Mod Clarification: Player Projects

[hadrielmods]

Hello, Hadriel! Since this is something that has come up often in communications to us, we thought it was time to address it publicly and lay down some ground rules.

We've noticed quite a few large projects being undertaken without any contact with us. In many cases, we're sure the players involved thought we would simply see their plans and contact them if there was something wrong - however, as we both work full time and have many pressing time commitments, we can't read every thread or log in the game. That means things often get past us, and we depend on our players to contact us if they want to do something big so that we can plot with them. When it comes to large and complicated projects, what ends up happening is often that the project is plotted out or even completed with little or no contact with us, and by the time we see it it's too late to intervene without bad feelings, which of course we don't want.

Our concerns are not about limiting people's effectiveness in the game, but rather about maintaining our setting and the things within it. For example, given the building of three seaworthy ships and a number of piers, the trees on the islands would have been almost entirely wiped out save for a few in Sorrow's now-sparse orchard. Since we weren't aware of all of these projects, we were unable to let anyone know this, though it'll now be added into our locations page.

From now on, we will require players who are planning to make large or complicated projects (for example, technologically advanced items or items that require specialized materials) to contact us first. We have added this to the rules page to help avoid future confusion. This is not necessarily so we can approve or decline these projects, but so we can make sure the materials would actually be available and figure out what the impact on the city would be. If you don't contact us, we reserve the right to ask you to retcon the project, depending on what it is. If you are unsure about whether to contact us or not, go ahead and err on the side of caution! We respond to all messages we get, and though the timeframe can vary we are generally pretty prompt.

We really love all the care and thought that people put into our game, and we also love the investment! It's extremely satisfying, as mods, to see people caring so much about something that we put so much energy into. We don't want this to be considered a warning or a punishment for any characters or projects. However, it's also important to us to maintain the setting of the game and make sure that everyone is operating with the same restrictions.

Thanks for your time, and thanks for all the energy and love you put into our game.

Comments

[circumitus]

Since the locations page now says that "nearly all the fruit trees in the orchard have been cut down", do we know if there is any way to like, replant/regrow them (and if there are characters who have any magic/powers/whatever who could help with that)? Rey relies on the fruit that grows from the orchard for a number of drinks at the Speakeasy, and it'd be good to know what she has left to work with if that's what they're stuck with.

Sorry if you'd rather questions like this be asked elsewhere or in private, but since this affects the setting I figured I'd bring it here.

[hadrielmods]

It would be possible to collect seeds from the remaining trees and plant them. Another possibility is asking one of the gods for more seeds - there even may be some seeds remaining somewhere in the city from one of the gifts Hope gave long ago, though they might be impossible to find. They would, however, take a normal amount of time to grow (years) unless encouraged by a character with appropriate powers (or, again, one of the gods).

Long story short, Rey may quickly run into a supply problem for those drinks that require fruit, but it's always possible to plot ways around it.

[circumitus]

Excellent. Unless someone else wants to, I'll remind myself to address that issue once Rey's back from her boating trip, since I'm gonna go with her not knowing how much was taken from the orchards yet. I know she wouldn't have any problems with asking the gods for help, but I know a couple characters have harvested seeds and it'd be a fun player effort. We'll plot around it and I'll keep you guys updated!

[ibiza]

Margo could help with growing plants from seeds! She has the appropriate magic.

[circumitus]

Yo that would be rad! I'm not sure if there are any characters who would notice the limited trees in the orchard, but I otherwise will have Rey make a post about it since it ultimately affects her "business". It'd be awesome to get other characters in on regrowing the fruit trees with stuff like that (and hmmm, maybe some plant life to the park as well if possible and/or more characters have appropriate abilities as well? It'll be like a tree planting program to make Hadriel more green, lol. Lordy knows they could all use it).

[dedikated]

I know this might be a big ask, but is there a chance we could get a list of scarce resources in the city? I know I've probably worked off the assumption that xyz material is in the shops somewhere because I don't want to bother you guys every time I think "oh it needs this!"

It might help people a lot if they know what they can / can't expect to find in the city.

( and since this is the resources post: does the city have things for painting buildings? I know they used to turn up at hopemas but are they generally available? )

[puzzlingly]

Heyyy... I'm gonna leave this here because I asked about that some time ago. OHOH, also this since it's relevant.

[hadrielmods]

We've avoided making a list in the past, both because it would be quite a bit of work and because leaving it vague allowed people to just assume they'd found basic things without needing to check to confirm every small detail. As a whole, we are very willing to handwave a lot of the 'small stuff' to ensure that people are comfortable and don't feel an excess of rigidity in our setting. We also like to leave open the possibility of the gods occasionally placing odd or rare things in the shops because they didn't know not to. Our general response when asked (and in the FAQ) is that Hope provides basic supplies for living and not much else, but with searching people might be able to find specific things.

However, at this point it does seem like it would be helpful to lay out a more solid description of what can be found within the city. This will be added to the FAQ for anyone else who might ask in the future!

Common items: food, clothing, basic toiletries (toilet paper, soap), weapons (in Rage's armory)

Rare items: tools, building supplies (nails, hinges, paint, brushes), cleaning supplies (bleach, weird random bottles of dish soap and the like, sponges)

Anything else is likely more of a luxury and therefore not provided by Hope at all. However, things are brought in regularly via the monthly intro logs, and the gods have all specifically provided various things when asked, though never for free. Also, Hope will sometimes put things in the shops that seem (to him) to serve one of these basic survival purposes but don't really, for example providing a child's watercolor palette on the basis that it's paint (and he provides paint occasionally as a building supply).

'Common items' are things that can easily be found by checking one or two different shops. 'Rare items' are things that might require a couple hours of searching. On top of that, these are general categories - looking for something specific could elevate a search to difficult or even impossible.

For example, if you just want any clothes to cover yourself with and don't care about color, style, or anything but approximate size, you could find them easily - but if you want black pants in exactly your size, you might be looking for days before successfully finding any. Another example would be searching for a bottle of apple-scented dish soap (it's your favorite!) - it might require a couple hours to find dish soap at all, and there may not be a single bottle of apple-scented soap in the whole city.

If anyone has questions about specific items, just ask! In regards to painting buildings: yes, but enough for a whole building in the same color would be very difficult to find.

[tongueamok]

Thanks for this list, mods! I like the flexibility of what can be in the various places, but having a more detailed list is really good.