Taking a break from PBP

[Ancalagon]

Hello

I thought that perhaps I would have more time during the quarantine to play PBP. And I do have more time and yet....

My interest in PBP had been waning for a while. I grew disillusioned with the format, the pacing frustrated me, players disappearing... but I was still in. There was still a little bit of fun left, and I felt I owed it to the players and especially to our great GM, @Fritztheruke. More time would help right?

Wrong. Even though I have "more time", the stress of this situation has killed my creativity and energy. I'm struggling to maintain my one 3-hour session every 2 weeks game, and that's with great material and great players. I went from 2-5 blogs post a month to ... one per 2 months? I have a piece of writing I owe someone since last Easter. It's bad.

I know these are not great reasons. But. There were great players who just... disappeared one day. Are they ok? Did they die? We don't know. I thought I would at least spare you that

Lastly, I want to insist that this is not a judgement on our great GM. I've been in several other games and all of them flaked out. Genuinely bad GMs were rare (I think one was mediocre - all the others were creative, initially full of energy, entertaining... but the system ground the game down. Only Fitz was able to keep going for so long.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I'm just stubborn that way!

Seriously, though: I completely understand the pandemic making it difficult to find motivation for anything (my wife has spiralled into depression, and while I'm enough of an introvert to not be bothered much by the isolation part, I've actually spent much of it actually ill.)

When it comes to PBP games, the pandemic has only made worse an already existing problem - player attrition. A lot of groups come and go, and for the most part, my games held pretty steady for quite some time at the beginning - but even before the pandemic, we lost a few beloved players. A lot of PBP players come-and-go, but we lost a few that were actually unexpected. The regular losses are unfortunate, but these were somewhat heartbreaking.

All I have ever wanted out of my PBP players when it comes to commitment, is communication. Every single player is welcome to go if they need to, and will always be welcome back. Well, I haven't met anyone yet who I wouldn't welcome back.

I appreciate that you took the time to talk about it, and if you ever want to jump back in, feel free to let me know.

 

[KahlessNestor]

Sorry to see you go. I completely understand. I hope your muse returns, whether or not you come back. Good luck!