———- Forwarded message ———-

From: JT Tremaine><sestoryteller (at) gmail.com>

Date: Thu, Apr 5, 2012 at 9:51 AM

Hey Brian,

Wasn’t sure where the questions for the NST election should go, but looking back in my archives it looks like you were the one to send them to, so here you are. I already tried posting them to the NST Election list directly, but they bounced, so here they are:

Here’s some questions collected from the SE so far:

To All Candidates:

- For those who have had Regional and higher experience please share with us some positive experience that you have had as an Officer within this club that has shaped your perspective to where you feel that you are qualified for the position.

- For those without Regional plus experience, share with us an experience/thoughts that would adequately compensate for lack of said experience and would cause the membership to look to you as the NST and feel that you are qualified for the position.

- I noticed that a few candidates left positions for various reasons whether it be personal, burnout, or out of protest towards other Offices, please share with us your thoughts on how you intend to avoid this from happening as NST. As NST you will have people coming at you from every angle so having a contingency to avoid this scenario is quite crucial.

- How would each of you approach reset and close out of the current Chronicles? Separate staff, rule set review group etc.

- Question concerning High MC players – there is an undercurrent in the Club that high MC players should reduce their visibility and actions and not take part as a driving force in the game – Elders should not be Prince should not hold other positions in the city etc. How would you address these issues?

- There seems to be those in the Club that feel that the High MC players abuse their MC and get items that others don’t. Part of that is knowing the system like any other group, but how would you help folks over come the perception and in some rare cases, the facts of this issue.

- Regional Approval – Disparity- There is considerable difference in what is approved across the various regions. Some are very conservative and others more liberal. Any ideas on how the NST Office can balance this?

- How much control should National have for the end-game for the various resets? Should it be Regional-level as a primary focus? Should it be National Level? Should it be purely Global level?

- If involvement and control of the Reset will be decided by each national affiliate, what are your stances on how to empower the local venues during the ‘end of game’ and ways to ensure that their vision of the end-of-times for both New-World and Old-World can be incorporated?

- Also, several players locally (In the Domain who posed the question) have decided that they will ‘just wait until after reset’ to make new characters for the games. Our attendance has suffered for this. I am wondering what you would recommend to their storytellers down the line (RST-DST-VST) to fix this problem.

Question Directed to Larry Specifically

Larry, in the recent past there were some issues concerning comments made over the ST List about the Memphis OWOD VSS, what positive things did you learn from this situation and how would you approach a similar situation in the future?

During my time working at regional level as SE ARST Geist, the most positive takeaway was how great it was to speak daily with local players and hear the great stuff that they were doing in their own games. The exposure an officer at the regional level gets to members outside of their own local domain is great and I think it was one of the aspects of the position that really reinforced my excitement for the club as a whole. Often times we may be active on the lists and see each other at cons, but the exposure to other members outside of our domain is often limited. Holding a regional position really exposed me to a lot of great people in my region and it was one of the really exciting aspects of the role. In addition, it really honed my belief that communication between members and officers (on all levels) is extremely essential. An officer who has the pulse of the membership and is open to feedback becomes better at their job. I think by being focused on the pulse of the membership and what they want, is something that I can bring to the position if elected.

I noticed that a few candidates left positions for various reasons whether it be personal, burnout, or out of protest towards other Offices, please share with us your thoughts on how you intend to avoid this from happening as NST. As NST you will have people coming at you from every angle so having a contingency to avoid this scenario isquite crucial.

As I had mentioned in previous Q&A’s I will be hiring a Chief of Staff who will serve as my right hand. I believe it always crucial to have a backup in case of unforeseen events such as changes at work, or family obligations. In addition, if such events arise that could limit my communication I will inform all my staff before hand and make sure that all duties are up to date, so that delay times are minimal. As my current position with my job has me working from home, and is very technologically focused I do not foresee any lapses in communication as I will always have access to my email via my phone, or am on Skype through the majority of the day.

How would each of you approach reset and close out of the current Chronicles? Separate staff, rule set review group etc.

I think setting up a separate staff to close out the current chronicle and one to start the new one, would be a big headache. I am more inclined to hiring a staff that is fully aware that their duties will include the closure of the current chronicle and the set-up of the next. I will be speaking with each of my venue ANST’s to determine the best means of dividing the work load in such a way that chronicle end plots are given the attention they are due. Since I am a strong advocate for having the wrap of the chronicle heavily influenced by what the player’s want (since they have the most invested in the stories that play out), I will be encouraging that my staff work closely with their regional counterparts to make sure that the national vision is aligned with the regional perspective. As well as ensure that national end plots have a universal appeal cross region and thus provide some great tie-in that will encourage cross-regional plot.

 Question concerning High MC players – there is an undercurrent in the Club that high MC players should reduce their visibility and actions and not take part as a driving force in the game – Elders should not be Prince should not hold other positions in the city etc. How would you address these issues?

Though I understand the question I do not see it as the real problem currently facing the club. Based on the venues we play be they NWOD or OWOD there is a need for High MC players to hold roles that are more visible be they as elders in the Vampire venues, or movers and shakers in the other venues. What I see as the problem is when the same players are tapped continuously for highly visible plots, and thus eliminating the opportunity for newer members, or mid MC players to participate. As I mentioned, in a few past Q&A’s, I will be encouraging my assistants to each open a position on their individual staffs that will primarily be focused on creating plots that will target new members and mid MC players. These players need to have inroads into the chronicle that will allow them to springboard their characters on to the regional/national stage. As an organization if we wish to continue to grow and thrive we need to change our approach and engage our membership, all of our membership from the MC1 to the MC 14.

There seems to be those in the Club that feel that the High MC players abuse their MC and get items that others don’t. Part of that is knowing the system like any other group, but how would you help folks over come the perception and in some rare cases, the facts of this issue.

As I mentioned above, the problem of High MC bias is more based on the fact that new members and mid MC members have not been adequately engaged in the current chronicle. I will be honest and this might piss a few people off but I hate, and yes I did use the word hate, the purchasing of auction items at charities that provide access to special stuff. Be this access to items, plot devices, special character type etc. I think its comparable to buying currency on an MMO. It is very unbalancing to the chronicle let alone the local and regional stories. But it is an excepted part of the club due to the benefit it brings to the charities we support. But again, I think if there were opportunities in place for newer members and Mid MC members to participate in plots that may lead them to a special approved item, the bias towards Higher MC players would subside. Like I said above we need to engage all of our membership not just focus on one group.

- Regional Approval – Disparity- There is considerable difference in what is approved across the various regions. Some are very conservative and others more liberal. Any ideas on how the NST Office can balance this?

I think this is one of the major functions of the Office of NST. I and my staff would communicate with our regional counterparts and ensure that a system is in place that streamlines and levels out the approval process. This review would factor in the current approvals already in place in the specific regions and go over the rationale for why difference exist. It is my hope that my office would be able to balance out the approvals in the different regions so that they can be more uniform cross-region.

How much control should National have for the end-game for the various resets? Should it be Regional-level as a primary focus? Should it be National Level? Should it be purely Global level?

As I had mentioned in a previous Q&A, I believe the end-game for the current chronicle should be focused on what the players want and thus I would be depending heavily on feedback from the regional officers in what their members want to see for the ending of the current chronicle. I think the National office should help facilitate a uniform vision of the end chronicle that ties in all of the feedback from our regional counterparts. I think this will help players feel they played a crucial role in their venue’s ending stories while also provide a national feel to the stories that are taking place cross regions.

- If involvement and control of the Reset will be decided by each national affiliate, what are your stances on how to empower the local venues during the ‘end of game’ and ways to ensure that their vision of the end-of-times for both New-World and Old-World can be incorporated?

I encourage all the local venues to provide feedback to their regional officers as well as feel confident to contact myself or my staff. We want to hear your feedback and local perspective on the end-chronicle. I or my staff may not always go with the suggestions that are made due to the factoring in of other things that might be in place. But we do want to hear what you think. The local and regional perspective is the only way I or my staff will be able to gauge the pulse of the membership, and thus know if we are doing a good job or not.

- Also, several players locally (In the Domain who posed the question) have decided that they will ‘just wait until after reset’ to make new characters for the games. Our attendance has suffered for this. I am wondering what you would recommend to their storytellers down the line (RST-DST-VST) to fix this problem.

My suggestion is to definitely find ways to encourage these players to attend events, be they just socials, or neighboring game events. We want these members to definitely continue to be involved even in the current chronicle, because their opinion matters on the way the new chronicle will shape out to be. And if they don’t get drawn in by that, if elected tell them to email me, I think my staff and I can find something to get their engagement level back up.

Thanks again JT for the great questions,

This is a great question. Several years ago in the old chronicle, I was ANST CAM/Anarch and I ran a scene at ICC where the cam had put together a crew to hunt down a Noctuku. Long story short, I killed dozens of PC’s, mostly by random chops.

All of the players were so kind and enthusiastic, to the point that when they finally got him down, every was cheering. Subsequently, I had one of the players I killed write me a very personal email thanking me.

Being able to pull something like that, such a complex combat and intense scene, showed me that I can handle being a high level officer. Of course, to be fair, I think its how we handlethe failures we have that also show us who we are.

- I noticed that a few candidates left positions for various reasons whether it be personal, burnout, or out of protest towards other Offices, please share with us your thoughts on how you intend to avoid this from happening as NST. As NST you will have people coming at you from every angle so having a contingency to avoid this scenario is quite crucial.

My real life work day is extremely stressful and I am responsible for making sometimes life or death decisions.  I’ve been doing for ten years now and feel that I have achieved a certain comfort level with stressful positions. Through the support of my friends and family within this club I have no concerns about not being able to do this job.

- How would each of you approach reset and close out of the current Chronicles? Separate staff, rule set review group etc.

I outlined my plan in my resume. Essentially, seperate staff, one to finish, one to start work on the US chronicle for next go around.  The rules thing is hard because we have to waitfor global to send us stuff before we can review it.

- Question concerning High MC players – there is an undercurrent in the Club that high MC players should reduce their visibility and actions and not take part as a driving force in the game – Elders should not be Prince should not hold other positions in the city etc. How would you address these issues?

I like the idea of an elder guide, but lets be real, that’s not the game we’re playing. My first priority would be to work with RST’s to see what their players want. I don’t plan on making any broad decisions without consulting the rst’s (representatives of the players).

Unless we simply limit the number/ability to play elders, I don’t think there is a good solution.

I do have some ideas on how to make playing neonates/ancillae more attractive, if you want me to expand.

- There seems to be those in the Club that feel that the High MC players abuse their MC and get items that others don’t. Part of that is knowing the system like any other group, but how would you help folks over come the perception and in some rare cases, the facts of this issue.

Well if the facts are true, then that player needs to be talked too. Notice I didn’t say punish. I really, really dislike how we jump the gun and go for the max punishment. I think improvement starts with communication.

As far as the appearance, I think transparency is the issue. I want whoever has issues to come to me so we can discuss them, or have their st come to me. The approvals part can be worked on through mentoring new players/players who don’t put up applications.

- Regional Approval – Disparity- There is considerable difference in what is approved across the various regions. Some are very conservative and others more liberal. Any ideas on how the NST Office can balance this?

I don’t think it’s the NST’s job to tell RST’s how to run their regions. Offer guidance? Yes. Council and advice, of course!

- How much control should National have for the end-game for the various resets? Should it be Regional-level as a primary focus? Should it be National Level? Should it be purely Global level?

I believe it should be regional focus with top/global support.

- If involvement and control of the Reset will be decided by each national affiliate, what are your stances on how to empower the local venues during the ‘end of game’ and ways to ensure that their vision of the end-of-times for both New-World and Old-World can be incorporated?

Same of the above.

- Also, several players locally (In the Domain who posed the question) have decided that they will ‘just wait until after reset’ to make new characters for the games. Our attendance has suffered for this. I am wondering what you would recommend to their storytellers down the line (RST-DST-VST) to fix this problem.

Don’t give an end date to the chronicle and make the chronicle length longer(if this is a Masq. question).

Universally, it’s about keeping the game from being stagnant. I think there needs to be more happening at localgames than at conventions. Conventions are awesome for seeing friends, but I want big things happening at regional GoTM’s, etc.

Kyle

One of the best experiences that I’ve had in regards to a Regional+ position was working as the aRST: Masquerade for the Great Lakes Region. I felt that Masquerade was really given the short end of the stick in regards to Masquerade (specifically C/A). One of the first things I did, with the assistance of John Scott, was develop a Region settings that really gave us an idea of what was going on in the Region outside of the Domain. My goal was to add to the canon settings with a flair of individuality for the Region. GenCon, the tradeshow in Indy, was the first opportunity for us to address settings on a Regional and National scale. Matt Butler, the current aRST and C/A lead, did any amazing job really focusing GenCon to the Regional game while giving new and experienced Players the opportunity to get involved.

The second experience that I have that prepares me for this position is the Membership Survey I started and continued to assist with until January of this year. I think it gives me a tremendous amount of insight in regards to where are Membership is and where we’re doing things right and wrong.

- I noticed that a few candidates left positions for various reasons whether it be personal, burnout, or out of protest towards other Offices, please share with us your thoughts on how you intend to avoid this from happening as NST. As NST you will have people coming at you from every angle so having a contingency to avoid this scenario is quite crucial.

Most of the positions that I’ve left have been due to things that I don’t believe in as an individual, but have little to no ability to change as an Assistant (It usually focuses around the same basic idea). As the NST, I have more ability to set standards of conduct on a National scale, with input of Regional and the Membership as a whole. Primarily, I think that we, as an Affiliate, need to ask hard questions about items like approvals and in game availablity of items and their distribution.

- How would each of you approach reset and close out of the current Chronicles? Separate staff, rule set review group etc.

My goal is to impliment plans for reset (and the next year) as soon as possible. I think there needs to be a reset team in place working with the Regions (with an idea from Global) to develop Regional settings documents. With those Regional settings, we can have a better view on the things that we at National need to do to bring all of us together. I believe in group efforts, and that’s going to be a big thing for my two years.

- There seems to be those in the Club that feel that the High MC players abuse their MC and get items that others don’t. Part of that is knowing the system like any other group, but how would you help folks over come the perception and in some rare cases, the facts of this issue.

High MC Members doesn’t bother me as much as Officers and close friends of Officers having items that are capped are unavailable to the general group. I think the first part of resolving the MC issue is to explain exactly what we need in an application to make it successful. Most of our Players have no clue what each ST needs. The second part of this is to set some standards in regards to ST’s and capped items. For me, I don’t really think that Region+ Officers should have items that are rare to their Venue to the point they are limited. For Masquerade, I mean capped items. This doesn’t mean they have to retire them when they enter office, but they should think pretty hard about the perception that comes across when they apply and get approved for something while they are in office.

- Regional Approval – Disparity- There is considerable difference in what is approved across the various regions. Some are very conservative and others more liberal. Any ideas on how the NST Office can balance this?

Establishing a set standard for approvals would be an excellent way resolve those issues. This doesn’t mean you only have to meet those standards to be approved, but it gives a good idea on the minimum standards necessary for approval. All in all, Regional storytellers have a better idea for what works in their Region. As long as the same standard is applied to everyone, I don’t have a huge problem.

- How much control should National have for the end-game for the various resets? Should it be Regional-level as a primary focus? Should it be National Level? Should it be purely Global level?

Regional should be the focus point with strong leanings on the Domain. Global, National and Regional should deliver settings for their unique levels, but ultimately, the Domain’s and Venues should drive the End Game.

- If involvement and control of the Reset will be decided by each national affiliate, what are your stances on how to empower the local venues during the ‘end of game’ and ways to ensure that their vision of the end-of-times for both New-World and Old-World can be incorporated?

National and Regional should set settings, not direct all of the action.

- Also, several players locally (In the Domain who posed the question) have decided that they will ‘just wait until after reset’ to make new characters for the games. Our attendance has suffered for this. I am wondering what you would recommend to their storytellers down the line (RST-DST-VST) to fix this problem.

With all due respect to the Member that posed this question, the MST-RST should bet setting the settings for their levels and offering opportunities for every level Member (from MC1-14) to participate in plots that they run. The VST needs to develop areas to draw interest. Personally, I think giving an end date was a mistake, but the feeling now can be, "What’s the point."

As the SE ARC Elections, I have had to deal with elections of all stripes, including some particularly strange cases. One of the domains I did the election for had virtually every strange situation in the book. Members who had expired on the DB but not expired, members who were in different domains trying to vote in it, accusations of suspensions and DAs between members, even one applicant who used a troll-face as a mission statement. It took a lot of time and effort to sort out all the particulars, talking with several members over email and phone, and even one or two heated debates.

This may not seem to be a positive experience, but to me it was. Here is why. At the end, the candidates and other members got their differences ironed out, people got their domains reassigned properly, memberships were updated, and everyone got out with their sanity intact. The officer is still in place, and their domain, last I checked was running very smoothly. What it showed me is that any situation, no matter how complex or intimidating, can be settled with communication, research, and tenacity. I know that our winding down the old and starting up the new is a more complex and intimidating process, but I feel that the experience of going through these various elections has given me the skills to do the job well.

- I noticed that a few candidates left positions for various reasons whether it be personal, burnout, or out of protest towards other Offices, please share with us your thoughts on how you intend to avoid this from happening as NST. As NST you will have people coming at you from every angle so having a contingency to avoid this scenario is quite crucial.

For the NST position, I recognize that this is one of those long-haul positions. I have two primary ways to avoid getting burned out and going down in flames. First of all, I plan on having a very solid assistant roster to help alleviate the stress of the position. The second plan is to have family and friends to lean on – some of whom seem to have mastered the skill of "It’s ok, everything will be fine. Here, have something to drink. I am sure that squirrel suit outbreak isn’t anything to stress about."

- How would each of you approach reset and close out of the current Chronicles? Separate staff, rule set review group etc.

This is covered in my application, so I will not bore you with a repeat of it here.

- Question concerning High MC players – there is an undercurrent in the Club that high MC players should reduce their visibility and actions and not take part as a driving force in the game – Elders should not be Prince should not hold other positions in the city etc. How would you address these issues?

This is an undercurrent I take strong exception to. High MC players are members who have been around the block since before there was a block. These are your mentors, advisors, and ones who have seen the various tricks and power plays several times over. My opinion is that these are EXACTLY the people you want in the positions of power, or at least next to those positions as advisors. As to those who get the majority of the action, for that I would suggest the lower MC players should get that – that the High MC ones are generally on tap for when things get really out of hand. Of course, they can also get in the thick of it if the STs have plot set up for them.

But the high MC players are a resource better tapped than simply told to stay back all the time. They have put the time and effort into the club, and have a great deal that they can give back to help the newer members of the club out. Let them do this.

- There seems to be those in the Club that feel that the High MC players abuse their MC and get items that others don’t. Part of that is knowing the system like any other group, but how would you help folks over come the perception and in some rare cases, the facts of this issue.

Perception is Reality. This was a saying my professor would constantly say in marketing class. The best way to counter this is visibility and reaching out to people to assist them on approvals and items that would normally go to those who know the system well. I would also attempt to pair up more experienced players with less experienced players to help them learn the same tricks – even to the point of organizing mIRC or convention meetings to teach them.

As to when it becomes fact? That is when the investigations process, conflict resolution, and potential disciplinary actions come into play.

- Regional Approval – Disparity- There is considerable difference in what is approved across the various regions. Some are very conservative and others more liberal. Any ideas on how the NST Office can balance this?

