Aria Devonshire
Newbie
Noy sure if this should be reposted, but I figured it might be a good idea.
How to get the most from your plot submission to HQ.
What is a plot write-up, or plot submission? This is the vehicle in which you can use the time in between events to accomplish something, usually in preparation for an IG follow-up at an event. For instance, your character may have discovered that the powerful undead monster terrorizing the town was once a Knight in Brittington. Your character may wish to travel to Brittington to find out about the Knight's history in hopes of finding something that may help defeat him or her. Maybe your character wants to make a shady deal and sell some necromantic items – a plot submission is a great way to say that your character travels around some seedy taverns on the outskirts of the estate of Dara's Grace looking to make a contact. Plot responds to you by saying that you are told that someone will seek you out in town and you'll know them by their use of the phrase "All hail the Brotherhood." Notice that Plot won't let you actually sell the item(s) in the submission, but they'll respond by giving you something to look for at an event.
What can't a plot submission do? You will never get treasure, experience, rituals, or deaths on your character card from a plot write-up. If your character suffers a death on the write-up, this is a "plot" death – in other words, it happens IG, but does not go on your character card.
Once you are playing in the Ashbury campaign, you can use the time between events to do research or to have your character travel to meet NPCs. However, keep these restrictions in mind:
• Your character cannot travel all over the place in a short period of time. Do not send us a submission saying how you plan on traveling the entire duchy in the three weeks between events. Generally speaking, you should not offer more than one submission per month or one between each event that the character attends.
• You may have to spend in-game money to accomplish your goals – if you plan to bribe some official, or pay some informants, please include the amount of money that you are willing to spend and be prepared to pay it at NPC camp the following event you (the player) attend.
• Your failure or success will depend on a number of things. For instance, if you are doing research and have a Craftsman skill in that area, your chances are much better than if you cannot even Read and Write. If you are going to go fight on the front in Glenrake, let us know details on the fighting skills you have so we can give you a good response. If you are doing research on undead, let us know if you have the skill craftsman sage: undead lore. We do not need a list of all of your character skills, only those that you think are pertinent to the quest.
• Remember that we are a live roleplaying organization, with the emphasis on live. Whenever possible, we will attempt to write an IG encounter to follow up on the plot submission. If you make a submission to the Plot Committee saying, "I am going to go and speak to King Kelanor" you will probably receive the response "King Kelanor is aware you are looking for him and promises to meet you in Ashbury in a few weeks (i.e: live, during an event)."
* Don't try to do something in a plot submission that your character wouldn't do live.
So then what is a Plot Submission good for? Primarily for studying, researching, and gathering basic knowledge. Traveling to other places to gather information is acceptable; traveling to other places to have adventures or find treasure is not. Remember: Live Action Role-Play!
Plot submissions should be emailed to plot@ nerohq.com and should be in the following format:
Character name:
Player name:
Player #:
Email:
Pertinent information regarding character:
Race:
Class:
Approximate Level:
Skills that might apply:
Summary of your submission:
** Below are suggestions for things to include in the summary of your submission. You need not label these, but they should be clearly defined. **
Objective: Let the Plot team know what your goal is. Limit your submission to ONE main goal or topic. Do not string a group of interdependent goals together in that one may be required for successive goals.
Information: If you have already received some information regarding a topic, let Plot know – if you've already done a submission – please reference it, don't assume that we'll remember, especially if it has been some time since that initial investigation.
Location: You should only attempt to go to one location per write-up. That location can be specific such as "The library at the Bardic College" or general such as "small towns in Corheim." Try to make the location appropriate to your write-up. In other words, if you are doing detailed historical research, please don't say, " I check all the libraries in the land." Tell plot which library you would like to go to, "I travel to the Icenian Institute of Archeology." If you are non-specific, Plot will choose one location and give you detailed information about that. If, for instance, you are looking to find someone that you know of in the underworld – saying something like, " I check the seedier taverns in Dockside, asking people if they've seen Bok'Rok around lately" may work out for you. Keep in mind that you may be looking in the wrong place.
Writing letters: Believe it or not, writing a letter to an NPC counts as a plot submission. I know that it is not realistic to say that your character writes only one letter a month, but keep in mind that for each letter you write, plot will need to create a response, possibly write and plan an encounter, and consider it's impact on the plot line that the letter is about. Include the full text of any letter that you write, and address it to the person that would receive it and the location that they would be at. Don't just say, " I write a letter pleading with the head of the mage's guild to allow me to join." You would need to know who would get the letter, and where to send the letter, “I write a letter to Duke Rogan in Mooregrave.”
Team/Group submissions: All guidelines apply to a team or group submission as well. If your team would like to split up to different locations with different goals – then do separate submissions – this makes it easier to track on Plot's end. If your whole team/group would like to travel the barony giving out free healing and training people how to fight – that would be a great use of a team write-up. Please include the pertinent information on all team members that you would on an individual write-up.
