Welcome Back: What would you do differently?

[Every]

With the idea of starting new and continuing storylines, Kitty and I are interested in knowing what you'd like to see done differently with path. As David said in his welcome message, he's mentioned the idea of term limits for moderators and it is something I agree with, I have a few more ideas I do want to discuss with him regarding future moderators.

But for now, from your perspective, she and I would like to know:

• What chapter in Path was your favorite?
• Which was your least favorite?
• If you could see something happen in Path, what would it be?
• If you could see a storyline return, which would it be?
• If you could scrap one chapter, which would it be?
• Which would you like to see redone differently?
• What would you, as a writer, like to see changed and developed further?

As you reply, please remember that we are trying to do better for Path and we're happy to have David on board with the reopening and as a storyteller. We're going to try to do the best that we can to make Path a place where everyone can just come and write as intended. We really would love your feedback to make the storyline better and if it means figuring out a few steps back, that's what we'll do (somehow) - and we'll figure out a way to honor the choices made over the previous years, too.

[Alexandrea]

I'd like to go all the way back to the Broussards(sp?) chapter and have that become an alliance, rather than ending in a war(near genocide lol).
I'd LOVE more about the fae and like to see more of the other races and intermixing of the races.
& a Super big ask for lots of ancient vampire history!!!

least favourite chapter was the vampire cure and most favourite was the Bancroft election

[Zodiac]

I have been thinking on this a bit. Outside of a possible flaw in execution on occasion, the chapters followed a logical progression. I don't think I had a unfavorite chapter except for the one with 'the Cure' in it. At that point in time Zo very much wanted to be rid of being a vampire, but my OOC requests to be part of it was ignored and the one who 'had' it vanished. (IC she does not feel that way now, but it was a real pissoff when that happened ooc)

I agree with 'Alex' on a few points. We need more background and history on not only vampires but the supernatural things we deal with. Jorgo's, Sirens, and others we have little to no insights on what we are dealing with. They are the star of the moment and then drop into the common kill pile. Vampires have to get along with something, so perhaps an introduction of a more friendly group to deal with. I will bethinking more on this subject after the coming holiday weekend, but these are what I came up with so far.

[Every]

Thank both of you for answering so far and I look forward to seeing more of what you come up with, 'Zodiac'. I know David and Kitty plan to, too, as well as myself. I just want to think about it a bit longer on my end.

I could definitely see adding history and background more into the creatures, as well as their origins being worked on. Should we start on the friendlier group at the start of bringing it back, or should we start rolling out more information regarding the Broussard origins with the blood thieves, the paladin and say the demifae we have so far, and work into something new (I like the idea of an ally to the vampires, personally) as we develop the current creatures further?

Sidenote: please poke people in this direction if you'd like. We're thinking about sending out a mass email, but we don't want to spam/harass either. Even if they don't want to stick around, I'd really love the feedback.

[Alexandrea]

Our vampires began with no knowledge of the fae or any other species besides human, learning about the other races the hard way.
But with adding an ally first (maybe the Broussard leftovers, maybe a demi fae race? idk) that ally could bring a lot of that history with them making introducing the new information a more natural progression as the relationship between the two races develops?

[Zodiac]

Alex makes a very good point. When us second and third gens emerged all we had to work with was old movies and bad paranormal romance novels to help us figure things out. The first gens did not really do that great of a job informing most of us of the hows and whys and by the time the other things began to emerge all of them were... elsewhere? Now, on the opposite side of that some of us showed some creative stuff in how their chars were learning and adapting to their new conditions of life. And let's not forget Theo-whatsits is still lurking around this area somewhere. She alone is a vast untapped source of information.

[Amalea]

Thank you to everyone so far for your feedback and I look forward to seeing what everyone comes up with. I do plan to personally reply to this, I just want to have a proper think on it.

In the meantime, I do like the idea of finding a way to expand the IC knowledge of the different races/species we have roaming about the city. The concept of a friendly ally is an intriguing one as there's various ways to go about it. There's certainly the possibility of a remaining Broussard family member lurking about, there was the Jorgo NPC from the holiday ball, and there could always be a new ally to be found. I would also be open to the idea of a hidden set of tomes or other cache of information that was yet to be discovered - the Labyrinth path that led to Theodosia perhaps or some as of yet undiscovered ruins.

