Questions for Josh

[Ascanio Giovanni]

Ok. I figured this is the kind of thing people might be looking for.

As most of you know, I have been very vocally opposed to a reset every time it has come up. I would not say my position has changed yet, but I would like to hear your staff out on your plans before completely making up my mind. So with that in mind a few questions:


First and foremost, why is a reset necessary? What problems do you hope to solve by this extremely drastic nuclear option. Why can these problems not be solved by less extreme means?

Wrapping up current storylines: How do you plan to do this? How long will be given? How much consideration to each storyline will be given? Will we get a chance to realize some of our long term goals ideally? Or will the screen just go black like the last episode of the Sopranos?

XP: Do you plan on resetting everyone to 0 (or some other flat figure)? Or do you plan on keeping some/all? Giving back percentages? Do you plan to change the rate at which xp is accrued? Note that vampire is still the only sphere at ECC that has not gone to 3 per night.

Old characters: Under this model, could new versions of old (and possibly dead) characters be pitched again?

V20: Can we finally go to V20 please? If a reset isn't the time to update, I don't know what is.

History: What do you plan on doing for history since the history of this game has been almost completely written in game since its inception? Is your staff meeting and writing a new history of Seattle? By canon the city was taken by the Sabbat in 1999 when Petrodon was killed, so we can't just say "use canon" unless you are running a second Sabbat game.

Sects: Do you plan to only allow Camarilla coming in or will this continue to be a game that supports Anarchs and Independents as well? What would your reaction as an ST be if purely through PC action, the Anarchs or some cabal of Independents or even the Sabbat managed to take the city?

PC/NPC ratio: How much power are you prepared to let PCs have? Do you plan on re-instituting NPC leadership in an NPC Praxis (or kingdom or other oversight position that gets directly involved in the affairs of the city)? Or do you plan on letting the PCs continue to hold the reins completely? If so, how do you plan to deal with the problem of canon slippage (general eroding of canon bit by bit due largely to different canon interpretations and the vast array of misconceptions due to long history playing this game which contradicts the books in many ways)?

Canon: What are your thoughts on returning closer to canon with the way the Camarilla operates? This city for many years now has been regarded as the insane frontier town by staffs largely because the PCs clung to some rather strange notions that did not mesh with canon at all, and had to be seen as weird if canon was to be the norm. Do you plan on keeping that idea, more forcefully enforcing canon in game, or letting Seattle set the model for the rest of the world whatever they do?


And now for some general questions about your platform not directly connected to the reset:


Restrictions/Bans: How restrictive and conservative do you plan on being with what is permitted in game? What do you consider to be "rare" or "weird"? Please give some actual examples of your categories and the kind of things you feel belong in each category. I think we can all agree that things have gotten somewhat out of hand (even for me) but how far back to plan to snap the rubber band? Do you plan on banning some books or clans or disciplines outright, or will you continue the policy of at least hearing any concept and judging each thing on its merit?

Clarifications: Do you plan to keep any/all of the clarifications done by Sean's staff? Do you plan to write your own to add to/replace them? If so, are there any in particular you have in mind?

Home-brewed material: Do you plan to continue to allow home-brewed material to be researched and learned in game? Or will the creation of anything new go back to being the sole province of NPCs? If you do plan on keeping it, how do you plan to deal with the emerging problem of quality control? Do you plan on keeping the converted and new rituals that were added to several forms of magic for general consumption as well (keeping in mind that most of them are not actually home-brew, just converted from MET mechanics)?

Learning Times: Do you think we should go back to this? If so, what scale would you use?

Feeding System: Do you plan on keeping the feeding system instituted by Sean that officially we are still using? If not, what do you plan to use instead?

House-Rule Systems: Do you plan on keeping our house-rule systems such as Influence, Status and Lores the way they are or do you plan on overhauling them? If so, what do you plan on doing with them?


All right, now that I've completely overloaded everyone's brains with a flood of questions I will stop to let you get a word in edgewise. I will say I think you have put together a really strong staff that could be quite good for this game. It's just this reset that bugs the crap out of me. So convince me.

[Dimitri Vasilescu]

I can say for sure that there will be a V20 conversion.

[Josh]

Jaron thank you for your well thought out and clear questions. I am currently at work and typing a response to such on an iPad sounds awful.

First and foremost, why is a reset necessary? What problems do you hope to solve by this extremely drastic nuclear option. Why can these problems not be solved by less extreme means?

