Life of the game

[VySaika]

Okay, so we know that Hikari will be leaving after the Hell Biker fight. That still leaves some issues of course. I brought some of this up before and have given you guys some time to think, so it's getting to time for making decisions.

1) Do you even want to continue the game without Hikari? This is pretty much the big one, if the answer is no then everything else is moot.

2) There's been some pretty massive coherency issues from everyone lately, not just Cid. Snow, is the game's timeslot the problem here? Do we need to do another shift to keep going? We can, I just need to know so we can work something out.

3) Game tone and direction. Obviously some stuff is gonna go down after the Hell Biker fight that will change things, even beyond Hikari leaving. While I do have my own ideas for it, I do want to know what directions you two would like things to go in? I'm really hoping to get some actual interest beyond an apathetic "I'm fine with whatever" here.

4) Should I start hunting for a third player to slide into the group? It'll be at a late stage, but...it is doable, especially with the post-biker events.

5) as always, anything I've forgotten? Any issues you want to voice?

[Taishyr]

1) Yeah, I wouldn't mind continuing, but more in depth below.

2) Part of my coherency thing is that it's kinda stressing me out to be not just the leader but the one pulling along everyone else half the time. I get why it happens, but it's a nasty feedback loop that I don't feel like any of my attempts to escape have succeeded in. So, to Snow, my request is this:

If you want to continue I'd love to have you along but you really, seriously need to be more active. If you're up for that, cool; if not, I totally get it, dude. Not really angry with anyone, just sorting things out and this is where I landed.

3) General game theme, I'm good with Waking/small Dream/Greater Dreamscape antics. I... would like a lighter theme, even if for a time? It's part of why I got into this was that I was hoping for non-entirely grimdrk, and... well, honestly part of it there is we stopped talking to Theresa. >_> But yeah, Mike is mostly interested in learning more about the whys and hows of the workings of everything, so if left to me stuff will probably push in that direction.

4) Your call, I guess keeping my comment from 2 in mind. I am okay with people, really I am! Just not up for ringleading.

5) Will think on this.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

1) Do you even want to continue the game without Hikari? This is pretty much the big one, if the answer is no then everything else is moot.

In a vaccuum, I'm fine with this. The fine prints, I'll deal with below, though.

2) There's been some pretty massive coherency issues from everyone lately, not just Cid. Snow, is the game's timeslot the problem here? Do we need to do another shift to keep going? We can, I just need to know so we can work something out.

I'll be very honest here: I'm not sure there's a weekday schedule that I can work out finely. Weekdays are just hectic and once I get home, I take -forever- to decompress. Weekends are fine - especially Saturday - since I've already decompressed by then, but weekends have their own issues for Gate. I'm not sure it can get any better in a weekday - Friday is sadly the -best- day for me during the week. Anywhere else is far worse.

The big problem is that, for over a year, I've been doing the work straight into game and it just takes away my ability to focus entirely. I'm exhausted when I game, but I don't like not gaming either - thing is I reached a point where I'm actually hurting the game by playing this way. I'm just kinda burnt and I feel like I'm dragging the game down due to that.

Also, to Tai: I can try to be more active. I can't entirely guarantee I can do it the way you want, though, both as a player (indecisive person, the works) and as the character. I -do- hate the fact I've been phoning in lately, so I will definitely work on that.

3) Game tone and direction. Obviously some stuff is gonna go down after the Hell Biker fight that will change things, even beyond Hikari leaving. While I do have my own ideas for it, I do want to know what directions you two would like things to go in? I'm really hoping to get some actual interest beyond an apathetic "I'm fine with whatever" here.

I've noticed the slice-of-life-within-a-crazy-world-and-juggling-with-real-life thematics grab me far more than an overarching threat/big bad/wider menace dynamics. I'm a bit weird in that I like the small details and interactions a fair deal better than the gameplay sections, although that may just be Tristat talking. In general, a shift to a lighter atmosphere would suit me fine too - actually, I'd even prefer it once it -can- be done.

4) Should I start hunting for a third player to slide into the group? It'll be at a late stage, but...it is doable, especially with the post-biker events.

Up to you. As usual, it'll be pretty much an acclimation process and it'll take a while to work out, but it could be worth it. I'm cool both ways.

5) as always, anything I've forgotten? Any issues you want to voice?

Will think about this too.

[VySaika]

Alright, some responses to points.

Re: Timeslot - That...is basically what I was afraid of. We need to come up with some idea that lets you get some time to chill before gaming so you're not as braindead, but still doesn't have us running way too late. Weekends...aren't strictly IMpossible for me, but I'd still really rather not. Schedual will have random bouts of  "wait, we're going down to San Jose this weekend? asdsfa why did I not know this sooner" that are completely beyond my control, as well as weekends being the only time I actually get to do things with Jenna. Which...is something I'd rather not give up. But if it's the only thing we can do, it's the only thing we can do.

I guess what I'm asking here is do we need to move to a weekend, or can we do something to make the Friday slot work better?

Re: Tone - This...alright, I can make an attempt to move to a lighter tone as both players want it, but I cannot promise the reason will not be contrived as hell. <_< There's basically no way I can see to make Hikari's exit not cause drama towards the darker end, and a bunch of what I had planned was (not entirely intentionally) moving that way as well. It will take your cooperation though, largely in not making snarky observations about how contrived the change in tone is, because that will make me self concious about it and I will get pissy. I know asking you two NOT to snark is a thing, but I gotta ask it anyway here. >_>

Re: Player - I'll poke Alex and see if he's up for the timeslot we settle on, and if not...then I won't worry about bringing someone else in and getting them up to speed.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

One option would be spacing the sessions a bit further (as much as bimonthly gaming is going to -crush- the main game's pacing). I don't think it's strictly necessary to move to a different day, since part of the burnout is also stemming from "week in week out game in game out". That week space could also be used as semi-official timeslotting for S. Links or simpler sessions that require less than a full roster - one of the things I can basically never do is S. Linking because of "argh decompress+worktime+wakeupearlytomorrowfuuuuuuuuuck". A laxer schedule could actually help there.

Also, regarding to tone, no need to rush. My kneejerk is that "hey, softer and lighter is cool, but not if it's to the detriment of the actual story body". I'll elaborate further tomorrow, though, as I'm kinda overdue to go to bed right now.

[VySaika]

Alright, we'll try moving to every other week then.

Still not entirely ready to resume normal play yet, so...tomorrow we'll meet up at the normal time to discuss ways to change the tone.

[VySaika]

asdf

Alright guys, I'm going to be honest here. I want to continue, but I don't think I'm able. Every time I try to prep for what's coming up I only end up getting not only complete creativity block, but sliding back towards depression when I try. At this point, I'm not even sure we'll be able to manage the Biker fight.

I do still want to continue something in this story...but I'm not sure how feasble that is. I'd need to trim alot of the stuff that's just gotten away from me about the game, and that's going to take time. Even if I do continue it sometime, it would likely be better to work it as...honestly a new game set just after the current one after the Shit->Fan event I've mentioned instead of a continuation of the curent story.

Long story short, I'm trying but just don't have the mental energy to do this now, and I need to stop trying before I hurt myself.

[Taishyr]

Hugs to all. This is totally understandable, we may wanna look into a different game or something sometime soon because what we had going here was fun. Regardless, a break sounds good, we don't want no depressedgates.