Doug will go if Raider will take him, I think ditto Gregory (or Ashley for that matter) but "there can only be one".

Hey folks.

I've been thinking about the current state of the game for a while now. I got a chance to talk to Max about it today and it would seem that perhaps by removing James as the mustache twirling big bad I may have irrevocably damaged the flow of the game. Things have been slow and the players seem to be somewhat less driven as a result. Short of ret-conning things and generally making a further mess all I can do is apologize and try to clean up the mess and move the game forward again.

As you know I've also bee pointing this game toward an end, a fact that I had mentioned back in the summer was coming closer of late. Why is this relevant you ask? Well in part because of the in game slowdown and in part because of proximity to the end of my story arc I'm unsure what to do. One option would be to try and inject something back into the game to get you folks interested enough to return to regular and productive posts. Another option would be to call it quits, I could narrate a series of final posts that close out the remaining story threads and basically end the game here and now. The final option would be to end it now and leave those hooks open and unexplained.

When it comes down to it though this game is as much yours as it is my own. I want to know what you guys would like to see here. If you guys are really interested in continuing IC that is fine but I'll admit that is not the impression I've had of late. Either way the end is near for this game for a multitude of reasons not the least of which are the ones I mentioned above and the fact that the game seems to have past its prime. Better to end it cleanly now than let it continue to drag out.

Respectfully yours,

Your Storyteller, Jameson

Having been invoked, I feel a need to explain from my POV.

Jameson asked my opinion of why people weren't posting much anymore. After some thought, I offered the opinion that you guys, and to a lesser extent me, had spent a long, long time going after and generally opposing the plots of James (Squiddy). Now the plots were unmasked and James wasn't such a bad guy and the immediate threat was gone. As a result, the driving force for the game to date had been resolved.

I also made the point that it was possible to "replace" James...but that at this point, that hadn't happened. He's referred to evil masters, but you can't build dramatic momentum chasing rumors of bad guys. You need something solid.

The idea of dramatic momentum is one I didn't really talk to Jameson about, so I want to just touch on it here. I don't think Jameson "ruined" the game by resolving the issues, nor did I ever imply (or at least mean to imply) that he did. In my mind, drama is what keeps people hooked...be it in a movie, in a book...or a game. Drama is the things that happen, the story, the plot, the characters, the action...all of it. And drama builds on itself as it goes, like a bank account with interest. That building on itself is what I call momentum.

Dramatic momentum demands resolution. Ending a game without resolving it is like playing two notes out of a chord and not playing the third. It creates a vacuum. It demands to be filled. This is why resolving the James stuff wasn't ruining the game. It HAD to be resolved.

However...resolving the momentum can have one of two effects. One - It can "reset" the drama, starting over with a fresh slate for new adventures...or for a clear and bright ending. Two - it can be transferred to a new story element, and the action continues with a new focus.

In Phoenix Rising, the first happened. There was nothing appropriate to transfer the story onto. There's slaves sure, but lets face it...they were never really part of the story or the drama. Not until Ash showed up at the very end at least, and that's far too late for the momentum to include them. All the big conflicts of the plot got resolved, so all the dramatic momentum evaporated.

It's not that we don't like the game, I think. It's that...from most of our points of view, the story's sort of over. It's all denouement now.

To get things rolling again, we'd need to wrap up the last legs of the current stuff...and then start a whole new story. That could be the story of the moon base. It could be the story of trying to liberate the city. Could be most anything. But it needs to have it's own momentum, and its own beginning.

That's my take on it anyway. I just wanted to be clear that I never blamed Jameson, and that I am actually really impressed by this game and how long it's lasted and how well it's done.

Kudos to everyone!

RE: James
Shockingly, the mega-manipulative weasel has a good explanation for everything that has happened... none of which makes Raider's Dad unpoison'ed, or Doug's girlfriend (mentally and perhaps physically) unraped.

If anyone has any doubts about what color hat James is wearing, Doug would be *happy* to talk to you about this. He's wearing a black hat, that there are other people running around who are *also* wearing black hats isn't a shock.

At some point Doug will have to decide between pulling his head off -or- leaving him to run the show. He's still not sure because I'm not sure.

The story isn't over, James switching sides felt pretty natural to me. Dude is a user, now he's using us against his internal foes... and even though on some level we know this we're :still: we're letting him. So the Mega-Int, Mega-Manip nova is still several moves ahead of us (shock). So it was a good place to end the chapter.


RE: Posting Frequency
I don't think any of this is ST's fault, we just had a lull. Put differently, Anna's, Gregory's, & Raider's players are all having RL issues of various sorts. For that matter I just got done with a week where my boss was looking over my shoulder here (and the election the week before this was pretty time consuming too).