- The reasoning behind a reset is that over the course of the game so much has occurred that leaves each new player or character in a position to try and find a story that has not been told, a concept that is not a duplicate, and puts staffs in a position of trying to out do the last staff especially if they go the route of a large meta-plot. Furthermore I personally believe that should someone wish to take on the effort of rebalancing the game and resolving the large story and rules issues it would put a lot of players in a position as to why some characters get to keep some cookies and others loose their, nepotism would be a enormous hurdle.

Wrapping up current storylines: How do you plan to do this? How long will be given? How much consideration to each storyline will be given? Will we get a chance to realize some of our long term goals ideally? Or will the screen just go black like the last episode of the Sopranos?

- My plan would be to hold a general vote with a few options.
1. Clean cut: No formal wrap up, straight to the new storyline, characters, and roleplay.
2. Send offs: Give a wrap up to each character. Describe events that play out and conclude or bring resolution to story aspects of their character.
3. Gehenna: A one to three month plot ending the world.

XP: Do you plan on resetting everyone to 0 (or some other flat figure)? Or do you plan on keeping some/all? Giving back percentages? Do you plan to change the rate at which xp is accrued? Note that vampire is still the only sphere at ECC that has not gone to 3 per night.

- Right now it is hard to speak in absolutes. My general idea is that you will get back 30% of your character's experience spent just as if you retired or died well. Additionally I currently have no intentions of touching what is in your bank.
- In regards to experience earned we will be sticking to 2 experience a night. Player noms will function much like some of the other spheres. You nom someone for roleplay as you do now and it places a tally near their name, the three players with the highest nom tallies get the exp. Storyteller noms will still be present but they will be given out not for excellent roleplay but to people that help in a more OOC capacity to the game.

Old characters: Under this model, could new versions of old (and possibly dead) characters be pitched again?

- As the current thought stands you could bring in any concept that you previously played, alive or dead. The only caveats would be that the character would have to be approved based on the model and acceptability of the game and that NONE of the actions taken since that concept's first night of original play could be part of their back story.

V20: Can we finally go to V20 please? If a reset isn't the time to update, I don't know what is.

- As mentioned above V20 is very likely going to be a transition this staff looks to accommodate.

History: What do you plan on doing for history since the history of this game has been almost completely written in game since its inception? Is your staff meeting and writing a new history of Seattle? By canon the city was taken by the Sabbat in 1999 when Petrodon was killed, so we can't just say "use canon" unless you are running a second Sabbat game.

- This is one of the more interesting parts of the reset because I will be looking to the player base as a whole to help give this game it's history. Once the current story arch has ended (see the game ending question above), the game will have a series of vignette nights. These night will start at a point in Seattle history and move from that date and jump 5-20 years with each hop. These jump in time and the games that they consist of will allow players to have a very real hand in the construction of the Seattle history. You will not have 10 years of history to pull from, but you can say with earnest that your character has been an active political member of Seattle for over a hundred years and will be able to point to features, landmarks, and other points of history and lore that they helped personally shape!

Sects: Do you plan to only allow Camarilla coming in or will this continue to be a game that supports Anarchs and Independents as well? What would your reaction as an ST be if purely through PC action, the Anarchs or some cabal of Independents or even the Sabbat managed to take the city?

- The game is Camarilla themed and as such that is the focus of the setting. While Anarchs and Independents are certainly a part of the setting and therefore playable sects they are by no means the powerhouses. There will be ample defenses in place that a Camarilla city can call on to retain their grip of the city. In the case of a large uprising of Anarchs or Independents that take the city and seek to in turn change the setting I would either leave it to a vote of the players if that is the direction and as such story they want to run with or if said players of non-Camarilla factions are congratulated for completing their goal and the story fades away as they have in a sense brought about a reset. Hard to say, I think it is more of a question to answer in such an event that said question shifts from "if" to "when."

PC/NPC ratio: How much power are you prepared to let PCs have? Do you plan on re-instituting NPC leadership in an NPC Praxis (or kingdom or other oversight position that gets directly involved in the affairs of the city)? Or do you plan on letting the PCs continue to hold the reins completely? If so, how do you plan to deal with the problem of canon slippage (general eroding of canon bit by bit due largely to different canon interpretations and the vast array of misconceptions due to long history playing this game which contradicts the books in many ways)?

