Plot team

Latest revision as of 12:03, 1 February 2017

Head of Plot Team: Andy Rafferty

Winner of Best Hat: Matt Pennington

Overview

The plot team at Empire consists of everyone who writes plot for Empire. Joining plot team is simply a matter of writing some plot that fits with our style guide.

Our plot team is actually a group of writers rather than a single team. While it can be fantastically helpful for groups of writers to work together on some projects, we deliberately discourage everyone from trying to work together on everything because of the logistical difficulties in organizing a large group and the creative challenges of trying to create good plot when different writers have different views on what the plot should be. This page is all about how we organize and operate our plot team.

Editorial Approach

You collaborate with Matt and Andy to create your plot

Ultimately editorial control of the Empire campaign setting and the plot we run rests with Matt Pennington and Andy Raff. Andy is in charge of the Empire campaign and Matt is in charge of the game itself. Together we decide what plot can run, what new elements can be added to the setting and so forth. You can't run a plot at the events unless Matt and Andy are happy with it. The best way to approach this is to work with Matt or Andy or both of us throughout the development of your plot ideas. We will give you feedback, discuss your ideas with you and make suggestions on how you can develop it.

Experience has proved that if you can't work with us to develop your plot - then ultimately the whole process of writing plot for Empire will be too painful for everyone involved to make it worth the effort. This is nothing to do with being a good writer or a bad writer - it's purely because me and Andy are the editors for Empire and if you don't enjoy working with the editors to develop a plot then it isn't going to work well being a team together. Good plot writers are always in demand, so if you don't enjoy working with us on your plot ideas then it's better to run your own events, either as Empire player events or in other settings.

Your plot only needs to be acceptable to Matt and Andy - other writers do not have any say in what plot you can run. We are very keen to avoid the lowest common denominator problems inherent in any design by committee, so provided Matt and Andy are happy with your plot then they will strongly discourage criticism from other writers.

Running Plot

You are responsible for running out your plot at the event

The basic assumption when you write plot is that you will be responsible for getting the plot to run at the event. This means getting everything ready for the plot to go out and then briefing your NPCs and debriefing them again when they come back. But it also means talking to the relevant people before the event to check that your plot works with the rules, and that the costumes and props are in place for it. We will help you at every stage of the process but if you want to join our existing plot team then that includes the responsibility for getting the plot out.

Support

Other members of the team are on hand to help

There is a lot involved in running a plot at a PD Empire event and most of our writers are not familiar with every part of the process. Other members of the plot team are on hand to help you with anything you need help with. We don't expect you to do everything yourself - just be responsible for ensuring it does happen. Very few writers are able to make a plot happen entirely by themselves - by working with other members of the team you can access their knowledge of the setting, the rules, the IT systems or their skills with make-up, costume and props.

Radio Calls

Someone needs to answer queries about your plots

Throughout every event we get dozens of queries from Refs, GOD, and other crew members about plots. Key members of the plot team strive to be on radio throughout the event, so that they can receive the incoming query. The team will answer simple queries, but for more complex problems they will attempt to contact the writer to get a response. Doing this helps to ensure that the plot runs as intended. Ideally this means that if you are involved in writing and running plot at Empire then we should be able to quickly contact you during the event if we need to. If you have written a significant amount of plot, and we expect a lot of queries, then you may well be assigned a radio so we can contact you quickly.

If you can't commit to being available throughout the event then please make sure you have identified a known point of contact for your plots who will be available. This will be someone on the plot team that you are happy for us to go to get an answer about a query about the plot. Ideally it should be someone who knows the plot well.

Joining the Team

Anyone who has an idea for a plot can discuss it with Matt or Andy
Developing your own plot is the starting point for joining the plot team

Lots of people often ask about joining plot team - but the truth is that we're always keen with people who want to actually write and run plot at our events. You don't have to apply, you don't have to get approved - you just have to write something! Submit a piece of plot to us and if we agree you can run it and you want to write more then you're part of the team.

You don't have to produce a complex piece of detailed plot at first - in fact it's better if you don't. Rather talk to Matt and Andy as early as you can about your idea(s). We'll give you feedback and encourage you to develop the best of them into written plots following the existing guidelines. Once you've written up and run a few plots then we'll give you access to the plot wiki and add you to the Empire plot writers facebook group. But what you absolutely have to do to be a part of the writing team is to write something.

