Random Events Generator Program

[Poja]

Random Events Generator Program

 

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Roleplaying is hard right?  You don't know what to do, who to do it with it, or whether or not the idea you have is even going to work.  That's just the nature of roleplaying but it doesn't always have to be that way.  That's why we want to introduce you to the Random Events Generator Program, an experimental feature for all players on Eurth who want a little more variety.  This completely voluntary program will utilize dice rolls and predefined event prompts as a means to help players "figure out what to write," as well as throw up some challenges, perhaps as a way to break a writing rut, defeat boredom, or simply just to spice things up a little.  So with the blessings of our staff, please read below.

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How does it work?
There are three events categories: minor, moderate, or major.  Within each event would be an outcome: bad, neutral, or good.  It goes without saying that bad would have a negative impact on your nation while good would have a positive impact.  Neutral would be just that, neither positive nor negative.  Event categories will define not only the scope of the impact but also the requirements and rewards.

Minor events, would have the least impact on a player's nation and, in effect, cause no lasting changes good or bad on your nation, regardless of the outcome modifier.  Minor events would be addressed with the least amount of effort, such as a news post or a single post (we'll make a single, collective thread to post minor events in) that is perhaps five to eight decent-sized paragraphs long (100 - 200 words).  Examples of minor events could be a worker's strike or a small political scandal with a lesser government official or bureaucrat.

Moderate events , would have some effect on your nation but it would be localized, affecting a single, geographic area or sector instead of your nation as a whole.  It would be addressed through a series of news posts identical in size to those in minor events or a thread but need at least three or more posts for completion.  In a way, this would resemble a three-act play.  The first post would be the setup (introducing the event), the second post would be the confrontation (the progression of the event), and the third post would be the resolution.  Examples of a moderate events would be an air or train disaster, a serious political scandal affecting someone in the cabinet or maybe the vice president, low crop yields, a major incident at a non-nuclear power station, or a localized natural disaster such as the 2024 Spain floods.  

Major events, would affect your entire nation as a whole.  These would be significant in nature and could change the lore of your nation, which is why it is important that this program is completely voluntary.  Major events would be addressed with a formal thread requiring at least five posts of perhaps 750 to 1,000 words per post.  Look at these threads as "writing and wurldbuilding projects."  The progression of the thread would be simple to the three-act play but you would want to spend more time on the confrontation and resolution than the introduction.  Examples of major events could be the assassination of a leader, a coup attempt, widespread massive protests (such as we often see in Iran), a major natural disaster, or an election going sourly.

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How do we play?
The program would utilize dice rolls.  We will do this in our Discord server using the bot.  There would be a master spreadsheet of all of the scenarios and their categories and outcomes, each assigned a unique, numerical identifier.  Two dice rolls would then occur, the first to determine the event and the second to determine the outcome.  

As a player you could request dice rolls only in one of the event categories or take the risk and run it wide open.  Maybe some of you like to gamble?  I think it goes without saying that, because this is voluntary, you could "opt out," if the dice roll is something that you do not want to explore in your nation or that would simply affect your lore too adversely.  However, before an immediate "opt out," think about it for a little and see if maybe this would be interesting to you.

For something like natural disasters especially, we can even make it so that events affect more than one person if two or more people wish to collaborate together.  This would more likely be for moderate or major events but perhaps there are scenarios for minor events as well.  Creativity knows no bounds, except the ones you set.

There would be a built-in cooldown period after each dice roll so that you don't go through all of the scenarios too quickly.  In addition, only one active scenario could be open at a time as an encouragement to "finish what you started."  The cooldown period isn't to discourage creativity or participation and so it would only be perhaps a day for minor, a few days for moderate, and maybe a week or two for major, all to be determined.

The spreadsheet would track which scenarios you've completed to avoid repeats.

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Rewards
We want to encourage people to participate so the successful completion of an event will award a certain number of points: one (minor), three (moderate), and five (major).  

What do the points mean?  Not a clue!  I'm being honest here, I haven't yet figured out an end game for the points but there's no reason we can't keep a tally and work together to come up with some sort of trade-in your points for a reward scenario.  Let's think to the future a little.

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What's next?
Feedback, we want your feedback.  What do you think?  This is an OOC topic so share your thoughts.  Eurth is a cooperative roleplaying wurld, nothing should be done inside of a box.  

After you've shared your feedback, share event ideas.  We want to have as many ideas as possible to prevent the events from getting too stale.  Let's have 100+ minor, 50+ moderate, and maybe 20 - 50 major (they're major after all).  Are there scenarios you think would be interesting?  Share them.  Don't be shy, there are no bad ideas.

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Screen recording

This is a screen recording of our demo session of 15 December 2024.

