Eiyuu Kishi Den

As far as I am concerned for 'Elven Exploration', my feeling was that it was a plot that had a broad potential and could lead the people involved pretty far. It had the possibility of being able to chain through several events as the participants in it progressed. The plot's main weakness was the low posting rate of the participants, which lead to many characters only seldom being given input for and thus pretty much turning up into deadweight characters. Deadweight characters kill a lot of a plot's suspension of disbelief when they become numerous.

However, I still think Elven Exploration has a lot of potential, and that's speaking from a multiple storyarc point of view, without it being a super epic plot o' doom. After all, it's not only a story about elves out to see the road, but a journey of self-exploration for pretty much everyone involved. Unlike my character Eliamn, I don't particularly dislike having tagalongs - I just like having a tight, solid group which is mostly active.

Eliamn wrote:As far as I am concerned for 'Elven Exploration', my feeling was that it was a plot that had a broad potential and could lead the people involved pretty far. It had the possibility of being able to chain through several events as the participants in it progressed. The plot's main weakness was the low posting rate of the participants, which lead to many characters only seldom being given input for and thus pretty much turning up into deadweight characters. Deadweight characters kill a lot of a plot's suspension of disbelief when they become numerous.

However, I still think Elven Exploration has a lot of potential, and that's speaking from a multiple storyarc point of view, without it being a super epic plot o' doom. After all, it's not only a story about elves out to see the road, but a journey of self-exploration for pretty much everyone involved. Unlike my character Eliamn, I don't particularly dislike having tagalongs - I just like having a tight, solid group which is mostly active.

EE makes me want to cry. There's so much I want to do, but all the deadweight players ruin it. And then, 90% of the time, I have to think for Talen too, so that means I play 2 1/2 characters. >.>

Then, I'll be blunt and honest. If the plot actually needs it, cut the slack it needs to survive. It doesn't really matter if if breaches suspension of disbelief some, but just narrate some characters out of that story at the earliest opportunity you get.

I mean...

Laharl, Lyassa's player, hasn't posted since November 27 2006 and the post made was about a temporary absence of 'a few weeks'. Not to mention that member was participating in more than one plot. I'm of the mind to say that if you can't readily commit to a single plot, you shouldn't join multiple ones.

RylanTheExile (though I'm positive it's not his only account), Rylan's player, posted last in June, so, at least he has forum presence. He sort of has a on/off participation in the EE plot though, seeing his character avoids going anywhere with a lot of people or close to civilization.

Saga Askani has vanished since last years September, pretty much. Poof. Ceased to exist.

Talen Drecloud has his share of posts and history on the site. One thing I can't call him is not participative. His absences are usually motivated too. However, he currently handles a pivotal character in a fashion which is rather undependable figuring that Jessica has had to play him several times so far.

milltwigsluv, Kima's player, is active, is a regular poster and can pretty much keep up with the two plots Mill is involved in, despite sharing the same difficulties as Rylan in regard to social relationships and civilization. I'd honestly am looking forward to a point where my character could warm up to Mill's eventually because that's one of our cool RPers. ~_^

Mana_Link is more like a Co_GM than a player. Of course he's around and kicking. Just not to play Eliamn. I admit I'd like to see Will make a return, though. I liked him too (and Eli was bitchy from slumber deprivation anyhow) - the trick is not letting Naclia kill him on sight ^_^;

Then, there's me, Eliamn (actually, I'm 'Fred' and I'm known for castrating bandits when I'm not supposed to). I'm the sort of person whom visited daily to see if there was anything I could reply to, and whom never seemed to have the opportunity. This dragged on, and on, until I got seriously fed up at the plot's apparently wasted potential and threw a fit. I did peek in occasionally though, to see where things were going. You guys weren't moving on very much... but I was surprised by Eliamn being considered a pivotal character. Then, I saw the plot flagging with the question of it being terminated and I kind of felt sorry for it because it smacked of goodness if only it could progress. So, I decided to make a comeback with a new supply of patience. I didn't want EE to fail in part because I gave up on it.

...

My feeling is that if you get a dedicated playerbase which is interested in posting regularly and frequently, things would really kick off. I think Jessica, Rory (we need to get him a character), Mill, Rich (despite me not thinking much of him as a writer - he only seems to be paying half-attention to what's going on) and myself already could make up something decent. Not sure it'd be headed where exactly, but that would cut away most of the deadweight dragging EE down.

I also think that it'd probably be good for Jess is she'd only handle Naclia or Aiden, but not both. Not only does she have to play most of EE's NPC characters, but she also needs to swap around between the two accounts, which must be tedious in the long run.

