I'm not even trying to keep up with other characters' developments anymore.  I will interact with them in-character or via PMs.  There's al ot of players and a lot of traffic that makes me feel kinda like a bystander here...

I am very confused as to where I should be posting Midnight's first in-character posting...

Should it be
IC Scene #2: New Kids and First Days

or
IC Scene #3: The Mother of Invention

??

No worries.  I've been here the whole time, and I'm confused also... ;)

As I understand it, we have some optional opportunities for roleplaying as we wait for the team formation dust to settle.

However, some folks want to hold off on additional IC posts until team formation is more settled and/or until game mechanics stuff for their characters is more settled and/or until threads have been separated by team.

However, I would need to look back through the relevant posts to verify that, so don't quote me on that... :o
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:13, Sun 06 June 2021.

I (Rico and Octo) plan on holding off my IC posts until I can figure out what the situation is. Just gonna focus on finishing character creation stuff for now, once there are appropriate threads for the teams.

It is time to finally get the team assignments decided.  So, if you haven't expressed a preference regarding swapping your PC's initially assigned team slots you need to by Midnight GMT on Sunday the 13th (not tomorrow but the next Sunday).

This simply means posting in the Character List thread whether you approve of any character swap request(s), refuse any pro-offered character swap requests or wish to offer any swap requests of your own.  You may have already done this.

If you haven't made your feelings known by the deadline, it will be assumed that you don't protest any swap requests made regarding your character.  Thus, after all players have made swap requests, I may swap characters whose players haven't posted an opinion.  This means you must actively state your position to be sure of keeping it.

It may be you simply don't mind what team your character is assigned to.  If so, you can just post that to the Character List thread and let us know.  Or you can simply do nothing and everything will just take care of itself,.

Therefore, the teams will finally be set on the 13th or shortly thereafter and the game can move on to other things.  Until then, no one has to worry about team setups too much.  There are other more entertaining game aspects to focus on for the moment... :-)

Finally catching up on things...

I apologize for all of the confusion.  And my approach to setting up teams may not have been the best.  But as you can read above, that should all be settled on Sunday or not long afterwards.

Many of you are understandably gun shy about the chaotic environment of the game, with so many things starting and seemingly never being followed through.  I get it.  I do.  But things are not as bad or as aimless as they might seem.

In the meantime, just do this; do nothing.  Just read the Bullpen thread every other day or so.  This will give me a chance to start finishing all of the things I start.  Many of your questions will be answered as I complete things.  I will post updates here.  Otherwise, I will have more time to answer individual questions once I get the immediate group priorities done.

So that's it.  Take it easy this week and maybe most of these problems will start solving themselves.

One thing I must be strict about just so this game has a chance of moving forward is the Sunday (the 13th) deadline for approving, rejecting or suggesting swap requests.  If you haven't posted in the Character List thread at all regarding this, please do so.  You can just post to say that you are confused and not sure what is going on.  That will be enough for me to not assume consent for swaps suggested by other people.  And then I can handle your request individually.

One very simple and easy thing players can do to help me out is this:

Go here,

http://wiki.rpol.net/?id=76369/WIKI%20TEST

and just post your username under my own, The Watcher.

That's it, nothing more.  Just that simple action will help me out in ways I don't need to bore you explaining.  You don't have to all do this.  Past a few successful entries, I will have the answer I am looking for.  If it doesn't work, I will still have an answer, just not the one I was hoping for. :-)

Thanks.

I have also started yet another new thread, Wiki Edits.  Ignore it for now.
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:58, Sun 06 June 2021.

I have to stop tonight but tomorrow is mostly about catching up on your specific replies and messages.

Good news!  My Discord password is restored.  The laptop I had started this game on died suddenly and so I had to go another laptop.  In the interim, I couldn't get back on Discord.
Tomorrow, I will make the Discord link permanent so it won't expire in 24 hours.

And then I will make myself available to help fix these problems in real time.  This would be during irregular evening hours in the Central Time Zone.

Discord participation in this game is not mandatory.  But any players able to use it will help the game work better for every player. :-)

Sorry I wasn't able to post late night.  And I am still catching up.

But there is some good news.  I have done some good work on the Wiki.  And I think I now have a permanent link to Discord.  I have made a tiny table that holds these links.  The cute graphical text buttons will have to wait for a bit longer.

On weeknights Central Time, I will be intermittently on and off Discord.  With notice, I can probably be more constant.  I am looking after my aging mother so I may have to leave the keyboard often and communicate via text rather than video.  If you post a text message in Discord, I should see a notice (I usually have Discord running in the background).  Lavish me with song and praise or bust my chops for making all of this so very complicated. :-)  Either way, it is good.  And you might make a friend in this game out of another player.


This message was last edited by the GM at 07:30, Tue 08 June 2021.

OK, will try and catch up on old replies and messages tomorrow.


This message was last edited by the GM at 07:17, Wed 09 June 2021.

Okay, I have now made thread for "When Our Team First Came Together..." and "Relationships and Influences" for each of the teams, conveniently in Groups A, B, C. Once the Watcher approves the final team compositions, we'll add folks to the appropriate group and you can start working things out.

