Hammel Summer 2015 Newsletter!

[Sean *]

Hello from Hammel's Staff!

We have a number of announcements for things that have just happened, are happening now, and will happen soon on Hammel!

First, and perhaps most importantly, the Hammel staff wishes a sincere welcome to all of our new members, and a welcome back to our returning members! Since I can’t realistically welcome everyone who joined since the last newsletter, I’m going to try to welcome everyone who joined in the past month or so by name: Ayeh, Squid, K, Frost, and Stubby, as well as hearty welcome backs to Talon, Abe, Nanners, Kelly, Matt, Faraday, Brenna, and Cat. Also belated welcomes to our newest staff members Sydnee and Pam!

Next: For anyone who hasn’t seen the C-Box or heard through the grapevine or through May’s OTM nominations/polls: Sean’s computer is down for the count. This is why I haven’t been around as much as I’d like, why my posting has slowed to a crawl even by my standards, and why I am forced to be an anon in the C-Box. My goal is to have a new computer by the end of the summer, so please bear with my during this time. I will continue to be slow, but I hope to get back into posting sooner rather than later. If you do not want to continue threads, please let me know. Also, if I have neglected anything in my staff duties, please let me know via board PM to my Sean* account, because I don’t have access to Chatango currently.

Moving on: Staff is in the process of archiving threads. There will be a sweep in the next few days to archive any thread that has not been posted in for at least a month, with the exception of the current May/June Event threads. If you have a thread that you wish to keep open, please PM Sean. As a reminder, if you want a thread reopened after it has been archived, simply PM any member of staff.

As a result of the recent Activity Check and graduation, there will be a dorm shuffle. Your character might be in a new dorm room, might have new roommates, or both. Please keep an eye on the Housing list and announcements to see your character’s dorm assignment for the new school year.

Also, some reminders on our rules:

• Posts are to be written in third person past tense. This looks like: “Sean walked into a room and said, “Hello.” As opposed to present tense, “Sean walks into a room and says, “Hello” or first person, “I walked into a room and said hello.” Please make sure to write your posts consistently for ease of reading/interacting.
  
• Signatures must be 500px or less wide. Otherwise they stretch the board and slow it down with resizing.
  
• Don't change font colors or size in your posts. We have people on the site who have trouble seeing different colors, and the default font colors and sizes were chosen so they would be easily readable. After all, you want people to be able to read what you write!
  
• When making a new character, please be sure to check the Face Claim before choosing your play by. Your character will be pended if their face claim is already taken. 
• Please remember to abide by the Proboards TOS. Hammel is a PG-13 site.
  

For anyone who hasn’t seen it yet, staff implemented an Application Guide. This is a non-mandatory read, but it’s one of the most thorough documents that staff has ever implemented, and it should answer most questions about what staff look for when reviewing applications.

Additionally, a project that has been in the works for a while has been posted: the Dorm Policy Handbook for 2015-2016, courtesy of Cat and tweaked slightly by staff! Let’s all thank Cat for providing us with this resource!

Coming soon/on the horizon: floor plans for the rest of the school and a map of Pilot Ridge proper! Emily, please PM Sean when you are feeling better; there’s no rush.

Also coming soon: Less exciting but also coming soon: the long-awaited rule revamping. And possibly more skins!

In addition, if you have documentation that you would like to see, please post it in our Suggestions for Hammel Documentation thread.

If you have other IC or OOC questions about Hammel, the universe, playing rules, character creation, or anything else, our FAQ always takes new submissions.

If you have general site suggestions, please post in our suggestions thread.

We have an ongoing Hammel Timeline Project! Post significant dates to your characters so that they can be merged with everyone else. Also, learn about who else was around during significant moments so that you can plot more easily.

We also have a master birthday list! Post your character's birthday to be added to our calendar.

We have the index of Open Threads. If you need a place to post, please look it over to see threads that need attention. Likewise, if you start an open thread, be sure to link it to the thread index. We have a lot of open threads right now that could use a new participant, so please take a look and consider joining a thread or two.

In order to share the love, if there is someone you want to thank for any reason, we have a Thank You To...thread. We also have the Thread of Never Ending Praise for you to share threads that you are following, and Characters Say the Darndest Things thread for sharing IC quotes you enjoy.

The June OTM Polls are up! Please vote.

The July Writing Challenge and Graphics Challenge will open for entries on July 1, 2015 and will be open for most of the month, until the morning of July 28, 2015, Eastern Daylight Time.

If you have suggestions for the monthly writing and graphics challenges, please post them in our suggestion thread. We’ve worked our way through quite a lot of the suggestions over the past couple of years, and we always want new ideas.