-In the matter of PC or NPC governorship I leave that to the players. As mention above with the vignettes comes the opportunity to seize power or lose it. Players are welcome to tempt fate and their unlives by grabbing at power with so many unknowns. Or maybe they way a few decades and try their hand once everything seems settled. The question at that point is if their target is too deeply rooted to be removed. Like many aspect of my staff I relish the change to let a player make a choice and letting the choose your own adventure unfold before them.

Canon: What are your thoughts on returning closer to canon with the way the Camarilla operates? This city for many years now has been regarded as the insane frontier town by staffs largely because the PCs clung to some rather strange notions that did not mesh with canon at all, and had to be seen as weird if canon was to be the norm. Do you plan on keeping that idea, more forcefully enforcing canon in game, or letting Seattle set the model for the rest of the world whatever they do?

- Canon, expectations, and social norms are going to be "encouraged" by the outside world. I can not control the actions of your character short of just Dominating them. So the next best thing is to let the world react to challenges against the norms. If you choose to flout millennia of tradition expect some backlash. Your dots are not sacred. You might show up in a harpy report with unflattering company. Such scandal might cost you an ally, maybe some status, perhaps your mentor is not interested in helping you out so much since you are less valuable in their eyes. The situation would determine the fallout but needless to say. If it is described as a norm or a very uncommon occurrence expect the world and in some cases your dots to reflect those choices you made.

---

And now for some general questions about your platform not directly connected to the reset:

Restrictions/Bans: How restrictive and conservative do you plan on being with what is permitted in game? What do you consider to be "rare" or "weird"? Please give some actual examples of your categories and the kind of things you feel belong in each category. I think we can all agree that things have gotten somewhat out of hand (even for me) but how far back to plan to snap the rubber band? Do you plan on banning some books or clans or disciplines outright, or will you continue the policy of at least hearing any concept and judging each thing on its merit?

- The game is ultimately going to reflect the setting and canon as a whole. If there is a swam of Salubri that is not quite going to fit so well as a number of Toreador. Will there be options for Ravanos, Tzimize, and Tremere? Of course there will be but it must make reasonable sense.
- An example of something "rare" that I have heard a lot of complains about are characters with vision or prophecy powers. As of right now I am think of limiting the number of characters with things like Oracular Ability to one or two. If you REALLY want to play a character that is a diviner of sorts play a Malkavian or wait it out.
- I am currently reading through all the V20 materials and as such do not know to what extent things were ported over. I can give a more detailed answer closer to the elections.

Clarifications:
Do you plan to keep any/all of the clarifications done by Sean's staff? Do you plan to write your own to add to/replace them? If so, are there any in particular you have in mind?

- What we are looking to keep, port, or otherwise carry on will be determined as we examine how we want systems working and interacting in the game. There is a lot of material to go through and we want the rules, in a way, to reflect the setting and more importantly the story.

Home-brewed material: Do you plan to continue to allow home-brewed material to be researched and learned in game? Or will the creation of anything new go back to being the sole province of NPCs? If you do plan on keeping it, how do you plan to deal with the emerging problem of quality control? Do you plan on keeping the converted and new rituals that were added to several forms of magic for general consumption as well (keeping in mind that most of them are not actually home-brew, just converted from MET mechanics)?

- Anything that is currently home-brew will come under extreme scrutiny. As such I do not know that will carry over. Furthermore the opportunities for players to craft home-brew rules will be exceptionally limited IF available at all. With that in mind if there is anything created home-brew it will be obviously and publicly displayed for proper transparency. Just as any player can expect reasonable access to books and other game content they should know if a new ritual, combo-discipline, or cooking recipe is available to them.

Learning Times: Do you think we should go back to this? If so, what scale would you use?

- Learning times will in likely be returning. As to the scale there will likely be a scale for Attributes, Out of Clan Disciplines, and Willpower and another scale for everything else.

Feeding System: Do you plan on keeping the feeding system instituted by Sean that officially we are still using? If not, what do you plan to use instead?

- I really liked the concept of the current feeding system. But after watching it in play for a year and a half it is hard to say how effective it is. I do not have an immediate answer for this but a rework at the very least would be in its future.

House-Rule Systems: Do you plan on keeping our house-rule systems such as Influence, Status and Lores the way they are or do you plan on overhauling them? If so, what do you plan on doing with them?

- This somewhat falls into the home-brew section. Anything from the previous setting/ruleset will come under scrutiny and must pass the rigors of evaluation before passing through to the other side. I think that some systems will move along with little to no change. Others may not fair as well, at least in their current state.

