STATE OF THE GAME

[returnjourney]

STATE OF THE GAME

Hello, passengers!

We've passed our two-month anniversary, and so we'd like to take this opportunity to check in with our players, to see what's working for you guys and what could use improvement. You can consider this post a place to freely share your thoughts, both with us and the game at large. If you'd like to engage with the mods one-on-one, please see our Mod Contact page!

Feel free to converse amongst yourselves, whether it's about expectations, concerns, or anything else.

Character Activities

We also wanted to introduce a new page we set up, to make it easier for your character to contribute to the ship and also notice those contributions! Please check out that page here.

You guys can use this page to post and track any background behavior or activities your character and others are up to, whether now or at any time in the future. Basically, things that aren't big enough to merit a player plot, but are still important to how your character engages with the setting! Think of it as something adjacent to a handwaved CR meme; you can see examples on the page itself.

We'd also like to give you guys the opportunity to plot amongst yourself, insofar as the group activities go. There were a few of these mentioned on the warden meeting posts, so if you have an idea for a group activity and would like to present it to the game at large, please post it under this header! Then, if it gets enough traction (or has received support elsewhere, like plurk), submit it to the proper header on the Activities page. Other players can show their support by adding a +1 or -1 in the subject of their replies. Let's say there should be participation from 4 or 5 characters for it to count!

That said, if a group activity doesn't get enough support (or your character wouldn't bother trying to get support and would do the activity solo), please submit it as an individual activity! You can always bump it up to a group activity in the future, if more passengers participate later.

Please note that this page is not meant as a substitution for threading out cool things or player plots. Rather, we'd like to give everyone a neat, easy way to see what's going on around the ship at any given time, so wardens and inmates can stay on the same page with their activities and share plot hooks.

Since this page will be a mainstay, if you have any questions, please ask them on our FAQ!

Comments

GROUP ACTIVITIES.

[returnjourney]

Activity: Describe the activity. Is it for wardens or inmates?
Location: Where is it located?
Frequency: When and/or how regularly does it happen?
Availability: Who can notice this activity? Is it observable to everyone, or is it for wardens or inmates only?

<b>Activity:</b> <b>Location:</b> <b>Frequency:</b> <b>Availability:</b>

[saklas]

im having fun!

@ mods
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO PUT DOWN HARD BOUNDARIES AND HARD "NOs," WITH ME, VOLK IS TRYING TO MAKE THE NAVARCH'S LIFE HARD AS A STATED GOAL BUT FIRE IS NOT TRYING TO MAKE MODS' LIVES HARD I PROMISE. I WILL ALWAYS WORK WITH YOU TO TAKE THE LOAD OFF IF YOU NEED IT, JUST SAY THE WORD. i like to play characters that do this, the only time this relationship gets toxic is when people lie about what they are or are not ok with me doing [eyes slide over to my old game]

i also wish we had more original character slots :(

i could stand 2 events a month, also, but see immediately below for my pace vs everyone else's lol

@ playerbase
please tell me if my pace and/or volk's intensity/character themes and general confrontational nature is making things bad for anybody. he's supposed to feel like he's enjoying being a bully, it's not me i swear. the game i was in previous to this (for 13 years) is one of the fastest games there is even though DWRP as a whole is way slower than back before we all had kids/jobs/etc. there i was actually a medium-slow player and here im afraid i might be overwhelming :(

im also clashing a little with my ooc conception of the setting and some other people's, i think - i tend to think the peregrine & the barge & settings like it aaaaare, lawful neutral at best, & that generally the challenge of a warden is to try to do good despite

a) a system that is actually kind of frustrating and restrictive &
b) inmates that are inmates, being at turns both violent and conniving & manipulative AND genuinely terrified, sympathetic, or being damaged by said system

WOULD LOVE TO HEAR PEOPLE'S THOUGHTS ON THE MATTER

this is leading i think to some meta-level thread-steering that i don't enjoy doing or doing TO people. i'm not getting bleed - there's no emotional component bouncing from me to volk or vice versa - but i find myself, hmmm , rather than just communicating ooc with other muns when i think volk is right or wrong, (ratio 1:3) ive just been trying to narrate harder to try to get them to come to the conclusion on their own and then getting frustrated when they don't pick up the signs or agree with me

anyway this has made some stuff hard and im going to be better about not doing that.

[shiftedshape]

UhhHHhhhh this feels much less important compared to Fire's concerns but I wanted to be sure to put this somewhere most people will likely see it.

