I hope you're healing well.
I wouldn't worry about the game, we're only on the first afternoon. We've been on a break, kind of, while Winter Rat deals with some computer issues.

@Whip: Mega ouchies! Hope you heal properly and I'm glad there doesn't appear to be any permanent brain damage. (Shit like brain cells does not grow back, at least not quickly and not totally.) {Until we get reliable microsurgery that is }

Obligatory monthly bump!

I'm still not willing to give up on this. But if Winter Rat has, I'd appreciate a note of some kind.

I don't want to speak for our esteemed GM, but I find myself in that position none the less. When last I spoke with him, WinterRat1 cited personal issues and an overall burnout on roleplaying as his primary reasons for not continuing the game as he wanted. I don't see him coming back in a timely manner, and by timely I mean within the next six months. I, myself, have become much busier lately and haven't been able to devote as much time to my online committments as I would like. Nevertheless, I do enjoy this storyline and its possibilities, and am loathe to see it die. That being said, how many of us are left and what do we feel would be the best way to proceed?

I feel the same way as Grendel, and would enjoy a continuation of this somehow.

Still here. I've been toying with stepping up as an assistant GM for some time -- now might be the proper time to offer my services. That said, I don't have the time to properly manage a small game on my own, much less DITG.

Still here and willing to continue if everyone else is.

Still here and ready to jump back in after all the crap. Just let me know.

Still here and more than willing to go along if someone else wanted to run with this.

Well, I'm still in like everyone else!

I could step up and GM this thing, with three caveats: 1) I have nowhere near as much PbP experience as many of yall; 2) I refuse to play a character in my own games (so either someone else can take Box or he goes back to prison); and 3) I need an assistant GM who is willing to take over if I have to move out of the country again.

If yall're cool with that, I'll probably have some stuff to do. Note that I have some time management strategies of my own, and that may include delegating partial GM responsiblities to some of the players for other people's encounters.

Thoughts?

Worth a try. The worst that can happen is that you suck and we all quit, putting everyone in the position that we're in right now
Seriously though, with most everyone in the middle of something, this would be the perfect time to take over, and if it doesn't work out, no harm done.

Grack and I are still very much around.

I am down to posting only about twice a week nowadays - silly job and family and church!

Happy happy happy to play - but no time no time no time to help with GMing - too busy with the other games I run.

I think rob is a GREAT candidate to take things over. pragma too - but I would feel better about it if he/they could get in touch with Winter to make everything kosher. I am guessing he has Winter's personal e-mail, but if not I or a number of others can try to get his permission to pass that info on.

If it does start up again, I still owe Winter about four gang profiles (for which he will owe me copious rewards) - if any new GM wants that stuff, we can talk about it once we get going.

I have no contact with winter to get the skinny on what's already been prepared. If somebody has comms with him and can pass on the info or make the link-up, that's cool.

Aside from that, lets give it till about monday and see what's up (specifically, regarding extra primary/alternate GMs)

Talked with [b]WR1[b] last night and gave him the rundown on what's been going on this thread as of late so he's aware of the situation. Most likely he said he'd get a post up to deal with what's being proposed as soon as possible. That way everyone has the official "word from on high" and we can all proceed appropriately without concerns if there is still that interest.

With that, I'm out for a bit again. I'll be keeping tabs on the thread to see where we go.

Hey Everyone –
First off, once again I would like to apologize for my prolonged absence. I am getting sick of saying that and I am certain you’re all sick of hearing it. I think you all deserve not only an apology but a brief word of explanation on my end as well.

My absence can be attributed to three factors:
1. Burnout and disillusionment with Shadowrun, specifically SR 4
2. Computer Problems
3. Job Loss and subsequent change of career

I have been GMing on DSF non-stop for the past four years, always in large-scale games that require a large amount of time and energy (LITS and DITG). It has come to the point where PBP gaming is no longer fun for me but is just work, work that I don’t get paid for. Furthermore, I have had problems with SR 4 since the beginning. While I have ignored them and forged onward, over time those problems added up to seriously detract from my overall gaming experience with the Shadowrun system and game world.

When you combine that with all the responsibility, time commitments, workload, headaches, stress, and annoyances that are a regular part of GMing, eventually it added up to the point where it’s just not fun anymore, and when that happens it’s time to walk away and take a break from the game.

Although I contemplated taking a break for a long time now, my decision was ultimately made for me when computer problems kept me offline for a couple months, and then the miserable state of the US economy finally caught up to me personally. Following a downsizing at my company (of which I was among those downsized), I decided it was time for a career change and I plan to go back to school to pursue a teaching degree. This change in my professional direction and subsequent demands on my time meant something had to go, and given that PBP gaming is no longer fun for me right now, it was the obvious choice.

