Deagantio
Active member
- Joined
- Aug 2, 2021
- Messages
- 145
- Thread Author
- #1
Over the past few weeks I've been asked by numerous parties (the voices) to make my stance on a lot of our issues 'formal' - because apparently bitching and moaning in Discord is no longer adequate social discourse in these modern times. smh
So I'll rip off the band-aid with one of the issues that probably impacts the server the most. This is going to be a rather long rant but one filled with mostly examples and ideas the team can use.
But tl:dr since there's a lot ahead:
Prioritize smaller individually driven events and give adequate player rewards for their participation.
For larger events, give citizens a goal and something to do to help reach said goal/AKA a means to cooperate with Combine factions rather than having CPs kicking citizens out. By interaction, I don't mean wait in a building for 30 minutes for the fog to pass.
Stop using NPCs. Don't be afraid to liberally provide scripts, non-scripted items, and SC as reward for participating in the roleplay. Dopamine addiction is key to any successful community.
I'm not going to beat a dead horse and make this all about staff-rebel chars bombing and shooting up places - outside of the already toxic impact it's had on rebelRP when these actions are performed without IC consequences.
I'm not against action-orientated events. On the contrary - action is important to help propel both player's individual storylines, as well as the server's narrative as a whole.
Rather, I'm against poorly thought-out events that typically favor a single faction or are too spread out to be viable. After all, the bulk of our community play as citizens - this is the group our events should be based around - and the group most involved in uncovering and piecing together our storyline
It's tough to say this in the modern day, and it pains me to say this - NPC-based events where zombies roam into the streets have been a bad joke since 2015 for a good reason. Stop using NPCs you apes :angrycat:
Scripts are the easiest reward you can give players for their participation. Especially given our script-heavy emphasis on systems such as food or medical, along with our RPG-mechanic - the grind-based crafting system.
Assume that it is inevitable that players will obtain weapons if they want to. Which hasn't proven a problem so far. Scripts are a fair reward for an action, puzzle, or cooperation-oriented event. A crate of food, a loaded gun, medical supplies, etc. If they managed to obtain these by roleplaying their characters through these events, they've earned the right to these items and we shouldn't be afraid to incentivize creative thinking through this.
Not all rewards have to be material. Sometimes surviving with a tale to tell is good enough - but this should be a rare occasion where survival merits its own reward.
If it's not a situation where scripts are involved, offer something else. For example, if you're deranged enough to consider doing an epidemic event - offer pure samples of the virus that can be turned into the CMU for SC or that can be sold on the black market. Or perhaps saved by the players themselves to use as IC leverage. If the player wants to be a fucking psycho and poison the Shelter's food with it - feel free to get into contact with them and Shelter management OOCly to coordinate how to best set up the outbreak.
Or some blackmail information (DM OOCly if someone wants to have blackmail circulate regarding their character's past or something along those lines. Etc, etc.), vital 'technical documents', etc - the sky's the limit when it comes to non-scripted items.
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First of all, remove emphasis on district-wide events. Trying to juggle groups of 8+ players and their reactions by bombing a street is just not happening - you're stuck with something they can't interact with outside of cleaning up the rubble. In addition, they're difficult to come up with unless you have player chars in place who already have set plans to further their own in-game agendas by doing something 'big'.
Big events help storylines impact the server but the community are typically left dazed, confused, and left out. It's not 'clever writing' - it just becomes exclusionary to the vast majority who aren't involved. Server-wide events require a lot of interaction - and the only one I can think of that warrants this level of application is an uprising. Which is hard to pull off well.
My advice is to focus efforts and energy on small "events" - (encounters) and propped-up scenes staged with some script or non-script items. Allowing for players to stumble in on these organically (you can lure nearby players to the event by adding a radio near the scene and /it-ing "music can be heard emanating from down the hallway". Gameplay limitations don't translate to narrative possibilities.)
Ideally these would be frequent, as ways to help spice up player experience and detract from running back and forth from RDC to indigent. But also as a means to introduce our storylines to the community rather than big events based entirely around staff interacting with Combine chars. Focusing on the scenes of what little is revealed, while engaging player participation in the process.
Don't be afraid to add some levels of danger if the area warrants it, but as a general rule of thumb - don't use NPCs. Rather, interact with the players yourselves by using pills or different models.
