The Reclamation teaching system is an innovative aspect of game play that requires players to interact with each other in order to advance their characters' skills. In most MMORPGs, all that is required to advance is killing monsters, so players have little or no incentive to role-play and interact with other players in meaningful ways. In Reclamation, players learn new Arts and improve existing Arts with the assistance of other characters who agree to train or plateau them after they perform a task created by the teacher character.
The Reclamation teaching system provides both a mechanism to encourage interaction between players and a fertile backdrop for intrigue and role-play. Teaching also allows veteran players to interact meaningfully with more junior players, by giving them tasks and quests to complete in exchange for training. Lyra Studios has had extensive experience running a similar teaching system that has turned out to be one of the most innovative and most loved game play features in the game Underlight. Reclamation's teaching system is a second generation system based on everything Lyra has learned from Underlight.
In Reclamation, Mentors and especially Teachers are very powerful. Every player is a potential Mentor and is able to plateau another character's Arts. A Teacher is a character who is able to “train” other characters in new Arts. Teachers are selected by the Game Masters specifically trained to do so. Upon achieving Teacher status, characters can wear “halos” that help others identify them as Teachers. Because students seek them for training, Mentors and Teachers have the power to demand from their students anything they please, and can develop powerful alliances with their students. With this power come many responsibilities.
There are also mechanisms in place to monitor the activities of Mentors and Teachers with regards to the use of the Arts of Plateau and Train. All successful uses of these Arts are logged, and these logs are available for review on a regular basis. Those who do not follow Lyra rules for the teaching system will risk loss of their plateauing or teaching privileges. The teaching system rules will be readily available and will provide for a great amount of in-character freedom with only a few simple rules, such as that the task follow the three laws of Reclamation.
Furthermore, we will have both in-character and out-of-character assistance for everyone involved in the teaching system. The assistance will include materials and classes on the teaching mechanics themselves and the fostering of creativity within the system.
Every player has the opportunity to become the storyteller, and is given the power to promote the story and reward its completion. With such tremendous power comes the responsibility of deciding how one will utilize it. Will you bring honor to the Mentor or Teacher position? Or will your actions denigrate it? Only you can decide.
Important terms for understanding the Reclamation Teaching System.
Mentor - A dreamer who may Plateau the Arts of other dreamers.
Teacher - A dreamer who has passed the Ordainment ritual and who may train dreamers in new Arts.
Plateau - A Plateau is the level of an Art. Every Plateau increases the overall effectiveness of an Art.
Train - Train is an Art that gives a dreamer the ability to teach another dreamer a new Art.
Task - Task is an Art, and a quest or a reward one character will formally give to another at a time before plateauing or training. The Art of Task is used to create a task for a particular Art. Once created this task is placed in both the Mentor/Teachers' and student's taskbook.
The out-of-character goal of tasks is to promote in-game role-playing in all of its myriad forms. The in-character goal of tasks are as different and varied as player imaginations and character goals. The most important thing to remember as a player is that a task is for promoting in-game role-play.
Taskbook - This is a section of a character's Goalbook that pertains to the teaching system. All active tasks given as a mentor or teacher, and those received as a student can be found here for viewing. Players will have the option of archiving a certain amount of inactive tasks for future study.
I. Learning and Improving Arts
Every character is both Mentor and student. Every character starts with two of the basic Teaching Arts: Minor Plateau and Task. A player who wishes to devote more of his time to teaching may may take part in the Ordainment ritual to acquire the Art of Train and the higher level Plateau Arts, and in so doing become a respected Teacher of the dream. But not all will pass the Ordainment ritual, for being a Teacher is not the destiny of all dreamers.
a. Training (Learning) a New Art
Every Art has a minimum attribute requirement, and certain Arts may have other special requirements, such as a focus requirement. When a character meets that minimum, she is eligible to learn the Art to level 1. A character may acquire a new Art in one of two ways: she may go to a Teacher and be tasked to learn the Art, or she may use Personality Points. There are special situations where certain Arts will be granted automatically for occurrences like when a character attains a Guild rank, a Focus, or Train.