Here's what I think might happen if we'd lose either of them:

Aiden
Pros: Aiden could retire and spend some time with Saga, his half-brother, which would be a good enough reason for him to discontinue his journey - family is important. He could get to spend some time with Lyassa too, despite the player not being around.
Cons: Aiden's presence is the backbone of why Kima is around the group. Remove Aiden, and I'm not sure if Kima would actually still stay around as far as character motivations would go. I'm positive Aiden wouldn't want to return to stay with his mother, though.

Naclia
Pros: Putting her to the side at the same time as Talen Drecloud might not entirely trash the relationship both were building. It'd just put it 'offcamera' and whenever Talen's player would come back, Naclia could easily be reused with him to form up another plot. Keeping Naclia but ditching Talen pretty much means giving up on that particular pair's relationship, which would go against their previous incarnations in the previous EKD setting.
Cons: Eliamn likes Naclia. I also have the feeling Jessica likes Naclia more than she likes Aiden. Aside from wanting to preserve the NacliaxTalen relationship, Naclia actually seems to have much stronger incentives to adventure on than Aiden seeing her lack attachments (aside from Talen) and the wanderlust she's shown.

The main thing which opposes this whole idea of leaving one of those two behind was the main idea behind EE - that Aiden and Naclia left to explore. I'm not trying to justify why one or the other would stay behind - just pointing out that having only a single NPC might be easier to handle in the long run (and make for a smaller group). In the end, though, that's pretty much up to Jessica (whom might feel that she can handle Aiden and Naclia together anyhow).

I don't mind playing Naclia and Aiden, I just don't want to handle much more. Though, I'd like it if some of the other players took over NPC control. Rory has offered to take Talen if his player wasn't going to keep up, but Blake doesn't want to let him go. As for Laharl, it's been about 8 months now, and usually I give up around six. I'm going to email him and see if he'll come back, then figure out something with Lyassa. I'd like to keep a priestess around, but I don't want to play her myself.

So basically, it's okay for you to NPC Talen around, but not okay for another to manage him. Unh. Blake is your boyfriend too, right?... so I guess that makes the issue a bit more touchy. (no offense intended to Blake)

The way I see it, conditions/interests might or might not be favorable for Blake at the moment for roleplaying Talen Drecloud. If so, there might be ways to have his character put on the ice until conditions might become more favorable to play him again without literally ditching him - he could always meet up with the group at a much later date.

Examples as to that:

- Lord Mur-Cavendrel is found and his plot foiled. Seeing his status as a noble, though, he can't simply be taken down by the law all that easily and a long trial ensues to explore the circumstances of the suspected crime. Talen Drecloud stays behind to testify as someone whom was a witness and whom was instrumental in saving Mycen's egg, sparing the rest of his companions from being stuck in the proceedings... perhaps with the hopes of meeting them again at some later time.

- Family business gets in the way, in one fashion or another. Such are the difficulties of being a nobleman's son (maybe even heir). Possible new storyhook which might be Talen centric (allowing him to roleplay some when he is able to be around).

As for a priestess in the group... I'd admit I don't feel you need to keep Lyassa around to fill the niche. Yes, a player character healer-type would be useful... but Lyassa's only role in the story this far was to act as a lukewarm love interest for Aiden or to heal hurts when they came up - otherwise, she was sort of half-there and something of a ditz (well, compared to some more active priest characters in the setting). If that's the healer were stuck with - quite frankly I'd rather not have a healer. Extra incentive to be careful about not getting ourselves hurt (though I'd argue we have plenty of magical defensive means on hand, and when hurt we could still visit NPC establishments to deal with it).

I also need to find a way to get rid of Eliamn's staff. Eli's already an amazing enough spellcaster without it. Blergh.

Eliamn wrote:So basically, it's okay for you to NPC Talen around, but not okay for another to manage him. Unh. Blake is your boyfriend too, right?... so I guess that makes the issue a bit more touchy. (no offense intended to Blake.

No, a different Blake. Sorry, it gets confusing. My Blake can think for himself. I might as well just give Talen to Rory for the sake of the game.

Just ditch the staff enchantments and familiar if you don't want them. She's never used them, so it's not like you have to write it out. The staff itself has been mentioned, so it could just be a pretty walking stick/weapon.

Actually, there was a narrated mention of the staff's power when Eliamn was questioning Rylan about his affliction. Eli just realized she couldn't use it if she was in danger, or else the centaur would go ballistic at seeing an equine fight/be fought against. Remove that bit from the archive and then - yes, the staff is pretty much just a pretty wooden club. The unicorn did play a role in the background story, but I suppose a small retcon wouldn't hurt all that much.

As far as Talen/Blake goes (not only him though), well, it's not a matter of reject so much as upholding the rules and guidelines you've outlined on the site's main page. I mean, it's not like I'm against Blake or want him out or anything. If Blake could post consistently enough so that you wouldn't need to have another person roleplay with the character, then the problem's pretty much solved and everyone is happy.

