IFGS BOARD MEETING MINUTES
9/28/17 – Final
Wherein NPC/Game Support CAP rates are doubled. The new Central Ohio Provisional Chapter received a resolution for banking purposes. A new Chair is appointed to the Tech and Election Committees. Intellectual Property rights for game writing and Creative Commons is discussed.
The 9/28/17 Society Board Meeting was called to order at 8:13 p.m. Eastern Time. Present were Board Members John Jones, Olan Knight, Pat McGehearty, Brad Evenson, David Spence, Hugh Greene and Sarah Gibson. Melanie Greene from N. Alabama Chapter, Robert Armbruster from Dallas and Janice Gott Society Clerk were present.
STANDING BUSINESS:
MINUTES: MOTION: To approve the minutes of the 8/23/17 Board Meeting (Evenson, Gibson, passed by acclaim).
FRC REPORT: The March 7.1 Playtest Rules Release added Thieves, soon to be followed by Druids. During the playtest period, PC characters will be able to play the various specializations without committing their character to that path, and PC characters may temporarily switch to the new Bard class for playtesting. In fact, PCs are encouraged to try the new specializations out and comment on them to the FRC (frc@ifgs.org). Also note that no magic item using new abilities may be created during the playtest period.
SSC REPORT: Jones reported that the SSC has a revision of the Bluebook, incorporating recent FRC Hits & Misses rulings, which they are sending to Committees for comments.
REGISTRY: No activity.
TECH COMMITTEE: Brett Paul cleaned up the IFGS website. He has passed off much of the necessary info to Robert Armbruster, so he can retire and let Armbruster take over as Tech Committee Chair. Courtney Trudel, formerly of Dallas Chapter and now living in Canada, has volunteered to assist in revising and modernizing the website. The Board’s priority for the Committee is to update the website.
MOTION: To appoint Robert Armbruster as Tech Committee Chair (Evenson, McGehearty, by acclaim).
MOTION: To thank Brett Paul for his years of service as Chair of the Tech Committee (Evenson, Spence, by acclaim).
GENERAL PROMOTIONS: No news on the LARP Box possibility.
CONSTITUTIONAL REVIEW TASK FORCE: No activity.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY: Greene asked the Board about IP (Intellectual Property) rights for not only games but shared worlds, ongoing NPCs, etc. McGehearty suggests we have a “Creative Commons” statement, allowing (or not) others to use your world, non-player characters, etc. John Jones has a copyright page template that he includes in his game copy. Gott noted that D/B Chapter has copyright choices in their SSC’s Game Submission Form. Jones suggests creating a standard Society template, which can be used by Chapter Sanctioning Committees at their discretion. Game worlds do not have Sanctioning, per se, but the various World Committees could create a “guiding document” that covered the level of security they desire. Jones will coordinate suggestions. If the Sanctioning Handbook gets updated, that would be the proper place for such a template.
CHAPTER LIAISON UPDATES: Central Ohio has been holding regular Weapons Practices, and have run several games. Northern Alabama has been running a game every month. Denver/Boulder Chapter ran games in August and September, and has a November game on their schedule.
CONTINUING BUSINESS
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA CHAPTER DISSOLUTION: No action.
SCIFI RULES COMMITTEE: No report.
POTENTIAL CHICAGO AREA CHAPTER: Gibson followed up as Promotions Chair. The organizers do not seem to be interested in pursuing chapter-hood at this time.
NEW BUSINESS
RESOLUTION FOR CENTRAL OHIO CHAPTER: The Central Ohio Provisional Chapter has been having trouble opening a bank account. The State of Ohio requires that a business be registered with the State Treasurer’s office to do business in Ohio before opening a checking account. The cost to do this is $99, which the Clerk proposes be taken out of Expansion funds.
MOTION: To approve an expenditure of up to $100 from the expansion fund to cover registration of the IFGS or the Central Ohio Chapter as a business in Ohio in order to facilitate the establishment of a checking account for the Central Ohio Provisional Chapter (Jones, Gibson, 7-0-0).
MOTION: Be it hereby resolved that the Clerk be empowered to execute and deliver a letter for the Central Ohio Chapter’s bank, denoting the authority to transact business, including the maintenance of savings and checking accounts, however not including loans, to the President and Treasurer of the Central Ohio Chapter of the International Fantasy Gaming Society. The Society Treasurer should be designated as an informational party on any accounts (Greene, Spence, by acclaim).
