Large-scale RPG club

[quozl]

Anybody interested in the duties? :-)

Mike

What are the actual duties?

[Mike Holmes]

What are the actual duties?

If you don't know then you can't be a founder. ;-)

What I mean to say is that it would be non-sensical IMO, to decide on duties, and then try to find a person to fit. I think we have a general idea. We'd need a director, a newsletter editor, treasurer, etc. But what exactly the form would take would have to be decided by these people.

That is to say that if I say that the head of theis club needs to spend 30 hours a week on organizational matters, and I do not then volunteer to take that position that I hardly expect anyone else to do so.

What should happen is that people who believe that they have the drive to make a go of something like this should get together, and then decide on the exact nature of what needs to be done and how.

It would seem to me that Alan has boldly stepped forward to accept some responsibility. I am considering it myself, but really need to take some time and consider whether or not I don't already have too much going on. And I would encourage others to cconsider carefully, too, whether or not they are actually capable of leading such an effort. My question was not meant to actually ask who would step forward, but to point out that we were theorizing in the absence of any evidence that there is anyone willing to take on the duties (but now we have Alan).

That said, I'm more than willing to continue to specualte about duties. And I'd love to serve in the position of Philosophical Advisor, if that's available, and for what it's worth. But, again, I hold no illusions that this will actually help to get the job done.

Mike

[Alan]

And I'd love to serve in the position of Philosophical Advisor, if that's available.

Sorry, Mike - in an organizing drive, everyone has to work in the trenches.  For it to work, each person would have to take responsibility, say, for contacting gamers and clubs in his area, collecting names, selling memberships, arranging, say, a mini-con, contributing to the newsletter, etc.  

As I tried to indicate in a previous post, I'm not willing to take on sole responsibility for the work involved, but I'm willing to be one of a team.  And I was serious about needing ten or twenty energetic individuals as a beginning, not an end.  One grunt (me) and one philisophical advisor (you) is not a workable option.  

If you want it to happen, maybe you can ask a few friends to participte.  The more bearers, the lighter each load is.

[quozl]

I'm still not seeing what the club actually does.  There's a local con here, Game Storm, that has some people on its board that I know.  If I go to them and tell them there's a great large-scale rpg club starting, what do I tell them when they ask why they should join?

[Mike Holmes]

More or less what I thought. Good rhetoric, Alan; scare off the weak before they join the leadership team thinking that it's a free ride. :-)

Oh, if I get involved, there will be a lot of people that I'll be dragging in, too.

I am tempted to commit here and now. Give me a day or two to talk it over with the wife, wilya! ;-)

BTW, if you're going to attract more followers to the cause, mayhap it would make sense for us to know your personal qualifications, Alan. What do you bring to the table? What particular function do you feel that you would best serve in such an organization.

Mike

[Mike Holmes]

I'm still not seeing what the club actually does.

What can I say, Jon; I don't think we've gotten that far, yet. I mean, we've certainly got a basic concept. It's a group that promotes play. This would be through creating events, getting players together, finding space for games to be played, mentoring people through the process of setting games up and even playing them (in a physically present way, as opposed to internet advice). Just for starters.

Of course there's the newsletter which you mentioned. I personally see that as more supportive than creative, but that's just my vision. Lot's of other possibilities.

For example, it would be cool if he club could leverage some sort of deal to get space for play cheap, that was not in dirty FLGS basements. I'm thinking that maybe some hotel chain with conference rooms. Unlikely to be cost efective (we don't have the publicly available spaces like they apparently do in germany, AFAIK), but I'm just brainstorming.

These are just off the cuff ideas. What would you like to see a club do?

Belay that answer. It belongs in the other thread. :-)

Mike

[Alan]

I'm still not seeing what the club actually does.  There's a local con here, Game Storm, that has some people on its board that I know.  If I go to them and tell them there's a great large-scale rpg club starting, what do I tell them when they ask why they should join?

That's a good question.  I don't know.  It's not the place of a single individual or small group to determine.  I started a "Scope and Mission" thread to explore this.  Part of the job of the first ten or twenty members will be to figure that out and have a coherant message to present to potential new members.

[Alan]

BTW, if you're going to attract more followers to the cause, mayhap it would make sense for us to know your personal qualifications, Alan. What do you bring to the table? What particular function do you feel that you would best serve in such an organization.

I volunteered and now you want to see my teeth?

The polite way to phrase this quesiton would be first to offer one's own creditentials, then ask for others.

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

This is your moderator speaking. Settle down, please, everyone. Alan has proposed something worth pursuing, and he is ipso facto leader. No justification necessary.

Best,
Ron

[Clinton R. Nixon]

Hello,

This is also your moderator speaking, re-iterating Ron's statement. We're the Forge, people - rudeness usually isn't common here, unless it's from me.

Now that I've gotten all moderator-y, my two cents: I don't think a club like this will successfully start at the national level. Without very good local support, a national club would have a hard time coming into being.

What I could envision, however, is the roots of the national club starting early: in each major area of Forge (or role-playing) activity, like Seattle, Milwaukee, Chicago, Los Angeles, Bay Area, Peoria, etc., one person takes charge and starts a local role-playing club. All of these people, however, could talk online first and set a charter that each will follow, allowing them, when the local organizations get big enough, to interface locally. (See "Large-scale RPG club - scope and mission" to see my ideas about what these local clubs would look like.)

And lastly: Alan's qualifications are impeccable - he can successfully organize people better than anyone I've met recently. I tried to start something like this indie game night we're doing now about a year or so ago, and it flopped. His attempt has been successful from the first week.

[Alan]

Hi Mike,

Our moderators seem to think this is a heated exchange.  I did mean to assert myself, but with humor.  But if I read underlying assumptions into your question, I apologize.  I hope we can continue.

As for leadership issues - I have no intention of being sole leader or of competing for kudos.  You started the idea and you obviously have passion for it, as do I.  I had expected nothing else but that we might found a team together.

Which I suppose is the next step.