How To Make Ribbons

This is a work in progress as the ribbon creator is a work in progress, and I've guessed some of it - but here's the current ribbon creation / editing checklist:

1. Each item must have an Item Type. There are several possible cases here:
   1. You're creating something based on an ordinary artisan item which is already in the system. Pick that item from the list. You can give it a new name etc later.
   2. You're creating an entirely new artisan or other bondable item that hasn't been put on the system yet. Pick one of the 'Unique X' entries from the list, where X is a type of item (e.g. Unique Arcane Weapon).
   3. You're creating an item with a one-shot use, like a potion or a ritual-in-a-can. Pick 'Unique Non-bonded Item'.
   4. You're creating a ribbon for something with no actual magical properties, e.g. so it can be investigated. Pick 'Non-magical item'.
   5. You're creating a ribbon for a ritual text. Pick 'Ritual Tome'.
2. Decide if you need to fill in the On Activation or On Bonding field.
   1. If you're just creating a standard item, you can leave this field alone.
   2. If you are using a standard item which already has properties but you want to e.g. add a RP effect, append it to the text that should have magically appeared in this field.
   3. If you're creating a non-magical item, is it something which you 'use' in some way (e.g. some terrible eel liquor)? If so, put a description of what a ref should tell someone who uses/drinks it here. If not, feel free to leave it blank.
   4. If you're creating a unique bondable item, put the text that a ref should read to the player when they bond the item here.
   5. If you're creating a unique one-shot item, put the text that a ref should see when a player is trying to activate it here (this might include activation conditions as well as the effect on activation).
   6. If you're creating a Ritual Tome, edit this text to refer to the ritual that it can teach.
3. Decide if you want to override the ribbon name.
   1. If you're just creating a standard item, or a unique bondable item of a specific form, you can leave this field alone and it will default to the underlying item type, e.g. Ring or One-Handed Weapon
   2. If you want the ribbon to call the item something fancy instead, you can enter that here
   3. If you're creating a Unique Non-bonded Item or a Non-magical Item, you must give it a name here
4. Decide if you want to add visible text
   1. Visible text is an always-on effect which is printed on the ribbon.
   2. Remember that people tie ribbons to things and generally abuse them - don't put an always-on effect that they need to react to quickly, especially a long rambling one, on a ribbon - remember that someone is going to have to read the ribbon, possibly having to untie it first, before they take your effect. Good ways of getting around this are effects that happen 'when you concentrate on this item' or which say things like 'you start to feel...' rather than 'you feel...' - but also you want to keep the word count down and front-load things that are very important or obvious.
5. Decide if you want to change the expiry time
   1. If you're creating a standard item or a unique bondable item, it will default to having a year to run - feel free to reduce this by editing the second dropdown, especially for powerful items.
   2. If you're creating a Unique Non-bonded Item it will default to Expires on Activation - if it's actually an always-on effect rather than a one-shot please consider giving it an expiry date by changing to Expires At Event and picking an event in the next year.
   3. If you're creating a Non-magical Item it will default to Not Magical, which should be fine - if your item expires you should probably be thinking of calling it a Unique Non-bonded Item instead, even if it's not strictly 'magic' that is powering it (e.g. an expiring foodstuff).
   4. If you're creating an artifact or similar item, pick 'Permanent Enchantment' to stop it expiring.
6. Pick who created the item
   1. If the item was created by an actual character that is already on the system, enter their CID here. Don't create a character for your NPC on the system unless you've already done so. If you enter a CID here, you should not enter a Creator Name - the system will automatically pick it up from the character record.
   2. If the item was created by some entity other than a character already on the system, fill in the Creator Name field instead. You should not fill in a CID if you fill in the character name field.
7. Generally you shouldn't mess with the 'Event Created' field - it will default to the current or upcoming event. This is an OOC field and used for tracking 'when did this ribbon get created', not 'when did this item get created' - if that's important, stick it in Item History later.
8. If your item is in any way linked to a plot (i.e. not player action like Timeless Hammer Rhythm) then put the name of a relevant page on the plot wiki in this field. You want to use the section of the URL after http://www.profounddecisions.co.uk/empireplotwiki/ - e.g. if your plot is http://www.profounddecisions.co.uk/empireplotwiki/Plot:Deadening_Cold_Meat#War_Rhino_Rides_Again then you would put Plot:Deadening_Cold_Meat#War_Rhino_Rides_Again in this field.
9. You can usually leave the Detect Magic field blank - it will default to telling them the bonding or activation effect.
   1. Put an entry in here if Detect Magic should return different information (e.g. if there is a Night obfuscation effect on the item, or some of the on-bonded properties are non-obvious properties like hidden RP effects and hidden curses)
   2. If you put something in this box, it should contain all the information a ref needs to deal with Detect Magic on this item, including a repeat of the parts of the bonding/activation effect that detect magic can detect.
10. The Divination Result field is for Bright Lantern of Ophis and potentially for similar ritual effects if any are put together.
    1. If your item is a standard item, don't worry about this field.
    2. Similarly, if your item is non-magical, don't worry about this field.
    3. If your item is under a Night obfuscation effect, mention it first and give its magnitude so that the ref can check whether the divination has pierced it.
    4. If your item has an activation effect, explain how to activate it in this box (even if it's really obvious, like 'drink it' or 'use it in a ritual').
    5. If your item comes from a particular source (e.g. an Eternal), detail that here too.
    6. If your item has any hidden or interesting magical properties, or any conditional effects or 'gotchas' (e.g. 'Skathe can tell if you activate this item', 'You will have a terrible nightmare tonight and be weak tomorrow if you use this') write them in here; you don't have to reveal spiritual / hearth magic curses here but you do need to at least mention magical ones, although you don't need to go into any great detail.
    7. You might also provide instructions to collect an Arcane Projection from GOD to provide to the casters which lets them interact with the item in some way.
11. The Curse Details box is for Wisdom of the Balanced Blade and potentially for similar ritual effects if any are put together.
    1. If your item isn't cursed, don't worry about this field.
    2. If your item is cursed, you must provide the following information in this field:
       1. The realm of the curse if it's magical, and the magnitude if it has one
       2. Exactly what the effect of the curse is, in detail
       3. How much longer the curse will run for
       4. Anything that can be done to change the behaviour of the curse
       5. At least one method of removing the curse; 'kill a player character' or 'beg an Eternal for help' cannot be the only method of removing the curse, but a high-magnitude ritual can be the only other method (Transmogrification of the Soul's Echo and The Serpent's Stone are always good fallbacks).
    3. You may also provide the following information:
       1. Where the curse came from - what entity or power is responsible for it
       2. Instructions to collect an Arcane Projection from GOD to provide to the casters which lets them interact with the curse in some way
12. The Item History box is for Skein of Years and possibly also for CS historical research etc.
    1. If your item's history is not very relevant, don't feel that you need to put anything in here - this only shows very significant moments, and most items may well not have picked up any.
    2. If your item has a lot of history, try to limit this to the most significant moments.
    3. If you run out of space in this box, consider what Skein of Years should return, write that in the box, and put the rest on the plot wiki page.