Three act structure
Whenever we write a new incursion storyline, there's a few things we need to take into consideration.
Incursion events should be split up into 3 main events, each one referred to as an Act. The acts should follow the familiar screenplay writing format.
Pre Incursion and hype
These are the things that take place before the first event of the incursion. Consider this the VRAD version of teaser trailers.
This needs to start happening no less than 4 weeks before the first incursion event. Strange things start happening in the Discord server and channels start being comendered. Incursion writers can also access This website, the Legends page, Twitter, Tiktok and Youtube to start planting teasers and anomalous events. Imagine videos being posted with warnings etc…
No less than 3 weeks before the event, posters need to be made and announcements should happen. The impending incursion should be all over VRAD, and impossible to miss. Bait and switch ideas are good, but we should reserve them for urgent assignments. Incursions need maximum publicity because of how much effort goes into them. It's disheartening when we get a low turnout to incursions because they are the foundation of our community. Publicise to the max, then publicise more! It should be clear that things happening are incursion related so members can stay up to date on the plot.
The goal of this sequnce is to build hype for the incursion.
Act 1
The threat is revealed.
In act 1, the agents should learn what the threat is and what it's motivations are. This does not always need to be the case though. With Incursion 2, VRAD didn't know about the existence of terrorists until they appeared on stage to save the condemned in act 2. However, the terrorists did make themselves known in the Discord. They had a constant presence. The agents had a vague idea of what they were up against.
Act 2
The Agents are tested to their limits.
The full power of the threat is revealed with lots of casualties. By the end of act 2, things should seem hopeless for the agents, but the story writers should know how the agents will resolve the problem before they start killing off agents. There should always be a way to bring back dead agents, even if that is in the future after the events of the incursion.
Act 3
The resolution.
By the end of the story, the agents should have resolved the problem or learn to live along side it. If it's a big antagonist, the antagonist that we want for future events, it could escape at the end, but make it clear that the current threat is over. Allow the Agents to feel the catharsis that results from achieving a goal and saving whatever needed to be saved.
Event structures
Ensure that each event has a clearly defined objective, and the agents can work towards that objective. They can clearly see how close they are getting, and should know when the objective has been completed. The operator can be used to give intel (hints) to the agents.
As an example, during Act 1 of Incursion 3, the Mogwai was trying to escape from the agents after it had caused havoc in the HQ. The agents were putting down barricades which should have begun limiting the Mogwais space. If this opportunity had been utilised, the agents could have clearly seen how close they were to achieving the desired goal. Once the Mogwai had nowhere else to go, then it could have dropped its portal, to begin causing problems in the next world in the story.
Recruiting more catalysts
Generally we refer to our antagonists as “catalysts”. This is because NPC's aren't always antagonistic.
Other communities
Don't forget, we are allied with other communities. The purpos of these aliances is to help each other out. If you need more catalysts, head over to one of our allies and ask if you can use some of their members as our antagonists. Just remember, we should be jst as willing to offer them catalysts whenever they need them.
Other agents
Any agents that have been killed off can be recruited onto the catalyst team. Don't worry about doing this, people enjoy the experience of being on both sides of the battle. Any catalysts recruited on the scene are “stooges”. They won't have a clue what they should be doing, so quickly update them.
Make sure all catalysts are aware of the following:
- Are they an antagonist or another neutral/good character?
- What/who their character is.
- How powerful they are.
- What their attacks are.
- Whether or not they should respawn when killed to continue fighting as a “new antagonist character”
- How agressive they are to the agents.
- Can they kill the agents?
- What should their kill rate be?
You can remember these notes with this simple neumonic:
AWHWWHCW
Now it should be impossible to forget the information you need to provide to impromptu catalysts in high intensity situations.