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themidnightgirlOh well, my first taste of controversy
*sigh*
Nobody promised me the job would be easy. And I've not seen anything that has even begun to challenge my belief that it's the right thing to do. Fundamentally - Ancilla and Elders now must have backgrounds before entering play, and those backgrounds can be checked against the chronicle history (Kicks![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bringeroflight and team) and intertwined sensibly.
Right...just wait for ICC to be over thenthemadone and RM and I can get the online approvals thing going. That...hopefully...will make approvals quicker and more...safe.
*sigh*
Nobody promised me the job would be easy. And I've not seen anything that has even begun to challenge my belief that it's the right thing to do. Fundamentally - Ancilla and Elders now must have backgrounds before entering play, and those backgrounds can be checked against the chronicle history (Kicks
bringeroflight and team) and intertwined sensibly.Right...just wait for ICC to be over then
themadone and RM and I can get the online approvals thing going. That...hopefully...will make approvals quicker and more...safe.
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If I was to take the hastily scribbled concept that I started with and apply it to Thorne now, it wouldn't fit - not in the least. Whereas some background is essential - place of birth, reason for embrace, sire and the like, to have enough information or even inspiration often only comes after the character has been in play for an evening, and sometimes not even then. When I started, I was struggling to find enough to put into the background, from Clan knowledge, Cam continuity and the like, but now I've even generated a few 'true' anecdotes, things that coloured Thorne's perceptions, changed him from collector of arcane relics #456 into the fully-fledged megalomaniacal, callous coward and bigot that he is today.
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Not one of my current characters entered play with a full written background. All of them now have thousands of words written about them as they grew, developed, came up with ideas in game that I developed later, and picked up IC tie ins. In some cases I've seen heavy backgrounds actively count as a burden for characters as it leaves them with less room to develope.
Less can be more.
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Aye, but some idea of the characters history at least, which can be fleshed out later, is better than;
ST: "Whats this character then?"
PL: "12/10/7"
ST: "ahhhh phys primary."
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This counts as controversy?? Surly its common sense and avoidence of yoyo elders!?
of right, I get. Your the NST and your doing something smart. Okay, that is controversial ;-)
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But it's worth pointing out that I'm also doing stuff to improve and speed the Approvals process...
Robert
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I guess my sole objection is that beforehand there was always something that even the newest player could create as their first character which wouldn't be massively socially disadvantaged. You could create a new character, come into the Cam, and end up Prince! You could do so much with a non-prestige, non-approvals character.
Now essentially the 'serve your time and get a sparkly' thing has been even more firmly built into the Cam. Non-members are not able to gen approvals characters - it says this in black and white. And so essentially if you are a new player you are going to be placed even more firmly on the bottom rung of the ladder.
This to me is not healthy. Basically the Cam is already very much a 'club' atmosphere, and this can be terribly unwelcoming. When I started play the 'all characters who are 10th gen + can only be 50 years old max' rule was still in place, and I found this incredibly frustrating. I wanted to play a vampire larp. I'd played in a lot of vampire larps before, and what I enjoyed about vampire was at least partially the historical element - I chose my favourite period in history and wrote about it. I came to Cam wanting to play a burnt out Brujah from the Spanish Civil War. And I had to struggle to be allowed to play this.
It didn't make me feel as if the Cam wanted me as a player, and it did make me feel quite grouchy, especially when the first PC I spoke to in the game was Lu-py-ee who was quite open about being 1000 years old or something reasonably dramatic.
On a positive note - how would you suggest that the local ST, trying to recruit new players, explain to them that all they can play is the most basic neonate? How does this get marketed as a positive factor? And how does it stop the game from being dominated still further by the same group of people who already tend to have the confidence to put in approvals, who know what the RST etc wants to hear, or people with time or talent to write the right spiel?
I'm sorry if I'm only bringing this up on LJ - it isn't designed to be backbiting - I just can't face subbing to UK-General, even when it comes to something like this.
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Well, frankly, that's the biggest load of codswallop I've ever heard. In VA Vamp, the starting point is 12th, I think, suggesting that a hundred years ago, the vamps were only one generation younger.
Whereas I would sneer severely at anyone who had a modern concept for an Elder character - why would these paranoid, bestial creatures get close enough to a human to turn them? - I see no problems with it happening the other way around.
Still say, at character creation, every gen below 10, simple test. you lose it, you lose a humanity - no recompense. Age takes it's toll, y'know.
Re:
She was sired for looking too much like someone else who'd died a long time ago. She was hard as nails, and absolute emotional ice. But she was petrified of her sire. Part of the point of her was the idea that it doesn't matter how gentle an 800 year old creature tries to be - he is still alien, scary, and cruel even in loving something.
And I like the idea of an 8th gen without all the silly extra age stuff.
Re:
Vampires, in the WW mythos, cling to what was right and proper in their lives because they believe that's what makes humanity, which they're trying ot retain at all costs. I'm sorry, but if I see a three hundred year old Fangdaddy suddenly writing computer programs in C++ then I'm walking.
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In defence, I say... "Marc Torley's Grammar"
Some stuff IS now up at www.camst.net, and we're working on more of it.
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Sure thing boss. Back Wednesday and have the rest of the week off :).
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Even a threadbare history would help for elders/ancilla, just to stop all these 'popup' elders
Well, that explains...
Oh, well... situation's been resolved, without your help. It'll be interesting, seeing what your belief about "the right thing to do" will play out.
Re: Well, that explains...
Robert
Re: Well, that explains...
When's y'all's next C/A or Mage National, BTW? I'm thinking of attending...
Re: Well, that explains...
Robert