expiationooc | SOTG OCTOBER 2023

AC RESULTS

Hello and happy October to our lovely players! First we start with AC results:

DROPS:

treesistance

oracledriven

darkdisgrace

gundamned

couldntsaveone

WHAT'S NEW?

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SENTENCING

We are pleased to introduce the sentencing mechanic this month! Along with the incoming NPC, we will be handing out “sentences” to those that have done crime. Those that are committing crime will automatically be lumped into it on months we do it, and we will be supplementing via rng those that would like to oocly volunteer their characters for this mechanic. This month we have ten slots, and slots may vary as interest is gauged and general goings-on in the game. We don’t want to overwhelm ourselves as mods, and since this is an off-event month mechanic, there may be players that want to do something less plot heavy or more TDM heavy through those months. Which is fine! This is your game, and we want everyone to play as they’d like to.

As the cycle goes, on the 6th, we will leave a message on your character’s inbox with our new NPC to meet him at City Hall for incarceration and to meet the council to get their punishments. If characters don’t go willingly, they will be brought by force by said NPC. Once there, he takes them into the “council room”, where they will receive their punishment. These punishments will be tailored to the crime committed or the crime characters have come into this world with. They will have until the 10th of November to complete these tasks, or it will result in punishment. Again, these will be tailored to the individual characters who have refused these crimes. While characters don’t remember seeing or talking to the council, they will remember their punishment as well as the reward for completing it: to change their crime to another on their “list of crimes”, or to be rewarded in another way. The other way won’t be specified, but OOCly we will tell you it’s a small lore drop on completing their punishment.

Proof of compliance of the punishment must be threaded out and sent to the mods for characters to receive their reward. These threads don’t have to be complete, but there must be evidence that characters are working towards it in the thread(s) that are sent in. If real life comes up and you’re unable to make a thread, and it’s IC to finish it, please approach the mods and we will work with you on that on a case-by-case basis.

As always, this is opt-in. If there’s a player of a character that automatically is entered in the sentencing cycle via crimes in Aldrip that doesn’t wish to participate, please contact the mods and we will work with you on that as well.

This month, the automatic pool includes Dazai, Jinx, Fyodor, and Saito. That means we have six slots left for the voluntary rng!

Repetitive crime behavior will be handled on a case-by-case basis for other months. We would like for everyone interested in this mechanic to be able to participate, so there may be a month that an automatic character gets skipped if they commit a crime again. Ex: Saito completes his sentence this time around, but if there are more crimes committed between now and the December cycle, he will only be added in if there’s a slot to be filled. That is to say, if there isn’t enough interest in those months to fill the slots assigned, they will be added back in if the player wishes to do so.

If there have been crimes committed that we don’t know about, please contact us! This is also partially for what the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly entry is for in your Activity Check comments. We will work in past crimes from the beginning of the game and on into December’s (or February’s since December is gonna be A Time for a lot of us) sentencing mechanic!

If this mechanic is a popular one and there are a lot of players who’d like to participate, we may choose to work this into event months as well in 2024. But for now, the reason why we chose TDM months is so that players still have a bit of plot outside of the TDM prompts to participate if they so choose. For now, we felt as if doing them on event months would potentially overwhelm our playerbase, especially as we’re leaning towards more plotty event months, especially after 2024 begins.

Signups for RNG sentencing will close at 11:59 PM EST on October 4th to give the modteam time to rng and complete sentencing for characters by the 6th. Please sign up under the comment after this entry!

NPC INBOX

There is now an inbox for expiation NPCs! Right now, the only one that’s contactable is Jerry, but… y’know, that might change one day. This is how players will submit their sentencing proofs when they’re ready, however! For now, this isn’t IC knowledge to find him here, as he hasn’t technically been introduced yet.

But he will be soon. :)

THIS MONTH IN ALDRIP

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HAPPENINGS:

Reminder that some things have already changed, and can be found here!

The fog is starting to roll out, but some of the creepiness remains in the atmosphere. There’s some wailing sort of noises that come from the forest every now and then… and maybe at night a Chosen might hear something they’ve heard in the maze outside their window. Well. That’s probably all in their head.

The sun is starting to set earlier and rise later, and a fall-like chill is in the air. The leaves in the forest and some of the native trees are starting to change colors, but the crops still seem to be doing just fine.

Some more of the Aldrip locals will start to disappear here and there. Some of the inhabitants from Tresed start trying to take over the businesses and restaurants that have been abandoned. The two that take over Rin’s shop are doing very well for themselves – actually, they’re excitedly making what looks to be Halloween costumes! If there’s something that a Chosen would like to have specifically, they’re more than happy to make it for them.

Why are they so excited? Fliers will start to circulate through the town about the festivities that are going to be held on the 23rd of October – an annual Trick or Treat and Witch Hut will be held that evening. More details to come then.

Back to the poor NPCs. The residents that came from Tresed are more of an artsy, construction sort, and they’re not that great at maintaining businesses that aren't anything like that. So when some of the Aldrip natives start to disappear from the restaurants and from the inn, well… food gets worse. It’s burnt, over/under-seasoned, or just not cooked through at all. Or a mix of all of them! They might need some help, or just be shuffled out and away from the kitchens before they set a restaurant on fire.

Which just might happen.

In a couple of the abandoned businesses, an observant Chosen might find a paper with a date and time that have already passed, asking them to meet with Those Who Were There at the edge of the forest. That’s pretty sus, if you ask me. If they investigate further and along the edges of the forest, they might find some markings of a small gathering, but otherwise it just seems as if they vanished along the tree line.

TDM prompts will be on the CR meme/EMP meme! We are also combining this and an EMP/ATP into the post as a test run!!

LOOKING AHEAD / MISC

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HOLIDAYS

The modteam is very much aware that the holidays are coming up. December is going to be a check-in month, with a reward in mind for those who make AC anyway, similar to how we did for everyone in July. November will have AC as normal, but if issues arise and something comes up for you guys, please let us know. We’re letting you all know in advance to ease some concern we’ve been seeing. We see you, and understand that this is going to be a crazy time for everyone.

SO MUCH LOVE,

Got any feedback? We’re all ears! The modteam has officially gotten the game on track with their vision for it, so if there’s anything we’re missing, let us know. If there’s something you’d like to see more of or if you have any player plots in mind, hit us up! November’s event won’t be nearly as intense, so if anyone has anything they’d like to do, that’d be a great time to do it. But if everyone would rather take it easy over the holidays, that’s fine too. We love you all, and let’s have another great month!

SOTG OCTOBER 2023

Re: SENTENCING SIGNUPS