Post by Bubba Kush on Dec 22, 2013 2:36:51 GMT -8
Greetings
ECC has a collection of some of the most talented people with which I've the privilege of role-playing, and that is the greatest strength of this community. I wish, as HST, to focus LARP on the talent of our players and away from unnecessary bureaucracy. Make no mistake, I admire the ambition of the former ST staffs (staves?) in the quest to capture the full complexity of Vampire: the Masquerade as we have grown up with, but my platform is based upon slimming down the rules and reinforcing the role-playing that we all dress up for.
I want to introduce some new ideas to game, some completely unknown to ECC, but have no fear, the focus of my platform will be on successful negotiation and arbitration between players and staff. The first item on my agenda is on a full, V20 reset with a "reboot" option so players can keep their existing characters (or retired/deceased characters, too!). I will also restructure how staff governs the game itself, specifically I will divide the STs amongst the player base so that everyone has a "go to" storyteller. Lastly, I will restructure how the LARP itself functions, to maximize role-playing time and eliminate the difficulties common to LARP, such as time bubbles and constant roll calls.
V20 Reboot
Let me be frank; there are way too many out-of-print books and house-rules for the average player to keep up with. It's too much, so I want to RESET ALL GAME MECHANICS TO V20 AS WRITTEN. V20 is a beautiful book, massive with information from prior editions and all between two covers. If I take the helm as HST, that core will be all we need. I understand V20 has additional supplements, and I welcome barrowing from said books, but ANYTHING BROUGHT FROM OUTSIDE THE V20 CORE WILL REQUIRE ST APPROVAL. Let us remember that V:tM was designed as a table-top game, and could not anticipate the complexities of a live-action game, so the supplements will be respected but not implicitly included in the game. If you like to play "snowflake" characters, go for it! Just keep in mind that all material outside of the core will be given personal, custom treatment.
To ease this reset, every character made in my term will have 100 STARTING BASE XP.
With this rules reset will be a setting reset. I will be soliciting the player base for fundamentals of the setting (how specific clans are structured, city history, etc), but regardless there will be a need for every player to make a new character sheet. However, THERE WILL BE AN OPTION TO "REBOOT" YOUR CHARACTERS, that is to say that even though you must make new character sheets you have the option to reinvent current or former characters. Think of this as Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins; everyone is familiar with Batman but Nolan was able to reinvent the character for the new story. So, you can keep your characters, past and present, even though a new sheet will be required.
I will allow a grace period in which I will wrap up the current narrative (and immediate character arcs) before proceeding with the reboot. Details to ensue.
ST Duties
Every staff functions differently, so mine will focus primarily on the players. Each ST will govern two or more of the clans both to highlight the solidarity of the vampire families and so that every player will have a go-to storyteller. Your ST will KNOW YOUR STORY individually so that, even if you need to go to another ST, there will always be a storyteller that knows what you're up to. What's more, I feel this will speed up correspondence and other mid-week concerns.
For reasons I'll be explaining in the next section, during the LARP STs will not be running mid-week scenes or "exterior" scenes, so practically every ST will be available during the hours of 10-2. As such, we will be free to arbitrate any roll call that requires it. That means that we will retire the Mod-Dot system in favor of arbitration. Now, let me be clear, I AM NOT ABOLISHING ALL DICE ROLLS. I very strictly believe that your character should match the dots on your sheet. What I propose is, before the dice are rolled, that all involved players can sort things out through negotiation. If an impasse is reached, a dice roll (via smartphone app) will be called, but this should eliminate most delays in game, and almost all time bubbles.
LARP
Perhaps the most visible, dramatic change I propose will be in the restructuring of the 10pm-2am hours of LARP itself. I propose a more consistent narrative during larp, which is to say that EVERYONE WILL BE PLAYING IN THE SAME IN-CHARACTER SPACE AT THE SAME IN-CHARACTER TIME. What will this mean? Essentially, every session of game will feel like a special event night, with every character having an investment to come to court. This means that everyone will get to play the full four hours, in character, without time bubbles, ret-cons, and inconsistent locales.
This is a big change from the status quo at ECC, where Tacoma has a room, the Giovanni have a room, and a dozen people are in the gym. While I admire the ingenuity of the player base to sustain the narrative of the game in a living world format, I think a lot of that is forced by the inability of the ST staff to run game for everyone. Think of it this way: imagine if none of the STs were running scenes in separate locales simultaneously, mid-weeks were resolved mid-week, and every character in LARP had cause & ability to interact with one another. I'm going to leave this brief, but I plan to accomplish this by weaving a narrative that ALL PLAYERS CAN PARTICIPATE IN rather than the usual "plot of the month" that the same, small population of players get to enjoy.
Conclusion
The atmosphere in ECC (the toxic OOC interactions, explosions on the forums/facebook, and mistrust of players & STs alike) is what I want to change the most. You are very talented, creative, and passionate actors & gamers and the rules of the game have little to do with that. My platform is designed around maximizing the role-playing potential of the game and minimizing the character-breaking aspects of bureaucracy, rules lawyering, and power-gaming. Every player, regardless of gamer experience, character sheet, or knowledge of rules, deserves to be treated as EQUALLY IMPORTANT TO THE STORY.
I understand that some people stand to lose a lot of invested XP and character power with the suggestions I list above. I really do. What is more important to me is that everyone is treated equally at game, and I can't do that upholding the promises of former STs. I simply do not agree that the individual is more important than the collective whole. This is why I want to adhere strictly to the V20 core, so that every player knows what they can depend on in canon, in rules, and in flavor.
I'm sure you have questions; I welcome them. I am currently soliciting for potential co-STs, so I will have that information when I have it.
If nothing else, take this away: I don't wish to run THE perfect game, I want to run YOUR perfect game.
