... okay I'm gonna put this separate because it's kind of a poll and a subthread rather than an idea.
I think we're not sure as a whole whether the DR is populated or not outside of the characters. It's kind of the elephant in the room because we built the place up by committee but the idea of other people never really came up. So we've either got a fully working town where the characters never really talk to anyone or we've got a ghost town full of Vocaloid and UTAU and we kind of wobble back and forth a bit.
So I reckon it's worth getting opinions on this! Personally, I think it is populated by sort of faceless NPCs - aside from just making more sense logistically since most of the characters couldn't forage if their lives depended on it, it also (ha ha I am on topic after all!) allows for post ideas we haven't really done yet, like someone singing at a crowd, or large events and locations going up without the players having to have a hand in them such as festivals or large-scale buildings or whatever. (See also potential RP aids like DivaLuka's school not needing to be staffed entirely by players, or Haku's bar being rented from NPC Landlord #245, or whatevs. That kind of thing.) They don't ever need specifically talking to or GMmed; just the idea of them there helps open post idea doors.
Y/N/THOUGHTS?
While we're at it, a poll: what landmarks are there / do you want there to be in the DR? What do you think it looks like? etcetcetc. Personally I always envision that one town/suburb that gets used in all the MMD videos.
DR LANDMARKS / POLL
I think we're not sure as a whole whether the DR is populated or not outside of the characters. It's kind of the elephant in the room because we built the place up by committee but the idea of other people never really came up. So we've either got a fully working town where the characters never really talk to anyone or we've got a ghost town full of Vocaloid and UTAU and we kind of wobble back and forth a bit.
So I reckon it's worth getting opinions on this! Personally, I think it is populated by sort of faceless NPCs - aside from just making more sense logistically since most of the characters couldn't forage if their lives depended on it, it also (ha ha I am on topic after all!) allows for post ideas we haven't really done yet, like someone singing at a crowd, or large events and locations going up without the players having to have a hand in them such as festivals or large-scale buildings or whatever. (See also potential RP aids like DivaLuka's school not needing to be staffed entirely by players, or Haku's bar being rented from NPC Landlord #245, or whatevs. That kind of thing.) They don't ever need specifically talking to or GMmed; just the idea of them there helps open post idea doors.
Y/N/THOUGHTS?
While we're at it, a poll: what landmarks are there / do you want there to be in the DR? What do you think it looks like? etcetcetc. Personally I always envision that one town/suburb that gets used in all the MMD videos.