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synodiporia_ooc2018-08-22 06:08 pm
powersthatbe) wrote in synodiporia_ooc2018-08-22 06:08 pm
August SotG Follow-Up
I. AC Policy Clarification
On the last SotG, we had a question about what precisely counts as ‘the last 60 days’ for AC submission purposes. In general, we try to be as flexible with this as possible, and use the dates on the mingle, not the comment, as the start for our sixty days. It would generally be within 60 days of the end of the AC period - for example, if AC is due by August 31st, any comments made this month on a mingle posted after July 1st would be acceptable.
This guideline has evolved over time, and if it’s not working or unclear for people, we’re open to revising it.
II. This Past Jaunt
We’re aware that Red Dirt was maybe not as action-packed or busy as previous Jaunts, and there’s a reason for this. In addition to being a genre outside our areas of expertise, most of the mod team got eaten alive with various RL stressors. A slower-paced Jaunt just kind of happened from there.
Slower jaunts do happen from time to time; rest assured, if something is going so horribly wrong that we’re not hitting the plot beats we need to, we’ll make sure you know!
III. Mod NPCs
We hear you loud and clear on the matter of Arcana tags being sluggish on a regular basis. The past and present mods who have been carrying most of the load here (Meta, Matt and Bii) have all had varying degrees of RL getting in their way, but we’re hoping we’ve worked out a plan that’ll help us get back on the horsebot with these.
First: While we will not be bringing on helper mods to deal with Arcana tags, since playing the Arcana requires a level of metaplot knowledge we don’t want to pass around willy-nilly, a) it is entirely true that we need more helper mods in other areas to free us up for Arcana and other duties, which we have now taken on, and b) we will be passing a few of the Arcana over to Airdra. A list of who to poke for which Arcana will follow after this section.
Second: The major drain we as mods have been feeling, when it comes to Arcana tags, is ‘constantly writing out intro threads.’ We all know that intro threads can wear thin after a while, since they cover the same basic info Over And Over, but we didn’t anticipate how that’d stack up regarding Arcana threads. We’re going to work on a basic ‘what to expect from Your First Arcana Chat’ template, which can be tweaked for the individual Arcana as necessary, and we hope to have it ready to roll by the time our upcoming app round closes.
Third: Several of you suggested restricting the efficacy of Liminal Bridge or other means of reaching the Arcana outside of intro threads as a means of reducing the load. Overall, this is not a solution we’d prefer; we like rewarding people for poking things, and these non-intro threads are often more dynamic for us to work on. (Also, restricting access to the Arcana like this runs directly contrary to complaints that the metaplot is inaccessible, which we’ll be addressing in a bit here.)
What we can do, and what we should do if we feel we need to, is reserve the right to say ‘sorry, I can’t do that thread right now,’ and offer to discuss handwaving options or have the actual thread some other time. We want to reward y’all for poking the plot, but it is nonetheless true that we don’t always have the time or brainpower to do so as directly as we’d like!
IV. Who’s Playing Whom
If you’d like to poke one of the mods for an Arcana thread, or for more detail about handwaved intro stuff, here’s who to prod:
Matt: Fool, Magician, Priestess, Hermit, Devil, Tower, Sun
Bii: Lovers, Chariot, Justice, Moon
Airdra: Empress, Emperor, Strength, Death
Jill: Fortune, Hanged Man, Judgement
Once we have the intro-threads problem sorted out, we’re going to make a fresh Conversation Space page, in part so that notifs for new threads actually go to everyone’s proper journals. Meanwhile, the Mod Contact page has been updated to reflect this.
V. Metaplot Accessibility
We also hear your concerns about the metaplot being too hard to get into. While that’s never been our intent, the game’s metaplot is also a historically thorny issue in the game (almost as long as Syn’s existed), and has never been easy to address. Synodiporia is intended as a mystery-exploration game; by its nature, this requires players to dig a little, and allows us to reward players and characters for active poking at their surroundings. This is one of the reasons we don’t want to completely cut off Liminal Bridge as a means of Arcana-bothering - now that they show up on jaunts less often, it’s a good way to poke the plot.
