As a lot of you probably already know, next year (2021) will be the 30th anniversary of the Cooperative Houses of Elanthia. In early 1991, Phoenix, Aspis, and Paupers were the first three Houses officially chartered. As a huge CHE cheerleader and former Chair of 2 Houses (Phoenix and Paupers) among other things, I naturally have been thinking a lot about this since returning. Since anything with GM participation requires a bunch of extra planning, I figured might as well try to start a conversation now!
I am positive GM Elidi as CHE GM is already on top of this and my post is in no way meant to imply otherwise! It's totally meant to spark conversation for CHE members about things they would like to see. I've been out of the loop for a while so my suggestions may be completely horrible and that's okay, at least it may get some ideas flowing by those with a better finger on the CHE pulse!
House Influence Suggestions
* House chooses between earning double influence each month for the year or having items cost half influence; or
* Increase amount of influence that can be banked; or
* Increase amount of influence that can be spent in 2021; or
* Provide 1 exceptional item per House for free or a significantly reduced cost and have it not count towards normal point totals
* Or go hog wild and do a combo of these!
House Commemorative Items
* Each House designs their anniversary commemorative item that will then also be a non-crumbly, rechargeable(?) enhancive but is limited to 1 per character and only usable if a member of that House (if they leave, the enhancive piece won't work for them), maybe with a couple fluff verb traps too
* A CHE overall commemorative item also
CHE Merchant Fest
* Kick the year off with a mini-merchant festival for members of the CHE
* A long-weekend (3-5 days)
* Raffles, services, unlocks, GALD, maybe even WPS, etc.
Simu-Impacted Suggestions
* Is getting artwork done a thing? If so, how about updated artwork for each House, much like the cool stuff I saw for HSN with the Arkati [House could submit general idea of what they want. If their symbol is already rockin' the art, then maybe a portrait of their founders, or other icons important to the house]
* If SimuCon t-shirts are a thing, or could be, have them celebrating the CHE's 30th Anniversary
* Play.net banner artwork celebrating the CHE
* Weird thought but I'd love a t-shirt with the damn ASCII House designs on it like available through a service like redbubble or zazzle or something and could expand that to have other GS-themed things for us weirdos who would wear them to work out in and such
CHE Mini-HSN
* A House-themed HSN where a bunch of CHE improvements are released in a short period of time
* No clue what these would be since I've been gone awhile, but I'm guessing there are some officers or members could suggest
CHE Solstice Blowout & Other Events
* End the year doing some extra stuff for the already awesome Solstice stuff CHEs do. I'm thinking extra merchants running around, etc.
* Increased GM participation at long-standing CHE-wide and individual House events (not in a way that detracts from the player run piece, but in a way to enhance it, give it more oomph, make it special for them as a thank you for all they're doing)
CHE Night at Duskruin
Since I'm guessing Glad Games are no longer a thing (but if they are, then GLAD GAMES PLS) and Duskruin is all the rage, I'd love to see a modified and short CHE members only Duskruin arena run. I'm thinking just a day long event where CHE members can have access to the arena without the village open. Instead, members earn House points and the House who earns the most wins some sort of prize -- like some extra work done for them, a special banner or commemorative item about winning, etc.
You could do other variations/limitations such as keeping bloodscrip in but limiting participation to 1 hour per account so someone couldn't really overfarm it. Could also allow Heist and Sewers if you wanted. With a 1 hour per account limit, and perhaps further limiting that you have been a member of your current house for at least 90 days or something.
Overall my thought on this would be to have the fun of DR without the "Monty Haul mania" that the full blown DR has but keep it to a competition between the Houses. If a groovy sort of Wyromania wanted to show up at the end, of course, I am sure everyone would love it. It's just a balance of keeping it fun and CHE focused without overshadowing the real DR, of course.
Conclusion
And, in the words of Austin Powers, I'm spent. Again, not saying any of this is good, but just saying that members should start speaking up with some ideas here so staff can get an idea of what people would like. Obviously the end result could be very different but the more we give them a pool of ideas to draw from, the better it can be!
~Heathyr
