Charter

This Charter has been set forth to direct the community representing the ShadowHaven living Shadowrun campaign, to facilitate a mature community of Shadowrun players playing together in an accessible manner, to provide guidelines for a welcoming community with strong moderation, and to collaboratively tell and enjoy a compelling and engaging Shadowrun story.

We explicitly do not seek to maximize the number of people in our group, but to focus on making the group as fun and stress-free as possible. We do not accept antisocial behavior here. We seek to create a space where every member feels free to bring up issues that they may have and can expect civil dialog on the topic. We understand that the time and energy of our members is preciously limited and aim to make time spent here as joyous as possible. We set strong boundaries on the type of gameplay and community we expect while acknowledging and accepting that some may not fit with us. However, we are more than happy to play with anyone to see if there is a fit.

Article I: Guiding Principles

1. Freedom to pick: GMs being free to choose their players and players being free to choose their GMs creates accountability on the part of all people involved to play the game in good faith.

2. Trust each other: Our players and GMs can trust each other for anyone who dares violate that trust will be removed.

3. We’re Busy, Slot Paperwork: Our member’s time is valuable. Any paperwork we ask for should be for world building, not administrative measures that attempt to guard community integrity with record keeping. Most our time should be spent playing games.

4. No pulled punches: We will not implement policies that encourage pulled punches and sugarcoating of game content.

5. It's better to ban one than lose two: The integrity of the community will be guarded.

6. Open Dialog: Provide spaces to members to community their grievances, make sure they feel comfortable enough to share them.

7. Permissive, but not sugarcoated: While we let our players play what they want, we will not sugar coat the world to make more oddball concepts work. We aim to achieve verisimilitude.

8. House rule philosophy: We attempt to accept as much of Shadowrun 5E's raw as possible. If ambiguity gets in the way, we attempt to create house rules that preserve a version of Shadowrun 5E that is relatable to all players, especially new ones. We address problematic areas of the game like vehicle damage, melee with spirits, and addiction rules in ways that streamline and improve the player experience for a living community setting. We ban unsalvageable parts of the game.

Article II: Organization Structure

Senior Staff

1. All Senior Staff may award GMP to achieve their departments goals.
2. All Senior Staff awarded 10 GMP on the 1st of each month.
3. All Senior Staff may appoint deputies to their departments ranging in powers to normal member of their department to full powers of the senior staff member.
   1. Senior Staff members should work with the Co-SysOps to determine deputy powers for their department and list them in the charter.
4. All senior staff may write policies to allow their staff members to issue GMP and CDP while ensuring a process that has sufficient oversight and resilience against abuse. These policies should be publicly displayed on the wiki and linked to a governance page.

Pre-Made Verification Division

Head of the Pre-Made Verification Division Duties and Powers

1. Acts as a member of the senior staff.

2. Managed the r/ShadowHavenPreMadeGen subreddit

3. Approve submitted Pre-mades for Community and GM use, ensuring they meet ShadowHaven chargen rules.

4. Works with the Mechanics and Thematics Departments to rectify pre-mades with problems.

5. Denies unsuitable pre-mades.

6. Manages a team of minions to approve, review and deny pre-mades.

7. Sets GMP awards for the creation of pre-mades.

8. Sets standards of additional material to come with the pre-made beyond sheets.

Term Length

Term ends on the first day of an odd-numbered month.

Moderation Division

Moderation Team Procedures

Membership

Members - People who have accepted characters.

Non-Member - People who do not have an accepted character.

Warnings

Informal Warning - An undocumented warning that can be issued by any moderator.

Formal Warning - A warning that is recorded in an internal database. These warnings become documented warnings after 3 months. 3 Formal warnings can be used to justify a 3 day ban. 3 moderators must approve before a formal warning is issued.

Documented Warning - An expired formal warning.

Ban guidelines

Because not every situation is the same, our ban guidelines are just that, guidelines, guidelines. Some situations do not warrant deviation from the guidelines, but some may.

3 Day Bans - At least 2 formal warnings to justify. A 3 day ban counts as a formal warning which will become a documented warning after 3 months. 3 Moderators must agree to issue this ban, in addition to the other requirements.

2 Week Bans - At least 3 formal warnings and/or a 3 day ban within 3 months to justify. A two week ban counts as a formal warning which will become a documented warning after 3 months. 3 Moderators must agree to issue this ban, in addition to the other requirements.

Permanent Bans - At least 3 formal warnings and/or a 3 month ban within 3 months to justify. A co-sysops majority must agree to issue this ban.

Ban Documentation

Permanent Bans must be listed in #ban-records for all ShadowHaven members who wish to review our moderation decisions so long as they are active. This policy may be waived for bans of spammers or raiders.

