapons and magic and powers and whatnot will be gone when they wake up (and if they aren't planning on going to sleep, they will be gassed to sleep while their room is raided =P )

If you have questions, need clarity, etc, go ahead and ask away.

EDIT

The wizards/witches will also be missing their wands. The sorcerers will be missing their rings. Anyone else with any power-conductors that aren't, strictly-speaking, weapons, will also find them missing.

Hello, hello!

I know, it's a touch early to start next week's plot discussion, but I wanted to run something by everyone and see what we think of it, and figured we should give the discussion a start now.

So, I realized today that we have an insane amount of plots on the list. And my head exploded with the idea of which one to use next. Which of course meant I came up with something else entirely. Ah, the creative process.

First, a little backstory:

Those reading the Head posts in the logs comm have probably caught on that Matt is a little sadistic (with little being a bit of an understatement ;) ) and that Sam is a little more reserved. Well, Matt and Sam are not the be-all end-all powers in this experiment. There are actually two other guys behind it, and Matt and Sam are just the Heads of this part of the experiment (you might have noticed they often speak of having things approved). So the Head Head (or the Big Head) has taken an interest in this particular island, and isn't exactly thrilled with how quickly Matt is moving, or how bent Matt is on breaking people. He has been picking pretty exclusively on a handful of people, after all.

So the outline of the proposed plot is as follows:

The Big Head will make an announcement in the network this weekend to express his apologies, but a few people have been brought here by mistake, but it will take them a little while to fix it, giving them a ballpark of 10-14 days. In the meantime, to keep any of the mistakes from falling victim to experiments, everyone will be given a pass for that time. Nothing bad will happen, no one will be exploited, the weather will be maintained at a constant. The White Line will be gone, the traps will be disabled for this period.

However, everyone's powers will be disabled as well, and all their weapons will be removed for this period. At the end of it, only the personal weapons will be returned (as opposed to the ones gathered during the reaver attack), and the guns will be cleaned out of ammo, so they'll be empty when they're given back. The magic will be returned in the same state it is now (partially and situationally crippled).

Obviously, no one's actually going home ;) but they don't know that for sure.

I intended this to run for two weeks. Mandy wasn't sure if that was too long, if the momentum might fade, people might get bored, etc. So there's that to consider, too. (I think we'd be all right, because there's plenty for them to angst about and talk about - like who gets to go home, are they just screwing with us, etc, but ... I'm not everyone and she generally has a better people-sense than I do XD )

I really wanted to do this because last week was supposed to be a break so we didn't overtax our kids, but then we got all gung-ho with the conversations, and that was fun - but not for them.

So what I want to hear from you is:

1) do you like this as a plot idea? (I know the characters will hate it >:D , but do you players like it?)
2) do you think 2 weeks is too long?
3) do you need anything clarified to make an informed decision?
4) do you have anything to add?

So, comment away. Lemme know what you feel.

'kay guys.

Just a little bit of a maintenance reminder. When you guys finish up a thread, please make sure you 1) amend the header so it's marked as complete and 2) add your "!complete" tag to it. If you guys could go through the logs comm and make sure all your headers are updated and your completed threads are tagged complete, that'd be great. I just did mine earlier today, and yes, I know it's a pain in the ass if you go too long between header fixings, but it makes things look nicer. :)

Also, please do remember to add your character tags when you tag into the network or the log community. Trust me, you'll appreciate that when activity checks come around.

Good job on remembering titles :) Very nice.

That said, we start the Adult Programming plot on Monday. You are welcome to start throwing up logs/network posts Sunday night if it's after midnight somewhere in the continental US, and thus technically Monday. ::cough:: Not that we're impatient or anything.

There should be a list in the OOC comments of what characters and scenes are going to be shown. Your characters do not have to see any of it, but it is being shown on the televisions. Of course, the TVs can be turned off and your characters don't have to see anything at all, so this is a strictly voluntary plot.

Yes, you can still add things in the comments if inspiration struck or you introduced new characters that you want to exploit.

