[OOC] Critique the Game

[hvg3akaek]

OK, one round is over. As we continue on, I would love to get feedback from you as to what was good, what was bad, what I should do more of, and how I should fix those really annoying thigns up So I don't feel too lonely, feel free to offer advice to others too, with their posting habits, styles, etc.

I will start off.

I think the 'treasurer' and 'leader' ideas were not so good. They may have worked in a PnP game, but with people often not posting for a while, it added extra drag without good benefit. The leader can stay, but they will nto have as significant effect from now on. And there will be no treasurer.

Likewise, the "HQ" thread didnt really work out. I am thinking of retiring it too. It was meant to be a helpful record-keeping device, but I think it just adds clutter to the front page. So, I will throwing that one back, too.

How about the sparring pit? I know it has not had a lot of use, but that may well be because it came in just before the last set of missions. If you wish to use if now, whilst people level up and purchase stuff, please do.

As a general comment, it would be great if the frequency of postings could rise in some departments. Waiting a week for only half the players in a thread does make the game drag out, and less fun for all those involved. I well may try out Securis' trick of getting players to post a few rounds of combat at once, then using it as appropriate...what do people think about that?

Also, as Leova has noted, some posts could have a little more feeling put into them I am not expecting essays, or even paragraphs with every post! But something a bit more involved than "i hit the <insert monster type> with my <insert weapon type>. <insert relevant dice rolls>" would be nice Leova made a good post about that in the OOC thread, which I am sure could be found with little difficulty!


So, what do you like? What (and how) can I improve?

[Securis]

You've hit the points that I'd have any concern over when you addressed posting frequency. I will admit that I have an infrequency problem so I'm taking Letypera. If anyone has IP, there's no need to be ashamed. Just get some help. I did.

Interaction is important. How are we to ferret out the mole if no one interacts. I think that should be atipulation with every post. In this game interaction is by far more important than in others. On the whole, I'm happy with how things are turning out story-wise.

One thing that bothers me is completely blank secret text posts. There has to be some element occuring that the characters in the game thread can possibly have observed. Something.

I'm open to the sparring pit. I think I was the last to request such but we went into the field.

[Darakonis]

Ditto to the posting frequency; in the game I DM, I allow 24 hours since the last in-game post before I NPC the person I'm waiting on. Maybe a more lax version of this (48 hours?) would get some people posting more often.

Ditto to the interaction. My character is basically constructed for RP purposes. Who needs a bard, anyway?

In the beginning I was posting solely secret message posts, but that was because my character wasn't introduced, so I didn't want people to treat my character any differently than the NPCs.

My character won't be using the sparring pit, for obvious reasons (well, obvious if you know my character...) but I think it's a good idea to give the willing players the option.

Overall, I really like the concept of this game. A game within a game... I fear eviction more than my character's death

[Leova]

secret-only posts make for a sh*tty-looking thread


that is all

[hvg3akaek]

Although lost a bit at the internet protocol/intellectual property discussion (??), I am agreeing with the completely blank posts. I try to remember to add a line, even if it is something plain (the 'wind' or 'dream' posts?) Sometimes (such as characters who have not started yet, or players who re totally concealed from the others) it might be ok...but still try to stick something in there from now on.

And of course, interaction is essential. I think that, for the next 'round', I will halve the XP up Half will be split up amongst the players equally for their participation in quest-based stuff. The other half will be divided up depending on a combination of: how well they interact; how well they post; frequency of their posts; and stuff like that. Character interaction is very important. The quest stuff is just to fill in the time :biggrin:.

Anyway, I will work on that, and post something when i finalise the idea

[Darakonis]

Originally Posted by hvg3akaek

And of course, interaction is essential. I think that, for the next 'round', I will halve the XP up Half will be split up amongst the players equally for their participation in quest-based stuff. The other half will be divided up depending on a combination of: how well they interact; how well they post; frequency of their posts; and stuff like that. Character interaction is very important. The quest stuff is just to fill in the time :biggrin:.

Anyway, I will work on that, and post something when i finalise the idea

Just wanted to bump this, to remind everyone (myself included)

[hvg3akaek]

ooh, I said half! dang, forgot that...

