[HoE] Meta-Plot Adventures

["travis lide" <sinisterdexter@mindspring.com>]

----- Original Message -----

> Date: Sun, 19 Mar 2000 00:58:10 -0500
> From: johngoff@erols.com
> Subject: [HoE]   Meta-Plot Adventures
>
> > >
>
> Okay, first of all, guys, give me/us a little credit. I didn't want to
come
> out and say "If the story is ridiculous, we're going to likely draw again"
> but there, it's said.

Okay! well, that said I really have no problem with it.. it certainly would
save the Pinnicle crew a LOT of work reading over the stories...

> >
> Leaving it as random as possible is the only way we can avoid that. Now
I'm
> hearing that won't work either--rather vehemently.

See above.. I don't mind a random drawing as long as the random drawing
isn't always the final word...

> Now, we could do a consensus, but I'll be honest, reading two to three
> hundred stories straight through is going to take more time than any one
of
> us has right now. The schedule is tight and getting tighter. It's simply
not
> an option. In fact, reading them through just to get a majority vote
doesn't
> work either, 'cause it really entails the same amount of work.

that's true.. I honestly didn't think about the fact that no one in their
right mind would ever want to read the same story 500 times in a month,
write about it themselves, and meet a monthly deadline on top of that...

> Sorry if I seem a little tense about it, but after some lengthy
discussion,
> this seemed the only workable method to give individual players a shot at
> influencing the storyline. Believe me, we hit this from nearly every angle
> imaginable.

No doubt!

>
> However, if you guys--who have been our most loyal fans and _my_ primary
> target audience--are that dead set against it, maybe we should just do a
> simple majority vote and forget the individual posse idea.

Again, I think it's great to let one group get the glory, as long as PEG
decides that it's best for the game after pulling.

> I've got a couple of days to think about it before the adventure has to go
> into prep for publishing, so I'll mull it over seriously. If I can find a
> way to make it work around your guys concerns, I will. I'll also watch the
> list to see what thoughts you have on the subject as well.

> Worst comes to worst, I can always just drop the idea altogether and make
> sure adventures are written so that the specific details of the outcome
can
> be left hazy in the future of the setting, while the meta-plot elements
> evolve as a result and the posses still have a hand the storyline. I'm not
> thrilled with that (it depersonalizes the idea) but it's an option.

I hope that you keep the idea. I think what you saw were initial and paniced
responses to the thought that some munchkin powergame group might warp what
Pinnicle has worked so hard to cultivate - a rich and fantastic storyline
with some of the most well kept continuity I've seen...

From what you're saying, common sense will dictate as much of the Future
Plot as the winning group's adventure write up. I have no problem with that.

sinisterdexter@mindspring.com