How about a Full Narrative Team AMA?

TerraRising·Nov 6, 2014·15 votes·14,487 views

Since this current Narrative team isn't really giving Lore fans the communication they claim is important and that the AMA is the preferred method for talking to the curious, let's have a full Narrative AMA!

61 Comments

HellioningNov 7, 201414 votes

Pfft, you think Narrative is going to answer questions and engage in the community in any way but justifications and apologies?

TerraRisingNov 7, 20145 votes

Whatever happens, it doesn't hurt to put the idea out there.

LabcownNov 7, 20147 votes

At this point, I totally agree with your statement. From a post on Trynd's AMA on Reddit, Narrative is apparently going through some major changes themselves (noticed all the "new" narrative reds on the boards?).

If they did an AMA right now, all it would serve to do is to perhaps introduce the new members of the Narrative team, but at the cost of an angry lore fan base lashing out at them.

It wouldn't do any good right now to do an AMA, because they really have nothing new to say that would sway opinions AT THE MOMENT. I have no doubt though when they do get something big to talk about they will announce it, because they can use all the good PR that they can get atm.

RiotCarnival KnightsNov 7, 201412 votes

Can't speak to an AMA with the entire team (we've talked about this, however), but I'm happy to answer a few questions if you'll have me. :3

GapyboNov 7, 20144 votes

Ok, has the map of Valoran changed or is this still accurate?: http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100821100304/leagueoflegends/images/thumb/c/cd/MapofValoran.jpg/1000px-MapofValoran.jpg

RiotCarnival KnightsNov 7, 20145 votes

Considering the Shadow Isles are on the complete other side of the continent from Bilgewater, I'd say some things are probably different. Recent Harrowing nautical map posted for clarity.

PtarlorrNov 7, 20142 votes

Wasn't sure if Valoran was supposed to be Pangaea-sized or Australia-sized. Might still be accurate if viewed from some other angle.

cshakesNov 8, 20141 votes

Given the varied climate zones, Pangaea would probably be more accurate.

cshakesNov 8, 20141 votes

Hi Carnival, I'm going to shamelessly plug my post from a while ago where I somewhat re-did the map: http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/story-art/bNZpgHHs-valoran-map-update It's got some thoughts on the placement of cities and regions with regards to climate, so you might find it useful.

Terra BoomaNov 7, 20143 votes

Can't speak to an AMA with the entire team (we've talked about this, however), but I'm happy to answer a few questions if you'll have me. :3

Hi Carnival! Nice to know your still hanging around :D

I got a question for you, what's going to happen to the less important areas? Like the Vodoo lands (Where Annie/Annie's protectors/yougettheidea hid out for awhile) or the Kalamndu Jungle? Will they get some more fleshing out or be removed?

RiotCarnival KnightsNov 7, 20147 votes

They still very much exist. The prevailing wisdom is 'we need to flesh these out a lot more,' as even when we revealed them they were ill-defined. So to answer, they'll very likely (nothing is ever 100% certain) get some more fleshing out.

FlemmanNov 7, 20141 votes

So, champ like fiddle could be add to that region in a near future?

RiotCarnival KnightsNov 7, 20149 votes

It's possible, but for Fiddle in particular I doubt it.

FlemmanNov 7, 20141 votes

So he is not from Shadow island or Voodoo land, is there another dark place in valoran we don't know about yet? ^^

RiotCarnival KnightsNov 7, 20148 votes

Valoran is full of lost, dark places. May luck be with those who find them.

FlintfallNov 7, 20141 votes

Fyrone Flats, please please PLEASE any information on them? Outside of Zaun it is the most interesting location to me. I would love to hear your thoughts on the blister of Valoran!

TerraRisingNov 7, 20145 votes

Can't speak to an AMA with the entire team (we've talked about this, however), but I'm happy to answer a few questions if you'll have me. :3

Well, considering my response to you last night, a full team AMA should be a priority sooner rather than later.

Onto the questions:

What's the status on getting the fourteen full champ bios on the website?
Is there a company mandate against telling stories through text? It seems that every event Narrative participates in needs to have some video for it.

RiotCarnival KnightsNov 7, 20144 votes

I'm not exactly sure, so sadly I can't answer that accurately.
Absolutely not! The Xerath and Azir pieces, and the tone of our recent changes in general should be enough to dispel that myth.

