Limits of Emit

So, emit is obviously a tool based on trust, since you're offering players the opportunity to describe environmental activity. How much freedom do players have here for generating, say, Weird Shit? Like, omen-style strange occurrences in the surround, or just unusual phenomena that players might want to interpret as divine messages and whatnot? Obviously, legit miracles and magic are in the doman staff / mechanics; but what about semi-ambiguous stuff, weird, but not reality-breaking? Do staff want to reserve that kind of thing for themselves for advancing Plot?

This is a good question. It depends how weird, honestly, and how fitting that weirdness could be given the situation.

After some thought about EMIT, I would limit it to simply describing the details of something that is already mechanically provided.


That could be detailing the behavior of virtual NPCS. For example, if your character is a very famous poet and has the coded reputation in the zone you're in and you're stepping into a room where there's a horde of VNPC poetry fans... It's perfectly fine to go "emote steps onto the stage." and then "emit the crowd screams in wild glee!" Note, your PC has the reputation set. And the room is described as having a horde of poetry fans. So... you are just providing the details of something that is already a mechanical 'reality'.

Or it could be something poetic and atmospheric and fitting to the situation, like... let's say you're on deck, chatting quietly with someone next to the railing. The weather is mild and clear, and it's night. You could do... "emote says, "<something dark and poignant>""... and then, "emit The glitter of the stars in the sky above is a hard and uncaring crystal sharpness, vowing that the universe will remain long after all on the ship are dead and gone." That might seem a bit overdramatic, but it's an acceptable way to use EMIT to add atmosphere and mood, especially to a small scene between just a couple players.

Everyone knows about Belhajj's stone, so I'm going to use it as an example: it's fine for Belhajj to emit his stone singing when another PC bumps into it. That's weird (a singing stone?!), but appropriate. As lore and theme goes in the situation of Belhajj and his stone, that's 'normal', not weird. 

If you're concerned that something may not be appropriate to the situation, then it probably is not, because it should only be appropriate to emit 'weird' things that you are familiar and confident enough about -- to know that as lore and theme goes in this particular situation, those things are actually 'normal'.

Super helpful, thanks, Pilgrim!