Fandom -Rookie's Stage- {O}ut {O}f {C}haracter

[SavingStar]

I’m trying, guys, I really am.

 

[RANGYOKU]

I’m trying, guys, I really am.

We understand, please take as long as you need, don't force yourself to do it.

 

[Phayne]

Struggling to come up with a post i am happy with...

 

[Sir Les Paul]

Not a whole lot is going on. And, not each post has to be nearly as... energetic as the last ones. This is basically the "falling action" part of this scene; we're just tying up loose ends.

Regal and I already started the post for the next scene and it's primarily lead by me, so I can assure you, something is coming--if you can just trudge through to get there.

 

[Sir Les Paul]

End of the Month Update
As I've done before, I just want to get everyone on the same page.

Kuro is in limbo as a cat due to One Mean Ghost being MIA. I'll probably just have him skip out of the next arc entirely as it's more wavelength heavy.

Conor is basically waiting at BlackStar's house until his date with Biyu.

Biyu is walking to an undisclosed location with Midori to meet Akane. RANGYOKU We've been waiting since the 9th for a reply. That's over two weeks as of this post. I don't even have advice for this. It just needs done.

Jayson and Muon are just having a motivational chat. My normal advice for here would be to just tone and down and let the action fall off, but you've been waiting even longer than Biyu to post. I considered your ending there a decent cut-off for the transition, but there's still quite a bit that Biyu needs to do.

I have no fucking idea what Morgenstern is doing.

Regal is aware of all of his characters.



That said, there has been a two week delay in posting. I'm post locked. Idea is post locked. Regal has nothing to really do. Even if he did, he would be post locked for the same reason I'm post locked.

This can't keep going on. I know people are busy, I know there's other priorities, but this is absolutely unfair to the players in waiting for this long. I'm not talking about a few days or even a week. This is a solid fourteen days-plus. We will get nowhere at this pace.

The only solution I immediately have would be to cut short the date with Conor which would eat up time and was filler anyway and to finish the scene with Akane which itself is short, then cut. I don't mind doing that and it's not an abrupt end, but the point is that progression will halt and the RP will become stagnant if posts don't happen, and it's not like there's any lack of material to work with.

I leave this update on a final note: this is not a seasonal RP that is intended to completely stop for a few weeks then return. Slow down? Sure. But abruptly stop? No. Regal shares this thought as well. That said, if anyone has some suggestion, then shoot it to me. I want this RP to go smoothly just as much as anyone. I want everyone to continue playing and for the plot to develop. I want to pursue this. But, I'm not the one behind every character and neither is Regal, so it falls on everyone to keep things going.

SLP out.

 

[Phayne]

A jayson post would hardly forward the plot as it would be more reactionary then actual story progression.

 

[Sir Les Paul]

A jayson post would hardly forward the plot as it would be more reactionary then actual story progression.

Yeah, that's kind'a what I realized and that's why I didn't put such a heavy emphasis on you posting--instead, I was looking at alternatives. Muon's last post actually seems like a pretty good cut-off point.

But that would then leave you two semi-post-locked.

 

[Phayne]

Only resolution I can think off is a time skip to the next arc.

But then we'd be waiting after the initial post's in that new arc.

 

[Sir Les Paul]

But then we'd be waiting after the initial post's in that new arc.

That's not as big of an issue, tbh. The issue is the fundamental reason we're on a two week post lock as it is.

 

[Idea]

ayson and Muon are just having a motivational chat. My normal advice for here would be to just tone and down and let the action fall off, but you've been waiting even longer than Biyu to post. I considered your ending there a decent cut-off for the transition, but there's still quite a bit that Biyu needs to do.

Wait, did I forget to post?

 

[Sir Les Paul]

Wait, did I forget to post?

Nope.

 

[Idea]

Nope.

Oh phew...

 

[Sir Les Paul]

On an unrelated note, I am sooo hype for that last post. Akane is a (shameless) badass and it makes soooooo many plot elements come full circle.

It's like the end of an episode that makes you go "Oh shiiiiiiiiiit"--at least in my eyes

 

[Sir Les Paul]

As everyone can see, the post to the next scene is up. According to Regal, it occurs at the end of the week (four days after the first post).

The gameplan is simple. The only person that owes a post at all from the last cycle is Biyu, and she was given orders/asked if she had any questions. That said, she can easily finish her post and transition back into the coming scenes.