TerraRisingNov 7, 20145 votes

Thank you for your answers, but I hope you can convince the rest of the team into doing a full team AMA.

I also hope you continue to brave your way through this board. As I said before: the less the team communicates, the more hostile we get and the more difficult it becomes to talk.

HellioningNov 7, 20144 votes

When are we gonna get some lore that's not tied into a champion release or some other form of event? I know that you don't like giving strict dates and deadlines at Riot, but I'm writing off 'lore' as advertisement at the moment.

SiachiNov 7, 20142 votes

Sorry if, for whatever reason, these questions come off as confrontational. If they do, I really don't intend them to be.

Just a more personal opinion question, but which region/faction of Runeterra interests you the most?
Is there anything on the radar for the fact that Singed's lore still refers to Warwick as an Alchemist?
For champions that are intrinsically tied to the League and Summoners (Jax, Nocturne, Orianna, etc.) do you think your close to deciding the direction you're going to take them, or are you still thinking things over? You don't have to say what said direction is if you want it to be a surprise.
Are you still having technical issues with the 'short bio in client, longer bio on website' thing? I will say it is an interesting idea, but I'd like to know if some of the longer bios are already finished, and you're just waiting for the technical issues to be resolved, or if they're still in the rough draft stage (Which is totally fine, by the way, if they're still rough drafts).
It seems like most lore developments coincide with a major event (even if it's just a new champion getting released); I'd like to see if it'd be possible to start releasing stories that don't necessarily have to do with a major event or a new patch. For example, say a new champion gets released, but you also present a short story involving, I don't know, Kassadin and Malzahar's rivalry, when that has nothing to do with the new champion (The rhetorical new champ doesn't have anything to do with the void at all!)

RiotCarnival KnightsNov 7, 201410 votes

Icathia. Huge Lovecraft fan, read The King in Yellow a dozen times, have written cosmic horror professionally. I love the idea of it, I love the execution, I love that it's a massive reference to Iram of the Pillars, and I love the possibilities as a writer as well as a reader. It's just really freaking cool.
Ugh, yes. My old deskmate used to pummel me over this and the Voodoo lands on a daily basis. We are aware he needs and update and are looking into it.
We've all talked about this a lot. I'd like to personally thank everyone who participated in the biographies thread, as it helped a couple cool ideas get off the ground. Can't reveal more than that, I'm afraid!
When stories start going up on the site, you'll know the tech has been fixed.
Answered in another post, but we're hoping to approach storytelling this way as soon as we can.

ShínyNov 7, 20141 votes

So a few questions.

so far since the announcement you've had mostly giant lore events, sion's event(swain,vlad,leblanc,sion,elise?,others) or shurima(azir,sivir,cass,renek,xerath) or the harrowing with everyone from Bilgewater and the shadow isles. Are there plans for smaller scale pieces involving some of the less political players like nidalee,Ahri, or zac?
Its seems the retcon of the league started before you guys announced it, there were hints of removing summoners back when the freljord event happened would it be fair to say that event is completely canon?
Thoughts on Udyr's friendship with Nidalee?
When you update the in-game lore to the small "preview" text thing, do you have a longer story ready for the characters? For instance do you have a direction ready and something written up for skarner?

RiotCarnival KnightsNov 7, 20146 votes

Besides the 'long lore' pieces, we're looking into providing ongoing story content for less politically connected characters as well as the major players of Valoran.
For any event that happened, approach it as though the IoW never existed. Poof, you have the event.
Grrrrrrowl.
We always know the updated story and direction of a character before we put in the short lore. As for Skarner, I'm not 100% sure (if we have something ready for release) so I'm not going to answer for risk of inaccuracies.

Legacy of XionNov 7, 20143 votes

1.) Will you expand on Lux and Ezreal's relationship? It was one of the only champion interrelations we had and is a fan favorite, edcluding those Ez x Taric fanatics we pretend dont exist.

2.) Where are you planning on putting Kayle? As a writer myself, I've written 2.75 short stories on Kayle and her world, and it would be heartbreaking to find that she has become some weird bird lady from Targon... (the .75 is for the third installment I nearly have finished).

3.) You say all events happened.

