Post by Mike Lohmann on Mar 15, 2017 6:21:42 GMT -8
Hello!
Some of you have asked when this bid would be placed on the forums, to view, and here I am to tell you that your wait is over. Thank you for your patience, and without further delays... I give to you part of our bid for leadership of game.
First and foremost, Staff:
Tai, Justin Strout, Jono Hanks, Rob Bennett, Myself, and Seth on paper table. Thank you all for stepping up, it means the world to me. Some of these individuals wish to start with a 3 month term, and I think that is more than acceptable. The longevity of a tenure on staff does not equate in more importance than the quality. This is a game about the happiness of those within, and I dont limit that to players. Retention isnt just about those on the ground, but also those in leadership roles. I am proud to have them dedicate themselves for any amount of time within my staff.
How Staff will run: Second, in our staff, the traditional "The HST has all the power and makes all final decisions" is done. I believe that no one person knows best... period. I believe as a group of leadership, it is up to us to work well with each other, and we will do just that. Round Table style, with majority rule on anything we pass or put into play. We live in a democracy, we love democracy, there is no need for an Overlord. This has been my single biggest complaint in all the years I have participated in this game, and I didnt run my game like this... and I wont run this game like that. Hopefully this a a change that will take hold in generations to come.
I will also NEVER overturn a decision that staff as a whole has made. We may be asked to review a decision, and we will happily do so, but I will never ever go back and reverse a call we have made, without the majority of staff agreeing.
Player's Opinion: Outside of PA utilization, we will be introducing more player opinion polls. If there are topics we cannot come to a unanimous agreement to, we will be taking it to the opinion of the players to vote on. It is that simple. We understand we are here as leadership of the game, but if there is something that we just cant decide on, the final say will be up to the player base as a whole.
GAME WEEKENDS: We run every weekend, sometimes that will overlap with other games we enjoy. Not being attendance has zero implications that we do not enjoy this game, or enjoy one over the other, but we will be gone from time to time.
More specifically, the main question is Gothic weekends, every other month or every 2 months.
As I stated, prior, we never had the intention of ever not having vampire run. We came to the conclusion that we will rotate who will and will not be attending Vampire, as we all know.. on those weekends, attendance to vampire is very low. We plan to have no more than 2 of the 5 staff members show up to run, but this can also change based on numbers we received of whom will be attending as a player to vampire. If others wish to step up and help staff in that time, please let us know, otherwise... we will be there. We find this to the be most fair solution.
Organization: We are heavily focused on reorganizing EVERYTHING. As having been on staff with full access, it was easy to see that all the organization that had been apart of the original reset platform run by Rob, has fallen to pieces. This causes a lot of bottlenecking, and just general mess in game and out of game. This will be fixed.
The World: The world exists. Trying to pretend that it doesnt, does no justice to the system, mechanics, or the game. But, Seattle, while apart of the Camarilla, is relatively isolated and small time in the grand scheme of things. Players have the ability to make it more important than it currently, by story, is. Big bad sheets will exist, at times, but the majority of created NPCs will always follow standard creation rules, unless they are specifically designed for the purpose of a meta story... or... players step on the toes of people within the world that are just flat out scarier than them.
We will return this game to actual cannon style play. Sorry, no robot squirrels or legions of demons and hordes of mages.
Absent Player Attack Resolutions: We, as potential future staff, HATE the idea of mid week killings, or any mishandling of situations that result in character death. We believe we must be fair to everyone involved, at the same time. We have decided to offer up the following two choices to the players to decide how to fix any situation from happening again, like what happened prior.
1. Players must make their intent to attack a PC who is not present that evening known to staff. The attack will be pushed to the end of game (2:30am or what have you, for continuity's sake)
The absent player will be informed directly after game that a scene involving the invasion of his Haven needs to be resolved the next game.
If the absent player is also unable to attend the following game, they may opt to have either staff or another player represent their character (if they opt to have another player represent their character, that player may NOT also represent their own PC in that scene.)
THIS IS A TIME BUBBLE. Neither attackers nor the attacked may make any ammends to their sleeping arrangements, plans, etc. It is ALL players responsibility to keep staff appraised to your character's situation.
This requires every player to provide a preferred method of contact to the staff. A combined lack of response and lack of attendance to the following game will default to staff representing your character.
2. Absolutely no trying to attack people that are not there. You may only initiate a scene that may result in character death of any party, at game. There will be no time bubbles, we will stay until it is resolved.