Given that, the question becomes: What can we do to try to meet players halfway without bending so far that we can’t reward active surroundings-poking anymore?
*While Liminal Bridge is the best way to bother Arcana your character wasn’t Marked by, it is not the only way to bother the Arcana. Characters can sometimes draw their patron’s attention via their Mark, usually by being particularly in tune with their patron’s archetypes. As noted above, we can and should reserve the right to handwave or postpone a thread if we can’t brain it, but just because your character doesn’t have Liminal Bridge doesn’t mean they have to miss this opportunity entirely.
*We have made a fresh ‘poke us here to use a Plot-Finding Skill’ post, with clearer instructions on what we need from you to give you details on what your character might find. The old page, made way back when there was really only one Plot-Finding Skill to worry about, placed too much emphasis on Questing Sense, and didn’t explain whether we just need a heads-up you’re using it (eg. QS, prophetic nightmares), search parameters (eg. Sift, Insight), or the problem your character is looking to address (eg. Brainstorm, Path to Profit). This page is still linked on the directory, and we’re going to try linking it on plotting posts to help draw attention to it.
*We are willing to highlight player-driven plots that tie into jaunt plot or metaplot and haven’t gotten any bites after a couple weeks’ attempts. However, we’re only human and can’t read every plotting comment - if you have one of these dangling plot threads and want it highlighted, please let us know!
*For those who have been concerned about the roles veteran players and mod PCs have occasionally played in resolving plots: We’ve done our best already to be equitable about this, but what we may not have been is transparent about our process for portioning out plot answers. For the next Jaunt, we’re going to try having an OOC post where characters can post theories, ask questions, and note what they’re attempting to do to solve the plot. This should hopefully demonstrate that the way characters have been receiving information is fair and proportionate, as well as giving another avenue for those interested to get involved with plot or metaplot and defuse the perception that only certain players are given the chance to make progress on solving plot questions. That genuinely has never been the case, and everyone’s been free to take the initiative, get involved, and ping mods for information - but we understand that it has felt closed off, and how discouraging that feeling is.
Likewise, when a particular important plot thread has gone untouched for a few weeks and we feel it needs more activity, we can include it on this experimental ‘Plot Exploration’ post and draw attention to it, which may kill two birds with one stone.
We ask players to also be mindful of the fact that accusing active, initiative-taking players of hoarding the plot makes players reluctant to directly engage with the Jaunt plot or metaplot at all, especially in creative ways, and this kind of creativity is, above all, what we want to encourage from all of our players. This is a mystery exploration game, and the boundaries are as flexible as we can make them - not every idea will pay off, but the more experiments and initiative are put forward, the more will be revealed.
VI. All Hail Our New Helper Mods
Thank you to everyone who volunteered to give us a hand behind the scenes and help Syn keep running smoothly! Megan, Rika and AL are the new NPC-mod squad, here to help with Familiar Faces, assorted minions, and other background NPCs as needed. Bliss and Lampy will be taking up the summary-mod torch, to keep players apprised of what’s what during jaunts. Finally, Miso has stepped up as a Code Person, which we’ve sorely needed for quite a while now.
To refresh people’s memories, Blue and Bookie are our AC-tallying team, and Quinn and Thomas are the go-to people for skill questions and making sure the Acquired Skills spreadsheet is accurate.
As always, helper mods are NOT part of the full mod team, and will not be involved in app review, player complaints, or the nitty-gritty details of keeping the game functioning. They’re just here to free up time for us full mods to make sure we can take care of business, and we appreciate their efforts on Syn’s behalf!
VII. Code Pokery
Help us help Miso get started on making Syn look better. Are there any spots on the site that Really Don’t Work on mobile or on a particular site scheme? Do you have any suggestions for things you might like to see? Please let us know in the comments, and we’ll figure out what we can do to help!
