On Club Experience Points

Thank you to William for his comments and suggestions regarding the new Experience Point System. He brought up some valid points which I'll try to address here for everyone.

First, yes, the awards for new levels are awarded upon obtaining the "upper end" of the experience points. For example, the award for 1st Level is received upon reaching 1,501 experience points. The award for 2nd Level would be at 3,001 points, and so on. Of course, that raises the issue of the 9th level award. That will be given upon reaching 25,001 experience points. (If anyone gets that high while I'm still EPS Coordinator, well, I'll think of something extra special beyond thatl)

Second, the closing of the Mail Order Hobby Shop is a big annoyance. Alright, more than an annoyance, it's a downright frustration. I believe there are still some other decent mail order sources out there. Most notably, Wargamers West and I've been told there's something in Vermont (Green Mountain Gamer)? What do you folks think? Are these an acceptable replacement for a voucher to Mail Order Hobby Shop? Other suggestions?

Third, there was an error I caught on the 5th level award. It should be a reduction in membership dues and two booster packs.

Fourth, no problem with the idea concerning new member recruitment. Members can put his/her name on a flyer as the referral. The only thing is that if someone puts flyers out at a convention, that they won't get points unless somebody actually joins the club. (This actually applies to people like myself. I put out flyers at Total Confusion, but didn't give myself any points since I didn't hear of any referrals from it.) We will, of course, check with the new person to make sure they received the flyer (with referral name) from the event.

Fifth, the situation concerning points for Meritorious Acts (such as Editor of a Feature Article) is a bit fuzzy, I grant that. Personally, I think we can just drop the reference of Editor of Feature Article and just make an award for "feature articles." Unless there are some concerns or a good reason to keep it, that's what I propose to do.

And lastly, I'm awarding 50 points to the creators of puzzles. (Those who collect the responses, please send me a list of participants. Thanks.)

That's about it for this time. A look at the updated EPS indicates some nice, steady progression by members with no abuse of (or by) the system. I think we've got a fairly balanced operation here. One more issue should give me a firm idea of how this will turn out for the longterm, but I feel fairly comfortable with it. Hmm, maybe now I can get back to writing some submissions for Chainmail....

On PBM Information

Having read your column in Chainmail #39, I might have some help. First let me give you some of my background. I have been playing RPGs for twelve plus years, and DMing for six weeks less. Over the years I have heard PBMs mentioned, but since I was gaming every week, I wasn't really interested. When my group broke up (divorce, transfer, move, unemployment - 5 gamers gone at once), I tried to organize groups, joined others, and all were problems. When I saw your ad, since Chainmail was the origin of my favorite game, I thought it was about time to learn about PBMs. I joined, and after two years in Dragonslayers, after two years of reading Chainmail, the magazine and club have taught me nothing about PBMs (I learned elsewhere). Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the club and CM, but my membership did not give me the things I joined for.

The reason I joined was to find out what PBMs were, how they worked, possibly see some kind of sample, and basically find out if I wanted to get involved. Jeff Schmidt is talking about an introductory package for new members, how about a page or two explaining what PBMs are, how they work, etc. This is the type of thing I was looking for. In CM you could have players rate the games they are playing, and when DMs list their games they could send a description beyond "D&D" or "Traveller". Most PBM DMs send new players a Package of information about their game, the postage must be high. Maybe they could send it to you and you print it, giving the GM a big postage savings, the prospective player enough information to decide whether this is a game they want to play, and you a lot more to print. One of the things you should list is if there is a "turn charge" and how much it is. This might save everyone a lot of time, money and headaches.

Right now you have a fairly good RPG fanzine, by doing some or all the above, you would have a publication that really dealt with PBMs. I don't know anything about other PBM clubs or magazines, but it seems to me that by assuming that all readers are as experienced as you are, you drive away the new players. Again, don't get me wrong. I like the things that are in CM now, and would not like to see them go. I am talking about additions to the format, not deletions.

Hey, those DMs running games might do articles or columns about their games, reporting on who is doing what where, eg: Aaron Swiftarrow led his band of adventurers into a troll ambush at Highrock Mountain yesterday, but turned the tables on the terrible trolls by shooting them with a barrage of fire arrows." This would entertain, generate interest in the particular game (possibly PBMs in general), and not take much of the GMs time since he is already doing something similar as turns. Thanks for the hours of pleasurable reading and multitude of new ideas.

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