Jeremiah Alonzo
ECC has a collection of some of the most talented people with which I've the privilege of role-playing, and that is the greatest strength of this community. I wish, as HST, to focus LARP on the talent of our players and away from unnecessary bureaucracy. Make no mistake, I admire the ambition of the former ST staffs (staves?) in the quest to capture the full complexity of Vampire: the Masquerade as we have grown up with, but my platform is based upon slimming down the rules and reinforcing the role-playing that we all dress up for.
I want to introduce some new ideas to game, some completely unknown to ECC, but have no fear, the focus of my platform will be on successful negotiation and arbitration between players and staff. The first item on my agenda is on a full, V20 reset with a "reboot" option so players can keep their existing characters (or retired/deceased characters, too!). I will also restructure how staff governs the game itself, specifically I will divide the STs amongst the player base so that everyone has a "go to" storyteller. Lastly, I will restructure how the LARP itself functions, to maximize role-playing time and eliminate the difficulties common to LARP, such as time bubbles and constant roll calls.
V20 Reboot
Let me be frank; there are way too many out-of-print books and house-rules for the average player to keep up with. It's too much, so I want to RESET ALL GAME MECHANICS TO V20 AS WRITTEN. V20 is a beautiful book, massive with information from prior editions and all between two covers. If I take the helm as HST, that core will be all we need. I understand V20 has additional supplements, and I welcome barrowing from said books, but ANYTHING BROUGHT FROM OUTSIDE THE V20 CORE WILL REQUIRE ST APPROVAL. Let us remember that V:tM was designed as a table-top game, and could not anticipate the complexities of a live-action game, so the supplements will be respected but not implicitly included in the game. If you like to play "snowflake" characters, go for it! Just keep in mind that all material outside of the core will be given personal, custom treatment.
To ease this reset, every character made in my term will have 100 STARTING BASE XP.
With this rules reset will be a setting reset. I will be soliciting the player base for fundamentals of the setting (how specific clans are structured, city history, etc), but regardless there will be a need for every player to make a new character sheet. However, THERE WILL BE AN OPTION TO "REBOOT" YOUR CHARACTERS, that is to say that even though you must make new character sheets you have the option to reinvent current or former characters. Think of this as Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins; everyone is familiar with Batman but Nolan was able to reinvent the character for the new story. So, you can keep your characters, past and present, even though a new sheet will be required.
I will allow a grace period in which I will wrap up the current narrative (and immediate character arcs) before proceeding with the reboot. Details to ensue.
ST Duties
Every staff functions differently, so mine will focus primarily on the players. Each ST will govern two or more of the clans both to highlight the solidarity of the vampire families and so that every player will have a go-to storyteller. Your ST will KNOW YOUR STORY individually so that, even if you need to go to another ST, there will always be a storyteller that knows what you're up to. What's more, I feel this will speed up correspondence and other mid-week concerns.
For reasons I'll be explaining in the next section, during the LARP STs will not be running mid-week scenes or "exterior" scenes, so practically every ST will be available during the hours of 10-2. As such, we will be free to arbitrate any roll call that requires it. That means that we will retire the Mod-Dot system in favor of arbitration. Now, let me be clear, I AM NOT ABOLISHING ALL DICE ROLLS. I very strictly believe that your character should match the dots on your sheet. What I propose is, before the dice are rolled, that all involved players can sort things out through negotiation. If an impasse is reached, a dice roll (via smartphone app) will be called, but this should eliminate most delays in game, and almost all time bubbles.
LARP
Perhaps the most visible, dramatic change I propose will be in the restructuring of the 10pm-2am hours of LARP itself. I propose a more consistent narrative during larp, which is to say that EVERYONE WILL BE PLAYING IN THE SAME IN-CHARACTER SPACE AT THE SAME IN-CHARACTER TIME. What will this mean? Essentially, every session of game will feel like a special event night, with every character having an investment to come to court. This means that everyone will get to play the full four hours, in character, without time bubbles, ret-cons, and inconsistent locales.
This is a big change from the status quo at ECC, where Tacoma has a room, the Giovanni have a room, and a dozen people are in the gym. While I admire the ingenuity of the player base to sustain the narrative of the game in a living world format, I think a lot of that is forced by the inability of the ST staff to run game for everyone. Think of it this way: imagine if none of the STs were running scenes in separate locales simultaneously, mid-weeks were resolved mid-week, and every character in LARP had cause & ability to interact with one another. I'm going to leave this brief, but I plan to accomplish this by weaving a narrative that ALL PLAYERS CAN PARTICIPATE IN rather than the usual "plot of the month" that the same, small population of players get to enjoy.
Conclusion
The atmosphere in ECC (the toxic OOC interactions, explosions on the forums/facebook, and mistrust of players & STs alike) is what I want to change the most. You are very talented, creative, and passionate actors & gamers and the rules of the game have little to do with that. My platform is designed around maximizing the role-playing potential of the game and minimizing the character-breaking aspects of bureaucracy, rules lawyering, and power-gaming. Every player, regardless of gamer experience, character sheet, or knowledge of rules, deserves to be treated as EQUALLY IMPORTANT TO THE STORY.
I understand that some people stand to lose a lot of invested XP and character power with the suggestions I list above. I really do. What is more important to me is that everyone is treated equally at game, and I can't do that upholding the promises of former STs. I simply do not agree that the individual is more important than the collective whole. This is why I want to adhere strictly to the V20 core, so that every player knows what they can depend on in canon, in rules, and in flavor.
I'm sure you have questions; I welcome them. I am currently soliciting for potential co-STs, so I will have that information when I have it.
If nothing else, take this away: I don't wish to run THE perfect game, I want to run YOUR perfect game.
Jeremiah Alonzo
just my two cents.
