Table of Contents
The Gamemaster Department shall serve as a resource to Gamemasters, COs, and the membership on matters relating to GMing and in-character activity through those means deemed most expedient and useful to STF and the membership.
The Gamemaster Department shall maintain standards of GMing by means of the regulations set forth in this Edict and later Edicts. The Gamemaster Department shall maintain a public record of the status of all registered or licensed Gamemasters. A Gamemaster shall include anyone who holds a position on a ship at that Rank or in a position containing the term, or anyone registered to do so, and shall fall under the jurisdiction of the Gamemaster Department.
The daily activity of the Gamemaster Department shall be overseen by the Gamemaster Director, who shall be appointed by the President. The Gamemaster Director is a cabinet position, and is equal in power to other departmental directors and Fleet Commanders.
The Assistant Gamemaster Director shall be appointed by the Gamemaster Director. The Assistant Gamemaster Director answers directly to the Gamemaster Director, and is responsible for departmental decisions in the event the Gamemaster Director is not available. Additional responsibilities are at the discretion of the Gamemaster Director.
The Gamemaster Director may delegate any of his duties enumerated in this Edict or any other responsibilities incumbent upon him as a result of another Edict to another named member of the Gamemaster Department, subject to the condition that the individual with final authority on the licensing of Gamemasters must be himself a licensed Full Gamemaster, even if that individual is the Gamemaster Director.
For the purposes of this document, a reference to a "ship" shall mean any Role Playing Area over which the GMD has any influence or authority.
The STF Academy shall maintain a written course and examination pertaining to the subject of GMing. The Gamemaster Department may veto changes to the content of the course or the appointment of a new proctor.
All prospective Gamemasters must be members of STF for a minimum of six (6) months, have a minimum rank of full lieutenant, pass the Gamemaster exam according to the standards set by the Gamemaster Department, and provide to the Gamemaster Department three (3) recommendations from licensed Gamemasters with whom the prospective Gamemaster has served within the last three (3) months for a minimum of one (1) month. A recommendation from a prospective Gamemaster's CO and/or XO may be substituted in situations where the prospective Gamemaster does not serve with three licensed Gamemasters.
A Gamemaster Mentor is an experienced Gamemaster actively assisting a new Gamemaster through the Gamemaster Training Program. A Gamemaster Mentor must be of Full Gamemaster standing or higher, and have served as a Gamemaster on a Ship within the last 30 days of his appointment to a Gamemaster Trainee.
The Gamemaster Mentor will be responsible for assisting the Gamemaster Trainee in planning a mission as needed, for providing the Trainee with advice and assistance as appears necessary and as is requested by the Trainee, and for reporting back to the Gamemaster Department on the Trainee's progress and performance when necessary. The Gamemaster Mentor will be required to read the ship in question regularly and coordinate with the CO as necessary.
The procedure for the Gamemaster Training Program is as follows:
Once a Prospective Gamemaster has qualified for the program, he shall be assigned a Gamemaster Mentor by the Gamemaster Department. The Prospective Gamemaster may veto an appointment or request a specific willing Gamemaster Mentor. He is then known as a Gamemaster Trainee.
The Gamemaster Trainee and Mentor pair are responsible for developing a mission plan and finding a Ship on which to train. The ship must be a Standard Roleplaying Area, not an Alternative Role Playing Area. They may request the assistance of the Gamemaster Department in this matter.
The Gamemaster Trainee shall run his training mission, conferring with his Gamemaster Mentor as needed. In order to complete the program, the Gamemaster Trainee must run the mission to successful completion. He may be removed prior to the completion of the mission as per Section 10.
The Gamemaster Mentor and CO will be required to provide preliminary reports to the Gamemaster Director after 90 days that will be shared with the Gamemaster Trainee to improve his performance. At that time, the Gamemaster Mentor may request a one month extension to continue observing and guiding the Gamemaster Trainee at his discretion. Such an extension must be renewed every 30 days but may be granted an unlimited number of times until the end of the mission.
Within one week of the completion of the mission, the Gamemaster Mentor, CO, and Gamemaster Director shall confer to determine if the Gamemaster Trainee has performed acceptably. The Gamemaster Director will make the final decision. If the Gamemaster Trainee is determined to have performed acceptably, then he is passed from the program and considered a Junior Gamemaster. If not, then he is failed from the program.
