And here we go again...

Starmaster, you okay?

BTW, did the group at Cragmaw ever finish that long rest? We seem to be progressing into a chapel or something...

We had a long rest, divided the loot, found my uncle (I'm a new player in the Cragmaw group and a lost dungeon delving relative was my plot hook), followed a map to the chapel and now we are in a room with a symbol on the floor and no exits that we've found yet trying to figure out how to get into the dungeon.

Thanks. I couldn't recall if it was ever stated that we finished the rest, or if we broke it off to get your uncle out of the well.
This message was last updated by the player at 09:44, Sun 19 Feb 2023.

Sorry about my silence the last couple weeks.

Alright, now that I'm through 'the darkness' I'm getting caught up. Gotta say December through February is rough for me mentally with mental illness.

A great benefit of online play is that you can do everything at a pace comfortable for you. Step into character when it helps relieve stress and know that as much or as little as you interact with us only serves to enhance our experience, it is truly a pleasure to glimpse your beautiful soul :)

More health issues. Been in hospital for past 11 days. Transitioning to rehab soon. Will update when I can.

A ice storm took out my home internet. Typing this from cell. Will update when fixed. Hopefully by the time I get of eork tomorrow morning.

Stay warm and safe.

Ok....home internet is still....down. But I am now using my cell phone as a hotspot so I can at least start typing up a post. :)

So while I was stuck in the hospital bed for two weeks, I wrote and rewrote this post in my head several times. Don't remember any of it now, so here's the newest version.

THE NEVER-ENDING STORY...

The Missing Chapter: when I was discharged from the hospital back in January, I was sent home with a Foley catheter, which was more of an annoyance and handicap for my home rehab at the time. Managed to get an appointment with the VA  urologist two weeks later. He thought I should never have been sent home with it, but it was time to get it removed. Took a week of scheduling shuffles but finally went home without it on the following Thursday.

That Friday night when getting ready for bed, I lost my balance while setting something on the floor and fell over on my back onto the concrete floor. My housemate helped me get up and everything seemed fine once I was back out in the recliner. Nope. Come Saturday, I was in excruciating pain across all the muscles in my chest and back. Doan's, Aleve, Tylenol didn't help at all. Monday added a heating pad... better. Wednesday, switched to BenGay... better, but still couldn't sleep, so Thursday went back to the VA for some stronger pain meds.

That doctor saw the previous records and thought I might be having a pulmonary embolism and immediately did an ambulance transfer to the ER. 6 hours later the ER doctor decided that wasn't the case and sent me home with vicadin. Didn't do anything but pharmacy was closed so had to wait till the next day to get more.

After that, everything was fine for a few hours. Mid-afternoon, I suddenly couldn't move my legs!

EMT/PD shortly had me back in the ER. MRI of head and neck revealed a tumor in my C2 vertebra. Had spinal surgery next morning! Being the weekend, it took 4 days to get the pathology back which identified it as prostate cancer. Caught it early and getting chemo, and now in rehab to walk again.

Other than that, I'm in great health (for my age)! Probably 4-6 weeks in rehab before I go home.

In reply to StarMaster (msg # 11):

Dang, man, and I thought I had bad luck. I'm very glad they caught it and I hope things continue to improve for you!

Wow  yea, at least it was found early. Prostate cancer can easily have no noticable symptoms until the late stage so all of that misfortune might be the better path in the long run. I hope you see a full recovery.

Hi team,

It's been a good game for the short duration I've been in, but sadly I've decided to leave.

Best wishes for the future, and I'm happy to consider that Sala has found his way back and donated his received items back into the party treasure pool.

Too bad!  Best of luck for the future, Sala.

Good god. I was leaving due to lack of action. Now the game goes mental...

Mostly it'd cooled its jets because I've been having Health issues since the beginning of December.... just one thing after another. Still recovering, but getting back into it.

Is it ok if I rescind that withdrawal? I don't think I missed too much other than this latest fight

Absolutely. Welcome back!

