OOC Craft Meeting

Annik - Saturday, December 07, 2002, 4:24 PM

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Smith Dining Hall

As you step into this large room, rows upon rows of tables first greet you. The scars and spots in the wood and the benches distinguish them as apprentice benches, victims to younsters' curiosity about their first blades. Farther into the hall are groups of round tables with chairs, journeymen tables it would seem and finally across the top of the room sits one long table. The master's table is on a slightly raised dais, no doubt to allow the masters to keep a better eye on the apprentices during the meal. A swinging door near the apprentice tables gives a glimpse into the bustling kitchen.

A large metal door to the west leads out to the main meadow.

Contents:

Niobe

Desh(#10103PJOce)

Obvious exits:

Kitchens  Main Meadow 

 

Annik comes in OOC. There isn't really any super important IC business, so we'll start with some OOC stuff.

 

Niobe enods. Gotcha boss.

 

Desh says "Okiedokie."

 

Annik pulls out some comfy pillows and gets settled. "Okay, so how is everyone?"

 

Desh says "I've been better, I've been worse. You?"

 

Niobe is pretty busy IRL. Lots of moving, painting, upacking in the recent past. And family difficulties. But okay, still. :/ And you? :)

 

Niobe decides to flop on her overstuffed, extra-large pillows.

 

Annik has been going through some stuff IRL, but I'm basically okay. I just haven't had as much energy lately, which is why I'm going to be asking if anyone would like to try an 'admin intern' type job. Loren and Carissa are also busy, and it'd be nice to have another person to help out.

 

Desh says "What would the duties be for that position?"

 

Niobe thinks about it, but knows she could not be online enough and acive enough for that position.

 

You say "It would depend on how much the person is interested in doing. Mostly what I'm looking for is someone who can help organize RP, write some descs when needed, stuff like that."

 

Desh says "Doesn't sound too bad. Though I don't know about the RP; I know I stopped logging in so much because I wasn't getting RP I liked."

 

Annik nods. I know, and that's one reason I need someone to help. I'd like to get more RP going, but usually it takes more than one person to get that going, and RL has a tendency to be exhausting for me lately.

 

Desh nods. I'll do what I can, but I'm quite lost on the RP thing. I think we need more people, but people don't stay unless there's people to RP with... it's a vicious cycle. People do join after events and such, though.

 

Niobe nods.

 

Desh says "Then again, how many festivals or whatever can we have?"

 

Annik smiles. And this wouldn't have to happen, but someone who helps with admin stuff would have a foot in the door for being a C2. I know Loren's getting a little tired of admin and he doesn't want to stay in the position for too much longer.

 

Niobe ahhhsss...

 

Desh nods. Enh.

 

You say "We can have as many as we want... It's just I can't handle a whole lot when I'm doing most of the work myself."

 

Niobe nods again. Just common sense that1 person would be overworked.

 

Desh says "Would being more proactive about getting Smithcraft invites work? Like... +mailing Weyrlingmasters and asking if they want anything for the weyrling's graduation? Not just gifts, but fireworks?"

 

Annik nods. In my opinion, Carissa and Loren should both be doing a little more, but I do understand that their RLs are busy. Of course, it doesn't change the fact that I need some help here. Being proactive always helps, yes. Earlier today I was thinking of actually inviting different areas over for a dinner or something, with some sort of smith-type event.

 

Desh says "Oh, that'd be interesting, yeah!"

 

Desh says "Maybe we could do some sort of apprentice fair with the other crafts, too?"

 

Niobe ponders that.

 

Niobe thinks we might succeed better with other Crafters joing in peripherally.

 

Desh says "More people means more of a draw, though. And the other apprentices are nice. 'Sides, it's hard for the ones in, say, Woodcraft to get any tent manning time."

 

Niobe chckles, and sees your point, Desh. ;)

 

You say "The only problem with cross-craft events is that they almost never happen unless you're willing to do 99 percent of the work yourself."

 

Desh says "Hmn. It's necessary to +mail the craft masters, isn't it?"

