Anniversary TP Brainstorming

[Curiosity]

Meadows' 2-year anniversary is still a few months away, but it's never too early to start planning. ;D

Really though, what would you guys like to see in terms of plots? Some of the popular ideas in the past have been human presence (whether friend or foe), a natural disaster of some sort (not the most unique idea, but an idea nonetheless), or the brief introduction of South American creatures (a few NPC'ed jaguars, for example - not actually new character species), but don't feel we're limited to these ideas alone.

Or, since it's sometimes difficult to make all-encompassing TPs, would you guys prefer a couple of smaller group/species-based plots rather than one big plot?

Personally, my favorite idea right now is to bring in humans of some sort/purpose - I feel that if done right, it could affect many of the characters on the grid. And there's obviously at least a partial desire to see them used up-close at some point, since so many characters have them in their history as it is. (Plus, for those players who might not wish to interact with them, they could be avoided OOCly.) Thoughts on this idea in particular?

Tell me what you'd like to see - if we don't implement it this summer, we'll definitely try to use it at some point. ^^

[braxton]

I definitely like the idea of a human presence, but in the negative... MOSTLY.

Here's how I could see it happening.

Through most of the RP I've seen whenever they mention humans, its always shed in a highly negative tone. The structure I see a human-involved TP is that these humans appear, and, through the negative perspective of the animals in the game, they are initally playes as if they are a horrible blight, doing what appears to be highly destrutive or dangerous things.

But toward the end of the TP, I see maybe a case or two where the true motivations of the humans are seen, and suddenly a new perspective is taken wherein all this time the humans appeared to be destructive, they were actually doing something altruistic.

I se a bit of lasting power in it, and it allows us to take a couple different views in the same characters about humans. It could make characters who loathe humans possibly either learn a lesson, or continue on hard-headed, and shake up those who love humans and show them that some humans could be dangerous and "evil." Again, they could just continue on, hard-headed.

Beyond that, I don't have any meat for that, but that is a good thing. Proliferation of *community* ideas is important.

[abyss]

Well... hmmm. Just a few comments on the ideas you've got so far.

The introduction of a South American species might be neat, but I'm not sure how it would effect most of the animals. Unless there was some kind of involved plot to go along with their appearance, I don't see how it would spark MUCK-wide RP.

A natural disaster could be interesting, too, but something would have to differentiate it from the sickness TP. Otherwise, it might just produce the same kind of confused interspecies 'What the heck is happening?' RP.

On the other hand, many characters, especially the dogs and horses, have had at least minor contact with humans in the past, so there would be a pretty varied IC reaction if you brought in a few for a TP.

[Curiosity]

abyss said:

The introduction of a South American species might be neat, but I'm not sure how it would effect most of the animals. Unless there was some kind of involved plot to go along with their appearance, I don't see how it would spark MUCK-wide RP.
...
On the other hand, many characters, especially the dogs and horses, have had at least minor contact with humans in the past, so there would be a pretty varied IC reaction if you brought in a few for a TP.

The idea is that the SA animals would be curiously poking around with disregard for the status quo of territories and such (since they're not from here, no idea where these borders are) - not necessarily aggressively, just curiously. But you're right, it's not too much of a /big/ sort of MUCKwide plot aside from a 'wait, those cougars have spots' sort of reaction, and then maybe a collective offensive front to push them out - but I do want to avoid another sort of 'war' plot (even if it's not intended to be as vicious as the Sangre Pack TP) until it feels more 'right', as they tend to get repetitive (similar to natural disaster-type plots).

That's why I'm leaning towards humans - I'm just trying to get a feel for what the playerbase might like to see done with them more specifically. For instance, settlers/cowboys or Native Americans? aggressive or passive? etc.

But of course, this doesn't mean I'm set on humans for May - I'm definitely open to /new/ ideas.

[Cael]

There could easily be a kind of horse rustling TP going on, particularly for those horses who used to be part of the farm.

Maybe hunting traps in the forest and up in the mountains?

Oh-- How about a group of humans, expanding across the country for their fortune (whatever), and a portion of them get seperated and lost and have to ek out a living in the wilderness for a while? I could see this having some potential, particularly if children were involved (since children generally have better views towards things than their adult counterparts).

[cypress]

admin said:

abyss said:

That's why I'm leaning towards humans - I'm just trying to get a feel for what the playerbase might like to see done with them more specifically. For instance, settlers/cowboys or Native Americans? aggressive or passive? etc.

