Elections, HST Josh

[Josh]

My name is Josh and, as the title reads, I am looking to be your new Head Storyteller for the Camarilla: Vampire Sphere.



I have played with many of you wonderful people over the past near 7 years (May '07). Many of you will know me as Richard Castle, or most recently Ebenezer Smith. I have served ECC as a Combat Advocate for the past 6 years and as a PA for the past year. I was an AST for a full term in the Werewolf Sphere and was one of the co-writers for our Community Charter.



In my time here I have yet to see the game so invested in its future. MANY people are posting on the boards and talking about the future of game. This is an atmosphere in which I think the game can best thrive. We all do our best when we invest not only our time but also ourselves into the game.



ECC has never been the vision of the few or the plot of the IT crowd. ECC is like a church, a community, a family. I have thought of running in the past and decided not to for one reason or another. Now I think is the time to work with the game and bring the era of player control to the forefront.



What I wish to help the game shift into is a setting of Choice. I want to give power to the players to choose their own world around them. This means providing options on your sheet, options on your personal story, and options on how the world reacts to you.



I refer to this change as the Spring Thaw. I do see the irony of naming my platform Spring Thaw while we are in the dead of winter, but I believe that in the dead of winter when the world is at its coldest and snowflakes are plenty that we could use a little warmth. The concept behind the Spring Thaw is to help reign in the sheer volume and spread of esoteric and often rare material in the game.



Before we derail the thread with the fears that the Thaw will take away important parts or, for some of you, your entire character, that is not the case. I have no intentions of just stripping you bare and leaving you in the cold. The way in which we Thaw without harm is to give players the choices. We will offer incentives for players to trade in their more rare or esoteric materials for things that are well within common cannon, but perhaps a little more potent. This is not just going to be a paperwork shuffle with you feeling like you are bartering to get the most out of your currency exchange. These changes are going to take place in and around the context of story. "But Josh, I like the things on my character or do not feel like I could alter it without hurting my concept. What happens in that situation?" While I would question if that is truly the case and would be happy to chat with you, I can understand that position. This is not a matter of only my perspective, because communication requires another person (unless you are a Malkavian). The Thaw is not a decree, it is not a requirement. It is an option; a Choice. Those of you who choose to pursue or increase the rare and esoteric may do so, but you will be using your experience to bring that thing which is outside of common cannon to life. There will be increased costs to material that is not common place to help limit its influence and availability.



Outside of the Thaw, I have little I desire to change mechanically and in reality the Thaw is more of a setting shift than a rules change. I am not a large Meta-Plot sort of guy. We have nearly 10 years of content to pull from for our stories from. Many of you have tie-ins, back stories, merits, flaws, and backgrounds that are rarely if ever touched upon. These will be the things we build your experiences from. One character's Enemy may become an other's Ally.



Players will be faced with choices, ones that often have very different outcomes. Like build your own adventure stories of old, or choice based RPG's, you will feel as if you have a direct hand in the control and development of your character. If you choose to quest for a rare item, artifact, or piece of knowledge, you are with few exceptions the only one seeking it, which means that others might not take kindly to you simply being the one to find it first; or perhaps you are the one who attempts to find it second. Now you have to choose: do you attempt to befriend the holder of what you seek? Do you slight them by stealing it? Maybe you attempt to enter into some kind of arrangement and reveal your intent to possess it. All the world will be in the hands of the players.





Other potential HSTs have spoken about methods of having rules change. Similarly there will be a process in which a group of players will submit that a rule be revised. This would involve a number of players to give it weight, likely 10 or so players. After you have your group together who want to see something changed, you will bring it to Staff. A Rules Advocate will be selected to help work with the players and be their primary voice in the conversation with Staff as to the revisions to the rule. This will help minimize the back and forth and create a clear dialogue in which to efficiently arbitrate the players request. After it has a final check by both the STs and the players that brought up the request it will go to the player base as a whole for a vote.



My Staff has quite the tenured resume in regards to Role-Playing; I will let them introduce themselves. While I do understand that I have less people on this initial list, I have a few players who are still pending who, if not on board at Staff launch, will be shortly after. Despite this, I believe that we will have enough Staff members to go around.



Joh Oso

Jennifer Walker-Suoja

Brad Lewis

Phil Brown

Mario Medina





I encourage everyone to ask me questions, share comments and present concerns about the platform.



You may email, PM, or chat with me in any other form in which you have access to. I will answer as many questions as I can and will be at game to listen and address any questions or concerns you have in person.