The primary means of balance is simply watching over what approvals come up and how they are balanced out. If things seem out of whack, then it is time to confer with the RSTs to figure out why and fix things. While there are candidates that say the NST should not be involved, I disagree. There are times when there needs to be a guiding hand, and the appellate authority is there to be used just in case – this is not an option that is always popular, but popularity comes in second to chronicle health.

- How much control should National have for the end-game for the various resets? Should it be Regional-level as a primary focus? Should it be National Level? Should it be purely Global level?

I will be honest here. My opinion is that the reset is a Global thing, inasmuch as they set a time for when the game ends on a global support level. For National, they should have the greatest deal of control of how the game ends, at least in the large brush-strokes. Regional, Domain, and Venue should be where the most comes out of for how they are going to do the end-game. I do not envision any of the end-times being in the theme of ye olde apocalypse movies, however.

- If involvement and control of the Reset will be decided by each national affiliate, what are your stances on how to empower the local venues during the ‘end of game’ and ways to ensure that their vision of the end-of-times for both New-World and Old-World can be incorporated?

If it comes down to National to implement and control the reset, then I would get with each ANST with the following instruction – "Make it good, but don’t make it where every VST has to go into lock-step. Set up an environment where they can go big, go small, or just end with business as usual. Don’t force the end of the world if they don’t want it in their area."

Remember, the end of the story doesn’t have to be earth-shattering-kaboom, it can simply be that the reader sees a few plots wrapped up, closes the book, and the rest of the characters keep on going. Just nobody is reading further.

- Also, several players locally (In the Domain who posed the question) have decided that they will ‘just wait until after reset’ to make new characters for the games. Our attendance has suffered for this. I am wondering what you would recommend to their storytellers down the line (RST-DST-VST) to fix this problem.

On one hand, I would encourage them to play and have fun – that with this shorter window, they can experiment with all kinds of concepts that would not normally be ones you would want to do for a long period. Played plot-hound a long time but wondered about socialite? Try it! Never got your thug on? Give it a shot! Weird, strange, just plain not-you? Give it a go!

Take advantage of the end-times to see if there is another facet of the game you want to explore in the next chronicle. Essentially, try it before you buy it. That is the advice I would give the STs to give their players to get them back in the game.

Larry, in the recent past there were some issues concerning comments made over the ST List about the Memphis OWOD VSS, what positive things did you learn from this situation and how would you approach a similar situation in the future?

That was not one of my prouder moments. In fact, I can honestly say I bollixed it up real good. Essentially, I called out Patrick’s VSS as an example of "extreme isolationism", and did it in a VERY public manner. In that, I seriously screwed thing up. There was a lesson I did learn from this – the conflict resolution system we have exists for a very good reason, and things can be handled much better that way. Patrick and I had a private talk after this, and while we may not be great friends, we now understand each other and know why we each do things the way we do them.

In the future, I would approach a similiar situation in a completely different manner – talking to the people whom I have issue with privately. If that doesn’t work so well, then go by the steps in the conflict resolution system we have. Shouting out to the lists? Not so much.

Thanks for that question, it wasn’t an easy or fun one to handle, but I am glad that it came into the open so that concern could be addressed.

Although I have official Regional experience, I freely admit its minimal enough that I think I fall into the secondary aspect of this question.

- For those without Regional plus experience, share with us an experience/thoughts that would adequately compensate for lack of said experience and would cause the membership to look to you as the NST and feel that you are qualified for the position.

In my life I’ve held multiple jobs that put me in a team leader/manager position. I’ve held multiple corporate training positions, where I have been responsible for preparing and presenting information to groups, operating as their immediate supervisor, and even firing them if they failed to perform. Firing someone from their job (that pays their bills, puts food on their table, and a roof over their head) is a very difficult situation. If you want a baptism by fire on how to give people bad news about a decision you have made that will absolutely impact them in a very negative way – fire them. I can honestly say, in every such case, I did everything possible to help those individuals perform their job as needed. I took that kind of responsibility extremely seriously.

I also spent time as a Project Manager for AT&T handling the build out of high speed data circuits for companies. I was the central point of contact for teams from at least three different companies all trying to get toward the same goal, but with highly different motivations. These projects, on the low end, would cost thousands of dollars a months. I had to keep these teams working together and on task, all while jumping through serious numbers of FCC hoops (the worst of which I was not allowed to directly talk to one of the three teams I had to manage. I was legally required to use an intermediary.) I had to coordinate Engineers, talking to Sales people, talking to end-users, talking to IT people, talking to paper-pushers. Everything had to be documented to the tiniest detail. Communication had to be frequent. I never got to see these people face to face. I only had email and a phone to work with. The level of coordination this took was massive.

- I noticed that a few candidates left positions for various reasons whether it be personal, burnout, or out of protest towards other Offices, please share with us your thoughts on how you intend to avoid this from happening as NST. As NST you will have people coming at you from every angle so having a contingency to avoid this scenario is quite crucial.

During WWII Winston Churchill said "If you are going through Hell, keep going". The idea of course being that if you quit, if you gave up and stopped pushing ahead, then you would be stuck in Hell. If you keep going, if you strive to move forward, then you will complete your journey through Hell and come out the other side. While I’m in the office of NST, I have an obligation to the members of this nation to never stop and never quit. I also have an obligation to myself to see myself through the challenge, to learn everything that can be learned during my time, and to leave office having made myself a better person, and hopefully the organization a better place. I also know that "No plan survives contact with the enemy". Just accepting that I will not be able to do everything I want exactly as I want is a key idea. I already have it firmly in my mind that I must be open to alternate ideas, that there may be better ways to accomplish the goals I have. Keeping myself open to others, will make it much easier. Even if they are not open to me, my being open to them will enable me to help defuse and reduce conflict.

Last but not least, I am not doing the job alone. I will have a staff that will be able to assist me. I think we all know that having someone to share a burden makes the burden light, and someone to share our joys makes the joys greater.

- How would each of you approach reset and close out of the current Chronicles? Separate staff, rule set review group etc.

I definitely intend separate staffing. I want a set of Venue leads to help carry out the end of the current chronicle while a completely different team has full time to devote to preparing the next chronicle. I don’t want to disrupt current plans for this chronicle, just add a little to them. I want to work on increasing bottom-up storytelling by trying to take some of the stories and events going on at the lower levels and give those folks a chance to make those stories broader. The idea being to allow every domain the chance to feel like their story matters. I am completely confident that every DST and VST out there knows what would work for their players better than I do. They know their players. I don’t. I know a lot of storytelling theory. I like to help. But I owe it to the players and their local STs to give them the respect they are due.

- Question concerning High MC players – there is an undercurrent in the Club that high MC players should reduce their visibility and actions and not take part as a driving force in the game – Elders should not be Prince should not hold other positions in the city etc. How would you address these issues?

This is not a new issue. Disparity between MC has been a part of and problem in this club as long as it has existed. Its not going to go away either. You can not eliminate the MC system and resolve the issue either. At its core is the ages old conflict that has plagued mankind since we climbed out of the trees. The Haves versus the Have Nots, Class Struggle, or a million other names for the same core problem. If we limit what any one person can do, then we encourage people to do less, because there is less they can do. If we allow anyone to do anything, then we automatically give an advantage to those already in a position to do more, and thus deny opportunities to those starting out with less ability/experience/name recognition, etc.

So, knowing there is no true ideal solution that gets everyone what they want, where do we compromise? I think we need to expect that anyone in a position to directly impact groups be held to a higher standard of behavior which includes a willingness and indeed an obligation to be willing to set aside their own personal agenda at times when it best suits the group. Let me give you a local level example. In Oklahoma City, where I am currently VST – Requiem, the player of the Prince of the city (who isn’t even a local resident, but is a member of the Tulsa Domain) and I have an understanding. He is free to play his character as he wishes, but if there is something going on and I, as the ST, think the game and the players will truly benefit from him making a different decision, then he changes his decision. This is not something I use lightly. In fact, I have never had to use it with this player. He comes to me every single time there is an IC crisis moment and says "Hey, here’s my characters perspective and his ideas on how to proceed. Is this going to be a problem? Is this bad for the game?" Then we talk about it and move forward. Every high MC player should be thinking this way. I’d really like it if every player thought this way, but I believe high MC members and all officers are obligated to think this way. Part of this thinking includes "How can I get these new folks excited, involved, and moving up the ladder if they want to?"

Once you’ve reached MC 9+, especially MC 12+, your work for the club hasn’t ended. It continues. You need to play like other people matter.  This does not mean give everyone everything they want. It means helping other members understand how to succeed in getting what they want out of the club.

- There seems to be those in the Club that feel that the High MC players abuse their MC and get items that others don’t. Part of that is knowing the system like any other group, but how would you help folks over come the perception and in some rare cases, the facts of this issue.

As above, we need to be expecting high MC players to be teaching and mentoring. Who can best teach you the system? The folks who have worked their way through it. And what if they don’t? What if they claim that they earned their position and they deserve to rest on their laurels? I fully encourage every member who is ready to rest on their laurels to do so, and that means rest. Stop trying to be in charge, stop taking up space. Rest, recoup, sit in the background and casually enjoy yourself for a while. Being in a position of power either IC or OOC is a privilege, not a right. It comes with a duty and obligation to the members you are affecting.

OK, yeah yeah yeah, thanks for that ultra-left wing political babble Russ. You didn’t answer the question. What will you DO about it? I will be requiring STs to work with the players in positions of prominence. If your character is the recognized head of the Silver Ladder in the US, you can expect a member of my staff to be working with you, keeping up on what’s going on. If you have an "I don’t care" attitude you can and will be replaced.

- Regional Approval – Disparity- There is considerable difference in what is approved across the various regions. Some are very conservative and others more liberal. Any ideas on how the NST Office can balance this?

I really think we need better defined guidelines for approvals. I would provide this within the US Addendum. That being said, it OK for there to be some differences between the regions. What works for folks in the South Central can be very different than what works for folks in the NE. We need better standards, absolutely! But never at the cost of the RSTs ability to provide his region with a game that the majority of his membership can be happy with.

- How much control should National have for the end-game for the various resets? Should it be Regional-level as a primary focus? Should it be National Level? Should it be purely Global level?

It shouldn’t be purely anything. We should have the RSTs working with their domains to bring their stories alive, and National coordinating with Regional to tie those together in such a way that everyone feels like their local story is a part of something bigger. Global can be involved, but I really don’t think its needed. If we have things going on at too large a scale, then it feels very detached and players don’t get the experience of participating, just of watching.

- If involvement and control of the Reset will be decided by each national affiliate, what are your stances on how to empower the local venues during the ‘end of game’ and ways to ensure that their vision of the end-of-times for both New-World and Old-World can be incorporated?

End of the chronicle does not mean end of the world. End of the world is very fitting for an OWoD Chronicle, but even then, it doesn’t have to be that way. See my answer above for getting local venues involved. I want the local venues involved with their stories, and the higher levels should be finding a way to tie those together, not forcing things down the throats of local venues.

- Also, several players locally (In the Domain who posed the question) have decided that they will ‘just wait until after reset’ to make new characters for the games. Our attendance has suffered for this. I am wondering what you would recommend to their storytellers down the line (RST-DST-VST) to fix this problem.

This is a problem that is not completely avoidable. Its a damned if we do, damned if we don’t situation. If we announce ahead of time an end date, and allow players and STs to plan for it, it gives us some great opportunities to close things out well, but it will also cause some members to lose interest near the end as they feel disconnected, with no vested interest in starting anything else up until the future.

If we just announce end-game with little notice (as has been done before) then there is all kinds of hoopla and debate over it with plenty of players being hurt and upset that they had plans and plots in motion that now are all moot.

You can’t make all the people happy all the time. Between the two scenarios I prefer the first. So how do we minimize the number of players who just walk away until after reset? Give them a reason to stay involved. If they don’t want to create new characters or keep playing their existing character, then see if they would be interested in playing an NPC for you. Develop NPCs for your local venue that can affect things (maybe even be your big end of chronicle bad guy for your local story) and see if you can interest those players to taking on those roles for you. Suggest they try out some new character types that they are considering for the new chronicle. Thinking about playing Ordo? Haven’t played one? Jump in now with one to get a taste for it.

You can not always find something that will keep them interested. But you can try. Talk to them, find out what they would like to do, and see if there is something similar you can offer them. The key is making them feel like they, as a member, can still have an impact on things. The reason they walk away usually is that they just dont think there’s a point. Nothing they do will matter. Help them see how they can make a difference for the people they know.

–
Im Anfang war die Tat. – Goethe

1) Here is a link to the MST survey results on which venues should be supported: http://www.mst-office.net/wp- content/uploads/2012/02/MST- Reset-Survey-11.pdf

Here’s the breakdown of currently approved city VSSs. Generally speaking, these rankings match the MST survey rankings.

Total: 763

# of Masq Domains
Just Cam 33
Just Sabbat 15
Both 86

So based on the MST survey, which predicts what members would like to play; and the current VSS numbers, which sort-of show what people currently play:

- Which venues out of all Owod and Nwod would you choose to support if we can only have 4 supported?
- If we can only have 5 supported?
- If we can only have 6 supported?
- If we could support as many as you liked?
- For a typical convention, ie Thursday night, all day Friday, all day Saturday, and Sunday morning available, how many venues would you run? How would you schedule them? Would there be any venues run concurrently with other venues? Would there be venues where the start time overlapped with another venue’s end time? Please explain your choices.
- Would you be willing to support different venues than the MST?
- How do you feel about combining the Cam/Anarch and Sabbat Genres into one "venue"? What special handling would this require? If they are separate, would you allow cross venue? Any special handling?
- For Werewolf, if you could only choose one, would you support Apocalypse or Forsaken?
- Supposing a venue like Forsaken, Geist, or Promethean doesn’t make the cut- what do you think of the idea of making them genre antagonists for any number of venues, similar to how the Brood or VII are used?

2) With White-Wolf’s publication of a conversion guide for Owod/Nwod, would you be in favor of converting Owod venues to Nwod mechanics? Vice-versa? Do you feel keeping mechanics the way they are, or converting them would impact recruitment? Would you be in favor of Nwod losing the MET mechanics and using TT rules with the 8div3 resolution system? Owod using Owod TT rules with 8div3?

3) Broadly speaking, in regards to implementing plot, I think STs tend to follow one of two philosophies. Either ooc information regarding the plot is kept from the players in order to preserve the mystery of the WOD, to enhance player enjoyment; Or, a storyteller ooc-ly provides some, or all, of the details regarding a plot so that players can choose to participate and to what level, so that collaborative storytelling can script out gameplay to enhance player enjoyment.
Which style do you prefer? How do you think your answer as NST would differ from your answer as a VST? If you are a fan of both, then please discuss in detail when it is appropriate to use each one. Please provide examples.

4) For the closeout of the current chronicle, there is an opportunity to spice things up and playtest new rules and approval levels for the next chronicle. The "toybox" could be opened to allow lowered approval levels on all or some items, allow optional rules, system hacks, or items not normally approved for play. Would you consider "opening the toybox" for the end of this chronicle? If not, are there any rules, approval levels, system, addendum, or setting changes that you would like to see? If so, what are they?

5) Several answers during this Q&A have amounted to increasing communication or listening to what players and city level storytellers have to say, or responding to a lack of living up to player/storyteller standards by increasing NST enforcement. How will you know what goes on at the local level? The current reporting structure doesn’t mandate that VST reports be filed with anyone other than the DST. Even if there was centralized reporting, current reports are only as detailed as the the VST wants them to be. If the reporting process or report format was changed, there would still be a problem of motivating STs to provide detailed enough information to make the reports useful to the RST and NST. How will you motivate VSTs and DSTs to report, let alone provide such detailed information? Assuming 100% reporting, what method will you use to scour the information in 600+ VST reports? What information will you be looking for?

6) There are a large number of dead VSSs listed in the approvals Database. Will you clean these out? If not, why? There are also a large number of blank, "placeholder" VSSs. Some of which might be being used to run games. Will you clear these out, or make sure a VSS gets written? How soon will this be completed? How will you ensure that VSSs are getting their 6 month reviews?

7) In some places, getting a DST election run by Regional can take up to 6 months before the process begins. Outside of waiting for someone to point out that an election needs to be run, what will you do to ensure that ST elections of all levels are run on schedule, or as soon as needed (in the case of someone leaving office early)?

8) Typically metagaming involves a character behaving in a way they have no reason to. This can be a very difficult thing to investigate and prove, as player can provide an alternate, yet feasible, justification after-the-fact for their character’s actions that still provides the same result as outright metagaming. Are you willing to tell players they are portraying their character wrong, according to the circumstances or source material, even if the player presents a justification for their character’s actions? Without an out-right confession, what guidelines do you use to prove someone is metagaming?

9) In the past some STs have set limits or caps on things like bloodlines. No more than X per Region, no more than Y per nation. Some STs have done away with limits, and said that each application will be judged on it’s own merit. Will you be setting limits on the number of times a particular item will be approved? If so, this may promote a hit-list/wait-list mentality, "If I kill his Khaibit, that will free up a slot, and then I can play one." What steps will you take to prevent that? If you are not in favor of caps, what’s to keep the chronicle from being flooded with an unusually high number of a popular approval item, if a large number of people write good, solid applications? Are you willing to adjust the setting to justify the reality of what players want to play?

10) Early on in this chronicle players were allowed to vote on which XP system they wanted. The majority of players chose the option which gave their characters the most XP (MCx20 +30xp). This was a large contributing factor to the xp bloat that plagued the chronicle to the point where a soft reset was required. The players got what they asked for, but what the players wanted wasn’t the best thing for the chronicle or the club. The club can’t be run by committee where every decision, or even every important decision, is decided by a vote or poll of the players. If you are elected NST you will be given the power to make those decisions without consulting or polling the general membership. Some answers during this Q&A have resulted in responses of "I’ll ask the players, and do what they want". Are you willing to go against popular opinion if it is better for the club? If so, then you must be able of determining the best choice from a set of options. If that is the case, then why bother with polling? Are you willing to trust your judgement, make the hard choices, and expedite change within the club? If you are going to poll the membership, what issues do you think you would poll them on?

11) How do you intend to go about starting the next chronicle?

12) How much support will you offer venues that are currently low population at the national level, like Forsaken?

13) What are your personal thoughts on each venue?

14) How much do you currently play each specific supported venue?

15) How will you support local Venue ST’s?

16) Three vampire venues has so far proved to be very destabilizing for the domains that I have been to, often the venues will vacillate dramatically from one to the other diluting attendance and many times causing huge rifts between Requiem, Cam/Anarch, and Sabbat  players as each demands more attention be paid to their venue. In the past, this has been hand-waved as a local issue for local STs to deal with, but  seems to be growing to be a National concern–how would you as the NST address this growing concern?

17) What will you do as NST to enforce consistency in the ST chain? This is not  venue specific.

18) What are your opinions on proxy play in regards to consistency, currently it is hap hazard and done differently by each ST. Will you support the creation of an outline which states how to start, conduct, and conclude a proxy? This is not venue specific.

19) Currently there is little to no communication from the ST chain on IC news effecting regions, nation, and world to the local players. What will you do to encourage IC flow of information on the regional and national level? This is not venue specific.

20) What are your thoughts on the number of venues the organization supports?  Should we scale back to the most popular?

21) Are you willing and capable of saying NO to the MST or AMST’s if you feel a  plot or NPC action being pushed is not in the best interest of the member(s)/player(s)?

In regards to makes Masquerade 1 Venue, currently it is 1 Venue with sub-VSS types. I don’t really like the combining of those VSS types because it puts way to much of a focal point onto the Sabbat vs Camarilla vs Anarch fight. Although it is a theme within the setting, in previous interactions where the game was holding all three Sect, it ends just becoming a free for all fight. From personal experience, hearing, "It’s the Sabbat (or Cam) again…" cheapens the theme. Interactions between the Sects should be big deals, combining the VSS reduces it. I think that the way we handle C/V now works very well. It’s VST approval within 24 hours of the event.

