Society Board Minutes – October 2017

IFGS BOARD MEETING MINUTES

10/17/17 – Final

 Wherein new versions of the Bluebook and Registry Handbook are approved. A discussion continues on Intellectual Property rights for game writing and Creative Commons.

The 10/17/17 Society Board Meeting was called to order at 8:20 p.m. Eastern Time. Present were Board Members John Jones, Olan Knight, Pat McGehearty, Brad Evenson, David Spence, Hugh Greene and Sarah Gibson. Melanie Greene and Michelle Cahill from N. Alabama Chapter, Mike and Allie Englerth from D/B Chapter, and Janice Gott Society Clerk were present.

STANDING BUSINESS:

MINUTES: MOTION: To approve the minutes of the 9/28/17 Board Meeting (Evenson, Spence, passed by acclaim).

ELECTION REPORT: Chair Chris Seals has obtained the list of voting members from the clerk. There are three positions opening on the Board: Pat McGehearty, Sarah Gibson and Brad Evenson. All are interested in running again, and Michael Englerth is also interested in running. Position statements should be sent to Elections@ifgs.org.

FRC REPORT: The March 7.1 Playtest Rules is looking at Druids and Knights. During the playtest period, PC characters will be able to play the various specializations without committing their character to that path, and PC characters may temporarily switch to the new Bard class for playtesting. In fact, PCs are encouraged to try the new specializations out and comment on them to the FRC (frc@ifgs.org). Also note that no magic item using new abilities may be created during the playtest period.

SSC REPORT: Jones reported that the SSC has a revision of the Bluebook, incorporating recent FRC Hits & Misses rulings, and adding Anchor Games to section 4.2 of the Bluebook. This update also includes minor formatting fixes. They are planning to improve the example section of the Bluebook in the future.

MOTION: To approve the 2.14 version of the Bluebook (Knight, Spence, 7-0-0).

REGISTRY: The new NPC CAP award levels were added to the Registry Handbook. Knight asks the chapters to send in their quarterly backups of the Chapter registry databases. Jones noted that Anchor Game EP will need to be added into the Handbook in the future. Greene noted that the Milestone Awards do not say whether the 25th game award is once per day (which was the intention). He asks that it be clarified, so a minor change was added to the 3.24 version.

MOTION: To approve the 3.24 version of the Registry Handbook (Evenson McGehearty, by acclaim).

TECH COMMITTEE: No report.

GENERAL PROMOTIONS: No news.

CONSTITUTIONAL REVIEW TASK FORCE: No activity.

CHAPTER LIAISON UPDATES:  Denver/Boulder Chapter ran games in August and September, and has a November game on their schedule.

CONTINUING BUSINESS

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA CHAPTER DISSOLUTION: No action.

SCIFI RULES COMMITTEE: No report.

NEW BUSINESS

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY: Greene asked the Board about IP (Intellectual Property) rights for not only games but shared worlds, ongoing NPCs, etc. The Board is considering the creation of a standard template to include in the front of game copy, if a writer desires. Greene notes that the Northern Alabama Chapter has a member versed in copyright laws, who felt that a writer creating a game explicitly for the IFGS, already implies that the IFGS then owns copyright of that game. Evenson wonders if you can also create a template that a writer can adopt to LIMIT use to permission from the author. Evenson notes that Knight orders, Clerical orders and the like have no official standing, so it is hard for the creators of those orders to control their use by other PCs. Greene asks for clarification on the use of copyrighted materials in character development, such as migrating online game characters into PC characters. The position of the Board is that copyrighted material, as well as established religions, should not be used directly in character development. It might be possible to clarify this in Hits & Misses.

NEXT MEETING: The next IFGS Board Meeting will be held on Wednesday, November 15th. Times for the meeting are 5 pm Pacific, 6 pm MST, 7 pm CST, and 8 pm EST. The meeting will be held on Skype at i_f_g_s or 720.259.1667. The meeting was adjourned at 9:20 pm EST.

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CHAPTER LIAISONS

Dallas – Evenson

Denver/Boulder – Spence

Norman – Spence

Pacific Northwest – Jones

Northern Alabama – Gibson

 

Provisionals:

Greater Milwaukee – Greene

Southern California – Knight

Central Ohio – Spence

 

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PROJECT LIST

 

Completed Tasks

Society-level electronic voting – Completed

Society Waiver Forms – Completed

Stoplight Policy – Completed

Milestone & Karma Awards – Completed

Business Cards – Available on Vistaprint

Updating Society Website to WordPress – Completed

 

In Process Tasks

Updating Governing Documents – In process with Society Task Force

Updated Committee Charters – In process with Society Task Force

 

On Hold

Character Creation System

Expand and Revise Wiki (Possibly incorporating online rules.) –

 

Not Started

Updating GW Handbook–

Streamlining the payment processes between Society and Chapters –

Treasury Tracking –

Shared Calendar on Website –

Creation of a Treasury Handbook –

Membership Tracking –

Link Exchanges –

Research for 8.0 Rules Set –

 

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Society Board Members

John Jones (TX) (2019) [Pres]

Sarah Gibson (TX) (2018) [VP]

Pat McGehearty (TX) (2018)

Brad Evenson (CO) (2018)

Olan Knight (TX) (2019)

Hugh Greene (AL) (2019)

David Spence (TX) (2019)

 

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Fantasy Rules Committee (FRC)

David Spence (TX) (2019) [Chair]

Brad Evenson (CO) (2019)

Hugh Greene (TX) (2019)

Seth Bush (TX) (2018)

David Gibson (TX) (2018)

Joshua Harris (TX) (2019) ad hoc temporary

 

Society Sanctioning Committee (SSC)

John Jones (TX) (2018) [Chair]

Seth Bush (TX) (2019)

Olan Knight (TX) (2018)

Kaaren Davis (CO) (2019)

Melanie Greene (AL) (2019)

 

General Promotions Committee (SGP)

Sarah Gibson [Chair]

Jason Dziuk (2015)

open (2014)

open (2014)

 

Publications Committee

Members all informal appointments –

 

Elections Committee

Chris Seals (TX)

 

Registry Chair

Olan Knight (TX)

 

Tech Committee

Robert Armstrong (TX) [Chair]

Bethany Vann (OK)

Sarah Gibson (TX)

Open

Constitutional Review Task Force

Hugh Greene (AL) [Chair]

Brad Evenson (CO)

Ray Michel (CO)