ourspace | VI. RUNNING A PLOT (Reply)

Thank you.
Running plots is completely optional. That said, the availability of player plots will probably make or break this game. Thank you for considering running one. Please know that your plot idea does not need to be perfect, and you do not need to run it all on your own: the mod team hopes to facilitate people who want to work together to run plots so that no one has to deal with the strain of running things single-handedly.

Thank you again… and some begging.
This mod team can’t provide the sort of experience it wants at the level it wants unless gets help. So… basically, this game won’t open unless we get a good ratio of people signing up to run plots to people signing up to run Earth-PC/Colony-PC protagonists.

What kinds of plots?
All kinds of plots. Diplomacy plots, espionage plots, fight plots, exploration plots, mystery-solving plots, winning-people-over plots, manipulating other people plots, science plots, research plots, creative thinking plots, facing-your-inner-darkness plots. Whatever you want.

The info pages talk about fights a lot, but fights are really supposed to be only one component of the game. (They're just really easy to think of and wind up as default examples a lot of the time.)

What are the ways in which a player can run a plot?
Tentatively, we envision three ways:

Borrowing a mod PC like Captain Tanaka.
Running an interactive environment (the sci-fi equivalent of a dungeon) or using generic faceless NPCs (or just an abandoned environment, or robots, or basically anything that involves one-dimensional inhabitants of the world who will never be seen again).
Apping a Plot-PC.

What should a player-run plot do?
Tentatively, we envision a couple things:

Fetch quests.
- Tell characters "Bring me X, and I'll give you the thing you need!" Then run the event in which they acquire X. And give them the thing the characters need (parts to repair a ship, solar quartz, etc.) The reward for PCs participating in the plot should be roughly commensurate with the amount of effort the PCs expend. Variants on fetch quests are also encouraged (e.g., a recovery quest where Carmen Sandiego steals some Gundams and all the PCs must work together to track her down. Carmen would run the plot from discovering the theft to recovering the Gundams, after which she could join the crew, escape nefariously, die, whatever).
Immersion.
- This could just involve running a place that characters can explore, or an important person for them to meet.
Providing alternative livelihoods.
- The Earth-PCs and Colonial-PCs will have the opportunity to jump ship around the (OOC) four week mark. If you want to play a Plot-PC or Home-PC who runs a paramilitary force or a smuggling operation or what have you, that’s fine.
Straight-up fights.
- Playing the antagonist in a fight can be fun!
Dropping information.
- If you sign up to run a plot, the mods will leak information on metaplot to pass on to the protagonist-characters.
Organizing player-versus-player plots.
- The game wants to emphasize player-versus-player. A player might sign up to oversee/administer a group of Morning Star characters making an attack run on the Pericles trying to steal the Colonial Clamshell.
Misdirecting or manipulating the protagonist characters.
Any combination of the above.
- Please, string these things together!
Anything else!
- Short-term or long-term, funny or serious. The name of the game is Open Space because it’s in space, but also because it really wants to give players the ability to come up with and operate their own plots. Seriously if you want to make Antartcica ruled by Mayans riding dinosaurs, you can do it

Do I have to have a plot PC to run a plot?
Nope. If you want to just take administrative responsibility for getting a bunch of players to do something like “attack the other side,” or if you just want to run the exploration of a new colony that's inhabited by faceless grunts, that’s fine too. But please fill out the form below so it can go on the calendar.

Do I have to do it all alone?
Nope. You can team up ICly (Mara Jade and Natasha Romanoff met three years ago, and now they run a spy ring together, and their players jointly shoulder the burden of the plot) or OOCly (two characters can split the load of running a dungeon in a fetch quest). You’re more than welcome to sign up in small groups if you have people you want to run this with already. If you don’t have people to run a plot with already, and you’re concerned that you can’t handle it all by yourself, the mods will hopefully be able to hook you up with someone to co-run with you.

Have another question?
If you have further questions that you don’t mind other people seeing, please direct them to the (F)AQ. If you have further questions that you want to keep private (e.g., you have a question about a plot with a surprise ending) please email openspacemods[at]gmail.

Submit/calendar a player plot

If you've read all that and want to run a plot, please fill out the form below. Comments will be screened.

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ADMINISTRATIVE (WILL BE POSTED OOCLY UNLESS YOU WANT IT TO BE SECRET FOR SOME REASON)
Your handle:
Your contact:
Characters you play: Provide names and usernames.
Keep admin info secret?: Please answer “Secret” or “Non-secret” before going into detail on this. By default, we will post the event runner publicly. If you have a reason for your identity to be secret (e.g., this is the big reveal of Haman Khan as the shadow vizier who’s keeping King Phillip J. Fry on the Martian throne), briefly explain why you want to keep your identity secret.

PUBLIC INFORMATION (WILL BE POSTED OOCLY)
Title: Give a short title for the proposed plot/event. This title will go on the game calendar, so keep it under 10 words. And if the plot has a twist, don’t reveal it in the title.
Faction-limit: If this plot is only available to Earth-PCs, only available to Colonial-PCs, or otherwise limited to a certain pool of characters, please indicate that here.
Calendaring: When are you available, and when would you prefer, to run this event? This is to help space out events. Be as specific or general as seems prudent – if you want to run a dungeon-crawl that will take a few OOC hours ,then list specific days and times; if you want to run an overarching plot where you’re willing to back-tag, maybe list a day when you’ll do intensive interaction or introductions, but be general about the rest.
IC failure metric: This information will go on the game calendar, so just answer yes if there’s a chance that the PCs will fail and no if failure isn’t built into the event.
Available slots: If you can only handle a few characters participating in this event, put that number here. If you can only handle a few characters participating in this event, please indicate how they will be chosen (first-come-first-serve, RNG, suitability). Note: this number should refer to available open sign-ups. If the plot must involve a set number of PCs for some reason (e.g., Bob planned the mission and will lead the mission), they should not be included in this count.
Run-down: Describe the event in as much detail as you feel is necessary/appropriate.

PRIVATE INFORMATION (WILL NOT BE MADE PUBLIC)
Secrets: If there are any surprises (“the mission will end with Bob dying,” “Captain Quattro, he is a Char,” “the ruler of Mars is… Fry!”), please put them here.
IC failure metric: If there is an IC failure metric (“if the characters fight Sakura instead of befriending her, they will not receive the payout of Solar Quartz”), please describe it briefly here.
Risks: Like Kickstarter, please briefly describe any risks or challenges you might face running this plot in 200 words or fewer.
Assistance: If for some reason you cannot run this alone and do not have people to help you run it, note it here. The mods will either help run it, or try to hook you up with someone else who also wants to run a plot but cannot run it alone.

VI. RUNNING A PLOT

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