OOC Thread 11

[Arsenal]

You could make the Earth elemental hideous at birth so Helena rejected her. I assume she will have some morph abilities, so you can make her pretty now if you wish. Firebird and the Earth elemental could be fraternal twins.

You could keep the other child from Karen or have Karen reject her as well, fearful of how to raise her. She could be simply left to Christopher as the scientist in a rare time the three agree on something.

From there it could be VERY interesting, depending on how much of a monster Christopher Victory really is. I have some horribly cool ideas.

 

[Clara Oswald]

hHe steals his child w/ Helena away. (this one is probably too much of a retcon & would fly in the face of "mainstream" history ...especially w/ Frost)

What if Christopher had no hand in the child's raising? Say he had given the mother something while pregnant, and one twin came out fine and the other monstrous as a result. He thinks the baby died, or in some other way the child is abandoned.

 

[Karma]

What if Christopher had no hand in the child's raising? Say he had given the mother something while pregnant, and one twin came out fine and the other monstrous as a result. He thinks the baby died, or in some other way the child is abandoned.

oh he's got to be the the ultimate one in the wrong no matter what. that's why i thought of the backstory of him having the child @ the citadle & experimenting on him is key. this plot would be for drama definitely & sam's idea about helena being the mother just really struck me.

but now i also like the idea of karen being apart of the blame in the child's tragedy as well.

the questions i have now are explaining how/why helena would not have known OR if she knew, allowed her child to be subjected to this.

garrick's idea of her having fraternal twins & the earth elemental being hideous due to immediate manifestation of helena's power in him/her causing Helena to reject the child is one thought.

Or Christopher drugged Helena and harvested her ova during their affair (sort of like what happened to the White Queen & the Stepford Cuckoos) & "growing" the child in a lab.



Or Christopher bringing the babies Blaze & earth elemental to Karen after Helena rejected them both only to have Karen cruelly do the same due to her own hatred & betrayal over the affair & (as garrick suggested) fearful of how to raise him/her.

The unwanted baby could be simply left to Christopher as the scientist in a rare time the three agree on something...a shameful secret they all had.

This would present other complications as well, like Karen never telling Morgan about Blaze before Valiant etc.

The kid would have plenty of people to hate and go after. Karen & Helena would be more culpable than Morgan & Firebird and of course there's the reaction of the others in the Six.

It would really flesh out the backstory of those two & why they hated each other & even though they viciously fought...they never flat out tried to destroy one another.

 

[Screen Legend]

I think you're off to a good start, De.

You have character dialogue & interaction down quite well.

Your "action" posts w/ Cass fighting the zombies were quite nice - like the contrast of Cass' petite doll like appearence to her fluid moves & savage instinct in battle. The one thing I want to caution you on is to not over do it or go too far w/ Cass' actions in a battle. Definitely be creative but always make sure you're following cues from Oracle specific to Cass.

Being creative, paying attention to details, following cues are the main things I'm looking for from all the players in the game :nod:

If you ever have an questions or difficulties, don't hesitate to ask here or contact me via pm. The other players here will be glad to answer & help you as am I.

Sometimes there may be something that another character needs to do w/ or get from yours & in that case, the player will PM you to work out those details & you guys just go w/ it.

I like Cass :nod: I look forward to her joining the game as a permanent character when we return to mainstream time.

Cool. Thanks. I will try my best to not overdo anything.

 

[Persephone]

Helena's a massive bitch, but I don't think she would ever disown her child. Especially since she's so protective of the Quartermaine name and her family's legacy [hence why she never accepted Alexis as a Quartermaine because of Adam Chandler being her biological father].

So if you were to go this route of Helena being the bastard child's mother, I would suggest either what you suggested Farrah; Christopher harvested her ova during their affair in hopes to gain Helena's mutate gene for his experiement, OR, Helena DID give birth to a child, however there were "complications" and Christopher convinced Helena that the child died in order to take it away and experiment on in without her knowledge. This could also be a catalyst as to why she is more ruthless now, vindictive of Karen [jealous of her family], and adds another twist to the mix.

Just a suggestion.

 

[Karma]

Helena's a massive bitch, but I don't think she would ever disown her child. Especially since she's so protective of the Quartermaine name and her family's legacy [hence why she never accepted Alexis as a Quartermaine because of Adam Chandler being her biological father].

So if you were to go this route of Helena being the bastard child's mother, I would suggest either what you suggested Farrah; Christopher harvested her ova during their affair in hopes to gain Helena's mutate gene for his experiement, OR, Helena DID give birth to a child, however there were "complications" and Christopher convinced Helena that the child died in order to take it away and experiment on in without her knowledge. This could also be a catalyst as to why she is more ruthless now, vindictive of Karen [jealous of her family], and adds another twist to the mix.