Just as a note on that matter, I play my dog character, Wapeka, as having been a victim of the Indian Wars between white settlers and Sioux tribes of the 19th century--she's an Indian Dog whose village was driven out by white men. I think it might be interesting to involve settlers if we did a TP involving humans...maybe the animals get caught up in the fighting, or displaced or something. The thought fragment that just popped in my head was that perhaps a group of Native Americans are forced out of their longtime home and settle in an animal group's territory...

As for the South American animals possibility, I think it's an interesting idea ecologically but I don't think it'd be very fun to roleplay. If it's only one species, like jaguars, I don't think there would be much uproar among the native species. If they took notice at all it seems like they'd just be like, "Oh, look at that weird cat." I just feel like it would be rather boring. Personally, I love natural disaster TPs because they bring characters together.

[Cay]

I can see Cay happily going up to the first person she sees in hopes of food. Such is her previous experience of humans. Don't know if there'd be anyone else happy to see them? Perhaps some of the animals who've been previously owned by humans.
It could prove to be fun though, make for a bit of a rift.

Would have to wonder what could most do with the humans? Other than watch what they're up to and avoid them? And what sort of humans could there be? Families? Hunters (Less likely to effect the predator species or not?)? A passing group, perhaps some who've come to do something or even settle in the area?
Would we also have the humans played at all? I'd rather like that since could be some good interactions. Would they also just leave or is there a possibility of them staying and causing a more permanent threat?

Other ideas. Natural disaster could turn out quite like the illness but given it'll be another couple of months yet it's not following it too closely.
Might be good if it was perhaps a domino effect? So one thing happens, causing a second thing and another thing so it could effect several different areas rather than just one 'Bang! What the hey was that?' thing. Or perhaps have to stop something else from happening, being forced to work together again.

To the southern animals. Unless there's a lot of them or they do something very notable they might not cause much a stir. But other folks have already mentioned all that.

[Starlight]

Along the lines of humans, wouldn't it suck if they started rounding up the herd. (I would say herds, but there's only one official ^.^)

A natural disaster would be interesting, although it would have to be something that would encompass the whole MUCK...perhaps a severe drought or a large fire would work in that perspective.

As for introducing species like jaguars for a TP...I'm not too sure about that. I don't really get how they would be there in the first place...or what effect that would have muck-wide.


Humans or natural disaster would work best I think ^^

[dichali]

I like the thoughts other people have shared about the possibility of a human based TP. Though I have to wonder, if we did that, would some of us have to make some TP specific human characters, or would any humans be emited?

While I don't see how widening the amount of playable animals could be bad, I have to agree that it seems strange they'd just suddenly pop up and that it's unlikely to spark much rp unless they come in one huge wave. Maybe, if we can come up with a reason they're being introduced, it could be done more as an anniversary 'gift' than a TP.

[Curiosity]

dichali said:

I like the thoughts other people have shared about the possibility of a human based TP. Though I have to wonder, if we did that, would some of us have to make some TP specific human characters, or would any humans be emited?

While I don't see how widening the amount of playable animals could be bad, I have to agree that it seems strange they'd just suddenly pop up and that it's unlikely to spark much rp unless they come in one huge wave. Maybe, if we can come up with a reason they're being introduced, it could be done more as an anniversary 'gift' than a TP.

The humans would be NPCs/spoofed.

And the South American species would /not/ become playable species, as noted in my first post.

[Althaea]

I'm not really one for ideas, but I'm gunna try.

Humans: Always a possiblity as many have said. However, what would be there reason for showing up? I don't know if it's been mentioned, but what of war; the reaction of animals to human violence. Or perhaps even the gathering of resorces. Humans would come in and start cutting down trees taking away homes or atleast altering them somehow.

Animals from the South: Its only logical that some animals would travel from their homes to new locations, but I'm not sure how they'd come to interact with species of a different hemesphere. Maybe violently, or they'd get along real well... who knows.

Natural Disaster: There are only so many disasters that one can play out before they start to get old. If we ever did something like that, fire would be out best bet, or ever a flood. A fire would destory the homes of many, but in the end would rejuvinate the landscape as all fire do when they go out and the area has time to regrow. A flood could bring in alements (amonioa, infection, death) or even shifts in the land. There are many possiblities for this one.

I guess thats all for now. Hope this helps some.

[darkstar2000]

Moderate Earthquake and Hallucinogenic Moss Rp - A Moderate Earthquike shakes up the land, opening a few narrow cracks within the earth and knocking over some trees in the process. Some may be hurt by falling objects but overall it is not very deadly, lasting maybe 25 seconds at the most. The Earthquake is nothing more than the catalyst of what happens next. Beneath the earth is a network of caves, moist and wet from rain run off that seeped into the ground. Cultivated in these moist conditions in the caves is a type of thick green moss that grows on the walls and floors of the caves.

