Lost my Direction

[Xeviat]

For the last several months, I've been almost entirely absent from The CBG, mostly because I've been quite busy with life: work, money, school, people ... Within all that, I've been trying to get back to gaming; I've spent far too much time playing with the rules without getting to DM or play.

I've joined one game, but it's rough coming back to being on the other side of the DM screen. I've also started a game of my own, but after one session I'm not feeling thrilled by it. Red Hand of Doom is still sitting on my shelf, and I really want to run it before 4th comes out, but I also want to run a game in my setting to force me to develop more outside of the rules.

I also really want to become more involved here at The CBG.

Any advice on what I should do as far as games go? Or what I can do to resume my involvement with the Guild?

[Lmns Crn]

Man alive, first let me say I understand your position. I'm starting a second job and trying to get through graduate school, which leaves me with approximately zero time for my hobbies. I haven't played in a game since this time last year, when I ran my Jade Stage IRC game with some CBG-folks (and had to cancel the game after a depressingly small number of sessions due to-- again-- my real-life schedule.)

cooperative storytelling[/url] once the Wikifarm goes live; perhaps something similar might work for your worlds as well? (And it should go without saying that you're welcome to participate in this project when it starts, of course.)

As for the game you're running and not feeling thrilled by, maybe it's just taking more than one session to get up to its full potential. You might enjoy it better as it matures a bit. In the meantime, what is the problem with it, specifically?

Showcase entry preparation workshop[/url] thread; give that a look if you're thinking of entering but unsure about how to present your work.

In addition, there are some very exciting things about hosting that are on the horizon, that I am very excited about. The Opal Council assures us that they're coming up soon, and when they go live, it'll be like winning the lottery on my birthday or something. I fully expect my productivity to plummet as I sink every waking hour into data entry in the soon-to-exist Jade Stage wiki, not to mention tinkering with the improved version of the website. Anyway, you might be excited by something in that list of hosting options.

I've been turning to prose a lot lately, and posting threads on very specific aspects of my world (there's one on religion floating around somewhere, etc.) This seems to have the dual advantage of focusing my creative attention, and getting more replies than a similar update to the Great Big Thread would. (I guess reviewers find smaller threads easier to tackle.) But maybe a small sub-project like that would be useful-- tell us about one city, or one race, or one school of thought.

Finally, there's always the option of doing a few reviews. We've had a good number of new worlds posted in the last week or three, and though I haven't gotten around to giving them the full treatment yet, I've browsed them all (and they look good.)

I don't know how useful any of this advice is going to be (though I hope it'll be useful), since we often seem to stand at opposite ends of the fluff/crunch continuum. But welcome back-- it's good to have you around again.

Longwindedly,
-LC

[beejazz]

I'm right there with you on the gaming slowness. Real life and all.

I've been keeping kinda busy though. I'm actually putting something together for publication, though there seems little interest from those involved. So it goes.

[LordVreeg]

Cap'n 'Crunch' Xeviat,

I'm sure a lot of people sympathize with the depressing reality that work and life make up most of the mortal coil, and the spare moments we catch are few and far between.

I've been there.  I'm the product manager of a large company, and I also one of the top salespeople. And I'm active socially and politically.  I did three things to keep my games alive.
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1) Spaced them out more.  You'll find your gamers will be just like you, busy as hell.  Half of mine have 2 children, and they age from 27 to 43 years old.  My Igbarians play every three weeks, and my Mistonians play once per month.  (The Mistonians are extra special...3 of the players in that group have been with Celtricia for all 25 years).  It may be a little frustrating, since most gamers are used to more frequency, but this will give you the time needed to ensure a quorum, and to be happy with the quality of what you are presenting.  (Because a good DM is presenting every game session!)

2) Made the gaming dates part of the social calender.  We open good wine (We had a magnum of 98 Pio Cesare Barolo last session), people cook, and the atmosphere is a little more relaxed than it was 20 years ago.  But everyone tries to make the sessions.  Making them more social also means finding gamers you like.  It also means being a little more collaborative with the mehcanics, as long-term games means investing everyone in the game.  

3) Stuff has to get done online.   Take advantage of technology.  All my players bring laptops and have their rules and characters with them.  The can also chat in-game.  But doing one-on-one online so as to maximise the party time makes the game run smoother.  
In the same line, I actually run a saparate game online every other week.  Just a few hours on instant-idiot, but the dynamic is different.
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I also recomend the same for the CBG.  Many of us world-builders doing things in a big way.  But I recommend doing a little bit for yourself and a little bit for review, and if it grows, great.  Little chunks are doable.  

Most importantly, everyone wants you around.  Hell, I threw a crunch thread up, and no one even commented.  You've always had a gift for analysis and great questions.  We certainly need more of that!