Update to the NPC Shift Policy

The following statement has been added to the policy on NPC shifts:

You are expected to arrive at Logistics on time and be ready to accept NPC roles immediately. If you are more than ten minutes late to your NPC shift you will be assessed a Rules Violation for failure to NPC.

If you're asking yourself, "so does that mean that if I'm more than ten minutes late I just shouldn't show up?", the answer is yes, because it won't matter if you do or don't. Rules Violations add up in a painful hurry, though, so my advice is to make sure that you're on time and ready to NPC. Also, bear in mind that violating the NPC policy also brings a restriction on learning skills for that event - another reason to square your shit away and get to your NPC shift when you're required.

If you're cracking down on rules violations for being a little late; such as being in the middle of a mod and being forced to leave mid way; or extensive walk; then are people getting the extra NPC service points for being stuck in a mod at the end of their shift and rolling over into the next mod shift? It only seems fair to make sure that people are rewarded for staying longer to complete a mod on their shift opposed to people just being punished for staying to finish a mod and being 15 minutes late, or at least making an allowance to stay 15 minutes late to make the time up. If there's a stick, there should be a carrot as well.

To my knowledge, MMs have always been authorized to award SP to players whose NPC assignments extend past the end of their shifts. This policy remains unchanged. I will, however, review that policy with the MMs to ensure that it is being followed.

This seems like a problem for people who aren't mm's but my question is will anything be done to stop early npc shift endings? I know it sounds odd for a non mm to be complaining about this but as a player it's frustrating for an npc shift to end hrs early when people pay to play. Specifically for me because fighting is fun lol.

clarify? Are you referring to a few people leaving a shift early or an entire shift finishing before it's scheduled till? In either case this would be a serious matter to bring up with either Matt White or Andy as soon as it happens.

I've had it happen to me a few times too; Last non-alt event after the Sand Trap / Djinn Mod. We finished and it was 10 minutes before the end of the shift, but we were released. It was a meat grinder and many people needed a break, plus what are you going to do in ten minutes with a bunch of people getting prepped and carded.

To clarify, there are situations which warrant people to be a little late, but people should be allowed to complete their shift if these situations occur; or people should write down the time people leave their NPC shift that way they can just skim the list and go "Alright this shift stayed an extra 30 minutes, here's 50 SP." It doesn't bog up the system, and it doesn't affect the next shift, but it assures that if you're going to be cast iron with the rule violations that people get a carrot at the end of the stick.

My biggest clarification are the situations where you have a longer than usual mod that included a walk down past the maze or into the area past the lake; you complete 70-80% of the mod, and you have to leave before the completion of the mod just to make the walk back to logistics to make yourself arrive on time; people may not even have a time piece on them or the combat may be too intensive to check the time until you're already late. It's hard for a player to estimate how long a mod's going to take, and it's a little unfair if Bob, the only healer on a mod has to bail for paperwork thus causing a player death. It's good that people are cracking down, but there should be a little wiggle room for this type of scenario. I've had situations like that on occassion happen to me, and I know I would be extremely bitter if I lost my build because a mod took too long and I didn't have a time piece.

I would like to take a second to advise everybody to re-read the following link...
www.knightrealms.com/component/content/a...npcs-a-npc-duty.html

I would also like to state that it IS your responsibility to make sure you arrive on time to your NPC shift.  I will tell you this means making sure to either keep track of the time (which will also help you to remember when your buffs/debuffs run out and when the period changes occur.)

The rule was clear, but with this recent post has been made more clear.

For those who arrive in excess of 10 (Ten) minutes late, a rules violation will be warranted and you will still be required to find and fill another FULL NPC shift.  For those who remain (due to a Module or other task handed down by your Monster Marshal, Storyteller or Weekend Plot Runner) will be awarded 100sp per hour (starting at an extra 15 minutes.) you remain past your required shift.

If you are not sure if a module will run you late for your NPC shift, it is your responsibility to remember that it is required of you to show up for your NPC shift on time and ready to begin receiving roles.  I will say personally that if I saw a player on my module who I know had an NPC shift coming up, I would remind them that it is their responsibility to arrive on time for their shift, and if necessary (and the module allowed for it) find a way for it to make sense for their character to have to leave or otherwise disappear.

I hope this clears a lot of things up for those who may have a gripe about the enforcement of our NPC policy.

See you at the game!