How you guys deal with your four day skip... is your call. It's just four days. The benefit to it is that it gives each and every character ample time to reflect on what happened, so again, giving you guys plenty to work with.

Professor Paul is also a considerable change of pace. This is not a combat scene nor do I at all intend for it to be.

Lastly, I'm really hoping to see improvements in posting speeds. Each post does not need to be perfect. Each post doesn't need to have the massive energy in it that was present in the last scene. It's not organic, it doesn't flow well, and it burns out a scene fast. Let's work on steady, consistent posts and character exploration, and let's not take weeks between posts to do so.

 

[Idea]

As everyone can see, the post to the next scene is up. According to Regal, it occurs at the end of the week (four days after the first post).

The gameplan is simple. The only person that owes a post at all from the last cycle is Biyu, and she was given orders/asked if she had any questions. That said, she can easily finish her post and transition back into the coming scenes.

How you guys deal with your four day skip... is your call. It's just four days. The benefit to it is that it gives each and every character ample time to reflect on what happened, so again, giving you guys plenty to work with.

Professor Paul is also a considerable change of pace. This is not a combat scene nor do I at all intend for it to be.

Lastly, I'm really hoping to see improvements in posting speeds. Each post does not need to be perfect. Each post doesn't need to have the massive energy in it that was present in the last scene. It's not organic, it doesn't flow well, and it burns out a scene fast. Let's work on steady, consistent posts and character exploration, and let's not take weeks between posts to do so.

So, if I understood correctly, what's currently happening is that on our way to class we all stopped to watch this fight take place, and one of the fighters turned out to be our next teacher with whom we will begin have a class in this workshop of his. Is that correct?

 

[Sir Les Paul]

Actually Crowley would have told you to meet there, so you have reason to be there. You can arrive at any point during the short exchange. I'd say the "fight" was actually only like 2-4 minutes

 

[RANGYOKU]

Expect Biyu's reply by next Friday or the next weekend.

 

[The Regal Rper]

Just a heads up, I'll be making a Taz post tomorrow or Weds.

 

[Phayne]

Aiming to get my post up today.

 

[Idea]

Phayne there was a little moment where I kinda sorta controlled your character a little, it was just Muon suddenly grabbing Jayson's hand and pulling him into a short run, let me know if that's a problem and I'll correct it if that's the case.

The Regal Rper speaking of corrections, might I know what someone with a very sensitive nose might pick up in the "workshop"?

 

[Sir Les Paul]

@The Regal Rper speaking of corrections, might I know what someone with a very sensitive nose might pick up in the "workshop"?

A strong scent of wood, different grains, probably some wood stain as well. The workshop is primarily for woodwork; there's a whole different workshop for metal. This workshop has tons of different equipment, including a variety of saws, routers, lathes, etc. Upon opening the doors, the strongest scent would easily be stale sawdust--specifically mahogany in this case. I'm not sure how well versed Muon in woods and woodwork... but everyone in the group should probably be well aware of the woody smell.

 

[Idea]

A strong scent of wood, different grains, probably some wood stain as well. The workshop is primarily for woodwork; there's a whole different workshop for metal. This workshop has tons of different equipment, including a variety of saws, routers, lathes, etc. Upon opening the doors, the strongest scent would easily be stale sawdust--specifically mahogany in this case. I'm not sure how well versed Muon in woods and woodwork... but everyone in the group should probably be well aware of the woody smell.

Thanks!

 

[Sir Les Paul]

Just gonna catch everyone up on things:

The RP is marching forward on these pretenses: Morgenstern is being re-evaluated and thus not with the group, Biyu had an internal conflict in becoming duplicitous as Akane requested and thereafter requested time off, and now Midori has been reassigned by Akane until further notice. We're just gonna go forward without them.

Ideally, we'll get in a better posting schedule, then worry about what to do about it later.

 

[Idea]

While I can't always say I'm exactly the most active member ever, since I do take my time with posts, I do think I could use a bit more involvement with the story. By no means am I saying the story should be about me, and I understood it when i just dropped in the middle of a scene, but as we move forward one thing I'd like to bring up before it's too late, and that is that I don't want this present feeling that I'm just being a support role for someone else's story.

If I had a complaint and qualms with anything that would be about the gist of it. I'll need replies, of course, but I also want to point out that I will need to be engaged with too, not necessarily in a combat sense, but moreso in ceasing with these scenes that are just hinting at or exploring matters that are completely parallel to me and my character. These are very early stages. I want something to do, not something for my character to be told they have to awe at. I want to have non-bickering based conversations. And it's very card to care about twists like characters turning out to be spies when that has, to my understanding, 0 impact on my character's position in the story. It's very hard to care about a fight between teachers when I'm being telegraphed "this is supposed to be impressive". I can't care about exposition to someone's powers, role, history, when that doesn't mean anything to me yet.

