Franz Albert Capsali |
@All games: My apologies for the unannounced absence.
As many others, I had been visiting family during the christmas holidays.
I figured I would have some time to post in the evenings - alas, I only had my work laptop with me, and due to neglicence on my part(I don't really actually restart it all that often...hibernate FTW) my certification for the VPN-Tunnel that is enforced on all internet access was not up-to-date. Result being that I had no access to the WWW despite W-Lan availability.
I could, and should, probably have written such an update from my phone, and posted it to all my games, but honestly, I've been too lazy for that - not really a big fan of writing much without a keyboard. So, apologies for that. I came back home today, and will try and catch up with all games as soon as possible/over the next 48 hours.
Storyteller Shadow |
OK, my for sure finally happened!
I've only two more updates to get to. One for Franz and one for our new Tzimisce player. I will get to these once I put the child to bed tonight.
Unfortunately, our former soon to be Tzimisce has been gone from the boards for months so it is time to move on.
I am still waiting for our Brujah to check in from my last set of posts, I sent a PM to him today.
Franz Albert Capsali |
Just as an heads-up(for all my games): In less than 24 hours from now, my second child will be born.
I took a one-month leave from work to stay at home, so chances are I will have opportunities to post.
But between bonding with the little one and keeping the bigger one entertained, my posting patterns MAY be erratic at times, which is why I feel it's fair to inform fellow players(and GM's).
Only the faster-moving games will find a need to bot me, I hope, but if I am responsible for delay, do move on.
Storyteller Shadow |
@ Storyteller Shadow
It might be the long absence over break, but I don't remember who Sergei is, or if I really have an objective. I remember there was a riot of sorts, and Adria and I left my home for something?
ON - Aug 25, 2017, 11:12 am
Venice by Night – Thursday March 27, 1309
On a Gondola - Luca Marano
Luca and Adria follow Petrankov out as the voting continues behind them.
Once out in the fresh air there are several Gondolas they can take. Petrankov approaches and one of the Ferrymen waves you all towards him. As all three of you get on the boat and are in the water, the boatman turns to Petrankov, "I was promised by my Master that I would receive great powers for the duty and services I have performed for him. You are the one known as Petrankov yes?"
Petrankov looks up at the boatman warily, "I am Mortal, since when do you deign to speak with our ilk?"
The man keeps pushing the Gondola along, "Since I am starting to become desperate. I do not know when Sergei will return and I cannot locate Katriana. I feel my opportunity slipping through my fingers..."
Petrankov seems to forget about both you and Adria as the conversation unfolds, "Proceed".
The man continues, "I was the one that brought the Volkov's here from Paris for this set up, so that you could meet with Volkov and do whatever needs to get done. I can tell you all of the places that we have stayed since we arrived here, for a price".
Petrankov grunts, "Which is?"
The man stops and turns back, "I want to be one of you..."
---
ON - Sep 5, 2017, 09:51 pm
Venice by Night – Thursday March 27, 1309
On a Gondola - Luca Marano
Petrankov grins at Luca, "Well stated Fledgling, well stated.
He speaks true Mortal, we don't need any more pups roaming around. I could just kill you and be done with it but as you belong to another, even one who has vexed me, it would be impulsive of me to do that.
Instead, I will give you a choice. If tomorrow you bring my two friends here around to all of the places you know that Volkov stayed and you find him, I will see to it that one of our ilk Embraces you. If the search yields no fruit then your life will be forfeit to these Fledglings who have yet to have their first kill..."
The man swallows hard an looks at you and Adria, "Agreed".
Petrankov laughs, "You must be desperate. Tell me young pups, will you do this for me?" He turns to you and Adria.
---
You and Adria did indeed agree to go. In exchange Petrankov will:
ON - Sep 14, 2017, 01:01 am
Venice by Night – Thursday March 27, 1309
On a Gondola - Luca Marano
Adria pauses looks at you and then back at Petrankov, "We could but what will you do for us?"
Petrankov laughs, "One night in their Courts and already you act like one of them!
I shall give you succor and hunting privileges here that you may remain if you so choose. I will negotiate for them for you. I assure you, if I do not, the Prince will chase you away once I leave... Are we fully agreed now?"
Thereafter, Francois states:
ON - Sep 30, 2017, 11:56 am
Venice by Night – Thursday March 27, 1309
On a Gondola - Luca Marano
The man sighs in relief, "Tomorrow, meet me at the entrance to the Way of Kings Inn".
Adria nods, "We will be there".
Clear? :-)
Storyteller Shadow |
Sergei is a moving target for several different vampires who want him for various reasons and are offering different rewards for him.
Yes, Sergei and Katriana Volkov are both NPCs of interest to the current plot. Both were former PCs at the outset of the Game way back when.
Storyteller Shadow |
Just as an heads-up(for all my games): In less than 24 hours from now, my second child will be born.
I took a one-month leave from work to stay at home, so chances are I will have opportunities to post.
