STATE OF THE GAME: SO MANY POSTS.

[agogemod]

It's been a while since our last one, so here's a fresh edition of Agoge's State of the Game! There's a lot to cover this round, so without further ado, let's break it down.

WHEN TO APPLY.

We've had a few questions regarding our application process, namely involving when it's best to app, as our applications always remain open if the game isn't at cap. This means characters may arrive mid-mission, which can cause some complications.

For this reason, we strongly encourage potential players to take into account what events are going on, how their character might react, and how it might impact the way they obtain CR or get involved in the game. So don't worry about waiting and apping later if this is a concern for you, as mid-mission apps may require more effort to catch up on the plot and get involved.

We aren't getting rid of the option to app mid-mission, however, because sometimes this actually works to the player or character's benefit! We only recommend you do whatever works best for you.

PLOT COUPONS.

We officially debuted plot coupons in January, after we had a couple players turn in an absurd amount of XP. Before this, we'd been more lax about how players got involved in the game, based particularly on activity, creativity, and engagement in the plot.

However, as Agoge has expanded, we can't keep track of everyone's activities and don't want to overlook anyone, whether because they don't tag with us, have us on their plurk lists, or submit every thread on their person for AC. As such, plot coupons will be obtainable exclusively via XP purchases from now on, as you probably noticed on the recent cash in! They're pricey, since they require a large amount of time and investment on the part of both the player and the mods, but all players have equal opportunity to obtain them.

JOINING THE GOON SQUAD.

We've had a number of players interested in the soliciting the favor of the Regency and that is 100% encouraged! We welcome players to play villains as villains and/or explore moral ambiguity (or just poor life choices on their characters' parts). However, to avoid misleading anyone, we feel it necessary to state that it is not possible to join the Regency in full at this time, due to the structure of the game.

At most, characters can act as spies or saboteurs, and it will take a fair amount of effort on both the character's part IC and the player OOC to win over the Regency. The Regency is highly unlikely to trust a COST operative; players will have to show initiative in contacting and communicating with the Regency (when available) and the mod team, as these actions could have profound influence on other characters. Likewise, if your character is ever found out by COST, there will likely be major consequences (that we will talk out beforehand). And there's the small fact that the Regency is a big fan of brainwashing and the like to ensure compliance, so be wary; they aren't into this free will hippie shit that COST is so fond of.

Still, if this is of interest to you and there's a chance to engage the Regency during a plot (our next mission will provide multiple opportunities), feel free to hit us up about it!

NPC INVOLVEMENT.

First and foremost, we want to establish that NPCs exist for your enjoyment and your advancement in the game. We never want you to feel pressured to interact with them and totally understand if you'd really rather not. You don't have to, to get the most out of this game.

That said, if you ever need an NPC to facilitate something for you (e.g., my character needs a nudge to take part of this event; my character will not listen to a no unless it comes from a commanding officer; I want my character to do this but they wouldn't if it wasn't suggested; etc) let us know and we'll do our best to make this happen. The NPCs are here to move the plot forward. While they have their own characterization and agendas, with different positions philosophically and occupationally within the game's meta, at the end of they day they're here for your involvement and not our gratification. They're exposition machines that are here to help develop your character and their role in the game, so talk to us if you need them to do something.

If you're keen to foster a relationship with them, that's fine, but it won't really afford your character special influence on the game or plot beyond allowing them to pester the NPCs about background lore and worldbuilding. And, again, you do not need NPC approval to successfully affect the plot. This also applies to on-mission NPCs, like Da'ud in our very first event, the Long brothers in Gallipoli (RIP), and our Regency agents. But if you ever need one of them, let us know and we'll be more than happy to help your dreams come true!

ANIMALS AND OTHER COMPANIONS.

It's likely we'll have an influx of animals at BASE! Which is cool; one of your mods is easily won over by animals. But we'd like to state now, for clarification sake: none of the animals encountered in game missions (especially wild ones) are available to keep unless explicitly stated or purchased through XP.

Similarly, the crows you'll find at BASE are not pets; they are in fact a single NPC, so if you want to interact with the birds, you'll have to use our usual NPC channels (i.e., the NPC inbox or any top levels or posts made by that journal). So please be aware of that and don't godmode them!

INJURIES IN THE FIELD.

Since this is a game with a lot of fighting, injuries happen and we want you to feel comfortable with your character dealing with that. So we thought we'd give some clarification to how the BCE's medical support works in the field! This will also be updated on the FAQ for quick reference (our FAQ and application pages are being overhauled in general, to better reflect all of our previous updates and expectations).