I'd just like to throw my two cents out there, so yell at me if I crossed the line.  If you don't want to run the risk of being late for your shift due to a mod going off, a couple different shifts I suggest are Friday 10-2, Saturday 10-2, Main mod Saturday 8-12, and Sunday 9-??.  Speaking from experience, those are the best shifts to try to take if you are worried you'll be late, or want minimal interruption in RP as a character. Or even if you feel so bold, carry your phone on you, put it on vibrate, and set it to 15-20 minutes prior to your shift.  Sometimes, you can even check with a marshal for a mod to find out how long something will run.  There's plenty of ways out there that you can make sure that you will be on time. 

The point of NPC'ing is to have fun, and allow other PC's to have fun as well.  As a player, you have to ask yourself also, would you want people to show up late to their shifts and you find you don't have something to do?  People enjoy interacting with the NPC's, whether it is through combat or role play.  If you enjoy it, you should keep in mind the other players as well and allow them to have fun on your assigned shift as well.  You'd want the same thing, wouldn't you?

Chris:
In the past, unless I remember incorrectly, the reward for NPCing extra shifts was 150/hour.  Has that recently been changed?

Chris referenced working an extra hour (or hours) and said nothing about volunteering for an extra shift, unless I misread his post.

I honestly don't recall past policy, but the website currently says 100 SP/Hr.

I need to correct one thing that Chris said: you will not be required to complete a different NPC shift. If you are late to the shift, you simply don't get credit for NPCing for that event. As I said in my initial post in this thread, you might as well continue PCing and enjoy yourself. If that sounds like a sweetheart deal, I would remind you that Rules Violations add up painfully - tripling in penalty for each additional one. My advice is to show up on time. There are clocks in Logistics and the kitchen, and we're looking for atmosphere-approriate ones to put in IG areas.

Regarding people being dismissed from shifts early, it should not happening often but there are times when it makes sense and that is a decision that the MM can make on his or her own, but most often will make after coordinating with Andy, me, and/or some storytellers. The most common reasons for dismissing people early are scenarios like Daniel described, or to clear out Logistics because we need to get an important mod organized as soon as the next shift begins and don't want to have it overcrowded with people checking in and out of their NPC shifts.

If you think that you have been released early in a way that is detrimental to the game, please inform Andy or me. We aren't just putting the screws to our fine players; we're putting the screws to the MMs, too.  :-*

Finally, in an attempt to end on a wholly positive note, we are always looking to improve the quality of your NPCing experience. This game shouldn't stop being fun when you have to pause your PCing escapades to go NPC. We value any input that you can offer and if you have types of roles that you prefer you should feel free to share that with your MM. We don't cater to specific requests (e.g., "send me out as a Wild Mage") but we do try to cater to general preferences (e.g., "I'd prefer to have role-play oriented assignments" or, "I really want to beat the stuffing out of someone").

Question: What if the shift you need/want is full & the only shift open for you takes place when you're needed to PC?

Eaxmple: Paul the Player works & arrives to KR at 9 pm, after bad traffic & other stuff slows him down.  The only shift left open is Sunday morning.  However, on Sunday morning, a Witch Hunter storyline based mod is going on, & his PC has the WH relic needed for the mod to go off.

How are situations like these handled?

Perhaps you could see who was signed for the shift and prevail upon someone to switch?

Can I request to go beat the stuffing out of a specific someone?  ;D

On a more legitimate note, I have on at least 2 past occasions been scheduled to NPC saturday midnight - 4 when Main Mod went past midnight.  By the time I realized it, it was past the time when I could have arrived at Logistics by 12:10.  I asked a Marshal what I should do and was told that, because the NPCs also hadn't changed as they were also at Main Mod, I should finish the mod, then report to Logistics immediately after.  In the future, is this no longer the case?

If a plot requires a specific character or device for it to happen properly, it is up to the Storyteller to make sure the plot runs smoothly.  They should communicate ahead of time with the players involved to make sure everything will go off as planned.  This is no different than if you had to leave early due to an OOG reason, such as work or family obligations.  NPC responsibility is the same kind of obligation - an OOG one, that overrides IG concerns.

Being essential to a plot, encounter, or scene is not an excuse to miss your NPC duty.  It is the responsibility of the person running said scene to schedule it properly.

I see the different sides of this issue as multiple responsibilities.

The monster marshal that has the mod go off very late, so the NPCs involved cannot get back to Logistics by the end of the shift should be as liable as the PCs who have to rush back to make their shifts. 

It is just as not fair to those who have to stay late do to a mod starting late, thus running late; than those who are in the midst of combat at, say Totem pole, that have to go to their place of sleeping to drop off their weapons and equipment, then to logistics.

As Matt noted:

We aren't just putting the screws to our fine players; we're putting the screws to the MMs, too.

Andy and Matt, as Logistics and Deputy, will be making sure the MMs do their half of the bargain, and are fair to the players.  We need the players to honor their end, and be on time, or else the people playing PCs don't have NPCs to encounter.

