First off I want to thank the Alliance for taking the first steps in making the game a better place. The board moderators are a solid beginning. It'll take time for them to find their place on what is and isn't necessary. Have patience with them folks. Its no small undertaking. But to maintain a professional appearance is long overdue.
Second, a HUGE shout out to Stephen Duetzman. His efforts will hopefully help us to grow and continue. So long as we the players allow him to. A word of advice Steve, there is no need for you to explain or apologize for yourself. Your actions will dictate your intentions to all of us.
Now I've been hearing a lot of hubub about a restructuring that may or may not be coming around. Frankly I know very little about it. That doesn't change my ability to know how far away from the dream it will lead us. The dream has never been about power and who has it. And going back to make changes because people were allowed to join the dream without making sure they were of like mind isn't going to change anything.
The dream, as was taught to me by the King of Dreamers, was to make a game available to all that was simple and easy to understand and play. Together. A friendly place where people of like mind could get on the same page and be all they can't be. A sober place, outdoors, to go and live in fantasy in order to escape the realities of life for a while. And to have fun while doing it. Together.
Now some may think this is some grand vision that can't be accomplished. Or that we are too far away to find it. Or that huge, sweeping changes need to happen before thats a possibility. I disagree wholeheartedly. We are a lot closer than we ever have been. But to get there we don't need to go back to fix mistakes. We need to go back to what worked. And make it work again.
What I am proposing is a not a restructuring of powers but a redefining of fundamentals. To bring clarity to the issues. To get all of us like minds on that same page so we can go play already.
RULES - MONSTERS - RITUALS - These are what it all boils down to. The things that we need to agree on and be able to understand quickly and easily so we can get onto the game.
RULES - I'd like to ask that the ARC be placed on the task of revising all of the rules. Now I know this sounds like a monumental task. Really its not. At this point most of it is all ready written. Its just a matter of ensuring its all cleaned up and easy for any layman to understand. Make sure the listing of all effects and deliveries is accurate. Remove redunancy. Remember that the goal of rules is to not define everything that can happen. Thats for the encounter heads and marshalls to do. Its to make it simple enough for anyone to pick up quick and understand. Oh and don't forget to add, right after the HOLD rule, that "A Marshall's call on the field is what stands regardless of what is written herein. Adjudications will happen after. Play the game" I'd say of all the tasks this one is the easiest.
MONSTERS - A team needs be formed to revise the entire Monster Database. It is horribly out of date. They need to expand it to include more base monsters, including instructions on how to rep them so that players traveling can easily identify them. This is not to say that Plot cannot create their own. Its to have less of a reason to do so. The conformity of monsters will allow players to not become confused on which black tabard, black face NPC they are looking at this time. It gives Plot less time spent on stats and more on the plot of why players are facing said creatures. Most importantly it needs to be distributed to every chapter. Allow a place for teams to create their own without writing over the base. Expand it to include monsters capable of challenging the higher level players we are seeing today. And work with rules so that all monster's abilities are included therein.
RITUALS - Otherwise known as the SEXY. Much like the Monster Database this is horribly out of date. One set of Alliance wide transferrable rituals needs to be put together with room made available for LCO specific rituals for Plot reasons. This includes accepted flaws and backlashes. Double check that all transferable rituals can be generated from the random scroll maker for treasure purposes. It should include any effect that cannot be aquired through Spells or Abilities. For instance the Rebirth effect from High Magic. This is to provide conformity and ease of understanding. Most importantly it needs to be given to every chapter. Most especially whenever an update is made.
Now we the players have to agree on some of this to make it all work. For instance, not everyone can memorize the level of detail that you may be able to. And thats ok. The point is to make it simple and easy so as to allow as many as possible to play with us. Its also to afford plot the ability to throw curveballs at us. Its in that I believe the current rules are written the way they are. To allow a little bend so that it all works. Let me give an example to show what I mean:
On a module once, my group faced off against some giant slugs. One of the members of said group happened to have a bottle of salt on them. We asked the marshal present if we could use the Alchemy skill to coat our blades in salt. To which he resounded in a "Hell Yes!" Then we proceeded to 50 Salt Slay said Slugs. Now by the rules this should have not been even remotely possible. But at the moment it was cool and fun for all. Later in the weekend we faced off against them again during a wave battle. We asked the same marshal if we could do it again. He replied with "Sorry, the air here is too dry, its not sticking to the blades." While there was a short "Awww" it didn't stop us from playing the game or make us start the bitch fest. It was fun. For all.
This is why I included the line in the RULES section about adding "The Marshalls call on the field stands regardless of what is written herein. Adjudications will happen after." Its up to us to allow this sort of variation to happen on the fly and to roll with it. The other side of it is to say that while intentions may have been spot on, something may go wrong with the execution of those intentions. Its up to us to trust our plot team enough that they will recognize this and not penalize us for it while we continue to play.
That's it folks. I could go onto some nitty gritty details, like including the rules revision to define the speed of the game, but I trust that and the rest can be addressed should this be taken seriously. I know its a long read but your review of it will be greatly appreciated. And it will go a long way to getting us back on the track of playing nice together again.
