Harts Faction Meeting - 8th May 2005

Minutes

Groups represented - House deGales, Three Penny Bridges, Ordo Hwyt Draga, Spears Of Lugh, Beastmen, Hawkshead Archers, House Karlennnon, Company Of The Blackened Staff, House Of Glass.

1) Jon welcomes everyone to the meeting

2) Outstanding issues from the last meeting

Sarah informed people about the issues from the last meeting ...

a. £5 discounts. It was found that these were going well but people were reminded that they must send in the actual card to get the £5 discount. This is mainly due to the amount of admin that is created by people not doing so. The Harts are currently in negotiations with the Dragons and Vipers to have a cross-factional discount where players will be entitled to £5 off your own faction's event if you crew another faction's. Harts Command will keep the faction updated on progress.

b. Rank deeds. Having spoken to the Lorien Trust, it has been stated that players will only receive rank deeds in their group pack and no actual money. This is due to the set intrinsic value of the rank deeds.

c. Sashes for non-combatants. This has been discussed and the Lorien Trust are taking it into consideration, however the general policy is that this is a high contact hobby and people should make sure that they are not in a dangerous situation if they are non-combatant.

d. Electronic feedback form. This has been discussed with the Lorien Trust and is on their to do list. However, it is a low priority issue since rune with the feedback forms on is available online already. Player are encouraged to complete and return their feedback forms since the Lorien Trust are carefully analysing the rules at the moment and trying to ensure that all player feedback is incorporated.

3) Recent events

There have only been three events since the last faction meeting.

a. Ghosts Of Old - This was last year and was the start to the Blood Of Kings campaign arc. It was thought by some people that the plot was slightly disjointed and it was also marred by the weather. Generally the event was enjoyed by most people Although Plot Team did learn some important lessons for the rest of the events in the arc.

b. Oathsnight - This was a one night event in Febuary at Bugmans' bar. It was designed to be a plot-light event in contrast to our other high intensity events. The event was intended to give people a chance to chat to each other IC and to actually have the chance to discuss plot events ... and was generally thought to have been a great success.

It was generally thought that we should have another plot-light social event like this, Although Bugman's Bar is fully booked up for the next eighteen months. Harts Command requested that if people knew of another site that was suitable to let them know so they could consider it.

c. Queen & Country - This event was organisationally extremely hard ... making sure that the attack on the queen occured in a way that players and Emma were both happy with was vital. It was thought by most of the people there that this was one of the best events we'd run in a while.

4) Forthcoming events, cross-faction events & booking policy

a. Serving The Hunter - This event will be in July. Although it will be the first event to which the new booking policy applies this should make no difference to any player booking at the moment. Players are asked to encourage as many people as possible to attend; either to play or crew.

b. Lure Of The Past - This event will be at Harmers Green Sout Camp in October. The event will be based around an opportunity for characters to be proactive in their dealings with the Empire, rather than reactive as normal. Players wishing to attend should book as early as possible and the IC reason for attendance will become clear nearer the time.

c. Multifactional event - We are planning on hold a multifactional event with the Harts, Vipers and Bears in April 2006. There could be as many as 250 players attending but those numbers will be balanced between the three factions to make sure that there is equal representation.

d. Booking policy - All attendees were aware of the new booking policy and it was generally agreed that this would make events fairer. There was some concern from people who deliberately crewed other factions' events so they could play their own (something not currently accounted for in the policy) and Harts Command agreed that this would have to be taken into consideration when reviewing the policy.

e. Heartland Games - We are intending to enter a team at Heartland Games. Although there are no official faction camps we are planning on camping as a faction as usual. Jon will be arriving early and trying to secure us a place so players wishing to camp with the factoin should try to make sure that they arrive as early as possible and find Jon. Obviously if players would prefer to camp elsewhere else that is their decision. There are no news whether we will have security radios or not, but there will be some way of contacting security in the event of a problem. If this is a concern please send an e-mail to the Lorien Trust office direct.

f. Moots - We will be sharing the moots with the Bears this year. It should hopefully be okay to keep our IC tents up over the weekend, however it is ultimately up to the Bears whether they mind or not. Please remember that the moots are a time to roleplay with people outside the faction and try to mingle with as many people as possible ... but especially with the our new Caledonian allies.