For the "When Our Team First Came Together...", I included the recommended order provided here: https://www.reddit.com/r/PBtA/...the_team_first_came/, and added the Meta under the "Immediate consequence" since that's where it seemed to fit best. I'll leave all of the questions up for reference, but strikethrough the ones that don't apply to that team.

In-Betweener, thank you for this! :-)  I was going to get around to it but I really appreciate you beating me to it.


This message was last edited by the GM at 07:41, Wed 09 June 2021.

Catching up a little behind the scenes tonight.  Good news!  The Wiki works for all of us.  Thanks to all who signed it to let me know.  It is for us to use when we wish, as we wish.  What a great tool for any game. :-)


This message was last edited by the GM at 08:03, Wed 09 June 2021.

Sorry I wasn't able to post yesterday.  Looking forward to Sunday when we can really start moving forward with this game.  If you haven't posted in the Character List thread yet expressing a preference for team assignment, go ahead and do so by Sunday if you want your voice to be heard.  Otherwise, it is assumed you are agreeable to any proposed swaps.

I am adding to the Wiki in the meantime, building the universe up around you.  But there is a limit as you will be involved in that in some way.  If you have contributed to the Wiki, just mention that you have done so in the Wiki Edits thread so we know who to praise. :-)

Catching up with belated replies, thread and messages tonight...


This message was last edited by the GM at 07:31, Fri 11 June 2021.

OK, the deadline for expressing any kind of preference for Team Assignment has passed at Midnight GMT.  I don't have the time to respond to this event in any great detail tonight.  But I will have a lot to post tomorrow night.  The game should start being a real game very quickly now. :-)

Looking forward to sorting out the remaining character details like relationships once we have the threads for that.

By the way, are we all alone in the dark in the third IC thread? Or can we see each other there at least?

Okay, I have now added everyone to their respective team group, so you should see 2 new threads. 1 to work out relationships and influence and the other to work out when your team came together.

I see it, thanks!

One more thing I'd like to clarify: the timeline. In my head, it's something like this:
 - The first IC thread, recruitment, ending with the cliffhanger for now;
 - Following the Recruitment Event and perhaps some other occurrences, we all got into the Stanley School;
 - Either during or not long after, three groups had inciting incidents that led to the Teams Coming Together - which our teachers went on to acknowledge formally in our official team (and class?) set-up, perhaps because they know the value of a baptism by fire;
 - Over our first year at the school, the Hellfire Rebellion, the Pact of Doom and the Sinister Plot occurred. The Beloved Ghost, who was perhaps a member of one of the teams but important to us all (maybe a leader type who could coordinate our actions effectively when we all had to act together), has been neutralised in some way during one of those events or in a different occurrence that year;
 - The second and third IC threads.

Does that sound about right?

Counterforce, you are essentially correct.  Thank you for your work.

Folks, I am again delayed.  But I will have much to say tomorrow and more time to say it.  I will also try and be available on Discord.  It is pretty much all good news and it is irritating to me that I will take me another day to let you know...

OK, now I finally have time to give you at least some of the detailed responses y'all deserve.

First, I have placed the Team Roster in the Character List thread.  It essentially starts with the excellent team lineup Max has put together but allows for last minute corrections.

Look at the provisional team roster.  If you want to be on another team, let me know and I will get it done as fast as possible.

There is more to it than that.  But, in the end, it should be that simple.  You are likely where you want to be.  And, if you aren't, you will be practically as soon as you let me know where you want to be.

I will post more later tonight...

Hey everybody, another of Ricochet/Octopus's characters here. We're Mania, or you can call us Andi. Gonna try to keep the character from going too dark, as we're not the Doomed. Just a little vicious is all.

Gonna start small on the symbiote powers and ease up on them as makes sense in the fiction. Also completely ditching the Hell-Mark from Andi's original storyline. Gateway's enough demonic influence for one team.

Hmm, wasn't there a Symbiote fanbook?

Great! Sorry it took me so long.. extra welcome

Hi Levi!

I'm pretty sure there have been a billion Symbiote fanbooks. They're a very popular part of the Marvel universe. Googling up "symbiote fanbook" didn't actually get me any reasonable results, though, so I might have to try a bunch of different parameters to find them.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:33, Fri 18 June 2021.

I meant the playbook for Masks.

Oh! Yes, but it's to play as the symbiote itself, not the host. The host is supposed to be another PC or an NPC. Plus it's a fanbook, rather than one of the core Playbooks, and I'd like to stick to those since we have so many Limited Edition Playbooks and one homebrew already. Gotta give the base game some more representation, y'know? The fan playbook doesn't really sit well with my delicate sensibilities anyway.

EDIT: By the way, I am fully prepped and ready to go except for my When The Team First Came Together question. I'm even bringing my team some perks from Agent Venom, like authorization badges, communicators (way cooler than cell phones), and spy stuff. Cameras, I mean. What's up with the spider-gang and cameras? It's like Big Brother over here.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:06, Tue 15 June 2021.