Tiny Plots

From Chronicles

Contents 1 Glossary of Terms: 2 Plot Staff 3 General 4 Player TPs 5 Submitting Requests 6 Player TP Rules 7 Unapproved TPs for players who have permission: 8 Notes and Considerations:

Glossary of Terms:

Danger: How lethal or life threatening a TP should be for a given DR. This can be balanced up or down depending on Problem Solving.

Difficulty: Guide as to how life threatening or mind working a TP should be for that DR. As the DR goes up, players need to understand that the TP will become more difficult and will require more fore thought and thinking while in the TP.

Difficulty Rank (DR): This describes how much danger, distance, and the overall feeling that a particular TP should involve. It also, indicates the highest level of reward allowed for a TP of a particular difficulty rating. These will always indicated with a Number (1-10). The first number in a DR indicates a more simple version of each rank and warrant only the middle point of the RR, the second would be the extreme of a DR and warrant the entire RR.

Distance: Distance from Kingsdale as a suggestion for a given DR, not to say a high level DR can't be right in Kingsdale.

Duration: How long a TP should be for a given DR. This can be flexed up and down, but a TP of DR 1, shouldn't really take a month. Where as a TP of DR 10 should require some serious IC prep-time.

Examples: Ideas for TPs at a given DR, based on Staff suggestions or previously run player TPs.

Problem Solving: The ability to add puzzles, riddles, or other mental power or skill required items into a TP. This can be balanced up or down depending on Danger.

Reward Rank (RR): This is how much reward can be awarded for a given Difficulty Rank. These will always be indicated with a Letter (A to J).

Scene: A single instance of players interacting with other players, NPCs, or objects. It can last a few minutes, few hours, or days. They should be broken up with logical breaks.

Tiny Plot: Unlike some other forms of MUDs, TinyMU*s generally lack a specific, definable goal. Many have themes derived from fantasy novels, such as C.S. Lewis' _Chronicles of Narnia_, Anne McCaffrey's Pern series, the Tolkein collection...and of course there are many others. Some themed MU*s avoid established fiction and delve into other realms. Still other MU*s claim not to have a theme at all. They're fooling themselves. These latter MU*s have a consistent spirit of play--dare I say a _zeitgeist_?--that ensures a degree of hegemony. (Look it up. A broad vocabulary is a nuanced vocabulary, _I_ say.) Also see: The_Joy_of_TP

Plot Staff

All of the staff occasionally help with or advise on plots, but when you are seeking information these are the names you should look to first and foremost unless a certain staff member is already in contact with you on a certain thread.

Tiamat - Head Wiz, Queen of all the Game

Ea - Staffer, Money, Magic, Psi, Acting TP Head

Ninsun – TP Staff Lead

Kishar - Story Teller

Adad - Story Teller

Note: +job are the preferred method of communication with the staff. Pages should be used sparingly, mostly when prompted to discuss things by said staff. In that way, even if one of the staff is busy or otherwise not paying attention to their window, the request will be waiting for them there and a record will be kept of your request. This also means that all of the staff are aware of the activity of a particular TP.

General

There are a few new guidelines when it comes to plots and what staff will and will not run for players. But before we get into those, please visit The Joy of TP to find out, just what a Tiny Plot is all about. In short, a Tiny Plot is a plot line which requires only one to five small scenes. Some would argue a true Tiny Plot is a single scene, but we like to think that players on Chronicles of Kingsdale can come up with a little more than a single scene if given some direction.

First and foremost, the TP staff are very unlikely to run individual plots for individual players. The purpose of plots is to bring characters together and clash them against or with one another in situations that provide both good RP and character advancement. As our player base grows, setting a precedent of focusing on personal plots would reduce the time that staff can spend on Global Plot lines.

TP ideas which will involve more than one player will be considered first, then ideas for stand-alone plots with only a single scene or plots involving only one player. This, however, does not mean that your plot ideas won't be considered. That's why we have a TP-Submissions +job. All are invited to post their TP ideas there, but shouldn't expect them to all be taken on or taken on in the form presented. Once we claim an idea for general plot use, we reserve the right to warp and change it beyond all recognition.

Player TPs

There are two types of Player run Tiny Plots (TPs).

The first is if a player submits a TP request and the staff determines that, while it is a good idea, the staffing team does not have time to run it. In this case, it's up to the submitter or another player to run it. Player run TPs are encouraged as we cannot run everything for everyone. This is a great way to earn a name for yourself as well as build up towards becoming a Storyteller or even full Staff member if that is a goal.

The second type is if the player decides to run their own story. This would start similar to the first type, but in your TP Submissions +request the player states they would like to run the TP and not the Staff.

Prior to submitting a TP for a player run TP, please review the following page with the guidelines, difficulty ranks and rewards values. These can be viewed on the Player TP Rules page. (Below for now.)