As a more challenging variation. An Armored Headcrab (yeah, those fucks from HL:A) has managed to take over an OTA unit. The unit in question has a shotgun slung on them. If someone can take them out despite their kevlar and the headcrab's natural armor, they get the gun. But if the unit decides to suicide with a grenade: the gun itself will be damaged beyond repair in the explosion. The unit will have some medical supplies in its pack regardless. Once more, a biosignal loss will ring out. Response would entirely depend on the Combine.
For "larger" events - emphasize cooperation between factions. Make sure that civilians who cooperate with the Combine are rewarded appropriately - while characters that deviate are able to pick what they can from the chaos. This will require cooperation with faction leads to ensure that Combine factions aren't trying to shove players away from participating in events - after all, the true citizen is the Combine's greatest ally.
For example, a dropship carrying a wounded administrator and a medical team would crash into Indigent. Dropping some medical supplies (and a suitcase of 'vital information', audio recordings or some other shit) around the wreckage. Pair this with a radio blackout, and it can lead to some interesting interactions. Civilians can leave the badly wounded survivors to their fate and salvage what they can, or they can help escort the survivors to safety while working with Civil Protection to secure the crash site.
Civilians who cooperate and help out the most can be commended in a broadcast, and rewarded some extra SC. Allow a workshift or two to cut up and carry out the dropship wreckage.
Lastly,
Don't be afraid to delve into the unconventional. Half Life 2 is great but only provides so much, and the rogue manhack, overgrown super-barnacle, throw-away crazy chars, and hoard of rats or mutated cockroaches can only get you so far. Don't be afraid to start delving in directions that break not only canon or WN lore, but even realism.
Don't be afraid to put around papers and documents around scenes that seem utterly out of place during the weirder events, perhaps some that may foreshadow the Creative Team's direction with an overall storyline. Papers containing some more information as to "why" the event occurred in the first place would also be a good step to satisfy IC and OOC curiosity, and would go a long way towards proper world building.
For example, one could be tucked away in a corner stating how "Cassius demands a high powered rifle strong enough to punch through an Occupation dropship's hull - for the administrator shall die in the crash. So as lord Set has decreed. -N" on the same day right before the aforementioned dropship scenario.
Alright let's wrap this up.
I'm not saying that our events are dogshit. I've had some great experiences on Willard, and I intend to have (and share) many more. I've seen staff do some very creative things with that tools they've been given - and I hope to see some great experiences and storylines in the future.
This wasn't a typical bitch-post from me as one might expect, but more or less some pointers as to a general direction that's good to head down in my general opinion.
My advice to the creative team is to curb storylines into becoming more nuanced - allow peeks of what's truly happening with your lore for the city through what citizens can find and experience rather than big events which are only known and interacted with through Civil Protection or Civil Administration. Instead of dropping a heaving pile of steaming food in our mouths, give us small yet frequent bites we can interact with one at a time.
Anyway, that's my rant. Go piss and cum in the comments and tell me how scripts are the devil and how prioritizing the improvement of our players experiences is anti-Status Quo. Thanks for coming to my TED talk. If you excuse me, I'm due to being shot at from the Indigent catwalks.
So I'll rip off the band-aid with one of the issues that probably impacts the server the most. This is going to be a rather long rant but one filled with mostly examples and ideas the team can use.
But tl:dr since there's a lot ahead:
Prioritize smaller individually driven events and give adequate player rewards for their participation.
For larger events, give citizens a goal and something to do to help reach said goal/AKA a means to cooperate with Combine factions rather than having CPs kicking citizens out. By interaction, I don't mean wait in a building for 30 minutes for the fog to pass.
Stop using NPCs. Don't be afraid to liberally provide scripts, non-scripted items, and SC as reward for participating in the roleplay. Dopamine addiction is key to any successful community.
Events
I'm not going to beat a dead horse and make this all about staff-rebel chars bombing and shooting up places - outside of the already toxic impact it's had on rebelRP when these actions are performed without IC consequences.
I'm not against action-orientated events. On the contrary - action is important to help propel both player's individual storylines, as well as the server's narrative as a whole.
Rather, I'm against poorly thought-out events that typically favor a single faction or are too spread out to be viable. After all, the bulk of our community play as citizens - this is the group our events should be based around - and the group most involved in uncovering and piecing together our storyline
It's tough to say this in the modern day, and it pains me to say this - NPC-based events where zombies roam into the streets have been a bad joke since 2015 for a good reason. Stop using NPCs you apes :angrycat:
When planning an event, here's some things worth considering to ensure a healthy workplace environment AKA maximize player enjoyment.
