change in Character Bylaw 3

 

June 2015, a prop came forward to increase the Starting build points to 90.   That prop ultimately was either withdrawn or failed but it sparked an interesting discussion.   

 

Players largely feel that while their role play may be awesome, many plots also require "dots on paper".   So it is difficult for them to get into those plots as a starting 7/5/3.   This added to the fact that some games blanket give the 60, some games do not give any and others give some combination although still rarely a full 60.  Meaning that the increase to 60 build (from 30), is not on an org wide level contributing to either side of this issue.

 

Also it has been purposed many times in the history of our org, that veteran characters should be limited in how much XP they are allowed to earn. A proposal that has never gone very far.

 

Last summer I put forward an idea that address all of these concerns.   It is not meant to be perfect or solve them; but it does address them all for the hopeful benefit of our players and the org as a whole.

 

While not changing the starting xp amount, allowing new characters a higher experience points per month maximum.   The players must still put in all the work they normally would, but with the proposed xp change, it would accelerate characters and players of feeling that they contribute in matters of "dots on paper".  Games that don't agree, are not required to use it - but they have the option. 

 

No one can doubt that the MET system is not designed for building "real people/characters." There is very little ways to round out a character so that they have all the initial dots representing their life experiences...Hopefully this change will help address this as well, and those players that simply want to use it for kewl powerz and general min-maxing is addressed by their characters staff.  Council has not attempted to stop that in the past, nor should they.   This proposal does not attempt to do so either.  Experience points are still awarded by a character's home chronicle.  Characters following the Home Chronicle's rules on the subject.

 

Here is the math break down of our current xp system, and the proposed change.

 

This math follows that the 60 build is not "earned xp total"   That starting build is just that, build and is not considered "earned xp"   The bylaw change below also includes a change to address this concern.

 

Under current Character Bylaw 3.  350 experience points is achieved in 3 years & 7 months. (350/96)

 

Under the proposed changes to Character Bylaw 3.

130 = 10 months from creation 

250 = 19 months from creation 

350 = 29 months from creation 

allowing a character to achieve the same Earned Experience total, in 2 years and 5 months, instead of 3 years and 7 months.

 

What this prop does not do.

* Give away free XP.   XP is still determined by the home chronicle; awarded at their discretion.  Requiring characters/players to do all that is normally required by the chronicle to be awarded XP on the character.

*Limit veteran characters/players as their maximum earned xp each month does not change.

*Bring back crystal Pepsi

 

Previous Feed Back.

Q. How do we enforce this?

A.  The same way we "enforce" Current XP policies. The honor system and with our bylaws. XP is "enforced" at the chronicle level. Council never gets involved unless it is a _serious_ issue, and to my knowledge has only had to request the database of a game very rarely, and also rarely have actions resulted from that request.   Even when issues of cheating arise between chronicles it is typically handled by them and almost never reaches council.  It is enforced by the local games admin, using their individual games standard house rules regarding experience points.

 

Q. this makes database work harder.

A. if you manage your the database of a game, you already are familiar that this isn't a big deal. If your admin's version of managing is "Select all characters, blanket add "X" xp", then yes it will require a little more work on their part. For those who use grapevine, this is addressed by simply adding XP to an individual character one at a time., as their total earned is shown on the XP tab of the character. While I personally don't use Puppet Prince, to my knowledge it tracks XP fairly well, and should also not be a problem as it displays similar information.

 

Q. What if at the end of a month a character has earned 129 XP.   Do they still earn 14 the following month.

A. By sheer technicality, yes. This is the advantage and drawback of cold hard math in a variable system. Our XP system (both current and proposed) are a maximum amount you can earn.  So while the math above calculates use the maximum it is meant to show the fastest a character can achieve 350xp, not how fast the average character "will" achieve 350xp. There is no way to know the rate which a character will advance. It is typically wildly different between characters even in the same chronicle. Ultimately, the only month this would truely matter is the final month. Should a character end a month at 340-349. While giving a character that extra 2xp still follows the letter of this bylaw change, it is up to home chronicles to decide how to proceed in those events.

 

 

Technical Specific Prop Information..... (IE the actual Prop)

 

On behalf of Chicago: New Moon Rising, I Dwayne Baldwin purpose a change of how Experience points are earned for characters in One World by Night.  Found in character bylaw section 3.

 

This prop may be shared with players, as well as shared on social media and lists.

 

This prop can not auto pass, it is purposed by a Council Member.

 

This prop, could be submitted for General Consensus if desired by council.

 

[Objections] are not needed as this is propped by a game, they don't do anything formally.

 

This prop does require a [second], in order to go to vote. (remember to change the subject line, or it doesn't "count".

 

This Proposal if passed will be backdated to include experience point earned for the month of January 2016.

 

As it effects all characters based on experience point total, there is no need to backdate it further; as it effects them all immediately.

 

 

3. Experience Points

a.Experience Points (XP) are awarded to the character, not the player, and only by their home-Chronicle. They may only be spent on the character to which it was awarded.

i. The reason for any XP Award must be clearly documented on the character sheet or experience history

b. A new player character is restricted to the points allowed under standard character creation rules in the appropriate Mind's Eye Theater book, plus up to sixty (60) experience points.

i. The aforementioned experience points can be given through storytelling awards or as a rollover from the unspent experience points held by a previous character that has been rendered permanently unplayable (Retired or Dead), through whatever reason. Any such awards or rollover must be made within three game sessions of the character entering play.

1. Points diverted from a previous character as rollover may only be used once and for a single new character.

2. Points already spent cannot be transferred to another character or refunded to serve as rollover.

ii. These points may be spent only as Experience Points, not as creation/bonus points. This spending should follow your Chronicle's House Rules

iii. Any awards of traits, abilities, or other character statistics count towards this limit as the amount of experience that the player would have had to spend to purchase that particular statistic.

iv. These points cannot be allowed to purchase any power above second Basic in any out of clan Disciplines.

c. After the character has entered play, the home chronicle can award a character up to a maximum of eight (8) a maximum of experience points in a single calendar month based on the character’s total earned experience points the previous month. Those maximums are as follows.

Total Earned Experience Points	Maximum possible Experience Points earned each month
0-130	14
130-250	12
250-350	10
350+	8

d. The standard baseline for OWbN XP costs are the ones detailed in the official material published by White Wolf.

i. Reasonable variations due to house rules or regional preferences for rules regarding Backgrounds are allowed as long as noted in the Chronicle's House Rules available in the OWbN website.

 

 

-

Dwayne "Spaz" Baldwin

CNMR