OOC Info A Profusion of Rum and Coconuts - Syka's OOC

[Dust]

I do! I was just eyeing the remainder of the season and thinking about how Dust needs a job...

[Gossamer]

Dust... I'll add you to the list. And everyone will have a job regardless of thread status so don't worry. Just request one in the Request thread and that way you can get your job threads going if that's what folks want to do.

Now... changing gears. I want to talk to you all about something else that's been on my mind. I have a very complex plot structure going for the whole of the city of Syka that begins with its past and ends with its future. Some of it is hinted at if you read through all the locations. I don't want the same old grind for Syka... job threads, getting coin, surviving, etc. I want STORY ARCS here. I want players with definite plots going on.

I know this is hard for some of you to do. I know a lot of you are new to this whole story arc thing. What are story arcs? A story arc is an extended or continuing storyline in episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books, comic strips, boardgames, video games, and films with each episode following a narrative arc. On a television program, for example, the story would unfold over many episodes. Here on Mizahar, that means stories unfolding over multiple threads and over multiple seasons.

So this is really what I wanted to do. I want the players here to write out plots for their PCs where others can actually see them and contribute to them. That way if players have trouble actually writing story arcs and plots for their PCs perhaps others can help brainstorm and together we can have a city full of pcs that are well plotted.

Why? PCs that just exist to do job threads and don't have a cool backstory and a cool future don't last long. They really don't. They don't hold the attention of the players who create them and they don't exist in any sort of real form in their minds.

Is this something you guys would be interested in doing? I can do some outline steps, talk about the parts of plots, recap a few things about plot pitfalls and plot scope (I already have a big scrap almost ready to post about this) etc. Then we could use the Paradise Rediscovered to do some plot outlining and discussion threads that would eventually end up as Plot Notes for your PCs. I can even create a subforum for this in PR if we don't want it too crowded.

I think that would smooth things over and really help people generate ideas together to make this whole collaborative process work smoother. The bonus fallback is that we have less 'What do you want to write about?' and more 'Can my pc contribute to your plot?' situation happening. It's really a win win for everyone IF THERE IS INTEREST.

So... IS THERE INTEREST?

[Linie Moonreef]

¤

Well I'm interested. I read your scrap too and I think I already have some ideas!

[Kame]

Goss, I love plots. And I think this is a great idea. I mean isnt this the reason you made Syka?

I have a personal plot idea for Kame. I've had it for a while, but I'm not really sure I'll be able to do it. You won't like it. In order for it to even begin to work, I would need a lot of collaboration with you. And even then there is a good chance you will shoot it down completely. Either that or it will end up changing something big with the game as a whole.

[Karin]

DISCLAIMER: My PC is not actually in Syka yet, but as I've basically planned for her to be here in Winter no matter what happens then I'm acting as if she is. Plus I wanted to contribute.

I'm interested. I read your scrap and it really got me thinking. I'm probably one of those micro-plotters that you mentioned, although I do have some plots which I have floating obscurely in the back of my mind. They aren't born from the beginning of this PC, because my original goal for this PC has shifted and changed almost constantly since she was created.

Anyway, my basic story for Karin is a three-part thing.

1. The first part is a change of name which I have had in my mind since the beginning. I'm aiming to transition Karin from being an awkward, naive land-based girl, to being a self-confident, capable, sea-faring woman. I'm feeling at the moment that this PC is quite stilted, and reading your scrap has made me wonder if maybe this stilted feeling is actually feeling kind of bored because of a lack of over-arching plot.
   
   Anyway, this change hinges around the introduction of her brother (who she had forgotten about), and learning of her original name and a bit about her history with the pod she spent her early years in before she was taken away from it. I plan to use this to catapult her into...
2. The second part. The plan is, simply, to become a well-known boat builder. It's a bit of a lame plan, I know. It doesn't really have much excitement or need much permission. But if anything I like to champion the mundane stories, the people who aren't massive adventurers or thrill-seekers, and instead are normal. When you opened Syka I basically gravitated my interests here because it's where Karin seems to fit the best, and it's in the Middle Suvan.
3. The third part is that I want her to learn shielding, so she can make magical boats. I suppose you could call that 2a. My eventual aim is for her to be building boats that are protected against all kinds of things.

