PrP Best Practices

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Best Practices for PrP Runners

This page contains our suggested best practices for running successful Player run Plots (PrPs) with a minimum of headache for all parties involved. PrP runners are not required to use these suggestions for their plots, but we believe that if you do you and your players will find the scenes run more smoothly with fewer delays and hiccups.

Ultimately, the goal of a plot is for all parties to have fun. These guidelines are designed to strip away common headaches that act as barriers between plot runners, participants, and that objective.

Be sure to follow our policies for PrP runners at all times.

Setting Expectations

Courteous Practices

Players should be directed to our courteous practices guidelines prior to play and instructed to abide by them. As a plot runner you are empowered to make these suggestions your expectations, and to enforce those expectations with staff's backing. More on that later.

One Scene Rule

Plot runners should only be in a single scene: the one they are running. Players, likewise, should be in no other scenes apart from the one you are running for them.

The Five Minute Rule

The five minute rule can be summed up as follows: When the plot runner calls on a player they have five minutes to respond. If they don't respond within five minutes, they are skipped and lose their place in the initiative order, and potentially their action. If they return to the scene after being skipped you may allow them to take their action at the end of the round. Sometimes the phone rings, the dog gets out, or family needs a player for some task. Being flexible in skipping someone's action allows play to continue during these hiccups. And being gracious in allowing them to act at the end of the round means the other players don't suffer increased risk because of RL interruptions.

The Three Strikes Rule

If a single player triggers the five minute rule three times in a single scene, it can be assumed that they aren't in a position to give the scene the attention it, you, and the other players deserve. The character that player is playing should be written out of the scene at this point, and if necessary the risks of the scene adjusted to reflect the loss of that character. If the player gives you push back, please direct them to Staff if we are not available or contact us directly.

Players need to understand this rule is impartial and not personal, and intended to keep play moving smoothly. If you use a screen reader, dictation software, or other assistance device, or if requesting a greater delay represents a reasonable accommodation of your disability, please notify your PrP runner at the start of the scene and establish reasonable expectations with them. It will be accomodated. Period.

The On Deck Rule

Players should be made aware of the initiative order. We'll provide some resources for tracking player data and initiative order which you can make available to players using Google Documents, or similar collaboration websites.

When you call on a player to give their action, you should inform the prior player in the order that they should be posing the results of their action, and notifying the next player that they are 'on deck'. Meaning they are next in the initiative order. Once the current action is resolved, inform that player to pose the results of their action, call on the 'on deck' player to give their action, and inform the next player they are 'on deck'. If an antagonist acts between players, inform the players the next action is that NPC(s) and that their action will be followed by the next player in initiative.

In this way, you have one player posing, one player communicating their action and rolling it, and another player consulting their sheet for possible reactions to what is going on in the scene so that they'll be prepared to declare their action promptly when called upon. It's a bit like juggling, but once you get the hang of it, keeping three balls in the air is easy peasy.

The Book and Page Rule

As a plot runner, you are responsible for fairly adjudicating the house rules of the game, the errata as published, and the rules as written. In that order. It's a tall ask for any one person to have all of that knowledge stored in their head, and mistakes are going to happen. We do suggest you have your books handy and a window open to the houserules on our Wiki to consult if you need a reminder. But in the event that you make a ruling on the field and a player wants to contradict your ruling, they need to present you with a book and page reference, a link to our wiki, or to a published errata in order to make their case.

It's not enough to offer a protest that the rules don't work that way, they need to point you directly to where it says they don't. If they can't, your ruling stands. If they can, you should admit your mistake and correct your ruling. And they should be gracious about it, too. You're human, too, after all. If they give you push back, encourage them to contact staff after the scene about the ruling. Rude or inconsiderate conduct surrounding rules conflicts can be grounds for you to remove a player from your scene. You don't need to suffer abuse for trying to help other people have fun. If this happens, please make a report to staff. And if you need help removing a disruptive player from your scene, contact us immediately.

Resources

Player Roster and Vital Statistics Worksheet

TBD. We'll put a link here with such a worksheet when we settle on a good one to use.

NPC Stat List

TBD. We'll put the link here when it's compiled.