It's not about any single thing. It's something that's been a long time in coming. Whatever making Ro captain, or leader, or coordinator, or whatever it is she's supposed to be was aimed to help with, it clearly hasn't worked.
I don't see any point in continuing it. I don't want the extra grief, it breeds resentment, it doesn't help us do anything more easily, I could go on and on. Ro has quit or offered re-voting as an option more than once before. Nobody has acted on it or really acknowledged it, so this time I'm doing it OOC.
Ro will still offer her opinions but that is all. We will just have to muddle through like every other party I've ever played in. This is a unique situation within my experience at least. Other parties I've played in, or still do, have more or less worked things out and can function as a unit within a couple of months as they get familiar with each other's personalities and abilities.
We've been going for upwards of 5 years and still haven't done this. I don't know why, or what if anything might be done about it. But I'm not going to play sheepdog anymore. I'm too tired, and no longer want to be responsible for someone being unhappy every time we have to make some sort of consequential decision.
I haven't been upset about anything in a long time, but I can understand how you feel Ro.
I learned to accept Lia's actions as similar to a highly functioning autistic (Seriously...no offense to anyone here), and basically stopped worrying what Lia was doing exactly from moment to moment for a long time, unless it was too extreme. Flutter seems to be the higher functioning of the two anyway
I love this game, and you guys, but the last thing anybody wants is for anyone to not have fun anymore.
Karmid has matured to the point where he doesn't mind leading the group on a temporary basis, for a trial period, since Ro wants to step down. Just be prepared for Karmid to lead the group forward from the front, if everybody agrees to it. Although I assume Karmid will attempt to be smarter about his actions going forward if other's lives are in his hands, so to speak.
@Roja: Aye, it should not cause you distress, so whatever works for you.
I just wanted to check if I was a root cause of the issue because if so, I can adapt. For the record, I was never unhappy about any consequential decisions. Lia trusts Ro.
Next level, I get to enter my PRC. There's quite some potential for character growth there - so if you feel that might help. I do enjoy Lia greatly but I do understand that she may be 'difficult' to plan around unless given a clear system she can follow.
@Karmid: Aye, no offense taken as that is kind of how she works. Flutter is the voice of reason and logic. She's also working in passive absolutes which is refreshingly different - but may also be one of the causes for the unique situation.
When you decided to remain right on the edge of the pit spell, she decided not to use it any more. Rather than try and talk things over with you. Where in a 'normal' group, we'd probably have had an IC chat and reached some solution. Know what I mean? She has her own quirks and tries to work around the quirks of others around her, rather than try and amalgamate into a whole by mutual adaptation.
I really do want to stress it wasn't about particular players or character personalities. So, no Lia, it isn't about you. It was about the whole thing. Our party is a giant bag of chaos and I couldn't tame it.
Thinking about it longer now, I think part of the problem was the slow growth in what Ro was supposed to be doing from beginning to end. As I remember it, the original idea way back was much more limited, a sort of combat specific tactical leader. But as time went on it morphed into more and more things Ro was supposed to be deciding, but never really had the final word on. On the one hand, Ro was supposed to decide based on input etc., but on the other hand anyone who felt like it would do something else.
It was like everyone was saying they wanted someone in charge, but at the same time acting like they didn't want anyone in charge. In any case, as the number and kinds of things falling to Ro to decide grew, there was less for anyone else to do with their characters. Maybe having a designated leader takes too much agency away from other characters.
To be blunt, I think some significant amount of this was people not reading posts carefully or maybe at all before posting themselves, which meant sometimes characters were doing random weird things that didn't match the actual situation or facts established. But I can't make people stay current, and I can't compel characters to do things. It's very fortunate we don't have a rogue in the party, because the odds that others would be paying attention to what they're doing enough to help them out with flanking are really low.
If you want to give it a go Karmid it's perfectly fine with me, and I wish you the best of luck. Ro will support Karmid, no question about that.
I do still wonder what we ever actually got out of it though.
I do still wonder what we ever actually got out of it though.
Generally it was just going for 'Attack'/Don't Attack, Go Left or Right stuff really. Don't worry: We will be fine regardless.
No Objection to current plan.
Sorry to delay things. I got my 1st covid-19 shot and it gave me quite a whallop for a couple of days.
oh? I'm getting my 1st jab on the 26th.
How is it?
Congrats on the pokies to both of you.
What I've learned from family and 'more essential' close friends is that it varies heavily by person and vaccine.
So don't go in fearing the whallop - it's quite possible, but not a certainty.
(I do not have first-hand experience, unlike Ro, but still wanted to chime in :) apologies.)
Yeah, it varies person to person, and also according to which vaccine. We've been comparing among my friends and work team as people get them, and my experience was a little more pronounced than the usual, but still not bad. I had a headache and drowsiness/fatigue for the two days after the vaccine. It was enough to make me sleep considerably more, but that's all. The shot itself is just a shot, a little muscle soreness where I received the shot, nothing different from the usual.
I just had my second Pfizer last Wednesday and it knocked me out with fever and fatigue for a couple of days. I didn't feel like myself again until Sunday. Just another anechdotal experience :)
I got my first shot a couple of weeks ago. Minor problems at best, but I'm getting my second shot this coming Saturday. Not looking forward to it really...
I'm back. Finally got the OT done and the report out to VA Central Office.
I'll check into the game thread, but I have over a 100 posts to get through. I'll post by tomorrow at the latest, unless someone wants to give me the TL:DR version of what we're up to, and what Jili needs to be doing immediately.
Cough. Cough. Fireball. Hey the GM mentioned it.
