Announcement: A Change In Direction

[Lord Nethercross]

(This is reposted from G&G section of the Furcadia Forums)

Well, I've given this some serious thought, and I've come to some important conclusions and decisions regarding The Big Smoke:

Conclusion #1: Real life doesn't leave me enough time to be an effective Rah. I just moved to a small town, I'm accessing the internet on dialup (uploading the dream takes ten minutes on a good day, up to an hour if you factor in the new file servers), looking for a job - these only compound the situation. After several months, the dream is still nearly always empty, and people seem to like the dream, so I can only assume it lacks that extra oomph that only a present Rah can provide. That person is not me.

Decision #1: I have decided to step down as Rah of The Big Smoke guild. This position is now vacant (although I will continue to perform some of the functions of this position in the interim), and if anyone would like to apply for it, please see below. I am taking the dream in a new direction. I would like to create a pseudo-educational game about Victorian London, a kind of time machine through the years 1881-89, only in an alternate timeline. The guild will (hopefully) continue, and the dream will continue to be updated and uploaded, and roleplayers may use it on a first come, first serve, anything goes basis - you do not need to be a member to roleplay there, and furry as well as human characters are now allowed. Unfortunately, because I have plans for other human avatars, furry characters will be represented by one or two generic neko-esque (ears and tails) but otherwise human-ish avatars - and they may have some steampunk flourishes.

Decision #2: If anyone wants to take this dream as is and run a victorian/steampunk guild with it, I would be happy to part with it if I thought they had the right stuff to make it a happening place for folks to enjoy. I'd have to get to know you a bit first, of course - I've been working on this for some time, and it's an idea that's dear to me, so it's not a decision I enter lightly. But if you meet the following requirements, by all means, give me a whisper and we'll talk. The ideal candidate should have:
- An ability and willingness to spend at least a few hours online each day, talking to people and roleplaying
- An abiding interest in victorian history and/or steampunk fantasy
- Lots of friends with similar interests
- A timezone somewhat compatible with when most North Americans or Europeans are online (sad but true)
That's about all I can think of right now. There are plenty of other great qualifications of course, but none of them are absolutely necessary. You do not have to follow The Big Smoke's rules - you can take it in your direction. If you think that person could be you, let me know, and we'll talk - but don't be upset if I don't pick you, it does not mean I don't like you. Like I said - it's mah baby.

Decision #3: If no one is willing to adopt The Big Smoke within one year from this date, I will release it to the public for general use.

[...] existing guild members may alter their characters from human to furry if they so desire, with no need to re-apply. The continuity and guidelines will remain for anyone who wants to use them - and I will continue to elaborate on the alternate timeline in the context of a humans-only universe, the only difference being that, for roleplaying purposes in the dream, it will be assumed that a certain percentage of "humans" exhibit anthropomorphic features to varying degrees. For more details on this, please see section 21 ("Plot Assumptions") of the revised Charter.

[bealocwealm]

I'm not entirely sure I have this straight... So it's a time-travel fantasy/steampunk dream now?

[Lord Nethercross]

No, no... I suppose I could have put that more precisely - to clarify: other than allowing furry characters, the official continuity remains more or less unchanged. The reference to time travel was more of a metaphor than anything else, and refers to an eventual self-contained game that will emerge as an entirely separate offshoot of the guild dream. My plan is to continue uploading the dream for the use of guild members, as well as non-members if they want to roleplay here, on a first come, first serve basis - i.e., if someone's using a particular area for a roleplay that doesn't fit in with how you want to roleplay (which could include time travel or whatever else), you can either ignore each other (nobody's forcing anyone to RP with anyone else), or find another location that's unoccupied (if you had your heart set on using a particular indoor location, you could hide behind a building in a street scene, pretend your inside, and suspend your disbelief). The rules won't be enforced (as there's no one around to enforce them consistently), so players will be expected to govern themselves and use common sense.