OOC Info [Alvadas] False Impressions

[Lucas Arias]

Kale, I would love to have moderator interventions from you in my threads! As I already said in chat, I really like this idea.

[Nephti]

That sounds like an awesome idea! Mod intervention would be really fun!

[Raylan Ramsey]

That's a great Idea. I would be all for that, Kalei!

[Aislyn Leavold]

I know this idea was brought up before but never implemented, and I'm as onboard with it now as I was previously. It would really contribute to the spontaneous and somewhat ridiculous nature of the city, not to mention being a fun plot point. I'd love to see where you take this, K-Scope

(P.S. I am, indeed, alive, and I do apologize to all thread partners I've left waiting. A trip away from my computer turned into procrastination, which turned into getting sick, which turned into far too many excuses that I'm very sorry for.)

[Kaleidoscope]

Okay, thank you everyone for the feedback! It gives me some sense as to what people are feeling like, which is good.

I wanted to open up more broad questions which I'd like your answers on, all.

• What is one thing that you would like to see happening in Alvadas, that is OOC or comes from the moderator? For instance, would you like to see more things like moderator intervention? Or maybe something different happening in the calendar? It's open to you, so any ideas you have, whether you think it's unlikely or not would be helpful.
• I'm keen on democracy. Do you like me spouting things into the OOC chat, asking questions like this, or would you like me to shut up and get on with it? xD Honest answers now folks.
• What is your favourite aspect of roleplaying, and what would you like me to do to maximise this favourite thing? If you love training for example, or if religion is your thing, then let me know.

Thanks for your time. Please make your reply as long as you like. I'm really looking to drive Alvadas forwards, and I appreciate and respect all of your opinions on how to do this.

~Kal

[Sayana]

So I haven't posted much here partly because Sayana has essentially already left. But I just wanted to say that the random intervention thing sounds super fun =) Also, one thing I was sort of hoping to see was a long term overarching plot with some of the things Fable started. In my head I was trying to picture who/what would want to cause so much destruction and chaos to the city. I doubted that Ionu would want such damage and so I wondered if an opposing deity was causing the strife. A simple answer might have been Uldr since they were all undead. But I also wondered if Gnora (goddess of Logic, Order, and Balance) might have a secret agenda against Alvadas. I guess I was just wondering if there was something bigger at stake that the Alvads managed to survive against. And maybe it might come back with bigger repercussions. Or just different repercussions. I know this is all just my random musings but I think it's those grand overarching plots that can really keep things interesting. Especially when they impact day-to-day life in a city. And yes, I'm not really here so don't feel you should twist things my way or anything. I was just thinking a lot over the recent discussions about what makes Mizahar an exciting place to roleplay in.

[Kaleidoscope]

No, it's a good point Sayana! The only trouble with this is that Fable left little to nothing about his plans for the city, there's nothing that I can find and I searched high and low. Of course, that doesn't stop me from making something out of it myself. But it's surprisingly hard to pick up from where someone left off, especially when I only have exactly the same knowledge of the event as a player has. Don't worry, I have got ideas for an overarching plot, which will start to come into play maybe next season. Whether it will be more undead though... that is a different question. And I do agree that overarching plots make things exciting!

[Lucas Arias]

Kale, I love that you ask all those questions. It shows that you care about your city.

I would absolutely love to see more things like the moderator intervention you did in my shark riding thread. I love small, personalized threads or occasional posts from a moderator. They make the city seem more “real”.

The calendar was actually what made me move this PC to Alvadas. Whale houses and ridable sharks are awesome. In the future I would like to see more such crazy things, but maybe a different theme (meaning something that is not water related?). I don’t have anything particular in mind though, just make it as crazy as Alvadas allows it!

I don’t care about training (unless it’s in fun skills such as fortune telling or disguise – I would actually love to do more of that!), but religion interests me, especially if it’s Ionu or Kelwyn related (other gods are also interesting though). I haven’t really had an opportunity to RP that aspect of Lucas yet. In his own way he is a very religious young man, he just doesn’t worship the gods that most Sylirans do.

I also like, as I already wrote, threads that are totally crazy and over the top and unexpected, like the following scenario that I just made up on the fly: Imagine that you get chased by a fire breathing three headed unicorn and run into a beautiful woman only to wake up next to a man the following morning who lives in a house that’s upside down, wears a fancy bathrobe and likes knitting socks.

Furthermore like character development, be it in the course of a big quest with several PCs in it or in a more personal matter. For example I’ve always wanted Lucas to find out who his real father is or get the opportunity to develop another fake identitiy for him besides the “Ser Dyres” identitiy. I also like scenarios that take the PCs in new and unexpected directions.

Overarching plots would also be fun, so I’m excited for what you have planned for next season.

