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Saturday 16 November 2013

The Fizzle

Well, Role Playing on Line is already fizzling. I was invited to play in my second game, as a player, that is, and already it's over.

It seems to me that you just get started and it's over. Start at any level -- 2nd, 5th, whatever -- and as soon as there are enough XP to "level up," somebody loses interest. In both my experiences it was the DM. Just started the first game and "Life" interfered. Now, in the second one, the DM has lost interest in his own game.

I'm DMing two at present. In the first game everyone said they could and would post once a day. Now? I'm lucky if they post twice a week. I try to keep it interesting, but, I can only do so much. Once Initiative is rolled, nothing can happen until everyone takes their turn. Sometimes, I have to NPC the player's character just to keep it moving. Always something mundane and not dangerous -- don't want to be accused of killing the player's character. But these delays cause other players to delay and the next thing you know -- it's not a "post once a day" game anymore.

In the past two years, I've played 4 different Saturday table top games too. Everyone loses interest. It seems to me that most "so called" players today are really only interested in creating the Character. Hey, Character Generators are "cool" and make it easy, even fun.

"Well, I don't like this character as much as I thought I would, so . . . "

"Well, this module isn't what I thought it'd be, so . . . "

I've always wanted to run a group of Players from 1st level all the way to 20th, but I can see now that that's just a "pipe dream." I find myself wondering if that has ever really happened. Somehow . . . I doubt it.

4 comments:

  1. Damn dude, I'm sorry to hear about the bad luck. I think over the years I've shied from running online stuff for all the reasons you state. I've been in 2-3 as a player and most fizzle. Now table top losing interest? I've rarely seen that happen, at least not that quickly. Keep at it. You'll get those 20th level PCs someday.

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    1. In the Saturday table top games, I DMed one and played in the others. In the game I DMed, the players were willing to give Greyhawk a try, as they usually played in Pathfinder's Golarion. Well, they decided they didn't like Greyhawk, so . . . onwards and upwards.

      In the other three, they kept "falling out" with each others style of DMing. So it's been awhile since we've gamed, as they can't agree on who should DM the game. LOL

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  2. I feel for you. Online games literally need to be dragged forward. I usually punish players who are slow to post by having their characters stand around and do nothing. Why reward them for letting their characters do cool stuff if they won't post intentions?

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    1. I'm thinking I should deny them Experience Points when the rest of the group succeeds in "killing the monster," or whatever.As you say, why reward sloth?

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