Monster Media 1994 - The BEST of 1994/monster1.zip/monster1/BBS_GAM2/MUD_131.ZIP/EXAMPLES.ZIP/TINYPLOT.TXT

Text File | 1994-10-13 | 41KB | 809 lines

THE JOY OF TINYPLOTTING

Interested in coming up with a TinyPlot? Want to learn more about
what makes a TinyPlot tick? You've come to the right source!

I wrote this text thinking of NarniaMUSH. I've played enough
TinyMU*s, however, to know that the basic principles of
TinyPlotting are generally the same across them all. With that in
mind, I've tried to keep the work general in nature. What's good
for Puddleglum on NarniaMUSH will probably also work for Elgary on
Pern, or Belgravia on CrystalMUSH, or Halcyana on FurryMUCK....

What awaits you on the net? Thrash, the werewolf, seeks revenge on
his erstwhile love, the hapless costmetics counter worker,
Estella. On NarniaMUSH, evil Jadis peeks around a corner at the
tiny Talking Squirrel who enjoys the dinner brought him by Father
Christmas, while in another universe lovely Rorie and her naughty
sister Rynn are held mutually as hostage by Mercon, returned from
the northern continent to which he was banished long ago. Fauns
frolic; dryads waft by, lovely to look at, but dangerous to love.
Dragons fly the sky to fight Thread; the Convocation holds its
annual Magick contest. Desert goddesses rule supreme over dusty
wastelands; the Wytterly Temperance League prepares for its
Progressive Bridge Tournament. MU*s are the world of united
imaginations, and the possibilities are boundless.
---


CREDITS
Version 1.0 copyright 1993, V. Briceland

This work may be freely copied and distributed, with the following
proviso: No portion of the work may be altered, and my name must
remain intact. You may quote the work, however, as long as the
quote is properly attributed to this work. That's good practice
for any writing you do, remember.

All opinions, opinionated declamations, and strange metaphors are
the author's own. Comments and questions, as well as polite
requests for copy of this material may be directed to:

Fascinating, TP-overinvolved address:
Puddleglum@NarniaMUSH

Real-life, boring Internet address:
[e-mail]

This work dedicated to several people at NarniaMUSH, especially
Cor, because the light of his glory blinds all mere mortals (he
wrote that part himself). Also to Aravis Tarkheena, King Frank and
Queen Helen, and valiant Reepicheep, and to all the other fine
role-players with whom I've had the pleasure of conniving,
especially those who let me get away with--nay, encouraged--the
death-by-poison-lipstick TinyPlot.
---


THE JOY OF TINYPLOTTING

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I.    Definitions
II.   The Zen of Role-Playing
III.  Acting From Character
IV.   What Makes a Good TinyPlot?
V.    The Forces of Evil
VI.   Players Will Talk....
VII.  Dealing with Murphy's Law
VIII. Dignity, Always Dignity
---


I. DEFINITIONS

*Real Life (or RL): Look around you. What do you see? An office, a
dorm room, a computer lab? Yup, that's real life. Sorry. But
that's why you're MU*ing, right?

*Player: You, your real-life self, the being that occasionally has
to sign off to eat, sleep, study, work, and socialize with fleshly
beings. Virtual quaffs of Pete's Wicked Ale won't keep you alive
forever, remember.

*Character: The persona you assume whenever you log onto a MU*.
Rule of thumb: Your real-life self is not your character, although
your character might certainly take on aspects of your
personality. Recite these words often, especially when upset or
offended by another character.

*TinyPlot (or TP): Unlike some other forms of MUDs, TinyMU*s
generally lack a specific, definable goal. Many have themes
derived from fantasy novels, such as C.S. Lewis' _Chronicles of
Narnia_, Anne McCaffrey's Pern series, the Tolkein
collection...and of course there are many others. Some themed MU*s
avoid established fiction and delve into other realms. Still other
MU*s claim not to have a theme at all. They're fooling themselves.
These latter MU*s have a consistent spirit of play--dare I say a
_zeitgeist_?--that ensures a degree of hegemony. (Look it up. A
broad vocabulary is a nuanced vocabulary, _I_ say.)

A TinyPlot avoids the quest for points and goals. Think of a
TinyPlot as a novel or short story unto itself: a set of inter-
related occurrences involving several players, and often the
entire MU*, that takes place over hours, days, or weeks. A
TinyPlot can be as simple as a love triangle (ah, but these things
are never simple, are they?), or as complex as a war between two
nations. Both require an equal amount of care and attention.

