Welcome to Gaia! ::

While things are underway for getting the guild started again, I was under the assumption that the previous offer, of a complete retcon, was not the one people wanted, and rather a continuation of the story, with the GM characters killed/written out, was preferable.

While the talks are going on for this plot possibility, I thought I'd check in with you guys and see where you stand on the idea of it, what your feelings on the restart, in general, are, and feel around for any suggestions you might have on plot/revamps. (Though, what happens to the GM characters specifically is already being discussed: they're working on circumstances for their characters to be written out, so try not to focus on that!)

If you have any specific concerns that you think are better suited to PMs, feel free to send one my way, and I'll do my best to help.

Please remember that hiring will happen as soon as a few more templates roll my way! This includes artists, as well as folks who will help me manage the shop, answer plot related questions, and generally keep things running smoothly. ^^

I'd just like to know where you guys are at!

I definitely think we will be moving away from the GM scheme of things, simply because, like you said, it's reached a point where that kind of control is no longer the most efficient way to monitor the RP.

Coming from shops like Shadows of Africa and other, more general plot-based B/C's, and being wholly unfamiliar with D&D structures, I think we'll be moving toward a medium of the two poles. There will be staff hired to manage the plots, or at least the shop canon, and there will still be big shop plot events for people to play in that will need to have some managing. BUT, with so many individual characters and plots coming up it seems the better option to loosen the reigns a bit, as it were.

There will be a new set up which will, hopefully, allow for more set up and use of teams and localities, giving players their own little playgrounds to run what plots they might want to, so long as they don't impact EVERYONE. (IE: Taking over the negaverse is a frowned upon idea, but being a team leader in a specific area, maybe even in a nearby town, expanding the world a bit more? That could fly.)

Of course, I will need a staff of people to help me flesh out these ideas, as well as contribute their own to the new process of RPing here at the shop. Hopefully the changes won't impact that actual playing, just the involvement of the staff themselves. My biggest hope is for people to have fun, but not go crazy with it, or feel like they're being too limited. Finding that medium, like I said, is the key.

As for your second question? I DOUBT IT, but that's a good thing. =D

I'm totally on the hybrid-style management boat -- it could potentially give the right amount of freedom and the right amount of control to have a team of moderators who are invested in "guiding" the story instead of "directing" it, if that makes any sense. As Lith said above, there is definitely a lot more room for expansion and exploration in how individual players can contribute, and RP staff could work actively to make sure that everything that is going on is happening with the integrity of the individual factions and the game as a whole in mind.

The metaplot can come at least partially together with player activities -- Negaversers and senshi both acting on a broader scale, gaining and losing control of city districts, the civilian response etc, etc -- with possibly a bit of pow-wowing with moderators on what this is doing for the setting, which side is "winning," will the Negaverse ever revive Metallia, etc, etc. Along with this there can be the larger RP events that can majorly shift the game dynamic, bring new powered characters into the game and so on.

I don't think we need an intensive battle system, it's always worked just fine with me to contact the other players I want to battle with and decide who's winning / losing and how, and then write out the battle based on the basic plot we have in mind. Instilling a system of dice rolls and numbers would be sort of harmful to planning and conducting fights the way players here are accustomed to, especially when people want their character to specifically win or lose for the sake of character development.

Straight up gonna say that I hate dice battle systems and would never battle again if they were implemented. Hate.

I am on-board with the idea of hybrid management. GMs that generally are just there to make sure that overall craziness isn't happening, maybe post a prompt or two akin to the dream sequences that went over amazingly well - events that happen for everyone to react to, but nothing overly structured? Hard to keep the walls of a room up when there's three times your capacity, you know?

Mouse has good ideaaaaas~

Also I am of two minds on continuity. Because the GM characters were the most important, central characters of the Negaverse those of us with older characters in that faction are going to have to rewrite entire character bases and motivations, etc. But it would be easiest to keep the canon as it stands now.

However I also think that a little less stress on Princess Serenity/Prince Endymion is useful for senshi. They could be looking for the crystals instead of the users, since apparently in SM canon anyone can use the ginzuishou if they just put grimy fingers on it! Also developing the player characters as potential crystal-bearers on their own is something that could be really interesting!

I have a lot of thoughts and ideas, don't want to put them all here, but if you wanna ask you can lol~

Makette: Speaking as a former stamper, and no longer having any influence as one -- NO CLUE. It's possible if it's decided there should still be that quality control in introducing new characters into the game?

