Rule suggestion - [PLOT] - Discuss

Events, event planning and evaluation.

Rule suggestion - [PLOT] - Discuss

Postby Adjanah » Thu Aug 23, 2007 11:17 pm

Alright...after tonight's event, it is pretty obvious we need some standard rules of engagament for something like this. I will start with this suggestion, and then we discuss that till we reach something we can all agree on. Once that is done, consider this a RULE THAT WE WILL CONSISTENTLY USE AND ENFORCE. None of this is to keep anyone down. It is only in the interest of making the rp better and things flow better.

When the word-marker [PLOT] appears in the fellowship/raid channel, consider the event PAUSED. That means you do NOT do ANYTHING until the GM puts in the marker [PLOT] again. Until then you simply sit back and enjoy being told what is going on and what you need to know. THEN you act.

Example:
I am the GM of a particular event. I have brought the party to a specifed location, and then stop and go
[Raid] Adjanah : [PLOT]
in the raid channel. This is how I effectively tell everyone to PAUSE. Not just to stop and start making emotes, but PAUSE....consider time frozen.

THEN I go:
[Raid] Adjanah : The mountain walls loom high above you. A cold wind brushes down over the cliffs and you feel a distinct sense of dread washing over you.
Please note, I have NOT written [PLOT] again, which means I am not done, and it is NOT time for you to act yet.

I then continue:
[Raid] Adjanah : As you look up, heavy rain begin to fall, purplish lightning flickering across the ragged clouds. The silhouette of a lone figure stands out starkly against the flickering sky high above you [PLOT]
After the [PLOT]-marker, you are free to act. And not a second before.

For the GM, this means that you start ALL plot-posts with the [PLOT]-marker, and also END plot-posts with the [PLOT]-marker. I suggest simply tagging it and copying it to the clipboard so you just can go CTRL-V and insert it when you want.

Please comment, disagree or agree here. Your opinion matters, now is the moment to tell us.

This suggestion will be considered an Official RULE of the Thorn in 3 days unless it is voted out, and will be expected to be enforced in events of a size that demands it.
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Re: REQUIRED READING: Event-rules - discussion thread

Postby Felaion » Thu Aug 23, 2007 11:28 pm

I totally agree. In LARP-style things, a TIME FREEZE is always called to slow things up, and give the ref time to adjust what needs Adjusting. This is the same, just diferent words.

This bill has my undivided support.
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Re: Rule suggestion - [PLOT] - Discuss

Postby Sayvara » Thu Aug 23, 2007 11:56 pm

Seems good to me! Let's try it next time and see how it works out. :)

/S
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Re: Rule suggestion - [PLOT] - Discuss

Postby kellidir » Fri Aug 24, 2007 12:13 am

I'm very familiar with the term "time freeze" it is a very useful thing and can give GMs time to set things up.

However what I think is a contributing factor to the this problem is that we had almost a dozen players involved. thats a lot of people to organise for dice based combat especially for one central GM.

If we are going to do combat events, it may be worth doing them in say the pvp area and finding a quiet place, of having half of us use our toons as NPCs and half as our characters and perhaps running two events or the same event from two angles?
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Re: Rule suggestion - [PLOT] - Discuss

Postby Candil » Fri Aug 24, 2007 1:31 am

what you suggest sounds great in the situation we had, and i feel that's more or less what we eventually achieved. in saying that however, i fear that perhaps the pace went from too quick to too slow. if we bear in mind the fighting may have lasted as little as five minutes, we spent an inordinately large amount of time to properly convey what was happening. Poor Lirandel must have worn his fingers to the bone typing so much, and it's really not fair on him. i've a few thoughts on how we can speed things up and a few on how we can keep things in check. hopefully we can stick them together and make a most delightful rule sandwich.

firstly, it might be an idea to limit the length of posts, or at least limit the number of actions in a post. a long pause then a big message breaks things up a bit too much.
unfortunately, speediness makes things more difficult for Lirandel! i think what for this might be necessary is to break the group up, not let there be more than 3 people to a GM and since we're a raid, it's easy to separate us out and use fellowship chat so things don't get lost. we're all good roleplayers so if someone running a plot needs help there's a wealth of people who could GM and possibly need the practice ,). obviously this will need coordination, so i feel raid chat itself would be best to kept for questions and head GMing. there's no need for ooc there as we're all in the same kinship.
finally, i feel perhaps PnP character sheets may help to portray what people can do :P and how many baddies they can kill in one moment.