VIII. Fortune Favor Skills
While we’re still working on a larger skill rollout, Fortune’s return to the game does mean her idiom is now available for a handful of Favor skills, and a possibility for Interdisciplinary Mark. Archetype and Aura skills that apply to Fortune are as follows:
Fortune’s Aura - Once a month, for one minute per Favor skill possessed, the Traveler emanates an aura with a radius of twenty feet per Favor skill possessed. Those within the aura are able to spot opportunities that would be advantageous to them, and reach the right place at the right time almost by coincidence. The edges of this aura seem to be sparkling gold.
Keep On Turning (Fortune/Chariot) - Once per week, for one minute per Favor skill possessed, maintain momentum on your current activity.
Seize the Moment (Fortune/Death) - Once per jaunt, identify the turning point in any given cycle. This does not necessarily tell you whether that turning point is one that should be allowed to proceed uninhibited.
Spike the Punch (Fortune/Tower) - Once per jaunt, introduce a chaotic new element into a situation. This chaos does not need to be destructive as such, but like with Entropy, there is no guarantee the chaos will produce results that are entirely or even mostly in your favor.
Many of these subjects are still evolving and being worked on - we welcome your continuing feedback and questions on this post or in our email.
On the last SotG, we had a question about what precisely counts as ‘the last 60 days’ for AC submission purposes. In general, we try to be as flexible with this as possible, and use the dates on the mingle, not the comment, as the start for our sixty days. It would generally be within 60 days of the end of the AC period - for example, if AC is due by August 31st, any comments made this month on a mingle posted after July 1st would be acceptable.
This guideline has evolved over time, and if it’s not working or unclear for people, we’re open to revising it.
II. This Past Jaunt
We’re aware that Red Dirt was maybe not as action-packed or busy as previous Jaunts, and there’s a reason for this. In addition to being a genre outside our areas of expertise, most of the mod team got eaten alive with various RL stressors. A slower-paced Jaunt just kind of happened from there.
Slower jaunts do happen from time to time; rest assured, if something is going so horribly wrong that we’re not hitting the plot beats we need to, we’ll make sure you know!
III. Mod NPCs
We hear you loud and clear on the matter of Arcana tags being sluggish on a regular basis. The past and present mods who have been carrying most of the load here (Meta, Matt and Bii) have all had varying degrees of RL getting in their way, but we’re hoping we’ve worked out a plan that’ll help us get back on the horsebot with these.
First: While we will not be bringing on helper mods to deal with Arcana tags, since playing the Arcana requires a level of metaplot knowledge we don’t want to pass around willy-nilly, a) it is entirely true that we need more helper mods in other areas to free us up for Arcana and other duties, which we have now taken on, and b) we will be passing a few of the Arcana over to Airdra. A list of who to poke for which Arcana will follow after this section.
Second: The major drain we as mods have been feeling, when it comes to Arcana tags, is ‘constantly writing out intro threads.’ We all know that intro threads can wear thin after a while, since they cover the same basic info Over And Over, but we didn’t anticipate how that’d stack up regarding Arcana threads. We’re going to work on a basic ‘what to expect from Your First Arcana Chat’ template, which can be tweaked for the individual Arcana as necessary, and we hope to have it ready to roll by the time our upcoming app round closes.
Third: Several of you suggested restricting the efficacy of Liminal Bridge or other means of reaching the Arcana outside of intro threads as a means of reducing the load. Overall, this is not a solution we’d prefer; we like rewarding people for poking things, and these non-intro threads are often more dynamic for us to work on. (Also, restricting access to the Arcana like this runs directly contrary to complaints that the metaplot is inaccessible, which we’ll be addressing in a bit here.)
What we can do, and what we should do if we feel we need to, is reserve the right to say ‘sorry, I can’t do that thread right now,’ and offer to discuss handwaving options or have the actual thread some other time. We want to reward y’all for poking the plot, but it is nonetheless true that we don’t always have the time or brainpower to do so as directly as we’d like!
