Plots 101
Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2015 12:13 am
(If a plot advance is outside of a plot header, it will cost QP, under RPA guidelines. Guilds get a number of free RPA to use for guild things, based on city metrics. Information about this system will be available when it is hammered out.)
What are plots?
Plots are broken down into two sections: plot headers, and plot advances. Plot headers are medium to large story arcs that carry on for a week or more. Plot advances are similar to RPA: it is what your character is doing in response to a plot header – whether that be scouting, asking vNPCs questions, bribing, etc – the possibilities are endless. Plot advances do not have to be tied to a plot header, and because of this many people have started posting plot advances for RPA (help RPA). This has included investigations, questioning witnesses for IC crimes, describing how your PC covers their trail at a crime, etc. As of now, staff are still formulating standards on RPA vs plot advance.
So when should I post a plot header?
Never! Plot headers are staff ran story arcs that players can affect. If there is a certain plot header that you’d like to see, or that you’d like to start, please contact staff with the details. Staff are the only ones who post plot headers at this time.
When should I post a plot advance?
Anytime your PC wants to affect the world or gain information in ways not supported by code, or other PCs! That last bit is very important: for example, if you are a Reeve and you want a murder victim autopsied, don’t just go straight to the plot advance! Send the corpse to the physicians, RP the specifics, and then let –them- do the plot advance. You shouldn’t send a plot advance for stuff that can be determined via RP with other players or that circumnavigates their role in the game. A good rule of thumb is to ask yourself: ‘can I RP about this with other players before posting it as a plot advance?’ If you find yourself saying yes, you probably shouldn’t post it just yet.
When should I RP a plot advance?
Post the content of your plot advance first and the staffer who takes charge of it will tell you whether you need to have a scene about it. Usually a scene with a staffer is only necessary when there are variable outcomes, or the precise way your character does/say something could change the outcome immensely. For example, interrogating an NPC could lead to many different outcomes depending on how violent your PC is willing to get, and what tactics they use. General questioning of an NPC witness to a crime probably does not warrant a scene; send us the questions and we’ll give you the answers you get.
(If your plot advance is tied to a header, make sure to list the relative header in your plot editor!)
How do staff decide the outcome of plot advances?
While each staffer is different and plot advances are usually too unique to ever be completely standardized, generally staff rely on stats and skills as much as possible – via the roll of a die or dice, D&D style! If you feel that you are ever being slighted or discriminated against via the outcome of your plot advances, please bring the issue to Temi; if Temi is the one who just rolled your character’s gruesome failure and you expect OOC foul play, see Kinaed.
Example of a plot advance:
Jerry, my character, would like to cover his tracks! He just murdered Joe at Harmon Lake, so he’s going to drag the body out into the woods, cloaked, and set a fire to it. There will probably be damage to trees done, but at the end of it all that’ll be left for Reeves is a skeleton (potentially! I hope!). He gave a false name to the people who rented him the lodge, so there’s no paper trail tying Jerry to even being at Harmon Lake, and furthermore he’s going to bribe somebody at the Bluebird to create a rumor about how he was there having naughty time with a whore. Better a sinner than a dead murderer!
(No RP would need to take place here except, of course, the murder – but that would be before the plot advance was submitted in the first place.)
Another example:
Thor and Loki are going to scout out the South Road together for signs of the bandit trail. What would they find? We’ll RP the outcome together, if that’s alright with staff.
(In this case, Thor might come to Loki first about his idea to scout the south road, and ask if Loki would be willing to do that. The two might discuss how they’ll go about it, and that will be that. Then, Thor will post a plot advance saying that they want to scout the south road. In the event that staff do not want to RP the scene (say they find a few tracks and a bit of torn cloth for evidence, that wouldn’t be very enticing RP!), a staffer would likely leave moods or objects at rooms and let the two players scout out the road on their own time. Thor might even decide to spice it up a bit himself and use the storyteller system so that he could throw out wildlife echoes or have a bear attack them on the way. That is completely acceptable!)
What are plots?
Plots are broken down into two sections: plot headers, and plot advances. Plot headers are medium to large story arcs that carry on for a week or more. Plot advances are similar to RPA: it is what your character is doing in response to a plot header – whether that be scouting, asking vNPCs questions, bribing, etc – the possibilities are endless. Plot advances do not have to be tied to a plot header, and because of this many people have started posting plot advances for RPA (help RPA). This has included investigations, questioning witnesses for IC crimes, describing how your PC covers their trail at a crime, etc. As of now, staff are still formulating standards on RPA vs plot advance.
So when should I post a plot header?
Never! Plot headers are staff ran story arcs that players can affect. If there is a certain plot header that you’d like to see, or that you’d like to start, please contact staff with the details. Staff are the only ones who post plot headers at this time.
When should I post a plot advance?
Anytime your PC wants to affect the world or gain information in ways not supported by code, or other PCs! That last bit is very important: for example, if you are a Reeve and you want a murder victim autopsied, don’t just go straight to the plot advance! Send the corpse to the physicians, RP the specifics, and then let –them- do the plot advance. You shouldn’t send a plot advance for stuff that can be determined via RP with other players or that circumnavigates their role in the game. A good rule of thumb is to ask yourself: ‘can I RP about this with other players before posting it as a plot advance?’ If you find yourself saying yes, you probably shouldn’t post it just yet.
When should I RP a plot advance?
Post the content of your plot advance first and the staffer who takes charge of it will tell you whether you need to have a scene about it. Usually a scene with a staffer is only necessary when there are variable outcomes, or the precise way your character does/say something could change the outcome immensely. For example, interrogating an NPC could lead to many different outcomes depending on how violent your PC is willing to get, and what tactics they use. General questioning of an NPC witness to a crime probably does not warrant a scene; send us the questions and we’ll give you the answers you get.
(If your plot advance is tied to a header, make sure to list the relative header in your plot editor!)
How do staff decide the outcome of plot advances?
While each staffer is different and plot advances are usually too unique to ever be completely standardized, generally staff rely on stats and skills as much as possible – via the roll of a die or dice, D&D style! If you feel that you are ever being slighted or discriminated against via the outcome of your plot advances, please bring the issue to Temi; if Temi is the one who just rolled your character’s gruesome failure and you expect OOC foul play, see Kinaed.
Example of a plot advance:
Jerry, my character, would like to cover his tracks! He just murdered Joe at Harmon Lake, so he’s going to drag the body out into the woods, cloaked, and set a fire to it. There will probably be damage to trees done, but at the end of it all that’ll be left for Reeves is a skeleton (potentially! I hope!). He gave a false name to the people who rented him the lodge, so there’s no paper trail tying Jerry to even being at Harmon Lake, and furthermore he’s going to bribe somebody at the Bluebird to create a rumor about how he was there having naughty time with a whore. Better a sinner than a dead murderer!
(No RP would need to take place here except, of course, the murder – but that would be before the plot advance was submitted in the first place.)
Another example:
Thor and Loki are going to scout out the South Road together for signs of the bandit trail. What would they find? We’ll RP the outcome together, if that’s alright with staff.
(In this case, Thor might come to Loki first about his idea to scout the south road, and ask if Loki would be willing to do that. The two might discuss how they’ll go about it, and that will be that. Then, Thor will post a plot advance saying that they want to scout the south road. In the event that staff do not want to RP the scene (say they find a few tracks and a bit of torn cloth for evidence, that wouldn’t be very enticing RP!), a staffer would likely leave moods or objects at rooms and let the two players scout out the road on their own time. Thor might even decide to spice it up a bit himself and use the storyteller system so that he could throw out wildlife echoes or have a bear attack them on the way. That is completely acceptable!)