BTM Staff Reorganization Announcement

General 'Out Of Character' news & events within Battletech-Mercenaries
Storywriter J. Allen
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BTM Staff Reorganization Announcement

Postby Storywriter J. Allen » Fri Jan 06, 2017 7:01 pm

Hello Battletech-Mercenaries community,

I’ve been asked to brief you all on some changes that are happening to our game, specifically how the staff operates. Some of this is more staff-internal but some will have ramifications for you all.

Due to the smaller size of our staff and our community we are trying to make our operations more efficient. With that in mind, you’ll start to see the following:

1. The Deputy will be the master architect of this living, breathing universe. Master directives “such as the Lyran Alliance takes worlds X, Y and Z from the FWL in August 3095” will go to other staffers (tentatively called storyline writers for now) who will flesh out the details of those directives.

2. The Ambassador role (by any name) is being phased out. We don’t have enough staff to provide 1 staffer per Great House. We will instead try to develop storyline writers who can shift to wherever they are needed.

3. We will no longer be creating very detailed faction updates. We will continue to focus on factional leaders/heirs/politics, as well as strategic/societal/economic goings-on of the universe.

4. In place of detailed faction updates which try to describe everything down to where a particular battlemech regiment is, its strength, experience level, CO, etc..instead of all that we will simply be maintaining simple lists of each faction’s battlemech regiments (or equivalent, e.g. Clan Clusters/Galaxies) and lists of warships (by number and class only, unless they’ve already been named). Other details like their strength/garrison/CO will not be maintained.

5. Within the staff we will cultivate the role of “asset tracker.” This person will monitor units/warships when they are in use. This will save us the time and energy of constantly trying to track all units all across the Inner Sphere and periphery in real time. So for instance, if the 1st Atrean Dragoons are part of a contract, either as an enemy unit or an allied unit, then that unit goes on the asset tracker’s sheet. For a little while we will know where that unit is, what it’s doing, its status and so forth. Sometime after the contract(s) is completed, the 1st Atrean Dragoons will go off the asset tracker’s sheets and simply back to the master list. This will help to prevent continuity problems, like the same unit being in 2 places at the same time. Or a unit being destroyed in combat in February, only to appear somewhere else at full strength in April.

6. When a factional unit is actively involved in something, like a contract, the staff will work to flesh it out and update it, unless the MU taking the contract wishes to do it themselves.

7. The staff are going to refocus on the Active Plotline Model of doing things. By which we will create the framework for pivotal events or storylines in our universe. But when a unit takes them on, that unit is effectively pursuing and writing what happens (within reason). This, in addition to major decisions by the Deputy and staff, will be how our universe moves forward. Each active plotline will be assigned a staffer to oversee things (answer questions, etc).

8. We will continue to offer some random contracts, but the “made-to-order” contract idea is our primary means of providing mercenary units with work. We will also be nudging units toward the Active Plotlines as they are made available.


Most of these changes are internal to the staff. But we want to make sure you all know what is going on. There may be some confusion as we retool the staff to fit the structural changes we are making. You may see staff job titles change. Pre-existing notions over who to contact about a particular contract or faction may change suddenly.

These changes are designed to benefit you all. With a smaller community and a smaller staff, we’ve been assessing how best to make use of our time. By streamlining the staff decision-making process, and by not spending countless hours on super-detailed faction updates, we hope to spend more time on real improvements to our game, and more time investing in the production of good, quality stories and more content generation that doesn’t tell you where a regiment is stationed and who its CO is, but rather, who’s scheming to do what, and why. The real narratives of our universe.

This is an announcement but also a discussion thread. Feel free to post any questions about this here and the staff will do our best to answer them. Please note that this is a work in progress. So the details are subject to change.
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Storyline Writer Jon Allen

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Captain Niobe Bey
Commanding Officer
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Rabbit
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Re: BTM Staff Reorganization Announcement

Postby Rabbit » Sat Jan 07, 2017 3:50 am

Thanks for the update, Loremaster. This sounds like something that would help us all out with the BTM universe.

