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oocinthenight2020-03-28 05:50 pm
inthenightmods) wrote in oocinthenight2020-03-28 05:50 pm
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MOD ANNOUNCEMENT: BEGINNING ACT 2
Hey there, players! We hope you're all staying safe out there. Have you checked out Pluto's post yet? We suggest you give that a read before diving into this announcement! It's a long one, so strap in. We've got a lot to cover today.
We mentioned in the cat herd that April would begin our transition into act 2, and we're happy to announce exactly what that means:
In May, we'll be introducing a faction mechanic that allows characters to ally with either the Night Market or the Wild Hunt.
So, pump the brakes for a second. In the Night is not going to suddenly become a faction-heavy game. The faction mechanic is meant to represent a sort of IC voting system to direct the plot. You've perhaps noticed by now that the Night Market and the Wild Hunt have radically different goals for the future of this world, and they're not goals that can coexist.
How this story shakes out is up to you, wonderful players, and the faction mechanic is meant to give you the scaffolding to do that. Characters can hop aboard whichever faction best suits their interests, and the plot will progress based on faction numbers and efforts... Or, there's door number three. If both factions' plans sound like hot garbage to your character, they can always stay neutral and come up with a better way forward. Neutral characters won't get benefits or consequences from either faction, and they'll enjoy the freedom to explore a way to resolve things without fighting the World Eaters head on or euthanizing the world.
That said, we do want to be extra clear: The only endings we have planned out for this game are the Wild Hunt ending, the Night Market ending, and the RESET ending, which is exactly what it sounds like. We're more than happy to drum up a fourth ending, but you have to tell us what it is. Neutral characters are more than welcome to fire up their very own faction, and they'll be able to find other NPCs in town that can support their cause.
There's a reason we spent months laying the foundation before introducing the faction mechanic. We very much hoped for the characters to build their own bonds and community before bringing in established factions. We wanted to give characters a chance to settle on what they want before getting swept up in a faction war, and though we'll be welcoming new faces along the way, we don't expect the strong foundation built in these first few months to wash away anytime soon.
•••
Before we continue, small note: we had planned to have more of a finished product to share with you, but this pandemic has thrown us all for a loop. We had intended to formally launch the Wild Hunt's neato hiring mechanic to better transition into this faction stuff, but in the interest of not overworking ourselves and not overloading those of you unable to engage with RP right now, we'll be pushing that launch back. Instead, we'll introduce that later in the month, and for now, we'll just tell you about it! We hope you all understand.
The Wild Hunt will have a shop system similar to the Night Market, but theirs deals in manpower. Characters will be able to hire members of the Wild Hunt to help them with various things. Wild Hunt members can be hired to build/repair things around town, teach skills, scout unexplored territory, and even assist on explorations. Oh, and you know how some Night Market vendors are played by players? We'll be opening up opportunities for players to play Wild Hunt NPCs for these purposes, too.
We'll of course be releasing more details as to how that all works once the mechanic is up and running, but in the meantime, that's what you need to know going into the faction breakdown. Here's what you can expect from allying with the Night Market or Wild Hunt, or staying neutral:
Let's go into more detail on a couple of these list items.
What's on the Helix station/in the mines? A secret, for now! That's the one part of all this that we're going to stay coy about. You'll have to join the faction to find out.
What about the exclusive plots? Yeah, we sounded a lot like a mobile game trying to get you to pay up for premium just then. The faction-exclusive plots are mostly side quests that characters can ICly work on to benefit their faction. For example, the Night Market might ask a group of characters to experiment with forest spirit communication methods, or the Wild Hunt might send characters on a fetch quest to find particular resources. You can engage in these plots at your leisure.
There will also occasionally be faction-specific prompts during events, but we don't intend to implement the faction mechanic into all or even most gamewide events. Regardless of where your character falls in the faction situation, everyone's still stuck in the same dark town with the same threats looming.
Speaking of threats, let's talk about the drawbacks. The consequence of joining one faction is that you make the other your enemy; it's nothing personal, but hey, you are actively working against the opposing faction's goal. They're not about to take that lying down.
