MAS Sun May 09, 2021 3:14 pm
Hey Guys, long one here –
We’ve been gaming on forum for nearly 15 years now. Conversation can heated sometimes but were all here because we want to hang together and play some games while we do it. The format challenges communication, it’s a marked difference to be interacting in person vs than online, and the games designed to be played face to face in one sitting sometimes don’t translate as well we hope to this format.
Mike and Joe joining us (and a trickle of other dabblers) brought some much-needed new blood on board, and they both did a great job throwing down their first games. Its been a really wonky year or two for everyone, which has added extra friction to participation on all fronts. Its been good that weve been able to keep the connections and play going despite extra friction.
Its not a knock on anyone to look at where we are and see if we can make the game more enjoyable and engaging for all involved. There has been discussion about how to improve the experience, and opinions differ on how best to approach that – or even whether to approach it all. I think we have identified a lot of the factors that slow things down over the last few years, through discussion, ongoing play, and crazy ass testing of hare-brained ideas.
As things have traditionally operated, the challenge of timing becomes an increasing force of entropy as participants are added. The flow of resolution that occurs more naturally around a table just does not flow well in this format. It’s a given that we all will prioritize our personal lives and obligations over the recreational game, we are all adults leading adult lives – we have jobs, families and medical issues we are juggling. There is always room for compassion and flexibility in this, we are all in the same club here.
The GM typically absorbs a disproportionate amount of the “work” of the game, even more than normal in this format, not only in traditional RPG encounter prep, but in becoming tied to a constant flow of daily check ins, updating maps, and clarifying issues/rules. When everyone involved is engaged, and most importantly the timing works out, we can move along at slow but steady pace. To do so, players check in multiple times daily if they want to keep things moving, or maybe daily. The GM must be checking daily multiple times. It’s a crap shoot, and it works best with the fewest people – which doesn’t really serve the goal of us being able to game together. Eventually, something comes up in somebody’s life and slows that down, and then another, and then another, and then its been a week since anything happened and you don’t even remember to check, cant remember what’s actually happening, and have to read a backlog of posts to have a clue. Interest falls off, the game falls apart. We’ve done this several times now.
It is nobody’s “fault” per say, but its happened in 99% of the fames we’ve done – to some degree or another. That’s all ok in the grand scheme of things. We all deserve the space we need to lead our lives. Ultimately, whether as a GM or player, I want my participation be engaging and enjoyable, and I’m confident you all share that goal. These are my thoughts on what Ive observed over the years, as always YMMV.
There are some central things that slow us down. Ive been guilty of all it from time to time. Its casual and recreation but lets be honest, it requires a certain level of commitment and participating in good faith/obligating oneself to make the effort required to keep the whole game healthy. Agreeing to play or GM in a game is an agreement to put in a good faith effort to participate. That means understanding the game rules and your character’s rules.
Everybody makes mistakes or forgets something (especially me, these days!), but we lose entire days to questions that are basic core game rules or could be answered by just looking it up or googling the rule in an SRD. None of us are at a point where we should expect the GM to teach us the rules or know them for us, and it wastes everyone’s time. There is a difference between “This is kind of a grey area, what do you think” and “I obviously haven’t bothered to check the rules myself” kind of questions.
Additionally, its unreasonable to expect the GM to spend large amounts of time on running and designing the game, and then drop low effort posts in return. Posts without clear declarations and or absent of any role play don’t match the effort we expect and demand out of the GMs. Asking the GM to do a dozen posts and half dozen map updates per round and then responding to that investment with low effort isn’t fair or fun. We all know that sometimes, circumstances either demand or suffer something like that, but a solid post is the least that can be done to match the GMs participation and effort.
Time management is the other big piece. With that in mind:
I have a lot of obligations between now and the end of the month, one of which is a week off grid camping the 18th -24th. I don’t want to start anything new, so Im going to step aside from whatever larger group game forms for now, and hopefully join in down the road a bit. I may fuss but Ill play whatever is being played, cuz I like to game with you.
As far as the JOE game goes, Im going to launch that back up around the beginning of next month. Depending on how aggressive the group wants to go, we can shoot for either 2 or 3 turns a week.
Initiative is handled as normal, but all-party declarations are submitted and processed at once. You can do your post anytime you want and not have to wait for anyone else, within a permissive timeframe.
2 turns a week:
With the GM posting new prompt/play on a Sunday night to start things off, players will have Monday & Tuesday to post their turn, clear anything up in OOG, etc. GM will process the turn and post the update Wednesday. Players have Thursday and Friday to post their turn in response. GM updates no later than Sunday night. Cycle repeats.
3 turns a week:
Monday, Weds, and Friday are player posting days. Tuesday, Thursday, and Sat/Sun are GM days.
I think the two round approach would be a great place to start. We can always shift some days around if that works better for everyone, but the goal is a known schedule with a permissive window to make your post.
If a player is unable to or chooses not to post by GM time, the GM will declare and resolve a basic, standard attack/action or something appropriate in your absence. The game continues. Instances of waiting for others and for issues to be resolved before play can continue…should drop fast. The GM is now doing one map update per round instead of 5+, and 5 or 6 maps per fight instead of 20+.
I really enjoy gaming and hanging out with you all! Even when shit is mechanically kind of broke, id rather be limping along with you guys than not hanging out. You all bring unique and valuable presence to our gaming and I am hopeful and excited to keep this stuff going for another 40 years if we can!
Home
Whitey
, is someone interested in taking over as DM and continuing or should I look at wrapping up the campaign?
the GMs to make SV rolls for us! BLASEPHEMY! I know, I know, but come on, that would speed things up so much. Alan mentioned a program to make all these rolls for us and post them, etc. the GM could also just serve that purpose, if the rolls are out of hands anyways.