For games that aren’t available, it isn’t very necessary to have them as antagonist is Venues. Each venue has a built in antagonist and C/V, where it’s nice when is serves a purpose, is kinda lame when it doesn’t.

2) No, I’m pretty good with leaving mechanics the way they are for Masquerade/OWoD and NWoD products. Each system offered has unique challenges and merits and changing it takes away from the games they play. It would be similar to changing NWoD games over to OWoD mechanics for me.

3) I’m good on a National scale to give a little write-up in regards to what the Plot kit is about. National is a different beast than Venue level storytelling. VST’s have the ability to know where their players are best suited, National doesn’t.

4) No, not really. The majority of our Venues (especially with Masquerade) has been really focused on the Masquerade characters. I don’t really like the use of Werewolves, mages, mummys or whatever unless it really serves a purpose. Playtesting for the purpose of playtesting is nice, but the next setting really won’t reflect the use of non-standard venues either, I would think, so I wouldn’t jump into it now.

5) Actually, VST and DST reports are required to go onto the Regional list as well to their supervisor. I trust the RST a great deal in making decisions in regard to their approvals. If they think there’s an issue, I support discussion with the Player. The RST is responsible for ensuring the D/VST reports and the DST and RST have tools to motivate the VST to report.

6) Again, the RST knows what Venues are active and which are not. This will really be their responsibility.

7) The NST can’t ensure that every Domain has an election on time. When there’s an issue and the RST isn’t responding, you should definitely ping the NST. All in all, communication where there are problems is pretty big. The RST doesn’t always know when elections are happening and do need a reminder. If they just aren’t happening after notification, that’s when I need to get involved.

8) The NST really doesn’t deal with the day to day of how characters are run. That’s left to the VST. I think there’s definitely room to discuss issues with players one on one when there’s a problem and using proper conflict resolution systems when it’s causing disruption.

9) I hate firm caps. I do believe we need to maintain rarity, but we shouldn’t say, "We’re only allowing 8 of these, the first 8 to get approved are it." I’m more inclined to enforce rarity when it becomes a bit to much, but overall I plan to treat each application on its own merit.

10) It really depends. XP is one of those things that will always be an issue. My answer has been along discussing issues with multiple Members. For example, for Venues we play, I turn to the Membership. For specific instances in Venues or Mechanics, I want to discuss those with RST’s and the MST. Can I make decisions confidently? Absolutely. Do I think I should be the only person I draw input from? Not at all.

11) My goal is to have a National settings and Addendum with 1 year of National plot within 6 months of start.

12) I will offer every Venue the exact same amount of support.

13) I don’t play most NWoD games on a regular basis. I’m a fan of Masquerade. It’s just really personal preference. My job, which is the most important question, is to support each venue we support equally and without bias.

14) I mostly play Masquerade.

15) By offering them opportunities to put their Venue in National Plotlines and a settings to write themselves into at their discretion. Ultimately, giving them the tools to run their games to tell the best balanced stories they can.

16) As with everything else, every Venue will be given the resources in the exact same manner. I think that’s the best way to ensure that there is limited bias in regards to resources.

17) By setting a set level of standards and expectations. You’ll still have some variance, but I do think that there needs to be some flexibility.

18) I do think there there needs to be set standards of expecations.

19) I do expect information to flow from National and Regional to the local level. I think using our resources, like the CRD to make that information available is an excellent way to make this happen. 

20) I think we support to many now. Yes I think we should.

21) To a degree, yes. Sometimes what’s not in the best interest of a single player or small group of players is in the best interest of the whole group. I do plan to work with Global to tell a great story, but will ensure that those plots are in the best interest in the US as a whole.

As for your questions regarding conventions and the scheduling, I think this will boil down to what venues end up being supported nationally. I think national conventions should showcase the venues that are the most popular cross regions. I think regional conventions should showcase their popular venues as well. As I mentioned before Geist is popular in the SE I would assume the regional staff in the SE would thus have some time allocated for that venue due to its following. And I think by having this variety we get the best of both worlds.

Again, if elected my relationship with the MST and their team will be a cooperative one, at the end of the day I report to the US membership and as such the venues I and my team decide will take into account what is popular cross regions.

Regarding cross-venue in Cam/Anarch/Sabbat. I am wary of cross-venue when it comes to the OWOD venue because of the fact that it could lend itself to a very pvp heavy scenario. However, I think that what would be cool is if each region would like to pursue a cross-venue C/A/S it would be a game spearheaded by the regional staff itself. Perhaps utilizing an IRC location or even having a physical game run monthly. I think having this option can allow players who would be interested in cross-venue game play in OWOD to have a place to do so.

As for your question regarding Apocalypse versus Forsaken, I will have to say this though I do like both games there will always be a sense of nostalgia for Apocalypse. The game had some heroic aspects to it that made it very appealing to me. I am looking forward to seeing the W20 release.

I don’t think that taking the venues that don’t make the cut and converting them to antagonist characters for the venues that do would be a good solution. I really think it would detract a lot from those venues and the character types. I would rather see the players continuing to play those venues regionally if possible.

2. I think the conversion guide provided some good ideas for tabletop games but for our organization, I think it would really be a logistical nightmare. I think recruitment is not really hurt by the system but the fact that both NWOD and OWOD attract their own fans. I think as ST’s we really need to try to showcase the benefits of both genres and thus try to get recruits that will at least try the two systems out.

3. I am more for the second scenario you mentioned, any plotkits that come out of my office will have some ooc background so both regional and local ST’s can best disseminate it to their players. I am all for improving both the player and storyteller enjoyment and making it easier to do so.

4. I think for the current chronicle I would be more focused on seeing what my regional counterparts feel their players want to see for their end stories and making those happen cross-region. I think letting out "toys" or experimenting at the end with special items, or strange character types would just cheapen the player experience. I think some players have a lot invested in their characters and want the opportunity to really ride the wave to end with some great stories not new toys.

5. I think by focusing on increased communication with our regional counterparts my team and I will be able to adequately get the pulse of what is going on regionally and locally. Also, I and my staff will encourage VST’s and DST’s to feel comfortable to reach out to myself or my staff to let us know where they could use more support. I think by both listening to regional’s needs and concerns, and being open to feedback from local ST’s and players my team will be able to really produce some great stuff.

6. I think the regional staff should spearhead this effort since it will help them determine what venues are active and popular in their prospective areas. This will especially help me and my team know what venues are popular in the regions. And if they are not one of the venues popular across the nation, we can provide them some national support.

Again I think the RST’s and their team need to spearhead this. What I and my team can provide is guidance in the event reviews are not being done in a timely manner. I really think there shouldn’t ever be "placeholder" VSS. If a venue is being opened locally there should be a fully functioning VSS in place. Just makes sense.

7. Members should feel comfortable to reach out to me or my team, in the event that elections are not being processed in a timely manner. This can a least facilitate a conversation between our team and the regional team to get this problem resolved.

8. VST’s need to handle individual instances of meta gaming accusations. In the event that a scenario does occur that cannot be resolved using the proper protocols listed in membership handbook, or if those rules are not being followed then I can see the NST office being involved. I am confident that most of these issues can be resolved at the local and if necessary regional level.

9. I think canon provides some solid caps that can be implemented at the national level that should be in place. I think rarity is a good thing and should be encouraged not frowned upon. In regards, to the scenario of the "hit-list" mentality that is something that needs to be closely monitored on all levels of the ST chain because obviously that is using ooc motivations for a IC action and that will not fly with me as I suspect it will not fly with those in the ST chain as well. Solid applications, and good ST oversight can make caps a good thing for the chronicle and overall player enjoyment.

10. I think XP bloat was a problem very obvious in this chronicle and something that I am very leery about for the next chronicle. I think that the membership should have a say on the system of XP we will use and presented with different options which I hope to come up with after consultation with the MST and RSTs. The members are aware that XP has an effect on the chronicle as a whole. And if after discussion I see that a decision will need to be made, I will always choose what is best for the club and the chronicle. In the end this might not please all the membership that comes with the job. I have a tough skin and I can deal with any flack that might come from a decision I make.  But what I will also be willing to discuss the rationale of every decision I make to those who are interested.

11. After I have team in place we will start working on a National setting guide. I will set a targeted goal of having that done in the first 6 months of office. In addition, each of my Venue ANST’s will be working on plot kits for their perspective venues that will be exclusively focused for the new chronicle.

12. Like I had mentioned before, if venues are low population nationally but have pockets of support regionally I will work closely with the regional team to give these venues support.

13. I am a huge fan of Requiem, Awakening, Lost, and Geist. For OWOD, I really enjoy Cam/Anarch and I enjoy Apocalypse. I think all of the venues currently available offer something unique to the players and would support them.

14. Locally, I play exclusively Requiem and Awakening and play in a troupe Cam/Anarch game. If I had the time I would love to get back into Lost and Geist. I always wanted to get involved in Forsaken but never had the opportunity to play locally.

15. I think by empowering local Venue ST’s to work with my team and myself to get their games tied and involved with National plot. In addition, I hope that by setting up a great setting guide for the future chronicle it will provide a strong foundation that will make local venue ST’s excited to run their games and get involved. Also, I will work closely with the Regional team to make sure that my team and I are giving the best support we can to their region and their local venues.

16. I think in the past some venues were provided a lot of support and vibrant settings guides that caused a rift between the available Vampire venues (NWOD vs OWOD). With the new chronicle this is the opportunity to balance the attention and focus on all supported venues so that they each get a solid setting foundation that will make them as appealing and as enjoyable as the other venues. I know that there are fans of Requiem, Cam/Anarch and Sabbat. However, I am also aware that there are fans out there that support all those venues and participate in them actively. What I and my team need to do is make sure that our support for those venues does not waver and ensure that our regional counterparts are following suit so that all members feel that their venue is being supported to best it can. I want all the venues to be showcases of awesome roleplay. And I will make sure that my team feels the same way.

17. A similar question was posed in a previous Q&A in reference to variance across regions in regards to approvals. Like I stated before I and my team will be working closely with our regional counterparts to ensure that consistency across regions exists. In the event that variance needs to occur because of regional differences, we will take those into account. However, I and my team hope to ensure that consistency and a focus on the proper protocol are always followed. In the event they are not we will investigate why it was not and ensure that it is rectified accordingly.

18. This is an awesome question. Yes, I believe that a standard proxy rule document should be created that should be universally applicable across venues. And it will be a project that I will try to have out in the first six months of office. I have seen too many issues that spring up from bad proxy experiences that I believe that it more then warranted.

19. I will be encouraging each of my venue ANSTs to ensure that IC news is disseminated to their regional counterparts. I have been bouncing the idea of creating Venue specific twitter accounts that can link to IC National news articles as well that can be a good medium for getting info to the regions. I have some other ideas as well but I would like to run those by the MST to see if they could be implemented as well.

20. I think we should have a core group of venues that are supported due to popularity and how active they are across the regions. However, I also feel that venues which are less popular nationally but have pockets of support in specific regions should receive national support as well. I think have variety in the venues we offer helps attract new membership and I am very big on getting new players to the club.

21. Yes I am capable of saying no to the MST and AMST’s. At the end of the day if elected my responsibility is to the members and I have to think about their enjoyment and the overall balance of our national chronicle.

22. A lot of my management experience comes from my work experience outside of the organization. I am presently a recruiter for Kaplan Inc. for their South region which consists of about 16 southern states. This job has me managing a team of around 20 subsidiary managers who cover their own individualized territories. Though my focus currently is on recruiting new instructors I also work on teaching techniques to these managers on how to retain their new recruits. Prior to that  I managed my own market in the Miami, FL area of 50 part-time instructors. So I feel my real-life role has given me a lot of the tools necessary to be an effective NST. In addition, I am very willing to take feedback and spearhead communication initiatives with all levels of the ST chain and general membership to ensure that I and my team can be the most effective in our role.

Regards,
Jorge Reyeros III US2006037440

I think we can support as much as the players want. I’m all about regions and local domains deciding what they want to play and then supporting them.

- For a typical convention, ie Thursday night, all day Friday, all day Saturday, and Sunday morning available, how many venues would you run? How would you schedule them? Would there be any venues run concurrently with other venues? Would there be venues where the start time overlapped with another venue’s end time? Please explain your choices.

This is not the NST’s responsibility. I would defer to the convention lead and then assist accordingly.

- Would you be willing to support different venues than the MST?

Definitely. I am Pro US Regions deciding what they want to play.

- How do you feel about combining the Cam/Anarch and Sabbat Genres into one "venue"? What special handling would this require? If they are separate, would you allow cross venue? Any special handling?

They need walls. Cross venue doesn’t work super well as we’ve scene thus far. If I could combine them, I would alter the setting to have a more Cold War feel to it, more a spy game than out right murder.

For Werewolf, if you could only choose one, would you support Apocalypse or Forsaken?

I feel apocalypse is best suited for larp.

- Supposing a venue like Forsaken, Geist, or Promethean doesn’t make the cut- what do you think of the idea of making them genre antagonists for any number of venues, similar to how the Brood or VII are used?

That is a great idea I intend to steal!

2) With White-Wolf’s publication of a conversion guide for Owod/Nwod, would you be in favor of converting Owod venues to Nwod mechanics? Vice-versa? Do you feel keeping mechanics the way they are, or converting them would impact recruitment? Would you be in favor of Nwod losing the MET mechanics and using TT rules with the 8div3 resolution system? Owod using Owod TT rules with 8div3?

I’m fine with whatever the members want, but less complex rules make the game more fun. I do like the idea of gen/bp being purchasable as it gets rid of a lot of the mc debate.

3)  Broadly speaking, in regards to implementing plot, I think STs tend to follow one of two philosophies. Either ooc information regarding the plot is kept from the players in order to preserve the mystery of the WOD, to enhance player enjoyment; Or, a storyteller ooc-ly provides some, or all, of the details regarding a plot so that players can choose to participate and to what level, so that collaborative storytelling can script out gameplay to enhance player enjoyment.

Which style do you prefer?

neither.  I believe the National level is world and NPC development and the Regions should be doing more personal stories for their players. I’m not saying I would allow my ANST’s to do plots, but if they did I would want them to engage as many players as possible, so probably the second style.

How do you think your answer as NST would differ from your answer as a VST?

See Above.

4)  For the closeout of the current chronicle, there is an opportunity to spice things up and playtest new rules and approval levels for the next chronicle. The "toybox" could be opened to allow lowered approval levels on all or some items, allow optional rules, system hacks, or items not normally approved for play. Would you consider "opening the toybox" for the end of this chronicle? If not, are there any rules, approval levels, system, addendum, or setting changes that you would like to see? If so, what are they?

Sure so long as the toybox wouldn’t interfere the already developed stories of the current chronicles. This chronicle isn’t over yet.

5) Several answers during this Q&A have amounted to increasing communication or listening to what players and city level storytellers have to say, or responding to a lack of living up to player/storyteller standards by increasing NST enforcement. How will you know what goes on at the local level? The current reporting structure doesn’t mandate that VST reports be filed with anyone other than the DST. Even if there was centralized reporting, current reports are only as detailed as the the VST wants them to be. If the reporting process or report format was changed, there would still be a problem of motivating STs to provide detailed enough information to make the reports useful to the RST and NST. How will you motivate VSTs and DSTs to report, let alone provide such detailed information? Assuming 100% reporting, what method will you use to scour the information in 600+ VST reports? What information will you be looking for?

I don’t like cookie cutter answers. We have an imperfect system, same as any bureaucracy. We’re doing the best we can. The only way to fix it is open door policy and transparency.

6) There are a large number of dead VSSs listed in the approvals Database. Will you clean these out? If not, why? There are also a large number of blank, "placeholder" VSSs. Some of which might be being used to run games. Will you clear these out, or make sure a VSS gets written? How soon will this be completed? How will you ensure that VSSs are getting their 6 month reviews?

Another awesome idea I will steal and have my ANST Admin perform.

7) In some places, getting a DST election run by Regional can take up to 6 months before the process begins. Outside of waiting for someone to point out that an election needs to be run, what will you do to ensure that ST elections of all levels are run on schedule, or as soon as needed (in the case of someone leaving office early)?

Create a DB tracking the times when elections are due.

8) Typically metagaming involves a character behaving in a way they have no reason to. This can be a very difficult thing to investigate and prove, as player can provide an alternate, yet feasible, justification after-the-fact for their character’s actions that still provides the same result as outright metagaming.

Are you willing to tell players they are portraying their character wrong, according to the circumstances or source material, even if the player presents a justification for their character’s actions? Without an out-right confession, what guidelines do you use to prove someone is metagaming?

So long as its not a witchhunt, I don’t mind calling players, even my friends on their bs.

9) In the past some STs have set limits or caps on things like bloodlines. No more than X per Region, no more than Y per nation. Some STs have done away with limits, and said that each application will be judged on it’s own merit. Will you be setting limits on the number of times a particular item will be approved? If so, this may promote a hit-list/wait-list mentality, "If I kill his Khaibit, that will free up a slot, and then I can play one." What steps will you take to prevent that? If you are not in favor of caps, what’s to keep the chronicle from being flooded with an unusually high number of a popular approval item, if a large number of people write good, solid applications?  Are you willing to adjust the setting to justify the reality of what players want to play?

1. yes, caps. 2. If the new applicant had anything to do with the death of the pc who opened the slot, it will not be considered.

10)  Early on in this chronicle players were allowed to vote on which XP system they wanted. The majority of players chose the option which gave their characters the most XP (MCx20 +30xp). This was a large contributing factor to the xp bloat that plagued the chronicle to the point where a soft reset was required. The players got what they asked for, but what the players wanted wasn’t the best thing for the chronicle or the club. The club can’t be run by committee where every decision, or even every important decision, is decided by a vote or poll of the players. If you are elected NST you will be given the power to make those decisions without consulting or polling the general membership. Some answers during this Q&A have resulted in responses of "I’ll ask the players, and do what they want". Are you willing to go against popular opinion if it is better for the club? If so, then you must be able of determining the best choice from a set of options. If that is the case, then why bother with polling? Are you willing to trust your judgement, make the hard choices, and expedite change within the club? If you are going to poll the membership, what issues do you think you would poll them on?

Yes, I trust my judgement. Sliding xp scales.

11) How do you intend to go about starting the next chronicle?

The last six months of this chronicle I will be working with a team for new chronicle and another team to end the current one.

12) How much support will you offer venues that are currently low population at the national level, like Forsaken?

As much as they require.  Some local games, such as NYC Lost, require little support from higher levels and simply rock.

13) What are your personal thoughts on each venue?

Each one has its merits.  Each one has something that draws a player to it. They should be able to play what they want.

14) How much do you currently play each specific supported venue?

I only play vampire venues.

15) How will you support local Venue ST’s?

This is hard to answer, as the local VST has to need the help. I think VST is the most powerful position in the club. If they need me to have their back, they have it.

16) Three vampire venues has so far proved to be very destabilizing for the domains that I have been to, often the venues will vacillate dramatically from one to the other diluting attendance and many times causing huge rifts between Requiem, Cam/Anarch, and Sabbat players as each demands more attention be paid to their venue. In the past, this has been hand-waved as a local issue for local STs to deal with, but  seems to be growing to be a National concern–how would you as the NST  address this growing concern?

I think we’re going to have to make a choice at some point, but I don’t think we’re there yet. I also think it’s more of a local decision.

