Future beardage

Post by **Dog Pants** » November 11th, 2009, 11:01

Mainly out of curiosity, just because I was pondering it. What would people like the future of SLA to be? Things are losing momentum (not just in SLA), and while I'm sure there are external factors, all campaigns run out of steam at some point. It can be addressed in several ways, but doesn't really have to be addressed at all. Anyway, there's a poll for options.

Carry on!
Nothing wrong with it. If you like the slow pace of forum games and are still enjoying the game as it is.

Move along!
We're at a stage where we can lead the campaign in a more acute direction. At the moment the squad are Ops just bumbling around doing BPNs, but eventually most campaigns will head off into a specific part of Operative evolution; the Contract Circuit, Cloak Division, or anywhere else the players would like to go. This can focus the campaign and bring about more of the type of BPNs you enjoy (or abandon the BPN structure alltogether).

Hold it!
What often tends to happen when a campaign flags in tabletop games is that another GM takes over and runs something else for a while. Since forums run a lot slower we can have several campaigns at once, but I've realised that running more than one is beyond me. So I can put SLA on hold and run something else for a while. It certainly wouldn't be a permanent hold, I always come back to SLA, but it lets us recover and regroup a little and try something different out.

Either of the bottom two options open up a whole new kettle of fish, but we can deal with that later if people decide that's what they want.

amblin · Post by **amblin** » November 11th, 2009, 11:16

Post by **Dog Pants** » November 11th, 2009, 11:42

I think you're right about having muliple games, people can only divide so much attention between the games, and the more there are the less each one gets. There's several issues here though, I think. Running a campaign takes a lot more work than playing it. I really wouldn't recommend running more than one at a time, and it really distracts you from the ones you're playing. Playing two instances of the same system is also very confusing; I do get confused between which Shadowrun campaign an event is happening in. Add to this that Shadowrun and SLA aren't that dissimilar in their play and setting.

What I'd like to do it drop one of my Shadowrun characters so I can concentrate on one, but the two problems with that are a) I like them both, and b) I'd still follow both and it would be just as confusing. I'd like to suggest we only had one SR campaign too, but I won't because it's unfair to Pete and Joose to suggest one of them give up their campaign.

So I don't think it's a bad thing having multiple campaigns on the go, as long as you scale your participation appropriately and as long as they're sufficiently different to not be confused. So with that in mind your suggestion of AD&D is a good one, and playing Dragon Age: Origins has had me reminiscing about the game. There're other interesting things out there too, which I started to write about then decided I'd list by category as I've played far too many:

Sci-Fi
Eclipse Phase (Space horror with transferrable bodies)
Mechwarrior (Stompy robots)
Mutant Chronicles (War against demons and undead)
Paranoia (Comedy dystopia)
Rifts (Sci-fi fantasy, lots of material)
Shadowrun
SLA Industries
Star Wars (Obvious, but lots of background and everyone knows it)

Fantasy
AD&D/Dungeons & Dragons (original RPG, lots of settings)
MERPS (Miidle Earth Role Playing System - Lord of the Rings)
Runequest (Percentile system, transferrable between different settings)
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (profession based system in Warhammer setting)

Other
Call of Cthulhu (Based on Runequest, Lovecraft horror)
Vampire: The Masquerade (modern day setting, includes werewolves and such)
Victoriana (Steampunk)

Obviously there're loads of games out there, but these are some examples.

Post by **Grimmie** » November 11th, 2009, 12:02

I like how SLA is progressing, I like how quickly we can get through each BPN and how each one has been nicely varied.
Maybe all the team need a sit down on Skype one night (like the old days!) to discuss what direction we want to go to as a group in the future, but I'm happy with our current formula.

I realise I have enough trouble playing Grimmie and Nikolai as it is, but.. DnD does appeal to me in a weird way..
Agreed that having lots of things running at once is confusing and distracting, but it does fill the time nicely between posts.

Would it be worth moving one of these things back onto Skype some time to see how swiftly they get completed, even just one of the downtime blue BPN runs on SLA, or things like Chopper's weird dream in SR. They could be recorded fairly easily and put on 5punk for people to listen to.

