It looks as though we will, really and truly, finish up our discussion of the 'Season-long Story Arcs' in the next Session on March 8th. Our final topics are Dragons and Lúthien, and I suggest we discuss those on the Session 4.09-4.10 thread.
When we finish, the next task will be to sort out our timeline and plan out each episode for the Season. There's a lot of storylines to juggle, and some things *can't* happen before/after other things, so it's work that has to be done carefully. I know a lot of people have been putting thought into this for awhile now. We may begin discussing that as early as the end of next session (though I rather doubt it). Even so, best to get this thread open and ready now! Fortuitously, we already are fairly clear on Glaurung's timing (if not his motivation), and whatever is worked out for Lúthien can likely be added easily later.
We've also done a lot of work and discussing since the 4.02 Session where we first discussed this, so many 'decisions' from that session are likely on the table for being revisited. I would prefer that we acknowledge when we are trying to change a decision made in that session versus working within the framework we started from, but by no means are alternative suggestions off the table. We have a lot of re-working to do here, and that tends to be hampered if you feel all decisions are fixed.
Some issues are more contentious than others. I would ask all of us to please watch how repetitive we are being. By all means, come to this thread and make your points. And, if challenged, certainly defend and explain them. But if you find yourself typing the same idea over and over again, that's...not very productive and leads to frustration. I'll do my best to convey all suggestions and alternative versions of the timeline to the Execs, and let them decide how they want this to play out. We don't need to reach total consensus here.
To that end, I have made a (primitive) Gantt Chart visual for us all to work from. The first goal is to make sure all 'events' we have discussed in the sessions or worked out on the boards (that didn't get vetoed) are listed somewhere on this chart. That way, they can all be placed in an episode and not overlooked. I know Faelivrin has been working on some ordered lists for the various storylines, so I'm hoping to integrate those. If you're not sure if an event should be listed, use a question mark or italics and we'll figure out later if it needs to be edited/deleted. Once items are on the list, we can then worry about episode placement. For events whose timing is contentious/up for debate, I suggest using a lime green marker. Everything else is blue for episodes 1-5, orange for episodes 6-9, and mustard for episodes 10-13. Hopefully, this will be a quick way to see progression of storylines through the season. If the Hosts requested a particular timing for an event during the discussions, we should do our best to place it there, but chances are some of their requests will turn out to be contradictory and need to be changed. For now, I'd ask that we leave the section for the Frame blank. We know our theme/basic storyline for the Frame; we'll suggest particular frame scenes later after the episodes themselves take shape. Likewise, we do not (yet!) need to worry about whether an event occurs in Act 1, 2, 3, or 4 of an episode; just block out the entire episode for that event (for now).
Anyone may comment on or edit this file, and I do intend to share it with the Execs so that they may use it as a visual aid during discussions of the Season Outline.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QZ0PrqCvWz5jy8pWZBj3TpG3Bnt1hPqHBaGL17TB0Y8/edit?usp=sharing
It would be a daunting task for one person to collate every suggestion made since October! So, any and all help with putting this together is MUCH appreciated!! Thank you all
When we finish, the next task will be to sort out our timeline and plan out each episode for the Season. There's a lot of storylines to juggle, and some things *can't* happen before/after other things, so it's work that has to be done carefully. I know a lot of people have been putting thought into this for awhile now. We may begin discussing that as early as the end of next session (though I rather doubt it). Even so, best to get this thread open and ready now! Fortuitously, we already are fairly clear on Glaurung's timing (if not his motivation), and whatever is worked out for Lúthien can likely be added easily later.
We've also done a lot of work and discussing since the 4.02 Session where we first discussed this, so many 'decisions' from that session are likely on the table for being revisited. I would prefer that we acknowledge when we are trying to change a decision made in that session versus working within the framework we started from, but by no means are alternative suggestions off the table. We have a lot of re-working to do here, and that tends to be hampered if you feel all decisions are fixed.
Some issues are more contentious than others. I would ask all of us to please watch how repetitive we are being. By all means, come to this thread and make your points. And, if challenged, certainly defend and explain them. But if you find yourself typing the same idea over and over again, that's...not very productive and leads to frustration. I'll do my best to convey all suggestions and alternative versions of the timeline to the Execs, and let them decide how they want this to play out. We don't need to reach total consensus here.
To that end, I have made a (primitive) Gantt Chart visual for us all to work from. The first goal is to make sure all 'events' we have discussed in the sessions or worked out on the boards (that didn't get vetoed) are listed somewhere on this chart. That way, they can all be placed in an episode and not overlooked. I know Faelivrin has been working on some ordered lists for the various storylines, so I'm hoping to integrate those. If you're not sure if an event should be listed, use a question mark or italics and we'll figure out later if it needs to be edited/deleted. Once items are on the list, we can then worry about episode placement. For events whose timing is contentious/up for debate, I suggest using a lime green marker. Everything else is blue for episodes 1-5, orange for episodes 6-9, and mustard for episodes 10-13. Hopefully, this will be a quick way to see progression of storylines through the season. If the Hosts requested a particular timing for an event during the discussions, we should do our best to place it there, but chances are some of their requests will turn out to be contradictory and need to be changed. For now, I'd ask that we leave the section for the Frame blank. We know our theme/basic storyline for the Frame; we'll suggest particular frame scenes later after the episodes themselves take shape. Likewise, we do not (yet!) need to worry about whether an event occurs in Act 1, 2, 3, or 4 of an episode; just block out the entire episode for that event (for now).
Anyone may comment on or edit this file, and I do intend to share it with the Execs so that they may use it as a visual aid during discussions of the Season Outline.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QZ0PrqCvWz5jy8pWZBj3TpG3Bnt1hPqHBaGL17TB0Y8/edit?usp=sharing
It would be a daunting task for one person to collate every suggestion made since October! So, any and all help with putting this together is MUCH appreciated!! Thank you all