 

You say "Some craft leaders never respond, or they forget, or no one can find a good time... Yes, it is."

 

You say "I'd say maybe do something like that with one or two other crafts at a time."

 

Niobe noddles.

 

Desh hmmns. That's a point.

 

You say "Of course, we should probably get the hall rebuilt first. I've kind of let the TP go because of my lack of energy, but it still needs to be concluded. I've made a map of how I envision it to look, and I'd like everyone's input."

Niobe purses her lips and nods.

 

You say http://www.geocities.com/sm1thcraft/maps.html

 

Got it, chief!

 

Desh waits for it to load. Dum dee doo. (:

 

Niobe peers. Any ideas for Appy Dorms? and J-Man Hall placement

 

Annik hmms? Those'll pretty much stay the same, since they didn't get damaged. I do want to change the descs a little, but only to make them more descriptive.

Niobe nods in understanding.

 

Desh nodnods at the maps. Works for me.

 

Niobe answers the door. BRB!

 

You say "Okay. I'll let the rest of the craft have their say, and after we finalize something we'll need to start on descs."

 

Desh nodnods.

 

Desh thinks he can help out some. I have far too much time on my hands.

You say "Ideally, I'd like to have many people working on descs, so that once it's all done, the hall will be a product of more than just me."

 

Desh's head bobs. Sort of a bonding thing.

 

Desh says "Do you mind if I advertised that Smithcraft was looking for people?"

 

Annik nods. Hopefully I'll be able to get some less active people as well, since descing isn't something that necessarily has to be done online.

 

Desh says "True 'nuff."

 

Niobe returns. Family. ;)

 

Annik grins at Desh. Go ahead.

 

You say "I occasionally put something on the wanted board, but I don't know if anyone reads it."

 

You say "Another thing I wanted to ask about has to do with promotions. This doesn't affect you two as much, but I would like your thoughts."

 

Niobe says, "Shoot."

 

Desh nodnods. I'll check on some policies. Oh, sure, go ahead.

 

You say "I'm wondering whether it would be good to do some promotions off camera, rather than having to wait and find the person online. Often what happens is the person is stuck as one rank for much longer than they should be because of differing online times."

 

Niobe nods. As long as the person is informed via +mail/e-mail beforhand, I think that's a great idea. :)

 

Desh nodnods. Sure!

 

Desh says "Maybe after an amount of time has passed? Like, say, if you can't find them in a week, you +mail?"

 

Annik nods. Yeah, and I can ask each person too, whether they would prefer on or off camera promotions.

 

Niobe grins. Sounds good to me. :)

 

Desh nods. I wondered if that would be too annoying to keep track of.

 

You say "This would be mostly for full and sr app promotions, since Jman/Master are things I want to keep making a big deal of. :)"

 

Niobe ponders. Maybe have a time frame in which to respond, or forfeit the promotion?

 

Niobe means, if they keep ignoring any mail you might send...

 

Annik keeps track of apps anyway, it wouldn't be hard to keep track of preferences. Well, I'll ask everyone generally, and the default will be off camera. If they do enough work to be promoted, they probably wouldn't be ignoring my mails.

 

Desh nods.

 

Niobe agrees.

 

You say "I really do prefer on camera, because then I get to surprise people, but I dislike keeping apps at jr when they're more than ready to move on."

 

Niobe erks! I'm being summoned to the Kitchen of Doom (tm)! Must leave now... Please keep me informed via e-mail/+mail! It was great seeing and talking to you guys again! <snug>

 

Annik waves at Niobe. Thanks for coming!

 

Desh nods. I like on-camera promotions.

 

Annik nods and will have to see what each person prefers. If they're more interested in being promoted, then that's fine with me.

 

Desh says "Spiffy."

 

Annik grins. Yeah. Oh, about that idea I mentioned earlier, about inviting areas over for a dinner/event. I was thinking for the event either a general knowlege class, or a showcase type thing, or both.

