Pieran poked me and told me that you guys were in here chatting, so I thought I'd drop by and say hi. For what's it's worth, Compton and I feel badly about shutting the game down so abruptly. I think we both hit a wall about the same time of feeling burnt out. In my case, it didn't help that I let myself get spread too thin between games I was GMing, co-gming, and playing in. I think I needed a good, long break from all things RPOL. I talked to Compton recently and while I'm in the camp of "never say never" regarding a return to RPOL, he has made it clear that he feels done. It isn't only a question of having time, he just doesn't seem to have the same enthusiasm for it that he once had. He wanted me to pass along that he really enjoyed gaming with all of you and wishes you the best. Misery was one of our favorite experiences on RPOL. We always felt very lucky with this cast.
Misery was created because of a game that was abruptly abandoned by the GM. I had been on RPOL for a couple of years and was trying to get Pieran and Compton to give it a try. The three of us found a game that we joined together as players. The GM seemed very attentive and involved while we went through set-up and character creation. Then, just a couple of weeks after we started playing, the GM quit logging in. It was especially frustrating since I knew she was still posting on another site on the internet, so it wasn't accident or illness. She just walked away from the game without a word. The players tried to keep the game going for a bit, kind of making stuff up as we went along. There were some good writers in that group. Eventually we figured the GM was never coming back. I think this was the third time that Pieran and I had tried to join a game together, only to have it quickly crash and burn. I'd say it was Pieran's fault and that he's cursed ;-) except we all know how common that is on RPOL.
It was Pieran who suggested that Compton or I should GM a game. In the beginning, we wanted to create something that would use that failed game as a jumping off point. We were hoping that some of our fellow players would join us. We wanted them to be able to keep their characters and histories, if they wanted to. The last scene in that game had somebody activating an odd artifact or magical device that created a vortex, or a portal. I'm fuzzy on the details after all this time. That game was set in Ohio and Compton and I knew we didn't want to run a game based there. We wanted a setting we were more familiar with. I suggested that we use that portal as a way to move the game. The characters who wanted to join us would be sucked into the portal and brought to our new setting, while the rest would be left behind. This would also allow us to bring in new players who weren't part of that defunct game. In the end, no one else from that game joined us, but we really liked the portal idea. It allowed us to throw together characters from anywhere in the world.
At first we weren't sure which one of us was going to be primary GM. Compton had an old D&D adventure he had written several years ago but had never run. He wondered if he could tweak it to work as a Buffy/Angel episode. I suggested we turn it into some kind of hell dimension and that could be where the portals dump everyone before we get them to the new setting. Since that adventure was ready to go, with just a few adjustments, that meant we could get the game up and running faster. We were still hoping to recruit people from that dead game before they moved on, so we didn't want to waste too much time before we got back to playing.
That was about all we had figured out before we got started: Portals would grab characters from anywhere in the world, everyone was going to get dumped together in a hell dimension, and eventually end up in St. Louis. We were still kind of in that "make it up as we go along" mode that began as the old game was dying. We hoped we would have time to figure out the rest of the details before the first episode wrapped. The ideas of Cornerstone, Hornsby, your characters being snatched from death and working for a mysterious corporation in an alternate universe - were all things we came up with while you were playing that first episode. We were kind of flying by the seat of our pants.
I cannot say often enough how fortunate we were to have this cast. It was all of you that really made this game a success and I would feel privileged to game with any of you again. Please keep in touch, I like to hear how you're doing. I think most of you know various ways to contact me outside of RPOL - email, snail mail, even xbox live. I know I have a reputation for being bad about checking email. I'm getting better about it but, don't be afraid to text my phone and nudge me to check my email. Ok, that's enough waxing nostalgic. I've got to get back to Dragon Age 2. There are mages and templars to deal with.
Iain R. Short:
Maybe he would just use the old Mongol way and place strips of meat under the saddle of one of remaining horses
Can I just say ick!
And Pieran, we really must get you some help for your Britney obsession.