If you have any questions at all, or need clarity, or anything like that, don't hesitate to poke. I'd seriously rather have questions and clarify ahead of time than have to go "oh hell, I was opaque again" and chase down a misunderstanding and fix it.

Thanks guys!

As some of you have guessed, I'm cleaning out the drop box and generally doing my Thursday night maintenance now. Because I had a lot of tags last night, and maintenance could wait. XD Tags are better than maintenance, always.

That said, I did update the FAQ to include the bit about the moon for any werewolf characters coming in. Or for anyone who wants to notice the moon.

My character is a lunar-governed werewolf. What's the moon situation?

The moon on the island is a false moon. It doesn't follow any proper phases or patterns; it is full one night, and new the next, or a half moon for three consecutive nights. There is no true moonlight in the game, so if your werewolf is of a canon that needs to be exposed to direct moonlight, they will be free from shifting. If your character is of a canon that simply needs to feel the full moon, we're adhering to real-time full moons. A schedule can be found here

Additionally, Mandy came up with a tweak last night on the posted conversations plots. Because she was apparently channeling Matt. Idek.

But after they've posted a few real conversations, they're going to start splicing together unrelated conversations. ::Slow nod. devious grin:: oh yeah. Because the Heads? are twisted sons of bitches. And we love them.

That said, if you want to start submitting false conversations, do be sure to label that they're false. They probably won't be posting any more after tonight (I'm going to post Spike's tonight. Act surprised when you see it ;) ) because of the upcoming plot, but there will be other slow plot weeks that they'll be posting. I'll also add this to the post that the drop box links to for instructions, so it will always be easy to find.

Oh, and if you do forge a conversation between a character you're playing and a character you aren't, please please please run it by the player(s) it might affect. We like some IC angst and whatnot, but I really don't want to force angst on someone not inclined to play with it just then. So, even if you were going to twist a canon conversation, just make sure the other involved players are fine with it.

Okay. I need to go ... finish getting ready for work (yay Friday), but you know the drill. If I'm being opaque like I tend to be, don't hesitate to ask for clarity. Things work fine in my head; it's the brain-to-fingers translation that mucks it up. :)

All righty.

So after lengthy discussion of our options (our options keep growing. It is awesome when you guys suggest plots. you should do it often ::hynotizes:: ), we've decided to go ahead and go with the Adult Program Week.

For those unfamiliar with this plot, it is fairly simple.

Normally, the TVs (in room and in lobby area) are able to access a wide range of channels, from cartoons and family programming to HBO and Starz type movies.

However, starting Monday, August 30th, all the TVs will only play shows rated adult. This includes everything from pornography to extremely violent horror films to things like South Park, loaded with swears and adult humor.

As an added bonus, the captors have also included videos of events from the characters' home canons. I would like to point out here that they also may have staged things as well. (why yes, I am playing the cover-my-ass card for a bit of canon twist we're setting up). These events can be sexual, or violent, or simply laden with swears. So you're welcome to torment your kid by having them stumble across them doing something, or their SO/bff/whatever doing something that fits the theme of the week. Like cheating on them, or killing their mother, or ... you know. Whatever we want to play with for triggers.

Since not everyone's going to want to read graphic stuff that might squick them, please, please, please remember to list any potential triggers in your headers if you're doing these as logs. This includes anything from underage stuff, rape, extreme violence, excessive swearing, or extreme kinks. Kind of ... use your judgement on it.

If you don't plan on describing things in a thread, but would like something your character has participated in to be part of the viewing line up, go ahead and comment here with an idea of what would be shown on the TV in case anyone wants to stumble across it and recognize your character in it. So make sure you guys check the comments now and again to see if there's anything your kid wants to see. or ... you want your kid to see to freak 'em out. XD

As always, hit me with questions if you have 'em. The odds are good if you have a question, I have not been clear and someone else shares your question.

Before I forget again ... since I was interrupted when I started this last night.

Right, so, we seemed to have a fairly positive response to the broadcasting of conversations at random on the network. I enjoy this idea. It will bring out the awkward, the embarrassing, the paranoia, and whatnot.

