OOC THREAD

[tomcat]

Hey guys, down with a flu bug. Going to be another day or two.

[Eclecticon]

We'll be here.  Possibly arguing (good-naturedly) about rules minutiae. 

[Telcontar]

I dont think your concept of standing takes into consideration people living or accting outside of their culture. For instance how would standing work for Bandy, and for Grimbeorn, who among his folk care a whit about what he is doing away south?

I think standing needs to have a cultural or a regional basis to it.

I do agree with the score bloat comment though.

[Eclecticon]

Standing does have a cultural basis to it - it measures the esteem in which a character is held in their own culture, and no other (absent Receiving a Title).   Grimbeorn has been doing things that have benefited his people (chiefly calming the Woodmen down about paying the tolls at the Old Ford), but I do agree that Hobbits get a bit screwed by the rules as written.  Mind you, you could take the view that it's part and parcel of the 'stranger in a strange land' experience that you implicitly sign up for by playing a Hobbit.  Plus, all it takes is a single undertaking and you're effectively grafted on to the culture where you spend the most time, as Pippin and Merry do in LotR.  Meanwhile, Frodo and Sam carry on, unrecognised by the big folk. 

I suppose what it comes down to is whether the lack of local Standing is making the game less fun for you - and in this case it sounds like it might be.  It would be a quick and easy solution to retroactively consider Bandy to have implicitly been welcomed by the Woodmen, giving him the benefit of local Standing without having to mess around with undertakings.  Doug, comments?

[Telcontar]

I think I am bringing it up as more of a rules exploration than any personal desire. This is to date the longest running game I have been in of Tor and I see this as a continual exploration of the rules and system.

Personally I wasnt really keen b they way they were presented in the RAW.

[Eclecticon]

Fair enough.  For some reason they really clicked with me.  I hope I haven't been too tiresome about it.  I just see it as a neat-o example of the system implying the setting. 

EDIT: As for it being long-running, while I'm having a lot of fun with it, we do seem to be moving through a generation-spanning epic in something approaching real time!  I guess it's a limitation of PbP play. 

I once saw a bunch of guys on rpg.net gearing up to play through the Great Pendragon Campaign, which covers 80 years of game time.  I never went back there, but I imagine if they're still going, and playing at about the rate we are (which is pretty damn good compared to other PbP games I've been involved with), then they're probably 3-4 years in by now.  I wonder if it's occurred to any of them that they may well need to hand off their PCs to their descendants if they want the game to reach its conclusion. 

[GandalfOfBorg]

What about somewhere in between so a character has a general standing reflecting a personal fame and other traits or something that can have ranks where they refer to a given region's or location's standing bonus?  Or have the standing tied to a character's name?  Remember Aragorn took many names in his travels and they each gained their own stranding with those people.

[Telcontar]

Its not tiresome, I think the conversation is valuable. You think this pace is slow, in my Harn game I have been playing for about three years and we have only overed aboout five months of game time. We play for about 8 hours once a month too.

I think adding Valour and Wisdom to the interaction Standing is supposed to represent the innate gravitas of the character.

[Eclecticon]

What about somewhere in between so a character has a general standing reflecting a personal fame and other traits or something that can have ranks where they refer to a given region's or location's standing bonus? 

You could do that, I suppose.  My counter-argument is that I don't think the cultures of Wilderland are unified enough for that to fit.  With a handful of exceptions (notably the Bardings and Erebor Dwarves), going from the lands of one culture to another takes anywhere up to a couple of weeks - the equivalent of a trans-Atlantic voyage, but with more spiders. 

I think adding Valour and Wisdom to the interaction Standing is supposed to represent the innate gravitas of the character.

I re-read the appropriate sections, and you're right.  My point about Valour/Wisdom and Standing measuring different things still stands, though. 

I'm just repeating myself now, so I'll stop unless anyone particularly wants me to carry on.  I've said my peace, and despite my bitching and whining it's not something I'm willing to quit the game over.  If we wind up hacking the Standing rules to make it more applicable across cultures, I'll grumble to myself and then roll with it. 

[tomcat]

As for it being long-running, while I'm having a lot of fun with it, we do seem to be moving through a generation-spanning epic in something approaching real time!  I guess it's a limitation of PbP play.

If there is a faster way to PbP (or email), I have yet to find it. Most PbP games I have joined as a player (some on my own board), have failed within the first few weeks of game play - not story time. GM's bail on their games, players disappear, etc. I myself have taken games and put them on hiatus so that we could try other things, or ended games because either they were weak, or my creativity had failed for the ongoing story.