Individual Moderators Duties and Powers

1. At their own discretion, Informally Warn or Mute for up to 48 hours members who are breaking community standards.
2. Ban, at their own discretion, non-members. This action may be reversed by the the Sysop or by vote of the co-sysops.
3. Mediate interpersonal conflicts
4. Interview members when investigating cases
5. Access to all ShadowHaven documents and chat channels when investigating cases
   1. An except to this rule is in regards to raiders and trolls who join the server and immediately cause disruptive action. In these cases, a moderator may issue any actions including a permaban. This action may be reversed by the Head of Moderation or the Sysop.
6. When taking any action, moderators must document, with the exception of informal warnings, their action and reasoning in #moderation-history in order to document incidents.
7. When issuing bans, moderators must inform the banned of their right to appeal the case to the co-sysops.

Division of the Wiki

Editor-at-Large for the Wiki

1. Maintain the wiki
2. Help players, GMs and other members use the wiki
3. Organize a division with members to accomplish their goals
4. Works with the thematics division to ensure entries added to the wiki for GMP are of a high enough quality to be worth of that award. These include things like player AARs.
5. Acts as a member of the senior staff

Deputy Editor-at-Large for the Wiki

Individuals in this position are entrusted with the decision-making powers of the Editor-at-Large to be used in the absence of the Editor-at-Large. Their decisions are subject to later review and override by the Editor-at-Large. Individuals in this position do not become moderators.

Term Length

Term ends on the first day of an odd-numbered month.

The Council (on Game Play)

The 3 members of the council shall represent the heads of the following divisions:

• Mechanics

• Thematics

• Character Generation

Term Length

Term ends on the first day of an odd-numbered month.

Duties and Methods

1. The Council, as a whole, shall work together to collaborate between the three divisions and their branches, facilitate open discussion and approve full house rules.
2. The Council, as a whole, may optionally move proposed house rules and policy changes to public comment for 1 to 4 weeks. They may then take those community comments to further refine the proposed house rule or policy change.
3. The Council, as a whole, may optionally move proposed house rules and policy changes to play testing. Play testing is further described in Article V.
4. The Council, as a whole, shall work together to review and comment on issues raised by the community in the Topics for Discussion thread. The Topics for Discussion shall be pinned on the r/ShadowHavenBBS subreddit. If no action is taken, the council should comment as such. If action is taken, the action should be noted.
5. If any council member votes no on a proposal, that proposal can be moved to public comment.
6. All council members may appoint deputies to their departments ranging in powers to normal member of their department to full powers of the senior staff member.
   1. Council members should work with the Co-SysOps to determine deputy powers for their department and list them in the charter.
7. In the event of a tie, the Co-SysOps shall have the following options. They may either 1) Modify the proposal in question to achieve a majority vote on the council. 2) Cast a tie breaking vote on the proposal in question.
8. All council members may write policies to allow their staff members to issue GMP and CDP while ensuring a process that has sufficient oversight and resilience against abuse.

Division Head Descriptions

Mechanics Duties

1. Review new Shadowrun content for use on ShadowHaven

2. Ban Shadowrun rules not fit for community play

3. Maintain the ShadowHaven experience that is a refined version of the Rules as Written and provide clear documentation on any house rules should they be required.

4. Review and approve mechanical changes proposed by Thematics in the form of State of Seattle posts and similar effects.

5. Review and approve the mechanical aspects of contacts.

6. Organize a department to perform the above duties.

Thematics Duties

1. Organize a department to manage and oversee the storylines of the Game Masters on ShadowHaven, ensuring maximum GM freedom while minimizing unwanted intersection of plotlines.

2. Resolve conflict between GMs in regards to the use of setting pieces.

3. Oversee presentation of post-mission consequences upon the world of the ShadowHaven living campaign to members of the community.

4. Investigate reports of GM misconduct.

5. Interview new GMs to ShadowHaven to see if they are fit for the community.

6. Organize the recording of run information in the form of wiki pages.

7. Oversee the thematics of contacts.

8. Conduct investigations into GM misconduct.

9. Works with the wiki division to ensure entries added to the wiki for GMP are of a high enough quality to be worthy of that award. These include things like player AARs.

Character Generation Duties

1. Ensure the ShadowHaven legality and adherence to rules of player characters proposed by members of the ShadowHaven living campaign.

2. Organize a department to offer constructive criticism of the concept and mechanicals of proposed player characters.

GMP Rewards

12 GMP on the 1st of every month.

Co-Sysops

The co-sysops are a council of 5 people appointed at the discretion of the sysop. They can act with a majority vote on the with the following powers.

Duties and Powers

1. Review ban appeals and nullifies or modify ban lengths and other punishments.

2. May increase the length of bans issued by moderation.

3. May issue permanent bans.

4. Resolve conflict between departments.

5. Interviews and appoints council members and senior staff to their respective terms.

6. May renew a council member or senior staff member to another term.

7. May dismiss a council member or senior staff member.

8. May modify the Community Expectations.

9. May move council decisions with sufficient public outcry to public comment. May issue injunctions against council decisions until the public comment process is complete. May release these injunctions or propose an alternative to the council. The council may override these injections after 2 weeks of public comment with a majority vote.

