Sir Les Paul
The Duke of Chords
[COLOR= rgb(0, 255, 255)]Happy New Years![/COLOR]
As 2016 draws to a close, I want to thank every single person that has helped make this roleplay happen! Since its inception to its rebirth on November 6th, it has had a lot of followers and has grown considerably despite shrinking down on the allowed characters. For being a niche superhero roleplay (in regards to being low-to-no powered heroes), Beta Protocol has come immensely far and it is due to each and every single person that has become part of this roleplay and dare I even say community.
Now, as many of you know, I made an End of the Year Survey, and I want to take some time to acknowledge a few things!
First and foremost, I want to congratulate @Epiphany! With an almost overwhelming level of support, her character Scyleia Lancaster has become a favorite to a large portion of the roleplay. While it was sincerely no competition, the sheer amount of people that claimed her as a favorite aside from one of theirs was a fair amount greater than any other. I think that type of reaction from others deserves some level of applause! Now, some backstory for anyone interested, during the creation of Scyleia, Epiphany forced me to decided on how I actually wanted to portray Amazons in a handful of ways. First, were the immortal only on Themyscira and if so, why? I answered both of those questions; Amazons are normally only immortal on Themyscira and it is due to the Grace of the Gods. Otherwise, Amazons just age slower and stay healthy. Epiphany approached me actually having two alternatives to Scyleia based on how I wanted to portray Amazons. That forethought is actually why I voted her as my favorite character I didn't play a huge part in; as most of you know, I toy with a TON of things in characters to really try to fit them in the setting. Epiphany went above and beyond in doing this by fitting Scyleia to the setting in two ways depending on something I hadn't even considered about Amazons yet.
At one point, I considered creating a "Roleplayer of the Year" portion of this for which Epiphany was also a runner, but I do believe the size of the RP is still too small for that and we haven't been in IC long enough to honestly make that type of determination. Regardless, I wanted to take the time to acknowledge some of the others that have been an immense help or inspiration to me:
- You should all thank @AnnoDomini; without him, I wouldn't have put forth any of this effort.
- @LokiofSP happens to be the source of a lot of my plot-based decisions. His approach with Fredrick has helped guide me into plotting for others.
- @The Regal Rper inadvertently forced me to look at the RP historically from very far back and in turn helped me add a whole lot to the RP.
- @ChazGhost has been through the timeskip with Marcel and has been his FOIL, bringing me a fair amount of personal enjoyment.
I could honestly go through and list each and every single one of you in some way, but I wanted to list those that had the largest impact on the entire RP that ultimately affected others. With the exception of Chaz, whom has just been exceptionally loyal to me in sticking with what I was doing, those listed above have in some way had some impact on the world whether it was me taking over or helping to sculpt it. So, in this time of acknowledgement, I felt they all deserved a shout out.
Moving on, I want to approach some of the other trends I saw in the survey:
1. The slow post rate and plot.
First, in regards to the plot, I want to quote something Loki said in his response: "[COLOR= rgb(152, 157, 160)]I wish I'd see more roleplays in general just take as much time with fully fleshing out a new character and their place in the story as this one does.[/COLOR]" Yes, the plot is slow sometimes. It has been especially here in the beginning to some degree. But, there is a reason for that. I am actively taking my time fleshing out characters, bringing them together and pushing character development. The pace will continue to be slow. I use an active reward system with delayed gratification. This is to be expected and it kind'a isn't going to change, but it will pick up - especially now that we've transitioned from the 'introduction' phase to the real first steps. The end of the introduction was marked by the timeskip, although it isn't applicable to everyone.
What I mean to say is that I intend on taking a personalized, individual approach to characters. And, guess what? THERE ARE A TON OF YOU! So many that I had to put @sitanomoto and Anno in charge of entire cities because I couldn't do it all! We got big, we got popular and my approach to things does take time.
