I think there'll be plenty of chances to RP with Kendra after... I'm fine with handwaving the initial contact and showing up at the crypt. Expediency! :)
Cassandra, have we lost you before you even started? It's been shaky transitioning back into play after adding you two, but we try for 1 post a day at least.
Gentlemen, what's the plan? Where to from here? The Sun will be going down soon.
Sorry. It's been a busy couple of weeks at home and at work. Hopefully things will calm down after the holiday weekend.
Good catch, Sohar. Yes, Kitch, we're using a house rule. Your first level hp are equal to your ENTIRE CON SCORE, plus favored class bonus or feat bonus (but not CON mod - that would be redundant).
aha. That is a great catch. I will fix post-haste!
Hey folks, fyi I'm moving from UT to WA this weekend and will likely post little, if at all till I'm settled. But I will be reading and trying to post! Gooooo Team!
Thanks for the warning.
My powers of discernment have failed us again. Cassandra appears to have left us before truly joining us. *sigh* At least Kitch is hanging tough. Cassandra, I was excited to get to know your changeling better, but it appears that you're not up to our pace at this point. I get it. No hard feelings, but we're moving on without you. Thanks for applying.
You stalwart 4 remain. Hopefully we can continue on now without interruption.
lol, darn me for trying to be so inclusive. Cassandra's only references in the AP now exists soley from Kitch's mentioning her. Ah well... lesson learned!
<chirping crickets>
Was it something I said?
Hey just fyi we had some unexpected delays on the weekend, the wifey had some cysts that decided to burst and complicate our lives. Wife's feeling better now and should be able to move forward!
Yikes! Hope all is well.
Hey, all! I wanted to do a quick check-up with everybody on the game.
How's it going for everyone? I'll be honest, I feel like it's grinding along at a snail's pace. Perhaps that's because I'm on summer break (school teacher) and I find myself checking far more often than I was before, but I get the feeling that we never regained any momentum after we lost Morgrym and...the cleric. Then we lost the oracle before she even started. That's rocky for any game.
I confess I've been self-conscious about how little action (aka combat) we've had. Do I just need to spice it up some? I've tried to lay out a mystery for investigation without railroading your endeavors. Have I left it too wide open? Are you lost? Are my hooks too subtle? I really enjoy each of your characters and I'd be sad to see this game die, but I equally don't care to drag along the carcass of a dead game.
I'd really like input. Am I making this up or making something out of nothing? Is this the new pace that I should just accept? Do I need to make some changes to the gameplay? Have people lost their enthusiasm and it's time to call "time" on the game? I welcome honest (hopefully constructive) criticism. I want this to be good for everyone.
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I'm still engaged and checking in. I think not everyone has the ability to write something everyday-ish and have adjusted my expectations accordingly.
Overall, I think the beginning of the APs has a little bit of this feel, as there isn't always a clear one thing to do.
In this particular case, I'm just waiting on Coiger and Chellian to have their scene, and then we'll be moving to the morning, as I recall. During which, Sohar will make a case to skip asking permission to check out the prison since that has already failed.
Indeed Im here sorry works been bullish, but im okay with the invistigational aspect of all this *nods*
No worries here, though today was my first day off in the last 14 and I'm back to work tomorrow. :(
Coiger is one of my more 'thoughtful' PbP characters (in one sense of the word at least). It's hard sometimes to compose appropriate posts for him on my phone while at work. Also, its hard little hard to remember / scan through all the posts to find bits of info I may have overlooked or forgotten. Entirely my bad, but it does contribute to slower posting on my part. Example: I couldn't remember whether or not Sohar and Chellian had described their nightmares from the night before (or roughly a hundred plus posts ago).
I do think it's in a bit of a lull at this point, and pbp + thoughtful investigation usually equal a slower game experience. I also think instances where the party is split can slow things down as there's some hesitancy on whether or not to wait for other scenes, the potential lapse in different game-time scenes happening at once, etc..
For me I think checking whether this style currently fits the players and the GM is important to question, as you're doing. If folks are fine with the pace then I think alls well, if not then perhaps some changes should be made. As a new member of the team, I feel I'm taking my posting frequency queues from the rest of the group, as coming in and trying to change things like the accepted posting frequency may not be appreciated.
Lastly I think every pbp game requires at least 2 'story pushers' and an active GM to keep things moving. I think of these folks who do a lot of the talking/posting to move things along. Without that back and forth with players and the GM to keep things pushing forward, there tends to be some lengthy pauses.
Anyways, sounds like we have the interest and ability to drive things forward, just need to get some of these slower story parts moving I think.
I'm happy to hear that everyone is generally happy. I sincerely didn't mean to call anyone out. I just wanted to make sure all are still interested and take some feedback if anyone had any. As I've said from the beginning, I'm quite new at this so being shy about criticism will do me no favors.
Let's continue on as we were and I'll keep in mind how hard all of you are working. Thanks for sticking with me! :)
Onward hooo!
Have you considered using Flextime GM? I like it for instances to allow separate locations/groups to continue to interact, as has been done several times here already. Also it doesn't work well in every situation, where things happening in flextime past could directly affect the present. But just tossing that out there as a tool to promote/assist with involvement and activity.
You'll have to explain "flextime" to me, Kitch. I'm interested.
Here's an old post I put into a game I ran at one time explaining it in decent detail:
Flex-time (similar to retcon)
If the world setting and adventure has moved ahead while you're afk, or sleeping, or whatever, and you really wanted to ask that certain question during the encounter, or talk to your companions while they were around the campfire the other day about how your mother was mean to you as a little half-orc baby, etc... You can still do those things, via Flex-Time.
