Rich C.Today at 5:39 PM
Alright!
Let me get the list of questions and we'll get started
First off:
How are you doing today?

LuckyToday at 5:40 PM
I just woke up from a 6-hour power nap because my body refuses to sleep properly at nights. despite the large amount of sleep deprivation I have.
But I woke up to find out that I don't have to go in tomorrow after all, which puts me in a better mood!

Rich C.Today at 5:40 PM
That's a plus!
Sucks about the sleep deprivation though

LuckyToday at 5:41 PM
eh, I have given up on maintaining a sane sleep schedule. And sleeping in weird times lets me play with the American-dominant VLC

Rich C.Today at 5:41 PM
Hence you being a closet American
Alright,
What made you want to become a Runner for VLC?

LuckyToday at 5:47 PM
Two main reasons. The more important one is, I've been running several OARs and I'm starting to find the restriction a bit inflexible. Many times, my games run longer than planned - not because the players are incompetent, but because they enjoy a good RP, or find a creative, if time-consuming solution to a situation, things that I believe are fundamentally good in a pathfinder game, but still take a long time. And I wish I could change the rewards matching to my players' efforts; as things are right now, I will either have to underpay my players, or have to cut out contents of my games. Becoming a runner would give me a little more of that much-needed flexibility.

The other reason is a bit more practical. As it is, whenever I was trying to run games, I had to chew on the runner team's ears, constantly pinging them for approval and/or spectating. This is a bit inconvenient, both for the runner team and me. While admittedly this has gotten better nowadays, it used to be more difficult to find spectators, and I worry that might happen again, if the runners get busy with real life.

Rich C.Today at 5:49 PM
Outside of VLC how much OAR/other GM'ing experience do you have?

LuckyToday at 5:50 PM
Not a lot. I have occasionally GM'd one-shots, but nothing serious. My main GM experience comes from VLC.

Rich C.Today at 5:50 PM
That's fine. That's all of my GM experience except the little bit I've played with my children
What sort of skills do you bring to the table as a GM?

LuckyToday at 5:59 PM
That's tricky to answer as it requires an outside perspective of myself, but I would say I do decently in engaging my players with RP (including characters that I have not originally planned to RP during the game).

Another thing that I like to believe I do as a GM is that I try to accomodate my games to my players' characters, and willing to bend my plans for my games to let them do their special thing. Of course this is a bit more difficult to do in VLC, when you don't usually know who your players are going to be, which often leads directly to the aforementioned increased game length due to unexpected player acts.

Rich C.Today at 6:00 PM
Yes, party composition can lead to longer games. But I do like that you tailor things to your players in allowing them input in the story.
What's your style as a GM?

LuckyToday at 6:08 PM
My style is admittedly a bit sillier than most. I understand that not everyone likes that, as we are all different and have different tastes, but I think it could make a game more entertaining when the bandits are bickering between each other or discuss how much they love pudding when the players are eavesdropping, even in an otherwise serious game.

Mind you, that I like funny NPCs does not preclude of serious, even somber games (perhaps as evidenced by the OAR series I am running right now, which stemmed from the players' guilt, as they killed an NPC). I like to believe I can do serious scenes all right, I just like to lighten up the games sometimes.

Rich C.Today at 6:09 PM
How would you rate your mastery of the pathfinder system as a GM?

LuckyToday at 6:12 PM
I have been playing pathfinder for about... at least 5 years now? I can't exactly remember. But the vast majority of that was being a player. As such, I'd say I have a solid grasp on the day-to-day parts, but I might need to look up stuff that comes up rarer (like special monster attacks) or stuff that comes up often, but I hate it (like grapple).

Of course, if I put a monster in the game myself that I know I will use, I first look through its statblock and check if it has an ability I have to look up. Still, obscure bit of rules or abilities do come up from time to time.

Rich C.Today at 6:13 PM
Ooof Grapple. I came across the flow chart recently. shudders
As a team, we prefer long-lasting commitment. How available will you be in the immediate and far future?

LuckyToday at 6:18 PM
In the VERY immediate future, I'm working on my thesis experiment right now, which is taking a significant amount of time this week and possibly the next. Once I'm done with that, I'm going to have to find a job. If my past attempts at finding a job are any indication, that's going to take a while, during which time I should be fairly free to GM as a gods-damned NEET.

The far future? That honestly is going to depend on what sort of job can I find. But I would count pathfinder as my main hobby, so I'd try to find the time to play it. Obviously can't say specifics without knowing my future job though.

Rich C.Today at 6:20 PM
I'm not sure what a NEET is, but I take it as a good thing?
Anyway, as for the far future we mean like the next 6 months to a year

LuckyToday at 6:20 PM
Well, that mostly depends on what job I can find if any

Rich C.Today at 6:21 PM
Sounds fine. Life happens, so long as we know what you plan/intend.

LuckyToday at 6:21 PM
Of course

Rich C.Today at 6:21 PM
What is one experience in roleplay that you've been particularly impressed by.

LuckyToday at 6:22 PM
Does this have to be in VLC?

Rich C.Today at 6:23 PM
No
It can be any instance of role-play and why it impressed you.