Only conversations taking place inside the hotel (including the roof) will be posted in the network. So if your scene is taking place in the mall, or outside, or in one of the stores, the conversation can't be used.

Conversations from a character's canon can also be used; they do like recording actual events, after all.

While this part will mostly only apply to me and Mandy, anyone else with multiple characters is welcome to do the same: if you want conversations between two of your own characters to be posted, just type it up and toss it into the drop box, and if and when Matt is inclined, he'll toss it onto the network.

This is going to be an ongoing thing, not simply a "plot week" thing. There will likely be more of them on no-plot weeks, but they will be worked into the network sporadically and randomly.

Not all conversations will be used, but the more revealing/embarrassing the conversation is, or the more mental damage it's likely to inflict on the participants, the more likely it is to be posted.

While we will be prowling logs to dig out useful snippets, we are encouraging people who want to participate to drop the relevant snippets into the drop box. Right now, there's no specific formatting, but do make sure to make a distinction between which characters are speaking. Please do not include narrative, and only include actions if they made a sound. For example, laughter, tapping something on a table, snorting, scoffing, sneezing, dropping something, etc. And since the posts will be put up in the network, it would be preferred if you bracketed the sound to distinguish it.

So an example conversation would be:

Bob I like pie.
Bill [laughter] Where the hell did that come from? That's a cookie!

Only, you know, more revealing and significant. XD

If you have questions, comment here, but ... um. Try to keep the comments relevant on this post, since I'm linking to it in the drop box so new people have an idea of what we mean with "conversation snippets" and new people can play too.

Thanks guys!

Edit

As of 8/27, we have introduced the possibility of spliced conversations. Things your character has said, taken out of context or merged with someone else's conversation, perhaps even someone your character has never spoken to.

All spliced conversations (actual canon or game canon) should be run by the players of the characters involved to make sure everyone's really fine with it before it is submitted.

Hello!

As previously mentioned, there is no scheduled plot for this week. Everyone's all set to recover and mourn and angst and the like without any additional interference from their captors.

Next week (8-30 - 9/5), will be something silly. I haven't settled on what yet, and I don't want to start rehashing plots already, but I'm sure we'll figure out something. Maybe they'll only play the Nature Channel on TV or something. Or blast Lady Gaga at random hours. Suggestions are always welcome.

After that though ... we've got several possibilities as far as where we can go. We have been pushing off the pheromone plot, but there are also a couple things I wanted to do for a selected numbers plot, and there's also a new suggestion plot of dementors, but I'm not sure we only want to give them a two week break before traumatizing them, so we might want to hold off on that for a few more weeks.

But since the silly will be a group plot, the week of 9-13 - 9-19 may be selected individuals. It's all kind of wide open, so any input's welcome. We're here to serve you, and junk. ;)

Hi.

Reaver post is up. We're encouraging smaller threads (2-3 or 4 players) so it's still a group event, but not a chaos that's going to get borked by posting order or anything like that. The (light sleeper) characters may have been slightly sedated the night before via gas to the rooms, because hey, they needed their sleep, right? Which accounts for lack of people in the area hearing the noises and waking up too early. Your call on that.

If you need me to NPC a reaver for you, then subject your thread with your character's name and "NPC Reaver" and open if you want other people helping or not. You're certainly more than welcome to just NPC them yourselves, however, if you're comfortable or if you're just going to kill them off. I don't need to play out "and it died" for you ;)

All threads should have character names in the subject line (like we do in the network for private entries) to indicate if they're open to involvement or if it's supposed to be a stand-alone thread within the larger post.

So, for example, if the subject said:

Chase, open

Then someone could jump in. If it just said:

Chase

Then it is a stand-alone, and you scoot on past to the next open thread you want to hop into. I'll be tossing up some tonight, or possibly joining some that are up, if y'all beat me to it.

If it says:

Chase, reaver

Then I would throw in a reaver for you. However, since I play Chase, that would just be silly.

If you want to NPC your own reaver, just putting your character's name in the subject line is sufficient. We'll figure it out via context ;)

Also, we do not have a Mandy until (at the earliest) tomorrow evening. She's out having like, a social life or something? I'm not even sure what that's about =P so she will not be around for the start of this.

