People tell you things. You choose a field in which you have Contacts, who will provide you with information (or help you uncover it).
We want to make sure that people use their Contacts in the most rewarding way possible - which is why we want to bring up a particular question that sometimes gets asked of Contacts but actually won't be hugely informative for the player character in question...
"What's going on in the world of this Contact's field?"
It's a very common question: it gets asked a lot, and in the past we've given out information as best we can in response. But we're moving away from it for the following reasons:
From Our Perspective
It can be pretty difficult for us to respond to a general question like this. The Shades of Norwich world is a rich tapestry indeed, and though your Contact might well know what's going on in their field, we don't have all its finer details, and it can be difficult for us to know what you are looking for. We don't know if you're looking for plot, flavour, or something else entirely.
From the Contact's Perspective
Imagine you have an interest, and you know someone who occasionally asks you select questions about that field. How would you respond to the question of "What's going on in the world of fly-fishing/whitewater rafting/crocheting/the police/crime?" Would you know how to answer?
We're trying to move towards recognising that your Contacts are real people in the Shades of Norwich world, with motivations and interests of their own. As such, like us, they'll be happier when responding to more specific questions about their interests than general ones.
Other Ways of Getting General Information
Of course, if you really do want to keep an eye on what's going on in certain fields, there's another option available to you: the Newsposts.
The function and content of the Newsposts is a blog post of its own, and they are an amalgamation of reflecting PC and NPC actions, new and developing plots, and general flavour. They, more than anything else, reflect what's going on in various fields.
How to Use Your Contacts
The last thing we want is to tell you what not to ask, without giving you some suggestions and starting points!
Think about what you want from your Contact. Are you...
Looking for plot? If so, the more specific you are, the more we know what kind of plot you would like us to make for you. Some possibilities (which of course depend on whether or not you want these kinds of plots!) might include...
- Contacts (Occult): Do you know any stories of local hauntings of murdered children?
- Contacts (Police): What's the strangest unsolved crime you've got on the books at the moment?
- Contacts (Smugglers): Is anyone in particular snooping around our business?
- Contacts (Anything): Is there anything I can do for you this month?
Looking for a specific snapshot of a facet of their interest? If so, try to indicate to us what in particular you're interested in - that way, we know what you'd like to hear from us!
- Contacts (Archaeologists): What digs are happening in Norfolk at the moment?
- Contacts (Media): What's your biggest story about the police/socialites/big business/etc?
- Contacts (Crime): What drugs are most popular at the moment?
I, at least slightly, disagree. I think most people could tell you general things happening in the world of their interest and every hobby nowadays is likely to have regular communication. I think most people could tell you what is happening in the world of something (assuming they interact with it enough, which I would hope is tautological in this example)
ReplyDeleteYou also appear to have overlooked the issue of time. The character spends a month doing things and talking to people while the player doesn't. Jim the journalist probably would generally tell me *stuff* when we meet up at the pub once a week but most downtime responses gloss over those as unimportant, meaning players don't always get the minor information that in the real world contributes to a fuller understanding of things and general flavour.
The other issue is that the skill boards may not cover the areas my contacts do. If I have contacts or high dots is allies (Local Charities) then even the socialise board is unlikely to actually provide relevant information to me 90%+ of the time. (and that glosses over high allies/low social skills characters who just bankroll it/use magic powers/work through intermediaries/listen in on conversations somehow.
Surely for basically any contact, you ask them what's going on in general, they'll tell you "business as usual", which is no information.
DeleteJim the journalist might talk to you in the pub, but he'll tell you about how his secretary keeps bringing his coffee wrong and his son Jim Jr won an award at school for best tie, or other vague things. He's not going to go "WELL there's a story about to be published which is of no interest to me but hints at vampires although I don't know that it does." It wouldn't make sense.
If you want to have the friendly pub chat in your downtime response, put in social action: friendly pub chat with Jim. If you want the lay of the land, have contact action: "What's the most exciting thing upcoming in your field of interest?" Or something.
Hello, thanks for commenting!
DeleteYou're totally right - in real life I would be able to tell somebody about what sort of things are currently going on in the world of Special Educational Needs in Norfolk. In the world there's a lot of chit-chat, and somebody being asked "how are things" would respond in the way you suggest.
In Shades of Norwich we're not replicating real life, and for the same reason that books don't include all the "um"s in dialogue and TV doesn't include the boring bits, by necessity we filter out background chatter.
It's also helpful for us to know why somebody is talking to this person. If Rebecca is small-talking with Jim because she wants gossip on his colleagues at the office, we can give a more characterful and fleshed-out response because we know why the questions are being asked and what the player and character want out of it.
We put flavour in the newsposts which people can follow up on if they wish, to give an idea of what's going on (we are planning a newspost blog post in the future). From that example, charities news and flavour would appear under Social or Street. Generally, we try to keep an eye on people's stats in relation to their Merits, so there isn't discrepancy like you mention - somebody with no Socialise or Streetwise at all would find it difficult to gain Contacts in those areas, and we would encourage them to buy the skills.
It's also worth noting that Contacts will respond to current events in the setting which are within their areas of interest, and will bring them up without being questioned.
@Anonymous 02:52:
DeleteThanks for commenting!
We're happy to give people flavour about Jim's kids' asthma problems if they want it (and we tend to put in little details no matter what, to flavour things when appropriate), but in a lot of cases we don't get information about whether a player is happy with random flavour-chat, is looking for a thrilling adventure, or just isn't sure what direction they want to go in.