Change of Format

[Luther]

I brought this up already in e-mail, but I thought I would move it over to a post.  Game is having some issues right now that I think could be easily fixed with some minor tweaking - namely a game time shift.  Problem I am having is that when we have a mission that spans 2-3 games (and pretty much all of them will), it is really rough when I lose a player in the middle of it.  Also - the fact that work is erratic for a couple of people (otter, jake) means that we are shakey for game start.  Finally - timing would certainly be easier on solos if I had a month between games rather than two weeks.

So - here is my proposal: shift to once a month - noon till whenever (hopefully ending usually between 8 PM and 10 PM) on Sunday.  I will invite another pair of people to play (maybe more later depending), and if people miss games - then they do, no big.  The goal will be to generally complete a mission in the day we've got - and if some go over, we might occassionally try to throw in another weeknight to round it out.  If we end early, people can hang-out and do solo stuff.  The only thing I would ask is for people to generally be in for the whole day or be out for the whole day - don't show if you have stuff to do in the eve.

Please let me know if you are down with that shift.

Also - people's wish to solo seems to vary widely.  If you want a bunch of solo time - lemme know - if you don't think you have time for it - that is cool.  The game is supposed to be light and for fun, so if people don't want to play as often - I am cool with that, and if they want to play a bunch - I am down with that, too.  EP will probably start to vary widely depending on participation (I am probably even going to reward soloists with bits of EP here and there) - but specialties are so all over the place in WOD anyway that I am not so worried about strict game balance - everyone will still have a niche.  Just lemme know so I can plan.

[Derrick Heyoka]

I'm certainly willing to shift, though personally I'm not a big fan of once monthly games.  There's no momentum and in spite of solos they always feels distant to me.

[Luther]

I know what you are saying, but I am hoping that to some extent the longer, and therefore more efficient (less lead-in times) session will help this - and I am also hoping that the fact that the game is mission based, and therefore has complete stories instead of a strictly running story-line will also help.

[Derrick Heyoka]

eeees a good point. 

[Derrick Heyoka]

Ummmm yes and like Joc I still have a bi-weekly sunday game.

[Rainee]

It sounds like, if we were to change to Sundays, we wouldn't be able to until at least April, when Joc's game goes on paternity leave.

In the meantime, perhaps there are other changes we can make to alleviate issues?  It seems like part of the problem comes when people are sent off to the basement, then we get back together and have to tell them everything that happened, then Toby wakes up in a box, and we have to repeat it again.  Since it's not an intrigue game amongst the PCs, can we instead trust people to keep IC/OOC events separate?  I can see an occasional pulling off to the side to do something, but in general, nobody seems to be ultra-sneaky or backstabby. 

Also, I get easily distracted when I can't see the GM talking, 'cause he's behind me, and there's a shiny Internet in front of me.   (Which leads to wondering where an additional two people will be sitting...)  Can we consider alternate, more conducive seating arrangements?  If you don't feel like moving/buying furniture, Otter's place is available with the big table, etc. 

[Luther]

I think I can work with you on one of these - the other is going to be a rougher sell.  In terms of physical game setup - it actually isn't too hard to flip the couch the round so it is front of the TV and move the stone table up.  I'd rather not relocate the game as a whole - say to someone else's house - because, while I don't have a ton of books that I need to use regularly - I do have a good 20 or so - and occassionally things spastically come up - it would certainly be much easier to have direct access to them, and I don't really wanna lug em around like that.  Also - I start game prep at around 5:30 - and I am guessing no one is going to be around to let me in their house then.  So - let's try couch shifting for the time being and see how that works (those couches are pretty light - me and Lenore shifted them around last night so I could use my earphones on my PC - not really too rough).