Spoiler: I went on a bit of a rant, you don't have to read this

Like, if you give teachers powers that are beyond what my characters could have (makes sense), then showing it off is a really bad way to go about this. It's not really serving much of a purpose, in fact it's putting me in a passive position which is killing all reserves I have for post stuffing. I can't go into deep backstory flashbacks yet because nothing actually emotional is happening, and there is only so much I can think about certain things before it becomes redundant. Plus, the powers we're being shown give more of a vibe of trying to put us down, both characters and players alike. Which as you may imagine is far from a pleasant feeling.

Like, I just feel like there is being little agency given here. There you had a good set up, we just entered the shop, it's already been described, nobody is even talking to each other, well, just give us the task, but instead we got something which I honestly don't know how I'm gonna be able to respond to. Like, even if, say, my character wasn't a mute, am I supposed to just have them talking in the middle of the explanation, make a comment which is 100% gonna be treated as a interruption and/or rebuked or am I suppose to just not interact with characters at all, making mine and all my fellow player's lives harder in the process?

I'm sure these are not your intentions, but from my perspective as a player, the story is being built around the NPCs, for the NPCs, by the NPCs. It's not just that the PC's existence feels unimportant, it's that the story doesn't even feel like it is trying to make it matter to PCs (and by extention the players). If I try to nudge anything, I'll probably just end up getting backlash too because of how half these characters seem, if not more. There is no direction for me to go, no conflict to mutter about, no task to do, the few interactions I have are those I set up myself by going around OOC arranging it with others and even if I DO manage to get something done it'll either be treated as a pebble in your shoe or be forgotten in the next post.

Now, is it impossible to work in these conditions? No, it isn't, but it's not rewarding in the slightest either, and it can only be done for long before the little fuel there is runs out.

I know this may sound a tad egocentric, and maybe it is, but those are my two cents on what from my perspective could be done to motivate players to post. It certainly isn't a magic pill that will turn everything active again, but I think it'd go a long way to be sure one is at least trying to involve characters with their scheduled events, if we're actually given reasons to really care about things and just as importantly be given something to do that doesn't involve just standing there listening. I know you and The Regal Rper are doing your best to keep this together, and it's quite admirable, I do need to express that.

Because I complained a lot, it wouldn't feel right of me to end this without at least giving an example of what I think could have been done. So, my suggestion, and this is just a quick thought out of the top of my head, maybe like, carving? Building something with wood? Either of those would fit the described workshop, would have been a task we could engage with and if we didn't fuck it up we could actually milk for a little bit (though admitedly, any task that doesn't involve opposing each other may need some coordenation to not be done in the space of one post), and because the final product would be personal to each character, it would let us show some characterization, possibly bond, and all of this without having to fight in the process.

It's just a quick suggestion, but I hope that helps you come up with something on your own. As i said, I'm frankly not even sure I have enough material to make a post unless Phayne gives me a hand by having Jayson provide me some interaction.

 

[Sir Les Paul]

You have several solid points and I'm a fan of transparency, so I'll address them openly.

First and foremost, three players have been abundantly inactive not only here, but in their other endeavors. For two of them, it has been a habitual problem. Again, not exclusive to this RP. One of them quite literally told us and virtually everyone in every other RP they were in that they might be a long time before they return. However, of all of these players, the one I want to bring up here is Razzle. I want to make this clear: I enjoy playing with Razzle entirely. I like their writing style, character portrayals, and working with them as an individual. I want to take a moment and step back to your comment about character involvement; I'm the flavor GM, basically. I don't do the main plot. I do character involvement. Biyu was in fact the character I was working with most with this in that I made all of the Akane subplot and reworked the CIA aspect of Midori so that I could involve her more and thus begin to trickle down into other characters she associates with. In short, I simply want to emphasize that the exact thing you're talking about, I've done; I just did it with a character that had been in the RP considerably longer. The problem here again isn't so much motivation as it is pure activity--what these players can and cannot do due to their current life circumstances. It is for that reason that Regal and I were actually very polarized in what we should do.

In short, we don't always agree, and I respect his wishes a lot. It wasn't until recently that we looked back and really reflected on the state of the RP that we made this decision to move forward quite abruptly.