Characters cannot opt out of being harassed by the opposing faction. More on this in a moment, but this game is designed to have consequences, and they're only going to get steeper from here on out. If you want the perks of signing up with a crew, you have to accept the risks as well. Joining a faction is not a decision that should be made lightly.
That said, good news! The Wild Hunt will not spontaneously murder your character, nor will the Night Market wreck their tablet or bar them from item orders completely—unless your character antagonizes either faction and brings it fully upon themselves. The negative random encounters from either faction are meant to be interesting struggles for characters to overcome, and you do get a say in how exactly the encounter happens. We're going for fun, not frustrating.
For example, let's say you've joined the Night Market and you receive a random encounter from the Wild Hunt. It might look something like this:
The important thing to note is that we'll never just show up in your inbox with a negative encounter that will permanently affect your character in a major way. You do get a say, just like in other aspects of the game like our death consequences or the various risks during explorations.
There's a lot more to how the random encounters will work since we're sure you'll want to know how they'll be doled out and such, but this post is already hella long! We'll give you all the full rundown when the faction system goes live, and for now, please feel free to ask any questions you have down below.
•••
Okay, so we've got factions now. What's the game going to look like moving forward?
For starters, the faction benefits and drawbacks will only affect your character, not your character's CR. Although we imagine the ideals of each faction will create some conflict ICly, there are no rules or mechanics that will split characters up. Characters may choose to ally with either faction, but everyone is still just a resident of Beacon at the end of the day. Teaming up with the Night Market doesn't guarantee a spot on the Helix station should there be a reset, nor does teaming up with the Wild Hunt mean you have to go live in the woods for the rest of the game. All characters in game can freely interact with each other... though faction members will be encouraged to, well, evangelize, essentially. Recruit!
All this to say: your character's choice in faction will affect them and only them, barring IC reactions. Your CR won't be punished, and you're welcome to ICly work with members of the opposing faction. Want to use your Wild Hunt boons to help out your neutral or Night Market pals? Go ahead, just don't let Kimiko find out what you're up to.
Beyond that, we do have a faction war ahead of us, but we're thinking of it more as a great philosophical debate that just, uh, happens to employ tactics like guerrilla warfare, theft, espionage, and so forth. Will all of this result in a proper faction war? Maybe! Factions can also be extinguished due to lack of support, and the diplomacy approach to attempt to reconcile the two sides is a valid avenue to pursue. It honestly all depends on what the characters get up to.
•••
Alllllll that said, we do anticipate that the neutrals will make up the biggest faction for at least the first part of act 2. We're not spending as much time on the middle grounders because, frankly, the game won't change much for folks in the middle!
Neutrals will be able to freely interact with either faction. They'll be able to hang out at the Night Market while it's open for business and they can hire labor through the Wild Hunt. They won't be subject to harassment/negative random encounters from either side, but they also won't get access to the cool faction benefits, either.
For now.
The neutral party, in some ways, will have the more difficult job of all going forward. Characters will either need to stop waffling and commit to an ideal, or they'll need to come up with a plan of their own. If unaligned characters do come up with a third option to move forward, this will create a third faction that has goals, benefits, and drawbacks all their own. Again, this is entirely up to you, players, so we can't exactly lay out what the future will look like for the folks in the middle. Just know that you do have options there.
•••
This has been one hell of an update, so we'll leave it here for now, and of course feel free to ask questions below. We've just got one last note for you all to keep in mind as we move forward.
We know we've just introduced a lot of OOC mechanical stuff that's likely given you a lot to think about with regard to your character's place in the game. It's a lot to consider, but we strongly encourage you to make decisions based on your character's IC philosophies as the game moves forward.
The biggest change that will come about from these new mechanics are that characters can no longer have everything, so to speak. There's no "right" or "best" way to move forward; each faction, including the neutrals, has its own benefits and drawbacks, and the stakes are only going to get higher as the plot progresses.