Submission Failure: Failure is a relative term. It is the goal of the Plot team to never reply to a write-up with the dreaded phrase "You find nothing." However, write-ups are not guaranteed to succeed either. If you go to Dockside looking for Bok'Rok and he's not there, you may fail. Plot may say, "No one's heard of the guy." Or, "Bok'Rok moved his operations – didn't say where, but some of his goons mentioned something about some haunted castle in the forest." Now, this gives that character something else to find out or research. On the one hand it's a failure because you couldn't find Bok'Rok, but on the other hand – you know he's not in Dockside, and what's that about a castle in the forest? So you have another place to look. Maybe there is information already in game that points to the location of his hideout and someone else has it – maybe you need to ask people about a haunted castle. The point is, Plot will not always give you every ounce of information you are hoping for from one response. Plot also strives to maintain game integrity and consistency, so you may just be in the wrong place. Read through past newsletters (they are online and searchable) and read the player's guide – there may be some information already there that can direct you to a good place to begin your search. Most importantly, talk to other players! Ask around about that castle, maybe someone else has heard of it.
Responding to your response: Let us know that you received the response. Let us know if you liked it, or if you need clarification on something that you read there. But please don’t respond with another submission. You can ask for more information about something that your character saw in the submission. For instance, if you worked with Sir Padrin in Bristol, and you saw him fight trolls – maybe you'd like to know how much damage he was swinging, maybe you'd like to know a bit more about what he looked like if you haven't met him IG. Plot is happy to give more details on things of that nature. Please note that clarification is not the same as "more information." If the information you received made you think of another question to ask, this is another write-up and you will need to wait to send it in. Regarding letters, please don't reply to the NPC with another letter asking for more information until after the next event. Feel free to write the NPC saying thanks or some other cordial thing if it’s something your character would do.
If you felt that plot answered the wrong question, let us know and we'll work with you. Sometimes we think we understand a question, but we don't. The reason we say "only one in between events" is that you may submit something, Plot may plan an encounter for you, and then you turn around and do another submission that might invalidate the encounter. Same goes if you can’t make an event, the plotline may have advanced without you – check with the newsletters, and other players, to find out if the information you seek has already gone out – or perhaps it was one of the major points of the weekend.
Though the submission deals primarily with characters – as a player, we ask that you only do a plot submission for one character. This allows us to give more equal time to all players. We understand that each person wants to get the most out of the game – but there are only so many Plot members – and we each have things to do outside of NERO. We want to give the most we can to our players, but we also have events to write, race packets to update, etc. You are welcome to help out. : )
This was a combination of information in the player's guide, along with some hefty additions (and examples) by Henry the Mad
How to get the most from your plot submission to HQ.
What is a plot write-up, or plot submission? This is the vehicle in which you can use the time in between events to accomplish something, usually in preparation for an IG follow-up at an event. For instance, your character may have discovered that the powerful undead monster terrorizing the town was once a Knight in Brittington. Your character may wish to travel to Brittington to find out about the Knight's history in hopes of finding something that may help defeat him or her. Maybe your character wants to make a shady deal and sell some necromantic items – a plot submission is a great way to say that your character travels around some seedy taverns on the outskirts of the estate of Dara's Grace looking to make a contact. Plot responds to you by saying that you are told that someone will seek you out in town and you'll know them by their use of the phrase "All hail the Brotherhood." Notice that Plot won't let you actually sell the item(s) in the submission, but they'll respond by giving you something to look for at an event.
What can't a plot submission do? You will never get treasure, experience, rituals, or deaths on your character card from a plot write-up. If your character suffers a death on the write-up, this is a "plot" death – in other words, it happens IG, but does not go on your character card.
Once you are playing in the Ashbury campaign, you can use the time between events to do research or to have your character travel to meet NPCs. However, keep these restrictions in mind:
• Your character cannot travel all over the place in a short period of time. Do not send us a submission saying how you plan on traveling the entire duchy in the three weeks between events. Generally speaking, you should not offer more than one submission per month or one between each event that the character attends.
• You may have to spend in-game money to accomplish your goals – if you plan to bribe some official, or pay some informants, please include the amount of money that you are willing to spend and be prepared to pay it at NPC camp the following event you (the player) attend.
• Your failure or success will depend on a number of things. For instance, if you are doing research and have a Craftsman skill in that area, your chances are much better than if you cannot even Read and Write. If you are going to go fight on the front in Glenrake, let us know details on the fighting skills you have so we can give you a good response. If you are doing research on undead, let us know if you have the skill craftsman sage: undead lore. We do not need a list of all of your character skills, only those that you think are pertinent to the quest.
• Remember that we are a live roleplaying organization, with the emphasis on live. Whenever possible, we will attempt to write an IG encounter to follow up on the plot submission. If you make a submission to the Plot Committee saying, "I am going to go and speak to King Kelanor" you will probably receive the response "King Kelanor is aware you are looking for him and promises to meet you in Ashbury in a few weeks (i.e: live, during an event)."
* Don't try to do something in a plot submission that your character wouldn't do live.
