The Mole Interactive Story: Season 2!
(The real life TV show this is based off can be found
here. The original Sims 3 adaptation of the Mole by TurnerSims3 is unlinked due to inappropriate content, but isn't hard to find. The first season hosted on this forum can be found
here.)
To fans of the last story, welcome back! To those brand new to the Mole, welcome! It's time for the 2nd season of The Mole Interactive Story! Since I really enjoyed writing this story and the contestants enjoyed playing it, I thought it would be great to do another one! Before I get into details, I should discuss what The Mole is all about.
First of all, The Mole is interactive; I am not doing this story alone. Each contestant in the story will be created and controlled by one of you forum-goers. My role is essentially that of a director, but you guys are the actors. Last time, there were eight contestants in The Mole, but I'm upping the ante with Season 2. This time, I will be accepting 12 Sims, 6 male and 6 female, to participate in The Mole. These contestants will be completing various challenges in order to add points (Simpoints) to the pot. (To give an example, one of the challenges in the first story was for one contestant to construct a room based on the other contestants' descriptions. Points were added based on the accuracy of the room compared to the original room)
The points will be added to the pot based on the results of the challenge. The better the results of the challenge, the more points are added to the pot. Each contestant has the ability to both add points to the pot
and to sabotage the challenge and take points away. Every contestants is allowed to, and
encouraged to, try to take points away.
There are two types of contestants: The regular contestants and the Mole. Eleven of the contestants will just be trying to add points to the pot, while also trying to figure out the Mole's identity and preventing anybody
else from figuring it out. Why are they trying to find the Mole? The Mole is special.
One of the contestants is called the Mole, and their job is very important. They are trying to sabotage the challenges in order to deduct points from the pot, while at the same time preventing anybody else from discovering their identity. When the Finale comes at the end of the story, the winner and the Mole will earn points: The winner gets the points added to the pot, while the Mole gets the points removed from the pot.
After every challenge, the contestants are given a quiz called the Execution Quiz. This quiz will have questions relating to the Mole. (Is the Mole male or female? What team was the Mole on? etc.) The contestant that scores the lowest on this quiz will be eliminated from the story. When only three contestants remain, (The Mole and two other contestants) there will be a Finale, which will determine the winner.
That's about it, or so it would seem. But as any contestant from the first story could tell you, you need a strategy in order to survive here. Without a strategy, the Mole will find you easy pickings indeed. So, what else is there to know?
Strategy!
First of all, and this is rather important: this is a story of sabotage and deceit. Each contestant wants to be the only one to know the Mole's identity, and the Mole themself wants nobody to know. Therefore, if everybody but the Mole earns their points, the Mole is exposed, they don't earn any points, and everybody knows the Mole's identity. Nobody gains from this. (Plus it's not good storytelling
)
Therefore,
everybody, not just the Mole, wants to sabotage the challenges. If a contestant intentionally takes points away, the others will suspect them of being the Mole, and their Execution Quizzes will not be right. By messing up, the contestant is improving their chances of staying in the challenge. This benefits the Mole as well, since the contestants don't suspect them. At the same time, the Mole doesn't want to always mess up, for similar reasons. By getting some things right, the Mole is able to deflect suspicion to another contestant, protecting their identity.
To summarize what I've just said, (since it's very important) here are the goals of the contestants, written in simple terms.
The Mole:
Remove as many points from the pot as you can, but do it so the others don't suspect you, thus causing them to go home.Everybody Else:
Add as many points to the pot as you can, but also make the others think you are the Mole, thus causing them to go home.If this doesn't make you paranoid over the course of the story, you're doing it wrong.
Challenges and Exemptions
The contestants will work together in order to complete the series of challenges. These challenges will generally divide the contestants into two or more groups, and put them in situations to both add and remove points from the pot. As stated, contestants will try to mislead each other during the course of the challenge, each of them trying to get a leg up on the rest.
One of the ways to do this is by earning an Exemption. What are Exemptions? Free passes! Any contestant that has an Exemption does not need to take an Execution Quiz, and are safe from elimination for that particular challenge. To earn an Exemption, you will generally need to take points away from the pot. You can decline an Exemption, of course, but they will often be highly prized. Since Exemptions remove points, a contestant may take one in order to trick their peers into thinking they're the Mole. The Mole themself might take an Exemption for the same reason, even though they obviously don't need it.
Do note, however, that taking an Exemption will often paint a very large target on your back. (Just ask Widonja, aka Martin, who took an Exemption in the first challenge and was hounded on for the remainder of his tenure) Of course, if you're trying to make others think you are the Mole, you probably wanted that in the first place.
Points and Rewards
... Because all you greedy Simmers care about are the points, don't you?
Once there are only three contestants left, there will be one last challenge, followed by the Finale. In this Finale, the winner and the Mole will be revealed, and they will each earn Simpoints equivalent to the points earned in the challenges. (1 point = 1 Simpoint) The winner gets the points added, and the Mole gets the points taken away. These Simpoints will be given to you in the form of gifts on the Sims 3 site. (If you win 500 Simpoints, I will gift you items that reach up to 500 Simpoints in worth)
Don't expect all of the points to be added to the pot in the end, because they won't. With 12 contestants trying to sabotage the challenges and disguise their goals, quite a few points will be lost.
Contestants
As stated before, there will be fourteen contestants this time, seven male Sims and seven female Sims. That means there will be fourteen forum-goers in this story. If you would like to participate in this challenge, just upload your contestant in this thread, and I will add you to the contestant list. Contestants will be accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis. Contestants from the last challenge are welcome to return, though I'd like you to use a different Sim. After all fourteen contestants are entered, I will secretly choose the Mole, and the First Challenge will begin!
Like the original Mole, I ask that at the end of every challenge, the contestants PM me a journal entry written in the point-of-view in your Sim. These journals will be used to help me understand your Sim better, and some parts of the journal may appear in the story itself. However, in order to make this story even more interactive, I'm implementing another system: Interviews!
If you have ever seen a reality TV show, (Survivor, The Amazing Race, etc.) you'll know that the contestants will occasionally be talking to the camera about the show. As a contestant of The Mole, your Sim will do the same! Every challenge, I'll post some guidelines to the Interview, and you'll respond from the perspective of your Sim. (For example, the first guidelines will be related to your Sims thoughts about being accepted for The Mole) These Interviews will be posted in the story as well, much more frequently than the journals. Of course, if there's something not in the guidelines you want to talk about, go ahead! These Interviews will make the story more interesting, and you'll be able to use them to spread rumors about the Mole...
Conclusion
(Wow, I've typed a lot.
)
Now we're finished. With this information, you'll be able to participate in a story of mystery, deception, and intrigue. Along the way, you'll complete challenges, earn or remove points, and survive the Execution Quizzes. All of this will culminate in the ultimate question:
Who! Is! The Mole?