Sagiro's Story Hour Returns (new thread started on 5/18/08)

[Everett]

We did see direct transcriptions once. Cannot remember what point in the campaign it was at, but it was when Morningstar was using thought-captures to open the door to a tower...

 

[sniffles]

Heh. If Sagiro directly transcribed the tapes, you would hear the chorus of "TAPE!" that we shout when the tape gets to the end. Or maybe you wouldn't, because we say it after the tape runs out.

The purpose of the recording is more as a portable memory than as a direct transcript. So back ground noise and people talking over eachother aren't that important. You can get the good lines, the cool things that happened, the order of events, the results and the descriptions, and the rest is writing.

Thanks for that info. I'm thinking of going to recordings. I take handwritten notes, so it often distracts me from the actual play, and I leave a lot of stuff out if I'm tired or distracted. It's nice to know how that works for someone who's been doing it so long.

 

[sniffles]

My curiosity is leading me to become a pest.

I'm sure I could probably find the answers to my questions by reading through the comments, but I think anyone would agree that's rather a daunting task.

What I'd like to know is: What level are the PCs now? How was Sagiro able to keep level advancement at a slow enough rate to spread this game out over 10 years of real time? I've been playing in one 3.5 campaign since 2003 and our party are now 14th level. We play twice a month. I thought we were advancing slowly, but our pace appears to be lightning speed by comparison to this campaign.

How do you keep it fresh for so long? How do you keep the players interested? What makes the players want to keep playing the same characters over such an extended period?

 

[Everett]

He refers to run # 265, about four of the giant EnWorld pages back, if you're reading on Enworld as opposed to StevenAC's Collected.

Regarding character level:[/B]

At the time of this last update, I think the highest level characters were 15th level, and the range was 13th to 15th. Right now, 17 runs and 14 months ahead of the story hour, the highest-level characters have recently hit 17th level, and thus have 9th level spells.

Speaking of which, Morningstar is likely to try one of them out next game. The bad news is: after the horrific events of last game, said spell is true resurrection.

-Sagiro

 

[KidCthulhu]

How was Sagiro able to keep level advancement at a slow enough rate to spread this game out over 10 years of real time? I've been playing in one 3.5 campaign since 2003 and our party are now 14th level. We play twice a month. I thought we were advancing slowly, but our pace appears to be lightning speed by comparison to this campaign.

Like PirateCat, Sagiro's group was started in 2e and converted to 3e. So some of our advancement speed has come from that conversion. A 5th level Fighter/Cleric in 2e was very different than a 3 fighter/2 cleric in 3e.

 

[sniffles]

Like PirateCat, Sagiro's group was started in 2e and converted to 3e. So some of our advancement speed has come from that conversion. A 5th level Fighter/Cleric in 2e was very different than a 3 fighter/2 cleric in 3e.

Ah, yes, I'd forgotten to take that into consideration. I've played 2e myself.

@Everett - I've only read up to #240 so far!!

 

[Everett]

Well you'll get there. It's a good read.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

How do you keep it fresh for so long? How do you keep the players interested? What makes the players want to keep playing the same characters over such an extended period?

I wish I could say that I knew firsthand about how Sagiro and his group do it, but from the comments I've read and the story hour itself, I get the impression that there are many factors involved in the success of this game over the long haul:

1. Sagiro is willing to spend a considerable amount of effort in weaving the story
2. The players are partners in this effort in that they do not purposely try to sabotage his plans (defeat them, yes, sabotage, no) and they offer up ideas from their characters for Sagiro to use (many players I know refuse to have an extensive character backstory because they don't want the DM to use it against them)
3. The players trust Sagiro to offer a good story that will respond to them and he trusts them to play along
4. There is little of the "DM vs. the players" attitude
5. Come on, if you were part of this, would you want to be the one to screw it up and end it?

Oh, and lets not forget that Sagiro isn't only a DM, he plays in Piratecat's game as well. I'm willing to bet that helps a bit with the DM burnout issues that often kill a game.

 

[sniffles]

Waaah!! Now I've read everything.

 

[Shmoo]

So I suddenly realized I hadn't been to this site since February 3rd and what do I find? I missed nothing here. And PirateCat's story thread is nowhere to be found.