17) What will you do as NST to enforce consistency in the ST chain? This is not venue specific.

I think it’s impossible without micro managing and I think that should end at the DST, if not RST level. NST is a support/admin/wordbuilder position. It’s where the buck should stop on appeals. The NST should not be involving themselve in local issues and undercutting local authorities.

18) What are your opinions on proxy play in regards to consistency, currently it is hap hazard and done differently by each ST. Will you support the creation of an outline which states how to start, conduct, and conclude a proxy? This is not venue specific.

I intend to enter a policy that a ST playing a NPC in a scene CANNOT also ST the scene.  I think this will help with some of these issues.

19) Currently there is little to no communication from the ST chain on IC news effecting regions, nation, and world to the local players. What will you do to encourage IC flow of information on the regional and national level? This is not venue specific.

Another good idea. Going to create announcement lists for IC events.

20) What are your thoughts on the number of venues the organization supports? Should we scale back to the most popular?

Honestly, yes, but only at conventions.  I really dislike games set against one another. Locally, people should play what they want.

21) Are you willing and capable of saying NO to the MST or AMST’s if you feel a  plot or NPC action being pushed is not in the best interest of the member(s)/player(s)?

My entire platform is the essence of this question.  I am working with global currently to smooth our relationships, but yes, I am Pro US.

22) The NST position is a management and supervisory job, what specific qualifications do you bring to the table that can convince us that you are capable and willing to manager the ST’s under your authority?

I’ve been a high level st in this club for many years and my profession(see resume) involves teaching, training, and crisis intervention.  I feel I am qualified.

Thanks!

4: Requiem, Masquerade, Awakening, Lost
5: Requiem, Masquerade, Awakening, Lost, Apocalypse
6: Requiem, Masquerade, Awakening, Lost, Apocalypse, Forsaken
As many as you like: Everything including the kitchen sink (Kitchen Sink meaning KoE, Mummy, etc.)

- For a typical convention, ie Thursday night, all day Friday, all day Saturday, and Sunday morning available, how many venues would you run? How would you schedule them? Would there be any venues run concurrently with other venues? Would there be venues where the start time overlapped with another venue’s end time? Please explain your choices.

While I have done con games outside the Camarilla, scheduling a whole convention is uncharted water for me. However, this is what I would attempt to do:

Thursday Night: Requiem
Friday Morning: Mage
Friday Afternoon: Lost
Friday Night: Requiem and Masquerade/Camarilla in two different areas
Friday After Dark: Masquerade/Sabbat
Saturday Morning: Forsaken
Saturday Afternoon: Apocalypse
Saturday Night: Masquerade/Camarilla
Saturday After Dark: Masquerade/Camarilla
Sunday Morning: Mixed Nuts – this could be a US-specific scaled-venue, charity cheese game, or anything in between

This is going off the 6-game model, and accurately reflects the model where Vampire games tend to have higher-billing than other games. Not to mention that night-time is the better period for those venues. I would set up each session with between 30 minutes and 1 hour off, so that there is time to eat, change costumes, nap, and the like. You will see where Requiem and Camarilla are at the same time on Friday – this is done so both venues would have equal time to play, but it is also a nod to the fact that there are only so many nights to play in.

I am also fairly certain that per Murphy’s Laws of War, this plan would survive in theory about a week after the con is announced before being shuffled all over the place.

- Would you be willing to support different venues than the MST?

Absolutely

- How do you feel about combining the Cam/Anarch and Sabbat Genres into one "venue"? What special handling would this require? If they are separate, would you allow cross venue? Any special handling?

I feel that they should be combined into one venue, but with each game’s VSS stating what type of city it is at the outset. Should circumstances cause a city to "flip", it should be with the consent of the local players. I would keep the 24-hours notice to approve Sabbat into a Camarilla city and vice-versa. Now, if people in a domain want to have C/A characters and Sabbat characters, then I feel they should make a secondary Masquerade VSS to reflect the other city – just that they are all considered Masquerade venues.

For Werewolf, if you could only choose one, would you support Apocalypse or Forsaken?

Apocalypse – there is the epic feel to it, which MES is uniquely positioned to take full advantage of.

- Supposing a venue like Forsaken, Geist, or Promethean doesn’t make the cut- what do you think of the idea of making them genre antagonists for any number of venues, similar to how the Brood or VII are used?

I am 100% for this. After all, we are dealing with a WORLD of darkness.

2) With White-Wolf’s publication of a conversion guide for Owod/Nwod, would you be in favor of converting Owod venues to Nwod mechanics? Vice-versa? Do you feel keeping mechanics the way they are, or converting them would impact recruitment? Would you be in favor of Nwod losing the MET mechanics and using TT rules with the 8div3 resolution system? Owod using Owod TT rules with 8div3?

On rulesets, I believe in a "Keep it simple" philosophy. I feel that keeping Owod on Old World mechanics and keeping Nwod on New World mechanics is the only sane course of action, at least in keeping the streams from crossing.

Basically, we have larp rulebooks for each game, and should try to stay true to them if possible. However, if something can be worked out where it is an EASY system to use the tabletop books, then I would not be overly opposed to trying it out. This is something that should be worked out before the start of a new chronicle – I would be firmly against doing a switchup mid-game.

3) Broadly speaking, in regards to implementing plot, I think STs tend to follow one of two philosophies. Either ooc information regarding the plot is kept from the players in order to preserve the mystery of the WOD, to enhance player enjoyment; Or, a storyteller ooc-ly provides some, or all, of the details regarding a plot so that players can choose to participate and to what level, so that collaborative storytelling can script out gameplay to enhance player enjoyment.

Which style do you prefer? How do you think your answer as NST would differ from your answer as a VST? If you are a fan of both, then please discuss in detail when it is appropriate to use each one. Please provide examples.

As a VST, I prefer to keep a lot of the information out of player hands, as it is a smaller crowd and easier to control information flows. Therefore, you can keep player surprise as a valid tool. When you get to the NST level, if you are trying for a great deal of secrecy, you run into a maxim of a good friend of mine:

"Loose lips sink plotlines."

At the NST level, a lot more of the plot is "settings plot." For example, Leads but does not Rules (sp?) is a good example of a NST-level plot – one that is used to define more of how the game overall should be, while letting things also play out on the local level. I see a lot more of that coming out and a lot less of the micro-level plot.

4) For the closeout of the current chronicle, there is an opportunity to spice things up and playtest new rules and approval levels for the next chronicle. The "toybox" could be opened to allow lowered approval levels on all or some items, allow optional rules, system hacks, or items not normally approved for play. Would you consider "opening the toybox" for the end of this chronicle? If not, are there any rules, approval levels, system, addendum, or setting changes that you would like to see? If so, what are they?

I am completely open to opening up the toybox and experimenting as this chronicle comes to a close, with the caveat that the box can be closed quickly if things try to spin out of control.

5) Several answers during this Q&A have amounted to increasing communication or listening to what players and city level storytellers have to say, or responding to a lack of living up to player/storyteller standards by increasing NST enforcement. How will you know what goes on at the local level? The current reporting structure doesn’t mandate that VST reports be filed with anyone other than the DST. Even if there was centralized reporting, current reports are only as detailed as the the VST wants them to be. If the reporting process or report format was changed, there would still be a problem of motivating STs to provide detailed enough information to make the reports useful to the RST and NST. How will you motivate VSTs and DSTs to report, let alone provide such detailed information? Assuming 100% reporting, what method will you use to scour the information in 600+ VST reports? What information will you be looking for?

One of the ways to increase information at the local level is to have an open-door policy, to encourage anyone who wants to chatter to chatter. There also is what I politely refer to as the "rumor mill" – one can pick up a lot of information just by keeping an ear open. That is one step to get at least a feel for things. As to the current reporting structure, I would create an additional set of lists – one for each venue. This would be where every VST would send a copy of their reports to. I would hope that they place their reports in there, and would ask the ANSTs to have someone whose job is simply to make sure that the reports get turned in for each current VSS and track which ones are not reporting in. As for motivating the VSTs, this is where those same assistants would check the reports and poke at the VSTs if they think there should be additional information. Essentially each venue’s AANST would give a list of domains not reporting in and anything "interesting" that has popped up on the radar. The information I would be looking for are "CNN moments", how antagonists are being used, and PC demographics. These are all trends that become very useful in making plans for nationwide work on the venues.

6) There are a large number of dead VSSs listed in the approvals Database. Will you clean these out? If not, why? There are also a large number of blank, "placeholder" VSSs. Some of which might be being used to run games. Will you clear these out, or make sure a VSS gets written? How soon will this be completed? How will you ensure that VSSs are getting their 6 month reviews?

If a VSS is dead (no VST, chapter hasn’t run games in ages, chapter does not exist anymore), then I will get them cleaned out – nice and simple. If a VSS is simply and blatantly a blank placeholder, then I would task the VST with providing a full VSS within a two-month period. If it’s not approved by then, then it gets toasted. In the area of reviewing VSSes, that is something I would prefer to leave in Regional’s hands, but would want notification in the Regional report as their area VSSes are updated.

7) In some places, getting a DST election run by Regional can take up to 6 months before the process begins. Outside of waiting for someone to point out that an election needs to be run, what will you do to ensure that ST elections of all levels are run on schedule, or as soon as needed (in the case of someone leaving office early)?

In my position as SE ARC Elections, I run both the Coordinator and Storyteller elections. Having a six month lag for running elections is completely unacceptable. As NST, I would have an ANST Elections, whose job would be to keep a database on all elections in each region. I have a base spreadsheet I use for the Southeast that can be adapted for each region. If things get to where there are elections that are past due, then they will ping the applicable RST. Should the RST not be able to have the election done in a reasonable period, then I would have the ANST Elections assign proctors to oversee the DST election. Frankly, I would prefer to have someone with extensive coordinator experience in that position, as they would also hold the RST elections as they come up. For purposes of those leaving office early, I will communicate early in my term that when a DST leaves early, that notification should be sent both to the RST and the ANST Elections, so both parties are fully updated on conditions.

8) Typically metagaming involves a character behaving in a way they have no reason to. This can be a very difficult thing to investigate and prove, as player can provide an alternate, yet feasible, justification after-the-fact for their character’s actions that still provides the same result as outright metagaming. Are you willing to tell players they are portraying their character wrong, according to the circumstances or source material, even if the player presents a justification for their character’s actions? Without an out-right confession, what guidelines do you use to prove someone is metagaming?

I am absolutely willing to tell players that they are portraying their characters wrong, even if justifications are presented. I have denied more than one 16-th century Giovanni samurai with trenchcoat and twin katanas – especially when they are trying to hack the FBI’s files. I wish I were joking on this one, but it was in a past troupe game I ran.

As to what guidelines I would use, the primary one would be "walks like a duck and talks like a duck" and the second one would be if there is no concrete evidence trail to follow for the knowledge. I fell prey to the metagaming questions more than once, but maintained a solid chain of evidence to show where that knowledge came from. Essentially, if it looks fishy as anything and the player can not produce the trail of evidence, then that can be a reasonable degree of proof to start out with.

9) In the past some STs have set limits or caps on things like bloodlines. No more than X per Region, no more than Y per nation. Some STs have done away with limits, and said that each application will be judged on it’s own merit. Will you be setting limits on the number of times a particular item will be approved? If so, this may promote a hit-list/wait-list mentality, "If I kill his Khaibit, that will free up a slot, and then I can play one." What steps will you take to prevent that? If you are not in favor of caps, what’s to keep the chronicle from being flooded with an unusually high number of a popular approval item, if a large number of people write good, solid applications? Are you willing to adjust the setting to justify the reality of what players want to play?

I will not know this until I can see what is actually in play, to know whether caps are needed or not. If I am capping something already in play, then I am not going to broadcast out to the general public what the cap is – only that they are over cap. This helps to prevent the "hit list" mentality, because the players involved do not know how many of that capped item needs to be removed before slots are available. If all of a sudden I see a purging of, oh, Spina, followed by three or four of the people behind the killings applying for the bloodline, then it’s investigation time.

As to being willing to make tweaks to the setting to accommodate player desires, I can be flexible if needed, but it is no guarantee that they will get what they want.

10) Early on in this chronicle players were allowed to vote on which XP system they wanted. The majority of players chose the option which gave their characters the most XP (MCx20 +30xp). This was a large contributing factor to the xp bloat that plagued the chronicle to the point where a soft reset was required. The players got what they asked for, but what the players wanted wasn’t the best thing for the chronicle or the club. The club can’t be run by committee where every decision, or even every important decision, is decided by a vote or poll of the players. If you are elected NST you will be given the power to make those decisions without consulting or polling the general membership. Some answers during this Q&A have resulted in responses of "I’ll ask the players, and do what they want". Are you willing to go against popular opinion if it is better for the club? If so, then you must be able of determining the best choice from a set of options. If that is the case, then why bother with polling? Are you willing to trust your judgement, make the hard choices, and expedite change within the club? If you are going to poll the membership, what issues do you think you would poll them on?

I will not be performing polls of the player base for 90% of the items for the game. I will listen to input from them, the VSTs, the DSTs, and the RSTs. Based on that input and my gauging of what is for the good of the game, I will make the decisions. Yes, I am willing to swing against popular opinion but also listen and watch to see if things are playing out well. I can see doing polls at some point, but I am not entirely sure what issues at this time.

Besides, I know that if I do something that approaches the line of madness, there are eight fine individuals who will have no trouble letting me know.

11) How do you intend to go about starting the next chronicle?

I have covered that in my application, so I will not cut and paste it here.

12) How much support will you offer venues that are currently low population at the national level, like Forsaken?

At the very least, list support, an ANST, and plot/settings/dpotm as they playerbase needs and desires.

13) What are your personal thoughts on each venue?

I really don’t want to triple the length of this document, so I will simply say that I find enjoyment in each and every venue, whether it’s full immersion or simply reading through the books of that venue and grinning ear-to-ear.

14) How much do you currently play each specific supported venue?

Not as much as I would like to, but here goes:

Awakening – fairly rarely
Changeling – some, getting back into it more as our local games are ramping up again
Forsaken – never got into it
Geist – never got into it
Requiem – the big one that I play quite a lot
Cam/Anarch – just retired my Tremere, getting ready to make a
character to support the local venue as we get rolling again
Sabbat – some stuff on lists, mIRC

15) How will you support local Venue ST’s?

Simple. If they run into something "big" such as the latest plague plots, surprise large proxies into their area, desire for "big name" plot, and the like, then I want to be able to provide them full support. If there are plotkits out there that they have trouble understanding, support them. Basically, if they need help and it’s something National can deliver on, then National will deliver.

16) Three vampire venues has so far proved to be very destabilizing for the domains that I have been to, often the venues will vacillate dramatically from one to the other diluting attendance and many times causing huge rifts between Requiem, Cam/Anarch, and Sabbat players as each demands more attention be paid to their venue. In the past, this has been hand-waved as a local issue for local STs to deal with, but seems to be growing to be a National concern–how would you as the NST address this growing concern?

I will be honest, this is something that I see as more of a problem at the local level and one where I can not see any easy solution that can be applied from on high at the national level. Some places, it can be alleviated by games nearby being used as a vent for players wanting specific games. Other places, it is not that simple and there may simply not be enough time for each venue to get the right love. This is more of a problem that is suited to the RSTs as they know their regions well. If there is a way that National can help, then I would be willing to aid in a heartbeat.

17) What will you do as NST to enforce consistency in the ST chain? This is not venue specific.

Settings, settings, settings. Previously I talked about how each ANST should have someone to comb through the VST reports and look for trends. If they find that there are things that are not consistent, then that is where conversations can be opened up with the VSTs, etc. involved so that things can be brought back into line. While I would prefer that conversation and agreement be the tools to make it work, I am not above using appellate authority to bring games back into line.

18) What are your opinions on proxy play in regards to consistency, currently it is hap hazard and done differently by each ST. Will you support the creation of an outline which states how to start, conduct, and conclude a proxy? This is not venue specific.

Proxies currently are a mess. and I would fully support the creation of an outline to make it a far more uniform experience.

19) Currently there is little to no communication from the ST chain on IC news effecting regions, nation, and world to the local players. What will you do to encourage IC flow of information on the regional and national level? This is not venue specific.

WordPress. I would establish a NST WordPress and use keywords to show which specific regions, domains, venues, or nations that the articles would come from. If there are not two to three articles on there a week, then I would be sorely disappointed. I would also set up an email address as a "tipline" where anyone can submit news from their local games or even ideas on what could become news.

20) What are your thoughts on the number of venues the organization supports? Should we scale back to the most popular?

Just because convention time and space are limited, that does not mean that the venues we can support are limited. I feel we should allow for any and all venues that even have only one or two domains interested in.

21) Are you willing and capable of saying NO to the MST or AMST’s if you feel a plot or NPC action being pushed is not in the best interest of the member(s)/player(s)?

Yes. I am also willing to defend my case, but also willing to recognize that sometimes that appellate authority can come into play. If it is completely damaging to our games, then I am even willing to buck the appellate authority, hopefully with the support of the BOD and the RCs in that particular case. I do not see that type of situation arising any time soon, though.

22) The NST position is a management and supervisory job, what specific qualifications do you bring to the table that can convince us that you are capable and willing to manager the ST’s under your authority?

My work history has included responsibility for maintaining the inventories of a large furniture factory – coordinating the work of teams of up to thirty people. I also have my BSBA with a focus in Management from Appalachian State. Finally, I have done work in live-action games both within the Camarilla and without, also having handled large projects for conventions. I have the experience on how to do this job and do this job well.

Thank you for all the questions, and I hope the answers are satisfactory to you.

So based on the MST survey, which predicts what members would like to play; and the current VSS numbers, which sort-of show what people currently play:

- Which venues out of all Owod and Nwod would you choose to support if we can only have 4 supported?
- If we can only have 5 supported?
- If we can only have 6 supported?

At this time there is no physical obstacle preventing us from supporting any number of venues. Aside from limited resource situations, such as conventions, I see no reason to limit play.

- If we could support as many as you liked?

I would like to run as many as the players would like.

- For a typical convention, ie Thursday night, all day Friday, all day Saturday, and Sunday morning available, how many venues would you run? How would you schedule them? Would there be any venues run concurrently with other venues? Would there be venues where the start time overlapped with another venue’s end time? Please explain your choices.

Traditionally a Cam convention has been looked at as having the following playable slots: Friday day, Friday Night, Saturday Day, Saturday Night. Thursday Night and Sunday Day weren’t usually scheduled for Hard RP until we started trying to run as many venues as we could cram into the convention. I have been preaching "Let the players play what they want!" and I fully believe that. So long as we have the resources, then let them play. Conventions, however, are the perfect example of where we don’t have the resources. We have limited time and limited space, and limited funding, and limited staffing and limited…..you get the point.

So how do we fairly divide those resources? I believe we must focus on a small number of venues that offers something to the largest number of players. Friday Night and Saturday Night are the prime spots. These times are when you are likely to have the most players available and wanting to play (Saturday Night especially). These two spots need to be reserved for our top two venues. I would like to see Saturday Day set aside for the number three venue. Friday Day can be set up as a showcase slot and rotated among the lower attendance Venues. Thursday Night should be set aside for soft RP for any venue with small spaces provided. I like Sundays being set aside for Cam business and social interaction.

Now, keep in mind this is a generic template idea. Each individual Con will need to tweak this. If its Regional convention, then the ranking of the venues should be handled on a Regional level. If the top three venues in the NE are Masquerade, followed by Requiem, followed by Lost, then those three should get the most love at their convention. If the top three venues in the SW are Requiem, Masquerade and Awakening, then that’s what they should be showcasing.