This is a slow burn game. Sometimes it goes quickly....sometimes its an update twice a month. I get my fix by roleplaying in another game that has a higher tempo. This game is mostly laid back and relaxing. :)

Sadly, my life is getting increasingly busy and I find myself unable to match even the pace of this game.  I am going to retire for now, hopefully with the option to rejoin at some point in the future.  I appreciate being able to be a small part of this while I lasted.  Take care everyone, especially you StarMaster.  I hope you get better and stay well!

“Sorcery, thaumaturgy, enchantment, and mysticism — STEM

“That’s where the gold is.”

Hysterical.

Ero may be a jerk, but his player is a gem :)

Yes!

Despite the fighting between Ero and Nyssia, the player and I are having sooooo much fun with this.

I'm enjoying it immensely.  I'm glad I gave up his flowery speeches though.  It was taking me an hour to write posts because I had to replace every simple word with the most complicated I could find.  Thesaurus.com was even sick of me.

Feel free to pick on him as much as you want.  Just remember he is a wizard with a penchant for fireballs.

Then again, what wizard doesn't?

Rolled up 3 rounds in case things moved while I was off-grid, forgot to clarify that but I'm back now.

Hi all

Just wanted to drop in and say hi and give an update to my extended absence. My 14yo son passed away suddenly and unexpectedly over Christmas. Needless to say this was a huge shock and we have had a lot to deal with. I am hoping to be back at some point, but as to a timescale I couldn't say.

Happy for GM to NPC Willem as needed, but can be removed if necessary.

I'm so sorry to hear that, Willem.  I can only imagine what you're going through.  My deepest condolences.

Same here. Really, really sorry about your son. Makes my problems pale in comparison.

It's one of the reasons I post these updates... to remind everyone that stuff happens in Real Life that is beyond our control.

So, apologies for my delay in posting. Chemo has been doing a number on me, leaving me too tired to post most days.

Very sorry to hear that, for both things. =(
This message was last edited by the player at 20:48, Fri 24 Mar 2023.

Greetings
Let me start off with well wishes for Willem, StarMaster.

My character Xar’ach, pronounced zaar aks , has joined the Thundertree thread, I think the description and back story I’ve posted give you enough to get a feel for him pending IC interaction.

A quick introduction to the player behind the bugbear. I’ve played D&D since the brown box (yeah, that really dates me) but not much since 4e came out. That caused me to gravitate to other RPGs such as T2K, Morrow Project, and numerous GURPS settings among many others. Retired from the USAF (one of those jobs where the NDAs will outlive me), I currently work with highway and bridge engineers who all consider me to be suffering from CDO (that’s OCD that’s so pronounced it must be alphabetized). With that in mind, if my posts get too crunchy just smack me.

Welcome.

I hope you have fun and look forward to some good roleplaying. Just know this is a very...casual...game. Due to the harsh realities of life, updates will be sparse but that will give plenty of time for characters to interact with each other. :)

And something else, in case of Nemeia, the character's actions and views do not represent the player. I am a very old roleplayer, so I have tried to challenge myself to roleplay differently from all the other many...many...many characters I have played.

I am sure our character's first meeting will not lead to crossed blades...hopefully. :)

Honestly, I have spotted a theme with RPOL. A lot of GM's and players have "something" going on with them. Cancer patients, persistent migraine sufferers, paraplegic, blind to name a few, and then OCD and needy players (that's my trait) are abound.

Welcome to this band of merry men. You're no better or worse than any of us! :)

Welcome

Whew, props to StarMaster for putting in the work of changing my PM to past tense instead of just dumping the copy+paste to say nothing of hanging in there through some rough, rough stuff. Grey Willem too, if they're still checking in. Sorry to hear about all of it.

Also, hi! I'm pretty new to RPoL but not 5e or play-by-post. Do correct me if I do anything technically or culturally inappropriate. Looking forward to rolling and role-ing with y'all.

In reply to Sala Menes (msg # 34):

Better to be crazy than boring.

Sorry for the extended absence without any notification.
Will now be able to read back and contribute again.

Welcome back!

Others in same boat, so don't worry!

Thank your for posting IC for me, too :D

I was at first surprised to see that I had supposedly posted last on 30th March :))

I have to move things along as the scene calls for. As long as your character is there, he'll be doing something... not just fade into the background.