---

Thank you for your questions. Please keep them coming!

[Skir]

The reasoning behind a reset is that over the course of the game so much has occurred that leaves each new player or character in a position to try and find a story that has not been told, a concept that is not a duplicate, and puts staffs in a position of trying to out do the last staff especially if they go the route of a large meta-plot.

I don't really see how a reset addresses what you mention above. Whether my Toreador concept is similar to an existing Toreador concept before or after a reset is done doesn't change whether it is a repeat concept, a story that has been told, or anything else, since those have to do with our institutional memory, not the game continuity. Furthermore, I for one have never felt the need to not make a character concept I had conceded because someone made a similar concept 12 years ago, or even 2 years ago, and I no one else has ever mentioned such a sentiment to me either.

Whether staff feels a need to outdo previous staffs' metaplots or not is likewise not a reset issue. Again, a desire for one-upsmanship is a personal issue having to do with your own views of another staff's performance in the role as staff, not an issue of the game's story continuity. In fact, the only scenario where the game's story continuity comes into play in that regard is if you wanted to run the exact same plot that another staff did, which certainly wouldn't lend itself to outdoing that staff on originality alone, if such were the aim.

Furthermore I personally believe that should someone wish to take on the effort of rebalancing the game and resolving the large story and rules issues it would put a lot of players in a position as to why some characters get to keep some cookies and others loose their, nepotism would be a enormous hurdle.

I think what you are saying here is that the only way to create a balanced game is to straight up remove things from some characters that they earned through the course of play, and some people would be upset that they lost things while others kept them, thus, every character in the game needs to be equally removed from play.

Do you feel that removing things from existing characters is the only way to have a game worth playing? What are other approaches that you have considered instead?


The last six answers you gave, the questions relating to your general platform rather than the reset specifically, all had some form of "I do not have an answer and I will have to consider this" as their response. Since you decided to launch your election platform this early, when can one expect an exact answer to these questions?

[Decimus]

My first concern is, with V20 being essentially a guaranteed thing at this stage for this platform, we'll have yet another enormous upheaval of rules, systems, etc., which serves as a detriment to anyone not system-intuitive. We've had the better part of a year of system stability, following the sweeping changes under Sean, and at this stage people (at least seem to be) getting the hang of a lot of it. Throwing all of that on its head, and axing every character, bit of history, etc, seems a huge detriment to the majority of players.

[Barnaby Cuthbert]

Not speaking for Josh, but adding .02 to the conversation in response to some of the questions above.

My personal interest in the game's refresh stems from a number of issues:

On V20. Without counting clan novels, dark ages books or the victorian age supplements, there are over 100 vampire sourcebooks. Currently V20 has released 6 (if you count the Hunter's Hunted II and the 'adventure module' Dust to Dust. There will likely be a clanbook compendium, a Thaum book, a Sabbat book and a Dark ages book. I would guess that if they think people will buy it they may put together a book of cities as well. So maybe ten or so books. For simplicity's sake, that's extremely compelling. The PDF's are also searchable, text copyable and very readable. That's ease of use for the layman and ease of use for the storyteller. Conversion of existing/standing characters from oWoD to V20 is a terrible idea, simply from a manpower perspective. It creates a nightmare of individual bargains, compromises, power by power, stat by stat, equipment by equipment. Every single weapons card and ritual would have to be audited en masse. It's just not a good use of anyone's time.

On custom powers. Right now ECC has become a bit of a developer's game. What I mean by that is that there's a number of side games built around creating new rules for the game from within it. Crafts currently allows for this with the creation of gadgets, creation of rituals and combo disciplines is relatively free and open ended, allowing for standard powers to be negated by custom powers, and other custom powers to negate those custom powers - it greatly propagates an arms race-like environment. There are also Businesses that offer discipline-like powers to create Masterworks in an assembly line process. There are arguments to be made that the strict letter of the rules might not allow for some of these things, unfortunately from my perspective, in practice, over time, this seems to have become the case.

Take the advent of one problem, which I call: too many Oraculars, for example. There should be one, maybe two in a game this size in my opinion. There are, currently many more. A permissive game has allowed for say, five, maybe six. Users of the ability that consistently hone in on other player's actions (essentially PvP) created an interest in PC's creating 'oracular killer' rituals and combo-disciplines to block those things. To support that effort, players also collected multiple 'dice doubling' combo disciplines to crush opposition dice when enacting these new abilities. Fast forward a few months and currently, oraculars are engaged in collecting similar dice doubling combo-disciplnes, and creating new custom rituals just to get around the oracular killer abilities. To me, the first and easiest solution is to be less permissive. Cap oraculars. Be firm about it. Consider suggesting to players of Oracular characters not to 'jam the button down' on PCs each week. Maybe make a 'waiting list' for the merit.

