Jade Stage IRC game: Interest Check and Setup

[Lmns Crn]

this is happening, you are going to be a part of it happening, get ready

The Plan:
- a Casual Game: drop in, drop out, skip a week, show up unannounced... that's fine with me
- a City Game: you're a mover and/or a shaker in Yolek-Ja, the mightiest of the Free Cities
- a FATE Game: we'll be using the Jade FATE mechanics, available on the wiki
- a Player-Driven Game: each player's goals, plans, and schemes will shape the action

What I want is a stable of interesting, powerful, driven characters with important motivations and relationships. Each week, we'll see which players show up, and make the game session about those characters, using their agendas and aspirations as cues. Pretty freeform.

What We Need to Figure Out:
- Day and Time: a regular timeslot, looking for what works the best for the most interested people
- City Details: we'll do a group city creation, so that everybody has input into the city's important faces, landmarks, haunts, and other details you'll interact with in play
- Character Creation: as much as possible, we'll do character creation as a group, so that players can coordinate and plan interconnected characters

The first game session will be city creation: together, we'll determine what Yolek-Ja feels like. We'll decide what parts of town the city should have, what groups and factions have a presence there, what places we want to be important for the game, and what people should be fixtures at those places. If you want to play a character with certain connections, you have the power to write those NPCs and organizations into the city. We'll also put aspects on those places, so you can leverage your knowledge of the city in-game.

The second game session will be character creation: we'll build a pool of characters as a group. Because we'll have the city creation in place, you'll have plenty of information to build on top of, for membership in organizations, NPCs to use as rivals, allies, contacts, etc. And because we'll be forming character ideas together, we can build characters with close ties, with dramatic conflicts, with mutual history, with common goals... whatever you like.

What you should be doing right now is posting in this thread if you're interested-- even a little bit interested. We'll figure out a timeslot and then go from there.

[sparkletwist]

Hmm. Well, I'm interested, albeit somewhat busy lately... and, admittedly, trying to get my own thing going as well.

That said! The FATE system has interested me for a while, and seeing the Jade Stage in action is also something that has interested me. The casual focus seems quite good, too.

However, I wonder if all that about city creation, character creation, and desire to coordinate character ties to one another doesn't somewhat conflict with the idea of making a casual, drop-in, drop-out game. Anyone not present for the city creation session won't have the same ties to the city, after all, and it will instead be full of plot hooks to people who have since dropped out. Granted, a talented GM (which I suspect you are!) will be able to work around this, but it's just something I noticed that I'd rather point out now than have bite you and the group in some unpleasant place later.

[Ninja D!]

I think that wouldn't be too much of a problem as long as the city isn't built entirely around those characters. Room needs to be left to expand the city and with hooks in place for new characters.

 I am interested if it happens to fall in a timeslot that is alright for me. I'm limited in the evenings, though, so we'll just have to see.

[Ghostman]

Would it be alright to participate in the city creation even if one won't be playing a PC? I'm asking primarily because I'm already in two IRC campaigns here and not sure if I'll have the energy to manage three. Although this should be less of a problem if it's truly a game you can just drop in at random.

[Lmns Crn]

However, I wonder if all that about city creation, character creation, and desire to coordinate character ties to one another doesn't somewhat conflict with the idea of making a casual, drop-in, drop-out game. Anyone not present for the city creation session won't have the same ties to the city, after all, and it will instead be full of plot hooks to people who have since dropped out. Granted, a talented GM (which I suspect you are!) will be able to work around this, but it's just something I noticed that I'd rather point out now than have bite you and the group in some unpleasant place later.

Nah, I've seen that coming, and I'm not too worried about it. There's going to be plenty of "uncharted territory" in this city to add more detail as new characters are built for it; players who join up after the first round will have the same "build your world" opportunities as the original players, just in bits and pieces. I'm looking forward to the group creation sessions and I personally would be a bit bummed to miss them, but people who do miss them will still be included (as a group, we'll just reach out and pull them in after the fact).

I am interested if it happens to fall in a timeslot that is alright for me.

Would it be alright to participate in the city creation even if one won't be playing a PC?[/quote]Hmm. Well, I'm interested, albeit somewhat busy lately... and, admittedly, trying to get my own thing going as well.

That said! The FATE system has interested me for a while, and seeing the Jade Stage in action is also something that has interested me. The casual focus seems quite good, too.[/quote]I am interested if it happens to fall in a timeslot that is alright for me.[/quote] I'm asking primarily because I'm already in two IRC campaigns here and not sure if I'll have the energy to manage three. Although this should be less of a problem if it's truly a game you can just drop in at random.   [/quote]I'm really striving for a situation that doesn't make people feel pressured, or feel like they've made an onerous commitment. So even if you think you'll only be interested or capable of showing up every once in a while, go ahead and make a character.

One of the pitfalls about a "show up when you feel like it" game is that you need a good-sized pool of characters to draw from (or you'll end up with weeks where, by chance, nobody shows up). So I'd really prefer it if peple who are on the fence would err on the side of getting involved, in this case.

[Kindling]

Well, seeing as it's casual, why the hell not? A weekday would be best for me, and I do like to sleep, so, not too late either. I am on GMT, y'see.

What sorts of characters, beyond "movers and/or shakers," are you imagining people will play?

PS. I've never really had anything to do with FATE before so you may have to babysit me a little to begin with in terms of the system.

[Weave]

I'M SO INTERESTED.

Sadly, my schedule is so crazy that I cannot guarantee any days off consistently. I will almost never, however, have Friday, Saturday, or Sunday off, but the other days are fair game.

[Mason]

Hi. I would be interested. I have read through some of your work on Jade Stage and loved it. This might be a good opportunity to get more involved with the community again.

[Steerpike]

Though I have too much on my plate to regularly participate, I might drop in every now and then, and will certainly follow this!

[CoyoteCamouflage]

I'm curious. I'd need to look into the system and setting a bit more before I'd consider judging that I have the hang of it, but I'd be interested assuming I can make the time.

Also,

Would it be alright to participate in the city creation even if one won't be playing a PC?

If not a PC, then why not play some NPCs when you stop by? I thought that was a neat idea when I saw Nom do it in CE, so why not put in that caveat for world creation, eh? It's like being a character actor for.. iono, zombies-- or the first random person to die in horror movies. :D

[Superfluous Crow]

I would definitely be interested in this!
Since I'm departing for a semester abroad in Singapore in a few weeks I won't be able to play with my regular group and so it could be fun to do some more IRC. Also, Jade Stage is pretty great and the same goes for jade FATE. I will probably have to reread some of it to refresh my memory, though. I don't know my schedule yet, but I will be in GMT+6 after the 28th.
For initial character ideas, I'm thinking a missionary or perhaps a mysteries practitioner just to get to play around with your magic system.
 
EDIT: didn't you have more completed mystical stunts than just the sorcerous ones and the Kudan mysticism? They don't seem to be on the wiki.

[Llum]

I am interested in this, I work shiftwork (graveyards) for the rest of the summer (2 months) so I'll have varying attendence if its in the evening.

[Magnus Pym]

I could be interested. I do lots of overtime though so I'd prefer knowing around what time the sessions will be before I make a decision.

[Nomadic]

Though I have too much on my plate to regularly participate, I might drop in every now and then, and will certainly follow this!

I'm in the same boat as steerpike here. I'd be happy to drop in from time to time though.

[Lmns Crn]

Okay, just throwing an idea out here, but how does Thursday Evening work for you guys? It seems pretty ideal for me at this point.