I am glad you all want to keep playing; I think it is a testament to the strong foundation we all built together. By all means, the game is open to whoever wants to step up to GM. Who knows, perhaps one day I will be requesting to rejoin the game as a player.

In any event, time will tell if my schedule permits me to rejoin DITG as a player or GM. Of course, regaining the ‘spark’ to play SR 4 again will be a significant factor as well. I sincerely hope I do regain inspiration to play SR 4 again, as I have loved gaming with you all and DITG has been an absolute blast to be a part of these past few years.

Thanks again to everyone who played and contributed to the game, thanks for your patience despite the delays on my end, and best wishes to all of you as you keep the game moving forward.

If anyone has any questions, comments, or other thoughts they’d like to discuss with me, by all means feel free to drop me a line. Good luck with the further adventures of the October Ravens!

All the best,
WinterRat1

I'm still cool with stepping in for this. Need some opinions, and I need someone to step up as alternate GM.

Once we get something approaching enough-consensus-to-run-with, I'll try and get in touch with WR and get what he's got prepared.

v/r
Rob

I say rock on dude.
My only concern was legitimacy of succession, and that is out of the way.
My only complaint would be that we'd have no more of Bockscar's cool IC posts.

Sorry to say that Baby will not be rejoining the game. Life issues prevent me from having time to post.

-Slip

I fully support Rob as our new GM, although it will be sad to see Bockscar go. The gang needed him. And it's a pity to see Baby go as well.

It's a shame but at least the game itself goes on.

Rob are you going to reopen recruiting?

If anyone wants my vote, I'd say let's actually get this back on track, THEN see if we can bring more in.

@Voorhees
So, now that WinterRat1 has left, and Shade definitly moved to the rank of at least NPC... what do you think we should do? Since all three characters were so close, with their common goal of saving Halo and all...
I can still play Felix, but I guess I could make up another character...

@Bearclaw: Truth. Agreed.

@Mr J.: Keep the Crashers active please. They bring an element of cleanliness and hope to our otherwise bleak and nasty existence. Not that those of us hardcore bangers won't try and corrupt them. Heck it's up to Rob but I'd almost have Shade catch a round in the upcoming Ravens/Plague stare down leaving the remaining Crashers working that much harder to get Halo up and about.

Re: recruiting: we'll do that with IC. If the gang chooses to recruit new members and allocates resources to it, then we'll open a recruiting thread.

Re: leftover characters, i.e., Baby, Bockscar, and Shade - We'll figure that out. Decision doesn't need to be made now. I dislike railroading developed characters to GM-fiat deaths, but I dislike roleplaying PCs in games I GM.

Re: restarting game:
1. Still need an assistant GM. I insist on this one, because my RL commitments may prevent me from playing with relatively short notice, and someone needs to be in a position to step in.
2. Once that steps up, it'll take me a day or two to cross level with the already-produced stuff and reread through the last several posts and get some SA. Then I'll figure it out.

Will do!
Just keep in mind that if Shade catches a round, what little is left of the Crashers will go to fuckin town on the Plaguers They already have a beef with the Ghouls, but they are a little more faceless than the Plaguers. I can assure you that if something happens to Shade, Aziz will go on a fuckin rampage, and Felix will definitly slip even further down.... meaning he might actually stop being a pacifist... and we all know how much raw power that boy has

I know we already did a quick roll call, but we might want to actually "clean up" the gang roster.
I was just checking our Wiki, trying to get back into the mindset, and noticed we've got a lot of PCs.... some who've NEVER posted.

@Mr. J. : I suppose I can. I'll get around to it when I finsh my three day stretch of twelve hour shifts. ie Monday night. Vegas was also Mistress of the Wiki. It should also get a bit cleaned up when we get restarted.

@All: I know I can't help with GMing duties, other than my current WIP of the wiki NPCs I'm doing. Prepare for the PM's to start flying once I'm off again.

I'm still around, btw.

I'm still holding on making any decisions until someone steps up as alternate GM. Note that I'd include the PC option open for that one. But I have neither the prospective-life-continuity nor time to do this alone.

Well, I agree that we need to keep the Crashers in the gang. Shade taking a bullet in the fight seems I guess 'neater' than just having him ditch Aziz and Felix, but it would of course drive the two survivors deeper into depression and recklessness. Whatever happens to Shade is Rob's call, I suppose, but regardless we have to keep the 410 going.

Any traction on finding a co-GM for Rob?

I'm going to have to say, no.

Crud I really enjoyed this game.

Rob any word?

Nobody's talked to me about it, otherwise I'd've posted something.

