NEWS TP RULES
A definition of TinyPlot and ideas for creating role-play activities is
available in NEWS TP INTRO. Please see NEWS TP for a list of other NEWS
articles related to TPs, including tips for plotters and participants.
Plot planners must read the following and ensure that their plots conform
to these rules. The wizards and area leaders have the right to retcon
(retroactively remove from the MUSH timeline) any unapproved plot that
contravenes these rules, so it is to your advantage to follow the rules
and have your plots approved.
If these types of events occur during spontaneous role-play, you must
send a summary of the role-play to the appropriate person immediately.
See NEWS TP EXAMPLES for examples of plots that require approval.
1. The action, story, and characters of a TinyPlot must conform with the
rules and guidelines in place on the MUSH. See NEWS ROLE-PLAY, NEWS
CHAR and NEWS CONDUCT for a list of these guidelines. Any exemptions
require prior wizard approval.
2. TPs involving murder, mayhem, or more than five people must be
approved by the appropriate area leader(s).
3. NPCs (whether puppets or emitted) belonging to an area or organization
must be approved by the relevent area or organization leader(s) if
used for significant/atypical actions. See NEWS RP NPCs for more.
4. Storylines or activities that reflect negatively on the reputation of
an area or organization must be approved by the revelent leader(s).
5. A restricted temporary character or NPC must be approved by the
wizards. We encourage you to invite PC restricted characters to take
part in plots wherever possible. The wizards can contact PC
restricted characters on your behalf if you need a particular type.
6. The use of a room for activities it is not normally used for must be
approved by the owner of the room.
7. Large-scale and inter-area plots require the approval of all areas
involved, and should also be cc'd to the wizards. The wizards and
leaders are always interested in suggestions for large-scale plots!
8. Areas and organizations may have additional TP rules. Check +lhelp in
the area, or contact the area or organization leader.
9. TPs should fit into the theme and scope of the MUSH. Dinosaurs and
aliens don't fit the theme. Elements from the novels such as the Black
Tower are not possible at the moment, given our current time period.
10. Don't force or coerce people into participating in a plot, regardless
of their job descriptions. If you need a Wisdom or an Aes Sedai for
healing, or a Guard to catch a thief, try and arrange it with someone
in advance, or at least page the people and ask if they're free before
approaching them IC.
11. If your TP is public and open to all participants, try to give
everyone who attends an opportunity to get involved and play a part.
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NEWS TP EXAMPLES
The following are some sample plots that would require approval to run.
A political uprising like the Red vs. White factions in Caemlyn in _The
Eye of the World_. Armed hostilities between two groups (Noble House
vs. Noble House, a CoL unit holds a Tinker camp hostage).
These types of events could have a significant impact on organizations and
areas, and involve a lot of people, so they need approval from the leaders
of all involved areas and organizations.
Kidnapping, attacking or assassinating an important person or someone
in a well-guarded location like a castle, theft in such a location.
The area leader or location owner determines the security of a location,
not individual players or plot organizers. Security holes can be arranged
by submitting your plot for approval.
Tower NPCs kill a family and kidnap the daughter to force her into
training. Fanatical Children of the Light NPCs beat up travellers.
Fal Moran Fortress Guard NPCs mistreat you as a prisoner.
All of the above contradict the theme of those groups as established on
Tales, and the fact that they use NPCs doesn't make them acceptable. If
you want to do something like this, it has to be submitted for approval.
If the area leader doesn't approve it, s/he will probably give suggestions
for how to accomplish your TP plot goal in another way.
Murder or marriage in an inn. A skirmish in the Ogier stedding. A
smuggling operation run out of a local shop without the shopkeeper's
knowledge. A horse race in the Caemlyn cemetery.
If you want to use a location in an atypical way, you must notify the
owner or controller of that location. S/he has the right to know what goes
on there, and to refuse to allow the plot to occur there, or ask for
modifications in the planned role-play.
Emitting an Aes Sedai Healing the wounded after a fight or accident.
Creating an assassin or Darkfriend character for a plot.