Akiakaiu · Post by **Akiakaiu** » November 11th, 2009, 12:09

Rifts!

Too bad I forgot 99% of it. I'd be down for some D&D too, but I haven't played that since AD&D ed.

Post by **HereComesPete** » November 11th, 2009, 12:09

I've got the details of all the campaigns so far (including sla) in my head along with all of my future campaigns and their general structure, but I'm weird like that. A lot of people can't remember what's going on and I think dropping one will help with that.

In regard to that I can stop mine after this run if needs be and hold until joose's run finishes, but I have no idea how long that'll be.

I also don't think dropping one would make the others much better in terms of pace. There's people who post a lot and people who don't, we have quite a few people bearding who don't and that won't change.

I dislike moving on in my runs too much without everyone having a chance to respond, but sometimes that takes days or they don't notice at all until you point it out and it's necessary to move on or watch it die completely.

Obvioulsy the cat herd nature doesn't help either.

Post by **Dog Pants** » November 11th, 2009, 12:38

Well mainly this was for SLA for me, as I wanted to gauge interest and look at the best way of progressing it. Other campaigns are down to their respective GMs to handle. I suppose forum games are always likely to be slow, but when only a couple of people know what's happening and others are just hanging on until they figure it out again then something isn't right. I'm not likely to run or play a Skype game again. It was hard enough without Sprog, and just getting a few hours on TS on a friday for Warcraft is difficult.

amblin · Post by **amblin** » November 11th, 2009, 13:13

Post by **Grimmie** » November 11th, 2009, 13:31

Dog Pants wrote:I'm not likely to run or play a Skype game again. It was hard enough without Sprog, and just getting a few hours on TS on a friday for Warcraft is difficult.

Crazies. Absolute crazies.
Build yourself a soundproof booth or something.

buzzmong · Post by **buzzmong** » November 11th, 2009, 13:40

amblin wrote:Hehe, porn. Hmm? What? Oh. Sorry. Carry on.

Bad Amblin! Put it away!

spoodie · Post by **spoodie** » November 11th, 2009, 13:40

Grimmie wrote:Build yourself a soundproof booth

and put the baby in it, until it's 18 years old.

Post by **deject** » November 11th, 2009, 15:14

I think at the slower pace we're going at by doing this on the forum instead of live over skype advancing the campaign might be a good thing. Upping the stakes and the drama might give it a boost. I'm fine with continuing on the way we are as well.

I'm hesitant to picking up a new RPG game, but don't let that stop anyone else from doing so. I like to keep as much info about the RPGs I am playing in my head, and I don't have room for another one.

Baliame · Post by **Baliame** » November 11th, 2009, 15:26

New RPGs would be good for those not yet playing or not overwhelmed (such as myself) though. I'm not sure, however, if we have enough fresh meat interested, probably why I wasn't pushing for Rifts to start, right now it would probably end the same way as Paranoia.

amblin · Post by **amblin** » November 11th, 2009, 15:26

buzzmong · Post by **buzzmong** » November 11th, 2009, 15:43

I think 5punk doesn't really work with 3 concurrent forum games going on, there's not enough people and all the people who are playing one of the games has a character in the other.

MORDETH LESTOK · Post by **MORDETH LESTOK** » November 11th, 2009, 16:13

I'm not one of the SLA's but I wanted to plug my interest in Rifts still

Post by **Dog Pants** » November 11th, 2009, 17:05

Sprog being noisy isn't the issue with Skype for me, it's taking myself out of communication with Mrs Pants. Sprog is capable of being without my attention for hours at a time.

Post by **TezzRexx** » November 11th, 2009, 17:22

I understand what you mean DP, although the Rexxling does demand a lot of time atm.

Post by **Dog Pants** » November 11th, 2009, 17:25

They get less needy over time. Kids that is, partners don't. Sprog plays on her own* for ages nowadays.

*I'm still in the room, I don't just chuck her into the garden and bring her in when it rains.

MORDETH LESTOK · Post by **MORDETH LESTOK** » November 11th, 2009, 17:26

Dog Pants wrote:I don't just chuck her into the garden and bring her in when it rains.

Future beardage

Where should SLA go?

Future beardage