OK, *definitely* doing that next round. Will start taking notes...now!!


... sorry for failing in that area.


On the point of critiquing, I am also thinking of going for a series of shorter quests. That last one went far longer than I was expecting. So, unless people want more really long quests, I will be hard at work developing shorter missions for the next round.

[Gothar]

Long or short, makes no nevermind to me I think it might be cool to have one overall goal with mini quests that lead up to that one. For instance We just fought a bazillion gobbies. If we had failed and the leader got away there might be more gobby resistance in the "end" quest I f we succeeded in wiping them out to the last then there would be few or none in the end game. If each mini quest had some kind of object or even better based on the premise of the game a piece of a puzzle (riddle, game, logic puzzle or something of the like) we could make the overall end quest easier or harder (or even just change the types of enemies or whatnot)

Just kind of brainstorming here - feel free to disregard

[Darakonis]

Oh, hvg3, I was just trying to bump the point about char interaction - intended for the players, myself included.

And I'm all for shorter quests. As for them building up, as Gothar was saying... I believe they are already doing that? Wasn't this goblin quest a sort of "return to the goblins," because they weren't wiped out the first time?

[Gator]

I like the idea of stepping up the quests.....I imagine you are as we will be going up in levels as we get through the quests, but we will be losing a person (or more) each time.....

[Darakonis]

Re-posting this at hvg3's request



I’m really hoping that whoever is playing the mole is still active, so that hvg3 doesn’t have to bring in fresh blood to replace characters. Don’t take this the wrong way, mcl01, you’re a quality player and a great RPer, and I’m glad to have you on board. But this game is never going to end if new people keep joining.


The original cast of 15 characters:

Ainsworth: Herlepin (Male Gnome)
Allenbdinoboy: Kornin (Male Kender)
Buswheel: Pompous Romanus(Male Human)
Darth Cow: Vladamir (Male Human)
DaveTheMonkey: Fixx (Female Warforged)
Fox-Master: Agatha Bludbone(Female Half-orc)
Gator: Brother Brynn (Male Human)
Khabi: Snyders (Male Human)
Master of Monsters: Ethen (Male Halfling)
Securis: Terri Fret (Female Human)
The Shaman: Tsunami (Female Xeph)
Ticattack: Ruuk (Male Goblin)
Underageaoler: Lynr'ik Maester (Female Half-elf)
Vald: Kerous (Male Human)
Waterdeepflapjack: Iuriur Mour'ri (Female Drow)


The current* cast of 10 characters:

Anouris: Georgio Pike (Female Human)
Buswheel: Pompous Romanus (Male Human)
Corgenlayshin: Bruenor (Male Orc)
Darakonis: Hruda of Dreadwood (Female Elf)
Fox-Master: Agatha Bludbone (Female Half-orc)
Gator: Brother Brynn (Male Human)
Gothar: Olme' (Female Human)
Khabi: Snyders (Male Human)
Master of Monsters: Higgins (Male Hobgoblin)
Steelwyrm: Shou-Tar Dark Talon (Male Human)

*current as in the most up-to-date post in The Cast thread.


This game started in late 2005, and we’re late 2008 now…. We’ve had 5 characters “voted off” in 3 years. I don’t think I’m still going to be around in 2011 to see who the final 5 are, let alone 2014 to find out who the mole is

Putting the timing issue aside, it’s really hard to figure out who the mole is, relative to the contestants on the actual game show, because they are constantly interacting, whereas we are not (primarily due to the limitations of our medium). Add in the fact that you have to consider the possibility that the mole has been replaced with a new mole character, and the complexity rises tenfold. I’ll admit that I’m guilty of trying (in vain) to search for a pattern in the replacement of characters to try to figure out who the mole is, and I think it’s sad that I had to resort to a metagame means of mole-detection.

So there are two real issues that I see here:

1. Over the course of years, there has not been significant progress in this game’s development – I don’t feel any closer to the end than the day I joined
2. There’s not enough in-character conversation to really capture the spirit of this game. People should be constantly gossiping and trying to get information out of people.

hvg3, please don’t take any of this as an affront. I still would like to stick around, and I would not have stuck around so long if I thought this game was rubbish. I see a diamond in the rough (I am a geologist, after all :P), and I think with a little work, this game can be living up to its full potential.

