Re: OOC Stuff
Okay. I need to point out something extremely important, and I really think all of the players here need to hear it and to understand it.
A large chunk of the apparent lack of interest by both Ac1d and I comes quite literally, from you players.
Very few of you, like, maybe only one of you, has any idea what you want to do with your characters. That is the most important part of your entire character. Others of you couldn't seem to understand that the reason for having an Anarch chronicle and a Camarilla chronicle was to keep you separate. You guys keep trying to cross your paths from one chronicle to the other.
Phunny, I'm not really intending to call you out on this, but here is a perfect example. You're intending to be a Deputy, then eventually Sheriff, and what is the only thing you've wanted to do with your character? Go after Phoenix, which by the way is suicide. You don't really think you're the first neonate Assamite that thought they were going to make their bones on him, do you?
For that matter, what you are intending to do with your Camarilla character is something that would cross the boundaries from where I am the ST on over to Ac1d's game where he is the ST!
Prague was another bad example, but in a different way. He had to be told no less then 5 times that he wasn't going to get, didn't have the influence to get, and didn't have any knowledge of even how to get, explosives. But he kept asking anyway. Ac1d and I both hate having to explain ourselves. We especially hate having to do it more then once. Neither one of us is the type that responds kindly to that. We don't think it's "cute" or that the player was "just asking" or that the player "had to try". No, said player didn't. No it wasn't cute. No, they weren't just asking. If they were just asking, they'd have took no for the answer the first time.
BUT...
I digress.
We're working on it.
Seriously.
Ac1d and I are working on it. We've recently spent 2 nights sifting through the cast and finding the NPCs we are going to keep. We've cut the huge and massive list down to the still big and massive 120, which is about 40% of them chopped. We are going to recombine the chronicles into one single game.
We've gone back and forth with a lot of time spent on figuring out what we need to do and how we're going to make it work.
We kinda narrowed it down to this.
1. The players are the most important. If we're not making all of you happy, there is no point, really. What we want is all well and good, but we're both about empowering players and giving y'all what you want. But then we turn around and say, no you can't... or that is so... and it's counter productive. Don't take this as an excuse to be stupid, or to think that something absurd and lame is cool and appropriate. If anything, we're going to be even more hard asses with what we do IC, because you are inviting us to stop pulling the punches.
For example. Phunny. You want to go after Phoenix. That's all well and good. This isn't his first rodeo. He's a tough cookie. He's well entrenched. He's got allies and influence, lots of both, and among his allies, he counts people like Tyler Crown and Edge. But it's what you want to do...Prague, you want to be the catalyst? You want to be the guy who deals with heavy weapons and explosives? You want to step on the toes of somebody like Phoenix who already has that kind of influence on lockdown, and you want to tell him you intend to be his competition? Really? What's to stop him from setting you up to deal with Jaymz, his biggest rival in that particular area, and then narcing you out to Nigel, who will Narc you out to the prince, who subsequently calls down the thunder and lightning and leaves you in a pile of ashes?
But it's again, what you want to do. It's crap to not give you the opportunity to try, and to just say you can't.
2. It has to be a story we want to tell. This is mostly for the two of us, but we have to add some organization and set the chronicle up in a way that is comfortable for both of us as the STs, and to keep enough pieces in play that we are always aware of what the other is doing, while still having enough free assets to use without trampling on each other's position. This doesn't have a whole lot to do with y'all as players, though, like I already said.
But here is an example of how some of that plays out for us. Dragon is the prince. There is no ifs, ands, or buts about it. None of the elders that are capable of actually seizing praxis are willing to try or already count the prince as an ally. None who would try or who see him as an enemy have the ability to become prince. So no matter how awesome someone like Dora is, there isn't going to be some crazy storyline going on where she is going to try and out maneuver Dragon and take the throne.
That's just an example, and again, for the third time, it bears no real relevance for any of you. It's just the kind of thing Ac1d and I need to work out with each other in advance to make sure we're on the same page. It is a lot easier when we can sit down, drink a beer, and compare notes.
3. This is the most important thing of all. Player input. We really need you guys and gals to speak up. You can't be silent and not give us anything to work with. You can't be all, "I'm okay with whatever." Because whatever translates to both of us as, "Well, Player X doesn't know what he wants to do, and I'm not going to sit around and wait. Wanna group up and raid Dungeon Y in WoW tonight instead of posting?"
If you're going to sit around and wait for something to happen, or for us to be jamming stories and storyline ideas down your throats, then you're in for a long, long, long wait. If you've ever dealt with us, and most of you have, you know we expect proactive players with actual goals to accomplish, achievements to unlock, and things to do that fill their night to night routines.
They don't need to be an exhaustive, comprehensive, laundry list of menial things to do, or even just a couple longterm goals that you'd like to see, but have no real idea how you want to get there. All of you are terrible in that regard. In fact, I was the only one who posted up a huge list of stuff to do, and it was for my only actual character, Ric, and none of you responded to it when I made that list public. I made a point to say that's what it should look like if you wanted your well to never run dry, and then I asked for questions or comments, and insinuated that none of you could ever complain of boredom if you didn't present us with something like that.
Yet here I am, being asked again, when and what we're doing... *exasperated sigh*
Dimitri, how about finding whoever it was that stole your Desert Eagle?
Gabe, how about asking your sire why he even wants a position in the Camarilla. Aren't Assamites supposed to be independents?
Marissa, why not ask Madhu why he's got a possessed car?
Lynxy...what is it about you that makes your sire try to bring out your inner wench?
All of this is simple and easy stuff that will result in multiple posts going back and forth and give you exp, open up new threads and give you more ideas. But ya can't ever get to finish if you don't leave the starting line! Make sense?
TLDR; Sorry for what seems like a rant. Ac1d and I are working on it. We spent a great deal of time. We've had some serious issues with a lack of player input and involvement and we needed to get organized and motivated ourselves. It's a lot easier for us now.
