My IPC Journal - The HP Lovecraft IPC Concept and Approaches

In “My IPC Journal - Statement of Intent for a new IPC” post last week, I decided to go all in and create an IPC. This one has been on my mind for the past couple years, but I’ve never acted on it until now. In that post, I outline some issues to think through as a first step. Also, on the heels of that post, I wrote “Writing a statement of intent for your IPC.” This post was about writing a formal statement of intent. To start off my IPC journey, I’ll use the list in “Writing a statement of intent for your IPC” and begin fleshing out my IPC. I’ll also discuss the rationale used to come that solution.

Overall reason for starting the IPC

Here I want to make sure what I’m thinking about has relevance, and it’s not some lark. My first step is to articulate the description and reason for my IPC.  Since this is a local HP Lovercraft, or more aptly ‘Lovercraftian,’ fan club, my proposed description and reason goes like this:

The proposed HP Lovecraft literary and gaming club will engage in social activities that promote and explore Lovecraftian themes in literature, movies, radio, and gaming. The club will provide a comfortable place for aficionados to discuss and exchange ideas, as well as engage in a wide array of activities. The club will also help promote a higher understanding or Lovecraft’s work, as well as the derivative works based on his writings.

At this point, if you’re starting any IPC, you may want to do some ‘market research.’ This research could range from the very informal, i.e. drop the idea to some friends and check interest, to very formal, i.e. identify interested people and conduct a survey and interviews.  My research has been very informal.

Also, by no means are you trapped by this description you’ve written. Although I’m dubbing in ‘HP Lovecraft literary and gaming club,’ as a starting name, this descriptive title will eventually change to fit the final goals of the club, and probably be a lot more creative.

IPC goals

When I wrote my proposed description and reason, I also included the club’s goals. You can do this, or keep the two separated. Either way is acceptable. If you’re looking at forming a more in-depth club, like a professional or charity -related club, you may want to keep your club’s reason/description and goals distinct. When you create goals, I recommend using bullet points. So, if I created separate goals for my Lovecraft IPC, they could look like this:

• Creates opportunities for social activities that promote and explore Lovecraftian themes in literature, movies, radio, and gaming
• Provides a comfortable place for aficionados to discuss and exchange ideas
• Engages in a wide array of activities

Again, you’re not trapped by this list and you can add to them at any time.

Anticipated Activities

This can be another bulleted list. Never shy away from these type of lists, and use them wherever appropriate. Think of the main activities you’ll be hosting (or recommend hosting). Think of this as a starter list. As your IPC grows, you want to make sure there’s room for other member’s ideas. For the HPL literary and gaming club here’s my starting list of activities:

• Discussion group about a Lovecraftian theme.
• Movie or Radio night
• Monthly casual meets for new members
• Arkham Horror board gaming night (or day)
• Call of Cthulhu (or other RPG) tabletop roleplaying night
• Short story reading and social night

Activity and organizational road map

This one will put your planning skills to the test, but I recommend making it as simple as possible at first. Using the activities mentioned in Anticipated Activities, organize a month for your group. I don’t recommend doing a full year of the present calendar year just yet. You’re only establishing the activities at a high level. This is how I define my starting activities for a typical month and special events:

Every month

• Week 1: Casual Meet
• Week 2: Discussion group/Story Reading/Movie night
• Week 4: Game night

Quarterly

• Week 3: Social night

I’m not putting in too much detail right now, and this will change as members join and events are shifted for maximum effect. Also, not too much to allow for member input and growth. Additionally, this is what I can personally handle right now.

The organizational aspect should also be simple, since you don’t know who or how many are joining. You’ll want to anticipate an organizational meeting six to nine months from the start of your IPC. For the first year you can schedule a general meeting open to all members. Here, you’ll outline your vision of any steering boards or any other member organizations.

• Six months from official start - Week 3 – Organizational meeting

Ideal members

This one is tricky. You want to attract people who are deeply interested in what you’re offering, but at the same time you’re not going overboard in describing the perfect member. Nobody is going to be perfect. Instead, you want to define the minimum attributes that would make a member to your IPC. With the HPL literary and gaming club I want to attract members with these minimum attributes:

• Has read at least three of Lovecraft’s defining works, including:

1. The Call of Cthulhu
2. The Dunwich Horror
3. At the Mountains of Madness
4. The Colour Out of Space
5. The Dreams in the Witch House

• Has read works related to HP Lovecraft’s writings.
• Can commit to attending four club events or activities during the year.

My goal here is to make sure members know the literary works and are willing to commit attending club functions, but not so detailed as to eliminate perfectly fine potential members. The member description can be refined as needed.

Conclusion

I’m assuming everyone will have a different approach to their own clubs, and everything described in this post can be adjusted as needed. You’ll probably want to revisit this information when the club is just accepting members to see if certain aspects aren’t clear to you or potential members.