Rare powers aren't. Separately from the issue of custom powers, non-custom available, yet supposedly rare powers are too easily available outside of the Clan, Bloodline, Sect and learning situation associated with them. A salient example; character death is no longer a real consequence for many, as many PC's have Lesser Trigger>teleport and layers of ghouls and/or Ushabti to wander around possessing. Collections of powers reserved for specific Sects, In-character Religions and Clans, that are meant to be 'jealously guarded' are traded freely among rival Clans with no reason to trust one-another. Even sunlight has lost it's bite. Special abilities are now anything but. Rare abilities are available on the 'open market' in game terms.

Rare clans and bloodlines abound. There are, by percentage, rather few 'pure' PC's in the game associated with the cardinal clans of the Camarilla any longer. When many clans host an infiltrator, it loses it's punch and appeal when one is revealed. It can easily become a shoulder shrugging moment for players when the 'big reveal' that a PC is a unique or controversial bloodline comes to light, and the role-play ends up being an 'of course you are' kind of blasé response because in-character, such things have become relatively commonplace. Special snowflake characters are now anything but.

These things may be indicative of a 'standard' oWoD LARP of the sort that is common all across the nation, but we're proposing to return to a style that is less permissive yet more transparent, where wits matter more than the ability to forge new rules that stay hidden until used in PvP (or in response to it). I would equate the current more permissive style with an 'adventure tabletop' style oWoD game, where characters regularly travel the world, PvP is limited because there's always an antagonist tossing war ghouls at you to kill.

I don't prefer the permissive style, personally. I prefer a style in which the story restrictions and origins of bloodlines, powers and rituals are taken into account in a more real way and when those restrictions are applied fairly and evenly across the board to all players regardless of relationship. The exceptions to this would be that those that leave the game better than they found it may have the opportunity to earn a jot of XP now and then as a thank you. I prefer special powers or bloodlines to be rare in the game to reflect the setting.

On continuity. Seattle's real history is a matter of record. Events like the Great Fire, the building of the Smith Tower, the 'bust' of the economy in the 70's when Boeing almost died, happened, this is just an opportunity for these players here in this time to insert their characters into that shared timeline. In this way, one might say that fairly one half of the history of Seattle will remain, because it must.

On telling 'the same stories'. Absolutely some similar stories will get told - which is to say the Sabbat will always be a threat, Elders on sheets will always move pawns around in the Jyhad, Hunters will perk up if the Masquerade is strained too often and botches will create consequences to overcome.

Thanks for reading,
Your friend,
Chris

[Omar Khessib]

Hey there, I just have some fine-tuning questions regarding the reset and history:

How early in history are these going to start? The establishment of Seattle as a settlement? Earlier? Later, once the infrastructure is already set?

How many games do you intend to spend per time period? A month per decade covered? A single game?

Are there any advantages/disadvantages for coming into the game earlier in history?

Thanks!

[The Mouth]

I have, believe it or not, taken a History of the Pacific N.W. course.

Couple of fun facts: Prior to the white folks rolling in, the greatest population density was in the Frasier River Valley up in B.C.

Small pox, measles, pertusis, but mostly small pox, kill lots of the local Natives starting in the 1760's through the 1790's.

The primary interest in the Pacific N.W. started when some exceptionally low grade furs were obtained by some, and memory is fuzzy, American but it could have been British sailors and then taken to China where they were sold for incredible sums. So incredible that the sailors nearly had a mutiny when they were informed that they were not sailing back.

From there you get the American and British expansion in the region, most of which was searching for a 'Northwest Passage' or a means to short cut from Europe to China across the Atlantic, and interference with possible Russian and Spanish claims.

First wave were fur traders. One of the earlier settlements was Astoria, named for John Astor, an American businessman. This first wave were highly encouraged to make connections with the locals, I.E. marry them. When the furs ran out and the next wave started this lead to some issues.

The next wave were settlers looking for land, mineral wealth, and get rich quick ideas. Or to put their names on settlements, most all of this phase following the Lewis and Clark maps.