IV. Who’s Playing Whom
If you’d like to poke one of the mods for an Arcana thread, or for more detail about handwaved intro stuff, here’s who to prod:
Matt: Fool, Magician, Priestess, Hermit, Devil, Tower, Sun
Bii: Lovers, Chariot, Justice, Moon
Airdra: Empress, Emperor, Strength, Death
Jill: Fortune, Hanged Man, Judgement
Once we have the intro-threads problem sorted out, we’re going to make a fresh Conversation Space page, in part so that notifs for new threads actually go to everyone’s proper journals. Meanwhile, the Mod Contact page has been updated to reflect this.
V. Metaplot Accessibility
We also hear your concerns about the metaplot being too hard to get into. While that’s never been our intent, the game’s metaplot is also a historically thorny issue in the game (almost as long as Syn’s existed), and has never been easy to address. Synodiporia is intended as a mystery-exploration game; by its nature, this requires players to dig a little, and allows us to reward players and characters for active poking at their surroundings. This is one of the reasons we don’t want to completely cut off Liminal Bridge as a means of Arcana-bothering - now that they show up on jaunts less often, it’s a good way to poke the plot.
Given that, the question becomes: What can we do to try to meet players halfway without bending so far that we can’t reward active surroundings-poking anymore?
*While Liminal Bridge is the best way to bother Arcana your character wasn’t Marked by, it is not the only way to bother the Arcana. Characters can sometimes draw their patron’s attention via their Mark, usually by being particularly in tune with their patron’s archetypes. As noted above, we can and should reserve the right to handwave or postpone a thread if we can’t brain it, but just because your character doesn’t have Liminal Bridge doesn’t mean they have to miss this opportunity entirely.
*We have made a fresh ‘poke us here to use a Plot-Finding Skill’ post, with clearer instructions on what we need from you to give you details on what your character might find. The old page, made way back when there was really only one Plot-Finding Skill to worry about, placed too much emphasis on Questing Sense, and didn’t explain whether we just need a heads-up you’re using it (eg. QS, prophetic nightmares), search parameters (eg. Sift, Insight), or the problem your character is looking to address (eg. Brainstorm, Path to Profit). This page is still linked on the directory, and we’re going to try linking it on plotting posts to help draw attention to it.
*We are willing to highlight player-driven plots that tie into jaunt plot or metaplot and haven’t gotten any bites after a couple weeks’ attempts. However, we’re only human and can’t read every plotting comment - if you have one of these dangling plot threads and want it highlighted, please let us know!
*For those who have been concerned about the roles veteran players and mod PCs have occasionally played in resolving plots: We’ve done our best already to be equitable about this, but what we may not have been is transparent about our process for portioning out plot answers. For the next Jaunt, we’re going to try having an OOC post where characters can post theories, ask questions, and note what they’re attempting to do to solve the plot. This should hopefully demonstrate that the way characters have been receiving information is fair and proportionate, as well as giving another avenue for those interested to get involved with plot or metaplot and defuse the perception that only certain players are given the chance to make progress on solving plot questions. That genuinely has never been the case, and everyone’s been free to take the initiative, get involved, and ping mods for information - but we understand that it has felt closed off, and how discouraging that feeling is.
Likewise, when a particular important plot thread has gone untouched for a few weeks and we feel it needs more activity, we can include it on this experimental ‘Plot Exploration’ post and draw attention to it, which may kill two birds with one stone.
We ask players to also be mindful of the fact that accusing active, initiative-taking players of hoarding the plot makes players reluctant to directly engage with the Jaunt plot or metaplot at all, especially in creative ways, and this kind of creativity is, above all, what we want to encourage from all of our players. This is a mystery exploration game, and the boundaries are as flexible as we can make them - not every idea will pay off, but the more experiments and initiative are put forward, the more will be revealed.
VI. All Hail Our New Helper Mods
Thank you to everyone who volunteered to give us a hand behind the scenes and help Syn keep running smoothly! Megan, Rika and AL are the new NPC-mod squad, here to help with Familiar Faces, assorted minions, and other background NPCs as needed. Bliss and Lampy will be taking up the summary-mod torch, to keep players apprised of what’s what during jaunts. Finally, Miso has stepped up as a Code Person, which we’ve sorely needed for quite a while now.