We have many events and plots on the horizon!


First, let’s have a roundup of the current events and open plots still ongoing on Hammel:


-Graduation is finally upon us. IC, graduation occurred on June 26, 2015, and the thread is open to all graduating seniors, their friends and family, and members of the staff. The Headmistress will give a short speech that will be posted this week, but we would like to see student or staff participation before the speech. Your post doesn’t have to be long; just make sure that they’re there to enjoy the moment.

-Additionally, there is an OOC thread for all students who are graduating Hammel or otherwise leaving school. Please post there for your graduating characters, so that staff can sort them into the appropriate user group during the next Activity Check.

-Immediately following graduation is Hammel’s summer break. IC, Hammel is on summer break from June 26, 2015 through July 26, 2015. Your character can go home during this time, or they can remain on campus if that’s easier for them given their situation. There are no classes, and staff members will be on break as well, except for those necessary to keep the school going for any students remaining behind. Classes will resume on July 27, 2015, no exceptions.

-In honor of LGBT Pride Month generally, and particularly to commemorate the SCOTUS ruling in favor of marriage equality, we are having a Pilot Ridge Pride Parade mini-Event. This IC occurs on Sunday, June 28, 2015. Have lots of fun and let the rainbow flag fly high!

-We are still working with our May/June Thread Roulette Event. I know that RL hit many of the players hard during May and June, so that this event has been slow. While the new site Event will begin in July, the Thread Roulette threads will remain open for playing until the players involved individually wind them down. A number of them have yet to receive any posts, so please coordinate with your assigned players to make them shine.


We have a lot on the horizon this summer and autumn:

July:

-The July/August Event will begin on July 1 and run through August 31. This event will be Time Warp, which is a board favorite. This is an event where you can play out your character’s past or future, and more information will be provided when the event begins later this week.

-During the summer, Hammel will hold its Student Activities Council fundraiser, through which the Council funds dances and other social activities throughout the school year. Following a thorough C-Box discussion, by popular request, this summer’s fundraiser will be a bake sale/pie auction/eating contest. This will take place on campus, and sign ups will be posted in the next week or so. This will be a lot of fun and will be open to student/staff participation for entries (possibly for the community pending more discussion) and to everyone in the community for buying/auction bidding. Let’s have a lot of fun, everyone!


-During the first week of classes in July, Dr. Sean Neville will hold his annual sexual education seminar, ominously known as “The Talk.” The Talk is mandatory for all graduating seniors, and any student age 13 or older is allowed to attend. There will be a request for staff assistance in keeping the students from misbehaving, and, as always, the IC/OOC request for questions will go up a week or two before the beginning of the thread.



August:

-The July/August Event: Time Warp will continue through the end of August for new threads. No new threads can be created after the morning of September 1, 2015 when the new event is posted, but threads can be continued until finished.

-The Pilot Ridge Community Field Day/Faire[/a] will occur at the lake. This will take place in early-mid August and is open to every character in the community as long as they are not currently in jail or under house arrest (this includes being grounded by Hammel). Have your character enjoy a relaxing day at the lake, complete with games, food, crafts, rides, and contests, including a charity talent show. This talent show is very important for super secret plot purposes, so please contact Sean if you would like to participate in something with broad-site significance.

-The annual Hammel camping retreat will occur at the end of August. For newer members, the Hammel camping retreat is a five-day long field trip to camp grounds in New Hampshire. Typical camping activities such as kayaking, hiking, swimming, bonding with nature, and campfires are available. This event is open only to current Hammel students who are not on disciplinary hold, and to volunteer Hammel staff members – no spouses and no alumni. Look for an information thread in August.

September:

-The September/October Event will be posted either on or slightly before September 1. This happens to be Sean’s favorite event, so watch as I get progressively excited as we grow closer to this event. Sign ups for Power Swap will begin with the information thread, so keep an eye out. Power Swap is an AU event, and so all threads are not canon.

-Sydnee continues to have a fantastic event idea that we want to implement this September pending player availability. This event will be a Team Building/Trust Building Day at Hammel, aimed at helping the students to build relationships and problem-solving skills, and for them to interact with other people that they might not include otherwise. There will be about four IC faculty members leading this, including Everett Lilien. Contact Sydnee for more information.

October:

-The September/October Event will continue through October 31 for the creation of new threads.

-Hammel will have its autumn/Halloween dance at the end of October, open to all students and staff members (plus spouses). The theme will be decided closer to the time of the dance event. This will be a dry event.


We also have a number of group threads, event threads, and member-run ideas in progress or on the horizon:

-There will be a Hammel Spirit Week sometime in autumn. Before then, we will take ideas for Spirit Week activities.