Always try to get PC characters involved, first. There are times when none
are available for a plot, or the temporary character needs to be played a
very specific way. However, @emits, puppets or temporary characters of
certain types need to be approved. Contact the wizards for approval for
temporary restricteds or questions about what needs approval.
A group of freedom fighters who travel the world protecting the weak,
seeking out Darkfriends and fighting the Blight.
This is actually an organization, not a plot, but it also requires
approval - see NEWS ORG. It's also not that likely to be approved, since
there are already groups on the game that fulfill these roles.
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NEWS TP RUN
The following are some suggestions for TinyPlot planners and organizers.
Please remember that certain types of plot elements require approval. See
NEWS TP RULES for a complete list of TP guidelines.
1. Approval
Don't leave submitting your approval request until the last moment.
Depending on the scope of your plot, it may take a few days to a week to
receive the approval decision, particularly if multiple areas are
involved. Similarly, if you need a certain type of character involved in
your plot (Aes Sedai, etc.), invite the potential participants ahead of
time, so they can plan their RP, or let you know if no one's available
for that plot.
2. Coordination
Large TPs should have at least one person acting as coordinator, and each
major scene in a TP should have a coordinator, as well. The coordinator
is the person who knows the general outline of the TP, answers questions
people have, assigns or suggests ways of getting involved, and supervises
the events of the scene.
3. Control
As the TP coordinator, you are the host of that piece of role-play. While
you should accomodate the free flow of RP as much as possible, there are
often specific events that need to occur to make the overall outline of
the TP work. If someone's trying something that would ruin a later element
of the TP, page them, politely explain the situation, and suggest
alternative ways they can get involved.
You can also set guidelines for the participants in your TP. One way to
do this is to put the important TP information in the @desc of a sign, and
drop it in the main TP location. Information might include who to contact
with questions, a request to minimize the use of 'ooc' comments, etc.
If a TP participant is disrupting your plot and rufuses to work
cooperatively with you, or if someone is ignoring the NEWS RP guidelines,
report the problem to a +staff member.
4. Public or Private?
If your TP is designed around a specific group of people, or all the roles
in the TP are already assigned, or if all or most of the events of the TP
are predetermined with no room for improvisation, it is probably best
played as a private TP held in a private or secluded location (ie. not an
inn or city street).
Public TPs should allow all participants to get involved in some manner,
most people don't enjoy being relegated to the role of spectator.
5. Location
Remember that certain rooms are almost constantly in use for public RP.
It's often distracting both to your TP and to those not involved in it if
a TP takes place in the common room of an inn, or a similarily public
location. While you might want to start the action in a public location to
get people interested and involved, you then should then move it elsewhere
so participants can focus on the TP.
If your TP is announced in advance, let potential participants know where
to go by including the number of the nearest jump_ok room and instructions
on how to get to the TP room in your advertisement.
6. Timing
If your plot is public, you probably want to get a good group of people
attending to enjoy all your work. You can check the @listmotd and +events
for dates of other plots and schedule yours on another day. Logins on
Tales peak between 8-10 pm Eastern. However, people who can't log in at
those times often miss out on plots, and very much appreciate the
occasional event scheduled earlier or later in the day.
7. Advertising
If your TP is public and you want to get lots of people involved, good
advertising is your best bet. There are lots of methods you can use to
advertise your TP. You can also use many of these in the planning stages,
to try and find people to fill crucial roles, etc.
* The wizards are happy to advertise major TPs and events in the @listmotd.
Just send a +mail with the date, type of event, nearest @tel room and
the name of the person(s) to contact regarding the TP.
* There is a TinyPlot +bb you can use for planning and announcing events.
The Family +bb is another good place to find people to play a specific
role. If your TP takes place within a certain area, advertise it on that
area's +bb. You can also use the area 'gossip' commands to build up to
the main action of your TP by giving hints and background information.
* The +events global is available for all players to advertise events and
TPs, large or small.
* Players are welcome to submit TP-related announcements to the
tav-announce email list, which reaches most of the members of the MUSH.
8. Followup
Once your TP has taken place (or during, if it's a long and involved one),
be sure and post information about what happened on one of the +bb's.