Hi I'm Kelsey and I go through waves of inactivity and I am very sorry about it. I work a job that can be very physical and includes a lot of mental work and compassion fatigue and, well, I get very tired sometimes. Sometimes that tired leads to me doing bad tags or, more often, just not having it in me to tag at all. Also, currently, my wrist still hurts from being sprained so I do have to take it a lot easier than normal.

I'm p much always backtagging on threads, but I also try to jump into current things at the same time. I tend to work oldest to newest when I'm doing replies, but sometimes I go with what I can brain at the moment. I want to be really clear that this is never a reflection on anybody ooc or anybody's characters. Sometimes I just look at a reply and go "mmmm nope, can't get this going rn" and move onto another thread rather than not tag at all. It's not personal other than I am personally very tired a lot of the time. HOWEVER, we're getting more staff finally and I'm making an effort to not expend so much energy at work (thanks, sprained wrist) so things are looking up!

I'm always around on plurk and discord, literally almost all the time, so if you ever want to plan things ahead of time or handwave things, I'm geeenerally able to keep up with that, or will be able to tell you I'll come back to it when I can. I struggle a lot with people going "we should do something!" becuase that is easier when you are, uh, caught up and have a ton of energy to jump into something immediately, so really talking that stuff out can help significantly.

Uhh i think that's all i wanted to say lmfao idk i'm trying guys

[smugreport]

Tam here! I'm saying this as a player but also think it's important to make it clear since I'm also in a mod position.

As someone who plays a character who's particularly antagonistic towards others (and who becomes indignant at the results of those actions wrt how people treat him, regardless of how deserved it is) I want to make sure that people know that I can always reel this in the moment it becomes unfun to play against/annoying OOC and pivot, and work with you to find a way for the CR to become enjoyable again.

His arc largely involves him learning to not treat people (but especially those who have shown they care for him) like shit, whether it be because they challenge him in ways he deems a threat to his unstable foundation, because they coddle him and he takes advantage, or they're just someone he deems below him. He is insufferable by design, but if playing against the way he currently is isn't fun for you as a player then it isn't fun for me either, so please let me know! I'm still the one in the driver seat and can adjust things around.

[counterstep]

first, i'm really grateful for the opportunity to play in this setting and the amount of work that's been put into it! i wanted to give games a go after coming back to rp, but with the popularity of this character, there really hasn't been any way to until i saw trj come along, so thank you for having me! people have been really friendly and helpful, and i appreciate that deeply.


i've already spoken with some people about this, but recently i've felt really uncomfortable playing bucky in the game because of the extremely heavy lean into discussing the prison's political aspects. because of the way some characters have reacted icly and how people have commented on certain circumstances oocly, i feel like freely playing my character from his more harsher aspects will just alienate everyone both icly and oocly, and so i've held back on letting him do anything.


comics universes are pretty wild as a basis, but bucky barnes has one of the darkest stories in the marvel comics and has arguable the darkest past in the marvel cinematic universe right now.

his whole backstory is based on the war atrocities that occurred during ww2. he grew up in the depression. his family was never very well off. his best friend was a dumbass that kept trying to kill himself. he hates bullies. he was drafted into a war that he knew he likely wouldn't survive. he was captured as a prisoner of war. he was experimented on by a mad scientist trying to make a super soldier serum, saved, but still managed to fuck up being a war hero and fell to his death. except he didn't die. he survived a death fall, lost his arm, was recaptured as a prisoner of war, tortured more, experimented on more, given an arm he didn't want, brainwashed, and then made him into a weapon for a group of bullies that think they know better than anyone else on earth who should live or die. while from this side of the 4th wall, his rescue was planned in the story, in his world, the fact he even broke free from hydra and managed to regain his sense of self is a complete fluke. and while fandom has done a good job of painting him as some sad uwu baby that needs to be protected, he isn't. he's paid his dues. he's competent and deployable to deal with very serious problems, most recently international terrorists, and for all his shortcomings, he still keeps going because he believes in the good in people and protecting that at all costs.


the level of complaint from inmates that has been going on is something he would very well shut down by putting them all in an enclosed space with a loaf of bread and a bottle of water to split between them for a few days to let them know what a real prison is like. oocly, i want to let people play out storylines and do things with their character that they'd like, but in accommodating that, i've had to play my character more passively than he would otherwise because i also don't want to strong arm anyone's character into what can be seen as torture but is comparable to how some prisons still function in the real world, and tbh, even saying this now, it's nerve-wracking to admit because i wholly expect people to come at me saying "wow that's so fucked up what's wrong with you why are you playing this character how dare you think about things like that" because it can hit a lot of real triggers for people, and we're just supposed to be writing things for fun here.