Just a suggestion.

i really like the idea of the earth elemental child being helena's but i think it'll be to much to retcon the six's history to say firebird is as well so i wont do that.

looking back over Helena's history in the six, you're right about her being protective of her Quartermaine name & legacy. It's certainly in line w/Christopher's behavior to do something as obscene as harvesting helena's ova. but i think it would be more dramatic if (using a combo of yours & Garrick's suggestion) when the baby was born...her X gene manifested in the child @ birth causing the child to look rather horrific. the baby's physical appearence soon stabilized after being born, a sign of Helena's power manifesting in the child but it was a very DIFFICULT labor & Christopher convinces a weary & distraught Helena there were "complications" & the child was lost. ultimately christopher took the child away & kept him/her hidden, experimenting on him/her etc.

The trauma of pain & loss of her child changed Helena on many levels. this could also explain some of why she was so brutal w/ Alexis (Shockwave) of the Six & so willing to see her become a catspaw of Malice & the hellfire club but that's up to you, Sam.

This could also be a catalyst as to why she is more ruthless now, vindictive of Karen [jealous of her family], and adds another twist to the mix.

this is something karen never knew about. but while the revelation of the child itself isnt AS devastating (since she went through the same thing w/ Blaze & Jasmine)...the horror of what Christopher did to Helena & the child & the danger being posed to her daughter (& Blaze) prompts Karen to reach out to Helena. If nothing else, they must work together again (much like during the Set storyline).


there's the violence this child will becapable of & the hatred & contempt he/she has against Morgan & Blaze, who he/she resents b/c of their lives & their [seemingly] "much better" relationships w/ their shared father; the danger he/she poses is primarily focused on the sisters & the six & the hellfire club. even though the child is technically a part of mystech's legacy...that's not his/her driving motivation.

 

[Arsenal]

I like it, especially because I think the team can be bigger than just Mystech. Having another arch-enemy who is not Mystech-centric is great.

 

[Persephone]

I like it too! And I think it would give more dimension and layers to Helena and the Helena/Karen relationship.

 

[Karma]

Players conference

Hello, this is the start of a special discussion regarding the Six.

As you know...we are currently down to 4 players w/ 1 new player just joining on.

I feel that the game is a key part of this board & I hope it is a source of entertainment for you all as much as it is me.

We've lost several great players in the last two years & that loss has effected game flow.

The remaining players are terrific & I'm looking forward to working more w/ De, who's joined as us w/ her character "Ruby".

But there have been some concerns brought to me that I feel must be discussed amongst us all so that we can keep the game going strong & working well.

Sam, can you share w/ the others what you shared w/ me?

 

[Screen Legend]

I feel that the game is a key part of this board & I hope it is a source of entertainment for you all as much as it is me.

I have really enjoyed following along with the storyline. It's been really interesting and all the characters are really unique.

We've lost several great players in the last two years & that loss has effected game flow.

Really?

If you need me to step up, I will gladly play other characters aside from Ruby. Seriously.

 

[Persephone]

Well, first of all, I just want to come out and say that i've enjoyed this game so much the past 7 years. It's been a great source of entertainment. The first website that I would check would be SG to see who's posted and what has come to pass in the six. I would get excited to see who would write what and how everyone would react once a plot point was presented. It's been amazing.

With that said, the past year i've noticed a lot of changes in the six. I believe the biggest effect being Lexi's disappearance since she's such a huge part of the game. But also the frequent stalls in the game's flow due to personal issues and real life situations. It's come to the point where Farrah PMed me earlier asking when I was planning on returning....and I honestly wasn't sure I wanted to. Not because I don't like RPing. Not because I don't like this game. And certainly not because I don't like any of you. But mainly because I miss the old days. I miss when I used to be excited to read and post, whereas now it feels more like a chore. I miss the days where there would be 5-10 posts a day within the six and you had to catch up with your post, as opposed to maybe 1 post every 4 days [if that].

I explained all this to Farrah, but I also made sure to tell her that i'm not willing to give up on this game. It's been around 7 years. It's probably the longest flowing storyline RPG out there. However, I think there needs to be some changes otherwise i'm not sure if I have the desire to return. It wouldn't be fair to you guys who are playing in this game for me to half ass my posts, or to hold up the game just because I wasn't honest with how i've been feeling. So basically....that's what this meeting is about.

