I'd like to offer some constructive criticism on the way mod plot is being handled.
We haven't had a game-wide plot since the item monsters appeared in March, and that plot self-resolved two weeks later when the aliens landed, despite the claim in every plot post that no plots are self-resolving. A lot of players, myself included, were waiting for the latest plot post with high hopes, only to be disappointed by how limited its scope was. It's not that the ideas were bad ones--it just wasn't enough. We waited a month for a plot post that didn't even bring us a game-wide plot, and now we're stuck waiting another two weeks to see if maybe the next one will actually give us something to do.
The game has lost over 30 players in May alone. Many of them cited not feeling involved or not being able to get involved or having nothing to do as their reasons for dropping; many more probably have the same reasons but left them unstated. The game's going to keep bleeding players if that doesn't change.
The ways characters can interact with the events in the most recent post are limited. Geoff's open-door policy is a neat idea, but it's limited to characters in Locke City, or characters who are willing to phone a stranger. All the school-aged kids have finals to worry about during the week he's offering to meet. Some people aren't going to want to overcome the effort hurdle involved to meet him in person. The possessed car is also a neat idea, but it's another sign-up plot with only 5 slots, and your potential for interaction if not picked is limited to encounters in passing. It's not open-ended enough to actually give people something to do with it. Both of these ideas would be fine as-is if they'd been accompanied by a broader game-wide plot, but on their own it still leaves most of the game with nothing to get involved in.
Both of these events could've been expanded into something game-wide, too. Just off the top of my head: - Geoff hosts a live video chat Q&A in addition to inviting people to come see him. This expands the opportunities for interaction to characters who aren't quite invested enough to take the initiative to meet him in person--or for characters not in Locke City, and the video part ensures that he's not giving up his charm person advantage in the process. (Alternately a reddit thread, if his charm-person effect would still work through text for people who've already seen him.) - The possessed car temporarily animates other cars at random when it drives by them. This gives players a lot more options for how to interact with the event and many different ways to have their characters affected by it. - Whatever's gotten into that one car has also got the public transit vehicles acting up, doing inconvenient things like opening the subway doors 50 feet from the platform or on the wrong side of the tracks, busses dropping off passengers at the opposite side of town from their stated stops, light-rails that keep stopping in intersections and holding up traffic, etc. These kinds of things allow for PCs to be affected by the plot while going about their daily lives, and that kind of inconvenience creates an excuse for IC proactiveness.
For every plot post, you need to ask yourselves how Average Joe Reincarnate is expected to interact with these events. If you aren't chosen for a sign-up, is there still opportunity for you to interact, or are you limited to just reacting? What's the scope of interaction possibilities? How many possible outcomes are there for plot encounters? How many possible paths are there to a solution? What can the average player, not picked for a sign-up, not proactive enough to dig up buried plot hooks, do with their characters while waiting for the metaplot to progress?
The question you need to have in mind when writing every plot post is, "Does this give the average player something to be involved in?" If it doesn't, make it. If there are plot reasons why events can't be expanded to allow more opportunity and more options to players, either change the plot or add on another, broader-scope event to go alongside it. Every plot post should make sure everyone has something to do. This is not the same as force-feeding your players plot; it's making sure they have plot hooks to hold onto and run with.
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We haven't had a game-wide plot since the item monsters appeared in March, and that plot self-resolved two weeks later when the aliens landed, despite the claim in every plot post that no plots are self-resolving. A lot of players, myself included, were waiting for the latest plot post with high hopes, only to be disappointed by how limited its scope was. It's not that the ideas were bad ones--it just wasn't enough. We waited a month for a plot post that didn't even bring us a game-wide plot, and now we're stuck waiting another two weeks to see if maybe the next one will actually give us something to do.
The game has lost over 30 players in May alone. Many of them cited not feeling involved or not being able to get involved or having nothing to do as their reasons for dropping; many more probably have the same reasons but left them unstated. The game's going to keep bleeding players if that doesn't change.
The ways characters can interact with the events in the most recent post are limited. Geoff's open-door policy is a neat idea, but it's limited to characters in Locke City, or characters who are willing to phone a stranger. All the school-aged kids have finals to worry about during the week he's offering to meet. Some people aren't going to want to overcome the effort hurdle involved to meet him in person. The possessed car is also a neat idea, but it's another sign-up plot with only 5 slots, and your potential for interaction if not picked is limited to encounters in passing. It's not open-ended enough to actually give people something to do with it. Both of these ideas would be fine as-is if they'd been accompanied by a broader game-wide plot, but on their own it still leaves most of the game with nothing to get involved in.
Both of these events could've been expanded into something game-wide, too. Just off the top of my head:
- Geoff hosts a live video chat Q&A in addition to inviting people to come see him. This expands the opportunities for interaction to characters who aren't quite invested enough to take the initiative to meet him in person--or for characters not in Locke City, and the video part ensures that he's not giving up his charm person advantage in the process. (Alternately a reddit thread, if his charm-person effect would still work through text for people who've already seen him.)
- The possessed car temporarily animates other cars at random when it drives by them. This gives players a lot more options for how to interact with the event and many different ways to have their characters affected by it.
- Whatever's gotten into that one car has also got the public transit vehicles acting up, doing inconvenient things like opening the subway doors 50 feet from the platform or on the wrong side of the tracks, busses dropping off passengers at the opposite side of town from their stated stops, light-rails that keep stopping in intersections and holding up traffic, etc. These kinds of things allow for PCs to be affected by the plot while going about their daily lives, and that kind of inconvenience creates an excuse for IC proactiveness.
For every plot post, you need to ask yourselves how Average Joe Reincarnate is expected to interact with these events. If you aren't chosen for a sign-up, is there still opportunity for you to interact, or are you limited to just reacting? What's the scope of interaction possibilities? How many possible outcomes are there for plot encounters? How many possible paths are there to a solution? What can the average player, not picked for a sign-up, not proactive enough to dig up buried plot hooks, do with their characters while waiting for the metaplot to progress?
The question you need to have in mind when writing every plot post is, "Does this give the average player something to be involved in?" If it doesn't, make it. If there are plot reasons why events can't be expanded to allow more opportunity and more options to players, either change the plot or add on another, broader-scope event to go alongside it. Every plot post should make sure everyone has something to do. This is not the same as force-feeding your players plot; it's making sure they have plot hooks to hold onto and run with.