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gwendolyngraceIt's been almost two weeks since we finished but the after-party still goes on....
We've got loads of other things still in store, including more AMAs, additional post-game analysis, and of course, more Easter Eggs. But in the meantime, we thought we'd switch gears a bit and talk about more behind-the-scenes stuff, like our process.
So, here's a thread to discuss our approach to plotting, how we decided on major plots, and so on. I invite the players to share their thoughts and the readers to ask us about how we worked as a team - and when we chose to split off, change gears, or sometimes, switch to a more "game-master" style of play where certain players were holding their cards closer to the vest.
To get it started, I'll share the basics. As I think you all know, we have a mailing list (that changed its host partway through), where we communicated. We also did a lot of "pre-plotting," by which I mean, the characters who were primarily involved in a given plot would frequently have chats or off-list email threads to sketch out the big picture, and then once it was in a reasonable shape, we would bring the outline to all the players and finish refining it.
There were also any number of times when two or more people were talking in chat (usually Google-chat), while threading one or more of their characters in the game, and the chat would lead to other ideas. Sometimes these were little ideas, like, "Oh, hey, while I've got you, I was thinking I'd like my character to have an encounter with yours" and they would spin their side-plot on their own. Sometimes these were seeds of the larger plots, often times potential solutions to problems we were facing.
Some of our biggest problems were also our biggest plots: things like how to parallel the major events of the books while keeping to the parameters of Alternity; how to find the Horcruxes and eliminate them; how to write ourselves OUT of corners; how to KILL Voldemort when Harry himself wasn't actually a Horcrux, etc. Then there were the major climaxes of every year, some of which were solved mere hours before we had to play them out.
It was also a common practice to keep those chat windows open while we were playing, so that we could interact real-time with the other players who were involved. Sometimes this wasn't possible and there were a LOT of emails flying. For the major plots, we tried to keep a group window going and people would enter and leave as they were available. This sometimes got chaotic with too many people overlapping, which often meant we had to interrupt the chatter to keep everyone on the same page.
Players, what sorts of process stories do you have to share?
We've got loads of other things still in store, including more AMAs, additional post-game analysis, and of course, more Easter Eggs. But in the meantime, we thought we'd switch gears a bit and talk about more behind-the-scenes stuff, like our process.
So, here's a thread to discuss our approach to plotting, how we decided on major plots, and so on. I invite the players to share their thoughts and the readers to ask us about how we worked as a team - and when we chose to split off, change gears, or sometimes, switch to a more "game-master" style of play where certain players were holding their cards closer to the vest.
To get it started, I'll share the basics. As I think you all know, we have a mailing list (that changed its host partway through), where we communicated. We also did a lot of "pre-plotting," by which I mean, the characters who were primarily involved in a given plot would frequently have chats or off-list email threads to sketch out the big picture, and then once it was in a reasonable shape, we would bring the outline to all the players and finish refining it.
There were also any number of times when two or more people were talking in chat (usually Google-chat), while threading one or more of their characters in the game, and the chat would lead to other ideas. Sometimes these were little ideas, like, "Oh, hey, while I've got you, I was thinking I'd like my character to have an encounter with yours" and they would spin their side-plot on their own. Sometimes these were seeds of the larger plots, often times potential solutions to problems we were facing.
Some of our biggest problems were also our biggest plots: things like how to parallel the major events of the books while keeping to the parameters of Alternity; how to find the Horcruxes and eliminate them; how to write ourselves OUT of corners; how to KILL Voldemort when Harry himself wasn't actually a Horcrux, etc. Then there were the major climaxes of every year, some of which were solved mere hours before we had to play them out.
It was also a common practice to keep those chat windows open while we were playing, so that we could interact real-time with the other players who were involved. Sometimes this wasn't possible and there were a LOT of emails flying. For the major plots, we tried to keep a group window going and people would enter and leave as they were available. This sometimes got chaotic with too many people overlapping, which often meant we had to interrupt the chatter to keep everyone on the same page.
Players, what sorts of process stories do you have to share?
