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15:43, 28th March 2024 (GMT+0)

OOC, Deux.

Posted by HawkFor group 0
Hawk
GM, 315 posts
All your Fate are
belong to us.
Sun 5 May 2013
at 19:07
  • msg #1

OOC, Deux

Time for a new OOC thread. We had 29 posts' of space in the old one, but there were good reasons to start a new one.

The biggest one? I think we ought to have a discussion about whether to continue. The game started over 9 years ago. We've had hiatuses, we've switched sites, we've had players move around all over the place and add multiple children to their families. We've had a fantastic run, but things have been herky-jerky at best for a while. Originally, when Cade made me a primary author back on StoryCrafter, the idea was to split the party. (In three, actually, with various pairings scattered all over the world.) That split happened in a much more local way within the Mithril Delve's Thin Land. We've managed to get everybody back together, but...

...it's been a slow process, and has led to some awkwardness on my end as  try to keep Elec to his old leadership role in the party without feeling like a railroading GM. Cade's sort of in the same boat. The more important problem is that we haven't, collectively, managed consistent posting. I have the feeling that Taija and I are on RPOL pretty constantly, but it's a side destination for many of you in lives that are busy with far more important things.

Do we want to press on with our intermittent pace and much-reduced active cast? Or shall we call it a good run and divulge some of the plot secrets that were coming?
Amras Thiassyn
player, 65 posts
Half-elven ranger
Thin Land survivor
Sun 5 May 2013
at 19:58
  • msg #2

Re: OOC, Deux

As the most recently added member to the cast my voice carry minor importance in this question. Anyways, I will speak my opinion.
This is an excellent game with some excellent players, and an excellent GM and I would hate to see it go. I will try to contribute whatever I can for the sake of the games survival.

My slow posting ratio is, how strange this now may sound, a product of the slow moving story in itself. I am on RPOL pretty much every day and can post as frequent, but have a tendency to neglect threads were there may be weeks between posts, even if there is a red flag up. I assume they talked about such things on a class psychology I skipped back in the day.

If there is a mutual interest to step up the tempo I will be all for it. If there is some acceptance for adding replacement-players I will support that to. This game is to good to allow to die. As simple as that.
Sarilinesstra
player, 40 posts
Drow Priestess
Pelor's Champion
Sun 5 May 2013
at 22:04
  • msg #3

Re: OOC, Deux

I'm on RPOL these days two to three times a day. My problem was getting into Sari more than anything.

Like I said before, I'd be happy to play in something newer as I love this group. Hell, if I knew this game was going to be going for a long time I'd happily reroll a new character but I know that we were trying to get this game finished up.

Butt as to frequency I could post 2-3 times a day most days, or more.
Jancus Bridgewater
player, 67 posts
Mon 6 May 2013
at 00:30
  • msg #4

Re: OOC, Deux

I've been here for awhile, though I know not one of the primary cast. Things picked up recently and I've enjoyed it.

As for stopping, I will vote against that (unless someone plans to start a new game with the crew to play in... and technically we can do that without stopping this one). I'm fine with the pace, and I can speed up as well if that's the direction we want to go. I'm on RPOL several times a day, sometimes I may miss a day, but I try not too.
Hawk
GM, 316 posts
All your Fate are
belong to us.
Mon 6 May 2013
at 02:48
  • msg #5

Re: OOC, Deux

It's sounding like much of the problem is with the game/story rather than (strictly speaking) availability. I know form experience that I'm highly unlikely to ever push the pace past 2 GM posts/week, even though I'm one of those people as a player that will happily post two or three times a day.

I totally understand, too, about slow posting being a result of a slow-paced game--it's easy to wait for something to happen, and easy to put off a post for "another day or two."

As much as I love the story we've been working on for so long, I feel like I'd need to make major concessions on the story front to keep the game going as is--especially with folks having lost some contact with their characters. It should be the story of the kobold who met a prophesied drow in Helmsgold, the two layabout rogues who got involved for kicks and a hat, the paladin who needed to keep an eye on the rogues (and for justice!) and the bard who went along to make sure the glorious mess was properly recorded for history. That's how it started, back before there was any elven nobility involved, or reincarnation, or the idea of the Thin Land had even been cooked up. If I thought we could do justice to that story, I'd be keener on pushing forward. We've strayed from that, though--not because of new characters, but because we haven't collectively been inspired to make things grow. It's been nine years and a lot of clacking keys, a lot of life between Helmsgold and First Hall.

I'm not going to comment further until some other folks have had a chance to chime in--we've got a contingent of weekdayers here, and I don't want to nudge the discussion further until we've heard from them.
Reanna Staffslinger
player, 91 posts
Mon 6 May 2013
at 03:33
  • msg #6

Re: OOC, Deux

I must put up my apologies here. I haven't been doing any gaming whatever for the last several months. With the mental issues I've been dealing with, & still trying to be a good mom to a very active & intelligent 2 year old, that's been taking all the energy I have these days. I haven't even been doing much in the way of crocheting & knitting, which those of you who have known me for so long know just how much that means to me. So I'm afraid I have to say that for the foreseeable future, I most likely will not be playing. I don't want to diminish the story, & I don't want my mental state to make my vivacious Reanna into some morose character that no one would like any longer.
Taija
player, 341 posts
I claw my way
toward the Light
Mon 6 May 2013
at 12:47
  • msg #7

Re: OOC, Deux

I would love to continue.  I don't want to lose the characters we have, unless the players decide they simply cannot keep playing them (totally understood, Reanna and Sari!).

I don't mind a little railroading, either.  :)

Stories change.  They grow, they evolve.  Perhaps one set of stories for this group is finished - the one you talk about above, Hawk.  That group has done some incredible things, and people have reached amazing heights.  There have been crescendos in their personal stories.  That's not to say that everyone needs to change, but that the old characters now have space for new stories.  :)  Or to move off, if their players can't play that specific character any more.

No shame there at all!  :D

But the older characters, including Jancus who did come in before any of the new people, they form a solid core.  Even if Sari decides to change characters and Reanna can't find the time/energy due to (far more important) real life needs, that leaves Elec (partly NPC'ed, but still played wonderfully by the GM, and that's a treat to see), Eladrin, Sukuden, Bron-Bron, and Jancus.  It does make Elec's situation a bit tricky, given the really impressive love story he shared with Sari, mind, but nothing is impossible to work through.

I love the cast - every one of them.  That kobold is still there, looking for a cause.  Those two rogues have grown into new positions and responsibilities, and yet find themselves at odds sometimes with that growth.  The paladin has found love and a new purpose.  All of these things, I think, show the growth of the heroes through their journey, and continues that story you began soooo long ago.

I think you're still doing it justice now.  :)  The stakes may have changed, the characters have become something deeper.  But still.  Might it be a matter of grasping that idea, realizing that the characters have grown and changed, but still are the same in their cores?  And tying that together with the current plot (hooray for gross generalizations, but I'm not the plot-writer so I'm unsure of specifics :)?

As for the leaving characters, assuming they do go (and will be terribly missed!)?

Perhaps the Drow has found her calling and her place.  And the bard has enough to document, and needs to bring it to the world.  Or take a rest, because that's sometimes necessary as well.

Thoughts?  Am I just rambling?

Another important question - are we still having <I>fun</i?  And is the GM still having fun (rather critical, that!)?

I am!  :D

Maybe we need to get smashed back to nothing, to lose all our fancy gear and stuff, and have to work our way - *ducks hail of thrown stones*

^_^
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