And now we come to that time again: new adventures.

I've got lots of ideas (not saying they are all good, though), so it gets down to:

1. Break up the large group into more-manageable smaller groups. The problem with this is having a character go off on one adventure and then wishing he'd joined the other group.

2. Keep the large group together. This is probably doable only if everyone cooperates.

3. Some amalgam of these two options.

4. I'm open to any other ideas.

Wasn't there some reason we needed to bring the group all together?  Some objective?

A secondary, unknown or backup invading force attacking the city from multiple sides could keep a large party occupied while being split up over a short distance. Perhaps a small number of much tougher enemies mixed with fodder so that the local militia controls what the split parties target.

I would imagine a large group being painful, purely from the fact that a lot of games tend to wait for everyone to post before continuing. That puts the pace at the lowest common denominator.

However, given that it's potentially way easier to have just one thread to update and come up with encounters for just one scenario for you, it could also run smoother.

Also set an update interval. Anybody who didn't post in time gets NPCd or takes a pause to scan the battlefield.

I can't agree with prizzard more. Hate waiting for players who afk for a week!

Good points there.

One idea was Storm Over Neverwinter where the group is dealing with a multiple layer enemy. Sort of all together, but low, medium and high.


A single thread to update sounds easy but not necessarily. Though an update deadline (Thursdays and Sundays, for instance... or three days of posts then update. Intermediate posts might still be necessary.


I certainly can't recall any overarching plot... other than stop the attack on Phandalin.

I'm not gonna lie, I personally dislike threads with huge amounts of people. It gets too confusing, chaotic, and there are way too many posts to try and read through and possibly react to, given that I can't always post every day. Shrug. But that's me personally. If the decision is everyone together, I'll try to muddle through it.

A group of six characters can be manageable. At this rate, there can be two or three different groups doing different adventures could be done but depends how much of a headache they would want.

I think the challenge with a large group is that by the time you kind of get around to post the threat has already been dealt with. Take that fight with the (conjured) wyvern (Chapter 10). The incredible damage output seen there makes it kind of moot to post, especially when 'wasting' ammunition :D.

On the other hand, being in a fairly small group and 1-2 cannot post regularly for RL reasons, be it briefly or for an extended period, might cause a problem, too.

So, I don't know, groupd of 6-8 perhaps? Which in turn would be a tough strain on the GM, though. And I am always in favour of reducing any GM's workload
This message was last edited by the player at 19:37, Mon 03 Apr 2023.

I haven’t been with the game long enough to really get a good feel so am going to say that I’ll roll with the punches. I see some good arguments for both sides, so the best answer may lie in the middle. In the end it’s really what will help StarMaster retain their sanity.

A thought popped into my head just before I hit post. There’s always a Yawning Portal type scenario, which would allow a mix of group sizes.

Not much feedback yet, but every little bit helps.

No real convincing reason to keep one large group. I was just concerned that some players would feel a bit bummed out if they didn't get to adventure with certain other characters.


Smaller groups it is.

My thought was that while they're all in one general location they're split up among more specific locations such as with the attack on Thundertree but more spread out for a larger city where each group or individual can update separately without affecting other groups at all.

I don't have any reason to think a functional threat level is impossible for any size of party, but the bigger the party the bigger the threat and the smaller the margin for error on the part of any one individual.

That said posting 15+ characters in the same thread can easily go the direction of wall of text and take up enough time that one can no longer create their own post, and get stuck in that process.

Groups of 8 ish sounds about right, if anyone has a preference you don't already know they can voice that IC or OOC to you, and we can do that.  For my part Cinnabar is generally ok with everyone, but what group she joins will be determined by how useful or important its goal seems to her at the time.

I vote for smaller groups as a player so that everyone gets better chances to interact with unfolding events before they move on. I feel like it'll be over a week for everyone to check in with the Confluence thread and by then a quarter of us will have probably already left. That will make it rougher on the DM though. Smaller groups means more, faster developments to keep up with.

In the event of a siege, having multiple groups within earshot of each other so that folks can move between them as needed sounds like just the right kind of chaos for the situation.