One question: if we are requesting a "made to order" contract, who would be our first point of contact? A Storyline Writer or someone like the Director or Deputy Director?
MAJ Benjamin "Ironsides" Pugh
Black Talon Phoenixes

MAJ Alexander "Random" Yau
Chaos Incorporated

Captain Duncan "Hound" Myers
War Hounds

Storywriter J. Allen
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Re: BTM Staff Reorganization Announcement

Postby Storywriter J. Allen » Sat Jan 07, 2017 2:32 pm

Any staffer can work with a unit to create a contract. The Deputy, Tomoe (the Combine representative) or myself would be the best points of contact. If there's a particular person that you've been working with a lot, I'd say continue to work with that person, unless or until told otherwise.

I left the Director off that list simply because he has a hearty full plate of BTM administrative stuff that he's working on, with our website and database. A lot of it very technical tasks that I certainly don't know how to accomplish. So we try to let him work his mojo.

Right now the four of us are the active BTM staff. We hope to add more, but at the moment that's what we have.
Staff Position
Storyline Writer Jon Allen

MUCO Character
Captain Niobe Bey
Commanding Officer
The Great White Fleet MU

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Rabbit
Posts: 391
Joined: Wed Jun 15, 2016 10:26 pm
Location: USA
affiliations: Major Benjamin Pugh - Black Talon Phoenixes
Captain Alexander Yau - Chaos Incorporated

Re: BTM Staff Reorganization Announcement

Postby Rabbit » Mon Jan 09, 2017 4:04 am

Thank you for the clarification, Loremaster. :)
MAJ Benjamin "Ironsides" Pugh
Black Talon Phoenixes

MAJ Alexander "Random" Yau
Chaos Incorporated

Captain Duncan "Hound" Myers
War Hounds

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Remington von Wolffe
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Re: BTM Staff Reorganization Announcement

Postby Remington von Wolffe » Sun Sep 09, 2018 3:59 pm

Alas, I regret to inform the community that Deputy Director Raymond Freeman MacCreary has tendered his resignation on Tuesday Aug 14, 2018. I will be the new 'Acting' Deputy until the Staff finds a suitable replacement. So as to minimize impact on the community, nothing changes for you guys. You can still send all correspondences just like you always have. I'll be monitoring all three email accounts, Historian, Deputy, and mbroker.

I WILL NOT have access to the Deputy MacCreary pm accounts however.

Join me in wishing Raymond MacCreary a fond Farewell and let him know that he is ALWAYS welcomed to return

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Mariahsyn
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Re: BTM Staff Reorganization Announcement

Postby Mariahsyn » Tue Sep 18, 2018 2:54 am

Understood,

Sorry for my absence but the mundane world has been killing me of late.
Duchess Ravenna Black.
Callsign: Blackbird.
Rank: Field Marshal (AFFS, Active)
Assignment: Headquarters Command, I Corps. (Operation Horus' Creance)
CO, Black Wolf Rangers.
Baroness Offerman and Duchess Warlock.

"And hell followed with her..."

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Remington von Wolffe
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Re: BTM Staff Reorganization Announcement

Postby Remington von Wolffe » Sun Aug 04, 2019 8:14 am

MADE to ORDER
Contract Template

Fill in some, none, or all of the blanks as you so desire

Region:
System:
Planet:
Primary Planetary Climate:
Contract Type:
Primary Operational Terrain:
Contract Duration: ? Months (? Days in REAL TIME) negotiable/non-negotiable
Employer:
Employer Contact:
Command Rights:
Forces Recommended:
Supporting Forces:
Enemy Forces:
Supplement Contracts Offered:

EMPLOYER SITUATION REPORT:

ADDITION INTEL:

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:
1)
2)

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:
1)

For uncreated planets you may also include,
Galactic Coordinates:
Days to Jump Point:
Planet:
Primary Planetary Climate:
Approximate Population:
Capital City:

Planet Details:
Technological Development:
Industrial Level:
Raw Material Dependence:
Industrial Output:
Agricultural Development:

Any Questions, please do not hesitate to ask.


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