In retrospectus...
Back from Galway, eventually anyway. Bank holiday Monday meant that getting home took about two hours more than it should have. Sitting on a traffic cone reading a book in the sun became far less pleasurable as soon as the spinning cogs in my head reached the "it's a bank holiday, the bus I'm waiting for probably isn't even running". So I got the Luas back from Sandyford to Stephen's Green, and got the 145 home.
I was at the Camarilla Ireland National for the weekend, and am now certifiably Cammed out. The weekend consisted of five games, only four of which I played. The national storytellers for each venue (Vampire, Werewolf, Mage, etc) run a game which progresses the national plot for their specific venue, and people play either their usual characters or an NPC which has something to do with the plot.
Before I go any further, let me say I enjoyed myself at all the games. I love playing characters, especially new ones, and interacting with other people while they're in character is a joy. But there were definitely some I enjoyed more than others. Either because I felt I was playing my character better, or because there was more for me to do in those games. Now I'm sure other people felt left on the margins in Mage or Vampire or Werewolf the way I felt in Changeling, but I'm almost certain that many more people had this feeling in the latter game. It was aimed squarely at those whose characters were based in Maynooth, and for the first time I've regretted not playing a more powerful character, simply because the new character I was playing had the skills to deal with the situation, but wasn't good enough with them because I hadn't brought to bear the enormous amounts of XP I could've done.
The AGM itself was excruciating. Camarilla Ireland has come a long way, as was repeated ad infinitum. But it remains that Camarilla Ireland players consist to a large degree of highly-opinionated attention seekers, who only grow more vocal when they have little idea of what they're talking about. After almost a full weekend of playing characters who are opposed to each other, who have to shout louder than anyone else to be heard, the members were not in the best state to be holding a meeting about real things. I was not happy with a lot of the discussion, particularly the extra 20 prestige awarded to the Changeling STs. Not that they didn't put a huge amount of work in, and did their best to engage everybody. But so did everybody else, and you don't see the players who had a lot to do in those games clamouring for their STs to be given extra. I understand the enthusiasm and glamour (excuse the pun) that surrounds the new game - I feel it myself - but the "motion" was just divisive and nothing else.
Suggestions for how to run the AGM better in the future:
- All candidates for NST and NC are brought up in front of the members at the same time, and answer the questions at the same time. If someone is absent, someone else speaks on their behalf. The computer uplink to Phil was strange. It may have been effective, if only because he didn't have the same time to speak as everyone else and had his mission statement right in front of him on his side of the Atlantic, but it was a bit ridiculous. This saves time and energy, and dispenses with the horrific amount of repetition that went on. It also creates a more effective comparison between candidates.
- The NC needs to be an effective chairperson. Discussions between members on the floor are counterproductive, and the amount of shouting backwards and forwards just made a long meeting even longer. If order can't be kept, the meeting shouldn't be held.
- Hold it at the beginning of the weekend. By the last day everybody's tired, everybody's narky, and since nobody will ever want to be in the AGM in the first place, it will seem even more pointless and boring. If it is advertised as being held on the first day, it will be attended on the first day.
- No discussion items. Ever. The argument about the Constitution is a prime example of why there should never be a verbal discussion of such things at the AGM, at least not without a strong chair presence. Such discussions can be held on the forum.
- It's the responsibility of the NC to make sure the meeting proceeds quickly and efficiently. One last question should mean one last question, whereas yesterday it meant two or three.
Camarilla Ireland is doing well, due to sterling efforts from its officers and its players. People definitely feel that it's their club, which is a great thing. Just so long as we all remember that it's everybody else's club too, the mistakes of the past won't be repeated. Hopefully in the future we can achieve many things, not least of which the restoration of the Galwegian and Corkonian domains, the strengthening of the Maynooth domain and a new Constitution which a majority can agree upon.
But one last thing, and the most important goal of the Camarilla in Ireland, one which amongst the discussions and the hysteria is often in danger of being forgotten altogether, we want to have fun. It's a club dedicated to playing games, and if we remember that we don't disappear too far up our own arses.
