[OBJECTION] [BYLAW REVISION] [PUBLIC] Membership Overhaul of Bylaws

I, Bruce Lindsay, as Membership Coordinator for One World by Night, in accordance with Coordinator Bylaw 3.a.xii.1 do hereby submit the following changes for the Administrative and Coordinator bylaws, as well as the addition of a Membership Bylaws section to our organization. 

This proposal may [AUTOPASS] if not objected to. This proposal does not require a [SECOND] and will either autopass or go to vote if objected to. 

Now with the formalities out of the way. 

 

Greetings Fellow Volunteers, 

 

I put this proposal up a week ago to workshop it and gauge the temperature of it. I appreciate the Coordinators and the Council Members who provided thoughts, insight, and comments on it. I have made a few adjustments. 

 

I will post the link to this proposal in a gdoc, but will also provide the body at the end of this email. 

 

"But Bruce - this is 11 pages of text and a whole lot to swallow."

 

Yes it is - So I'll give you all the TL:DR version/Summary here. 

 

1 - Major Changes to the application and admissions process to align with the currently practiced methods and make it easier for Satellite games to become their own Full Member Chronicle. 

 

 2 - A lot of language cleanup. 

 

3 - The Creation of Membership Bylaws and removal of the admissions Process from the administrative bylaws and adding to the new Membership bylaws. 

 

4 - I left out completely the part about games running things in territories outside their borders. Should this pass, that will be its own proposal later. 

 

5 - On the topics of Territory Disputes, I changed the process to go from "Territorial disputes may be taken to the executive team for mediation." to "If Membership Coord can't mediate a solution, it goes to the Mediation team, and then Council if no resolution can be agreed upon. 

This is to align the process since the writing of this bylaw predates the creation of the Mediation Team and takes the work off the already very overworked Exec team. 

 

6 - Put some stronger definitions on what it is to be a satellite game. 

 

 

 

Here's the link:

 

 

 

Here's the body of it. 

 

I, Bruce Lindsay, as Membership Coordinator for One World by Night, in accordance with Coordinator Bylaw 3.a.xii.1 do hereby submit the following changes for the Administrative and Coordinator bylaws, as well as the addition of a Membership Bylaws section to our organization. 

This proposal may [AUTOPASS] if not objected to. This proposal does not require a [SECOND] and will either autopass or go to vote if objected to. 

Coordinator Bylaw 3.a.iii.1

iii. Membership Coordinator

1. The Membership Coordinator shall oversee the admissions process as outlined in the Administrative Bylaws, Section 7. Membership Bylaws

Coordinator Bylaw 3.a.xii.1

xii. Administrative Coordinator Proposals

1. Administrative Coordinators may pass before Council any changes to the Administrative and Coordinator Bylaws, as long as said changes directly affect their position. These proposals follow the [AUTOPASS] Vote Procedure.

1. The Membership Coordinator may propose changes to the Membership Bylaws.

Admin Bylaw 1

1. Chronicles

a. What is a Chronicle?

i. A chronicle is a geographically localized body of players, including STs and a Council Member. The Council Member is assumed to represent the will of the chronicle to OWbN, however the Council Member is not assumed to have the ownership of the chronicle, which is assumed to belong to the body of players as a whole, including the STs and Council Member. Players may also be members of multiple chronicles.

. The Head Storyteller is considered the owner of the chronicle. Though measures exist elsewhere in our bylaws that enable the removal of an HST from a chronicle and it being turned over to another person should the need present itself. 

ii. A chronicle may be in-person (live) or online. Online All chronicles should indicate clearly what medium is official One World by Night space on their chronicle website OWBN Chronicle Dashboard, house rules, Discord servers, Facebook groups, etc., to differentiate it from Non-organizational servers.

b. Chronicle Boundaries and Control

i. Chronicles have full control over the events inside of their boundaries. These boundaries are registered with the Membership Coordinator, but should be well known to surrounding chronicles. Storytellers wishing to run scenes in another chronicle’s boundaries must first obtain permission from a Storyteller from that chronicle. A chronicle may only claim territory that is considered a reasonable distance from its IC location. A chronicle may only claim geographic territory that is contiguous unless otherwise proposed and ratified by the OWBN Council. 

ii. Territorial disputes may be taken to the executive team for mediation. Territorial disputes between Coordinators and or Chronicles must be raised with the Membership Coordinator to mitigate. If the issue cannot be resolved to the satisfaction of all parties, the matter proceeds to the Mediation Team for potential resolution. If none can be reached, the issue will be resolved via OWBN Council vote. 

i. Withdrawal and Expulsion

i. A full-member chronicle may always voluntarily withdraw from OWBN.