Is Rory actually ready to play Talen on a longterm basis, though? The way I see it, an effort is made to have Talen active in the EE plot so that the Chaos War Talen x Naclia couple could happen again. I know why you're doing this, but if you let it go something else could happen. The point is that if Rory is going to play a possible love interest to Naclia, it might as well be a character of his own making instead of him roleplaying to 'help out'. It's not that I dislike Talen - but I felt this needed to be pointed out.

If you do decide to make a new character, please don't make him purple haired... ^_^;

"{Well, look at the bright side,}" Eliamn began as she avoided an errand boy, "{It looks like you will have Sir Talen's company. Aiden just earned Lyassa's. I... I guess I will be hanging out with Tiash.}"

A smile crept across Naclia's face. "{Maybe we should find a purple-haired human for you,}" the ranger giggled, tempted to make jokes about ending up with purple-haired half-elves at the end of the journey, but that sort of joke was one better shared with Aiden.

(I hope Wilhelm's blue hair doesn't count!)

I think Fred's right (of course, my input means little since I am not involved, nor do I read that one). Cut out the slack if that's what holds it back. I mean, we can easily use the leave of absence rules, it seems, to pin several of these characters and, if you really wanted to go the distance, remove their membership. Now, I don't think its necessary to go that far, but if you never see them, put them aside at least for the time being.

Split this conversation into it's own thread to keep the other one on topic.

Eliamn wrote:Actually, there was a narrated mention of the staff's power when Eliamn was questioning Rylan about his affliction. Eli just realized she couldn't use it if she was in danger, or else the centaur would go ballistic at seeing an equine fight/be fought against. Remove that bit from the archive and then - yes, the staff is pretty much just a pretty wooden club. The unicorn did play a role in the background story, but I suppose a small retcon wouldn't hurt all that much.

Oh, that's right. It kind of defeats the whole purpose of the question she asked there...but I'd rather edit it out than go through the effort of figuring how to write it out.

Eliamn wrote:Is Rory actually ready to play Talen on a longterm basis, though? The way I see it, an effort is made to have Talen active in the EE plot so that the Chaos War Talen x Naclia couple could happen again. I know why you're doing this, but if you let it go something else could happen. The point is that if Rory is going to play a possible love interest to Naclia, it might as well be a character of his own making instead of him roleplaying to 'help out'. It's not that I dislike Talen - but I felt this needed to be pointed out.

Well, that's up to him. At this point, Talen is rather simple, and the dynamic between him and Naclia is easy to play.

New plan: I am posting every five days. That's pretty much the limit according to the rules on the site, so, I'll insure I post for Eliamn every five days. It might turn out being double posting (triple posting) but if I have to make filler posts like:

Eliamn took another step.

...I will.

It's too bad the Search for Azala plot turned toward the northern desert. it might have been interesting for the characters in Elven Exploration to run into Kitsa Stormeyes (half-sister to Aiden?) and Seri (whom was actually a tutor for some shamanists like Eliamn a 'while' ago). I dunno about Aiden, but it might be funny to have Eli act like totally in awe of Seri. Naclia could have some fun watching Talen sweat in his big armor while traveling in the desert.

One person Eliamn has to avoid is Azala. Not only might she remember him in a favorable light, but she's the only unattached female in the group and is now old enough to notice that he has a PB of 23 (when you're a ~60 years old elfgirl, you notice prettiness but not necessarily handsomeness as much as when you turn 125 and that everyone around you has a love interest!)

* * *

Writing without contractions is hard. "Mycen's egg" sounds so much better than "the egg of Mycen".

I'm considering a plan for Kitsa to go find Aiden. Seri will stop in the Mirror Forest on the way home, and Kitsa will find Anaiya. Since she has her father's journal, she knows that Anaiya was his lover and the one who had the sword Kitsa now carries made for him. Hopefully that'll work out...

*notices the new account for Lyassa*

I say we feed Lyassa to the alligator's in the castle moat. Surely Mur-Cavendrel would have a few alligators. Every evil mastermind with dark abodes has alligators. It's a well known fact.

Aiden: "OH NOOES! The aligator ate my love interest!"
Naclia: "Great Falis!"
Kima: "So much for our portable food supply."
Eliamn: *nods along, but then stares queerly at Kima* "That's a rather odd thing to mimic."
Kima: "Ki-Ma?"
Eliamn: "Suuure, now you act dumb, though you have Aiden pretty much to yourself now."
Kima: *grins*

Yeah, I'm just neurotic...but you knew that.

I like chocolate fudge brownies, but I like frequent posts in the plot I'm participating in more.

*happy*

If I find a good enough excuse, can we leave Talen Drecloud behind... or would it be a waste of time to even have Eliamn suggest he might stay behind?

No, he'll still be there. His player practically begged me to let him continue.