The staff would like to extend their thanks and congratulations to all
who took part in the Great RP Challenge in March.

The winner of the competitive aspect of the challenge was Tyson who
managed to complete the most scenes by RPing with 7 different people. He
has been awarded 20 tokens: 10 for winning and 10 for completing the
challenge.

Successfully completing the challenge with five scenes each were Wanda
and Emma. They were awarded 10 tokens apiece for completing the challenge.

Honourable mentions go out to Penny (4 scenes) and Jono (3 scenes). They
were awarded 2 tokens each for their effort.

Look for future challenges coming soon!

Thank you,
Paradigm - on behalf of the staff at XMR

(For more information on TGRPC, please see here:
http://xmr.dune.net/tgrpc.php)

--
Thank you for your interest in X-Men: Retribution.
http://xmr.dune.net
telnet://xmr.dune.net:4567

X-Men: Retribution's March Newsletter - March 12th, 2006

This newsletter is posted via xmr-mush@yahoogroups.com. To join, send a
blank email to xmr-mush-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or visit
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/xmr-mush/.

Alternatively, it is also posted at our forum, located at:
http://www.btvs.ca/xmr and our LJ group: xmr.

----------

Paradigm Shift - a word from the head-wiz
New Characters This Month
Plot Info
Site of the Month
State of the Plot
Code Updates
In the Margins - bits and bobs
Feedback Loop - your letters
Classifieds

----------

Paradigm Shift

Sorry this month's newsletter is so late.  This month has been a crazy
one, and it seems that being busy this month isn't just affecting staff.
Our numbers have fallen a bit, but we would like to remind everyone that
RP is still out there.  The important thing is to be persistent.  We see a
lot of people just logging on and right back off again when they see an
empty game, only to have someone else log on and off a few minutes later.
If you're interested in RPing, try sticking around for a bit.  If there's
still no RP forthcoming, why not consider running a PRP or @mail staff for
suggestions.

Games of this size tend to go through cycles.  Right now we're at a bit of
a lull and staff is aware, not to worry.  We'll be doing what we can to
help get our numbers back up, but there are a few things you can do to
help keep the game active in the meantime:

1) Stick around and stay active.  This one probably seems obviously, but
I've witnessed a lot of people who move to greener pastures as soon as the
going gets tough, only returning once things have picked up again.
Perfectly understandable, but if you stay on the game, keep chatting, keep
seeking out RP, you can help end the dry spell that much earlier.

2) Keep sending in those logs.  An active logs list is indicative of an
active game.  Let's show guests and potential players what awesome RPers
we have!

3) Talk to staff.  If you're feeling completely stuck and just can't find
RP, you should try @mailing *STAFF.  We can provide you with tips, run
NPCs, or even kick off little scenes to help you get your character
involved in things.

4) Spread the word.  Word of mouth is one of our most effective ways to
net new players.  Tell your friends, put up an ad elsemu (and feel free to
post a reciprocal ad on our OtherMU* board).

5) Give us feedback.  Got an idea that might help perk things up?  Know of
an untapped resource where we can advertise?  Let us know!  Staff are
always open to feedback from players.  If there's something you'd like to
explore about your character in a TP or PRP, you can send in an
application and we'll see what we can do (applications are available in
the newsfiles).

6) Be patient.  We are working on it; these things just take time.  If
you're not able to find RP, don't take it personally or assume it has
anything to do with you or your character.  Try using @mail to set up
scenes with your friends, or take advantage of our forums to post your
schedule so that other people know when they can catch you online.

----------

New Characters This Month

Since I missed this section last month, these are all the characters who
have joined us since our January newsletter:

Constantin
Adam
Zoe
Rika
Jean
Hank
Kitty
Marrow
Will
Lorna
Baxter
Alex
Raghallaigh
Piotr
Warren
Scott
Mercedes

Hope I didn't miss anyone!

----------

Plot Info

When a Scene Becomes a PRP or TP

By and large, plots and RP are primarily player-driven on MU*s for several
reasons, one of those reasons being the fact that a MU* is open 24/7 and
staff are not. Considering most games don’t have a 1:1 or even a 1:2 staff
to player ratio, staff are usually outnumbered on the WHO list by players.
If they are online, they cannot sit and run scenes for every single person
online, as much as they might like to do so. And then there is the
timezone issue lumped into RL obligations such as work, school, family,
sleep, etc., and it’s easy to see why staff are not going to be available
at all times to run scenes and keep the playerbase amused.

As such, players are pretty much left to their own devices most days to
find ways of amusing themselves and those they roleplay (RP) with within
the scope of the theme and rules. The problem is that ‘drinking in a
tavern, watching the wizards and dwarves (or in our case, mutants) walk
by’ gets dull and boring rather quickly. Players are left with an
increasingly difficult job of making things ‘interesting’.

Now, nine times out of ten, they can just come up with an interesting
scenario for themselves and a few others, causing relatively localized
mischief and this will be enough. These are more like personal scenes and
usually involve some kind of interplay between characters, building on
their relationships or on tasks given to them by other characters or even
staff. These are probably the most common type of scene on most MU* games.

However, XMR has things set up so that players may take a more active
storytelling role, if they wish it. Player Run Plots (PRPs) and TinyPlots
(TPs) are set up in such a way that players may apply to staff to run
larger scale events than just running into friends at the local mall.

The PRP is essentially “a small, localized plot or event run by any
volunteering player”, according to ‘news policy prp’. Examples given in
the news file include “parties hosted by a character, a movie premiere, a
rally or parade, concert in the park, speechifying in a public
place…etc.”. These are not meant to be large, arching plots, but perhaps
one-night scenes or two-night scenes, essentially. The guidelines and
application procedures for PRPs can be found in the news file ‘news policy
prp’. These are not major, IC world-changing events. For that, we’ll look
at TPs.

The news files state that “TPs are events that happen on the game that
change the scope of our IC world. A TP can be something as small as a few
characters getting together for a pre-arranged confrontation or as large
as an arcing and on-going story that touches nearly every player on the
grid.” It goes on to state that these are primarily run by staff but that
players are welcome to run them, understanding that staff will keep a
close eye on things. These are larger arching than PRPs and have a larger
effect on the IC world around the characters.

With those two explanations in mind, we’re going to consider the question
“when does a scene become a PRP or TP?”

This is a tough call, in truth, so only guidelines or suggestions can be
given for this case. But if you find yourself needing powerful NPCs such
as police, EMS staff, angry mobs, etc., that’s probably the first sign
that your scene is no longer a scene but a PRP or TP of some sort. If
you’re just RPing dancing at a dance club, it’s not likely to be ‘plot
material’, unless it’s a personal plot, which is not what we’re talking
about. If you’re trying to rob the Federal Reserve Bank, however, this
might fall into the PRP or TP category.

As there really is a fine line in figuring this out, but if you start to
feel that your scene has become ‘something big’, you should probably page
staff or pause and @mail *PLOT and wait for our feedback on what direction
the RP is going. Please remember to review ‘news policy prp’, ‘news policy
tp’ and ‘news policy npc’ (recently updated, in fact, to include about
police, EMS, mobs, etc.) and keep these in the back of your head. If
you’re unsure where your RP is leading and whether or not it falls into a
PRP or TP zone, just drop us a line, and definitely pause and call in
staff if you find you’re needing more interactive NPCs than just
‘background fillers’.

Hope this helps!
Alice – Plot Wiz

----------

Site of the Month

This month's site was suggested by Alice.

Cerebro Guide to the X-Men:
http://www.cerebrosxmen.com/cgx/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=3

Here you can find summaries on many of the characters, blueprints for the
X-Men, sketches, a large gallery of X-images, TV show episode listings, a
forum, actor listings for the movies, e-Cards, fan art and fan fics,
downloadable avatars for forums, and more.

----------

State of the Plot

~ Currently Playing ~

Over the last month, we have had the following plots spring up on the grid:

“Bringing in the Ox”

Synopsis:

The Chinese new year (year of the Ox) was celebrated in Chinatown and all
over the world this month. Unfortunately, New York City’s celebrations
were marred with accidents, riots and protests, and threats of violence.
Mutant activity in the middle of Chinatown has some of the public nervous,
scared and even angry. This lead to angry protesters breaking up the
Lantern Festival prematurely to wave anti-mutant signs, throw rocks and
parade their own puppets through the streets: mannequins on sticks with
“Mutie” written on signs around their necks and nooses around their necks.
Tensions are riding high, lending urgency to efforts to push the MRA
through. There are still anti-MRA campaigners, however, who are working to
hold off the coming of what they call “a huge socio-political mistake”.

Side-Note:

This introduced new areas on the grid in Chinatown: House of Xiao and
Lee’s Dim Sum Restaurant.

