I'm enjoying the read, in 10 years here on Rpol it's nothing I've seen in any other games I have played. The vast majority of the time it is humorous and quite clever, and I don't have a problem with any of it. Granted, I'm talking from the outside as Linni ignores/doesn't understand alot of it and nothing is directed to her.

This was going on well before Zane arrived and I would be disappointed to see it stop now. I'm not sure anyone went over the top, but if it's making people uncomfortable maybe we should, as Lambrac said, tone things down a bit.

And you're doing a fine job of playing Fareeda IV.  Yes, we've had a history of jealous spats.

I can't say I particularly like Jibril's constant negativity.  I didn't see anything in Jibril's comment that would really explain why Zane left (I expect Thaniel's point is well struck), but I can agree that he certainly would not make it encouraging to most players.  I admit that if I wasn't interested in seeing how the story is going to play out, Jibril's sourness would have been enough for me to bow out - I deal with enough negative people at work that I don't look forward to it in game.

I would be in the "tone down" camp.  Spice on the meal, not eating it as a meal.

I guess I should add my opinion - the opinion of the game's creator and not as a ruling GM. I personally feel that without the occasional - and often hilarious - conflicts between the characters, usually involving Jibril, I would probably not have restarted the game. Maybe it's because I don't have a direct character in play and am usually watching on from the sidelines I don't know but that is what hooks me to the game.

I disagree entirely with Thaniel calling it 'playground name calling' as it's often well thought out, witty and appropriate banter. All good dramas be it theatre, cinema or any low budget TV show have conflict. Jibril designed a character who is, if you'll pardon my english, an arse-hole and fair play to him. It's not an easy role having everyone in game dislike you. It's an entirely separate challenge for the group to overcome, separate from the hostile environment and monsters, but equally as difficult.

That's my stand anyway, I think some compromise could be made where Jibril would perhaps tone it down with those who don't enjoy the banter and go after the poor fools who don't mind?

And I think it is worth mentioning that it's often not even Jibril who provokes the conflict, the current moment is an example of this.

Updates up some time over the next few days. Working a 50 hour week sorry for the delay.

Your attraction, DM, to the name-calling explains a lot to me. It explains why you don't post for days on end when such spats break out, as has happened here where you haven't posted for nearly a week despite there being outstanding issues for NPCs to address. It also helps explain the dearth of DM posts during other periods of name-calling and bickering. If that floats your boat, then lucky you.

As an aside, you clearly haven't grasped my issue very well when you make this statement:



As far as I can recall, neither Jibril nor anyone else has made an attack on Thaniel in any way, shape or form until earlier today and it was a throwaway line by Lambrac. You have missed my issue entirely. The game itself is taking a backseat to what I am happy to call playground name calling and it serves no purpose other than to have a player-giggle at it. Frankly it isn't witty unless you set the bar rather low. If it was rare, who would care? But not only is it taking a long time to get through, you appear to be stalling the game while it happens as "it is what hooks me to the game".

Given your suggestion that your primary motivation for running this game is this level of conflict and stagnation of storyline, I will withdraw from the game.

T

I was only referring to your parting shot / good riddance statement about Zane, that was all. Which is much the same thing as you've been complaining about, isn't it?

That may be a bit much, Thaniel, as the DM has said he's been quite busy and the level of conflict was, previously, relatively small. We don't all have to get along either. In any case, we've all agreed to tone it down.

I haven't seen much evidence that the banter is slowing down the pace of the game -- it's a relatively large group (though it sadly seems to be getting smaller), so it's going to be slower moving by default, plus our DM has been having some real-life distractions to deal with.

Personally, I'd rather read through a full page of RP banter -- even if my character isn't too much a part of it -- than have nothing happen for a few days waiting for an update.

Considering the constant grief, second guessing and snide comments I get from you, all I will say is - thank God for that. Deleting you is a most pleasurable moment in an otherwise tedious working day.

And while we're on the subject of analysing PBMB styles, I would say you are the worst player I've ever had the experience of dealing with. You offer little to nothing to the game, constantly try and impose yourself on my decisions and do nothing but make negative comments about what is happening both IC and OOC. I clearly explained my reason for the slow posting these past few weeks and it seems only your small minded self missed that.