PA Utilization:
There have been some disagreements on the relevency or utilization of PAs. One of the core rules of the charter, as it's written, states, "7.Respect your fellow players/storytellers- Do not be rude and when in doubt, get a PA." PAs are referenced throughout the charter, so per our code of conduct, PAs are assumed to be present in every sphere. Our staff's interpretation o fthe use of PAs is as follows:
• PAs are representatives of the player base's best interests. When staff requires a second opinion, all PAs will be asked to participate in the discussion.
• PAs are there for situations in which the player doesn't feel comfortable going to staff, or wants a second opinion before going to staff. Not all discussions with a PA are expected to be shared with staff, but all PA complaints are to be documented with staff. This ensures staff is in the loop and can ensure that they can gauge what is best for the players.
• PAs can be utilized when a player has questions or skepticisms about the way a scene was ran, but the answer involves IG infromation that is not readily available to the player base as a whole. PAs uninvolved in the direct conflict may approach staff on behalf of the player. WIth the understanding and charter rule of confidentiality, staff can pull back the curtain, as it were, and give the PA a glimpse of how and why the scene occurred the way it did (in example roles, cards, other actions being taken, etc.)
If the PA is satisfied with the answer, they can return to the player and inform them their findings were solid and the call was legitimate. At this point it is assumed the issue is closed. If the PA is dissatisfied, staff and PAs will work together to find a resolution - whether the call was bad and recompense needs to be made, or a misunderstanding was happening to be settled between the PAs and the staff.
Recruitment: Times have changed, and it is clear that advertising cross games, on other games forums and the like, is no longer taboo. I think this can be a tool to gain the interest of other players.
I think we should also better compensate people that recruit, somehow, with a timer essentially incorporated in a quasi strict way.
At the very least, we need to hear from the players what they feel is the best way to motivate them to search for new talent or to get old players to return.
Downtimes: Downtimes are not for everything. Downtimes are for long shit, which will come with a story snippet of what happened. Downtimes are not a shield against scenes we don't feel like running at game.
Downtimes are for shit NO ONE wants to roleplay/run at game (patrols, for example. I don't want to run you wandering around for four hours talking to hobos, and you don't want to roleplay that.), or for things that would take longer than the four hours of game (such as research.)
Downtimes will be responded to promptly. They are precious and should be acknowledged, rewarded, and prioritized. Some downtimes will take longer than others, but downtime response time will be no less than one week and no more than four weeks.
Downtimes Proposal: I believe that allowing players to not have to turn in downtimes, until Weds midnight, is unfair to the players and staff. That could mean a lot of workload, rather suddenly, for those answering downtimes and sometimes wont leave enough time for discussion.
I propose that we make the following statement.
"There are two options for downtimes. One, you turn it in before midnight on monday. This will make sure that your downtime is responded to, before the end of the week, unless it is an action that will take longer than a week (such as research roles, etc, which are understood to take the full month. Two, the absolute downtime is Weds by midnight, but by turning it in then, you understand you may not hear back before the upcoming game."
Also, players are not always told at game, when we roll for them, exactly what they rolled. I feel that we should record what was rolled, keep track of it, but not answer downtime emails that involve rolls with the numbers, the amount of successes, and tiny little blurbs. I believe we should make a 1 to 2 paragraph typed out scene, explaining what is happening, in accordance with how well they are or are not doing. Characters have no way of knowing they only need 4 more success, so the numbers themselves are pointless and doing it in the proposed format encourages what we are all here for. scenes and roleplay. I feel this will ultimately make it more enjoyable.
CARDS: We will review the cards, but we dont think many major changes will be needed.
Just one.
No in combat cards, other than defensive. Fair escape, botch on attacks aimed at you. You can use soak cards. You cannot, however, if you use a card defensively, do any damage in return. Using a card, will negate the reflexive damage effects of any other normal defense or power call. That means you will parry an attack, but if you used a card to help you, you cannot do damage back.
1 card per combat can be spent, in this way. You may spend your 1 defensive card per combat, to assist a different person, in the same way you would have assisted yourself.. but now, your 1 card is used.
Potence Change:Potence will be run that potence adds to any strength based thing. Period. That is how it was intended, and the current calling on it makes no sense.... so I would like to see it returned to its previous and correct format. If you are telling me a potence 10 3rd generation, but only has 3 natural strength, cannot outpush a car against a mortal with 3 strength doing the same thing, you are drunk. This is how it is written, this is how it will be.
Warnings and Punishments:There has been a growing concern with punishments being too harsh or too lax, definitely not consistent with precedents set the last time.
