Hey all! Your friendly neighborhood Admin Darts here, with a list of upcoming things that you can look forward to. I know many of you are probably wondering when the next Main RP arc is going to start, and what exactly I've been doing while I'm not posting, so I'm here to answer those questions and bring to light some of the things I and the rest of the Administration have been working on, and to promise more things on the way. First order of business: The Main RP.

The Next Main RP - We promise you'll like it. (Maybe.)

So one of the things I have been put in charge of recently is that I will be running the next Main RP arc. Because of that, I thought I'd work on implementing a couple of changes that will (hopefully) improve everyone's RP experience as a whole. I feel like in the modern world, there are a lot of distractions that vie for your attention outside of Snagem, and that’s fine. Everyone has great games, television shows, and real life shenanigans outside of entertainment that are drawing your attention elsewhere, but if we don't set aside some time for RPing there's no way to make any progression story-wise. So, to that end, I am planning on announcing the date of each main RP ahead of time so people can structure around it a bit, so to speak. There will be one Main RP a month, with plenty of chances for adventure and rewards. I am hoping having a consistent schedule will encourage people to set aside other distractions just for a bit and work together to advance the guild's story.

Speaking of announcing things ahead of time, that's one of the things that this announcement is also supposed to accomplish. The date we'll be kicking things off for this RP is Monday, January 5th. I'll be running the show, so look for me to kick things off sometime around 7:00 PM CST (8:00 EST). The whole shebang I'm hoping to run for something like two to three hours, with consistent posting to get a good chunk of the legwork done early on this first RP mission. What? You want a preview of the mission so you know what you're getting into? Alright I'll give you a hint: lots and lots of trumpets. Other than that. I'm not at liberty to say.

Now, giving up a chunk of your time to post in the guild is quite a commitment, and the Admin team here feels that in the past perhaps there hasn't been enough incentive to get you posting. So to that end, I have come up with an idea that I call the Rapid Fire Rewards system (RFR for short).

RFR - The future of posting. (Kind of.)

The Rapid Fire Rewards system is a new way we'll be rewarding people for setting aside time to RP in the storyline RPs. Simply put, during the first couple hours an RP thread is posted, if you post in the RP thread consistently enough to move the RP along, you will be granted extra rewards at the end, in addition to the normal rewards you would receive.

Now, to get the extra rewards from the RFR all you have to do is post. It's that simple. Just staying active the first couple of hours the thread is up and moving along will all but guarantee you the extra loot. It could be anything from extra items, to eggs, to rank-ups. Now, I know those of you who won't be able to make it to the RPs when they first get there are worried about whether or not they might get left behind, or miss out on rewards entirely. The RFR period is just there to push along the RP towards its conclusion faster, and to get people to dedicate some time to posting out of their busy schedules. The RP threads will still probably span something like a half-a-week to a week in length before we conclude them, and anyone who jumps in after the time period will still be eligible for the normal rewards.

That said, the RFR period is intended to be all about RPing. It's not to say that you can't do other things while posting, but please do not go into an RP and interact with things and get tangled up in the overall plot only to disappear at a moment we've written your character into needing to be there to advance the plot. Things happen, and emergencies will come up, and I have no doubt that I and the rest of the administrative team can write our way around your absence. However, just vanishing is very inconsiderate both to us who are donating our time to run the RP as well as the people RPing with you. If you want to post a couple of times during the RFR and are going to have to leave sooner or later, just let myself or another Administrator know through Skype and we will accommodate you story-wise so you can come back to finish RPing later; or if there's an emergency, let us know too. Otherwise, if you could please try and post semi-regularly during these times if you are in them, it would be much appreciated.

I will be using the RFR for things other than just RPs too, so keep your eyes peeled on HQ for RFR posting opportunities there as well. Usually it'll be plot stuff related to the main RP. Another new thing being introduced with this Main RP cycle, if you will, are Micromissions.

Micromissions - Bite-sized Snagem (Chocolate not included.)

Missions. Love em or hate em, one of the easiest ways to get free rewards and advance your characters progression through the Snagem ranks are missions. In today's day and age, most of us do not have the time to always work on missions as much as we would like. To that end, I proposed a new, third kind of mission to join the other two types we already have. Master Missions are the biggest kind of missions, taking upwards of fifteen to twenty pages to complete, and take a dedication to writing and story-telling that only veterancy in Snagem brings, and that is why you have to be a high rank to attempt them. Regular missions are the medium size of missions, taking anywhere from five to fifteen pages, and some even longer (I'm looking at you Blizz.). So, why not have a smaller mission? Sub had already brought in missions with a time limit, but doing a mission proper in that short amount of time is hard for those of us who are verbose, like myself, and those who don't write quite as fast probably can't complete them either.

Micromissions will be missions of one to four pages in length (roughly) and be simpler objectives that can be accomplished in a short period of time. Unlike regular missions, Micromissions will have a time limit. That is, following the completion of the Main RP thread, I will be posting a variable amount of Micromissions in the main area of the Guild. You will have from the time they are posted until the next main RP begins to complete your Micromission. You will do it just like a normal mission and PM it to myself to be graded. I will be failing these if they do not meet expectations, not to be a d**k, just because asking you to expound on one to four pages is a lot more manageable than failing a regular mission. As long as you have some content in your mission, no matter how short, it will pass.

Now, that might sound quite boring, and one might wonder how anything could be interesting about doing such simple tasks. However, the tasks I will assign your character to accomplish will somehow tie into the next Main RP. If for example, one of the Micromissions is to scout a certain building in a certain town and find the location of the sewer entrance, and no one decides to do the Micromission, I will write the next Main RP as more difficult, while idly commenting that it sure would have been easier if we could have known about the sewers.

You will get rewards upon completing them, and there will be opportunities to catch and snag Pokemon during them, just like regular missions. So doing them will grant your character rewards along with helping the team overall in the next Main RP. Not doing them will put you in more dangerous situations, surely nothing bad could happen. =D

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In short, the new focus that I myself will be putting forth during the next six to eight months or however long this Main RP arc takes will be one of communication, incentives, and just plain trying to get people back in here, RPing and having fun while taking into consideration that all Snagem all the time is just not feasible for our current crowd of people interacting with and trying to enjoy the guild we've built. If anyone has any questions, feel free to hit up a conversation with myself on Skype, either in the main chat proper or on the side, and pick my brain about where we're going for here and other general questions that you might have about what's happening in the current plot and the new things I've just introduced. I am always open to feedback. Welp, I hope this gets you pumped for the new things to come in the new year. Signing off again, it's me, it's me, Darts.