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Mutants & Masterminds: The Indigo Children - On Posting / A Swift Kick in the Plot


jameson (ST)

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Hey all, I'm trying to prevent this game from entering the slow death phase. As such I need to figure out how best to keep up the posting pace from my end as the GM. Obviously part of that is simple frequency of posts on my part. Generally I have held to the intent that I should allow most (~3/4 of players) players to reply before I next post. IMO this hasn't worked as lately since the new year, posting has in general slowed.

I discussed this with some of you this morning and moving forward I will attempt the following:

  • Regular Posting - probably daily (during weekdays) but if not at least M-W-F
  • Regular Poking - As needed I'll kick, poke, prod, bugger, and otherwise annoy you into action if you have been inactive. I should note that this is neither fun for me, nor something I want to do, but if need be I will.

Hopefully this will help solve the problem and allow us to move forward at a decent clip. In addition however I would like to point out the following basic tenants of my STing style:

  • My games are not mounted on rails. Which is to say that the PCs cannot simply coast along with the plot. Which leads to ...
  • The PCs are in the driver's seat. Not only do I not simply roll the plot along regardless of the players/characters actions I adjust course and terrain based on the PCs themselves. An lastly ...
  • The PCs need to be self starters. Not always of course, but there will be times when I simply take my hands completely off the wheel and let the PCs decide 100% how they want to act next. I don't do this to be frustrating, I do this to allow you to pursue your own IC goals.

This is where a well put together character comes into play. If you have your own back stories and agendas you'll be given the chance to bring those into the game on your own (in addition to when/if I use them). I.e. if the Aussies want to diverge from the "plot" to investigate their missing foster father there will be opportunity to do so.

Lastly the most important two things:

1) Have fun - that's the point, we all (me included) want to enjoy this

2) Speak to me - If you have a problem, let me know, I cannot make this game better if you all don't provide feedback to me.

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For what it's worth, I have no idea what to do next in this game. The options as far as I can see are:

1) Hobnob with Raph. Which is what we're doing.

2) Try to chase the van around. We've been assured this is impossible.

3) Go home, pop a tab on a Fosters, wait for Porcubear to show up again and hope it goes better.

Asking us to be self-starters is fine and well, but I don't feel like we have a lot to work with, honestly. smile

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I think you missed part of my point Max. Does Wally have nothing else we wants to do? What about your "dad" what about getting new equipment or upgrading your current stuff?

And as far as #2 goes if I made it seem as though this is impossible I apologize as it was not what I intended. However it will take more of a plan than "wait for it and follow it" smile

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I think you missed part of my point Max. Does Wally have nothing else we wants to do? What about your "dad" what about getting new equipment or upgrading your current stuff?

Hehe, this will probably annoy you, but Wally's pretty laid back. smile He's always up for helping his buds but beyond that he hasn't got much in the way of ambitions. A one-day-at-a-time sort of guy.

And as far as #2 goes if I made it seem as though this is impossible I apologize as it was not what I intended. However it will take more of a plan than "wait for it and follow it"

Well, when a guy who's clearly an authority figure shows up and says it's impossible...not sure what we're supposed to think. smile That said, I do have some ideas on this, and I'll bring them up IC at the appropriate juncture.

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  • 5 months later...

Hey all, I'm trying to prevent this game from entering the slow death phase. As such I need to figure out how best to keep up the posting pace from my end as the GM. Obviously part of that is simple frequency of posts on my part. Generally I have held to the intent that I should allow most (~3/4 of players) players to reply before I next post. IMO this hasn't worked as lately & posting has in general slowed.

Yes this is verbatim from my first post in this thread, we have the same problem, and I either mean to fix it or do something drastic and likely unpopular.

To quote myself again,

  • My games are not mounted on rails. Which is to say that the PCs cannot simply coast along with the plot. Which leads to ...
  • The PCs are in the driver's seat. Not only do I not simply roll the plot along regardless of the players/characters actions I adjust course and terrain based on the PCs themselves. An lastly ...
  • The PCs need to be self starters. Not always of course, but there will be times when I simply take my hands completely off the wheel and let the PCs decide 100% how they want to act next. I don't do this to be frustrating, I do this to allow you to pursue your own IC goals.

This seems like it *may* be the issue and if that is the case I need to know, if you guys aren't up to this level of self guidance I need to know and adjust my style of GMing. If its not the case but a matter of IC motivation I guess I could do something drastic and unpopular.

Plot "mysteries":

The MIB - Who are they? Why are they doing what they are doing?

The Croc - still out there...

The Event - What caused it? What was it's purpose?

The cancer rates

(new) The Explosions

(new) The Animal deaths

Notable NPCs (potential allies or enemies?):

The Cyborg

The Porcu-bear

The Mice

Rat man & his GF

Detectives Albert Giodorni and Rupert Jenkins

Please speak to me, is there an OOC issue or an IC one? What do you need from me? What I need from you is to talk to me, let me know what is slowing things down and how to engage you better IC and OOC

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Speaking for myself, of all those things you listed, the only things there's any IC pressure to check out are the Croc, and the MiBs.

The Event and associated cancer rates are items of curiosity, but don't appear to be immediate concerns.

Of the Croc and the MiB's, the only thing we have any leads on is the Croc.

So, as I understand it, right now we're currently engaged in tracking down the Croc.

But first, we must welcome our new member to the fold, which is what we're doing at this moment in the narrative.

That seem about right to everyone else?

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Not gonna placate anything, but as of yet, Dom doesn't have a whole lot of 'pursue' reasons for plot thingies, except to stay the hell away from the vans. He is meeting everyone else more out of curiosity, at least so far. He would be easy to drag along to anything, if he could take pictures anyway. *has tried to instigate conversation in the thread* :P

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Ramani wants to be friends with Penny again - aside from that she'll follow of course any path Cole takes.

