The Edge of Darkness : Conclusion

[Greentitch]

Since the valiant investigators have now banished the creature they were tasked with... well banishing, I wanted to round up a little bit. I could wait until the story grinds to a halt completely before posting this, but since progress is rather slow I'd like to discuss it a little now.

Although the investigation itself was a success, I think the playing of the game was so-so. As I said months ago when we started this, it was meant to take a few weeks and be a tester to see how a game like this would work. I don't think it has been a failure, but there are obviously things that meant it did not run particularly smoothly. I'd like to cover some of those points and consider if they can be overcome, because I really would like to try this again, but with some changes to make it more fun all round.

Obviously one of the problems was activity by the players, and more importantly, myself. Progress is slow when waiting for other players, but in the middle of the story I was absent at times which really puts a stop to the game. I'm not pointing fingers here however. I think there are a number of reasons why some people became disinterested, which I will try and cover below. I don't want to say that in future games people have to post once a day or whatever, but I think we need to address the problem in a way that makes people want to be involved and active. On my own side of things, being back at work and over the initial shock of having a child means I have more regular activity on the forums. There is a feedback loop at work here, where if other people aren't posting much, the rest of the party is slowed down and checks the topic less often, therefore slowing it further.

One of the big problems was the story itself I think. When I was choosing an adventure to try out I thought this one was a nice balance between investigating and action. However I didn't realise a few things about it until we actually played it through. There are no real plot twists in the story and the investigation is rather dull. Most of the leads you follow before reaching the farmhouse go nowhere and don't provide you with any information that you need to banish the beastie. This is partly my fault as I should have fleshed out the story myself somewhat where required and that is something I have learnt from this. However a good investigative story should involve red herrings and a variety of information sources. This one didn't really have that; you could have been successful by simply travelling to the farmhouse and finding the notes.

I think what we need is a little more action and adventure. The burning of the zombie was a great idea and the execution was possibly one of the better parts of our story. Unfortunately there isn't really a lot of scope for much else in the story. If I can convince a group of you not to give up entirely the next adventure will be more action packed and the plot far more interesting, with twists and turns all over the place.

I'd really like to hear what people thought of the game and if you have any comments to add.

[Beckie]

Wow that was a long game..

Sorry nothing productive to say. I didnt do any of the reading about how the rolls and the Sanity & HP actually effected the game and from what I read it didnt seem to have an impact, seemed a bit just like role playing. And I cant see myself being in a position at work to do contribute to any forums game in the next 6months.

[Greentitch]

I didnt do any of the reading about how the rolls and the Sanity & HP actually effected the game and from what I read it didnt seem to have an impact, seemed a bit just like role playing.

There's two reasons for this. First, the game is meant to put rolls and stats to one side, meaning the roleplaying is the most important thing. Secondly, the adventure involves very little risk and the players handled everything quite safely. There's not a lot of danger here and good planning means you don't get in too much trouble.

[Kryten]

I think it still looked quite fun. I was gutted that I had to drop out for exams etc and would be happy to join in another game over the summer. I only caught up on the story every couple of days but it definitely could have gone worse. I assume during all the fighting you were making rolls for everyones actions but just summarising the results rather than stating the raw rolls etc?

[Greentitch]

I assume during all the fighting you were making rolls for everyones actions but just summarising the results rather than stating the raw rolls etc?

Yes, I'd be interested to know how people felt about this. Would players prefer to see all the rolls of even have a mechanism to make them on their own? Or would you like me to remove all mention of numbers and simply have them in the background, explaining the results to keep the story free of numbers? I think in a lot of situations just knowing the results makes the game seem more fluid.

[Brechnar]

I had no real need to know the numbers behind what happened, although my character didn't get into a lot of action either. Most of the action was happening while Arthur was chanting. I'm not sure if I could've/should've contributed more during the chanting? Were the chanting characters actually meant to get involved in what was happening?

