Temi's Guide to Plotting Plots

[Temi]

One thing that we often hear is that players don't know how to submit plot advances. Now, they aren't that hard, but we will admit that they can be a little overwhelming until you get your bearings. And thus was born this guide!

Let's start super simple!

Now, perhaps you're a Reeve and you want to investigate a crime scene. Easy peasy, you can use a plot advance!

Start it off by using the command:

Code: Select all

>plot advance
                          Plot Advancement of Plot

Header       : 0, Unset
Title        : Plot
Author       : Newbreeve
Plot Advance : (null)
Contributors : (null)
Share To     : (null)
Staff Support: (null)
Private Notes: (null)
Processed    : no
Public Hook  : No
Hook         : Nothing
IC Event     : No
Staff Reply  : (null)

Type "submit" to advance the plot or "cancel" to abort.

This will put you into a POLCA - a type of input system where the commands are the labels on each entry. Now, a lot of labels show up, but we're going super simple - let's only fill out the ones we really need.

We need a title so we can identify the plot. We'll call it "The Theft of a Shrubbery", since you are investigating the theft of a shrubbery, but it's fine to be more creative too! Now we just type title and the title we want to use:

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>title The Theft of a Shrubbery
Plot title set to 'The Theft of a Shrubbery'.

Next we want to do something - we describe the actions we are taking in the plot advance section. We use the command advance and it puts us into an editor where we can describe all of the actions you are taking in your investigation. Just like any other editor, you can type as many lines as you want, use @f, @s, @h, and @x when you're done:

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>advance

                -=======- Entering APPEND Mode -========-
                    Type @h on a new line for help
                Type @x on a new line to close the editor.
                -=======================================-
> 
I want to question all of the servants in the household about where they were when the shrubery went missing and examine all of their hands for dirt under the fingernails.
> 
@f
String formatted.
> 
@s
String so far:

 1. I want to question all of the servants in the household about where they
 2. were when the shrubery went missing and examine all of their hands for dirt
 3. under the fingernails. 
> 
@x

Since we are doing this as a Reeve investigation, we also want to make sure all of the Reeves can read it. Use the share command with the names of the people or guilds that should be able to read the advance:

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>share reeves
Plot share set to 'reeves '.

And that's all we really need to fill out! Use show or hit enter on its own line to see what is there:

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>show
                          Plot Advancement of The Theft of a Shrubbery

Header       : 0, Unset
Title        : The Theft of a Shrubbery
Author       : Newbreeve
Plot Advance : I want to question all of the servants in the household about where they
were when the shrubery went missing and examine all of their hands for dirt
under the fingernails. 

Contributors : (null)
Share To     : reeves 
Staff Support: (null)
Private Notes: (null)
Processed    : no
Public Hook  : No
Hook         : Nothing
IC Event     : No
Staff Reply  : (null)

Type "submit" to advance the plot or "cancel" to abort.

If it all looks good, we just type submit to send it in:

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>submit
Plot submitted.

A daemon has written a new note, Plot Advancement 505 The Theft of a Shrubbery, against No Header, on the Plots board.

We can take a look at the advance we posted now. Plot list will show us the recent plots we have access to:

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>plot list
VNUM   TITLE                          CONTRIBUTOR     START DATE     STATUS
505    * The Theft of a Shrubbery      Newbreeve          Mar 22 2016 New

And we can view the details of the advance itself with plot review and the number next to it in plot list:

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>plot review 505
                          Plot Advancement of The Theft of a Shrubbery

Header       : 0, Unset
Title        : The Theft of a Shrubbery
Plot Advance : I want to question all of the servants in the household about where they
were when the shrubery went missing and examine all of their hands for dirt
under the fingernails. 

Contributors : (null)
Share To     : reeves
Staff Support: (null)
Private Notes: (null)
Staff Reply  : (null)
Processed    : no
Public Hook  : No
IC Event     : No

Once the staff have responded, a new note will be posted on the Plots board:

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note read 178

[ #178 ] Plots Board
A note has been posted by: Plot Daemon
In subject of: Edit of Plot Advancement 505 The Theft of a Shrubbery, against No Header
Date         : Tue Mar 22 00:58:04 2016
Expires      : Fri Apr 22 00:58:04 2016
To           : staff Newbreeve reeves
_________________________________________________________________________
Temi has edited the plot advancement 505 The Theft of a Shrubbery,
against No Header and shared it with you.  Please review and track the
progress of this plot as the share implies your character would ICly be
involved. 

Review it again to see the staff response:

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>plot review 505
                          Plot Advancement of The Theft of a Shrubbery

Header       : 0, Unset
Title        : The Theft of a Shrubbery
Plot Advance : I want to question all of the servants in the household about where they
were when the shrubery went missing and examine all of their hands for dirt
under the fingernails. 

Contributors : (null)
Share To     : reeves
Staff Support: (null)
Private Notes: (null)
Staff Reply  : The servants claim they were all asleep, but the butler has dirt under
his fingernails. 

Processed    : no
Public Hook  : No
IC Event     : No

If need be, we can use plot edit 505 to go back in and fix things or answer more questions, but it looks like we're okay this time!

And that's a basic plot advance - all there is to it, really, at its simplest. There's a lot more detail available, but I'll follow up in another post that uses the whole system.

[Temi]

If you've got all that from the last post, there's still a bunch more tools that you can use with plots. They aren't any more difficult, but it's still a lot to keep track of. Let's dive deeper now!

Now, to start with, there's two types of plots to work with: headers and advances. To simplify, we can just think of headers as big, staff-posted plots and advances as player-posted interactions with headers or the world at large.