It is required that a player reads this before they attempt to run any TPs and fully understand the process. If you're unsure please file a TP +Request with your questions.

As the document explains, there are limits on how wide reaching a TP can be and how much of a reward can be part of the player run plot. The staff will be keeping track of those who have run TPs to keep an eye on what level people have reached. If any player would like to know their level, please ask a Staff member or TP +Request if a Staff member is not active.

Note for Player Run TPs: There are two important items to remember for Player run TPs.

First, the player who has approval to run the TP must put in a +request to let staff know that a scene was run. If a TP has a staff member overseeing or observing, that too should be noted.

Second, the player who runs the TP must also submit two copies of the TP log. One that has been cleaned of all OOC spam(channels, OOC command, sheet info, rolls, etc) and one that is raw, without any of that cleaned out, including all pages, rolls and decisions made in the process of the TP.

Important Note: These logs are required for players to receive a reward as staff will be the ones to approve of and mete out the results. The staff will make the judgment on the overall final results in all cases.

Double Important Note: The staff reserve the right to veto and/or reverse the events of the TP if it is found to be unacceptable after the raw log is sent in.

Send all logs of player run TPs to chroniclesofkingsdale@gmail.com. We will post the cleaned one to the Wiki once it has been approved and keep the uncleaned one as a record. Only the person who ran the TP should send these logs into the staff.

Submitting Requests

If you want to make any IC action towards a plot thread or event IC, send a detailed +request to Legwork. This is the catchall place for all IC activity that don't involve economy(Purchases), creation(TW-Items, Item-Creations) or skill training(Training). Make sure to include as much information as possible with your +request. Ideally the staffer who takes it up shouldn't have to contact you for clarification on details, but will if there is a need.

Be patient when you submit a +request. If the staff need to discuss your request, which happens, it could take time. Or making the decision itself could take time. Or the staff member's real life could make providing a swift answer difficult. If a +request takes more than a week or two to provide an answer, you may @mail the one who claimed it to check up, but don't make a habit of pestering the staff.

Player TP Rules

There are two types of player run TPs currently. Those which are fully staff approved from inception and those run by players who have earned the privilege to run TPs without direct staff approval for each TP they choose to run. Both of these use the charts below to help determine the level of threat and reward for a given TP. The charts also help explain what is expected from a TP of that level as well as the content expected and the maximum permitted distance from the city of Kingsdale. All of this is to allow players the ability to run small Tiny-Plots without too much oversight from the staff, but keep the staff involved so as not to interfere with global story lines which may conflict. As well, this permits the staff to circulate rumors surrounding plots that other characters might be intersted in.

Staff Approved TPs will be submitted through the TP +request with the following information:

Title, Synopsis, DR (Reasoning if unclear from Synopsis), RR (With reward idea), Expected number of scenes, and location for the TP to be run.

Example Submission:

Title:  Dinos' Pee Too

Synopsis: Alice has a hundred litres of fresh dinosaur urine that she needs to transport to Laramy.  
She intends to advertise that she is hiring two guards, audition the prospects and choose the best.  She and the guards will then travel to Laramy.  
On the way, they will be scouted by bandits.  If the bandits are not chased off, they will attack the group on the way back (they want credits, food and materiel, not urine).  
The bandit encounter is one wired gunslinger, two men-at-arms and three vagabonds.  They will flee if at risk of dying, and prefer robbing the players than killing them.  
If the players lose the encounter, the bandits will take any weapons that are better than theirs, as well as credits, food and e-clips.  
If robbed, Alice will then try and organise a posse to get the stolen items back by finding and raiding the bandits' camp.  
The camp is defended by any bandits that survived the previous fight, plus an additional two men-at-arms and two vagabonds and contains the stolen goods, 
plus a trashed Big Boss ATV with a heavy energy weapon mounted on top.

Difficulty Rating (DR): 3

Reward Rating (RR):  C - Up to 5000 credits for the urine, depending on how well the sale is negotiated and up to 5000 credits for salvage of the ATV and the bandits' equpiment if its all brought to civilisation.

Expected Number of Scenes:  2-4, Hiring Guards, Traveling to Laramy and selling the Urine.  Coming Back and getting ambushed.  Organising a posse and flushing out the Bandits.

Locations:  Kingsdale, Laramy and the wilderness south of Laramy road.

Once the staff review the request, they may request additional information depending of they feel it is warranted. These can not be started until the staff contacts the player and granted approval.

Unapproved TPs for players who have permission:

These TPs have less direct oversight. They still required a TP +request to be entered with the same information as the Staff Approved TPs, but there is one key difference. They do not need to wait for approval prior to starting the TP. But the +request must be submitted prior to beginning the TP. This privilege can be revoked at any time if the staff feel the player no longer warrants this ability. There are two ways to earn this privilege.

