Ok... So we have an issue. The boss fight is taking way too long and people are getting idle, so the logical idea is to go play underground rather than not play at all, and we didn't assign more underground quests... And then there were tons of complaints about a lot of things. You lack information, so I'll just info dump.
Eli here: I had been trying to tell you this in main chat but.....
didn't work out so well.Now, the main goal of the RP:
Your choices have consequences. You are world building, you are guiding your characters where you want them to be. That's why the Underground isn't a pocket dimension, that's why we're trying to keep a timeline. Eli and I are aware of that so that you don't need to worry! You say you want to go underground, we'll try to make it fit the best way we can!
The limits, and reasons and all that? We already keep track of it, how many completed quests, which pairings, which rewards from which quest. What would happen, if you spammed underground quests for the loot? The time won't stop, if you waste your in-game time power leveling, you'll miss out on normal castle quests. While everyone is on the 40th Floor, you're alone in the B15. Sure, you might be stronger than all others put together, but your choice put you away from them. True that you might argue that this is something we shouldn't leave unsaid, I apologize for that oversight. But that's why we're doing it like this: You can choose to play how you want, if it can fit within the format, we'll make it happen.
We're having trouble assigning underground quests now because of the delay in the normal floors, we already wrote 2 quests that take place after the boss fight. And if we are to cut it off from the normal flow of things, we might as well not have it.
If it is a Pocket Dimension / Alien Time there's absolutely no downsides to power leveling and spamming quests: You can do them between heartbeats!
If we cut the rewards for the underground questing, then what's the point? Surely it can make some good plot development, but there's no game element in it. You can work the back story nods into the normal floors and not need a single underground one.
Defining a limit of underground quests you can ask for is also against immersion, sure, it keeps the power levels in check, but suppose you're on a holiday, could do some writing and is not on a normal quest... But you already used your limit. No dice, there's a number now, if we allow it (and we would) the number might as well not be there.
And as long as the underground works on the same time as the normal floors, we simply won't have all that many quests to write, and what your character accomplish there will impact him for the future.
The problem with the timeline won't happen once this boss fight is over. And there's one rule we can define fairly well: You can't go underground if you're playing on a normal quest that turn. Adell's takes place after the boss fight, Sicon's was more of a test run and initial creation of the floor than anything else.
At this point, I want to have it cave in. Seal it for good and just keep the normal game running. Or just quit altogether. But we can make it work for one thing: You're not playing that week, have free time and want to write? Go in and have fun.
If that meta isn't enough and you need more in-game justifications then I'm afraid at the moment I'm completely dry.
What I really want to say is: Eli and I are keeping track of things, we think through the pairings, we think and discuss your rewards with you, we outline the setting around what you write in your character sheets and quests resolutions. We're trying to make this as seamless as for you as it can possibly be! If you really want an excel sheet with all the variables and decision making steps, I can probably make one... In fact I could just link you to the GDoc one we use. That would just make it unnecessary to have a GM in the first place.
Eli again:
it's no worries guys. But hopefully this explains our process better. We're attempting to run things on our end smoothly, in order to let you guys just have fun writing. That IS what this RP was started for, anyway.