[Ross]

Dec 27, 2013 13:37:45 GMT -8 Josh said:

We will incentives that players trade in their more rare or esoteric materials for things that are well within common cannon but perhaps a little more potent.

Josh,

Can you provide more details, and/or perhaps a theoretical example of how this (for lack of a better phrase, as we really are all addicts) "needle exchange" would work?

-Ross

[Josh]

Ross, as you wish.

As example a player has a Home Brew combo discipline or maybe they have magic that is not in clan for them. They might be approached by an elder who wants their special thing for themselves. In exchange for the object in questions they offer services. This could be a Ally in themselves, it could be more Status (something that can be difficult to acquire in game), perhaps they offer teaching in a couple of disciplines or an item or plot point that the character has been pursuing. They might be a way in which to gain a Masterwork component.

What it comes down to is that you give up one rare thing and gain a few uncommon or a powerful common benefit.

You may give up some magic and in return can call upon your Archon Ally. As we have seen in the past year or so backgrounds have a great amount of potency if you have them available.

This does not mean that they benefits are going to be outside of the reach of players without something rare to trade. But the giving up of something rare can greatly mitigate the story required to gain such benefits.

[Ross]

So, mechanically, let's say Vinnie Ventrue has Temporis 3 on-sheet, and NPC UberGuy comes with an offer of being an Ally.

If I'm reading your description correctly, tpo Vinnie would then be erasing Temporis off his sheet (how would this be explained IC?), and replacing it with a new super-Ally?

Is that right? And if so, how does replacing an esoteric power with a super-Ally help restore balance to the Force?

Just looking for the nitty-gritty on the trade-in process.

-Ross

[Victor Vaughn]

Hello everyone, my name is Joh Oso, also known as "Joe with an H Joh", "Gorfunmanxhome" or "Joso". I have been a member of the ECC community for the last 14 years: I've played numerous vampire pc's, and I currently play Cervantes. From 2001 to 2003 I was the Seattle By Choice (The name ECC had before Chris Schetzle came in and made major adjustments) head storyteller. I oversaw 5 spheres, a staff of 15 people and did rules interpretations and interpersonal mediation between players. I was on the team that brought about the mod-dot system. I am a statistician by trade, and just generally handsome and charming.

The elephant in the room; I currently live in Portland, Oregon. What could I possibly be thinking, being on a staff for a game that's 200 miles away?

My position on Josh's staff is purely clerical. I will be the one answering your emails, taking care of your XP expenditures and making sure that all of the other staff members get back to you regarding the questions I cannot answer for you in a timely manner with concise answers. I will be working remotely, dedicating 20 hours or so a week to making sure that the staff that is there in person can run the game for you.

Secondly, I am your advocate and your ally. You can come to me with concerns and I will address them for you. Even if I do not agree with you, I will make it my priority to make sure that your wants and needs are talked about and deliberated on. Everyone's opinions matter, and all of them should be taken into consideration.

Finally, I will be offering my services via Skype or Gchat so you can talk to a storyteller in real time about what you want. If you know something is complicated and it may take a 10+ email exchange to get your point across, instead you can hit me up on skype, we can talk about it, and I will answer any questions you might have that I can. Any questions that I can't answer I will present to the appropriate staff member(s) and we will work with you to address your needs.

My goal is to make your lives easier, your games less focused on paperwork.

[Sethron]

On the notion of things costing more exp in order to give incentive to more 'normal' things, will this experience change be happening retroactively, or just going forward? Will combo disciplines cost more than they do already? What is your list of things that qualify as 'strange' or 'rare'? Is someone playing a Sabbat Infiltrator Tzimisce (taking Alaina's case as the example, but let's pretend that was a pitch and not just an awesome story that happened to her) going to have more experience costs across the board, period?

[Josh]

Ross:

You are in reading that Vinnie Ventrue would lose his Temporis 3. For examples sake lets say that the NPC is also a Venture, there will be an elder level Dominate (a variation on Forgetful mind) that CAN remove dots from a sheet. This will prevent the Dominate from being undone by players and give a story way to remove the dots without a hand wave. Other sources will be used to fit the nature of the participates but it will always be an elder level tool (Magic might be used in some cases, Spirits, or other story devices as needed).

As for the balance of an "super-Ally." They are super in that they have access or have start from a better position to improve the state of your character. Allies (in this example) is something that ever character has access to. Your ally just has a name, maybe they are Cannon NPC that you can point to an say yea I am with that Guy.