To refresh people’s memories, Blue and Bookie are our AC-tallying team, and Quinn and Thomas are the go-to people for skill questions and making sure the Acquired Skills spreadsheet is accurate.
As always, helper mods are NOT part of the full mod team, and will not be involved in app review, player complaints, or the nitty-gritty details of keeping the game functioning. They’re just here to free up time for us full mods to make sure we can take care of business, and we appreciate their efforts on Syn’s behalf!
VII. Code Pokery
Help us help Miso get started on making Syn look better. Are there any spots on the site that Really Don’t Work on mobile or on a particular site scheme? Do you have any suggestions for things you might like to see? Please let us know in the comments, and we’ll figure out what we can do to help!
VIII. Fortune Favor Skills
While we’re still working on a larger skill rollout, Fortune’s return to the game does mean her idiom is now available for a handful of Favor skills, and a possibility for Interdisciplinary Mark. Archetype and Aura skills that apply to Fortune are as follows:
Fortune’s Aura - Once a month, for one minute per Favor skill possessed, the Traveler emanates an aura with a radius of twenty feet per Favor skill possessed. Those within the aura are able to spot opportunities that would be advantageous to them, and reach the right place at the right time almost by coincidence. The edges of this aura seem to be sparkling gold.
Keep On Turning (Fortune/Chariot) - Once per week, for one minute per Favor skill possessed, maintain momentum on your current activity.
Seize the Moment (Fortune/Death) - Once per jaunt, identify the turning point in any given cycle. This does not necessarily tell you whether that turning point is one that should be allowed to proceed uninhibited.
Spike the Punch (Fortune/Tower) - Once per jaunt, introduce a chaotic new element into a situation. This chaos does not need to be destructive as such, but like with Entropy, there is no guarantee the chaos will produce results that are entirely or even mostly in your favor.
Many of these subjects are still evolving and being worked on - we welcome your continuing feedback and questions on this post or in our email.
I. AC Policy Clarification
II. This Past Jaunt
III. Mod NPCs
IV. Who's Playing Whom
V. Metaplot Accessibility
no subject
no subject
Re: V. Metaplot Accessibility
For those who have been concerned about the roles veteran players and mod PCs have occasionally played in resolving plots: We’ve done our best already to be equitable about this, but what we may not have been is transparent about our process for portioning out plot answers. For the next Jaunt, we’re going to try having an OOC post where characters can post theories, ask questions, and note what they’re attempting to do to solve the plot. This should hopefully demonstrate that the way characters have been receiving information is fair and proportionate, as well as giving another avenue for those interested to get involved with plot or metaplot and defuse the perception that only certain players are given the chance to make progress on solving plot questions.
I feel like this already exists, in the form of the weekly plotting/questions posts. If there has been another avenue by which players have been getting plot answers then yes, the process has been far from transparent. I'm aware this probably entails private plurks/messages/emails so it's sort of a "well duh," but I'm not sure how the above proposal will cover more ground than the already public options do.
Re: V. Metaplot Accessibility
Re: V. Metaplot Accessibility
Re: V. Metaplot Accessibility
It shouldn't be very different than what happens now, just more transparent, and so, hopefully, more accessible because of the transparency.
no subject
What specific steps will the mods be taking to allow the Arcana to appear more accessible?
How do you plan to address the fact that people do not always feel comfortable approaching the mods and often don't know where or how to get a mod attention for plot exploration?
Keeping in mind that not everyone has the same body of knowlage and culture references that the mod team has, what ways are the mods willing to highlight plot important items or areas?\
What steps can players take to get mod attention to a thread or area where mod input it needed, and has not been received?" And will the mods at all be willing to summarize /hand wave threads where mod involvement is critical so that they can be resolved while they are still relevant?
And as a closing note, please, *please* let the playerbase know when a jaunt has entered slow-down mode. Please don't just assume that we will know what's going on. We rely on you, the mods, for communication and information, and players can often step up and fill in for any problems if they know that it's wanted or needed.