*Role Playing (or RP): Any actions that your character performs,
while acting as a character, is role-playing. Sitting with a bunch
of characters in a room, drinking endless rounds of virtual ale
and discussing your Real Life exams or love problems is not role-
playing. Lying to other characters about the amount of money you
make in Real Life is not role-playing (at least not the kind we're
concerned with).

Having your character pretend to wash his dishes is role-playing.
Visiting a neighbor to congratulate them on their new fire-lizard
or to admire their hazelnut collection is role-playing. Role-
playing can range from mundane activities such as these to having
your character fall in love, spirit away on a quest, or prove his
or her prowess against Calormenes/orcs/omniscient
computers/Thread/nasty little Tribbles. If the action is
consistent with your character, that action is role-playing.

*The Law of the Sandbox: If you play in a way that is not
consistent with the theme or mood of the MU*, or if you play in a
way that offends or disrupts others, no one will play with you.
---


II. The Zen of Role-Playing
or, The TinyMU* as Improv

What would a TinyMU* be without TinyPlots? I think they'd be
pretty darned boring. Coding and building can be dandy
activities--both absorbing and satisfying to the people skilled in
them. But a MU* with prettily described rooms and little player
interaction has all the zip and excitement of a museum in which
paintings are displayed at a distance behind glass, and the
tourists numbly move from one exhibit to the next. Yawn.

Think of your MU* as a stage. Each room is a unique set. The
character you've created is costumed, poised, equipped with props,
and ready to act. But the real stage has a well-groomed and
attired audience sitting on the other side of the proscenium,
waiting to be entertained. The witnesses to _your_ performance,
though, will be the other players. And every other player, just
like you, sits at their computer terminal, assimilating and
judging the messages and poses that scroll down their screen. And
they want to be entertained, too.

MU* players are not interested, however, in watching two other
characters act out scenes from _Death of a Salesman_, fine as the
acting may be. MU* players want their character to become a
living, vital part of the big improvisational troupe that uses as
its stage the dozens or hundreds of sets available.

When players come together with the characters they've created for
this shared experience, it can be sheer magic. I hope that at one
time or another you've experienced the thrill of losing yourself
to your character. There you are, sitting at your terminal,
playing a game of make-believe. Suddenly the action
begins...perhaps it's a conflict between two personalities that
your character must stop. Perhaps it's a birth, or a wedding.
Perhaps an evil sorceress, her lips brightly enamelled with
poisoned lipstick, attempts to give her wayward daughter the Kiss
of Death.

Your real-life self becomes absorbed with the proceedings, and
Real Life fades out. You begin to think the way your character
thinks. Your body responds physically the way your character's
virtual body responds. You breathe more quickly. Your palms sweat.
You laugh aloud, or bite your lip with tension. And then you crash
back to reality to find the boss or lab attendant or your
significant other giving you a quizzical look.

This feeling isn't unusual. It's the creative high. Fiction
writers experience it when they're working on a story. The
Stanislavski method of acting is based on submerging your
personal, physical self to a character's responses and rhythms.
Ask an artist you know who deals with creating characters what
they experience during a really good performance or workday.
They'll say, "It was wonderful...the character just kind of took
over, and the real me just sat there, watching what happened."
Honest, they will. They'll use those exact words, too. Money-back
guarantee. (Now, exactly how much money did you pay for these
observations?)

A MU* offers unlimited opportunities for players to experience
this creative high. The larger MU*s often have scores of players
online at a time, and every player has the potential to add a new
element to any role-playing situation. Even with as few as a dozen
players, imagine the possible combinations. When two players
role-play in a room and a third character begins to participate,
the dynamic of the situation changes. If the third player leaves
and another enters, things change once again. And when _more_
characters begin to interact...well, I'm not about to calculate
the number of different combinations possible with a dozen
players. The words "a whole bunch" pop to mind.

Role-playing in a TinyMU* is acting. It's interactive fiction-
writing. Uniquely exhilarating, it should be thought of as a
creative, shared, utterly human experience.
---


III. ACTING FROM CHARACTER
or, You've Got A Brain, Use It.

You will make your biggest imaginative investment in a MU* as you
create your character.

I'm not referring to the login process, in which you think up a
name and a description, and what sex your character will be.
That's just the beginning. As you continue to play a MU*, your
character will evolve. The description might change. You might
start to notice that the character has a rhythm of speech that
differs from others, or that she chooses a certain vocabulary. The
character's background will accumulate depth. She'll have parents,
perhaps, and brothers and sisters to which she refers, or past
experiences that, while they were never role-played online,
influence the way she thinks.

