Where to GM next?

Post by **Dog Pants** » April 18th, 2010, 8:14

I'm at a bit of a crossroads with my bearding. What do I run, what do I play? I've SLA on the go and a few people don't want me to put that on hold, on the other hand I planned on running Eclipse Phase for a little while but it's been very quiet on that front. I could run both, or either, or neither. On top of those two systems I'm working on another project for Joose, as well as playing two SR campaigns and preparing to play Grimmie's D&D campaign. It's not hard to keep up with, but as a GM it's hard to write the material, and as a player I can get confused between the two similar campaigns.

So from a player point of view I'll make my decisions on that, but from a GM's point of view I want to do what generates the most interest. All the beardage is slowing down (in fact the whole site's slowing down, but I'm just thinking about beards for now), so I want to try to get things moving again.

So, to my current players, what would you like to do with SLA? Carry on as we were? Take a break? Move the campaign in a new direction (I've three more BPNs as is, with potential for another couple before the story arcs run out and I can branch off)? Do individuals want to have a spot of gardening leave to recoup?
Is there still interest in Eclipse Phase? Or something else? Particularly from anyone keen to jump in but not wanting to get into existing campaigns.

Depending on the interest I'll run whatever people want to play, so long as people do want to play. I just need some feedback.

Baliame · Post by **Baliame** » April 18th, 2010, 10:40

I definitely want SLA to go on right now, along with something new - D&D should do that for me, but EP would be welcome as well. SLA should be continued in an alternating fashion between IRC and forums really - the slow pace of the forums can hold the story up for long, but a 5-hour session of IRC (read: no voice chat) also gets boring quickly.

Post by **Grimmie** » April 18th, 2010, 21:03

I don't mind a pause on SLA, as I'll probably be stumbling around with D&D for a while.
I don't want it to stop outright though

Post by **Joose** » April 19th, 2010, 12:22

I vote MOAR SLA! I like SLA.

Also, although I liked the increased speeed of the IRC game sections, is does rather screw people who cant make it. At least before, when all SLA wass played over TS, if you missed a session you generally missed the whole mission, not just the climax. Ive been lucky in that the IRC sessions have fallen on dates I can make, but I often have to be away for weekends. I wouldnt want to get through 90% of a BPN only to miss the final battle with the evil dood just because I had a wedding to go to.

In other words: Yes to IRC RPG sessions, but no to mixing IRC and forums in the same BPN/Mission/adventure/whatever.

Ive come to the conclusion that I seem to have some sort of beneficial version of multiple personality disorder, in that I seem to be perfectly capable of keeping my head straight in any number of characters/games/rules, so im happy to join in with whatever. You know me, any excuse to make moar doods.

Post by **Dog Pants** » April 19th, 2010, 12:32

I agree. A combination does seem to move forum games on, but at the expense of some players missing a lot.

Well SLA will stay forum, since I'd have to exclude current players to make it IRC only. I'd be happy to run or play an IRC game too, although if it was EP it'd come down to whether TSD could make the game. It should be less of a problem for campaigns started after this point because it can be specified in advance and only players who can make the sessions would join.

Post by **HereComesPete** » April 19th, 2010, 12:36

Well, possibly mix the forum/irc, but do short bursts more often on irc and make sure any climactic final battles are only when everyone is around if it's going to be irc.

Post by **Dog Pants** » April 19th, 2010, 12:49

That's the issue though. Getting everyone together on IRC at the same time could cause more of a delay than just doing it over the forum. The main advantage seems to have come from combat. Once I had a system worked out where I asked each player for input in the order they acted it plowed very well and very quickly. Much better than having everyone shout at me like a bookie at a racecourse.

Post by **deject** » April 19th, 2010, 13:20

Dog Pants wrote:That's the issue though. Getting everyone together on IRC at the same time could cause more of a delay than just doing it over the forum. The main advantage seems to have come from combat. Once I had a system worked out where I asked each player for input in the order they acted it plowed very well and very quickly. Much better than having everyone shout at me like a bookie at a racecourse.

As a very guilty party of shouting things out, I have to say the rundown was super effective.

I too love SLA, it's definitely my favorite of the games we have played with. I'd rather see that continue, mostly because I would rather spend my time playing than learning a whole new rule getup for something else. I've gotten fairly familiar with the whole SLA universe and I have invested quite a bit into my cat-lizard alien. If Eclipse Phase is the new thing though, I can have a better look than the glance I gave it months ago before losing interest.

Post by **Dog Pants** » April 19th, 2010, 13:37

Well Eclipse Phase is an experiment. I'm planning on it being very freeform, with the players deciding what they want to do and me reacting to it, rather than things being pre-written. Obviously I'll need a few set pieces and the odd interesting lead, but I'm hoping for players to have their own ambitions and ideas of how to achieve them.

As for SLA, I've had a bit of a resurgence of inspiration, in no small part from the reassurances of interest from the players and from the pick up in pace provided by the IRC sessions. There's enough in me for at least another three BPNs, and I'll be tying up one of the story arcs in that time.

Post by **deject** » April 19th, 2010, 14:06

Dog Pants wrote:As for SLA, I've had a bit of a resurgence of inspiration, in no small part from the reassurances of interest from the players and from the pick up in pace provided by the IRC sessions. There's enough in me for at least another three BPNs, and I'll be tying up one of the story arcs in that time.

Post by **HereComesPete** » April 19th, 2010, 19:00

Dog Pants wrote:That's the issue though. Getting everyone together on IRC at the same time could cause more of a delay than just doing it over the forum.

I was thinking bursts of irc so you didn't need to get everyone together, if you can show up you do, if not then you get put on auto-run or left staring at a wall.

Post by **Dog Pants** » April 19th, 2010, 19:35

That's what we did with SLA. Unfortunately so much more gets done in IRC that people who consistently can't make them miss a lot.

Post by **HereComesPete** » April 19th, 2010, 19:41

True enough. Possibly keep the interest up by running small discreet bpns on irc that slot into a huge over arching forum based one?

Post by **Dog Pants** » April 19th, 2010, 19:56

That's a very good idea actually. Maybe not quite mini-BPNs, but like what Joose did with Roman in SR.

Post by **Grimmie** » April 19th, 2010, 20:03

- Deject's encounter with a room full of dumpsters and only enough time to check through half of them
- Grimmie's encounter with a mime artist, and the ensuing face-paint battle
- Spindle's bar encounter with a never-ending bottle of scotch
- Dirk's wooing challenge. How many numbers can he get in 12 hours?
- Kt'rr's appearance on Mort's National Lottery - Prize fund is equal to how many bullets he can shoot in 10 minutes