(no subject)
Well, I finally got the details of how long Tai's gonna be in China. 1 year.
Yep.
Shit.
A casual crunching of the times suggests he won't be able to make normal Balmuria times as it stands, so this'll probably turn into some kind of crossroads. I don't want to run Balmuria with effectively 2 PCs. Nothing on Eb or Cor, but I just want more to work with than that. I have a few ideas storming and I need somewhere to think out loud, so here we go.
1. Board game Balmuria.
Sure, I could transfer Balmuria to the boards if the PCs are willing. Not sure it would work offhand, the time difference would mean a slow pace even with things streamlined dicing wise. Considering the fundamental time gap 2-3 posts a day would be a good pace offhand since everyone would largely whiff on catching each other. Plus it would probably quiet IRC down, something I'm not so big on. I also suspect Eb won't go for it since he doesn't like board based games so much. (As I recall.)
2. Recruitment.
This would normally be the first option, but I'm fond of Tai's gaming style ...and...? I'm rather burned out on recruiting lately. Balmuria's had really mediocre luck retaining PCs for a plethoria of reasons. Snow couldn't keep up, Hotaru was Hotaru was Hotaru and Neph was a painful miss. Combined with SR's gaming pool being really thinned down I'm not optimistic here. It would most likely be yet another new person, and while I'd normally not mind this, I simply don't want to intro and catch up another damned person right now.
It really kills the storytelling when it's a PC merry-go-round. I simply don't feel that it's agreeable right now. This view may change as time goes on, but right now my gutshot is really against it. Maybe I'm just in a bad mood.
3. Split game.
This would be Deme running down one set of paths while Alicia'n'Seira go another path. It's..possible if I did some schedule changing and working but it's still essentially a solo game and a paired game. I'm not sure if I want this, since it would increase my planning and coordination issues two fold. It's essentially another take on the basic situation we're already in.
4. 1 and 3 hybrid.
Make it a board game AND make it split game. This isn't much different than the split game idea, or it could be one board game and one IRC game. The objections from above stand. This would only go if 3 was decided on and Tai couldn't do IRC for whatever reason. Hell, it's Commie China, so anything is possible.
5. Game Death.
This isn't really my preferred option. In fact, I'm going to detach this from the main paragraph for emphasis.
Despite the hassles Balmuria's had and the often high difficulty of GMing a very busy world, I want the game to go on. I want to get to the good parts of the plot I've been seeing build up for several months now instead of just letting it go. That would really suck since everyone's put a lot of work into this. On the other hand, the other options leave me ice cold and it roots back to another problem altogether. SR's day game recruiting is -dead- right now. There's simply no reserves in the least to stir up interest and a generic D/D game, while fun, doesn't have immediate luring power like an SM game did. Also as I said, I just don't want to break another PC into the world right now. I just find myself lacking the will.
It's maddening because I've put a lot of personal time and work into Balmuria, but I keep running into things that make me bash my head into the wall. Snow not working out sucked. Hotaru was another let down, but really, I should've not expected anything better. Neph was the most recent frustration therein. It's like at a job where you work your ass off but things refuse to work out. Bad analogy, but it gets the essence of what I mean.
---
Hm. Having written that and taken a moment away?
5 would suck and I don't want it. I want to get to conclusions and climaxes and to all the cool stuff at the end that's been hinted at and promised. It feels a bit like gypping the PCs who've made it this far to just can things altogether. It' s just that I really loathe all of my other options right now.
Bleh, maybe someone else will have better ideas or something will cross my mind.
Yep.
Shit.
A casual crunching of the times suggests he won't be able to make normal Balmuria times as it stands, so this'll probably turn into some kind of crossroads. I don't want to run Balmuria with effectively 2 PCs. Nothing on Eb or Cor, but I just want more to work with than that. I have a few ideas storming and I need somewhere to think out loud, so here we go.
1. Board game Balmuria.
Sure, I could transfer Balmuria to the boards if the PCs are willing. Not sure it would work offhand, the time difference would mean a slow pace even with things streamlined dicing wise. Considering the fundamental time gap 2-3 posts a day would be a good pace offhand since everyone would largely whiff on catching each other. Plus it would probably quiet IRC down, something I'm not so big on. I also suspect Eb won't go for it since he doesn't like board based games so much. (As I recall.)
2. Recruitment.
This would normally be the first option, but I'm fond of Tai's gaming style ...and...? I'm rather burned out on recruiting lately. Balmuria's had really mediocre luck retaining PCs for a plethoria of reasons. Snow couldn't keep up, Hotaru was Hotaru was Hotaru and Neph was a painful miss. Combined with SR's gaming pool being really thinned down I'm not optimistic here. It would most likely be yet another new person, and while I'd normally not mind this, I simply don't want to intro and catch up another damned person right now.
It really kills the storytelling when it's a PC merry-go-round. I simply don't feel that it's agreeable right now. This view may change as time goes on, but right now my gutshot is really against it. Maybe I'm just in a bad mood.
3. Split game.
This would be Deme running down one set of paths while Alicia'n'Seira go another path. It's..possible if I did some schedule changing and working but it's still essentially a solo game and a paired game. I'm not sure if I want this, since it would increase my planning and coordination issues two fold. It's essentially another take on the basic situation we're already in.
4. 1 and 3 hybrid.
Make it a board game AND make it split game. This isn't much different than the split game idea, or it could be one board game and one IRC game. The objections from above stand. This would only go if 3 was decided on and Tai couldn't do IRC for whatever reason. Hell, it's Commie China, so anything is possible.
5. Game Death.
This isn't really my preferred option. In fact, I'm going to detach this from the main paragraph for emphasis.
Despite the hassles Balmuria's had and the often high difficulty of GMing a very busy world, I want the game to go on. I want to get to the good parts of the plot I've been seeing build up for several months now instead of just letting it go. That would really suck since everyone's put a lot of work into this. On the other hand, the other options leave me ice cold and it roots back to another problem altogether. SR's day game recruiting is -dead- right now. There's simply no reserves in the least to stir up interest and a generic D/D game, while fun, doesn't have immediate luring power like an SM game did. Also as I said, I just don't want to break another PC into the world right now. I just find myself lacking the will.
It's maddening because I've put a lot of personal time and work into Balmuria, but I keep running into things that make me bash my head into the wall. Snow not working out sucked. Hotaru was another let down, but really, I should've not expected anything better. Neph was the most recent frustration therein. It's like at a job where you work your ass off but things refuse to work out. Bad analogy, but it gets the essence of what I mean.
---
Hm. Having written that and taken a moment away?
5 would suck and I don't want it. I want to get to conclusions and climaxes and to all the cool stuff at the end that's been hinted at and promised. It feels a bit like gypping the PCs who've made it this far to just can things altogether. It' s just that I really loathe all of my other options right now.
Bleh, maybe someone else will have better ideas or something will cross my mind.