I hope you don't want to play a shallow, two-dimensional being. I
don't think you'll have much fun. Like any living, breathing
person, a fictional character (and remember, that's what you're
playing on a MU*) has quirks. Characters have good points, and
characters have flaws, too. All of these accumulate into
increasing layers of depth.

If you're playing on a themed MU*, respect its theme above all.
Players on NarniaMUSH don't take kindly to a cowboy from the Wild
West in their midst. Pern MUSH players will resent characters
beaming in from the Starship Enterprise. Be clueful: a lot of
people have gone to a lot of trouble to keep their themed universe
consistent. If you choose a character that ignores the milieu of a
MU*, however interesting you may think he or she is, the chances
are good that no one will play with you. You will be ignored.
Point blank. It's the Law of the Sandbox (see chapter one,
definitions).

If you want to join in TinyPlots on a particular MU*, test the
waters with one toe before you plunge in. Contact your TP
Coordinator and see if he or she knows of any TinyPlots that need
participants. Observe other players involved in TinyPlots. Don't
go diving into all the plots that interest you; just as you, in
Real Life, don't run around the world interfering in dozens of
people's lives (if you did, you wouldn't have time to play
TinyMU*s), don't let your character zip around the MU* trying to
do everything. Involve your character only in those TinyPlots that
would appeal to his or her motivations--and don't expect just to
'jump in' to an ongoing TP. Let your character work his or her way
in, naturally.

Try to keep in mind that many TinyPlot originators have gone to
considerable trouble to keep their plot interesting and exciting
for other players. If you're involved in a mystery plot and on
your own find the all-important clue that solves the case, or if
you're on a solitary quest and find the magic axe that will
relieve your nation of all ills, resist being a plot-hog. Don't
arrest the villain yourself, or chop down all the evil Rassafras
Trees on your own...get some other people involved! They'll
appreciate your thoughtfulness, and more people will get to enjoy
the fun. And you'll still get credit in the end.

And above all, observe the rules of common courtesy. Don't expect
other characters to behave the way _you_ want. They have their own
agendas. Don't harass other players, in-character or out, to play
with you. If your character plays nicely--that is, behaves
consistently and doesn't attempt to harass or intimidate anyone
else--you'll have plenty of opportunities to contribute to
TinyPlots and start your own.
---


IV. WHAT MAKES A GOOD TINYPLOT?
or, The MU* Principle of Democracy

As a TinyPlot Coordinator on a MUSH, I get asked this question
frequently. It's often easier to illustrate with negative
examples. The following's taken from a real MU* experience,
heavily disguised to protect the offenders (but I hope they feel
really, really guilty).

*One day, a popular character (we'll call her "Abby") at an
unnamed site sat down in a public area, the primary hangout of the
MUSH, to knit. She was the only character there. Two characters
entered to act out a scene in which a woman repudiates her slimy
ex-lover. Abby watched in horror, allowing the pair to fight for a
few moments, occasionally emitting poses of shock and concern.
When the slimy gentleman pulled out a knife and attempted to
threaten the target of his desires, Abby acted in character by
trying to warn the woman, and then to lure the attacker away.

*The two other characters suddenly left Abby alone in the room,
and within minutes they bombarded her player with pages, accusing
her of ruining a carefully-plotted TP. Her poses were distracting,
they told her, and her attempt to intervene they considered
offensive and unwarranted. "Next time you see us role-playing,"
paged the player whose character was the woman at risk, "Don't you
DARE say a WORD."

What's wrong here? Simple. Abby wanted to participate in a
TinyPlot, and proceeded to do so, in character. The two other
players, however, pounced on her for expressing herself. I see
this as a serious offense--it's the squelching of another's
creative impulse. No one signs onto a MUSH to watch two
characters, however well they may role-play, enact a drama of the
day while they ignore everyone else.

The key concept to a TinyPlot is participation. Not the
participation of two select players, three players, or even ten
players to the exclusion of all others--but the participation and
contribution of potentially _everyone_ who plays on the MUSH.

An argument performed in public between two people may be good
role-playing. So might an assassination attempt of a popular
character. A tender personal soliloquy of love might be an
exquisite performance. But unless other players feel welcomed to
join in an argument, their creative contribution remains only a
potential. If players are discouraged from tracking down an
assassin, they're not likely to want to return to the MUSH. And a
declaration of love isn't a TinyPlot until other characters can
gossip about it, laugh at it, or attempt to thwart or advance it.

