Thuurvi is definitely about diplomacy with these orcs. She wants to hear them out, but if they try to attack her, she will certainly attack right back (as is the orcish way). She will want to know why the orcs and giant want the pillar....but she's also knowledgeable enough about giants and orcs that even with 'noble' intentions, they may try to kill her and everyone else.
Just spoke with Tuk, they've been hammered at work, but hope to be back this week.
Haha, Thalmor. I had a whole post attacking you, and you posted less than a minute before me, withdrawing.
Back to the writing room...
Okay, moved it around. Phew. ALmost ruined the entire campaign with that one. ;)
You told me to take a turn!
I'm not gonna fight two guys at once, pfft. I shouldn't even be on this blasted contraption!
"I want ROOM SERVICE!"
You wanted on!
Just waiting on Three, Tuk, and Jacynta.
Sorry all, it's been a week. I started a new job, and have been trying to get into the new groove of that post-pandemic. It's been a busy couple of weeks. Also, we just found out we'll be moving in the next couple of months, so now we have to find a new place to live, and are scrambling to find a house.
I'm still working on this if people are interested. Just trying to juggle life.
I'm interested.
Alright. Bugger. I am frustrated, as I do not want to do this. Moving is becoming increasingly stressful and time-consuming. Trying to find a place while balancing my other jobs and projects is taking up basically all of my time. I don’t think I can DM this game anymore.
I have really liked this game. I've enjoyed everyone's role-playing, and characters, and uniqueness they brought to the table. Thuurvi's quirkiness, Tuk's energy, Three's composure, and curiosity, Thalmor's dour "get off my porch you hooligan's" energy, Jacynta's timid frustration.
I’ve been thinking about the difficulties particular to PBPs, and why they often fail, based on what I have experienced as both a player and a DM.
One of the major reasons I think I struggle as a DM on a PBP is that I am a storyteller. At a table, or even watching an audience react to a film or TV show I've done, I can see and hear their responses. I can feel the energy. In a PBP, when you do something cool, the response is in character, not out of character. That ooc energy, excitement, and fear are palpable and super important to me at a table. PBP as a medium lacks that energy almost completely, which means that I feel unsure if I'm entertaining the players, or explaining things in a sensible, understandable way.
I think that house rules (even some simple ones) on a PBP are...a bad idea. At a table, they work better than the regular rules, in my opinion. But in PBP, the most successful games, FAR AND AWAY, are society games. Simple. RAW. Short. By the book adventures with no deviations. That WORKS for a PBP.
Also, I believe I am generally wrong about a thing I have always done in PBP...and Thuurvi is correct. :) I like to play and role-play subtle characters, not throw-the-pie-in-your-face characters or characters who are high energy, or eager to engage in every plot word. But those are HARD to RP with online. A quiet character? Hard. An “I don’t trust the party yet” character? Hard. A “my character isn’t bought in yet” character? Hard to RP with. And when groups can’t RP, the game dies, because the people RPing are bored.
Thuurvi, as a prolific poster with high energy and engagement, posted in a way that made role-playing easier for everyone online, because the player gave us all some energy we could work with. I think that is smart and works very well on a PBP.
At tables, we banter. That doesn’t translate well online, so the energy we’re looking for isn’t there, usually. Online relationships are not the same as table relationships. And that is PART of what we’re looking for.
I love writing, and even solo play PBP's, as I can focus, and not worry, and step away for months at a time, depending on my projects. I also think I am trying (as many of us are) to scratch an itch for tabletop RPing. And I've begun to wonder if, as a community, we don't know how to do that well yet (based on the enormous amount of unfinished games in PBP communities.)
I’ve loved this game. The little bits of it have been quite fun, to delve into the world, the characters, and even into the moments. I’ve enjoyed gaming with all of you. But I think my DM days on PBP with groups may be done. The things I look for...the energy, the camaraderie, the banter, the tension, and the rules we’ve built up at our table that work so well...I don’t really get those things in a PBP, and I don’t think that I will. I’m looking for a thing that is not actually there. And that is unfortunate.
I may continue solo gaming, as it is a form of brainstorming for me. Your characters may even show up in stories from time to time if that is okay. Aemon was once a character Jacynta’s player created. Both Three and Daxur (a character Tuk made) have shown up in a couple of my games, sort of a wandering R2-D2 and C-3P0 in my world. I love that they become immortal.
Anyway, I’m not sure how to end this, so I will just say thank you. Let me know if you guys need anything, or would like anything more from me. :) Feel free to reach out with ideas or requests or just to say hi. I'll still be around.
That's too bad, sorry that it didn't work out.
For what it's worth, I had a sense that too many house rules would cause problems. My experience with PBPs is that they run best when people just play stuff with a few minor tweaks.
Thanks a lot for the chance to play, though. It was fun while it lasted.
Yup, hard decision to make.
Thanks for running this, it was fun!
I'm sorry to hear it, mittean!
I'm doing a pbp game on Discord (5e) and the energy is present there--not sure why it's working better over there.
In my experience, house ruled and homebrew games fail because it's hard to keep stuff going. While APs can feel railroad-y, that's often ok, and sometimes DMs/GMs will just handwave a combat as over.
I've also found that groups above 4 get bogged down in PBP.
Just my observations and yes, in person can be wonderful. My own life with kiddos and work prevent that, and of all things, I didn't enjoy being a GM at a table because I had to talk so much! :D I would start to get tired, doing all that oration.
Anyhoo, if you do something on a smaller scale, do let me know. I am becoming increasingly convinced that the best stuff for PBP is a 2-3 player game based on a short module, with the option to continue after that.
I agree, Thuurvi...I think open-ended, home-brewed (and now also, house-ruled) games just DO NOT work on PBP. A shorter, railroad-y game works better. This is why the most successful completion rates in games are for Society.
Yeah, I would play with any of you again. I'm still going to solo game some stuff on my own. And I'm still looking to play a little on PBP because my needs and goals are different there.
Yep, PFS is where it's at...although then, you lose some camaraderie. That's a hard word to spell...
GM, do you mind deactivating this game so it doesn't appear on our Campaigns? I hope it comes back, honestly. :P