I believe this is due primarily to a lack of organization, and issues with allowing others to bully staff. Our goal will be to ensure that each player is treated with the same fairness, as well as scrutiny, regardless of personal feelings towards, the individual, the target of the violation, or the volume of complaints.
These will be tracked through a spreadsheet, and the emails will be tagged for easy reference. While the PAs will not have access to every email, the PAs will have access to the spreadsheet in the spirit of transparency. This will not give all of the details, but it will give the Player registering the complaint, the target of the complaint, the type of violation, and the outcome.
Verbal warnings will be documented, as well as warnings. Warnings do not have to be phrased as "THIS IS AN OFFICIAL WARNING", as staff stating that a behavior should cease is a warning in itself - this will be made clear to players.
However, both verbal warnings and email warnings will be documented with the player and all of staff via email, and tracked on the spreadsheet.
Players CANNOT receive multiple punishments for one infraction, but players CAN receive multiple punishments for multiple infractions incurring in the same instance.
"Im bored": Players put down "im bored" or something similar on the "Magic List".
There will be a randomly suffled card system, for this.
The player picks a card, and a small little scene is run. The point is to not gives big elaborate things, because we want the gathering to be filled, we want people interacting, we want them to not thing staff is there to run personal plot for them at a moments notice, but rather have personal plot for everyone running, that they can choose to engage or not.
Structure, order. This will free up ST time, make sure we are all on the same page, allow us to focus on bigger and more important stories, and encourage the playerbase to deal with and make dealings with each other, more.
Mechanical Rules Changes:Our staff is currently reviewing the system and the extremely poor wording skills of the books, to find fairness and balance. This will mean we will review powers, clan flaws, and other things of the like. With this, any proposed MAJOR change to how powers work, if we feel it might be needed, will become player vote as the players will be the ones to experience this change the most... not the staff. We have some great ideas, but the specifics will be sent out in our first player opinion survey.
GHOULS: The ghoul book is available. A system has already been written and is technically released, for ECC, regarding ghoul creation. This will NOT turn into a ghoul game, and a lot of the character creation changes within the writeup are to insure balance and that it doesnt turn into such. If we will continue with it, or not, will be discussed.. this might end up coming to a player vote. Stay tuned!
Site Changes: There might be some... stay tuned!
And this is just the start. I know. its a huge wall.. but... you wanted information, and here you go!
See you all soon!
Some of you have asked when this bid would be placed on the forums, to view, and here I am to tell you that your wait is over. Thank you for your patience, and without further delays... I give to you part of our bid for leadership of game.
First and foremost, Staff:
Tai, Justin Strout, Jono Hanks, Rob Bennett, Myself, and Seth on paper table. Thank you all for stepping up, it means the world to me. Some of these individuals wish to start with a 3 month term, and I think that is more than acceptable. The longevity of a tenure on staff does not equate in more importance than the quality. This is a game about the happiness of those within, and I dont limit that to players. Retention isnt just about those on the ground, but also those in leadership roles. I am proud to have them dedicate themselves for any amount of time within my staff.
How Staff will run: Second, in our staff, the traditional "The HST has all the power and makes all final decisions" is done. I believe that no one person knows best... period. I believe as a group of leadership, it is up to us to work well with each other, and we will do just that. Round Table style, with majority rule on anything we pass or put into play. We live in a democracy, we love democracy, there is no need for an Overlord. This has been my single biggest complaint in all the years I have participated in this game, and I didnt run my game like this... and I wont run this game like that. Hopefully this a a change that will take hold in generations to come.
I will also NEVER overturn a decision that staff as a whole has made. We may be asked to review a decision, and we will happily do so, but I will never ever go back and reverse a call we have made, without the majority of staff agreeing.
Player's Opinion: Outside of PA utilization, we will be introducing more player opinion polls. If there are topics we cannot come to a unanimous agreement to, we will be taking it to the opinion of the players to vote on. It is that simple. We understand we are here as leadership of the game, but if there is something that we just cant decide on, the final say will be up to the player base as a whole.
GAME WEEKENDS: We run every weekend, sometimes that will overlap with other games we enjoy. Not being attendance has zero implications that we do not enjoy this game, or enjoy one over the other, but we will be gone from time to time.
More specifically, the main question is Gothic weekends, every other month or every 2 months.
As I stated, prior, we never had the intention of ever not having vampire run. We came to the conclusion that we will rotate who will and will not be attending Vampire, as we all know.. on those weekends, attendance to vampire is very low. We plan to have no more than 2 of the 5 staff members show up to run, but this can also change based on numbers we received of whom will be attending as a player to vampire. If others wish to step up and help staff in that time, please let us know, otherwise... we will be there. We find this to the be most fair solution.
