Northwest LARPers Organizational Rules for Staff

Northwest LARPers Organizational Rules for Staff v. 2011429.91 replaced by a vote by the head of staff on 2/1/14. It was changes to reflect our departure from the BSA and update the rules to the current needs of the SA and Northwest LARPers.

Northwest LARPers Organizational Rules for Staff v. 2014209.71

Section 1: Definition of Staff positions and responsibilities

"Or what's all this then?" -Amber J.

The Treasurer: This position will be filled by the Shadow Accord owner or their designated agent ONLY. Works with Check-in on Friday night of event. No volunteers.

Treasurer responsibilities are as follows: Collect event fees on Friday and work with the ranger to ensure the site fees are paid. They are to keep financial books for NW LARPers, see that taxes and government fees are paid on time. They can be called on to schedule events with the ranger. They are to make reports on the financial situation to the Executive Officers on a regular basis. They can approve expenses by other departments under $50 and above $50 with a signed approval of an executive officer. They are also to insure that the legal waivers are signed by players at least once a year and help Deco team track game assets. They will also take meeting notes at official staff meetings or see that someone else does and post the notes to the forums if the executive officers do not do so. They assist Check-in with non-character paperwork.

Administrator of Nwlarpers (AN): This position can be filled by any trusted and technically proficient member of the playership or staff. Volunteers are up to two forum moderators and one Wiki Administrator. Not considered a head of staff.

Administrator of Nwlarpers responsibilities are as follows: They support and maintain the forum, website and guide all the forum moderators. The Administrator's helps maintains the wiki and the gallery applications, as well as updates any static content. The Wiki Administrator's updates any content, works to improve the wiki, works with the Character Guides and assembles relevant wiki articles into new editions of the Player's Guide(s) under their direction.

Decorations and Safety Team (Deco): Five full time positions filled from volunteers. Five volunteer positions allowed on top of the Five full time positions.

Decorations and Safety Team responsibilities are as follows: maintaining the atmosphere and safety of the game. This includes maintaining the garb and props for CC/NPCs and set-up and take-down of the church, longhouse, inn, King's Trust and tavern before and after events. They maintain assets between events. This means washing, repairing and properly storing them within a week of event. The Treasurer can request a accounting of all assets from them at any time. They are to work with Executive Officers and ST to create a donation list and to assess the value in XP of an offered donation. They must maintain a clear list of open donations on the NWlarpers site and must make regular updates on the status of ST requests particularly before event. They can revoke anyone's ability to donate if they fail to fill a donation claimed and can reject any donation as inadequate.

They are also responsible for safety and are to assess if something is a safety issue. They are to make sure there are adequate medical kits and supplies. At least some of their members must be certified to perform CPR and first aid with one on site at all times during events. They are replaced solely from the playership who has volunteered for the team.

Storytellers (STs): Four positions filled from former guest storytellers or the staff or an exceptional member of the playership.

Storytellers' responsibilities are as follows: run the required cast characters (CC) and a few of their own plots in support of the story of the game. They are to provide a believable world by reacting to the players in a realistic manner and representing the greater world of darkness outside of town. They are also to ensure that while there might be emphasis on a faction in a given game, in the long run all factions get support and plots they can use to make the game a more rich and full experience. They own NPC policies and logistical matters directly related to ST camp. The Storytellers must submit requests for exceptions to normal duties to Executive Officers to vet. They hold the sign-in sheet and infractions log book during game.

Guest Storytellers can run at most two plots under supervision. They can also run errands for the STs and be full time non-player characters (NPCs) in order to earn experience (XP) compensation for their efforts. There will generally only be one at a time.

Check-in (CI): Four full time positions filled from staff or volunteers. Two volunteers.

Check-in responsibilities are as follows: Maintain and update copies of the character sheets of players. This includes tracking XP and awards. They are also to pass out cast character (CC) packets to players as they check in. They are to insure that the treasurer receives all the payments collected for event. They are to make sure all players sign the waver of legal responsibility and ensure everyone at game is over the age of 18 and fit to play. They are also to refrain from sharing private character information with other players. They are to create and print the registration sign-in sheet, including XP info from pre-reg or work parties and see that Storytellers hold the copy after check-in has concluded. Check-in and the Executive Officers get a copy after game. They are to make sure everyone in line has a character sheet in advance and facilitate the character guides' work by sending players with new characters to them if the characters have not been vetted or if the players are new players.