+1
There's been a long pattern in this game of mod involvement not being as involved as it could be. I don't say this to condemn or to blame or even in anger. Just that the desire of what the mod team wants the game to be and what the game actually is are often two separate things... and what the game can be, given the time and capacities of the people running it and the desires of the players, may be something somewhere in the middle. I'm happy to see signs of shifting NPC work around and re-distributing how the Arcana are handled, and I'm hopeful to see if it plays out well in the longer term. If this is going to be a mystery-heavy game where there are secrets to find, and the answers to those are gotten by asking the mod team, then the mod team needs to be enthusiastically responsive. Otherwise, players who are new, anxious, or otherwise unsure aren't going to be able to engage in what seems to be intended to be a big part of Synodiporia's story.
Re: +1
no subject
I think one sure-fire way to get players to poke highlight stuff, other than oocly listing sources of info, is to make it like Questing Country's recent lake: big, shiny, and seemingly the source of Trouble.
no subject
If the additional plotting post is going to be a regular occuring "this is the metaplot nattering thread" then yes, that's a good idea! That just wasn't at all the vibe I got off it as it mentioned "resolving plots" and "next jaunt" (aka, being jaunt plot talk.)
Providing that post is a good step, but it does need to be used to be useful. Redirecting stuff off plurk onto that post is a good idea. Since the culture of the game is basically "plotting on plurk, announcing in OoC" there will need to be some work done to make sure that the new post won't just be window dressing like the current plotting posts tend to be.
no subject
no subject
If it doesn't seem to be working well, things like frequency of the post will be adjusted & tinkered with until it does work well or until a better approach comes up.
no subject
Plurk pings are the bulk of requests for information we get, so they’ve historically taken priority. At various times in the game’s history, we’ve been more rigorous about redirecting certain sorts of questions to email or appropriate plotting posts; that’s what we’ll be doing here. Nothing is set in stone--if this doesn’t work, then we’ll reevaluate and try again.
What specific steps will the mods be taking to allow the Arcana to appear more accessible?
Reworking the Conversation Spaces should help a bit in that regard, and we’re also looking at other ways to bring them out into the action a bit more, possibly with random Arcana encounters or more Arcana toplevels where they can be poked at.
How do you plan to address the fact that people do not always feel comfortable approaching the mods and often don't know where or how to get a mod attention for plot exploration?
Our contact information is, and always had been, publicly accessible to all players. If you’d rather not poke the mods individually or through those channels, you can also use the Plot-Poking Skill Pings Page, and we can work something out there!
Keeping in mind that not everyone has the same body of knowledge and culture references that the mod team has, what ways are the mods willing to highlight plot important items or areas?
If this is referring to Jaunt plot references, we’re trying our best to include a glossary of terms and things that would help on each Jaunt info post. If you need something clarified, please ask! We’re not perfect--we’re willing to work with whoever might need additional clarification.
If this is more of a metaplot-related thing, same thing--please just ask! We’ll try our best to clarify things. We’re also aware that several of the game’s info pages do need reworking, and once we’ve got that taken care of, that should also help things.
What steps can players take to get mod attention to a thread or area where mod input it needed, and has not been received?" And will the mods at all be willing to summarize /hand wave threads where mod involvement is critical so that they can be resolved while they are still relevant?
We may be contacted via email, plurk, or comment under any questions or pings header or post. We’re also absolutely willing to summarize and hand wave threads to aid in getting things resolved in a timely manner.
There was a lot to unpack there--thanks for your patience with our answer!
no subject
How do you plan to address the fact that people do not always feel comfortable approaching the mods and often don't know where or how to get a mod attention for plot exploration?
