Mid-round Events Proposal

src/en/space-station-14/Midround-events.md

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+**Events gameplay design document**
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+Mid-round events are designed to keep players engaged and the round interesting. Due to the nature of Space Station 14, players will often have more fun than others, depending on their role and how much they get to interact with the round, both proactively and reactively. This document defines mid-round, secondary, and primary events, along with their design goals. Secondary events serve two primary functions: giving opportunistic antagonists and plotting crewmembers the ability to achieve new goals, and giving reactive jobs/roles more consistent gameplay. Events designed for the latter scenario should be designed with those roles' pre-existing duties in mind; for example, avoid causing security to enter a point of no return, and avoid giving engineering too many overlapping issues without the interference of antagonists. This document aims to give a more concrete explanation of minor and major antagonists and how they appear in the round.
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+The intended experience of this document is to create guidelines for creating and retroactively reworking all mid-round events. Players should not feel annoyed or frustrated by secondary events; they should feel indifferent or thankful, depending on the circumstances, and, at worst, inconvenienced. Primary events are those that introduce a major antagonist or a major antagonist-level threat to the station.
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+**What is a secondary event?**   
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+A secondary event:
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+\* Is not an Admin event
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+\* Does not introduce any major antagonists onto the station (Nukies, wizards, traitors, etc).
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+\* May introduce minor antagonists onto the station (Rat Kings, ninjas, lone operatives, etc).
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+\* May temporarily disable station infrastructure.
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+\* May damage station infrastructure or harm crew on a small-scale.
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+\* May slightly benefit the crew while not being a significant detriment to antagonists or round flow.
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+\* does not effect the majority of crew in a significant way without either extreme resistance or negligence.
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+**Minor antagonists**
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+For the sake of this document, minor and major antagonists are mostly defined by how much of an impact they have on a round. Though some minor antagonists are capable of station-wide destruction, it requires significantly more effort to do so and can be easily combated by crew. Minor antagonists must not be an existing major antagonist unless it makes a significant difference in gameplay and follows the rules of a secondary event, such as the lone-operative.
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+**What is a primary event?**
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+A primary event:
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+\* Is not an Admin event
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+\* May introduce major antagonists onto the station (Nukies, wizards, traitors, etc).
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+\* Does not impede the majority of players agency
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+\* Does not single-handedly end the round or cause irreparable damage outside of a win-state or without extreme hardship.
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+**Major antagonists** 
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+Major antagonists are the primary source of round flow in Space Station 14; they do so by acting as something most crew should be aware of and by serving as the main source of gameplay for the security and medical departments. Major antagonists are able to function in a variety of ways and have varying levels of impact on the round; however, the appearances of major antagonists should rarely overlap during a round to prevent overwhelming the station. Similar to secondary antagonists, major antagonists may be introduced during an ongoing round in a primary event that supersedes most guidelines on mid-round events but appears very rarely or when the previous primary antagonist/antagonists fail to make an impact on the round by either dying, having all equipment confiscated, or completing objectives in a low-impact way.  
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+**Desired and undesired gameplay**
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+Secondary events are intended to act as background noise during a shift, letting players primarily drive the round regardless of whether they are antagonists or not. Following these policies, events are not intended to dictate round flow; instead, they allow antagonists and crew to drive the round forward as they see fit, while events keep players occupied and provide new opportunities. A typical secondary event should follow one of two designs: Large-scale and small impact, seen with temporary power-downs or solar flares blocking radio communication; or small-scale, mediocre impact, with hostile vent spiders appearing from vents in a small area, or some machines in medical becoming sentient and threatening to squash people. Anything that does not fall into these two categories would be considered a primary event and treated separately, alongside primary antagonists, in how it will affect the round.
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+The guidelines and reasoning provided are designed under three primary goals:
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+\* Give antagonists opportunities to progress their goals.
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+\* Prevent players from getting bored during a round.
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+\* Ensure rounds do not end prematurely or seemingly out of nowhere.
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+\* Define primary and secondary events.
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+Players should not feel like their experience of the round is completely out of their control; they should have an active role in the game, rather than passively experiencing everything around them, and mid-round events should reflect this. A player who wishes to simply sit and chat with the barkeeper or chef is able to do so without the game constantly interrupting them. Likewise, a player who desires the experience of a disaster simulator can pick engineer or security and have consistent issues thrown at them at a reasonable pace, rather than having either no issues at all or several thrown at them all at once.
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