[Poja]

Events list so far

• Minor
  • Workers in <BLANK> are unhappy with <BLANK> and go on strike
  • A <BLANK> was caught in an inappropriate relationship with a staff member
  • A <BLANK> was caught up in a pay-to-play scandal involving <BLANK>
  • Inclement weather caused massive aircraft/train delays causing widespread pain to many travelers.
  • A ban on smoking in restaurants has been put in place and smokers aren't happy
  • Your government has enacted laws against drinking and driving
  • A famous celebrity has suffered a major incident (well major to them)
  • The underdog sports team has won the championship (or did they lose?)
  • The circus is in town!
  • There's a high-speed chase on the freeway and motorists aren't having it
• Moderate
  • The region of <BLANK> has suffered torrential rain and massive flooding
  • Due to <BLANK> an airliner has crashed killing hundreds
  • A passenger train has derailed and people are dead and injured and there are widespread system delays
  • A cargo train has derailed, caught fire, and caused massive but localized ecological effects
  • The vice president was recorded purchasing illegal narcotics and scandal has rocked the cabinet
  • An exceptionally severe winter has caused crop shortages to <BLANK> for the next year
  • Flooding or drought has adversely affected the <BLANK> growing region and caused significant damage to farms
  • Domestic terrorists have attacked an electrical substation causing significant damage
  • An exceptionally bad flu pandemic has struck your country and caused more deaths than usual
  • A major bridge has collapsed due to <BLANK>
  • The king is dead, long live the king! (could be minor or major you never know)
• Major
  • The leader of your nation has been assassinated
  • There has been a coup attempt and it may or may not have been successful or maybe you just false flagged it to purge your government?
  • Massive, popular protests have broken out in your nation in response to <BLANK> and this could mean revolution or do you turn off the internet and massacre them?
  • Your nation has suffered a massive earthquake of tremendous proportions
  • The latest election predicted <BLANK> would win without a challenge but has actually lost, putting a government in office that does not have your nation's best interests in mind
  • There has been a major terrorist attack in your nation (could be cooperative too)
  • Your country has been affected by a massive famine and there are hundreds of thousands dead
  • You have suffered a revolution and the new government is repressive
  • A major exposé has uncovered such widespread corruption in your federal law enforcement authorities that few are trustworthy anymore
  • It has been uncovered that many of your nation's politicians and wealthy elites are violating tax laws, committing fraud, and evading international sanctions but what happens to the journalist?
• Cooperative
  • A massive natural disaster has struck, affecting the entire region
  • Escalating tensions lead to a series of border incidents that could turn into a war or be diplomatically resolved
  • A major humanitarian crisis in a neighboring nation has led to border closures raising tensions
  • A change in government has led the cancelation of a significant treaty
  • A newly elected government has decided to introduce punitive tariffs on another nation
  • A major change in policy has led to the cancelation of foreign aid, threatening <BLANK>
  • It is discovered that a friendly nation has been hiding a wanted terrorist
  • In a time of elevated crisis, <BLANK> has shot down a civilian airliner belonging to your nation
  • Your neighbor has decided to build a wall
  • Your leader has been assassinated and the assassins are linked to <BLANK>

Google Sheet

Sheet Access Here

Edited January 4 by Poja (see edit history)

[Charkov]

For the points, maybe they could be used for completely positive events? E.g. X amount of points for a short boom in the economy (more tourists or something), more points leading to a bigger boom or more long term improvement. Obviously staff would have to approve the next one, but a small expansion could also be on the table if you have a lot of points. Or maybe just something nice happens, 'On the national day, our country set a new Wurld Record for the largest fireworks show ever.'

Maybe we make a leaderboard for the most points, although that isn't much incentive it could be enough to kick-start it.

Edited December 3, 2024 by Charkov
Added leaderboard idea (see edit history)

[Poja]

We're going to run a little "sneak peek" preview on the Events Stage on our Discord on Sunday at 16:00 GMT so tune in and if you have any questions, submit them here for answering during the event.

Edited December 14, 2024 by Poja (see edit history)

[Welkija]

Paying my fee by suggesting scenarios:
FILM FIESTA EDITION
Minor: A new movie wins the [nation name] film of the year award, what do people have to say about it?
Moderate: For some reason a prominent film in your country has been banned from sale, why? How do people react?
Major (Co-operative): A foreign nation has filmed a documentary which portrays your nation poorly and accusing you of human rights abuses sparking a diplomatic incident 

[Poja]

We have our first major event thanks to @Welkija how will it turn out?  Tune in to see!

Massive, popular protests have broken out in your nation in response to <BLANK> and this could mean revolution or do you turn off the internet and massacre them?

Dice rolled neutral outcome.

 

[Mikochi]

Some random ideas I thought of in my hotel room.

Minor Ideas:

A poorly thought out advertisement has hit TV and your people aren't happy.

A popular travel vlogger visits one of your cities.

A popular company undergoes a radical reimage and unveils a new product.

Your leader is due to deliver a key speech that could define their term.

Your leader's !Spotify account is leaked.

Moderate ideas:

A suspicious figure is arrested outside your capitol building.

