<div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote"><a href="https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=209165.msg10464695#msg10464695">Quote from: Ghostwheel on 07-09-2014, 10:20:00</a></div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">If we get to this stage, unless people start to make an actual concerted effort to revive the game, I'm almost at the point of saying it's gone. I'm starting to lose interest myself, since it's been a while and no one's posted apart from me an Anon...<br/></blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>...and I was the last character post before you and Anon.<br/><br/>I think, not casting blame but being frank, that we've lost some energy because there's been little socialization and a lack of action.<br/><br/>Play-by-Post games seem to last best when either there's a large enough group that IC socialization maintains things (the theory behind the 'everyone on the ship' forum) or when there's a constant dramatic pressure (either forcing IC socialization because the socialization is meeting major game goals (conspiracy) or moving from conflict to conflict -- bang to bang, skip the rest, as Ron Edwards has it:<br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">GET TO THE BANGS!<br/><br/>Bangs are those moments when the characters realize they have a problem right now and have to get moving to deal with it. It can be as simple as a hellacious demon crashing through the skylight and attacking the characters or as subtle as the voice of the long-dead murder victim answering when they call the number they found in the new murder victim's pockets.<br/><br/>... It is the GM's job to present and, for lack of a better word, drive Bangs, in the sense of driving a nail or driving something home. In narrative terms, Bangs tend to come as one of the following: [ list follows with details; to summarize: crisis to crisis, twist to twist, link to link, locale to locale - RE]<br/><br/>Ultimately, all of these elements provided by the GM are the same thing: a means for moving from decision to decision on the part of the players. Bangs are always about player-character responses.<br/><br/>This is why Bangs are not represented by many of the fight scenes or clues in traditional role-playing. Throwing mad hyenas at the player-characters is not a Bang if the only result of the fight is to wander into the next room. Nor is a clue a Bang at all if all it does is show where the next clue may be found. A real Bang gives the player options and requires his or her decision about how to handle it, which in turn reveals and develops the player-character as a hero.</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>The caravan idea doesn't seem to be doing it at this point.<br/><br/>It might be a good idea to do a roll-call and consider retrenching. The idea was a good idea, but the 'day 1 - nothing, day 2 - wagon wheels break' isn't going to maintain a high level of interest.<br/><br/>It might not be a bad idea to hit the reset button and go back to 'clear the ship of monster now!' rather than the 'wander the wilderness looking for elementals' mode if we only have one group.<br/><br/>Thoughts?