But between bonding with the little one and keeping the bigger one entertained, my posting patterns MAY be erratic at times, which is why I feel it's fair to inform fellow players(and GM's).
Only the faster-moving games will find a need to bot me, I hope, but if I am responsible for delay, do move on.
Congrats!
Based on that development, I will keep you outside of Court until your posting becomes more regular again. In the meantime, we can explore Clan Ventrue and your role in it with less "in game time pressure".
Unfortunately, due to RL I'll not be able to get another post up for you until tonight.
Storyteller Shadow |
Hmmm, we may have lost our Brujah.
Due to my own lack of steady posting, I'll give him till early February to post or PM me back. Then I'll start the search for a new PC if he does not resurface.
FYI, I plan on pushing this ahead pretty hard this Thursday so we can get this Toreador vote done :-)
Storyteller Shadow |
Ranerius, I botted you for a short scene within Vitaliano's post just an FYI, bit of fall out from Onfroi's vulgar use of high level Obfuscate in front of the Dominated humans. Just a little presence by you to convince them they did not see what they thought they saw :-)
Franz Albert Capsali |
Congrats!
Based on that development, I will keep you outside of Court until your posting becomes more regular again. In the meantime, we can explore Clan Ventrue and your role in it with less "in game time pressure".
Unfortunately, due to RL I'll not be able to get another post up for you until tonight.
Both child and primary provider are safely home from the hospital, and I should have more time again to post without the obligation of keeping the first kid in an operational state by myself, nor organizing trips to and from said hospital on a daily basis.
Considering this has not been one of the faster-going games with daily posts before, I feel I can safely say that I'll be able to keep up with a 2-3 day schedule, or, depending on how things go, even a daily routine for a while.Storyteller Shadow |
Storyteller Shadow wrote:Congrats!
Based on that development, I will keep you outside of Court until your posting becomes more regular again. In the meantime, we can explore Clan Ventrue and your role in it with less "in game time pressure".
Unfortunately, due to RL I'll not be able to get another post up for you until tonight.
Both child and primary provider are safely home from the hospital, and I should have more time again to post without the obligation of keeping the first kid in an operational state by myself, nor organizing trips to and from said hospital on a daily basis.
Considering this has not been one of the faster-going games with daily posts before, I feel I can safely say that I'll be able to keep up with a 2-3 day schedule, or, depending on how things go, even a daily routine for a while.
Great, glad everyone is doing well!
Ranerius Bernerius |
Ranerius, I botted you for a short scene within Vitaliano's post just an FYI, bit of fall out from Onfroi's vulgar use of high level Obfuscate in front of the Dominated humans. Just a little presence by you to convince them they did not see what they thought they saw :-)
Sorry that was necessary. I am way behind and that's totally on me :(
Storyteller Shadow |
Storyteller Shadow wrote:Ranerius, I botted you for a short scene within Vitaliano's post just an FYI, bit of fall out from Onfroi's vulgar use of high level Obfuscate in front of the Dominated humans. Just a little presence by you to convince them they did not see what they thought they saw :-)Sorry that was necessary. I am way behind and that's totally on me :(
Not your fault, I forgot to address it IC when it took place so I was addressing it after the fact with my post for Vitaliano.
Einar Arnesen |
Hi everybody! I haven't had time to introduce myself until now. Einar likes glory, money, and long walks on the battlefield. I like gaming, writing, and long walks through the stationery aisles of office supply stores. I'm very excited to be on board this Vampire campaign :)
Storyteller Shadow |
Some RL s*%! to deal with tonight which will push back my originally proposed update from tonight to Saturday as I have D&D table top tomorrow (see two of you there!)
Storyteller Shadow |
Feeling a bit run down tonight, going to post tomorrow, sorry for the delays f+%#in' RL.
If I feel better in the morning, I'll get to it then, if not, when I get home from work, this next one is going to be fairly massive and will take an hour or two so...
Einar Arnesen |
I haven't tried fountain pens yet - I'll have to get one and try it out. I maintain a wide variety of ball-point pens, technical pens, fine line Sharpies of all colors, calligraphy pens, mechanical pencils, and wooden pencils of various hardness.
My real obsession is with notebooks, however - as if having just the right notebook for a creative project will ensure genius and success (despite all empirical evidence to the contrary). And so I have boxes full of unused notebooks gathered over the years. My collection inflated quite a bit when Borders went out of business and put everything on sale for 60%-80% off in their final days, resulting in the purchase of scores of moleskine journals/notebooks of all sizes, colors, and formats.
These days I attempt to control myself and try to ensure that my purchases only maintain the current level of unused product rather than adding to it. Mostly I am successful. Mostly.
Storyteller Shadow |
Ah Children, passed out last night with the kid.
Final update post to move the evening forward is forthcoming.
FYI, I am once again seeking a new PC our Brujah has disappeared and I've not seen him post anywhere on the boards since around Christmas so I'd say it is time to seek anew.
Storyteller Shadow |
Please welcome Sister Maria Bellarosa played by Dragoncat!
