The Site Plot System

This thread is geared towards creating a site plot, which is not the be all and end all of the site but the overarching thing that determines the progress of the site. Upon the conclusion of this plot it will trigger an intermission stage which loosely covers events that occur within the period of different plots.

SITE PLOT: "ARCS"
Going forward, Platinum Hearts will utilise a system of unified main plotlines, similarly to arcs in an actual series. This approach to utilising a cycle of arcs presents a firm narrative direction, using a core storyline as the overall metric of site progression and allowing it to serve as a timeline of events.

How this will work is that a single plotline will be given the spotlight, serving as the main plot of the site and being what dictates progression. This premise may be attached to a specific area, group, and so on but is not aimed at limiting involvement.

The way this will be formatted is Site Arc which leads into an Intermission period, which counts as a soft timeskip, prior to beginning the next Site Arc and will maintain this cycle.

As a result of this, the site's timeframe will no longer move forward with real life in a 1:1 framework. It will instead put more weight on liquid time, where a site arc may go on for only weeks or even a few months in-character despite being written over a much greater span of time out of character. Due to this, an intermission period serves as filling in the space and allowing for natural progression between events of the site.

Premises which were established and cultivated by members of the site in previous site arcs, or over the intermission, are given a chance to have that time filled in to allow for characters, groups, and other elements to crop up without being expected to wait or justify sudden growth apropos of nothing.

For example, while the Arrancar arc of Bleach was mostly centred in Hueco Mundo and events surrounding Aizen's arrancar army other background details surely existed and flowed as normal such as characters like Kugo Ginjo, who despite not having spotlight until the Lost Agent arc was active in the Bleach setting for years before the start of the series.

The intention of this change is to reflect the site's modern approach of being more narratively focused. Additionally, this approach will create a more direct pathway for people to be involved in plots, and to maintain easier awareness of what is happening on the site by directing a spotlight. The usage of this approach will also open up more approachable avenues for character progression and upgrades, with both arcs and intermissions giving narrative justifications removed from simply grinding out training to justify them. Instead, contributions to arcs, and usage of intermissions between, will help to justify character growth.

Benefits
— (Proper) liquid time.
— Less weight on grind. More weight on narrative.
— Site direction.

INTERMISSION
—Upon conclusion of an arc an intermission takes place.
— Intermissions are broadly anything that occurs between the arcs of the site.
— Intermissions will be considered in upgrades by acknowledgement of the time that has passed.


Arc Specific Characters
Arc Characters are NPCs that are created with the specific intention of being played for one plot arc, designed to push the narrative along. Because of this, Arc Characters have both some freedoms and some restrictions that do not typicaly apply to normal characters. One can expect that Arc Characters will be given more leeway on their skills and abilities for approval, to allow for more credible threats on either side of a conflict. However, these characters are, as mentioned, not designed to be used again beyond their intended plot arc, and are generally expected not to appear in future arcs.

As a way to reflect the effort and narrative contribution involved in making an Arc Character, and playing them rather than one's own usual cast, Arc Characters will allow a player to accumulate Arc Points, which function much the same way as Burst Points, and can be cashed in at the end of an Arc for the same rewards as a Burst Reward Claim on one's usual cast. However, in addition to these, a player may also spend 100 Arc Points to transfer an Arc Character into their standard cast. It should be noted that this will still depend on the state of the character and their role in the narrative; characters who die in the course of an Arc or are similarly removed from the plot may not be transferred, and this transfer should be seen as an uncommon occurrence.

Arc Tracker
Over the period of an arc, threads that are relevant to the arc will be kept track of in a summary thread and serve as a synopsis as well as a general timeline of plot events that occured during the arc.