Please do try to co-operate with the Bears at their moot, and remember that they will need monsters at certain times over the weekend.

The Lorien Trust intend to have new urinal blocks in place for the moots, which should make the toilet situation more acceptable.

g. The Gathering - This year's Gathering will be co-hosted by the Lions and Jackals. The potential battle on the final daywill be driven by plot and the Lorien Trust plot teams are working very hard to provide characters with good reasons for a battle.

h. Monstering at Lorien Trust mainline events - In order to run plot at events monster will be required. As a faction we are relatively good at monstering when asked but please try to monster throughout the events ... as this should encourage other people to come and monster for us. We have a very good reputation as safe monsters and please try to continue this.

If player want an IC reason for their character being abscent whilst monstering they should ask Jeff or Dave about "going scouting" for the period they are monstering. They will do their best give out some IC information so as to provide an IC reason for being unavailable and offer a minor plot incentive to monstering.

i. Other event-related items - It was asked whether it would be possible to have a period after events to wind up and then deal with minor problems ... This would have to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. There is no downtime system requests for information would be considered. Obviously players are asked not to bombard the plot team with enquires straight after an event ... they deserve chance to recover. The e-mail address for plot team or the 4IC is on the website.

It was also asked whether players could request IC information before the event ... Event booking packs will include general information for all players as well as specific updates to characters with faction rank/responsibility. It is hope that this should be sufficient, however event teams will consider any reasonable request for information. Players are asked to bear in mind the issue of workload in the run-up to an event and a response cannot be guarenteeed. Iit was generally thought that the booking packs have been good, with the local information highlighted as having been particularly useful.

5) The Queen's death

Emma has been asking for the Queen's death for for years ... she has always been happy to play the role, but since retiring Elspeth as a PC wanted to move on and play own character without dresses, throne and similar. The whole affair took a great deal of planning and plot team wished to avoid to running the incident as a foregone conclusion that players were unable to influence. It is hoped the the scene came across well and that players didn't see it as a set-piece.

The primary architect of the final version was former 4IC James Crollie who put an extremely large amount of effort into the event, and to whom the faction is most grateful.

Dave Garrick commented that, whilst he didn't witness the actual event it was still extremely emotive and that fallout is going to be carried forward for the faction to build on. Nick Meredith commented that the impact at events since had been strong.

6) New command structure and responsibilities IC/OOC

A hand-out of the intended new command structure was distributed to attendees.

It was generally agreed that Albion should remain a feudal society with a monarchy, and that a regency was the best way forward in the wake of the Queen's death (since magical aging of the king has been done before).

The proposed command structure was generally approved. The key principle is to provide a clear idea of who answers to whom so that the whole feudal ideal can be better roleplayed.

Faction ranks/responsibility will be accompanied by more power over IC subordiantes ... including the right to fire such characters from their posts if they are doing an unsatisfactory job. Senior faction officials will also have more power in choosing their subordinates, although this must be ratified by Harts Command to prevent the formation of OOC cliques. In return for this additional authority, faction official will be held responsible for the actions of their subordinates and it is their responsibility to make sure that all jobs below them are being done well.

If someone is "unfairly dismissed" from a position - then they have the right to appear to the royal council and can give evidence that they have been doing their job well.

Character on the Privvy Council and Royal Council will be expected to attend meetings if they are present at an event. This is a vital part of the job and failure to do so may be considered failure to fulfil the duties of the role.

No player will be allowed to hold more than one landed title and one civil position.

The Kings Champion also needs to be inserted into the command structure and this will be chosen through combat at the first moot. The OOC guide will be made up - and a copy of the structure will be given to group leaders with their leaders pack.

7) Plot

Over the next year Plot Team will endeavour to trim the amount of plot. This is in response to feedback that there is often too much to deal with at one event.