-Sean is planning a super secret plot. If you are interested in making a new character for board plot purposes and can promise that you have the time to invest in doing so, please contact him to discuss ideas. Staff would like broad participation across already active characters and new ones. Because it’s super secret, please don’t divulge what you’re told if you join, under penalty of making a penguin cry like Snoopy and living with the guilt.

-The Pilot Ridge Register is the newspaper of record in Pilot Ridge. They interview locals for interest columns. Interviews are posted in the Pilot Ridge Register sub-board in the Communications Board. If you would like one of your characters interviewed, please contact Stefan Spencer (Played by Abi). We are also always looking for more journalists. So consider making one.

If you have an event that you would like to see, please post it in our suggestion thread.

For the purposes of IC plotting:

The following Hammel Student Clubs and Sports Teams have no faculty advisor:
-Basketball
-Football
-Softball
-Swimming
-Track
-Cheerleading
-Cinema Club
-Culinary Club
-Dance Team
-Drama Club
-Environmental Awareness Club
-Gay-Straight Alliance
-Multicultural Club
-Newspaper
-“Not a Victim” Basic Self-Defense
-Sewing Club
-Yearbook

If you have any interest in having your Hammel staff member serve as a faculty advisor, please post in the signup thread. Additionally, if you want to make a new club, follow directions in the signup thread.

If you play a student or faculty advisor and you want to hold a club meeting thread, you require no approval to post it. If you want a club activity such as a fundraiser, please contact Sean for OOC planning.

Hammel needs staff in the following areas:
-Powers Trainers (Must Be Powered)
-Main Office Receptionist (Powered or Non-Powered)

-Recruiters (Must Be Powered)
-Staff Attorney (Powered or Non-Powered)
-Dorm Monitors (Must Be Powered)
-Science Teachers (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Earth Science, etc.)(Powered or Non-Powered)
-History Teachers (Global History, U.S. History, etc.) (Powered or Non-Powered)
-English Teachers (Powered or Non-Powered)
-Math Teachers (Powered or Non-Powered)
-Language Teachers (French, Spanish, German, etc.) (Powered or Non-Powered)
-Business Teacher (Powered or Non-Powered)
-Economics Teacher (Powered or Non-Powered)
-Communications Teacher (Powered or Non-Powered)
-Head of Research (Must Be Powered, Contact Sean)
-Researchers (Must be Powered)
-Security Guards (Must Be Powered)
-On-Call Doctor (Powered or Non-Powered)
-Power Side Effects Specialist (Must Be Powered)

A reminder that we have a signup list/index for local businesses and job opportunities. Please take a look if you play a student who needs pocket money or work experience, and then contact the appropriate player. If you are a player of a business owner, or if you play a character who works at a business that you OOC created and thus control the NPC owner, and you want to hire students, please post in the signup thread so that students have more opportunities.

If you play a trainer, remember to look at the list of students in need of trainers for plotting purposes. If you are a student in need of a trainer, be sure to post in the Student/Trainer Matching thread A reminder that staff does not assign trainers to students, so all plotting involves the consent and participation of student players and trainer players. Also, we are in dire need of trainers at this point, since we have only a handful of active trainers. If you want to make a staff member character, consider making a powers trainer. You’ll have guaranteed plots and you’ll fill an important IC role!

The PUSE site plot is still ongoing, and we need affiliated characters. Check out our Wanted List for characters, if you would like a character in PUSE, or if you would like a character who is politically-involved and against PUSE. For new members, PUSE is People United for Safety and Equality; it is an anti-meta hate group and community action group situated in Pilot Ridge. PUSE also has a Youth Group that is recruiting. If you have questions, PM Sean or Dryope. If you have questions about specific IC PUSE plans, contact Izy, who plays Joe Honnick, the PUSE President.


If you are thinking of a new character but do not know where to begin, check out our Wanted Characters! Also, look at our Play Bys We'd Like to See thread, our Powers We’d Like to See thread, and our Jobs We’d Like to See thread.

If you would like a sub-board added, post in the Buildings/Locations We Would Like to See thread or post in the Housing Application if it is your character’s home or business.

We are once again trying to resurrect the Hammel TWITTER and TUMBLR blogs! We are taking submissions from everyone. Blog at us!

We are still trying to coordinate a Hammel RL meet-up/convention. We’ve narrowed it down to summer 2016 and New York City on the cheap, so please help us plan the rest of the details. Additionally, we are collecting tee shirt designs.

Thanks to everyone for making Hammel the wonderful game that it is. Let’s have a fantastic summer for plotting, writing, events, and absurdity.

-Sean and the Hammel Staff