As a student, each character has the right to choose his Teachers as well as the right to refuse tasks which he does not wish to do. Teachers have the right to refuse to teach a student whom they deem unworthy and also to deny granting the Art if the task was not adequately completed. A Teacher will set the character on a task and upon completion, will grant the new Art. The task will generally be something that allows the character to contribute to the roleplaying of the game. See the Teaching Guide for examples and ideas.
b. Plateauing (Raising) an Art
As a character gains orbits, he acquires points which he may put into his attributes (elements). When his elements increase, he becomes eligible to plateau Arts based on those elements. With each rise in the base element, a character is eligible to plateau the Art by one level. The Art interface will show your character's arts levels as a pair of figures: current skill/maximum skill. So if you see 10/25, it means your current skill in the Art is 10, but you have enough element points to raise it to 25.
Each Art has a plateau timer based on real time. When a character first learns or plateaus an Art the plateau timer starts and he may not plateau the art again until the timer runs out. The plateau timer allows time for the character to master the Art at its present level before he can raise it again.
At Minor Plateau levels (1-19), the plateau timer is equal to the Plateau rise. So if a character has just plateaued his Gatesmasher from 10 to 12, he must wait 2 real time days before he can have it raised to 13. At Middle Plateau levels (20-49), the timer is twice the current Plateau rise in real time days. At Greater Plateau levels (50-79), the timer is 3 times the current Plateau rise in real time days and at Master Plateau levels (80-99), it is 4 times the current Plateau rise. That is: if a character has just plateaued her Cloak from level 80 to 85, she must wait 5 x 4 = 20 days before she may plateau it again. Note, the interface will tell you how long your plateau timer has to run for a given art.
When a character has enough attribute points and his plateau timer has elapsed, he may raise (plateau) his Art by one of two methods: he may seek a Mentor with the appropriate Plateau Art and do a task for the particular Art or he may spend Personality Points.
If the character chooses to go to a Mentor, the Mentor will assign a task based on the level of the Art and the interests of the student. The task will generally be something which contributes to the role-playing of the Dream. See the Teaching Guide for examples and ideas.
A character may only seek Plateau tasks from the same Mentor four times for each Plateau Art. So if he has gained four Minor Plateaus from one Mentor, he must find another Mentor when he wishes a fifth Minor Plateau. The Art of Task will let the Mentor know when these limitations have been met. At any given time, a character may have only 4 Minor Plateau Tasks, 3 Middle Plateau Tasks, 2 Greater Plateau Tasks and 1 Master Plateau Task.
II. Teaching
a. Ordainment
All characters are Mentors in that they all start with Minor Plateau and Task. Those characters who wish to become more involved in teaching may begin the Ordainment ritual. The Ordainment ritual will include being interviewed by specific teaching GM characters to determine her creativity and dedication, and then being asked to swear a Teachers' Oath that lays out the basic rules and expectations. But not all will pass the Ordainment ritual, for being a Teacher is not the destiny of all dreamers.
At the conclusion of the Oath, the new Teacher is granted the Art of Train and the higher Plateau Arts: Middle Plateau, which allows one to plateau Arts from 20-49; Greater Plateau, allowing one to plateau Arts between 50 and 79 and Master Plateau which allows one to plateau Arts from 81-99.
b. Mentoring
A Plateau Art enables the Mentor to raise (plateau) an Art the student already possesses. The Mentor may never plateau an Art past the level at which he himself has it. The Plateau Art may itself be plateaued to enable a mentor to grant students more than one level in an Art at a time. This number increases with every 20 levels that the Mentor gains in the Plateau art: 1-19 allows a Mentor to grant one level; 20-39 allows for the granting of up to two levels; 40-59 allows for three; 60-79 allows for four; and ultimately, 80-99 allows for a total of five levels to be granted to a student at one time. The Mentor will be able to decide how many Plateau points are given at the time of granting, as long as the amount does not surpass the student's maximum possible level for that art.
