So here we are with chapter 4 on the verge of being completely and totally finished. The big, dumb, super-obvious question: What now?

I'UNNO.

Which is to say: We need to decide which ending we're going with. To do that, we need to finish our endings. In order to not delay things any further, we're setting Tuesday as the deadline. You don't have to finish by then, and you're welcome to take your time, but if you aren't done, your thread simply won't be in the running.

We're not sure how to decide on which ending, though. Is it really appropriate to just do a straight-up poll? Maybe that would be the most fair. Or perhaps it would be better to instead have each ending-writer propose an idea for beginning chapter 5? Maybe if we do this, it'll give us some direction for starting (even if we don't yet know what's really going to happen throughout chapter 5), and give us all some idea of what we're signing up for when we pick any given ending.

Thoughts?

Given that you've already carried the ridiculous burden of posting for like five different endings, I think that would be most fair to you. You know, you've already had to do all this insane writing, and it's very nearly burned you out -- you shouldn't need to come up with individual outcomes for everyone's ending, too.

I'm not averse to coming up with an idea, myself. Just... not trying to figure out what to do with everything.

I suggest a live, civil discussion between peers.

I'm not going to be available for normal-hours chat for a couple days. Thread-based discussion would be a kind way to both include me and get this sorted out reasonably soon. (Edit: Worse than I thought, I have two more event shifts, so, yeah. I'm gonna be scarce.)

Taking a hint from the second suggestion (propose an idea for beginning chapter 5) I can't really give a suggestion for everyone for every ending... I can pretty assuredly offer one for my own character, though. It's a thought!

Rock's ending: Ace is pissed as poop at Rock and Jam, and though he won't necessarily go hunting them down once he gets the heck out of Chun-Nan, things will be something beyond rocky (no pun intended) between him and them. Likely... to the point of unsalvageability if he's not given something like an apology (and knowing them, fat chance). Caz likely will too, but not so directly.

Geoff/Mako's ending: ...Ace is largely unchanged by how he was from about the start of the finale thread. Granted, he'll probably be back together with Caz, although things will definitely be bumpy. He'll do his best to stay out of the way from leadership in Geoff's ending, and might lose his taste for a lot of the adventuring gig on the whole. Oddly enough, this might be an even bigger Bad End for Ace than Rock's ending, given that he won't even really have much to do after the fact.

Ace's ending: Essentially Rock's ending without the band breaking up. They'll be awkward at first, but have a chance to mend over time. Or, if unlucky, won't. Ace may still be distant, or quiet at times, and his situation with Caz may ultimately end up the same as in Geoff's and Mako's ending. Could easily end up serving Rock somehow though, for whatever needs he may need Ace for.

All in all, I'm really just brainstorming as I write, so forgive me if I seem to wander. I actually really liked the idea of a portion of the cast being stranded in a foreign place like Chun-Nan. I... actually just remembered I had an idea for a Chun-Nanian (Chun-Nanese?) villain on the backburner for a long time that I'd like to employ somehow. But maybe the 'stranded' aspect isn't as appealing as a simple change of scenery, or a different flavor. And though I personally like the 'feeling' of Ace's ending best (not just tooting my own horn here, he didn't even technically win if you recall), maybe we could think of a reason for a move there? Maybe bring back Dr. Henshin for it somehow. I'm sure he'd have some contacts over the border.

Just so no one gets confused, I wasn't trying to solicit anything here except ideas for how to decide which ending we go with. (That is to say: Do we start a poll to vote on the endings? Do we have the owners of the endings pitch their ideas for how to start the next chapter using their ending and vote on that? Etc.) However, you are still welcome to discuss specifics here if you really wanna.

If nobody has any strong opinions on it, though, I'll just pick a method and run with it, and maybe throw up some kind of thread/poll Wednesday.

Personally i like the idea of ending owners pitching an idea or two then voting on the ones the majority of the group likes the most if need be, But only if it wont upset any one if their idea isn't chosen.

Y'knoooow, I looked at this thread last night, saw where you (Darren and Mie) were all like, "yeah, let's do that thing and vote on it," then I went and posted a thread about doing so last night, but I did it while sleepy, overworked, and forgetting one crucial fact: several of the endings turned out very similarly, and there weren't as many endings as originally planned anyway. And not everybody probably even wants their ending chosen over others, and just participated for the kicks of it.

so, in other words, pardon me, it's the lack of sleep talking.

Anyway, unless you guys just want to do it by vote, we can say... screw it all, and just talk about this in the chat tonight if we're all around, figure out the results of our endings, and decide on which one to use without any hooplah. In other words, we do Greens was originally suggesting. (I just didn't want to do it that way before because I wanted to get through this faster, but time has already slipped away, and lo and behold, I now have time for chat as I am off today, anyway. So, talking live is now the faster option after all.)

So, yeah? Chat tonight? I'll be there if you are.

Well all I noticed was that all endings had someone in a "on top of the world" status. I guess that I just have a different opinion on this, but I was all for a "true" ending like with Sonic involved, but that's just me anyways... No need to take any thought to that.