Rules Team (Rules): Two to three full time positions filled from staff or the rules volunteers. Three volunteers to help test rules in addition to the three full time positions.

Rules Team responsibilities are as follows: Craft the rules in an attempt to promote a healthy and vibrant role play experience at game. The team is also tasked with explaining the rules to the playership on the NW LARPers site if there are questions or if a clarification should be made. They are expected to be active on the NW LARPers site. The rules team will debate rules changes internally then solicit comments from staff and petition Executive Officers for approval of the rules changes. They are to publish major rules revisions to the playership by a means that conforms to White Wolf's (TM) rules. From there they can have them tested by selected volunteers from the playership and Staff. For major changes to the rules Executive Officers may require rules team to submit their proposals directly to the playership for feedback. Regardless any rules changes to the players rules are required to be communicated to the playership on the Nwlarpers site at least 2 months before they would be used at a game. Failure to post them at least two month before the next game will delay their use until the following event. (The two month punt) The ST's can waive this requirement for themselves if they unanimously vote to do so.

The end goal of this team is to get the rules to a position where they need very little change. When rules stability is achieved, the Rules team will serve as references for the playership, assist in promoting better play, and help adjudicate any rules disputes.

Character Guides (CGs): Three to Five full time positions filled from staff or the playership. No volunteers.

Character Guides responsibilities are as follows: To review any new characters created by existing and new players to make sure their concept makes sense, is conducive to a NW LARPers event and works with the setting. They are to try to review concepts before event but must stay available to Check-in team on Friday nights to answer any questions from players. They are to define the general setting as it affects character creation and to create and edit the Player's Guide. They advise ST and Rules on questions of World of Darkness canon. They are expected to be active on the NW LARPers site.

CGs must be familiar with all the current game rules including all organizational policies for players. All new character sheets must be signed by the CGs to approve them before they can be checked in. Alternatively Check-in can sign for them if they are provided a list of approved characters by the CGs. They are also to refrain from sharing private character information with other players. CGs can bring concerns about someone's concept, garb or demeanor to the Executive Officers to determine if they will be allowed to play or asked to leave.

Executive Officers (ExO): Three full time positions generally filled from staff. Great care should be taken in their selection.

Executive Officers' responsibilities are as follows: Arbitrate disputes between members of NW LARPers, supervises and supports all branches of Staff. (Including filling in and performing any staff duty if required) This consists of communication with staff teams, fixing communication between staff teams, fixing communication within staff teams, fixing communication between players and staff teams, and directly communication with players about the game. They appoint and remove the heads of staff but must consult with the owner if they wish to remove the treasurer. They can remove non-heads of staff if it becomes necessary but every effort should be made to handle things through the head of staff leadership. They are to require the departments to be ready for each event. They are responsible for the layout and formatting of the announcements/newsletter produced every game.

In general they are available to look out for the general playership's interests in areas where full disclosure may not be appropriate. They also serve as points of contact for the public and are expected to be active on the NW LARPers site. Communicating with the Ranger on and off site and organizational purchases are an Executive responsibility. They are also responsible for the organizational rules for players/staff and enforcing the rules and maintaining the infractions logbook. (Please see the investigation process for more information) Executives should coordinate every work party that players are attending and attend if no head off staff is available to do so. They should physically attend every Head of Staff meeting.

Executives need to review the public version of the head of staff meeting notes generated by the note taker to make sure they were fit for general consumption and that they are out out on a timely basis. Further they are required to do an annual staff review within the first quarter of the year and look for signs of burnout in the staff. The position will normally have three trusted members.