So, safe places. The infirmary rooms (2nd floor) are safe, as are the safe rooms (3rd floor). Anything else is kind of fair game.

If you have questions, fire away and I'll hit you back as soon as I can. :)

So, okay. We might have worked out the "how" for our Friday dealy. I am waiting to see if dumb idea is dumb or not. 'parently my first go was dumb. or defied the logic of magic. whatever XD

Friday is going to be our happy compromise between "giant group plot of flop" and "everyone has their own threads". It's going to be a group post with individual incidents in various locations, because the reavers are getting into the hotel - somehow (this would be the 'how' part we're stuck on). This gives those who aren't combat savvy enough to be "allowed" on patrols/room duty a chance to have an encounter if it is desired.

The safe rooms will still remain safe, regardless, so anyone in those rooms is excused from combat. Unless they are dragged out to go find the reavers, in which case, hey, Mal has a gun

in regard to the "urgent" post option that Lily mentioned, just label each network post in the subject line "Urgent" if it was posted that way. And pls to not be abusing the urgent system, or it will become a case of the boy who cried wolf. ;)

Speaking of subject line labels, we do want all posts in the log community to have subject lines, so take a quick glance at yours and make sure they have titles. If they don't, please add one. I don't really care about titles in the network comm, but the log comm wants them. The rules say so. Most everyone's doing great there, so hooray :)

And don't forget to tag things. I haven't had time to go through and check, but if you tag into a post, please add your tag to it. I try to catch the ones I see (and don't hesitate to add other people's tags yourself, if you notice them tagging in and not adding their tag to their post. I don't care who does it, as long as it's done).

And yes, in personal news, for those who didn't see the edit to the other post, I did lose a ferret last night, so if I'm a little crabby today, my apologies in advance. I'm still only human.

So, okay. Think that's about it. As always, if you have any questions, fire away. Notifs seem to be working fine, so I should be getting drop-box comments now, and my e-mail's always open, and of course commenting here is fine.

Thanks guys :)

I will let Lily's post summarize what's going on right now so I don't have to write it again. If you need any ooc clarification on anything in there, go ahead and ask here. Or the drop box. Or my e-mail.

As far as medical supplies go, there are not many right now, but there will be some once the actual attacks start, and those will be listed. Probably not by medical name, but things like "painkillers" and "antibiotics" and ... you know, "bandages". XD The most they've got to work with right now are first-aid kits, but the good kind, like for camping.

Reaver discovery will happen tomorrow. One of our resident seers/readers will notice, and Jaime will find that there are five, and a post will go up in the network. After that, it's pretty much going to be a free-for-all as far as how things are handled. If people want to get ambitious and go hunting, that's gravy. If people want to shriek and hide like little girls, also gravy. There will only be five the first day, so ... if no one else volunteers to take care of them, then ... they'll hang out until the 9 from Wednesday join them.

Also, fair warning, Mandy and I are bringing in a bunch of characters after this plot (I've updated the holds page to reflect who ;) and may or may not get to the cast list tonight). Because we're crazy. And we're going to have fun with the fact that Hiccup and Dave have the same voice, and Dug will have fun with Oy and Astrid will be pissed she missed some hardcore fighting, and ... yeah.

As far as future plots go ... the week of the 21st - 28th will be plot-less, so people can recover and lick their wounds. After that, I want to angle for something group-wide silly. Just to keep people guessing. So, suggestions on that are welcome, and if it's something we can feasibly make happen, we'll see what we can do with it. The week after that ... I'm flopping between rage pheromones in the lobby or truth serum in the air everywhere. Though if anyone else has something group-wide they'd like to see, by all means, I am open to suggestions. It might not be something we use right away, but I'd add it to the list for a future date plot.

So, okay. Standard drill applies. If you have questions, hit me up. I'm probably not on for much longer tonight, but I'll catch it in the AM.

