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.