Must Read : The Code of Emerald Chronicles

[Webmonkey]

Charters, like the one our old organization SBC had, tend to be overly technical and spell out things that end up tedious and restrictive in the end. As the Storytellers have discussed though, we need something that outlines our goals and methods. hence the Emerald Chronicles 'not-a-charter charter'.

Emerald Chronicles (EC) is a live-action roleplaying game that takes place on the University of Washington campus and at the Wallingford B&GC. EC uses a variety of genres within the White-Wolf (tm) roleplaying system and fiction. Our focus is on having fun while roleplaying. We are a large enough community that some seriousness is needed to keep things going smoothly, but ultimately, we're friends playing a game together.

Emerald Chronicles is led by a group of Storytellers. Each variety of fiction (sphere) has a single Head Storyteller and Assistant Storytellers as needed. The Head Storyteller is chosen in large part by that sphere's players, although in order to ensure good communication and cooperation, new Storytellers must be also be approved by the existing Storytellers. The existing head STs will accept applications and poll the players of the given sphere to determine their support for the candidates, and make their decision. Assistants are appointed as each head ST sees fit.

Storytellers' responsibilities include promoting the good time of their players, governing their system and its rules, and upholding the rules of conduct of EC. As a result, Storytellers abilities include making rules decisions, creating plots, and governing character approvals. Storytellers may also handle player misconduct with repercussions up to and including asking troublesome players to leave the game.

Major decisions about both rules and players should be shared among all the STs and their assistants. No formal system will be put into place, but these decisions should be shared among all the members of the storytelling staff.

Rules of Conduct:
This is NOT a comprehensive list. Like the Storyteller system, these rules of conduct have a single overarching rule: Do not interfere with the enjoyment of other players, or the smooth execution of the game.

• Do not break the law. This includes any consumption of alcohol or other illicit substances on the UW campus/B&GC, or arriving under their influence.
  
• Do not endanger our relationship with the University of Washington or the B&GC.
  
• Do not harass other players, storytellers, or bystanders.
  
• Take no action that interferes with the safety of other players

Rules of LARP:
This too is not a comprehensive list. The goal of these rules is to avoid misconceptions among bystanders, protect the safety of the players, and to avoid inappropriate contact.

• No weapon props (not even a squirt gun).
  
• No physical confrontation of any kind, including physical stunts.
  
• Do not touch another person in any way (hand kissing, hugging, other grabbing, etc) without permission. Social contact is acceptable only with the consent of all involved parties.

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Message Board Conduct
In addition to agreeing to the Proboards Terms of Service, those posting on or reading the message boards are asked to follow the below guidelines.

Disclaimer: All stories on these message boards or any of the other Emerald Chronicles related websites are works of fiction. All events, characters, names, and places featured here are either the product of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual person(s), living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Guidelines for In Character (IC) posts:

• All IC posts are largely considered written in water. This allows everyone an "out" should you decide after the fact that "Yeah, I guess the part where my character tears the door off of the SWAT van with their bare hands, and was caught on security cameras really *didn't* happen…."
  
• Avoid posting stories involving actions that would require extensive testing. Know that if you elect to make "concrete" any events that would require tests, were such actions made during a game session, you can (and will) still be required to do so by the STs. Along with that, accept that there may be IC consequences for your written actions.
  
• Refrain from using real business names or people in your posts. Businesses and people with a limited web presence may become tied to ficticious postings via spidering search engines such as Google, and we'd like to avoid that if at all possible.
  
• There shall be no use of other Player Characters (PCs) or Non-Player Characters (NPCs) in direct actions/conversations without the informed consent of the Player/ST attached to the active PC or current NPC beforehand.

And above all, please:

Use Common Sense.

-The EC Staff

[Webmonkey]

OLD REVISED CHARTER (NO LONGER VALID)

Charter last revised 11/30/11

EC Charter

1.Base code of conduct and Rules of LARP

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1. Code of Conduct- The code of conduct is a set of rules outline basic common courtesy and common sense. These are exclusively for Out of Character interaction. In addition to signing a 'Hold Harmless' agreement, the following rules are enforced.

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2.Responsibility

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1.Responsibility of Player Advocates (PA)- In addition to the general responsibilities outlined above; The player advocates are a responsible, impartial body to assist in resolving player and staff concerns.

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2.Responsibility of Storytellers (STs)- Thes Storytellers are defined as two separate bodies; Head Storytellers and Assistant Storytellers. HSTs are elected from within the player body to run game and tell stories. ASTs are selected by the HST from the player base to assist the HST. In addition to player responsibilities, Storytellers are responsible for:

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3.Disciplinary Actions- Staff reserves the right to enact disciplinary actions against players who have committed violations during their term. Punishments levied that bridge staff terms are to be enforced by adopting staffs at HST descretion.

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4.Corrective actions- There are three general degrees of action, and they should fit within one of the above three categories.

[/b] Players are responsible for documenting their concerns with Staff or PAs.

2.Violations- Staff and PAs are equally culpable for the same infractions that standard players are. Realistically, elected positions will unpopular decisions from time to time. It would be inappropriate to penalize said position on the opinion of a single player; a petition must be formed.

3.Petition- the petition must be drafted to address the specific concerns of abuse or inappropriate conduct as well as outlining a disciplinary action and signed by a majority of active sphere players. If the official in question is a PA, at least one Staff member must sign this document. If the official is an ST, at least one PA must sign this document.

4.Disciplinary Action- Resolving this action is similar to player actions, and one should reference that section. If the HST is removed, the remaining staff members must immediately decide upon an interim HST from their number. This Interim HST will call an emergency election within 30 days of the HST’s removal.[/ul][/ul]

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5.Voting process- How to elect an HST:

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6.Changes to Charter- Any attempt to change this document needs to be presented to the entire player base of EC. At least one month needs to be given so that appropriate discussion can happen. At the end of this time, a popular vote is held and a 2/3 majority of voters needs to exist to alter any rules. All players, PAs and staff members are entitled to a vote.

[Webmonkey]

Proposed amendments that passed

1. Voting eligibility-

Proposed amendment: (passed)

Players who would like to vote must play in 6 games per calendar year. If the player wishes to play in another sphere they may count those games for the purposes of voting in the other sphere. However, if said player does so, the player revokes their ability to vote in the ‘temporary’ sphere.

2. Player advocate assignment process-

Proposed amendment: (passed)

All player advocates must be voted in by the sphere. The voting process should be run by the head storyteller, and will require a majority of present players.

3. The creation of a new sphere-

Proposed amendment: (passed)

Application process involves the majority approval of the other head storytellers. 30 days from the approval date there will be an election held for the HST position. For this vote the normal voting procedure are suspended and anyone who qualifies to vote in any sphere, is eligible to vote in the inaugural vote.


As per the charter:

Changes to Charter- Any attempt to change this document needs to be presented to the entire player base of EC. At least one month needs to be given so that appropriate discussion can happen. At the end of this time, a popular vote is held and a 2/3 majority of voters needs to exist to alter any rules. All players, PAs and staff members are entitled to a vote.

1.Anyone attending the game may suggest an alteration to an HST.

2.A willing HST will document the alteration and present it to the other HSTs for discussion over the coming month. They will establish a timeline for a vote.

3.Voting is overseen by an HST not involved in bringing forward the proposal. Counting of the votes shall be done by two agreed-upon HSTs.