CarnivalMnights. Please explain to us all how Kalamanda works without the Institute and the High Councilor's interferance, and why it worked, LeBlanc impersonating Jarvan IV to cause Demacia to look bad in the eyes of the League?

RiotCarnival KnightsNov 7, 20144 votes

Most likely, yes. Almost all, if not all of the old champion relationships are being preserved and expanded upon in new and interesting ways. As for Taric... I have so many feelings about Taric (all good). One of my favorite (human) characters lore-wise.
Can't say (spoilers). But we're not making her 'a weird bird lady from Targon.' We are absolutely hoping to preserve the core aspects of Kayle as well as Morgana - and expanding on their connection.
Kalamandra I'm not entirely sure about, so I'm going to have to avoid answering your question for now. I'm sorry.

SiachiNov 7, 20145 votes

Speaking of champion relationships, would there be any room for Evelynn and Twisted Fate's little fling to stay canon? I know she's getting a thematic relaunch (Which you may or may not be apart of), but is probably going to have relations to the Shadow Isles.

And speaking of Taric, do you plan to make him apart of another faction of Runeterra? Because I feel like he might be better off as an independent character, with no real loyalties other than to his allies and a desire to protect the helpless (Or something more poetic than that)? I feel like he doesn't really fit anywhere with the other factions (Not overly patriotic like a Demacian, not as technically inclined like a Piltover Citizen, and do I even have to explain why Zaun, Noxus, and Bandle City wouldn't be good fits for him?)

Legacy of XionNov 7, 20141 votes

1.) I am actually not a Taric player but thanks for keeping everyone happy - Taric I see is underloved like Urgot and Evelynn and need more.

2.) Thank you. Kayle is my main and my favorite champion and my main fear is that she will be gutted.

2a.) Follow up, Carnival. What do you view as Kayle and Morgana's core elements?

3.) Shame. I will be waiting for a Kalamanda explanation in the future :P

DiahaneNov 9, 20144 votes

Kalamandra I'm not entirely sure about, so I'm going to have to avoid answering your question for now. I'm sorry.

Alas this is a most key and important matter. The Kalamanda arc was the coolest thing Riot's done lore-wise. And it did only with text (and a few low-res still pictures), no videos nor fancy websites thingy! Besides, it's a pivot point for the whole Noxus background, with a lot of characters' progression tied to it. It cannot remain so uncertain and a straight erasure of the IoW from the events risks to either leave an incoherent mess or to be a downright downgrade of the arc. Without the scheming part which profited of the IoW it's not really that much of a conspiracy or great grand plan. It becomes a pretty straightforward thing, not befitting of a character such as Swain. Could you please poke the right people to delve deeper into finding a clear solution to this and one to be discussed with the community? The Kalamanda arc is a most beloved one and retconning it without care and discussion with the community won't ever possibly bring any good feelings.

P.S: A sidenote, do you confirm us that you have the long versions of the lore ready already? A month to get a few webpages set sounds like an excuse more than a real issue. If truly the tech is that demanding (and I do not think so, sorry if this comes as me not trusting you, but I can't fathom a valid reason for a database and some webpages to take more than a month to be set), why don't you release the long version of the lores on a structure akin to dev blogs? Like this, but with a champion's lore for every clickable object. The tech for this should already be there and you'd just have to copy & paste things.

Earl EulrichNov 9, 20144 votes

Unfortunately CK again just dodged all the real issues. I doubt we´ll ever get satisfying answers from the Lore-team, they just hope it´ll eventually just die down (likethe old lore :/). And yea, I also think it´s just an excuse for not having prepared anything to "recreate" what they did destroy.

Chromatic EagleNov 9, 20144 votes

Most likely, yes. Almost all, if not all of the old champion relationships are being preserved and expanded upon in new and interesting ways. As for Taric... I have so many feelings about Taric (all good). One of my favorite (human) characters lore-wise.

Can't say (spoilers). But we're not making her 'a weird bird lady from Targon.' We are absolutely hoping to preserve the core aspects of Kayle as well as Morgana - and expanding on their connection.

Kalamandra I'm not entirely sure about, so I'm going to have to avoid answering your question for now. I'm sorry.

