Difference between revisions of "TP Application"

Revision as of 23:01, 20 February 2011

Persona MUSH is full of a hundred personal stories that weave together into a greater narrative. But sometimes, you want to do something more. You want to run a major plotline that will help shape the direction that the MUSH might take in the future.

A TinyPlot (TP) is an admin-sponsored plotline that takes elements of the greater community and uses them to create events that will change something about the MUSH. It might work with background elements. It might involve some NPCs. It might create new things to interact with.

What a TP is not is a place for your personal character to look like a giant badass and win the day. People do not find self-aggrandizement plots to be interesting. Someone who runs a TP have a responsibility to be inclusive and be able to work with people to help make something larger than themselves.

If you want to try your hand at running a TP, let us know! We'll be happy to look over your application and hash things out with you. Just fill out the following information:

Application

Who You Are: We want to make sure we know who's submitting the TP idea!

Plot Name: Every plot needs a good title.

Expected Duration: Shorter is better. Most plotlines won't run longer than 2-3 weeks before you run the risk of boring people.

Important Characters: Characters who play major roles in the plotline. These can be anyone, OC, FC, NPCs. We need to know who they are, what relevance they have to the plot, and more. For new characters, we will need a profile like that in the normal application. For new characters who are expected to fight, we will need an idea of what their general tendencies are.

Plotline Elements And Background Effects: What elements and MacGuffins are you planning to use? How will they change the game world? Outline: We will need a solid idea of how the plot begins, proceeds, and ends. 2-3 scenes a week for a high-visibility plotline is a good rule of thumb. Each scene should have a general premise, what expected characters who will be present, possible alternatives if those people AREN'T able to be there, and what the most LIKELY outcome will be. This should end with a description of the most likely endgame outcome, with what effects the plot will have on any background elements involved.

Admin Support: We will need to know how much administrative support you will need to run the plot. Custom Personas/Shadows, grid modifications, NPC assistance, and more. We don't mind helping, but there are obvious benefits to not needing us to run everything for you.

Once complete, send the application in to the application mailbox (personamushapps@gmail.com) with the heading TP Application - (TP Name).

For additional tips on writing TPs that can help you write a quality plotline, you might want to look at the next page.

An admin will look over the TP and be in touch with you to hash out details and/or give a response. Good luck!

Tips

1) DON'T be too married to the basic plotline. 1a) The admin are going to inevitably have to work with you to clean up things and modify events based on information that you are not necessarily privy to. This is not a discredit, it is a communal writing exercise. 1b) No plan survives contact with the playerbase. They will ALWAYS do things you don't expect. This is why you work with an outline instead of dictating everything that happens. Flexibility is key.

2) DO look for ways to split up the participants if they will be over a handful. The dreaded 20+-man bossfight will crush your soul. Have multiple goals, and if you're ambitious, multiple interwoven plotlines.

3) Show, don't tell. Don't just tell people why they should care about your NPCs. You have to engage others in order to make them really have natural response when they inevitably betray them/become shadow-possessed/kick a dog/buy them dinner/die.

4) Running a plotline is a thankless job. The focus is not on you. The purpose of running a plotline is to give other people things to do. We will help as much as we can, but unless you're handing us a plot to run completely on our own, you're going to be helping too, so remember this. Give people opportunities to do awesome things.

5) DO work out your scheduling ahead of time. This prevents a lot of issues with Important Characters not showing.

6) DON'T depend on players to take the specific actions you expect them to. They won't. They will spend 2 hours doing everything EXCEPT that.

7) DO plan or scenes to end before 1 AM EST at the absolute latest. 1 AM is when people generally turn into pumpkins and drop off, and that's never a good thing.