Your character will make enemies of NPCs. Your character will have to make difficult moral and philosophical decisions. Your character will have to confront the fact that there may not be a "golden end" that allows everyone to get what they want in the end. Your character will have to make sacrifices in some way, and they'll have to commit to something bigger than themselves to fully reap the rewards of overcoming these challenges. The amount/severity of consequences and struggles they face depends on how you play the game, but it will be more and more difficult for your character to opt out and let the story happen around them. Your character will change, and perhaps not in ways you expected them to.
We lay all this out for you because we want to be abundantly clear about the game's stakes. We want to prepare you for IC failures so that they don't come as a surprise, and so that everyone understands that negative consequences do not mean you're doing something wrong. At times, characters will need to fail in order to make progress. These IC failures are not OOC failures. Fun, not frustrating! We encourage you to embrace the struggles.
And that's it for now, dear players. Thank you all for building this story with us, and we're psyched to see where it goes from here. Stay tuned for the April gameplan, which will go up before the month is out. Take care of yourselves, everyone.
We mentioned in the cat herd that April would begin our transition into act 2, and we're happy to announce exactly what that means:
In May, we'll be introducing a faction mechanic that allows characters to ally with either the Night Market or the Wild Hunt.
So, pump the brakes for a second. In the Night is not going to suddenly become a faction-heavy game. The faction mechanic is meant to represent a sort of IC voting system to direct the plot. You've perhaps noticed by now that the Night Market and the Wild Hunt have radically different goals for the future of this world, and they're not goals that can coexist.
How this story shakes out is up to you, wonderful players, and the faction mechanic is meant to give you the scaffolding to do that. Characters can hop aboard whichever faction best suits their interests, and the plot will progress based on faction numbers and efforts... Or, there's door number three. If both factions' plans sound like hot garbage to your character, they can always stay neutral and come up with a better way forward. Neutral characters won't get benefits or consequences from either faction, and they'll enjoy the freedom to explore a way to resolve things without fighting the World Eaters head on or euthanizing the world.
That said, we do want to be extra clear: The only endings we have planned out for this game are the Wild Hunt ending, the Night Market ending, and the RESET ending, which is exactly what it sounds like. We're more than happy to drum up a fourth ending, but you have to tell us what it is. Neutral characters are more than welcome to fire up their very own faction, and they'll be able to find other NPCs in town that can support their cause.
There's a reason we spent months laying the foundation before introducing the faction mechanic. We very much hoped for the characters to build their own bonds and community before bringing in established factions. We wanted to give characters a chance to settle on what they want before getting swept up in a faction war, and though we'll be welcoming new faces along the way, we don't expect the strong foundation built in these first few months to wash away anytime soon.
Before we continue, small note: we had planned to have more of a finished product to share with you, but this pandemic has thrown us all for a loop. We had intended to formally launch the Wild Hunt's neato hiring mechanic to better transition into this faction stuff, but in the interest of not overworking ourselves and not overloading those of you unable to engage with RP right now, we'll be pushing that launch back. Instead, we'll introduce that later in the month, and for now, we'll just tell you about it! We hope you all understand.
The Wild Hunt will have a shop system similar to the Night Market, but theirs deals in manpower. Characters will be able to hire members of the Wild Hunt to help them with various things. Wild Hunt members can be hired to build/repair things around town, teach skills, scout unexplored territory, and even assist on explorations. Oh, and you know how some Night Market vendors are played by players? We'll be opening up opportunities for players to play Wild Hunt NPCs for these purposes, too.
We'll of course be releasing more details as to how that all works once the mechanic is up and running, but in the meantime, that's what you need to know going into the faction breakdown. Here's what you can expect from allying with the Night Market or Wild Hunt, or staying neutral:
| THE NIGHT MARKET | UNALIGNED | THE WILD HUNT |
BENEFITS
|
BENEFITS
|
BENEFITS
|
DRAWBACKS
|
DRAWBACKS
|
DRAWBACKS
|
Let's go into more detail on a couple of these list items.
What's on the Helix station/in the mines? A secret, for now! That's the one part of all this that we're going to stay coy about. You'll have to join the faction to find out.
