[Xanth]

I'm stuck. My characters have never really had long-term goals (Maaike's "clean up the streets" notwithstanding), and it's never been a problem before. However, I currently have no new ideas for threads at all, and while I normally have fun roleplaying them against each other on my own (during times when EF's quiet and there's no one else to play), it feels like maybe I've burned out a little. I don't think it's helping that there's a lot of pressure at this time of year to keep a game going while everyone gets gobbled up by RL (and, to be perfectly honest, NaNo seems to be sidetracking my muse. I'm probably an idiot for not realising that would happen, but in my defence, I usually manage to maintain inspiration for EF no matter what else I'm doing/writing... ).

So, maybe you can help me. I've been trying to brainstorm things they can do, and to give them long-term goals, plots or motivation so there's something to fall back on, but it's difficult to do that without relying on other people's characters as well. For instance, I think it's safe to say that Russ has completely left now so I want to move Kiel on from his relationship with Zeph — which is a downer for him emotionally but frees him up some as a character. I want to nudge him towards the ultimate goal of "growing up" (though I think he's just one of those people who never will completely be an adult ), and he wants to improve his relationship with Pria and become a better warrior. My thread with Three will hopefully net him a new katana, but I don't want to use up all the quests from the Noticeboard and would like something more than just a list of random hopskotch "he saved this person, he almost got dead there, he was rescued here".

Jericho will ultimately get into trouble with the law and have to flee the bounty on his head. He may lose Rusty and Nin in the process, but that was meant to be a long way off. I don't mind killing him and Zeko off (or Maaike, for that matter), and I've even considered semi-retiring Zeko so he's more of an NPC (like Piper is now, so I don't have to maintain him constantly), but he doesn't have the post count necessary, and they're a little new to be dying just yet anyway. But while Jeri at least has a potential plot for the future, Zeko is just... Zeko. Maybe I could send him back home to Zanarya for a while to take care of some business, because maybe his brother is killed or gets into trouble with bandits or something, but that means RPing in Zanarya and it's currently not open to non-Zan. (As a side note, I've considered opening up Zanarya to Elysians, but as the article in the EC #15 said, it's only going to be merchants for a while. Which would mean this may work as a future plot, but even then the outer realms have never had much visitation before so it may still not work even then...)

Does anyone have any ideas I can borrow? Plot bunnies they can't use or don't want to use that might suit my charries? Maybe we should set up an adoption society or something for just this sort of occasion.

Or even if my characters can help yours with their plots, that'll at least give them something to do until my muse gets back.

[Aria]

Well, at least NaNo only steals your muse for a month. Yeah, that sounds like ages, but even if you did have inspiration for both your EF characters and your NaNo story you mightn’t have time to write for both this month. And I’d presume that in pursuing a character’s personal plot progression you’d want lots of interaction, so you’d want to work on goal attainment when it’s a bit busier around here anyway. Maybe.

That said, it is fun to plot, I think, even if you don’t have the time or inspiration to write. So... ideas. Hm. Well, for Kiel to grow up a little maybe it would be good for him to be given some kind of responsibility. Perhaps some business in Nirim so that it could involve Pria, like becoming a Rutilus mentor (which would provide an easy excuse for interaction with Dracovari characters) or maybe helping Pria out with some kind of personal business. Then again, that might be fairly restrictive. If Russ really is gone (...really? ) then perhaps Kiel could have to take over the weapon shop, or find someone who would – I don’t know if you would be comfortable with taking the shop away from Russ/Zeph, but then again a weapon shop is an important asset to have under the charge of an inactive character. On that note, going through the stages of grief, or whatever Kiel might feel after the break-up (or disappearance, or whatever is going to happen there) might kick start some ideas. If he were grieving, it would give you licence to have Kiel do some pretty mad things. Or Kiel could get involved with Xanth/The Priests Of some more, following the quest he’s doing for them now.

Nooo, don’t kill Jericho off, he’s just arrived! He’s a great character, too, I always enjoy reading his posts. And I’m interested in learning more about Zeko; although I feel like I don’t know enough about him or Jericho yet, because they’re still new, so I don’t know what to suggest. As for RPing in Zanarya/opening up Zanarya (I forgot to mention earlier, but I love the new format for the Chronicles), it might be useful to newcomers, so they get an idea of what Zanarya is like (outside of the wiki descriptions), and exploring new territories is always fun RP material. Or if the gun plot goes ahead, I could see justification for Zeko and/or Jericho getting involved.

The adoption society sounds like a great idea, actually. I can’t think of any borrowable ideas right now, although I don’t really have any for Aria anyway. Well, I know vaguely that I need to create a thread where she gets that Nagrim I bought her ages ago, she needs to get a job and I want to move her into a little log cabin near Hesia. I’ve no other plans for her, though. I’ll edit this post if I can think of anything for your characters, Emma, or anything for your characters to help mine with. Gee, this post was pretty pointless - I guess I just want to say; I'm thinking, too.

[Xanth]

Ahhhh, thanks, hon, I really appreciate it. Just being able to bounce ideas off someone is great!

With Russ/Zeph... He's been saying for a while that he doesn't want them to break up but I can go ahead if I need to. He didn't have much time to RP during summer (which is when he usually makes a comeback after college), and he's been really busy in RL with various clubs and work and stuff, so it's pretty safe to say he's not coming back any time soon. (Maybe when he's graduated? *fingers crossed*) I would like to leave things open enough that they could get back together if he did come back (because I adore Kiel/Zeph threads), and I have tried to just leave things as they are because I don't really know how to do Kiel depressed. Sadly, it's just gotten to that stage where I can't really push Kiel forward without changing something about their relationship (until recently, almost every aspect of Kiel's has been tied to Zeph as his boss, mentor and boyfriend, and Kiel even talks about the guy when he's not around — which is both fun, just to see all the things Kiel comes up with, but also a bit too restricting), so... I'm reluctant to GM even inactive characters, despite Russ giving me more-or-less free license, so, I don't know really. I'd love it if I could figure out how to keep them together without actually requiring Zeph/Russ to be around, though.

Maybe I could do with them what Jeri and Misha do. I like your idea of Kiel somehow becoming a mentor (dude, can you imagine?! "No, no, like, you hold it like — shiny!") or having to spend more time in Nirim. I also considered having Zeph start to train him at the forge, and I've already been sending Zeph away on business trips more often, so that's at least one way they can still be together but not actually spend much time together that needs RPing. (And you're right, I should have technically archived Zeph's store a long time ago, just with Kiel working there I figured we could get around it. Do you think it would be too convenient/cheeky if I said Kiel had already been training at the forge so some of the cheaper items, at least, were his? Although, to be honest, I have considered doing away with user shops as well since they're rarely used and it's often inconvenient to buy from there instead of the Prize Shop. I'll probably put up a survey about that when there are more people around to give their opinions. )

The Priesthood thing is definitely worth exploring. I've been wanting a priest for a while!

I'm glad you like the new EC. I'll have to explore that idea for Zeko a bit more, it'd be nice to develop Zanarya a bit more like you said.

[Xanth]

Oh my gosh, I don't see why I didn't see this before. (lol that's a lot of eyes.) I can totally make Kiel join the Starfall Knights! *bwahahahahaha* He can still live in Alexshire with Zeph and commute to Nirim (I need to really advance his relationship with Pria for that) and get himself into trouble with various quests/etc on his holidays.

*wabahahahahahahahahahahaah!* It's SO good to have a goal for him! And like you said, Hols, he can go through the stages of grief as he draws further from Zeph from lack of time spent together, or I guess I could even leave them as they are?