How To Get Involved:

If you wish to follow-up on anything specific from this plot, please feel
free to @mail *PLOT (in caps, not lowercase) for more information. Do you
wish to go down and help fix some of the property damage? Volunteer in one
of the establishments? Go down there and try to talk to people in a
neighborhood meeting about how mutants are good or need to be locked away?
Go down and cause more trouble? Let us know.

Things to Remember in RP:

Tensions are rising between mutant-supporters and anti-mutant groups.
Tensions are rising on the streets. And currently, Chinatown seems to be a
hotbed of anger right now. Keep in mind that if you are RPing in Chinatown
as a mutant and publicly show off your powers, Bad Things (tm) may happen.
If this is the case, please contact plot staff for aid in your scene
either to run NPCs or to decide ramifications / after-effects.


~ On The Horizon ~

“Rising Tensions”

Synopsis:

With the recent riot and protest in Chinatown, public tensions are rising
regarding the “mutant issue”, as many in the public are convinced of the
danger of mutants, giving credence to the Mutant Registration Act. Ever
does the threat of the MRA hang over the heads of all mutants. There is
some hope for mutants, however, as some people fight for mutants on
several fronts, including legal, political, economic and social levels.
Some provide havens for mutants. Others use political clout to fight the
MRA being passed. And still others merely offer kindness where kindness
may be rare.

Where will you fall in all of this? Whose side are you on? Are mutants
dangerous and in need of being in some kind of database or registry? Or
are they merely people who have been born with different capabilities who
can be good people just as any human and who must make choices whether
they will use their powers for justice or with criminal intent (like any
non-mutant who decides whether to buy a gun to rob a store or use a gun in
the military).

How To Get Involved:

Are you anti-mutant? Do you wish to support the MRA? If so, then how are
you going to contribute to getting it passed? Or are you going to work on
a smaller scale, trying to bully mutants out of your neighborhoods?
Perhaps you are a mutant or mutant-supporter. Are you offering a haven for
mutants? Are you a politician who thinks that setting up this Mutant
Registration Act will only lead to human injustices against those who
happened to be born differently and will fight it? Will you help prove the
worth of mutants? Or will you sabotage anti-mutant efforts?

Whatever your stance, put it into play on the grid. If things are a larger
scale or might be illegal in nature or might need NPCs, police, media,
etc., drop *PLOT a @mail and let us know what you intend to do or how we
might help you out, even if it’s just running some NPCs to witness what
your character does.

----------

Code Updates

A little toy Cupid was added for a little Valentine's Day flavour.  He's
still kicking around, so take a look at the Code bboard if you want to
have a bit of out-of-season fun with your MU* friends.  I will be taking
him down soon, so make use of him while you can!

----------

In the Margins

Adam and Jean are currently tied for top +salutes with 25 salutes each.
Congrats to both of you!  Keep up the good work.
---
No one has changed the +thought in over a month!
To set your own +thought, see '+help thought'
---
+roster stats as of March 12th
- Xavier's: 10 members
- Brotherhood: 5 members
- X-Men: 2 members
- Independent: 7 member
We have 33 approved characters.
---
+birthdays for March:
Kitty: March 1, 1993
Rahne: March 22, 1995
Brianna: March 31, 1988

+birthdays for April:
No birthdays set!

See '+help birthday' to set your IC birthday.
---
We've had 24 logs submitted to the list for February.
Keep sending 'em in and let's see how many we can get for March!
You can view our logs here: http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/xmr-logs/
---
We've given out a total of 150 +tokens so far.  You can earn +tokens by
sending in logs and participating in RP!  We'll also be offering periodic
challenges to earn more tokens.

----------

Feedback Loop

In the future, this will be a space for you to have your say. You can ask
questions or give opinions and they will be addressed here also by staff.
We will strive to include every question and opinion, but may need to
withhold or edit some for content or to reduce repetition. If your
question is not addressed here, you may always contact staff for a private
answer.

To submit a question, @mail or email (paradigm@...) Paradigm,
with the words 'Feedback Loop' in the subject line.
---
We haven't yet received any feedback on our newsletter. Please feel free
to write in and let us know what you think. Is there anything that should
be included that isn't? Do you find it useful or no?  Any changes you
propose in light of the reopening?

----------

Classifieds

In the future, this will be a space for players to post classifieds. You
can submit birthday wishes or other such greetings for specific players,
put out ads for characters/concepts you'd like to see played, bring
attention to sites or other games, or any other myriad messages.

To submit a classified ad, @mail or email (paradigm@...)
Paradigm, with the words 'Newsletter Classifieds' in the subject line.
---
No classifieds submitted yet.

X-Men: Retribution's October Newsletter - February 2nd, 2006

This newsletter is posted via xmr-mush@yahoogroups.com. To join, send a
blank email to xmr-mush-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or visit
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/xmr-mush/.

Alternatively, it is also posted at our forum, located at:
http://www.btvs.ca/xmr and our LJ group: xmr.

======

Contents:
Paradigm Shift - a word from the head-wiz
Site of the Month
Code Updates
Plot Info
State of the Plot
In the Margins - bits and bobs
Feedback Loop - your letters
Classifieds

======

Paradigm Shift

To Log or Not to Log

I've noticed that not many of our players have been submitting logs
lately.  While it certainly is your prerogative to share your private RP,
I thought I would take a few moments in this month's newsletter to explain
why posting logs can really help benefit the game.

1) It's Good PR.  As a fledgling game, we must always be thinking how to
attract more players.  I'm not interested in making us the biggest X-game
out there, but I do want us to be the best.  That means maintaining enough
active players so that RP is always available when someone is looking.
And one way prospective players judge our game is by our posted logs.  An
active logs page suggests that the game is active, and quality logs are
probably some of the best and most influential advertising we can do.

2) It Helps Staff Keep Up to Speed.  We try to stay involved as staff, but
we can't keep track of everything going on.  But I read every single log
  from start to finish before I send it through to the list.  This gives me
a way to see where there might be gaps in plots or things to do.  It gives
me an idea of what areas of the grid are popular, so that we can build
more areas like that.  It also provides good backup if you apply for an
upgrade.  Without logs, we have to assume your character has done the IC
work necessary to get them from point A to point B, but we have no real
way to see how true this is.  You don't have to provide logs to back up
your upgrade requests, but they certainly don't hurt your case.  Posting
plenty of logs also gives us the impression that you are an active and
involved character and it may mean a bigger role for you in future plots
as we can see that you're able to handle the responsibility.

3) It Keeps Other Players Involved.  Even when they're not RPing with you,
letting the other players have some idea what's going on with your
character can keep you on their radar.  Perhaps they see that you've come
up with an interesting new angle on your character and maybe now they
think they'll make that extra effort to seek you out for RP.  Perhaps a
teacher or leader sees that your character is excelling or struggling with
something and works to arrange a one-on-one session with you.  But people
can't know if you don't tell them.

4) It Builds a Sense of Community.  XMR is a cooperative effort.  Each and
every one of the players has an equal opportunity to have an influential
role in shaping the plot of the game.  When lots of players are submitting
their logs, it helps the game mesh better.  Otherwise, sometimes the left
hand doesn't know what the right is doing.  ICly and OOCly, sharing what's
going on with your character can help make other people feel connected,
even when they aren't RPing themselves.


Now, I will finish out this article with a few caveats.  These are common
sense, I'm sure, but an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, as
they say.

- Always make sure that the other players are willing to have the log
posted before submitting it to the list, at least if it contains any
sensitive information about their character.  We're including a new field
in the +finger to help with this; see the code section further along in
the newsletter for more information.

- Make sure logs have an appropriate rating.  Some people are more
sensitive to things like language, sexual innuendo, violence, and gore.
We're not saying you can't post logs containing these, but a proper rating
and warning in the header information just saves everyone a lot of
headaches.  A few swears aren't going to shock anyone, but if your
character is running off at the mouth like a sailor on leave, just stick a
note in there warning people.

- Don't post explicit sexual content.  In other words, please no TS logs.
What consenting adults do in the private areas of the grid is, frankly,
their business and I would like it to remain as such: their business.
Aside from being rather sensitive in nature, TS logs usually aren't nearly
as interesting for others to read as those who were taking part.  Fade it
to black.  If they wouldn't show it on network TV, keep it out of the
public logs.


But please, don't let these warnings scare you off.  If nothing else, I
can sincerely say that I am personally interested in seeing what each and
every one of you is coming up with.  There's no greater reward for running
a MU* than seeing players having fun with it and making it their own.

======

Site of the Month

MUstats login tracker v0.8b

The MUstats login tracker is a most interesting site that I stumbled on by
accident one day while looking through the system logs for XMR.  What
Brent Stocking has done is created a code that logs into nearly every MU*
out there once an hour and dumps their WHO count into a database.  Sites
are then averaged on their peak four hours and ranked according to that
average.

