Game Design 6 comments

Lately, I’ve been pissing people off.
No, I can’t point at anything specific for this statement, but I’m vaguely (disquietingly) aware that I’m rubbing folks the wrong way. It’s not intentional — I make a comment here and there that are simply a truth (or a truthful retelling) and I end up with someone less happy with me than they were previously. Maybe I’m just not guarding my words as well as I have in the past — that’s certainly possible.
Why mention it here? Mostly because it’s got to do with gaming. I ended a game recently due to similar problems, and I’m due to wrap up two others within about 7 sessions each (though those two are largely going away simply because they’ve gone on long enough).
It might be that I’m stretched thin creatively (and if so, spread twice as thin on patience), but I don’t know if that’s true. In my experience, going back to the well for more inspiration doesn’t dry it up, it digs it deeper.
Maybe I’m just ready for new things. The DnD game is about two years old this month (and I was talking about ending it over a year and a half ago in March of 2002), the OA game apparently started around February of 2002, Cryhavoc’s about a year and a half…
I think I’m just ready for other things. The stuff I’m really enjoying right now are the new things. That’s not a coincidence: anyone is going to be more energized about new projects than about stuff they’ve been involved in since Millenium Bug was a serious threat.
What’s that got to do with my mood? Well, that frustration is starting to build up to the point where it’s overflowing into other things. The fact that it’s having that kind of effect is enough to annoy me even more.

6 comments

  1. We hit two years in House of Cards this summer and we’re doing a second game. While I’m not more enthusiastic about the second game, I notice there are some raw spots having to do with House of Cards that weren’t there two years ago. I know I’ve talked about throwing in the towel a few times this summer, and I know I’ve rubbed some people the wrong way over it too.
    On the other hand, there are things I love about the richness and depth of House of Cards that I know the new game, which is a lot lighter and has a built-in end, will never have. The proverbial 20-year games are like that, and that’s how I feel about House of Cards.

  2. Yeah, that’s a tough one. Longevity can let things rub raw, fester, drift … and yet it can also add richness, color, background, reality, and enjoyment.
    It may be — speaking from my own experiences in non-gaming venues — that what sometimes happens is that a long game lets other issues fester, with the feeling that, well, if I just don’t address them, maybe that behavior will go away and all will be well … which then turns into well, if I start a different game, shake things up, then all will be well. Neither of which work, if the problem isn’t the game itself, but players, chemistry, etc.
    There’s also the vision thing, the story you want to tell, and the degree to which you’re pursuing the story vs. providing another in an endless series of episodes. You’re a very story-related kind of guy, and if you feel like you’re just marking time, that could lead to irritation. Irritation leads to impatience. Impatience leads to resentment. Resentment leads to [cue Yoda].
    I dunno. I’m just rambling here. I’ll mention in passing that you’ve thrown out over the last several months a dozen different campaign ideas (here and elsewhere) that sounded like a blast. Not to make you feel like it’s your obligation to be the source of entertainment for all your gaming friends (this past weekend notwithstanding), maybe you need to consider that more, or even whether some longish-termy things (games or other irritations) need to be shaken up or dropped.

  3. There is some of that “letting other issues fester”. I love all my friends. Love. Truly. But sure, people do things that I enjoy less than other things they do that I love — has to be that way.
    Truly, I am aware that I do similar annoying things. (Aware that I do them, yes. Powerless to name them, also yes. 🙂
    And yeah, some fun ideas have been tossed around for game ideas. Need to think in terms of smaller arcs (or in terms of arcs at all).
    And yeah. I have things I need to drop. Would drop now, in some cases, except that there are (again) a few stories that I want to finish. There’s nothing worse for me than leaving a story 8/10ths done.
    (One of the reasons I hated ending Prince of Alderaan the way I did.)

  4. I started two new games recently. A one-on-one PBeM that lets me weave in a whole bunch of science-fiction references, and another one-on-one Buffy/Blake fanfiction game that is without any redeeming value whatsoever. The best thing about it is that it’s giving me more incentive to work on my current long-term PBeM, even down to making set days for moves and the like. On the other hand, I know part of it is in response to my FtF game looking at “the end.” (Although it looks like it’s more an “end of the season” rather than an actual “end of game.”) Schedules tend to scare me off…as does any kind of monotony. (One of the reasons _none_ of these games (besides the long-term PBeM are Amber… whew!)
    Does the “game cycle” affect my mood? Abso-freakin’-tively. New game energy is great.

  5. One of the things we’re looking at doing in House of Cards is taking a GM vacation. Maybe that would help? I know that I feel a lot better about things when I’ve gone a week without anyone rubbing a raw spot.
    NaNoWriMo is coming up, and that would seem to be a good time for endings and beginnings.

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