Let me admit right now that my opinion isn't universal. Many
people, good role-players among them, see nothing wrong with
plotting and acting a TinyPlot that involves no more than a select
group of people. They don't necessarily welcome outside
participation, though they _will_ accept kudos for a fine
performance. But in my experience, the finest moments of role-
playing have often come from the most unexpected contributors.
Real life's not pat and neat. And a fantasy world gets boring when
events are too predictable.

Good TinyPlots are distinguished from and elevated above random
moments of roleplaying by a sometimes difficult-to-maintain
balance between careful direction and spontaneous, unpredictable
participation. Anyone should be able to join in, if the plot
strikes their fancy and it's logical for their character to do so.

Someone has to run the thing, of course. There's always janitorial
work to do with a TinyPlot--rooms to create, objects and puppets
to manipulate. And sometimes TinyPlots _must_ result in a certain
outcome. But there's no plotline so perfect and inflexible that it
can't bend to accommodate spontaneity. And there's no greater
satisfaction on a MU* than in knowing you helped someone else
enjoy themselves. Remember the stage metaphor I used earlier?
Everyone on a MU* wants to be entertained and to entertain others.
The more you work to ensure that others players enjoy themselves,
the more you will enjoy the TinyPlot. It's a positive feedback
loop!
---


V. THE FORCES OF EVIL
or, Born to be Bad

You've probably experienced it yourself, by now. TinyMU*s are
populated by nice people. Lots of nice people. Everywhere you
turn, there's another friendly, smiling, waving character, being
nice to you. Blecch.

I'm exaggerating slightly, of course. TinyMU*s admit to being
primarily social, and most people have the sense and decorum to
function politely and pleasantly in social situations. Niceness
eases communication. And besides, Miss Manners tells us to behave
well.

Continual niceness doesn't create conflict, though, and conflict
is the meat of a juicy TinyPlot. A perverse side of human nature
is its craving for something to struggle against--the result of
our evolution, perhaps? Millennia of battling to triumph over
nature? Just a theory, mind you. Triumphing over nature isn't
something I particularly endorse.

While most people are content to play pleasant, sensible people as
their characters, some of you will want to create characters that
are wicked, evil, and just downright nasty. Great! Evil characters
can be a blast to play, as long as you don't mind being
universally reviled.

Evil characters, however, only work if they're _really, really_
bad. Trust me on this. I've seen many people on MU*s aspire to
badness, and most of them never get beyond being mere butt pimples
on the great carcass of Evil. Within the theme of the MU*, you
_must_ make your evil character unique. Trust me, you don't want
to see people yawn and say, as you enter the room, "Ho-hum, here
comes another of those terrible Lord of Chaos thingummies again,
dear. Run. Run I say."

An evil character eventually has to DO something pretty awful. If
you aspire to being mad, bad, and dangerous to know, no one's
going to take you seriously if you confine your role-playing to
sneering in public and occasionally drawing your
sword/dagger/claws and glaring at other players. On most MU*s
you're discouraged from that ultimate bad thing--that is, killing
someone. So you'll have to use your imagination, network with
other players, and come up with something _really_ awful for your
character to do.

What happens if you don't take my all-wise advice? All hell and
havoc breaks loose. No, not really. Seriously, it's difficult to
maintain a proper balance with a bad character. The character
needs to appear online often enough that other players are aware
of her, but not so frequently that the character becomes
overexposed. The character needs to mistreat other players, but
not so offensively that she invokes upon herself the Law of the
Sandbox so that no one will play with her.

Make certain other players are aware of what motivates your
character. You must consistently drop the hint that your character
Fallana the Orange Witch has come to Beaversdam to find the
miscreant who stole the Gem of the Witch Goddess from her temple;
if you don't, other players will avoid you and your bad attitude
rather than play along with you.

Remember that some of the most evil characters are those you
commonly see in Real Life. Evil doesn't have to come in
supernatural garb. Evil characters can be book-burners, prudes,
spouse-abusers, and people who hate to see others have fun.