 

Desh nods. Oh! Did I ever tell you about the Healer idea I got after the molding lesson? Smiths should really all know enough about first aid to help each other or themselves. And so should a lot of other crafts... and holds... and weyrs. We could invite the Healers to do a first-aid class here. I should see if Ayanne likes that idea.

 

Annik hmmms. There's an idea. Invite other crafters here to teach us something, then pay them with food, and/or possibly some little trinkets or something.

You say "Of course, if we invite them here for our benefit, we'd better make sure some of our own will show up."

 

Desh nods!

 

You say "ICly, the posted crafter would be here to do things like first-aid classes. Though, if they had some of their apps who needed to attend a class, they could send people here for that."

 

Desh nodnods.

 

Desh says "Better to be learning stuff from PCs, though."

 

You say "Well, our posted crafter is Sauscony, the Healer C2."

 

You say "What I could do is just say, 'Hey, if you guys want to put on a class, we'll host it so you don't have to do all the work, and we'll invite other crafts, too.'"

 

Desh nodnods. Would it create more RP if they did each craft/hold/whatever seperately?

 

You say "We'd want to collaborate with the Bakers, too."

 

You say "Probably not. If they did it seperate, there wouldn't be as many people."

 

You say "Some of the crafts might only have one person show up, and that's okay, but if you're going to put that much work into it, you generally want a nice turnout."

 

Desh says "That's true, yeah. What's that about the Bakers?"

 

You say "If we were to provide dinner, I'd want to hire a Baker to cater. It would get them nicely involved. :)"

 

Desh says "Ooooh. Very true. And besides, they probably wouldn't mind some first aid, either. Burns and such."

 

Annik nods. What I would do is just send a notice to the other crafts, and if they come, good. If not, I wouldn't worry too much.

 

Desh nodnods.

 

Desh says "Ayanne seems to really like the first-aid classes idea."

 

Annik smiles. Good, I like it, too. I suppose I ought to +mail or something...

 

You say "Or, if she wants to pop over here, she's welcome."

 

You say "Too bad Sauscony had to work tonight, or we could talk to her, too."

 

Desh nodnods. I think Ayanne'll come.

 

From afar, to Annik and Desh, Ayanne waves, heya :)

 

Ayanne comes in from the main meadow.

Ayanne has arrived.

 

Desh grins. Heya!

 

Ayanne hihis :)

 

You say "Hi, Ayanne. Welcome. :)"

 

Desh grins. Sooo... first aid classes? Got anyone who'd teach those, Ayanne?

 

Ayanne says "Thanks :) I hear you guys are thinking of ... yeah, first aid classes. Well, like most crafts lately, we're a little strapped for active folk. But I'm sure that someone can do it. Or I could, if I brush up on my RL first aid knowledge ;)"

 

Desh says "Do your apprentices have to attend classes and such? I'm just mostly curious, there."

 

Ayanne grins. What apprentices? ;) Actually, we're in the process of revamping the requirements. It used to be all, 'if we think youre ready, you'll advance'. Trying to set actual requirements, in terms of quantifyable stuff.

 

You say "I was thinking you could send whoever would like to come over here and do that, then we would show our thanks by hosting a dinner. We could let the other crafts know, and they could send whoever they like."

 

Desh says "How 'bout the Weyrs, too?"

 

Ayanne's just waiting on Soz to review what I've written -- a bunch of us worked together to work out what would be reasonable. Yeah, sounds awesome. How'bout I bbpost on our board, asking that anyone who's interested +mail you and me, and we can work it out from there?

 

You say "In that case, we might as well throw in the Holds, too. :) That sounds good, Ayanne. When you figure out someone to actually teach the class, we can work with them on day/time, etc."

 

Desh nods. Sounds good. I see you around fairly often lately, so we should be able to coordinate.

 

Ayanne nodnods - sounds fantastic :) I'll give other healers the chance before i just announce that I'll run it. If there's no interest, I'll run it, if there is interest, I'll help out :)

 

Annik nods. Meanwhile I'll send a heads up to the Bakers to let them know there'll be a future dinner to cater.

 

Desh says "Excellent!"

