Hi folks, I'm sure you've seen me around the boards, but I've shortened my handle for this cozy group. I hope to have some good discussions with you all. :)

Hello Ike, nice to see a few in here now.

Hi Barry, yes, a nice little group.

Provided it remains a 'Yes' game, we all Keep Posts Going, and we don't suffer from Player Attrition, it could turn out to be a treasure trove. :)

But if we can't solve those problems for ourselves here, what chance do we have outside?

Greetings all. Great point Ike.

Just a couple of quick questions.

1 Can we get a thread where we can suggest topics?

2 Can I suggest we have a topic on how to apply rules in a game?

1. If you want to suggest a topic, just pm me it and I'll set it up.

2. Could you elaborate and/or right up a post if you are looking for advice about something in particular and pm that to me.

I'd like to discuss with people what their opinions are on how flexible to be with the rules. I've seen all types, and sometimes new GM's find it hard to be flexible. A thread where that could be discussed would be beneficial to new GM's.

Sounds like a good idea, I'll add it now.

Wow, we're getting a pretty big cast here. 0_0

The more the merrier, I say!

Indeed we've come further than I could have believed in just a couple of weeks. I can only hope this whole thing is being helpful for you all. I can't really keep up with all the topics all the time myself but I'm liking the discourse I'm seeing.

   Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening ... (whatever your preference, I suppose)

   Been a GM/DM for over 30 years (has it been that long since the 80's already?) Just joined the group not all that long ago, but I've been on RPoL for about a year now ... nice to see there's a place where Q &A is welcomed and encouraged. Wish it had been around earlier, but better late than not at all.

   Looking forward to discussing ideas and slinging thoughts with all y'all.

Cheers

Now this could be a good thing, or what we could be seeing here is a bunch of fast-posters (me included) creating a barrage of posts over a weekend that will present some players with a wall of text on Monday and make them wonder if this 'game' is for them. If the GM can't keep up, what does that say?

Which is precisely one of the problems we were discussing. We have our own live case, right here, folks. How should we handle it?

Do we discuss it amongst ourselves and risk leaving the slower posters even further behind, or do we wait and ask them and risk losing momentum?

Maybe this needs its own thread?

Sorry, I play Devil's Advocate sometimes, too...

My vote:  Ignore it.


This is the sort of forum style that best works with people investing some time.  A lot of these threads will be of value over time as in we likely aren't the people we are preaching to, but rather newbie GMs (and Players with an interest) who come later, even years later, and skim for content.

Does this mean sometimes a few of us wait until our day off to really dig into a thread?  Well, that happens.



Honestly, this forum (in my opinion) would do better in the General wilds area rather than 'sequestered' away behind the Game 'wall'.

The thing is, the admins took out the ability to create "discussion forums" some time ago.  At least, I cannot see where to click to make this a thing, but there are some that are out there.  The World of Darkness forum being the only one that I know exists still.

So this will have to be a "game" discussion forum. :P  Advisor will just have to advertise it in the "wanted - players" forum.  HAH, I wonder if this place could qualify for "wanted - GMs", since we are looking for GMs to add to the discussion. XD

Good shout pdboddy - I think this is more 'GM's wanted'!

The Management removed the ability to create Discussion Forums at will, presumably because there were too many useless ones being created, or lots of fizzled out non-starters cluttering up the public board. However, they still recognize the value of good Discussion Forums.

What they do now, I believe, is encourage you to set up 'games' like this, and then, if you accumulate several thousand posts over a period of (I'm guessing) maybe a year, then you can apply to the Powers That Be to have the Game promoted to a Forum.

That way, anything that makes it to become a Forum has already proven its worth and has a strong and dedicated following.

Oh I fully expected to lose track of this by the time we got into double digit people because I can't devote the kind of time I used to be able to months ago to reading everything. It's not a bad thing though as long as people are staying on topic and not running away from themselves on tangents. It will also mean that soon I'll need to start looking for people to help moderate things though, you know just to keep an eye on threads and maybe later if I start getting more pms then a second GM to help handle that. My goal here has always been to get the ball rolling, not be the end-all-be-all of reading and replying to every thread all the time.

In reply to Advisor (msg # 44):

Fair enough. I don't plan on being on or posting here every day, but I'll check it several times a week at least. Don't expect anyone should commit to that unless they just have nothing better to do. This is a resource and community chat, so we should contribute, but don't worry about making it your life. (Unless you really want to.)

In reply to Ike (msg # 43):

That does make sense.  I missed whatever discussion there was about it, if there was anything posted or announced.  It was a while back, and long faded into the cobwebs that are my thoughts and memories.

@Advisor: I'm willing to help out as a co-GM if and when you need assistance with accepting new people or pruning/adding threads and so on.  I am sure there are probably a few folks in here with a similar disposition, so if and when the time comes, you need only ask.

Ditto.  I'm likely to be in here everyday at least reading the slower threads and then hitting the tough nuts when I've a day off.

So far, I've read everything too. I can't guarantee to be here every day, but I'm willing to share the load, if needed.

I too would be willing to share the load, and I think you will find that most will. We are GM's and know how much work goes into this type of thing.

   Not to worry, I think most of us are here on a daily or twice weekly basis, so we can (hopefully) police each other when it comes to the topic drift. I'm personally on twice a day - once in the morning to catch up on stuff for my own game, and later in the afternoon or evening to catch the rest, as well as anything that might have spilt over from the morning's chatter.

   And, like Voice said, we're GM/DM's ... we know all about the work that goes into things like this.  :)

Well thanks for all the offered support guys. Greatly appreciated. When the time comes I'll likely put a fresh thread up looking for volunteers to keep an eye out for that when it happens.

Looks like we’ve got through the initial flurry of posts about common themes and we’ve hit the dangerous ‘first hiatus’. So here’s something a little less general to keep us going - a concept I’m personally struggling with as a GM:

Game Groups, Time and Intrigue.

It's a complex topic and I'm hoping for some involved responses, so perhaps it will warrant its own thread, where I'll explain the problem I'm facing.