Next phase after that were the farmers. Think Oregon Trail. The game. Yeah. Many were fleeing their creditors as a result of the Boom & Bust cycles of the US Economy in the 19th century, and most of that between 1840 and 1880.

Treaties with the local Native peoples were signed in this time frame. And no, they were not really advantaged for the natives. Read about Isaac Stevens to get some ideas of how not advantaged. Almost everything was negotiated and written in a pidgin trading language that no one spoke well. Attempts to protest the treaties were often met with violence on both parties.

Fights over the Pacific rail terminus determined Seattle as the dominate party in the region over Tacoma. Seattle was the staging point for the Alaskan Gold Rush which was several million people needing to get gear and head north.

Extraction industries like timber, some mines, and fish canneries got into full industrialized swing.

And I will stop there, because if you can't come up with something from that in ten minutes you should talk to me, or Chris S. or any of the other history nerds. For example: Linked Character Background: One Character was pushing hard for Tacoma to be the rail terminus, the other was for Seattle. Through circumstances beyond their control, Seattle was picked. The Tacoma guy has wanted Revenge ever since, the Seattle guy has had enough bad experiences with Tacoma dude that they are both ready to employ others in their little Jyhad.

Or blackmail them.

Boo yah.

[Decimus]

Half of the proposed ASTs have served partial terms, excusing themselves from the continued tenure of one or more staffs in the past. For what duration are the respective ASTs committing to? What assurances are there that these durations will be held to (barring things like emergencies, tragedies, and the like)?

Related, are there 4 ASTs? Will this grow, or are there additional who haven't announced/posted? With 2 couples already being confirmed on the staff, what advantages and drawbacks will be realized from this?

[Barnaby Cuthbert]

Barring some real life upheaval I've committed to a full 1 year term under Josh.

Regarding couples, the first time I was HST, Heather ran my team's paper table, and did a really great job at it. A lot of the traditions that exist today with that remain (especially since hers was the first for these games ever) are owed to her. I can honestly say that my first run would not have been as successful without her. Super solid choice to do that IMHO.

From an outsider's perspective (uncoupled with an ST that is), watching Josh and Tai and Jenn and Tate bounce ideas off of each other in our pre-quel meetings, it's pretty cool to watch. They all seem to balance each other out a lot. I expect some pretty cool things out of these folks. It's *so* cool in fact, I can't help but have a *little* twinge of jealousy that others will get to play under that kind of synergy.

*spoilers*

There is at least one other AST who will be posting here shortly and perhaps more. Real life is delaying that a little, but I suspect after that there may be another as well. I'll let them speak for themselves though. By the August election time you folks should all have a clear picture of what's in store though.

[Decimus]

Jun 17, 2014 8:48:43 GMT -8 Barnaby Cuthbert said:

There is at least one other AST who will be posting here shortly and perhaps more. Real life is delaying that a little, but I suspect after that there may be another as well. I'll let them speak for themselves though. By the August election time you folks should all have a clear picture of what's in store though.

With "life" occurring before the election itself, how will this be addressed on an actual tenure? This matters doubly-so with couples, as if one of them gets sick (Or, perhaps, a child), the other stays home to care for them. And even if the ailed party is OK to go it alone, that increases the likelihood of the other gaining the same illness.

Unrelated, XP reductions and resets that utilize them tend to result in a great deal of min-maxing, as players seek to maximize a now smaller pool of experience to put down on paper. What will be done to combat that?

[Omar Khessib]

Hey there folks,

You've stated that you have the intention to reduce XP spent on sheets but not modify banked XP. As a new player with a decent XP bank (I had some donations on my behalf during a donation drive) this fact makes me uncertain. I'm reluctant to spend any of my current XP and simply mega bank in case you guys win, because otherwise I'm throwing XP out the window. Though I haven't been to more than one game in a row, I can see this difficulty impeding my enjoyment of the game up until the election. Is there any way you can alleviate my concerns?

[Josh]

@innocenzo Giovanni 


How early in history are these going to start? The establishment of Seattle as a settlement? Earlier? Later, once the infrastructure is already set? 

- The plan is to have the first vignette start shortly after the Great Seattle Fire in 1889. The jumps are about 10-20 year jumps up to current time.


How many games do you intend to spend per time period? A month per decade covered? A single game?
 
- Each vignette will be a night in the time period. The time in between game will be a time for downtime and planning. Staff will be collecting and computing the results of all the actions to forecast result in the next jump. Some Seattle events will be immutable so that when we arrive at modern night Seattle we have a reasonably similar view to real-world Seattle landscape and events.