So there you go, those are my only plots. I am very interested in the whole idea though Goss, although I do think that I have trouble coming up with interesting plots! xD I'd love to read any tips you had to give. Hopefully when my PC arrives here I'll be able to partake in Syka's story arcs, and in other people's too. I do really enjoy reading other people's plot notes, as a sideline. I find it quite nice to be able to see what their goals are, and be able to help if possible.

[Urkut]

In inspiration of the overarcing plot ideas, I've been updating my character plotnotes on all my characters with a theme (what their general purpose is), and the plot points that will help them get there. That way, if anyone gets any ideas looking at that, we can start a thread with a small plot that will still fot into the big picture. Hopefully I'll be able to mark these later with the general timeframe in which I want them to occur.

Of course, I'd love to transition these ideas over to another forum/thread so that they're all gathered in one place. I think if it were nice and convenient to see who could help me further my plots, it would be a lot easier to approach people with ideas, instead of "I want to write...what do you want to write about?" Pm's.

[Sayana]

Hi there, So another disclaimer, I'm not actually in Syka and I probably won't have Sayana reach Syka anytime soon, but I really enjoyed Goss's scrap regarding plot arcs. Mostly I was thinking, "I love plot hooks and plot arcs. This is what propels my stories. Why doesn't everyone do this?" So I wanted to share a sample of the kinds of plots arcs I've done so far with Sayana. - Zith fear/hatred due to being a slave to a zith (for approx 1 season, pre-creation) - Dancer and aspirations to become well-known as a dancer - Pregnancy, motherhood, and marriage (including dealing with a stillborn) - Darkness (for lack of a better term, this is Sayana's decent from a happy well-meaning person to a more evil/darker version, with manipulative and sadistic tendencies) - Slavery/status (in the sense of owning a slave) - Rhysol (learning of the god of chaos and wanting to follow him) Below is a very messy mish-mash of how these plots started and ended throughout my threading time. Note that often I had overlapping plot arcs, so I had tons to write about. (zith) - Fall 514 to Winter 515 .....(dancer) ..........(pregnancy) - Winter 514 to Summer 515 .....(motherhood) .....(marriage) ..........(/pregnancy) (darkness) - Summer 515 to Present .....(slavery) - Fall 515 to Winter 515 .....(/marriage) .....(/dancer) .....(/slavery) .....(/motherhood) (/zith) (Rhysol) - Spring 516 to Present .....(slavery) Also, attached are a few dates/seasons to indicate plot length.

[Nya Winters]

My thread partners have seemingly vanished. Does anyone else want to thread especially for NaNo?

[Gossamer]

Hello Sykians.

I just wanted to post a bit of an update. Many of you don't know but I am in charge of the outside of a very big retail distribution center in the Pacific Northwest. This time of year is absolutely brutal for us because we are dealing with the holidays and in more recent years that monster called Black Friday. My normal workload is somewhere in the neighborhood of processing 100-300 trailers a day, both inbound and outbound... moving/loading/unloading and a lot of other things. We've had a slightly hellish year with a major company overseas (Hanjin) declaring bankruptcy and ports up and down the west coast refusing to dock their ships (that held all sorts of our holiday stuff - not just ours... walmarts, kmarts, etc). We had to pay the ports cash upfront to offload the freight and then we had to store the containers since no one was claiming the hanjin stuff here in the US. Long story short we had to rent a crane, rent out an unused gravel pit, just to have room for several thousand unwanted containers and chassies we had no room for. That made my workload skyrocket plus with all the holiday freight you can add a zero on to the end of what we were doing. Eight hour days turned ugly and honestly the last month and a half - two months is something of a work blurr.

Yesterday I left work and there was only 4 trailers in the yard. I can't tell you what a relief that is. I'm still working 6 days a week since we have incompetent and newly trained people covering for others that have been off work for months due to injury. But that relief means that I'm not crawling home anymore and grabbing food quickly and then sleeping four hours here, two there, etc. I honestly look like death warmed over, and if any of you have seen pics of me thats not a far stretch since my normal looks aren't pretty. Anyhow, I'll be doing some posting for your threads in the next couple of days. I hope to have them all caught up very shortly.

I'm also doing some NaNo posting for my PC. Selfish, I know, but I give year round to this site and NaNo is something I enjoy giving for myself. IF anyone needs anything, now is a good time to hit me up for it. IF you have a PM in to me looking for a job etc... most of that will get taken care of today!

Goss

[Gossamer]

As requested, the Syka Mercantile has been updated to reflect a more clear idea of what they have for sale. I've also added a few books, though you need to check with me if you want a specific title.