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  1. - Top - End - #31
    Dwarf in the Playground
     
    PaladinGuy

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    Default Re: This Is The Flakiest Players Have Been From Roll20

    That new guy I rotated in stuck around, the people I setup the week before stuck around too. They are in one campaign, the three (One is really shy and doesn't talk) players pushing 5 games or something are in the other. We don't have dead time, though when I'm a third or half the people playing I do wear myself out.

    I have thoughts about advice I've seen from MCDM, and I'm considering having a few prophecies, a few more riddles, and transitioning to locations where the factions vying for power are more obvious and fewer.

    The last week while trying to port something over or have something work, I lost a few hours, and was able to calculate that basically all my recoil mechanics are consistent and tied to real life math data. I had just decided like 6 years ago that the 9mm pistol and 5.56 from an M16, would functionally both not impose recoil penalties. At the same time, I just decided that the .45 ACP from 1911 and the 7.62x39mm from the AK would impose 1 point of recoil penalties.

    Mathematically, according to how real world felt recoil is calculated, my numbers are completely consistent with each other.

    What I had just made up on the spot, turned out to be extremely simple, functional, and mechanically grounded in real life. My decisions about more recoil for M4s and even more recoil for even shorter assault rifles, also lines up with real world math.

    What was just me trying to balance things, or have things be different, or get a certain kind of tone... Ended up making the system more realistic and very very consistent. It gives me a lot of confidence to see my system is more logically consistent and realistic than I expected. It feels like a functional, logical, playtested system.

    My biggest joys of writing my own system, is that I'm able to make it feel very realistic, but also be very consistent, easy enough to learn, and not too complicated.

    You have one point of Recoil, you can cancel it with a Strength modifier of +1, done and done.

    Quote Originally Posted by Azuresun View Post
    This isn't just a VTT thing. It's pretty much my entire experience running play-by-post games, and also the reason I no longer rn play-by-post games. The flaking and the sorrybuts just got overpowering after a while.
    Can confirm this was a problem when I ran quests on /qst/s which are like PbP, but randos vote for what the MC does, and they get a random identifier attached to their IP.

    However, I could get a few people to play consistently for a few months, with updates every single day (This was during the Summer or periods I didn't GM RPGs.)

    Quote Originally Posted by Psyren View Post
    Seconding the "you sound burned out, take a break" advice.

    Also, I'm compelled to ask - if there are tons of people applying to your games and not even reading the requirements, this appears to be a case of demand vastly exceeding supply. Are you charging for your games? Even if you're in it purely for the love of DMing as a hobby, putting a price tag on your time will weed out a lot of folks, many of whom appear to be applying for any free gaming they can get their hands on. And the ones who stick around will be much more inclined to make sure the game you're running matches the entertainment they're spending that money on. Granted that also comes with the expectation that you will deliver on what you're charging them for, but given how prolific your DMing is (3 games a week!) I think you have the work ethic to meet a customer's expectations, at least from a volume perspective.
    Pretty certain I said or heavily implied that I'm running a nitche system, set in a nitche setting. I never said tons of people are applying, I implied or said I don't have a lot of people applying. Charging for my games is such an unbelievably bad idea, considering that basically none of my players would've ever signed up (Certainly not the young folks or the college students, or the people who were new to RPGs... which is literally all the veteran, long term players)

    Also, for the love of God, I never said I am currently running three games a week. I even outright said "I have two campaigns" in the very first post. I also stated outright in reply posts I am not running three.
    Last edited by Tevo77777; 2022-11-17 at 03:46 PM.
    If I ever think that I've gone too far in my Homebrew, I can just think about how Kane0 isn't considered crazy, so why would I be considered so?
    -
    D20 Modern's handling of shotguns is the perfect case of not balancing for fun OR realism OR efficiency.
    -
    Where would I go to get people to test mechanics? Reddit?

  2. - Top - End - #32
    Barbarian in the Playground
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    Default Re: This Is The Flakiest Players Have Been From Roll20

    If I was a terrible GM, you think I would have someone tell me I was a terrible GM in the last six years (Outside the two PCs who went megalomaniacs on me and tried to burn down the entire campaign leaving me and the other PCs scratching our heads......
    If there is one thing I have learned during my time in Play By Post on Mythweavers is... that you can't expect the players to be honest and open. Another GM will be but not the players.


    It is a lonely dread existence being the GM. Forver put upon a pedestal, kept separate from the group, with every post and dvery word weighed and measured for a 'ruling'. The OOC threads are usually empty as they don't talk to each other either; the game is the only thing to them.


    This isn't the rule of course; some GMs after long years have curated players that engage at a social level. Parties of GMs are so talkative. I look on YouTube groups with envy at how much fun the GM is having.


    I am also used to confused players never asking questions. They stew as if I can see them and will ask "what's wrong?" but the question never comes as I can't tell. It reaches a boiling point where I get long ranting posts of all the things that went 'wrong' over the last few weeks/month.



    You might not be a 'terrible' GM but you might not be 'good' either. Your first two posts contain a number of red flags. A player leaving for 'creative differences' (sounds like during session zero) might be just that or it could be how I, as a player, uses it; to jump a bad ship before leaving port. Now it might not be you as one time we just barely got more apps than required, looked at the other players, and bolted.

  3. - Top - End - #33
    Dwarf in the Playground
     
    PaladinGuy

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    Default Re: This Is The Flakiest Players Have Been From Roll20

    Quote Originally Posted by Alcore View Post
    If there is one thing I have learned during my time in Play By Post on Mythweavers is... that you can't expect the players to be honest and open. Another GM will be but not the players.

    It is a lonely dread existence being the GM. Forver put upon a pedestal, kept separate from the group, with every post and dvery word weighed and measured for a 'ruling'. The OOC threads are usually empty as they don't talk to each other either; the game is the only thing to them.