Are there any advantages/disadvantages for coming into the game earlier in history?


- I am working on a series of incentives for coming to the vignettes. I want them to be worthwhile without granting an unreasonable amount of power. Furthermore there are no real advantages to coming in after they are done other than you do not have the chance to die in the vignettes. Yes, while there are incentives to coming in early you risk character death. In all fairness though you also risk that on your first night and every night there after.


---

Great Questions keep them coming.

[Josh]

@asim

Half of the proposed ASTs have served partial terms, excusing themselves from the continued tenure of one or more staffs in the past. For what duration are the respective ASTs committing to? What assurances are there that these durations will be held to (barring things like emergencies, tragedies, and the like)?


- I am holding my staff to 1 year terms. While life outside the game can always happen I will be monitoring my Staff for stress so that I can mitigate the strain and reduce any really chance of burnout.


Related, are there 4 ASTs? Will this grow, or are there additional who haven't announced/posted? With 2 couples already being confirmed on the staff, what advantages and drawbacks will be realized from this?


- I do not see the couples as being an issue. Those that are on staff have been together for many years and are quite committed. We have the added benefit of knowing exactly how each other has troubles and can resolve communication breakdowns that might have occurred in previous staffs. Additionally though I do not believe it would have been an issue by having partners on staff you remove even the illusion of Staff to Player bias with partners.

With "life" occurring before the election itself, how will this be addressed on an actual tenure? This matters doubly-so with couples, as if one of them gets sick (Or, perhaps, a child), the other stays home to care for them. And even if the ailed party is OK to go it alone, that increases the likelihood of the other gaining the same illness.


- I don't think anyone plans to get sick and I will say that there may be games where people are absent. My goal is not to worry about every thing that might go wrong and instead build the proper structure around my staff that should we be down folk the Staff is not sitting lame and broken.


Unrelated, XP reductions and resets that utilize them tend to result in a great deal of min-maxing, as players seek to maximize a now smaller pool of experience to put down on paper. What will be done to combat that?


- I don't believe that having a lot or a little experience on a sheet or available has any impact on its use. Min-maxing occurs when a player chooses to do so. Any player can choose to build a character any way they want so long as it is in the rules. But you do yourself a disservice because part of the fun in a game is overcoming challenges. If you make yourself unassailable or possess the stats to simply beat any obstacle then you steal away your own story. I think that such is punishment enough.


@innocenzo Giovanni

Hey there folks,



You've stated that you have the intention to reduce XP spent on sheets but not modify banked XP. As a new player with a decent XP bank (I had some donations on my behalf during a donation drive) this fact makes me uncertain. I'm reluctant to spend any of my current XP and simply mega bank in case you guys win, because otherwise I'm throwing XP out the window. Though I haven't been to more than one game in a row, I can see this difficulty impeding my enjoyment of the game up until the election. Is there any way you can alleviate my concerns?


- I understand your concern but it regardless of if you have a large bank now or after on a new PC you are already behind the curve. You may now have a sizable bank but so do all the other PCs. Additionally they have many year old characters with 200-1000 more experience ALREADY on the sheet. 

So in a balanced outlook your bank is no different from other players banks. The only difference is that with the reset of characters it draws new players immensely closer to the same power scale as older players.

I have designed a way that will allow for a range of power levels but does not put any newer player so far out of reach that they can not play in the same scale as longer term players.

[The Mouth]

Are you guys going to have some sort of 'resolution' policy for characters who get to a certain XP mark? Example, 1k XP = a three month clock on that character having a bow out, major plot resolution, etc, and then going into the pool as a possible NPC for later play.

With your refund/bank process are you going to institute something similar to the 'Age' background, that instead of spending freebie points the player can purchase items at the increased costs listed for the Age background? Yeah, I know it's not V20, but I see bloat as a long term issue that needs long term solutions.

[Ascanio Giovanni]

V20 defaults back to the 2nd edition pre-week of Nightmares setting. With the reset do you plan to leave it this way or do you plan to accept the optional sidebars that keep that canon? This includes such events as the Week of Nightmares, the Assamite Schism, the 6th Great Maelstrom, the KOE invasion of the West Coast, the death of the Tremere antitribu, the coming of the Harbingers of Skulls, and the waking and subsequent actions of Baba Yaga and her armies in Russia.