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Writer's Workshop (mystery editor)
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Sleuth Admin
Sleuth Admin
Tale Spinner

Mar-16-2007 14:49

The power of Sleuth is now in your hands!

There is now an online Scripted Mystery editor available in the new Writer's Workshop section of City Hall. The idea here is better empower all of you to contribute your own content, which will hopefully keep things fresher for longtime players.

Also, if you just want to keep the mysteries you write private, you can can choose to do that. We'll be providing ways to share those private mysteries with your friends soon.

Note: Scripted Mysteries = Featured Mysteries, although since we're likely to have a lot more of them soon, eventually we'll start to "Feature" some of the "Scripted" mysteries, and the non featured ones will just be referred to as Scripted Mysteries. Confusing?

Feel free to use this thread for questions about the Mystery Editor and to discuss mystery writing.

If you had previously submitted a mystery by email, feel free to resubmit it through the tool. Doing so will also allow you to preview the mystery before it is published for public consumption.

I'm looking forward to see what you all come up with!


Replies

Anikka
Anikka
Babelfish

May-5-2007 18:14

Thanks Jojo, for answering. :-)

*stands in the waiting line*

Stooby
Stooby
Well-Connected

May-25-2007 06:39

The system for writing scripted mysteries has been fantastic. Huge congratulations for the development of it.

I've roughly sketched everything out and like the fact it remains private for tweaking. Now I know it plays all the way through!

I do have a question for finishing things off. How do I decide the difficulty level and what bearing will this have on the case?

Also how should I set the cooperation? I know it lets me decide how many questions can be asked before they initially clam up but what about the number of questions after the interrogation?


Stooby
Stooby
Well-Connected

Aug-13-2007 05:10

Does anyone have a clue about my questions in this post. I've seen many grumbles on the boards that show people are unhappy that they go to play a case and the difficulty level gives the wrong indication about the case.

Henry Walker
Henry Walker

Aug-13-2007 21:19

You know that name replacement thing? It sounds really cool, but is it up and running. I would like to use it in my story. How did the Doomslayer use it? Please answer by Sept 5. After that...the busy comes in and bye bye Sleuth.

Anikka
Anikka
Babelfish

Aug-13-2007 22:14

Are you referring to putting the detective's name into the story? If so, here is what Ben had to say in his March 22 post (in this thread):

"A few of the fields support the [DetectiveName] replacement tag. Try placing that tag in where you want the detective's name to appear and then preview the mystery. It should work in the intro, twists and ending, but I'm not sure. I'll try to get it active for other fields as well."

Since he has not posted since that time to say that it's working in other areas, I wouldn't bother trying them.

Hope that helps.


Stooby - to the best of my knowledge, we have no control over how many questions they'll answer after the interrogation/sweet talk. So, for the cooperation number, consider how many questions this person can be asked and try to be realistic.

My best answer to the difficulty level would be to set it at what you think it should be based on existing Scripted Mysteries you have worked. It should get you close to where it belongs.

Secret_Squirrel
Secret_Squirrel
Safety Officer

Aug-13-2007 22:19

I think difficulty level should be based not so much on no. of suspect or length of story, but on:

* the percentages you set for each suspect / witness AND the no. of opening questions you allocate

combined with

* any twist / research you might set that are necessary for plot progression.

and compared with

* previous mysteries difficulty level. [that will necessitate playing one or two SM's before writing one. A good idea, for all sorts of reasons, in my book]

That's not exactly a definitive answer, but there isn't one.

If your mystery is:

Sequential, A > B > C. No dead ends, false leads, chances of failure.
Has the suspects / witnesses set to %80 > %90
You allow the suspect / witness to answer many initial questions

Then regardless of narrative or length or number of twists it should be set to an easy level.

Likewise the opposite applies.

S'just my opinion.

Stooby
Stooby
Well-Connected

Aug-14-2007 00:31

The wisdom of the Squirrel strikes again!

Is the difficulty something the editors check to see if it is set realisticly? I took a bit of a guess on my SM, an educated one so perhaps that's all we can do!

Secret_Squirrel
Secret_Squirrel
Safety Officer

Aug-14-2007 05:32

I've changed at least one difficulty level to easier than what it was set at originally, for the abovementioned reasons.

So yeah I check 'some' times. But I'll always check now it's been brought up!

Henry Walker
Henry Walker

Aug-15-2007 18:18

Thanks Anikka, that does help. It took explaining.

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