SoN’s Members Workforce!

[Ryan - Loki]

Just to quickly answer Aion; No, you don't have to re-write everything again you're still good to go mate lol

I'll read everything else when i've got a moment and edit my post to comment on it all!

[Kaworu - Horatio]

Well I could help add some new places, races etc to Noria because I'm pretty good at making strange new environments and odd little places and already have ideas to create some things that have been touched on here, like hidden cities and cultures that have been lost since the disaster and or places some of the warriors of time might remember visiting when they were back in their own time.

But one of the things I liked that was mentioned was another school of magic and I think that can be discovered as we progress through this current saga, where along the way we find some hidden colony of mages that have been in hiding since the days of the warriors of time and this is where this mysterious man found the source.

And down there maybe they have a magic school that teaches the magic that surface world Noria knows but also teaches magic of other varrying kinds etc, thus allowing for other types of classes and such forth but also depending on where the saga is wanted to be headed we could tell the main academy of magic that there is another in existence. And see what story we can go from there as we can have them draw up a treaty for an alliance or even more fun would be having them go to war or something like that, thus furthering the chaos that the world is currently in but that's not it because I can create some new races found only in certain areas that not many people frequent thus allowing for the rare abilities thing that was mentioned and they don't even have to be completely different races and may just be off shots of current or past ones.

Also I was wondering is Noria had a moon or such forth maybe more then one anyway what I'm getting at is that maybe there's people who escaped to the moon and evolved into some interesting new race, or there is an alien race colonized on the moon and or a bunch of monsters that haven't been seen before on Noria. And yes I know that Noria/Dragonia has been invaded before by Saiyans so invasion is just another boring repetitive thing, but maybe it's not something like that maybe someone is more exploring or looking at the moon and maybe spots something.

Anyway I think I've spewed enough stuff out for now, I'll come back later with either more or more refined ones depending on the reactions...

[[The child]]

I want to help, and the best way I can see that is going on a mass advertisement spree. Is there stuff you want to add or what not before I do this? BTW, is the advertisement board guest friendly, so we don't end up with mass complaints of "we can't post advertise on your board, jerks!"

[Ryan - Loki]

An advertising spree is something that is VERY MUCH needed. It's something that is never a bad thing, and that is always helpful. I've personally just made sure, the Advertising section IS guest friendly - so we shouldn't have any complaints whatsoever.

I think our advert is fine as is, though others may disagree?

[Icarius]

Oct 20, 2009 7:48:22 GMT Kaworu - Horatio said:

But one of the things I liked that was mentioned was another school of magic and I think that can be discovered as we progress through this current saga, where along the way we find some hidden colony of mages that have been in hiding since the days of the warriors of time and this is where this mysterious man found the source.

Your input is appreciated, but when it comes to the current saga, it's already been planned out to it's end. The only problem is getting my lazy ass to post. >.<!

As far as adverts go, not everyone likes to read a small hill of text. I could create an interesting and eye-catching .GIF advert much like the MR one I made a while back. Tantalyzing?

[[The child]]

That could prove to be awesome. If you do plan on making one, I can wait before going on my next advert run.

[Ryan - Loki]

I think that a .GIF advert for Noria would perhaps just be perfect! We currently have a project in motion to create a video for the site, we have a word based advert and adding a GIF based one to the list would really strengthen out advertising campaign. Mike, I’d say go ahead and show us your talents

[Icarius]

Right, I'll see what I can come up with on that.

[Kaworu - Horatio]

One thing I'm wondering is although I understand the necessity to plan a saga the whole way through so you know where you want the story to be going, but the thing I don't get is that doesn't leave any chance what so ever for players to hold any sway as to what happens in a story thus meaning they're just playing some silly game that they can easily play on a console.

So if it's completely planned I don't even see any reason for their to be players really since it's already known what's going to happen no matter what, then the players role is basically obsolete and we all may as well go home because from what I know a role play is only as good as it's players and also it's driven by them.

And I mean no offense by this, but maybe that's one of the reasons everyone left and or isn't coming anymore in that they don't feel they have any say in what's happening, so please don't jump down my throat here because I'm just making an observation on the information just given to me.

[Icarius]

The whole point of a saga is to create a world-wide event that draws most, if not all, player characters together in a single unifying purpose.

