Regarding the kidnapping plot in Adstringendum
I'm... trying to decide what to say, what to do. It really sucks to pour hours of work into something, and then be bashed for it.
First of all, the choices I've made are not for 'my soldiers' or 'my army.' The decisions are for the sake of the game. This plot doesn't do anything for any of my characters. I'm not gaining from it.
If your character takes on a better-equipped and better-trained force that greatly outnumbers them, and the character makes them mad, there are consequences. It has always been the case that if you mess with the Inner City, you get messed with right back. Not only does this make sense, it keeps up an appreciation of the risk. The city has little in the way of consequences for things. This grounds it.
The plan was to destroy Mello. Take him out, simply, efficiently, and get out of the city. There was too much risk in taking time. An awful lot of characters said they would get involved. That would make things too messy. Then potential came for Alle and Lockon to have plot of their own, and I proposed a new, different approach -- a megaphone address that all three could hear, followed with a more open approach of a bunch going into the train station to look for traps, and backing out if they found any. That's where the station idea started. This plot idea was not seen as a good one, and was dropped.
Unfortunately, since I had not stated the original plan, for some reason entering the station was assumed to be it. I have pointed out that it was tied into the megaphone idea. I have pointed out that even if they went into the station, they would not ALL go in. The soldiers are not geniuses, but they are not stupid. Bao Ying herself said, early on in response to Alphonse Elric, that Mello had wound up with 24 hours to prepare, and she had gained nothing.
Let's face it. Mello is a genius, and one very experienced with terrorism tactics. But Bao is older, better trained, and also intelligent. She's not going to lead everyone in a blind charge into the station.
Furthermore, we're talking a run down city without a lot of technology. One laptop has been found, and it's taking a lot of time for that character to get it up to speed, I believe. There is one motorcycle, or two. All along people have talked about how difficult it is to find things like bullets or other weapons. Any explosives that the station could be armed with would have to be low-tech. There's no way to hide them. So it's not even as if a portion of the soldiers could go in and declare it all-clear and wave the rest in. (Which was not even suggested.)
Logically, if several went into the station, they could be killed. I've offered the deaths of several, multiple times. So did another player trying to work with the situation, so did Dulin. But all are not going to flock in. It makes no sense whatsoever.
We have shifted to accomodate changes that were wanted by players time and time again. This situation is very, very far from the original proposal. I cannot be accurately accused of trying to control everything, or limiting creativity. I am guilty of trying to be logical, and also calling a declaration from one player to be "cheap," thoughtless, and saying that they were reacting only because they were upset their character did not get to be "uber-special." I did get out of line there, after a couple of hours of trying to work things out.
RP is a collaborative story. You don't go into a plotted log without an idea of what's going to happen. Sure, an open log, or something like a picnic, anything can happen. But when you step into an actual plot, especially one that's involving the entire city, things need to be set up with care.
First of all, the choices I've made are not for 'my soldiers' or 'my army.' The decisions are for the sake of the game. This plot doesn't do anything for any of my characters. I'm not gaining from it.
If your character takes on a better-equipped and better-trained force that greatly outnumbers them, and the character makes them mad, there are consequences. It has always been the case that if you mess with the Inner City, you get messed with right back. Not only does this make sense, it keeps up an appreciation of the risk. The city has little in the way of consequences for things. This grounds it.
The plan was to destroy Mello. Take him out, simply, efficiently, and get out of the city. There was too much risk in taking time. An awful lot of characters said they would get involved. That would make things too messy. Then potential came for Alle and Lockon to have plot of their own, and I proposed a new, different approach -- a megaphone address that all three could hear, followed with a more open approach of a bunch going into the train station to look for traps, and backing out if they found any. That's where the station idea started. This plot idea was not seen as a good one, and was dropped.
Unfortunately, since I had not stated the original plan, for some reason entering the station was assumed to be it. I have pointed out that it was tied into the megaphone idea. I have pointed out that even if they went into the station, they would not ALL go in. The soldiers are not geniuses, but they are not stupid. Bao Ying herself said, early on in response to Alphonse Elric, that Mello had wound up with 24 hours to prepare, and she had gained nothing.
Let's face it. Mello is a genius, and one very experienced with terrorism tactics. But Bao is older, better trained, and also intelligent. She's not going to lead everyone in a blind charge into the station.
Furthermore, we're talking a run down city without a lot of technology. One laptop has been found, and it's taking a lot of time for that character to get it up to speed, I believe. There is one motorcycle, or two. All along people have talked about how difficult it is to find things like bullets or other weapons. Any explosives that the station could be armed with would have to be low-tech. There's no way to hide them. So it's not even as if a portion of the soldiers could go in and declare it all-clear and wave the rest in. (Which was not even suggested.)
Logically, if several went into the station, they could be killed. I've offered the deaths of several, multiple times. So did another player trying to work with the situation, so did Dulin. But all are not going to flock in. It makes no sense whatsoever.
We have shifted to accomodate changes that were wanted by players time and time again. This situation is very, very far from the original proposal. I cannot be accurately accused of trying to control everything, or limiting creativity. I am guilty of trying to be logical, and also calling a declaration from one player to be "cheap," thoughtless, and saying that they were reacting only because they were upset their character did not get to be "uber-special." I did get out of line there, after a couple of hours of trying to work things out.
RP is a collaborative story. You don't go into a plotted log without an idea of what's going to happen. Sure, an open log, or something like a picnic, anything can happen. But when you step into an actual plot, especially one that's involving the entire city, things need to be set up with care.