04-08-2020, 03:04 PM
Ty everybody so far for all of this, this stuff has been very informative to read and it's given me some concrete things to work on. I will do my best to get an anonymous survey up and running today, so anything that might've been held back can be explained and addressed soon.
And rather than responding to one specific person, I'll respond to points brought up since that seems easiest imo.
[spoiler=Lack of things to do]I wholeheartedly agree there's been a lack of interesting things to do / events, and yeah a lot of that boiled down to not being able to run them due to a lack of members. I don't think that's anybody's fault, and I will reiterate here that if any of BL's members want me to run a specific event, or want to run it themselves, I will throw my full weight behind it and do my best to make sure it happens.
I'll say that an inner-clan rivalry isn't something I'd like to do atm, given we have a lack of members and I'd rather not hog the spotlight too much with Salem; BL has had issues in the past with the leader taking too much of the limelight, and I don't want to trade one issue for another. If ppl want to plot out a nasty rivalry between their characters that spins into a civil war however, I'd be fully supportive.
Scarecrow being a serial killer and a resulting clan-wide investigation would be interesting, but given there's a lot of ppl saying they don't want BL to focus too much on serial killers I might have to put a pin in making that plot a clanwide one. You're still free to do your own thing and set up a plot w/ other characters doing an investigation to find out who's been killing people and it leading back to Scarecrow, I just won't be able to participate as heavily or pull in any BL members who didn't make the decision to join the plot.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Neutrality]It seems pretty cut and dry that people don't want neutrals- or at the very least don't want allies anymore. I'll need to talk to the other leaders about it and rearrange plans with them, but I'd be fine with axing allies and keeping neutrals as a cease-fire type of deal; still enemies, but being given a break for whatever reason.
Previously, allies have been restricted to trading partners (as with FL and LS are both currently trading partners with BL) but I will speak to Truce and Bryne to figure out what their opinions are on being dropped to neutral if/when I remove allies.
I will say in the vein of discussing BL's political movings as of recently, I will explain that me and Truce have plotted out a two-faced "alliance" between Bluestem and Badlands; starting out with the Badlands helping Bluestem clear out some of the other groups on the prairie, with Bluestem using the Badlands for cheap labor and the Badlands using Bluestem to siphon off unneeded resources from the raids, both continuing to overstep their boundaries until eventually it results in both groups realizing they're being used and turning into a rivalry.
We also plotted out a series of skirmishes with ND as tensions rose - not resulting in a full-out war, just tension and occasional fighting, kind of like a border rivalry in Warriors - but given BL's current overwhelming need of ND's clinic it hasn't kicked off yet.
Both are plots me and Truce like, but I'm sure we can work it out if the plots need to be modified or scrapped if they'd weigh down ppl's muse.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Bandannas]Mixed opinions on whether or not bandannas are a confusing deal. I'd agree that Grunt bandannas are quite confusing imo, but are HP bandannas also confusing?
I'd like to know before attempting to remove or alter them.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Guide and Board Inconsistencies]Thank you guys for bringing up the Guide's inconsistency to me, can't believe I hadn't noticed it earlier. I will fix the date in the title right away!
&& I agree the mis-matching themes of the board and the actual group need to be rectified. First a consistent theme will need to be picked before I go about changing those, since I'd rather make one change instead of multiple.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Theme]A lot of information about BL's theme, so this section may be a bit longer than the earlier ones.
I frankly agree that BL, at the moment, doesn't have a concise "personality" and seems to be more on the chaotic-neutral side of things. I don't think that type of group is bad, but it's clearly not a wanted thing for the Badlands to align themselves like that.
I don't think a pirate theme would really work out. Both for the reason that most groups in TNW aren't coastal, and I don't want to implement a theme solely based on the leader's backstory. I've never been a fan of leaders drastically changing the theme of a group to match their character's personality, and I don't think in the long run anybody but Salem would embrace a nautical theme.
It seems like there's a lot of support for returning to a mafia theme- well, I should elaborate. There's support for returning to a central theme with emphasis on badness, without forcing it down anybody's throat. I think that's a fundamentally good change for BL, so I will pose the question: What do people want as BL's central theme?