So, if you're ever curious what our login numbers are like throughout the
day, you can see the visible WHO count for the past two weeks here:
http://bristol.riverdark.net/tracker/sheet.php?mud=X-Men:_Retribution

And if you just want to see the rankings themselves, you can do so here:
http://bristol.riverdark.net/tracker/tracker.php?sort=wp&start=1

======

Code Updates

This month we've added a new field to the +finger listing.  You can now
set your 'logs' field with '&logs me=<text>'.  You can use this to note
that you post all logs unless told otherwise, for instance.  Or you can
use it to indicate that you give your consent for any log that you're in
to be posted.  Alternatively, you can request that people ask you on a
case-by-case basis, and so on.

======

Plot Info

And Intro From the Plot-Wiz
by Alice


Greetings!

For those who don't know me, I'm Alice, XMR's plot and building Wizard. I
have been MU*ing for just over twelve years and have worn a variety of
"staff hats" on quite a few different games. Admittedly, this is my first
staff position on an X-Men game, so I hope my experience serves you all
well!

I'm hoping to deal with plots in a few different ways on XMR:

1. Personal Plots:

    I would really love to work with you all on any personal plot lines you
might like to explore. Does your character have any loose ends in their
background that you would like tied up or at least explored? Have you
recently had some RP that opens up problems for your character that you
would like to solve or dig deeper into? Perhaps your character wants to
'come out' to her parents about being a mutant or mutant-supporter... or
even an anti-mutant person.

    Whatever your more personal plot might be, I'd love to work with you to
get these things either dealt with, muddled up more, or just explored. And
remember, the more the merrier, so we can try to think of ways to drag in
a few people around your character, if those players are interested. If
there is something going on in your character's personal life, it's not
going to happen in a bubble. Others will feel the ramifications from it,
certainly. So just @mail *PLOT with some of the details and I'd be happy
to work with you on it.

2. Public Plots:

    Here and there, I will be running public scenes that anyone who may be
interested can join. These may be festivals, parades, shows, conferences
or any other social events. In some, there might be a "big bad" tossed at
participants. With others, it might just simply be an opportunity to get
out and mingle with other characters that you may not normally get a
chance to RP with.

    These scenes may be announced ahead of time on the bboards, forum,
mailing list and LiveJournal or they may occur more spontaneously if I see
a bunch of people logged on and no one's out RPing. I may either hop onto
the Public channel or do a MUSH-wide announcement at that point suggesting
that anyone who would like to RP may join me in a specified public
location on the grid.

    How do you get into one of these planned or spontaneous scenes? Just
show up!

Now, some of the scenes I run may seem "one-shot" at the time but keep in
mind that you can always dig deeper, follow-up or investigate/ask
questions on anything that seems interesting, amiss, strange or 'off' to
you if you wish to. All you have to do is @mail *PLOT with your query or
request to do something about the plot and I'll get back to you on how to
proceed or what your options might be.

It's that simple. Really!

I'm looking forward to hearing from you!

Alice
~ "It would be so nice if something made sense for a change."

======

State of the Plot

Over the last month or so, we have had the following items spring up on
the grid:

1. The Christmas Spectacular Disaster:

    When: New Year's Eve
    Synopsis: On one of the biggest nights of the year for Radio City Music
Hall's "Christmas Spectacular" show, something went terribly wrong during
the performance. The entire line-up of Rockettes jumped off the stage into
the crowd, high-kicking a bloody path through the hall.

    Loose Ends: Authorities were finally to subdue the dancers but were
baffled by the event. None of the women remember the ordeal and were quite
distraught by the news. Extensive tests are still being conducted.

2. Bear-Napped!

    When: mid-January
    Synopsis: A bear (which had been captured a week or two before by animal
control for allegedly trying to maul a boy in the city) went missing from
the Brooklyn Zoo. There was evidence of human intervention but the
authorities have no leads on the culprit or the bear. Zoo officials feel
that if there have been no reports of the bear at this time, it has either
escaped or been set loose in the wild or has, sadly, perished.

3. Bringing in the Ox

    Synopsis: All over the world, Chinese are celebrating the birth of a new
year in the lunar calendar and New York's very own Chinatown is no
exception. Celebrations began just days ago and will continue for a total
of two weeks, ending with the Lantern Festival with fireworks, a parade
and lots of good wishes for the new year. Several establishments are
offering special deals and meals, and invite all to come down to celebrate
with them.

   How to get involved: Players are encouraged to find their way to
Chinatown, explore the two new shop locations and consider adding the
festivities as flavour in their RP.  Ask Alice to run NPCs or background
noise/ambiance if she's around and free to do so. All are invited to the
Lantern Festival scene on Sunday, February 12th/06 at 9/10pm EST; @mail
*PLOT if you intend on attending.


Anyone wishing to follow-up on any plots should @mail *PLOT with their
intention, questions, strategies, etc.

======

In the Margins

Brianna and Rahne are tied for top +salutes with 17 salutes each.
For more information on +salutes, see '+help salutes'.
--
+thought as of February 2nd: "I have something to say! It's better burn
out, than to fade away!"
To set your own +thought, see '+help thought'.
--
+roster stats as of February 2nd:
- Xavier's: 10 members
- Brotherhood: 4 members
- X-Men: 2 members
- Independent: 3 members
- No team set: 9 characters
We have 29 approved characters as of February 2nd
--
No +birthdays for January or February.
To set your character's birthday, see '+help birthday'.
--
Our Embassy on OGR is available for any game downtimes. To get there, log
onto OGR at: ogrmux.com port 6700, create a character bit, and then @tel
to #1867. The embassy can be used as a gathering place and up to two
additional rooms can be provided upon request for RP. We also have our own
channel there: XMenRetribution.
--
We had 14 logs submitted to the list in January. Thanks you guys!
Keep sending 'em in and let's see if we can't get even higher next month!
You can view our logs here: http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/xmr-logs/
--
Earn +tokens to compete for prizes.  Submitting a log gets you two and
staff may toss out additional ones for exceptional RP, being a nice
person, or in response to mini-challenges.  @mail *STAFF for more details!

======

Feedback Loop

In the future, this will be a space for you to have your say. You can ask
questions or give opinions and they will be addressed here also by staff.
We will strive to include every question and opinion, but may need to
withhold or edit some for content or to reduce repetition. If your
question is not addressed here, you may always contact staff for a private
answer.

To submit a question, @mail or email (paradigm@...) Paradigm,
with the words 'Feedback Loop' in the subject line.
--
We still haven't received any feedback on our newsletter. Please feel free
to write in and let us know what you think. Is there anything that should
be included that isn't? Do you find it useful or no?

======

Classifieds

In the future, this will be a space for players to post classifieds. You
can submit birthday wishes or other such greetings for specific players,
put out ads for characters/concepts you'd like to see played, bring
attention to sites or other games, or any other myriad messages.

To submit a classified add, @mail or email (paradigm@...)
Paradigm, with the words 'Newsletter Classifieds' in the subject line.
--
No classifieds submitted yet.

Hello all,

Looks like we're back up.  However, it would appear that all @mail was
lost in the blip; thankfully, everything else seems to have remained
intact.  If you had any outstanding requests to staff, please resubmit
them via @mail so that we have the reminder.

I'm sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.  Please let me know
if you have any questions or concerns.

Thank you,
Paradigm

--
Thank you for your interest in X-Men: Retribution
http://xmr.dune.net
telnet://xmr.dune.net:4567

Hello all,

Sorry that the game is down.  I'm trying to find out what's going on and
how soon things will be fixed.  Once I know more, I'll post it to the
forum, the LJ, and the mailing list.

You're also welcome to join us on OGR in our embassy.  Log in at
ogrmush.com port 6700.  Then you can @tel to room #1867, or join our
channel there with 'addcom xmr=XMenRetribution'.

Please note that for the duration of this downtime the @xmr.dune.net email
addresses might not be working, so please email me directly at
paradigm@... if you have any questions or concerns.

Thank you,
Paradigm

--
Thank you for your interest in X-Men: Retribution
http://xmr.dune.net
telnet://xmr.dune.net:4567

This newsletter is posted via xmr-mush@yahoogroups.com. To join, send a
blank email to xmr-mush-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or visit
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/xmr-mush/.

Alternatively, it is also posted at our forum, located at:
http://www.btvs.ca/xmr and our LJ group: xmr.

----------

Paradigm Shift - a word from the head-wiz
New Characters This Month
Site of the Month
In the Margins - bits and bobs
Feedback Loop - your letters
Classifieds

----------

Paradigm Shift

So what better way to ring in a new year with a fresh start to our old
game?  This past month has been quite the exciting one as we geared up for
and then launched our grand reopening.

I've had quite a few players and guests ask about why we closed down in
the first place.  Really, we never officially closed so much as went on
hiatus, but I suppose the point stands.  The reason we shut our doors for
the past several months was mostly because of a lack of players and some
severe cases of RL on behalf of the staff.