Enthusiasm seems to have waned. If a co-GM steps up, I would leisurely resume the pace of posting until it becomes clear how many people are actually interested in continuation, and then step it up and reopen recruitment if there is sustainable interest.

Keep in mind the holidays were upon us. And yes, some enthusiasm may have waned a bit with no one having the time to step up to Co-GM at this point. I'm still game for keeping this going, even a little looser and free-formed while we wait for a true GM. I think a little RP picking up might spark interests again.

I suppose I could try to talk to WR a bit and get a better feel for where he might have been going with the storyline at least to push the gang through the current situations and let us regroup to a point to have Rob + whomever step up and take the story wherever they want to go with it.

Up to you guys, I'm commited to stepping up and getting this game going again if the interest is still there. I'm NOT really psyched about doing another recruitment round after the last one if it could be avoided in any way shape or form. Obviously you guys could see it's a LOT of work to get players from concept to character sheet both in the threads and on the wiki.

I'm still in.
If my employment situation was stable I'd ask to help GM, but my contract here will be done in a month and I'll be back to truck driving. Good job, but not a lot of sitting around in front of the computer time. Plenty of time to post once or twice a day, but not the kind of time I'd want to try to GM a big PBP.

Love to see the game revive, and like the above suggestion about just getting some RP rolling even without an active GM.

But as all my players know, I am barely keeping up with the two games here I am already running, so no joy from this direction on the co-GM thing. Sorry.

Hey Everyone –

I’ve been following this thread and its progress towards getting the game back up and running over the past few months.

If I may make the following observation in the most non-critical way, while it seems there is still a healthy amount of interest in keeping DITG going, there has not exactly been a rush of volunteers to GM, Rob’s offer notwithstanding.

Given the lack of progress towards getting DITG off the ground again (i.e. everyone is still exactly where they were when I left), I respectfully request permission to take up the mantle of GM of DITG once again.

Since nothing has happened since I left, there will be no disruption due to transition of GMs, and while Rob was gracious enough to volunteer his services, I get the impression that he will be perfectly happy to remain a player.

I started writing a long and detailed explanation for why I left, what has changed since then, and why I would like to return. Then I realized you all might not give a crap, that you might simply be happy to have your GM back so the game can go on. At least, I’m hoping that’s the case.

So I’ll do this instead. If anyone wants a more thorough explanation from me, I will provide one. I feel you are all entitled to answers on the above topics if you want them.

The summary version is that more than anything else, what I really needed was time away from the game to rest and recharge my creative juices. After 4+ years straight of GMing PBP games, and a hugely disproportionate amount of my free time spent gaming over the previous year, I was simply burned out and needed a break.

I didn’t want to leave DITG on a permanent basis. But since I didn’t know when or even if I was going to come back (largely due to a failure to accurately self-diagnose my problem), I felt the best thing for the game was to allow someone else to take over so the game could go on.

I now recognize that there is such a thing as too much gaming even for me, a general gaming fanatic. I believe I’ve gotten better at balancing my time to keep myself fresh, and I’ve learned how to step back and take a break to keep the game fun and engaging, and not be a burden.

That said, I have a fresh perspective and recharged batteries, so if you guys want me back on board, I’m ready to begin posting pretty much immediately.

One major point I would like to put out there up front, if I do resume GMing DITG the focus of the game will shift.

One of the things that gradually caused DITG to become less attractive to me was that it eventually became impossible to run the game as I had originally intended it to be played.

If DITG’s original ‘vision statement’ were to be condensed to a single sentence, it would probably be something like ‘The Rise and Fall of the October Ravens in the Kingsgate Barrens’.

That works great when you have 3-4 GMs and 20-30 players. Not so much when you have 1 GM and 4-8 PCs. It was designed to be a macro-perspective game; the emphasis was to be on strategic game play and focused on the gang as a singular entity, without paying too much attention to its component parts.

If I resume GMing, I would revise the ‘vision statement’ to be something like this: ‘The Life and Times of the Men and Women (and Sewer Monster) of the October Ravens’.

I plan to shift towards a more micro-perspective game, with an emphasis on personal relationships, individual character development, and tactical game play, focused on the people who comprise the gang’s roster.

Simply put, it’s not practical to make the driving force of the game the gang as a whole when right now there’s only about 4-8 reasonably consistent PCs. It’s too small of a roster to make the gang the central ‘character’ of the game and its interaction with the surrounding gangs the driving plotline.

However, it does become much more practical to emphasize the personal lives of the individual gangers, making them the central ‘characters’ of the game and making their personal stories and evolution the center of the story.