 

Ayanne posts :)

 

Ayanne oohs, good idea on the bakers. Maybe invite the winecrafters, too?

 

Desh says "North America will now slide into the ocean. I have proposed an event."

 

Ayanne laughs!

 

Ayanne nos?

 

Annik sends off her +mail to the Bakers. Winecrafters are a good idea, too, though they'll be invited anyway with the other crafts.

 

Ayanne nodnods, but a personal invite with something to contribute is always good incentive. Trying to think of how to get others involved... request ICly that fish be served, so the bakers have to talk to the fishers? ;) Or same idea, with MBH?

 

Annik grins. Of course, if we wanted to get really involved, we could ask the winecrafters to prepare something and yeah... ask the Bakers to order some fish from the Seacrafters.

 

Ayanne should've put "" around have. "Have" to talk to them. But they'd then have something pre-event to RP around, whether crafts actually inter-RP or not.

You say "I suppose we can suggest it, though it's up to them if they want to follow through with it or not."

 

Desh says "Ooooooh."

 

Ayanne nodnods, exactly.

 

You say "If I wanted to go crazy with the +mails, I'd try to think of a special thing for each craft to do... But that's a lot of +mailing."

 

Desh says "And thinking up something special... agh."

 

Annik nods.

 

You say "What I'll probably do is mention that they can do something if they want.""

 

Desh says "Yes! Shift the onus, ha-ha!"

 

Ayanne hees :) Well, bakers do dinner, seacraft and MBH supply the critters for food, healers doing the class, smiths hosting. Who're we missing? Weavers, minecraft, woodcraft?

 

Desh says "Do we have PC miners?"

 

You say "Miners don't really exist anymore. Starcraft."

 

Ayanne ohyeahs, starcraft. Thought there were still some miners kicking around, though.

 

Desh says "Ooh. What to do if a telescope falls on you."

 

You say "Harpers!"

 

Ayanne dohs!

 

Desh says "Gah!"

 

Desh snickers, and suddenly imagines First-Aid inspired songs.

 

Ayanne giggles. They could ... sing! And learn what to do if a member of your quartet actually manages to hang themselves with the harpstrings.

 

Annik grins. Oh, I'm sure they could come up with a few.

 

Desh says "I know they could. Especially /my/ Harper alt, frighteningly enough."

 

You say "Well, harper who comes is more than welcome to perform if they'd like."

 

Annik corrects herself. That was supposed to be ANY harper who comes...

 

You say "Let's see, this thing is probably going to have to be in January. This month is going to get very busy for me IRL soon."

 

Desh says "January sounds just fine."

 

Desh says "Have I mentioned this before? The first aid thing?"

 

Ayanne nodnodnods - January's good for me. Got a thesis to mostly-write before then :P

 

Annik ums, possibly, Desh. I don't want to say absolutely no, but I can't say yes, either.

 

Desh nodnods.

 

Annik gets to go on a two week vacation, break for Christmas, then move between then and New Years.

 

Desh says "Gack. You're gonna be really busy."

 

Ayanne wooos. Fun!

 

Annik is trying not to think about it too hard. The vacation will be nice, except I'll only have sporadic net access. Then the move is only across town, and I don't necessarily have to have it all done before January. I just want to, though. :)

 

Desh says "Is the vacation somewhere nice?"

 

You say "Sort of. I'm going back to my hometown to visit all of my best friends."

 

Desh says "Oooh, that is nice!"

 

Annik nodnods.

 

Ayanne cools.

 

Annik hmms and vaguely wonders where her C2s are. This is why I need another person to help out.

 

Desh says "Loren usually made meetings... hmmn. They're not victims of the no-people-drift-away thing like me?"

 

Annik shakes her head. Nope, they both insinuated that they would be here. I know Carissa said she had another meeting at the same time, so her player should've been around for at least one of them. They just have erratic RLs.

You say "Speaking of RP, I'm wondering about day-to-day RP and how I could get that going. Not sure where to start. Ayanne, how is it at Healer Hall?"

