10-07-2015, 11:09 PM
Now for part two, which I wanted to keep separate from my above opinions/preferences on settings. Part two is about specific ideas for What To Do With Denver WtA.
Namely, what I've heard so far has pretty much convinced me that the setting as-is did not work, is not working, and will not work for the kind of game we actually want. So let's change it.
Right now we have a very large, very powerful sept with very many and very powerful NPCs. We have a second sept, which just adds more structure and more rigidity to the game no matter how cool I think that building downtown is. The two main WtA play settings are stifling. There are a lot of other changes to WtA that I think can (and should) be primarily player-initiated, such as the inception of a boarding-house-esque whatever. But the setting and the NPCs and the caern/septs... that's what I'm going to focus on for now, because that's sort of my job here and I feel like it can set the foundation for the things you guys might want to change and contribute.
I have a couple of ideas so far, but I'm open to others. Hell, I'm actively seeking help thinking about this, so please speak up.
Idea 1: Reboot. None of it ever happened, none of it ever existed, we start over. We can figure out a way for people to keep or bring back PCs they've already played, but otherwise we just start from scratch. I'll admit I don't love this idea. I worked hard on this setting and I worked very hard for 6 months on that first major storyline. To knock it all off the table would kinda suck for me, and make me feel like everything I made was shitty from the get-go. But it is a possibility and I want it on the table with the others.
Idea 2: Gloss. It's been nearly a year since WtA was widely active on Denver. What activity I know about has had fuckall to do with the current setting or past storylines. So we fill in the blank of the past almost-a-year. They figured out a way to close the Pit. Garou/Kin presence has pulled completely out of 1999 Broadway; Cold Crescent doesn't exist anymore. Maybe closing the Pit involved a great big Final Battle and most if not all of those big authoritative Garou NPCs died. Maybe Forgotten Questions was severely weakened, or even left in a sort of slumber where it's barely even a Caern anymore. How it looks could take many forms, but the basic idea is to give ourselves a relatively clean slate without completely wiping anything that's happened before.
Idea 3: Side Game. With a smaller number of active players, we shrug off Denver entirely (or not) and make a pack (or two) of Garou who are traveling, or in another place, or in another version of Denver, or whatever, and we take turns STing for each other. Maybe this involves at least 1 or 2 scheduled nights of group play a month where we can get most/all of the PCs on. This doesn't preclude the inclusion of Kinfolk, by the way. We're creative people. We do creative things.
Ideas 4 - ???: You tell me.
I want to point out that I don't want this thread to become a proving ground for any single idea. Bring up suggestions, discuss merits and drawbacks, honestly tell us about kneejerk reactions (see Idea #1), but keep an open mind.
And again: please speak up. This isn't idle chatter.
Namely, what I've heard so far has pretty much convinced me that the setting as-is did not work, is not working, and will not work for the kind of game we actually want. So let's change it.
Right now we have a very large, very powerful sept with very many and very powerful NPCs. We have a second sept, which just adds more structure and more rigidity to the game no matter how cool I think that building downtown is. The two main WtA play settings are stifling. There are a lot of other changes to WtA that I think can (and should) be primarily player-initiated, such as the inception of a boarding-house-esque whatever. But the setting and the NPCs and the caern/septs... that's what I'm going to focus on for now, because that's sort of my job here and I feel like it can set the foundation for the things you guys might want to change and contribute.
I have a couple of ideas so far, but I'm open to others. Hell, I'm actively seeking help thinking about this, so please speak up.
Idea 1: Reboot. None of it ever happened, none of it ever existed, we start over. We can figure out a way for people to keep or bring back PCs they've already played, but otherwise we just start from scratch. I'll admit I don't love this idea. I worked hard on this setting and I worked very hard for 6 months on that first major storyline. To knock it all off the table would kinda suck for me, and make me feel like everything I made was shitty from the get-go. But it is a possibility and I want it on the table with the others.
Idea 2: Gloss. It's been nearly a year since WtA was widely active on Denver. What activity I know about has had fuckall to do with the current setting or past storylines. So we fill in the blank of the past almost-a-year. They figured out a way to close the Pit. Garou/Kin presence has pulled completely out of 1999 Broadway; Cold Crescent doesn't exist anymore. Maybe closing the Pit involved a great big Final Battle and most if not all of those big authoritative Garou NPCs died. Maybe Forgotten Questions was severely weakened, or even left in a sort of slumber where it's barely even a Caern anymore. How it looks could take many forms, but the basic idea is to give ourselves a relatively clean slate without completely wiping anything that's happened before.
Idea 3: Side Game. With a smaller number of active players, we shrug off Denver entirely (or not) and make a pack (or two) of Garou who are traveling, or in another place, or in another version of Denver, or whatever, and we take turns STing for each other. Maybe this involves at least 1 or 2 scheduled nights of group play a month where we can get most/all of the PCs on. This doesn't preclude the inclusion of Kinfolk, by the way. We're creative people. We do creative things.
Ideas 4 - ???: You tell me.
I want to point out that I don't want this thread to become a proving ground for any single idea. Bring up suggestions, discuss merits and drawbacks, honestly tell us about kneejerk reactions (see Idea #1), but keep an open mind.
And again: please speak up. This isn't idle chatter.
my whole life is thunder.