| Dear Camarilla: PG-Edition |
[Sep. 7th, 2009|09:35 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  creative | ] |
Dear Camarilla global staff.
Through various discussions with fellow players, I have stumbled and have come to a very distinct conclusion. A personal conclusion mind you. But one that others seem to agree with.
The game you were designed to control, no longer exists.
Allow me to elaborate.
Masquerade, indeed the entire OWoD was designed as an epic. A gothic-punk epic. With global organizations. Fully developed antagonists. A well rounded universal setting and very strict rules of rarity that warranted a massive, top-down approach to control, regulate and otherwise curb the ravenous maws of cheese weasels.
That is to say, an approvals network. At tiers marking the domain, region, nation and global levels. This system worked. Not great but not with remarkable failure either.
NWoD is a very different monster. And could be argued to be the opposite. It is more domain-centric. That is to say, with emphasis placed on localized and domain-level events and politics. Which warrants more of a bottom-up approach with high emphasis on local, domain-level politics and authorities that really don't need your help in fixing. Any game built like that, out of necessity, needs to rely on local ST's to curb item rarity and to enforce the setting. The average VST isn't a robot or an idiot. He is fully capable of designing and re-hashing a system to fit the needs of his players and create an interesting storyline that does not require your help in maintaining. This should free up your considerable talents with developing and focusing on elements like global story rather than rules calls.
Below is a list of noted problems and a short, relatively simplistic way of implementation. You already took the first correct step in the experience proliferation debacle. That is making the in-game experience start and earn ratio more in-tune with the system the game is designed for.
Problem 1) Status
A Global status rated on a 1-5 scale is simply inadequate. This is a game with several thousand players. So trying to say that the status levels 1-5 are somehow able to compress not one, not two but 5 extremely different covenants and clans into 5 levels of hierarchy on a global scale is a bit naive and very cumbersome.
I recognize the need of a global game and thus, a global pecking order. Though rather than extend the 1-5 status to encapsulate all levels of hierarchy, it is the opinion of myself and many that the system would be better served to reserve a separate merit to warrant global status. with prerequisites like "Must have 4+ status in clan/tribe/covenant etc."
As both the Tabletop and Larp books were written, the setting and rules describe a 1-5 status system saying that a status 5 of any group means he is the most important person *in a city*. Not a country, or on the planet. A *domain*. By taking it away from the local control. You have hamstrung the entire idea of localized clan politics and have heavily hampered items like the boon system as no one will respect boons owed by a guy with status 2 in his covenant. and no one feels obligated to pay.
Reinstating the status 5 to a mid-approval with a note of "each city may have 1 status 5 and 5 status 4's" much like city status in the Requiem book, helps alleviate the item rarity which the approval system is supposed to represent. And creating a new merit to represent a global authority would better serve the game.
Problem 2) Rules and Addendum
Trust in the authors of the books and just stop trying to curb the powers of the game. The setting itself doesn't need any fixing. in fact. It needs enforcing. By trying to create a global game you have in fact crippled many of the aspects of local politics, setting flexibility and policy. The Low ST's are the ones that should be the most familiar with the rules. and with every 90 page addenda you put out, you require them to relearn new rules.
I realize that this is designed to create a fair and balanced game, but the reality is that is makes the game seem imperialistic. Daunting, and uninteresting. Yes, some powers are grossly potent and quite disgusting to ever see in play. But to use them in game should be the decision and responsibility of the local ST's to enforce. Because no matter who writes the addenda, they will never see every game out there. And they will never be able to judge whether or not the individual games of this setting need or require powers like the Free Council 'save point' or the abusive might of the Lynx' discipline. Or the obscure powers of the Directional courts. Because it is not their right to decide what is best for a game they will never attend.
If you don't want to see those powers abused above the local level, include some sort of note for cons or ICC that says "XYZ powers are Not Sanctioned for this event." People attend cons for the social interactions and interesting plots. Not for the chance to show off their character sheets, rotes and abilities and throw down. That is a throwback to the evolution of the OWoD way of thinking and would be rendered obsolete in short order with simple, responsible storytelling by the presiding ST.
Problem 3) Approvals.
Linked to the above problem this has spun off into its own series of issues. And I could go on forever with the point by point list of what should and shouldn't be allowed.
But basically the point is the same. Rarity is decided by the players. Not you. Loosen up.
The game is designed specifically to allow many concepts. Bloodlines, sorcery, creative custom materials. By trying to control it all, you have crippled the idea of creativity. When a much easier fix should of been. Simply making all custom material High, within established rules guidelines and including the line "Local ST's reserve the right to deny use of any custom from a sheet they feel is unbalancing to their games". The custom material problem solves itself, again with responsible STs. If custom stuff makes cons daunting, just like above, include a rule that custom powers are not welcome. The game has rules for how custom stuff should work. And by creating stop-gap after stop-gap. You hurt the game more than you help.
Any and all VST's already have the right to deny any approval item they don't like in their games. And to reaffirm that in the addenda goes a long way in curbing what has been described as 'the hordes of cheese weasels."
In summary,
I see the point in restricting the application of specific items, such as rare bloodlines, antagonistic faction PC's, rare spells or rotes, mystic diseases, cross covenant status, custom materials, etc. But the game expressly allows for that and it is heavily based under the premise that the local game IS the most important thing. Relaxing your grip would do what you want the most. Give power and the ability to have fun back to the local games, because frankly, the local games are all that matter.
Its simple numbers. In a year, there is 1 ICC hosting the 4 major venues, and 6 or so major conventions similarly inclined. Not including featured games.
For 1 localized domain that meets weekly there are just under 50 games in a year allowing for holidays. And that is for one venue.
For my local area alone, we have a biweekly changeling game, a biweekly mage game and a weekly Requiem game. That does not include the local troupe games.
That is 100+ games for one domain in one year. 100 local based games with local politics for the singular purpose of providing fun for its local players and their visitors. And while I recognize that other areas meet with far less regularity than my local domain, when 1 domain's games have the national and global events out-numbered over 10 to 1 in terms of games. The raw scope of the number of local games should give you a hint as to how much emphasis the local games across the world deserve.
In summary, there are many problems in this club. Many of which, could be solved with less control. Not more. This would only fee up your considerable talents into focussing on delivering an awesome game, rather than trying to fight the never-ending battle that is stopping a system from being abused. Because it will never be an NST, MST or addendum that stops a bad player from abusing the rules. It will be the VST that has the responsibility to say 'no' to the right things for the sake of his game.
Thank you for your time,
Jeff Holland
Former VST requiem, Beneath the Facade, Unconquered Sun Domain
Concerned Camarilla Member
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