1. If it is the will of a substantial group of players to continue to play in our Organization, a new Storytelling crew may continue and the chronicle will remain in the Organization with its current membership status.

a. In order to be eligible to retain their current chronicle membership status in the Organization, they will need to submit a full chronicle report, as per Administrative Bylaw 8.D.iii., to the Archivist and the Executive Team within one month of the withdrawal under 1.I.i.b.

b. If a chronicle is under investigation by the Executive Team for expulsion or other disciplinary measures against the chronicle, or if Council is conducting a formal vote which would affect the status of the chronicle’s membership, Bylaw 1.I.i.a does not apply.

ii. When a chronicle is expelled or withdraws from OWBN, players from that chronicle may transfer their characters to other active chronicles, if their transfer is accepted by another active chronicle.

1. If the chronicle was expelled, any transfers of characters will need to involve the Executive Team as oversight to ensure that the characters being transferred are not party to the reasons for the chronicle’s expulsion.

2. Voluntarily withdrawing from OWBN is effective immediately upon notification to the Membership Coordinator by the Head Storyteller of the Full Member Chronicle. The Membership Coordinator shall then commence an Exit Interview of the Full Member Chronicle detailing the reasons the game has decided to leave, which shall be published to Council and ST lists upon full resolution of all necessary transfers and territory allocations and should be concluded in no longer than 3 months time. For this time period, the Game will be considered on Probation for all matters with the exception that Players have 3 months to transfer out characters to another game. Any R&U transfers must be be logged with the Archivist by email and or the website R&U functions.

3. Territory previously owned by a Chronicle that has been expelled, voluntarily withdraws or folds from OWBN defaults to being unclaimed. Upon completing the Exit Interview and all required items logged with the Archivist are transferred to another chronicle, the Membership Coordinator will begin mediation with any nearby games that may desire to claim those territories. If all parties cannot agree, the standard process for Territory Disputes takes precedence.  

7. Chronicle Admission Move to new Membership Bylaws Section 

a. Minimum Requirements for Application of Membership into the network:

i. Be active as a chronicle for a minimum of 6 months or 12 game sessions within a one-year period, whichever is longer, prior applying to OWBN for membership. Complete all applicable sections of the OWBN Admission form and submit it the Membership Coordinator. Please refer to the OWBN website for the admissions Form and the current e-mail address.

1. Include a copy of their written disciplinary procedures with their Application.

2. Include a copy of any house rules.

b. Application Review

i. The Membership Coordinator, a Sub-Coordinator, or a duly appointed representative will be assigned to the Application to review it and work with the prospective chronicle to work out any questions or concerns from the Genre Coordinators and chronicles, including mediation of territory disputes, which may be kicked up to the exec team for mediation if any party requests their involvement.

ii. The Membership Coordinator, a Sub-Coordinator, or a duly appointed representative will then work with the prospective chronicle to shift/adjust any plots that need to be modified to fit into the OWBN structure.

c. Probationary Vote

i. The Membership Coordinator will then submit the Application for a “Probationary Admission” vote to Council for the discussion period and Admission Vote. If there are no objections during the discussion period, the game will [AUTOPASS] into its Probationary Period.

1. Possible results for the initial admissions Vote are:

a. Admission to OWBN for a 6-12 Month probation

b. Denial of admission

i. Any Full Membership Chronicle or Exec Team Member may object to a chronicles Probationary Admission, causing it to go to a vote.

2. Admissions Votes require no Second.

3. If during this time there are concerns raised by Council about the application, the Membership Staff will work with the prospective chronicle to work out any questions or concerns from Council as well.

4. Once this has been completed, the Membership Coordinator will inform the applying chronicle of the results of their vote.

d. Probationary Period

i. If admitted to OWBN for trial membership, this means that the Probationary Chronicle for a period of no less than 6 months.

ii. Probationary Chronicles have the following rights and responsibilities to the network:

1. Adherence to all OWBN Bylaws, Genre Guidelines, Rules and Regulations

2. May not transfer any characters that exceed the guidelines of Sections 2, 4, 6, or 10 of the Character Regulation Bylaws to any other OWBN chronicle without an exemption vote by Council.

3. Is allowed to have their Storytellers on the OWBN Storyteller e-mail list and their Council Member on the OWBN Council e-mail list. However, the chronicle does not gain voting privileges until they are considered a Full Membership chronicle within OWBN.