Setting up the programming for your IPC

Once you have your IPC up and running with a handful of events planned and completed, you’ll want to put more meaning or organization behind what the IPC is offering its members. If you’re wanting to be creative, coming up with the club’s event offerings is one of the most creative opportunities you can enjoy. This is also an opportunity to steer the IPC in a meaningful direction. As with any club activity or action, creating the club’s programming should be performed by the club’s steering committee. If the club is large enough to support it, a separate Activity or Programs committee could also be created to handle creating and managing club programming.

If you’re the only one creating the programming, you’ll need to have a calendar on hand. At this point I’ll tell you not to over-commit yourself. If you don’t have assistance, you need to figure out how much you can do and still have a quality product. If you want to expand your offerings, you’ll need to ask for help. As a note, never ‘volun-tell’ people what to do. This is a sure way of turning off your members, and killing your credibility. Instead, tell people about what you’d like to plan and talk it up. Always be open to feedback. Also, empathize that they have a stake in this and you’d like their ideas. With any luck, you may find your IPC’s future steering committee!

Your programming should fit in with your club’s strategy (refer to the “Creating a strategy for your IPC’ post). The events need to be designed to accomplish the club’s overall strategic goals. Creative use of events can be designed to help with this. Also, realize that some events we’ve covered so far in this blog may not be appropriate for your IPC. While a supper club would be great for social or professional IPCs, it’s probably not appropriate for a hobby or certain accountability IPCs. If you’re at a loss, casual meets are always good starting events. Even then, you’ll need to begin formulating events that propel your IPC in the desired direction.

As an example, let’s say you’ve just formed the Midtown Coders Bloc IPC. Your club’s strategy is to network local professional programmers, and to keep folks up-to-date with trends in the industry. You can establish a monthly casual meet to allow your members to just mingle and talk, and speaks to your networking strategy. Also, a member knows someone that is a jobs recruiter, and they’re willing to give a bi-monthly talk about local programming opportunities in exchange for a chance to meet and speak with IPC members. Another member loves hands-on programming, and is more than willing to host a quarterly discussion (we’ll talk about this add-on later) on certain programming topics. Both the recruiter and programming lover speak to the trends portion of your IPC strategy. This serves as your basic IPC programming. From there, the sky is the limit, if you have enough energy and volunteers to go around.

IPC Inspirations: Tabletop Gaming

An easy and very popular IPC to create is one based on any form of gaming. In this post, I’ll concentrate on two forms of gaming; board gaming and table top roleplaying games. In future posts, I’ll write about other popular games such as bridge, caroom, chess, go and others. Also, this is a subject I can speak to personally, so I’m excited to be writing on it. As I mentioned in "The Beginning," I currently run a roleplaying games Meetup group, and it inspired my interest in organizing groups as a whole.

Gaming as an IPC

Gaming has long been presented as an open group activity; you go to a game store, or find a Meetup or Facebook site, see if there are any people playing the games you're interested in and get a tip on who’s playing when, and if they’re taking players. You might find a group interested in taking you, but often, it’s not an ideal match. There are several reasons for the mismatch, which often includes conflicting personalities.Chances are high for sub-optimal experience. An IPC could be the remedy for folks looking for a better experience with tabletop games.

The games we play
If you're considering a gaming hobby IPC, you'll want to make sure you can find local people who play the same games that you do. As board gaming is concerned, some of the more popular titles can probably hold their own, such as Settlers of Catan or Diplomacy, but you may want to opt for a general type of game if you like playing some of the lesser known titles. German-style games would be a popular pick, as well as board wargames like Squad Leader (which could probably stand on its own).  You can also fit board (or rod) hockey and similar games in this category too.

Speaking for roleplaying game IPCs, a club form around Dungeons & Dragons can easily stand on its own as well as Pathfinder. Certain genre or rules drive RPGs would also do very well, such as games based on the works of HP Lovecraft, which has always had a devoted niche of players and fans, and well as the FATE generic roleplaying game system, which also has a devoted following.

Caution needs to be exercised when deciding on a game IPC. Some popular games sweep the industry like a storm, and then fade away just as quickly. Unless you're looking at a game that has been in print for a while, and still hold its popularity, you may want to look at a specific genre instead.

Activities are key
It goes without saying that your membership has joined to play games, so your basic event programming would revolve around  Game Days. Game Days  mean many things to different gamers, but in my experience, it a block of time divided into sessions. People will offer to host a table, or be a game master (if an RPG). Other interpretations of a Game Day can range from more or less structured.

Gamers also love to talk and replay their past games, so allowing for this to happen would be a great boon to a gaming IPC. You might consider adding casual meetings (I'll cover this later as an IPC add-on) to your event programming. Casual meetings (or Casual Meets as I like calling them) are simple gatherings at coffee shops or other low-key establishments that offer a relaxed and preferably quiet atmosphere. The goal is to simple mingle, talk, and build relationships.

