Midwinter Planning 2023

[Merle]

Seasons greetings, everyone!

It's your friendly neighborhood Merle, back in the admin seat to talk Midwinter plans. That's right. By some kind of temporal witchcraft, the year is almost over. Again. Which means it's time to say goodbye to the dark, dance through the Longest Night, and welcome back the light in ecstatic style. From the humblest inns and alleyways to the grand palace ballroom. Joie to all~

To start, a reminder that we're going to try doing things a little differently this year.

Instead of giant free-for-all threads, each party will have its own forum. Ideally, this will make it easier to set up all the dates and rendezvous we'd like without having to race the clock or dig through pages of replies. Put your focus on the highlights of the evening, with 1-on-1 or smaller group threads.

And why limit yourself to one encounter for a whole evening of festivities? Another advantage of this method is the possibility of simultaneously playing out threads with the same character. Say you've got a popular young single wanting to make ALL the rounds... instead of being limited to one choice, simply set up separate threads for various points in the evening.

Caution: Remember, it may be the Longest Night, but it is still only one (1) night. Even if someone wants to do everything, meet everyone, or be everywhere all at once, try to set reasonable limits. Also, to remain aware of the timing of each thread to avoid unintentional paradoxes =P

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There's another change to the normal operation of things I'm considering that I'd like your thoughts on, as well.

I'm thinking of taking a break from running MW Royalty polls, having the adepts chosen be NPCs - similar to the actors who play those parts at the palace.

It's not that I don't enjoy doing the polls. I do. The mystery and anticipation is always exciting and I love seeing the engagement and participation of our players (and recently, from outside the board as well). Not to mention the great roleplay opportunities it creates, and the memorable scenes that arise from them. But it has been a rough year and it's a lot to organize. There's also the added pressure on our winners to kick off the party.

So, maybe we take it easy and handwave it this go around.

Unless it's something y'all really want to see. I'm not going to axe a feature of the biggest event of the year if it's something everyone is looking forward to. I do, however, have some ideas for how we might do things a little differently next time (or this time, but I'll save the details for later, after we've decided what the general plan is).

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Other topics for discussion:

Themes. While I'm suggesting a break from the WQ/SP polls, we still intend to gather ideas for costume themes and take a vote on them as usual.

Parties. Since the plan is to have party forums in place of group threads, we've got to decide how that'll be organised. The simplest would be to just have one general forum for each fete, with the particular details given in thread (in the ballroom or at the buffet table, a secluded niche down a side hall, street bonfire or inside a merry tavern). Or we can make subforums for each major party.

Something like this, for example:

Palace Party
>Ballroom
>Buffets
>Game Room
>Halls
>Courtyard

We could also have a forum for smaller gatherings, private parties, and MW plans that don't revolve around attending a fete at all.

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And, I think that's it... so, let's hear your thoughts! What do you think of a temporary break from MW tradition? Have ideas for themes, or want to revisit previous favorites? General forum or specific subforums?

Feel free to post here or join a more active discussion on our discord!

[Desdemona]

I think the forum idea is fantastic. If you want to save some work (unless you plan on using the forum for future years), you could just let people plan, then just make spaces for that. Unless there are people who want the chance for impromptu places to bounce around. Of course, if all future MWs will be in the same place, then you could just make it once and be done. I am probably going to end up with a lot of time on my hands in the next few weeks, so if you want help, let me know. I did make my own proboards since I was going to make detailed back stories for everyone, though I never actually used it, ha ha. But, I did start building it out so I have some idea of how it works.

I am fine with NPC midwinter players this year. Another option, for now or future years, is to just use a random number generator and make a list. The site chooses and it's pretty low effort. There are also sites that have a randomized wheel, if you want to make a small event of it in Discord. Though, I don't know how easy it would be to get everyone in there at the same time. You just copy and paste the names in the wheel and let it spin.

I don't know if I can think of any new themes that haven't already been voted. I don't know if the poles are saved, if so, it might be kind of fun to take the least voted themes and put them up. Everyone can show up cranky because they had to dress up like grass, or whatever, ha.

[Merle]

We do have all the old polls, though you have to dig a little. I can probably compile a list of the previous themes voted on + results.

I was thinking for the future of the MW Royalty, that instead of having a massive list of every single possible adept, and having people nominate other players' chars like a board popularity contest, we could maybe submit a set number of our own chars that make the most sense or that we would most want to see get the chance at it. Personally, I think that'd serve the narrative better + be a little more even-handed for statistical chances. Using a randomiser rather than a poll would help with that, too. Something to think about, and maybe come up with a combination.

I hadn't thought of making the forums permanent. We DO normally make MW forums, they're just MW-YEAR, with all the party threads inside. Then the singular forum is put into past events. I'm not sure how deeply we can stack subforums, but if we can have an overall MW2023 parent forum, with the party forums, then threads (or subforums for specifics, THEN threads) - I figure we'll do the same and put the 2023 parent forum in past events when it's through? But tbf I hadn't given that logistical factor a lot of thought.

I'll think on it, take a look at options, and totally will hit you up if I need a hand! Thank you!

[Desdemona]

Another thing to look at would be templates. I don't know if they are an option here, but if so, you could make a template, then just reload it e every year. Then you can archive last year's and start out fresh. You might have to use code, if that's even an option, and there isn't a easy user interface way to create it.

[Merle]

The only template for the site I'm really familiar with is the overall board aesthetic one. I can edit the details of that a little, with only very basic code, but have never tried to change it... I'm not the most tech savvy person. I'm not sure where you'd put (or even begin looking for where to put) a template for more specific site areas or components like that.

Honestly, though, adding and moving forums/subforums is fortunately super easy. You don't actually need to mess with the code at all, because there IS a user interface for it already built in.

[Gladiolus]

I like the idea of skipping the MW royalty aspect. It was *so* stressful for me and my adepts when we got picked!

I think ditching the mega-threads and instead having forums is a good idea. We can still - I would guess - create an open thread and have someone else join in the jolly-making.

Having the least-voted themes for the MW masque is a fun idea. We have a bunch of really good ideas that never get picked. We can either poll those - or have a random number generator pick the theme.

**Edit: Ya girl found the least-voted themes for the past two years (with 0 votes):
2022

Books & Genres
Movies & Plays
Holidays

2021

Geology
Fabrics

***Edit again: and ya girl found the previous previous 3 years (0 votes):
2020
Colors
Games
Food & Drink

2019
Food
Fashion Styles

2018
Red
Black & White
Inanimate Objects

[Merle]

I like the idea of skipping the MW royalty aspect. It was *so* stressful for me and my adepts when we got picked!

That's another reason to move towards a system of putting your own chars forward rather than nominating other people. You can choose which chars you would WANT to play in those roles--IF ANY!

It's supposed to be fun, not a stressful obligation.

I think ditching the mega-threads and instead having forums is a good idea. We can still - I would guess - create an open thread and have someone else join in the jolly-making.

Of course open threads are always an option, and more contained group threads for a small number of people are a possibility, too.

Y'know, speaking of random number generators... Doing events this way (with forums vs big group threads) would make it easier to do the random dance/match-up thing again if we wanted to.

No one would have to worry about their char not getting to meet or make plans or spend time with particular people if they participated. It'd be a separate thread.