Underlight Discord Chat: http://discord.underlight.com/
Production Server: Online (Version 3.1.15)
Player Test Realm Server: Offline (Version 3.1.15)

Retrospective granting of spheres/arts for things already done

This is a game for roleplayers. We want your ideas how how to build the better game. Post your suggestions here.
Post Reply
Noidea
Dreamer
Posts: 223
Joined: Mon Oct 13, 2014 4:25 pm
Character Name(s): Blue; Neveren (inactive)
Location: Great Britain

Retrospective granting of spheres/arts for things already done

Post by Noidea »

I was just looking up the requirements for what kind of things you have to do to earn different sphere levels (for anyone else who keeps losing the Teaching Requirements post, it's here viewtopic.php?f=33&t=1288&p=7424 , in the Time-lost Ledger), and also came across this viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1166#p5971 , and had a random late-at-night thought. Everyone says that it should be about the roleplay stories that are going on, that people should be high sphere for being a ringleader of RPs and doing lots of stuff, rather than for arbitrarily "doing an RP" separately from all that.

But sphere tasks, and all tasks, are set up so that the obvious way to do it IS to do an arbitrary thing that you wouldn't have done anyway - you have to be "given a task" to do a specific thing, in advance. Cart before horse, surely?

That would change if it were normal practice for teachers to give a reward for something after the fact - e.g. Dreamer Joe, who is 3rd sphere, is in a House that's under attack, and leads some other housemates in a desperate feat of magic to foil the attackers, just because events happened, not having already got his sphere task. Teacher Jean who is present, or hears about it later, declares he has shown himself worthy of a great Dreamer this night and offers him 4th sphere. (Yep, Teacher Jean likes her Knights of the Round Table stuff.) Of course he might turn out not to be maxed, but she could always give him a completion codex for use as soon as he is.

Now, is that even legal? If it is, maybe we (those of us who're teachers, I mean) should do more of it? It was tentatively a thing in SoT at one point, I know, because I got Reweave 10 that way (though by an RP report to the GMs, not through a teacher), but I don't know how the rules stand here.
Efforts yield rewards, not words alone.
User avatar
coltdorsey
Dreamer
Posts: 210
Joined: Tue Jan 28, 2014 9:01 pm
Character Name(s): Thunderman

Re: Retrospective granting of spheres/arts for things already done

Post by coltdorsey »

I'm a fan of the idea. The only art I ever do this with is Poison Cloud because of the amount of discretion house teachers are afforded. I'd love to have the teaching lead's blessing extending this to other arts, to a degree. Spheres 1 & 2 could easily be treated like this now, as they are minimum interview required.

I'd like to see sphere 3 extended the interview requirement, because joining in on a larger scale role-play can happen without any notice. At sphere 4 where a requirement is to announce planned event on the motd is where it may begin to be tricky, because now its no longer impromptu. Unless sphere 4 could be given a minimum # of participation (i.e no less than 6 other dreamers present and engaging) and can be vouched for by teacher present and helping. This helps verify the event, although impromptu, was on a large enough scale that a motd wasn't needed to rouse help.

Spheres 5+ all require a succession of events. Probably best that these are well documented and and left as is, imo.

In terms of learns and plateaus of arts, I would think plats 1 - 3 could appropriately be retrospective grants, given your criteria of scaling difficulty has been met.
User avatar
Clarity
Dreamer
Posts: 131
Joined: Fri Jan 31, 2014 10:14 am
Character Name(s): Clarity

Re: Retrospective granting of spheres/arts for things already done

Post by Clarity »

I'm always a fan of rewarding folks for spotinaity. Doing things and getting involved shouldn't be hinged on a task, especially in the early spheres. With the amount of things going on at any given time, encouraging the new and the "new" to get involved is one of the best tools a teacher has in their toolbox.

I do worry it'll come to be expected if used to often, but if used sparingly and we'll documented ( like writing the reason in a quest so the staff has a detailed record of why etc) it would only serve to keep the momentum of rping for the sake of rping.
So it’s gonna be forever, and I will stay up through the night. You can tell me when it’s over, and let’s be clear, won’t close my eyes. @-;-
User avatar
Rafael
Dreamer
Posts: 57
Joined: Thu Jul 23, 2015 1:58 am
Character Name(s): Rafe, Takalia
Location: Westminster, CO
Contact:

Re: Retrospective granting of spheres/arts for things already done

Post by Rafael »

Good idea to a point, some of us are very good with events as others not so much and it becomes too frustrating, particularly for those more individual. We need to try to be more inclusive to bring in more dreamers rather than building in stone. We have encountered all sorts of dreamers and times when hard rules get in the way of enjoying dream.

We all learn differently and dream differently. As a teacher i got my best luck teaching in a pure mentor role, and some people do very poorly with public events and lose enjoyment of the dream. Many ties these dreamers have fantastic ideas and no matter what we might try, they always have issues wit some things and events'. To some extent the system now works, but also fails. Some dreamers have done enormous role plays with nothing more than the satisfaction of doing but they did not fit as events to any arts.
The dream is out there, we can make it real
~Rafaella
Post Reply