Start your post with the words, you guessed it, "Flex-Time" and then reference the encounter or setting your 'flexing' time to. For Example;
Romeo suddenly realizes he had spaced their anniversary, and rushed off to the jewelry stores to find something amazing for the woman he loves, thinking, 'Man I'm glad I didn't forget that! Dinner sure would've been awkward tomorrow! as he trudges happily down the street.
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You get the idea. This helps alleviate the story moving too quickly for the slow-posters out there. Or those who just have different posting schedules, they can utilize this too. ;)
The purpose of this is for more/better RP, and this is a dialogue tool ONLY. This cannot be used to '' when the boat is sinking today.
Last thing about Flex time is that I will occasionally force-stop long running flex time conversations. Too many old conversations can clutter up the gameplay thread and boy do I hate clutter!
That's basically how I used it, and it largely seemed to work OK for me. We kind of do that already I've seen but not everyone may be aware of it or be sure if you're fine with us using it.
Thank you.
*bows and leaves the stage - stage left*
Officially adopted.
I'll do my very best to keep my fingers on the pulse of the game, but if the moment for some desired RP has passed then go ahead and "flextime" it out.
Sounds good, this is a helpful tool so you don't have to be as worried about the pulse of the game as well, and can focus on the pulse of the action and adventure (which I'm sure is what you meant, just twisting your words to make an additional point). Then we players can RP or not as we like, and you can focus on more of the mechanics if you like.
Hey, gang. I'm moving this weekend and will be AFK. I do have internet on my phone, but I won't have access to any rulebooks or the AP module. It might be a week before I have my computer up and running with internet, but I'll try to check in. Thanks for your patience during this move.
Hey GM, move safely and see you on the other side!
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While one can be certain that birds cannot shrug, Lyra's eyes widen and she ruffles her feathers as if asking What do you want me to do; you know I'm a bird, right?Coiger harbors doubts about that. Well played bird, if that's what you are.
Hahaha! Cracked me up! I totally imagined Coiger's mustache twitching as he thought this at her.
Dear friends and fellow gamers,
I'm sorry. I let you all down by disappearing for the last two months. I'm sure that an explanation isn't much help, but to sum up, it's been the busiest two months of my life, both personally and professionally. My wife and I moved into a new house, and started making preparations there for welcoming our first child. At work, my job description has changed, and while it's taken a couple responsibilities off, it's added one very large one that has added on regular weeknight meetings that are a drain on the schedule. It's a big step for me career-wise, not something I could have turned down easily.
For my mental health, something had to go, and unfortunately it was gaming. This includes both PBP and the home game I was playing in. Today's the first day that I have even checked into the website, and it's a result of finally a) feeling a bit more settled, and b) being on vacation this week. I know that I should have stopped in to at least say, "I have to take a break," and I'm most sorry that I didn't take the time to do that. You all deserve better from me, and I didn't live up to it.
Fateweaver, extra apologies to you. It's been rough being away, and I'm sorry to have left you hanging. Let me know if you'd like me to stay away, or come back in some capacity. My posts just might be a bit shorter, or happen once per two days, at the fastest. If not, I totally understand, and wish y'all good gaming!
Speaking as someone who's done similar (though in my case it was about seven years), I'm willing to forgive. I was worried there for a moment then I realized you do have a low base speed and probably the most understated poster in the party. Big-calloused-miner's-fingers-lifting-up-a-society-tea-cup is an image that has stuck with me since you posted it.
Congrats on thus far surviving the changes that have come your way; more's a coming with a kid. Can you post one armed in the middle of the night?
Glad to hear you're OK, Morgrym. I, too, just moved and actually just got on to offer my own apologies. I've been AWOL for about a week. The Internet service we ordered was a bust and we had to wait a week for the new company to come for the install. If you're like me, you know a week without Internet is like a month in POW camp. (I probably shouldn't diminish the suffering of POW's, I guess.) Anyway, things are back up and greatly improved now. I truly hope for no more hiccups.
Morgrym, we recruited another rogue after you got busy. If you and Kitch want to work something out, I'll allow character changes. Or we could just have 2 rogues. Is everyone ok with that?
The more rogues the merrier I say
Thanks, Fateweaver. I know exactly what you mean re: internet!
Our builds are different enough that we should be ok to both be in the same party, and maybe eventually we can fill some gaps in the social skills department (that -2 to diplomacy is like a weight around the neck).
I'll hop back in here in a moment. Good to be back!
Hey Morgrym, yeah we can divide and conquer with some of the skills and we could also go down different classes when leveling.
Sure. I'm thinking that (with the right experiences) a rank or two as a warpriest of Pharasma wouldn't go amiss.
Preach it brother.
Hey, all. If you haven't noticed, I'm in a rut. I've taken on a temp job that keeps me busy through my usual messageboard times. I've tried to adapt, but I haven't done well. I'm sorry. Your patience is deeply appreciated.
I had something simular happen when i took a job that works primarily overnights, took a month or two get get acclimated keep at it :)
No worries, GM. :)
Hi, team. My parents are in town, so minimal posting this weekend. Sorry!
Gang, I'm so sorry for disappointing you, but I'm done. I was very excited about this game and I put a lot of time and thought into my plans for the game, but things just got off-kilter and I haven't recovered my enthusiasm. I've actually typed this message twice now, but convinced myself I could push through it. PbP just isn't for me. The RP has been terrific, but the pace is just unbearable.
You've all had some memorable moments that were great. Thanks for your contributions. I feel awful letting you down, but you deserve to have me tell you this up front rather than just fading out and disappearing. Happy gaming.
a shame has good games friend
It was the mustache, wasn't it?
Well, do the rest of us want to find a GM to continue the game? I only ask because I picked up the GMing duties for another group (a Kingmaker campaign) here on the website when their GM left. Basically they put out a call on the recruitment thread searching for a replacement. Thoughts?