You may or may not know that recently I've taken over Pax Balthasar as Coordinator. This is essentially a note to offer you my warmest greetings, and to have a little chat about Pax and the way it will be run. Essentially, it will be run by YOU, by the players. Allow me to explain...
I've recently undertaken a little... census, if you like, finding out who you all are, what your characters are up to, what your characters' goals are... the works. With this in mind, I will be taking over most if not all moderating in Pax in the near future, in order to get a good feel for the place and its characters. I have several wonderful supporters working with me, and at the moment Maeve is still helping out, but hopefully the changeover will come into effect reasonably quickly and she'll be set free to go and pursue her many other responsibilities! Which I'm sure she'll be glad to hear.
As for Pax itself, and the way it will be run. This bit's important, as it will affect a lot in the future, for all of us. ;)
Firstly, Pax is entirely yours. Do as you will with it - go where you will, and have your characters pursue any goals they see fit. It's your playground, and you can go or do anything you like within it. This stems entirely from the way Grant runs the Citadel, and I believe the correct way to run things. This is how I shall run Pax - the theory of Holism. Pax will behave as a living, breathing place - as a town in which your PCs live, and things will happen in this town whether you are involved in them or not. Things one player does may affect what happens to the entire town. Perhaps in minor ways, perhaps in major ways. Perhaps in ways that you won't see straight away. What you decide to do within Pax is up to you.... You have complete liberty in all things.
Allow me to quote Grant on this, as he's capable of wording it far better than me:
At this point, you need expect no OOC push or direction from me for your content: I'll point you to a thread to call your attention to it either through IC devise or impassable requirement, but these are nothing more than direct IC consequences applied as a result of yours or another pc's actions. In other words, don't ask me where or what thread your pc should go next: frankly, I don't know. A better question might be "if I wanted to explore law enforcement, how would I get involved?", and I'll tell you. Whether or not your pc actually goes there is your business.
Holism is the theory that living matter or reality is made up of organic or unified wholes that are greater than the simple sum of their parts. Applied to these forums, it describes my firm belief that all threads in the citadel will interconnect in some way, be it critical, major, or even tertiary or minor. Every thread, event, and activity presented by you, the player, will have repercussions of some nature elsewhere. In fact, this is the cornerstone of the "player driven content" I'm seeking here.
And... this is how Pax will live, breathe, and play for you.
While I'll be interested and involved in your plot, per se - I will just be the moderator allowing you to go where you will. Your plot, your direction - this is up to you - I shan't be plotting great schemes individually for any of you, since I feel it divides the city and the players into a bunch of unrelated tangents. The city would not be whole, the whole thing would not run together smoothly as a real place would. One or two players would be off doing one thing, which would not affect other players doing something completely different! This is not the way Pax will run.
No, your plots, your direction, your grand schemes and ideas - all of these things are up to YOU, as the player. So you want to set up a smuggling ring? Fine! Be my guest! You want to build yourself a shrine to your god? Go ahead! You want to get involved in politics or scheming, or go trekking in the mountains? Sure thing. Not a problem. But I shan't be driving you in a direction. Or, more correctly - leading you in a direction. Your direction is yours - your story is up to you. Just as, if your character were a real person, they wouldn't have a narrator telling them where to go next, or what happens to them next - you'd have to do that for yourself.
This doesn't mean I shan't be offering you opportunities - not at all. Myself and my wonderful, cunning supporters have been thinking a great deal about Pax, and about how the city might develop behind the scenes. There will be plenty of IC opportunities for a player who chooses to chase them - but I shan't push you into any of them. That's up to you. I'm just running your backdrop - the city itself - your character is the star. Ask yourself, what do they want to do?
Again, allow me to quote a little more Grant to make my points far more coherent... ;) This are Grant's words on the Citadel and the way it is run, but edited by me to apply them more directly to Pax for our purposes:
• Plot Direction. While I won't ever say that I'm not interested or concerned with the plot direction your pc takes, I will admit that I don't know it. And frankly, I don't feel compelled to plan for it. Your pc can pursue what plots that involve him or her in whatever fashion he or she wishes. That's your responsibility as a player, and the very reason I find moderation so entertaining! Plots in Pax are living things that continue with or without pc involvement, but they can be shifted, changed, adjusted, and even capitalized by a clever pc. For example, each new citizen received two days worth of rations when they entered the city... Pax is a new city, and barely established - what will the citizens do for food now? Will they starve? Or will they come up with a clever solution? How will they get their food - and where from? Well... I don't know! I'll never deprive you of options, or trap you into a situation with no way out - I'm not here to torment you, but offer you opportunities. What will Pax's citizens do for food? Well, that's up to you... and that's just one example. ;)
• Mortality. This is a big issue for a lot of players...probably because they grow quite attached to their pcs. Yes, your pcs can die: I call this part of my moderation "Applied Physics Enforced". And yes, it'll be permanent. I'll never plan or require pc death for any plot or scene, but it does happen, and I won't hesitate to interpret scenes as lethal. Remember that a "scene" in the Holistic Pax is nothing more than an event that occurred as a natural result of what came before it... and it will lead to scenes in the future as well. If your pc is present at a scene in which death is a very valid risk, I'll attempt to warn you by making a thread "impassable", but even this is not infallible: pc death is very possible at all times. The best example of this aspect is if a pc should hire an assassin and order their own death. If I failed to interrupt them with some attack in the middle of the night, I would be failing in my obligations of providing you, the player, with a rich and interactive environment. He will show up a little later. And he will try to kill you. And if the scene warrants it, he will.
• Location Development. Ever thought, maybe Pax needs some form of council to run the place? Well, does it? I don't know... Just like, I don't know what your PC intends to do with his or her new house in Pax - start a competing brothel? An inn? A clothes shop? Will Pax live harmoneously together and survive the winter, or will theft and religious hatred run riot? Will Pax burn to the ground next week in a horrible fire? I have no idea. Are they possible? You bet. LIke any living system, Pax moves and changes by virtue of the forces that interact with it...and the greatest forces interacting with Pax are you, the players. Naturally, some goals will be harder than others...and some will be virtually impossible. But nothing is static. Everything from the stamp of local coin to the name of a certain street are all subject to change...and if you don't stay awake, you just might miss it.
So, to sum up. Be creative, be excited, do as you will! I'm the girl with the paintbrush doing the backgrounds. Yeah, these backgrounds will include NPCs, locations, ideas, and sometimes events... whether or not you are involved is up to you. If you decide to be, and if you come up with a plan for your character and take advantage of a situation you see, you might just change the world...
Or, at least, Pax.
The most important thing here to note is: Don't ask me what your plot's going to be! Don't ask me where to go next, or what I think you should do! Because I don't know! :D It's YOUR character, and you know them FAR better than I do - I can't and won't make that decision for you. It's not up to me, it's up to you! Be active in your fate... it's your fate, after all. And don't be afraid to go for your new idea, to take advantage of your opportunities, to try and make things happen... only good, exciting things can come of it - adventures for us all... and you'll get what you want out of this game by chasing the opportunities you're interested in. :)
And have fun! That is, after all, the main thing to remember at all times...