Notes on Step 6

Yaaaay for being back. Step 6 garnered the most views to date since our initial post, charting a record 300+ views in the first day. It’s obvious you all missed us!

We missed you too! Because of the deep interest you all have shown, we are currently looking at more topics and issues to cover once our list of Ten Ways is done. If you have ideas, send them over! We can always be reached at mark.truman@gmail.com and james.bronaugh@gmail.com.

On that note, we had only a few posts this time commenting on Step 6. We aren’t sure why you all were so quiet, but we still had a few gems. Here’s our favorite comment for Step 6.

Step 6: Mandate Metrics that Matter

When we cast aside the problems that are hurting our game right now (XP Glut, Broken Custom Items, Faulty Appeals, and a Confusing Addendum), the way forward doesn’t become more clear. In fact, just the opposite. There is no way forward…because we don’t have a way to measure success beyond fixing the problems that make us crazy every game. Once those are gone, there is no way to envision what will help the club rise from “Not broken” to “Awesome!”

If the Camarilla was a business, this would be an easy vision to create. We would simply look at our profit/loss spreadsheet and talk about ways to make more money in the future. We could market to new players, improve our current staff, and watch the money roll in.

But we aren’t a business. We’re a fan club. A club with a unique environment that combines role-playing, networking, and community service. We can’t judge our level of success by our profit. And we shouldn’t judge our success solely by the number of people who put up $20 in membership fees.

So we propose a question that would help us measure our success:

Do members like being members of the Camarilla?

A Quick Note on Our Absence and Steps #6 – 10

For the past five steps, we’ve shown what we believe to be the changes needed to solve the growing crisis facing the Camarilla. The next five steps, beginning today, will now detail what we think the Camarilla needs to do to ensure a prosperous future.

In some ways, these posts are harder to write than we originally believed. It’s easy for us to point to deep and obvious problems and urge the club to act on them. It is much harder for us to paint a picture of a Camarilla where these kinds of problems never arise again.

Once again, thank you for your patience. We hope you enjoy the next few weeks of posts. Please continue to show your support by commenting, debating, and arguing with us. We value your contribution!

Notes on Step 5

And we’re BACK!

Our sincerest apologies for our lengthy absence, but a DST election, the removal of the Arb Board, and the resignation of the NST and SW RST have kept our Cam Lives quite busy! Sometimes there just isn’t time to work on a grand manifesto with all the changes going on around here. We promise to stay reinvigorated and finish up the next 5 steps in the coming weeks.

Anyway, on with the show…

Step 5: Streamline the Appeals Process

In an Ideal world, there would of course be no need for an appeals system. STs would never make rules calls that were inaccurate, unduly harsh, or biased. People wouldn’t cheat, mistakes wouldn’t be made, and when they were, everyone would agree how they should be rectified. Perhaps on occasion, an appeal would be needed due to a legitimate difference in opinion between a player and an ST, but it would be handled quickly, everyone would be respectful, and the Chronicle would move on.

Save the Cam is of the opinion that this is not an ideal world.

In the Real World, the appeals system is needed. And at the moment, it’s aggravating as hell.

Notes on Step 4

Our apologies, but for a few days “Real Life” reached up and swallowed us! Great thanks to all of you who came by the site this week to look at Step 4 and offer your comments. Remember, if you know someone who wants to see the Cam be a better place, send them our way!

Step 4: Get an Addendum that Works

If you sit back and think about it, the Addendum is sort of a microcosm for the Camarilla itself.

One one hand, it’s genius. Without it, the idea of a Global Chronicle would be laughable at best. There would be ZERO consistency from game to game and players would live in constant fear of “House Rules.” The Addendum, in a way, represents the Global Chronicle that makes the Camarilla such a wonderful and unique club.

On the other hand, it’s a mess. It has rulings, additions, approval levels, and guidelines that confuse new Cammies and overburden experienced players. It’s a user’s guide to the Camarilla written by rules lawyers who hold accuracy to be far more important than usability.

Notes on Step 3

Although we will probably never again have as many hits as we did for Day 1, Save the Cam is still going strong. We have started to see people searching us out via Google and links from other blogs. If you like what we are arguing for, please post us somewhere (your blog, your local list, your local forum).

Step 3: Stop Letting Players Write Mechanics

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Let us introduce you to Killing Joke.

Killing Joke is a Werewolf who hunts Shartha. He is in play currently, and belongs to one of us (Okay… Mark.) Nothing on Killing Joke’s sheet would be considered out of place for a Cam werewolf. He has a Strength, Dexterity and Wits of 5, but nothing really reeks of The Cheese.

Notes on Step 2

From the comments and page views (2,500 yesterday!), we can see that this site is getting some attention. Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to look at this project and offer your thoughts. You rock!