Don’t get me wrong, there’ll still be plenty of inter-gang politics, empire building, and good old fashioned turf wars. But instead of the gang as a whole being the vehicle through which we explore the story, your PCs and their personal stories will drive the action.

Given the much smaller number of PCs and GMs that we have now than when we originally started, I think we will all have a more immersive and enjoyable gaming experience if we focus the spotlight on each of your PCs individually. We then allow the sum total of their individual experiences to tell the story of the collective whole, if you will.

If I return, there will also be some minor updates in my GMing stance and policy I’ll inform you of as necessary (e.g. making it so the Matrix actually makes sense and can be used in our game!), but for now the two main questions are:

1. Are you all willing to accept me back as GM?

2. Who is still here and interested in playing?

I look forward to your replies, and hopefully getting the game back up and running soon.

All the best,
WinterRat1

Still around and still game to cruise the gutters. I'd be overjoyed to have you back at the helm.

Pragma said it all
More than glad to see you back in the hood mate

Totally great news.
Winter - you don't need permission to resume GMing your own game! As if any of us would be less than overjoyed to have you back!
Much prefer the new focus as well!

Eager for Grack to be back online.
Warn all that I am writing this from what feels like my deathbed, so I may not get back up to speed right away, but you know I am in.

I've read through the volumious number of pages on this game and have to say I like it. I do see that it is intended for the original players to come back to it. If you find yourselves in need of another to fill up any spaces I'd absolutely love to be considered.

Everyone -

OK, I admit it, I got a little impatient to hear back from everyone so I made a couple phone calls to get a few extra 'yes' votes, so according to a democratic process, I've got at least a majority of 'yes' votes for my return.

Oh yeah, and in the midst of my impatience I also just started posting. Plus, since we've had no IC activity since July/August I realize people may not be checking or up to date on this game, so I wanted to try and kickstart things into gear by getting as many people moving as possible. If you vote me out later...well those posts are still there.

I'm working through re-reading the entire thread to take notes and plan ahead for our new change in focus, as well as trying to get all PCs back into action since some of you are tagging along with someone else, waiting around for various reasons, suffering the results of your corrupt lifestyle choices, etc. My immediate project is bringing us to a point where we'll kick off the first organized and pre-planned story arc for the fledgling October Ravens!

If you guys know people who are still around DSF but haven't responded yet, feel free to let them know DITG is starting back up again and we'd love to have them back.

If anyone has any questions please let me know, otherwise I'll be working on getting posts up for everyone's characters and moving the game forward.

Yee-fuckin-haw! We gots ourselves a rodeo kids.

Wow, I think my inner-hick just came out in all my excitement. Glad to see my prodding and urging may have contributed to your return WR1, or at least let me live in my fantasy world for a little while longer Seriously though, glad to have you back and happy as hell to see this thread have life in it again!

Bring it on, you already know I'm psyched about the "change in focus" for the game and seeing where it all takes us as players and characters.

Game on!

I'm down to continue this bitch.

*cough*
You have no clue how surprised I was to suddenly see a automated notice from Dumpshock.
Im in a place mentally and physically (and finally financially) where normal internet access (aka when ever I need it) has happened again. So if Im still welcome, id love to pick things up again. Even if its just as a back ground bit part.
~

Lindt - You are of course welcome to continue playing, I was hoping you would come back. And no need to play as a 'background bit part'; play however you want to portray Child.

I'll add Child to the list of PCs I'll make an IC post for over the next couple days.

As all of you may have noticed, I'm working my way through trying to get at least one post up for every PC that is still active. So far I still have posts for Thumper, Nevada, and now Child on the queue. Otherwise I think I've moved forward every other PC/group of PCs thus far. Of course if I missed anyone, but all means please let me know!

At least one post is up for everyone who's checked in by now, if I missed you please let me know.

I'm working on responding to those who've responded now.

GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENT

In the interests of promoting realism, the Hand of God rule will not be used in DITG.

This avoids situations where someone gets shot and is able to use HOG while someone else gets decapitated and HOG stretches disbelief to the point it snaps.

Rather than leave each situation up to my discretion and open the door to the perception of favoritism, either for specific PCs/players or NPCs, or having people do ridiculous things like decapitating all their foes to ensure no use of HOG, I'm simply doing away with the rule entirely.

Personally I don't like the 'video game' effect it promotes and I definitely like giving everyone (myself included) plenty of incentive to play it smart and think long and hard about how they handle themselves. I also like the 'fear effect' it creates since now pretty much anyone is a threat, cause all it takes is one lucky shot.

Besides, it's tough out there on the streets; life is cheap and your number could come up at any moment. Better get your backup PCs ready just in case chummers.

Well, that or just don't get yourselves killed.