Allies are not meant to arrive in a city to had wave your problems, but they can create a lot of clout for players to ride.


The exp you spent on Temporis 3 will be cashed out and used towards this Ally with any remainder going into your bank and any deficit being payed for my your banked exp or going into a little exp debt.

[Josh]

Seth:

As for rare being more expensive, if it is already on your sheet it is there. But going forward it would have increase costs. Combo Disciplines are already priced. If a component of the Combo is rare (Temporis for example) then the cost would be increased. If it is Home Brew the cost will also reflect an increased cost.

The list for things that are "rare and strange" is still being fine tuned. What it comes down to is that there is a fair amount material that many people in game would agree is common cannon. Some disciplines would fall in the rare category Bardo, Temporis, Ahku, etc would be more expensive. While things like Protean, Quietus, and Chimerstry would not. As an aside they are not more expensive for you if they are in-clan. So if you ARE playing a True Brujah you do not pay 10x for your Temporis. 

As for the concept idea question. We would not make an entire character more expensive just because they are in infiltrator. But if they wanted to purchase some Daimoinon you can bet they would pay the Cannon Premium like everyone else.

[Mike Lohmann]

So far there are alot of big personalities on that staff. >.<

[BLewis]

Dec 27, 2013 15:33:57 GMT -8 Mike Lohmann said:

So far there are alot of big personalities on that staff.

Its true, we're pretty awesome.

[Victor Vaughn]

Dec 27, 2013 15:33:57 GMT -8 Mike Lohmann said:

So far there are alot of big personalities on that staff.

Anyone that's worked with a corporate team or had to take a business ethics class should be familiar with Tuckman's stages of group development, and even though it can be seen as a lot of jargon, it plays out to be fairly correct in practice.

Any team, including this one, will go through the first three stages, and then hopefully get to the fourth after some time. I am excited to be on a team that has gusto; and when we talked about this before hand, we made sure to make sure that we are both civil and businesslike in the way that we conduct ourselves.

[Ross]

I can imagine the scenario wherein no one decides to take part in the trade-in of the "rare" for the "canon;" if I was a Venture who went on the necessary quest for Temporis 3, for example, I doubt (IC or OOC) I would want to let that piece of my story go.

But that aside and to summarize: your overall mechanical change to game via "Spring Thaw" will be an increased XP cost for Clan-specific and/or "from wacky supplement book" out-of-clan powers and abilities to try and discourage (but not eliminate) the presence of such in game. Is that correct?

-Ross

[Julie]

I do have a couple questions here, just to clarify things if not for others- for me.

I read in the beginning paragraphs of your post that there will not be a requirement to rid your character sheet of the “odd” (yet to be determined definition) things. They would be more expensive to further pursue.

“The Thaw is not a decree, it is not a requirement. It is an option; a Choice. Those of you who choose to pursue or increase the rare and esoteric may do so, but you will be using your experience to bring that thing which is outside of common cannon to life. There will be increased costs to material that is not common place to help limit its influence and availability.”

Would this be a requirement or not, as you later went on to mention a potential scenario where an NPC with strange powers comes in to “remove dots from a sheet”. This would NOT be allowing a choice of the players, but enforcing a change without saying it aloud and removing dots from a sheet with a handwave. Not only that, but you may have to spend MORE XP, in order to attain that “trade”. I think I'm misreading what you mean and just would like some clarification.


I do like the rules change platform though. It makes it so the players are far more involved and knowledgeable about the rules, especially as they come to change with the player base itself. Though I would wish that the players would be the ones to present the rules change, the Rules Advocate would be just as well.

[Josh]

Ross:

Yes that would be a reasonably concise way of articulating it. The goal is to bring some of the power and potency back to the more familiar. There is a reason why many clans and organizations are referred to in cannon as being in power. But the game as of now as a little too much focus on how a rare power or something home brew just wins a given exchange (physical, mental, social, or otherwise). 

Julie:

I apologize if the example was unclear. Ross had asked for an example in which someone DID take the trade. It was not being enforced but it was how the process might go down. You would only have to pay more exp if you needed it to account for it with the trade. Example: You trade your Temporis 2 (10+7=17 exp), you get a Mentor 5 out of it (worth 23 exp). So you have 17 exp worth of trade and get an awesome Mentor for 23, you need to exchange 6 exp out of your bank to bring the change up to 23 exp.

It is the players that present any rules change they have. But the RA's that are going to be their voice in the mechanics of the conversation. They will be expect to keep the players they are representing informed and helping to articulate the concerns of that said group.

