expiationooc | Entries tagged with moderator notes

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PAGES

We’ve been working on overhauling some of our pages! We now have a calendar, flora / fauna page, business / Aldrip page, and a navigation so players can see all the links in one spot. We’re still working on some of them, and if anyone would like to contribute or add anything, let us know! We’re also working on a map, references, and other things like that so everyone can visualize the game. So stay tuned! We’ll announce more updates in state of the game posts, but you might see some new links added to the nav every now and then in the meantime.

HOUSING

As of this post, we have additional npcs who are helping out to make new housing for the Chosen. These will be completed by September, so feel free for characters to assist as needed so they can get in something that’s not the cramped inn. The housing is going to be the barest minimum, small single bedroom/bathroom housing for now, and details on how to customize or make the houses larger will be in the September state of the game post. But for now, we gotta build them before making any sort of upgrades.

TABLETS

The npcs from the desert accumulated the pieces of tablets, chargers, batteries, and other parts and brought them to Aldrip with them. Characters are welcome to tinker with them, clean them up, and charge / put them back together, but they won’t get much to happen for now. The new npcs aren’t sure how to fix it, and Aldrip npcs certainly don’t know how to fix it. But maybe we’ll get some more information about them during the mingle log, after the app cycle…

For a more extensive overview of what’s changed in Aldrip, please check the event result post here.

SMALL AC CHANGE

As of this app cycle, we’re getting rid of the rule of using only one thread from the TDM for ac. You are allowed to use multiple TDM threads now, which hopefully will encourage tagging out to new players who want to voice test. The TDM is semi-canon, which means players can take or leave what they want from the TDM. Strange things happen in Aldrip all the time, after all.

SMALL POLL CHANGE

Instead of only a week for the polls, the modteam has decided to go to a ten-day poll cycle to give players a few more days to absorb the event before voting. The reason why we’re only extending it a few more days is so that players and characters who might want to move on from the event or weren’t involved can move on if they’d like. This is also something we’re going to be monitoring however, so if it’s necessary to extend or shorten it back to a week, we will adjust accordingly.

THIS MONTH, IN ALDRIP

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TDM / HAPPENINGS

As we’ve said, the TDM is semi-canon to the game. While we are still going to have the separate overall log for new players in the meme comm, characters who are already in the game are free to make their own posts or logs in the normal expiation comms to interact with the scenarios, if they so choose. The TDM goes up on the 7th, so posts and things could be interacted with after that date.

As for the TDM:

FESTIVAL OF THE SUN

It’s time for what the locals call “The Festival Of The Sun.” It’s kind of a lowkey festival, and with the new npc additions to the city, more artsy. The new locals have regained their love for art, so crafts, paintings and sculpting will be additions to the festival. Characters might get roped in to help decorate!
There will be a sandcastle building contest, a seashell hunt, and boat racing contests. Other contests that Chosen would like to put on will just enhance the festival! Small food prizes will be awarded for these events.

THIS IS ECOLOGY

There’s been new additions to the flora and fauna (as seen on the new page). There will be the ability to make friends with and keep some wildlife for travel or other uses.
On the flipside, there will be wildflowers blooming in the fields next to Aldrip that will have status effects– such as sleeping, confusion, temporary loss of sense (sight, touch, taste, etc), powerlessness, forgetfulness, or inability to speak. Think rpg status effects! So long as they’re not game breaking, they’re free game.

STRANGE MACHINATIONS

As said above, there won’t be a whole lot that can be done with the tablets for now. If characters are able to get it working, there will be a whole lot of beeping and error messages. In between that, characters might be able to see a glimpse of some apps on the home screen: mAPP, snake, solitaire, calendar, notepad, contacts, a paint-sort of program, and what looks to be Aldrip’s version of a news app. Trying to tap on most of this will give more error messages, almost as if it’s not connected to a network… at least, until they realize that the tablets are beeping. Wandering around may provide an insight as they seem to beep louder or more often at random points- that is, until they find another tablet. Characters will find that they can send text messages and photos while they're close, but get too far away and it'll disconnect again.

The world might seem more odd throughout the month. The locals stop in place more often, forgetting what they’re doing. The animals come around looking abnormal in various ways, almost mutated. Chosen will also hear voices outside at night… but everything’s fine. Right?

LOOKING AHEAD / MISC

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AC

We did receive in our first mod posts some suggestions about the AC. The modteam is still keeping an eye on things as they are right now, but we haven’t ruled anything out as of yet. This is just something we’re monitoring.

