What's new
Star Army

Star ArmyⓇ is a landmark of forum roleplaying. Opened in 2002, Star Army is like an internet clubhouse for people who love roleplaying, art, and worldbuilding. Anyone 18 or older may join for free. New members are welcome! Use the "Register" button below.

Note: This is a play-by-post RPG site. If you're looking for the tabletop miniatures wargame "5150: Star Army" instead, see Two Hour Wargames.

  • If you were supposed to get an email from the forum but didn't (e.g. to verify your account for registration), email Wes at [email protected] or talk to me on Discord for help. Sometimes the server hits our limit of emails we can send per hour.
  • Get in our Discord chat! Discord.gg/stararmy
  • 📅 January 2025 is YE 47.1 in the RP.

Mini-Meta Plot and Events

There isn't anything stopping GMs from coordinating something like that, no. However, I would think that something like that would be quite different from having an actual meta-plot, since one is effectively GMs working together to have something in common, while the other is an overarching event of some sort that's always there. Meta-plots are sort of like a tool for a GM to use, but with its intrusiveness on what GMs plan to do varying depending on its implementation.

The thing with 'hammering out a proposal' though, is that right now, everyone is sorta doing their own thing and don't seem to have a collective interest. Basically, we're all in our own bubble. Having a meta-plot, or more specifically the types I'm suggesting, is to have ongoing events in the background for people to opt in and out of. That way, two plots could be working on the same thing, if only by chance - any increase in coordination would be up to GMs as an option on the table. It's not much, but it is some more opportunity, which is better than less. More importantly, by having several of these running in the background, the setting is automatically made more alive, and with little muss or fuss OOC wise.
 
I'm trying to do that with events in Jiyuu announced through the news to show progression, as both a lead in my own plots elements and a future coordinating point for others if they want to join in. Just as you stated @CadetNewb , its a fun and voluntary thing, and not forced on everybody.
 
Well, I did hear Wes was warming up to the idea of a Mishhu Raider idea. This way, they're harassing the nation, but not necessarily the plots and giving us an easy in or out to the meta plot. It's better than having a singular monolithic metaplot that people can get bored of I think.
 
So uh, I've expressed some support for this concept in the past (nearly six months ago.) I see that there has been some more talk of what it could provide to the setting however something hasn't been addressed, and as such I'm going to ask a more tangible questions.

Where is the mini meta-plot information going to be placed?
Where will GMs be able to go to look at the meta-plots that are in effect? How will they be cycled in and out of action?
Will it be a GM's job to remove the meta-plot if their plotship takes action that resolves it?
Will the information be available to Players as well as GMs?
What if someone wants to have an independent/bounty hunter interact with a threat?
What sorts of communication should we be working toward between prospective GMs and Players who may want to bring elements from multiple plotships or sections of the setting into an encounter?

There is a lot of potential here, we just need to lay actual groundwork to figure out how this could actually work. The overarching goal here is to provide the opportunity for plotships to interact instead of existing in microcosms if the GMs so desire. This also needs to be done with the knowledge that GMs might have their own plans and won't want their carefully planned plots being dragged into unwanted encounters.

In my opinion the best course of action would be to work to set up an instance where this idea is put into action in limited scope and see how the players respond. At present the best we can do is speculate on how this will be received, we need an example that can be analyzed and improved upon if this has any chance of being widely implemented.
 
@Eistheid

(I'm sleepy and I'm tired, but I'll reply anyways. I think it's just the last paragraph or so that's off)

Well, we should honestly have an OOC page for the meta-plot on the wiki listing out the various details. Due to the nature of meta-plots in general though, any one plotship should not be able to actually resolve a meta-plot unless certain conditions are met. Basically, cycling meta-plots in and out would likely depend on whether or not the community has grown tired of it OOC, at which we can have something occur IC to wrap it up. The best example of this would be the Second Mishhuvurthyar War; GMs and players grew tired of it, and Fred's Miharu got the honors to set the stage for the coup 'de grace. Unfortunately, not to his amusement. Which also brings me to something related; just as with starting a meta plot, ending it should also be courteous to our GMs and not excessively interfere with their plots.

