damned_lounge | HMD #5

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

A little late in chiming in with my agreement here, but yeah, this addresses a lot of issues I've been having as well, especially:

but the plot is ran about 90% by NPCs and what information the characters do have, they aren't able to employ it as well as they'd like—if at all.

I'll admit, this is why the Military arc ended up being a flop for me. Most of it involved NPCs my characters had zero contact with. Things were going on, but everything was so far removed from the actual patients that it might as well have been a radio-play broadcast over the speakers occasionally.

And I feel like there has *got* to be a better way to disseminate information. I know that was brought up in earlier discussions... Patients are very cagey about sharing what they know, which means if you want to find things for your not-in-the-know characters to do, you sort of have to meta-plot your way into having them meet with the right people. I like NS events, but a lot of them seem to be very... passive. Some 'effect' happens and disrupts plans, but the medical wing event aside, there's rarely anything for people who don't know secret locations to aim for.

TL;DR - I think we need more opportunity for active plot-oriented things that might make night shifts less stagnant. Over-arching plot things are cool, but they need to be more than set-dressing done by NPC characters almost no one gets to see.

Agreeing with the "man, is information hard to get sometimes" issue. Some patients get to the basement within three nights of their arrival, while others struggle just to get basic information about the over-arching plot.

I've had three characters in the game forever, and getting the location of the basement entrance for the one I actually wanted to send there from the get-go (Edgar) was admittedly like pulling teeth at times, and he's only recently managed to get it. Scarecrow has known forever, but was never really all that interested in it until now because he wasn't really aware of most plot-related things going on- and being the fluffy marshmallow he is, a lot of characters aren't willing to share too much information with him at times. It's only because of the mission he went on that he's gotten into all that, since his investigations of other areas have turned up flat.

I guess it'd be nice to have more to do and find within the building that is plot-related for those who are exploring and still feeling it out. Not all of them know about the secret area, and it feels like so much of the other stuff is just kind of out there and not touched often because it doesn't seem to have much of a purpose.

Also generally agreeing with this. The trouble is that right now, the only platforms through which players can interact with NPCs and the plot on any level at all is through missions and the basement. Missions are a good start, but since it's randomized to small groups chosen once every other month the vast majority of players are left feeling at a loss and distant. Leaving aside that their connection to the plot isn't clear for a moment, the basement and caverns are a problem, since it requires consistent threading from at least three players through two obstacle courses and a rough in the coliseum, which, at minimum, takes at least two ic nights and therefore four ooc months. Factoring in general player slowness right now- people often find it hard to even get to the ballroom, let alone the rooms- and you end up with nights in which it feels like nothing is being achieved at all. There are only so many times you can thread a character going to get supplies or going to ruins in which nothing actively happens.

Really, it comes down to the fact that Damned has such a strict setting that it's really necessary for the plot to ensure that things are going on. It's not like most other games where players can run game-wide plots that have far-reaching effects on characters- that's fine, and I wouldn't want Damned to be anything other than what it is, but it does mean that players rely heavily on the plot to give them things to do.

HMD #5

Re: GAME THREAD

Re: GAME THREAD

no subject