Edit

Oh right, character deaths. The following characters are slated for reaver!death:

Susan Pevensie
Tinkerbell
Sayuri
Elizabeth Swann

It's not set in stone, and it may change at some point, but for now, those are our casualties.

First, the tracking/journal notif issue is apparently in the process of resolving (did I not say? Notif flood at work to buzz the BB all over the desk XD)

Second, don't forget to sign in.to the activity check if you haven't already. If you already have and are on the safe list, no need to sign in again.

Third, just so I have an idea of how mandy and I should pace our own pups as far as reaver kills go, can I get an idea of plans you guys have for what day/how many reavers your kid's encountering, and how many I'm going to need to npc, just so I am aware, along with what sorts of injuries you'd like to have inflicted? Obviously we're not killing without consent, but we're down with almost-killing :)

Thanks :)

Okay.

IJ is failing with notifications, but I have Mandy back at least for tonight, so, whatever IJ, whatever. (However, that does mean I'm not getting drop-box comments, so until IJ straightens up, e-mail's probably going to be the faster way to get in touch).

( Long description of ammo-drop )

( Long description of plot )

Okay. There are so many reasons I shouldn't be writing up this post right now, early hour and rambling aside. I think I hit everything, but I have undoubtedly skimmed right over some glaringly obvious thing that everyone's going to have questions about. So if something isn't clear, and moreover if you disagree with my perspective on your pup's canon, please, please mention it. If you really think your character can handle more than I've said they can, honestly, let me know and I'll be happy to switch it around. I'm really not familiar with a lot of canons in game, and while I do expect it to be played out realistically, that does include realism per other canons. If your character routinely comes up against something in canon that's more badass killer than reavers and they eat them for breakfast, do let me know ;)

If you need anything clarified, or want to throw some if-thens at me, please shout out. (like: if this, then could that?) And please remember, your characters know nothing. They are all working on speculation and theories right now. So they do not know the first attack will be Tuesday, and they do not know anything about the patterns or the safe guards, and they do not know the traps are disabled for the duration of this plot (because wow, wouldn't that make the Heads look dumb, getting reavers caught in their own traps?) They are welcome to discover by trial and error, and they can see the things in plain sight (the mall display, the ammo they come across in the convenience store or the mall, etc), but they don't know why any of it is around.

As always, all plots are optional. Your character is totally welcome to chill with Jaime, Kyle, and Dug in one of the safe rooms and avoid the whole mess. (...okay. I just totally had images of them trying to teach Dug to use the potty because they weren't letting him out for a walk ... ::cracks up:: )

Because Thursday is maintenance day and we have a busy weekend coming up. :)

( Cut to spare your lives! )

So, I think that hit everything I wanted to hit. If you have questions, suggestions, need anything clarified, hit me up. Here or there or everywhere, and omg I'm so excited for this plot. :)

Okay. Now that we seem to have a steady-ish flow of play, we'll go ahead and run a lottery. The last one kind of flopped because RL chewed on everyone at the same time. Which is neither here nor there but made me sad all the same.

Since I don't think anyone here now was here for the first one, we'll run down the basics.
( Sparin' the f-page )

Also, we are working up to an adventure plot, probably for next week sometime. The boys want bullets, so we'll give them something to shoot at XD Oh, and bullets to shoot with. And a narrative post for an idea once I've lined up all my ducks.

So right. Any questions or need for clarification, go ahead and hit me up and I'll attempt to clarify. You're probably not the only one with your question so be brave and ask.

So, we are back to random-drawing plots. If you are on the list and 1) do not feel comfortable with this plot or 2) know you won't be around to react, please let me know. Regardless, I would like everyone selected to please comment to acknowledge that they've seen the post even if you have no protest to it. A simple "got it" or "read" or whatever, just to let me know I can expect reactions. ;)

That being said ...

Starting on Monday the 9th, the following characters will have their attire removed from their room. All clothing, bathrobes, large towels, etc, will be removed. They will be left with whatever they were sleeping in, and the assigned costume. It will be a two-a-day thing, so those on Tuesday on will have some warning. However, even if they hide clothing, it will be found and removed.

