Hello all,
Unfortunately, I've let you all down. I will be unable to continue GM'ing this RP for the future. As it has garnered some legitimate success, I am willing to pass it (and all my information on running it; game mechanics, etc) on to any one else who may be interested in GM'ing it.
I hope I haven't upset you, but I understand you are all wishing to play and I am simply holding up the process.
I totally understand. I'd like to know if it's us who've made this harder on you, or if something happened in real life, but either way... Seriously, it's no sweat. You do what you gotta do. Take care of yourself first and
then start running games for folks.
I would like to say I would be interested in taking on the mantle and I really am, but I don't think I can juggle 17 players in order to keep this game going. I am still interested in your mechanics and concept of a sci-fi NRP like this, but I'm not sure if I can run a RP of this scale by myself without running into the same issues.
Thoughts on a compromise anyone?
I've got... a few ideas. The one I favor most is a simple one I refer to as the tried and true method of "delegation of power."
Okay, so there's the obvious solution of having co-GMs. But when you start getting a big, big group, you kind of need to be able to give the different GMs different responsibilities. In the context of this thread, imagine how much easier it'd be if:
- GM 1 was in charge of managing everyone's ledgers (and thus editing the OOC page),
- GM 2 handled rules-related decisions and updated the system as the thread went on,
- And GM 3 dealt with player relations (two players are arguing), dice rolling for events, the results of battles, and things like that.
Alternatively, the GMs could share the same responsibilities but split up the players they're in charge of. So, you'd have a main GM whose job it was to update the OOC page / ledger, but each GM/co-GM would have a pool of players (let's say 6) whose ledgers they handled. Disputes between two players would be handled by one GM (whichever GM had the most available time to handle things).
The problem is that each GM needs to know for a fact they have time to handle their respective roles, so there's risk involved there. Also, each GM needs to be comfortable / happy with the rules and such.
A great resource to a group of GMs like this would be a Google Document or similar shareable online file that could be edited at any time by any of the GMs. This would make a great rules document, or potentially a greater ledger; after all, it's way easier for three people to notice errors in a file than one person.
Another thing that could help is a set
time - real time - at which to progress the turns. I.E., instead of progressing the turn when everyone is ready, the GMs could agree that they're comfortable with updating the turn twice a week or once a week. This takes pressure off of them when lots of people finish their turns quickly, and it incentivizes players to finish their turns before the end of the update period; if they don't, their turn is skipped. Simple as that.
I'm just spitballing ideas, but these are the sort of things I think would make it much easier to update a thread.
As an FYI... I really didn't want to GM a game until the summer, but I'm thinking about it and I might not mind being a
co-GM of a game. The trouble is, as I've stated in every thread I've joined since becoming a member of this website, I can only promise to update big things once a week. Posting in OOC threads and answering PMs is no problem for me. Making a serious IC post for a thread more than once a week can become problematic once exams start marching into my life.
EDIT: Also, I actually
love editing things. If you folks want someone who can edit an OOC post and keep it updated and answer PMs consistently, I ought to be good for that. I just don't know if I want to design any rules or dictate random events or make a lot of IC posts.
I'd... also have to give up being an actual player if I did this, and I think starting a new thread would be best. And if I were a GM of any capacity, I'd love to see some actually
weird races because that's what I've always felt Sci-Fi should be used for. But that's just an opinion, and it's definitely not a deal breaker for me.
And let me repeat: CO-GMing, not solo-GMing, is on the table if I participate in any sort of GMing effort. I won't do it alone, at least not until summer.