For the issue of sending folks out for secrety stuff - it is not really about the secrets, but the confusion and suspense.  If you think about the end of mission 1, if we didn't have people spread to the nine winds where they realistically were, the last little sequence would probably have been a great deal more cut and dry - and probably a lot more boring.  Also - just because a person knows something doesn't mean they are even going to remember to share it - and that helps contribute to the eureka moment later.  Kabitzing also gets pretty bad if everyone is present during all game play.  There is going to be some down-time here and there - but I have never played in a game that doesn't have that - Hell, I have played in several games in which I had whole sessions which, for one reason or other, left me w/o stuff to do.  I have done some stuff to minimize that here and there - and where not unreasonable, I will continue to do so - including sometimes letting everyone filter their own OOC/IC knowledge - but I will still end up doing the seperation thing a decent amount (though - should be noted - my decisions generally don't usually lead to it in this case - you guys end up splitting up, which I can't control even if I produce opportunities - obvious exception being Shmoo who I set on that path by helping him make his char).

In terms of the Shmoo thing - no fears, we came up with a solution that was neither overly contrived nor unacceptable to either of us - it will not be as big a deal in the future.  Nope - no more details then that.  :-)

[Luther]

Also BTW - I am talking about inviting more folks (still thinking 2) - but really that is to allow people to ditch without it being an issue.  I don't realistically expect all 8 most games - particularly since it is a weekend game.

Also - I think I am going to plug my space heater in downstairs for next game.  :-)

[Luther]

Ummmm yes and like Joc I still have a bi-weekly sunday game.

Do you think you shall have the freedom the other sunday - or does this make all sundays bad?

[Rainee]

They are in games that alternate Sundays.

[Luther]

They are in games that alternate Sundays.

Yes - I realize - but Joce's is probably ending, and his is not - so I wanted to confirm with him that Sundays would still be acceptable after Joce's were cancelled.

[Derrick Heyoka]

They are in games that alternate Sundays.

Yeah, and that can't change because they're purposely, not coincidentally alternating.  Although Joc's might die at some point soonish due to the GM becoming a father - someone else in her group might take up the conch shell though.  I dunno!  O_O

[Lucy St. Jude]

If you think about the end of mission 1, if we didn't have people spread to the nine winds where they realistically were, the last little sequence would probably have been a great deal more cut and dry - and probably a lot more boring.

I really didn't enjoy the way that worked.  I ended up sitting around your basement for hours and then showed up at the last minute for a very brief combat.  I would have had a lot more fun if I'd been in the living room the entire time, listening to the other half of the story OOC.  I don't mind the brief pullings aside, but for anything long I would really prefer not being sent away.   Can we give it a try?  If you still feel like it's seriously detracting from the game after a few sessions, we can always switch back.

[Lucy St. Jude]

They are in games that alternate Sundays.

Yeah, and that can't change because they're purposely, not coincidentally alternating.  Although Joc's might die at some point soonish due to the GM becoming a father - someone else in her group might take up the conch shell though.  I dunno!  O_O

I've been thinking about talking to Gregg about dropping out.  I missed all the January games and I'm going to be missing half the games this month and all the games in March too.  Of course, that just illustrates how busy I am on Sundays even without a game:

Sunday Feb 18th - Cruxshadows
Sunday Feb 25th - Iron Chef
Sunday Mar 11th - Jonathan Couton
Sunday Mar 25th - Vegas

Sunday's also one of our City of Heroes nights.

Longer game sessions are great, I just don't know how feasible it is, considering how crazy all our schedules are.

[Luther]

On the OOC/IC - let me think on it a bit more - maybe I will raise the bar a little bit (as in only pull people OOC when it is more necessary).  I still think I would have done it in the case of that mission because it would have been really difficult not to mix up the two - we really need some fog of war going on for events to unfold reasonably.  Would you guys have gone to meet Shmoo at the drop site if you knew that wierd wackyness was happening across town?  Would they have been as nerve-wracked praying for backup if they knew you were seconds away?  It really would have changed the game.

Now - where I might try and be more flexible is things like splitting up to investigate or the like - like in the last session when one crew went to the morgue while the other was hanging with the senator.  No real reason for me to split that up - and it took from game time to have to explain it again later.  What I might do is go ahead and keep those sessions open until, for judgement call reasons, I want to split them.  Like - they are in the morgue talking to someone = together.  Dead body gets up from a table and starts attacking them = seperate.  Yes - this will generate the ominous music effect (OMG - why did the scary music start up - I bet someone's gonna die!) - but it might be worth it to keep tempo up.  So again - not gonna promise it 100%, but maybe I can slide the bar from "I will seperate unless there is a good reason not to" to "I will keep together unless there is a good reason not to."

