"It seems to me what is called for is an exquisite balance between two conflicting needs: the most skeptical scrutiny of all hypotheses that are served up to us and at the same time a great openness to new ideas. Obviously those two modes of thought are in some tension. But if you are able to exercise only one of these modes, whichever one it is, you’re in deep trouble."
-Carl Sagan
-Carl Sagan
This SL is going to unfold a bit differently than my previous ones have. It is both broader in scope and less demanding of individual attention. The events of the story will unfold slowly over time, and PCs will be able to choose their level of involvement. I will not be running lots of scenes back to back as I have been known to do (at least, not until the story hits a point of momentum, but that won't likely happen until the end.) Instead, I'd like to snag people for scenes periodically, introducing characters into the story in a gradual, organic way.
This is a long-game story that will ultimately have an impact on the metaplot and the overall world-state. It will involve difficult choices and a questioning of assumptions. There will be conflict, but when and how that conflict arises will depend on how the story plays out. Rather than offering a warning for the overall story, I'd prefer to save more specific warnings for individual scenes.
That said, right now? Scenes will be of a pretty introductory nature. It's really just going to be about introducing characters to the NPCs and doling out back-story. If that sounds a bit boring, that's ok. You can still get involved later when the action picks up. No one is going to be tied into or locked out of participation in this SL. If something sounds interesting, you can jump on board. If not, you can always join a different part of the story later. NPCs are going to be driving the forward momentum of this story, so it will happen regardless of PC involvement. That said, your characters can have an impact (possibly a large one) on how things turn out.
About Scheduling:
I am only really available to run scenes during my evenings (I'm in CST,) with weekends (Sat and Sun) being the least convenient days and Fridays probably being the best ones (though other weeknights are usually fine so long as we can stop by midnight my time.) Worst case scenario, I may be able to run someone a scene via e-mail, but that's a pretty limited work-around. I know my schedule isn't perfect for everyone, so I apologize for that. Additionally, please keep in mind that scenes will probably last at least 4 hours. I typically go 6pm site time to somewhere around 10-12pm site time, depending on the number of players and the depth of the scene. If I know in advance that someone needs to be in bed at a certain point I can try to start earlier and/or keep things short, but 5pm site time is the earliest I can make and 9-10pm is probably the quickest I'll be able to wrap. I would strongly prefer not to have late entrants or early exits in these scenes. Obviously, in case of an emergency I can find a way to make it work, but otherwise it'll be disruptive to the mood and flow of the scene, and depending on the setting it may not work well logistically.
I'm pretty sure I can find ways to get at least these introductory scenes done for everyone who wants them. Beyond that... we'll see. The more people involved in a scene, the less flexible I'll be able to be. And of course, as always, my cap is 4 players per scene - with 1-3 being my preference. When we get to a point where things start actually happening, I will need to divide scenes up in a way that's manageable, but I have a plan for that.
Anyone who's interested can sign up below.
You do not have to sign up immediately, if you aren't sure. As I mentioned above, anyone can jump in or out at any point during the run of this SL. And this thing may well take months to wrap, with long down-periods in between scenes. If you have more than one character, it is possible to get them all involved, but you will probably have to pick one that gets the primary focus.