So we decided to take a bit of time off, regroup and rework things.  Now
that that beast known as real life has gotten settled down a bit again,
we're right back at it.

It's also given us a chance to do some spring cleaning, take care of
things we'd been putting off.  It gives us a fresh start on plot, and now
that we have two years of experience in running an X-MU*, we have a better
idea of what should work and what simply won't.

But, of course, a game is only as good as its players.  And though we may
still be small in size, I've seen a lot of dedicated RPers out there
already.  I'm looking forward to seeing what you guys come up with to keep
us on our toes.

----------

New Characters This Month

Well, as this has been a fresh start, ALL of our characters are new.  Here
is where our roster currently stands:

Angela
Brianna
Caitlin
Elaine
Elliot
Jubilee
Kurt
Liam
Logan
Pietro
Rahne
Remy
Rogue
Scheherezade

Not a bad start!

----------

Site of the Month

Online Gaming Resource - http://www.orgmux.com | telnet://ogrmux.com 6700

I believe we've featured OGR before, but as we have a number of new
players, I thought it warranted mentioning again, for not only is OGR an
awesome and valuable resource on its own, it is also home to our Embassy,
which can be used as a refuge should XMR go down.

So - if you ever have problems connecting to XMR, hop onto OGR and @tel to
#1867 to join us.  Or, if you normally hang out somewhere else on OGR and
don't want to leave, you can always join our channel there:
XMenRetribution.

----------

In the Margins

Brianna currently leads in +salutes with 7 salutes.  Congrats Brianna!
Keep up the good work.
---
+thought as of January 1st: "A bullet in the hand don't compare to two in
Bush. I mean..."
To set your own +thought, see '+help thought'
---
+roster stats as of January 1st:
- Xavier's: 6 members
- Brotherhood: 2 members
- X-Men: 2 members
- Independent: 1 member
We have 19 approved characters.
---
No +birthdays set for either December or January.
See '+help birthday' to set your IC birthday.
---
We've had 8 logs submitted to the list for December.
Keep sending 'em in and let's see how many we can get for January!
You can view our logs here: http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/xmr-logs/
---
We've given out a total of 22 +tokens so far.  You can earn +tokens by
sending in logs and participating in RP!  We'll also be offering periodic
challenges to earn more tokens.

----------

Feedback Loop

In the future, this will be a space for you to have your say. You can ask
questions or give opinions and they will be addressed here also by staff.
We will strive to include every question and opinion, but may need to
withhold or edit some for content or to reduce repetition. If your
question is not addressed here, you may always contact staff for a private
answer.

To submit a question, @mail or email (paradigm@...) Paradigm,
with the words 'Feedback Loop' in the subject line.
---
We haven't yet received any feedback on our newsletter. Please feel free
to write in and let us know what you think. Is there anything that should
be included that isn't? Do you find it useful or no?  Any changes you
propose in light of the reopening?

----------

Classifieds

In the future, this will be a space for players to post classifieds. You
can submit birthday wishes or other such greetings for specific players,
put out ads for characters/concepts you'd like to see played, bring
attention to sites or other games, or any other myriad messages.

To submit a classified add, @mail or email (paradigm@...)
Paradigm, with the words 'Newsletter Classifieds' in the subject line.
---
No classifieds submitted yet.

--
Thank you for your interest in X-Men: Retribution
http://xmr.dune.net
telnet://xmr.dune.net:4567

Hello everyone,

Just a quick note to let everyone know that we have reenabled guest logins
on the MU*, and thus are now officially reopen.

We will be reviewing applications from this point forward, so be sure to
get those in!

Characters may begin RPing any time after they have received on-game
approval.

Wizards will be around on the game as much as possible to answer your
questions and concerns.

In a hurry to start RPing and don't want to wait on the app process?
Consider a human PC.  We let you skip the first part of the application
process and go straight to chargen for most human concepts.  Just speak
with a wizard on the game and once your concept has been discussed with
you, a bit will be created so that you can begin chargen.

As always, if you have any questions, you can email paradigm@...
or login to the game and ask in person!

Thank you,
Paradigm

--
Thank you for your interest in X-Men: Retribution.
http://xmr.dune.net
telnet://xmr.dune.net:4567

Hello everyone,

Just a quick announcement to let people know that our application form how
now been enabled.  You may fill it out and submit it at any time.  You can
find our application form here: http://xmr.dune.net/800600.php?page=apply

Please make sure that you fill out ALL required fields; incomplete
applications will only cause delays.

Also, please notice that we have a new system for applications now.
Emails sent to xmr-apps@yahoogroups.com will NOT be accepted any longer.
You must use the form in order to have your application processed.

We will begin reviewing the apps tomorrow afternoon at 4 pm EST when we
again open our doors to accept guest logins on the MU*.  In the meantime,
you can find all of our newsfiles on the website, and any questions can be
posted either on the forum or sent to paradigm@....

We have changed our theme a little, so please take a look at that newsfile
before reapping, if you are a returning player!

Thank you,
Paradigm

--
Thank you for your interest in X-Men: Retribution.

Hello Everyone,

Good news for our more impatient players.  We've really been getting
through everything we need to do to reopen with great speed, and after
discussing it as a staff, we've decided to move our opening date up a few
days to Saturday, December 17th instead of the 20th.  The doors will open
around 4 pm EST.

We'll start accepting applications the evening of the 16th, for those of
you who are really on the ball: however, be aware that no applications
will actually be reviewed until we officially open on the 17th.

And for those of you who just can't wait, I remind you again that you're
welcome to hang out in our forums (http://www.btvs.ca/xmr).  They've
already seen a great deal of activity, so feel free to jump in and join in
on the conversation!

If you have any questions, please contact paradigm@....

Thank you,
Paradigm

--
Thank you for your interest in X-Men: Retribution.

Hello everyone,

Staff has been hard at work getting everything ready for the restart, as
we're getting down to the wire.  We're still aiming to hit our proposed
date of December 20th for the reopening, so there is less than 10 days
left.  We've set up a countdown on our new site design, to help us all
stay on top of things.  You can check out our redesigned site at
http://xmr.dune.net - as ever, feedback is welcome.  Until the date of our
opening, the game will remain closed to non-staff logins.

Because our opening date is getting close, I've decided to open up our
forum so that those who are interested can have a place to chat with each
other for these last few days (of course, you're also welcome to use this
mailing list or our LiveJournal, if you prefer).

You can find the forum at: http://www.btvs.ca/xmr , as usual.

You'll need to create an account in order to have full access to the
forums.  I would suggest against making a character-specific username
until you have that character approved; the board is set up so that you
can change your username at any time, so once you have applied and been
approved after December 20th, you can swap your name to your character, if
you prefer.

Finally, all status updates will now be posted to the forum as well as
this mailing list and our LiveJournal.

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please let me know!  You
can reach me any time at paradigm@....

Thank you,
Paradigm

--
Thank you for your interest in X-Men: Retribution.
http://xmr.dune.net
xmr.dune.net 4567

Due to lack of activity and availability, XMR is going to be temporarily
placed on hiatus.  We will not be reviewing applications during this
time.  However, guest logins will remain enabled and no existing
characters will be penalized for inactivity.  As such, you are welcome to
use this game to keep in touch during our downtime, or even organize your
own RP if you wish.  However, please bear in mind that staff will be
offering only minimal support and you will be responsible for your own
plot.

If you want to receive notifications when there is news on the status of
the game, you can sign up for our mailing list here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ASIT_MUSH/
Or you can join our LJ community here:
http://www.livejournal.com/community/xmr/
RSS feeds are available for both groups if you prefer not to sign up.
Contact me for instructions if needed.

It is advised that you @decompile a backup of your character and any
objects or rooms you would like to keep, just in case.  We will, though,
provide ample notice should we decide to fully shut our doors.

I will remain a presence on the game, so you are welcome to page or @mail
me, Paradigm, with any questions or comments.  Alternatively, you can use
my email: paradigm@....

--
Thank you for your interest in X-Men: Retribution.

Staff would like to extend their congratulations to Remy and Brianna for
completing October's 'The Great RP Challenge'. Both players successfully
achieved the challenge by RPing with ten different characters between
October 1st and November 7th.

We would love to hear feedback on our first challenge. More challenges may
be to come in the future and this is your chance to have some input on
what we will plan. If you have any thoughts on October's challenge or
suggestions for future challenges, please @mail me (Paradigm) with them.

Thank you,
Paradigm
--
Thank you for your interest in X-Men: Retribution.  http://xmr.dune.net

X-Men: Retribution's November Newsletter - November 7th, 2004


This newsletter is posted via xmr-mush@yahoogroups.com.  To join, send a
blank email to xmr-mush-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or visit
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/xmr-mush/.

Alternatively, it is also posted at our forum, located at:
http://www.btvs.ca/xmr and our LJ group: xmr.