You people keep saying core aspects/personality. Please stop that. At the very least, like you're doing with Taric and Poppy, ASK US WHAT THESE THINGS MEAN TO US. We don't want another Trundle, Karma, Cass, Xerath, and potentially Skarner where what we consider to be core traits are changed because Riot interprets things differently.

MotajoNov 9, 20141 votes

1.) Will you expand on Lux and Ezreal's relationship?

Anything but that

Cynder KurokaznaNov 11, 20142 votes

For any event that happened, approach it as though the IoW never existed. Poof, you have the event.

How is the Crystal Scar going to be handled? What is Fiddlesticks? How did Nocturne come about?

SolideusNov 7, 20141 votes

Do you, at least on the lore side, think there are enough major factions at this point, or do you think there is room for new ones in the future?

RiotCarnival KnightsNov 7, 20144 votes

I mean, we just made a new one (Shurima). Never count out the possibilities!

FatedTitanNov 7, 20146 votes

I mean, we just made a new one (Shurima). Never count out the possibilities!

Shurima has been around for a long time. I wouldn't call them new.

Earl EulrichNov 7, 20146 votes

In what way exactly did the IoW hurt your storytelling? (and now don´t come with that all-powerfull myth that had been discussed in a lot more pages here in the Boards than you had prepared to fill the immense void you created with the retcon)
what´s your opinion on Dawngate´s (may it rest in peace) Storytelling?
if you already now the "big-bios" of the Champ you gonna "short-lore"...what´s the problem with releasing their bigger story in a way you did for Azir and Xerath, instead of delaying them till next year for some "tech-issues"?
Why don´t you just release some sort of timeline for what you´ll "tackle" next regarding to lore, so the part of the community that still cares about a lore without the IoW can actually influence the direction of the lore a little and help you understand their expectations better?

CupcakeTrapNov 8, 20146 votes

Can't speak to an AMA with the entire team (we've talked about this, however), but I'm happy to answer a few questions if you'll have me. :3

I have only one question:

Can you identify one or more topics that are being worked on but have not yet been locked in?

In other words, I'm asking you to identify one or more upcoming rewrites that we can have real, impactful discussion about. I think it's an important question. Without an answer to this question, we're just playing this ridiculous guessing game: "I'll go draft up all the possible changes they might be considering for Nautilus, and respond to each in turn, on the off-chance that somebody's working on him, and has ideas but hasn't locked them in yet."

For purposes of this question, I'm conceptualizing rewrites (or other new lore) as progressing through four relevant phases. I'm asking for examples of rewrites that are in phases (2) or (3).

Too early. A set of lore that hasn't progressed far enough to be meaningfully discussed, e.g., "yes, at some point, we'll probably want to do something with Jax, but we have no plans beyond that, and we have no idea when we might get started." This is not a good topic for discussion, because there's nothing to be discussed: we could talk about Jax, but we have no idea when the rewrite process might even begin.
Blue sky phase. You've identified a target, and someone's going to be getting started on it in the near future, but either it's totally wide-open ("we're thinking about Zaun right now") or you've merely sketched out some possibilities ("we're trying to figure out if we want Zilean to be from Shurima or not, and we're leaning toward putting him in Piltover somehow, or maybe just giving him a Piltover connection of some kind"). This topic is viable for discussion, at least in an open-ended "hey, everyone, what are your thoughts on Zaun?" sort of way.
Just right. There are some draft plans for this lore-block, and they've coalesced sufficiently to be discussed, e.g., "We're planning to replace the existing Demacian Houses with the following new Houses." You've targeted some aspects of the lore for change, and you have ideas for how to change them, but these ideas are still in a malleable draft stage. This is a good topic for discussion, because you have plans that are definite enough to be discussed, but aren't locked in.
Too late. You've decided what you're doing and committed serious assets on that basis: you've created art, you're recording voicework, you're making videos, you've written tons of narrative lore. This is not a good topic for discussion, because nothing meaningful could come of that discussion: at most, you might make a few clarifying adjustments, or some minor tweaks.

Now, when I say something isn't a good topic for discussion, I simply mean that it's not a good topic for the sort of meaningful community engagement that we're asking for. It might still be fun or enjoyable to talk about locked-in changes, but that's not community collaboration, except in the most indirect and irrelevant of ways, e.g., "hmm, they hated X, so let's try to avoid X-like material in the future."