A final hint: Don't drop out of character while online with your
evil persona. If you have an alternate, considerably nicer
character, use it for the personal chat. Believe me...no one is
going to take Phlegmistico the Demon of the Deepest Reaches
seriously ever again, once they spy him having an out-of-character
confabulation about his favorite _Facts of Life_ episodes.
---


VI. PEOPLE WILL TALK....
or, Keeping Track of Everything When Too Much is Happening

Remember _Dynasty_? _Knots Landing_? Ever watch _EastEnders_ or
_All My Children_? Don't sneer...shows like these last for years.
They're long-lived because they cleverly blend drama with
intrigue, mystery, and comedy. They're not afraid to be
outrageous. They're not afraid to recycle stories and use them.
And they know how to balance all the ongoing plot lines so that
from episode to episode the audience isn't overwhelmed.

So am I saying that your MU* should resemble the goings-on of the
Carringtons? Yes, in a way. At any given point, your MU* can have
multiple TinyPlots involving threats to collective happiness,
threats to individual happiness, romance, and comedy. Let's look
at each.

*Threats to Collective Happiness: These are the grand, sweeping
TinyPlots that affect every character on the MU*. It may be a war,
a plague, a threat of invasion. Pern MUSHes have the permanent and
convenient TinyPlot of fighting the Thread that can destroy their
planet in a single pass; other milieus have similar built-in
threats. Generally a MU* can handle only a very few major threats
at a single time. More than a few of these spread the players'
attentions thin.

*Threats to Individual Happiness: Arguments. Fisticuffs.
Misunderstandings. Bullying. The events of everyday life. The MU*
can stand lots of these.

*Romance: Ah, the complexity of Love! Everyone loves a
wedding/handfasting/joining together. Properly publicized, they
can be the most popular events on a MU*. And everyone enjoys
themselves even more when a couple has problems. There are
arguments to be had, sides to take, threats to make, gifts to
return, gossip to spread, faces to slap.... Just remember that a
union is all the more sweet when the lovers overcome hurdles a-
plenty.

*Comedy: Face it. People like to laugh. If you're good with
comedy, try your hand at a comic TinyPlot. Grand comedic TPs are
few--they tend not to support their own weight. Well-managed comic
characters, however, tend to be popular MU* attractions, and their
antics can involve many, many other players. In a running gag on
NarniaMUSH, the hyperactive and more than slightly paranoid
squirrel, Thizzletwit, regularly sends people into a frenzy
looking for a teeth-gnashing monster in the woods that inevitably
turns out to be kindly Aunt Fizzia. Similarly, if a meddlesome
character is tied up in her own knitting yarn by fire-lizards,
chances are good that more people will remember it than if she
received a mere scolding from another player.

Once you have several TinyPlots underway, your MUSH will need a
way to keep people aware of them. NarniaMUSH, where I coordinate
TinyPlots, has several mechanisms to keep players apprised. Three
of these are administratively controlled: we alter the login
message of the day to reflect any major upcoming opportunities for
role-playing, such as balls, gathers, baked bean-offs, and mudfish
festivals. We have a global command, +rumor, to provide players
with the latest gossip from Narnia's answer to Hedda Hopper, Mrs.
Edna Cotterly. And finally, once a TinyPlot is played out and
done, we write up a summary and put it in the online news. If
you're considering a way to distribute TinyPlot information to
your MU*, think of something that fits its mood or theme. A
'newspaper' that people could buy for a daily update might work on
some MU*s, for example.

As in Real Life, however, news spreads fastest by word of mouth. I
know that many people shake their heads at the word 'gossip'. On a
MUSH, however, in-character gossip is practically a necessity.
It's easier to avoid gossiping in Real Life than on a MUSH.

Here's an example: Let's say you're out with friends. Among them
is a couple who've been dating for years, and they argue violently
in a restaurant in front of a score of people. He retires to the
bar and drinks too much; she shoots him nasty looks now and again
as she sucks down cigarette after cigarette. Ugly, eh?

Now, in Real Life I don't think you'd immediately turn to the
person sitting next to you and say, "Now, is it true that _he_ is
a recovered alcoholic, and _she's_ never smoked before in her
life?" I hope you wouldn't. Most people want to appear to best
advantage, and that kind of behavior wouldn't be appropriate, or
kind. Even if you whispered it, the chances are that one of the
subjects would put two and two together and realize you're talking
about them. And as for talking about it later...well, you need to
be pretty sure of the person you're with before you ask them to
dish some dirt.

In a MUSH, however, remember that the object of a TinyPlot is to
encourage other players to have fun. When a couple argues in the
local tavern, they _want_ players to react to it. The pair putting
on the show realize that some of the newer players might not know
that Kassiopia has been wooing Schlomo the Dog Boy while Dirk the
Decent was out of town fighting sea serpents. They might not want
anyone to break up their little love spat, but you can just bet
they'll be mighty disappointed if the entire MUSH isn't talking
about it in ten minutes.