------

Contents:
Paradigm Shift - a word from the head-wiz
New Characters This Month
Site of the Month
Player Submission
In the Margins - bits and bobs
Feedback Loop - your letters
Classifieds

------

Paradigm Shift

I apologize that this month's newsletter is late.  Between Halloween,
life, school, and other wiz-related duties, I've had to keep putting this
off.  And I'm afraid even now, I don't have any real article for this
month's column here.

We do, though, have our first ever player submission a little further
along, so you'll still have plenty to read.  I'd love to see more
submissions from players, either in the form of articles, letters, links,
feedback, classifieds - anything, really.

And that about does it for me this month.  I'll be back in December,
perhaps with something a little more ... actual.

Thank you,
Paradigm

------

New Characters This Month

The following characters have joined us during the month of October.
Please do what you can to make them feel welcome:

Brian
Ororo
Kitty
Gwen
Piotr
Bobby
Danielle

------

Site of the Month

This month's site (well, more of a page, really) was submitted by Remy.

OOC Etiquette: Or, How Not to Be Annoying:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/minor_ramblings/78931.html

An interesting and useful LJ entry written about OOC etiquette.
------

Player Submission

New York City is known for its living in the fast line, make or break
attitude. Often times it has been referred to chewing and spitting out
tourists and others who are unable to handle the fast life. And yet, it
does not discourage those from trying to adapt to its style and speed.
This city is both cruel and united all in one when it comes to the native
people that have lived in the city their entire life, New Yorkers.

What dubs one a real New Yorker? Well, you would have to live within the
city and its five boroughs (although often enough, Staten Island is
considered to not be a borough by those who live in the other four
boroughs), Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island. Those
who call themselves New Yorkers and live upstate and outside of the city?s
influence are often regarded with stares and sneers. Even they would not
be able to survive in this rat-race of a city, despite them being within
the same state limits.

New York City is my kind of city. Fast paced, mysterious, and full of
surprises. Born and raised here my entire live, I could never consider
leaving, and many other New Yorkers feel the same way. There is nothing
else like this city in the world. Even with its tragedies and flaws, this
beautiful city always seems to come out on top and bask away with glory.
Only a city like the Big Apple could recover from some of the things it
has seen in the past, especially one key tragedy in the recent past.

Dennis Leary said it best when speaking of New Yorkers. We wear the fact
that we live here like a badge on our sleeve and are damned proud of it.
Indeed, we are. This concrete jungle has been known to deter visitors for
a few key aspects. One being its quick pace. Nothing in New York City is
slow. From the yellow taxis to the dog walkers, everyone walks fast and
never straggles behind. It is something that you learn to get used to as
you walk around. There is no such thing as window shopping. It is more
like glancing into a store window as you whiz past it. There is no
sympathy for the slow. Pedestrians run like water, if there is a stone in
their path, they?ll quickly wrap around the slow object to continue at
their current speed, even if it means knocking into other pedestrians. It
is done but not looked down upon, even by the slow walker or the person
that was being knocked into.

Another down side of its quick pace is impatience. Oh how we are the most
impatient people in the world. I experienced this last night when I nearly
threw my new router out my window when trying to maintain my connection to
the game. I know that there is that saying, ?In a New York minute?; well
that is how things are here. Dare you have to wait over thirty minutes for
a pizza, the delivery man gets no tip. Many times even I have had to walk
out into the middle of an active street just to get the attention of a
passing by cab instead of waiting for one to stop by and decide to pick me
up. Wait more than five minutes for a bagel to be made in a deli in the
morning and you walk out. Of course, there is the big one which is not
daring to wait for the light to turn green in order to go, but I shall
save my road rage tirade for another time. We cannot stand waiting,
victims of instant gratification with most stores being no more than two
blocks away from our homes, our digital cable, cable speed connections,
and cabs that speed on residential streets to get to their destination in
a hurry. One thing that New Yorkers just have to deal with, despite how
slow it is and torturous, is the wait for the subway and bus. If you are
unfortunate enough to take to take a bus route that is known to be slow,
you are in trouble. I have often waited over an hour on many mornings for
the bus during blizzard-like weather on my trek to school. That is one
thing that not much can be done about.

Many visitors don?t like the overall look of the city. Of course it has
its own charm with its skyscrapers and many landmarks; I am referring to
the amount of sunlight which filters through the streets of Manhattan. Due
to the colossal buildings, the streets take on a drab blue unnatural look
to them. The exception is the surrounding area of Central Park. Many find
it depressing looking and I have often seen New York portrayed in
commercials and movies with that grayish blue tint to it. We look at it as
unique instead of depressing. Only a great city such as this one is spoken
of just for its unusual tone of light.

Ah, yes. Who can forget the lunatics of the city? The stark raving mad who
run around in gold jumpsuits and carrying Bibles that speak of the
apocalypse. Yes, there is a lot of that. Most New Yorkers do not even look
at them, and I know that sounds harsh, but it is the truth. If there is a
homeless amputee on the street with a cup for change, he is looked down as
a piece of street trash. No glances or stares are ever given. Now real
generous New Yorkers will throw them some change, but many think that they
will just use the money for liquor and drugs instead of a sandwich. I too
have fallen victim to this lack of generosity, but I have good reason. As
well as the homeless are jerks that try to make a quick buck by sitting in
a wheelchair with a cup instead of working. My sister?s friend gave such a
man some change and he tossed it into the street She was just a child at
the time and was so upset that he did that. Because of many people that
run around like that, the attitude of only caring for yourself is a lesson
learned. I will admit though, sometimes it is amusing to see a bedraggled
man on a subway car yelling about it being his home or see someone sing
and dance Christmas carols on a street corner in the middle of July.

What is a New Yorker without cursing? We are victims to the dreaded sailor
talk and we should have our mouths washed out with soap very often with
some things that come out of them. Cursing is a second nature to most New
Yorkers and I am sure that tourists' ears are bleeding by the time they
leave for having to endure the obscenities. They are a part of adding
flavor to a conversation. Businessmen, punk rock anarchists, and even
vegans within the city all share the same potty mouth syndrome. Most New
York families are raised with curses being an everyday part of life. In my
family, we?d scream ?fongul? at one another and not be upset. Of course
there are other things that we would say, but I?ll keep this clean. It is
just how New Yorkers are. Dare upset one and some of us have the talent to
yell at least three obscenities within one sentence.

Yes, New Yorkers are quite an unusual breed, and we are very proud of it.
Only people such as us could keep up with the everyday life here within
this stone fortress. I do not mean to dampen some players? spirits by my
essay above about the city and its people. I only wish to help you all
understand some of the underlying pieces of the city and the people that
live there.

   - Remy?s player.

------

In the Margins

Kurt maintains the lead in +salutes, now with 44.  Nice work Kurt!
Brianna now trails a close second with 42.
For more information on +salutes, see '+help salutes'.
--
+thought as of November 5th: "I don't trust men in capes"
To set your own +thought, see '+help thought'.
--
+roster stats as of November 5th:
- Xavier's: 9 members
- Brotherhood: 6 members
- X-Men: 4 members
- Order of Rational Parity: 7 members
- Mutancy Investigation Bureau: 1 member
- Independent: 1 member
- No team set:  10 characters
We have 39 approved characters.
--
October birthdays: Hank on Sat Oct 21 07:57:57 1978
                     Caden on Sun Oct 21 02:20:44 1984
November birthdays: Kurt on Wed Nov 25 01:29:37 1987
--
Our Embassy on OGR is available for any game downtimes.  To get there, log
onto OGR at: ogrmux.com port 6700, create a character bit, and then @tel
to #1867.  The embassy can be used as a gathering place and up to two
additional rooms can be provided upon request for RP.  We also have our
own channel there: XMenRetribution.
--
We had 37 logs submitted to the list in October.  Thanks you guys!
Keep sending 'em in and let's see if we can't get even higher for November!
You can view our logs here: http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/xmr-logs/
--
Our first RP challenge is coming to a close.  Anyone with outstanding logs
should get them into the mailing list ASAP.  Results will be forthcoming
shortly.

------

Feedback Loop

In the future, this will be a space for you to have your say.  You can ask
questions or give opinions and they will be addressed here also by staff.
We will strive to include every question and opinion, but may need to
withhold or edit some for content or to reduce repetition.  If your
question is not addressed here, you may always contact staff for a private
answer.

To submit a question, @mail or email (paradigm@...) Paradigm,
with the words 'Feedback Loop' in the subject line.
--
We still haven't received any feedback on our newsletter.  Please feel
free to write in and let us know what you think.  Is there anything that
should be included that isn't?  Do you find it useful or no?

------

Classifieds

In the future, this will be a space for players to post classifieds.  You
can submit birthday wishes or other such greetings for specific players,
put out ads for characters/concepts you'd like to see played, bring
attention to sites or other games, or any other myriad messages.

