Okay guys, I'm pretty sure it's hail mary time.
I know I've just been back after weeks of absence, and I'm sorry about that (RL issues), but seeing the current state of the guild I think that if we want to pull the guild away from the impending doom towards which it seems to be heading, we'll need to do something really big, really fast. The best thing I can see right now to start would be consolidating the members we have, regulars as well as occasionals, putting everyone in Konoha, and then start going around making publicity for the guild.
Usually, people who look for Naruto guilds don't have as a first reflex to look at the secondary villages, and they all want to make more cannon clan characters. So, with our Konoha basically empty, I'm pretty sure it hurts us heavily by driving people away from our guild, which is basically the best one out there for Naruto RP.
So, my suggestion right now, since I think our BETA in Iwa is going pretty well, and since I would like for people to actually be there to play it, would be to officially implement that core beta system in Konoha and have everyone start working there. I know it is still far from perfect at the moment, but the fact it is a bit more self sustaining would decentralize the responsibility for plot, teaching etc. from the few people in charge of it now and prevent things from going completely mauribond as soon as something from their real lives pops up.
Since I know people have various characters in other villages and might not be too happy at the idea of starting over again from scratch (yours truly being one of them), my suggestion is to either transfer them over or make alternate reality copies of them that have always been in Konoha and have them continue together there. This way people won't feel the need to spread their time on two characters in two villages, something very time consuming and which reduces activity, we won't discourage people who'd have to start over from scratch when they maybe have characters they like elsewhere and, more importantly, already having colourful characters with detailed backstories being active will make it more appealing to new members by giving them something to aspire to.
The only problem right now is that many clans aren't completely ready; so we'll need to quickly finalize the big clans if they haven't been made or aren't completely updated to the system (Nara, Akimichi, Hyuuga, Uchiha, Yamanaka, Aburame, Inuzuka, etc.) If there need to be updates, I say we drop the formalities and ask individuals to update clans and make them as balanced as possible. If there are issues, we can work on them later to rebalance. I know there are a couple of people that are very good with D&D and the system that could get the work done quickly if we skip the long process for approval temporarily.
If you guys are down, I can quickly plagiarize basic areas from Iwa into Konoha and I might ask some of you guys to help me out with specific parts. This way, as soon as we have something ready, we'll get things going for let's say a week or two and then I'll start making publicity with my banner around Naruto and Manga forums.
What do you guys think?