4. Is allowed to have interaction with other chronicles in the OWBN shared-universe and have OWBN PCs interact with their game.

5. May put up characters to Council for R & U Notify and/or Vote.

6. During this time the Chronicle must align all past or present Chronicle Items (Player Characters, Plots, NPC’s etc…) with full adherence to the Bylaws as if the Chronicle was always a part of OWbN.

iii. During the 6 month Trial Period, the Membership Coordinator, a Sub-Coordinator, or a duly appointed representative shall be assigned to work with the newly voted chronicle to help them adjust to membership in OWBN.

iv. Any OWBN Council Member or Coordinator may post an objection to the Membership Coordinator to bar the chronicle from being automatically granted full membership. The Membership Coordinator will then notify Council of the details of the objection.

1. An objection may be withdrawn at any time. If the objection is not withdrawn, the chronicle’s admission shall be taken to vote at the end of the probationary period.

e. Full Membership

i. A chronicle’s admission as a Full Membership Chronicle of OWBN must be presented to Council.

1. The Application must be updated with the chronicle’s current information as necessary

2. If there is an objection to the Chronicle being granted full membership, voting options shall be as follows:

a. Full Membership

b. Extended Probation

c. Denial of Admission

3. Chronicles who are placed on an Extended Probation will be given no less than 6 months and no longer than an additional year in order to better align with what OWBN wishes it’s Full Membership Chronicles should be. After this period, the Probationary Chronicle will be resubmitted to council to be either admitted as a Full Member Chronicle or be denied membership.

4. Chronicles denied Full Membership Status will be allowed to reapply to be a probationary chronicle no less than 12 months from their final Full Membership vote.

5. Chronicles must be active as a chronicle for a minimum of 12 months or 12 game sessions, whichever is longer, prior applying to OWBN for full membership.

f. Satellite Games

i. Only Full Member OWBN Chronicles may have Satellite Games under their authority, unless a Satellite game is proposed concurrently, in a separate vote from another chronicle seeking probationary membership (e.g. two games applying together).

ii. A Satellite Game shall be defined by the following characteristics:

1. Operates under the authority of a Full Member OWBN Chronicle.

2. Has a significantly segmented character base from the rest of the chronicle, with the two character sets interacting on a limited basis, if at all.

3. Meets at a separate time and/or location from the Full Member Chronicle.

4. Operates inside the Full Member Chronicle’s territory.

5. Interacts with the OWBN Communal Story without having completed any part of the Admissions Process.

iii. All Satellite Games will be registered with the Membership Coordinator.

iv. Satellite Games going through the Admissions Process will remain under the authority of the Full Member Chronicle until they have passed their Probationary Vote. Once they have passed their Probationary Vote they become their own, separate Probationary Chronicle.

v. The Membership Coordinator shall be the arbiter of what does and does not constitute a Satellite game if there is dispute. This decision may be appealed first to the Exec Team, and then to Council.

vi. Satellite games will be treated as separate games for the purposes of reporting and record-keeping.

vii. Satellite Games to Full Membership going through the admissions process are held to both the rules and restrictions of Administrative Bylaws 7.D.ii and 7.F.

Membership Bylaws

1. Definitions

   1. Full Member Chronicle – This is the official terminology for a chronicle in One World by Night that is not a Satellite Chronicle or Probationary Chronicle. The Chronicle consists of a Head Storyteller, a Council Member, and a body of players. At the chronicle’s discretion, they may also have any number of other positions undefined in bylaws such as Assistant Storyteller, Treasurer, Administrator, Narrator, Player Representative, etc.  Those positions must be defined by the Chronicle’s House Rules and or Charter. For the purposes of the Organization, One World by Night recognizes only Head Storyteller, Assistant Storytellers, Council Member, and Players. 

1. The Council Member of a Full Member Chronicle may also hold any other position within the Chronicle at the discretion of the Head Storyteller. 

2. Satellite Chronicle – Satellite Chronicles must operate under the auspice and authority of a Full Member Chronicle. A Satellite Chronicle takes place only within the territory of a Full Member Chronicle. A Satellite Chronicle is bound by all requirements and privileges set forth that a Full Member Chronicle has, with the exception being they do not get a Council Member that can participate in the OWBN Council. A Satellite Chronicle must be a completely different Genre then it’s hosting Full Member Chronicle. A Satellite Chronicle’s Player Characters and story should never directly interact with the hosting Full Member Chronicles active Player Characters and story. A Satellite Chronicle should hold sessions at a different time and or place than the hosting Full Member Chronicle.

