OOC Chat Thread

Thank you! I’m going to look up Andrast as it’s one of my known lands. I should also finish reading the previous adventure. I only got as far as the fight at the docks in Umbar where you found the kids.

There wasn’t much after that till we reached Gondor, and spoke with the children’s mother. So jump to that section, especially towards the end, where you’ll find the reason we are now where we are, and what the Lady is up too

Awesome, thanks! I found the part you’re talking about. That reunion scene between kids and parents was a real tear-jerker!

Thanks for the assist team!

On that map, if you hadn't spotted it (it's not the easiest map to read) Annulond is in the red circle.
Yea, that one got me too.

Thanks, very helpful! Known lands seems like a pretty awesome feature, though complex. Are we playing with it as written in the rules?

Yes, I believe so.

Hey there! @emsquared - Do we know why the land around Annúlond is all burnt? Maybe Túril knows since he’s been here for a couple days?

Yea, I think Turil has heard the gossip by now (and the Company could learn the same so I have no problems disclosing it here openly), to people's knowledge it was just a wild fire. Perhaps started by lightening, or perhaps someone's cooking fire. No one knows that for sure.

But it definitely began east of the river (Urqakar is west).

Thanks!

@Drakis2,@Stefron,@Dr_B,@rpgventurer,@Thunder_Lungz

Hey team, just wanted to check in.

It's been awhile since we've heard from some of you.

Are people just busy with IRL? Or is interest in the plot lagging? Is there any frustration, or a lack of clarity on options/next steps? How are you guys feeling?

To me... it seems like the investigation aspect of gameplay has really caused things to drag. So my instinct is to move things towards a more dungeon-crawly/combat oriented game after this arc.

Please let me know your thoughts.

For me, it's little things in real life getting in the way. I am not frustrated or unhappy at all with the adventure. In fact, I admire all the details and atmosphere you're providing. I need to kick it in gear.

I appreciate that. Because sometimes that aspect in particular feels very self-indulgent. And... I mean, it is, right? ... I'm a big Tolkien wonk. So I enjoy that stuff, but it's hard for me to know if anyone else does 😅

In my head, my hope is that those kind of mundane details/narrative nooks and crannies provide a "place to play" with character concepts and backgrounds and your personal fiction, like - "Oh, every culture or place has weird nuances that can be filled with personality.", but I can also see how it also might feel more... exclusionary?

And obviously the campaign isn't particularly open ended, which I'm sensitive to the possibility that particularly after a time I fear that can feel demotivating.

Point is, if you guys are feeling anything like that or something different but still troubling to you, please bring it up, cuz 1. it won't hurt my feelings these are weaknesses I know I have, 2. if there are problems I want to try to fix them so you can enjoy the game more.

I like investigation in games also in this case. So I'm interested in what is on the ship, the building and the hide out. And thank you for cleaning up the misunderstanding. I thought the mooring point and the place he stays were right next to each other.

I aim at posting everyday usually in the evening (European time) but sometimes I postpones because I'm too tired to think of anything to write. That occurs mostly in situations where initiative is on the players' side and a plan needs to be formed.

Happy with the game and still committed.

Enjoying the game too, fun and detailed, and all players are posting great roleplaying.
So on those occasions where I post more slowly, it is not for lack of interest, just IRL stuff!

To take this theory-craft conversation to the ooc...

I guess top of my mind were two things:

1. the investigation of the building in Dol Amroth, where one or two of you stayed outside on watch, and were consequently just... out of the game. For like a couple weeks or something it took?

Which ofc, yes, that's a reasonable choice that your characters would make. But, was that fun? (a question I pose to myself)

And 2. the cobblestone building here, just now... It's there because... well, it's there in the world, and it potentially has narrative use for you guys, etc. So I call it out as being there. But there was nothing really there. And you guys were throwing out rolls, which is great, because if there was something there we wouldn't have to wait a day or two for me to ask for rolls and then get rolls.

BUT also then it felt empty when there's nothing there. Like, why did DM call this out as being there, and we roll for it, when there's nothing there?

And sure, I could have put something there, outside the building investigation in Dol Amroth or inside this one - a fight, or other encounter. But that just introduces more back and forths, more days to resolve the moment, and so if that's not the place where the story really is, then it becomes a time sink to what end?

In pbp it just takes sooo looong to get through everything.

Things like these I worry can negatively impact ppl's interest and level of involvement in a game. And so I just still wrestle with the question of, is it worth it to not be more heavy handed?

And maybe being heavy handed also negatively impacts ppl's interest, so... 🤷

I'm just trying different things.

Apologies, but plz bear with me.

Sounds good! I’m okay with you narrating things to move us forward faster. So far that has seemed to work. I think the traveling a lot might slow things down? But that’s just the setting, right?

My two cents: don't stress about involvement. As I see it this game is going fine with an active group. Though the pace is a bit slow now than before. That doesn't necessarily mean low engagement. It is sometimes just everyone waiting politely for others to take the initiative because no one wants to take action the rest of the party might not agree with.

In PBP everything just takes days. That's fine but I agree it is good to move things along to get to the interesting parts. There is no need to spend a lot of time digging the wrong hole.

yep. PBP is slow, but this game is going just fine! We are used to the pace, I guess

Agree with what Stefron, Dr_B and Thunder_Lungz have said.

Also, I had to switch my GP registered email, because GP was having problems with some mail servers. It is not one I look at that often, so I am not seeing all the posts immediately like I use to with my original email. So I am slower to reply to other's posts in GP

Ok, thank you all for the input.

I'll stop try to stop panicking any time the posting cadence dips 😂😅😭