Is that a little more clear?

[Julie]

So, my question then is... why would anyone take the trade? If it is not a required trade, why would someone suddenly change their concept or something they worked for, for an Ally? Other than "please change this"?

Thank you for the clarification on the rules changing though. I'm glad we see more eye to eye on this one. Keeping in mind I'd hope that means nothing is kept away from the players in the discussion.

[Josh]

Julie:

I can understand that some individuals would likely keep something they found or quested for while In Game. Those would be the hardest people to give a reason to trade as they likely had story as to how they got said rare thing.

They goal is to bring incentives and to move the game more towards a rainy dystopic World of Darkness. We are very close and some might argue in the grips of a snow storm complete with snowflakes everywhere you look. Many of us had great amounts of fun even when there were not snowflakes and oddities around every corner.

It is the natural progression that each staff finds something to one up the previous (or attempt to anyways). Under Sean's Staff we saw the limiters that had been in place, for what was over 5 years at that point, get completely removed and as expected the games common to rare ratio fluctuated wildly. Many on those rare concepts or characters did not survive too long in the chaos that fallowed.

I do not know who will or will not take a trade to return to a more canon reflective world. I DO NOT want to just say that things that you got approved and things that you worked hard to get suddenly vanish. I don't feel that is good storytelling, I don't feel it is fair, and I don't think someone would get elected in such a platform due to how wide spread the situation has gotten.

What I do believe is that people recognize the arms race and that many have clamored on board just out of fear of being left behind. I am trying to encourage them to see that there are other options to stay relative and competitive. There will always be people who want to or feel they have to play something esoteric since they have played everything else or just because they like to flex the dots. It is ok to have different styles of play.

We ALL fell in love with a setting. I want to give us a chance, a Choice to turn around and head back towards Vampire: the Masquerade.

[Ascanio Giovanni]

This seems like a very dangerous path to go down Josh. You are essentially picking out "problem" characters right from the start and making them targets to get rid of things you don't want in game. This is a very bad precedent. Not to mention the system ludicrousness of wiping dots off of a sheet (something that exactly one power in the vampire sphere Mytherceria 7 can do, and that only for Abilities). This is a very weird fiat to remove things you don't like.

There has long been a courtesy at this game for new staffs that you don't remove things already in play because you don't like them. We ran into quite a few on Sean's staff, powers, items, and concepts that just made no damn sense at all, but we rolled with them. It is only courtesy. The scale on which you approve things is absolutely up to you as the new HST, but removing things actively in play is just bad form.

I also see a danger for those who don't take your compromise. Like it or not, this "Thaw" puts a giant OOC target on the head of certain characters. Those who don't do what you want and sacrifice the things they worked hard for and are enjoying will still have that target, subconscious or not. Having already identified these characters as "problems for game", it becomes almost impossible to escape that mentality when actually running the game and I foresee a great deal of problems with impartiality going forward when it comes to those characters. Don't get me wrong, I'm not accusing you or your staff of underhandedly TRYING to remove these characters from game when they don't accept trade offs, but once you get in that mentality of looking at certain characters as "problems" it gets very hard to shake and I greatly fear it creeping into the running of game.

The other factor here is, what do you define as non-canon? What is the scale here? You mentioned Chimerstry as being not on the list, and yet after the week of Nightmares the Ravnos clan is all but extinct. So is this not actually based on canon rarity and just based on what book something happened to be printed in? Because if that is the case there is a huge fallacy here. White Wolf did not at all organize their books well. We all know this and deal with it. The various things in books are not organized around rarity or even the subjects of the books in questions (ask again why Domino of Life, the ritual that makes you look more human is in Guide to the Sabbat). White Wolf publishers weren't thinking in terms of rarity when they were putting the books together. It seems to me they were thinking more along these lines: "Oh that's an awesome idea for a new power. What book is coming out next? Throw it in there." So basing rarity on what book it happens to be in seems naive at best.

And given that the measure of what book it is in is not a good way to judge rarity, then what is? There isn't a rarity chart of powers. Other than a few notable exceptions like Chimerstry being all but gone from the world after the week of nightmares, we have no way of knowing what is rare and what is not. So are you just going to arbitrarily make lists based on what powers you don't happen to like? What criteria are you operating on to find targets for this "Thaw"?

[Barnaby Cuthbert]

I agree with Jaron above here. I also can't imagine spending a year as an HST having 100+ conversations and bargaining compromises to power down PCs. What a terrible way to spend a year. Don't do it man, I'm tellin' ya. Admiral Ackbar is here and he's got something to inform you.

