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Old 02-06-2011, 02:48 PM   #110
Nogrod
Flame of the Ainulindalė
 
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I do warmly welcome this discussion taking place.

There are so many things to comment on... but let me make a few.


I think one of the main reasons to many games stalling (besides WW ) is that the ambitions of the mods of the games - and the possible "inner circle" of writers - have sky-rocketed.

My first RPG was Arry's Outracing the Flames on 2006. There was a simple mission for the players and the mod had planned a few obstacles on the road. Even if it went for longer that had been planned, it ended in 5 months and in an orderly fashion. The last one here I think?

Now as it was my first RPG ever, I might feel some warmth to the experience it would not deserve otherwise, but it was well-run game that stayed focused. And the thing was; it was kept simple.

I have written in a few RPG's after that (Treachery of Men & The Fellowship of the Fourth Age come to mind as experiences), but they were already quite complicated in what came into the plotlines and detail. So many players dropped off when time went by as it took so long and they required such involvement.

Now one could say that hey, that's why we have these different "levels" of RPG'ing. In Shire (Outracing the Flames) we have these fairly simple games and in Rohan the more requiring ones (ToM & FotFA). And it is a fair point.

But it seems we have not have those easy and straightforwards Shire-games in years - and the ambitions of the Rohan-games have gone maybe too far?

Don't read me wrong here, I love those multilayered and sophisticated games that have a lot of complexity myself (and I couldn't see myself writing in something so tightly mod-guided/dictated & simplified game as the "Outracing the Flames" was anymore).


So if we have both a) less new people joining, and b) nothing to offer them (the simpler "first stage" games), then no wonder the renaissance will not dawn on 'Downs roleplaying section. I've seen many newcomers joining those more ambitious games and dropping off... (to be honest a few "seniors" did drop off as well - mainly because of time constraints, which should be telling...)


Also I think it's important to remember that the Mead Halls should be basically very different from the more focused RPG's. And at least on paper (well, on screen) the idea of there being two different Mead Halls, one for the "beginners" and one for the more "advanced" is a good one as they can then have two different focuses.

When I joined the Green Dragon back in the days it was more or less just one party going on where the idea was to socialise with others, learn the basics of RPG'ing with other players - and then move on to the "real games". Like you pop in at an inn, meet some people and have a drink with them - and continue your journey, maybe with a new friend. I haven't followed the Golden Perch that much but from the little I have seen, it is different.

Also I think that it is a good idea in principle that the Eorling Mead Hall / Scarburg Mead Hall should be more plot oriented while still retaining the air of being a place you can just put your nose into and join the game anyday.

But as a co-mod of the current Scarburg Mead Hall I must say that the concept isn't working anymore that well it could, or it did. The open-endedness of the plotlines and timelines, added with the different RL situations of the players over long periods of time, individual levels of interest in particular plots being played etc. make a plot driven Mead Hall kind of a hybrid between the "just socialising" games and the real "plot driven" games. It could take on the best features of both (and at times it actually does it) but it can also take on the worst features of both.


But if there are considerably less new people joining in, it is clear there is no return to the ongoing parties of the old Green Dragon, after which those keeping it up naturally & understandaby turn into more plot- or friend-based writing which further scares outsiders away from posting.

At the same time there is the danger that the Rohanian Mead Hall will stagnate into a game played by the few "striders" already known to each other and where newcomers don't dare to come into as it looks to complicated and too much of an insider thing. (We actually had a burst of fresh blood there when the modship changed there two years ago and managed to recruit a host of new writers there - sadly only a few of them are left today.



So what am I suggesting after all this rambling?

I think we should do well to open some fairly basic games and try to lure the new 'Downers into them. I mean we do have them all the time - and I actually think we have gained a lot more active 'Downers the last half year than in a long time...

That would require a mod who was not trying to fullfill her or his ambitions there but being more like an experienced fellow encouraging the newcomers to delve into RPG'ing while keeping it simple and doable. And this is not pointing fingers at anyone. What I think is that we need someone to mod those "Shire-games" who would be not too enthusiastic about it being her/his game, but like a pedagogical person as a forum for the ones who play to learn their skills and get excited about it. (Okay, the teacher-me speaking here, I can see)


Also we should consider the role and meaning of the Mead Halls again. How to make the Golden Perch a place new people would crave to go into? How to make the Scarburg Mead Hall take the best features of both open and plot-driven games while avoiding the bad ones?


And in the end, we should also acknowledge that the world is not the same it was five or ten years ago - and thus also people and their interests are different. So not everything is the fault of you and me - the mods and active players of the RPG's. It's just the wolrd that changes - and we all with it.


EDIT: SOrry this became this long. I never seem to be able to be concise...
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