There’s a few simple solutions I see to the two issues mentioned above, and I think many of them are obvious:

1. Players need to post. Regularly. At least twice a week would be nice. I’m guilty of slacking off with posting, and I apologize for that. Part of the reason is because I’ve been terribly busy of late, but another part of the reason is just because I’ve gotten lazy. I see that other people take long to post, so I don’t feel rushed to post. I feel I can put it off to tomorrow. Or the weekend. Or next week. Or whenever something interesting is happening. It’s a bad attitude to have, and it’s contagious. I sometimes feel as though everyone is waiting for someone else to post. hvg3, you could really help us out here if you would crack down on us with a good ol’ DM whip and “skip our turn” if we don’t post within, say, three days of a post we should be responding to. When people have a deadline, they are much more prone to act. You’re way too nice to us; you gotta be a little mean

2. PCs need to interact. Converse. Not about the weather or idle small-talk. I mean really discuss things. Important things. Find out about each other. I’m happy to say that I have a pretty good basic picture of Georgio, Olmé, Higgins, and Yrael, because their players have done a good job in delivering a lasting impression. In some cases, I’ve even managed to pick up on certain traits that add another dimension to the character other than the first impression. During quests, it’s hard to do this, but we should have a thread for constant, on-going PC-PC discussions that would have taken place back at the HQ during downtime. hvg3, am I mistaken in believing that you mentioned we could use the “Trouble Runs Deeper…” thread for this?

3. Cut the dead weight. Being in a game with 5 active players is awesome. Being in a game with 5 active players and 5 inactive players is less awesome. Inactive players demoralize active players.

steelwyrm hasn’t posted in over a year. I recall him having employment and computer trouble. It’s a shame to have lost him, because I think Shou-Tar had promise to be an interesting character. I think hvg3 may have already cut him and replaced him with Yrael.

Khabi hasn’t posted on DnDOG since late September, and hasn’t posted in this game since late July. Goodbye. I can’t say I’ll miss his character, Snyders, because I still have no image of him in my mind. I picture a dark silhouette with a big question mark on it.

Gator: Anyone heard from him? He’s definitely still active on DnDOG. I haven’t seen a post from him in this game since July, but that’s probably because I can’t see his posts in the mission thread hidden from me. Can someone confirm that he’s still around?

Fox-Master: Hasn’t been active on DnDOG since June. Haven’t seen a post from him since late April. Unless he’s asked for a leave of absence from hvg3, goodbye. I recall hvg3 running Agatha more often than Fox-Master.

Corgenlayshin: Goodbye. He has not logged onto DnDOG since 2007. This is a no-brainer. I think hvg3 was keeping Bruenor around for quest purposes or something, which is cool, but Corgenlayshin shouldn’t be listed as a player anymore.

Buswheel: Same as Corgenlayshin. Goodbye. Hasn’t logged on since 2007.

Master of Monsters: Still very active on DnDOG. Haven’t seen a post from him in this game since April. Can someone confirm whether or not he is active in the hidden quest?

The revised cast of active characters:

Anouris: Georgio Pike (Female Human)
Darakonis: Hruda of Dreadwood (Female Elf)
*Gator: Brother Brynn (Male Human)
Gothar: Olme' (Female Human)
*Master of Monsters: Higgins (Male Hobgoblin)
mcl01: Yrael (Male Dwarf)

*pending their confirmation of active status

If we’re indeed cut down to only 4 characters, then I wouldn’t mind hvg3 bringing in a new character or two. We would have at least gotten rid of 4 characters.


4. Play the game. No, not that game - the game within the game. We have to remember that there’s a mole in the party, and the characters have to figure out who it is. That is the whole objective of this game. And the mole has to subtly thwart the party, otherwise he or she is not much of a mole. The mole should sabotage the party at every opportunity. The party should be actively seeking out the mole, asking questions, coming up with theories, whispering to one another. Watch some reality TV, folks, and get some inspiration


Well that’s all for me. Some food for thought. Well, more like a five-course meal for thought. Sorry about that – I didn’t mean to ramble on for so long, but that’s what I tend to do.

Cheers, and happy gaming.