Jili, I don't remember when you last posted but I will 'sum up' as best I can:
1. We found the imposters at the home we had a key for. We captured and eventually killed them but not before they told us why they were there. Turned out they were working for a 'Skinsaw' cult and it was run by a city Judge named...Ironbriar I think?
2. We did some basic investigation and discovered a sawmill that has been confirmed (to Karmid at least) to be a base of operations of some sort for the cult. However, we had a few 'party fouls' so-to-speak and Ro decided to step down as leader after leading us there and back again without resolving anything specifically yet.
3. Karmid volunteered to lead the group for now and has taken everyone back to the sawmill tonight, but the cult seems to be 'working' rather than 'culting' and Karmid is trying to decide what to do for now.
4. Feel free to 'Fireball' anything you feel is appropriate if it comes to a fight. You are all invisible except for me. Stay that way until things head into a fight or you can make a difference before losing the spell Lia cast on everyone.
Thanks for the summary, Karmid and welcome back Jili.
Apologies for my absence in the past week. Ongoing depression/anxiety isses. Please accept my apology ... again.
Welcome Back BrOP.
Safe space here dude. No problems!
=)
No worries at all BrOP!
Welcome back - no worries! And no apologies needed - if you need time, you take it.
Just stepping up to see who responds! Don't want too much downtime to go by...
=)
I'm still around!
Am here
*Sigh*
It happened again. I got scared of disappointing all of you, which caused me to run away again.
Seems like I still have a lesson to learn here.
Are people still around and interested in playing?
Yep, still here! Glad to have you back BrOp!
Yep I'm still here.
Can't keep good role-players down I say! Good to see you again. This game has been going on too long for me to give up now!
I want to see it all the way to the end.
=)
Always here.
Let's see it to the end.
Your timing was AWESOME. I had some ISP trouble in the past 2 weeks and could not even access paizo. Just fixed things up on the weekend and am back here and ready to go.
And aye, lesson to learn: No apology needed :)
You are not disappointing us. We are here to have fun. If this wasn't fine, people would have bowed out already. So, no worries :)
Thank you for your understanding and patience! Here we go ...
@Jiliana: Just wanted to point out that I recently got to use that spell in a live group to great effect -
A plot-arc-end-boss magician with an endless supply of undead(his mac-guffin automatically animated dead, and the battle was in a ancient ossuary chock full of bones.) was managing to more or less stalemate us and threatened to overwhelm us with minions.
We managed to clear a route for the Barbarian to charge him, and he landed a decent hit, but on his next turn, the Wizard successfully charmed(heightened) him and ordered him to defend him(nonlethally and blocking access, as per our table interpretation of charm person - a friend trying to keep two other friends from killing each other in a rage).
Things looked bleak. But one Murderous Command later, our charmed Barbarian turned around and rolled a Crit, decapitating(flavor, the damage was overkill) the guy.
Yay for suddenly becoming the ally of someone big and mean that is compelled to kill their closest ally :)
Good times.
Ooh, Nice! That's very slick Lia!
Well 'Executed'! Pun intended of course.
=)
So did the barbarian get a heads up for such a maneuver?
No heads-up, no planning, it was ad-hoc when we were scrambling for options after the previous plan fell apart, and slightly lucky that our Barbarian failed the save.
Still, very 'epic' moment, GM even ruled that the attack would be unexpected after the charm and receive a +2 circumstance bonus - which ultimately was not even needed for the confirmation roll but a nice touch.
Fun story, Lia.
Updated the combat round post.
Just an FYI, I just started graduate school and will be a lot busier because of that. I am committed to this game, and will try to post every day nonetheless, but there may be gaps (hopefully short ones) as the next year rolls on.
Congrats! I have a friend who got his Phd a few years ago, and it was a lot of work for him too. He still played in several IRL games and even ran one during that time period if I remember. He even worked full time (at the school he was going to school at) during that time. If HE can do it (you really have to know him), then I have no doubt you can handle it.
=)
You'll do fine in grad school. Congrats!
As the possessor of one of those coveted PhDs, what I learned is finishing grad school mostly takes mulish stubbornness more than anything else.
Take the time you need to get your stuff done well.
I'm so sorry. I just don't have the bandwidth to keep up with all my PbP games. I took a promotion at work, and by the end of the day my brain just doesn't any power left for posting.
I've enjoyed playing in this game so much, and I wish you all the best. Have great future adventures.
Sorry to see you go Jili. But best of luck and success with your promotion/new job!
Dang! I really liked Jiliana's character in this. Sorry to see you go.
=(
Congratulations on your work promotion Jill.
Sorry to see you go but thank you for playing making this fun.
Congratulations on the promotion, Jili, but sorry to see you go. Do you have time to go out in a blaze of glory or find another story-reason to exit the game?
aye, sorry to see you go. best of luck to you, jil
In other news, work is also going through a extra difficult time for me, because a colleague suddenly left and I am stuck with...more than my share of tasks.
Should be better sometimes in August.
Congratulations on the promotion, Jili, but sorry to see you go. Do you have time to go out in a blaze of glory or find another story-reason to exit the game?
I'm guessing that the answer to this is a "no", but just want to leave the door open for you to have one last moment with the group. It doesn't have to be a "death" moment, if you want to leave the possibility open for an eventual return!
I'd love to leave a chance of coming back if possible.
That's up to the GM of course, but we have all been working together for so long on this AP, and we are finally looking at getting somewhere it the game. I personally would love to see you come back when you think you can manage it!
=)
Maybe have Jill do something else once this particular part of teh adventure is wrapped up.
That way a path for her to return in the future is there.
Yeah, I'm sure we can work something out Jiliana.