Topic: OOC: Feedback
I thought it'd be a good idea to start a thread were we can give each other feedback so that it doesn't vanish somewhere into the logs. Since even though the campaign generally feels good to me, there are many things that are less than optimal. So feel free to give comments on both me and each other, to enhance the experience this campaign gives in the future
I'll start by discussing the general way we seem to be playing:
First I have to mention how great it is that most of you are usually in time for the sessions. That's simply remarkable.
You all seem to write pretty well. I enjoy reading your descriptions and your dialogue. Your characters are well fleshed out and feel like real people. You come up with novel and unexpected solutions to problems.
There are some problems, though:
1) Slowness. We're having trouble controlling the level of detail in our conversations and descriptions. We play out every discussion line by line, and consider every little detail in our plans. We need to learn some new techniques here, use more compact language perhaps. For instance, we could try using indirect quotes any time we can. (Such as "Mike asks what to do if we spot a Lurker in one of the sensors" instead of detailing the conversation line by line, starting from the "Good Afternoons" - I know you didn't do that last Friday, but just an example.)
Generally, we should go into details mainly if you feel the extra detail will bring something interesting to the situation. And when the topic feels done, don't hesitate to bring the level of detail down again.
2) Limit of GM attention. This is obviously related to the above. The nature of this campaign is that people do stuff in groups of one to three a lot of the time. Often the amount of active plot threads at a time is even four. Now I can handle two threads at once fairly well, three with difficulty, but beyond that I have to prioritize.
Thus, it would be nice if you could find ways to create interesting and meaningful roleplay without GM attention when I'm working on another plotline. I know most of you are able to do that since that's the only way you can do any roleplay in the average MMORPG. So don't hesitate to take a bit of storypower here and there to accommodate this. It's perfectly okay to say, for example, that Mizuki runs into Ishi in Canyon without consulting GM and Ishi. If one of them has an objection, it's up to them to state it. Also, even the most introverted of people will end up running into others and talking to them every now and then (after all, even I do that).
Here I'd like to mention that I really enjoyed that conversation between Mike and Mizuki at the Window a little after joining The Horizon. More of that! If you feel you don't have interesting topics to build upon, tell me and we'll work something out (even during sessions - if a little extra time spent kicks off an interesting thing between you, it's a good trade).
3) My lack of preparation. Once a week is pretty often for a campaign to happen, so sometimes I simply haven't had those couple of hours I need to organize my thoughts in preparation for a session. That will also lead to slowness and uninteresting stuff happening. I wouldn't cut down on the sessions, though - it's slow enough as it is, and thus it doesn't usually require preparing so much new stuff.
Okay, lots of suggestions, but don't stress about them. And please comment on these issues and raise your own.