TABBY TALES LEADERSHIP GUIDE | Written by Marquette & Floppie w/ advice from Ava As fun as it can be, leading a clan comes with a lot of work as well. It will take a lot of energy out of you to keep up with the role. As leader, the livelihood of your clan can depend a lot on you, so it’s important to acknowledge the responsibility that comes with this role. Activity && Engagement && Events && Leadership Duties && Stepping Down
Being Clan Leader requires a strong IC presence. This does not mean an overbearing presence. Keep basic roleplay Etiquette in mind, regardless of your position.
Instead, think about what the Clan expects from you regarding activity. They want to know that their Clan leader cares about their plots and their characters. They want to see you engaging in lighthearted threads, in fun threads, in sad and serious threads. They want you to get to know their characters and care about them the way they do.
In order to show this, you’ll want to make sure your leader is making appearances in open threads and participating in daily Clan life. Avoid sticking only to private threads! If you find yourself facing writer’s block, learn to prioritize threads by replying to the ones you are needed and/or tagged in, and then maybe one or two that won’t require an intense response from you.
It’s a good rule of thumb to ensure you are posting in open threads with your leader at least a good few times per week. This will help you to know what is going on within your own Clan and help you to stay on top of your tasks. Don’t be afraid to delegate certain duties to other HPs or SHPs if you need to to stay organized!
It is very important for the Clan leader to be engaged with their members both ICly and OOCly! As an HP, you will be responsible for monitoring the Clan Discord. This means you will be welcoming new members, organizing character channels, making announcements when relevant, and making yourself available for any questions people may have.
It is very important that you do not come across as disinterested or impersonal. People may hesitate to come to you for help if they don’t feel comfortable doing so. Do your best to be kind and helpful. A friendly clan leader who won’t hesitate to plot with others is always a good sign to any player, newcomer or not. The Clan Leader should be engaging in discussions with everyone. We encourage you to poke your head in other people’s plotting channels to chat and interact!
OOCly, know what your clan wants. If you’re not sure about how the reception of something may be, take a few moments to put together a survey for the clan to fill out
As leader, you and your HP team will be responsible for keeping your Clan active. The best way to do this is by coming up with Clanwide plots that everyone has a chance to participate in if desired! There are a few things to keep in mind when brainstorming Clanwide plots. When coming up with events…
– Avoid plots that shine the spotlight on only a select few characters. This can lead to the rest of the Clan feeling excluded and bored with the event. Come up with ideas that can be fun and engaging for anyone within the clan. Ensure you are giving the community a chance to give feedback and sign up for specific tasks or roles.
– Don’t be afraid to collaborate with other clans! In fact, we encourage getting together with the HPs of another clan every once in a while to discuss plans and ideas. Clan tensions– or alliances, are something we’d love to explore in this roleplay
– Have a timeline in mind. If a plot goes too fast, people may become overwhelmed and feel lost. If a plot moves too slowly, people may become disinterested and not want to participate. Pacing can be a tricky thing to figure out. Pull ideas from your HP team and your community, and see what people would have the most fun with! It’s imperative to get a proper feel for Clan Activity, and give the plot pushes or calls to slow down as needed.
– Consider what kind of event you’d like to have. Would it be something long-term, an event that to be called upon time and time again throughout history? Harsh conditions that will push your clan’s characters through developments, or something lighthearted and fun like seasonal prompts? A good mix of both can be especially fun, rather than non-stop angst or non-stop silliness. If you’re doing something more lighthearted, think about prizes you could offer? Don’t be afraid to approach artists within your clan, or consulting staff about event badges!
– Pay attention to other clans. When playing an HP in one clan, it’s easy to focus on where your most active and not the other clans, but keeping a close eye on the others prevents repetitiveness. Why would someone want to participate in this event if another clan they play in just concluded one with the same premise? Be mindful of what’s going on around you, and try to come up with something that hasn’t been done before.
– Have breaks in between events. Whether you’re coming out of an intense, battle-heavy plot, or a lighthearted prompt again, it’s nice to give players some down-time between everything going on. How long this downtime actually lasts it up to you, but try to avoid jumping headfirst into events directly after another.