The bottom line is this platform is not about story at all, it's about the power levels of PCs, something that is now ridiculously off the charts and over the top since Sean's Assassin's creed-like "Nothing is real, everything is permitted" attitude toward esoteric powers.

I can't vote for this, though I like the people involved, it really doesn't address the problems that have been created by Sean's staff handing out cookies to everyone en masse, it just indicates a method you'd try, and leaves story by the wayside.

I came for the story man. I could care less about Mad Tom's ridiculous cookies. I didn't need them to have fun. I've been having fun for years without it, but I can't tell you how not excited I am about having debate after debate with staff about what a fair trade would be for Mad Tomaturgy. No thanks.

[AST Jenne/Cullodena Duff]

Hi Everyone,

AST Jen chiming in here, Jennifer Walker-Suoja to those that don't know (curvy chick behind the curtain and paper/blood table on Brendan/Cefyn's staff currently).

First of all, I'm sorry if this is tangent-y or long winded, I have a lot of thoughts and did not get enough sleep before work today and am feeling less then coherent, but due to the timing I wanted to get this out there as soon as possible.

I'm glad that people are voicing their concerns, and as we have seen on all of the election threads people are reading through these proposals and taking them seriously, which I'm sure every HST/AST candidate appreciates.

I do want to reiterate, using the trade-in/up mechanic is NOT a requirement, and will not be forced on those players that do not want to use it. It is simply an option, one that I personally wish I had 8 or 9 months ago.

I had a relatively snowflake-esque character I'm sure you've all interacted with on some level, Moira. The Nosferatu with a pretty face. On paper she was so. much. fun. In play... she had her moments but all of the best times? Everything I think back on and giggle like a madwoman? Those were scenes that would have happened if Moira was just as facially disfigured as any other Nosferatu.

In fact, I built EVERYTHING on her sheet around this one trait, that her story fizzled out very quickly. If I had the option of having a story that would disfigure her face and get rid of the merit/flaw combo that made her concept happen, in exchange for something I could mechanically and actually use at game I probably would have. As it was, one of the flaws that made the concept so awesome never got to be used at all, in the 9 months I played her.

In short - I personally would have looked at this option as a great boon, and would have loved to use it.

Do I think that crazy fun concepts sound awesome in writing and can imagine a great story being told through will be fun? Absolutely. In reality though, the use is limited and lose their flare the harder the concept is to play.

The truth is, I would guess that there are a good 30-40 characters out there that were in the same situation I was, where they were super excited about a particular power or feature of their character and it sounded great, but then they realized 6 months later that it really had little to no use at all, and was ultimately a loss of XP that could have been put towards something more entertaining later on.

This idea, this option, is not about what the ST's say is "bad", "unplayable", or "overpowered". This is about bringing game back around to the setting we have all either already or grown to love. This is about giving the players a choice. A way to make their character more playable within the setting, by giving them a viable option and transactional way to trade in certain rare dots for other more useful/playable dots.

I know for many the argument that homebrew abilities are really the only way to counter the crazy that is already in play is tantamount, and the idea that making homebrew cost more makes it harder to understand why we would go this route.

There are other, in play, in canon, or even mundane ways to counter said abilities. Yes, magic is powerful, but so is a human super sniper ally who can peg your enemy and make it much easier to kill, to name one.

It is far too easy for some one with a couple hundred XP to come in with a decked out murder machine character, waiting to be pointed at an enemy. We are hoping to balance that out, and give players a chance to enjoy the game they love, and not spend the week trying to find the best way to min-max their way to survival.

Again, sorry for the rambling. Sorry if I offend anyone, I'm tired and had a long day and am now going to back to feeding all of you. (You had better have returned your blood tickets, or I'm going to pee in your cheerios tonight). <3

[Josh]

Thank you for everyone for your questions. It help me get a greater scope for the concerns of the game as a whole.

Jaron:

I see that you have thought carefully about your concerns and voiced them well. You make a reasonable point that it can appear like "problem" characters are being picked out for one reason or another. I want to make it very clear though that this is not some noble crusade to sweep away things I do not like. I have been listening to the murmurs, complaints, and general dissent against much of the esoteric content. This is in no way something that revolves around me, the ego needed to believe any individual divines the course of ECC is vain at best and foolhardy at worst.

I can understand that there are limited written ways to perform the task of removing dots. But ultimately we as a game have conceded to home brew Magic, Rituals, Disciplines, Merits, Flaws, Enlightenment, and etc. It is not a stretch to put in like something to erase that which has been created. A check and balance if you will.