Letting people know what happened allows RP to spawn off of your TP, and
gives people something to talk about for daily RP.
Please send a summary of your TP to a RP Staff member or wizard. We're
trying to keep a history of MUSH events and let people know what's going
on on the game. The staff of the Tattle Tales newsletter is always
interested in event summaries, too. Help us and immortalize your creative
event all at the same time!
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NEWS TP PLAY
Organizing TinyPlots and events is a lot of effort, please respect that.
As a participant in a TP, think of yourself as a guest. The following tips
will ensure that you, the other participants and the organizer all enjoy
themselves.
1. Where Are the Plots?
If you're interested in participating in TPs and other events, the
following places are used to announce them:
* The '@listmotd' often includes plot and event announcements.
* Anyone can post planned RP activities in '+events'.
* TP planners may announce plots on the tav-announce list, and also use
it to recruit participants.
* The TP +bb is used for plot announcements and planning.
* Events within your area are publicized on your area +bb ('+help bb').
2. Don't Steal the Thunder
Never hijack other people's TinyPlots or events unless you've arranged it
with them in advance. An example would be to start role-playing a duel at
a wedding without the prior agreement of the wedding coordinator. People
often think something like this will "spice up" the event or help their
plot because people are already gathered, but doing something like this
without talking to the organizer is cruel and rude. If you do something
like this, the TP organizer has every right to remove you from the TP.
3. Follow the Leader
If the TP organizer has posted guidelines or information about the TP,
please read and follow those. (An example might be asking people to
minimize use of the 'ooc' command to preserve an IC atmosphere.)
You should cooperate with the TP coordinator. Often, there are certain
specific elements that need to occur to make the overall outline of the
TP work. If the TP coordinator pages you that your action would interfere
with the TP's story arc, please respect that. It doesn't mean that the TP
organizer doesn't want you involved, or that your idea was bad, it just
means that your action might ruin something else that's planned. Always
feel free to ask the TP organizer if there's some other way you can be
involved.
Using negotiation-style poses (see NEWS RP4) is important during a TP.
For example, pose "Nadon sticks out his foot in an attempt to trip the
assassin" rather than "Nadon trips the assassin", so that the TP organizer
can RP that your action fails if it would interfere with crucial TP
elements.
You should also check with the TP coordinator before you emit responses
of NPCs or general atmosphere to be sure and avoid conflicts. For
instance, emitting that the crowd cheers for the gleeman at the same time
as the TP coordinator is emitting they're booing would be confusing.
4. When In Doubt, Ask
If you have any doubts about whether an action or statement would be
appropriate to the situation or might adversely affect the TP, page and
ask the TP coordinator before acting. For example, don't call for the
town Guard without asking the TP coordinator - maybe s/he's arranged a
scenario where the Guard isn't ICly available to intervene, and having
them arrive would throw a wrench in the works.
Never assume that a TP has been approved. If you feel elements of the TP
are out-of-theme, break MUSH rules or in some other way would need
approval, you have every right to ask the TP organizer if the plot has
been approved, and to stop participating if it hasn't been. (See NEWS TP
RULES for guidelines about what needs approval.)
5. Play in Character
TPs are an excellent opportunity to stretch your role-playing muscles.
Concentrate on acting and reacting as your character would, rather than
what you yourself would do. You might want to cheer on the dramatic fight,
but your caring Wisdom character's response might be horror or disgust.
You might be the type of person who carefully thinks things through and
thinks of safety first, but is that how the rash, heroic character you're
playing would react?
Also, remember to separate what you know from what your character knows.
You might use +verify to confirm that the strangely-young woman in the
corner is an Aes Sedai, but if your character's never seen Aes Sedai
before, is there any way s/he would suspect?
6. Respect Other People
Don't try to force other people into participating in the plot. If they
don't want to play it, respect that. That holds true regardless of a
character's job description - you can't force an Aes Sedai to come and
Heal someone if her player's not interested because s/he's involved in
something else.
