Calling all LEW Judges

[Knight Otu]

As far as I see, Tempest Fugit and Peregrinations of the Shard are unresolved to some extend. I'm not sure about Blind Watchers of the Sylvan Shard, where DM and players still post, if slowly.

 

[Phoenix8008]

As far as I see, Tempest Fugit and Peregrinations of the Shard are unresolved to some extend. I'm not sure about Blind Watchers of the Sylvan Shard, where DM and players still post, if slowly.

Rae (the DM for Blind Watchers) had posted a little bit back that due to RL slowing him down he was going to use what posting he could do to cut to the chase and wrap up the adventure as soon as possible. Don't know exactly how quick that would be at the rate we are going, but that was his posted intention.

 

[Boddynock]

Judges, there's an email coming your way.

 

[Bront]

Hey guys.

My time is in flux at the moment. I have some because I'm between jobs, but I still have a kid to deal with.

However, I'd hate to have LEW die, and I've tried to keep an eye on it whenever I checked in.

I'll try to see if I can't get a bit more active. Maybe see if I can even revive a character or two.

 

[Trouvere]

As far as I see, Tempest Fugit and Peregrinations of the Shard are unresolved to some extend. I'm not sure about Blind Watchers of the Sylvan Shard, where DM and players still post, if slowly.

There are also Nocturne of Sorrow and Lost Mithril.

 

[orsal]

LEW is going through a hard time. We may need to make some executive decisions. How many judges are still active here? Please post in if you're a judge or willing to judge.

I'm not as active as I once was, although I will continue to watch the adventures I'm signed up to judge. I haven't been doing much character judging lately, and that's part of the problem -- we don't have enough total time commitment from the character judging team to handle everything. And if we're about to close up most or all of the mega-adventure, there will be a lot more characters gaining a level shortly. (Time XP alone should amount to half a level.) I don't feel I need to resign that post, but everyone should be aware, in deciding how many judges we need, that I'm not pulling my weight.

And while I can continue to judge my current adventures, I'm not about to sign up for any more in the immediate future.

Current questions: Are we ready to fold the mega adventure?

On an adventure by adventure basis. Rystil Arden is DMing all but one of them, and he's been missing. If there is a DM who think (s)he can take over one, and is willing, and the players are interested in continuing, there's no reason we shouldn't let that happen. But I think most of the groups are failing in their quest (aborting an adventure is usually most easily done by declaring failure) -- which should leave space for another plot turn in the future, if someone wants to run with it.

More generally, as to why LEW is moribund: We set up a situation where most current activity revolved around one DM, and shortly after that started that DM, previously one of our most active participants, had a sudden life change. I don't think it necessarily indicates a larger problem with LEW, but we'll see how many players have given up altogether just because so much of the world wasn't moving for so long.

 

[covaithe]

I somehow managed to miss this thread until now. I've said elsewhere most of what I have to say on what I think LEW needs. In brief: DMs to run short, easy games that conclude successfully. The rest we're either doing ok with or can muddle along without.

I'm willing to judge, but I'm not able to take on any more DMing responsibilities right now or for the immediate future.

 

[Rae ArdGaoth]

This judge is guilty of being delinquent in posting lately. In my defense, I'm being extraordinarily productive in the real world.

I'll agree with orsal that the slowdown has been due to a small number of normally active people rather than a reduced amount of general interest. Since I am running 3 games and have 2 characters, I am guilty of being one of those people, I suppose.

I've reached a breathing point, and I'm reorganizing my time. LEW has always been my favorite pastime, and I hope for it to remain so. It's given me no small amount of grief that I've had less time for it than I used to. So while I can't promise 1 post per game per day, I can promise that I'll spend a few solid hours a week on LEW. Starting today.

Character Judging is a chore. It takes a lot of time and is a relatively thankless job. That being said, I think it's an important component of what makes LEW successful, and I'll continue to be a Character Judge in whatever capacity I'm able. For now, that means updating the Approved Character List regularly. I'll do that as soon as I update my adventures.

A million apologies for going AWOL! I can't say it enough, I know, so I'll stop saying I'm sorry and get back into gear.

 

[orsal]

Manz, it might be helpful if you could spell out what exactlyis expected of judges.

(1) Judges vote on new content and houserules. A judge isn't required to vote on every single proposal, but it is expected that you'd be looking carefully at them, because we can't approve anything unless at least three judges (more, if there's dissent) agree.

(2) Judges receive all the adventure proposals. You're not expected to read them all: If you have a character who you think might be a potential player, you shouldn't. Only two judges need to sign off on an adventure proposal to run it, and it's usually not hard to get two, so that's no big deal. However, those who do sign off should have considered consistency issues ("Does this adventure contradict anything established about LEW?"), and long-term implications ("Does this adventure establish anything that's going to be awkward down the road?") as well as fairness ("Are the challenges appropriate to the characters expected to play?"). So, a judge should be up to date on the LEW canon.

(3) One judge must watch an adventure. This judge will sign off on the XP and treasure awards, and award DM credits at the end. (S)he should also be able to catch anything inappropriate (inconsistent with LEW rules or known facts) that slips in (since the DM might not be as expert on LEW matters as a judge should be), and possibly answer questions. Those pretty much never happen, and the approval part is really a formality, so in practice the most important part of this task is that, if the DM goes missing, the judge has to step in, by continuing to run the adventure (ideally), recruiting someone else to take it over (possibly), or handwaving a wrapup and giving final XP awards (if nothing better can be done). So, you'd have to check the adventure thread regularly, to know your LEW, and to keep the original email with the adventure proposal.

(4) A subset of judges is responsible for approving characters at creation and at every new level. This is the most demanding, but only a few judges (currently four) do it.

Have I left anything out?

 

[Boddynock]

Have I left anything out?

Be trustworthy, loyal ...