Consider yourself blacklisted from any and all of my games, present and future.

---

Now that's over with, and, shall we say 'the deadwood is clear' can we continue with the game please? All questions aimed at NPCs will be answered by the end of today. My promise to you all.

I am sorry we have hit this rough patch - and yet still this game is more active than any I am involved with on rpol. That shows we have a strong core of players here. I will ask you Jibril to be considerate of those who do not enjoy the conflict but otherwise let's all just relax and have some fun. That's why we're here isn't it?

*shrugs*  I'll admit that I prefer when party members get along.   Far from finding it boring, I would rather relax and enjoy the company of my party members, since Real Life can be rather stressful.

That being said, if Jibril wants to bicker, Krogan can do what he can to carry his side of it.   As long as no one is particularly mean or cruel, I'm okay either way.

I'm ready to continue, and concentrate on the game.

Apologies, I don't think I wrote the twins' descriptions very well (they were written several years ago) they are not Gnomes but humans - there is something very odd about them though, you just can't make out what.

Ah, okay.   Got it.   Thanks.  :)

Ok, so the rot has really set in on this game, which is a shame but I guess not surprising. The previous month or two have taken a real toll on the game's health, between the OOC and IC divides, RL pressures and general decay in effort from us all, we're starting to die off. Rather than let the game degenerate to the point where it does actually die I will instead propose the idea of just pressing the pause button. Consider the game adjourned for now, hopefully in a month or two we'll come back to where we left it with renewed energy and perhaps I'll look for some new players to inject some energy back into proceedings.

We lost Zane and Thaniel obviously, Linni is now gone for good, leaves us with just a few active players and me with 7+ NPCs. Obviously RL has impacted on my posting rate and quality but I'd be lying if I said my interest wasn't waning and I think it's the same for us all. We're at a perfect spot for a break and hopefully a few months off will do the game a world of good.

Let me know what you think.

If you think a hiatus is best, that's fine.  I'll still be here when it's time to resume.  (I hope.)

I'm fine as is, but if the GM needs a break, I'm okay with it.

I thought we were doing okay, we just needed something to happen. But if you want to take a break, then sure thing. We came back after a few years off, so a few months shouldn't be hard.

Likewise stated.

You four are great and obviously still active. However we have to consider there was 9 players up until a few weeks ago. I'm not a GM who likes having too many NPCs and at this point I'll be NPCing 75% of the party.

I think a short break would give us time to rest, get over the disagreements and come back to the game refreshed and ready to continue. During this time I'll look to get some replacement players down.

Hopefully in a few months I'll be on top of my work load also and have more time to commit to the game.

So, pause button pressed! Feel free to chat away in here. I'll be around still, making preparations and such, so available to answer questions etc.

Cheers.

In all likelihood, I'll still be very active on rpol, so I'll be ready to begin again.

I'll see you then.

I have no intentions of hopping off, so we'll seeya when good to hit "play" again :)

That's the problem with adventures where there's no easy means to have an ex-PC depart, unless they get quietly forgotten, wander off or get eaten by dinosaurs. :)

I'm always around RPoL.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:49, Thu 15 Mar 2012.

Eaten by dinosaurs works.  Disappeared mysteriously in the night is better, though -- that way they can be "found" (as part of a subplot) or even come back as an adversary NPC.

I once played in Underdark game where we wandered the tunnels looking for disappearing dwarven ore caravans, with their dwarves. The DM was lazy and just didn't mention the ex-PCs, so we reacted to them disappearing around us like it was part of the problem, with us being picked off one by one.

A nice touch there.  We did something similar in a more political/revolution campaign - betrayal of a cell, which of the remaining parties was the leak, etc...

Yes, I've done that in several games, where my player treated the loss of vanishing PCs as "the death of friends that must be avenged" and similiar role playing excuses.
In some games, it just annoyed the novice DMs, though.   :)


Still, I'm involved in dozens of games here, and am running half a dozen, so I don't plan on going anywhere.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:14, Thu 15 Mar 2012.

Just keeping this away from the inactivity list :] anyone still around?