Believe me, I understand everyone has lives outside of this board. I have a lot going on in my own life. But I remember when we first signed up for this Farrah said that everyone needed to post at least once to twice a day to keep the flow of the game going. And that's since stalled out. Like I said, real life takes priority...however it does make it hard for me to want to continue when we have to wait a week for someone to post a reply. This current non-cannon storyline we're in was supposed to be a few weeks long, just until we knew if Lexi was returning. But in actuality it's been going on since December. This is what I mean by stalling.

So basically, i'm at a cross roads. I want to continue on with this game because I do love it and love RPing with all of you. However I don't want to half ass it because i'm not enjoying it anymore. So Farrah wanted to make a meeting to get everyone else's opinions and to see if we can make some changes.

 

[Clara Oswald]

I miss the days when we were all on at the same time too, though on the other hand, there were plenty of times when I ended up away from the board and coming back made me all apprehensive because I knew how far behind I was going to be and that it was going to feel impossible to catch up. It was almost easier not to come online. And I don't want to lose anyone in this game because they end up having to be away and then don't feel like they can come back from it. Specifically, I really don't want Lexi to leave the RPG because she cringes at the thought of having to come on to all those posts.

Maybe the answer is we stop waiting on people to post? (This isn't a slight at all I swear) The problem with when it's Jill who has to be away is that in the past when we've tried to keep playing without her, there have been problems because either no one's directing the story or no one can agree on where the story should go. So now usually whereas in the long time ago past we would go on even if Jill was away, it's easier now just to wait for her.

I'm not saying I hate it, though, when it's late at night before I can get online and there's a bunch of stuff to reply to and I feel like I can do it in the morning. Years ago I would have had to post right then and there.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is, I miss us all being online at the same time so we can post tons together BUT I like that it doesn't feel like I'm going to be kicked out if I can't post RIGHT NOW. I would be happy if I'm not on and people needed to carry my character along for them to do that - as long as the same is done for everyone and not just certain people.

 

[Persephone]

I totally get that Vil. I remember throughout the years where people have gone on vacations or had personal issues and the game continued on fine. When the person came back, sure they had to catch up, but their character was carried along and it wasn't too big of a deal to jump back into the game.

But I do agree that it seems when Farrah has to leave for personal reasons, the game just stops. That's mainly because she's the runner of this game, so it's not her fault at all. Perhaps this could be fixed by Farrah PMing one of the members [the person who's character the storyline revolved around?] and having them take charge until she comes back. Maybe giving some plot points to do or what not. That way it won't stall out so easily.

I don't want people to become stressed out when posting. Or thinking if they leave for a long weekend they'll have pages and pages to catch up on. I'm not talking about a strict posting schedule. What I am saying is that I would like consistence again. However, if everyone else is fine with the way things have been lately, then obviously it's purely my issue to figure out. I'm not trying to turn this game upside down, just figure out ways to improve it.

 

[Clara Oswald]

I'm not saying there shouldn't be any changes. I'm just saying that we don't want to swing the other way and start vilifying people because they weren't on in a day. I didn't say what I said to contradict you or say you are wrong.

Here are the two things I think would make the RPG better.

1. Maybe if we could all try and make the commitment to post at least once a day, and if we don't that our character can be carried by the others?

2. When Farrah has to step away and so can't be moving the game forward as needed, that we alternate among those who want to take charge of Oracle to keep going. But we would need a system because unexpected things happen. (To everyone.) I'm not saying this is anything against Jill, it's just that she is our glue I think so we feel it when she's not here, which is not her fault. It's just that she's really good at this Going along with this, I think it's really important that the other players agree to support the person moving the game along even if it isn't Farrah. Not everyone and probably no one is going to be as good at it as her, and when something happens spur of the moment, it's not like that person has had time to plan the storyline. So I just think it's important that we all support each other, even if it's rockier than usual.

For the record, I would like to see storylines move faster. I just don't want us jumping down each other's throats stressing each other out about it either. If we could find a middle ground between the old and current ways of doing things, that's where I'd be most happy.

 

[Persephone]

Agreed with everything you said, on all account. I didn't mean to come off as if I were pissed at what you said Vil. Not at all. And I also didn't mean to come off as I want everyone to post 5 times a day, every day, because that's what we used to do. Not at all. Once a day is fine! Because, like I said, I know everyone has lives outside of the board. But I just find it very difficult to continue storylines when there hasn't been a single post from someone 4, 5, 6 days out.

And I do think that someone should take over if Farrah is ever out. It would keep the game moving. Sure, we might not be the best, but as long as everyone's supporting the person moving the game along, then that's what counts.

 

[Screen Legend]

Being the new kid on the block, I feel as though I have nothing to offer, nothing to bring to the table on this as I'm basically the newbie here.