7. The TP Coordinator is Busy
Please remember that the TP coordinator is probably very busy. Usually,
s/he is both involved in role-playing, and paging people to arrange
actions, answer questions, etc. It can be quite a lot to keep up with!
It's important to remember that if you feel that your pages aren't being
answered fast enough, or his/her character didn't respond to your latest
pose, etc. It's very rarely anything personal, just the TP coordinator
struggling to keep up with the IC and OOC roles and occasionally missing
something.
8. Followup
Once the TP has finished, feel free to post a summary of your actions in
gossip or on one of the +bb's, etc. Seeing things from different
perspectives can help give people a more detailed view of the action and
spawn more role-play. However, you should check with the TP coordinator
before you post anything that might be "secret" or inside information,
in case making it public will affect a later TP.
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NEWS TP INTRO
The term TinyPlot, or TP, refers to any role-played story that is to some
extent planned before it's played out on the MUSH. Usually the term also
infers a certain level of dramatic scope.
For instance, you've scheduled to meet with friends to role-play a picnic
in the park tomorrow night. Although that's planned RP, most people
wouldn't consider it a TP. If the picnic included plans to RP a duel, or
discover a long-lost relative, that would be considered a TP.
TPs vary widely in scope, length, level of drama and amount of planning or
approval required. The example above affects only the handful of
characters who are participants, takes only a few hours to role-play, and
doesn't require a lot of pre-planning or organization.
A feud between rival Noble Houses might be planned to run for a month,
include one or more planned RP episodes a week, require organizing and
approval by both Houses and the area leader, and has the potential to
affect any resident in the city or country. A second Aiel War could run
for months with many battles or strategy sessions, involves all area
leaders and the wizards in organization and approval, and potentially
affects every character on the MUSH.
The events of a TP, or its aftermath, can impact on other players, or the
story or theme of an area, even the MUSH as a whole, in ways that might
not seem obvious. For that reason, TPs that include certain elements
require approval before they run. A complete list of the TP rules and who
needs to approve what is available in NEWS TP RULES.
The approval process can also benefit your plot planning. The approver
might suggest ways to advertise or get more people involved, or might want
to incorporate your plot into something else that's being planned.
Because larger scale plots and events take a lot of time and work to plan,
you'll find that TPs do not make up the bulk of role-playing on any MUSH.
The majority of game play is "spontaneous role-play" - what happens when
different characters run into each other in various locations on the game.
However, one mistake that people make is assuming that there's no middle
ground between everyday RP, which can occasionally become routine, and an
elaborately-planned plot. There is. If you find that your day-to-day
RP is falling into a rut, don't wait around for someone else to hand you
a dramatic TP, try some of the following ideas. These are also a good way
for the novice MUSH player to start learning about what goes into
developing and organizing TPs.
Most of these require only a few minutes of discussion about what activity
to role-play, choosing a location, paging a few people to see if they're
free to get involved, or inviting people through your @doing or +announce.
They may not all be dramatic or heroic activities, but they're guaranteed
to spark some enthusiasm from people who want a change from chatting in
the local inn.
* A surprise party for a nameday (birthday), promotion, birth, etc.
* A hunting, fishing or camping trip outside the city - one person can run
a puppet "prey" that the others hunt, etc.
* If you're in the Borderlands, a trip up to the Blight.
* An impromptu night of singing, storytelling, dancing or a riddle
or practical joke competition.
* Friendly contests - archery, foot races, sparring, tug-of-war, a
snowball war, etc.
* A games night using both coded games like the chess board or dice, and
RP games like word games, etc.
* Stopping by a visiting Tinker camp, Children of the Light camp or Sea
Folk ship to learn more about these exotic cultures.
* A cooking contest or feast where everyone shows off favourite dishes.
* Communal activities - barn raising, quilting bees, harvesting, sheep
shearing, etc.
* Sitting for a group portrait with the local artist.
* Dealing with a minor disaster like a kitchen fire or flooded basement.
* A search for a runaway horse, stray farm animal, missing pet or lost
child.
* Head down to the market district and RP with a shopkeeper.
* Visit the beach for some swimming, a bonfire, shell hunting, etc.
* Bring food/clothing to a poor family.