Schetzle for HST Candidacy
Mar 14, 2016 10:34:48 GMT -8
Shah-Khohr of Ventrue, Klaus von Klempt, and 1 more like this
Post by Barnaby Cuthbert on Mar 14, 2016 10:34:48 GMT -8
Hello humans who play dead and near dead things!
I am Chris Schetzle, and I am announcing my candidacy for HST of vampire.
Why would I do such a crazy thing, you ask? For love of the game, and for love of the community, and for love of the story.
I can't say that any organization has meant more to me over the years than ECC. It's been my home, my inner circle, my creative outlet, the source of some of my greatest challenges, a constant teacher, and a room with unlimited doors to enter and explore.
I've played in these games since... welp, I dare not say it, lest, like the picture of Dorian Grey, I meet the gaze of my own image and crumble suddenly to dust.
This will be my 3rd potential run as HST for vampire, and my 6th stint over all for vampire at ECC as a storyteller of some sort. I run all the websites, except for the spreadsheets and forms that Brad "Google" Lewis manages.
My Platform: More of the same! We've got a good thing going. Let's keep it up!
It may not be super exciting, but I don't plan many changes. I don't plan to add or modify lot of rules unless something specifically requires attention. There are a couple of things that will come up that contradict each other in the texts or that offer 'storyteller discretion' that I might say: Here's what we have decided of the options available.
Clarifications I will make: Cards!
If cards have not been clarified by the time I step up, I'll do those. Since cards are a 'meta system' that plays in a layer above the greater game, there could be a couple of revisions potentially. The goal was always: Incentivise NOTR donations (to pay rent) with useful 'potions' for use in game.
I will:
These are all proposals I have made to current staff, and might be presented prior to Josh's step-down, but I'm not counting on that, so I'm putting this out here for transparency so that folks will know my thought processes going forward and where I see the need for some changes. Some of these ideas I didn't directly think of, or were part of a collaboration, but many of them were the result of talking to players and coming up with my own ideas that I have presented to the existing staff.
Address fundraising shortfalls: Solutions!
Unfortunately, numbers-wise, even with those card incentives, Vampire donates dramatically less than Werewolf, for example each month. That's sad to me. I will work with NOTR to consider what might help with that. If we can't pay our rent, we can't continue to enjoy this lovely game, and boy would that suck. So I might ask you for money in some creative ways? My goal would be not to burden players, but to accurately and transparently express our needs as an organization so that we can all make informed choices about how we support the games we love. Maybe you guys will tell me: "Look, just charge $2 a night at the door and call it good man," in which case, sweet. But if that is just unconscionable, welp, I'm open to suggestions, but we just have to make rent, or game stops in the winter months. This is a harsh and real possibility if we don't find ways to step things up in that way.
Things I definitely will be looking at going forward that represent changes: New Books!
There are a number of new V20 books coming out this year that I'll review and consider as they are made available:
Lore of the Bloodlines
Beckett's Jyhad Diary
V20 Ghouls
As with the release of other books, the process will stay the same. Staff will review them, see how they fit in with the world, and if there are any clarifications needed we'll address them, then approve the new books for play. I don't have a specific timeline for that because we're never exactly sure when there will be new books released, but if you're familiar with how that has been handled in the past, I'll do it pretty much exactly the same.
Things I plan to do more of: Podcasts!
People seemed to enjoy those, and they are informative. So I will likely be bringing those back and doing more of those. I will also do some general advice videos for how to deal with common pitfalls and such. I have actually already recorded a half-dozen of these that I just haven't had time to edit yet.
Things I plan to keep doing: General Badassery
Tell great stories!
Reach out to new players, and reward players who talk us up!
Thank those that are MVP's and help decorate and put on events!
Support canon with stories and NPC's that fit the Camarilla Modern Nights genre!
Stick with bead draw system to boot out nepotism and continue to give everyone a fair shake at getting a character they will love to play!
Ask for involvement, and continue to stamp out entitlement.
Keep ECC as a safe place to explore your dark side IN character and a friendly, safe environment OUT of character.
Same fun events and special evenings every few months!
