I have basically just entered, so I hope so :)

Tycho, are you sticking around out of a feeling of obligation?

I'm still keen on the game/want to PLAY this suckah.  Be a shame to miss out on Darian, but I understand where you're coming from.  Heh.

Perhaps a bit.  I know how much it sucks for the GM and other players when a PC drops a game.  So if I join a game, I like to stick around as long as others are still getting something out of it.  This game seems like it's going to be largely/entirely combat focused, at least in terms of time (an unfortunate but largely unavoidable side effect of the fact that 30 seconds of combat time takes more posts all the RPing that goes on between the fights in this medium), and Darian will mostly be writing posts during fights that amount to "Darian continues to stitch up the wounded soldier," which I don't imagine is too exciting for the other PCs.

Since posts had been coming very slowly lastly, I was wondering if other players were losing steam as well, but it seems like at least Fariq and Harper are still excited about it.  Ludovicus and Eduardo?  How about you guys?

In general, is there a reason for the slow posting rates?  Is everyone really busy?  Waiting for others to post first?

I'm really too new to utter anything, but this first combat that Fariq is involved in has truly been long. As a GM I tend to get it over with with as few dice rolls as possible without nerfing, and put the main energy on dialogues.

If the game is combat-oriented as you say, I will have to ask the GM if that is really so?

I didn't mean to single this game out when I mentioned the number of posts during combat to other rping.  It's more a side-effect of the medium (play-by-post) than anything else.  Fairly lenghy dialogues can usually be taken care of in five or six posts, because we can put more into posts than we might normally in day-to-day conversation, and get all the info across comparatively efficiently.  On the other hand, fights with lots of combatants require lots of dice-rolling, and usually lots of short posts that represent just a 'round' (ie, very short amount) of IC time.  No easy to get around that unless you use one or two rolls to resolve very large, complicated conflicts, which can sting those players who've made characters with a combat focus and who want their chance to shine in the fight scenes.

My approach to these games is similar to yours Darian -- once I join I stick in and if I quit I let the GM know ASAP. That said, I'm still here and interested! My only problem with the slowness of this game is that I really do not know the system well, so whenever it's time for me to be involved in the action I have to relearn everything that I barely learned last time I was doing stuff. Of course, I tend to take forever to learn any (ANY!!!) rules system, so this is as much a reflection of my own dopiness as anything else.

Personally, I am a tad ambivalent towards action/combat -- I'm here to be in/help tell a story and evolve my character. If that comes with/through action, fabulous. If it don't, that's cool too.

As far as the posting rates, I sometimes get confused about who is doing what, etc., but I don't think that anyone is waiting on me. If so, kick me, because I'm not intentionally holding things up!

Due to the large scale of this particular battle (don't expect the rest of the game to be like this), and the points that have been raised, I will be reducing the dice rolling and/or handling it myself behind the scenes. I had hoped to schedule a time over the weekend when Fariq and I could meet in chat and complete all of these turns in one go, but Fariq came down with a cold and that didn't happen.

I'd like to speed things up as much as possible, and at the same time, I don't want to arbitrarily decide success or failure on the part of the PC's involved (as said, this is one of those occasions when combat-oriented PC's have a chance to shine). So from now on, in large-scale/lengthy situations like this one, one turn of dice rolls will "set the tone" for the next 1-2 minutes or "general segment" of action. That is, players can post free-style in longer timeframes, using the initial dice roll results as a general guide to the relative success or failure of all the actions they take for that segment. I think everyone here is mature enough to be trusted with this sort of freedom.

Darian, I need to know how much time you're going to devote to each patient, which types of victims you're going to focus on, and whether you're going to use any of your Elixir on their wounds.

Right now Darian wants to get people back into the fight more than anything else.  There'll actually be a sort of reverse triage going on, where he helps those who he can help the quickest, and who will be able to get back to fighting effectively if he does.  Stabilizing the heavily wounded has dropped to a low priority.  He'll use half his doses of elixir.

Okay. Fariq, any chance of us meeting in chat sometime this weekend?

Um, perhaps saturday morning an hour or so. I'll come back to you when I know exactly.

Ludo, you're going to continue assisting with loading wounded or do something else?

I shall help load in a soldier and remain aboard the ship once "he" is loaded and join the command staff then.

I'll be posting after Fariq makes his post.

Will do as soon as I get my inspiration bar on "full".

Sorry for the delay everyone. I should get a chance to post an update for Darian, Fariq, and Ludovicus sometime tonight. Hang tight.

Apologies again. I didn't get a chance to post last night. I hope to get it done later this evening. Thanks for your patience.

No rush, GM.

Yup. I'll be checking in regularly...

Sorry for the wait guys. Between my sister visiting, and Father's Day, my weekend was consumed and it's been a hectic week otherwise. Things should be speeding up now. The three of you are clear to post free-style until further notice.

I guess I'm not sure what I should be posting... Ludovicus would be nothing more than catching his breath and praying that they manage to land if they ever get off the ground...

Okay. Darian, you want to post anything or shall I just move things on?

Well, it'll mostly be a 'keep doin' what he'd doin'" post, so feel free to move it on for him if you like.

Ludovicus, state your actions for the next three turns.