[Aislyn Leavold]

I'm certainly on board for moderator intervention, as I've said before, but the calendar has and always will be my favourite thing about the change of each season. So it's obvious I’d like to see those continued
One thing that I was going to suggest earlier but I see you've already incorporated are those mini plots. I love the quest-like opportunities that come as a result of those calendar parts and pieces. First of all, it gives every player a chance to go on an adventure without having to directly ask, and second, who doesn't love quests? Small pieces like that add to the feeling that something is always happening in the city; as it always is.
Another thing about Alvadas in general is that taking into account how ‘normal’ things that happen would affect illusions. I’ve always wondered how natural disasters- or even just natural events would affect the nature of illusions, or if they would be turned into illusions themselves. Are there illusionary earthquakes where freezing cold lava pours out of the ground? If there was an actual earthquake in the region, would it affect Alvadas differently? Does it sometimes spontaneously rain ale (as I wouldn't doubt if it did), even when the rain is simply water outside the city? What if it began to hail? Does nature affect the illusions, or do the illusions affect nature?

Next- in regards to democracy, I do love that you're giving us chances to voice opinions, but some things (like overarching plot details- wink wink nudge nudge) are better left as surprises. So we can pitch in ideas, but whatever you choose to do, as our local storyteller god, is entirely up to you. That being said, I'm sure there's more than one person here in Alvadas who has quite a few ideas to contribute. I’m not entirely sure how player-pitched ideas would work, but I suppose if you ever need inspiration, we're always here to help.

Finally, to touch on religion vs. training. I've always been more of a fan of training through experience, versus straight 'training' threads, but I think that's also to do with the fact that Aislyn is a very, very anti-social person. I've been trying for two seasons now to build up an IC excuse for Aislyn to seek painting lessons at the Asylum, but that's still a thread to be written
That means, of course, that I usually favor religion. Aislyn is an extremely religious character, and my first character to be marked, making religion and intervention from the gods in general a rather important part of writing her. That also makes Alvadas a very important part of Aislyn, and one of the reasons why I've stuck with her.

Speaking of Alvadas, I personally believe our wonderful city of illusions is one that has that magical ability to never get old. There's an infinite amount of possibilities when it comes to events, thanks to that beautiful randomness that’s at the city’s heart. If I had to choose just one favourite aspect, I’d have to choose good old angst. Dramatic character development and lowkey trauma. One of many reasons I enjoyed the apocalypse plot from winter so much.
Connecting to what Sayana said, I was also expecting an explanation, either from you or Fable himself. That being said, I can also appreciate how hard it is to pick up where someone else left off. It does give you the freedom to pretty much do whatever you want, though. As long as it makes some sort of sense (which is loose criteria in Alvadas) I’m sure it’ll be great.

Hopefully this wasn't too much of a ramble (it turned out to be fairly long, I apologize), but all of the thanks to Kscope for the open discussion!

As an extra note- I have one quick question. For moderator interventions, would you intervene on threads like flashbacks as well?

[Kaleidoscope]

Lucas: Alvadas is a city that's never going to get stuck in a loop (apart from when, y'know, the entire city turns into an unending circle without any means of escape... Ehem). So there's no need to worry about that. Invention is the name of the game! Alvadas does crazy well, it suits it I think, but sometimes over-the-top crazy isn't the right thing (although lots of the time it is too!). We can have subtle, mind-twisting crazy here too, which might not be so fun for the character, but will hopefully be endlessly fun for the writer!

Aislyn: Great walls of text are what I live for! What I've gathered from this is people like the calendar. I wasn't ever considering removing it, more... changing the layout slightly. However, if you are all happy with its format currently, then I'm happy with it too.
I like your point about mini plots showing that something's always happening in the city. Because it's true, there's always something going on. I'll try and incorporate more of these things, and maybe after finishing the current ones, opening new ones based on this Spring's calendar, if we all have enough time!
Natural disasters, now that's an interesting idea. Alvadas does seem pretty safe- the weather is mild and there's nothing that seems to effect it from outside. Maybe that needs shaking up a bit, pun entirely intended. Because, contrary to what the citizens might believe, there is 'normality' out there, and it has it's fair share of natural prompts for plots... I don't know much about plate tectonics in Miz, if it even has anything like that, but I will go away and research and maybe incorporate this in the future.
'Local storyteller god'... that has a nice ring to it. Mwahahaha! But seriously, I definitely agree with you there. I'm enjoying getting this feedback from you all, and it's very helpful to see what we'd all like to see happening here in this city of illusion, but those plot details? Yup, you have to find out IC.

As for doing moderator posts on flashbacks, if it's something that you'd like, then certainly! If I see a flashback floating around, ripe for the randomising, then I'll jump in. I've only had chance to do it for one thread so far, but it's a personal mission of mine to get a post to everyone and anyone who wants one. And don't worry- it'll always be an appropriate type of post. If your thread is dark and gloomy, I won't jump in with rainbow fishies and spontaneous laughter.

~Kal