Mod Letter - Sailing into Harbor

[pumpkinhollow]

Hello Pumpkins! Rose here!

As many of you are aware, our game has a lot of overlap with the player base of Come Sail Away, a game that is coming to its end. A lot of these overlapping players have been advertising us to their friends, and as a result, we have a large influx of very enthusiastic new players coming in as the game ends! We've been expecting this for a while, a phenomenon we're lovingly calling the Great Sail Migration, and as our cast grows (possibly rather drastically) we just want to preemptively touch on a few things to make sure we grow in the best ways possible! Bear with us while we hit a few important bullet points here:

• Inclusivity is Imperative! This goes for everyone! PH veterans, please strive to be welcoming to our new members and help them integrate into the setting. Former Sailors, both new and old to Pumpkin Hollow, please resist the instinct to gravitate towards old friends and remember to make space for newer pals! Community is a core value of Pumpkin Hollow, and as groups fuse together it's important to be aware of and avoid the impulse to form cliques. This isn't an accusation--- it's something that can very easily happen by accident. Knowing is half the battle!


• To CRAU or Not to CRAU? We're super excited to welcome some Come Sail Away CRAU characters to Pumpkin Hollow and allow folks to continue meaningful character arcs in a new space. Veteran players, you may see quite a bit of this! New players--- there is no rule regarding how many CRAU characters you can bring and we don't intend to make one. However, we would like to kindly request that you bring in a blend of CRAU and fresh shiny new characters! We want to make sure our game keeps its balance and unique identity as it gains a handful of characters with a shared history, and we don't want you all to miss out on the opportunity to view our setting through fresh pairs of eyes. It's our understanding that most of you already intend to do this, but we just want to be on the same page about what we're hoping to see!


• Server Culture. An important distinction between our game and Sail that we've addressed in the past is the difference in the way our Discord servers function, so for those who are a part of it: we're generally not strict about staying on topic and will usually only ask people to change channels if there's a dedicated channel specifically for said topic (i.e. Lore Dump, Mushy Stuff, ect). There are some archival channels that we don't want chatter in--- these would be RP Link Archive and Small Town Gossip. The former is JUST for posting links to your toplevels for easy access. Please don't chat here! Also, Small Town Gossip is for sharing recent major plot/character developments as an easy reference for slower players who may have missed something, and chatter can cover up important news. Additionally, try to keep NSFW conversations primarily in horny jail and make use of censors liberally. And lastly, importantly, please be cognizant of talking over and/or ignoring people, as this is a recipe for bad feelings. Try to engage with people whenever you can, and please use channels like Side Convos or Game Overflow if the channel you're wanting to use is occupied, rather than changing the subject. Additionally, mods work day shift and go to bed early like old people. Behave yourselves at night!


• Slotted Up. Last but not least! It was our intention to save this next bit for our anniversary in June, but the party's come early--- we're going to be allowing players to take a fifth character slot effective immediately! It seemed like folks could use some good news, so this is our gift to all of you! Use this power wisely!

All that said, HUGE WELCOME to all our new players and we look forward to seeing you on Friday's TDM! In the meantime, for those of you who would like some tiding over, check out ph_logs for a fun, low-stakes welcome mingle that is public to all players whether they are members or not! We're so glad you're here!