    This isn't the rule of course; some GMs after long years have curated players that engage at a social level. Parties of GMs are so talkative. I look on YouTube groups with envy at how much fun the GM is having.

    I am also used to confused players never asking questions. They stew as if I can see them and will ask "what's wrong?" but the question never comes as I can't tell. It reaches a boiling point where I get long ranting posts of all the things that went 'wrong' over the last few weeks/month.


    You might not be a 'terrible' GM but you might not be 'good' either. Your first two posts contain a number of red flags. A player leaving for 'creative differences' (sounds like during session zero) might be just that or it could be how I, as a player, uses it; to jump a bad ship before leaving port. Now it might not be you as one time we just barely got more apps than required, looked at the other players, and bolted.
    I had one player who angrily left during session zero or session one, literally screaming about how it wasn't enough like Duex Ex and how everyone should be a cyborg.

    This is despite a handout and repeated verbal mentions that the cyberpunk setting was a transitional period to where cybernetics became more and more plentiful, AND, that people don't like having their arms chopped off in this setting, most cyborgs were like war veterans.

    That was totally "creative differences". I had to double all the warnings and expectation things telling people the specific tone and time period of the setting. That mostly solved the problem.

    -

    Also, and I've said this before. I am not a GM who plays by post, I am a GM who had multiple campaigns that went 18 months where I had a few core, veteran, highly qualified players (Even if they had to learn it all from their campaign alone).

    We literally had emergency meetings over new players, and what the party wanted to do (Keep them, player was too toxic, have an intervention, ect ect) and I had one player who literally broke half the high level mechanics, and at least five who turned evil and tried to kill the party. I've had to go to other GMs for advice over things and come back to have private talks with players, quite a few times.

    That part of being a GM is the hardest, and I'm the least comfortable with it. It really sucked when I had a player all the other players liked, but he was somehow breaking a ton of my mechanics (And yet I couldn't find the spot where he broke any of my rules or was exploiting a technical issue or loophole... I think the issue is we were using D-20 Future stuff that wasn't playtested enough).
    Last edited by Tevo77777; 2022-11-18 at 10:30 AM.
    If I ever think that I've gone too far in my Homebrew, I can just think about how Kane0 isn't considered crazy, so why would I be considered so?
    -
    D20 Modern's handling of shotguns is the perfect case of not balancing for fun OR realism OR efficiency.
    -
    Where would I go to get people to test mechanics? Reddit?

  4. - Top - End - #34
    Barbarian in the Playground
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    Default Re: This Is The Flakiest Players Have Been From Roll20

    Also, and I've said this before. I am not a GM who plays by post,
    did I say you did?

    Do I need reminders of your experiences? Is my attempts of advice from my experience leading you to believe I am not reading what you write? Cuz it really feels like you didn't read mine.

  5. - Top - End - #35
    Dwarf in the Playground
     
    PaladinGuy

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    Default Re: This Is The Flakiest Players Have Been From Roll20

    Quote Originally Posted by Alcore View Post
    did I say you did?

    Do I need reminders of your experiences? Is my attempts of advice from my experience leading you to believe I am not reading what you write? Cuz it really feels like you didn't read mine.
    {Scrubbed}

    I know that I said I'm used to knowing my players, and that after all these years, with plenty of players I've personally known for years, I can be aware of I have a problem or not.

    -
    EDIT:
    I just brought in a player with no session zero and half a prepared character sheet, and it was great. He was the second two guy, the other guy had a fully setup character sheet.
    Last edited by truemane; 2022-12-08 at 01:49 PM. Reason: Scrubbed
    If I ever think that I've gone too far in my Homebrew, I can just think about how Kane0 isn't considered crazy, so why would I be considered so?
    -
    D20 Modern's handling of shotguns is the perfect case of not balancing for fun OR realism OR efficiency.
    -
    Where would I go to get people to test mechanics? Reddit?

  6. - Top - End - #36
    Troll in the Playground
     
    Chimera

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    Default Re: This Is The Flakiest Players Have Been From Roll20

    Is there probably a mismatch with expectations here?

    You've mentioned you run a heavily homebrewed mash-up of D20 modern, and gave several examples of making up rules on the spot. And the problem players you are experiencing are leaving not during character creation, but rather after the first session or first few sessions. Could it be that the experience the players are getting is not matching what they were looking for?

    Let me give you an example. I played fantasy D&D with a GM was really pretty good. He took elements from people's background and incorporated them into the plot, to make their characters more personally involved. He was good at incorporating different character concepts into a single setting and a single game, and making them work. He managed a good balance between individual character actions and keeping the party together as a group. His setting was rich and detailed. He was very active.

    But... he dictated what happened, and some of the plots were effectively on rails. He didn't like players trying to change the scenery, the plot, or the direction of play. They were there to hit things, do damage, and roleplay. And his idea of a great climactic fight, a showdown with the Thieves Guild, involved the Head of the Guild climbing into a small mecha, and jumping up and down on the party while dropping bombs. Since he stunned people in an area effect when he landed, the trick to defeating him was to stay off the ground, timing a jump so that we went up as he went down, and hitting his little mech each time we passed in mid-air.

    Now there is nothing wrong with such a fight, technically, but it's awfully computer-gamey. There was no real reason why landing on the ground would stun people, he had to bend the rules on jumping to make the fight work, and there was simply no explanation of where the heck he got a mecha from, which didn't otherwise exist in the game world.

    At that point I decided the game wasn't for me. It's not that he was a bad GM. But the game he wanted to run was not one I was enjoying playing. It was a style clash.

    Is is possible you're losing players for the same reason you keep other players? Because you have a distinct style that won't suit everyone?

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