The Earhtquake causes a few to cave in, while the cracks formed in the earth expose some of the caves to the open surface. Like all types of moss and lichen, this moss releases spores into the air to be carried elsewhere, rather like plant seeds carried on the wind. Due to the moist conditions there is a lot of the moss in the caves and so thousands of moss spores are released into the air. These spores carry a Hallucinogen within them and if breathed end can have all sorts of effects on the animals. In mild cases they may simply have blurry or double vision and find themselves slightly dizzy.

The Halucinogen can affect animals in many different ways. Some will act strange, some will get hyper, some will see visions, some will see things that aren't really there, some may believe they have seen loved ones that were lost to them, some may stumble around like a drunk human would. The more Hallucinogen breathed in the more each animal is affected. The Hallucinogen isn't deadly, unless some animal thinks they are walking on solid ground only to fall off a cliff. But it would be amusing to see the results and how it is reacted to.

At first there were likely to be a lot of confusion, as some animals who have breathed in the Hallucinogen may go to meet with other animals that haven't yet been affected or are in an area where the Hallucinogen hasn't reached yet. So they wouldn't know why their companions are acting so strange. Eventually some may think it might be a disease coming back, then perhaps one animal or a group of animals discovers the source by accident. They bring news to the others and animals that normally don't associate with each other are forced to work together to seal the cracks with dirt and rocks so no more of the Hallucinogen escapes. Although the spores spread across the land, they don't take and grow more of the moss due to the wrong conditions as the moss required a heavy amount of moisture, darkness, and rock nutrients to grow.

Colored Water - A Human Takes a bunch of old paint cans stored that he no longer uses and chucks them into a stream as he no longer wants them or uses them. Several of the lids fall open and the paint is washed away in the stream. Near the base of the stream the water is colored by the paint, however the further down the stream it is the paint is broken down the the point where it only causes a brownish tint to the water.

The paint works like poison on the animals who drink the water, the effects worse closer to the source and more mild the further away. The more sever cases experience a metallic taste in the mouth, stomach cramps, an upset stomach, vomiting, dizziness, and in some cases can go into convulsions. A mild case will result in metallic taste in the mouth, joint pain, nausea, agitation, and headache. Eventually someone figures out that it's the water that's causing the probelem and investigate, finally finding the paint cans at the base of the stream. They are buried in a rocky cairn where it can't seep into the ground. A heavy rain comes in and by now most of the paint had been washed out to a river and then out to sea, and then rain helps to cleanse the stream of any remaining taint.

Welcome the Killer Bees - The Killer Bee population has gradually been moving north over the years and have now found their way to this region. Due to the fact it is summer there are many flowers and everything the killer bee needs to survive. The bees move into various places, making new hives all over the place. Some are made in bad places such as near dens, but they are more than just a nuisance. The Killer Bees put pups and adult animals in danger, threatening to swarm out if any animals gets to close. Some animals may encounter workers bees collecting pollen and end up getting stung, or could accidentally discover a hive and have to run for their lives. And a poor unfortunate animal may even get stung hundreds of times and come close to dying. Some animals may try to come up with their own 'Bee Repellent' or think up some ways to get rid of the bees. After a couple weeks of terrorizing the animals, harming some, and causing many problems the bees eventually die off on their own of unknown causes, and for now no new ones arrive to take their place. (ie. Rather like what happened to honey bees irl, just died off naturally with no explanation)

These are just a few ideas, let me know what you think.

[maiza]

Hrm...

Tough call, but immediately 2 ideas come to mind.

Humans aren't a favorite option plot-wise of mine to fall back upon, particularly since they have a bad habit of becoming permanent in most scenarios. However, a logging company coming through and chopping/burning down a good chunk of the forest and plains might prove to be interesting... also would neatly avoid the problem of having a more 'spiritual' theme, or disease related theme so soon after the previous one.

My favorite however is one I've coveted for a while... I tend to favor more lightly guided plots, but larger overall themed plots in general as it reduces the workload on the staff itself, and often allows for more leeway in RP by the playerbase. Enough stalling however.

