User blog comment:Blankslate/Regarding the FC/@comment-18812574-20151103015433

I'm upset that everyone keeps discrediting Harbinger. Granted, it might have pulled attention away from the main plot, but by the time it had started, the main plot had hit a drag spot anyway. Why? Because it was during the task force vs. Black Goop Karakura section. We had six RPers on the main FC, which excluded the rest of the wiki. What I had intended originally with Harbinger was two things:

1. To give the Fullbringers/humans a place in the FC. We are always so focused on the Soul Society, we forget that some of the most intense arcs of Bleach (namely the beginning and Fullbringer arcs) had some of the most tension of the entire series. If you focus on the Soul Society exclusively you have about 26 characters involved, which, sure that's a lot of characters for an RP but... these are über powerful captains running around. Your possibilities for suspense, as have been discussed on chat, are quite limited, when you think about it.

2. The second reason for Harbinger was to help new BFFer's become involved in the FC and introduce them to RPing in general. This goal, I felt, was accomplished, if only one or two members. To me that still counts for something.

I am considering trying to re-start Harbinger in some fashion. It will probably only be marginally affiliated with the FC, although I would still like to connect the two via the Soul Fragment subplot. But there have been so many nay-sayers, I am starting to lose confidence with this idea.

One of the major problems that I feel both you and N missed, Blank, is that, I hate to be harsh: but Kraven and Rosa weren't exactly very compelling antagonists. They had their goals, sure, but it didn't necessarily pose an immediate threat (besides the Osaka getting blown-up part). To be a compelling antagonist, the protagonist must be standing in the way of what the antagonist wants in some fashion, or vice-versa. While I felt that the Kraven thing might have had a lot of potential, at the same time I felt that it was an easy enough matter just to... walk away. And as for Rosa we got... what, two paragraphs? I don't even remember what she was trying to do, to be perfectly honest. There should be something that connects the antagonist to the protagonist, even if it's a superficial reason.

Personally, I'm still up for the Soul Fragment thing and Kraven being the main plot of Extinction/first arc of the FC: but I think Kraven lacked force. If he's to be the major antagonist, he needs to be something extraordinary, with a solid goal, and the potential to create serious harm to the protagonists in some way.

And I sort of disagree with you N: while our attention should remain firmly focused on the plot/arc at hand, I don't see anything wrong with foreshadowing or setting up certain elements that will come into play later-on: but that's all those aspects should do. Create a sense of ambiguity or mystery, perhaps: but we are still writing on the present, the here and now. A strong antagonist is important, sure. Why is it important? Because it creates suspense. Without suspense people will quickly lose interest in the story, no matter if it's a manga, a movie, or an RP.

Not really on a related note, but I'm sort of upset that you mentioned CS Blank. That was one character of yours. If you were losing interest you could have just dropped out, as opposed to just walking away and then blaming it later for splitting your attentions.