QUEST BOARD

We are still working towards a quest board! That was something that was mentioned as well, to make more use of a day-to-day life in Aldrip. Look for that in the coming months as this mod team continues to settle in to their positions!

AC REWARDS

This is something we will be revamping in August! We are going to take a look at what’s available and what can be saved up for, including additions to housing and things of that nature. Goal is to be finished by the mod post in September.

INFO / FAQ PAGE

This is another thing we will be revamping in August! We are going to realign it to reflect the way the current modteam would like the game to go, and hopefully clarify some things at the same time. If there’s anything you guys would like to see in particular, let us know either in the comments or in the info post!

SENTENCING

Those who have sentencing this month, don’t forget about it!! whatsamada, nullificates, illusionbreaker You have until the end of the month to finish it! Also, we may be tweaking this in the future as well, but we’ll keep you tuned in for that.

CALENDAR

We also readjusted some of the dates for the calendar ~~again. Bear with us~~ The link is further up in the post, so please peruse at your leisure! We went ahead and finished it up for the rest of the year, but as things come up and potential player plots happen, we can still add it into the calendar later.

GET ON WITH IT ALREADY,

Thank you to everyone who gave feedback, and who’s still shown enthusiasm for the game in this period of change. We still have a lot of work ahead of us, but we hope to have our plans going soon. As always, use the comments below to let us know how we’re doing, if there’s anything we’ve forgotten (because this month has been A Lot), or if you’ve just got questions that you’d like answered. Here’s to another month!

expiationmods

Thank you to everyone who participated in the poll! These are the results on the world from the input from you all:

Even though some of you all made the fairies angry in one way or another ~~or just with kindness… Kotone…~~, fairy relations seem to be getting better. Mr. Expedition disappears after the event and the Chosen get back to Aldrip, and the rest of the fairies give the Chosen a map to the ruins, in case they’d want to go back and investigate them some more. Most of the fairies go back to tending the grounds around Aldrip (which are beginning to get green again! Plants are starting to come back to life, even though most probably couldn’t tell what they are yet…), while others might get kind of nosy with the Chosen. They’re not permanent companions to the characters, but sometimes while they’re going about their day, they might sense a presence… and a fairy may or may not be curiously looking over their shoulders. It’s almost as if they’re trying to learn from the Chosen. Weird.

How do you get back to the desert, you might ask? The fairies will portal characters there again if they ask nicely. Any sort of rudeness will still result in being Afflicted temporarily, but since it’s almost half a day’s walk out to the ruins, it’s the easiest way back out there.

There were some Infected saved. 10 New npcs have gone back to Aldrip to help continue the rebuilding of the city – though half split off towards the outskirts to work on another project. What is it? Who knows.

If characters question the Infected on their life before, they won’t be able to tell them anything. Questions will be met with blank stares, and sometimes even with comments to the effect of “I was always here”. They’re not that helpful in that regard, but they’ll work.

Kind of.

The five not working on the Mystery Project will start to build something that looks like residences, at least some of the time. The rest of the time they might be distracted while painting murals of the characters that had saved them and brought them back to Aldrip. They’ll get back to it.

Eventually. But characters are more than welcome to help! Especially considering that these new npcs quite literally had to pitch a tent to stay in, since there’s no room in the inn. They don’t seem to mind, and if asked, they’ll tell them they’re building new homes for their Saviors.

There’s still some possessions and tech that’re buried in the rubble back in the desert. Most of the traps had been sprung by this point, so it’s much easier to make another sweep of the city. However, characters are only safe during the daytime in the city. The Ghosts are all that’s left, and they only come out at night. The ones who weren’t satiated are even stronger than before, so while characters may go at night, it’s highly dangerous. It’s not like you can see much anyway without that bonfire the fairies made! The full moon at night can only go so far.

Characters who have gotten their hands on the tech can bring it back, as well as anything else they’d picked up in the desert. Not that it’ll work though, because now that it’s been activated so many times already, the battery has shut down. Characters may go back into the desert and see if they can find some spare parts or a charging cable, but at this time there’s not much of a way to fix them. You’re still welcome to tinker with it, though.

As we said before, people who were injured by the Infected or Ghosts experience a much slower healing process. Traditional healers can’t use their magic on them either to speed up the process. But at least that’s the only drawback to being hurt by them! Probably.