To submit a classified add, @mail or email (paradigm@...)
Paradigm, with the words 'Newsletter Classifieds' in the subject line.
--
No classifieds submitted yet.

X-Men: Retribution's October Newsletter - October 2nd, 2004


This newsletter is posted via xmr-mush@yahoogroups.com.  To join, send a
blank email to xmr-mush-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or visit
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/xmr-mush/.

Alternatively, it is also posted at our forum, located at:
http://www.btvs.ca/xmr and our LJ group: xmr.

======

Contents:
Paradigm Shift - a word from the head-wiz
Site of the Month
Code Updates
Plot Info
In the Margins - bits and bobs
Feedback Loop - your letters
Classifieds

======

Paradigm Shift

RP Savings and Loans

This month I'd like to put forth the theory that RP, at least once you
reach a certain level of quality which I would (with bias, perhaps) like
to believe we maintain on XMR, is much like a bank.  You can only take out
what you put in.

Okay, so pat little metaphors and similies aside, what does this mean?  In
short, you have to give in order to get in RP.  You have to be willing to
allow scenes to be about other people (sometimes even expend effort
helping them along in that direction) if you want your own turn in the
limelight.

Certainly, sometimes this is not going to get you very far.  There are
souls out there in RP-land who will take all that you can give and never
seem willing to turn around and reciprocate.  But I like to believe this
is a minority of players out there, or at least can be if people are only
made aware that sometimes you do have to step back a bit and simply allow
the scene to be about someone else.

In stories, we have our main characters and our bad guys and the rest of
the world is supporting cast.  But in MU*ing, everyone is a main
character, and aside from the occasional NPC, there really is no
supporting cast.  But stories that only have protaganists soon unravel.
And so, we each must take our turn being supporting cast for each other.
This is where quality RP is achieved.

So I propose you step back once in awhile and really give some thought to
your own methods of RP.  It's no good worrying about that of other
players; just concern yourself with your own.  Do you consistently tend to
use any opening to bring the scene around to focussing on your character?
Do you frequently and repeatedly drop hints (anvils, perhaps) to get other
characters to ask yours about his or her secrets, powers, skills, etc?  Do
you use anything at your disposal (setting, NPCs, etc.) to make your
character seem more important within the scene?  Are you only really happy
RPing if a scene is about your character?  Can you say you likely know as
much if not more about the other characters you RP with as their players
do about yours?  Do you have any interest in learning secrets or simply
information about other characters?  Do you have 'tricks' that you use
regularly in RP to take a slow scene and thrust your character into the
starring role (tics, issues with your powers, things beyond the control of
your character but that conveniently draw all attention to them, etc.)?

Please, though, don't let this article make you paranoid.  Note the words
I use in my questions: consistently, frequently, regularly, etc.  As with
most things, these only become a problem when moderation is lost.  When
most if not every scene needs to be about your character.  Chances are, as
with many of my monthly articles, if you're worrying that this might apply
to you, it likely doesn't.

Still, it never hurts to sit back and give it some consideration once in
awhile.  If you're truly worried you might have a problem here, you can
always simply ask.  Ask your fellow players.  Ask staff.  If you're in a
scene and you want to try something to explore a facet of your character
but aren't sure if it's crossing the line just ask.  Otherwise, all I ask
is that you be aware.  Try to give a little extra, every once in awhile.
Pick up on something subtle on another character and give the player the
opportunity to really shine with it.  With most players, they'll be
impressed and flattered that you noticed and thought to do something with
it.  They'll want to RP with you more.  And perhaps they'll start trying
to give you the same in return.  Which brings me back to my beginning.
Who knows, you may even stumble upon a bank where the interest rate
outstrips the fees and you wind up with more than you started with.
Certainly can't hurt to try, can it?

Thank you,
Paradigm

======

Site of the Month

This month's site is a FanArt one recommended by Eeyore.  As I have really
no experience with it, you get no colourful commentary this time around,
just an URL:
http://home.att.net/~lubakmetyk/gallery.htm

Please note that there ARE adult images on the site, though they all
appear to be safely behind further warnings.

(If you have any suggestions for future SotMs, be they personal sites or
just ones you like, by all means, please @mail me the URL.  Even if they
don't get used as a SotM, they may be included in our Feedback Loop
section.)

======

Code Updates

- +tokens are going live along with the launching of The Great RP
Challenege (http://xmr.dune.net/tgrpc.html).  See '+help tokens' for more
information.

======

Plot Info

Plot Involvement : A How-To Guide
by Eeyore

Think there's no plots going on? Think again. As a rule there are always
plots going on, but most of them don't begin as knock-down drag-out
fights; a plot
begins often as something small and seemingly insignificant until someone
follows it up. Here are some ways you can find the plots and get involved.

1. Read the bulletin boards.

Often, a plot is heralded by a news post. If someone went to the trouble
of writing up a television spot or newspaper article, chances are it's a
plot.
Follow these up rigorously - you might be surprised at the results.

2. Talk to other players.

Other players have information. Even if they don't have information
directly on something, they might know a character involved in something -
or might have
something in their own backgrounds worth following up.

3. Follow up any clues you find.

This might seem self-evident, but it's often the least followed point. If
you find out something, it's not going to follow itself up, like a dog
chasing its
tail; it's up to you as a player to do something about it! And there's
plenty to be done.

There are five things to do for following up clues in RP :

TALK to other players IC. Don't expect instant outpouring of information;
give them a reason to want to work with your character. Whether it's
threats or
bribes, make sure you follow through on your end of it. Other people are
not ATMs of information; to get something out of it, you need to put
something in.
Talk to them OOCly, find out how the plot can benefit them as well as you.
Plots are for creating RP, and if you give people the chance to be
involved,
something can almost always be worked out - even when PCs are on opposite
sides of the fence ICly.

TALK to staff about what you want to do. Staff can tell you if your ideas
are practical and give you input and suggestions. They may also be able to
recommend players who will be of particular aid if involved; never
underestimate the OOC knowledge staff can wield on your behalf!

TALK to both staff and other players about what's going on. Communication
isn't just a good idea; it's required. Don't separate your communications
to one or
the other, as having everyone in the same loop helps keep things flowing
much more smoothly than if you have two separate loops which only
intersect at one
point : you. @Mail is very much your best friend in this, and staff has
several aliases which can help you : *STAFF and *PLOT are both of
particular
relevance.

PLAN what you want to do and how. Involve other people in this if at all
possible; remember that no matter how smart you are, two heads are better
than one
and someone else might notice something which you've overlooked. You've
got to have some sort of plan; it's rare that just wandering blithely
through RP will
net you in-depth results.

RELAX. Don't obsessively plan every single detail; noone can and it won't
get you any further along. Get a rough plan in motion, work with staff and
other
players to set a time to play out whatever it is you want to do, and go
for the gold. Remember that no matter what position you play on your team
(or even as
an independent), OOCly, you aren't in charge and you don't have to be.

Always remember that the purpose of a plot is to create RP, not to stifle
it. And never be afraid to ask for help. You never know - the next plot
that
happens might be focused on you. And above all else...


REMEMBER TO ROLEPLAY! Have fun; it's a jungle out there.

======

In the Margins

Kurt maintains the lead in +salutes for the third month running, now with
29.  Nice work Kurt!
For more information on +salutes, see '+help salutes'.
--
+thought as of October 2nd: "I see the hole in your thinking ... where the
logic drained out."
To set your own +thought, see '+help thought'.
--
+roster stats as of September 2nd:
- Xavier's: 10 members
- Brotherhood: 6 members
- X-Men: 5 members
- Order of Rational Parity: 4 members
- Mutancy Investigation Bureau: 1 member
- Independent: 1 member
- No team set:  12 characters
We have 39 approved characters as of October 2nd.
--
September birthdays: Unity on Sun Sep 23 11:59:00 1990
October birthdays: Hank on Sat Oct 21 07:57:57 1978
                     Caden on Sun Oct 21 02:20:44 1984
--
Our Embassy on OGR is available for any game downtimes.  To get there, log
onto OGR at: ogrmux.com port 6700, create a character bit, and then @tel
to #1867.  The embassy can be used as a gathering place and up to two
additional rooms can be provided upon request for RP.  We also have our
own channel there: XMenRetribution.
--
We had 45 logs submitted to the list in September.  Thanks you guys!
Keep sending 'em in and let's see if we can't get even higher for October!
You can view our logs here: http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/xmr-logs/
--
The Great RP Challenge is going on all this month!  See
http://xmr.dune.net/tgrpc.html for more information.

======

Feedback Loop

In the future, this will be a space for you to have your say.  You can ask
questions or give opinions and they will be addressed here also by staff.
We will strive to include every question and opinion, but may need to
withhold or edit some for content or to reduce repetition.  If your
question is not addressed here, you may always contact staff for a private
answer.

