Introduction

From ThreadsWiki

Contents 1 General Guide to the Threads Campaign 1.1 Campaign Structure 1.2 What Will the Game Be About? 1.3 Structure of Events 1.4 Side Events 1.5 Areas of Play 1.6 Rules System 1.7 Presubmissions and Schedule 2 Introduction to the Games 2.1 Schedule and Location 2.2 Structure of Games – For Players 2.3 The Overall Conceit of Threads 2.4 Suitability of Characters 2.5 Location of Games 2.6 Pacing and Intent of Games 3 Introduction to Writing 3.1 Structure of Games – For Writers 3.2 Scenarios 3.3 Writing Cycle 3.4 Ideas Submission 3.5 Schedule 3.6 Exceptions 3.7 Principles

General Guide to the Threads Campaign

This page is intended as “Everything you Wanted to Know” about Threads of Damocles. It is an initial guide to the Campaign, and will serve as a lead in to understand where it is going and what to expect. We feel that letting the Community know the expectations of the creative staff is the best way to make sure that everyone is on the same page and that we have a constructive project.

Campaign Structure

Threads of Damocles projects a three year arc beginning with an initial party in late 2006, with full runs beginning in spring of 2007. The campaign will culminate in spring/summer of 2010. The framework of the campaign is such that it may allow for “spin off” campaigns or additional events after the primary story arc of 2007-2010.

What Will the Game Be About?

By the Second regular event, the CCs will be assembled to undertake a variety of missions in support of a program to "fix" time and space. It is understood that everything can never be put back together as it was. But with some work it may be possible to knit together a skein that will not give way and allows for the continuation of the thread of time-space rather than a few small fragments spinning into oblivion.

Adventures will take place in many different pasts and presents. In many cases adventurers may travel "virtually" affecting the memory of individuals they influence, much in the style of certain episodes of ARC: Horror, and the 1936: Horror Briton episode. In other scenarios adventurers will travel physically, in still others there may be other means of transport. There will be many varied styles of presenting scenarios, and many different settings.

It is clear that the universe of Threads of Damocles can support almost any concept. But there is no "super" concept that makes you better than another player.

Structure of Events

Threads of Damocles will run 6-7 principal episodes per year. The episodes will tend to run more like recent events in the 1948: Signals campaign or Brassy's Africa. They will be built from modules, often supplied by many different players. Some episodes may break to run longer adventure scenarios involving most of the characters, while others may be almost entirely made up of modules. Good recent models of the extremes would be 1948 Signals: Guam, Washington, or Shanghai (which ran in the more modular style). The norm will run more heavily towards modules. There will be a chance for players to bid modules to run small personal scenes at some events, and receive some cast support.

Side Events

Threads of Damocles allows for a fair amount of side development of the politics of the universe by players. Previous campaigns have had BGEs, and we expect some, depending as well on the frequency of other campaigns running at the time. The GMs will not commit to specifically supporting extended play, but we are providing a campaign model in which it is possible and in which there will be rules for it. We anticipate players may engage in extended play through IM, BGEs, or Regular Episodes. It is plausible that a subset of players might want to hold an evening set in their background more often than runs of the primary event. We're aware of several large White Wolf campaigns that elegantly support that model. There will be ground rules designed at empowering players while establishing that Side Events do not allow players an unfair advantage over players who attend less frequently.

Areas of Play

Threads of Damocles uses a slightly improved model of the Areas of Activity for characters based on experience gained in Threads of Damocles.

• Action/Adventure
• Investigation
• Underworld/Smuggling
• Hard Sciences and Engineering
• "Soft" Sciences (anthropology, Archaeology, etc.)
• Diplomacy/People Person
• Medicine
• Interpersonal Drama and Psychology
• Character Personification/Pure Roleplaying

Rules System

The Rules System which will be used for Threads of Damocles is still under discussion. It is possible the campaign will use the same version of RTLB used by Threads of Damocles, however it may move to a slightly different system. Many of the more complex abilities will probably be the same in any case. A final determination will be made well before Character Generation begins.

Presubmissions and Schedule

Player Generated "B" Universe Submissions

Our goal in organizing Threads of Damocles is to make the campaign as attractive as possible, and offer the highest level of entertainment any campaign has yet been able to offer, by employing lessons learned from all the current campaigns, and building on their successes. However we have to balance our desire to allow a very wide ethos in which players have an unprecedented ability to build elements of the universe and play novel concepts with a need to have some degree of central focus and structure.

One concept we will use is "presubmission." This allows a prospective participant to send an outline of what they are thinking of, and get a read as to whether or not they should develop it. With longer submissions, we often find ourselves in a difficult situation. We are looking at something that may be problematic, but have to weigh that a lot of work has already gone into the submission and we don't want to "crush" the person submitting it.