- Would you be willing to support different venues than the MST?

Absolutely!!!

- How do you feel about combining the Cam/Anarch and Sabbat Genres into one "venue"? What special handling would this require?

On one hand it would make handling these venues, especially in limited resource situations, so much easier. But the mood and theme of Cam/Anarch is different from the mood and theme of Sabbat. If the two venues are in constant contact you end up creating several ugly scenarios on a regular basis. Not the least of which is the CoI issue generated by multiple characters run by a single player. It will require more work and more resources, but I think, in the long run, we are best keeping these two venues separated.

If they are separate, would you allow cross venue? Any special handling?

My biggest concern on the Cross Venue is the multi-character CoI issue. Player A has a Cam Ventrue and a Sabbat Nos. His Sabbat Nos gets permission to cross venue into the Cam game to spy on the Cammies before the Sabbat attack. He can’t spy on his own character which means likely most of his Cam character’s allies also get off scott free. Depending on how hard-line the ST is, he can’t spy on his Cam characters enemies either, so he can only go after the neutral guys. This messes with the entire dynamic of the game IMHO. This problem is eliminated by simply saying you can have a Cam/Anarch character or a Sabbat character or by keeping the two venues entirely seperate. This doesn’t even begin to get into the constant warfare issue. Its a very appropriate theme for Sabbat (though god knows not the only theme) but Cam/Anarch isn’t quit so "To Battle!!!!!" and to place it in a situation where it may be forced to be that way on a regular basis I think cheapens the venue.

Sooooo, long story short (I know – too late) They should be separate, with strict guildines set up for cross-venue.

For Werewolf, if you could only choose one, would you support Apocalypse or Forsaken?

There is no need (except in limited resource situations) to make such a decision. On a personal note, I think Apocalypse was a MUCH better LARP setting. Forsaken, by its very setting design, almost seems anti-LARP. Packs aren’t prone to working together for any reason really. In Apocalypse, although they may hate each others guts, there is a bigger badder enemy that they must work together to face. That’s good story.

– Supposing a venue like Forsaken, Geist, or Promethean doesn’t make the cut- what do you think of the idea of making them genre antagonists for any number of venues, similar to how the Brood or VII are used?

Depending on the low level support demand, I like this idea. I am one of the many people who got real tired of "oh look, another brood attack" in Requiem. I like the idea of giving the STs a larger toolbox to work with.

2) With White-Wolf’s publication of a conversion guide for Owod/Nwod, would you be in favor of converting Owod venues to Nwod mechanics? Vice-versa? Do you feel keeping mechanics the way they are, or converting them would impact recruitment? Would you be in favor of Nwod losing the MET mechanics and using TT rules with the 8div3 resolution system? Owod using Owod TT rules with 8div3?

I am a big supporter of the idea of NWoD converting over to pure TT rules using 8div3. If the OWoD LARP rules weren’t so radically and extremely different from the TT rules for OWoD I would be similarly inclined. However, I expect the majority of OWoD players are more comfortable with the OWoD LARP rules than they would be with the actual original TT rules.

3)  Broadly speaking, in regards to implementing plot, I think STs tend to follow one of two philosophies. Either ooc information regarding the plot is kept from the players in order to preserve the mystery of the WOD, to enhance player enjoyment; Or, a storyteller ooc-ly provides some, or all, of the details regarding a plot so that players can choose to participate and to what level, so that collaborative storytelling can script out gameplay to enhance player enjoyment.

Which style do you prefer?

I like a mix of the two. I like to tell my players what kind of story they are getting themselves into. Sure it kills some of the surprise, but it almost eliminates the "What the hell kind of story is this?"  Players pursue the stories that sound fun to them as players and avoid the ones that sound no fun. On a National scale this becomes even more important. We need to get word out to people better "Hey!! We have this National plot running with the following mood and theme. Wanna play?  Here’s how to get involved!" We currently have a pretty weak success rate in doing that currently.

Now as much as I want players to understand the style of the story they are getting into, I don’t think they need to know every detail. Give them something to look forward to. If you give them the whole story up front, then all they are doing is going through the motions. There is no sense of excitement, commitment, or wonder.

How do you think your answer as NST would differ from your answer as a VST?

As NST its harder to get word out. SO it will require better communication. Thats the only difference. My players know, I always tell them the style of story they are getting into, but never exactly what is in store.

If you are a fan of both, then please discuss in detail when it is appropriate to use each one. Please provide examples.

Hopefully the above was clear enough.

4) For the closeout of the current chronicle, there is an opportunity to spice things up and playtest new rules and approval levels for the next chronicle. The "toybox" could be opened to allow lowered approval levels on all or some items, allow optional rules, system hacks, or items not normally approved for play.

Would you consider "opening the toybox" for the end of this chronicle? If not, are there any rules, approval levels, system, addendum, or setting changes that you would like to see? If so, what are they?

If this was something that the players had been advised we would do well in advance (At the beginning of the chronicle to no later than mid chronicle) I would be very OK with it. I don’t like changing the rules of the game on folks, especially when they are trying to plan a really cool ending to their personal story and then we suddenly change the entire landscape on them.  But forewarned is forearmed! Its a neat idea that would need some tweaks, and if properly announced in advance "Ladies and gentlemen!  For the new chronicle starting this year and running for 5 years, be aware that in the last year we will be heavily modifying the approval levels, and the landscape of the game will change. We will announce the specific details later, but be aware now, as you plan your 5 year story, that the last year is going to shake things up."

5) Several answers during this Q&A have amounted to increasing communication or listening to what players and city level storytellers have to say, or responding to a lack of living up to player/storyteller standards by increasing NST enforcement. How will you know what goes on at the local level? The current reporting structure doesn’t mandate that VST reports be filed with anyone other than the DST. Even if there was centralized reporting, current reports are only as detailed as the the VST wants them to be. If the reporting process or report format was changed, there would still be a problem of motivating STs to provide detailed enough information to make the reports useful to the RST and NST. How will you motivate VSTs and DSTs to report, let alone provide such detailed information? Assuming 100% reporting, what method will you use to scour the information in 600+ VST reports? What information will you be looking for?

As I have been saying, we need to overhaul the ST reporting system. But you hit on an extremely critical aspect of the entire system – STs don’t wanna do it!!! This is of course not true for all STs, but you know what I mean. The key to motivating the STs to file good reports, is to show them how doing so can and will benefit their game. How can it be beneficial to them? It will allow us to do more and better bottom-up storytelling. We can get their local stories interweaved with other stories allowing their local decisions and actions to actually matter to the larger game. If we start doing something with the information we receive people will start sending better information.

As far as what information do I want to see and how would I overhaul the system? I’d like to take better advantage of technology. My ideal would be an online form through the portal that VSTs and DSTs can fill out, which then gets databased so it can be parsed for ANY of the entered information. If we have quicker easier access to more accurate information we can make better decisions. Let me give you one simple example

Let’s say we have a cap on Khaibit and there is an app that comes up. Let’s say its an instant Masterpiece of writing and the dramatic tension is so beautiful that Shakespeare himself rises from the grave just to shakes hands with the author. But oh no!!! We check the database and see that we already have apps approved for the number of Khaibit we are going to allow. If we have a more accurate database to check we can quickly scan to see if any of the approved khaibit in play have been terminated, or if we have a character approved who hasn’t played a game in a year and never turned in a downtime once. oh, and their membership is expired too. Problem solved, the Shakespearean app gets approved without breaking any rules. All because we have better info.

6) There are a large number of dead VSSs listed in the approvals Database. Will you clean these out? If not, why? There are also a large number of blank, "placeholder" VSSs. Some of which might be being used to run games. Will you clear these out, or make sure a VSS gets written? How soon will this be completed? How will you ensure that VSSs are getting their 6 month reviews?

These should definitely be cleaned out. And an eye should be kept on them. Again, this falls into the "more and better info" rant I went on above. This would be a joint project for my admin and tech teams

7) In some places, getting a DST election run by Regional can take up to 6 months before the process begins.  Outside of waiting for someone to point out that an election needs to be run, what will you do to ensure that ST elections of all levels are run on schedule, or as soon as needed (in the case of someone leaving office early)?

Yes, I have seen this as well. First, keep in mind my "more and better" rant from two questions above.  If this is a problem, then National needs to step in. Ideally, Regional will benefit as much if not more by the better reporting. However, I think that some if not all Regions really need a State level ST. Some regions are too big geographically, numerically, or both, for the RST to really know whats going on. I know the recent case of 6 months for a DST election you refer too. I think that kind of problem can only occur when the RST and his staff don’t know or don’t care about whats going on. I feel very strongly on that specific case it was the former and not the latter. If the South Central, as a good example, had State level STs that reported to the RST and his staff, this would make life easier for everyone. Everyone could get more work done, and more communicated.

8) Typically metagaming involves a character behaving in a way they have no reason to. This can be a very difficult thing to investigate and prove, as player can provide an alternate, yet feasible, justification after-the-fact for their character’s actions that still provides the same result as outright metagaming.

Are you willing to tell players they are portraying their character wrong, according to the circumstances or source material, even if the player presents a justification for their character’s actions? Without an out-right confession, what guidelines do you use to prove someone is metagaming?

So far my colleagues seem to be sticking with the answer of "This is a local matter problem" and I think they are missing the key issue at hand. Local matters can end up appealed to the NST. In such cases, the NST or his designated staffer, were not likely anywhere near to incident when it occurred. Odds are they don’t know any of the parties involved. And in your specific scenario there is zero proof of any wrong doing, but we all know this kind of thing does happen. I would additionally take into account similar warning or repeated accusations from multiple sources. "Hhmmmm, according to your VST, DST, and DC, and the VSTs from two other domains, this is a situation you find yourself accused of on a regular basis. You’ve never been charged because there is no way to prove the accusation, but we have 7 different people from 3 different cities and no less than 5 officers who say this kind of "misunderstanding" happens with you on a regular basis. You obviously have a problem and need to learn how to play." Its also extremely important that you get the coordinator staff in on these issues. I have found that in most cases of unprovable cheating, there are provable cases of related CoC violations. These are complex scenarios, and they are impossible to maneuver through without hard feelings. And they are impossible to resolve in a wholly just manner. You will always be making a choice of the lesser of two evils. "Do I punish the guy I am confident is guilty even though I have no proof? Or do I remain fair and proper and let him get away with abusing the system and cheating other players?"

You have to know the system as well as the people who are manipulating it. And you have to be ready to close loopholes after you find them.

9) In the past some STs have set limits or caps on things like bloodlines. No more than X per Region, no more than Y per nation. Some STs have done away with limits, and said that each application will be judged on it’s own merit. Will you be setting limits on the number of times a particular item will be approved? If so, this may promote a hit-list/wait-list mentality, "If I kill his Khaibit, that will free up a slot, and then I can play one." What steps will you take to prevent that? If you are not in favor of caps, what’s to keep the chronicle from being flooded with an unusually high number of a popular approval item, if a large number of people write good, solid applications? Are you willing to adjust the setting to justify the reality of what players want to play?

For NWoD Requiem, there is not well defined rarity numbers for most Bloodlines. In fact, when it comes to bloodlines in general, different cannon books say different things about how rare bloodlines are. So, I’m not in favor of hard capping. In fact, with NWoD where so much of the setting is left for the ST to define, I’m willing to "adjust the setting" as you put it. This does not mean I intend to have 5 khaibit in every city. It means I will be tough on rarity approvals, but a good app will get approved.
This holds true for approvals in general.

10)  Early on in this chronicle players were allowed to vote on which XP system they wanted. The majority of players chose the option which gave their characters the most XP (MCx20 +30xp). This was a large contributing factor to the xp bloat that plagued the chronicle to the point where a soft reset was required. The players got what they asked for, but what the players wanted wasn’t the best thing for the chronicle or the club. The club can’t be run by committee where every decision, or even every important decision, is decided by a vote or poll of the players. If you are elected NST you will be given the power to make those decisions without consulting or polling the general membership. Some answers during this Q&A have resulted in responses of "I’ll ask the players, and do what they want". Are you willing to go against popular opinion if it is better for the club? If so, then you must be able of determining the best choice from a set of options. If that is the case, then why bother with polling? Are you willing to trust your judgement, make the hard choices, and expedite change within the club?
If you are going to poll the membership, what issues do you think you would poll them on?

OK, I’m about to make a statement that will make me very unpopular with some people. I will never ask the membership how much XP they want to receive. I will always assume that Joe Average Member will answer "As much as you will give me". Its a Storytellers job to balance and guide the game for the betterment of all members. I will gladly ask the players what the want when its a simple matter of style and taste. When its a matter of balancing resources and mechanics, I will look at the actions of the players to get their input. I’ve never seen a player turn down XP. So I will assume they wont, until I see behavior otherwise. All similar style quandaries  will be handled in a similar manner. How are the players acting? No matter what they say, what do they actually do? Then I know what they really think.

11) How do you intend to go about starting the next chronicle?

I want to put together an ANST venue team specifically for reset. They would be hired ASAP and begin work immediately. I want to create a setting that fills in enough of the gaps to make sense while leaving room for the Regions, States and Domains to customize the ideas for their area. If we have enough time, I’d like to actually provide basic social structures for the NWoD. It desperately needs it. I’ve said before that work on that should have begun at least 4 months ago in order to be ready to go 6 months prior to play, but I can still try.

12) How much support will you offer venues that are currently low population at the national level, like Forsaken?

All the support they need

13) What are your personal thoughts on each venue?

That’s a dissertations worth of writing as I intend to support any venue the players want to play. In short, I think they all have their pro’s and con’s (short example – Promethean. I thinks its a beautiful game with so much wonderful story possibility…..in a Table Top setting. It did not make a good LARP. However, if I have a dedicated group in this nation who want it, great. )

14) How much do you currently play each specific supported venue?

Currently? I’m down to one venue. I have played every venue at some point or another, and I will play more in the future. I am not likely to every try and play Promethean LARP or C:tD again. But I will definately be playing much more Lost. I prefer OWoD Werewolf to NWoD, but NWoD Mage to OWoD. I’ve been around the block a time or two. but currently, I am only active in Requiem.

15) How will you support local Venue ST’s?

In any way I can. This will be unique to each VST. What each VST needs/wants is different. I definitely want to overhaul the reporting system and improve the flow of communication upstream and downstream. Nobody can help anybody if we don’t know what each other needs.

16) Three vampire venues has so far proved to be  very destabilizing for the domains that I have been to, often the venues  will vacillate dramatically from one to the other diluting attendance and  many times causing huge rifts between Requiem, Cam/Anarch, and Sabbat  players as each demands more attention be paid to their venue. In the past,  this has been hand-waved as a local issue for local STs to deal with, but  seems to be growing to be a National concern–how would you as the NST  address this growing concern?

For now, this is a local concern. That is shifting. This organization will eventually have to choose. We are not at that point yet and I think forcing a split prematurely will be bad for the club. But I feel very strongly the split is coming. Handled with wisdom and calm, it can be good for the membership overall when we finally separate and redefine ourselves, but again, too early and we only hurt ourselves overall. For now, do what I intend to do. Support the desires of the majority even when that means sometimes making decisions the majority doesn’t like.

We are in a transition now, and there are lots more changes to come to this group.

17) What will you do as NST to enforce consistency in the ST chain? This is not  venue specific.

I intend to provide clearer guidlines in the US Addendum.

18) What are your opinions on proxy play in regards to consistency, currently
it is hap hazard and done differently by each ST. Will you support the creation of an outline which states how to start, conduct, and conclude a proxy? This is not venue specific.

This is desperately needed!!! I had so much other stuff on my mind I hadn;t added that to the list of "I will do this". Consider it added.

19) Currently there is little to no communication from the ST chain on IC news effecting regions, nation, and world to the local players. What will you do to encourage IC flow of information on the regional and national level? This is not venue specific.

This is also desperately needed!!! This was already on my To Do list. I initially will start out notifying people through standard email, but I don’t like that. my ANST Technology and I will develop a better system that much more quickly and reliably gets IC info to STs. And allows STs to get IC info to their higher levels

20) What are your thoughts on the number of venues the organization supports?  Should we scale back to the most popular?

I have covered this topic in detail in several previous questions. Please bear with me as I refer you to those. This has already been a long and in depth round of questions over a holiday weekend :)

21) Are you willing and capable of saying NO to the MST or AMST’s if you feel a  plot or NPC action being pushed is not in the best interest of the member(s)/player(s)?

two words – Hell Yeah!

22) The NST position is a management and supervisory job, what specific qualifications do you bring to the table that can convince us that you are capable and willing to manager the ST’s under your authority?

With all due respect, this has also already been asked.

And with that I close out the Novel that is the response to the Region of Love.

I hope you all had a great weekend and that SCARE was a blast!!!!!!!

–
Im Anfang war die Tat. – Goethe

2) While a chronicle’s length is a matter that all the affiliates share, what factors do you think should go into determining how long a chronicle lasts? Do you have any preferences as to chronicle length? 2 years? 3 years? 5 years? 10 years?

3) Do you think we need the position of NST and if so why? Or would a council of RSTs be more effective for the organization? (Personally I think we do, but in the interest of examination of needs, is a single decision point a better solution for storytelling or a committee the better solution for storytelling?)

4) Much of the role of a primary officer at a higher level comes from managing their assistants. Some prefer to be very hands on, while others like to let their assistants run free. What do you see as your management style in regards assistants?

5) How will you be handling prospective feedback in terms of your potential adminstration?

6) In regards to feedback, it is common in the Camarilla for members to have difficulty properly expressing their opinions, which canresult in members who feel that their concerns are not being addressed.

7) As I am sure my colleagues will agree, there absolutely will be times in serving in a higher role, where you will be facing unreasonable demands, unrealistic expectations, and blame for things outside of your control. How do you plan on dealing with this, both in terms of addressing the unresolvable and the resulting stress from perception and reality differing in these cases?

8) Picking assistants and help is always difficult even in the best of times. If you opt to go with the proven and experienced member, you ensure that a given job is likely to be done, while excluding those whom are seeking experience and the chance to prove themselves. If you go with the newcomer, you grant that member the chance to prove themselves and perhaps find a new Rock Star of the Camarilla, but at the risk of them failing to uphold that trust or them finding themselves unable to rise to the task. How do you plan on balancing between making sure that the job is done while not just employing an "old boys club"?

I think that it’s an attempt to satisfy everyone, which we all know it’s pretty impossible to accomplish. Personally, I’m a fan of having a set number of Venues, and setting Troupes for games that Global does not support. The reason why is simple continuity. I’m going to pick on the GL for a second, but it’s because I know that Region the best currently:

The Great Lakes Region is strongly in support of the NWoD games. So, it’s in the GL Region’s best interest to focus on that playing style, even if National doesn’t support all of the NWoD Venues. The Region writes it’s Addendum and characters are approved. Eventually, games that are not very popular today start to grow and demand a National or Global support structure. Global decides to support the Venue and writes its Addendum that has massive changes than what the GL is already doing, requiring rewrites, additional applications or even possibly retirement. Players get frustrated because of changes and it causes issues.

You can’t satisfy all of the people, all of the time. This proposal is attempting to do this.

For me, it’s pretty simple in regards to what genres and games we should support. The games that have the greatest support for play are the ones that are in the best interest for the Club. Games that have a smaller, focused following aren’t any better or worse, but they don’t attract enough participation to warrant support. Leave them as a Troupe. As for selection under this system for Regional, each of you know you Region’s enough to know what games are popular. To me, those are the ones you should support.

2) While a chronicle’s length is a matter that all the affiliates > share, what factors do you think should go into determining how long a > chronicle lasts? Do you have any preferences as to chronicle length? 2 years? 3 years? 5 years? 10 years?