Our soon to be newest Brujah.
Good news, some Divorce paperwork came through today so next week I can move that process along. Hopefully by April.May I'll be back to my normal posting routines, thank you all for bearing with me.
I trust the wait and the latest post in Elysium are shocking enough to make it worth the while? :-)
Storyteller Shadow |
It’s pretty late at night as I am writing this. I’ve been through a significant amount of struggles through the past two years (actually through the past 41 but especially the past 2). I’ve had worse stretches of time before but I believe that these past struggles were due to my own lack of maturity and self-awareness at the time those events took place.
Likely those events were necessary for me to experience to survive the events of the past two years and get through them as well as I have. Physical ailments, getting older and requiring more sleep, bankruptcy, and ultimately divorce. You know life is not going swimmingly when going to work feels like a vacation.
Regardless, when I first started getting involved in PbP on the boards it was a chance to play, finally! I’d been DMing for the bulk of the time that I’ve played table top that I was enjoying being able to be a player for once. Then with so many damn flaky GM’s I just started running games and well, things snow balled from there.
Life was fairly stable at the time the normal ups and downs. Then about two years ago, I started getting into PbP as a way to escape reality. Sort of the same ways drugs were casual and enjoyable for me as a teen and ultimately led me as close to suicide as I ever want to get again.
I am not saying that PbP has made me suicidal but I am saying that I recognize that I was using PbP as a coping mechanism to avoid a bad marriage. PbP did NOT lead to the failure of my marriage but it did contribute to my ability to tune it out.
I make a decent living but between bankruptcy and divorce I’ve little to show for it (well except for this killer book and RPG collection ). I could point the finger at my soon to be ex-wife but when you point one finger at a person, three more point back at you. I could have prevented things from becoming this bad and I chose not to. I did it, ironically, because I believed that if I had the marriage would have ended and ended badly, so much for best intentions. I am not going to second guess myself, what happened happened. As divorces go, this one has been rather amicable as we have put our daughter first and ourselves second.
Being married to someone who makes as much if not more money then you (depending on sales that year) places one in a position to “take it easy” when it comes to being aggressive about making money (well it placed me in such a position anyhow perhaps because making money does not move me).
Early on in my career I had an opportunity to become a premiere M&A Financial Services Tax Attorney in a Big 4 Firm. It’s a big deal and potentially a lot of money but I did not really want it because I knew I would be working a lot and traveling a lot. My ex agreed that I should turn it down as she did not want to be married to a workaholic and that was not who I wanted to be anyway. Nor do I want to be that person now. (In yet another twist of irony, she has become a workaholic, funny how things turn out).
I do not regret the decision though I do lament the loss of income that such a decision would have brought to me.
All of this rambling nonsense is leading to the point of this post, I need to work more. Not at my current job nor do I want to get a new job, I actually like being there as odd as that sounds (to me). I need to get a second and perhaps a third job, side gigs. At 41 about to turn 42 with no retirement and no savings for my daughters college, I can no longer hope that the ex’s business will come through as an investment plan. Even if it does, I will not be the beneficiary of that largesse. I need to make up for 11 years of being “comfortable” simply working.
Thus, it is with heavy heart that I am announcing that I will need to close down a number of the threads I run and withdraw from a number of the games I am a PC in.
I suppose this decision will not be a surprise to many of you as my posting rates have been abysmal since these events took a turn for the worse (in some respects the better to be honest) since Thanksgiving of 2017.
I am not generally a person that feels remorse or guilt but I do feel a level of disappointment with having to make this decision. I apologize for disappointing many of you who put work into PCs relying on my consistency as a GM/DM over the course of the past several years.
My plan had always been to run a hardcore dose of RPG’s until my daughter was a teenager and then, spend my free time writing the novel I had been working on since before she was born. I had hoped that over the next 9 years or so I could wrap up most of these campaigns and the few that remained would be more manageable.
Life has not worked out that way.
The good news is that I will still run several games but the current load is too much for me to handle in this transition. The further good news is that I believe this will allow for those games to move along much more quickly.
By tomorrow I will have made my decision as to which games I will keep and which I will shut down.
Thank you all for taking the journeys with me despite the lack of length or resolution of so many of them.
I will still be around just in a diminished capacity so this is not goodbye just a “be seeing less of you”.
Storyteller Shadow |
Spoiler Alert - this is one the of the games I know that i will NOT be shutting down. I pan to run this till I finish what's in my head or I die.
Storyteller Shadow |
3 hours of shoveling has put me behind in my posting tonight. I will update this game in the next few days but not tonight as it is time intensive, just wanted to let you all know.
Einar Arnesen |
No worries, Shadow. BTW, I'm really impressed by the set-up of each clan having a corresponding station of the cross. Great stuff!
Also - welcome on board Maria!
Storyteller Shadow |
Life is finally starting to get a bit less hectic. Thanks for the patience, I will be back to normal posting again this Sunday.
Please sound off so I know you are still with me :-)