- Amissis-Re was my favorite of the events since March, because characters were able to see each other's worlds and bring items back without necessarily needing to be canon-familiar. "Mixing the canons" was a little bit harder.
- I like short-term Space Cootie events. (You know, the seemingly serious weird illness that gets cured, but you have to find a cure.) It's always good when there's an option for any incapacitation to proceed slowly, so people don't feel sidelined unless they want to be.
- I like things that involve puzzles. Sometimes it can be hard to incorporate them, because 1. they have to be driven by the kind of character who would create puzzles for whatever reason, and 2. a lot of common puzzle types don't play well with automatic translators, because they're based in wordplay or specific to one language.
- I like events without a lot of special plot roles. So far, I think those roles have been incorporated well here: the team leaders in the current event could be seen as special plot roles, but they don't keep anyone else from playing to their strengths. They're mostly just players who were willing to put in some extra work and have characters who are a good match for the spot. RNG plot roles are only a problem when an event is much less interesting for anyone who didn't get them, or when they keep characters from playing to their strengths.
- A lot of people have mentioned memory and dream share. The one thing I think is worth keeping in mind is that the setup on the player end in events like those (or Silent Hill things) can be demanding and time-consuming, so we'd probably need extra lead time. I like it when thought goes into the effort that would be involved in executing a specific event concept.
- I don't hate events that are usually seen as cracky (de-age, bodyswap, forced honesty, audible narrator, etc), but a little goes a long way.
- On the other hand, most of what happens on Star Trek: TNG seems like it would be fair game for inspiration for at least a short event. I'm not saying "go to TNG and reproduce episodes as events," but more "if it happens there it could probably happen here," because there were definitely episodes with de-aging, certain personality traits being emphasized, dreamscapes, and so on, and they all had causes that made sense in the context of the show.
- I like consequences of past events turning up later, although not all consequences have to be negative.
- If there's no thematic reason why it couldn't happen, it might be interesting to see another ship come to the Moira's aid at some point, with no bad intentions on their part at the time. Then there are possibilities with that ship: something happens to them and we have to help them? An event comes up in the future where they're the opposition?
Thing I dislike: - Long-term serious food shortages. Short-term stuff that goes on just long enough to involve a week or two of rationing, temporary loss of luxuries, and people getting petty and hoarding or making deals is fine and can be fun to play out. Actually trying to survive for six months on two weeks of food is not, if it's played out realistically. Find food at the end of the two weeks. - Events where characters are subject to one of a variety of sets of effects and players don't get to choose which category of effects they're going to be subject to -- it's chosen for them as a surprise. Since this is hard to explain, the easy shorthand is the way Ryslig has a lot of monsters, but you don't get to choose which monster your character turns into. (Opt outs and opt ins help, but ideally we'd just get to choose what sounds like fun and maybe get RNG'd to first and second choices if one category has really filled up.) - Events that drag on too long.
no subject
- I like short-term Space Cootie events. (You know, the seemingly serious weird illness that gets cured, but you have to find a cure.) It's always good when there's an option for any incapacitation to proceed slowly, so people don't feel sidelined unless they want to be.
- I like things that involve puzzles. Sometimes it can be hard to incorporate them, because 1. they have to be driven by the kind of character who would create puzzles for whatever reason, and 2. a lot of common puzzle types don't play well with automatic translators, because they're based in wordplay or specific to one language.
- I like events without a lot of special plot roles. So far, I think those roles have been incorporated well here: the team leaders in the current event could be seen as special plot roles, but they don't keep anyone else from playing to their strengths. They're mostly just players who were willing to put in some extra work and have characters who are a good match for the spot. RNG plot roles are only a problem when an event is much less interesting for anyone who didn't get them, or when they keep characters from playing to their strengths.
- A lot of people have mentioned memory and dream share. The one thing I think is worth keeping in mind is that the setup on the player end in events like those (or Silent Hill things) can be demanding and time-consuming, so we'd probably need extra lead time. I like it when thought goes into the effort that would be involved in executing a specific event concept.
- I don't hate events that are usually seen as cracky (de-age, bodyswap, forced honesty, audible narrator, etc), but a little goes a long way.
- On the other hand, most of what happens on Star Trek: TNG seems like it would be fair game for inspiration for at least a short event. I'm not saying "go to TNG and reproduce episodes as events," but more "if it happens there it could probably happen here," because there were definitely episodes with de-aging, certain personality traits being emphasized, dreamscapes, and so on, and they all had causes that made sense in the context of the show.
- I like consequences of past events turning up later, although not all consequences have to be negative.
- If there's no thematic reason why it couldn't happen, it might be interesting to see another ship come to the Moira's aid at some point, with no bad intentions on their part at the time. Then there are possibilities with that ship: something happens to them and we have to help them? An event comes up in the future where they're the opposition?
Thing I dislike:
- Long-term serious food shortages. Short-term stuff that goes on just long enough to involve a week or two of rationing, temporary loss of luxuries, and people getting petty and hoarding or making deals is fine and can be fun to play out. Actually trying to survive for six months on two weeks of food is not, if it's played out realistically. Find food at the end of the two weeks.
- Events where characters are subject to one of a variety of sets of effects and players don't get to choose which category of effects they're going to be subject to -- it's chosen for them as a surprise. Since this is hard to explain, the easy shorthand is the way Ryslig has a lot of monsters, but you don't get to choose which monster your character turns into. (Opt outs and opt ins help, but ideally we'd just get to choose what sounds like fun and maybe get RNG'd to first and second choices if one category has really filled up.)
- Events that drag on too long.