I think you have to look at the ability to tell a story where it isn’t rushed, but it isn’t so long that we have to have massive NPC’s just to challenge players. My preference is 5-6 years.

3) Do you think we need the position of NST and if so why? Or would a > council of RSTs be more effective for the organization? (Personally I think we do, but in the interest of examination of needs, is a single decision point a better solution for storytelling or a committee the better solution for storytelling?)

I think that the NST position serves the same purpose as the MST’s position on a smaller scale. The NST should be tying all of the Region’s together into a single National story, resolving disputes between Region’s and ensuring that there is are consistent rules for the Affiliate.

4) Much of the role of a primary officer at a higher level comes from managing their assistants. Some prefer to be very hands on, while others like to let their assistants run free. What do you see as your management style in regards assistants?

I am a fan of empowering assistants to do their job. Micromanaging isn’t my strong suit. I view the Primary officer as a check and balance to ensure that the Club, concerning storytelling, is running smoothly and adjust things when they are not.

5) How will you be handling prospective feedback in terms of your potential adminstration?

I challenge Members to tell me and my assistants how we can do better. Not every suggestion is going to work out, but I think it’s important that we do the best we can to give and receive communication.

6) This is a statement, or I missed the question.

7) As I am sure my colleagues will agree, there absolutely will be times in serving in a higher role, where you will be facing unreasonable demands, unrealistic expectations, and blame for things outside of your control. How do you plan on dealing with this, both in terms of addressing the unresolvable and the resulting stress from perception and reality differing in these cases?

Been there, done that. There are two things that we can do to resolve the difference between perception and reality:

1) Communicate the way things are to those that may be misinformed.
2) Proactively avoid situation in which the perception can cause issues with credibility.

8) Picking assistants and help is always difficult even in the best of times. If you opt to go with the proven and experienced member, you ensure that a given job is likely to be done, while excluding those whom are seeking experience and the chance to prove themselves. If you go with the newcomer, you grant that member the chance to prove themselves and perhaps find a new Rock Star of the Camarilla, but at the risk of them failing to uphold that trust or them finding themselves unable to rise to the task. How do you plan on balancing between making sure that the job is done while not just employing an "old boys club"?

In the past, I’ve really cared less about resumes and referrences in regards to the individuals I hire. My interest lies strongly in their ability to convience me they are passionate about the position in which they are applying for. I do have two positions that I want to fill with experienced Members, because they can spot potential issues that I may miss. However, for the most part, I’m looking for a plan and passion over who the person is or isn’t.

This is what I get for trying to play "beat the clock" with my break at work. See the revision to make it a question.

6) In regards to feedback, it is common in the Camarilla for members to have difficulty properly expressing their opinions, which can result in members who feel that their concerns are not being addressed. How do you plan to tackle those whose zeal for an issue may exceed their ability to communicate it effectively?

Essentially, the goal is to dialogue with Members that bring an issue to me, asking probing questions and verifying information that I receive so that I have a clear understanding of what the member is giving me. Sometimes you have to go deeper than the initial statement that you get from someone.

I like the Scaled Genres proposal and see that at its heart it is trying to offer the most variety to the most players. Logistically, speaking it will mean that some genres will see some representation while others will not. I as NST would encourage the RST’s to take a look at what venues their respective members wish to support and encourage them to create setting documents for them. I will then review those venues that are chosen at the regional level and determine which venues cross-region need National support as well. I know that this might not be the best solution, as some avid fans of specific venues may be left without national and regional support. However, I would be willing to talk to groups of members who fall in this category to see if alternative solutions can be determined.

2) While a chronicle’s length is a matter that all the affiliates share, what factors do you think should go into determining how long a chronicle lasts? Do you have any preferences as to chronicle length? 2 years? 3 years? 5 years? 10 years?

I would be interested in seeing chronicle lengths determined by the membership through a survey, but I do know that logistically this could be a nightmare. But if I have to choose a specific time-frame I would favor a 5 year chronicle.

I would structure it in the following manner:
Year 1-2 : Set up and gearing up for Climax
Year 3: Climax and results
Year 4-5: Resolution and wrap up.

I am willing to adjust this structure in lieu of the state of the story and its development but I think that a great chronicle can effectively run its course in a 5 year time frame.

3) Do you think we need the position of NST and if so why? Or would a council of RSTs be more effective for the organization? (Personally I think we do, but in the interest of examination of needs, is a single decision point a better solution for storytelling or a committee the better solution for storytelling?)

I think the office of NST is crucial as it becomes a facilitator for cross-regional interaction as well as a mediator in times of problems. I think in a council structure it would become very bogged down and would not be the best structure for the membership as a whole.

4) Much of the role of a primary officer at a higher level comes from managing their assistants. Some prefer to be very hands on, while others like to let their assistants run free. What do you see as your management style in regards assistants?

I hope that by selecting assistants who are passionate about their perspective venues or the role they are applying for that I will be able to take a less hands on role in their management. I am a strong advocate in supporting my team and having them feel that they have the opportunity to be creative and excel. As I also wish to bring in newer members seeking experience at the national level I will also, try to provide support to them so that they can effectively handle their roles.

5) How will you be handling prospective feedback in terms of your potential adminstration?

I and my team will have an open door policy, I want to hear from the members, regional staff etc. The more feedback and information we can get the better we will be in facilitating our job. The only thing I ask is that all criticism be constructive that will not only point out our weakness but provides suggestions for improvement. I am not perfect and I doubt any of my team members will be either. But what we will be is willing to strive to be the best we can in our roles.

6) In regards to feedback, it is common in the Camarilla for members to have difficulty properly expressing their opinions, which can result in members who feel that their concerns are not being addressed. How do you plan to tackle those whose zeal for an issue may exceed their ability to communicate it effectively?

I often find this issue is quite prevalent when email is involved. I want all members to feel that myself and the members of my future team are approachable. Thus, I am strong advocate for communication in different mediums, be it phone, skype, facebook etc. I want members to know that myself and my team want to hear their feedback and concerns.

7) As I am sure my colleagues will agree, there absolutely will be times in serving in a higher role, where you will be facing unreasonable demands, unrealistic expectations, and blame for things outside of your control. How do you plan on dealing with this, both in terms of addressing the unresolvable and the resulting stress from perception and reality differing in these cases?

I think in this scenario being open and honest at all times throughout the process will help make any situation better. I have often seen officers take a stance towards being so neutral that it makes hard decisions difficult to resolve if not impossible. In the scenario you highlighted I would listen to all sides involved and make a decision based on the pertinent info in play. And come to a balanced decision that has the best interest of the chronicle and the membership as whole. If that means that I or a member of my team will have to deal with the fallout of making a hard decision then so be it. Making difficult decisions comes with the position, but as long as all parties involved see that myself and my team acted in the best interest of the overall enjoyment level of the majority of membership, I think it will maintain the credibility of the office.

8) Picking assistants and help is always difficult even in the best of times. If you opt to go with the proven and experienced member, you ensure that a given job is likely to be done, while excluding those whom are seeking experience and the chance to prove themselves. If you go with the newcomer, you grant that member the chance to prove themselves and perhaps find a new Rock Star of the Camarilla, but at the risk of them failing to uphold that trust or them finding themselves unable to rise to the task. How do you plan on balancing between making sure that the job is done while not just employing an "old boys club"?

Like I have mentioned on previous Q&A’s I will give current position holders the chance to re-apply for their positions in All-Calls. However, I will also be very open with the fact that for my team it will be passion for the venues they are applying for that will be a critical indicator for me. I think bringing in newcomers with fresh perspectives and with an enthusiasm for the game is critical and I will do my best to give them a shot. I think with the proper support from me and the other members of the team any newcomer seeking experience at the national level will be able to excel. When I think of the litany of stigmas that come from the "old boys club" mentality, the worst for me is stagnation. We need to be willing to bring new members with fresh ideas and perspectives into the fold because it will just keep our organization vibrant and alive.

Thanks for your questions,

I want us playing what we want. If that means I have to get up at 10am at a conto help run a forsaken game for 10 rabid players, then it’s going to happen. I mean, I have personal preferences, but this is a public service job, for the club membersin the US. The NST office serves its players.

2) While a chronicle’s length is a matter that all the affiliates share, what factors do you think should go into determining how long a chronicle lasts? Do you have any preferences as to chronicle length? 2 years? 3 years? 5 years? 10 years?

5 is the sweetspot. Anything less is just a beta test, which is what ledto alot of the problems with the current Masquerade chronicle. That being said, I think sliding XP scales will help with most of the problems.

3) Do you think we need the position of NST and if so why? Or would a council of RSTs be more effective for the organization? (Personally I think we do, but in the interest of examination of needs, is a single decision point a better solution for storytelling or a committee the better solution for storytelling?)

Yes, but the NST doesn’t live in a vacuum. I’ve been on NST-Circle for many years. The NST facilitates communication. The regent is nothing without the Priscus. It’s a team effort, but also its important to remember that at the end of the day, the NST takes the blame, which is something I can accept.

4) Much of the role of a primary officer at a higher level comes from managing their assistants. Some prefer to be very hands on, while others like to let their assistants run free. What do you see as your management style in regards assistants?

The ANST Requiem and the ANST Masquerade are the two most powerful positions in this club. Denyingthat would be a mistake. Not respecting it and monitoring it would be a catastrophe for the NST.

I’m lukewarm. I like to be cc’d on anything where there may be an issue, which I also do vice versa. My NST-Squad ismore like a family to me. They will become people I trust and depend, if I’m elected.

5) How will you be handling prospective feedback in terms of your potential adminstration?

Open door policy. Seriously, anytime.

6) In regards to feedback, it is common in the Camarilla for members to have difficulty properly expressing their opinions, which can result in members who feel that their concerns are not being
addressed.

I read your addendum below, but just wanted to put it in one email. I plan to be availableby email, txt, phone, gchat, Mirc(though I admit I dislike it), whatever it takes. I would also encourage those members who have trouble communicating their zeal to talk with a friendwho can communicate it and then have them bring it to me.

7) As I am sure my colleagues will agree, there absolutely will be times in serving in a higher role, where you will be facing unreasonable demands, unrealistic expectations, and blame for things
outside of your control. How do you plan on dealing with this, both in terms of addressing the unresolvable and the resulting stress from perception and reality differing in these cases?

Not to make light of the issues of stress in this club, but I deal with children who arebeing abused, sometimes even killed. I don’t blink an eye at the stress from an office within this club. I love this club, and have continually, thoughout my active time withinit have held an office. I know I can handle it. As to resolving the unresolvable. I don’t believe nothing is solvable. I’m a peacemaker by nature and my professional skillset involves finding outside the box solutions and solvingdire situations for families in crisis. If we can’t be adults and find a solution to a problem ina club that is our shared hobby, then something is terrible wrong.

8) Picking assistants and help is always difficult even in the best of times. If you opt to go with the proven and experienced member, you ensure that a given job is likely to be done, while excluding those whom are seeking experience and the chance to prove themselves. If you go with the newcomer, you grant that member the chance to prove themselves and perhaps find a new Rock Star of the Camarilla, but at the risk of them failing to uphold that trust or them finding themselves unable to rise to the task. How do you plan on balancing between making sure that the job is done while not just employing an "old boys club"?

All calls first. No one retains their position. Then, I get with my CoS(the only not all call that I will select) and discuss these issues. To my detriment, I always try to be the nice guy and do the right thing. It has put me into more difficult situations in this club and in life. However, Under the Bright Lights, I know it will all work. A good balance between old and new is always needed. Not to mention, if t doesn’t work out, then we’ll have to find a new assistant.

Thanks!

Kyle

I applaud the proposal, and plan to support all genres, regardless of size as NST. Should regions wish to support genres, then they are free to as well. As to convention slots, the support may mean genre games in smaller areas, such as private rooms, poolsides, and the like. However, if there is interest in such a session, I will do what I can to make it happen as far as storytelling staffing goes.

2) While a chronicle’s length is a matter that all the affiliates share, what factors do you think should go into determining how long a chronicle lasts? Do you have any preferences as to chronicle length? 2 years? 3 years? 5 years? 10 years?

A chronicle should last long enough to tell great stories, but not so long that resets in the middle are necessary to bring it away from decay. Five years seems to be a good time period – I use the Babylon 5 model that 5 years is the proper amount of time to introduce the story, build it up, and close the threads.

3) Do you think we need the position of NST and if so why? Or would a council of RSTs be more effective for the organization? (Personally I think we do, but in the interest of examination of needs, is a single decision point a better solution for storytelling or a committee the better solution for storytelling?)

Yes, we need a national storyteller. A single point, elected by the RSTs, is what is needed for decisive actions and to keep a steady hand on the wheel. Otherwise, things could get bogged down and get far more muddled than we have been in the past.

As an example, allow me to present the USS Enterprise, the only aircraft carrier designed by committee. The nautical types among us may realize it has four different designs for eight power plants. That is what committees can deliver if one is not careful. I am certain that there are those who will point out the flaws of a single decision point, but I would point out that it is balanced out by a committee who can vote him out.

4) Much of the role of a primary officer at a higher level comes from managing their assistants. Some prefer to be very hands on, while others like to let their assistants run free. What do you see as your management style in regards assistants?

My management style is to trust but verify. My assistants will have considerable leeway in getting the job done, but I will be watching. If things start to veer off course, then I will step in. If not, then there is no need to fix the unbroken.

5) How will you be handling prospective feedback in terms of your potential administration?

Simple. I will take the feedback, listen to it, analyze it, and make changes as needed. I maintain an open door – my contact information is out there, ranging from email to gtalk to my phone. I do have a generous minutes plan.

6) In regards to feedback, it is common in the Camarilla for members to have difficulty properly expressing their opinions, which can result in members who feel that their concerns are not being addressed. How do you plan to tackle those whose zeal for an issue may exceed their ability to communicate it effectively?

Listen to them, and ask for clarification if I don’t understand the statements. The communication may be tricky, but it can be acheived.

7) As I am sure my colleagues will agree, there absolutely will be times in serving in a higher role, where you will be facing unreasonable demands, unrealistic expectations, and blame for things outside of your control. How do you plan on dealing with this, both in terms of addressing the unresolvable and the resulting stress from perception and reality differing in these cases?

I am only human. If I can’t resolve something, if I can’t fix it, I will admit such, apologize, and move on to what I can fix. As to the stress? As I am sure all of you have, I have a circle of friends who I talk to regularly and who serve as good people to vent to. If that is not feasible, due to confidentiality or such, then I go to the one who I consider to be my best source to go to for that sort of thing – my wife who goes "everything will be fine" while happily shelving everything I ramble away into the circular bin in her head :) Needless to say, she could care less about the Cam most of the time, but is perfectly happy to help me destress by talking.

8) Picking assistants and help is always difficult even in the best of times. If you opt to go with the proven and experienced member, you ensure that a given job is likely to be done, while excluding those whom are seeking experience and the chance to prove themselves. If you go with the newcomer, you grant that member the chance to prove themselves and perhaps find a new Rock Star of the Camarilla, but at the risk of them failing to uphold that trust or them finding themselves unable to rise to the task. How do you plan on balancing between making sure that the job is done while not just employing an "old boys club"?

Simple. If I find a new person who seems to be good for the position, I will pair them with an assistant who is an old hand, so that I have the best of both worlds available.

I’ve touched on this briefly in a previous answer, but this gives me a chance to delve in a little more. I am in favor of providing support to any members of this organization to play any WW game they want. Its a matter of teh degree of support that becomes the issue.

First, I dont plan on dictating to any Region what games they can’t run. If a Region has big support for Mummy (hey, I can dream can’t I?) and no other region wants to run it, then I feel the NST should absolutely be backing up that RST, but at the same time, not requiring any of the other RSTs to create support staff.

If the interest is small over all – a tiny handful of players scattered across multiple Regions – I again wont tell the RSTs they must provide support staff. The NSTs office should be able to handle it.

The NST staff can create rules addendums, binding across regions, that will allow them to execute the entirety of the ST needs for story beyond the local level. Small games only need small staff. In an earlier example I was extreme enough to mention a 5 person only venue. In that case the entirety of the staff need only be those five players and myself.

Keep in mind, that I won’t be encouraging these small venues to expect hand outs of limited resources at conventions. When it costs me nothing but labor to give someone what they want, then labor they get. Its seems silly to me to tell someone they cant play the game they want to play. When I have to tell 100 players they can’t play their game because these 5 people want to play their game – then we have a problem. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Some guy in some movie said that as I recall.

2) While a chronicle’s length is a matter that all the affiliates share, what factors do you think should go into determining how long a chronicle lasts? Do you have any preferences as to chronicle length? 2 years? 3 years? 5 years? 10 years?

The biggest factor in chroncle length IMHO is XP bloating. There are many other factors, but that one is the most mechanically important. The World of Darkness is not a fair place. Our game (mechanicaly) needs to be. I think 5 years is a good length of time for a chronicle. It allows plenty of time for long arcs to develop and resolve. It allows players to long range plan their characters. The current legacy XP system helps a lot I think. If your character gets knocked out of the game you dont always have to jump back in at ground zero. This should also be used (but isn’t currently) to resolve CoI issues. Still there comes that time when you are just at a steep XP disparity. 5 years seems ideal to me.

3) Do you think we need the position of NST and if so why? Or would a council of RSTs be more effective for the organization? (Personally I think we do, but in the interest of examination of needs, is a single decision point a better solution for storytelling or a committee the better solution for storytelling?)

I very much think we need an NST. Council’s tend to move very very slowly. We need someone who can and will make decisions. That being said, the NST needs an advisory team, of which the RSTs are critical members.

4) Much of the role of a primary officer at a higher level comes from managing their assistants. Some prefer to be very hands on, while others like to let their assistants run free. What do you see as your management style in regards assistants?

I see myself somewhere in the middle. Too hands on and you end up stifling your team and burning yourself (and them) out. Too laissez faire and you lose cohesion and even worse, possibly lose touch with what your staff are even doing. You need to trust the people you hire to do the job you hire them for, but you need to stay fully aware of what they are doing. I plan on being involved with what my staff do, but I fully expect them to do their job.

5) How will you be handling prospective feedback in terms of your potential adminstration?

The question is a bit vague. Are you asking how I intend to gather feedback, or what I intend to do with that feedback? To answer the first part, I will begin with using the current standard methods of feedback gathering – email. However, there are a lot of other avenues open to us in this age of technology. I plan on having a Technology person to specifically help me develop a rich and full system of communication utilizing all available tools to make sure anyone who wants to say something to the NST and his staff has an easy way to do it.

As to what I will do with that feedback – well, I’ll make sure all of it gets paid attention to. Even if its hate mail. Are people so frustrated they can’t even vocalize a constructive thought? Therre will always be a few, but I need to be gauging how many. Praise feedback, love to get, dont expect it. everything in between – all of it will be treated with respect and responded to in an appropriate manner. This job can not be done properly without taking into account how your decisions are being seen.

6) In regards to feedback, it is common in the Camarilla for members to have difficulty properly expressing their opinions, which can result in members who feel that their concerns are not being addressed.

You couldn’t have written this "question" any better. It perfectly illustrates your point :)

Seriously, the key is not giving up on communication. If two people aren’t making headway, we get other people involved. Just because I don’t understand Joe, doesn’t mean Jill wont understand him. And if I can understand Jill, she can tell me what Joe is saying. The key is dont give up.

7) As I am sure my colleagues will agree, there absolutely will be times in serving in a higher role, where you will be facing unreasonable demands, unrealistic expectations, and blame for things outside of your control. How do you plan on dealing with this, both in terms of addressing the unresolvable and the resulting stress from perception and reality differing in these cases?