Plot header list shows what the current headers are, and you can look at them in more detail with plot header review <#>:

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>plot header list
VNUM   TITLE                          CONTRIBUTOR     END DATE       STATUS
29      Taming and Claiming the Chara Temi            Never    Open
28      A White Flame                 Elzenn          Never    Open

>plot header review 29
                    Header Plot

Title          : Taming and Claiming the Charali Plains
One-liner      : The Crown will be receiving submissions for a colony in the Charali Plains
Hook           : The Royal Lithmorran Court has announced designs to begin new
territorial expansion into the Charali plains.  Colonial charters shall be
ceded to those industrious denizens of the Kingdom who comes up with a
proper, sustainable plan for a settlement, in keeping with the laws of
Lithmore and the teachings of the Holy Order.

Any wishing to claim and administer the territory in the name of the Crown
must submit a plan to do so which assures sustainability and longevity to
the colony, as, if successful, it may mark a point of entry with regard to
supporting future expansion into the Plains.

Plans for expansion must be submitted within the coming four months.  All
applicants must be of good lawful and moral standing, as charters will only
be granted pursuant to evaluation of a potential winner by the Law, as well
as the Order.

Interested parties are encouraged to consult with Lithmore's nobility on
the nature of running a domain as well as Miss Ofelia von Hartsong who has
studied the subject of colonization extensively. 

Start Date     : Jan 24 2016
Start Time     : 19:14
Expiry         : None
End Date & Time: Never
Owner          : Temi

You can also specify the header by number when you advance, if you are doing something related specifically to the header plot:

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>plot advance 29
                          Plot Advancement of Plot

Header       : 29, Taming and Claiming the Charali Plains
Title        : Plot
Author       : Newbreeve
Plot Advance : (null)
Contributors : (null)
Share To     : (null)
Staff Support: (null)
Private Notes: (null)
Processed    : no
Public Hook  : No
Hook         : Nothing
IC Event     : No
Staff Reply  : (null)

Type "submit" to advance the plot or "cancel" to abort.

The header can also be specified after the fact by using the header command within the plot polca. Title, advance and share remain the same the same as before. But there are other fields that can also be useful.

Contributors can call out people who were involved in the plot separately from those to whom it is shared. It's filled out the same way as share. The same names can go in both as appropriate, or each list could be different, as people who contributed may not be given the whole story or people who are informed may not have been personally involved.

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>contributors reeves, joe, sally
Plot contributors set to 'reeves, joe, sally '.
>share reeves, joe, fred
Plot share set to 'reeves, joe, fred '.

Staff support uses the support command in the polca, followed by an editor, and it is used to request what help you would like from staff to enact this. This section is clearly OOC, and it can include things like the city metrics you are hoping to sway, actual supply objects to collect, the new wound you need smacked upside your head, and so on.

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support

                -=======- Entering APPEND Mode -========-
                    Type @h on a new line for help
                Type @x on a new line to close the editor.
                -=======================================-
> I would like to put 2 IP towards convincing Tonia that the Charali are stopping their horses in front of her shop on purpose, resulting in more horse apples.
@f
@x

Sometimes you may want your character to do something that the people shared on it possibly shouldn't be aware of. Maybe the use of magic, maybe underhanded tactics, maybe just a mention of their underlying goals. Private notes can be used to communicate these items to the staff without making it public to everyone on the share. Use the private command, which is followed by an editor:

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private

                -=======- Entering APPEND Mode -========-
                    Type @h on a new line for help
                Type @x on a new line to close the editor.
                -=======================================-
> Before taking the Charali boy into the meeting, Newbreeve would stick a dagger at his back and threaten him to behave himself.
@f
@x

And sometimes even people who aren't shared on a plot should be aware of some details. Public hooks are a way to invite outsiders to get involved in the RP of your plot. This could include things like rumors one might have heard, a solicitation for help, or the presentation of a new problem caused by the plot. The hook command is used to edit a hook and the public_hook command toggles whether or not one is used. Public_hook will also put you into the hook editor if it adds one.

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public_hook
Plot hook set.

                -=======- Entering APPEND Mode -========-
                    Type @h on a new line for help
                Type @x on a new line to close the editor.
                -=======================================-
> Word floats around that a discreet horse wrangler is being sought.
@x
hook

                -=======- Entering APPEND Mode -========-
                    Type @h on a new line for help
                Type @x on a new line to close the editor.
                -=======================================-
 1. Word floats around that a discreet horse wrangler is being sought.
> 
Apply in person with Newbreeve.
> 
@f
String formatted.
> 
@x

Once the plot is posted, the Public Hook will show up for everyone under plot hooks. Those who aren't shared won't be able to see all the details, just the hook and the title. You can always add people to the share and contributors later, if they become involved.

At the end, once the plot is finally processed, it can also be good to officially announce to the playerbase what the publicly visible effects are. IC Event Posts are used for setting up the announcements, which will automatically post when a staff member processes it. Ic_event and ic_post commands work in tandem like the hook commands. Ic_event toggles whether or not there is a post, and ic_post offers an editor to change what the post is. It's fine to not write a post at first, and go back later to edit it, if you like too. This can be useful when you want to change the announcement depending on the responses from the staff.

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>ic_event
The plot header will now post an IC Event note.

>ic_post

                -=======- Entering APPEND Mode -========-
                    Type @h on a new line for help
                Type @x on a new line to close the editor.
                -=======================================-
> 
A stampede of horses stormed through the streets on Lunisda, driven by folk in feathered outfits and leather.  This has led to widespread accusations against the Charali, and their lack of concern for who may have been trampled by the horses.
@f
@x

Author is filled in automatically with your character's name, and both processed and staff reply are handled by the staff, so that is all of the fields to worry about.