What about the exclusive plots? Yeah, we sounded a lot like a mobile game trying to get you to pay up for premium just then. The faction-exclusive plots are mostly side quests that characters can ICly work on to benefit their faction. For example, the Night Market might ask a group of characters to experiment with forest spirit communication methods, or the Wild Hunt might send characters on a fetch quest to find particular resources. You can engage in these plots at your leisure.
There will also occasionally be faction-specific prompts during events, but we don't intend to implement the faction mechanic into all or even most gamewide events. Regardless of where your character falls in the faction situation, everyone's still stuck in the same dark town with the same threats looming.
Speaking of threats, let's talk about the drawbacks. The consequence of joining one faction is that you make the other your enemy; it's nothing personal, but hey, you are actively working against the opposing faction's goal. They're not about to take that lying down.
Characters cannot opt out of being harassed by the opposing faction. More on this in a moment, but this game is designed to have consequences, and they're only going to get steeper from here on out. If you want the perks of signing up with a crew, you have to accept the risks as well. Joining a faction is not a decision that should be made lightly.
That said, good news! The Wild Hunt will not spontaneously murder your character, nor will the Night Market wreck their tablet or bar them from item orders completely—unless your character antagonizes either faction and brings it fully upon themselves. The negative random encounters from either faction are meant to be interesting struggles for characters to overcome, and you do get a say in how exactly the encounter happens. We're going for fun, not frustrating.
For example, let's say you've joined the Night Market and you receive a random encounter from the Wild Hunt. It might look something like this:
"Hey there, Mippins! The Wild Hunt has paid Newt a visit! When he returns to his apartment, he'll find that someone's broken in and ransacked the place. His belongings and furniture are disheveled, mud has been tracked everywhere, and he'll realize that much of his food and some of his clothing have been stolen. He's also missing an item of particular importance to him. Bummer!"And that's it. When exactly this happens and the severity of the break-in are up to the player to decide. Maybe I'll decide Newt's tablet gets stolen and he'll get a new one and it's annoying but not the end of the world... or I could decide they've stolen his beloved keyboard, and he'll be devastated, etc. Maybe they broke a window, or stole his torch, or left some reading material on why he should really consider joining up with the Hunt instead—totally up to the player to decide!
The important thing to note is that we'll never just show up in your inbox with a negative encounter that will permanently affect your character in a major way. You do get a say, just like in other aspects of the game like our death consequences or the various risks during explorations.
There's a lot more to how the random encounters will work since we're sure you'll want to know how they'll be doled out and such, but this post is already hella long! We'll give you all the full rundown when the faction system goes live, and for now, please feel free to ask any questions you have down below.
Okay, so we've got factions now. What's the game going to look like moving forward?
For starters, the faction benefits and drawbacks will only affect your character, not your character's CR. Although we imagine the ideals of each faction will create some conflict ICly, there are no rules or mechanics that will split characters up. Characters may choose to ally with either faction, but everyone is still just a resident of Beacon at the end of the day. Teaming up with the Night Market doesn't guarantee a spot on the Helix station should there be a reset, nor does teaming up with the Wild Hunt mean you have to go live in the woods for the rest of the game. All characters in game can freely interact with each other... though faction members will be encouraged to, well, evangelize, essentially. Recruit!
All this to say: your character's choice in faction will affect them and only them, barring IC reactions. Your CR won't be punished, and you're welcome to ICly work with members of the opposing faction. Want to use your Wild Hunt boons to help out your neutral or Night Market pals? Go ahead, just don't let Kimiko find out what you're up to.
Beyond that, we do have a faction war ahead of us, but we're thinking of it more as a great philosophical debate that just, uh, happens to employ tactics like guerrilla warfare, theft, espionage, and so forth. Will all of this result in a proper faction war? Maybe! Factions can also be extinguished due to lack of support, and the diplomacy approach to attempt to reconcile the two sides is a valid avenue to pursue. It honestly all depends on what the characters get up to.
