OOC 3 > Rant and Rave and Throw Rocks!

[Alethan]

... seems to have been very little effort given to actually keeping that group together.

Just to clarify... There seems to be little effort given by whom? The DM? Or the players?

[hedgeknight]

He means the DM...me.

[Computer +1]

This game has plenty of structure. We killed the werewolves and then had a choice of what to do next but we were never told that thats it. Some people went one way and some the other. Our group has a mission, to speak to the elves.

If you want a more solid effort in a big fight then you need to say as much in character in game. We act as individuals since all our characters barely know each other and all play to our individual strengths. A concerted group effort takes time to plan, which can be fine as everyone gets to know each other more.

This all comes back to the encounter with the giant. Let me be clear, Darkstar would have stayed, fought and died when we were battling the werewolves. He would not have abandoned Tarrin unless he was clearly dead beyond any hopes of saving. (Like torn into little pieces, in lava or something else nasty) When we saw the giant the situation was different in his eyes as he felt Tarrin was an aggressor looking to kill something when there was no need. He stayed out of it, which went against his instincts, and left Tarrin to his own fate. If Tarrin doesn't like that fact and if Hoond as a player doesn't like that then there is nothing I can do about it.

I play D&D because I like to roleplay as a character and try to make that character as real as possible. I hate games where random groups of characters just are friends and work together because they are supposed to. I hate flat characters with no personality. I hate games where you march from point A to point B and kill everything you see. I dont see the point of being in those games and I have dropped out of quite a few games that went along those lines. I love how this game has been going since it has given us all a wide range of freedom but has still tied a group of characters who never knew each other together. I am sorry if you dont feel the same way.

[Hoondatha]

I have been speaking against splitting the group. I spoke out when the first split happened (Oggle heading off on his own), and I spoke out again when what was left of the group fractured. Please don't say I haven't been speaking out, because I have, every step of the way.

And I wasn't just speaking about the DM, Alethan, though obviously the DM as "game god" has a great deal of control over the game. I don't feel like I've gotten much support from the other players in keeping the group together, either. The sole exception was you, Alethan, but again, it only happened after I started complaining about the group splintering yet again.

I think I'm going to step away from the computer for a few hours, because the more I think about this, the angrier I get, and that's not what I want to be feeling. I've had fun in this game, and I want to continue to have fun. But the disjointedness is making it hard.

[Hoondatha]

Okay, I’ve had a chance to wander around a bit, think, and cool down. Here’s where I stand:

First, some of this is self-inflicted. My character concept hasn’t worked out as well as I had hoped. Mechanically, I like Tarrin a lot; I think he’s fun and hilarious. Background wise, there’s problems, and that’s my fault since I came up with the character.

Tarrin needs to get back home to help his family and fight the Zhents, but he knows he can’t until he’s powerful enough. Since “enough” is probably level 8 or 9, that’s effectively never at the speed pbp games go. But that need to get back to the High Dale also prevents him from finding something unrelated out west. It’s like he’s got a drum beating in the back of his head: “THUMP. Gotta get home. THUMP. Gotta get home.”

The campaign’s location doesn’t help matters. If we were further east, he could be fighting the Zhents in Llorkh, gaining experience while hurting the greater organization. If we were in Sunset Vale, he could do the same against Darkhold. If we were in a major trade city, he could preach Shaundakul’s message and try to win converts. But we’re in the back of beyond, and he doesn’t really have any options besides walk home or follow one of the group’s splinters. It leaves him, and me, rudderless.

Since he’s realized he was in the middle of the wilderness, Tarrin’s main plan of action has always been to gather or join a group of adventurers who could help him become more powerful and then hopefully follow him back to the High Dale to fight the Zhents. This mirrors my preferred style of play. Instead we keep seeing the group fracture, which is frustrating for both of us and has left him with people he doesn’t trust. I don’t like inter-party conflict, but that’s all we have right now.

Hence my comments about this not being a team: we really aren’t. We don’t watch out for each other, we don’t have much in the way of conversation, and we seem to be just wandering from one random battle encounter to the next.

Maybe getting someone new in will help. At least it will give Tarrin someone to talk to that he doesn’t bear animus against. However, I notice that when we do get a new party member, it’s a character class that’s completely redundant. That’s another problem with splitting the party up into little packets: what was a balanced group to deal with threats now is unbalanced and vulnerable. The front line doesn’t have any healing or support, and the back line doesn’t have anyone to keep the monsters at bay. A thief should have gone and joined the dungeon delving folks, since they don’t have one and he would have been very helpful. Or, if the player were joining the woods people, they should have been asked to play something different.

That’s a good example of the sort of completely laissez-faire way the game has been run, a sort of “do whatever you want, I’ll adjust” DM’ing that has led to some of the characters feeling alienated, and some of the players likewise.

Anyway, those are some of my thoughts, hopefully a bit more coherent.

[hedgeknight]

PM sent.

As for Hoon's comments, I'd suggest a good reading of the original recruitment thread for this game:
viewtopic.php?f=21&t=1091

Still waiting to hear from Fearghus and rtdersch - you out there, fellers?

[Hoondatha]

Okay, everyone, I am respectfully leaving the game. When something that's supposed to be a game starts getting more angst than fun, and then the DM sends you an angry, profanity-laced PM, that's a signal it's time to go. I've enjoyed playing Tarrin and I'm sorry to let him go, but sometimes these things happen. Feel free to run Tarrin as you like; stick around as an NPC, send him home, feed him to the nearest owlbear... And, as the resident priest of Shaundakul, safe travels on the trails of life.

[hedgeknight]

When something that's supposed to be a game starts getting more angst than fun, and then the DM sends you an angry, profanity-laced PM, that's a signal it's time to go.

I sent Hoon the PM because I don't like airing dirty laundry in a public forum...unlike him. Plus, I get enough teen angst and "drama" in my job; I don't need it in my game...and neither do you.

Here is our current roster of players:
Alethan > Greystone (Elven Scout)
Argennian > Purvan (Half-Elven Investigator)
Computer +1 > Darkstar (Elven Archer)
Fearghus > Lysander (Human Paladin)
rtdersch > Nokrugh (Half-Orc Berserker)

(I removed AQ, Bel, and Hoon from the player list tonight.)

Expect a PM from me tonight/tomorrow.

Now...onward!

[Alethan]

Grats on the level, Feargus! Don't forget to have Lysander take a breath every now and then!

[Fearghus]

Thank you, Alethan! It is a bummer running this solo as he is more fragile than I anticipated. I rely heavily on the NPCs for support.

[Alethan]

Well, hopefully you'll be heading our way soon and well have more strength in numbers...

[hedgeknight]

Working hard to update the threads today > between power outages and upset kids and emails to parents!
Hope to have all three updated by today's end > appreciate your patience.

[hedgeknight]

Waiting on you fellers...or are you waiting on me?

[Computer +1]

Just posted! Got in before you!

[hedgeknight]

Ninja'd!!

So, the plan for the Neverwinter Woods group is for Darkstar to backtrack and pick up Nokrugh, while Greystone leads the rest of the group to the Lynx camp...yes? Are we in agreement on that?

[Argennian]

Agreed!

[Computer +1]

looks like a plan!

[Computer +1]

DARKSTAR WANTS AN UPDATE!

[hedgeknight]

Keep yer britches on! I'm working on it!

[hedgeknight]

R.I.P. Oggle Steambottle