DM Nagging: It's pretty much my job

[Anastasia]

Alicia and Moore's nodes are up, Tryll's is just begun. I'll do the remainder later today or tomorrow.

[Anastasia]

I've ran a few long session lately, usually around 6-7 hours. I've learned a few things from them.

1. I usually don't want to run an evening session that day.
2. The next day has a pretty good DMing 'hangover' for me. I can run but I'm usually not 100%. A day or two fixes this up.

As such, any further long sessions, barring spontaneous happenings, will be aimed at Fridays.

[Anastasia]

Recent high points:

An experiment in feedback.

Alicia

I felt the meeting with Asmodeus went remarkably well. Asmodeus came off as composed and powerful, while making offers that were genuinely tempting, logical and also had a good reason to reject, if one looked past what he presented. Alicia went above and beyond there with her reactions as well as her inner monologue. Being able to tie back other, somewhat surprising events (hi avatar of Lixer) into having a point and being referenced was nice, too.

Really I felt this was a time when IC reactions, general mood and gravitas came together for something impressive. It also did some world building with what he offered, as well as offered insight into things that are likely relevant a little later in the game. There's been lots of little seeds laid about in the early game, this was a chance for a few of them to sprout. Early, as I noted Antenora becoming One was not planned, but shown nonetheless.

Moore

The recent war battle on the shores of Lunia was a lot of fun. Getting the exact, chaotic feel of battle is hard in text, but I felt this did a good job without dragging. Things happened and Moore's node was a wedge placed exactly where it needed to be. It's a look into battle tactics when the generals can literally see the future and have superhuman mental facilities. Moore and friend's sudden insertion into the battle seemed almost arbitrary and scrambling, yet the ended up exactly where they needed to be. Moore did a good job with it, keeping going (dragon looting aside, right idea but completely the wrong time) and getting it done.

It was a nice kickoff to the tense war, one I feel sets the tone - high impact encounters, both sides with clear agendas in what they're doing (even if the exact reasons and subtexts aren't always apparent) and a good pace.

Tryll

This one's tough due to pace, but I'm going to say that I've liked this Ice adventure. Quibbles about the speed and that hurting things aside, it's had some fun segments and challenges. I like the ambiance a lot, y'know, and Tryll plus Calleigh have kept it going the entire time. That being said, I'll also be happy to see it go. With Yuth's scheduling issues, this was simply the wrong time to start a dungeon like this, rather than shorter, more easily segmented things. Hindsight's 20/20 and all that good stuff.

I don't hold that against Yuth, that's life and life sometimes doesn't cooperate. I look forward to more with him and things hopefully going better.

Alyssa

This one's hard to pin, but I'll say the general interactions with the node rather than a specific thing, and the way they're developing. Jarem in particular is interesting, as his opinion and approach with Alyssa have been in flux, while Emily's continually fun and Ianvasah's promising. I tend to come back to that more than specific things in the node. Even if Jarem doesn't always show it, he's one of the most interesting characters to play for me. He's one of those characters where a lot goes on behind the screen, especially with how he feels about people and how he reacts.

It provides good background grist to everything that's going on, too.

Seira

The incident with Imix yesterday was a high point - I felt it really nailed the right mix of tension and danger, while not being overwhelming. It was 100% vicious, in character for a destroyer like Imix to do that for reasons that boil down to 'I don't like her so fuck Seira' and a lot of fun to play out. Seira did a good job reacting and trying to deal with the sort of dickery that could kick off a divine feud. Going in like that on worshipers all at once sends a statement. Also interesting was how Seira fell into Imix's counter - his hope was for Seira to do something rash and stupid once she initiated hostilities, panic because she's still new at this.

It didn't happen, but the entire adventure was a good one day thrill ride.

[Iron Dragoon]

Recent high points:

Alyssa

This one's hard to pin, but I'll say the general interactions with the node rather than a specific thing, and the way they're developing. Jarem in particular is interesting, as his opinion and approach with Alyssa have been in flux, while Emily's continually fun and Ianvasah's promising. I tend to come back to that more than specific things in the node. Even if Jarem doesn't always show it, he's one of the most interesting characters to play for me. He's one of those characters where a lot goes on behind the screen, especially with how he feels about people and how he reacts.

