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Post by Trailfoot on Apr 30, 2009 8:30:14 GMT -8
Hey, y'all.
I've been pretty silent on my "DM stream of consciousness" posting for Anthros lately (though Temporal Investigations has gotten a bit of it), and it's time for me to break my silence. What I'd like to discuss today is pacing.
When Anthros started, posting happened... well, hella fast. I seem to recall threads hitting two or three pages in a single day. This was, in a lot of ways, awesome - it kept the game pace quite quick. But it had some big issues that I was trying to address as well - the biggest being that those who couldn't sit at the computer and regularly refresh the boards would come back after a couple of hours and find a huge set of posts to sift through, which would make it very hard indeed for them to stay in the game.
I decided that, by slowing my own posting and creating places that needed the less-active players to post, I'd try to slow the pace of the boards. That's worked, now... but maybe too well. The game's now running slower than I want.
Any suggestions on finding a happy medium? Or do you prefer this pace? Or the original warp factor 5?
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Post by Myridd on Apr 30, 2009 9:17:57 GMT -8
Warp Factor Five!
I'm just kidding. No. not warp factor five. But I think creating places that less active people need to post hurts the more active players. I know it was very frustrating to me, waiting for Pilotace or Twitchie to post so the plot could advance.
I think it would of been best if you left well enough alone, and let the pace slow down naturally.
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Bladedancer
Fighter
Our only line of defense against the return of the thylacine
Posts: 141
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Post by Bladedancer on Apr 30, 2009 16:55:16 GMT -8
I do think the current pacing is more harm than help, though I think perhaps part of what we're running into is an explicit problem with doing round-by-round combat in a PBP setting. Unlike, say, conversation, there's really no way to do an end-run around a silent character in combat. Or in a situation where we're all at the top of a dungeon about to climb down.
So, problem stated. Solutions? I see a couple of options.
1) Player or DM proxy: We hit a speedbump, we go over it. Other players or the DM (the missing player's choice, made in advance) may take combat actions and exploring actions for characters. Not a way for you to play someone else's motives, mind you - proxy actions should be simple, logical and not wind up likely to kill the proxied character or burn their resources. "X moves up and makes an at-will attack" is a good proxy action. This should probably be balanced by, say ....
2) Player Quorum: To keep the story moving but involve people, we might want to considering instituting some form of quorum rule. If you've got a five person party, and three (or even four) are present, the story and the DM keep going and it's up to the fifth player to catch up when they can. Again, this is less downtime RP and more combat/exploration.
On a completely separate track, we might revisit the idea of grouping and try to track more active players with more active players, but since who's active can change from week to week, that's not really as flexible.
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Post by Myridd on Apr 30, 2009 18:00:20 GMT -8
Yes possibly, and if you remember Trailfoot, a few of us pointed out these problems before the game started.
Both of your solutions seem fair, but what happens if the majority of the people can't be active? I know Neph, Shiningwolf and Pilotace have exams this week, and work. So they really shouldn't be punished by the plot passing them by because they would rather study than post.
And honestly? From my point of view, most of the delay is caused by you, Trailfoot, and you not progressing the plot. Thats why I suggested a proxy DM or someone who knows certain plot elements and can progress the plot and try to keep things interesting.
As you can tell, I don't think disactive players are the problem, because the majority of the players check the boards constantly, and are waiting for something to happen. Its the DM's job to stir things up!
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Bladedancer
Fighter
Our only line of defense against the return of the thylacine
Posts: 141
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Post by Bladedancer on Apr 30, 2009 19:16:17 GMT -8
Becky,
I think situations like having exams are something that could easily be posted on the board, acknowledged by everyone, and the game slowed down accordingly. I'm talking about people who, regularly, aren't keeping up with the posting. Also, the whole point of the quorum system is that the thread moves at the pace of the super-majority (needing 3/4 or 4/5 of the people to move along).
Conversely, some of us really can't check the boards constantly. I know that when we first started, I was missing a page or more of posts at a time because I had to go and do other things for four or five hours a day. So having some mechanism to keep one or two people from running off with a plot is also a good thing - not a punishment, but a protection.
Anyway, I don't think Trail's been doing a bad job at all, and when it comes to PBP, I think responsibility ultimately rests with the players rather than the DM. We don't like what's going on? We need to find ways of restructuring the board to accommodate what we do want.
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Post by Myridd on Apr 30, 2009 20:40:48 GMT -8
I disagree. In ANY game, it is the responsibility of the DM to keep things going unless his players are being total idiots. And I should point out that most of us are quite sane. And I should point out that there has been many instances that I have had to remind Trailfoot to post, and times that he meant to post to forward the plot, and told me he was going to, and than didn't.
I do agree, however, with Twitchie and Pilotace not posting much. I dont know why, but whatever. They are really the only ones.
And I dont know what you mean by two people running off with a plot? Most of the large series of postings I was involved in were personal converstions between my character and another, and if they didn't involve you than we weren't doing anything wrong.
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Bladedancer
Fighter
Our only line of defense against the return of the thylacine
Posts: 141
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Post by Bladedancer on Apr 30, 2009 20:48:06 GMT -8
*laughs* I was being hypothetical. Not speaking from our experience thus far.
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Post by Trailfoot on Apr 30, 2009 21:33:53 GMT -8
What if I were to give more freedom to add details to things, so that people weren't hung up waiting for me to post for relatively-minor forward plot motion?
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Post by Myridd on Apr 30, 2009 21:36:32 GMT -8
Well, not many people have waited for minor plot things. I mean, we have paused waiting for you to describe whats in a room, what the enemy does, or how skill checks turn out. Thats what I have a problem with you lagging with.
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Post by Trailfoot on May 2, 2009 15:59:46 GMT -8
For the moment, I'm posting once a day in every thread that I'm not the last post in when I get up that morning, at least. More often as needed.
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