( Anticipated questions )

( Assignments )

As always, if you have any questions, comments, concerns, etc, please don't hesitate to hit me up. I look forward to the lulz this shall bring.

Hello!

Since we seem to be missing a few usually active bodies, we'll be shoving off game/group plots for another week or so, until more people are back/settled/have time to actually play.

However, this gives us a chance for personal plots. If there's something particular you want to happen to your character (likely something bad, but I'll consider good things as well >:D ) to stir up a reaction, comment here. I'm looking to keep it small (no more than 5-7), so if you have multiple characters, please just pick one. And please, be specific! Something like "Oh, the events of issue #19!!" is not going to help me because I am not familiar with issue #19, and I am disinclined to google and attempt to figure out which aspect of issue #19 I'm looking to recreate.

I'm pretty open to suggestions, but I don't know your characters as well as you do. Things that could happen ... they see a disturbing personal video of something happening to one of their friends/mates/SOs back home, something significant/relevant belonging to them/a significant other/a best friend shows up in their room, they have specific, horrible dreams/hallucinations, a meaningful song won't stop playing on their radio, etc., etc. Be creative. :) Something to stir them up.

Comments are NOT screened, so if you want to privately suggest the idea, hit my e-mail or the drop box.

If you have a preferred day, please also include that; I'm angling for a one-event-a-day week.

In general, there will be nothing unusual happening to the other inhabitants of the island. Weather will be mild (think, late spring/early summer in non-desert climates), there will be no creatures, no smells, no noises, no drug-induced bad dreams, no power outs, nothing but the line, which still still possess the same dangers it always does.

Okay. Think that's about it for right now. As always, if you have questions, etc, etc. you know where to find me.

( Sign-ups )

I did say we're pushing plots back until more people are back with us - and we are.

Doesn't mean we can't have a weather event in the meantime.

Starting Saturday at noon, it's going to start raining. By the evening, there'll be thunderstorms. This will continue until noon on the 31st. There will be "random" (and by random, we mean at the most inopportune times) power outs that affect only certain areas at each time, lasting from 15 minutes to 3 hours. Feel free to start playing with those on Sunday.

It won't be thunderstorming the entire time - but it will be storming most nights. It will be raining the entire week, varying between drizzle and downpour.

If you have questions, fire away ;)

hehehe. Dates. Idk, maybe that'll make it easier.

Anyway. Starting on Sunday night, the temperatures will begin to gradually drop - like they began to gradually increase for the heatwave. Days will be chill, nights will drop to below freezing. Wednesday and Thursday night will have snow.

However! There will also be three "escaped" Direwolves ... sort of. These wolves are about 5' high at the shoulder, very broad, heavily muscled, and very predatory. The heads will announce their "escape" in the network, but will be skimpy on the details.

So you will have the details here.
( Details )

As always, if you have any questions, go ahead and drop them here or there or wherever, and I'll get to them asap.

Thanks guy!

Hello, and how is everyone this fine not-a-Monday?

As I sit and ponder future plots, thought I'd run something by you guys, so input is appreciated, and comments are screened.

Next week, we'll have an open plot (no specific characters chosen) and the week after that, is a 15 character plot/event. (As always, suggestions are more than welcome - here, the drop box, my e-mail, wherever).

But the question I had was: what are your thoughts on playing with pheromone-induced attractions between characters for the week? I will emphasize that nothing HAS to happen. If the characters never encounter each other, that's perfectly fine; I'm not big on "forcing" events on anyone. Anyone can opt out of anything, and that's fine.

But I also think there could be a lot of fun to play with awkward induced by something like this. Like, Dug stalking someone because they smell nice. Lots of blushing and stammering because Swan suddenly finds someone very attractive and she doesn't know why. And so on.

But if there's majority protest, I am definitely capable of cooking up something else.

Open lines of communication, we has them.

Also, so you have a heads up now, I am going to introduce a rule regarding canon puncturing since we don't have one and I'm just glad it hasn't come up yet XD silly me. I will pop up another post once I've gotten that settled, and you're more than welcome to share your thoughts on that here as well.