3. Probationary Chronicle – A Chronicle that has undergone the Admissions process recently and has been granted Probationary Membership to the Organization. Probationary Chronicles are bound by all rules and regulations as well as privileges of Full Member Chronicles with the following exceptions:

1. A Council Member of a Probationary Chronicle is permitted to be on the OWBN Council; however, they do not have the right to vote on proposals or Elections. The Council Member of a Probationary Chronicle may make Proposals to the OWBN Council, as if they were of a Full Member Chronicle.  

2. No Player Characters of a Probationary Chronicle may be transferred to any other OWBN Chronicle.

3. Unless otherwise specified, such as being under a disciplinary ordeal, or any other Council or Executive Team decision, a Probationary Chronicle may petition the OWBN Council to vote for them to become full members after 6 months of being a Probationary Chronicle. The choices for the OWBN Council to vote on are as follows:

   1. Admission of the Chronicle as a Full Member

   2. Extending the Chronicle’s Probation for 6 months

   3. Removal from One World by Night

2. Admissions Process

   1. There are 2 ways for a Chronicle to join One World by Night. Those processes are defined as:

      1. Independent or Troupe Chronicle joining One World by Night

      2. A Preexisting Satellite Chronicle branching off to become its own Full Member Chronicle. 

   2. Requirements for Joining One World by Night as an Independent or Troupe Game

      1. The Independent or Troupe Game must be at least 12 months old and have had at least 12 games sessions. The Membership Coordinator reserves the right to request proof of this requirement being fulfilled. 

      2. The Chronicle’s Head Storyteller or duly appointed representative of the Chronicle must complete all Applications furnished to them by the Membership Coordinator that pertains to the details of their Chronicle. 

      3. The Membership Coordinator, or duly appointed Sub Coordinator, will work with the Applicant on any issues found within the application that require clarification or adjusting. If the Applicant Chronicle does not reconcile or correct the applications within 30 days, the application is denied. 

      4. After the Applications have all been completed and approved by the Membership Coordinator, the Membership Coordinator will then submit them to the Coordinator Team of One World by Night for review. The Coordinator Team will have 30 days to review the applications and raise questions and concerns to the applying Chronicle. Genre Coordinators have the right to approve or deny any items on the application. Genre Coordinators who do not raise concerns or provide explicit approvals or denials will be assumed to approve all items on the application.  

      5. After all applications have been approved and the Genre coordinators have concluded their review, the Membership Coordinator shall propose to the One World by Night Council that the chronicle be admitted into OWBN.  

      6. The Proposal will allow the council of OWBN to see the applications in their entirety and the options for the vote will be as follows:

         1. Deny Entry

         2. 6 Month Probationary Admission

      7. If the majority of the OWBN Council vote to deny the chronicle entry into One World by Night, the Chronicle may apply again 12 months after the closing of the vote.

      8. If the majority of the OWBN Council vote to admit the chronicle for a 6-month Probationary period, the chronicle is admitted to One World by Night as a Probationary Chronicle. 

3. Requirements for a Satellite Chronicle to become Full Member Chronicle in One World by Night:

   1. The Satellite Chronicle must be in good standing in One World by Night and have been following all rules and regulations set forth by One World by Night.

   2. The Satellite Chronicle must be at least 12 months old and have played at least 12 game sessions in that time frame. 

   3. The Satellite Chronicle must have their hosting Full Member Chronicle’s full support to apply for their own Full Member Status. 

   4. As a Satellite Chronicle is bound by all Rules and Regulations of One World by Night at its inception, including all Character approvals and such, there will be no formal Applications to fill out as if they were an Independent or Troupe Game applying to join One World by Night.

   5. A Satellite Chronicle must petition the Membership Coordinator to be proposed to the One World by Night Council for full membership. 

   6. The Proposal will detail any Territory being ceded from the Hosting Chronicle to the Satellite Chronicle, as well as all relevant information that would be included on a Chronicle Information Form. The options for the vote will be as follows:

      1. Approval of becoming a Full Member Chronicle of One World by Night.

      2. Denial of Full Membership to One World by Night. 

   7. If the majority of the OWBN Council votes to approve Full Member status, the chronicle becomes a Full Member. 

   8. If the majority of OWBN Council votes to deny Full Member status, the Chronicle may attempt another proposal to become Full Members in 12 months from the date the vote closes.