It provides good background grist to everything that's going on, too.

Glad you're having fun. Jarem's been pretty good as a character. Alyssa keeps in mind that he's loyal to her by proxy, and the mixed up convo demonstrated that with his disgruntlement about the way it went.

Emily's fun, yeah. Like having an overgrown kid around. Just old enough to be left alone, but kid enough to still get into trouble. Gonna start throwing things at her to get done to occupy her, though.

Ianvasah isn't fleshed out enough for me to really comment on much. Alyssa's been winding her up to use against Jarem, though. It's working so far.

[Ebiris]

Alicia

I felt the meeting with Asmodeus went remarkably well. Asmodeus came off as composed and powerful, while making offers that were genuinely tempting, logical and also had a good reason to reject, if one looked past what he presented. Alicia went above and beyond there with her reactions as well as her inner monologue. Being able to tie back other, somewhat surprising events (hi avatar of Lixer) into having a point and being referenced was nice, too.

Really I felt this was a time when IC reactions, general mood and gravitas came together for something impressive. It also did some world building with what he offered, as well as offered insight into things that are likely relevant a little later in the game. There's been lots of little seeds laid about in the early game, this was a chance for a few of them to sprout. Early, as I noted Antenora becoming One was not planned, but shown nonetheless.

I enjoyed the meeting with Asmodeus, even if we didn't really get anything out of it. At least we didn't have to go to Hell for it!

White voice wasn't especially helpful afterwards but at least we got a bit more details there.

[Anastasia]

Replies in the morning, giving everyone a chance to reply.

[Yuthirin]

Tryll

This one's tough due to pace, but I'm going to say that I've liked this Ice adventure. Quibbles about the speed and that hurting things aside, it's had some fun segments and challenges. I like the ambiance a lot, y'know, and Tryll plus Calleigh have kept it going the entire time. That being said, I'll also be happy to see it go. With Yuth's scheduling issues, this was simply the wrong time to start a dungeon like this, rather than shorter, more easily segmented things. Hindsight's 20/20 and all that good stuff.

I don't hold that against Yuth, that's life and life sometimes doesn't cooperate. I look forward to more with him and things hopefully going better.

It happens. I'm finding it a bit tedious having to essentially fight the entire city, but I took the bite so I might as well chew it.

[Anastasia]

Yeah. I think ti's best understood that this entire dungeon's suffering for timing, including that aspect. This would be better all around if it wasn't taking as much RL time as it was.

[Yuthirin]

Agreed.

[Corwin]

Recent high points:

Seira

The incident with Imix yesterday was a high point - I felt it really nailed the right mix of tension and danger, while not being overwhelming. It was 100% vicious, in character for a destroyer like Imix to do that for reasons that boil down to 'I don't like her so fuck Seira' and a lot of fun to play out. Seira did a good job reacting and trying to deal with the sort of dickery that could kick off a divine feud. Going in like that on worshipers all at once sends a statement. Also interesting was how Seira fell into Imix's counter - his hope was for Seira to do something rash and stupid once she initiated hostilities, panic because she's still new at this.

It didn't happen, but the entire adventure was a good one day thrill ride.

Imix is an asshole, and his attack had the feel of a threat rather than a serious assault. I think I handled it with my usual approach to divine support of mortals, and I tried to follow my understanding of how such conflicts work. Except for the misunderstanding at the Balmuria temple fire, it seems I got the concept right so I'm happy about that. It was also nice to have followers on the ground I could just reshuffle in case of urgent matters, actual people with names and faces and histories that I've formed relationships with. Even though I'm trying to automate the process through them, doing it in person now and again is pretty fun.

Divine feuds, huh? Given that I'm besties with his kid who wants him killed, it's all but a formality anyway. Plus instead of attacking slavers the next day we'll probably have Valar teach those responsible for the attack a lesson through information from Marianne and Lyris's captures. Mix it up~

[Corwin]

After some contemplation about how B1-era SDAs don't really fit me (I haven't even used one of them, nor seen suitable chances for it) I'm going to be swapping Burning Spirit and Protect the Innocent for Golden Flames and Instant Counterspell. It has the added benefit of lessening the amount of custom SDAs, too.