1.) Introduction - How are players going to enter your event? Does the event intrude on them (an obstacle blocking their course, or something likewise unavoidable) or will they stumble in and intrude on it? Who is doing the intruding? What faction is this going to be based around, if it's faction-specific. (this is the most important question)
2.) Participation - How are players meant to cooperate or interact with their environment/shape how the event plays out? How are players expected to play their roles, and how can the event accommodate players who defy or go beyond those expectations?
AKA, how can you make this entertaining and engaging with your targeted group? How can you maintain flexibility while maintaining the event's integrity? (Finding creative ways to deny protagonist syndrome, or narrative means to circumvent attempts at concluding an event before its climax)
3.) Reward (The most controversial) -
2.) Participation - How are players meant to cooperate or interact with their environment/shape how the event plays out? How are players expected to play their roles, and how can the event accommodate players who defy or go beyond those expectations?
AKA, how can you make this entertaining and engaging with your targeted group? How can you maintain flexibility while maintaining the event's integrity? (Finding creative ways to deny protagonist syndrome, or narrative means to circumvent attempts at concluding an event before its climax)
3.) Reward (The most controversial) -
This deserves its own tangent because I know a lotta y'all are going to bitch at me for this.
Scripts are the easiest reward you can give players for their participation. Especially given our script-heavy emphasis on systems such as food or medical, along with our RPG-mechanic - the grind-based crafting system.
Assume that it is inevitable that players will obtain weapons if they want to. Which hasn't proven a problem so far. Scripts are a fair reward for an action, puzzle, or cooperation-oriented event. A crate of food, a loaded gun, medical supplies, etc. If they managed to obtain these by roleplaying their characters through these events, they've earned the right to these items and we shouldn't be afraid to incentivize creative thinking through this.
Not all rewards have to be material. Sometimes surviving with a tale to tell is good enough - but this should be a rare occasion where survival merits its own reward.
If it's not a situation where scripts are involved, offer something else. For example, if you're deranged enough to consider doing an epidemic event - offer pure samples of the virus that can be turned into the CMU for SC or that can be sold on the black market. Or perhaps saved by the players themselves to use as IC leverage. If the player wants to be a fucking psycho and poison the Shelter's food with it - feel free to get into contact with them and Shelter management OOCly to coordinate how to best set up the outbreak.
Or some blackmail information (DM OOCly if someone wants to have blackmail circulate regarding their character's past or something along those lines. Etc, etc.), vital 'technical documents', etc - the sky's the limit when it comes to non-scripted items.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, how do I propose the staff team approaches events?
First of all, remove emphasis on district-wide events. Trying to juggle groups of 8+ players and their reactions by bombing a street is just not happening - you're stuck with something they can't interact with outside of cleaning up the rubble. In addition, they're difficult to come up with unless you have player chars in place who already have set plans to further their own in-game agendas by doing something 'big'.
Big events help storylines impact the server but the community are typically left dazed, confused, and left out. It's not 'clever writing' - it just becomes exclusionary to the vast majority who aren't involved. Server-wide events require a lot of interaction - and the only one I can think of that warrants this level of application is an uprising. Which is hard to pull off well.
My advice is to focus efforts and energy on small "events" - (encounters) and propped-up scenes staged with some script or non-script items. Allowing for players to stumble in on these organically (you can lure nearby players to the event by adding a radio near the scene and /it-ing "music can be heard emanating from down the hallway". Gameplay limitations don't translate to narrative possibilities.)
Ideally these would be frequent, as ways to help spice up player experience and detract from running back and forth from RDC to indigent. But also as a means to introduce our storylines to the community rather than big events based entirely around staff interacting with Combine chars. Focusing on the scenes of what little is revealed, while engaging player participation in the process.
Don't be afraid to add some levels of danger if the area warrants it, but as a general rule of thumb - don't use NPCs. Rather, interact with the players yourselves by using pills or different models.
For example, a room in Indigent may contain a shelf with some books, a plastic crate containing some cans of water, and a note saying "Take what you need and pay it forward" - but there's a dead zombie sitting in an old chair missing its headcrab. Players may choose to investigate further and take some water, before finding that the headcrab plops out of a vent overhead. What do they have in the scene presented to help take down the crab before it's too late? When what's done is done, let them take the water. Perhaps something the Zombie may have on it as well (a CiD, or a pack of relabeled cigarettes)
Don't be afraid to create throw-away characters as the situation calls for it. If you want to set up a big bad sewer creature or a hoard of hungry rats, it's always best to walk in and find some guy being killed by it/them.
