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MOD ANNOUNCEMENTS: OCTOBER
OOC & ADMIN UPDATES
Notable Dates
IC Leaders Schedule Update
The deadline for AC leadership proofs for this cycle is the end of October! Because November isn't part of a cycle of its own this year, if you want to run the plot in November or December during the mod hiatus to space things out, that'll be fine. But please don't all wait till the end of October to submit plots, or we'll bottleneck! As a reminder:
- Division heads and project leaders need to provide a war table assignment for their respective divisions/projects every three months and link to it in their AC comment. A single war table operation that involves two divisions/projects (or one division and one project) can meet the requirement for both, provided that both leaders participate in creating and running it and that it's open to (and suited for the skills/goals of) both groups.
- Other leaders need to actively use their position in some way—a war table assignment, a log focused significantly on them doing their jobs, an announcement, etc.—and link that in their AC comment.
OOC Plot Focus Shift
Part of the goal (and the fun, we hope!) of Fade Rift has always been getting to play in a bigger sandbox than the video games can allow. We've always tried to allow PCs to influence how the main conflicts in the world play out across Thedas. But as the scope of the conflict has gotten bigger and bigger and the game has gotten smaller, the number of things Riftwatch theoretically could be worried about has gotten overwhelmingly large. It's gotten to the point where we think it's started hampering plotting rather than helping.
So, a course correction is in order.
When the Inquisition set up the Kirkwall outpost and then it broke away from the Inquisition as Riftwatch, part of the goal both IC and OOC was to allow Riftwatch to be an organization of politically problematic misfits who could to some extent set aside the Inquisition's need to broadly appeal to Southern Andrastian Thedas and fully focus on handling the parts of the war effort that other groups couldn't or wouldn't want to dirty their hands with, like weird magic, rifter shit, unsavory characters, unpopular groups, and shady activities. We've lost that focus over the years, but we want to go back to it. We hope focusing on a narrower aspect of the war effort this way will make it easier to feel like progress is being made. It'll also allow more ability to focus on things like mages, elves, pirates, revolutionaries, etc., that PCs are interested in, since bringing them into the war effort is something Riftwatch is more willing and better positioned to do than the Chantry/Inquisition/establishment in general.
This is an OOC adjustment in focus, not an IC one. It's not that the Division Heads are sitting down and saying "nevermind Orlais, let's focus on the Dalish and the Carta from now on." IC, nothing is changing. Priorities will continue to shift over time and in response to events, as always, and it shouldn't feel to characters as if Riftwatch's role in the world has changed.
What does this mean in practice?
- Major world events are going to start progressing in the background more often. We've gotten in the habit of leaving a lot of balls in the air for prolonged periods of time in case someone wants to do something with them later. We're going to attempt to stop! Rather than the status of a besieged city being left dangling for months or years in case someone might want to run a plot about rescuing it someday, IC news might convey that the city is besieged one month and that it falls (or triumphs!) a month or two later. We've typically saved any major battles or changes to the status of the invasion for mod plots so Riftwatch could be directly involved, but now they might happen via IC news instead.
- Players (and especially IC leaders) should feel absolved of the responsibility to have Riftwatch avert every crisis, persuade every monarch to take action, etc. Characters should also ICly feel absolved of this, to the extent it's IC for them to feel absolved of anything. If we post news that territory was lost and people were killed, it isn't to make you or your characters think they somehow failed or should have been there—if someone should have been there, it's the Inquisition, or the local army, or any number of other groups with more than 70 people in them. That doesn't mean that Riftwatch can't have any influence on these events. But we want to eliminate the sense that big things will only happen as a result of Riftwatch's action or inaction. That's a lot of OOC and IC pressure, we think it's making plotting trickier since the focus is on huge goals that can only be chipped away at, and it just isn't realistic anyway.
- We're going to emphasize Riftwatch's niche when choosing what to keep on hold and/or leave open for player plots and influence. These are the things that we generally won't progress in the background without player plots or war table assignments pushing them forward. We don't have an exhaustive list, but some examples include: solving the problems presented by the Gates, forging alliances with smaller or politically disfavored groups such as elves, mages, the Qun, organized crime groups, pirates, and rebels within Tevinter or the Anderfels; investigating Corypheus' scary-weird magic as well as ways to use scary-weird magic (and Rifter inventions!) in the war effort; and working behind enemy lines to sabotage and disrupt operations in Minrathous or other enemy territory. We're never going to suddenly announce that the Inquisition discovered Corypheus' weaknesses, that the Chantry made an alliance with pirates, or that the Divine has decided on a plan for the future of Circles while everyone was asleep. If we do post IC news about these subjects, it will be more in service of setting up future mod plots or providing fodder for player plots.