What I'm hearing, if one can actually hear posts, is that people just miss each other? Am I correct in thinking that? If so, I feel that in order for people to get 'reacquainted', and I use that term loosely because you guys know each other, is just take this time to bond again. I don't know. Maybe I'm out in left field with this.

Here are the two things I think would make the RPG better.

1. Maybe if we could all try and make the commitment to post at least once a day, and if we don't that our character can be carried by the others?

2. When Farrah has to step away and so can't be moving the game forward as needed, that we alternate among those who want to take charge of Oracle to keep going. But we would need a system because unexpected things happen. (To everyone.) I'm not saying this is anything against Jill, it's just that she is our glue I think so we feel it when she's not here, which is not her fault. It's just that she's really good at this Going along with this, I think it's really important that the other players agree to support the person moving the game along even if it isn't Farrah. Not everyone and probably no one is going to be as good at it as her, and when something happens spur of the moment, it's not like that person has had time to plan the storyline. So I just think it's important that we all support each other, even if it's rockier than usual.

I agree with this 100%. Because life sometimes bites you in the ass and you can't always be by the computer waiting for your turn(s) to post. I love the idea of people carrying characters when someone can't be there themselves for whatever reasons.

That's my opinion anyway.

 

[Persephone]

Yes. I miss the old days, and I do miss the camaraderie that we all used to have. I have noticed some tension, but I didn't realize that it made you feel the way you have Garrick. Maybe me bringing this up will help us weed out some issues and get back to what we all found fun and brought us all together in the first place.

It's a RPG intervention lol.

 

[Karma]

im glad everyone is posting honestly & speaking to the issues :nod:

we HAVE drifted from the original structure & requirements of game play in the six over the years & part of that is b/c I reflexively have taken most of the responsibility for directing the storylines. I used to push for each player to helm a storyline completely so everyone was more invested.

I think now more than ever its important we return to that b/c as you've all seen in the last two years, I've had alot of pressing issues w/ my health or other things. we ALL have lives but that was the case when we started. The idea of one of the players being willing to take charge of Oracle if I'm not here is very good & if I know i'm going to be away, I can PM whoever that is some general plot points & let them handle it from there. One of the things I really liked about the game in the early days is that it would progress even if I was not on every single day.

Also, another idea is that whomever's helming a story...if they need certain characters to the main characters of the stories rather than always assuming the main six roster, the director can PM the players who do multiple characters asking them to play whichever characters they need for the story. So characters rotate a bit & there's no need to feel like other characters have to be "carried" in the story.

I thank you for your compliments on how I've handled the game I somtimes feel like I'm losing my touch or getting sloppy. I've been working w/ some of you in this game & others for YEARS now so it means alot that you still enjoy this game w/ me.


One of the reasons this game has lasted so long even w/ the loss of three amazing players is b/c all the players involved have been excellent! :nod: Sadly, it's unlikely that Heather, Brandon or even Lexi will rejoin us. The door will always be open to them though should they be able to return. We DO have a new player in our midst, De.

As I used to tell you all in years past, like when we welcomed Garrick into the game, I need you to help her get acclimated as needed. The senior players know we learned by doing, the same applies to her. I feel she has potential & I'm going to change things in the current story so that she can join in full time. Much as I miss & love Lexi...she's not here & it's better to use those who ARE here rather than make them wait.

i think in many ways Heather & Brandon were the HEART of the group of players & really fueled alot of the OOC interaction amongst the players. But also, there was a time when the players of the Six still maintained a presence on the main board as well. I think that's part of what's missing.

I agree w/ Sam that this is the time to weed through issues & sort things out so that we CAN get the FUN & draw back into the center of the game :nod: especially w/ a new player in our midst.


This also goes back to a point made earlier about how we've gotten away from the "one post per day" method in the six.

 

[Rampage]

Then let's have at it. It would at least give me something to focus on...

 

[Clara Oswald]

Back to The Six

So I wonder Jill if you would prefer we go back to the old system of trading off running storylines? This is probably more of a question for you and Harley because iirc you two still had to do that the most. Personally, I don't really feel the need to be in charge of storylines but if that will make things better for you I will just be sure to plan. lol

Otherwise, I still think maybe having some guidelines, even a list of what we all are expected to do and when the failsafes come into play. Cause I do think we need to make the same rules for everyone, ie we don't want to end up waiting a week for one person and two hours for another before carrying them (without a good reason).

I know crap happens but maybe even if there was a system where, Jill if something happens with your health or what have you that you text Sam or me or Garrick and then they can come here and say, "Hey, Farrah can't be on, so let's move on to the backup." I don't know if it makes sense to say keep an outline of the story in the Oracle account's pm's so it can be accessed or if that's too much work?