If the stamping system is reinstated I would personally recommend having it just for characters who are commissioned or otherwise guaranteed to come into play if the character's already not approved from a concept contest. Doing events for Stamped Quests Only was an interesting idea, but there are just ENTIRELY TOO MANY of them for it to be practical -- even with the new system we put together, the workload is just too huge and too tedious for it to ever realistically get done. With the process we had under old management, it took on average a few hours to review each quest that was posted, and you're not even guaranteed an approval stamp after all that is done. Take that to 15 quests per page, 5 or so pages of quests, and 3 stampers... both the line and the wait are entirely, unfairly too long, not to mention there's only so much time out of the day we ended up devoting to reviewing quest profiles. So, having approval staff looking at every quest ever = BAD IDEA. If you've actually won a character, though, making sure they generally check out in terms of consistent personality, faction guidelines and RP courtesy = still a good idea, in my opinion.

I have other thoughts on the character approval process and the character form itself, but I'll hold on them until we get the mess involving current players sorted out.

BECAUSE I AM ON LIMITED TIME WITH a 5 EURO AN HOUR OF A WHORE HOTEL. (With fancy soaps. How I love their fancy soaps. heart )

I will try to be quick.
Never mind. I am never quick.

On the story side, I vote as little retcon as possible. Having to remake stories is hard enough, but when you throw in the fact we have so many characters to consider, along with character relationships, it becomes utterly unfeasible to ask for a full retcon. Even a minor retcon is very hard to do, as the shop does just have that many characters.
My vote rests on the side of as little recton as possible, the best result is that there is no retcon at all. If the shop chooses to have no retcon but a rather a continuation, I personally think would be best. GM owned characters and things can be written out like a story for whatever end they choose, (Astraea got hit by a bus. Charonite gets lung cancer. Alexanderos is now in crack house. WHATEVS I sound so morbid. YOU GET THE IDEA.), and the shop can continue on, with no little to no retcon. While it would depend on the GMs being willing to give us one last sort of 'story' for the shop, I would think it the best option all sides. Old GMs can leave on own terms with characters clearly defined as to where they stand, new GMs have a solid base from which to 'restart'.
One idea I mentioned was Space Cauldron going SHOOP DA WHOOP and making a sort of AU. BUT, this still would mean a retcon occurs on some level. But even I prefer the springboard story idea.
SO MY VOTE:
As little retcon as possible. If GMs are willing, ask they collab to make a springboard for new GMs and shop's base.

Also, I like Nessy's ideas for the senshi, as if word got out that the silver crystal could be used by ANYONE, you could have some seriosu conflict in and out of fraction. Senshi who might use it for themselves, negas who might also be selfish, senshi who would want the princess before crystal, vice versa.

On GM controlled plots:
I vote what has been mentioned. Player make metas, with GMs only needing to give approval if it can effect other players or shop on a larger scale. Small 'prompts' such as the dream prompts are open ended for players to create off of, and major events are prompt or open based. 'X occurs. React.' 'EL OH ALIENS R HERE'. 'New school?!? LOLWUT' These events were open and inviting to new and old players, and allowed people to make plots around the plot itself. Removing heavy GM control and leaving the direction of the meta to players can be a boon and a curse however. Players can slow, drop out, loose interest. in such events GMs can step in and provide nudges, hints, prompts.
...
Mouse has good ideas. Listen to Mouse. :U

On Battle system:
What I saw a lot in the quest sub forum was a general ??? as to the battle system we have. It's 'complex in it's simplicity'. While dice and randomizers have appeal, they also are VERY limiting battle wise, as then control of a character is lost. If dice said no hit, how would Castor get to punch a dude when the dude needs to be punched for a plot? So, my personal vote on that is to keep the old battle system. While dice do offer a clear X happens, they remove all variables, and can lead to a battle direction in which players might not want. Due to the nature of the shop, (RP heavy and player oriented), a dice system, or a 'battle system' that is numerical based just isn't possible. If a battle guide is needed, I am sure the GMs can create a one. I made one for Bhek in the quest thread to help explain how they work and how it goes into creating powers for senshi. It seems simple, yet is also complex within it's own simplicity. ITS KINDA FUNNY LIKE THAT. (lol idk) While this isn't a cool problem ATM, an option for dice based battles might be nice for those who just want to get reqs out of the way as battles might not be their forte.

WHAT I THINK NEEDS TO BE ADDRESSED:
QUESTING AND STAMPING SYSTEM.

The old system and Mouse said, was slow, tedious, and very intense. A definite revision of the system needs to be made to expedite the stamping process. I am sure Mouse, Kali, and Maru could provide more insight to this at a later date.