Selgar's going with Victor to Yartar/Evermoor/Highwoods if that wasn't obvious.

Yartar/Evermoors or Druid Grove, is that the choice?

You can sit there and pickle hog jowls, if that's what you consider an Adventure.  Just join one or start your own!

DO SOMETHING!

Who needs a cleric? :) I need to pull myself out of Limbo...

Sorry guys.....i've had a bad flu and it's hit me hard

Well, this is a pub. And since the character is...busy...I will share a cool bardic tale of being betrayed, seeking vengeance and being consumed by it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaxRl3He7xg

Victor is always happy to have a cleric around. The group going to Evermoor appears a bit melee heavy. Even our wizard likes to get up close and personal.

This message was deleted by the player at 01:55, Fri 07 Apr 2023.

Glad to be along, Victor, but if the groups skews towards melee, Lureene isn't going to help that... :)
This message was last edited by the player at 05:54, Fri 07 Apr 2023.

Evening all, nice to meet you!

I'll be joining the druid grove quest, just posted my first message!

Rolled a 1 with my first d20!

Start as you mean to go on!

Looking forward to playing with you all :)
This message was last edited by the player at 21:15, Fri 07 Apr 2023.

Welcome aboard, Yikmo!  You're gonna have fun.  Sure, you didn't make it into the Limbo group but that's okay.  The druid group is pretty good too, for a farm team and all.

In all the treasure threads we never seem to have declared coinage.
Doh, I seem to be broke

Forgive me if I am wrong, but we're some of the group contracted to get rid of the orcs? And nobody decided to collect reward?

Mdid we get to a place that even paid us?

Hmm, I seem to have totally forgotten to purchase initial gear and write it down...

Actually, nobody was 'hired' to get rid of the Orcs. It was a request by Sildar Hallwinter of the Lord's Alliance to scout/patrol the area for a new Orc incursion.

By now, most of the PCs have simply 'joined' the adventure.

There was plenty of coin acquired from the defeated Orcs, but nobody really bothered with it.

Since all characters are given starting gear, at 4th level, Artagel, you have that. If you feel you need more gear, you've got 100gp to spend. Can't buy anything out here in the castle ruins, so this would be gear already acquired.

Ok

And here I thought it was only Paladin's who defeated evil for free. :)

But I agree. A town run is needed. Who is going to sell all the weapons and stuff from all the orcs. :)

Yea I thought there was going to be more than an hours downtime in town and jumped on the grove trip because I thought it'd be a very short detour rather than a big party split. Needed to buy arrows, rations, and more darts. And maybe an addition to his belt to hold more darts as they aren't all that small or light. I hadn't bothered with coins either as I figured they could be split when we hit town and sold stuff nobody wanted.

Nemeia had dropped everything before her big fight that brought her to the cave. She came with only the clothes on her back and weapons held. The paladin...might... have a few coins in a belt pouch? That was why she wanted the item belt. :)

Lol, it's good to read that I was not the only one not paying too close attention to common items:D

Oh I did. It was done so for roleplaying purposes. The character dropped everything not needed before the big fight. She was either going to win and picks up the stuff later or be killed. The portal really did not give her the chance to pick it back up. Was very rude. The service was two out of ten stars. :)

Hey guys sorry this is kind of late, but we went away for a family weekend and I tested positive for covid. No clue how long it'll take for me to recover or when I'll be able to post, but I'll try. Go ahead and NPC me if need be if I don't post quick enough.

No problem, got you covered, and welcome to the club!

Hope you get over it quick!

Can't recall where I left off on my RL health drama, but here's the latest version...

Still paraplegic trying to recover mobility at a poor rehab facility with bad nursing and half-horrible food until...

Developed a sore on my butt from laying in bed 24/7 that didn't get treated properly and turned gangrene, so now I'm back in the hospital with surgery scheduled for Tuesday. Don't know what condition I'll be in tomorrow afterwards or how long that'll last.

Hope everyone hangs around. And really sincere apologies for any delays. It really bums me out when that happens.

....wow. I don't even know what to say to that. I'm sorry. I hope things improve for you.