Organization: We are heavily focused on reorganizing EVERYTHING. As having been on staff with full access, it was easy to see that all the organization that had been apart of the original reset platform run by Rob, has fallen to pieces. This causes a lot of bottlenecking, and just general mess in game and out of game. This will be fixed.
The World: The world exists. Trying to pretend that it doesnt, does no justice to the system, mechanics, or the game. But, Seattle, while apart of the Camarilla, is relatively isolated and small time in the grand scheme of things. Players have the ability to make it more important than it currently, by story, is. Big bad sheets will exist, at times, but the majority of created NPCs will always follow standard creation rules, unless they are specifically designed for the purpose of a meta story... or... players step on the toes of people within the world that are just flat out scarier than them.
We will return this game to actual cannon style play. Sorry, no robot squirrels or legions of demons and hordes of mages.
Absent Player Attack Resolutions: We, as potential future staff, HATE the idea of mid week killings, or any mishandling of situations that result in character death. We believe we must be fair to everyone involved, at the same time. We have decided to offer up the following two choices to the players to decide how to fix any situation from happening again, like what happened prior.
1. Players must make their intent to attack a PC who is not present that evening known to staff. The attack will be pushed to the end of game (2:30am or what have you, for continuity's sake)
The absent player will be informed directly after game that a scene involving the invasion of his Haven needs to be resolved the next game.
If the absent player is also unable to attend the following game, they may opt to have either staff or another player represent their character (if they opt to have another player represent their character, that player may NOT also represent their own PC in that scene.)
THIS IS A TIME BUBBLE. Neither attackers nor the attacked may make any ammends to their sleeping arrangements, plans, etc. It is ALL players responsibility to keep staff appraised to your character's situation.
This requires every player to provide a preferred method of contact to the staff. A combined lack of response and lack of attendance to the following game will default to staff representing your character.
2. Absolutely no trying to attack people that are not there. You may only initiate a scene that may result in character death of any party, at game. There will be no time bubbles, we will stay until it is resolved.
PA Utilization:
There have been some disagreements on the relevency or utilization of PAs. One of the core rules of the charter, as it's written, states, "7.Respect your fellow players/storytellers- Do not be rude and when in doubt, get a PA." PAs are referenced throughout the charter, so per our code of conduct, PAs are assumed to be present in every sphere. Our staff's interpretation o fthe use of PAs is as follows:
• PAs are representatives of the player base's best interests. When staff requires a second opinion, all PAs will be asked to participate in the discussion.
• PAs are there for situations in which the player doesn't feel comfortable going to staff, or wants a second opinion before going to staff. Not all discussions with a PA are expected to be shared with staff, but all PA complaints are to be documented with staff. This ensures staff is in the loop and can ensure that they can gauge what is best for the players.
• PAs can be utilized when a player has questions or skepticisms about the way a scene was ran, but the answer involves IG infromation that is not readily available to the player base as a whole. PAs uninvolved in the direct conflict may approach staff on behalf of the player. WIth the understanding and charter rule of confidentiality, staff can pull back the curtain, as it were, and give the PA a glimpse of how and why the scene occurred the way it did (in example roles, cards, other actions being taken, etc.)
If the PA is satisfied with the answer, they can return to the player and inform them their findings were solid and the call was legitimate. At this point it is assumed the issue is closed. If the PA is dissatisfied, staff and PAs will work together to find a resolution - whether the call was bad and recompense needs to be made, or a misunderstanding was happening to be settled between the PAs and the staff.
Recruitment: Times have changed, and it is clear that advertising cross games, on other games forums and the like, is no longer taboo. I think this can be a tool to gain the interest of other players.
I think we should also better compensate people that recruit, somehow, with a timer essentially incorporated in a quasi strict way.
At the very least, we need to hear from the players what they feel is the best way to motivate them to search for new talent or to get old players to return.
Downtimes: Downtimes are not for everything. Downtimes are for long shit, which will come with a story snippet of what happened. Downtimes are not a shield against scenes we don't feel like running at game.
Downtimes are for shit NO ONE wants to roleplay/run at game (patrols, for example. I don't want to run you wandering around for four hours talking to hobos, and you don't want to roleplay that.), or for things that would take longer than the four hours of game (such as research.)
Downtimes will be responded to promptly. They are precious and should be acknowledged, rewarded, and prioritized. Some downtimes will take longer than others, but downtime response time will be no less than one week and no more than four weeks.
