The Travel Cycle
The Travel Cycle allows each Actor to make a Plan to leave the Stage he's in for another Stage. An Actor must be active, conscious and not occupied in order to participate in the Travel Cycle. The Actor must also be in a Stage, whose Door is open. There is one exception to this: an Actor who has finished traveling to a Stage (in other words, he has departed for that Stage, and the TimeToExecute for his "arrive at" Sentence has been reached), but who was unable to enter his destination (usually because the Door is closed). Such an Actor is considered to be located just outside his destination Stage, and may make a Plan to depart for another Stage.
If an Actor decides to leave for a Stage, he immediately performs the Sentence "XXX depart for YYY," where XXX is that Actor and YYY is the destination Stage. He also creates the Plan "XXX arrive at YYY." He sets that Plan's PlannedExecutionTime to a number of Storyminutes in the future equal to the distance between his current location and his destination.
There are several things that can motivate an Actor to leave a Stage:
Leaving due to Spying
If an Actor is spying on another Actor, he will follow his target everywhere. This means that, whenever the spy has a chance to travel, he will go to wherever his target is. If the target is in the same Stage as he, he will never leave that Stage unless the target leaves. In that case, he will depart for the same destination as the target.
Leaving for a Target Stage
If the above doesn't apply the Actor checks to see whether his Target Stage is set to anywhere other than "Nowhere." If it is, he will travel to that Stage.
Leaving in order to Perform a Plan
If the above doesn't apply, the Actor checks to see whether there's any Stage in which he could perform a Plan. He goes through his Plans whose PlannedExecutionTime has arrived, and tries to find Stages where their Audience Definitions are met. If he finds a Stage where a Plan's Audience Definitions are met, he will depart for that Stage. If he finds a suitable Stage for more than one Plan, he gives preference to the oldest Plan among them.
Leaving due to Boredom
If none of the above applies, an Actor might still decide to leave his current location out of sheer boredom. To decide whether he's bored enough to leave, the Actor compares the number of Storyminutes he has spent in his current location to his Cool_Volatile Trait. The longer he has been there, and the more Volatile he is, the more likely he is to leave the Stage. An Actor who leaves out of boredom may decide to go to any Stage in the storyworld. He chooses one randomly, but a Stage's chances are skewed somewhat according to his Unwelcoming_Homey for that Stage.
If an Actor decides to leave for a Stage, he immediately performs the Sentence "XXX depart for YYY," where XXX is that Actor and YYY is the destination Stage. He also creates the Plan "XXX arrive at YYY." He sets that Plan's PlannedExecutionTime to a number of Storyminutes in the future equal to the distance between his current location and his destination.
There are several things that can motivate an Actor to leave a Stage:
Leaving due to Spying
If an Actor is spying on another Actor, he will follow his target everywhere. This means that, whenever the spy has a chance to travel, he will go to wherever his target is. If the target is in the same Stage as he, he will never leave that Stage unless the target leaves. In that case, he will depart for the same destination as the target.
Leaving for a Target Stage
If the above doesn't apply the Actor checks to see whether his Target Stage is set to anywhere other than "Nowhere." If it is, he will travel to that Stage.
Leaving in order to Perform a Plan
If the above doesn't apply, the Actor checks to see whether there's any Stage in which he could perform a Plan. He goes through his Plans whose PlannedExecutionTime has arrived, and tries to find Stages where their Audience Definitions are met. If he finds a Stage where a Plan's Audience Definitions are met, he will depart for that Stage. If he finds a suitable Stage for more than one Plan, he gives preference to the oldest Plan among them.
Leaving due to Boredom
If none of the above applies, an Actor might still decide to leave his current location out of sheer boredom. To decide whether he's bored enough to leave, the Actor compares the number of Storyminutes he has spent in his current location to his Cool_Volatile Trait. The longer he has been there, and the more Volatile he is, the more likely he is to leave the Stage. An Actor who leaves out of boredom may decide to go to any Stage in the storyworld. He chooses one randomly, but a Stage's chances are skewed somewhat according to his Unwelcoming_Homey for that Stage.