With more danger should come more reward. Here's another example of a good way to use staff monster-chars.
-
A Zombined-Civil Protection unit is wandering the sewers. Anyone who kills it ICly may be able to pry a single clip-9mm from its holster along with some zipties, some cigarettes, etc. The real danger comes from the biosignal loss that is now ringing out across local CP channels. Civil Protection may be able to apprehend the killer if they're fast enough. Perhaps give it a story as to explain why it was down there, maybe an audio cassette explaining how it came from D13 or another destroyed district. Don't be afraid to create throw-away characters as the situation calls for it. If you want to set up a big bad sewer creature or a hoard of hungry rats, it's always best to walk in and find some guy being killed by it/them.
With more danger should come more reward. Here's another example of a good way to use staff monster-chars.
-
As a more challenging variation. An Armored Headcrab (yeah, those fucks from HL:A) has managed to take over an OTA unit. The unit in question has a shotgun slung on them. If someone can take them out despite their kevlar and the headcrab's natural armor, they get the gun. But if the unit decides to suicide with a grenade: the gun itself will be damaged beyond repair in the explosion. The unit will have some medical supplies in its pack regardless. Once more, a biosignal loss will ring out. Response would entirely depend on the Combine.
For "larger" events - emphasize cooperation between factions. Make sure that civilians who cooperate with the Combine are rewarded appropriately - while characters that deviate are able to pick what they can from the chaos. This will require cooperation with faction leads to ensure that Combine factions aren't trying to shove players away from participating in events - after all, the true citizen is the Combine's greatest ally.
For example, a dropship carrying a wounded administrator and a medical team would crash into Indigent. Dropping some medical supplies (and a suitcase of 'vital information', audio recordings or some other shit) around the wreckage. Pair this with a radio blackout, and it can lead to some interesting interactions. Civilians can leave the badly wounded survivors to their fate and salvage what they can, or they can help escort the survivors to safety while working with Civil Protection to secure the crash site.
Civilians who cooperate and help out the most can be commended in a broadcast, and rewarded some extra SC. Allow a workshift or two to cut up and carry out the dropship wreckage.
Lastly,
Don't be afraid to delve into the unconventional. Half Life 2 is great but only provides so much, and the rogue manhack, overgrown super-barnacle, throw-away crazy chars, and hoard of rats or mutated cockroaches can only get you so far. Don't be afraid to start delving in directions that break not only canon or WN lore, but even realism.
A player passes by a broken radio which begins to emit broken static followed by location clues.
If the player wants to follow these clues, they can stumble upon a room full of un-plugged TVs broadcasting events that happened in our real-life timeline during 2018. Along with a guy who seemingly killed himself, slumped back in a chair.
If the player wants to follow these clues, they can stumble upon a room full of un-plugged TVs broadcasting events that happened in our real-life timeline during 2018. Along with a guy who seemingly killed himself, slumped back in a chair.
Don't be afraid to put around papers and documents around scenes that seem utterly out of place during the weirder events, perhaps some that may foreshadow the Creative Team's direction with an overall storyline. Papers containing some more information as to "why" the event occurred in the first place would also be a good step to satisfy IC and OOC curiosity, and would go a long way towards proper world building.
For example, one could be tucked away in a corner stating how "Cassius demands a high powered rifle strong enough to punch through an Occupation dropship's hull - for the administrator shall die in the crash. So as lord Set has decreed. -N" on the same day right before the aforementioned dropship scenario.
Alright let's wrap this up.
I'm not saying that our events are dogshit. I've had some great experiences on Willard, and I intend to have (and share) many more. I've seen staff do some very creative things with that tools they've been given - and I hope to see some great experiences and storylines in the future.
This wasn't a typical bitch-post from me as one might expect, but more or less some pointers as to a general direction that's good to head down in my general opinion.
My advice to the creative team is to curb storylines into becoming more nuanced - allow peeks of what's truly happening with your lore for the city through what citizens can find and experience rather than big events which are only known and interacted with through Civil Protection or Civil Administration. Instead of dropping a heaving pile of steaming food in our mouths, give us small yet frequent bites we can interact with one at a time.
Anyway, that's my rant. Go piss and cum in the comments and tell me how scripts are the devil and how prioritizing the improvement of our players experiences is anti-Status Quo. Thanks for coming to my TED talk. If you excuse me, I'm due to being shot at from the Indigent catwalks.