LuckyToday at 6:27 PM
Right. Well, I'm not going to name names, but there was a private campaign in which someone (not me) played a young cleric of Sarenrae. Their character started out as a shy, but dogmatic priestess with self-esteem issues. Over the course of months of interacting with other party members, however, she gradually grew it out, becoming more confident and less dogmatic, but in a way that consistently maintained her personal characteristics and never felt forced or sudden.

Rich C.Today at 6:28 PM
Hmm okay.
As a GM : Someone is disagreeing with one of your decisions or rulesets, or causing trouble. How do you react?

LuckyToday at 6:33 PM
Generally talking: I will politely explain the reason why I ruled it in that particular way (possibly opening a discussion if the player has valid points and not just being a naysayer). If we are both aware of each other's opinion but are at an impasse (or the argument is taking very long), I'll ask them to respect my ruling as the GM to move the game along; we can continue the argument after the game in private or bring it in front of the other GMs if the player still feels they have points to make.

Of course that's my general answer. Depending on the situation and exactly how disruptive the player might be, they could be sanctioned more, up to and including asking them to leave the game and/or bring the GM team's attention to their behaviour.

Rich C.Today at 6:35 PM
Is there any part of VLC that you feel is lacking or could be improved upon? Do you have any constructive criticism for our team?

LuckyToday at 6:39 PM
None that immediately come to mind. I do occasionally see some things that maybe I would rule differently if I was the GM of a campaign; but the thing is, a game with such a massive playerbase as VLC is not easy to oversee at all, and sometimes it's necessary to make concessions to realism versus a perfect game with infinite GMs with infinite free time to monitor it.

Rich C.Today at 6:40 PM
Do you know what standards you will be held to as a runner?

LuckyToday at 6:40 PM
I assume the standards and rules set on the VLC wiki page.

Rich C.Today at 6:40 PM
Precisely those

LuckyToday at 6:41 PM
Then yes

Rich C.Today at 6:41 PM
Alright!
Just a couple more questions by the way

LuckyToday at 6:41 PM
sure thing

Rich C.Today at 6:43 PM
When you first joined VLC there was an issue with wanting to have a follower of an evil deity but it turned into trying to find the balance with being secretive with the characters vs secretive with the players. I know that's been resolved, but my questions stem from that.
What have you learned from that experience?
How has it helped shaped how you GM games?

LuckyToday at 6:52 PM
I wrote up a longer answer to this but deleted it, as I realized it was unrelated to the actual questions.

What I learned, I would say, is to trust people more. Since I know some people, not even consciously, but still have their judgement colored by OOC knowlege even with the best of intentions, I thought it would be better to keep secrets safe (as I thought that anyone finding out would lead to retirement). But now I understand that a community game like VLC that depends entirely on the players just cannot be played without trusting your fellow members to a degree. That's inherent to the game's nature. In other words, I need to chill.

I'm not sure if it has directly influenced my GMing, to be entirely honest. Maybe if something similar were to happen, like a player of mine would be trying to keep something in secret, my experience could come in handy... but so far, nothing similar has happened.

Rich C.Today at 6:53 PM
Alright
Last question are there things that you particularly like in VLC, or think that are one our strengths as a Living Campaign?

LuckyToday at 6:57 PM
The colorful nature of having so many different characters to interact with, as well as having people to play with at basically any hour of the day is something that I find really enjoyable. Also, that I'm able to GM games and play in the same universe is really interesting.

Some could say that these are not VLC-specific, but rather apply to every living campaign. Maybe - I can't tell, I have never been in another living campaign. But from what I heard from other people's stories, VLC is a lot more successful than other LC's. I was suggested maybe it's due to the impartial rulings, (mostly) sticking to PFS, and the lack of evil alignment. That sounds like a reasonable explanation (but personally I lack the experience to tell as I've never been in another LC).

Rich C.Today at 6:58 PM
Alright, that concludes my questions for you. Do you have any questions for me?

LuckyToday at 6:59 PM
actually I'd like to ask you to pass on a message to the GM team before they decide

Rich C.Today at 6:59 PM
I can do that.

LuckyToday at 7:01 PM
I'd like them to know that I am still considering bringing Arabella back, I just so far haven't been able to figure out a way to make her less disruptive. But, if I ever do, I might try to un-retire her. I want the GM team to be aware of this, because they might want to know this before deciding whether they let me become a GM. I think it's fairer if I'm open about my intentions.

Rich C.Today at 7:03 PM
Thank you. I'll pass that along as well.
Alright, so the next step is we have a nice long (sometimes short) discussion and then take a vote. The voting process can take a few days, not usually longer than a week, to come to a decision.
The next step after the vote is, after the vote that you get GMd into the ER Trial room and create an ER.
http://varisialivingcampaign.wikidot.com/gm-applications In case I'm explaining it wrong because my head hurt

LuckyToday at 7:05 PM
Ah, right, I'm aware. Hopefully by the time the vote finishes I'll be done with my thesis experiment

Rich C.Today at 7:05 PM
Sounds good
Also, there's no rush or deadline to craft an ER

LuckyToday at 7:06 PM
gotcha, thanks