As for sharing details, I believe everything a player and GM needs to know to get started in it should be on the wiki, but actual planning for the meta should occur on the GM forums with a link in the wiki which will - of course - not work for anyone that's not a GM. That way, no spoilers. Still, we should have enough transparency to discuss with our players what they'd like. Independents, bounty hunters and the like should all be free to interact with the metaplot as well. There really shouldn't be anything barring them unless it's meta-plot specific. Regarding communication with cross-faction and possibly multi-plotship stuff, I'm guessing that if it involves someone else's things, you gotta ping them in your plot planning thread and then talk it out with them on the record. Even if it's discussed in IRC or Skype, what the parties agree on has to be posted in the planning thread for record keeping.

Basically, other than having a dedicated page for the meta plot, I don't think this is anything new. Well, maybe listing all this down as rules too, but, nothing really changes I think. It's just a continuation and refinement of what we've always done.

With the last bit you said about the examples though, it's best to just set it up and get it started because it's simply that low impact provided someone doesn't want to get involved. Let's take a look at some other settings. With Warhammer 40k, it's basically the Imperium defending itself and slowly losing ground to chaos and xenos, with all sorts of events happening as part of this. With, I dunno, Madoka, the meta is that the Mitakihara Five are dealing with or have dealt with Walpurgis Night while all sorts of other magical girls are dealing with various other incidents in their own neck of the woods. If we make a story in any of these, notice how the meta is not exactly 'all encompassing' as you'd expect. In Warhammer 40k because it's simply that big, or because it's so specific and isolated in Madoka. Here in SARP, we've mostly dealt with a Warhammer 40k style meta where it's huge and all encompassing in scope, but our setting is...well, it's actually pretty small and cramped. Wide and High-Impact At the same time, a small and isolated meta like the one Madoka's setting uses isn't suitable either; it's small and high impact and can have the scales tip at any moment.

Instead, we need an in-between that is wide but low-impact. This 'Mini-Meta' idea? It's more like having the Meta-Plot be "Peace is not peaceful at all" and the various Mini-Meta are the major constituent parts that make it up.
 
I'm just going to peek in and say my peace? And that Peace is that sometimes it feels like "Why should we even care about the Meta-plot? Hanako or Kotori are going to solve it anyone, riding in to win at the end like Honor Harrington." While this is a simplification, I think it does raise a good point: Of the last few major galactic meta plot events, how many of them have been solved by direct or indirect action by a Ketsurui?
 
The fact that one of the major hero characters may 'resolve' a meta-plot is completely irrelevant to the reason for having one. In fact, this completely misses the point that I've made. With a tabletop game for an example, the main characters might be closing The Hellmouth or something, but the players and GM may simply not care and opt to deal with the Ork Rebellion that sprung up because everyone else was so busy dealing with Hell. And even if they did participate in the Hellmouth thing and the Heroes were the ones to actually save the day, they wouldn't have and shouldn't have done so if it wasn't fun.

A good metaplot will provide more than just one opportunity to have a story that's enjoyable. If our metaplot is going to be 'Peacetime', then we might as well go with it and make sure there's plenty on the table to have fun with by outlining some sub-metaplots/mini-meta. Because that's far better than the utterly unnatural silence that's present.
 
It might be a good idea to reboot this discussion, especially with how right now a few of the factions are in dire-need of a stimulant. Injecting plot from others with plot is no doubt a strong method to do so. USO and Yamatai are both strong contenders, so why not use them as basis points for involving/fueling some of the smaller factions slightly? It only makes sense that these plots and factions have room to spare for the health of the site with both IC gain/reason and OOC friendship.

Right?
 
RPG-D RPGfix
Back
Top