I know full well that there is no way to do this job and actually make everyone happy. I also accept that there will be times when its a choice between two evils. This isn’t an easy job I’m asking for. In cases where there is no ideal solution, you can’t ignore the problem. Work through every reasonable possability, but when all reasonable avenues are exhausted, then you have to make a decision and move forward. Don’t be afraid to make a decision. You have a job to do. You volunteered for the pain. Take it

How do I destress from the pain? Step away, smoke a cigarette, and in really bad cases, find a reasonable break, and vent to a wall or a friend. Private venting in closed spaces purely for stress releif is good.

8) Picking assistants and help is always difficult even in the best of times. If you opt to go with the proven and experienced member, you ensure that a given job is likely to be done, while excluding those whom are seeking experience and the chance to prove themselves. If you go with the newcomer, you grant that member the chance to prove themselves and perhaps find a new Rock Star of the Camarilla, but at the risk of them failing to uphold that trust or them finding themselves unable to rise to the task. How do you plan on balancing between making sure that the job is done while not just employing an "old boys club"?

I see myself as a good cross between the two. Having been actively involved since 99, I’ve got a few years under my belt, and in the loosest sense I’m an Old Boy, but my lack of "elitest" positions, both IC and OOC I think pretty clearly show I’m not a part of that ultra-cool-kids Network. I know my long membership in the organization gives me some perspective, but I also know my outsider status gives me some perspective too. There is something good to be gleaned from both.

That being said, I will definately want older and newer members on my staff. Everyone will be welcome to apply, and everyone will get equal consideration. Everyone has something to offer.

–
Im Anfang war die Tat. – Goethe

How open are you to making fundamental changes to how we do things if presented with a real solution to an obvious problem?

What is your vision for the structure of Global?

How important is personal professionalism to you with regard to being in an ST role?

What one thing are you best at with regards to storytelling?

Can my region have a pony?

Awakening is a game with many very ardent fans, what are your plans for helping pockets of players who may not be near another game to get involved in the End Game coming up next year.

Given the choice what venues would you like to support at a national level, and what are your plans for ensuring that our next chronicles start with a breadth of story, and an integrated social tapestry?

What experience do you have running national and global level plots over a period of several months? How does your experience with those geographically broad plots allow you to provide the best national plots and npcs of any candidate? Or, if you are inexperienced nationally, do you simply plan to let Global be the real boss while you essentially middle manage?

Requiem is a dying venue in some parts of the country, while in others it remains strong and vital. Even in areas where the venue is scarce there are pockets of Requiem that thrive. As we begin to wrap up the end of chronicle, how do they intend to not just bring epic story to the "hot zones" of Requiem, but bring it to those nearly forgotten bastions of the venue?

The current requiem plots at national, are they being dumped or continued unmolested?

I’m absolutely open to solutions that address problems.

What is your vision for the structure of Global?

1) Consistent rules set
2) Dark Places setting, Global
3) Mediation between Affiliates

Besides that, the MST office should be out of the day to day business of the Affiliate.

How important is personal professionalism to you with regard to being in an ST role?

I think that professionalism is very important as a Storyteller. Ethics, approachability and willing to assistant are paramount.

What one thing are you best at with regards to storytelling?

I’m honestly an Administrative Storyteller. I’m good a setting of a plan with measurable goals and challenging myself and my assistants to achieve. I, personally, suck at developing plots; I usually develop plots reactively instead of proactively.

Can my region have a pony?

Sure. Regular ponies are cool in my book.

Awakening is a game with many very ardent fans, what are your plans for helping pockets of players who may not be near another game to get involved in the End Game coming up next year.

My plans for the End Game is really going to put the power in the Region’s hands to handle how their area interprets the end. As the NST, I’m going to empower the aNST: Awakening to work with the Regions to ensure that the game is full of win and that all players that want to participate, can.

Given the choice what venues would you like to support at a national level, and what are your plans for ensuring that our next chronicles start with a breadth of story, and an integrated social tapestry?

I would like to support the Venues that the Membership is interested in playing the most. That sounds like a PC answer, but it’s really true. I don’t really care what games are supported when they are drawing Players. My plan for each venue that we support requires that we, National and Regional, work together to develop settings that are unique to the Region’s they are in and tie together to show how the Nation is represented as a whole. Meaning, Regional settings development is vital to ensure that Players have an idea how to write themselves into the game on a Regional level and National will develop its settings based on how the Regions decide they want their area to look.

What experience do you have running national and global level plots over a period of several months? How does your experience with those geographically broad plots allow you to provide the best national plots and npcs of any candidate? Or, if you are inexperienced nationally, do you simply plan to let Global be the real boss while you essentially middle manage?

I, as the NST, will be running very few plots or NPC’s. I will leave most of the Venue development to the aNST: Venue in conjunction with the aRST: Venue’s. Personally, for me, Global and I will have to come to an understanding that the US is led by the NST. We may work together, but I won’t be run over in my geographic territory.

Requiem is a dying venue in some parts of the country, while in others it remains strong and vital. Even in areas where the venue is scarce there are pockets of Requiem that thrive. As we begin to wrap up the end of chronicle, how do they intend to not just bring epic story to the "hot zones" of Requiem, but bring it to those nearly forgotten bastions of the venue?

The current requiem plots at national, are they being dumped or continued unmolested?

I won’t drop any current plot kits in any Venue. If there are problems with plot kits, my Venue leads will be charged with gathering feedback and adjusting accordingly. The truth, for me at least, is that I plan to distribute plot kits to Regional in regards to the wrap-up of our Chronicle. You know your individual Regions better than I ever will, so I will trust you to work with the aNST: Requiem and with your aRST: Requiem to ensure that everyone that wishes to participate in National plot kits has that availability.

Hey bro,

How open are you to making fundamental changes to how we do things if presented with a real solution to an obvious problem?

Very open. I spend my days working with families in crisis. One of the principal of therapy is that you need to be open to change.I feel this is extremely important when it comes to this club. We have to adapt.

What is your vision for the structure of Global?

I think global should be structured to handle affiliates communicating with one another. I’m not so crazy about hardcore plotlines being forced into the US. I have been speaking to alot of the global ST’s about my thoughts on this. I do think we need some rules and boundaries established. For example, I don’t think that the person playing the big Canon NPC should also be sting the scene. It’s just too much room for mistakes and the appearance of protectionism. I really digged Jesse Robbin’s approach with the Regent scene.

How important is personal professionalism to you with regard to being in an ST role?

A strong work ethic is mandatory.  I consider myself a very professional worker. I spend my days in courtrooms working with the 7 judges who serve my community. Anything less than a professional attitude is simply not an option. That being said, this is a club we all do for funand I think enjoying the ride, so to speak, has a place in the club as well.

What one thing are you best at with regards to storytelling?

I think it’s sort of a tie between setting a good scene and creating memorable NPC’s.

Can my region have a pony?

Bay or Palomino?

Awakening is a game with many very ardent fans, what are your plans for helping pockets of players who may not be near another game to get involved in the End Game coming up next year.

Reach out to them via the ANST of the venue. However, as I said earlier, I don’t think it’s the NST’s place to force story on people who don’t want it. I want an open door, two way communication with these pockets
of players. They want something to support their game, they get it.

Given the choice what venues would you like to support at a national level, and what are your plans for ensuring that our next chronicles start with a breadth of story, and an integrated social tapestry?

I’m avidly working with global level st’s on this currently. I have a lot of opinions and I like to discuss them. My plan is to use the six months before chronicle to world build, or US build. I will do this with player feedback and st help.

What experience do you have running national and global level plots over a period of several months? How does your experience with those geographically broad plots allow you to provide the best national plots and npcs of any candidate? Or, if you are inexperienced nationally, do you simply plan to let Global be the real boss while you essentially middle manage?

I created the Hooks and Chains plotline for Lost, I ran multiple plotlines as ANST Cam/Anarch, and I’ve st’s countless conventions. But again, I don’t think there are great national plots. Great NPC’s, yes. Great atmosphere, yes. But I believe in personal story. I dislike how conventions devolve into the NPC Show, or how in huge epic internet proxies, a PC is relegated to lending a trait. I want the players to be the stars of the story, not the extras.

Requiem is a dying venue in some parts of the country, while in others it remains strong and vital. Even in areas where the venue is scarce there are pockets of Requiem that thrive. As we begin to wrap up the end of chronicle, how do they intend to not just bring epic story to the "hot zones" of Requiem, but bring it to those nearly forgotten bastions of the venue?

Same thing as with awakening, we give them what they want. I definitely don’t want to do the cliche’ turn yourself mortal plotlines. I want an epic finish, but a one that is deeply personal for each PC.

The current requiem plots at national, are they being dumped or continued unmolested?

Honestly, I’d like to first find out what the hell is going on. Like, is there a plan/direction for VII and the Brood? Then after I get the curtain pulled back, I could make a better decision.

I will always be open to changes. I think adaptability and a willingness to see things from a different perspective is crucial for not only this position but all positions within the club.

What is your vision for the structure of Global?

As I have answered in a previous Q&A, there is a definite role for Global. Global should be responsible for the creation of global setting documents for the DPOTM as well as aid in encouraging interaction between the affiliates. I see the relationship between global and national to be a cooperative one. As part of a global organization interaction between the different affiliates should be spearheaded by the global team so that it can encourage world spanning chronicles with awesome stories waiting to unfold.

How important is personal professionalism to you with regard to being in an ST role?

I think its of paramount importance. As officers we have an obligation to be professional and ethical at all times. Not only for the maintenance of our own personal credibility but the credibility of the office we hold. We owe it to our players to conduct ourselves ethically, and professionally at all times. It ensures respect for the position and its representative.

What one thing are you best at with regards to storytelling?

Incorporating new players in to current ongoing stories. I really enjoy the challenge of finding ways to engage players into a story and seeing how their contributions, affect the overall course of the plot. It is one of the most fun aspects of the job.

Can my region have a pony?

What is this pony you speak of? Would you not prefer a dire wolf? I heard Winter was coming.

Awakening is a game with many very ardent fans, what are your plans for helping pockets of players who may not be near another game to get involved in the End Game coming up next year.

I am a big advocate for having the most players involved in the chronicle end. As such in regards to Awakening, I would encourage my ANST Awakening to reach out to both the regional and local areas to find alternative ways to bring those players into the end plot. I would also encourage those players to reach out to me or my ANST to discuss how better we can help them get involved.

Given the choice what venues would you like to support at a national level, and what are your plans for ensuring that our next chronicles start with a breadth of story, and an integrated social tapestry?

If I could I would provide support for all venues, available. However, I will be counting on the Regional officers to let me and my team know what venues they see in their perspective regions as being the most active. Once I have that I will craft a team to support those venues. As I mentioned before I would also like to find solutions and viable options to allow those smaller venues that might not have as big a following to have some ways to get involved in some regional and national plots.

What experience do you have running national and global level plots over a period of several months? How does your experience with those geographically broad plots allow you to provide the best national plots and npcs of any candidate? Or, if you are inexperienced nationally, do you simply plan to let Global be the real boss while you essentially middle manage?

If chosen as NST I will be working closely with my venue team to determine plots that will be broad based enough to draw a lot of the membership into participating in them. Also, I will encourage my venue team to really look at the overarching themes of their perspective venues, and make sure that those themes are visible and in play. I want the mystery and grittiness of the world of darkness both in NWOD and OWOD to show through. I want my team to have a cooperative relationship with the global team so that all venues that we support are true to the overall vision of the global chronicle. The idea of a global chronicle is what drew me into this organization and I think it one of the most appealing aspects of the club. It should be encouraged and supported.

Requiem is a dying venue in some parts of the country, while in others it remains strong and vital. Even in areas where the venue is scarce there are pockets of Requiem that thrive. As we begin to wrap up the end of chronicle, how do they intend to not just bring epic story to the "hot zones" of Requiem, but bring it to those nearly forgotten bastions of the venue? The current requiem plots at national, are they being dumped or continued unmolested?

I really do not want to dump any plots that are ongoing and have support from the membership. What I will do is encourage my ANST Requiem to re-examine what role he/she can take in fostering interest again in the venue in areas where it has diminished as well as supporting those areas where vibrant games still exist. If elected I will encourage that my ANST Requiem works closely with their counterparts in regional to making the end chronicle plots as broad based as possible. Though interest may have waned in areas it should not diminish the overall ending of the venue’s stories. They should be as cool as if every area was still in play with an active venue. I think taking the "hot zone" route would not do the end stories justice especially to those members who are still heavily invested in the venue.

I am extremely open to this. Change can be painful, but if it leads to a better system for our membership down the line, then I’ll likely be the first person to sign onto it.

What is your vision for the structure of Global?

Reposting from the NW RST question:

How important is personal professionalism to you with regard to being in an ST role?

This is vital. When you are dealing with this many people, professionalism and courtesy go miles in keeping any tense situations stable.

What one thing are you best at with regards to storytelling?

I know what I do not know, and I know who I can go see in order to get the answers. With this, everything else is gravy.

Can my region have a pony?

Let me find it. Here it is!

http://www.foxtrot.com/ (make sure that you look for the April 1st strip!)

Awakening is a game with many very ardent fans, what are your plans for helping pockets of players who may not be near another game to get involved in the End Game coming up next year.

I will need to work with the ANST Awakening, but I can see the use of proxies, mailing lists, and mIRC sessions for those who do not have a local game. For those who are in an isolated location, but do have an active venue, I can see seeding of plot to those particular areas, so that they too can participate in the End Game festivities.

Given the choice what venues would you like to support at a national level, and what are your plans for ensuring that our next chronicles start with a breadth of story, and an integrated social tapestry?

Given the choice of what venues, my answer would be YES. As I have discussed before, I want to provide support for all venues, even if it’s a timeshared ANST, a mailing list, and links between two VSSes – along with being interfaced into the global game for it’s genre (OWOD or NWOD).

To ensure the next chronicles start integrated, I want to get things started on preparation from day one in office. This includes hiring new chronicle staff, setting up lists, and encouraging everyone to start crafting their local games, with an eye towards the fact that things can and will change once the official rules and settings come out. Once those come out, it’ll be time to start tying everyone together. My vision is a unified world of darkness (well, one old and one new), where we can have things ready to roll from when the old chronicle ends. In short, start the support early and provide more and more support as detail come out, until Frankenstein’s thunderstorm is ready.

What experience do you have running national and global level plots over a period of several months? How does your experience with those geographically broad plots allow you to provide the best national plots and npcs of any candidate? Or, if you are inexperienced nationally, do you simply plan to let Global be the real boss while you essentially middle manage?

I am inexperienced nationally. There is no shame into this. On the other hand, I do not plan to solely be a conduit for Global.

After all, if I get the right people in the right places as ANSTs, then I can trust them to run these plots with a minimum of oversight – providing the vision to them for what needs to be done and letting their creative dynamos loose.

Requiem is a dying venue in some parts of the country, while in others it remains strong and vital. Even in areas where the venue is scarce there are pockets of Requiem that thrive. As we begin to wrap up the end of chronicle, how do they intend to not just bring epic story to the "hot zones" of Requiem, but bring it to those nearly forgotten bastions of the venue?

The current requiem plots at national, are they being dumped or continued unmolested?

See my answer for Awakening. As for whether the current requiem plots at national will be dumped or continued, I can not provide an answer, as I do not know what the plots are, or the pertinent details.

I am not only open to such ideas, I actively want to implement some. Some of the ideas I’ve mentioned include overhauling the ST report system, coming up with better communication systems for players to talk with STs, adding defined guidlines to the application system, doing signifigantly more pre-planning on chronicle start, minimizing or removing the role of the MST, and adding a state level ST to the chain. I’m sure there are many more good ideas, and I welcome them.

What is your vision for the structure of Global?

I think we will be better moving global to into more of a coordinator role. I’ve seen lotsof mention of the MST handling mediation between affiliates. Honestly, thats a coordinator issue. Yes, sometimes the issues being mediated involve stories, but its still at heart a coordinator issue. Let’s get coordinators to handle that.

What about designing a global history and planning global story? I say let each affiliate write their history and teh NST council and work on tying those stories together. I’m not a big fan of decision by committee, but really, I have never seen a good global history published by any MSTs office so I’m ready to give the Nations a chance to handle the job.

What about a global rules addendum? First, for both Old and New WoD the bulk of the material is out. We are not going to see much new material that is going to mechanically change the game. This can be handled by a team created and overseen by the NST council or overseen by a Global level corrdinator.

There is a lot Global could do, but looking up from the ground floor, Its not apparent. It all looks like behind the scenes coordinator stuff and rules decisions. Let the coordinators coordinate, and let the NST council create teams to handle story specific and rules specific issues.

How important is personal professionalism to you with regard to being in an ST role?

Professionalism, in my veiw, is a polite detachment focused on goal accomliphment, allowing you to remove the personal element in order to minimize impact of the human variable. It is absolutely needed in the professional world. Professionalism, as I see it, is about being polite and socially correct. It has nothing to do with being friendly or empathetic. A great example of this is that doctor we have all dealt with who is a consumate professional, but his bedside manner sucks!

This club is made up of volunteers, most of whom you will be dealing with aren’t thinking along lines of being professional. They are thinking like people, not doctors. I think our officers need to understand and apply some degree of professionalism, but we absolutely must have a great bedside manner. If we can’t empathize, and communicate emotional understandinga nd support for our memebers, then we may have a successful operation but lose the patient.

If you may have noticed, my answers are generally a little more casual and conversational. I want to make myself appear as approachable and friendly as possible. I truly think, in this type of group, I can get way more done being friendly than I can being emotionally detached. Its harder my way, and my way does nto preculde the pobligation to make tough decisions and tell people things they don’t want to hear. Doctors have to tell people their dying sometimes. That is not a situation that should be handled professionally. Its a situation that should be handled empathetically.

What one thing are you best at with regards to storytelling?

Taking story where I think it needs to go and guiding players without them realizing they are playing into my plans. Players hate feeling like they are on rails. Its aweful. Why am I playing a character if all I really get to do is sit by and watch teh story like I’m watchinga movie? I’m here to make decisions that impact the direction of a story. Players should always feel like they are in control. A good ST lets the players think they never lose control, but at the same time he never lets them have true control. Appearance matters a lot in storytelling. Appeareance of CoI, appearance or arbitrariness, appearance of control. The reality sometimes doesnt even matter at all. Appeareance can over-ride and become the reality. An ST has to be aware of these things, and has to keep a check on all of them, both the appeareance and the reality.

Can my region have a pony?

That depends. Do you prefer Cake or Pie?

Awakening is a game with many very ardent fans, what are your plans for helping pockets of players who may not be near another game to get involved in the End Game coming up next year.

This holds true for any venue honestly – not just Awakening. I want to increase the bottom-up storytelling. I want to find out what stories those folks are telling, and then take the stories they are already enjoying and work them into whats going on. Sending out plotkits that may not mesh with whats going on locally is not an efficient way of doing things. Throwing bits of the game at the players is silly.  If you want players involved, and if players want to be involved, then it has to be done in a way that the players can and will latch onto. Physical isolation can’t be totally overcome this way, but I think it will go farther than current methods.

Given the choice what venues would you like to support at a national level, and what are your plans for ensuring that our next chronicles start with a breadth of story, and an integrated social tapestry?

