Assorted Foolishness...

[fangrrl_squees]

Weird, pointless meta re: the Time Agency and what the hell must have happened to it to knock it down to six members (as per John Hart) took up most of my commute, this morning.

(The Time Agency has sucked up a few brain cells in the past. More than once, in fact. 'Tis a potentially interesting topic - or maybe I just can't stand such things remaining undefined)

As I'm as vulnerable to fanwank as the next fool, I'm figuring that ongoing fallout from the Time War has something to do with the Agency's implosion.

Now I'm doodling on ideas as to what six dispossessed Time Agents can get up to.

Squinted at in a certain light, there might be an online RP setting buried in this somewhere. But I'm not running it. I've been batting something like .010 with GMing online games, so I'm not going to try again.

***

Meanwhile, I see that Chicago TARDIS is going with the TVM theme for their guest lineup - having just added Yee Jee Tso (Chang Lee) to the lineup. I know it's far too much to hope for, but if they brought Sylvester McCoy over, too, that would be awesome. I know Alex would definitely want to make it out for the con, in that case. He's kinda-sorta thinking about it, at the moment. It depends how many corsets I can sell in the next few months.

And, renn? Just kidding on Twitter about the panel. You know me, I'm usually game for anything that falls under costuming, fanfic, squeefests and suchlike. :)

Comments

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

Meanwhile, I see that Chicago TARDIS is going with the TVM theme for their guest lineup - having just added Yee Jee Tso (Chang Lee) to the lineup.

Oh holy cow SRSLY?

*____*

[britgeekgrrl.livejournal.com]

Would I lie to you luv?

[uncledark.livejournal.com]

I like your Time Agency speculations.

What was your experience with online RP? I mean, other than frustrating?

[britgeekgrrl.livejournal.com]

I've played in one SOOPERAWESOME online Buffy-verse game (on IRC, run by mgrasso) and it was, as I mentioned, awesome. Good plots, the players could be relied on to make game-dates (despite us being all over the continent)

But as a GM, things weren't so hot. A couple of games just fizzled out after start-up because I didn't pace myself propely and ran out of plot. Oops. Some fizzled out as the players lost interest - generally these were v. small things, of five or six players, at most.

(edit: tried running via online forums and via LJ, no classic PBEM or IRC GMing experience)

The more collective-style-no-real-GM-per-se games, I occasionally found frustrating as a player and as ostensible GM/chief of setting as there's only so much IC-converstionalising one can do before starting to wonder "Er, is anything actually going to HAPPEN?" And the weird sort-of 'collective unspoken consent' thing I ran into amongst such games threw me for a loop - I'm just too used to the very traditional setup, of RL tabletops and LARPs I guess. I'm all for GMs taking turns, or several folks GMing a setting collectively and such, but I do like to know that someone is, ostensibly, in charge of a setting.

As a GM, I often ran into the 'throw a plot hook into the game and watch it be blatantly ignored as everyone continues their meta-chatter, no matter how many hints one dandles under their noses' situation. Vexing!

[uncledark.livejournal.com]

My only online RP experience consists of a couple of PBEM games several years back, and some of the more freeform fan-based RPs here on LJ.

I found the LJ-based RPs frustrating for many of the same reasons you list. It was as if 27 of the 30 people involved were there to do online cosplay, and the 3 of us who wanted to put the "game" back into RPG were seen as weird alien creatures with bizzare ideas.

In one of these, I was the "Plot Guy." The players seemed to want me to write chunks of exposition for them to have IC chats about, rather than present them with challenges to interact with.

I still think that the LJ based RP has potential. It perhaps ought to be structured more like a LARP with fairly freeform rules and less like an online-mediated tabletop game, though.

[britgeekgrrl.livejournal.com]

The players seemed to want me to write chunks of exposition for them to have IC chats about, rather than present them with challenges to interact with.

*nod* I hear ya.

I think part of that can be addressed with more careful vetting of potential players, and by the ringmaster making it clear the style of game they intend to present, in terms of expectations of player participation (ie "There will be classic tabletop-style plots presented and you are expected to engage in them - feel free to do all the meta-chatter you like along the way or in asides." or "Plots? Fuck 'em. Meta your heart out, kids. GMs role is to provide interesting settings for you to react to and the occasional NPC with which to interact, but that's all")

I must admit that I've waded into trying to run online games without understanding what some players get out of them and how that can vary a LOT from a traditional tabletop game, or even a larp.

(This is what I get for playing V:tM larps for 15 years, I don't know what to do without a big pile of conflict in the middle of the room!)

It perhaps ought to be structured more like a LARP with fairly freeform rules

Possibly, although the larps I run always have plots and, again, a clear idea of who's ostensibly in-charge of the three-ring circus, providing plots with which *some*, if not all, of the players are anticipated to take an interest...

Meh, rushed at work, probably not making sense.

[uncledark.livejournal.com]

You're making fine sense.

What I meant by running them like LARPs was that there be a set of head- and assistant-Storytellers who were all playing characters in The Plot, that it should be run by a crew rather than an individual, through semi-free NPC interaction.

Mind you, I've only played in a handfull of one-off con LARPs, so I may be mis-remembering how it works.