There weren’t many who stayed behind in Aldrip, so the strange mannerisms may have gone largely unnoticed. However, there might be whispers throughout town here and there that something might be up with them…

But hey, at least with a bunch of people gone, they were able to gather supplies! Turns out that the locals in Aldrip and the newer batch that came from the desert were both on the same page about building new residences for the Chosen.

You two people who wanted to bang Mr. Expedition… he’s just Not Interested.

Questions / concerns / comments? Let us know below!

expiationmods

MOD UPDATE

Hello! After some consideration and a lot of conversing over the past week, a new mod team has been selected to transition from London's leadership to the new leadership.

The new mods are as follows:

Elise- player of Vi
Jenni- player of Akechi and Juri
Kri- player of Noel

These are going to be the main mods of the game, with Elise as the head mod. However, that is mostly in title only -- the duties of the game will be split three ways in this respect. Elise is a head mod in the case of tie-breakers amongst the mod team and organizing the scattered thoughts of our new team.

We also have helper mods!

Jade- player of Dazai
Amm- player of Mizuki

Jade will be assisting in planning ideas for the plot, as well as events and event organization. Amm will be assisting in updating info and pages on beastiary and the like for player reference. Do not come to our helper mods for modly questions. While they are privy to the workings of the game, they don't wish to have full on modly responsibilities, so please keep consider them as ~~interns~~ (mostly) regular players.

UPCOMING INFO

SCHEDULING / POTENTIAL CHANGES

The new mod team has played around with the scheduling a little bit. To support players' ability to get AC in an easier time and keep the game moving, we are changing the event to the second week of the month. That way players have ample time to react, plan, and coordinate their characters for the month. The date for this month is going to look a little different, because of the change in moderators, but we plan for the event to go up no later than July 14th, with the end results of the event being posted a week later. The TDM will go up in the second week of August, and so on and so forth.

For reference, this is a draft of the calendar, so everyone can see our proposed schedule on paper:

July

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

event

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

event aftermath

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

August

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

1

state of the game
plot with me

2

3

4

5

6

7

TDM/reserves

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

apps open

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

apps close

22

intro meme

23

24

25

mingle/sentencing

26

27

28

29

30

31

September

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

1

state of the game
sentencing signups
plot with me

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

signups closed

9

10

event

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

event aftermath

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

SELECT MONTH

July

August

September

code by efrynidel

This gives a view of the next three months, and will be updated accordingly to player plots/changes and the like. We will create a calendar page that is public so that players have access to this info on a normal basis. However, as this is just a draft / test the days / time we post them are changeable. We'd like to hear from you on what time of the day or what day of the week would be best for mod updates / event posts for the playerbase. While obviously we can't accommodate everyone, we'd still like to hear your preferences!

THIS MONTH'S AC

While we understand that there is a lot of changes happening to the game this month, people are a little concerned/anxious about them. We completely understand this feeling, especially as new players. We don't know the entire playerbase after all, so there may be some who are like "who the hell are these people? are they going to keep the game running? will it be worth my time to stay?" Transitions in rp are super difficult! So because of this, we are giving players the option to merely check in for AC this month.
Players who are able to complete AC and pass will be rewarded with either a private lore / worldbuilding hint or a free regain of their choosing. Note that anything super extravagant will be nerfed or diminished in size. If you're unsure of whether your regain falls under that umbrella, just check in with the mods, and we will work it out for you. The worst we can do is say no!

INFO PAGES

As we mentioned in the beginning of the post, we ~~Amm~~ are going to slowly and surely going to be making a post with various flora / fauna from character's worlds. These will be up to the players to submit -- and we will start building a database of creatures both good and bad from their worlds. Even if you've mentioned before an animal or plant from a character's home world before, please put it here so that we have it all in one place. Once we have a page for it, we will make sure to show everyone.

Form for flora / fauna here:

canon: CANON HERE flora / fauna: FLORA OR FAUNA HERE

We will have a comment for you to put this under below, so please put it there!

One of our other orders of business is going to be expanding and putting more info into the city of Aldrip. This will also go into a post that we'll link when it's live. This will include what's in the city, a potential city map, and what the npcs do on a day-by-day basis. If there's anything that's been established by your character via regains or anything else, please put your establishment with a small blurb about under the comment marked for it.

In the coming months, we will be revamping and tweaking our faqs slightly. As we're opening the comments to questions at the end, you can either submit it on this post, or go to the post here.