10. Maintains a list of staff members and their roles

GMP Rewards

15 GMP on the 1st of every month.

Article III: GMP

GMP must be carefully balanced to avoid building a progression focused culture and instead promote a culture that focuses on storytelling, the game, the community. As such, several policies are defined in this charter.

• Total GMP gained per member from all departments they are in is limited to 15 GMP/month.

Article IV: Membership Rights

1: The Right Not to be Forced to Continue and Abandon or Cease Uncomfortable Scenes (Global X-Card)

The ability to abandon or cease games or role play which makes any ShadowHaven member uncomfortable is a fundamental and protected right granted to members by the charter.

Shadowhaven shall treat the word “X-card” as a prearranged and unambiguous signal to end their game or roleplay without delay for any reason. This can be deployed both in voice chat, freeform RP and text based games. Members shall be able to deploy this safeword without retaliation. Every ShadowHaven department is hereby directed to maintain policies to support any case where a player or GM uses this measure and promote the use of the “X-card” safeword across ShadowHaven, particularly among shy members. In particular, the thematics in their GM oversight role and moderation teams. The “X-card” safeword may be activated via text, voice or PM. It may be used in the voice chat, private PM to the game master, or by messaging a member of the council, moderation team, or Shadow Haven Staff in private to request they step in and stop the game.. A member need not have made their discomfort known prior to using the X-card. Members may feel free to disconnect from the game before deploying this safeword. Members may use this in any way they feel most comfortable. Any means a member feels most comfortable with using are acceptable. If anonymity is requested when using the X-Card, it is to be protected. ShadowHaven as an organization cares more about player safety than storylines. We have many tools at our disposal to ensure the storyline continues, but only after we have taken care of our priority towards player safety. This is not a tool of last resort, nor is it a replacement for other conversations around sensitive topics. However, we are exploring a dark world in a freeform fashion with complete strangers. We have complete trust in our members to explore these topics in a mature way. However, sometimes we stumble and need a safety net. This is especially true in our voice and text chat based environment where we do not have body language to detect discomfort. The best response to the deployment of an “X-card” is to take a break and either talk to the involved parties or have a moderation/thematics member do it for you. The involved party shall need not reveal what is happening. All members of the ShadowHaven community shall treat the use of the X-Card with respect and maturity. There shall be zero tolerance for hostile actions made in retaliation against someone for using the X-Card.

2: Have a leadership decisions reviewed by the community at large.

The Topics for Discussion thread, in the old days, was a place for public debate over the course of the community. With Discord, that has fallen to the way side, yet we consider this public stage for discussion the community to be vital. Thus, after going through the normal for changing or appealing a decisions, members may submit their proposals to the SysOp via the normal ticket process or via this anonymous form. If submitted in good faith, the sysop will make a discord channel for the public debate of that issue. 2 to 3 weeks after the start of that debate, the council will vote on the topic again with the knowledge gained from these discussions in mind. Please note, these discussions must be in good faith. Should the discussion spiral into toxicity, the sysop may cancel the public comment period.

3: Restriction on Staff Sharing Screenshots Outside the Server

Screenshots of deleted material may be shared with other living communities should the need for collective player safety outweigh privacy concerns. This is at the discretion of the SysOp and Co-SysOp, but typically involves cases that are far graver than interpersonal issues and involve contacting Discord itself in addition to these other groups.

Staff may not share screenshots from the server in any other official capacity.

Article V: Play Testing

Shadowrun 5th edition represents an exceptionally complicated game. With the lackluster release of 6th edition, exceptional steps need to be taken to keep 5th edition fresh and exciting. There is also no more chance for major errata from CGL to address issues that the community as a whole acknowledges as issues. To this end, we need a robust policy to allow for experimental play features to be deployed to game.

The council may vote to release a proposed gameplay feature to play test. These are optional to engage with. Gamemasters must clearly indicate in the body and title of their posts if they are using play test rules. The Editor-at-Large for the Wiki is direct to maintain a list of active play tests on the wiki. Game masters and players are directed to do their best in completing feedback forms associated with a play test or note their observations to a council member.

In addition, gamemasters may decide to make their run Canon or Non-Canon to play test a game play feature. If the game is Non-Canon, the gamemaster and players involved are awarded 12 GMP. This award is subject to the normal policies on award increased for long runs as listed in the GM rules.

To further stress test these experimental ideas, game masters may accept custom character sheets at post-gen karma levels in non-canon games. It will be the game master's responsibility to check these characters designed to stress test a proposed feature. The council may set GMP bounties on custom character sheets to explore problematic edge cases.