- You should be able to accomplish things faster. While very important, Riftwatch's niche areas are smaller undertakings better suited to its members than, for example, persuading the Empress of Orlais to do anything in particular. So we hope focusing player plots in this area will also allow players to make immediate progress and accomplish things in 1 or 2 steps instead of 5 or 10. And since feeling like you've "accomplished something" in this context—where the maps aren't moving, the war isn't necessarily immediately ending, etc.—can be hard, as can tracking what's been done on various subjects in the past, we're adding some additional wiki pages to help, including expanding on the Resources page (which we encourage IC leaders in particular to add to!) and adding a new offshoot page tracking connections and NPCs that Riftwatch has cultivated through various plots who can be used as sources of information and plot influence in the future. We also encourage Division Heads and Project Leaders to add sections to the division/project wiki pages to highlight significant past events and accomplishments.
- You can still do player plots about big geopolitical shifts or other major events outside Riftwatch's niche. We're not saying Thedas is now on mod-determined rails and PC actions can't influence anything outside of Riftwatch's focus areas. Frankly, as you all probably know by now, we don't plan most things far enough in advance to put the plot on rails. It's more like this in extreme slow motion. We are always keeping an eye on plot requests and reports and thinking about how they might influence what comes next, and that'll continue. And again, you are also still very welcome to propose plots about politicking with nobles or doing something huge and potentially world-changing, and we're not saying that Riftwatch will never again participate in a big battle. It's just not what we intend the main focus to be.
Temporary Job Assignments
Since we have several chronically unfilled positions we're trying a new system! Beginning now, we're going to give out temporary job assignments to characters who sign up here. Receiving a temporary job assignment will mean your character has been assigned by the Division Heads to fill that role on a temporary basis, because someone's gotta do it. After three months we'll take fresh sign-ups and shuffle the assignments.
If your character has a temporary job assignment, you don't have to do any extra AC or meet additional leadership requirements. Side characters are welcome to sign up. So are PCs who already have other jobs, as long as y'all promise not to ICly turn it into your character being oppressed by the Div Heads who are making them work two jobs while other people slack off. Obviously realistically people with less to do would be given extra work first! But we don't want to bar you from signing up if you'd have fun with it.
Some Brief Reminders About Other Things
- Turn in your plot reports (whether war table or player plot) for points toward purchasing Riftwatch Improvements on the AC Rewards page, so that we can ICly upgrade the Gallows! Please, we need an elevator.
- Sign up for a project! Just add your character to the personnel list on the relevant wiki page.
- The Riftwatch overview on the wiki has lots of info about how the organization works, what characters do all day, and what's expected of them. (Also lots of reports and stuff if you're wondering whether anybody's ever done anything about X, Y, or Z.)
IC & PLOT UPDATES
Arlathan & The Gates
Thanks to the teams that made it through the elven pantheon's puzzles and made the necessary sacrifices, Riftwatch has finally located the site of one of the Gates before the Venatori have had a chance to open it, and through diligently misleading their foes have convinced them (at least for now) that no Gate exists in the Arlathan Forest after all.
They have also learned a great deal about
Going forward, any PC who is a member of Riftwatch in good standing—i.e., who is officially joined up and not currently in the dungeon or specifically banned from sensitive Riftwatch files—can and should be aware of this information. We'll be adding it to the wiki, but the key points that can be gleaned include:
- The ritual requires a set of objects:
- An orb, which some members of Riftwatch may recognize as resembling various orbs it has encountered over the years.
- Blood of some kind
- Two additional objects that don't appear to have a set form, their shifting nature in the visions of the ritual suggesting that there may be multiple things that can play this role
- An orb, which some members of Riftwatch may recognize as resembling various orbs it has encountered over the years.
Also, thanks to some miraculously successful arts & crafts work by the team that made contact with the Dalish Clan Myrlen, Riftwatch gained a set of detailed maps of the Arlathan region, including the Tevinter/Antiva border, and the clan's willingness to work with Riftwatch in the future.
Plot Rewards
Though delivery was delayed by the situation in the Free Marches, those who were particularly helpful during Riftwatch's visit to Antiva will begin to receive thank-you gifts this month. (We list a few options here—you can pick the one (1) item you like best for your character. Multiple people claiming the same thing is fine!)