My Staff: Pending
At least three of the folks on the old staff are definitely ready to take a break (Josh included in that number). They've helped make a great game! They want to play in it! Who can blame them? And as for the rest, I've asked and have one enthusiastic yes and one person who has not gotten back to me yet. I also have asked another person to join my potential staff as well who is thinking about it. Point is, this weekend without power communication was a bit on the fritz, but I will be looking for 2-4 more people to join my staff. I'd like at least one junior person, and some decent gender diversity. If you're interested in a challenging, sometimes thankless, but super cool job, and have some time to put in work on game mid-week, Please let me know. There was not any time at game to discuss this with these folks. Our focus was on supporting Josh and telling stories that night, which was right where it should have been.
Final thoughts: I love telling stories that amaze, excite and inspire, that horrify and creep up on you. I love foreshadowing events to come and crafting dreadful rube-goldberg-machines full of darkly fascinating consequences. My NPC's don't need to win in order for me to have a good time as a storyteller. They are flawed, they lose when they're outmatched, and they win when they have the upper hand, but it's all in the moment and that moment can shift at any time. I believe that bad decisions in character can make for incredible stories, and that dice are a mean bitch to which there is no greater equalizer among friends with rival characters. I believe that no plan survives contact with the 'enemy' and that's just fine with me. I believe that in order for a battle to be memorable, that it must exact a toll. I believe that in PvP, a storyteller is best used to adjudicate physics, and in PvE, you should almost be able to hear, smell taste and touch a scene when you see it in your head.
I don't actually prefer at this stage to be the HST. It's a lot of busy work and no small amount of drama comes your way. I'd like to tell stories way more. I didn't always feel that way. When I was younger and more insecure I wanted the prestige and control of the HST title. Now I care a lot less about that kind of thing. I'm still passionate, I still have strong opinions, but I can value others' perspectives much more easily. Still, gamerunner skills are skills I have, and the community has a need right now, so if I can help, I'm in.
Love your faces,
- Chris Schetzle
I am Chris Schetzle, and I am announcing my candidacy for HST of vampire.
Why would I do such a crazy thing, you ask? For love of the game, and for love of the community, and for love of the story.
I can't say that any organization has meant more to me over the years than ECC. It's been my home, my inner circle, my creative outlet, the source of some of my greatest challenges, a constant teacher, and a room with unlimited doors to enter and explore.
I've played in these games since... welp, I dare not say it, lest, like the picture of Dorian Grey, I meet the gaze of my own image and crumble suddenly to dust.
This will be my 3rd potential run as HST for vampire, and my 6th stint over all for vampire at ECC as a storyteller of some sort. I run all the websites, except for the spreadsheets and forms that Brad "Google" Lewis manages.
My Platform: More of the same! We've got a good thing going. Let's keep it up!
It may not be super exciting, but I don't plan many changes. I don't plan to add or modify lot of rules unless something specifically requires attention. There are a couple of things that will come up that contradict each other in the texts or that offer 'storyteller discretion' that I might say: Here's what we have decided of the options available.
Clarifications I will make: Cards!
If cards have not been clarified by the time I step up, I'll do those. Since cards are a 'meta system' that plays in a layer above the greater game, there could be a couple of revisions potentially. The goal was always: Incentivise NOTR donations (to pay rent) with useful 'potions' for use in game.
I will:
- Create 'types' of cards, that govern their use and timing. (Interrupts, On Your Initiative, Outside of Roleplay, Effects Occur at Some Time in the Future, etc.) These will clarify when cards may be used
- The kill NPC card will be replaced with a Foil NPC Action card. This will allow the Rare to decimate an NPC's plans, but not provide an instant assassination via particle projection cannon from space that leaves a gaping power vacuum in it's wake.
- I'll add cards to help with Humanity and Virtue checks at Common, Uncommon and Rare levels.
- I'll add a number of new commons to slightly lessen the power of some commons. So instead of common cards that give bonuses to all physical, mental or social actions, they will be broken up by Talents, Skills and Knowledges, so still broadly useful, but only to those 'columns'. This will have the effect of broadening the 'base' of the commons as opposed to the uncommons and rares.
- I'll clarify that each player may use one type of card per scene. This means they must use cards tactically, as that Botch may only be played once in a scene, for example, and you'll know that the other player can only play one as well.
- I will experiment with deck building for draws. In other words, I will build the player draw deck much like the Bead Bags are, with the demographics wanted represented, so there will be fewer rares, a decent amount of uncommons and a large number of commons in the deck, and you have a chance to draw any of them with your donation, rather than a die roll. We will refresh the deck just like we do the bead bags as cards get played.
