Very sorry to hear! I noticed that you had suddenly dropped off every game/alias and feared it was something like this. I'm glad to hear from you and totally understand you needing some more time before you join back in. Take good care of yourself!
As we weren't at a critical point, I didn't see the need to remove you. Vega is just having some kind of mental battle with himself at the moment or something. So he's going to chill out where he is until you're ready to play him again.
Sorry to hear about your losses Pirate. Take your time man.
Sorry for my silence in the last few days, but much like Pirate, I have suddenly found myself a bit busy in real life. I'm going to be gone from the forums until further noticed. Thanks for understanding.
Erk. That sucks :(
How do the rest of you want to handle this?
I really don't feel up to DMPCing Ophelia on a permanent basis, her character is very complex, and I've got enough on my plate with running things. However she's kind of the core of the party at this point, with her summoned creatures/companions making up a huge chunk of creatures here. Suggestions?
Oy, Ophelia/CDL sorry to hear things are complicated in your life too!
Jelani, I hate to lose momentum, but does it make sense to take a break until at least the first of Ophelia or Vega returns? Ophelia's post leaves her future uncertain, but Vega expects to be back in the not too distant future. Why don't we see if Ophelia has more to say about her future when Vega returns. If need be at that point, perhaps one of us can play her by proxy for a bit, until she returns?
Lets see what the others have to say. I'll admit to not being too keen on continuing with two of what were the biggest posters (besides you Gyrfalcon) missing.
I'm okay with a pause in the game as well.
Augh, man. I don't think we could continue without Ophelia at the very least. Like, her and Vega are essential to the party dynamic both mechanically and from an RP sensibility. I'm fine with pausing until it's safe to pick back up again, but that's a major bummer.
Augh, man. I don't think we could continue without Ophelia at the very least. Like, her and Vega are essential to the party dynamic both mechanically and from an RP sensibility. I'm fine with pausing until it's safe to pick back up again, but that's a major bummer.
Agreed. Seems like the fates have ordained this game shall not be for now. I'll mark it as inactive, and if people come back at some point we might get it going again. We'll see.
Yikes! Yes, I really really hope we get to continue at some point. It's been awesome so far.
Yo. I should be able to start up again now. RL is still being a bit of a pain, but I have found the time and will to continue with (most of) my forum games. If I have to take a break, I will give you guys a heads up, but it shouldn't be as drastic. Still, I have to be honest and say that I am tiring of constant combat.
Cool Ophelia, thank for letting us know.
Well, this is a dungeon crawl in PBP. It's going to be (near) constant combat as long as you guys keep pressing forward. After clearing this misty chamber thing, there will certainly be a short interlude of RP while you guys decide where to go/what do next. But again, dungeon crawl.
Vega, how is it going with you buddy?
Where is everyone else at?
I'll be going back to school starting at the end of the month, so I actually might need to slow up on PBP around that time too. I'm not sure yet, since I'm only going part time. But it might affect my posting.
You might want to reactivate the thread so the others can see our newest messages in their little list of campaigns.
Good point :) Done.
Hey, I'm very happy to see this reactivated! Ophelia, sorry to hear that RL has been a pain. I hope things improve soon.
Vega, I hope you're doing well too. Losing people sucks.
I suppose that constant combat is to be expected with dungeon crawls, but given the grade of the current enemy (the worms), I would certainly not be opposed to hitting the fast forward button like we did during the battle against the giants. You know, saying that we search the room and just kill any worms that get in our way in the interest of saving time and getting to more fun battles like the one with the ancient white dragon.
I'll go for that if you're willing to say your rounds per level summons are expired. I will reveal the map and give XP for the amount of them you would have encountered. There are a large but not infinite number of worms.
Sounds good to me.
I'm quite alright with letting the summons expire. They only had like six rounds left anyway.
Still here!
Here!
I'd like to hear from everyone but Vega if I'm going to restart this.
Hey Poppy, really sorry to hear it, I've totally enjoyed playing with you. I'll agree that it's a pretty head-spinning challenge some times... Even for Gror who can go a long way just playing the big dumb fighter.
Anyway, all the best and I hope to okay with you somewhere else.
Jelani, where does that leave us?
Not having heard from Vega, and with me going back to college (after a 2+ year break) at the end of the month, I think I'm going to just go ahead and put a bullet in this one's brain.
I am glad that I tried the high level PBP thing, as I've seen it proposed so many times, made a character and then had the DM back out. But honestly, this game is a lot of work just because of the high numbers and all the abilities the PCs have going on. It's also a dungeon crawl.
I keep trying to run dungeon crawls in PBP, and EVERY time the posting rate starts out strong and then flops and dies after a short time. I don't know what it is, but something about PBP makes them not fun it seems. I'm only in one game where it works, and everyone basically posts one sentence posts from their phones, and the DM keeps it moving very rapidly. It's also low level. There is very little RP, so the fun of the game just comes from the fights. I'm also the de facto party leader in that one as the rogue, and I can post WAAAAY more than most other people in the boards. So I can constantly push it forward myself by saying "We go this way, I check this door, I open this door etc."
We've got one character definitely out (Poppy), one character practically (if not permanently) out (Vega), one character uncertain of time (Ophelia) and two people who haven't been able to keep up anywhere close to the 1/day posting commitment I asked for in recruitment (Dori and Cho). Then Gror, who has been the most enthusiastic about the game. That's not much fun for me. It takes me 1-3 hours to do a combat or summary post. Without people actively participating every day, it just feels like a chore.
I'm not angry, or trying to shame people or something. I don't care, it's only a game. I'm just being honest.
If school's not too crazy, I might recycle the all synthesist party idea into a lower level game. Talking with Poppy earlier IRL I had a thought about Council of Thieves. As it seems like a good game to have a party of "super heroes" in. I'd probably also go mythic instead of gestalt. But that's all "we'll see" at this point.
I'll keep in touch; you're one of the best DMs I've ever had, Jelani. :) I would love to use Ophelia in some form in another campaign of yours. I don't think it was the fact that this one was high level so much as it was a dungeon crawl with little chance to let such a strong cast shine. Those are difficult to pull off in PBP and typically work better in a live setting.
It was great playing with you all. This was the first PbP I've played in where people took the time to do really rich writing...with the tone set of course by Jelani. I've learned a ton, and stepped up my game quite a bit thanks to all y'all's inspiration.
Thanks to everyone for the energy and passion they put in! I'd be happy to get to game with any or all again...and Jelani, good luck getting back into things at school. I'll try not to salivate too much at the thought of your take on Council of Thieves. ;-)
Thanks for the kind words guys, I definitely hope to play with you all again at some point.
I had a lot of fun, and really enjoyed playing with everyone!
Until next time!
Heya. First, I think I'll give you guys an update.
Sorting out real life has been rough. A few days after my last message, another person close to the family died. This one was rather unexpected as well.
On a personal level, I am doing much better now. Just the last 2 months have been... a trail, to say the least.
For while this game lasted, it was a lot of fun (at least, I had lots of fun with it when I was able to post regularly). While I m sad to see it do, I understand that sometimes you simply have to let go and move on in order to keep sane.
Best of gaming to all of you, and I hope to see some of you around in future games as well.
Well, I just opened a council of thieves recruitment on the same premise as this one. Hope you apply :)