A Land Far Away

So, I recently made a suggestion to Curm and the current active DMs of TSM (did not send to Puny who recently stepped up as a DM, but I think it'd be great to have you there, maybe Rorax too. Definitely not Swift though. j/k). The main bits were:

I thought it might be a good time to pause and have the active DMs/HDM touch base a bit and communicate with players of TSM. There have been some concerns about the Horde plot and some other points

I've always believed open, honest and non defensive, non accusatory communication helps keep a community healthy

Would you be open to having a chat in irc with the currently active players for mutual feedback both ways? i.e. what you guys are seeing from us as players that make you excited, motivated to DM, plot, etc, as well as what ... discourages you... and being open to some questions/feedback from players?

Curm and at least one DM responded positively and are open to this, so the issue is nailing down a good time when most of the regulars could make it. It does not have to be a long meeting imo, perhaps plan for an hour at most, keep things concise and moving; fortunately most of us are on regularly on irc anyway.

So, interested parties, could you list some timeslots that could work for you?

I'd sit in. East US evenings are best for me.

I will do my best to be present (even if it is at 4am or likewise retardedly late). To me it feels important to hear you out, listen to your suggestions, ideas, wishes and critizism. Feedback is perhaps one off the strongest and most inspirationall motivations when it comes to creativity etc etc. + i want to know whats going on on the server OOC

US East Coast evenings after 9pm (pretty much any night) works best for me.

I'm not sure what I can add to this, but my availability is no later than 12am GMT start time.

Set a time I'll try to be there.

I'm generally available weekdays 0900 - 1200 GMT and 0100-0300 GMT.

Weekends 0900 - 2400 GMT generally with some breaks for errands, meals, etc.

As usual it sounds like it'll be somewhat tricky finding something that works for both US and euro folks during the week. Why don't we shoot for this saturday, say plan on an hour or so around 1800 GMT, i.e early evening for euro folks and noon-ish for US folks?

My internets has been causing me some headaches, but seems to be back.

I've not heard back from a few folks that initially had expressed interest in this. I'm going to go ahead and start a room, and we'll see who can make it somewhat close to the time mentioned above, which is in... 30 minutes.

/join #alfa-tsmchat

Thanks for all of you who could make it and listen/express your thoughts.

One thing I think that was not said unfortunately before Curm and OGR left (though we touched on it a bit at the end), I'm sure all the players do appreciate the work and time that has gone into TSM and continues to go into it from the HDM and DMs and everyone else who contributes (players too). If nothing else I think it's good to be reminded there are people on the other side of the screen, people with real lives and good intentions, quirks, preferences and interests. As some of us did express at the end, we definitely do enjoy having fun on this server, and we'd like to see that continue for as many involved parties as possible, DMs and players.

Look forward to a future of lots more RP fun, and good, honest feedback/communication between players and DMs as issues arise.

And those DMs that were not in attendance will read through the log when time allows. Great idea Ith, glad this happened and all players who come along.

Edit: One thing that got mentioned but did not seem to get addressed:

[2012-04-14 16:57:02] <puny> i have a request for all off you whove played your PCs for a long time.
[2012-04-14 16:57:13] <puny> many bios havnt been updated for a loong time

I cannot stress how important this is. I know as well as anyone how hard it is to keep an updated bio for a long lived character, but it is vital for them to be at least reasonably up to date when new DMs come in. We have had a number of new DMs join in the last couple of months and I imagine they would find it very hard to get to know many of the long lived characters due to outdated bios.

Please feel free to PM updates to any of us so that we can add them to what already exists. I cannot promise every DM will read every bio for every PC, but giving us more information can only be a good thing.

The bios is a good reminder; I initially didn't see Puny request that until after she'd logged.


I thought it might be helpful to post a few summary points that were takeaways for me (feel free to add others or point out things I may not have gotten quite right):

from the DM's:

1. The current plot is a big plot that will not be 'solved' quickly; it's meant to provide a backdrop/resource to RP off of for a long time. There is a sense of urgency, but there's also a need for long term perspective. Also, the powers that be in the Marches are not idle; attempts to contact them/work with them are encouraged.

2. Patience, patience, patience. See above, and also, RL is RL, and our DMs are fairly busy people; it does not mean things players do are ignored.

3. Use PMs (at least with OGR; other DMs did not specify) to resolve follow up of loose ends and attempting things that cannot be covered by in-game sessions.

4. If people are willing to step up to help with tech end of things, building, DMing, etc, that would be grand (although current TSM players can only submit so much content due to potential for metagaming).

5. The recent lull/things being put on hold will not be indefinite.

6. Curm is NOT opposed to putting in new content/features such as tailor, barber, etc.



from players:

1. various concerns/questions about the plot, including the sense that it's all or mostly on the PCs to find a way to win this with NPCs apparently doing little, some comic book timed things stretching credulity, perception that PCs are not allowed to take time off and travel/leave the server even though it's a big, long campaign, especially when DMs due to RL/ooc reasons put things on hold indefinitely, etc.

2. Slow updates to the mod, submitted areas, additions take months to see light of day, which is discouraging especially for builders contributing content.

3. Attempts to follow up on loose ends or ideas that aren't pre-planned by DMs are at times ignored or put on hold indefinitely. Again, the message I got on this was 'use PMs', although with a reminder that a slew of PMs can be overwhelming... When players request 'I'd like to follow up xyz with abc' and the DM's response is more or less 'Here be baddies to fight, or something else completely unrelated. Btw you guys should be doing more non combat stuff if you're going to get anywhere.' it encourages passive/consumer RP.

4. People do want to step up. We have several who've expressed interest, including Foam who has had experience as an admin on other PWs/projects.

5. Communication (this is definitely from me); if DMs need to put things on hold indefinitely or HDM can't/won't put in new content abc for xyz reasons please let players involved know, discuss what various options are for us ICly and OOCly, etc. The recent/current lull I think suffered from the relative lack of communication more than just the fact very little was happening. Even a simple 'We can't get to this atm, swamped with RL' is helpful and would help mitigate the sense that things are simply left unattended/ignored.

6. Look forward to things getting back on track!


Hope that is helpful.

A good summary Ithildur, thanks for posting it and for setting this up.

As per Ronan's post in this forum on a new "Campain Forum" if you will, which is a great idea, I will be using that to post scheduling, answer questions etc. So although I said PMs on the chat, I think it's easier to use the forum.

In addition, due to RL responsibilities, Monday nights have been very difficult for me to make consistently. Accordingly, I want to change my scheduled weekly session to Tuesday nights if that works for most involved in the Campaign.