Other add-on events would take some forethought, but they could be customized to fit your IPC's needs. Salons would be simple, the topics can discuss different aspects of the game. We'll explore more possibilities in upcoming blog posts.

Membership
This can be a sticky issue with IPC organizers and gamers alike. Both aspects of the gaming hobby attract both personable and non-so personable people. Tabletop RPG has had the notion that its players are all male and play these games their basements. While this stereotype died years ago, for the most part, some gamers still lend to the illusion that this image is still alive and well. As an IPC organizer, you need to have a very clear concept for your gaming IPC, and the members you'd like to take part. Re-read "Basic Ideas for Recruiting Members to your IPC" and "Finding the right members for your IPC" to start formulating a membership strategy.

A gaming IPC can be one of the easiest and rewarding clubs to create. If you want your gaming to rise to a higher level, consider this avenue.

Adding a Cocktail Party to your IPC

IPCs are all about giving people the opportunity to mingle socially, and the cocktail party is a staple of active social-oriented groups.

In this blog, I’ve written about Salons, and these can often take a cocktail party-ish guise. But the difference between the two is substantial. You can think of one being somewhat smart and scholarly, and the other one being all about the fun.

Cocktail parties can keep the life of an IPC lively by keeping everyone busy on the social front. Most everyone enjoys talking, and this helps people get to know each other on a casual level. It also creates connections that give your club greater depth. Cocktail parties need not be stressful, so keep everything as simple as possible, and if you’re hosting, enjoy it too. You might be finding yourself playing social cop, but this, at least in my experience, is very rare.

Here's a couple of quick tips. First, you may want to monitor any alcohol provided or brought by guests, and keep folks honest about consumption. In my experience, most folks are reasonable about drinking, but there always seems to be person who has some issues with self-control. Also, make sure that guests are acquainted with each other so no time is wasted with awkwardness. Re-read the "Effective Introductions" post from last month to brush up on how to introduce guests.

Articles about Cocktail Parties:

Wikipedia, “Cocktail party”

Epicurious, “How to Throw a Cocktail Party”

The Spruce, “Everything You Should Know for Hosting a Flawless Cocktail Party”

The Nest, “5 Fun Cocktail Party Themes”

HuffPost, “10 Lessons We Could All Learn From 1960s CocktailParties”

wiseGEEK, “What is a Cocktail Party?”

Party Swizzle, “How To Compile A Cocktail Party Music Playlist”

IPC Inspirations: Chappism

Gustav Temple, co-founder of CHAP Magazine

This will be first in a series of posts about inspirations for your informal private club. To start this off, it's fitting to begin with the concept that was the catalyst for the original IPC concept; Chappism (or 'chappist'). This is something I never heard or even conceived of until I seen this video posted on a website I regularly visit. After I saw this video, I had to follow it down the internet rabbit hole, and see where it led. Eventually, I found chappism.

Chappism is an interesting throwback to the dress and manners of the British town and county lifestyle, but with some modern embellishment. Much of it seems to be rather tongue-in-cheek in nature. Chappism, as I’m able to figure out, spans from Victorian to post-world war two inspirations. It even spawned a ‘chap-hop’ rivalry between two chappist -inspired entertainers, Professor Elemental and Mr. B the Gentleman Rhymer. It's grown to be an alternative lifestyle for some folks, a consuming interest for others. It also has its own magazine, Chap. Chappism is an almost perfect fit for an IPC.

Two of the focus points of chappism is the dress and manners. Both lend to social interaction, preferably with others who share the same interest. It’s also a portable concept. If you’re not interested in chappism itself, but like the historical angle, you can go Great Gatsby or World War Two or post- World War Two America, or other timelines that had their unique styles. (for the love of Mike, don’t bring back the 80s!) From what I gather, it’s more an appreciation of the good that came out of those eras rather than a complete historical rehash. The downside of chappism, at least for the time being, is that it seems to have had it high tide some time ago. If you do any research in regards to chappism, bear in mind that some of the resources will be rather old in internet terms. 

Socials would be the core events for a chappist-type IPC, with discussions and workshops comprising other anchor events. An overall strategy could be to refine and improve everyone’s individual dress and manners. The strategy could eventually evolve into some community outreach, but that is something that the organizers and members of the IPC would need to figure out. A chappist IPC would allow a friendly space for that to happen. 

If like interesting dress and want to exercise your old-fashioned manners, take a look at chappism, or a derivative of it. If you love chappism, you might want to take a look at Dandyism!

Resources referring to Chappism

CHAP, "The Chap Manifesto"
CHAP, "Am I Chap?"
New Humanist, "Charm Offensive"
London Particulars, "Steady On, Chaps"
"Tweedland" The Gentleman's Club blog
Practical Chappism Facebook page (note: this hasn't been updated recently)