Oh, and I'm the ANST for Requiem in Ireland now. Huzzay.
I was at the Camarilla Ireland National for the weekend, and am now certifiably Cammed out. The weekend consisted of five games, only four of which I played. The national storytellers for each venue (Vampire, Werewolf, Mage, etc) run a game which progresses the national plot for their specific venue, and people play either their usual characters or an NPC which has something to do with the plot.
Before I go any further, let me say I enjoyed myself at all the games. I love playing characters, especially new ones, and interacting with other people while they're in character is a joy. But there were definitely some I enjoyed more than others. Either because I felt I was playing my character better, or because there was more for me to do in those games. Now I'm sure other people felt left on the margins in Mage or Vampire or Werewolf the way I felt in Changeling, but I'm almost certain that many more people had this feeling in the latter game. It was aimed squarely at those whose characters were based in Maynooth, and for the first time I've regretted not playing a more powerful character, simply because the new character I was playing had the skills to deal with the situation, but wasn't good enough with them because I hadn't brought to bear the enormous amounts of XP I could've done.
The AGM itself was excruciating. Camarilla Ireland has come a long way, as was repeated ad infinitum. But it remains that Camarilla Ireland players consist to a large degree of highly-opinionated attention seekers, who only grow more vocal when they have little idea of what they're talking about. After almost a full weekend of playing characters who are opposed to each other, who have to shout louder than anyone else to be heard, the members were not in the best state to be holding a meeting about real things. I was not happy with a lot of the discussion, particularly the extra 20 prestige awarded to the Changeling STs. Not that they didn't put a huge amount of work in, and did their best to engage everybody. But so did everybody else, and you don't see the players who had a lot to do in those games clamouring for their STs to be given extra. I understand the enthusiasm and glamour (excuse the pun) that surrounds the new game - I feel it myself - but the "motion" was just divisive and nothing else.
Suggestions for how to run the AGM better in the future:
- All candidates for NST and NC are brought up in front of the members at the same time, and answer the questions at the same time. If someone is absent, someone else speaks on their behalf. The computer uplink to Phil was strange. It may have been effective, if only because he didn't have the same time to speak as everyone else and had his mission statement right in front of him on his side of the Atlantic, but it was a bit ridiculous. This saves time and energy, and dispenses with the horrific amount of repetition that went on. It also creates a more effective comparison between candidates.
- The NC needs to be an effective chairperson. Discussions between members on the floor are counterproductive, and the amount of shouting backwards and forwards just made a long meeting even longer. If order can't be kept, the meeting shouldn't be held.
- Hold it at the beginning of the weekend. By the last day everybody's tired, everybody's narky, and since nobody will ever want to be in the AGM in the first place, it will seem even more pointless and boring. If it is advertised as being held on the first day, it will be attended on the first day.
- No discussion items. Ever. The argument about the Constitution is a prime example of why there should never be a verbal discussion of such things at the AGM, at least not without a strong chair presence. Such discussions can be held on the forum.
- It's the responsibility of the NC to make sure the meeting proceeds quickly and efficiently. One last question should mean one last question, whereas yesterday it meant two or three.
Camarilla Ireland is doing well, due to sterling efforts from its officers and its players. People definitely feel that it's their club, which is a great thing. Just so long as we all remember that it's everybody else's club too, the mistakes of the past won't be repeated. Hopefully in the future we can achieve many things, not least of which the restoration of the Galwegian and Corkonian domains, the strengthening of the Maynooth domain and a new Constitution which a majority can agree upon.
But one last thing, and the most important goal of the Camarilla in Ireland, one which amongst the discussions and the hysteria is often in danger of being forgotten altogether, we want to have fun. It's a club dedicated to playing games, and if we remember that we don't disappear too far up our own arses.
Oh, and I'm the ANST for Requiem in Ireland now. Huzzay.