If a Gamemaster Trainee is failed from the program or removed for any reason before the mission is completed, he may reapply to the program with a new Mentor or the same Mentor after a two week probation period from the date of his failure or removal. If the Gamemaster Trainee is removed prior to the completion of the mission, the Gamemaster Mentor is required to step in as acting Gamemaster for up to two weeks until a new Gamemaster is appointed, who may be the Gamemaster Mentor himself.
Should a Gamemaster Mentor go AWOL, resign from the club, require an extended LOA, or otherwise become unable to fulfill his role, the Gamemaster Department shall appoint a replacement subject to the Gamemaster Trainee's approval. The new Gamemaster Mentor will continue from where his predecessor left off, but must serve for at least sixty (60) days before he is removed, unless the mission ends before that time.
For reference purposes, Gamemasters are classified based on their experience and time served. These classifications denote recognition of service, and are not synonymous with ranks.
After reaching a certain level of accomplishment, a Gamemaster may apply to be recognized as having attained a higher level of classification. The Gamemaster Department may take into account both the number of missions completed and specific commentary about the Gamemaster's performance when making its decision regarding recognition.
Upon the successful completion of his first training mission, a Gamemaster will be recognized as a Junior Gamemaster.
Upon the successful completion of three (3) missions or eighteen (18) total months as an active Gamemaster, not including the training mission, and positive comments from the relevant COs, a Gamemaster is eligible for Full Gamemaster Status.
Upon the successful completion of ten (10) missions or thirty-six (36) total months as an active Gamemaster, not including the training mission, and positive comments from the relevant COs, a Gamemaster is eligible for Advanced Gamemaster Status.
Upon the successful completion of twenty (20) missions or sixty (60) total months as an active Gamemaster, not including the training mission, and positive comments from the relevant COs, a Gamemaster is eligible for Senior Gamemaster Status.
Partial missions shall be counted if the Gamemaster in question served as Gamemaster for at least thirty (30) days. Missions that span multiple ships shall be counted separately for each involved ship.
Missions involving multiple Gamemasters working simultaneously shall be counted for both Gamemasters. Time served as an active Gamemaster shall include the time from when the Gamemaster was first licensed until the present, discounting any period during which the Gamemaster was not GMing for one (1) month or more.
These distinctions are primarily honorary but may be used as qualification for other roles and activities.
Prior to the commencement of each mission, the Fleet Commander of a fleet or a subordinate of his choosing shall select a Gamemaster or Gamemaster Trainee-Gamemaster Mentor pair who shall serve as Gamemaster for that mission, subject to the veto of the CO of the ship in question. Notification of this selection must be sent to the Gamemaster Department within 24 hours of the selection, and at least 48 hours prior to the commencement of the mission. Failure to do so shall be considered a failure to complete a duty incumbent upon the office of the person in question. Additional regulation of Gamemaster appointments within a given fleet is at the discretion of the Fleet Commander.
The Gamemaster Department may recommend that a given ship host a Gamemaster Trainee-Gamemaster Mentor pair, and the Fleet Commander or named subordinate responsible is expected to give this request due and fair consideration.
Upon the completion of the mission or any time that a new Gamemaster is appointed in the middle of a mission, the Gamemaster in question must notify the Gamemaster Department of the change or mission completion, including the start and end dates of the mission accurate to the nearest month. The Gamemaster Department shall maintain a publicly accessible archive of the approximate start and end dates of all known missions, including the Gamemaster or Gamemasters involved and the CO or COs involved, for reference purposes.
Should the Gamemaster Director receive a complaint about a Gamemaster or have reason to believe that a Gamemaster is abusing his authority, violating Gamemaster regulations, or otherwise acting in a manner unbecoming an officer, the Gamemaster Director is authorized to investigate the matter and, if necessary, take disciplinary action.
In all such cases, the Gamemaster Director must first inform the Gamemaster in question of the potential problem. If the Gamemaster is able to adequately explain the situation or adequately amend his behavior, the issue is dropped. If not, or if the situation is such that it cannot be amended after-the-fact, the Gamemaster Director may take one or more of the following actions:
Appoint a Gamemaster Observer (GMO) to the related Role Playing Area to monitor the situation and provide the Gamemaster Director with further details for a period of no longer than fourteen (14) days. The Gamemaster Observer may be any licensed Gamemaster of Full standing or higher. The Gamemaster Director may use information from the Gamemaster Observer to help determine what further action if any is necessary.
