Posted by: 
powersthatbe
For new players: the State of the Game posts are a bi-monthly summary of what the mods are up to, what they’re considering, and a place to discuss how players think & feel about new rules, proposed changes, or other issues & developments. While you’re new here, and therefore this post may be a bit confusing, please don’t feel you don’t have a voice - we’re willing to listen to everyone, and if you’ve got input on any of this, we want it!
I. Streamlining Starting Soon!
Starting with July’s AC, we’ll be testing out the streamlined, all-in-one page for reporting Skills & AC together. In upcoming months, more rules updates and changes will be made as the game gears up for Phase III (see below) -- if there are any page updates or rules tweaks you would like to see, let us know under this toplevel and we can discuss them.
II. Teaching Skills
Initially, taught skills were meant as a way to encourage or reward CR-building activity, but player discussion has brought to our attention the way that the mechanic as worded leads to similar, obligatory-feeling threads rather than organic growth in character interactions. Likewise, many threads for skill gain wind up cut off the moment they have achieved their goal, actually truncating character conversations. We’re not making a change at this time, nor do we have a good fix in mind, but we’d like to discuss with players ways in which skill-teaching mechanics or threads could be improved, or existing mechanics separated and retooled, so that we encourage new CR & CR development in new ways rather than forcing people to repeat the same patterns again and again in order to gain skills.
III. Summaries
There was no Walkabout Summary this last Jaunt, because Matt entirely forgot to brief PG on what we needed for that. This is entirely Matt’s fault. Please shame him. Before our next walkabout needs summarizing, we will correct this oversight.
Matt-shaming or summary-related discussion may be placed under the appropriate toplevel below.
IV. The Walkabout, or Lack Thereof
According to the majority vote held for this month’s walkabout, as well as multiple separate instances of player concerns being raised to the mods, we’re not doing a walkabout to offset this month’s Jaunt. Originally, walkabouts were meant only to offer alternatives for extremely polarizing or controversial plots, or spaces where players could avoid genres, themes, or tropes they found especially distasteful. They quickly became (and will certainly remain) a popular and frequent feature of Synodiporia - but they may not be available every single Jaunt, or if they are, may be player plots rather than mod-directed events. Several different people have raised the concern that walkabouts are splitting the game, making it inescapable that people miss metaplot or CR opportunities they’re engaged in because they’re joining their cast on the other side of the divide - and that certainly goes against the idea behind walkabouts, which were intended for only a few players at a time, not half the game at once.
So, as experimentally as we tried our first walkabout, we’re now going to try our first deliberate month off walkabout. Originally, we planned to discuss this before instituting it, but since the majority vote on the last poll suggested this option anyway, it seems like the right moment. We’re more than open to feedback, criticism, and player input on how we can keep customizing, utilizing, or, well, NOT utilizing walkabouts to best serve player needs.
V. Jaunts & Jaunt Returns
While Walkabouts have all been returns to the setting of a previous Jaunt, it’s been discussed that some settings should really be the focus of a full follow-up Jaunt, rather than a “side trip.” Under this toplevel, please suggest and discuss what Jaunt settings you would like to see revisited, & why they need the game’s full attention. (For more recent Jaunts, see alsoRecaps).
Voting on our September/October Jaunt will occur at the beginning of August, rather than in the SOTG as has been traditional.
VI. PHASE III COMING SOON
After the superhero jaunt, the September/October Jaunt will be the last Jaunt in what we’ve been calling Phase II of the game, both ICly & OOCly. Following that Jaunt will be an extended Liminal Event, and then Phase III Jaunts will begin. If you don’t want to hear more about Phase III before it begins, don’t read the rest of this section - but don’t worry, we won’t be spoiling anything major.
( Read more... )
That’s really about all that will change, and all that we can specifically say without spoiling more. Questions, concerns, and discussion of Phase III can go under this toplevel.
VII. Mod Squad Changes
This month saw Hina stepping down as NPC Mod. Likewise, last night both Sam & Seiko stepped down from their mod positions. While Sam & Seiko’s mod contributions have been largely invisible to the player side of things for the last several months, they weighed in every app round, discussed every rules change, heard every player concern aired, and were generally invaluable in helping glue the game together. Neither is stepping down because of any issue but scheduling & availability - both expressed that Syn deserves mods who are involved & invested in the decisions made, and as neither is actively playing right now, they couldn’t effectively do that any more. They have our deepest thanks and respect.
After a quick conference, Matt & Meta decided to immediately appoint one additional full mod, & see how things go with a trio for the next Jaunt. If more help is needed, we’ll consult the player base and appoint two additional mods (odd numbers work better than even for tiebreaker purposes). So, everyone - please welcome Bii as the newest member of the Synodiporia mod squad! In addition to continuing to help NPC modding, Bii will now be involved in apps, hearing player concerns, plotting, and miscellaneous page maintenance.
With that said, we do still have a need for 1-2 more NPC mods to play Familiar Faces as needed. If that’s something you’re interested in doing, or if you have anything else you’d like to discuss about the modding situation, please comment under the appropriate toplevel below.
VIII. Old Business
Is there anything we have previously discussed, in State of the Game posts, via email, or through plurk that was meant to be brought up and discussed, but has been forgotten? In the comments below this toplevel, or through whatever medium is most comfortable to you, please let us know and we’ll correct that oversight. Specifically, Matt is all but certain something was brought to his attention and somehow didn’t get added to his to-do list -- if you know what this is, poke him privately and it will get added to this post ASAP.
IX. Placeholder
In case Matt really did forget something, and isn’t just being paranoid.
X. New Business & Discussion
Any new questions or current concerns can be brought to us below this toplevel, or privately, by emailing the mod account at synodiporians@gmail.com . (Please don’t PP the mod plurk, as it goes unread for weeks between announcements, and if you PP a mod, while they’ll be happy to talk to you, for documentation purposes we eventually ask that everything be routed through the email.)
If you have any sort of miscellaneous ideas or discussion points, they can go under this top level as well. comments