Nightcloak said:
* Impatiently taps foot waiting to hear how Wolf's new game is going *
D'oh! You were adressing me. I am flattered. I just missed this thread the last few times I was here. My computer was sorely out of date and slower than... well, anything. I had a 400mhz Celeron since 1999. Yesterday, I got my new 3.06ghz Pentium IV up and running. I can actually read the new posts at enworld in about half the time, believe it or not.
Okay, how is my game going? Here goes...
When my group imploded and I quit playing earlier this year (early spring I think), I put my campaign on hiatus and demanded players who wanted to play what I wanted to DM. I also insisted that my game not feel like an extension of my job (I am a high school teacher). No offense intended to any of you teens out there, but I was looking fro people closer to my age.
Out of the original 6 players (other than myself) I had at my table before things went south, 4 of them were teens, 3 of which I had taught previously. When I resumed gaming after about 2 months off, we picked up the same campaign where it left off. I started by reinviting a player that had been de-invited back in January due to some conflict. During my hiatus, I realized that we had, in our 4 or 5 year history de-invited 2 players and that both of them were due to conflicts with the player with whom I was now having the most trouble (prior to the hiatus). He was a munchkin rules-lawyer who wanted the game he wanted. Nothing else was acceptable. Unfortunately, everyone else at the table, even those 2 players he caused to be asked to leave (one of whom had come back long ago), loved him. When I reformed the group, I asked only gamers over 21 to return. Of course, this left me with only 3 players, one of whom is severely part-time (police officer/national guard) and another is 2/3 time (firefighter). I tried desparately to recruit other players, to no avail. Two of those 3 players advocated the return of the one who caused my hiatus in the first place and he begged to come back.
In my player search, I found another gamer online and added him to my game. He brought a friend from his other game 2 weeks later. Soon after they joined, the player who caused the hiatus decided to leave for the same reasons I stopped the game in the first place (humor level way out of control - funny thing is that he was way more out of control than the new guys were). Once he left, the game fixed itself. One of my players is of a deep immersion role-playing persuasion, while the rest are into the strategy aspect (both work for me) with lighter role-play. That player feels a little uncomfortable, but he has started a game of Vampire with the player who caused the hiatus and he gets his deep angsty role-play in that game.
So, the PC's are 7th-8th level now (they were 4th when we stopped). They have defeated a temple of Orcus and freed several hostages from the cult, as well as another from a band of Bugbear bandits. Things are going better than ever, though there have been a few rules disputes, everyone is pretty agreeable. I think this game has staying power, which is why I insisted on continuing the same campaign. I put a lot of work in I didn't want to see wasted. The party is about to go after another set of kidnappers, this time to rescue the daughter of a local merchant. I can't say more in case some of them are reading (not sure if they have found this place or not... if they have, they have been quiet) or not.
I have found throughout the years that one of the signs of a healthy game is a waiting list of people to join. I know that this is not always true, but when my game is at its best, I usually have players clamoring to join. I have 2 new players joining tomorrow, bringing me up to 7 players again. I will not go more than 8, as it is too difficult to manage.
So, Nightcloak, thanks for asking. Everything is great! I will post a compilation of my weekly campaign summaries is anyone is interested.
DM
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) try out their new characte abilities personaly and as a team. It was exspecially important since there is a lot of new classes and abilities in this campaign for the players to adjust to.(My new campaign relies heavily on Arcana Evolved plus other 3rd party material). Next week on the road - some 1/4 CR vermin 