I propose an initial relatively unguided Muck-Wide event - meteor showers. For a week or two just a pretty light show anyways... slowly however starting to increase in frequency and longevity. Then a week of the show appearing more brilliantly and sometimes even showing during daylight. Finally, minor impacts begin to occur, starting minor forest fires, wreaking havoc and sowing discord amoung the frightened masses already made nervous by previous events. This is finally given a crescendo of a major impact, flat out creating a large crater.

The goal of this (rough) scenario is to provide for only basic guidance, and then to allow the playerbase to decide how to let events unfold. Naturally, there would be massive grid changes due to fire, impacts large and small... food shortages would likely occur leading to famine... diseases from rotting corpses and bad water... very simply, after the main plot events have taken place, the effects would be long lived thereafter.

Players and staff would have multiple angles from which to attack the problem. Premonitions from certain FC's... a messiah asking each group for '2' of every species to live in a cave underground for x amount of time... a mass exodus... groups disolving, and completely new groups and social structure forming in the wake of events. New terrain to build or rebuild. A crater environment to fill out. Worship of rocks which fell from the stars... young getting separated from parents and forced to survive together alone (ala Lord of the Flies)... literally, the possibilities here are bountiful from just a simple base plot concept and the effects extend well beyond the main guided (minimally) plot. Lots of potential reward for relatively little starting capital if played out right, and neatly avoids the usual human/natural disaster cliche's one might find.

The orbital mechanics might give me a headache, but it could be a form of reoccurring event every year or so with differing levels of severity (some years, just a pretty light show, others less severe and minor impacts). As for deciding where and when impacts occur and what their effects are, a program which spits out a random room or three every day and displays a list of these to the staff/wizzes for alteration during the plot scenario would prove sufficient.

That's my 2 cents. I'll add more if desired, but as a rough I like the basis it provides.

~Friti // Softpaws // Nirra


P.S. Y'know... I -liked- Lord of the Flies. Always wanted to be one of those kids... XD

P.P.S. And before anyone asks, yes it is a rather rough proposal. I'll clean it up later if there's interest.

[Curiosity]

I know a lot of people are busy with work, summer school, vacation, or various other things keeping them from connecting (working more or less full-time has been sapping away at my will to RP, personally), but I'd like to try and have at least one more "big" TP this summer to help bring RP activity back, sometime during July/August before school starts up in full swing again.

The admin have been tossing up various bits of brainstorming on the Staff board, so I figured I'd post some of the ideas here to see if there's anything that particularly stands out to the players. =3

Ideas:
-more with the spirits
-human presence (friend or foe)
-quest for ______ (healing, finding a lost one, etc - could be MUCKwide with a contagious disease?)
-natural disaster (been done before, but perhaps a forest fire or something else for a new twist?)
-introduction of South American species (please note this would not necessarily mean that jaguars/etc would become playable species or anything other than controlled FCs)
-I'd personally like to see a horse herd finally officially formed, so any ideas that would help with that would be lovely
-your idea here!

Obviously, several of these could be tied together into a single big TP as well. Please reply with your thoughts, especially if it's a plot idea not mentioned here!

[cypress]

I like the forest fire idea--I guess it's kind of cliché, but every time I've seen it done elseMU it's worked out really well. Forest fires force animals of different species to come together and I, personally, don't see a lot of inter-species RP at Meadows. The wolves mostly RP with wolves, the cougars with cougars, horses with horses, etc... I think it would be an interesting experience to have lots of different species coming together in response to a danger and with a common goal (to escape the flames).

What's this about South American species?? I think we have enough options for species as it is.
And what about spirits? Maybe I missed something...

I've been working the human presence into my characters, so of course I think that'd be interesting, too. The setting of the MUCK, time- and location-wise, puts us in a good spot to be affected by settlers moving westward, the Indian Wars, and tribal activity. Wapeka has recently lost her human owners to the Indian Wars, and surely the influx of white men to the west would affect other animals, too, even if they didn't have a direct connection to Native Americans.

...I'll be brainstorming.


EDIT:
I hadn't realized that about jaguars--might be interesting, to have an "alien" species appear. I agree that they should become a regular species, though.

Oh, oh, I forgot about the scene with Storm's mother. That was pretty cool, might be fun to expand upon.

I thought of something to add: As far as the horse herd, if we did do something regarding the Indian Wars, new horses could certainly appear in the form of escaped/lost Indian or cavalry horses. The Plains Indians were a "horse culture;" if you've ever seen "Dances With Wolves" you know they kept lots of horses. US soldiers were often killed in the interaction, too, and some of their horses would inevitably have gotten lost/loose, and maybe joined up with a mustang herd. Or, in our case, helped to form a herd? Just some ideas.