I'm willing to return to a more mafia-style theme, or try something else out! Under Catalyst there was an undercurrent of street gang themes I picked up on, so I'd also be fine with expanding upon that and cementing it as a theme or throwing it away entirely and putting my full weight behind a new (or returning) theme.
I will say that while I'm completely, fully open to doing all of these changes for BL and doing my utmost best to work with BB's community to make BL a more flourishing, interesting group for everybody, I draw the final line at changing Salem's personality to suit any kind of "Badlands leader" model.
I can ICly force him to move the group in a certain direction, and push and pull at bits of his behavior to work out the changes being asked of me, but he'll still fundamentally stay the same: an egocentric, power-hungry, lazy bastard desperate for attention and validation.
That's my limit, and I wanted to say it plainly. I'm due to be replaced in early May, so BL will be receiving a new leader with a new character then, but Salem stays unchanged at his core until then. I know that's not been asked of me yet, but before conversation about leader personalities goes too far I figured I'd chime in.
Okay, back to more themes. People want lines draw in the sand for what BL can and cannot do, and I'm open for modifying existing IC rules or adding new ones to fit the theme once its been picked. I'm of the opinion to do something like "do anything to achieve your given goal, with the exception of anything needlessly cruel (ex: no killing a baby, committing any war crimes for the sake of it, torturing somebody for funsies, etc)" But I want to hear what people want and use that.
Also, bit of mixed opinions on BL justifying/not justifying their actions. It seems like ppl want there to be a line of reasoning for BL's malicious actions, but nothing to really justify them. I think I've got this right? But if you guys could elaborate on this, please do, as I'd like to try and get this right.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Territory expansion]Expanding the territory sounds like a great idea. Baseball fields, a local college, etc, all sounds like a good way to expand the city.
I'll wait until the discussion of themes is concluded before cementing what territory expansions we want, as preferably they'd suit the chosen theme in some way.[/spoiler]
I hope I didn't miss anything, but there's my two cents lol. If anybody wants to respond, elaborate, bring up different points, etc, please go ahead.
And rather than responding to one specific person, I'll respond to points brought up since that seems easiest imo.
[spoiler=Lack of things to do]I wholeheartedly agree there's been a lack of interesting things to do / events, and yeah a lot of that boiled down to not being able to run them due to a lack of members. I don't think that's anybody's fault, and I will reiterate here that if any of BL's members want me to run a specific event, or want to run it themselves, I will throw my full weight behind it and do my best to make sure it happens.
I'll say that an inner-clan rivalry isn't something I'd like to do atm, given we have a lack of members and I'd rather not hog the spotlight too much with Salem; BL has had issues in the past with the leader taking too much of the limelight, and I don't want to trade one issue for another. If ppl want to plot out a nasty rivalry between their characters that spins into a civil war however, I'd be fully supportive.
Scarecrow being a serial killer and a resulting clan-wide investigation would be interesting, but given there's a lot of ppl saying they don't want BL to focus too much on serial killers I might have to put a pin in making that plot a clanwide one. You're still free to do your own thing and set up a plot w/ other characters doing an investigation to find out who's been killing people and it leading back to Scarecrow, I just won't be able to participate as heavily or pull in any BL members who didn't make the decision to join the plot.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Neutrality]It seems pretty cut and dry that people don't want neutrals- or at the very least don't want allies anymore. I'll need to talk to the other leaders about it and rearrange plans with them, but I'd be fine with axing allies and keeping neutrals as a cease-fire type of deal; still enemies, but being given a break for whatever reason.
Previously, allies have been restricted to trading partners (as with FL and LS are both currently trading partners with BL) but I will speak to Truce and Bryne to figure out what their opinions are on being dropped to neutral if/when I remove allies.
I will say in the vein of discussing BL's political movings as of recently, I will explain that me and Truce have plotted out a two-faced "alliance" between Bluestem and Badlands; starting out with the Badlands helping Bluestem clear out some of the other groups on the prairie, with Bluestem using the Badlands for cheap labor and the Badlands using Bluestem to siphon off unneeded resources from the raids, both continuing to overstep their boundaries until eventually it results in both groups realizing they're being used and turning into a rivalry.
We also plotted out a series of skirmishes with ND as tensions rose - not resulting in a full-out war, just tension and occasional fighting, kind of like a border rivalry in Warriors - but given BL's current overwhelming need of ND's clinic it hasn't kicked off yet.
