Potential Withdrawal 2: Electric Boogaloo

Okay, so here's the deal. This has been going on for several weeks now and after talking to some people at nonclave it appears we have several options. Now, I have some of my own opinions on the matter, but at the end of the day it's really what our playerbase wants. As someone recently said in Frozen Queen, it's fairly obvious that many of us have our minds set at this point so I wanted to poll everyone again. So may I present the various options for moving forward?

1) We remain in OWbN - I'm told that there is a process for us to enter probation immediately if we were to choose to do so providing our parent game leaves the org.

2) We leave OWbN and become a troupe game - I would not be kicking out any of our players from abroad, and people if they wish to go would have the option to transfer their character out.

3) We leave OWbN and join Mind's Eye Society (MES/CFC) - Thus giving us another org to play in. I'm about to contact some of their staff for additional information on how Independent genre would work in their scope.

Essentially the votes for options 2 and 3 will be added together and if there are more that want to leave OWbN, we shall do so.

At this juncture, we have one forum account per character. I ask that people only vote if they have an active character in the chronicle.

Feel free to discuss below. If anyone has any questions, I would be glad to answer them.

Updated the old topic to direct people here.

Discussion:

So, to put it simply, IMHO we don't really have much choice with CNYbN, unlike the other games. The fact is that many of our toons are inherently too weird for MES. Their weirdness scale would be such that many of us couldn't exist, and those that do would be very limited in how they interact. Their Camarilla / Anarch genre is so heavily weighted for Camarilla that it almost inherently precludes Independent chronicles. I just don't think MES is an option for us.

Troupe is, of course, but many of us (the Giovanni in particular) joined this game specifically FOR org interactions. I think very few of us want to lose access to Network play, and with no good option to turn to, I think we have to stay.

All just my opinions, of course, but I wanted to get discussion started.

John

I'll be honest: after a month of this conversation going on, I've exhausted my wordcount. The games have essentially been on hold since it began. I just want it over with, one way or the other. Drop out, don't drop out, go to MES...just...something so we aren't in the lurch.

Going troupe means I probably drop out. This is the same as in FQ and RbN. It's nothing against the local PB, but I've basically played this game with you for half of my life.

Staying in OWbN means I play in the short term...though it seems plainly obvious that a majority of our gaming community simply wants out of OWbN, period. Not sure how much bleedover is in this particular game, but it's hard to ignore that portion of the group.

Going US-MES means...I hang around, and see how it tastes. I imagine we'd be in the same position as before: A game that is too far away from everyone else to be routine travel.

Going CAN-MES means I play *and* travel, as there's a bunch of games north of us.

As an extra option, there's UT...though I have no idea where they're going to fall on anything at all. I haven't paid close attention lately, and should probably brush up.

What IS UT anyways?

It's looking like the majority here is sticking around. Regardless of what happens with FQ and RbN, I think that's a good option all around. It allows everyone to continue gaming as they please, to have their cake and eat it too, as it were.


Are there local CAN-MES games within an hour or so? I might be interested in going with a crew, if we got such together (Yes, I know we've been saying this for YEARS)

It's an org being built up in preparation for the new MET. Talk to Criss Walker, if you get a sec.

Alternately...I think I'm going to wrangle him on FB right now.

Oh, I'm also helping with starting up UT. That's the "new org" that people are saying is forming.

In that case, I'm very much a fan of trying out UT, assuming it doesn't end up pants-on-head retarded.

UT is taking the same stance on RSOs as OWbN is, so the folks that have a problem will continue to do so.

Also Gerard, I'm told we can travel to CAN*Mes with US*Mes characters, and the Hamilton game is specifically fine with this.

Ah, okay...so then the UT is out before we even started talking.

MES it is!

On the upside? I can totally recycle some of these costumes without feeling bad about it.

I've asked some questions of the regional staff regarding how things would transfer over. I hope to get answers soon. Fingers crossed that they're good ones.

I like what I am hearing from the MES folks.

Currently reading their player handbook of massiveness.

I went looking for that during my break, to no avail. Can you sling a link my way?

Sure thing. Lemme know if anyone else wants it.

I am closing this poll on Tuesday September 17th. Tell your friends.

I just don't see a path here to transfer our characters from years of carefully-tended genre to another. Yeah, Vamp is Vamp, but everyone came here with OWBN's assumptions about what that means for their characters. I probably have the least established stake in this, but others would have to choose between rewriting years of character history and no longer traveling. That's a nasty dilemma that I wouldn't wish on anyone here.

This simply isn't the compelling reason it would take to make the switch and make people choose between those options. I can see UT as a path to avoid the institutional inertia of OWBN - I don't know much about this, but assume based on human nature that the institutional inertia must be enormous and crushing by now. As others have pointed out, UT would have the same risk of personal scandal related to RSO. But...MES presents the same risk and faces the same difficulties in "policing" its member base. The truth that most people here don't really need explained to them is that RPG gaming is not well-understood in most professional communities and there will always be people who will react very badly to the perceived "scandal" of being involved in vampire larping, regardless of whether you're in the network that's getting the bad press du jour or are even in a network at all. That's a risk we've all already chosen to take at some level or another, and this particular bad press will not make it noticeably worse. Nor will any of the alternatives make it noticeably better.

Poll Closed!

Results: Inconclusive. The vote was dead even.

Awkward turtle.

Bonus round for my ST staff. I may be singing this the entire meeting.