Proposed Policy: Treatise of War Playtesting

The following policy was designed by the National Council for the purpose of homogenizing our playtesting practices across chapters. This will allow us to collect more data on proposed rules changes giving us the ability to make better long term decisions about our base rules of combat. If passed as part of the Presidential Election and Playtest Policy 5.1.2022 ballot, it will be appended to the Hearthlight Governing Structure. Any questions regarding this policy should be directed to your National Council rep.

Treatise of War Playtesting

In order to better get data and make decisions about proposed changes to rules in Treatise of War, Hearthlight uses the following playtesting policy.

Initiation of a Playtest

Any proposed rule to playtest must be presented to the National Council by a chapter representative or the Chapterless representative. Because playtests are not a permanent rules change, they do not need a vote of the entire membership to take effect. If a simple majority of the National Council votes in favor, then the chapters who voted 'aye' will begin playtesting the proposed change, with unaffiliated practices/chapters being bound by the vote of the Chapterless representative. If a 2/3rds super majority votes in favor, then the entire game will begin playtesting.

Data Collection

The chapter or chapters proposing the rules change will be required to provide a person who will be the primary point of contact for collecting data.

All tournaments and events and practices with over 20 fighters participating in the playtest will be expected to submit the following data to that person.

1. The number of examples of the rule in question, if applicable.

   1. Ex: 4 out of 30 fighters wore experimental item x.

2. The number of injuries related to the change.

3. Anecdotal experiences of the fighters, preferably gathered digitally after the event. Ex: Google form used for post event feedback

In order for playtest data to be considered valid it must include at least one event with more than 60 fighters.

Ending a Playtest

Playtesting will run a full calendar year with the following exceptions.

1. The National Council can end a playtest via a simple majority vote.

2. A chapter may choose to end participation in a playtest if the change being playtested is determined to have caused any injury to a participant.

When the playtest is complete, the National Council will review the data gathered and vote on the rules being playtested as per the regular process.