So sorry to hear about all of that. I work at a hospital and we unfortunately see a ton of terrible bedsores on patients coming out of rehab facilities. Apparently the whole "do no harm" thing doesn't cover neglect for them. Here's hoping they get your wound cleaned up quickly and you're back on your feet before too much longer. We'll be here when you're up for it.

I'm sorry to hear about your health issues Star. I hope everything goes well for you man!

As to me, I told Ero and Star why I been flaking a bit lately, but I feel I owe you all the explanation. Basically the brain fluid thing hit me harder than I thought it did. That's why I go through spurts of creative posts, then it dies out because the spark just evaporates. I normally have this issue only when going through my bouts of depression, but this is different. The neurologist thinks the pressure from the excess fluid/pressure might have added to the small amount of damage I suffered to my brain when I had my car accident in 2016 which is why I'm having some issues now. The issues are not severe, IE I can still work my job (the some very few days I do lag), dress myself, etc. But I have issues with lethargy more often than I used to, now and then I have days at work when I fall behind, and some days I feel like I'm moving through sludge.

I do hope things go well. I've had family in similar situations.

As for hanging around, you've welcomed me back after years away. I'll hang about as long as it takes to see you back in better health.

For anyone who's been around for a while, I once tried this game out as Ubo the tortle monk. Unfortunately at the time it was a short run due to my own RL issues. This time I'm bringing a Warforged to the table. Hello all! Perhaps one day soon you will find yourselves introduced to SCRAP.

Heck, I'll be here.  I've been here from the start, so I'm not going anywhere.

Hopefully you can find a better rehab when you get discharged.  Ask the hospital staff what they've heard.  Nurses are always a good source of info.

Sorry to hear about people's health issues. More than happy to be patient and wait around (assuming Yikmo survives that long - could go either way).

I hope people start to feel better soon!

Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

So, between having the flu and pharyngitis, i've been quiet for the last 3 weeks. Almost 100% again so should get a post out within 24 hours and back to regular posts....hopefully get a post up tonight, but maximum will be tomorrow.

Hey guys I'm back and writing up posts as we speak. Sorry to have been gone for so long. Covid sucks. Doing better now though. Needed to double check in Ring of Fire can I shoot an Eldritch Blast at one of the four incoming enemies?

I honestly don't get it. When I'm sick I'm bored af checking my games ten times per day hoping for something to do.

I'm the same. Being sick = more time to post. Not less :)

Then I'm guessing you two haven't been incapacitated with illness before. When you're delirious with fever, pain, etc, it's hard to think clearly enough to speak let alone type creative responses. When I had mononucleosis there were hourlong periods where I would stare at my hand resting on the bed, utterly convinced that I couldn't move it and too afraid to try. I was not in the mood to roll digital dice.

So please, a little patience for the sick.

I'm totally patient, but yes, my experience with illness has been mild thankfully.

I do know that when I had COVID I felt like utter crap! Can't recall if I did much posting there as I like to post from a PC rather than mobile.

Normally with a cold, etc, i am able to post more, but this time i could barely even move

Only once, a combination of ear infection and bronchitis. I slept on and off for roughly 30 hours and I'm pretty sure I was only waking up due to dehydration.

I don't mind waiting, I'm just saying I don't get it. It just seems that every game I'm in everybody regularly gets debilitatingly sick, sometimes for a couple weeks straight.

It's actually a DM curse. I will never DM another game on Rpol as it's a very real fear of mine!

Depends on what kind of sick you are. Some just leave you tired and lethargic so no energy to post.


UPDATE:

Apologies for not posting.

After my butt surgery (would you believe I can say that with a straight face?) Tuesday of last week, I've had to lay in awkward and uncomfortable positions while having to learn to use my computer upside down and sideways with one finger. And sporadic bouts of tiredness.

Suddenly on Monday the hospital decides to discharge me to a specialty wound care recovery/rehab facility. I think it had more to do with a room becoming available jump-on-it-now than anything else. So I get transferred in the middle of the night! Not good at the best of times... but no traffic.

Still getting settled in here, but feeling better.

That's good news! Glad to hear it.

I would hope that place has a better vibe than the one that let you get hospitalized?