First, have earned over 10,000 experience points. We feel, that in general, if a player has earned this amount of experience (roughly 200 votes) they have played long enough to earn the privilege to run a TP, if they choose. This in its self, only grants permission to run DRs of 1 to 2 with an RR of no more than B.

Second, run Staff approved TP successfully and without issue, thus earning the right to run TPs with a specified DR and RR values. The level of DR and RR allowed, will be noted on a character's sheet for them and staff to see in their +sheet/notes.

TP Difficulty Ranks

TP Difficulty Rank (DR)	Example and Description of TP For DR
1- 2	Difficulty: Easy Distance: Within Kingsdale Proper or within 25 miles of the City of Kingsdale. Danger: Little to no real danger. To expect minor bumps and bruises, little to no armor damage, no chance of death/maiming. Problem Solving: Fairly straight forward problems and solutions. Straight forward skill checks, few penalties. Examples: Guard duty in the city, courier missions, minor wild goose chases for minor treasure hunts, quick jumps into the Dregs. Duration: 1 to 2 days
3 - 4	Difficulty: Moderate Distance: Within 250 miles of Kingsdale, excluding inside of the cities/outposts of Laramy, Whykin, CS Outposts, or Ley Line Nexus Points Danger: Light Danger, light armor damage expected, 10% chance of death/maiming due to lucky rolls. Problem Solving: A small number of complex problems, with -5% to -10% skill penalties. Examples: Escort duty to Laramy or Wkyin for caravan, refugee rescue, distress calls, hunting down lightly armed bandits or roaming monsters pillaging out laying farmers. Duration: 1 to 5 days
5 - 6	Difficulty: Hard Distance: North America, and light Sea Travel may be allowed. Danger: Moderate level of damage, 50% to 75% armor damage, real chance of death/maiming of death regardless of lucky rolls. Problem Solving: Several skills required to accomplish tasks, with 15% to 20% skill penalties. Examples: Long escort missions to other Kingdoms or city states perhaps dealing with politics. Hunting trips to fight Xiticix, Dinosaurs, or other fairly dangerous creatures. Long range missions across North America. Aid missions to Tolkeen or raids on the CS Outposts. Duration: 3 to 7 days
7 - 8	Difficulty: Extreme Distance: Most of Rifts Earth within the game timeline. Danger: Heavy damage to armor, perhaps requiring repairs in field or new second suits of armor or magical assistance. Unless care is taken, death or near death will occur with at least one player. Problem Solving: Very complex and diverse problems, requiring a large number of skills, with 25% to 35% skill penalties. Examples: Raid on CS Military Base, mission to Atlantis, Gargoyle Kingdoms, South America, Africa, or other very hostile locations. Raid on Xiticix hive. Duration: 1 to 2 weeks, if not longer.
9 - 10	Difficulty: Deadly Distance: Anywhere on Rifts Earth, Inter dimensional Travel, and other... Danger: Live and Death choices are made constantly, ones wits must be kept or ones head will be lost. Problem Solving: Extremely complex problems, requiring a large number of skills, with 35% to 45% skill penalties. Examples: Master McGuffin search to the ends of the Megaverse where one will attack the Adult Dragon guard dog and defeat the Goddling assassins. Duration: 1 Month, if not longer.

Rewards Rank (Current Test Draft)

Reward Rank	Monetary Value (Total Reward & Equipment Value) (Per Participant)	Experience Award (TP Runner)	Experience Award (Participant)	Minimum TP DR Required
A	2500 credits	75	50	1
B	5000 credits	100	75	2
C	13,000 credits	150	100	3
D	19,500 credits	250	150	4
E	75,000 credits	350	250	5
F	150,000 credits	500	300	6
G	187,500 credits	650	400	7
H	300,000 credits	800	450	8
I	500,000 credits	1000	600	9
J	1,250,000 credits	1500	1000	10

Notes and Considerations:

1. It is unlikely that any player will be allowed to run a TP above DR 6, if such an event happens a great deal of preparations will be required on the players behalf. This would include, but not limited to, a very detailed explination of NPCs, encounters briefs, and detailed outline of the TP.
2. For multi-segment TPs, the two logs required submission should be submitted for each segment. Please do not create one huge log of the entire TP.
3. The player who is running the TP, may have their character in the TP, but a 25% bonus to their EXP will occur if they do not have their character in the TP.
4. Once a player has approval (either by Staff or privilege) they could combine lower RR for higher DR locations to add flavor to lower DR TPs. Thus a player who has earned the privilege to run a level 6 DR, could make it really a level 2 DR but with the locations of a level 6 DR.
5. Equipment should be figured at full value, but do note Economy#Selling for selling it later.
6. As TPs become more and more lethal, it is very important that players think through things or else it will cost them.

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