Alllllll that said, we do anticipate that the neutrals will make up the biggest faction for at least the first part of act 2. We're not spending as much time on the middle grounders because, frankly, the game won't change much for folks in the middle!
Neutrals will be able to freely interact with either faction. They'll be able to hang out at the Night Market while it's open for business and they can hire labor through the Wild Hunt. They won't be subject to harassment/negative random encounters from either side, but they also won't get access to the cool faction benefits, either.
For now.
The neutral party, in some ways, will have the more difficult job of all going forward. Characters will either need to stop waffling and commit to an ideal, or they'll need to come up with a plan of their own. If unaligned characters do come up with a third option to move forward, this will create a third faction that has goals, benefits, and drawbacks all their own. Again, this is entirely up to you, players, so we can't exactly lay out what the future will look like for the folks in the middle. Just know that you do have options there.
This has been one hell of an update, so we'll leave it here for now, and of course feel free to ask questions below. We've just got one last note for you all to keep in mind as we move forward.
We know we've just introduced a lot of OOC mechanical stuff that's likely given you a lot to think about with regard to your character's place in the game. It's a lot to consider, but we strongly encourage you to make decisions based on your character's IC philosophies as the game moves forward.
The biggest change that will come about from these new mechanics are that characters can no longer have everything, so to speak. There's no "right" or "best" way to move forward; each faction, including the neutrals, has its own benefits and drawbacks, and the stakes are only going to get higher as the plot progresses.
Your character will make enemies of NPCs. Your character will have to make difficult moral and philosophical decisions. Your character will have to confront the fact that there may not be a "golden end" that allows everyone to get what they want in the end. Your character will have to make sacrifices in some way, and they'll have to commit to something bigger than themselves to fully reap the rewards of overcoming these challenges. The amount/severity of consequences and struggles they face depends on how you play the game, but it will be more and more difficult for your character to opt out and let the story happen around them. Your character will change, and perhaps not in ways you expected them to.
We lay all this out for you because we want to be abundantly clear about the game's stakes. We want to prepare you for IC failures so that they don't come as a surprise, and so that everyone understands that negative consequences do not mean you're doing something wrong. At times, characters will need to fail in order to make progress. These IC failures are not OOC failures. Fun, not frustrating! We encourage you to embrace the struggles.
And that's it for now, dear players. Thank you all for building this story with us, and we're psyched to see where it goes from here. Stay tuned for the April gameplan, which will go up before the month is out. Take care of yourselves, everyone.
no subject
Granted, you can only change your allegiance once, and by "change allegiance" we mean "join either the Wild Hunt or the Night Market".
So, as a hypothetical example, let's say Bruce allies with the Wild Hunt. If he has any second thoughts about that decision, he can go back to being neutral. Once he's neutral again, he'll be able to either join up with the Night Market or go back to the Wild Hunt, but that's his last chance to pick an existing faction. If he decides to leave the faction again, he'll have to stay neutral from that point forward. OOCly, this is to encourage players to make their faction decisions carefully, and ICly, it's because neither faction will trust wishy-washy characters.
In any case, we love where your head's at, and we'll do our best to build in accommodations for characters that have plans a little more complex than signing up for one cause or the other.
Oh, and that NPC assassination plot? Go ham. They're all very killable. :)
no subject
also thank you for this. if you can imagine me screaming into the void that's pretty much exactly what i looked like over your reply.
no subject
And yes, there will be a deadline. It'll be nebulous for a little while because we don't want to impose hard and fast End Dates since delays happen and who knows where the plot will go from here, but act 2 will end once the majority of characters have settled on a way forward. Act 3 will be about enacting that plan.
Right now, we're roughly ~3 months behind schedule (which is fine, we built wiggle room into our timeline to account for this!), which means that if everything stays on schedule from here on out, the IC/OOC pressure for everyone to make a decision will start in October. From there, we expect act 2 to be roughly the same length as act 1, which is clocking in at 10 months, and act 3 will likely be the shortest act. This longterm timeline is very subject to change, but for the moment, we're comfortable saying that players should expect to at least settle on their own plan by late fall.