My further response to you about "something to do" is that "I'm working on it", and I assure you, I am. But, let's look at some quick stats. Basically, half of the RP in terms of player base was entirely inactive. That wasn't necessarily due to motivation or lack of option or you can take the step forth and say it was. What matters is that low activity put a literal chokehold on the RP. It was suffocating what I could provide to you in flavor. It was strangling what Regal could bounce back with for major plotlines. Muon was just introduced in the later half of the last scene. A scene, not even an arc. She's been in the RP less than twenty-four IC hours. All I ask is that you give more time now that we've officially decided to move on without the inactive players as I provide those options and Regal provides more plot.

As to your comment about what the professors can do, that's not at all the function of those posts. I'm going to level with you. I--as an individual--thought it was cool. It was fun to write. So did Regal. We had discussed a post like that for some time and we just now got to use it. It's that simple. While showing some of their functions perhaps was a portion of it, really we just wanted to do something cool. I already addressed the spy motif in that it was one of the things I was doing to try and address individual characters to add more plot. It wasn't meant to be relevant to you. It was meant for Biyu. For Razzle. She is a player, too, lest us not forget that.

Now, as for what the teachers can do. Crowley is mage, so is Psi. It's just a fundamental part of the RP that anything they do on any scale is going to be different than Meister or Weapon. In fact, it was one of my criticisms that the Mentor for a group of predominantly non-magical characters was a mage. I can't disagree with you here. However, I do want to flip to Paul for a moment. In part of creating Paul was creating a character that could help everyone, Weapon, Meister and Dubious Mage alike. You've seen him use abilities once and basically all he did was sync with Psi to make him stronger. That's an ability completely within the scope of Muon.

As for how the scene is ran, you just got introduced to the Professor again. You have no idea what he is about to do, what his lesson is, so on and so forth. My last post was literally describing the workshop and him introducing himself. I normally don't disclose the full outline of a scene, but I'm going to do that now.

Professor Paul is a specialist in Soul Studies/Plasmology. After a bit of a short lecture over how this works and a demonstration that he can use an acoustic guitar to express his wavelength, he is going to teach each member of the group how to put their wavelength in an inanimate object so that they can--lo and behold--use hand tools fused with their wavelength to create objects that will do the same to a lesser degree. He's then going to spend the entire day giving them the freedom to do whatever they want with it. Realistically, he will need to teach them how to use a good majority of the tools and some guidelines for safety. This is a school, this is a workshop. I half imagine all of them will make wooden swords or something. That's not the end, though.

See, his overall point is these lessons in the workshop will be provided on a weekly basis--more if requested--and that he is going to guide each one of them into making an instrument of their choice (assuming it can be made in a workshop) that will allow them wavelength expression. This exercise covers a few important points. First, everyone involved is going to build-up stamina with wavelength use, they're going to learn more finite control depending on the tools they use, and these lessons will carry on. This is how Professor Paul teaches. Very little theory, more hands-on.

Now there are a bunch of finicky details here I could continue, but that's the point here. Each one of your suggestions is something basically coming. I strayed away from combat. I went away from the format previous used. Keep in mind, this is the first scene I have led personally. This is my point. Paul has two posts in this RP so far. Two. You're gonna need to be slightly less judgmental about what's going on with him and this scene/plot because I haven't had time to establish a whole lot. That last post was set to make the tone of the atmosphere and Paul. Consider this: Muon is one-third of the group and he called the members of the group "cocky, little bastards" and that doesn't apply to Muon at all, but... Jayson and especially Taz? It's a pretty apt description.

You have points, you do, but I'm going to boldly respond that I have personally not had enough time to go in the direction you're describing, and quite ironically, I agree with a lot of your points and I already had intended on addressing them. In fact, that's why I was on the lobby to remove the inactive players. I cannot provide you a solution if we get one post cycle per month. I cannot fix problems if I have to wait and skip around two weeks for one response. I can't change the tone if the time between replies is so long that whatever flow was there had dried up. I'm literally about to do everything you just asked for on the nose, but I need time and activity to do so. I've removed the inactive players. Now I need you to allow just a bit of time and a few more posts to get to that next point.

On a more personal note, keep in mind that Muon is literally the newest character and we've been suffering from the inactivity issues for a whole. I've had like what? Ten posts with her, half of which were ate up by a giant argument? Be fair. I haven't had the opportunity to draw her in yet.