So then what is a Plot Submission good for? Primarily for studying, researching, and gathering basic knowledge. Traveling to other places to gather information is acceptable; traveling to other places to have adventures or find treasure is not. Remember: Live Action Role-Play!
Plot submissions should be emailed to plot@ nerohq.com and should be in the following format:
Character name:
Player name:
Player #:
Email:
Pertinent information regarding character:
Race:
Class:
Approximate Level:
Skills that might apply:
Summary of your submission:
** Below are suggestions for things to include in the summary of your submission. You need not label these, but they should be clearly defined. **
Objective: Let the Plot team know what your goal is. Limit your submission to ONE main goal or topic. Do not string a group of interdependent goals together in that one may be required for successive goals.
Information: If you have already received some information regarding a topic, let Plot know – if you've already done a submission – please reference it, don't assume that we'll remember, especially if it has been some time since that initial investigation.
Location: You should only attempt to go to one location per write-up. That location can be specific such as "The library at the Bardic College" or general such as "small towns in Corheim." Try to make the location appropriate to your write-up. In other words, if you are doing detailed historical research, please don't say, " I check all the libraries in the land." Tell plot which library you would like to go to, "I travel to the Icenian Institute of Archeology." If you are non-specific, Plot will choose one location and give you detailed information about that. If, for instance, you are looking to find someone that you know of in the underworld – saying something like, " I check the seedier taverns in Dockside, asking people if they've seen Bok'Rok around lately" may work out for you. Keep in mind that you may be looking in the wrong place.
Writing letters: Believe it or not, writing a letter to an NPC counts as a plot submission. I know that it is not realistic to say that your character writes only one letter a month, but keep in mind that for each letter you write, plot will need to create a response, possibly write and plan an encounter, and consider it's impact on the plot line that the letter is about. Include the full text of any letter that you write, and address it to the person that would receive it and the location that they would be at. Don't just say, " I write a letter pleading with the head of the mage's guild to allow me to join." You would need to know who would get the letter, and where to send the letter, “I write a letter to Duke Rogan in Mooregrave.”
Team/Group submissions: All guidelines apply to a team or group submission as well. If your team would like to split up to different locations with different goals – then do separate submissions – this makes it easier to track on Plot's end. If your whole team/group would like to travel the barony giving out free healing and training people how to fight – that would be a great use of a team write-up. Please include the pertinent information on all team members that you would on an individual write-up.
Submission Failure: Failure is a relative term. It is the goal of the Plot team to never reply to a write-up with the dreaded phrase "You find nothing." However, write-ups are not guaranteed to succeed either. If you go to Dockside looking for Bok'Rok and he's not there, you may fail. Plot may say, "No one's heard of the guy." Or, "Bok'Rok moved his operations – didn't say where, but some of his goons mentioned something about some haunted castle in the forest." Now, this gives that character something else to find out or research. On the one hand it's a failure because you couldn't find Bok'Rok, but on the other hand – you know he's not in Dockside, and what's that about a castle in the forest? So you have another place to look. Maybe there is information already in game that points to the location of his hideout and someone else has it – maybe you need to ask people about a haunted castle. The point is, Plot will not always give you every ounce of information you are hoping for from one response. Plot also strives to maintain game integrity and consistency, so you may just be in the wrong place. Read through past newsletters (they are online and searchable) and read the player's guide – there may be some information already there that can direct you to a good place to begin your search. Most importantly, talk to other players! Ask around about that castle, maybe someone else has heard of it.
Responding to your response: Let us know that you received the response. Let us know if you liked it, or if you need clarification on something that you read there. But please don’t respond with another submission. You can ask for more information about something that your character saw in the submission. For instance, if you worked with Sir Padrin in Bristol, and you saw him fight trolls – maybe you'd like to know how much damage he was swinging, maybe you'd like to know a bit more about what he looked like if you haven't met him IG. Plot is happy to give more details on things of that nature. Please note that clarification is not the same as "more information." If the information you received made you think of another question to ask, this is another write-up and you will need to wait to send it in. Regarding letters, please don't reply to the NPC with another letter asking for more information until after the next event. Feel free to write the NPC saying thanks or some other cordial thing if it’s something your character would do.
If you felt that plot answered the wrong question, let us know and we'll work with you. Sometimes we think we understand a question, but we don't. The reason we say "only one in between events" is that you may submit something, Plot may plan an encounter for you, and then you turn around and do another submission that might invalidate the encounter. Same goes if you can’t make an event, the plotline may have advanced without you – check with the newsletters, and other players, to find out if the information you seek has already gone out – or perhaps it was one of the major points of the weekend.
Though the submission deals primarily with characters – as a player, we ask that you only do a plot submission for one character. This allows us to give more equal time to all players. We understand that each person wants to get the most out of the game – but there are only so many Plot members – and we each have things to do outside of NERO. We want to give the most we can to our players, but we also have events to write, race packets to update, etc. You are welcome to help out. : )
This was a combination of information in the player's guide, along with some hefty additions (and examples) by Henry the Mad