 

Ayanne bleahs. Almost nadda RP at the Hall. Well, I shouldn't say that. Those of us posted there get some RP. But day-to-day, there's not much. We've got three apprentices and that's it, and if I kept on top of idle-deactive-ing them, we'd have only one.

 

Ayanne keeps posting to the board. What I'm going to do is have a craft dinner with a reason to have lotsa folk from all over the place over. I'll post to general that Healer's changing lots, like how advancement is done, rules and restrictions, stuff like that, and that anyone who might be interested in comming back should have a boo.

 

Smithcraft> Pollux arrghs! I missed it... :(

 

Desh says "I think it's seriously that we don't have enough people. If you get a big enough crowd, their relationships with each other are usually fodder for some RP."

 

Smithcraft> Annik says, "That's okay, Pollux, we've just been having OOC discussion. Come join us. :)"

 

Smithcraft> Pollux grins. Cool :)

 

Pollux comes in from the main meadow.

Pollux has arrived.

 

Desh waves.

 

Pollux waves! What's going on?

 

You say "We're talking about RP, Pollux, and how to get some more happening around here."

 

Annik would like to take a moment to do something, though...

 

Desh eases the knives away from Annik.

 

Ayanne nodnods. RP begets RP. If someone who would otherwise RP logs on and there's nobody there, they'll not do much, get bored, and leave :P

 

Pollux grins! True... Hm...

 

Desh nodnods.

 

You say "I apologize that this isn't IC or anything, but we'll pretend that this happened at the meeting. During dinner, Wen would have called one of the full apprentices to the front of the room and whispered something. The apprentice would then have wandered around for a bit until he/she stopped at where Pollux would be sitting. He/She would have grinned and said, "Pollux, please join me with the other full apprentices," and would have handed over a shiny new knot. So, Pollux, I now dub you promoted to full apprentice. Congrats."

 

Ayanne awwwws! We could've RPed it! :)

 

Pollux gasps! Whoa... it's all so sudden...! ;)

 

Desh grins. Gratz, Pollux!

 

Annik knows but wanted to get it done. It's been put off for way too long. At least I got to surprise him still! ;)

 

Desh cheers!

 

You say "We'd been talking earlier about off-camera promotions. I figure it'll help get people promoted when I never seem to catch them online."

 

Pollux grins and does a happy dance!

 

Annik grins. Now where were we...

 

Annik reads Desh's comment about needing a bigger crowd. True, but what can we do until then?

 

Desh says "That's a poser. Make excuses to RP elsewhere, if that'll make people say, 'Oh, SmithCraft's cool! I should make an alt there'?"

 

Ayanne tried encouraging my Jmen and Masters to run classes or arranged RP for apprentices, but by then we were so few that it didn't help. But I'm still convinced that 'planned' RP, getting a critical mass together, is what it'll take.

 

Desh says "Like setting dates for everyone to log on and RP?"

 

Pollux listens...

 

Annik nods at Desh. That does work. It's what worked with you anyway, right? :) I suppose if we do more things like fireworks and stuff, it'll help.

 

Ayanne nodnods. Not just classes, those can be dull, not everyone likes to RP'em. But other stuff sometimes helps.

 

You say "Jump in anytime if you've got ideas, Pollux."

 

Pollux will :)

 

Pollux likes the fireworks idea!

 

Ayanne's sorry, but I"m gonna have to idle for a wee bit. Just worked out code we'd been slogging through, and haven't eaten!

 

Annik nods. I was going to do something with fireworks... I forgot about it somehow. Hmm.

 

Desh says "It was the festival with fireworks that got me. (;"

 

Desh says "Mostly the fact that I liked how everyone seemed to work together."

 

Pollux ponders... didn't the starcraft do a meteor shower last month?

 

You say "Oh yeah, I think I was going to ask people to submit to firework emits."

 

Annik shrugs at Pollux. Not sure.

 

You say "The festival was at a time when we were getting a whole bunch of apps at once. It was odd, because that doesn't usually happen."

 

Desh says "Hmn. I haven't talked to Kuroyi in a while."