Thus, if a Mentor has Minor Plateau at level 80, she may write tasks for her students to plateau their arts for 1 to 5 levels at a time. This is always restricted by the Mentor's own art level and the maximum level attainable by the student. If Jasta has the Art of Cloak at 35 and her Middle Plateau Art at 80, she may grant a task for Davin to plateau his Cloak from 30 to 35, assuming that Davin is eligible to raise his Cloak that high.
The exception to the rule that requires the Mentor's art level to be higher than that of the student is when plateauing the arts of fellow teachers. In such a case, the Mentor's art level may be equal to or even lower than that of the student, and the only limitation is whether the student has the attribute levels to accept the number of plateaus the Mentor offers.
A Mentor may not task the same student for more than 16 plateaus; four times for each of the 4 Plateau Arts.
Train - Enables a Teacher to train a student to level 1 in a new art. The Teacher must possess the Art before he or she can train it. Granted at the completion of the Ordainment ritual by a teaching GM character.
Task - Enables the character to create a task for a student to learn or plateau an art. The task is placed in both the Teacher's and student's taskbook. Completion of the task requires that the task be present in both the Teacher and student's taskbook. Granted to all characters at creation.
Minor Plateau - Enables the mentor to plateau a student's Arts to levels from 2 to 19. This is governed by the student's eligibility and by the Mentor's own Art level and Minor Plateau level. Minor Plateau may only be used on a student four times. Plateauing Minor Plateau enables the Mentor to grant rises of up to 5 levels at a time. Granted to all characters at creation.
Middle Plateau - Enables the Mentor to plateau a student's Arts to levels from 20 to 49. The use and restrictions are the same as for Minor Plateau, except that this Art is granted when a Teacher is granted the Art of Train.
Greater Plateau - Similar to Middle Plateau in all ways except that it raises levels between 50 and 79.
Master Plateau - Similar to Middle and Greater Plateau except that it raises levels between 80 and 99.
Kalelle slowly crept through the forest, trying not to make any noise or disturb the trees or other inhabitants, for he knew that the one he sought, the hermit and Master Teacher Xenus, did not take kindly to visitors who did not respect the land! Kalelle was on an important mission - he had to find the reclusive hermit and persuade him to teach him in the lost Art of Razorwind, so that he might in turn teach it to others. Kalelle is already a respected Guardian in his House, and knowledge of Razorwind would make him a serious candidate for ascension to the rank of Ruler. Just then, Xenus appeared suddenly, jumping out of a tree.
"So, Kallele, do you come here to bring me news of the City? Or perhaps to share some fine wine under these magnificent trees?"
"Of course, Master! I shall spend the afternoon here with you among the forest's splendor...but first I must respectfully ask that you provide me with a task so that I may learn the Art of Razorwind."
"Ah, yes, I know why you come. Very well, let's keep it simple – I shall provide the training you seek after you perform the requisite task for me. You must give me access to your House's Prime for an hour, so I may use it to further my research. I will not harm the Prime or drain any power from it. After I am finished with my experiments, I will meet you here, and the Art of Razworwind shall be yours."
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Kalelle has a difficult choice here; Master Teacher Xenus and the Rulers of his House have a colorful and often difficult past, and there is much bad blood between them, so it is unlikely that the Rulers will allow him to give Xenus a House amulet, let alone access to the Prime. Kalelle must now decide what is most important to him – should he agree, fulfill his mission, and learn Razorwind at any cost; or should he refuse, in order to avoid any chance that his House's Prime may be harmed? Furthermore, if he decides to accept Xenus' task, Kalelle must decide if he should secretly provide the House amulet and divert his House mates for an hour or if he should openly ask the Rulers, knowing that if he is refused by the Rulers he'll be watched carefully and will likely not be able to complete Xenus' task.
The final decision will be based on Kalelle's personality, beliefs, and relationships with other characters; he may or may not trust Xenus, he may or may not care so much about the risk of giving Xenus access to the Prime, he may or may not care about his status and reputation in his House, and he may or may not have other options for learning the powerful Art.