To submit a question, @mail or email (paradigm@...) Paradigm,
with the words 'Feedback Loop' in the subject line.
--
We still haven't received any feedback on our newsletter.  Please feel
free to write in and let us know what you think.  Is there anything that
should be included that isn't?  Do you find it useful or no?

======

Classifieds

In the future, this will be a space for players to post classifieds.  You
can submit birthday wishes or other such greetings for specific players,
put out ads for characters/concepts you'd like to see played, bring
attention to sites or other games, or any other myriad messages.

To submit a classified add, @mail or email (paradigm@...)
Paradigm, with the words 'Newsletter Classifieds' in the subject line.
--
No classifieds submitted yet.

This October, we are launching a grand OOC challenge for any and all
players to participate in. Rather than try to explain the exact nature of
TGRPC here, I have posted the information on our website, and it may be
found here: http://xmr.dune.net/tgrpc.html.

If you have any questions or find anything on the page unclear, by all
means, please let me know. Otherwise, I look forward to seeing logs in
October from all of those who decide to give it a shot! Best of luck.

Thank you,
Paradigm

--
Thank you for your interest in X-Men: Retribution.  http://xmr.dune.net

X-Men: Retribution's September Newsletter - September 2nd, 2004


This newsletter is posted via xmr-mush@yahoogroups.com.  To join, send a
blank email to xmr-mush-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or visit
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/xmr-mush/.

Alternatively, it is also posted at our forum, located at:
http://www.btvs.ca/xmr and our LJ group: xmr.

------

Contents:
Paradigm Shift - a word from the head-wiz
New Characters This Month
Site of the Month
Code Updates
Plot Info
In the Margins - bits and bobs
Feedback Loop - your letters
Classifieds

------

Paradigm Shift

This month, I'd like to spend a little time on the concept of consent
versus consequences.  At XMR, we have both rules of consent and rules of
ICA=ICC (in-character actions = in-character consequences).  Most times,
we try to let consent reign supreme, especially when it comes to combat
and other physical aspects of the game.  Without consent, it would be very
difficult indeed to figure out what consequences are fair for which
actions.  However, consent really relies on players being willing to work
with each other and sometimes accept that they will lose the battle.

But I think this is already made pretty clear in our newsfiles.  More, it
is the matter of non-physical consent versus consequences I want to take
some time on.  Generally, we try never to inflict consequences of a
non-physical nature without a player's consent.  Bad things might happen
to your character, but we always try to provide an out.  However, this
doesn't mean one should just completely disregard our policy of ICA=ICC.
Whenever you're doing something that may have serious consequences, you
should perhaps take a moment to consider how willing you are to accept
said consequences.  For while we do our best to make sure everyone abides
by the rules of consent, sometimes characters can do things for which no
out can BE provided.  Or sometimes providing the out can only be done by
being grossly unfair to other players who have done their best to play by
our rules.

So players should be aware that sometimes the rule of consent can be
overruled by our policy of ICA=ICC.  It doesn't happen often and we don't
choose that path lightly, but sometimes it is the only way to be fair to
the greatest number of people.

Of course, this doesn't mean you should spend your time here paralyzed by
the fear that we may decide to do something to your character.  Most of
the time we simply allow things to play out ICly, keeping an eye on them
through logs and the like.  It is only those actions which have a large
effect on the game (shifting politics, power, or the like) or on a large
group of people within the game that we tend to step in on.

We are thinking of creating a +warn command in the future, with which
players and staff alike may warn other players of impending consequences
that may be hard to avoid is a certain path of action is maintained.  In
the meantime however, I suggest you just stick to using common sense.  If
you're particularly worried, you can always speak with staff.  Most of you
will never need to worry about this.

Thank you,
Paradigm
------

New Characters This Month

The following characters have joined us during the month of August.
Please do what you can to make them feel welcome:

Dakota
Falconis
Borden
Katerina
Caitlin
Rook

------

Site of the Month

This month we're also going to promote another site of our own, because,
well, this is our newsletter.  Last month I pointed out the forums
(http://www.btvs.ca/xmr) as a great place to converse OOCly with your
fellow players and staff.  This month, I'd like to remind you all of our
LiveJournal community.

For those of you unfamiliar with the service, LiveJournal provides free
hosting of online journals.  You can update it as often as you'd like or
use it simply to read journals of other friends and communities.

And now that they've done away with invite codes, you can always create
journals for your characters as well.  Let us know what's going on in his
or her mind or just use it to post logs or chat OOCly.  By all means,
don't be shy about posting to the community (though any really long
entries should really be put behind an LJ-cut, but there's plenty of
information on how to do that in LiveJournal's FAQ).

Like our forums, I'd really love to see our LiveJournal community grow.  I
know there's some overlap between the two, but each can also provide
certain things that the other can't.  The forum is more specifically
tailored to the game, providing places to put nearly anything you could
want to discuss.  But LiveJournal gives you a place to put things
specifically from or about your character (or about yourself, if you'd
prefer using a personal journal) and you can add those of the other
players' to view all in one place on your friends' page.

You can visit out LJ community here:
http://www.livejournal.com/community/xmr/
To create your own account, follow the instructions on the main page:
http://www.livejournal.com.

------

Code Updates

- a todo list object has been added to the Free Code Room.

------

Plot Info

Investigations into the robotic beetles and the kidnapping continue.
Direct inquiries to Eeyore.

------

In the Margins

Kurt maintains the lead in +salutes, now with 14.  Nice work Kurt!
For more information on +salutes, see '+help salutes'.
--
+thought as of September 2nd: "Majority rule doesn't work in a mental
institution."
To set your own +thought, see '+help thought'.
--
+roster stats as of September 2nd:
- Xavier's: 11 members
- Brotherhood: 7 members
- X-Men: 5 members
- Order of Rational Parity: 3 members
- Mutancy Investigation Bureau: 1 member
- Independent: 1 member
- No team set:  13 characters
We have 41 approved characters as of August 31st.
--
August birthdays: No IC birthdays set in August.
September birthdays: Borden on Tue Sep  1 12:54:18 1992
                       Unity on Sun Sep 23 11:59:00 1990
--
Our Embassy on OGR is available for any game downtimes.  To get there, log
onto OGR at: ogrmux.com port 6700, create a character bit, and then @tel
to #1867.  The embassy can be used as a gathering place and up to two
additional rooms can be provided upon request for RP.  We also have our
own channel there: XMenRetribution.
--
We had 36 logs submitted to the list in August.  Thanks you guys!
Keep sending 'em in and let's see if we can't get even higher for
September!
You can view our logs here: http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/xmr-logs/

------

Feedback Loop

In the future, this will be a space for you to have your say.  You can ask
questions or give opinions and they will be addressed here also by staff.
We will strive to include every question and opinion, but may need to
withhold or edit some for content or to reduce repetition.  If your
question is not addressed here, you may always contact staff for a private
answer.

To submit a question, @mail or email (paradigm@...) Paradigm,
with the words 'Feedback Loop' in the subject line.
--
We still haven't received any feedback on our newsletter.  Please feel
free to write in and let us know what you think.  Is there anything that
should be included that isn't?  Do you find it useful or no?

------

Classifieds

In the future, this will be a space for players to post classifieds.  You
can submit birthday wishes or other such greetings for specific players,
put out ads for characters/concepts you'd like to see played, bring
attention to sites or other games, or any other myriad messages.

To submit a classified add, @mail or email (paradigm@...)
Paradigm, with the words 'Newsletter Classifieds' in the subject line.
--
No classifieds submitted yet.

X-Men: Retribution's August Newsletter - July 31st, 2004


This newsletter is posted via xmr-mush@yahoogroups.com.  To join, send a
blank email to xmr-mush-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or visit
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/xmr-mush/.

Alternatively, it is also posted at our forum, located at:
http://www.btvs.ca/xmr and our LJ group: xmr.

------

Contents:

Paradigm Shift - a word from the head-wiz
New Characters This Month
Site of the Month
Code Updates
Plot Info
In the Margins - bits and bobs
Feedback Loop - your letters
Classifieds

------

Paradigm Shift

Welcome to XMR's first ever newsletter.  I'm hoping to make this a monthly
affair, time permitting, but we'll really have to see how that goes.  This
is more or less a test issue.  We're trying something new here, and
welcome feedback.  Have a suggestion for a new section or a way to improve
an existing one?  Think something just isn't working?  Let us know by
@mailing or emailing (paradigm@...) me, Paradigm.

This section will be my little space to fill with a message to you guys.
I may choose some months to focus on a specific topic, or I may just
ramble until I feel I've filled enough of the space.  It may be sparked by
something I see on-game or elsewhere online or it might just be something
that leaps, fully formed, into my brain.

I'm going to keep this section short this month.  Mostly, I just want to
thank you all for helping to make this such a great and active game.  Keep
logging in, keep seeking out RP, and keep sending in logs, and we'll keep
doing what we can on our end.