FEEDBACK

Lastly, we want to hear from you!! It doesn't matter if you're new to the game or not, we want to hear from our players on what they'd like to see in the game. If you have any questions / concerns / comments please feel free to comment here. While we are transitioning to new mods and have gotten the overall plot of the game, we're still malleable and will listen. We can't promise that every idea will be used, given what we've already established, but it's possible that some ideas can be adapted or changed if we decide to go with it. Again, the worst we can say is say no!

London put a lot of hard work into this game, so this isn't to say we're going to erase everything they've done. But we know that this playerbase is full of great ideas and are willing to see this game succeed. There have been ideas that have been talked to potential mods already, and even if you've said them before, please put them here, so we have all of them in one place. If there is any crit for this game, please put it here too. We won't be able to fix what we don't know is wrong, and while we have already outlined some things the new team would like to fix, we may have overlooked something. We stepped up because we love our players and didn't want to see London's hard work go to waste -- so please tell us what would make the game better for you.

We can't wait to hear from you and get this ball rolling!

expiationmods

PART I: ACTIVITY CHECK RESULTS & NOTES

Hello Expiation!

First and foremost, thank you to everyone who submitted their AC.

We saw multiple players miscounting comments on backdated threads and that may be due to a lack of more specific clarification on AC expectations. We are not changing our AC requirements, so that is not something anyone needs to be concerned about. We are only clarifying what we expect. (This has also now been reflected on the AC page as well. Please reread it, if necessary, and contact us if you have questions.)

On backdated threads, which are acceptable as proofs, you still have to provide an appropriate number of comments from the current month. Meaning, even if you were using a thread you started in February, the number of comments from March are the number that we are counting.

We are not penalising or sweeping any player who failed to meet this on this month due to multiple players inaccurately counting March comments with their submissions. Please keep this in consideration for future AC submissions because we will penalise and sweep repeats of this on future AC checks.

Characters Swept
- Daeshim;

faeshim

PART II: EVENT #1 POLL

Take some time to fill out the below for us, as we are using the results to determine the changes to the world of Expiation and how overarching storyline will proceed.

You need not have threaded out your selections. Simply choose the ones that make sense for your character and fill out this poll for each character you have in game, if you play multiple.

Poll #28713 Event 1: Thus Do We Hunger

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 40

View Respondents

Please select the below actions your character took during the course of Event #1: Adversity 131425.845119:

View Answers

Repaired or helped repair refrigeration units in Aldrip.
11 (27.5%)

Cooked meals or helped assist others cook, preserve food, fish, hunt wild game, and so on for the Aldrip locals.
21 (52.5%)

Peacefully traded items with the people of Rumpitur for food and other necessities to take back to Aldrip.
22 (55.0%)

Stole items from the Rumpitur people.
7 (17.5%)

Witnessed strange happenings in Pessiria Forest either on the way to Rumpitur or on the way back to Aldrip.
32 (80.0%)

Counted and noticed the missing NPCs that started the journey to Rumpitur, but did not return to Aldrip with the others.
16 (40.0%)

Joke's on you, Mod Team. My character did nothing.
4 (10.0%)

BONUS: Please select the below if you would like your character to suffer dreams / visions / nightmares regarding the forest.

View Answers

I love making my character suffer.
32 (100.0%)

PART III: FUTURE RESERVE / APPLICATION CYCLES

Another thank you to everyone who participated in the poll where we inquired about how to adjust dates for our reserve and application cycles. Many people did not seem to have much of a preference, but we had a greater number of people who requested that we push forward reserve and application cycles by one week. As a result...

Starting with the next upcoming cycle, we will be doing this. Please see the below:

Reserves Open

April 03, 2023

enablemeplz Posts

April 08, 2023

Applications Open

April 10, 2023

The moderator team has stated this a few times, but we will issue another reminder for all current players and prospective players. After this upcoming cycle of reserves and applications, we will open future reserves and applications on a bi-monthly schedule, opposite of event months.

The next event will take place in mid-May. Please feel free to use this month for event aftermath and downtime for characters and players alike, and other lighter-of-heart interactions as you see fit.

We are planning to provide an EMP / ATP for the game and players / characters you wish to enable, however, are currently pending date / schedule on when we'd like to make this available. We are considering doing this near either the end of April or sometime in May when we are closer to posting the next TDM.

The next new TDM will be posted at the end of May, and the next reserve and application cycle will begin June.

As ever, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact the moderator team. We are here to help and clarify anything that may be confusing or difficult to understand.