DotM Plot Spreadsheet Done

[drcpunk.livejournal.com]

I've emailed out the first draft of the DotM Plot Spreadsheet. We need to add more plots, and folks may want to tweak my coding for specific cases. Basically, I've coded as follows:

Y = Yes, this character is in this plot
N = No, this character is not in this plot, although this may change.
W = This character should be in this plot. Write it into the character sheet.
P = There should be a strong possibility that the character will decide to join this plot. Don't force the issue, but rewrite the character sheet to up the odds of the player deciding to jump in if / when the character finds out about it.

We now need to generate more plots. crash_mccormick is good at tossing out ideas and questions until the neurons in my brain wake up. Then, we toss pretty, sparkly plot ideas back and forth, and I type them into an email to send to everyone.

I need to write the history of the world. Actually, no. No, I don't, and I probably shouldn't, because I am trying to delegate. But, I should write a sort of Cliff Notes version and / or timeline. This exists, but needs to be updated.

We need to make sure we have a weekend long larp's worth of plots, which we really don't. I think we have, sort of, 4 - 6 hours worth of plots.

Then, we need to see if these plots have generated mechanics / systems / rules that need to be written. This is not quite as simple as it may sound, as, if we discover we need another system or set of rules, the first question to ask is, "Can we tweak it so that we don't need such rules?" This should be followed by "If we can, should we? If we can't, is the plot in question worth the extra complexity?"

And, debates can get impassioned. Or, they can go back and forth for weeks. Or both.

Once we have an idea of basic plots and rules areas that need covering, we need:

New rules / systems / mechanics to be written
All the rules -- new and old -- to be written or rewritten as one coherent document such that it will be comprehensible to the players. I said it needed to be translated into English from whatever it is in now. zrealm says that while the rules do indeed need to be comprehensible to people who aren't mnemex, they should be written in technicalese, not colloquial English.

After all that? Rewrite characters, work on blue sheets.

Work on item cards, props, special ability cards, and so on.

Find a venue. At the moment, a hotel is both the most expensive option and the easiest.

Push the game at various larping events for a year in advance. This is why zrealm is pushing us to finish this sooner rather than later.

I discussed the timing with crash_mccormick and agreed that we must not say, at this point, "We shall set X date." At the point where we could run the game tomorrow, though we'd really rather not have to, that is when we set the date.

At that point, we will likely want to rewrite everything. We'll be in second draft stage, he thinks. "Can run the game tomorrow" absolutely does not mean "Should run the game tomorrow"!

Comments

[jl8e]

zrealm is right -- trying to write rules in plain English is asking for trouble. Rules-writing is technical writing. It is the instruction manual for your game, and so it needs to be precise.

Combining precise with clear, comprehensible, and not intimidating is... hard.

At least you don't have to fit everything in a couple of square inches.

[drcpunk.livejournal.com]

True enough. Three things I want from rules:

1. Reading them should not make my eyes glaze over
2. I should understand how they are meant to be used after reading them
3. When I actually try to use them, it should work