I would disagree that the courtesy between one staff to another is not always upheld and it is not that what has been put in place is sacrosanct. If it was we would have the SAME systems that were in place when you and I started game years ago. I can point to when we played a coterie of Assamites a few years ago that got run out of the city by the Staff and then once out of play a rule about no Mountain Assamites being allowed was put in place. I am not looking persecute any player or sheet.

Your statements about the persecution I feel is acceptable if it is a comment as to how you would feel in that given situation but I would hazard transposing your personal feelings onto the whole of game and moving forward based off a personal assessment.

Additionally the idea that once items that are eligible for Thaw are identified that impartiality would become compromised suggests that such a view starts from a point of mistrust. The people that are a part of the community are the most important, followed by their stories, and lastly their sheets. If a disagreement over a piece of paper would cause you to mistreat someone else it is best that such an outlook not be in charge of arbitration. I am sorry if you have had bad experiences and are guarded against Staff's involvement in your character. But the concept behind this is to give players the option to slow and perhaps stall the sheer speed of the arms race.

What we would be looking at is slimming down the scope of books use. Common books (off the top of my head, as we are still defining others that may or may not be included) would be the (Revised) Core book, Guides to the Camarilla, Anarch, Clan books. It is not a fallacy to draw a conclusion that many of the core aspect of the game ended up in books that are the most commonly accessed. Additionally two people are not going to agree as to what is cannon.

I would like to speak with you more about this but I feel that many examples would be needed in various contexts to help make the concept less threatening your you.

---

Chris:

I want to start off by saying thank you for looking out for my sanity in this endeavor. It brings a smile to know someone is looking out for you and giving you a wary glance and a well placed, "Bro, I'm not sure that is the best idea."

I do want to apologize to Chris and anyone else who has gotten the idea that my platform has this focus on the Thaw. It is in fact a part of the platform and a way to move the game off the ledge I often hear players worried about. My platform is built around story and I do not believe a successful platform would be about anything else. We are here to tell stories and be a part of a world beyond our ken. To let our passions and fantasies spill around us and marvel at the works we create.

My platform is about the Choices that the players make. About how the world and others should present them with options. Options that will often not let you get everything you want. I want our stories not to be about getting something for nothing kind of role-play. I want a hard fought victory to feel hard fought. If you look back on your conquest and note that x, y, and z were really inconvenient that just does not sound hard won. On the other hand, if you count a retainer, your haven, two of your enemies cohorts, and status from various involved parties as the price your your victory you in fact fought tooth and nail for that victory and likely have one hell of a story about it.

The Thaw is a more clerical way to address the abundance of esoteric in the game. Yes, the use of elder powers to help justify the HOW dots can go away is a convenient plot device. But even then, I am realistic if only 5-10 people actually take up the offer that means that we are looking at a 10-20% shift away from the odd and rare. If that leaves us with only 5-10 players that have those sorts of things I feel that even though it may be a large value based on what books claim is common, it is still a game and people will feel the need to cast variation on the norm so they feel relevant and interesting.

I thought long and hard about how to address the issues of the mass oddities and no one would like a bully showing up and saying that all your stuff is gone just cause. People have maintained that now is not the time for a reset or have not heard a strong argument that the collective of game can get behind. And there are half a dozen other ways that just don't work for one reason or another. The only REAL solution is to offer the players an opportunity to cut down on the arms race as a choice of their own. Players will have to choose and it will be players that make that community shift. But it HAS to start with an olive branch. If the Thaw flops and not a single person entreats a deal then the game as a whole has spoken rather poignantly about the kind of atmosphere they want to run in. The game will have people who feel they can not stand or can not play some thing that is not the glowing snowflake in the north. But that is a choice that player make, not one the game has to join in on because a single player made that choice (For the record I am in no way calling out anyone, nor do I have any single person or persons in mind with this assertion).

If you come to game looking for story with Mad Tom or any other character you are showing up for the story and not your sheet. I will to work with the fabrics of your mind not of parchment. The character sheet just happens to be a way we articulate the Story of how Strong, Fast, or Smart your character is. But it does not matter if you have Intelligence 1 or 6 on your sheet, you can enjoy a good story without the pen and paper.

If you want to keep Mad Tomaturgy and will hear no substitutes or offer then so be it. It is your story, and it is something you were given to play with. Do something meaningful with your cookie and your are building story rather than harming it.