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+{{CaptionedImage|file=AndyRaffertyWiki.jpg|align=right|caption=Head of Plot Team: Andy Rafferty}}
+{{CaptionedImage|file=MattAndRegan.jpg|align=right|caption=Winner of Best Hat: Matt Pennington}}
 ==Overview==
-We want to try to produce as much plot as is humanly possible for Empire, to try to make the event as busy and interesting and cool as possible. There are two core challenges to make this happen, one is to write the plot - the other is to run it at an event. This section lays out our strategy for how we will try to get as much plot written as possible for the events.
+The plot team at Empire consists of everyone who writes plot for Empire. Joining plot team is simply a matter of writing some plot that fits with our [[style guide]].
-From experience we have found that large plot teams do not work well. In fact large creative teams do not work well, beyond half a dozen people, stylistic and taste differences rapidly accumulate, making it ever harder to write content that the team are happy with. In a large team the majority of ideas are stifled by an environment in which somebody is guaranteed not to like it. Large teams are also increasingly difficult to get together, so they fall back on electronic meetings, emails or forums, all of which are vastly less productive.
+Our plot team is actually a group of writers rather than a single team. While it can be fantastically helpful for groups of writers to work together on some projects, we deliberately discourage everyone from trying to work together on everything because of the logistical difficulties in organizing a large group and the creative challenges of trying to create good plot when different writers have different views on what the plot should be. This page is all about how we organize and operate our plot team.
-Our plan is to create multiple small independent plot teams, ideally comprising up to half a dozen creative people. The goal is to encourage a couple of core creatives with proven experience to put together a small team of friends to work with them to create plot. This approach should allow the team to meet regularly and to create plot they like, without too much concern for how other teams view their work.
+==Editorial Approach==
+* '''You collaborate with Matt and Andy to create your plot'''
+Ultimately editorial control of the Empire campaign setting and the plot we run rests with Matt Pennington and Andy Raff. Andy is in charge of the Empire campaign and Matt is in charge of the game itself. Together we decide what plot can run, what new elements can be added to the setting and so forth. You can't run a plot at the events unless Matt and Andy are happy with it. The best way to approach this is to work with Matt or Andy or both of us throughout the development of your plot ideas. We will give you feedback, discuss your ideas with you and make suggestions on how you can develop it.
-==Editorial Control and Central Coordination==
+Experience has proved that if you can't work with us to develop your plot - then ultimately the whole process of writing plot for Empire will be too painful for everyone involved to make it worth the effort. This is nothing to do with being a good writer or a bad writer - it's purely because me and Andy are the editors for Empire and if you don't enjoy working with the editors to develop a plot then it isn't going to work well being a team together. Good plot writers are always in demand, so if you don't enjoy working with us on your plot ideas then it's better to run your own events, either as Empire player events or in other settings.
-Andy Rafferty and myself will provide the central coordination for the work produced by different teams. If two teams are working on plot based around a foreign nation, we will look to ensure that the plot is consistent, or discuss ways to merge or combine the plots being written by the teams. The goal in this respect is to ensure campaign consistency.
-We will also provide editorial control, working with plot teams to ensure that we are happy with the plot being run. If you are writing plot for a PD Empire event, then you should expect it to get heavily edited. If you don’t like having Andy and I rewrite your plot then please don’t submit it. The first section of this guide lays out our criteria for this editorial control. We want to have as much plot as possible, and give plot writers as much freedom as possible to produce plot, but we also want to have quality-control and a definitive underlying style of plot that reflects the player-led nature of the game.
+Your plot only needs to be acceptable to Matt and Andy - other writers ''do not'' have any say in what plot you can run. We are very keen to avoid the lowest common denominator problems inherent in any design by committee, so provided Matt and Andy are happy with your plot then they will strongly discourage criticism from other writers.
-==Responsibility NOT Control==
+==Running Plot==
-We want to encourage the plot teams to take onboard one or more plot responsibilities.The idea for this is for a team to be responsible for ensuring that there is plenty of plot involving specific elements of the game or locations in the game. We want plot based in and around the tavern, the senate, the synod and other critical game locations. We want plot for young players, for politicians, for traders and for warriors. We want plot involving the barbarians, the eternals, the foreigners.
+* '''You are responsible for running out your plot at the event'''
-Taking responsibility for an area gives Andy and I an indication of what areas of the game you are interested in. It also gives you a little more leeway to create characters and details linked to that area. Critically it helps PD to try to ensure there is a good spread of plot across the game. Responsibility does not imply exclusivity or control, other teams may still write and run plot linked to a location, theme or power group. You must not get into the mindset of thinking you control that area of the game, because it will lead to unpleasant surprises.
+The basic assumption when you write plot is that you will be responsible for getting the plot to run at the event. This means getting everything ready for the plot to go out and then briefing your NPCs and debriefing them again when they come back. But it also means talking to the relevant people before the event to check that your plot works with the rules, and that the costumes and props are in place for it. We will help you at every stage of the process but if you want to join our existing plot team then that includes the responsibility for getting the plot out.
-==Choose your level of Plot Secrecy==
+==Support==
-Plot leaks damage plot and the wider game. They are a form of favouritism, with those players who know the organizers well enough to hear the plot leaks, which undermines the confidence in a level playing field that is needed for a good fest LRP game. They also damage the plot itself, reducing interest in it.