To avoid this we'll open for "Presubmission" which will be a relatively simplified form which allows you to give us an outline of your project. If we think it's viable, we'll ask you to progress to a full Submission. Accepting a Presubmission isn't a promise, but it does indicate that we are not seeing deep flaws in the proposal, and feel it is well founded enough to warrant further consideration.

Introduction to the Games

Information about how and where the events will actually run

Schedule and Location

For all practical purposes, in terms of scheduling, location, and much of the staff, Threads of Damocles is a direct continuation of 1948:Signals. The Threads season will be identical to the 1948 season. We will run six to seven games a year, an average of one every two months. Typically three winter games will be in a hotel in the Baltimore Washington Metropolitan area, and three will be on the Gammons' land in Pennsylvania, where 1936 and 1948 have run. We allow players at the outdoor site to stay in nearby hotels and bed and breakfasts, and provide food, and reasonable shade and other accomodations onsite. If you have restrictions on physical activities, there may be some things you cannot go and do at the outdoor games, but we intend to run in such a manner that there is always something going on at the central camp for players who are more sedentary.

In addition there may be player-run events called "Between Games Events."

Structure of Games – For Players

Threads games will be largely modular, running on a schedule suited to the site and the content of the game. In general our core mode will probably run towards Intercon Length (four hour) modules, with some shorter modules.

Scenarios will be produced by contributing writers. More about how that process will work can be found below under "Introduction to Writing."

As a player you can expect to have a good bit of say in what modules you play through in the course of a weekend. In some (though not all) timeslots, we'll do signups in advance and allow players to pick and choose between scenarios. In most cases, you'll have a good bit more information than you do in current games about what the scenario is going to be like, and what it will involve.

The Overall Conceit of Threads

This presumes you've read the Threads Introduction. If you haven’t, you should read through it to get a feel for how the various Universes are set up and what the possibilities are.

In our most prototypical concept, the overall conceit for the game would be introduced in game one and two, with players slowly "figuring out" the pattern the games would take. In actual practice the benefit of setting expectations a year in advance and letting people know what to expect grossly outweighs the nominal "surprise" of players figuring out what will probably be a fairly transparent structure.

We've already said that: By the Second regular event, the CCs will be assembled to undertake a variety of missions in support of a program to “fix” time and space. It is understood that everything can never be put back together as it was. But with some work it may be possible to knit together a skein that will not give way and allows for the continuation of the thread of time-space rather than a few small fragments spinning into oblivion.

In game one, the bubble in Pennsylvania will shut down. This is a known event, and has been projected for decades. There will be three effects of this occurrence, all of which can and will be predicted by scientists before game start:

1. The existing gateways between principal Universes will become more stable, more tolerant of traffic and open more frequently.
2. New gateways will begin opening much more frequently, usually in clusters (which tend to correspond to games). Some of these openings will be predictable.
3. There will be a call for individuals willing to work to help "fix" the problem. This will involve going on missions to accomplish various objectives in the various types of Universes accessible through gates.

Typically games will have three types of scenarios:

• Home Universe Scenarios – these will involve character intrigue, adventure, etc. in one of the established "Home Universe" settings. Not every Home Universe will run every game, but most will run at least every other game. In some cases the Campaign GMs will put these scenarios together, in other cases they'll be produced by the Home Universe authors. In general we will tend to favor character supplied storyline and plot in these scenarios. These Scenarios may often be run in "flashback" context, having taken place between games.
• "Away Team" Scenarios ¬– these will involve going to other universes to accomplish objectives. There may be some continuity between these Scenarios – certain recurring figures, places, motifs or villains. But some will be standalone adventures. In some cases the destination circumstances will be well known in others it will be a mystery.
• "Base Scenarios" – these will be "camp" scenarios taking place in the universe that is playing host to the game.

Suitability of Characters

We have a fair amount of leeway in accepting various types of characters as "adventurers," based on computer profiling of "necessary" skills. Ultimately, however, players are obligated to present a character who is at least somewhat suitable as an adventurer. We'll put out more specific criteria on this as we develop character guidance – at this point the thing to understand is that you need to have in mind someone who is at least marginally cooperative, capable, and contributive to have a viable character. Quirks can be accommodated, but clear basket cases are not playable as characters.

Location of Games

Games will tend to be set where there is a cluster of gates opening. It is a safe metagame assumption that for most of Season One this will be a tour through the existing Home Universes.