Think about
– How long would it take for people to grow tired of this idea?
– How can everyone become involved with this plot?
– What is an ICly realistic way for it to begin and end?
– Will this plot require key NPCs / characters, and are there people active enough to play them?
– Will there be any rewards during this event? What would they be?
– How is this plot unique to your clan? Would it be just as plausible in any other clan?
– Will this keep players engaged and willing to keep coming back?
– Who is being affected by this plot? Just your clan, or others outside of that group?
– Is your clan’s activity too low for a plot like this to be effective? Is it the reverse?
Have you read all of this, and you’re still stuck? Here are some basic ideas you can jump off of…
– Unwelcome pests posing a threat to clan life
– Natural disasters
– Sickness
– Tension between two clans for one reason or another
– A simple prompt event
– Theme weeks
Of course, these are tropes, and within traditional, its quite easy for events to end up repeating themselves. do your best to include a unique spin on things. Online generators can be helpful when coming up with plots!
As leader, there are a handful of things that you will have to keep track of and maintain regularly, These include…
– Clan Meetings: These should be held around twice a month at the Leader’s discretion. Here, promotions will be made, mentors will be assigned, names will be given, and you have the liberty to make any other announcements you feel are appropriate for the time. Keep a close eye on the meeting requests channel in Discord during these times so that you can ensure you stay on top of things. As far as name changes go, while most of the time, people have had their desired name changes in mind for quite some time, occasionally you may have the opportunity to name warriors yourself!
– Keep an Eye on the Clan Guide: While clan guides will already be made by the time you’re in the position, once you’re Leader you have the liberty to change it however you like. It’s encouraged that you at least peak at it from time to time, making tweaks and updates whenever the plot may demand it.
– The Clan Census Should be Maintained Regularly: While some certainly check it more than others, the clan census is a fun way of getting a rough idea of the clans numbers. How well you maintain it is up to you. Some leaders may remove inactive characters every few weeks, others may remove inactive characters every few months. Regardless of how often you do cleanouts or make changes, pay attention to any new additions.
– Promotions: As fun as it may be to have an HP team full of your best friends, please please follow HP / SHP criteria when picking out a Deputy or Lead warriors. Pay attention to people who are active both ICly and OOCly. People who are friendly and welcoming to all regardless of how long they’ve been here or how well they know them. A deputy should be someone that you truly believe could lead a clan in the future. Depending on how life goes, your term could end sooner than you anticipate, so it’s important that you have a competent Deputy in line.
– Demotions: And… on the other side of the coin, you may have to consider demotions– or the suggestion of such– according to someone's behavior. OOCly, Has someone barely been active since their promotion? Or Icly, has a character broken a rule that’s important to your leader? At times, a character's leadership may not feel like anything special, but keeping in mind what their morals are and how they would enforce them is something that keeps a leadership fresh and interesting.
For both Leaders and Medicine Cats, Tabby Tales enforces a soft term limit of a year, and a hard term limit of a year and a half. This means that it would be best to start winding down your leadership term just before the one year mark. After 548 days, your character should no longer hold the title.
Start thinking about what you’d like to happen to your character before you reach the term limit! Even if ICly, term limits don’t make a lot of sense, we still want to do our best to make the transition seamless. Not everyone wants to kill their leader character, which is okay! It’s not mandatory. However, you will need to come up with a plausible reason for your character to no longer be leader of the Clan. Examples include… death, disappearance, retirement, etc… however in the event that the character does not die, they must lose all of their lives except for one.
What happens if you feel yourself burnt out on leadership before your one year mark comes around? What if you become busy with real life or other obligations and cannot devote the time anymore? That’s perfectly okay! We understand that real life always comes first. If this is the case, reach out to staff and let them know the circumstances and what you’d like to do. It’s a good idea to keep your HP team in the loop as well, especially the roleplayer playing the deputy. If you can, tie up any loose ends before officially stepping down.
Regardless of how you choose to step down, please remember that you are so appreciated for putting so much time and work into leading your Clan! The Clan itself would not be the same without you, and those who have never led a Clan before may not realize how much hard work and dedication it takes! When a leader steps down, we encourage everyone to reach out to them and let them know that they are appreciated.
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