I actually like the new rule to NPCing. Because as adults we are responsible for keeping schedules in our real life and our characters are responsible to keeping to certain things as well. "Paper Work" is something our PC's have to do every event. We have rules for a reason- to ensure everyone has a safe and fun weekend.

Everyone enjoys going on mods, and to go on mods we need enough NPCs to make them go off. So do your part and be an adult and get to your NPC shift on time. Fine yes mistakes happen and people are late, take the consequence and learn from the experience. Everyone should NPC no matter how long they've been around.

The clock in logistics has been missing in recent events.

The clock in logistics was just replaced last month bt Joe Bondi actually...

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The clock in logistics was just replaced last month bt Joe Bondi actually...

So... Joe Bondi just sits in Logistics and tells people the time?  Or do you go up to him, tap him on the shoulder for the time, & he kicks the crap out of you & tells you to go get a cheap watch? 

The latter. LoL

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I have had this situation in the past, and would like to point this out.  If you have duties in the kitchen to clean the stove or something, that is just as much an out of game thing as in game, shouldn't we ask to be excused, go to logistics, explain that you are in charge of cleaning the stove "right now" and would like to make sure you are not fined for doing another OOG responsible thing?

simple example:
Just finished cooking bacon, and look to see my shift starts in ten minutes.  I tell the kitchen marshal on duty that I have my NPC shift in a few minutes, and tell them that I want to go inform the MM that I need to do this to.  I run across tell them,"I just finished using the stove, and my shift is in a few minutes.  can I do that in one of the down parts of the shift?  preferably soon so nothing cooks in?"  Then run to get changed, and do as instructed.(hopefully get both things done without a problem for anyone.)

In this case, you knew before you began cooking when your NPC shift would be - time to clean up (the OOG responsible thing to do) should be planned in, when accounting for arriving at your NPC shift on time.  If you aren't going to have time to clean up before your NPC shift, don't start cooking.

I am not attempting to speak for Matt or Andy, just my own opinion on the topic.

Most of the questions that have come up here all end in the same train of thought. We all need to be adult about our decisions when it comes to NPCing. I'm sure we've all been in a situation where something has happened that would cause us to be late to our NPC shift and because of the human factor of it all MM's been lax towards punishing people who come in late. This laxness has caused some obvious and significant issues for MM's trying to organize their shift. Fortunately and unfortunately the game is getting larger and by proxy even harder to organize and keep running smoothly. Because of this we have to put more responsibility on the player so that we can ensure we have the NPC's available to provide a better game experience.

my only major concern in this is that this new policy will cause people to select only 2 or 3 of the several npc shifts. leaving the others drastically undermanned. moreover those who get shafted with the shifts they did not want may well choose to lose that build from the rules violation knowing full well how the penalty for repeated violations multiply just so they dont do or have to do the shift they didnt want... in protest if you will.

I often (for almost a year now) have been doing NPC registration and I have a rule that each shift may only accept up to it's designated slots and then is considered closed.  Only once every NPC shift has it's desginated slots filled do I allow overflow into other shifts.  So that does not need to be a concern.

Honestly, as has been said before in this thread, we are mostly all Adults and if someone wishes to protest a rule that is being heavily enforced in the interest of each and every player, then that is what is going to happen.

Every single player in Knight Realms dedicates 4 or more hours to other players so that they can feel like adventures and heroes.  It is only fair that when they are finished serving their 4 hours, that they reenter the game as their characters and are then afforded the same right to be adventurers and heroes.

I can say from experience that the most refreshing personal bit of knowledge I take away from our mandatory 4 hour NPC shift is knowing that when I go there, I will give 100% because when I leave, other players are going to come and give their 100% so I can enjoy the game as well.  It's a community activity and instead or protest it I feel like we should really embrace it, making policies like this unnecessary.

I have heard a lot of nit-picking at this policy and I truly believe that if we looked at it with a more positive outlook than it can be more enjoyable for everybody!  If you go into a situation feeling poorly about it, it's very hard to find a way to enjoy it, but if you show up pumped and ready to entertain and have a good time, you shift will fly by and it will be a more enjoyable experience for everyone!

I definitely echo Chris Goley's sentiment on this one, and wholly support the idea of full and enjoyable NPC shifts. I would like to add though that maybe the idea of strictly limiting NPC shift sizes, and the corresponding policy of requiring players to sign up at times they may not feel preference for, could be reviewed in order to assuage some players concerns.

Perhaps allowing those who take advantage of the early payment option to choose their NPC shift at the same time would help?

If you mixed that with streamlining the early payment option, it would be really great. I still don't know how to pre-pay  ;D