In reply to StarMaster (msg # 96):

Good luck in your recover, hope you get well soon!

In reply to StarMaster (msg # 96):

I'm sorry to hear that - BUTT - I hope things continue to improve for you!

Get better soon ^_^

AAAARGH! Every time I go to post, the cornucopia of pharmaceuticals they give me tends to knock me out!

STAGE MINUS ONE: Hell, I don't even remember half of it.

STAGE ONE: Backside surgery. Went off without a hitch apparently. Just left with a major wound on my tailbone. Drain came out yesterday.

STAGE TWO: Staples and stitches still need to come out. Don't have a timeline for that yet but presumably soon.

STAGE THREE: Wound recovery. Start getting used to sitting up  again... in 15-minute intervals. No details yet on frequency or duration. Will kind of depend on how well I do, but further complicated by not  having any control of my leg muscles.

STAGE FOUR: Rehab. As soon as I can stand up on my own two legs, I should be able to go home for final rehab. Regain mobility.


MAJOR BUMMER: I had every expectation of going to see Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 when it opened on my birthday, even if it was in a wheelchair. This last surgery has squelched that. So who knows when I'll get to see it now.

ON THE BRIGHT SIDE: I now qualify for Frequent Surgery Miles. I've had four surgeries so the fifth one is free!


Anyway, still figuring out how to one-finger type on my laptop while prone and cocked to one side or the other. I suppose, if I was home, I could make some modifications. Very limited ability to do that here. Hell, I even have to eat sideways!

Depending on availability you might try a high center kind of couch, or even bed corner with no frame so you can just lie face down and put the laptop below you within reach of one or both hands.

Man, you must be sick of people telling you to get off your arse by now ;)

Goddammit! Did it again! I was getting ready to post after my last OOC... out like a light. I'm only awake now because the nurse woke me up to take some blood.

Haven't been able to lie/sleep face down for many, many years due to my fat gut. 3/4... sort of. Not sure if I still have a gut. Lost a lot of weight in the last six months, though most of it is muscle from atrophying while I laid in bed all the time. I've lost track of the timeline... from the spinal surgery... so February 3rd?


Thanks for the comment, Sala! Not enough things around here to make me smile or laugh.

Especially now that my therapy dogs can't visit any more. Two chihuahuas. Emer's the protective one. He knows he's showing up to take care of me; always makes me smile. Cooper is the super-friendly type, always cuddling.

Damn. Shouldn't have gone there. It's only been 3 days and I already miss them. I'm still too tired! Just a touch of depression, though it kind of surprises me that I'm not really depressed any more than I am. Guess I was never really prone to it.

More sleep and see what tomorrow brings,

Would using a voice typing app be a possibility? I know there are some free ones out there. I use Windows Dictate from time to time but am not sure if it’s actually free or just included in my Office 365. That could allow you to dictate the meat of a post and then tweak the formatting, etc.

Continued best wishes for a full and speedy recovery.

Damn, I thought I was a pain in the ass! Rest well, and feel better soon! Captain's orders!

Can't sleep, can't focus to post... turn. More of the same. Turn. Repeat.

STAGE MINUS ONE--SPINAL SURGERY: Hell, I don't even remember half of it. This would have been the spinal surgery to remove the tumor and put me on my back for two weeks. DONE. SUCCESS!

STAGE ZERO--REHAB ERROR: Weeks at rehab facility where inadequate and improper nursing care turned an ordinary bedsore into a far more serious gangrene wound... one that now needed surgery to fix. DONE? WAS THAT A SUCCESS OR FAILURE?

STAGE ONE--BACKSIDE SURGERY: Operation on my tailbone went off without a hitch apparently. Just left with a major wound on my tailbone. Couldn't/can't put pressure on the wound while it heals, thus laying on my side and having to get turned to the other side every two hours, necessitating having to learn to type on my laptop upside down and sideways with one finger. Remember, this is at the BETTER recovery/rehab facility rather than at home, so options are still limited. Did I mention the I-V dangling from my arm that also gets in the way? DONE. SUCCESS.

