[OOC] Around the Table

[hippo]

That lack of activity is all on me. I am finding it difficult to manage the game right at the moment. Work is heading towards a series of critical deadlines which is causing overtime work. The adoption preparations, both the paperwork and the house work, have proven to be a greater burden than I had anticipated. Finally, although I have a series of situations (encounters, small adventures) for the characters to experience, I am having a hard time finding a way to get you folks there. This is purely a lack of experience DMing on my part, along with the unanticipated level of Real Life impacting things.

I don't particularly want to drop the game, but I am having a hard time moving it forward. I'm having a hard time getting the time I need to keep the game rolling smoothly. I am at a loss as to what to do. I can try and commit to a much slower game than originally planned, with perhaps more direction from the characters and roughly a post a week from me. Or we can decide that things just aren't working and disband the game (which would be unfortunate but perhaps realistic.)

So - what do you folks think? How interested would you guys be in a slower paced game? Or should I simply try to run an adventure sometime after life returns to a more steady and less frantic rhythm?

[Jayjayman122]

I think you have way too much on your plate to be worrying about us here!!! I think you should hold off and maybe come back to this after everything gets settled I'll support you in whichever decision you ultimately decide though.

Good luck with everything, hippo! If you do decide to pull back from the game/site, I just want you to know that I've really enjoyed playing with you and hopefully we'll be able to do it again some time!

[hippo]

Thanks jay. I am definitely not pulling back from the site. This is one of my important outlets for downtime. It is running a game that is proving somewhat difficult.

[EngrInAZ]

hippo,

I'm up for whatever you think you can do. I have no problem with a slow pace game but with all you have going on I can understand putting the game on hold. It's a great concept and I would like see where it takes us so I'll definitely be up for resuming the game when life is more manageable (like that ever really happens ).

Good luck with the adoption stuff, she is a very lucky little girl (and you and your family will be blessed by your compassion).

-Engr

[Nocturnal]

Running a game is much harder than playing in one. If you don't feel you can commit the effort, or more importantly if you're not enjoying the responsibility along with your other (work, family) stress and commitments, then you shouldn't continue running it out of a sense of obligation.

It sounds to me like there is also a problem that, even though the parts are made well, you aren't sure how to integrate your ideas into a whole and provide direction to the game. This is something a co-DM may be able to help with, along with taking some of the practical workload off your hands: like running encounters, and part of reacting to player actions. Not that I'm volunteering; it's as much as I can handle to run the two games of my own. But you'd still have to stay involved and keep providing your direction, so if it's not something you want, better to terminate the game, and contact the players to resurrect it if something changes in the future. That's what I'm reading from your post. If you do want to keep telling your story, other more experienced DMs can help and give some advice on how to do it.

Don't feel bad. I've been in lots of games here that never made it past the first encounter. Here we got an interesting encounter and skill challenge. And you have a lot to handle now which needs to come first. Maybe things will settle down and we can pick this up again.

[hippo]

I actually enjoy running the game, but the last two weeks of craziness has convinced me that I really can't continue it at the moment. Work is consuming crazy amounts of time, and our adoption is moving along a bit faster than expected. This means that things I figured would be spread out over the course of a year need to be done in the next four months.

So sadly, I have decided to suspend the game at this point. Even with an offer of assistance from Cid, I think that I need to get through my China trip in the spring before I'll be in a place to look at the game again.

Perhaps in the interim I can find a way to weave the interesting bits into a more cohesive whole and we can pick this up again. I do hope so. I have a grand appreciation of the work DMs provide here on the site. It is hard.

Thanks again for participating, and when I get to a point where I think I can continue, I will definitely ping everybody and see where you are. I will continue seeing many of you around the site as a player as I slowly unbury myself.

[Soporte Vaca]

Hey hippo, this is all on you. if you aren't able to run a game due to real life reasons, it's all fine. It's only a game after all.

[EngrInAZ]

Good luck with the adoption and everything.

I will still be around if you every pick this back up again.

[Spydermonkey]

Post count increase thanks to Saratek