I'm hoping that this newsletter will help us bridge the IC/OOC gap a
little further as well as serve to keep everyone up to date on goings on,
no matter how much they're able to be online.  Please, feel free to use
the mailing list, forum, or LJ to discuss the newsletter's contents with
each other and give us your thoughts.  One great advantage of this medium
is that it doesn't need to be only one-way, so make use of that if you'd
like.

Anyway, I shall leave you with that and let you get to the actual content
of this issue.  I'd love to hear your thoughts, though; please feel free
to approach me through any means.

Thank you,
Paradigm

------

New Characters This Month

The following characters have joined us during the month of July.  Please
do what you can to make them feel welcome:

Achilles
Hank
Nikka
Sparrow
Remy
Unity
Stigmata

------

Site of the Month

This month, we would like to bring your attention to our forums, if you
haven't visited them already.  These provide an OOC space to discuss the
game, the comics, the movies, and pretty much anything else your heart
desires.  Signing up is free or you can even post as a guest.  There a
private messages available, and each team has its own private board as
well.

But as with most things of this nature, you can only get out of the forums
what you put in.  Start new discussions or contribute to those that are
already ongoing and get to know your fellow players on a whole new level.

Even better: during game downtime, the forums should still be available.
You can use them as a means to keep in track with your friends from the
game and to keep up to date on the status of the game.

The X-Men: Retribution forum is located here: http://www.btvs.ca/xmr

------

Code Updates

- +birthday has now been integrated with +finger and +who.  You can now
set your IC birthday and have your age in both +finger and +who update
automatically when it rolls around.  However, because of a slight
difference in calibration between +time and +birthday, note that there may
be a slight discrepancy between the two (ie. your age and 'days until
birthday' might be a day or two off).

- Another command has also been added to the +birthday system: +birthdays
will bring up an ordered list of all IC birthdays set on approved
characters.  See '+help birthday' for more info on +birthday.

- Also, an age column has been added to the +teams listing so that the
demographics of any team can be seen at a glance.

- There is now also a 'Random Scene Generator' in Limbo to provide
suggestions for RP scenes.  Type 'look random' for instructions on how to
use the object.

------

Plot Info

Plot bubbles are still active.

------

In the Margins

Kurt was leading in +salutes with 8 as of July 31st.  Congratulations Kurt!
For more information on +salutes, see '+help salutes'.
--
+thought as of July 31st: "This above all things, to thine own self be
true. - Shakespeare"
To set your own +thought, see '+help thought'.
--
+roster stats as of July 31st:
- Xavier's: 12 members
- Brotherhood: 8 members
- X-Men: 5 members
- Order of Rational Parity: 3 members
- Mutancy Investigation Bureau: 1 member
- Independent: 1 member
- No team set:  14 characters
We have 39 approved characters as of July 31st.
--
July birthdays: Rogue on Wed Jul 24 19:03:35 1991
August birthdays: No IC birthdays set in August.
--
Our Embassy on OGR is available for any game downtimes.  To get there, log
onto OGR at: ogrmux.com port 6700, create a character bit, and then @tel
to #1867.  The embassy can be used as a gathering place and up to two
additional rooms can be provided upon request for RP.  We also have our
own channel there: XMenRetribution.
--
We had 39 logs submitted to the list in July.  Thanks you guys!
But remember to keep sending in those logs!  They not only help everyone
keep up to date and provide entertaining reading, but they can help us
draw in new players by seeming active and interesting.
You can view our logs here: http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/xmr-logs/

------

Feedback Loop

In the future, this will be a space for you to have your say.  You can ask
questions or give opinions and they will be addressed here also by staff.
We will strive to include every question and opinion, but may need to
withhold or edit some for content or to reduce repetition.  If your
question is not addressed here, you may always contact staff for a private
answer.

To submit a question, @mail or email (paradigm@...) Paradigm,
with the words 'Feedback Loop' in the subject line.

------

Classifieds

In the future, this will be a space for players to post classifieds.  You
can submit birthday wishes or other such greetings for specific players,
put out ads for characters/concepts you'd like to see played, bring
attention to sites or other games, or any other myriad messages.

To submit a classified add, @mail or email (paradigm@...)
Paradigm, with the words 'Newsletter Classifieds' in the subject line.

Okay, never mind then.  Looks like it was a false alarm.  I suppose it
must have been a router that caught a few unfortunate souls.  At any rate,
I have access back and it looks like said souls do too, so I'll sound the
all-clear.

Thank you,
Paradigm

On Sat, 31 Jul 2004 03:01:13 -0400, Paradigm <paradigm@...> wrote:

> I'm not sure why yet, but it looks like dune.net has suddenly gone down.
> You're welcome to find refuge in our embassy on OGR in the meantime -
> ogrmux.com port 6700 - then page Paradigm once you're on or @tel to
> #1867.  Up to two more rooms can be provided for RP if needed.
>
> Thank you and sorry for the inconvenience,
> Paradigm
>



--
Thank you for your interest in X-Men: Retribution.  http://xmr.dune.net

I'm not sure why yet, but it looks like dune.net has suddenly gone down.
You're welcome to find refuge in our embassy on OGR in the meantime -
ogrmux.com port 6700 - then page Paradigm once you're on or @tel to
#1867.  Up to two more rooms can be provided for RP if needed.

Thank you and sorry for the inconvenience,
Paradigm

--
Thank you for your interest in X-Men: Retribution.  http://xmr.dune.net

> A migration and upgrade of the enigma server is planned for the
evening of
> Wednesday March 31st, 2004. There will be an estimated two hours of
> downtime.
>
> We hope that this migration and upgrade will resolve the server issues
> experienced over the last two days. We apologize for the inconvenience
> during
> this time, and thank you for your continued patience.

As ever, you are welcome to make use of our embassy on OGR during this
downtime.  Simply log into OGR at: ogrmush.com: 6700, create a
character, and then @tel to #1867.  Alternatively, if you already have a
character on OGR, you can join our channel there with 'addcom
xmr=XMenRetribution'.  Rooms for RP can be provided on OGR if there is a
want for them.

And again, we're back up. Sorry once more for the inconvenience folks.
There was a power failure at our host's ISP yesterday morning and things
have been locking up since. They're working to move over to new hardware
as soon as possible, so with luck, this won't persist.

Thank you for your continued patience,
Paradigm

The game should be back up now, for anyone who's been trying to connect.
Sorry for the inconvenience, everyone.

Thank you,
Paradigm

Crossposted to the LJ:

------------------- event Info: ---------------------

Info on: Charity Masquerade Ball & Auction
    Date: Sun Feb 8 15:00

Notes:
Come one, come all! Help support the victims (and families) of these
terrible tragedies that have befallen our fair city - with the
terrorists on both sides of the mutant issue attacking innocent
civilians. For a minimum donation of $20, you too, can come in and show
off your most outlandish costumes, and dance to the music of a live
swing band.

The expected guests of honor will be Mayor Lenore Roussel and Ambassador
Joshua Primm - both expected to give speeches. And - if that wasn't
enough, various pieces of artwork will be up for auction! So, be there!!
The Ball will be held in the Hilton Hotel Ballroom, and the festivities
will kick off at 3pm Eastern Time on 8 Feb 2004.

----------------------- XMR --------------------------

And we're back up.  Sorry for the inconvenience everyone.

tt4n,
Paradigm

I just got an email from Dune with details of the downtime, for those
curious.

----
Hello,

Our ISP had a power failure at their co-lo shortly after midnight this
morning (even though they have redundant power!). All of the servers
rebooted, however the enigma server did not reboot properly after that
failure. We are trying to get someone on-site to fix that problem as
soon
as possible, but being New Year's Day and all, it's quite a challenge.

I'll let you know when I get better information about when the server
will
be restored. Sorry about the inconvenience.
----

Again, I'll post here as soon as I get any new information or we go back
up.

(Crossposted on the LJ community.)

We appear to have gone down; or at least I can't get connected.  Dune's
main site is still up, so I'm hoping this is just a wee temporary thing
that won't affect too many folks.  I'll post here again as soon as I see
we're back up.

And I'll also take this opportunity to invite everyone to introduce
themselves.  Logs can also be sent to our mailing list at
xmr-logs@yahoogroups.com.  You'll need to be a member first, which you
can become by going here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/xmr-logs.

<Roughly cross-posted to our LJ community:
http://www.livejournal.com/community/xmr >

tt4n,
Paradigm

------------------- event Info: ---------------------

Info on: New Years Rockin' Eve
    Date: Tue Dec 30 19:00

Notes:
Join us to ring in the IC New Year in Times Square. Happy 2007 everyone!

----------------------- XMR --------------------------

--------------------------------- event Info:
------------------------------

Info on: BETA!
    Date: Sat Dec 20 15:30

Notes:
We are now officially open for beta. You may begin submitting your
applications (see 'news applications').

------------------------------------- XMR
----------------------------------