On an OOC level I'm on par with the others - Croc is first on the list. We're only missing Rodney as 'motivator' to 'push' things forward. And I personally think you kinda let us stand around stupid the last time we checked on the Croc. Probably we were the ones being stupid from your POV but that's just how I felt about it.

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Actually, I don't think it was "stand around stupid." But it did feel like there wasn't much for us to do once the baby ran away, and I think that everyone was at a loss after that. There was probably something for us to do, that was clear to Jim, but not to us.

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I'm at a loss here. Really.

Nobody seems willing to say they have a problem. If I take your words at face value there is apparently nothing wrong and I am imagining things.

I know that is not the case. I know that apparently somewhere, somehow I have fucked up and you all just aren't into the game.

I have no idea how to fix this.

I need you to tell me what you need. What is not working for you? What do you need or want to see that will get you posting again, get you engaged in the story and the game?

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I honestly have no clue what your problem is, Jameson.

You obviously keep ignoring what people are telling you - both here and in chat. I must confess that I'm slowly losing my patience with your constant negative take on things. How many times do I need to tell you that I'm enjoying this game? I believe there is more than enough proof for that given the fictions I've participated in.

Adrian's absence is one of the major impacts that has affected the game - and Kata's too. That has seriously kicked us in the balls.

I believe the only real issue we're having here is your general impatience and your faulty interpretation of what is going on.

And yes, this is me being pissed off now. The only critizism I had about your ST-Style I mentioned above. You sent us into a scene that was totally wasted from my POV - even though I tried to find out what was going on given all my abilities and information I had available. If you believe that we've been missing out on something or that one action (stupid or not) led to us blowing the scene then so be it - I can't do anything about that. It just makes me feel stupid but I'm even ok with that. Just don't expect me to solve any riddles or plot stuff.

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I'm not ignoring you, or anybody else, but I do feel that there is something not being said. I'm sorry if you don't feel that way but I cannot shake that feeling.

I apologize as well for my negative attitude, unfortunately I can't change how I feel either, not without trying to work through things. If you feel I've been impatient that is your opinion, I don't think it is being impatient to wonder why posting has slowed to less than 1 post per week from each player. Sorry that we don't see eye-to-eye on that.

As for the scene you mentioned, I don't feel it was a failure. Once I saw that the scene was stopped I moved to act but with an in scene player gone I decided to ask people if they wanted to continue or jump past the whole thing. I didn't get strong responses for either and a whole lot of "whatever is easiest for you" and so I decided to just move past the whole deal. I see now that there was a mistake there, I should have forced you all to vote one way or the other and I should have made it clear that moving past meant throwing the entire investigation away. It was not my intent to return to it at all but apparently that isn't what you all want. I'll adjust accordingly if we move forward, but I cannot move forward from where you are without you all posting. Either continue to talk or decide to go and collect the video tapes.

My problem, real or imagined, is that I see the game sitting here doing nothing and I see my players active elsewhere. I wonder why, I look to see if I should update but it seems inappropriate to do so given the state of the scene. Hence my confusion. I'm angry with myself and I'm confused an a little angry that I can't seem to get the game on its feet. I don't want to end it but I don't want to see it slowly fade away or have to spend my time asking for posts either. Its not fun for me this way.

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The problem I'm seeing with the above post is that you don't trust us when we say "We've said it all." You're setting up a cycle where we can't convince you that we're not holding back, because you don't believe us. And if the problem is imagined (I'm willing to believe that someone has been holding back but it isn't me, or to judge by his last post, Joani), then there is no fix because there is no problem. Yet, we continue to operate as if there is one.

I've talked with you, and told you what I thought my problem was, and gave suggestions on how to fix that problem. To date, I don't know if you believe me. It sounds like you don't, and are waiting for me to say that I hate the game and to quit. I don't think you are, but I've wondered if you're trying to sink the game because it's not what you planned or not fun enough.

As a last note, telling us that we're not being open with you and to just go post doesn't inspire me to post. You keep telling us to tell you the problem, and *I* have, but you keep asking. If you're not talking to me, fine, but I've spent a lot of time trying to help you and feeling like I'm not helping, which is frustrating me. If we're not careful, I'm afraid we're building to a cycle of frustration blocking posting completely. I'd hate to see that happen.

Just as a note, these are my feelings and opinions only.

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You have spoken to me, and at least in so far as your character goes I think maybe I know what you are looking for. So you have helped, but I can't do anything with those suggestions where the story is now. This post was more to try and get information from those I've not been able to speak to directly in chat.

Maybe I should have done this individually through PMs, maybe not. If people would rather PM me, fine by me, I won't mind.

I'm not trying to tank the game, I'm not passive-agressively trying to drive people off. If I wanted to be done with it I would say as much and not give it a second thought (ok, well, probably a second thought, but still). I want this to work and I feel very sure that some (or most) of this is my fault. I'm trying to figure it out, unfortunately I'm also making an ass of myself in the process I fear.

However ...

Back to what I am hoping for. You guys want to go and deal with the croc still. Good, I can do that, its a shame Rodney is gone as this was his story but thems the breaks for him.

In order to move the story forward I need, from you all either permission to say "fuck this social crap" so that I can move the story forward. OR, I need you guys to post in the scene, I need Ozzie to show up (I wish I had told you to just arrive at the hideout, my mistake there), I need you all to decide to go and follow up on your investigation(s?) and then I need you to leave me an opening to move you forward.

That is what I NEED, without that I cannot do anything.

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