Approaching a mod, when you aren't familiar with them (and sometimes, even when you are) is a bit like that scene in the Wizard of Oz, when Dorothy and Co first go to see the Wizard. The mod account is a faceless entity: A figure head account that could be one of several people. For those of us with anxiety, it's creeping down the hallway with a request to make from Mod, the Great and Powerful who's whim dictates everything in the game. The contact information on the mod contact page first starts with another faceless account... and then with contact information that has an AIM handle. With AIM being a dead and shuttered service, this does not bode well for how updated anything else that follows is. With the exception of one other account, everyone else's contact is a plurk name, meaning it's either email the faceless mod account, or cold-plurk a stranger (unless you know someone on the mod team personally.) Or even worse, having to add a mod's personal plurk to your friends list, just to ask a question.
These are terrifying options. And even if you know someone on the mod team, emailing the faceless account feels like a roulette wheel. Since everything from that account is the amorphous Mod Team, it's less talking to people, and more "The Boss Says" style replies.
"The mod team" as a concept is not a comfortable one. There isn't really face to it, its a collective (even when it isn't.) And while I can understand the basic concept of wanting to appear a unified team, the end result can come off as something detached and corporate; the booming head of the Wizard making declarations instead of just the man behind the curtain speaking as someone a bit more grounded.
So with that context, the general mod stance of "Come to the mods if you want to--" becomes a major roadblock for those who are not already friends with/in regular contact with the mod team, resulting in people who are more familiar with the mod team getting a larger share of the plot cookies.
One possible solution I would offer; Keep the door open to being approached, but also go ahead and approach players yourself. The latest 4th wall mingle was a good example of that, where the helper-mods playing the dragons went out and tagged any player in the ruins. Something like that actively pulls players into the plot, and makes it easier to tag that same NPC later, if/when they have a top level, as there's already something pre established to build off of. (Because while having an Arcana top level in a mingle is awesome and something that I would love to see more of, when your character has never encountered that Arcana before, and/or has no idea that that even is an Arcana (or even something that can be interacted with, rather than just a manifestation of Liminal) it makes tagging that top level a lot more awkward and difficult.
Also, the page linked says it's specifically for plot-seaking skills. Is there another for non-skill based plot poking? And are there any plans for redoing the main directory to separate out "basic information" style pages (aka, FAQs for newbies and potential players) from pages that are designed for use of current players trying to be more involved in the meta plot? With how many reference pages there are, stuff like this can get utterly lost in the forest. (Like that speculations page that I only just noticed while trying to see where the plot-poke page was linked from....)
Keeping in mind that not everyone has the same body of knowledge and culture references that the mod team has, what ways are the mods willing to highlight plot important items or areas?
This is less about needing a glossary and more about context clues to point out things that may seem obvious, but aren't.
Having more easily noticed flags of "Plot this way" "This thing is important!" or the like is sometimes very desperately needed. Puzzles and mysteries are great and all, but none of them are really solvable without clues. And since we, as text-based RPers, really can't do the tried-and-true method of "rub everything in your inventory on everything else in your inventory" some sort of hint needs to written in the text instead. When jaunt mingles can feel like matte paintings, just backdrops for the setting, having something that sticks out as a starting point can go a long way.
(And re: Glossaries, while appreciated, the less external things to cross check in a jaunt, the better. Swapping tabs on mobile is a nightmare, as is having to go hunting through the glossary every time something that isn't known. If it's something that can't be explained in-line text, an in-line link to the specific thing helps a tonne, especially when the "please ask" hits into the above mentioned labyrinth, and also adds more to the mod workload. )
Again, that's for your time and replying, and sorry about the paragraphing!
no subject
We don't have an immediate reply for any of these things, but we're going to keep talking about them, and when the opportunity comes up, we'll try to employ a couple new techniques (like the dragon tag-outs, etc.) As we adjust to having new NPC-mods helping us out, we'll be stretching out & trying more; seeing what works & what doesn't, so there may be some false starts, but there should be new options for plot engagement coming up over the next couple jaunts.
VI. All Hail Our New Helper Mods
VII. Code Pokery
Re: VII. Code Pokery
Also, is there a dedicated spot to report broken code?
Re: VII. Code Pokery
VIII. Fortune Favor Skills
Re: VIII. Fortune Favor Skills
Re: VIII. Fortune Favor Skills