[PROPOSAL] (V2) Rewrite of Character Bylaws, Section 3: Character Play-Status and an End to XP Farming
Open Votes
Proposal Type: Bylaw Revision
Opened: 08-Jul-2014 12:00AM EDT
Closing: 15-Jul-2014 12:00AM EDT
Good afternoon,
Tampa: Under Night's Cloak proposes a change to the Character Bylaws to define the character statuses that are generally accepted in OWbN (Active, Retired, Dead) and are used throughout the Character Bylaws. We also propose, with these definitions, ending the practice of character farming, that is, the ability of Chronicles to give experience to an unlimited amount of PCs in their Chronicle for the same player, in the same month.
Further, Section 3 has been "patched" over and over again, and this re-write consolidates all of those changes as well as correcting "fluff" language and spelling errors.
After 150 emails and many, many corrections, here are the main points which have been addressed by this version:
- Broke down the NPC-to-PC conversion process in a numbered list
- Clarified that if an active character dies, xp can be gained on another character in the same month
- Relaxed definitions of Active/Inactive so there's no confusion about internet-characters being allowed to earn XP when they don't actually show up to a LARP
- Made it clear that STs define character state and status and when
- Made sure to note that Inactive characters can be played (like going to Clan Meetings at events)
- Removed the ambiguous "short-term" line from the part about gaining XP
This proposal requires a Second in the Subject Line in order to go to vote.
These changes will modify the entirety of Section 3 of the Character Bylaws as follows:
FROM:
Character Bylaws
3. Experience Points
A. No OWBN character may earn more than eight experience points in a single month.
B. A character may only be awarded experience by its own home chronicle.
i. If a PC visits another chronicle and thus is eligible to earn additional experience, it is the player's responsibility to make sure that the storyteller crew of the chronicle the player visits informs the home chronicle, by email, stamped index card, etc., so that the home chronicle can award the appropriate experience.ii. The home chronicle is the final authority on how much experience is awarded (not to exceed the OWBN maximum of 8 per character per calendar month).
C. Experience is awarded to the character not the player.
i. Experience may only be spent on the PC to which it was awarded.ii. The only exception is when a PC dies or is retired, the unspent experience, up to the maximum allowed by OWBN rules, may be transferred to a new PC.
D. Players who serve on short-term NPC duty may, at storyteller discretion, be allowed to earn some experience towards their active PC, however players of long-term NPCs should not be allowed to transfer large amounts of experience to their active PC.
E. Chronicles may convert an NPC to a PC under the following conditions:
i. Chronicles must make a standard Council Proposal (see the Administrative Bylaw document, Section C) for this conversion and submit with it the full sheet to be converted.
1. The character sheet must meet all OWbN PC creation guidelines at the time of conversion.
2. Failure to follow this process shall result in the automatic destruction of the character of said character with no resurrection permitted.
F. The standard XP costs from Laws of the Night (3rd Edition) and other published Revised/3rd Edition White Wolf books and material with listed MET XP costs (including the Sabbat Guide, Anarch Guide, Stroyteller's Guide, Clanbooks, etc.) are to be considered the baseline for OWBN. Reasonable variations due to house rules or regional preferences (such as rules regarding Influences) are permissible, but must be noted in a game's house rules.
TO:
Character Bylaws
3. Experience & Character Status
A. Every character, when created a home-Chronicle, must be designated as a PC (portrayed by players) or NPC (portrayed by Storytellers/Narrators)
i. A PC may be turned into an NPC at any time by the home-Chronicle Storytellerii. An NPC may be converted to a PC with a standard Council Proposal (see the Administrative Bylaws, Section C)
1. The full PC character sheet must be presented at the time of the proposal and meet all OWbN PC creation guidelines for a new character
B. Every PC must be designated with one (and only one) Play Status at a time
i. These Play Statuses are defined as follows:
1. Active - These characters are actively portrayed in OWbN Chronicles and at OWbN Live Action Roleplay Events2. Inactive - These characters are not actively being portrayed in OWbN Chronicles, but may still be portrayed occasionally within OWbN3. Retired - The player has permanently finished this character's story and has committed to never playing the character again. Retired characters are considered the property of the Chronicle they were retired in (unless otherwise specified via Binding Agreement) and are considered NPCs if they need to be portrayed in the future. They may not reenter game-play as PCs without following the guidelines presented above for NPC to PC conversion (3.A.i.)4. Dead - The character has been killed or otherwise destroyed and is no longer eligible to be played without a Character Resurrection (Section 6.B.)
ii. Within a Chronicle, a player may only have one PC in the status of Active in a single calendar month. A player may have any number of characters in other statuses.
1. If this Active PC changes Status to either Retired or Dead, the player may choose or create another character who may also be Active for that same month.2. Satellite Chronicles, for this purpose, are considered a separate entity from their sponsoring Full Member Chronicle.
iii. The Storyteller has the final determination on which Status a character is assigned each month.
C. Characters may only be awarded experience by their home-Chronicle
i. Experience Points (XP) are awarded to the character not the player
1. If a PC visits another Chronicle and is deemed eligible to earn additional experience, it is the player's responsibility to make sure that the Storytelling Staff of the Chronicle he or she visited communicates the XP award to the character's Home Chronicle
ii. Experience may only be spent on the character to which it was awarded
1. The only exception to this is when a PC changes Status to either Dead or Retired. In these cases, any unspent experience (up to the maximum allowed in Section 2: New Character Creation) may be transferred to a new character.
iii. Players who serve in organizational positions (Coordinators, Sub-Coordinators, Storytellers, etc) or who portray NPCs, at Storyteller discretion, be allowed to earn some experience towards their Active PC.
D. A Storyteller may award a character in the Status of Active up to a maximum of eight (8) experience points in a single calendar month.
i. Characters in Statuses other than Active may not be awarded XP for the month in which the character was not in Active Status.
1. This does not mean characters in Inactive Status cannot be portrayed, only that these characters do not gain XP when portrayed in the same month that the player also has an Active, XP gaining, PC in that same Chronicle.
E. The standard XP costs detailed in Laws of the Night: Revised Edition (LotN:R) and other Revised White Wolf books and material with listed MET XP costs (including the Sabbat Guide, Anarch Guide, Storyteller's Guide, Clanbooks, etc.) are to be considered the baseline for OWbN.
i. Reasonable variations due to house rules or regional preferences (such as rules regarding Influences) are permissible, but must be noted in a Chronicle's house rules.
Thank you for your consideration.
- Brian Orlando
HST & CM of Tampa: Under Night's Cloak
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Ballot Options For
Against
Abstain
We would have less issues with this if it was one active PC *per genre* if genre were sufficiently defined. We do not feel the Satellite Chronicle exception is sufficient nor is it clear enough about to which "for this purpose" it refers. We also think this is unequally burdensome within the org; areas with a dense concentration of games such as south Florida have a much easier time dealing with this than a game such as Denver where a player may have no where else within several hundred miles to park a PC. We have all seen cases where a PC gets caught in some time freeze or protracted e-scene for several weeks; at which point having two active PC's is necessary. If you are in south Florida, you can simply allocate to your PC based in the next Chronicle over. If you are out all on your own, that may not be quite so feasible. Thus, the remote chronicle players are unevenly affected by this change as compared to other players. We do not think this is equitable.