I can't help but chuckle that Jonathan edited that post not to piss folks off. I for one appreciate the effort however.

Here's the problem Jonathan. Either you or those that created the board with you gave the players and/or moderators on CORE the ability to vote and to change things at some point (to a limited extent). CORE has changed a lot since I've been here, but I seldom feel it's been for the worse... in fact, I don't ever think it's been for the worse, aside from the loss of moderators we grew to love (Orcbaby, Elvenoff, just to name a couple since I've been around).Nothing could have been done about that, as it is almost always 'real life' that pulls them away.

You are free to voice your point of view. You are 100% correct in that you were instrumental in creating and founding this web-board. Also correct in that it's done rather well since being created. Do you attribute that specifically to your way of doing things, or is it instead something that stems from the fact that CORE has changed an adapted as it has grown?

I'm not in support of high level campaigns. Neither do I really oppose it. I've offered suggestions and comments on how I think it might work if it were implemented, mainly because I'd like to see people get to play the game the way they want to. I'm not talking about giving them everything they want... +5 keen vorpal swords of fiery doom. I'm talking about letting the moderators here at CORE experience and bring the game to us as they would at their own tabletop. Simply because you would NEVER allow a tenth level starting character at your table-top game does not mean it has never happened. Quite contrary, it has happened several times in my own experience, and I'm sure countless times globally. That goes for all of the other things mentioned as well.

Now to everyone in general:

We share moderators among characters, and vice-versa. It's a beautiful system if you ask me, and while it isn't the reason I came here, it is definitely among the reasons I've stayed. For this to happen, we need uniformity to an extent. It is the primal reason why we need a base stat system as opposed to letting each moderator pick the starting power (stat point) level for the characters in their game. It's also the reason why we have officially sanctioned CORE accepted publications for use at the website. ie, if it's listed in these books, it is allowed to be used on the website (although any moderator can deny the use of just about anything in his particular campaign). It is also one of several reason all characters on CORE have started at level one and worked their way up since this board inception, right?

What is being suggested isn't that we allow any old player to come along and start making any old 10th level character and simply start playing them as is the system with the current board. Right now, any person surfing the internet can come here, read about the sytem, create a character in the PZ, and in the same day post to the gates of Ountsy (for instance) to start playing. That would be lunacy to allow for tenth level characters, and I think is a large part of why many have rejected the idea. I believe GM Spiral pitched this idea to us initially, and that was never the suggested format. What seems to be asked is if a moderator who wants to run a higher level campaign can be allowed to do so on the CORE Greyhawk boards. I know of at least one board where this would be allowed already with minimal cajoling. I'd gladly hook GM Spiral up with the webmaster of that board if this is completely rejected here, but I personally would like to see our moderators and players stay HERE. :)

From what I can see from Spiral's questions/ comments/ suggestions are that those who get to play in such a campaign would actually be quite limited and hand selected by any moderator that would be willing to run such a campaign. In other words, not every GM is going to run a high level campaign, so essentially access would be rather limited for the most part.

1) Moderator decides he wants to run a high level campaign.
2) He sets the guidelines for character creation.
3) He hand selects players he likes, either asking them to join, or taking the best of the crop from an adventure listing and/or other applicants.

We don't NEED a seperate CORE RPG board for it. It's still CORE Greyhawk, it's just different than the standard we've become used to, which is why I personally suggested a seperate forum. It keeps those characters/games seperate from the main board, but still allows them to be CORE Greyhawk.

Perhaps I'm starting to lean more toward it, but I think it's mainly because I simply don't agree with the arguements against it. 'I don't like it', 'you can't characterize properly starting out over lvl 1', and 'I would never allow that in my game' are not valid reasons to disallow the entire body of moderators here at CORE from doing so. If you dont like it, don't participate or do it yourself. If you can't characterize a 10th level starting character, then don't. However, as Silverback mentioned, that doesn't make it impossible. That's just what I was trying to say in short form in my last post.

Lastly, I want to say that there is a definite reason why the 'Democracy' of the board has worked so well. It allows the board to flex and change with the times. The exact same reason Democracy works as well as it does in political form in real life. It's still not perfect because you can never really make all the people happy all of the time. Still, when you look at the big picture, isn't it better that the majority rule in cases where there is strong opinion or divided lines? Isn't that essentiallly what has made CORE so great since it's inception. I think it is... but what do I know, I just work here. :D

I'm NOT trying to anger anyone or even upset anyone. I only wish to express my point of view using logic and reason. I hope that is the way in which they are viewed.

Edited for some really bad typos.... ;)