Unfortunately, I think using Theo herself as an IC source isn't going to be the treasure trove some characters would hope. Canonically, she did state she would talk further to those who were her 'champions' so there's no guarantee that she'd be willing to talk to others nor did she commit to sharing all her knowledge as she did say some lessons people would have to learn on their own.

“I am most comfortable surrounded by my creations. So long as I am allowed to continue my work in peace, I may be reached by those here. I will share what knowledge I can, but I warn that there are some lessons which take both time and patience to understand.”

And some lessons required personal loss and error of judgment.

source

Some of the champions are still around, like Amalea and Every, but some coaxing and cooperation may be needed to have it canonically explored.

[Mooncalf]

[*]What chapter in Path was your favorite?

To be totally honest I can't remember which one I enjoyed, because they were all fairly stressful to run I remember there being one which ran really smoothly, but I can't remember which one that was. I think I liked the one with the cure, maybe? Where it was a race to get it.

[*]Which was your least favorite?

Probably the election one I guess.

[*]If you could see something happen in Path, what would it be?

This is going to be an unpopular opinion, but here goes!

I wouldn't bring back the grid. But instead, I would like to see some form of idle progression.

I can see that working as there being a 'game' tab or similar on the forum, where you set what you want your character to be doing. And they'd just level up and gather items while you're away (faster if you post RP).

You'd also use this tab to see all your attributes, change equipment, etc.

And then the PVP and PVE would be done via RP threads, with an algorithm determining the result of fights etc.

[*]If you could see a storyline return, which would it be?

I've always wanted the full on zombie apocalypse, personally

I know that's not popular, but I see that version of the world as being unique compared to other vampire fiction, because it would be like vampire warlords ruling over little pockets of slaves and thralls, or towns they build themselves.

[*]If you could scrap one chapter, which would it be?
[*]Which would you like to see redone differently?

I don't have much of an opinion on that.

[*]What would you, as a writer, like to see changed and developed further?

Okay this is a pipe dream, but: AI GMs. We could use a chat GPT style API which sends queries to an AI who has pre-defined rulesets. This would allow people to RP stories on their own and have instant GMed replies, or RP in a party and have the AI come up with stuff that happens and decide on things based on dice rolls and submitted stats to the API.

This wouldn't just be cool, it would be pretty groundbreaking for RPG forums.

[Jonah]

What chapter in Path was your favorite?
Truly, I liked the early game the most before the formal chapters. I liked when it was very player driven.

Which was your least favorite?
Don’t really have one.

If you could see something happen in Path, what would it be?
The threat of permadeath and/or zombie apocalypse

If you could see a storyline return, which would it be?
Necurats

If you could scrap one chapter, which would it be?
Don’t have one

Which would you like to see redone differently?
The return of the very deadly feel of the game. Even if it wasn’t permadeath, the feeling of being sent to the fade being a true punishment.

What would you, as a writer, like to see changed and developed further?
Vampires are interesting to me in stories like this because they have to hide but because the player base is (mostly) all super natural it doesn’t *feel* like we’re hiding in plain sight, it feels like supernatural politicking (which is fun). I would like the narrative purpose of us being supernatural creatures to be at the center of most community events, whatever that narrative purpose is decided to be.

[Lionsheart Steel]

I would say my favourite time(as opposed to chapter) was the earliest recollection of my charries story arc.
A fledgling he was sent to the Hotel Realmaphornia for a short stay.
Soon found out how to survive and fly under the radar.
I don't have a least favourite time anytime I could get here was always a blast.
Something I would like to see is an uprising of sorts... 'Pires taking back the city in a covert way, filling the local government and enforcement agencies with their own and an authority akin to Tytonidae policing a 'brand new masque'
I loved the feel of the game during the Masque period and a return to that by whatever believable means would definitely float my boat. I'd have to say that my preference for vampire enemies would always lean towards other-wordly beings, whether that be lycans, fae or something else... These having to be dealt with all whilst maintaining the facade that the city's day to day life goes on as normal.
I must admit that the families/clans territory scraps has a great deal of mileage in this situation too... underground struggles and sabre rattling galore.