Downtimes Proposal: I believe that allowing players to not have to turn in downtimes, until Weds midnight, is unfair to the players and staff. That could mean a lot of workload, rather suddenly, for those answering downtimes and sometimes wont leave enough time for discussion.
I propose that we make the following statement.
"There are two options for downtimes. One, you turn it in before midnight on monday. This will make sure that your downtime is responded to, before the end of the week, unless it is an action that will take longer than a week (such as research roles, etc, which are understood to take the full month. Two, the absolute downtime is Weds by midnight, but by turning it in then, you understand you may not hear back before the upcoming game."
Also, players are not always told at game, when we roll for them, exactly what they rolled. I feel that we should record what was rolled, keep track of it, but not answer downtime emails that involve rolls with the numbers, the amount of successes, and tiny little blurbs. I believe we should make a 1 to 2 paragraph typed out scene, explaining what is happening, in accordance with how well they are or are not doing. Characters have no way of knowing they only need 4 more success, so the numbers themselves are pointless and doing it in the proposed format encourages what we are all here for. scenes and roleplay. I feel this will ultimately make it more enjoyable.
CARDS: We will review the cards, but we dont think many major changes will be needed.
Just one.
No in combat cards, other than defensive. Fair escape, botch on attacks aimed at you. You can use soak cards. You cannot, however, if you use a card defensively, do any damage in return. Using a card, will negate the reflexive damage effects of any other normal defense or power call. That means you will parry an attack, but if you used a card to help you, you cannot do damage back.
1 card per combat can be spent, in this way. You may spend your 1 defensive card per combat, to assist a different person, in the same way you would have assisted yourself.. but now, your 1 card is used.
Potence Change:Potence will be run that potence adds to any strength based thing. Period. That is how it was intended, and the current calling on it makes no sense.... so I would like to see it returned to its previous and correct format. If you are telling me a potence 10 3rd generation, but only has 3 natural strength, cannot outpush a car against a mortal with 3 strength doing the same thing, you are drunk. This is how it is written, this is how it will be.
Warnings and Punishments:There has been a growing concern with punishments being too harsh or too lax, definitely not consistent with precedents set the last time.
I believe this is due primarily to a lack of organization, and issues with allowing others to bully staff. Our goal will be to ensure that each player is treated with the same fairness, as well as scrutiny, regardless of personal feelings towards, the individual, the target of the violation, or the volume of complaints.
These will be tracked through a spreadsheet, and the emails will be tagged for easy reference. While the PAs will not have access to every email, the PAs will have access to the spreadsheet in the spirit of transparency. This will not give all of the details, but it will give the Player registering the complaint, the target of the complaint, the type of violation, and the outcome.
Verbal warnings will be documented, as well as warnings. Warnings do not have to be phrased as "THIS IS AN OFFICIAL WARNING", as staff stating that a behavior should cease is a warning in itself - this will be made clear to players.
However, both verbal warnings and email warnings will be documented with the player and all of staff via email, and tracked on the spreadsheet.
Players CANNOT receive multiple punishments for one infraction, but players CAN receive multiple punishments for multiple infractions incurring in the same instance.
"Im bored": Players put down "im bored" or something similar on the "Magic List".
There will be a randomly suffled card system, for this.
The player picks a card, and a small little scene is run. The point is to not gives big elaborate things, because we want the gathering to be filled, we want people interacting, we want them to not thing staff is there to run personal plot for them at a moments notice, but rather have personal plot for everyone running, that they can choose to engage or not.
Structure, order. This will free up ST time, make sure we are all on the same page, allow us to focus on bigger and more important stories, and encourage the playerbase to deal with and make dealings with each other, more.
Mechanical Rules Changes:Our staff is currently reviewing the system and the extremely poor wording skills of the books, to find fairness and balance. This will mean we will review powers, clan flaws, and other things of the like. With this, any proposed MAJOR change to how powers work, if we feel it might be needed, will become player vote as the players will be the ones to experience this change the most... not the staff. We have some great ideas, but the specifics will be sent out in our first player opinion survey.
GHOULS: The ghoul book is available. A system has already been written and is technically released, for ECC, regarding ghoul creation. This will NOT turn into a ghoul game, and a lot of the character creation changes within the writeup are to insure balance and that it doesnt turn into such. If we will continue with it, or not, will be discussed.. this might end up coming to a player vote. Stay tuned!
Site Changes: There might be some... stay tuned!
And this is just the start. I know. its a huge wall.. but... you wanted information, and here you go!
See you all soon!