Both are plots me and Truce like, but I'm sure we can work it out if the plots need to be modified or scrapped if they'd weigh down ppl's muse.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Bandannas]Mixed opinions on whether or not bandannas are a confusing deal. I'd agree that Grunt bandannas are quite confusing imo, but are HP bandannas also confusing?
I'd like to know before attempting to remove or alter them.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Guide and Board Inconsistencies]Thank you guys for bringing up the Guide's inconsistency to me, can't believe I hadn't noticed it earlier. I will fix the date in the title right away!
&& I agree the mis-matching themes of the board and the actual group need to be rectified. First a consistent theme will need to be picked before I go about changing those, since I'd rather make one change instead of multiple.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Theme]A lot of information about BL's theme, so this section may be a bit longer than the earlier ones.
I frankly agree that BL, at the moment, doesn't have a concise "personality" and seems to be more on the chaotic-neutral side of things. I don't think that type of group is bad, but it's clearly not a wanted thing for the Badlands to align themselves like that.
I don't think a pirate theme would really work out. Both for the reason that most groups in TNW aren't coastal, and I don't want to implement a theme solely based on the leader's backstory. I've never been a fan of leaders drastically changing the theme of a group to match their character's personality, and I don't think in the long run anybody but Salem would embrace a nautical theme.
It seems like there's a lot of support for returning to a mafia theme- well, I should elaborate. There's support for returning to a central theme with emphasis on badness, without forcing it down anybody's throat. I think that's a fundamentally good change for BL, so I will pose the question: What do people want as BL's central theme?
I'm willing to return to a more mafia-style theme, or try something else out! Under Catalyst there was an undercurrent of street gang themes I picked up on, so I'd also be fine with expanding upon that and cementing it as a theme or throwing it away entirely and putting my full weight behind a new (or returning) theme.
I will say that while I'm completely, fully open to doing all of these changes for BL and doing my utmost best to work with BB's community to make BL a more flourishing, interesting group for everybody, I draw the final line at changing Salem's personality to suit any kind of "Badlands leader" model.
I can ICly force him to move the group in a certain direction, and push and pull at bits of his behavior to work out the changes being asked of me, but he'll still fundamentally stay the same: an egocentric, power-hungry, lazy bastard desperate for attention and validation.
That's my limit, and I wanted to say it plainly. I'm due to be replaced in early May, so BL will be receiving a new leader with a new character then, but Salem stays unchanged at his core until then. I know that's not been asked of me yet, but before conversation about leader personalities goes too far I figured I'd chime in.
Okay, back to more themes. People want lines draw in the sand for what BL can and cannot do, and I'm open for modifying existing IC rules or adding new ones to fit the theme once its been picked. I'm of the opinion to do something like "do anything to achieve your given goal, with the exception of anything needlessly cruel (ex: no killing a baby, committing any war crimes for the sake of it, torturing somebody for funsies, etc)" But I want to hear what people want and use that.
Also, bit of mixed opinions on BL justifying/not justifying their actions. It seems like ppl want there to be a line of reasoning for BL's malicious actions, but nothing to really justify them. I think I've got this right? But if you guys could elaborate on this, please do, as I'd like to try and get this right.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Territory expansion]Expanding the territory sounds like a great idea. Baseball fields, a local college, etc, all sounds like a good way to expand the city.
I'll wait until the discussion of themes is concluded before cementing what territory expansions we want, as preferably they'd suit the chosen theme in some way.[/spoiler]
I hope I didn't miss anything, but there's my two cents lol. If anybody wants to respond, elaborate, bring up different points, etc, please go ahead.
[align=center][div style="overflow: hidden; font-size: 12pt; color: #646464; font-family: georgia"]I need to save you, but who's going to save me?
[abbr=n/a]characters[/abbr] ++ [abbr=darky is the best little sib - pyre; tiddy - crows; how bad can i be - zodiac; #swiggity swooty I tolerate Hooty]staff ;p[/abbr]
[abbr=n/a]characters[/abbr] ++ [abbr=darky is the best little sib - pyre; tiddy - crows; how bad can i be - zodiac; #swiggity swooty I tolerate Hooty]staff ;p[/abbr]