As a result I no longer need the Divine Defiance feat, and I'm replacing it with (Jaela's) Gambit.

[Anastasia]

Recent high points:

Alyssa

This one's hard to pin, but I'll say the general interactions with the node rather than a specific thing, and the way they're developing. Jarem in particular is interesting, as his opinion and approach with Alyssa have been in flux, while Emily's continually fun and Ianvasah's promising. I tend to come back to that more than specific things in the node. Even if Jarem doesn't always show it, he's one of the most interesting characters to play for me. He's one of those characters where a lot goes on behind the screen, especially with how he feels about people and how he reacts.

It provides good background grist to everything that's going on, too.

Glad you're having fun. Jarem's been pretty good as a character. Alyssa keeps in mind that he's loyal to her by proxy, and the mixed up convo demonstrated that with his disgruntlement about the way it went.

Emily's fun, yeah. Like having an overgrown kid around. Just old enough to be left alone, but kid enough to still get into trouble. Gonna start throwing things at her to get done to occupy her, though.

Ianvasah isn't fleshed out enough for me to really comment on much. Alyssa's been winding her up to use against Jarem, though. It's working so far.

Emily could use more things to do, no doubt. I think she's the type who would benefit from being busy, or at least occupied.

[Anastasia]

Alicia

I felt the meeting with Asmodeus went remarkably well. Asmodeus came off as composed and powerful, while making offers that were genuinely tempting, logical and also had a good reason to reject, if one looked past what he presented. Alicia went above and beyond there with her reactions as well as her inner monologue. Being able to tie back other, somewhat surprising events (hi avatar of Lixer) into having a point and being referenced was nice, too.

Really I felt this was a time when IC reactions, general mood and gravitas came together for something impressive. It also did some world building with what he offered, as well as offered insight into things that are likely relevant a little later in the game. There's been lots of little seeds laid about in the early game, this was a chance for a few of them to sprout. Early, as I noted Antenora becoming One was not planned, but shown nonetheless.

I enjoyed the meeting with Asmodeus, even if we didn't really get anything out of it. At least we didn't have to go to Hell for it!

White voice wasn't especially helpful afterwards but at least we got a bit more details there.

I'd argue you walked away with new information and knowledge, which was worth the entire thing by itself. Just don't ask Antenora if she thinks Asmodeus expected to be rejected, and if the information fed to us was part of a larger scheme.

[Anastasia]

Recent high points:

Seira

The incident with Imix yesterday was a high point - I felt it really nailed the right mix of tension and danger, while not being overwhelming. It was 100% vicious, in character for a destroyer like Imix to do that for reasons that boil down to 'I don't like her so fuck Seira' and a lot of fun to play out. Seira did a good job reacting and trying to deal with the sort of dickery that could kick off a divine feud. Going in like that on worshipers all at once sends a statement. Also interesting was how Seira fell into Imix's counter - his hope was for Seira to do something rash and stupid once she initiated hostilities, panic because she's still new at this.

It didn't happen, but the entire adventure was a good one day thrill ride.

Imix is an asshole, and his attack had the feel of a threat rather than a serious assault. I think I handled it with my usual approach to divine support of mortals, and I tried to follow my understanding of how such conflicts work. Except for the misunderstanding at the Balmuria temple fire, it seems I got the concept right so I'm happy about that. It was also nice to have followers on the ground I could just reshuffle in case of urgent matters, actual people with names and faces and histories that I've formed relationships with. Even though I'm trying to automate the process through them, doing it in person now and again is pretty fun.

Divine feuds, huh? Given that I'm besties with his kid who wants him killed, it's all but a formality anyway. Plus instead of attacking slavers the next day we'll probably have Valar teach those responsible for the attack a lesson through information from Marianne and Lyris's captures. Mix it up~

Yeah, it is pretty much a formality that you two arne't going to get alone. Imix realized that and decided to kick that anthill.

But glad it was fun all around, I thought you responded well and used the pieces there intelligently.

[Nephrite]

The war was actually really fun for the intensity and frenetic pace. It let me flex some skills I don't normally have any reason to use.