• The BCE can heal you from diseases and infections, stave off shock and blood poisoning, and similar things of that nature (yes, including protection against STIs, you wild, sex-crazed monkeys). It also renders characters sterile (no one is leaving a litter of illegitimate children throughout time and space). However, it can only assist with major injuries; lacking the resources to heal everything wrong with you (and there's a lot), it mostly focuses on passive resistance (congrats, you're officially vaccinated against the Black Death) and making sure you don't die in the aftermath of horrible trauma.


• For clarification, what this means: sadly, you are not Deadpool. A fatal injury is still a fatal injury, even if COST can bring you back and regrow your limbs. And in the field—and this explicitly applies to being in the field—if you lose an arm and don't seek out treatment, you can die of blood loss in the immediate aftermath. So visit a local doctor, nurse, soothsayer, medicine woman, physician, or medically trained COST operative! The BCE's saving grace is making sure you don't have to deal with the long term side effects, like getting an infection or blood poisoning or trench foot, or just dying because no one knows what germs are yet.


• Unless, you know, you want to. The BCEs have been known to glitch, so if you want your character to get influenza, trench foot, etc, that's all viable. But it's up to you, not an inevitability. It will, however, never glitch out and give you STIs, because this just...isn't that kind of game, folks.


• COST can regrow limbs and bring people back from "death". But they don't in the field, for many, many reasons (nothing gets people burned as witches quite as fast as magically re-appearing limbs or coming back from the dead, whoops). And, honestly, they can't afford to haul the equipment out of the medbay and into the field. So if you've lost an eye and are still in the field, you're One-Eyed Bill until the end of the mission.


• So how does true death work in this game? It happens when your BCE is destroyed. The BCE acts as something of a save file, storing your whole life as well as grounding you in time. As long as it is intact, a character can be saved and restored. If it becomes damaged or is destroyed, this function rapidly deteriorates. We will always let players decide how they want to work with this, because this game heavily revolves around combat and we want you to be able to do what you need to do with the character.

We understand this is a little different from other games with revival mechanics and characters who have different canon healing abilities may have varying experiences (obviously, the BCE can't do anything if their own abilities trump what it offers). So hopefully it makes sense laid out like this!

HIATUS MISSIONS.

As the game has grown and people have taken more interest in them, we're adjusting hiatus mission requirements to better balance the involvement of both ourselves and players.

We're entering a phase of the game where hiatus missions may begin to have a weight on the plot and we want to make sure they're balanced against the plot coupons and HRHR missions. As such, we're instigating a 2xp charge for hiatus missions.

NEW TYPE OF DROP.

We're also introducing a new type of drop! Yay!

If a character agrees—and they must ICly agree—they can transfer to another COST cell. You as the player can invent whatever reason you like and even have them say their goodbyes to their friends, threaded or handwaved. Bonus: If you decide to app back in, we can give you an abridged take on what their experience was like and you can embellish as you please.

MOD MONEY, MOD PROBLEMS.

If you need to contact a mod for any reason, please use the mod contact page. We deliberate with each other as often as possible for all major game decisions (and many of our smaller ones), ranging from plot questions to application requirements to player concerns. We cannot properly help you as mods if you try to come to us as individual players, whether through PPs or DMs or other methods. In those cases, the most we can do is redirect you to our contact page.

PREVIOUSLY, ON AGOGE.

So, Gallipoli got kinda messy in its second month and we're officially opening the floor for discussion on that (or anything else you might want to say). We fully understand February was a hectic month for everyone, but feel we contributed to that fatigue; the end was a little over-complicated and there were a lot of loose ends to tie up fast.

In the future, HRHRs will be structured differently. Namely, we don't plan to ever split them into groups of this size again, as it made coordination difficult. Our next mission (which you'll find out more about later in the month) will have a three-pronged approach, but it won't have signups and will generally have a great deal more flexibility. Still, if you have any thoughts or criticisms on this front (or any others), we invite you to provide them here!

This month is a chill month, before we head into our next mission. We'll have more details up for you in the next couple of days, but you'll have four weeks of downtime in the setting and it's meant to be more open-ended.

Also, a shoutout to all of you for joining us in Agoge. The mod team likes and wants to try new things, but we aren't always successful in our execution and sometimes it is painfully obvious. So thank you for your patience! And, as always, please feel free to come to us with your thoughts and concerns. We hope you've all had fun and continue to have fun in Agoge, and we're glad you guys have chosen to stick with us through, shall we say, our more experimental moments.