There are a number of major cross-faction plotlines now underway (such as the Empire and the Conclave). The focus of the mainline Lorien Trust events will be towards more cross-faction plot. This should mean that if players are feeling there is nothing going on in camp you'll be able to go out and find it, since many other factions will be involved on both sides.

If your character really wants to respond to plot in a particular way or take an action that might otherwise be outside the scope of the event (e.g. undertake a linear adventure to a specific part of Albion) please contact Plot Team through Harts Command. Bear in mind that it may take some time to organise a response, so approaching Command at an event is may not be ideal and advance warning would be prefered.

8) Website

The new Harts website is at http://www.hartsofalbion.co.uk ... and is green and black, so quite distinct from the old white and gold one. Efforts will be made to ensure that it is updated at least once a week. It is hoped that this will become the faction's first line of communication and so players are asked to encourage at least one member of their group to check the site regularly.

To keep the website interesting and growing it needs a constant influx of reports, stories, character backgrounds and similar. Please submit these using the e-mail address or forms on the site. The front page will be kept up to date with general knowledge of current information. No plot information will be put out that has not been into the player domain.

Players are asked to remember that websites are not IC. There is no way a character could access the internet IC and therefore it is merely an OOC resource to allow players to find out what is going on in game world. If a player finds something on the internet that they believe their character would know then it is reasonable to use the information, however a degree of common sense and discretion is encouraged.

9) IC camping and Past Tents

If players wish to have and IC tent at an event please send Jon an e-mail at least 1 week before event event in question. If no e-mail is received they will have to wait until all other IC tents have been put up and then see how much space is still available. Each group will have a maximum of one facing per group; any additional IC tents will have to be placed behind this.

Past Tents have said they will not erect the tents if they don't have 7 or more going to that event. Wolf command are attempting to coordinate this.

Camp tidiness a great improvement on the year before.

10) T-shirts

Further to the last meeting faction T-shirts will be produced. Details to follow.

11) Ritual of peace

Whether there is a Ritual Of Peace in the walkways between faction camps at Lorien Trust events is to be decided by host nation.

The meeting voted against having a ritual in peace in camp ... however Harts Command will ask the faction IC. It was generally felt that the Ritual Of Peace makes people complacent and casualties increase as a result of carelessness.

There will be OOC signs to inform players when they are entering or leaving an area where the Ritual Of Peace is in effect.

12) Marshals and referees

Dave asked people to pass on the message that all Marshals and Referees will need to retake their test at the Heartland Games. Anyone who wants to become a Marshall or Referee should also attend.

13) Master crafted weapons rules changes

The Armourer's guild manufacture skills now apply every mainline event, rather than once a year. This change in response to feedback suggestion that the skill was underpowered. It will however cost IC money to make the items and naming weapon will cost double.

14) IC bars

IC bars will not be allowed to operate within the period that the main bar is open ... between 11am and 11pm. They will be able to sell soft drinks or food if they so wish, but cannot sell alcohol during this time.

15) Safe fighting

It was mentioned that we would prefer people not get injured. Heroic fighting is the way forward since it makes fights more fun and safer.

The Lorien Trust's general policy for unsafe fighting is that players will now get 1 warning for unsafe fighting and then if caught doing it again will be thrown off site. This applies at all mainline Lorien Trust and Harts sanctioned events.

There will be fighting training will be carried out at Militia and Armourers guilds at Lorien Trust mainline events. There is also a suggestion that the faction might also carried out combat training of our own, organised through the faction's military.

Chris Banks also reminded people that the rules on shields have changed and players should make sure that the front of shields are sufficiently padded.

16) Testaments

The Bards guild have asked for submissions to the Testaments newspaper. These need to be in as soon as possible if they are to be published at The Heartland Games.

The paper is considered a good way of about passing information, stories or lies to other factions.

17) Roleplaying terms

Dave reminded players that they should be careful to ensure that IC language is genuinely IC. Terms such as "sharp" and "blunt" are OOC damage calls and shouldn't be used IC to describe weapons or monster immunities ... "That skeleton isn't being hurt by my sword" is a lot better than "That one's a blunt".

Other terms such as "respawning" are derived from computer gaming and again can detract from the realism of the event.