but that's what things have felt like for me for the past month. most of you know i wasn't super active for a chunk of the month, but frankly part of me was glad that i had health problems and loads of work stress to keep from needing to engage rp too actively because then i would have had to wrestle with bucky's inaction more. talk and blame are easy, but needing to oocly take responsibility for a character that would not only take action but also enforce his choices against the inmates as being necessary, however cruel they are, is not something i joined this game to do. feeling like i even have to do that also feels miserable for me because neither bucky or i am here to be cruel to people.


a lot of the discussion on believability and realism, were it more balanced toward the wardens, would get really dark really fast, and this isn't a horror game. i understand where a lot of the inmates are coming from, but i feel like i need to share what that has been like from a warden's perspective because realistically playing my character would alienate him very quickly icly, and that's not what i want to happen since that would immediately make him leave the ship since he joined the peregrine to avoid that on earth. anyway. at this current rate, i might have to drop him because icly he can't stand how imbalanced things are without doing something i don't want him to do and would otherwise leave the peregrine as a lost cause. i don't want to do that obviously, but i feel like i basically have no choice.

[n0ught]

hello, mods! i just wanted to drop a note that i appreciate the work you are putting into the game. my job is exhausting and i find i don't have the energy to spend as much time thinkin bout rp as i used to. i've had a hard time in dwrp lately because i can't keep up with plot-heavy games anymore, but the desire for meaty threads Still Burns---so it's nice to have a game where i can have storytelling fun but not have to be glued to my phone hitting refresh.

and i appreciate my fellow players, too: thank u all for being so willing to slow tag with me, lmfao. i suppose i just appreciate everyone in this chili's tonight ♥

[dealwiththe]

Just some observations and praise from my first month in the game - overall, I'm having a very excellent time!

- The mods are quick to respond, both in their capacity as mods and as NPCs!

- The setting is both easy to parse and detailed enough to provide built-in CR hooks, even for day-to-day stuff between events.

- The port I feel went quite smoothly and I appreciated having one catch-all log for it - kept things nice and neat!

- Overall my impression so far of the mod team has been very positive! You're easy to talk to, responsive to the player base and everything is well organized.

- I've found the player base to be welcoming, fun to thread with and easy to plot with. I hope I'm being the same in return!

- In general, RP is (only) as fun as the people involved, and this is a fun group! I'm really looking forward to how this game and the characters in it develop going forward.

[lessandmorethanhuman]

First, I do want to thank the mods for all their hard work and labor. I saw ads for this game and was hype and stalking plurk for it. I love me a good redemption arc and meaty CR, and I'm grateful to be able to play in a game that encourages that. Thank you also to my fellow players. I've been loving my interactions with everyone.

I really don't have any major problems or complaints about the setting so much as worries for my own ability to RP. I'm kind of amused Alex has been almost a model 'prisoner' in many ways, by behaving. Which in some ways makes a lot of sense for him as he's seen no 'need' to act out or cause destruction or chaos yet. He's dangerously intelligent (I am not), and can be manipulative, but only when he sees a purpose for it. Not just for chaos.

So I feel like in some ways, I'm failing, by not being able to portray that more. Or like I'm doing something wrong. I need to look for opportunities/ways for him to actually let the asshole-side of himself out. Especially since for his arc, redemption is going to be "Don't become a monster like you could easily be.". It's probably me, as I've had a lot of trouble lately in RL with things draining me. I'm also more reactive sometimes to things than 'active'.

I had a lot of fun with the port, and I loved the SIRE thread I did. I'd love to do more like that, and for people to get to know Alex AND his fucked up crimes. (He has no doubts why he's an inmate. He'll just be very reluctant to do 'therapy' vs. 'hard time for his crimes' as it were--that's the conflict with him.)

Other than that, I hope I'm approachable and people can come to me with concerns. I'm on plurk pretty much constantly, and while I can be on discord--I prefer to poke people/friend them first for reasons I'd rather not get into. Please ask though if you want my disco info. I like talking about plots, and chars, and honestly engaging with someone else (Jenn and Kels have been wonderful about this already) can often help me figure things out.