Pacing and Intent of Games

During each game we expect there to be time periods set aside for:

1. Personal interactions
2. Adventures/Plot Actions
3. Information Exchange

Introduction to Writing

How to get involved in writing/volunteering for the Campaign

Structure of Games – For Writers

The most important thing to understand is the overall structure of the Campaign. Overall management of Games is handled by the Production Staff headed by the Executive Producer. While we cannot accept bids to "run games for Threads" it is possible to act as the author for what we call "Blue tracks" meaning that you would have a heavy say in setting the background of the game, and the location and be responsible for most of the local environment. If you are an accomplished author and this seems like you see Blue Track Authors

Scenarios

In general we will be aggressively seeking high quality scenarios that are exciting to players and Cast. Our core scenario models will be two and four hours. Some games may allow for occasional six hour scenarios. It is possible to run a series of linked scenarios, however we will never accept two linked four hour scenarios as a substitute for good tight planning on a four hour scenario.

Honestly, we suggest you do not plan to submit linked scenarios. Consider this. If you are thinking of two linked scenarios – do you really have enough material to fill two entire Intercon Games? Four hours is enough time for most scenarios. We will allow for time compression, scene cuts, etc., so time need not be a constraint. In almost every case where two linked scenarios are submitted we are going to return them with the suggestion they be condensed to one four hour scenario. Very well qualified writers with a lot of campaign and Intercon runtime may be able to make arguments otherwise, but we are going to have to be rather hard core about this.

• Home Universe Scenarios – we will look mostly to the Universe leaders, and the people within a Universe to produce Home Universe Scenarios. They will act as Blue Tracks Authors. These may be very loose (time to hang out) or may be very intense – full mini-adventures set in the Home Universe. Often they will be run in "flashback" format to allow for events that don't fit in the time frame of the game. Continuity will be more critical in these scenes. To some extent the frequency with which they take place will depend on the willingness of the Home Universe authors to produce them, and the interest of players in joining them. We anticipate a Home Universe Scenario for the more heavily populated backgrounds about every other game. We'll give some preference to scenes which easily accommodate characters from "C" backgrounds that have no "Home Universe" of their own, or travelers wanting to play with their friends for a while.

• "Away Team" Scenarios – these will be the most common scenarios. We'll give a lot more criteria for these, but essentially they must be framed out in Universe terms and "fit" within the context of the game, however that is very broad. They will be standalone scenarios.

Again, you need to refer to the Inception Document for the details on what sorts of Universes exist, however "Away Scenarios" may be set in: Alternate History Substrings, Alternate Time Strings , Historical Timelines, Alternate Dimensions.

• Personal Scenarios – from time to time we will have slots available where we will run a number of smaller scenarios with a personal focus on the interactions of a few characters. These will tend to be similar to many of the flashbacks run for 1948, and will have narrow and intense focus. Be reasonable in deciding if material that has elements of self-referentialism is viable for other players, or whether it is this type of scenario.

• "Base Scenarios" – these are largely going to be handled by the Writers Group, working in concert with the writers for the "Host Universe." Even Base Scenario material will be broken down into Scenarios and tracks.

Writing Cycle

We will have a specific writing cycle that is enforced with the goal of improving our turnaround time to get materials to cast and players on schedule. We're going to push to try and get the campaign onto a very firm schedule and stick to it, and that may mean some arbitrary deadlines.

Ideas Submission

All our submission processes will revolve around the Scenario Form. "Ideas Submission" will mean filling out the top part of the Scenario Form. We're willing to talk with you informally about whether or not an idea would work well, but that's the core element, and nothing is "official" until we've seen the form.

The Scenario Form will be under constant improvement and revision, but will tend to ask both game and metagame questions about the scene. Be prepared to think about the tone and intent of the scene as well as the technical specifications.

Schedule

Scenes will run on schedule. Period. We may be able to push scenes with a potential for overrun to open ended slots, but we have only a few of those. Scenarios will need to have a way to end. We will need to move the game, players and space along. That means that in extremis we may need to end a scene by simply cutting it and saying you can talk to the author to find out what further may have happened. Like Intercon we simply cannot sit waiting for late scenes to end. We will try to help with tools and skills to allow scenes to end on schedule, and we'll try and work with authors to vette them. But ultimately we are going to have to run on schedule and we are not going to be able to make exceptions.

Exceptions

As we go into Third Season we will doubtless experiment with breaking patterns, and thinking outside the box. But we are going to learn how to do the pattern before we break it, and exceptions must be driven by Proposal to the Writer's List and acceptance by a majority of Writers either by consensus or vote.

Principles

Our two guiding principles:

1. Building increased reliability in getting information to staff and cast.
2. Involving more participants in the writing mix