STAGE TWO--STAPLES/SUTURES REMOVAL: Staples and stitches still need to come out. Don't have a timeline for that yet but presumably soon.
___STAGE 2.1: First half of the staples were taken out Tuesday. On schedule, standard routine. DONE. SUCCESS.
___STAGE 2.2: Second half of staples were removed Friday. Again, right on schedule with no complications. DONE. SUCCESS.
___STAGE 2.3: Sutures are currently supposed to come out on Monday, though that probably depends on how the final healing has progressed, since not everyone will heal the same way. PENDING.

STAGE THREE--WOUND REHAB: sitting protocols start as soon as sutures come out (?). Start getting used to sitting up  again... in 15-minute intervals. No details yet on frequency or duration. Will kind of depend on how well I do, but further complicated by not  having any control of my leg muscles. Requires moving to a normal bed rather than this deluxe air bubbling mattress that's meant to stimulate skin/muscle do I don't get more bedsores.

STAGE FOUR--HOME REHAB: As soon as I can stand up on my own two legs, I should be able to go home for final rehab. Regain mobility. At this point, there's no telling how well the wound rehab and the paralysis rehab will work together. The therapist seemed to think they could make them work together in synergy, but I didn't get a whole lot of enthusiasm from him. I suppose it could be uncharted territory for him.


ON THE BRIGHT SIDE: I now qualify for Frequent Surgery Miles. I've had four surgeries so the fifth one is free! Oddly, I started with the Big One (double bypass heart surgery 15 years ago) and that went easier than these.

Still not sure if there's a light at  the end of the tunnel yet--if there is, hope it's the Battery Low indicator and not the Westbound #9 train!

Excuse me sir. That was clearly an attempt at a humble brag. Full on post, with colour highlights and bold lettering. Are you sure there's something wrong with you?

I didn't think of it that way, but I suppose it is an indicator of my improvement at mastering the sideways computer. Baby steps. Working my way to getting caught up with my posting.

Glad to hear things are going in the right direction. I guess you can add a category for DM rehab which is also progressing well, though I imagine the time it took to type and format is something we can't assess from our end.

___STAGE 2.3: Sutures came out on Monday right on schedule, but the final healing is still in progress for several weeks/months. DONE. SUCCESS.

STAGE THREE--WOUND REHAB: sitting up for continued wound rehab protocols start as soon as sutures came out, about a week ago now. Start getting used to sitting up  again... in 15-minute intervals twice a day. Moved to a standard air mattress bed. Frequency and duration will kind of depend on how well I do, but further complicated by not having any control over my leg muscles and not enough feeling below the waist. Communication/responsibility issue has only produced one session--should have been six by now! PENDING???

___STAGE 3.5--RESUME PREVIOUS REHAB: In a week or two or three depending on how quickly I improve here, I get transferred to yet another Rehab facility for continued wound recovery... takes a long time... as well as mobility rehab.

___Stage 3.7--TRANSFER TO NEW REHAB: So the Wound Recovery has done well enough that I'm getting transferred to a different rehab facility for the Sitting/Mobility rehab. Don't know why there's a difference other than where I'm at is more medical than therapeutic so they need to make room for a new patient.

THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL: Different tunnel, different light. I suppose it's a step in the right direction, but we'll have to see how it goes.

Sign of good humour.

A step in the right direction ;)

Alright, so life took a crap on me again just as I was starting to get my creativity back. Needless to say a few weeks ago my oldest daughter Ava was arrested for a class 3 felony. Now while this might not be a massive issue, it'd still be normally stressful one for any family. But for someone like me who suffers from mental illness, or the darkness, take your pick on the term and whose children were the light in the darkness that they cling to when that darkness started to encroach upon them her getting arrested was a massive blow to me mentally.

So for the last few weeks I basically closed in on myself and had little contact with anyone. Barely spoke to anyone, barely ate, and just went to work and bed. Work life suffered, life here suffered, home life suffered, everything just started to fall apart. Then I suddenly woke up this past Saturday and decided it was time to fix my mental state, at least a bit. Suddenly had a good, or better day at work at least. That set me up to want to play some video games again, so yeah I wasted away my weekend playing video games lol, which led me to having a great day at work today, and finally put me to wanting to post again starting today.