It's not that you're not allowed to have an opinion, Dennis; the problem's just that Sonic's only been seen once in this whole entire chapter. It'd seem really contrived (not to mention a complete plot ass-pull) for him to just come in now, and negate everyone's endings that they worked so hard on writing. It'd basically be like:

"Hey everybody, surprise! None of your endings are valid and we wrote all of this for no reason! Sonic wins even though he wasn't even here before now just because this is a Sonic RP!"

I dunno about others, but that'd piss me off, and I didn't even have an ending of my own to be made superfluous.


So anyway, RECAP TIME!: We had our little story pow-wow last night, aaaand results were... largely inconclusive. Here's the basic run down of what was discussed:

• Ace's ending - Not especially favored, since it's A) very similar to Rock's, and B) lacks a plan to start chapter 5. Evidently, the cast would just return to Earth, and go their separate ways, and then we'd have to come up with some sort of ham-handed excuse for them to all reconvene (See: Probably not going to happen.)

• Rock's ending - Though Matt pitched a premise that gave a clear starting place for chapter 5, there were a couple of objections raised: some members were displeased with the next chapter starting in a new, previously unused location because it prevents them from bringing in their other characters for the first two threads of the story arc. Piggybacking off of that, concern was also raised about how new members would be able to get in. There was also concern about the violence of one of the deaths in Rock's thread (which was really quite tame compared to the death in Ace's, but I digress).

Anyway, these concerns are valid, but completely circumventable (barring the latter,) with a little creativity and a smidgen of effort: Basically, the idea is that the story begins with the cast marooned in the Sonic-world Himalayas in Chun-Nan. Awesome travel-adventure ensues, and brings involvement with at least three new characters that Greens, Matt, and I have in the works. One of our newly-accepted characters also has history in the region, and the newest submission (though not yet accepted) seems to be from there, too. Additionally, being that this is the Sonic-world analogue to China, there's tons of places both remote and uber-metropolitan, so involvement for new members really has a lot more potential than initially thought.

• Geoff's ending - It doesn't provide a much of a starting place for chapter 5, but an idea was pitched that could easily make it a story in and of itself: It'd place Geoff as the focal point, and would essentially be another one of those "government conspiracy" Enemy of the State-style stories, but if that kinda thing ain't your cup of tea, well... Probably not a good option for you. Nonetheless, if it could get off the ground, it has strong potential for drama, though it might be difficult to involve characters outside Geoff's circle, unless he seriously just took to the streets for people to help him (which, I wouldn't do, if I had a robot army empire at my beck and call).

• Mako's ending - Honestly, this was, in my opinion, and a couple of others, the favorite to win. We're kind of baffled by it, really: It had the most involvement, the most posts, the most humor, and the highest overall happy ending rating. But (you knew it was coming), it does has the same problem as Ace's ending: nothing really happens as a result of it. Everyone goes home to South Island and scatters, likely hoping to never see one another again. Meanwhile, Mako surrenders control to the powers that were, and pow, things are right back to normal, again, necessitating an improbable excuse to reunite everybody.

Soooo. I dunno. There's where we stand. If I had to pick, I'd go with Rock's ending, even though that shuts Matt, Darren and I out from playing our main (and, at least in my case, favorite) characters, as well as officially and lastingly alienates them from the rest of the cast. Additionally, I think there's plenty of opportunity for involvement, a fresh, new location, intrigue, novelty, and, unlike most of the other options, a clear preliminary story goal, which is not something to be undervalued in what we do.

So to me, everything's kinda built in, and ready to go. That's my vote, and I'm stickin' to it. Y'all're still welcome to air yours.

I know I've been here since only Monday, but...well, I hope I can recognize a good story when I see it, so I'll try to vote.


I would vote for Rock's ending, because it looks like it has potential to go to great places untouched before, and despite being new, I think I've come up with a way to BS my introduction to be almost literally anywhere (alcohol is involved), and any problem it brings up can be solved with a little practical hands-on thinking.

But I don't feel comfortable locking anyone out. Guilt prevents me from really voting for it.

So I think I'll abstain and leave this to the people who actually have a clue, i.e. everyone 'cept me.

Aside from myself, Mie, and Darren (who are for the Chun-nan opener), no players will be left without characters to use. That is to say, no players are locked out, and the only other people who would have characters locked out would be Kazz and Sheff. I don't mean this to come across as jerky as it may sound, and so I hope you guys (Sheff and Kazz) will forgive me, but, you do already have two characters each in the action, and you'll be able to get more in after just two threads with all going as planned. So, I hope the lockout thing does not seriously stand as a real objection.

Forgiveness granted.

Anyway, even though I would appreciate being able to play both my absent and in-creation characters soon, I'm pretty sure I can hold out for a couple of threads. It'll allow me to plan out my new guy a bit more instead of trying to rush him out in time for the beginning of the chapter anyway.

So, with that, I throw a vote towards Rock's ending. Its the strongest idea we actually have for what to do once we begin instead of coming up with some out-of-the-blue reason to reign everyone in again, not to mention I like the idea. Concerning Geoff's ending, nobody has really favored the idea up to this point and I'm unsure how interesting the plot would be in anyone's perspective, so really, I don't find much potential for it in the first place.

I also vote for Rock's ending. It gives the most drama.