(08-13-2017, 10:26 PM)Lydia Lightfoot Wrote: I can't think of anybody I know who actually roleplayed out a real-time two-month period of their character being aboard a ship bound for Othard. Some people did portray such a voyage having happened to their characters, but compressed it into a small number of RP sessions with friends who went along for the voyage. Others handwaved it entirely, saying "yep, two months passed, woo, hi Othard". I know quite a few who decided to retcon into their character's backstory that they'd already made that journey at some point in their past, so that in the present they'd be able to use aetheryte already.
Me, I had Lydia accidentally discover the ruin of an Allagan teleporter site in Thanalan which had a sister point in Othard, while on a treasure hunting delve in search of a mundane necklace in the ruins of an inventor's manor (which said inventor had, she discovered, built at that site because he was trying to figure out how this wonderful underground Allagan machinery worked). She hadn't any idea what exactly the discovered site did, and sheerly by misadventure BAMF'ed her way across the ocean. Alas, the state of general disrepair of the Thanalan site was nothing compared to the totally-destroyed condition of the Othard site, so there wasn't any way for her to go back so easily, but she had the company of a native, Kazukata, who'd also been drawn into the wormhole, and they were able to navigate to some nameless off-map settlement with an aetheryte and make it home from there. And thus now she can get to Othard.
She's since reported the existence of the site in Thanalan to the alliance, who have secured it for study. It's not in fine enough shape for constant use, and would be totally unable to provide a strategic use for most military purposes (e.g. it doesn't work well enough or often enough that it could be used to transport a contingent of soldiers), but, they can allow authorized individuals to make the jump to Othard and attune there. So... feel free to borrow the method, if you like.
Honestly, while a lil snowflakey, that's actually not too shabby of an idea. Certainly saves the strain on the matter and gives access to friends as well in the session if required.
(08-13-2017, 11:04 PM)Nero Wrote: As someone who's anal-retentively detailed about stuff like this, the two-month travel time isn't really that important. Even if you're constantly going back and forth between Othard and Eorzea. If you're doing a plot, it'll stretch out the timeline somewhat (and there'll have to be some holes filled, like what <x> character was doing while <y> character was stuck on a boat) but otherwise I've found that it's not really worth it to let pacing suffer for the sake of realism or what have you.
^ Exactly my thoughts here. Really the main gripe is the what characters are doing in the mean time thing. Especially coupled with the above giving time restraints to the matters. Think of a plot line involving some antagonists and your character being the protagonist needs to venture to the east while the antagonist continues doing whatever they want in the mean time without you there. I'm sure at some point in those 2 months the antagonist will have proceeded further or achieved something, or perhaps something else happens in that time span that suddenly makes the trip to Othard worthless. It really just feels like you could be very limited if you actually coordinated a "I was on a boat for 2 months" concept. Or just abusing more time bubbles for the sake of like you said, not letting the pacing kill the plot line. I guess the difficulty is the coming to terms with the pacing vs realism effects and what would happen that would be out of your character's control. Or just hope the antagonist of your story is very dumb/kind enough to not unfold anything in the time that passes lol.
It's also bad if there's multiple plot lines your group is going through that requires 10x more gap filling with varying time spent.
I really should sneak a peek more into that thread about traveling to Othard, I feel there has to be some other method of travel besides the sea. Or at least faster routes anyways that could be more malleable to a plot line.
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