Issue a citation against the Gamemaster, with statement of explanation, which will be permanently recorded by the Gamemaster Department. Such a citation may be used against the Gamemaster in future consideration for Classification changes.
Impose a restriction against the Gamemaster for no longer than eight (8) months, with statement of explanation, restricting the Gamemaster from taking part in certain activities including, but not limited to, participating in Special Circumstances Missions, serving on more than a specified number of ships, or applying for a Classification change.
Revoke the Gamemaster's license. The Gamemaster Director must include a statement of explanation, and must also specify a Probation Period of no less than thirty (30) days and no more than six (6) months, during which time the Gamemaster in question may not reapply for licensure.
Disciplinary action by the Gamemaster Director may be appealed to the President.
In the event that a Gamemaster should have his license revoked, he may not reapply for licensure for the duration of his Probation Period. After the Probation Period has expired, he may reapply for training where he will be given the same consideration as any other individual.
Should the Gamemaster have held a classification higher than Junior Gamemaster prior to the revocation of his license, he will upon the completion of his training mission again assume the title of Junior Gamemaster. He must then successfully complete at least one (1) additional mission before he may apply for higher recognition. At that point he may count all missions he has run both before and after his delicensing, however, the Gamemaster Department may take the Gamemaster's license revocation into account when making its determination.
A Gamemaster may be removed prior to the completion of a mission by the Fleet Commander or previously named subordinate should the Gamemaster exhibit behavior ill-suited for his position, does not uphold his responsibility of maintaining an enjoyable environment aboard his ship, or abuses the authority of his position beyond the boundaries of STF law and common sense. Dismissal of a Gamemaster by the Fleet Commander himself shall be considered an act of the Fleet Commander and treated accordingly. Dismissal of a Gamemaster by a subordinate of the Fleet Commander shall be referred first to the Fleet Commander before further action.
Gamemasters are responsible for providing an entertaining experience for members of STF on the ships where they serve, and are required to work with each ship's commanding officer to accomplish this task. In issues pertaining to daily ship operations (i.e. promotions, demotions, logs, message of the day [MOTD]), the Gamemaster has no authority. A CO may grant a GM access to the ship's MOTD and/or access to add GM-controlled characters at his discretion.
Under extreme circumstances in which one or more posts are irreconcilable with the actions in one or more other posts; with the laws of STF, reason, or decency; or with previously established RPG events; a Gamemaster may declare the posts in question to be null and void and must include a statement of explanation. Any voided post may be appealed to the Gamemaster Director by the voided member. If the Gamemaster is also the Gamemaster Director, it may be appealed to the Assistant Gamemaster Director. The Gamemaster Director may overturn any appealed post void with written statement of explanation.
Under normal circumstances, Gamemasters may not cause the death of a character on a ship that is controlled by a member of STF. The situations in which a Gamemaster may cause the death of a character on a ship that is not a Non-Player Character shall consist only of the following circumstances:
AWOL. If the character has been declared AWOL, the Gamemaster may do whatever he likes with it, without restriction.
The player gives consent to the Gamemaster, for whatever reason.
If the character has taken actions that, in the opinion of the Gamemaster, would result in a 90% or higher probability of death, a "Death Notice" may be served.
For the first Death Notice issued against a character, that character will be warned by the Gamemaster publicly against taking such chances, and remind the character that the move would ordinarily have resulted in death, had it been real. In this case, the Gamemaster shall void the posts in question, modify the situation to reverse the extremely risky move, or shall otherwise modify the situation as to allow the character to continue to survive.
For the second Death Notice, the results shall be the same as for the first notice, however, there shall also be an email sent by the Gamemaster to the ship's CO, XO, and to the owner of the character, warning that the character has received two death notices, and that a third will result in actual character death.
For the third Death Notice, the Gamemaster shall rule the character has died as a result of his actions, and that character will be eliminated from the roster and their position. The CO of the ship shall have discretion as to whether to allow the person to create a new character on the same ship, and what position/rank that new character should hold on the ship.
In the event that it is the CO who is receiving Death Notices, the Fleet Commander shall be notified. In the event that the Fleet Commander receives such notices, the President shall be informed.