For their assistance unmasking Ramondo Caliara, Cosima, Mobius, Wysteria, Barrow, and Ellis will receive thank-you gifts from the remaining Merchant Princes. (A sixth gift, sent for Emet-Selch, will be added to Riftwatch's stores.)
- A pair of Antivan silver pieces, subtly marked; when they are separated, one of them will turn like a compass to point the top of its design in the direction of the other. After a couple hundred yards of distance is put between them they'll lose their connection, but as long as you keep close, they're useful for tailing thieves.
- A finely-made shawl or cowl with goldwork embroidery, worth a decent amount of money and fantastic for convincing people you're someone important.
- An IOU (but fancy, with a seal) for the next time they need something expensive or difficult to obtain.
- One of Bartolo Nuno's purebred puppies–specifically, one just like this, called a Cotone di Rialto.
- A finely-crafted croquet set that's been mildly enchanted so that each ball gives off some kind of mild magical effect whenever they're struck—the red ball spits small flames, the blue ball ice, the green a whiff of faux-toxin stink powder, etc. Not enough to seriously injure, they're just to give the game some added spice.
- A pair of enchanted ear plugs that filter out most sounds other than speech.
- A rapier that quietly whispers to its user a rhyming retort to any insult delivered to them while it's in use, just in case they get tongue-tied during a duel.
- An ancient ring that somehow causes wet things to dry faster–great for if you need to swim to reach something and then pretend you weren't just in the water.
- A large feathered hat that also acts as a compass, so the wearer can simply observe the feathers and then pretend he inherently knew which direction the ship was going.
- A large feathered hat whose feathers can be removed and used as small throwing knives, each enchanted with a minor fire rune.
- A compass that always points to the nearest gold.
- A set of two gaudy chalices that, when drunk from, transfer health from one drinker to the other until they are equal.
- A single large emerald stud that makes its wearer slightly luckier, particularly at cards and dice.
- A cutlass supposedly haunted by the spirit of its original owner, a pirate captain whose name has been lost to time. Sometimes a spirit in his form appears when it's unsheathed to give unwanted advice on piracy, usually consisting of nonsensical nautical aphorisms, or to criticize one's duelling technique
And in gratitude for their help disrupting the conspiracy within the Antivan Crows, the remaining Crow houses will send Aleksei, Astarion, Byerly, and Bastien an otherwise unmarked box of loot. (A fifth gift, sent for Fitcher, will be added to Riftwatch's stores.)
- A set of throwing knives that, no matter how poorly thrown, always manage to land pointy-end first (though not necessarily in the correct place, if the throw was careless).
- Particularly quiet boots, for creeping. They fit. Don't ask how they made sure they would fit.
- Gloves made of exceptionally soft leather that protect the hands without making a sound or hampering the wearer's dexterity at all. Again, perfectly fit.
- A pair of glasses with tiny mirrors set on the inside that allow the wearer to discreetly observe a sliver of what's behind them, a slightly larger sliver than the angle seems like it ought to allow.
- A leather kit containing small vials of three of the apothecary AC reward potions–your choice which one–at one dose/use apiece.
- A fist-sized metal sphere made of two interlocking halves. When the halves are separated, they begin a countdown–about ten minutes–before their exposed flat sides ignite and burn for another ten minutes, catching anything around them on fire. Useful for starting a fire without having to be there when it starts.
What's Next
Our next mod plot will occur in November and will involve a return to the Crossroads ~and beyond~ in a way we'll give more info about later. It'll be ICly focused on acquiring a device useful in the effort to close the Gates and OOCly designed to provide fodder for continued RP through the holidays and our usual mod hiatus. It'll also be somewhat self-contained, meaning that you don't need to worry about it changing the playing field in a way that will disrupt other plot plans. We may also do a small, local event in the interim, but there is plenty of room in the schedule for player plots and war table events.
Reminder: Nightmares
Characters in the Free Marches are continuing to experience nightmares more often than usual, now with increasing frequency. Characters traveling outside the region–including everyone who went to Antiva, for example–will find their sleep returns to normal while they're away. By now, it make also be obvious via gossip and grumbling that this phenomenon is not exclusive to Riftwatch members. Kirkwall locals and people elsewhere in the Marches are tired and on edge, and if asked they will confirm their dreams have been strange and bad of late.
IC Leader Updates
No new updates (aside from the new temp system discussed above). You can see a list of all the available positions, including the new ones we added last month, on the wiki. Applications for leadership roles will next be due on June 30.
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