 

Pollux also notes Kuroyi's absence

 

Annik hasn't seen him lately either. He works in the afternoon/evening, I think.

Desh nods. Haven't seen him in either guise - we used to pagechat a lot.

 

You say "I suppose I could make writing firework emits a promotion option. That way I could kill two wherries with one stone."

 

Desh says "Ack. On top of the project, the class teaching, and the tent time?"

 

You say "Emphasize the word option. As in, you can do an object OR a class OR write fireworks... :)"

 

You say "For the Jrs and full apps."

 

You say "And Jmen could do it whenever. Anything Jmen do earns them points towards Mastership."

 

Desh says "I thought I'd stop at JMan, but I dunno... Master would be nice."

Pollux hurries off to make an object that emits firework descs!

 

You say "For the Srs, hmm, I could possibly switch firework emits for doing an object, but only if they've done an object before."

 

Pollux grins

 

Annik smiles at Pollux. We already have a couple of those, actually. We just need something to put in them.

 

You say "That's why we don't do fireworks events much. Someone has to write the emits first."

 

Pollux nods...

 

Desh hmmns. Firework emit generator...

 

You say "Someday I'd like to have a reserve of emits so we could do a show whenever."

 

You say "So, doing events like fireworks shows may help to get new members. I'm still wondering about our current group, though. I wish the apps knew each other better, but I feel like you don't interact much."

 

Desh says "Heh. I certainly haven't. I dunno... Kuroyi, Talbak, Niobe and I did pretty well for a while."

 

Pollux nods. Mahalia logs off when I log on! lol! I don't know why, I haven't even done anything mean or weird to her!

 

Annik just realizes you can chat through yahoogroups. Neato. Anyway, yeah, I'm wondering what to do about that. Maybe when the Sr apps schedule their lessons, have them specifically ask the other apps for a day/time?

 

Desh says "I'd prefer the whole 'setting up specific times to just log on and RP' myself."

 

Annik nods and hasn't had much luck with that, personally. I tried to make it easier by doing the online times page, but I don't know if it's very effective yet.

 

Desh says "Hmn. I'll have to camp."

 

You say "You guys are always welcome to organize something amongst yourselves."

Desh nodnods.

 

Pollux<----Writing a fireworks desc ;)

 

Annik grins. I suppose it just takes a few ambitious apps to get something like that going. I think that's how we did it when I was an apprentice.

 

Annik adds Desh's class to the calendar.

 

Desh says "Woo!"

 

Pollux wants to attend!

 

Desh says "It's basic coding."

 

You say "Oh, speaking of classes, I'm going to try something with Taria. Since she's usually not on till early morning PT, I'm going to have her do something off-camera."

 

Desh says "How's that work?"

 

You say "I'm letting her make up a lesson, but it'll be posted online, and there will be a quiz with it. Other apps will get points for taking the quiz and passing it."

 

Pollux nods and likes that idea :) Then, he points out. Bigfoot just died!

 

Desh says "Oooooh."

 

Desh says "Wha?"

 

Annik grins and heard about that.

 

Pollux hmms. Then again, he never believed, so he wonders why he's surprised!

 

You say "The guy who made up the Bigfoot myth died."

 

Desh says "Ahhhh."

 

You say "By the way, is there anything in particular either of you would like to RP?"

 

Desh says "Nothing off the top of my head, no."

 

Pollux shakes his head. Not really, yet

 

Desh says "I just thought I'd do the whole war to become emperor thing off-camera."

 

Annik grins. Good idea.

 

You say "Oh, I have a question. Does anyone here think it would be a bad idea to ask about Search plans in the questionnaire? It would have no bearing on whether someone gets into the craft, but I like to know if someone is planning on being Searched."

 

Desh says "Hmmn. Seems fine to me?"

 

Pollux shakes his head. Seems fine to me too :)

 

Annik nods. Okay, we used to have it there, and for some reason it got taken off.

 

You say "Meeting adjourned, unless anyone has anything else to say?"

 

Pollux shakes his head.

 

Desh says "Naaaaah."

 

You say "Meeting adjourned, then."