These are all proposals I have made to current staff, and might be presented prior to Josh's step-down, but I'm not counting on that, so I'm putting this out here for transparency so that folks will know my thought processes going forward and where I see the need for some changes. Some of these ideas I didn't directly think of, or were part of a collaboration, but many of them were the result of talking to players and coming up with my own ideas that I have presented to the existing staff.
Address fundraising shortfalls: Solutions!
Unfortunately, numbers-wise, even with those card incentives, Vampire donates dramatically less than Werewolf, for example each month. That's sad to me. I will work with NOTR to consider what might help with that. If we can't pay our rent, we can't continue to enjoy this lovely game, and boy would that suck. So I might ask you for money in some creative ways? My goal would be not to burden players, but to accurately and transparently express our needs as an organization so that we can all make informed choices about how we support the games we love. Maybe you guys will tell me: "Look, just charge $2 a night at the door and call it good man," in which case, sweet. But if that is just unconscionable, welp, I'm open to suggestions, but we just have to make rent, or game stops in the winter months. This is a harsh and real possibility if we don't find ways to step things up in that way.
Things I definitely will be looking at going forward that represent changes: New Books!
There are a number of new V20 books coming out this year that I'll review and consider as they are made available:
Lore of the Bloodlines
Beckett's Jyhad Diary
V20 Ghouls
As with the release of other books, the process will stay the same. Staff will review them, see how they fit in with the world, and if there are any clarifications needed we'll address them, then approve the new books for play. I don't have a specific timeline for that because we're never exactly sure when there will be new books released, but if you're familiar with how that has been handled in the past, I'll do it pretty much exactly the same.
Things I plan to do more of: Podcasts!
People seemed to enjoy those, and they are informative. So I will likely be bringing those back and doing more of those. I will also do some general advice videos for how to deal with common pitfalls and such. I have actually already recorded a half-dozen of these that I just haven't had time to edit yet.
Things I plan to keep doing: General Badassery
Tell great stories!
Reach out to new players, and reward players who talk us up!
Thank those that are MVP's and help decorate and put on events!
Support canon with stories and NPC's that fit the Camarilla Modern Nights genre!
Stick with bead draw system to boot out nepotism and continue to give everyone a fair shake at getting a character they will love to play!
Ask for involvement, and continue to stamp out entitlement.
Keep ECC as a safe place to explore your dark side IN character and a friendly, safe environment OUT of character.
Same fun events and special evenings every few months!
My Staff: Pending
At least three of the folks on the old staff are definitely ready to take a break (Josh included in that number). They've helped make a great game! They want to play in it! Who can blame them? And as for the rest, I've asked and have one enthusiastic yes and one person who has not gotten back to me yet. I also have asked another person to join my potential staff as well who is thinking about it. Point is, this weekend without power communication was a bit on the fritz, but I will be looking for 2-4 more people to join my staff. I'd like at least one junior person, and some decent gender diversity. If you're interested in a challenging, sometimes thankless, but super cool job, and have some time to put in work on game mid-week, Please let me know. There was not any time at game to discuss this with these folks. Our focus was on supporting Josh and telling stories that night, which was right where it should have been.
Final thoughts: I love telling stories that amaze, excite and inspire, that horrify and creep up on you. I love foreshadowing events to come and crafting dreadful rube-goldberg-machines full of darkly fascinating consequences. My NPC's don't need to win in order for me to have a good time as a storyteller. They are flawed, they lose when they're outmatched, and they win when they have the upper hand, but it's all in the moment and that moment can shift at any time. I believe that bad decisions in character can make for incredible stories, and that dice are a mean bitch to which there is no greater equalizer among friends with rival characters. I believe that no plan survives contact with the 'enemy' and that's just fine with me. I believe that in order for a battle to be memorable, that it must exact a toll. I believe that in PvP, a storyteller is best used to adjudicate physics, and in PvE, you should almost be able to hear, smell taste and touch a scene when you see it in your head.
I don't actually prefer at this stage to be the HST. It's a lot of busy work and no small amount of drama comes your way. I'd like to tell stories way more. I didn't always feel that way. When I was younger and more insecure I wanted the prestige and control of the HST title. Now I care a lot less about that kind of thing. I'm still passionate, I still have strong opinions, but I can value others' perspectives much more easily. Still, gamerunner skills are skills I have, and the community has a need right now, so if I can help, I'm in.
Love your faces,
- Chris Schetzle