Knight left, proxy to Spence.
A PROPOSAL TO INCREASE CAP (McGehearty): McGehearty noted that the Experience-to-CAP ratio has been out of proportion, now that EP awards have gone up for PCing. The incentive to NPCs needs to be addressed. It is particularly a problem for PCs of sixth level or higher, who are falling behind Chapter officers and Game Writers in treasure levels, even when they NPC regularly. Greene notes that Loremasters in their chapter have not been going through much extra effort to deserve an increase in CAP. McGehearty will write up something for a Loremaster’s Handbook, and suggests young Loremasters should be trained to coach and organize their teams. The Registry Handbook needs to be updated to reflect the new CAP changes, as will Game Experience Forms (“pink sheets”). The new CAP rates will go into effect on October 12th, 2017.
MOTION: To increase the base rate for NPC/Game Support/etc.
from 1,000/hour to 2,000/hour. The LM, SC, GW, and GP rates would all
also double.
LM: 10,000/game
SC: 4,000/sanctioned game hour
GW: 10,000/sanctioned game hour (but only when the game runs the first time)
GP: 5,000/hour on course on game day
(McGehearty, Spence, 6-1-0, Evenson nay).
FALL ELECTIONS: An Elections Chair will be needed for this fall. The terms for McGehearty, Gibson and Evenson are up at the end of this year. All three would like to run again. Chris Seals volunteered as Election Chair. New Tech Chair Armbruster will update the Elections@ifgs.org email address.
MOTION: To accept Chris Seals as Election Chair (McGehearty, Evenson, by acclaim).
NEXT MEETING: The next IFGS Board Meeting will be held on Tuesday, October 17th. Times for the meeting are 5 pm Pacific, 6 pm MST, 7 pm CST, and 8 pm EST. The meeting will be held on Skype at i_f_g_s or 720.259.1667. The meeting was adjourned at 9:51 pm EST.
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CHAPTER LIAISONS
Dallas – Evenson
Denver/Boulder – Spence
Norman – Spence
Pacific Northwest – Jones
Northern Alabama – Gibson
Provisionals:
Greater Milwaukee – Greene
Southern California – Knight
Central Ohio – Spence
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PROJECT LIST
Completed Tasks
Society-level electronic voting – Completed
Society Waiver Forms – Completed
Stoplight Policy – Completed
Milestone & Karma Awards – Completed
Business Cards – Available on Vistaprint
Updating Society Website to WordPress – Completed
In Process Tasks
Updating Governing Documents – In process with Society Task Force
Updated Committee Charters – In process with Society Task Force
On Hold
Character Creation System
Expand and Revise Wiki (Possibly incorporating online rules.) –
Not Started
Updating GW Handbook–
Streamlining the payment processes between Society and Chapters –
Treasury Tracking –
Shared Calendar on Website –
Creation of a Treasury Handbook –
Membership Tracking –
Link Exchanges –
Research for 8.0 Rules Set –
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Society Board Members
John Jones (TX) (2019) [Pres]
Sarah Gibson (TX) (2018) [VP]
Pat McGehearty (TX) (2018)
Brad Evenson (CO) (2018)
Olan Knight (TX) (2019)
Hugh Greene (AL) (2019)
David Spence (TX) (2019)
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Fantasy Rules Committee (FRC)
David Spence (TX) (2019) [Chair]
Brad Evenson (CO) (2019)
Hugh Greene (TX) (2019)
Seth Bush (TX) (2018)
David Gibson (TX) (2018)
Joshua Harris (TX) (2019) ad hoc temporary
Society Sanctioning Committee (SSC)
John Jones (TX) (2018) [Chair]
Seth Bush (TX) (2019)
Olan Knight (TX) (2018)
Kaaren Davis (CO) (2019)
Melanie Greene (AL) (2019)
General Promotions Committee (SGP)
Sarah Gibson [Chair]
Jason Dziuk (2015)
open (2014)
open (2014)
Publications Committee
Members all informal appointments –
Elections Committee
Chris Seals
Registry Chair
Olan Knight (TX)
Tech Committee
Robert Armstrong (TX) [Chair]
Bethany Vann (OK)
Sarah Gibson (TX)
Open
Constitutional Review Task Force
Hugh Greene (AL) [Chair]
Brad Evenson
Ray Michel