I can name more than a few characters that deserved more - Farok, Celdrahil, Gumbo, Darkan, Durgil, and Dirnhael (along with the npc's that accompanied).

We have been fortunate to have a long running group of mostly the same players - Matt (GandalfofBorg), joined me in 2003 when we were all talking and hanging out on the Decipher boards for that adaptation of Middle-earth roleplaying. Shawn was there, too, and with us for a long time until I finally put the CODA LotR's game on the shelf. Tom came along in 2006 and jumped right in as a staple player for these many years.

Since our start on these boards in 2003, we got through just over three years of world time in Middle-earth, from 1636-1639 T.A. and followed a group of heroes as they dealt with the plague in the north and Angmar. A game was started based on a journey back into Moria to try to restore honor. We also got through a campaign of Star Trek that was comprised of six separate episodes; we ran two Star Wars games that were based on a group of outlaws for one game and a platoon of the 501st for another. Finally, I started a solo game for a friend of mine in my home-brew BRP system.

My point in all of this is - PbP games are slow by nature. The players' posts (including the GM) can be sporadic and the game will go in spurts of action, like when we engage in combat, to what can be tiresomely slow narrative segments. Truthfully, it is the nature of the game play that draws me to it. As a GM and husband and father, I like a game that doesn't need to be ready for Monday night. I like that I can pick up the game tomorrow, or leave it until the next day when my thoughts and creativity are clearer. I like to read and watch a story evolve as each player adds his/her component. It is really awesome. Is it slow? Hell yeah it is, but it allows me to game any time, anywhere, as long as I have access to the internet.

I think our TOR game is moving along nicely. We started it a year ago and have accomplished four chapters (and 5 years of game time). I think the player writing is some of the best I have ever seen. Best of all, it is allowed to evolve naturally - not forced out because we all have three hours on Tuesday night to sit in front of our cameras and play on a VTT. And don't get me wrong, because I enjoy doing that, too.

So, if you have the time and patience, I promise to be here a few times every week to give you a world to play in. We will take the Darkening of Mirkwood campaign and make it uniquely ours. I think the writers of the campaign anticipate players to move through one or two chapters per session when they sit around a table, and thus the limited information that is presented for each encounter. I prefer expanding on each game year from beginning to the Fellowship phase and making it our own.

Anyway, I am rambling. All I can tell you, Paul, is my games have been here for a good, long time, and I will continue to run them as long as I have players to play. You are an awesome contributor, so I hope you can get used to, and enjoy the pacing.

Feeling better, by the way. I will have a game post up tonight or tomorrow.

Ciao for now!

[Eclecticon]

The pacing isn't a problem, and I'm sorry if my comments sounded like a complaint.  I knew going in that it would be slow - I'm not quite as versed in PbP as you guys, but I've started two Ars Magica games and ran a decent game of Eclipse Phase for a few months.  They each fell over due to other people pulling out, though, so I feel pretty lucky to have found this group. 

[Telcontar]

Dude, if you start I pbp Ars Magica game I would love to give it a shot. My inner history dork screams to come out.

[Eclecticon]

Jeez, don't tempt me!  It's a game I keep returning to out of a feeling that I've never quite got it right.  

That said, are there any places, times or things you find especially interesting?

[Telcontar]

That is a very broad net indeed. I was a European History major and as an Archer Fellow took a seminar a semester on classical history. My incomplete Master thesis, which I am rebooting actually, is on the development of Kingship during the MerovingianPeriod. I can find something to get excited about socially or militarily in any period. I have done reading on the Investiture Crisis, the Early, Late, and Mid Frankish Kingdoms, Church History. Which is why the concept of Ars Magica appeals to me. It touches two major facets of my psyche, games and history.
If you put me onthe spot I would say something like the timeframe of 13th Warrior, Mid to Late Medievial period. I think that time frame produces a sufficient amount of science and mystery for both aspects to have thier chance to shine and is suited to the theme ofArs Magica. My table group has had that game on the short list of systems to play for years. So nudge nudge, lets do it even if it was a one off to see how it plays.

[tomcat]

I have been GM'ing games since I was 15...and I am 49 now. So doing the math, it has been a long time being the guy behind the screen, with very little time to be a player throwing dice.

I have never played Ars Magica, nor do I have a copy of the game system, but I would LOVE to be able to play in someone else's game...especially a game that sticks around for a while!