+* '''Other members of the team are on hand to help'''
+There is a lot involved in running a plot at a PD Empire event and most of our writers are not familiar with every part of the process. Other members of the plot team are on hand to help you with anything you need help with. We don't expect you to do everything yourself - just be responsible for ensuring it does happen. Very few writers are able to make a plot happen entirely by themselves - by working with other members of the team you can access their knowledge of the setting, the rules, the IT systems or their skills with make-up, costume and props.
-However too much plot security also damages a game. NPCs need to know the brief they are going to be using and the earlier they know their brief, the better they can prepare. In theory it is possible to run a plot and tell your NPCs nothing, in practice that approach undermines the plot as the NPCs are unable to respond naturally and it also makes playing the parts vastly less enjoyable. That makes interaction with those characters and your plot less enjoyable but it also violates one of PD’s fundamental rules - that the game should be enjoyable for the crew.
+==Radio Calls==
+* '''Someone needs to answer queries about your plots'''
-I cannot stress enough how important it is for crew to enjoy playing roles - otherwise they don’t come back. In the opinion of PD, crew enjoyment playing roles for the plot teams is more important than plot security for Empire. It is all too easy to get defensive about plot, but plot is ultimately just a tool to make the game more enjoyable for crew as well as players.
+Throughout every event we get dozens of queries from Refs, GOD, and other crew members about plots. Key members of the plot team strive to be on radio throughout the event, so that they can receive the incoming query. The team will answer simple queries, but for more complex problems they will attempt to contact the writer to get a response. Doing this helps to ensure that the plot runs as intended. Ideally this means that if you are involved in writing and running plot at Empire then we should be able to quickly contact you during the event if we need to. If you have written a significant amount of plot, and we expect a lot of queries, then you may well be assigned a radio so we can contact you quickly.
-Your team can influence the level of plot security they want to use. We are creating a forum for plot writers to store their work and eventually a wiki for it to go on. However these areas are all independent - your team’s work is not automatically shared with other teams. If Andy or myself feel it is appropriate to share a plot with another team then we will speak to you first, where that is a practical possibility. If you want to share your plot with other teams, then you can do that, but our assumption is that a team is a basic unit for creating plot and does not inherently need to share plot with any other team - rather we would encourage you to identify crew to play the roles you need and to share the plot with them.
+If you can't commit to being available throughout the event then please make sure you have identified a known point of contact for your plots who will be available. This will be someone on the plot team that you are happy for us to go to get an answer about a query about the plot. Ideally it should be someone who knows the plot well.
+{{CaptionedImage|file=Yoda1.jpg|align=right|width=600px}}
-==A Nation cannot be a Responsibility==
+==Joining the Team==
-There are ten Nations in the Empire and these form the basis for the most basic IC political divides. We also expect that players will want to run their own events based in the Empire setting and that the nations will be the most logical basis for doing that. For both these reasons we are determined to avoid any plot team assuming responsibility for a single nation. You are welcome to take responsibility for a particular Varushkan Sovereign, or for the Trolls of Wintermark - but you cannot take responsibility for Varushka or for Wintermark.
+* '''Anyone who has an idea for a plot can discuss it with Matt or Andy'''
+* '''Developing your own plot is the starting point for joining the plot team'''
+Lots of people often ask about joining plot team - but the truth is that we're always keen with people who want to actually write and run plot at our events. You don't have to apply, you don't have to get approved - you just have to write something! Submit a piece of plot to us and if we agree you can run it and you want to write more then you're part of the team.
-The problem with aligning plot teams along IC and OOC divisions - like the nation structure - is that plot becomes balkanized. The consistency of the world is profoundly undermined by the notion that an individual plot is “for Wintermark players”. Plot should not respect these nation divisions, it should affect any players who come into contact with it.
+You don't have to produce a complex piece of detailed plot at first - in fact it's better if you don't. Rather talk to Matt and Andy as early as you can about your idea(s). We'll give you feedback and encourage you to develop the best of them into written plots following the existing guidelines. Once you've written up and run a few plots then we'll give you access to the plot wiki and add you to the Empire plot writers facebook group. But what you absolutely have to do to be a part of the writing team is to write something.
-Even worse, we are encouraging players to strongly identify with their nation. However we explicitly do not want plot writers to identify with a single nation. If that happens, the writers can be seduced into being concerned with the outcomes of their plot, the implications for “their” nation and have a desire to ensure that their plot is focussed on “their” players.
+{{Plot Further Reading}}
-The result can be like having football results determined by the football fans instead of the players. The writers fall into squabbling with each other over plots that are perceived to be to the detriment of the nation they have identified themselves with. Everyone wants their team to win. Although we are encouraging the plot writing teams to create plot independently of each other, we need teams to be respectful and supportive of each other.
-For all these reasons we categorically do not want plot teams to strongly identify with the area or areas of responsibility they choose. If you are a plot writer for Empire then every player in the game is one of your players - they should all be treated accordingly.
-[[Category: Plot]]

Plot team

Latest revision as of 12:03, 1 February 2017

Contents

Overview

Editorial Approach

Running Plot

Support

Radio Calls

Joining the Team

Further Reading

More About Empire[edit | | ]

Profound Decisions[edit | | ]

Social[edit | | ]