If a character has received no Death Notices in the past six months, but had received them prior to that six month period, all prior Death Notices will be erased from their record, and they shall have a clean slate to start from again.
If a member habitually receives Death Notices (more than 5 in a 6 month span), they may be ruled to be a suicidal character player by the Gamemaster Director or by the Fleet Commander of a fleet in which they serve. If a member is so classified, the limit for character death shall be one. Members may appeal a declaration of suicidal-tendency to the President. Such a declaration shall expire six months after the last death notice placed against a character controlled by that player.
The Gamemaster may not intentionally place a player into a situation where any action (including lack of action) would result in a death situation. Unlike the real world, there must be at least one morally acceptable way to get out. Violation of subsection g) is the only acceptable grounds for overturning the Gamemaster's ruling of a "death notice".
Any Death Notices may be appealed to the Gamemaster Director by the member receiving the Notice. If the Gamemaster is also the Gamemaster Director, it may be appealed to the Assistant Gamemaster Director.
The Gamemaster Director may overturn any appealed Death Notice with written statement of explanation.
A normal mission is one in which a single Gamemaster who is not the CO of the ship in question serves on a single ship for a single mission. A Gamemaster may serve on multiple ships in different, unrelated missions simultaneously. All other types of missions are classified as Special Circumstances. All Gamemasters participating in a Special Circumstances mission must be of Full Gamemaster standing or higher.
Prior to the commencement of a Special Circumstances mission, all involved Gamemasters must obtain the consent of all related COs and all related Fleet Commanders, and must notify the Gamemaster Department prior to the start of the mission. In the event that the Fleet Commander or CO is one of the Gamemasters in question, the permission of the Gamemaster Director shall be required. In the event that the Fleet Commander is also the Gamemaster Director, the CO is also the Fleet Commander, or the CO is also the Gamemaster Director, the approval of the President shall be required. Special Circumstances missions must be approved on a mission-by-mission basis. Additional requirements for Special Circumstances missions are as follows:
A Multi-Ship Mission is one in which one or more Gamemasters runs a mission that explicitly spans multiple ships simultaneously. In addition to the standard requirements of Special Circumstances missions, should there be three or more ships involved the Gamemasters in question must notify the President prior to the start of the mission.
A Self-RPG Mission is one in which there is no explicit Gamemaster. Instead, all members of the crew have equal control over the storyline. In order for a ship to be considered for Self-RPG status, the ship's CO must provide viable reasons why his ship is suited for self-RPG status. He must also provide proof that guidelines are in place maintain a pleasant role-playing atmosphere. The petition will be granted with unanimous approval from the Gamemaster Director, appropriate Fleet Commander, and ship's CO. The CO shall be required to report to the Gamemaster Department in place of a normal Gamemaster, but will not have the full authority of a Gamemaster.
A CO/GM Mission is one in which the CO of the ship also serves as the Gamemaster of the ship. A CO may serve as Gamemaster of his own ship only with the prior consent of the Gamemaster Director and Fleet Commander. The CO must still be a Gamemaster of Full or higher standing. In the event that the Fleet Commander is also the Gamemaster Director, the CO is also the Fleet Commander, or the CO is also the Gamemaster Director, the approval of the President shall be required.
A Multi-Gamemaster Mission is one in which two or more Gamemasters jointly serve on the same ship at the same time. The Gamemaster Director must approve all Multi-Gamemaster Missions prior to their commencement. In the event that the Gamemaster Director is one of the Gamemasters involved or the CO involved, the approval of the President shall be required.
If there is a question as to whether or not a mission should be considered Special Circumstances, the Gamemaster Director is empowered to make a determination on a case-by-case basis.
Should any member have a dispute with the actions of a Gamemaster, the member is expected to first address the matter to the Gamemaster in question. If the situation can be resolved, the matter is considered closed. In case of an impass, any of the involved parties may refer the matter to the next highest authority who is not already a party to the dispute for moderation. For the purposes of this edict, the chain of authority shall be the member, Gamemaster, Fleet Commander or designated subordinate, Gamemaster Director, Assistant Gamemaster Director, and finally the President. Only the Gamemaster Director, Assistant Gamemaster Director, or President may forcibly overturn a decision of a Gamemaster and a decision of one of those parties shall be considered final.
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