On the schedule thing - this is when I would point out that we also ditched the last two Wednesdays because people were busy - so its not that Wednesdays are pristine anymore then Sundays are.  The crux of what I am getting at is this: with 6 players in a bi-weekly 5 hr game, attendance can't be very optional.  1 or 2 players are out then the game is pretty much totalled - much worse if it is midway through a two or three session arc and people get 2D'd (which has happened both times - once resulting in a cancellation, one not).  If I keep the game on Wednesday, it would have to be with the understanding that acceptable reasons for missing it would include a pet on fire or, well, work.  I don't honestly think people are going to be able to make that promise.  I am not sure I would make that promise if I were all of you - I have ditched the Augusta game for lots of reasons in the past (course - the impact on a 13 person game is a bit lighter then a 6).

I am not saying gaming uber alles - people need to have priorities - lord knows I do - which is I am running one game and in none at the moment.  But that is my point - if we move to a system where the game sessions are episodic and atomic (even if they fit into a greater storyline), then people missing sessions is no big - and you can skip a game to go a concert or whatever with no harm, no foul.  I would probably do something like this: throw out all 4 Sundays in a month - people respond with which they can attend - whatever gets the most folks wins (with the occassional exception that sometimes certain people are more "perfect" for a mission then others) - and we roll.  With 8 or so folks, coming up with at least 5 per session shouldn't be hard - and I have plenty of time for solos if people want to make up the time and make sure that their character is still growing.  Otherwise, with a game that is 6 folks, 5 hrs, every other week, I am going to need to be an attendance Nazi, and I would rather not do that.

[Rainee]

throw out all 4 Sundays in a month

Two -- there's no way I'm playing a 14 hour game on a Saturday and a 10 hour game the next day.  :/

[Lucy St. Jude]

On the OOC/IC - let me think on it a bit more - maybe I will raise the bar a little bit (as in only pull people OOC when it is more necessary).  I still think I would have done it in the case of that mission because it would have been really difficult not to mix up the two - we really need some fog of war going on for events to unfold reasonably.  Would you guys have gone to meet Shmoo at the drop site if you knew that wierd wackyness was happening across town?  Would they have been as nerve-wracked praying for backup if they knew you were seconds away?  It really would have changed the game.

Yes, I still would have gone to meet Toby at the drop site, because I don't use OOC information in character, and I don't think anyone else does either.   It's a bit insulting that you would imply otherwise.

[Luther]

On the OOC/IC - let me think on it a bit more - maybe I will raise the bar a little bit (as in only pull people OOC when it is more necessary).  I still think I would have done it in the case of that mission because it would have been really difficult not to mix up the two - we really need some fog of war going on for events to unfold reasonably.  Would you guys have gone to meet Shmoo at the drop site if you knew that wierd wackyness was happening across town?  Would they have been as nerve-wracked praying for backup if they knew you were seconds away?  It really would have changed the game.

Yes, I still would have gone to meet Toby at the drop site, because I don't use OOC information in character, and I don't think anyone else does either.   It's a bit insulting that you would imply otherwise.

I don't think you would rationally use OOC info, but drastically changes the mood of the game, and tends to sway decision-making.  It is why, although I have never opted to adopt otter's no-OOC rule, I definitely get it.  I have seen the best of gamers make slightly different calls because they knew stuff behind the curtain - it is human nature.

[Jake]

I can understand the sentiment of not wanting to sit out most of a night.  There's always going to be some downtime for particular characters, but the prospect of playing an entire Sunday and only getting a few minutes of play would be frustrating.

In general, I'm ok with moving to Sundays, but I don't think I could do that more than 1/month.  Giving up every other Sunday would be difficult.  That's a day I frequently use for chores and errands.