If not sooner, that is; at the time of this writing NarniaMUSH
supports a wonderful global called +mutter designed just for
gossiping about people to their faces. If Hedda mutters "That
Dirk! Every time he goes to the bar with Kassy, he turns into a
potty mouth and boozes all over the place!" to Ariel, Ariel hears
the entire sentence as a whisper, but the rest of the players in
the room merely hear "...Dirk!...he goes...potty...all over...!"
or some other tantalizing combination of words randomly chosen
from the sentence. As the ads say, imagine the possibilities!

Of course, not every player will be online during role-playing
developments. That's why you should have player-generated
mechanisms, in addition to the administrative devices, to keep
people apprised of TinyPlot happenings. Provide a bulletin board
in a public place so that characters can note their responses to
recent happenings. Encourage people to post their gossip there.
I'll bet that the board will be more current (and substantially
less accurate, though that's fun, too!) than any of the
administrative news outlets.

In-character gossip spreads news. In-character gossip keeps people
feeling up to date on the latest developments on the MU*. It's a
powerful socializing factor--newbies, by listening to the gossip,
can learn what is and isn't acceptable role-playing behavior on an
individual MU*. And players who have established characters will
only get more involved with the MUSH as the TinyPlots get
increasingly complex. Because, as you know, characters acquire
depth as their history grows, and the more depth they have, the
more interesting they become.

For, as anyone who has become addicted to _All My Children_ or
_EastEnders_ can tell you, there's immense satisfaction in the
accumulative effect of a character's history. Someone watching a
scene in which Angie the pub owner drinks an ale, gathers her
courage, and sits down to chat with a surly-looking stranger,
might find it interesting, but unimportant. Longer-term watchers
might understand that recovering alcoholic Angie survived a
suicide attempt and clawed her way to gain control of the pub, and
have more interest in the scene. And those of us who remember
_way_ back to the time that Angie was actually _engaged_ to the
surly chap before she discovered he had multiple personality
disorder....well, we've got our faces pressed against the TV
screen, egging her on.

MUSHes are much the same. The more you learn about other
characters through role-playing, the more you appreciate and enjoy
them. The more you enjoy the other characters, the more vivid and
imaginative the TinyPlots become. Hey, it's that positive feedback
loop again!
---

VII. MURPHY'S LAW
or Thinking On Your Feet

You've gone to a lot of trouble to set up the Wyttercom Ladies'
Temperance League Progressive Bridge Tournament on PetteryMUSH.
All of Wyttercom's creme de la creme have shown up (told of the
event in advance, of course, via news, the Wyttercom Bulletin
Board, and engraved invitations), bringing with them deftly coded
chafing dishes filled with delectable goodies. Dimity Lingerbop
wins the first round. How COULD she have gotten seven no-trump,
doubled even, that last hand? Well, you know she once was caught
purloining a purse at the milliners, so who _knows_ what tricks
she could have up her sleeve, literally!

All is going swimmingly. Right on cue, Jezebelle LaFlooz, she who
openly flaunts the petty conventions of Wyttercom, undulates in.
Every lascivious step seethes with contempt for the Ladies'
Temperance League. Dimity is furious! She leaps to her feet. "Who
here knows the meaning of the word HUZZY?" she calls, much to
everyone's delight. Tiny Amelie Jones--yes, the mouse who wouldn't
say boo to a flea!--leaps to her feet to defend the beleaguered
Jezebelle. Everyone is scandalized! Does this mean Amelie has a
_past_?

As you planned, just as the fighting and the whispers and the
mutterings boil to a head, Arknod the Gryphon shrieks overhead.
Oh, he's been trouble before, but this time he means business! In
his two front paws he swoops down on the party, rips the roof off
the house, and snatches two victims. They happen to be the ones
brawling among the tea cakes--Dimity Lingerbop and Jezebelle
LaFlooz. Everyone is shocked at the twist in events as the Gryphon
flies off, carrying the two women to their presumed demise. You've
pulled off the TinyPlot coup of the year!

Well, not quite. Because there stands Mrs. Harrison-Crump,
interrupting the proceedings with an out-of-character complaint.
"I _have_ a bottle of Acme Guaranteed Gryphon Repellant in my
purse!" she cries. "Don't you _remember_? It's the one I found
when I was kidnapped by the Orknies on the trip to my sister-in-
law's! I could have saved them! Why did the gryphon just fly off
like that without give me a chance to save them?"