Yeah, same here. Wife is 8 months pregnant, and the promotion at work has resulted in me having far less time to post since my responsibilities more than doubled. The work thing is particularly tough for me since most of my posting was done at work during my down time (12 hour shifts meant lots of downtime, and thus lots of posting). Trouble is I went from being an indian to being a chief so now the things I used to shrug and not care about are now my responsibility to care about. /me sighs.

If we end the game I think we should end it with some resolution of the hanging threads. On the other hand I have no particular desire to end the game. If we do continue I think we need a focus. Right now we have two vague but potentially related issues. Danger from the moon and an dangerous group of novas on Earth that are organized and becoming a threat to our home.

We could be caught between two titans both with the potential to dominate the free peoples of earth. Then there are personal goals, amassing wealth and technology, reestablishing civilization. Raider's nature is survivor... things are threatening his survival that's motivation enough to take action for him.

On the other hand, this is also a good place to stop if Jameson doens't want to continue and wouldn't take much to bring things to a close.

As most of you know, the last two months have been very difficult for me. I was very ill and unable to post for much of the time, and during my recovery period, I only had the energy for limited postings. I am back to work and once again they have changed my work duties, but I will have ample time on most evenings for posting.

As for the story, I like that James has flipped sides. It gave Gregory an opportunity to observe and learn from a master manipulator, albeit a much smarter one. It also opens up the possibility that Gregory might force the tentacled-one to open up about his masters, and their intentions. This will open up that arc further, giving us a clearly defined goal. As for the moon, Gregory is clueless of what it is, what it is made of, or how big it is. For him, it would be a learning experience, and might provide a few chuckles along the way.

I would like to continue the game. I feel that Gregory has alot of growth left as a character, and that the campaign setting is ripe for many adventures.

My personal opinions as to why the game has slowed, are two fold: One: RL issues have slowed the game considerably. Two: I think that some of us are overextended in the number of games we are participating in. When you have to manage multiple characters and games, mental exhaustion can take its toll. Sometimes I don't want to post on a particular night, in a game, because I have spent most of my creative energies in another game. And lets face it; when a game slows, it is less likely that someone will take the time and creative energy to post in it. That said, I am willing to give the extra effort to keep PR going. That is, of course, if Jamison is willing.

I'm siding with Max and Gregory here - and must apologize for my extended absence which had RL reasons which I already had hinted at in chat. The last weeks had been extremely stressful for me and my little family and I hope to get back to "normality" within the next few days.

Regardless of that - I would very much like to continue playing PR with Anna - I've always tried to get as much into the game as possible within the limits of my PC. There are a lot of things I'd like to explore on a personal level like Gregory described. Besides that, I like the crew a lot - I feel comfortable in this game and enjoy it very much.

I think the real question is not whether we are motivated to continue playing. I think from the responses that we are. The big question is whether Jameson wants to continue running it or whether he is wanting to move on. It can be tough to push into a new plotline after your story has come to it's natural conclusion.

I'd be lying if I said that that wasn't part of the issue here as well. As a GM/ST I don't believe in running a game without an overarching plot no matter how seemingly convoluted or disconnected the individual parts may be. Regardless of other factors this game is nearing what I had planned to be the end of this story arc. I'll be out the back half of this week and I'm going to try and give this some thought and decide how I want to proceed.

Obviously I updated. I'm intent to finish this story and close out this game properly. That said I cannot accurately predict how long it will take to play out to its conclusion.

Sorry guys I was out Friday due to weather/power loss/work closed I'll update as soon as I can catch up here, hopefully in the by Wednesday. Alternately if one of the PCs just wants to scene change to wherever you guys decide to hole up that is fine with me.

Just read your update - I don't think that Adam knows Anna either and she has never been to Newbourough before as far as I recall... She is just as much a stranger as James is I fear.

True but Adam DOES know James and has reason to get riled up. Further it could be assumed that he hasn't even taken actual notice of Anna yet.

yeah right - he hasn't taken notice of Anna yet... :p

It's okay, he hasn't noticed Ashley yet either.

Are you guys giving me a hard time? It seems that way ... maybe I should return the favor

Ashley looks normal though so there's no reason why Adam would react oddly toward her.

Hahaha

You are so sensitive.

I wasn't saying that to try to imply that you were neglecting anything. I was just trying to comfort Joanie. I think it makes perfect sense that Adam's focused more on the appearance of his nemesis than on a pair of absolute strangers in their midst.

Just an FYI Folks. I'm on vacation from the 25th through Jan 4th. I may get chances to jump online but nothing is certain. I'll do my best to return to posting norms come 2009.