Though the ultimate goal is planned out, the path to get there is usually not.

During the Beastly Conspiracy Saga, which I planned and ran, I came up with most of the action post-by-post. I knew where I wanted the saga to go, what it would mean to the world, and I had a set of tools (SAC's) to get there. However, characters needed to play and react to what I was doing in order for anything to happen.

What I did with the saga was directly affected by how players interacted with the characters I created to help move the story along.

To be perfectly honest Kaworu, when it comes to planning things out to the very finest detail, I think you're giving us way too much credit. XD

On a related note, people have a plethora of reasons for leaving. Perhaps another site has caught their particular interests and they just slowly lose active interest in our site. Maybe their posting partners have flaked on them and they're tired of having to carry a story by themselves. Mayhaps a Saga is taking wayyy too long to hold anyone's interest, or there's just not enough activity to sustain one.

Back when the site was still LoD, we wanted the members to have just as much say as any of the Admins, which is why we have the Saga Suggestion area on the board. Anyone is more than welcome to create a saga, submit it to the admins, and we let you go bananas with it, following our approval. I was just a normal member when I ran the Beastly Conspiracy saga, but everyone who participated had an awesome time.

I guess it boils down to three reasons why you'd feel like you have no control.

1. Your character is being outright ignored by other PC's, (or worse, SAC's).

2. Your character's actions/suggestions are overruled without a clearly defined reason.

3. You want to stake a claim during a saga and make it your own.

And to each of these, I have a rebuttal.

1. Make an OOC statement that someone has obviously missed responding to your post.

2. Ask the person in-charge why your action/suggestion was overruled. If it turns out there isn't a good reason, ask an Admin to keep the person running the saga in check.

3. Simply put, the saga isn't yours to run. This was all planned and approved ahead of time by the admins. Like a roller coaster, the path is blueprinted and ready to run, but unlike a roller coaster, the path can be affected by the suggestions and actions of those participating.

Of course, if you'd rather go play video games where your opinions and reactions to the plot or story truly don't matter, we're not going to stop you; however, a Saga without a semi-flexible backbone will fall apart into nothing more than a clusterfuck of people running around, not knowing what they're doing. Everyone has the ability to alter how the Saga plays out, and only you can determine your own level of involvement. If you have a suggestion about the story, PM the person running it and discuss it with them.

Admins, did I miss anything?

[Ryan - Loki]

No Mike, you pretty much covered everything - though from you I'd expect no less

You see Kaworu, the purpose of a saga is as Mike described, to get as many members involved as possible - it's a key way to get people to interact with each other when they normally wouldn't do so.

Although the main storyline/plot is decided, that doesn't mean everything else is set in stone. Normally all that is for sure is the beginning, end and a few key plot-points along the way. What truly makes a saga is how the members involved progress through it and act in reply to the mentioned plot-points. In the same way though the saga can be used for major character development, changing individual characters permanently.

An example of this would be that in the Mike's Beastly Conspiracy saga my character Ryan was faced with one of his most difficult foes yet, an older and superior clone of himself. From that point on it was down to how I reacted to things that changed the progression of what happened. In the end Ryan went on not only to defeat his clone but also defeating the overall 'big bad guy' of the saga, however in the fight with his clone Ryan suffered a major injury to his arm - an arm that he still cannot use, having lost all feeling it in since.

So you see, not everything about a saga is written in stone, but if we didn't have at least some parts of it already decided on then we face the problem of it growing stale and it having no true depth to it.

Of course suggestions can be made to the individual running the saga. Say for example you would like for something specific to happen to your character, to help with character development, then you can suggest it - it may not be able to be worked in to the saga, but it doesn't hurt to ask!

Does that explain things a little better mate?

[Shei'ki\Agatha]

Alive and well, just doing RL stuff atm - interesting little spice of life things that keep me from posting religiously our keeping creative sentience going much at all. But! I'm backish and ready for action :3

Monsters on the way.

[Aion]

So with the holiday season on it's way out, though I'm guessing some of us will be getting wasted beyond belief in a few days, I gotta ask...

Is anybody still out there?

[Kaworu - Horatio]

I'm here as always mate, I just felt it seemed useless me being around if no one was going to answer but I've been checking periodically

So I wonder whose left besides yourself Aion and of course me...

[Aion]

I think we're it, unfortunately.