[kaijuice]

Hey y'all. Appreciate the open conversations going on in here, and while I don't have much to add, please know that I've read and will keep them in mind.

Joining the chorus that if there's an issue OOC, or you aren't having fun with something, you can reach out to me about it. I will always find a reason to edit a post, or redirect a character's actions.

That said — I'm here to play a bunch of negative and complicated CR, and will be doing so (including on my Warden) unless someone expresses that they'd prefer not to. Which you should feel free to! It isn't always fun! But I can't opt folks out of it without a heads-up.

I've been having a good time here, and look forward to seeing how things develop. It's a real privilege to get to play in a game from the start, growing pains included; thanks mods for letting us be a part of it.

Kicks up my leg. Let's get this space bread.

[sanctus_dei]

Hellooooo I talked to a lot of your on plurk already, I'm bad at expressing feelings about this stuff over text generally so I don't have much in the way of crit. I'm having a good time, I think the mods have a great game here and are approachable and responsive, and any time a tag from this game rolls into my inbox my mood improves by 10 points.

I've been in a LOT of DWRPs but none as enthusiastic and welcoming of plotting as this one. I'd been out of the loop for awhile but being in such a welcoming space has been a delight. It's always a bit nervous when it comes to OCs, especially apping one as complicated as Theo to a game where I only knew one other player. There are absolutely people out there that look down on them in the DWRP community so I'm relieved to not find that attitude here. You all treat him just like part of the gang. I truly appreciate it!

I know Theo is a terrible, hostile, immature kid that's tough to deal with, but he wouldn't be here if he wasn't capable of change. I'm greatly looking forward to seeing where all this takes him.

While I'm here, I just want to say I'm dropping Waver. I love the guy, but like I said, being back to DWRP after a long break meant I bit off more than I could chew w/r/t bringing in a Warden too. I didn't know how much of my free time it'd take up. It's pretty much all on me tho, Waver would take this job so seriously and thoroughly, and I don't have enough time in my day to do him the justice he deserves. It was making me afraid to start more tags/plotting with him instead of getting out there and doing it, so obviously I need to let him go. A shame since that all just means you're now stuck with Theo instead. :)

Thanks everyone! Keep on keepin' on.

[bornofthedarkness]

Heyo,
Whew, so this is a lot to chew on but I appreciate all the thoughts that have been going on here! I think for me I feel pretty distant from everyone which might just be a fault of my own, frankly. I'm prety busy, I have a difficult time keeping up with and being on plurk too so there is that.

I know Malekith is... difficult, he's old, he's seen a lot, experienced a lot, holds some pretty gnarly views that are deeply entrenched in his being and by nature alone travels down the path of antagonist because the state of the universe is kinda killing his kind, yanno. He's not the most ACTIVE inmate at the moment because he's watching, and scheming, and planning. Learning things. Also because he knows he's weak and sorta hates that but is kinda vividly aware of that. So that's been a bit of a trial to navigate. His superiority complex doesn't help either so there's some just. Things that make it difficult at the moment just by nature of him being him, lmfao.

I really love deep and complicated CR, I love negative or kind of gray spaces. I just don't really know how to get involved at the moment as much. It's been a bit of a struggle on that front, and maybe its just that this type of character isn't where it's at right now. Though I have a few leads and hell who doesn't love a slow burn. I do have another character in mind that would be more likely to make a mess of everything. So I might give that a go!

That being said, I'm nowhere near as intense or archaic as this asshole lmfao so please by all means if anything is uncomfortable hollar at me. I adore terrible shit but sometimes that's not the jam for people, its cool.

Also, if something seems to be read wrong it may be 1. that HE is interpreting it wrong and my meta is reflecting that or 2. That I am actually interpreting it wrong and please by all means correct me, I have no problem with that.

As for the whole of the game, I love the setting. I'm torn between some of the accommodations being really nice and kushy which makes it hard to feel prison-y but also that there's such a limited amount of things for inmates to do that it makes things equally hard to navigate but I think that's coming from the mindset of a character who would usually rather talk to a brick wall than someone who isn't also Svartalfer LMFAO.

Mm, yeah I think that's it. Thanks mods for opening this dialogue and thanks everyone for your great input and thoughts.


OH -- I figured to add this: I think sometimes he can be intimidating cause he's so large, he's obviously old, he just carries himself as an imposing thing, but I don't mind him being put in his place, challenged on his ideas, or like ANY of that. I truly welcome it all!! If this helps at all.