Uh-oh. She's right. You knew she had that bottle of repellant, and
yet she didn't get a chance to use it. What's worse, even if you'd
remembered in time, before you made Arknod the Gryphon fly off,
there's no way you would have _wanted_ her to save the pair,
because all of PetteryMUSH is supposed to discover that Jezebelle
is hypocritical Dimity's secret love-child during their absence.

Face it: something's bound to go wrong even during the most
deftly-plotted TinyPlot. Someone will get caught on an iceberg and
though you've coded up a really cool set of ice floes for people
to hop on (they even sink if too many people are on them at
once!), you've forgotten that you invited Raup the Auk along, who
smugly invites everyone to climb aboard his back for a safe 'n'
easy flight to the iceberg. Or else, as you're exploring the dread
Coal Mines of Cocorama and half the party gets caught in a cave-
in, some overly helpful dwarf will cheerfully ask you, "Why can't
I dig them out? We dwarfs are great diggers, you know!"

Of course your first impulse will be to whip up a nasty giant ice
pirhana to gnaw off the helpful auk's wings, or just to smack the
dwarf around a little. But resist, please. The beauty of a MUSH--
that is, the fertility of its pooled imaginations--can also prove
your personal downfall. You're going to think up several possible
solutions to a particular TinyPlot dilemma, but there's no way you
can think of them all. Others will think of other solutions, and
the chances are slim of them keeping their thoughts to themselves.
These ideas will seem perfectly reasonable, perhaps even more
reasonable than yours, but they're not what you've planned.

It's easy to feel resentful when these things happen. But try to
keep everyone happy. Keep alert...if you're running the
Progressive Bridge Tournament and you see Mrs. Harrison-Crump
fumbling for the Gryphon Repellant, let her have a moment of
heroism. Let her spray the repellant, and then provide a perfectly
natural in-character reason it doesn't work--emit something such
as "A gale wind pours through the open roof, dispelling the
Gryphon Repellant." If you know Mrs. Harrison-Crump's player to be
a good sort, and the mood warrants it, you could probably get away
with: "Hetty deLang coughs. 'Mrs. Harrison-Crump!' she cries.
'That's not your repellant! That's _Fruits de la Nuit_ cologne!'"

If Mrs. Harrison-Crump is a little more unforgiving, page her with
an out-of-character comment assuring her that while you appreciate
her efforts, she might want to know that it's _important_ for the
two characters to be snatched and hidden for a couple of weeks.
Most sensible people understand.

Rule of thumb: If a character is being deliberatively obstructive,
obtuse, and making trouble for a TinyPlot, you have every right
not to play with him or her. Contact a wizard or staff member your
MU* to see what can be done; chances are good that if everyone
ignores the character, or lets him or her know which behaviors are
unacceptable, they'll stop.

But if characters are making a genuine in-character attempt to
role-play a situation, even if it's not what you envisioned, be
nice to them and try to play along. They just want to join in the
fun! Their efforts should be recognized, after all's said and
done. Make sure Mrs. Harrison-Crump's valiant attempts at
gryphon-shooing get put into the TinyPlot write-up for your MU*'s
news. If it can be helped, you don't want a player to think his or
her contribution isn't welcomed.
---


VIII. DIGNITY, ALWAYS DIGNITY
or, Some Caveats

I like to believe that people, and TinyMU* players in particular,
have a modicum of common sense. It's pretty to think so, at least.
Of course I've run across some players who have to be warned about
_everything_ or they'll cry foul. You know the type...they whine,
"But you didn't tell me I couldn't _______!" (You fill in the
blank: a) "name puppets after other players and make them do
unspeakable things!"; b) "@kill that newbie!"; c) "pick up every
object that wasn't nailed to the ground and hide it in my hut!";
d) "follow around female players and beg them for TinySex!")

In all the advice I've given in this manual, I've made some
assumptions. I can't list them all, but here are a few.

*  Do Unto Others: You know, the Golden Rule. It may be perfectly
in character for Yorgo the Vulgarian to emit various bodily odors
and sounds, be verbally abusive, and to swing a weapon at every
living thing he drunkenly sees. But when he does it on
MyPrettyPonyMUSH, no one's going to like him much. Remember the
Law of the Sandbox: If you play in a way that is not consistent
with the theme or mood of the MU*, or if you play in a way that
offends or disrupts others, no one will play with you.