For you and the game,
--Chazz
Second, a HUGE shout out to Stephen Duetzman. His efforts will hopefully help us to grow and continue. So long as we the players allow him to. A word of advice Steve, there is no need for you to explain or apologize for yourself. Your actions will dictate your intentions to all of us.
Now I've been hearing a lot of hubub about a restructuring that may or may not be coming around. Frankly I know very little about it. That doesn't change my ability to know how far away from the dream it will lead us. The dream has never been about power and who has it. And going back to make changes because people were allowed to join the dream without making sure they were of like mind isn't going to change anything.
The dream, as was taught to me by the King of Dreamers, was to make a game available to all that was simple and easy to understand and play. Together. A friendly place where people of like mind could get on the same page and be all they can't be. A sober place, outdoors, to go and live in fantasy in order to escape the realities of life for a while. And to have fun while doing it. Together.
Now some may think this is some grand vision that can't be accomplished. Or that we are too far away to find it. Or that huge, sweeping changes need to happen before thats a possibility. I disagree wholeheartedly. We are a lot closer than we ever have been. But to get there we don't need to go back to fix mistakes. We need to go back to what worked. And make it work again.
What I am proposing is a not a restructuring of powers but a redefining of fundamentals. To bring clarity to the issues. To get all of us like minds on that same page so we can go play already.
RULES - MONSTERS - RITUALS - These are what it all boils down to. The things that we need to agree on and be able to understand quickly and easily so we can get onto the game.
RULES - I'd like to ask that the ARC be placed on the task of revising all of the rules. Now I know this sounds like a monumental task. Really its not. At this point most of it is all ready written. Its just a matter of ensuring its all cleaned up and easy for any layman to understand. Make sure the listing of all effects and deliveries is accurate. Remove redunancy. Remember that the goal of rules is to not define everything that can happen. Thats for the encounter heads and marshalls to do. Its to make it simple enough for anyone to pick up quick and understand. Oh and don't forget to add, right after the HOLD rule, that "A Marshall's call on the field is what stands regardless of what is written herein. Adjudications will happen after. Play the game" I'd say of all the tasks this one is the easiest.
MONSTERS - A team needs be formed to revise the entire Monster Database. It is horribly out of date. They need to expand it to include more base monsters, including instructions on how to rep them so that players traveling can easily identify them. This is not to say that Plot cannot create their own. Its to have less of a reason to do so. The conformity of monsters will allow players to not become confused on which black tabard, black face NPC they are looking at this time. It gives Plot less time spent on stats and more on the plot of why players are facing said creatures. Most importantly it needs to be distributed to every chapter. Allow a place for teams to create their own without writing over the base. Expand it to include monsters capable of challenging the higher level players we are seeing today. And work with rules so that all monster's abilities are included therein.
RITUALS - Otherwise known as the SEXY. Much like the Monster Database this is horribly out of date. One set of Alliance wide transferrable rituals needs to be put together with room made available for LCO specific rituals for Plot reasons. This includes accepted flaws and backlashes. Double check that all transferable rituals can be generated from the random scroll maker for treasure purposes. It should include any effect that cannot be aquired through Spells or Abilities. For instance the Rebirth effect from High Magic. This is to provide conformity and ease of understanding. Most importantly it needs to be given to every chapter. Most especially whenever an update is made.
Now we the players have to agree on some of this to make it all work. For instance, not everyone can memorize the level of detail that you may be able to. And thats ok. The point is to make it simple and easy so as to allow as many as possible to play with us. Its also to afford plot the ability to throw curveballs at us. Its in that I believe the current rules are written the way they are. To allow a little bend so that it all works. Let me give an example to show what I mean:
On a module once, my group faced off against some giant slugs. One of the members of said group happened to have a bottle of salt on them. We asked the marshal present if we could use the Alchemy skill to coat our blades in salt. To which he resounded in a "Hell Yes!" Then we proceeded to 50 Salt Slay said Slugs. Now by the rules this should have not been even remotely possible. But at the moment it was cool and fun for all. Later in the weekend we faced off against them again during a wave battle. We asked the same marshal if we could do it again. He replied with "Sorry, the air here is too dry, its not sticking to the blades." While there was a short "Awww" it didn't stop us from playing the game or make us start the bitch fest. It was fun. For all.
This is why I included the line in the RULES section about adding "The Marshalls call on the field stands regardless of what is written herein. Adjudications will happen after." Its up to us to allow this sort of variation to happen on the fly and to roll with it. The other side of it is to say that while intentions may have been spot on, something may go wrong with the execution of those intentions. Its up to us to trust our plot team enough that they will recognize this and not penalize us for it while we continue to play.
That's it folks. I could go onto some nitty gritty details, like including the rules revision to define the speed of the game, but I trust that and the rest can be addressed should this be taken seriously. I know its a long read but your review of it will be greatly appreciated. And it will go a long way to getting us back on the track of playing nice together again.
For you and the game,
--Chazz