TrymanthaNov 8, 20143 votes

A full Team AMA would be amazing because when 1 person does it we just end up with a bunch of "not my area cant really answer sorry, ill see if I can get X to poke their head in" (X never does).

LordHippomanNov 8, 20144 votes

Thanks, CK. Much appreciated.

Can we still consider the non-League based parts of the JoJ canon?
Most importantly (IMO, at least), did the events in Kalamanda still occur? Obviously there would have to be some changes made with the League interfering, etc., but what I'm more concerned about are the bits where Talon/Kat and Jarvan/Garen team up to solve the conspiracy (Which was great development for all those characters), and Swain becoming Grand General, which is confirmed in Reborn, but is the manner of his succession still the same?

Rune OcarinaNov 7, 20149 votes

The amount of asses that would be torn if an AMA of that nature did come out. The Narrative team have a lot to explain and the best we'll probably get from them is, "Well, we have these great ideas coming to please our lore fans and make things right, but we can't tell you what it is now and we can't make any promises when we can bring this topic up again. We hope you understand." It feels like they've been getting away with that for years now.

CupcakeTrapNov 8, 20147 votes

The amount of asses that would be torn if an AMA of that nature did come out. The Narrative team have a lot to explain and the best we'll probably get from them is, "Well, we have these great ideas coming to please our lore fans and make things right, but we can't tell you what it is now and we can't make any promises when we can bring this topic up again. We hope you understand." It feels like they've been getting away with that for years now.

"Hi, Rune! Haha, I love Legend of Zelda. XD Anyway, we're hoping you'll be really excited with our next round of Narrative productions. I don't want to spoil anything, because if I've learned anything from these months of discussion it's that you guys love surprise retcons, but I just know you'll be pleased with what's coming."

DiahaneNov 7, 20147 votes

We won't get it for a long time. We'll probably get one when they'll feel they'll have dished out enough content to say "we did this" and have someone say they liked it. Then they will proceed to reply to those saying they liked their work, then they'll pull some jokes and call it a day with the usual "ahah, so much we've got planned! So many surprises! You will see, ahah!" In the worst case scenario, they'll pull a "we'll get better at communicating and delivering" plus "it's up to us to deliver and have you trust us again" afterwards.

Legacy of XionNov 7, 20146 votes

Tryndamere held an AMA on Reddit.

I dare the Narrative Department to do a better AMA here on Boards. I FUCKING DARE ALL OF NARRATIVE TO BEST TRYNDAMERE.

TerraRisingNov 7, 20145 votes

Dude, chill.

Legacy of XionNov 7, 20147 votes

I'm just to the point I cant see Narrative in any good light anymore. They have a lot to do and they need to be like IronStylus or PBE - not the CIA.

ImpetualNov 7, 20145 votes

That would be super awesome, provided that the conversation remained civil, and that they actually had something to say for once.

Also, it seems like it's a bit of a secret who the narrative team is. We don't even know who's in charge...assuming that someone is in charge.

MotajoNov 6, 20144 votes

Hopefully they're out of smoke bombs now.

SchaakaKonNov 7, 20142 votes

Full Narrative AMA ALLLL ABOOORD! chuchuchu

Question the first: Since a large lore change is a'comin, will previous 'unfavorable' retcons be redone as well? Such as Warwick not being a chemist or Ezreal is a wizard for some random reason? (Keep Trundles retcon as it was an all around improvement, a few people will argue but they would be wrong).

Question A-Two-Ooo: Is the world, nay, the universe being considered in this change? The LoLverse being confined to just an Australlia sized mass is kinda boring. Other planes of existance, other worlds, other continents ect..

Question thirdly: Are there plans to make champion lore that is not associated with a champ release? 😸😸😸

Sneak DogNov 8, 20144 votes

Trundle's retcon was a replacement of his character by a similar but different character. The question isn't whether the new character is better or not, but whether replacing a character is ok. I cannot possibly see how, with this question unanswered, one could consider it an all around improvement.

I liked Trundle, I think the answer to my question is no and so his removal made me lose faith in the narrative department.

CarnivalKnight, is narrative replacing characters on purpose (Trundle, Xerath, for whichever reasons you may have) or are you trying to keep them the same character in a different setting/theme/story? If it's the former, I should probably just leave this board now :/.