As for the post rates, this is the holiday season... but it is to be expected. We have a fairly active IC, but the best part in my opinion, is that with SO many different active plots, even if one slows down, another is often still going. When Anno finally posts, all of Star City surges with life! Once Sita gets Rebecca and Jessica going, Question, Eveline and Scyleia get to interact in really interesting ways given how much they clash! So, yeah, things will slow down sometimes, but they will never just dead stop - and that is by design. No GM can keep things active constantly, but what we have here is a pretty solid failsafe. Even if someone has to take some time off, we can really adapt due to all of the resources we have.
2. The plot-based Pay-Offs
Alright, I did say I use delayed gratification and a lot of build up... and one of the most frequently stated things that you guys want to see is big pay offs! Oh damn, does that sound like pressure. Rofl. But, it's a task I'll tackle head on. Fact is, we just moved past introductions and now the RP really feels like its developing. It will take time to reach those pay-offs, but trust me, I'm working with EVERYONE to get them done. Honestly, some will be bigger than others. Some will be one-offs, others will be continued. There is just so much to do with the plot that there are things constantly building up all the time. So, this goes hand in hand with the slow post rate. I took the time to get each character in this RP, not just force them in. No it is 'tacked on', no one should feel alien or forced, and yeah, that slowed down things like big pay offs. But guess what? They'll be even better once they roll around. I was giddy just getting everything lined out. Trust me, no small task getting everyone where they needed to be. But I did it!
So, all in all, just wait it out. You'll find it was worth the patience and I really, really hope each and every one of you guys feel like you're part of something bigger by the end of it due to all of these efforts.
3. Crossover Events
Alright, now, those last two points? Those are like the forerunner for this one. I want to have each city like its own ecosystem. Almost its own comic line. Crossover events will be one of the BIGGEST POTENTIAL pay-offs possible. So, for those that rave about these, I do have to say that these will be a while. A good while. These aren't even on my backburners yet because of how much I'm trying to heat up the main story lines. A point I want to tie in with these are any events that would bring the whole League together. Do keep in mind that in this universe, there are other branches of the League... Alpha and Gamma Squads. To bring the whole League together in a true sense without feeling like a cop out would be a huge, huge, huge task that I feel isn't worth the pay-off right now. Crossovers between cities? I can work on that eventually. Bringing in the entire League for a plot? That's unrealistic for a good story. And, I want to level with you guys on that one. I'm just one guy already playing a ton of characters.
Those are the big three points I really wanted to hit hard. They're good points! They're topics I absolutely love to kind'a discuss with you guys. I don't mind listening to what you request and seeing what I can do. But, that does come with the fact that I cannot do some things realistically and that patience is the answer to a LOT of questions. There were a few other things I could bring up, but I didn't want to single ANYONE out. Every single thing I brought up was answered because a) I saw it repeatedly or b) I thought it was honestly something really good that I felt the whole community here could benefit from seeing.
Anyway, that all said, Happy New Years, stay safe and enjoy your holidays!
@Rui[COLOR= rgb(152, 157, 160)] [/COLOR]@Bone2pick[COLOR= rgb(152, 157, 160)] [/COLOR]@Sopranos[COLOR= rgb(152, 157, 160)] [/COLOR]@Hell-Jumper[COLOR= rgb(152, 157, 160)] [/COLOR]@Archon[COLOR= rgb(152, 157, 160)] [/COLOR]@NecroKnight[COLOR= rgb(152, 157, 160)] [/COLOR]@Crono[COLOR= rgb(152, 157, 160)] [/COLOR]@Epiphany[COLOR= rgb(152, 157, 160)] [/COLOR]@The Regal Rper[COLOR= rgb(152, 157, 160)] [/COLOR]@Demonhunter[COLOR= rgb(152, 157, 160)] [/COLOR]@AnnoDomini[COLOR= rgb(152, 157, 160)] [/COLOR]@LokiofSP[COLOR= rgb(152, 157, 160)] [/COLOR]@sitanomoto[COLOR= rgb(152, 157, 160)] [/COLOR]@AceofRoses[COLOR= rgb(152, 157, 160)] [/COLOR]@ChazGhost
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