A building collapses following neglect from it's management agency  - several are dead and many remain stuck under rubble.

Cooperative:

A foreign agent from <BLANK> is discovered working in your country's civil service.

[Poja]

I wanted to try out a minor one and rolled this

A <BLANK> was caught in an inappropriate relationship with a staff member

 

It was a bit of a challenge to write actually so I think it certainly achieved something good in that it forced me to write something I don't think I'd typically give any attention to.

[Poja]

Update to where we stand right now.  The goings are slow for new prompts but all of the ones suggested here and on Discord have been incorporated.  You can access the sheet on Google Sheets here.

• Minor Events: 19 of 150
• Moderate Events: 31 of 75
• Major Events: 17 of 50

These numbers represent the # of scenarios available out of how many I'd like to see us have as a minimum.  I'd love to exceed all of these metrics by 2x so we have no shortages.

 

Thank you

[Jarub]

I love this concept! Here's a number of ideas I've had, feel free to use as many as you'd like.

Minor: 
A former convict has released a memoir about his time behind bars
A previously-unknown author has released a best-seller in the <BLANK> genre
A local video game studio has released a best-selling game, where you play as <BLANK> in <BLANK> 
A local music artist has gone viral for their new song in the <BLANK> genre
A new pop song has been released, and its lyrics protest your government!
Your money has gotten a facelift! The new designs feature <BLANK>
It is the <BLANK>th anniversary of the birth of one of your national heroes, and his hometown/the capitol is throwing a parade.
An internationally-beloved cooking show has highlighted your country's cuisine.
Social media has discovered a particularly... *interesting* culinary tradition from a region of your country, and international users are poking fun at your country for the dish
A former leader/important politician of your country has passed away
A new species of <BLANK> has been discovered in your country
A fossil of substantial notability has recently been unearthed in your country
Ancient ruins have recently been unearthed in your country
A young child was recently rescued from a <BLANK>, and the nation is praising the hero who rescued them
One of your well-known companies is the victim of an overseas knock-off competitor's look-alike brand, due to lax copyright protections
The nationally-beloved pet of the royal/presidential palace has passed away

Moderate: 
One of your agricultural sectors has been affected by an outbreak of disease
A prolonged public/legal campaign has brought about a new constitutional amendment (if applicable)
An industrial accident has occurred, and the death toll is in the tens/hundreds!
A domestic terrorist attack has targeted local police/politicians
A major company in your country has gone bankrupt! (if applicable)

Major:
A major trading parter has placed economic sanctions on your country!
One or more sectors of your economy have collapsed!
 

[Poja]

@Jarub What an excellent bunch of suggestions.  Every single one of the minor ones was unique so I've added those into the prompt list.  For moderate we did have some of these in some variations but these are more specific so I'm including them as well.  Oddly enough, we didn't have the economic sanctions how'd we miss that one!  It's a cooperative one I think so I'm putting it there.  

With your suggestions we're now looking at:

• Minor Events: 35 of 150
• Moderate Events: 36 of 75
• Major Events: 19 of 50

[Poja]

Making a request that threads (not newsposts) doing moderate & major events use the tag REGP so we can associate threads with it.  We'll still plan to do a consolidated thread for minor events that people don't want to clear with news posts.

[Florentia]

This is honestly quite impressive. I may have a few ideas, but is there a list of all the events already proposed ? If not, I believe it would greatly help the creative process to be able to access a single list of all the events. It could not only help seeing what was already created in a single, centralised list, but could also give inspiration to other players.

[Poja]

Yes the list is available in a Google Sheet linked above but it’s here too. Shares all the ideas you got.

[Poja]

There is currently a poll in the Discord in #wurldbuilding for an event being moderate or major. The poll is running for 3 days. Please take a chance to vote here.

[Poja]

On 1/5/2025 at 7:36 PM, Poja said:

There is currently a poll in the Discord in #wurldbuilding for an event being moderate or major. The poll is running for 3 days. Please take a chance to vote here.

Poll results concluded 44% (7) for moderate and 56% (9) for major.  As a result, "a motion of no confidence..." will be changed from a moderate event to a major event.

[Mikochi]

I rolled "There's a high-speed chase on the freeway and motorists aren't having it".

Decided to put a sharky-spin on it! This forced me to actually make my first newsroom post since joining Eurth!

[Charkov]

I rolled 'A very unexpected fog bank settles over a major freeway causing a multiple-vehicle collision with dozens of vehicles'. I then also rolled a bad outcome. Here's my fee:

Minor: A group of hikers that went missing have been found.

Moderate (Individual and/or cooperative): Two ships struck each other, (another dice could be rolled, 0,1 or both of the ships sunk).

Major: A skyscraper in :CITYNAME: has caught fire and was destroyed.

Working on the news post now.

[Garindina]

I have 3 Minor ideas: 

[place] experiences record high/low temperatures!

Local celebrity goes missing!

Local crazy man goes on a rampage! [basically Flordia man]