[Orube]

I personally liked how you described the roles in more of a roleplaying way rather than just go "Commando rolls something something - fail/success" constantly. It made for a lot more interesting read, so don't change anything imo. To be honest, I found the last part of the story by far the most interesting, partially because nothing actiony really happened before and partially because I needed to get into it a bit more, I think. That probably goes for a lot of people though, I don't think anyone's ever done this before and knew/knows exactly how everything works and whaty you're supposed to do.

The only thing I wondered throughout the game was how thoroughly you were supposed to investigate, and how much of it would actually be useful and how much of what we ended up doing preparation-wise had you just think "Why the hell do you bother!". Y'know, things like going all the way to the asylum to check on this insane dude who passed away 40 years ago. Seems rather superfluous in hindsight

[ash]

It was kinda okay, but I'm not really a role play sort of person. I prefer just to get in there with the action and kick ass. Quite glad that my ideas helped us to survive (although I took a beating, I hoped my agility would have helped )

Not sure if I'd do it again, as I think was evident in my lack of posting (my posts were mostly actions and suggestions, not full blown paragraphs of RP)

[Commando]

I really enjoyed playing the game, so first of all thanks very much for running it. I did get a little frustrated with the pace at some points though, and several times it seemed like I had to tell other people what to do just to get the story to move along. I ended up using my character's profession as a manager to justify "managing" the group and ordering people around, which wasn't quite what I intended him to be at the start but I suppose it worked reasonably well. I think some of the players struggled with the idea that it's up to them to decide what to do and when to do it, and that they don't need to wait to be told that it's their "turn" before they're allowed to post.

I agree that the simplicity of the storyline did also slow things down a bit. I was expecting it to be more complicated than it was, though I think giving us a simple storyline to begin with was definitely the best choice while learning.

As far as the rolls go, I agree with Orube that the way you were handling it towards the end was great. I don't need or want to see numbers, though I like seeing the fact that some sort of skill check has been made as it makes my character seem more like an individual with particular skills and attributes than just some generic blob.

I'd definitely be up for joining in another game. I'd also hope that enough other people are interested to make another game possible.

[Greentitch]

I agree with what has been said. The first half of the game was rather dull and the investigations didn't really feel all that useful. The fact that half the investigators were stuck chanting when the action was happening kind of sucked too. As I said before, it's hard to know how a game will play out with no experience of doing it. I also think trying to keep the party together is a good idea so everyone can join in on the various scenes.
I think the general consensus seems to be that numbers should be kept behind the scenes which is fine by me. Saying what happens is much more fun that just saying what the results of a roll are. There will always be rolls going on in the background but there's no real need for the players to see them.
I think the next game should involve some more action and excitement. I'm hoping to get some more combat, mad escapes, stakeouts and stealthy break-ins. Or at least attempts of those things, failing can be just as fun. Less time in libraries but more plot and intrigue. However this also means that there will be more danger and more risk of death or insanity. The campaign I've been looking at involves a little globe trotting too which will add some new elements to the game.
I'd like to try and get a party of six people again (more wouldn't be too bad). So if you know anyone who'd like to play then feel free to ask. Also you can make a new character if you feel you'd prefer that. Keeping your existing characters is fine too

[Greentitch]

Ok, I'm going to use this thread to try and get some signups for the next game.

So far the following people are up for playing to begin with:
Commando
Orube
Seppy
Abi

It'd be good to get one or two more people. I know some other people were interested when we started the first game but didn't get around to creating a character. It would be handy to get some muscle in the party, but you are of course welcome to play whatever character you wish. You don't have to commit to playing for a long period of time, you can drop out if you wish and maybe return at a later date. The next game should be a little faster paced and definitely more exciting, so don't be shy. If you need help coming up with a character or just want to talk about the game then let me know

[Greentitch]

If you want to join in then please let me know! I'll be starting the new game next week hopefully and it's a lot easier for me at least to fit you in at the start. Don't be shy! I promise this game will be a lot more exciting than the last. If you don't enjoy it you can always drop out.