Heads of Staff positions: Every team but the Executive Officers and the Administrator must have a head appointed by those same Executive Officers. These heads of staff create further policies that do not conflict with their teams official descriptions. These heads are responsible for attending any meetings called by the Executive Officers as well as the regular meetings that will take place at least once between each Shadow Accord event or see that a team member attends in their stead. They should try to attend work parties and can supervise them at camp. They are responsible for accurately communicating with their team members- making sure those members stay on message and are performing their duties. They can add and remove any member of their team at any time. They are required to be more active of the Nwlarpers forum and held to a higher standard then normal staff.

Section 2: Rules and Rewards governing staff

"With great power comes great responsibility." - Stan Lee

As leaders and public servants within NW LARPers, staff is held to a higher standard of conduct. They are expected to follow and safeguard the rules that govern all participants, player and staff alike. The staff are accountable to the Executive Officers as they are ultimately accountable to the playership, more so if they are the head of a department. No one person will be a member of more than one staff team, though they can volunteer for another team. Exceptions to the rules are extremely rare. When they do happen, they must occur with a consensus of staff and Executive Officers. If it becomes necessary for someone to fill more than one non-volunteer position within NW LARPers it should be temporary only, as defined as at most two games.

To thank them for their efforts, Staff members will receive XP compensation commensurate with their responsibilities but will still pay a full game fee like everyone else expect STs who receive a free game. All staff will receive 6 additional XP beyond the normal 3 XP for playing for a total of 9. Temporary full time NPCs will get 3 additional XP for a total of 6. Further staff are considered preregistered so will never miss out on game due to camp capacity.

Volunteer positions are not compensated as staff, but may NPC as all other players.

Section 3: Process for becoming staff

"None of the teams are ever going to be fully independent entities that get to make all of their decisions in a vacuum. For the day to day operations everyone should just get out of their way and let them do their job, but larger decisions will still require working with everyone else." -MOG

After a discussion with the other members of a department, the current head will nominate one or more of their volunteers, a member of the playership or another staff member to join their department depending on who is allowed to be nominated for their team. (See section 1: Definition of Staff positions and responsibilities for whom can be nominated.) The Head of Staff must email or PM their nomination to the Executive Officer email address or forum group.

If the head of a department does not nominate anyone or if the ExOs don't believe their nominees can do the job, a general call for nominations will be made to the playership. Once the ExOs have approved a nominee they will be taken on unless there are two or more acceptable nominations. In that case then the staff will vote to determine who gets the position. If there are no active volunteers recruiting can be made from the general playership. If a whole department is empty, the ExOs can select a new head.

The position of Executive Officer holds the greatest responsibility. We want people tested by their time on staff to prove their intent and competence for the role. The two remaining ExOs will nominate interested staff members for the position and may nominate non-staff with like experience from other organizations. If more than one ExO position is vacated at the same time, the heads of staff will vote on the nominations made by the remaining ExO, or by all staff if there are no ExOs.

Section 4: Process for changing staff

"We want a healthy staff not independent fiefdoms that get in turf wars." -Russell S.

Staff change is triggered by gross violations of the rules, unexcused inaction, to prevent conflicts of interest, unnecessary fighting with other staff departments, or by someone simply stepping down from their position.

ExOs themselves can be removed by a vote of no-confidence by a super-majority of the staff (60%). Any staff member can initiate such a vote on behalf of the playership or other staff provided they provide sufficient grounds for doing so, after an investigation of the alleged misconduct.

Section 5: Process for changing the Organizational Rules for players and staff

“I'd like to say that I think I'm learning more and getting more out of being on Team SA than I could possibly ever contribute... With a little grace, and a little humility, I know we'll make it.” -Kristen M.

A living organization needs flexible rules, but not too flexible. Any changes to the organizational rules for players or staff can be suggested to the Executive Officers by anyone. However, the Executive Officers alone will decide if they will put any rules changes into effect. Changing the organizational rules for players is fairly simple.

Any major changes to the staff rules, however, must also be approved by a majority of the Heads of staff. Such rules changes should not be done quickly but with a chance for input from the whole of staff. Major change here means: Changing staff responsibilities drastically, changing the rules for removing staff, or any change to the process for changing the rules.