This is a huge question which I could write on for pages! I’ve been debating how to build a great chronicle launch social structure for close to a year now with my friends. Of the myriad of ideas I’ve looked at, the one thing they all have in common is they will take time to develope and present to the players before game. We are desperately running out of time to do this level of work. We should have started no less than 4 months ago, and with a go-go-go attitude. I’m not confident we have enough time to really do the idea justice at this point. That being said, I sure as hell intend to try. This game can be signifigantly more enjoyable if we design and flesh out a large scale social structure. It needs to be a social structure that allows for mobility, yes even amongst the stodgy old school I’m-in-charge-forever-so-bugger-off groups. There are ways of keeping the feel of "nothing ever changes" and yet still allow for change to occurr. We are humans playing a game in a short time, not century old vampires (werewolves, changelings, geists, etc) incapable of change. Our game has to allow for our entertainment needs.

One of the biggest debates amongst those I’ve talked with is this – "Ok, so we have this awesome political structure that is going to generates years worth of dynamic and dramatic story. How do we fill it in to kick off the game?" Desiging the structure is important, but where you will run into the most conflict is not over how the structure is desigined and wether its "true to the cannon" but rather, how do you fill in the position for kick off?

There are lots of possabilities here. The obvious choice – the oh-so-popular application system. This system currently appears too arbitrary and will most likley result it lots of people thinking the positions are being filled by the OBN. Another idea that got thrown around is lottery. Thats really fair but only by virtue of its being really random. I dont think any player really wants to know that the head of their Clan/Covenant/Order/Entitlement was joe average member who threw his name into the hat without any clear idea of what he’s getting into. There is also the option of creating a storyline justification for a lack of structure. This is easily implementable but feels forced and contrived (because it is). After many months of discussion with multiple people, I dont see a single option that willmake everyone happy. That means we need an officer who is going to make the tough decision on what to do, and then do it. I’m willing to do that.

What experience do you have running national and global level plots over a period of several months? How does your experience with those geographically broad plots allow you to provide the best national plots and npcs of any candidate? Or, if you are inexperienced nationally, do you simply plan to let Global be the real boss while you essentially middle manage?

Well, I’m guessing I fall into the second question catagory here. As far as that is concerned, I have zero intention of letting global boss me and the US around (or any other affilate for that matter). Nor do I intend to wait around for Global to make decisions. If the US needs something done, and Global isn’t doing anything about it, then I will. My concern is giving the US players a great game, fully fleshed out and exciting to participate in, using a lot more bottom-up storytelling than we have seen in the past.

Stories need an ebb and flow, a sense of beginning middle and end. Some of the more miasic ideas we’ve seen lately don’t really feel like story to me. The key comes in knowing that sometimes you have to tell players what they can do, but you should never tell them what they want.

Requiem is a dying venue in some parts of the country, while in others it remains strong and vital. Even in areas where the venue is scarce there are pockets of Requiem that thrive. As we begin to wrap up the end of chronicle, how do they intend to not just bring epic story to the "hot zones" of Requiem, but bring it to those nearly forgotten bastions of the venue?

The current requiem plots at national, are they being dumped or continued unmolested?

This question, at its heart, sounds a lot like the Awakening question from above. My answer remains the same. Keep players involved by making what they are already doing become something that matters. You have to reach out to these domains, know what they are doing, and then connect them. Don’t throw them a random line from somewhere and hope they grab on. Take their line and plug it into the network. You can’t completely overcome physical isolation, but you can reduce its effect.

–
Im Anfang war die Tat. – Goethe

–
Im Anfang war die Tat. – Goethe

Will you retain any of the current staff?

What will you do to avoid personal bias towards your favored venues with regard to the or other universe venues you do not play?

Which venue are you most familiar with?

Which venue are you the least familiar with?

Which positions have you held in the MES that have best prepared you for a go as NST?

Why are you running for NST?

Kyle, You are heavily involved in the requiem venue, what steps are you going to take to avoid even the appearance of impropriety?

Larry, You have had a lot of partial terms in resume, the NST position serves for quite a long term, do you have the stamina for the whole thing?

Russ, When you say lead ST for stealcon what did that entail? IS that a club position or a convention position? What lessons did you learn from your experience as a lead con ST?

Jorge, You have never been a principle ST beyond the chapter level, how does this help you as a candidate, also how does this hurt you as a candidate?

Travis, Back in early January you were part of an email thread that got out of hand. What did you learn from that experience and how would you avoid that sort of thing in the future?

I will not be dropping any plot that is currently running. In an ideal world, my goal would be to retain current Storyteller’s to continue those plots to completion, if even just as Project Assistants.

Will you retain any of the current staff?

Very possibly. It’s really going to depend on interest of the current staff to stay on, the All-call applicants and RST input. I’m not going to streamline a yes or no.

What will you do to avoid personal bias towards your favored venues with regard to the or other universe venues you do not play?

The best thing that I can do to ensure that each Venue is treated with the same amount of attention is to hire assistants that are truly passionate about the Venues that they oversee and empower them to run the Venue to the best of their ability. Truthfully, there are games that I don’t play. It doesn’t mean those games shouldn’t have an amazing story and the same National presence as game that I do play.

Which venue are you most familiar with?

Masquerade.

Which venue are you the least familiar with?

Geist

Which positions have you held in the MES that have best prepared you for a go as NST?

Well, I’ve been aNST: Quality Control and an assistant to the second QC person. Those positions gave me a huge advantage in finding what National was doing right, and what we can do better. This position also taught me a lot about the election process and the Membership Handbook and Conflict Resolution system for the Storyteller side of the Club.

Secondly, I was an aRST: Cam/Anarch which really helped me learn how to develop a true setting that fits within Canon material, but was also unique unto itself.

Why are you running for NST?

Frankly, I’m running for a couple of different reasons:

1) I think that I have the tools, drive and experience necessary to to end this Chronicle and start the next in a smooth transition. I want use to be prepared as soon as humanly possibly and continue to drive the majority of power in the Storyteller chain back down to the VST.

2) Personally, I think it’s time for a change. We’ve had a lot of decisions on the National and Global level over the last year that have come across as incredibly sketchy, in my opinion. Some of these decisions weren’t even communicated to the Membership until a few months ago. That bothers me tremendously, because it further erodes confidence in our system when you can’t trust some Officers that make decisions on a National or Global scale to simply communicate and figure out solutions that are fair to all of our Members. At the end of the day, I feel we can do better and if I’m not participating to make it better, I have no right to complain about it.

Number 2 might not be very popular and I may catch some flack about it, but I really feel it’s time to stop the BS. We’ve stopped being an organization that focuses on the fun of Roleplaying and making friends and become an organization that consists of more politics than necessary.

Travis, Back in early January you were part of an email thread that got out of hand. What did you learn from that experience and how would you avoid that sort of thing in the future?

Truthfully, as with most cases, there’s more than just that e-mail thread to the entire story. I’ll absolutely take my full share of responsibility in that I could have worded it a bit softer or been a bit more diplomatic than I was/came across. I don’t think the issue that I was conveying was out of hand, but it definitely unwound quickly to something that I regret.

The long and short of the thread was this:

Officers need to take steps not only to remain ethical, but also to reasonably avoid situations where perception could look unethical. For me, and I think you know this first hand Marty, if I’m a Storyteller of a Venue I play in and I want wonky stuff, I struggle with how it would look if I got something that was rare in the game I oversee. I think that should kind of bleed over to certain individuals that are attached to me. The reasoning is kind of simple, most players don’t interact on a regular basis with the RST+ level. If they heard something like I or my best friend got this ultra rare wonk, the first impulse is to say "That’s the OBN for you. I can’t get any approvals because I’m not friends with him." It definitely continues to unravel more if some finds out that I’m connected IC to my best friends character to help my character. The idea that there’s an OBN is just as damaging to credibility as there being an OBN.

 With all of that being said, I certainly was wrong by making the person/people I was using as the example feel attacked. That really wasn’t the intention, and I apologized publicly pretty quickly for my hand in the event. As for avoiding it in the future, I definitely plan to take steps in being more diplomatic when I address something that I don’t particularly like. If there’s an issue with a particular officer, I should be talking to that person first and if I feel the issue is still unresolved to my satisfaction, go to their supervisor or in cases where there is no supervisor to the NST that elected them.

One of the things I’m big on is a Plot/NPC Database.  It really irks me when we have a change of the guard and then the NPC you’ve been playing with all of sudden has a new Morality Path and behaves differently. My idea to avoid this is to create a database, maintained by a ANST to catalogue all of this info, so that we don’t lose any continuity.  Let’s be fair, ST’s are terrible at organization and record keeping.  I think something like this is sorely needed.

Will you retain any of the current staff?

I plan on doing an All-Call. If current staff applies and they have the best application, then yes, I will retain them.

What will you do to avoid personal bias towards your favored venues with regard to the or other universe venues you do not play?

Hire the best ANST’s possible who live and breath those venues and who will not hesitate to fight for their players.

Which venue are you most familiar with?

Masquerade.

Which venue are you the least familiar with?

Forsaken.

Which positions have you held in the MES that have best prepared you for a go as NST?

This was on my resume, so I’ll relist:

Camarilla Resume:
Positions Held:

• DST- Hampton Roads 1997
• EC RST- Appointed by Michelle Webb, US NST 1998-1999
• ANST Camarilla Anarch Venue- Appointed by NST Jason Stafford, 2002
• VST Cam/Anarch 2002
• AAMST Lost- Appointed by AMST, Lesley Packel, 2007-2008
• ANST Lost- Appointed by Clint Hauser, US NST 2009- 2010
• EC RST 2010-2012
• VST Sabbat 2011-12

Convention Experience:

• NEGLECT Sabbat Venue Lead -2001
• ECLIPSE Cam/Anarch Venue Lead-1999
• ICC- Killbox ST- 1999
• ICC- Lost Venue Second to AMST 2007
• USCC- Lost Venue Lead 2008
• Eclipse 2011 ST Lead for the Convention
• XX Seattle Sabbat Venue Lead
• *Portrayed various NPC’s, such as Archons and Infernalists at multiple regional and national events throughout.

Why are you running for NST?

About six months ago, a very special person in my life asked me if I would run for NST.  I thought about it for a long time, because it is an office with a lot of power and responsibility.  At the end of the day, it comes down to change.  I want this club to change and grow for the better.  I want to make an environment of warmth and friendship.  It saddens me that so much of this game we all love is overshadowed by gossip and negative supposition.   I think the MES can be better than it is and I don’t believe in heckling from the sidelines.  I also think I’m qualified for the job and I believe my real life experience and my peacemaker nature will allow to perform the job.

Kyle, You are heavily involved in the requiem venue, what steps are you going to take to avoid even the appearance of impropriety?

If I’m elected, one off two things would happen with my requiem PC: Fade into obscurity or I would turn him over to the Ryan, the AMST Requiem, and allow him to do whatever he felt was appropriate with the character.  I like stories, but I don’t get super tied to my pcs.  I play every game as if it will be the character’s last.  I’m also a big fan of transparency in all things.

Kyle

First, I intend to keep as much of the Venue staff as are willing to stick around for me.  I have no intentions of killing off everything currently in progress in order to throw my own ideas out there.  Thats just not good policy.  I want to try and add a few things, but I dont have anything I plan to axe immediately.

Will you retain any of the current staff?

as above – I want to maintain as many of the Venue staff as are willing to stay.  My Staff changes will be primarily in the administrative side, and then I’ll be adding an entirely new set of Venue staff solely for the purpose of helping prepare for and kick off the new chronicle.  My staff would be larger than usual, as I’ll have the Venue staffs duplicated – one for the current chronicle, and one for the new chronicle.

One change I plan to implement even for retained Venue staff is that I want much better defined guidlines for approvals.  If you have a Top or Global level approval you want, I intend to put out actual specific guidlines on what we will be looking for. The current system appears to be too arbitrary.  It may not be arbitrary, but even the appearence of arbitrary isn’t good.  I think better defined guidelines will help eliminate some of the feel and fact of arbitariness (I think I just made up that word).

What will you do to avoid personal bias towards your favored venues with regard to the or other universe venues you do not play?

First, I want Venue leads who are truly passionate about their venue.  I want folks who think their venue is pure unadulterated awesome.  These folks will then operate as both a source of ideas, and a check to make sure that their venue gets the time and credit its due.

Second, As relates to situations where the venues truly conflict for resources – such as space and time at conventions – In those cases, I intend to make decisions based on membership population and recorded active participation.  My favorite setting is OWoD Mummy.  I love it.  It is total awesome wrapped in pure wow.  If my research is correct, then I am one of only about 7 people who feel this way.  Its not going to get space and time scheduled at a convention though.  There isn’t any draw for it.  When we have limited funds, limited space, and limited time, then those resources will be used to impact the most people as efficiently as possible.  Does that mean Geist never gets any time at conventions I’m involved in?  No.  It means that any low activity venue, should not expect to have space and time carved out of a convention every time.  If we rotate lower activity venues then, when a particular venue does get its time, its much more likley to draw more players, and have a bigger impact.  And thats really why we go to con games, right?  To be in a big game that will impact things.  Lets start making that happen again. We can do that by limiting and juggling.  Rarity adds value, as much as it sucks, its true.

Which venue are you most familiar with?

I am most familiar with the Vampire based venues (Requiem – Cam/Anarch – Sabbat)

Which venue are you the least familiar with?

I am least familiar with Geist

Please note: most familiar and least familiar does not mean most favored and least favored.  As above, my most  favored venue is OWoD Mummy.

Which positions have you held in the MES that have best prepared you for a go as NST?

I know many of you are thinking it, and I’ll jump out and say it – My cam resume doesn’t scream NST.  That being said, there is not a single member of this organization who is truly summed up by their resume.  I have had the honor and pleasure of knowing many regional and a few national and global level officers in my long time with the Cam.  I’ve worked jobs involving lots of coordinating and project management, and done more stortytelling than I can ever recall.  My best position to prepare me for this?  My general membership.  I’ve seen a lot in the last 13 years.

Still, I freely acknowledge that I have something slightly less than a snowball’s chance in hell of winning this election.  That doesn’t mean I shouldn’t.  It doesn’t mean I can’t do it.  It’s just the nature of the beast.  All you have to go on is my resume and what I say here.  I am fully aware of this.  When given a choice between the devil you know and the devil you don’t most people will go with the devil they know.  Thats human nature.  With all humilty, I ask, if you like my ideas – if you think the things I want to do are what you want to see done – then give me the chance.  As self-aware in this situation as I am, I can guarantee I’ll be truly grateful and deeply honored that you put your trust in me, and I will endeavour to be worthy of that trust every day.

Why are you running for NST?

I am not completely comfortable with the direction that our higher level ST staff are currently taking us.  I think we are missing out on a lot of opportunities.  I want to be a force for positive long-term growth and change.  Rather than sit on the sideline and be a critic, I’m throwing my hat into the ring.  I feel its our obligation, as members, that when we think something can be done better, and we have ideas on how to do it, then we need to step up.

Russ, When you say lead ST for stealcon what did that entail? IS that a club position or a convention position? What lessons did you learn from your experience as a lead con ST?

SteelCon was a non-cam for-profit convention in my local area.  I was not the Con organizer, but as Lead ST for the LARP (one of the big draws originally) I worked with the Con Organizer very closely.  Conventions are a big part of the MES.  I learned more than I can write here during my time with SteelCon.  Some of the highlights:  I learned about the massive amount of behind the scenes stuff that most attendees don’t (and shouldn’t) see. I also learned a lot about storytelling for large groups and how to guide story to a fun resolution.  And I learned it’s something I really love doing.

–
Im Anfang war die Tat. – Goethe

If possible, I will attempt to keep the current NSTs, which will help to ensure continuity. If that is not possible, then I will get the records/paperwork on the current plots so that they can be run in a consistent manner.

Will you retain any of the current staff?

If possible, I will attempt to retain all the venue NSTs.

What will you do to avoid personal bias towards your favored venues with regard to the or other universe venues you do not play?

Hire ANSTs who have great passion for their venues, and set them screaming into the void! Seriously, for those venues I am weak on, I need to be able to trust those who are strong on them. Also, as the ANSTs and RSTs are the closest links to the NST, I expect them to call me out if I’m giving any venue the short end of the stick.

Which venue are you most familiar with?

I am most familiar with Requiem.

Which venue are you the least familiar with?

I am least familiar with Forsaken.

Which positions have you held in the MES that have best prepared you for a go as NST?

I feel that all my positions have prepared me for a go as NST, but the DST position is the one that has me best prepared. In such a position, you have to weave your local stories in different venues together, be a diplomat to neighboring domains, and work as an interface with Regional and National to craft what is most suitable for your local venue.

Why are you running for NST?

I am running for NST because I believe that my particular skillset and vision can be of great assistance in transitioning from the old chronicles to the new chronicles. Even if I do not win the election, I have had the opportunity to express my vision to those who are running and the Regional Storytellers. I also plan to apply for other positions on the NST staff should I not win, in the hopes of assisting in the transition.

Larry, You have had a lot of partial terms in resume, the NST position serves for quite a long term, do you have the stamina for the whole thing?

I understand that in the past I have had times where I have had to leave positions early. I also understand that this is a long-term commitment. Yes, I do have the stamina for the whole thing. Otherwise, I would not have run.

First thing I would do is work with the outgoing NST administration and make sure that I am up to date on all current plots in play. In addition, even though I will be conducting All-Calls for Venue ANST’s I will be inviting the current officers holding those positions to re-apply for their positions. Any plots that I or my team will come up with will be supplemental to what is already in play. I do not foresee a termination of current ongoing plots.

Will you retain any of the current staff?

All staff will be encouraged to re-apply for their current positions. I want to have a team in place that is not only passionate about wrapping the old chronicle but also revving up for the new chronicle.

What will you do to avoid personal bias towards your favored venues with regard to the or other universe venues you do not play?

I am a supporter of all venues even those that I do not actively play in. Trust me if I could I would have a character in every venue because I think each venue brings a unique universe to explore. I am a huge advocate for player enjoyment in all games so I do not have a personal bias towards any particular venue over another. Each venue provide one more possible stream of new membership to our club, and that keeps our organization vibrant.

Which venue are you most familiar with?

Requiem, Awakening, Changeling

Which venue are you the least familiar with?

Forsaken

Which positions have you held in the MES that have best prepared you for a go as NST?

Below is my MES resume. In addition, I believe my real-life experience of managing a large teams has given me the skills to really excel as NST.

Why are you running for NST?

I want change. I have seen past administrations strive towards great goals that would help the organization really move in the right direction, but due to unforeseeable issues have lost their momentum. I am running for NST because I believe that I cannot not only provide a smooth transition during this exciting time, but also gather a strong team of members who will strive to increase the overall member experience. One of the most attractive aspects of this position is the opportunity of helping out the Regional as well as local storytellers craft some exciting stories that will have our members talk for years. If elected, I would like to look back at my term and confidently say, I increased the enjoyment level of most of the players. As well as created a solid foundation for the new chronicle.

Jorge, You have never been a principle ST beyond the chapter level, how does this help you as a candidate, also how does this hurt you as a candidate?

Marty, as listed above on my MES resume, I have held positions at both the Regional and National level or the Geist venue. However, the longest storytelling position I have held is at the local level. I think storytelling at the local level has benefited me a lot because it has shown me that our players and their experiences matter. We as storytellers have to take a back seat when it comes to the stories we create and let the players ride the wave. Often times our players will take us to some wild and crazy locales, but what is important is the enjoyment that the process creates. And that is something that I want to bring to the national level.

The way it hurts me as a candidate is that I believe most members will think that having spent the bulk of my time as a local storyteller is not enough experience to handle the national role. But as I mentioned above my experience within the club does go beyond the local level. I am eager to bring a fresh perspective as well.

Thank you for your questions,