So I am slowly starting to get caught up in my games.

Also GM, good luck on your rehab. I wish the best for you! As someone who's been in physical rehab multiple times, I know how big of a task it is to be in rehab of any type.

Good luck! Sometimes its two steps back for every one forward.

In reply to Theirastra Nailo (msg # 113):

Depressive episodes and snapping out of them are quite familiar to me. It's funny how I went 10+ years waiting to "snap out of it" but after actually getting diagnosed and treated I can pretty reliably do so after a few weeks. I'd rather not dip so low in the first place, but still. Getting a handle on it helps you pull yourself out.

Also, in a bizarre coincidence, when I started a heavily modded Fallout 4 playthrough with a female PC last week I chose the name Ava.

Side note/depression trade secret: stash a case of Ensure or another room-temp nutrition drink in your room or wherever you tend to hide from the world. Some highly processed nutrition is better than none.

Looking like you still need a leg up to get things moving.

I'm not going to take a stand or anything, but I have to put my foot down at some point...

In reply to Sala Menes (msg # 117):

Baby steps, my friend... baby steps...

take your time and when your ready, i will be here, as i am sure others will be

It takes time for both mind and body to heal. So, let us be honest with ourselves. If the GM ever decided to post again, not everyone will be here. Life moves on and people find other things to do. Games live and die a lot on Rpol. Some games go on for years while others just last a few months. I always thought there were too many people and then all those people split up in different directions. And then those different parties get in a fight at almost the same time. That is a lot to keep up with and hard on the mind. In my opinion, so many people in different groups have watered down the storytelling. You lose a lot of quality if you go for quantity. But that is my opinion, so please do not bite my head off or degrade the conversation to the level of children. I was having fun roleplaying the character and that was all that mattered.

But the Mushroom in the character's food was annoying. Giving a drug to an already mentally unstable person was not what I considered...fun. But I eventually saw it as a roleplaying challenge. The GM said I could have ignored it and it never happened. I hated it. Loathed it immensely. But...in life, you learn that you have to deal with things. I know the character's actions might seem annoying to many others, but there are roleplaying reasons for what she does. The closest thing that would come close would-be PTSD.

Now the other thing.

Most of you have posted things about yourselves and things dealing with mental and physical health. I did not partake because I just wanted to lose myself in writing. I do not want to share about the real world and my problems. That is why I read novels, play video games or watch movies. It's my escape from my life.

My life is not horrible. Work, sleep, basic survival needs, have a little fun and then do it all over again. That is my life. I guess you can say I am passing my time till the end. I have a slight case of agoraphobia and sometimes depression. But then I pick myself up and appreciate the small things in life before the end comes.

Anyway....

I will most likely still check every day to see if this game continues is some way. Maybe keep trying for another year or so before finally deleting the game off my Rpol. Until then. I wait. I lurk. And Nemeia is still battling a red metallic dragon. I can honestly say this has been the longest combat any of my characters have been in. :)

That's the way it seems to be going this time. Health Care and Rehab can't quite seem to get on the same page. Spent the weekend + Mon in a vege-zombie state--sick, aching, tired, sleepy, no energy... Tuesday okay, but two-steps backwards today.

This was a repeat of Memorial Day Weekend.

In reply to StarMaster (msg # 121):

That really sucks. I'm sorry. Hope everything gets better for you real soon!

Folks, this was posted in another game I play in:

Thank you for letting us know. It was a blast role-playing with you all. I hope to see you in other games. Fairwell.

Good bet you have seen almost all of us in at least one other game, but yes that is unfortunate.

If someone wants to take over as GM for this game I am up for continuing to play, but I don't have the bandwidth to do so myself.

This is so sad news, but its really heartening that he probably had as much of his life doing what he loved to do.

I didn't play with the guy as often as anyone else, but what I did see was excellently written.

that is sad news, and i hope the family is all well and supporting each other.

To my rp family, i wish you well in any games out there and if someone has a game they need a player, reach out to me.

Well, dang. That is sad to hear. He seemed like a pretty good guy and fun GM.

Sad to hear. Rpol won't be the same without him. I hope his family are at peace with his passing.