*  Respect, respect, respect!: When you see a player's TinyPlot
unfold, or when you see that character roleplaying to the best of
his or her ability, you are receiving an especially private,
privileged glimpse into their imaginative life. Each player is
offering up a very secret part of themselves when they extend
their imagination into your office, home, or computer lab. Respect
it, please. How many of your Real Life friends offer you such a
gift?

*  Harrassment: Whether it's sexual or otherwise, harrassment and
intimidation is a no-no. If you perform some action and you see
that you're causing discomfort, stop. If you can't see that you're
causing discomfort and another player asks you to stop, stop.
Never assume that any character, even a female who wears veils,
kohl, heavy perfume, and a tantalizing description, will welcome
your advances, no matter how suave, no matter how subtle. If
you're confused about what's welcome and what's not, ask someone.
I can't be more serious about this caveat; there is no MU* I know
of that _welcomes_ harrassment. Don't find yourself a victim of
the Law of the Sandbox!

*  Surprises: Plot twists enliven books and films and videos, but
if you're running a TinyPlot, remember that there are fun
surprises (Uh-oh! That Calormene guard you thought was on your
side is really a double agent!) and then there are not-so-fun
surprises (you whisper to another player, "Oh, by the way, this is
the part where you're supposed to get killed by the Mutant Pink
Hamster. What do you mean, I didn't tell you?"). People are
attached to their characters. They've put a huge investment in
them. Don't treat them cheaply. If you throw a plot twist that
will endanger a player's character without his or her consent, or
if you force a player to do something with his or her character
they would never do under normal circumstances, they have every
right to refuse, walk away, and never play the MU* again. And
that's not what we want. There do exist Tiny MU*s in which players
have a chance of random, unpredictable death; these MU*s warn the
player of this possibility usually on the first login. I don't
think it's particularly _good_ for any MU* to invite players to
spend hours working on characters and then to dispose of them in a
dice roll, but at least the players know what chances they're
taking.

*  Toe-stepping: Don't start a flame-war over a TinyPlot.
Fascinating and vivid as they may be, they just aren't worth Real
Life hurt feelings. If you are planning a TinyPlot and another
involved player doesn't like the proposed outline, don't waste
your time shouting at each other. Human experience (and by human,
of course, I include the virtual elves, Marsh-wiggles, talking
animals, and furries that populate the MU*s) is so vast, so
flexible, and often so downright strange (watch a daytime talk
show recently?). Believe me, it's possible, with a little thought
and time and communication, to avoid flame-fests and construct a
TinyPlot that will satisfy everyone. Likewise, if you're involved
in a TinyPlot and don't like the way it's progressing, have an
out-of-character chat with the person running it. Find out why
certain things are happening, and if you're still dissatisfied,
compromise. Be flexible. Trees bend in strong winds, you
know....the trees that are rigid and ungiving topple over.

*  Fun and games: The object of MU*ing is to have fun. Think not
of just your fun, however, but also that of the other players. And
MU*s _are_ games. But keep in mind that Tiny MU*ing is not like
handball, or Monopoly, and you're not going after trophies and
glory and points and money. When I was a kid, our physical
education instructors very often would haul out a huge old
parachute. It was circular, and the class would grab hold to the
silky fabric and stand around its rim. On command, we'd loft our
arms upwards, and the taut fabric would catch an updraft and
billow up majestically. We'd feel a skyward tug as the parachute
pulled our bodies upward, nearly lifting our toes from ground. No
single one of us could have effected this giddy exhilaration by
ourselves; it had to be done as a group.

I know I've dished up a lot in these pages, but it's this last
point that I hope you'll remember once the manual's out of your
hands. A Tiny MU* is a community project. You're free to explore
your creativity on the MU*--free to contribute as much or as
little as you want. Always keep in mind, however, that although
your neighbors in this community are perhaps thousands of miles
away and you may never see their Real Life faces, you are all
counting upon and relying on each other for support and
encouragement. It's just like a Real Life family, though the only
lines connecting you are those of the Internet. The community
begins to overcome the barriers of electronic communication the
instant it works as a unit for everyone's mutual enjoyment. The
result--the creative, kaleidoscopic, imaginative group project
that is the Tiny MU*--can be enchantingly beautiful.
---

That's it. I'm done. Now go online and work out the fruits of your
own imagination. Use my ideas, or refute them and devise your own.
That's what the creative process is all about. And have fun!