There, racked my brains and found things to discuss, hope i've not trod on any toes, i didn't mean to!
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Re: Rule suggestion - [PLOT] - Discuss

Postby Adjanah » Fri Aug 24, 2007 1:46 am

Yus, a fair point well made, Candil. And one I for intend to stick by for the future. I am NOT going to attend combat-based events sporting more than a single fellowship ever again if I can help it. I love you all, but 10-11 people at ONCE is simply too much. ^^
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Re: Rule suggestion - [PLOT] - Discuss

Postby Beodric » Tue Aug 28, 2007 4:26 am

i do not agree there janah, it would be unfair to stop pepole from coming to events or asking them not to if they are online beucse its somewhat harder, what could be done thought is having another want to be GM when there is a bigger group, then lets say if there is 8 pepole, each GM can be playing with 4 of them if there is combat and this way it is more sane and there is crowd control even for larger numbers, i am sure like candy said there be more then one person (including me) who if asked to be a helper GM even at the last moment will do it.
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Re: Rule suggestion - [PLOT] - Discuss

Postby Haelewulf » Tue Aug 28, 2007 9:26 am

*shrugs* I think that could work fairly well... multiple GM's coordinating, that is. After all, it's nice to have large numbers, albeit not for combat, to be sure. Unless, of course, for example, each group would split off from the main after a briefing to complete their portion of the mission. It might be a tad contrived... but it'd be easy to come up with something sound, tactically. :)

It'd probably be best to test-drive the system (should we decide to try it) with experienced GM's who are used to coordinating with each other *winks in the officers' direction*.

I have almost no experience m'self, but it'd be a good way to learn... especially as a sort of "sub-GM." *chuckles*

Anyway, it's something to think about. I do think that by and large our issues tend to work themselves out, on the basis that we're all generally mature and capable enough to recognize a problem when we see it... but aye, something a little more drastic needs doing to hit this one; it's a doozy. *grins*
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Re: Rule suggestion - [PLOT] - Discuss

Postby Felaion » Tue Aug 28, 2007 10:55 am

Personally, I think having multiple GMs and a divided group could definatly work.

Firstly it gives the officers and players decisions that may change the course of the event by who goes in which group. It would be much easier for a GM to keep control of 3-5 people than 10-12.

It also makes things much more interactive, and could make the players feel more like they are contributing to the story, because their voice is easier heard (even when playing quiet characters) rather than being drowned out, and being "just a guy in the background. You know, one of them extras who get killed."
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Re: Rule suggestion - [PLOT] - Discuss

Postby Archibold » Tue Aug 28, 2007 2:37 pm

Adjanah, we are talking here basic roleplaying decency.

Ofcourse when GM is talking everybody else is standing still , and time is paused.

When i DM , i take much harsher approach which is not always popular by the players. But you must understand that GMing is not easy , and must RESPECT THE GM ! (after all he is serving you the game)

I am not stranger to using words like "TIME FREEZE" , "FAST FORWARD" , "REWIND" , "THIS DIDNT HAPPEN" , "YOU DIDNT DO THAT"

I mean some amount of control should be put in place

What I did find lacking is - that GM's so far failed to explain where everyone is standing , and what everyone is seeing ... and this is vital to game
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Re: Rule suggestion - [PLOT] - Discuss

Postby Adjanah » Tue Aug 28, 2007 6:22 pm

Archibold wrote:Ofcourse when GM is talking everybody else is standing still , and time is paused.

I agree. However, it failed at the last event...which is why I thought I'd try and put together a common method for it, so we can get everyone to understand it for next time. ^^

As for multiple GM's etc...sure, if we ever find ourselves in such a situation again, we'll have to use one of these systems. And just because I say I'm not interested in such events, doesn't have to mean the Thorn as a whole does not have them. :P Just means I likely won't take a very active part.

Maybe we should add a little thingy so a player can ask a question before the plot continues as well? For instance, "Just how far is he from me?". Maybe...umm...said player pops a [q] in raid-chat to state he has a question and to let other players now they shouldn't start just yet...then he can ask his question. Opinion?
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Re: Rule suggestion - [PLOT] - Discuss

Postby Saerid » Tue Aug 28, 2007 7:20 pm

Adjanah wrote:Maybe we should add a little thingy so a player can ask a question before the plot continues as well? For instance, "Just how far is he from me?". Maybe...umm...said player pops a [q] in raid-chat to state he has a question and to let other players now they shouldn't start just yet...then he can ask his question. Opinion?


Sounds good as long as it doesn't evolve into 20 questions. Maybe limit it to surroundings/detail questions to avoid "Can I do this?" "Would this be possible?" "If..." type of questions.
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Re: Rule suggestion - [PLOT] - Discuss

Postby Archibold » Tue Aug 28, 2007 7:32 pm

Let just say that RAID is officially GM chat. For communicating game mechanics and so on.
This includes player questions like:

Where am i standing related to the bad guy?

Am I able to react?

Did I see him do it ?

etc....
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Re: Rule suggestion - [PLOT] - Discuss

Postby Adjanah » Wed Aug 29, 2007 1:17 pm

Saerid wrote:Sounds good as long as it doesn't evolve into 20 questions. Maybe limit it to surroundings/detail questions to avoid "Can I do this?" "Would this be possible?" "If..." type of questions.

Indeed. Here's where I'm hoping for the maturity of our players to shine through ^^
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Re: Rule suggestion - [PLOT] - Discuss

Postby kellidir » Wed Aug 29, 2007 11:35 pm

you could almost do with a group doodle board to quickly draw a layout which everyone sees.

didn't msn have a "white board" that was shared once?
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