The Narrative Overhaul

[Joslae]

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The Horuset Narrative Overhaul

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The Horuset Narrative Overhaul is the formalisation of the current event types that can be experienced in House Horuset and the introduction of a new type with the goal being to ensure that the guild is clear on what their options of GM’d RP are. An overview of available methods has been listed below, with the intention being for everyone to be able to build towards becoming GMs for these event types and even just knowing what options you have for the tales you want to be able to tell about your character, the characters around them and the Powerbase in general. An overall arc can be told through many mediums, it could start out as a 'story' and end with a guild event, vice versa, or even start as an Adventure and then morph into a guild event and then into a story. The idea has always been to give more formal options, not to limit to an arc only being able to happen through one of these mediums.

Horuset Narrative Event Types:

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Guild Events:

Guild Events, are events that go up on the Message of the Day in-game and on the hh-upcoming-events channel in the discord. They're broadly broken down into three types, which are Lessons, Imperial Events and Full Events which are intended for everyone in the Powerbase and are a good chance for Imperials and Sith to work alongside one another. Guild Events usually require a set number of GMs, with the advisement being that lessons have two, Imperial events have two and full events have three GMs to ensure that the number of participants has enough GMs to react to them. Lessons are normally aimed at either specifically the Imperial Soldiers or the Force Sensitives, Imperial Events are aimed specifically for the Imperial Soldiers and Full Events are aimed for everyone, Acolyte or Grunt, Major or Darth.

Full Events are the most GM demanding of all of the event types that House Horuset offers, because of the number of participants that can turn up. As a result, the GMs must find ways to make it easier on themselves and not leave the prep to the very last moment. Full Events are a great way to have as much of the Powerbase present as possible for a mission that can have a great impact on the powerbase. Big moments such as pushing forward in war arcs, the acquiring of new and important information or assets or even just wanting to see everyone together are all important reasons for a Full Event to be used.

 
Imperial Events are useful for giving the player soldiers of the Powerbase a chance to use their squad-based tactics in an environment without Sith oversight and really shine when using squads and fire teams. Smaller objectives more suited for solely soldiers work best, with a focus on more grounded and cemented war themes instead of higher Force-based themes for the Force-sensitive characters. Lessons can be for both Imperial Soldiers and/or Force Sensitives. Force-based lessons are common, with a majority tailored towards Acolytes.

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Story Events:

The Story event is the newest event type in HH and is entirely tailored towards providing more personal, skill-focused events for a character. A short story arc will be written by a Story Writer, who will break the story up into a minimum of three events. Stories will be three events minimum and always overseen by the same story-writer(s), but can be GM’d by different GMs. The outcome of each mission influences the next and the characters who did the first mission will brief those who do the second mission, and so forth.

 
An example:
Mission 1: A Republic captain goes on leave at a casino station. Marauder and Seeker infiltrate and gather information.
Mission 2: Participants in the last mission brief the new team. The Sith Arbitrator leads the mission and interrogates Captain.
Mission 3: The Arbitrator shares gathered information with the warrior team, who then assault the Captain's men and complete the story.

Events are categorized based on Priority Aurek principles: Assault, Protection, Extortion, Subterfuge, Acquisition. These terms are used to hint at what the event will be like. Events within a Story need to focus on different things. (I.e. not three Assault events) to ensure all kinds of characters with different skill sets can participate.

 
Story Events have a limited number of available event slots. This means that only a certain amount of characters can participate per mission, although the cap may differ from mission to mission. During the story-writing phase, the Story Writer will pre-set event dates and communicate them to mission lead characters of their choice. These characters in turn will pick people to accompany them on their mission through IC means. It is encouraged to give characters a chance to prove themselves during these missions. Even an acolyte might have an aptitude for stealth if given a chance. Providing opportunities in these settings is a good way of ensuring interest in your branch or niche!

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Operations & Acolyte Tasks:

Operations and Acolyte Tasks are similar to one another; a task or mission set for them by another member of the Powerbase, free for any member to sign up to and organise as you wish. A member of the Powerbase with work to be done (a target to be assassinated, an object to retrieve, or any number of personal goes) can achieve this task by putting a public call in the archives to allow their peers to volunteer for the task in exchange for rewards. Provided the operation or task author has the in-character means to provide for the task, such as acquiring information or transport, the task itself can cover a wide array of locations and goals.

The author of the operation and task can use these missions as a way to acquire something, which can range from gaining access to a resource or putting themselves closer to an asset-related goal. Ideally, the rewards for the author should not be major, for example, an operation to acquire a plot of land rather than gaining ownership of an already functioning factory. Those that attend the operation or task are also entitled to their own rewards depending on: what the author can provide, the rank of the attendee, and how well the task is completed.

When an operation is posted there are slots for typically 2 to 5 members to sign up, along with guidelines for mission objectives, locations, potential rewards, and a deadline the attending members will need to meet. With a group assembled the sign-up period is closed, and the attending members can organise themselves into a group chat of some sort to arrange possible dates to carry out the mission, but also who will GM the mission. We prefer to see one member of the group take a backseat during the mission so they can then GM for the others, this is a good method for learning GMing techniques for newer players, though in usual circumstances the attending members can ask for an outside GM. Once a GM has been nominated they should contact the author for more details on the mission.
Acolyte tasks are very similar to operations, typically functioning identically, though on a smaller scope and only open to acolyte characters. Due to the odd nature of acolyte tasks, the selection GMs might also include the task author, as some tasks may involve sparring the author, or even submitting a written piece of work which requires no GM at all.

It is also worth mentioning that for the purposes of operations, a player can only be registered to two operations at a time.

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Adventures:

Adventures are a group of characters, typically 4 or 5, who organise themselves intending to go out to find something or do something. Perhaps aiming to learn a common power together, a small number of items, or a shared experience. Adventures are small in nature, similar to that of an Operation, and are typically low risk in nature, though that is strictly a rule. When a group has formed and a general consensus is formed on what the Adventure is for then a member of the group can approach the guild team to pitch the concept, where they will either be given the go-ahead or suggestions on how to alter it. Once approved by the team it is the responsibility of the adventurers to find a GM for it and to fill said GM in on the details and what they are hoping for.

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Personal Development Arcs:

A PDA, or Personal Development Arc, is an event or series of events that play a large role in the development of the character. The concept of a PDA should be mutually formed between the player of a character and the player of a character that acts as a Sith Master or other form of a close mentor, this is ideally an open discussion where the developing character has goals they'd like to achieve and ways to develop that the player believes could be beneficial. Cool ideas you might have for growth and end goals, and potential tools that can be used in the pursuit of these cool stories. These can be a way to introduce powers to a character that a player may feel appropriate to their growth, maybe a particular power that would push the character to new levels of maturity or towards a specific goal they have in mind. Once the master and apprentice players have had this discussion, the master can go away and begin to lay the foundation for the PDA; how the story might develop, what twists and turns there might be, and potential characters or locations to be used. The master, who should be taking on the role of primary GM, can then approach the guild team with this concept, where we can talk about it further and either give a thumbs up or work to iron out the details further.

 
If you do not have access to a master/mentor, or they are unavailable to be the GM, you may approach a member of the guild team and we will help you with the initial discussion and help you find a GM.

 
In terms of powers that can be learnt through a PDA, they should be powers that are present within our power documents, but perhaps nobody in the guild knows it at this point.

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Conclusion:

If there are any questions, please reach out to a member of the Guild Team. These event types can all be mixed and matched together for the creation of an arc, so use them all depending on what is needed!