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Post by Daos on Mar 1, 2021 13:53:26 GMT -8
Status update: December - 13.9 posts a day January - 17.4 posts a day February - 32.7 posts a day Site traffic has been on the rise, although population has remained pretty consistent. Past Glory really helped there.
I don't have any specific plans for the spring, except to continue encouraging other people to run their own games. I'm already juggling five and am not sure how many more I can add to that before I overextend myself. The only other game is Gravity's The Wrath of Darkeye, and it's current fate is in limbo. At this point, if something were to happen to me to prevent me from posting (lost internet, got really sick, etc.), the whole site would screech to a halt.
So if anyone is looking to start their own game, let me know.
One year later, and here are how things look: December - 21.8 posts a day January - 35.3 posts a day February - 26.5 posts a day So first of all, that's a vast improvement from a year ago (except for February which has slowed down) and from the fall. I think January might be a new record for this site. Part of this was the re-recruitment for Past Glory, and the starting of three new games that aren't run by me. I'm quite happy about that. With Lost Mine of Phandelver ending, I am now working on Tyranny of Dragons, and hopefully that will bring in more people and thus cause more activity, and maybe some of those new people will start new games, too. If Accursed Tower ever ends (it's now been ongoing for a year and a half!), the new module that replaces it might bring in some new people, too. Another year has passed, so let's see what we got: December - 34.9 posts a day January - 39.6 posts a day (A new record!) February - 31.7 posts a day So wow, that's great. February was almost as good as 2019, and continues to lag behind the other winter months for some reason. But we actually broke a record again with January (so close to 40!). I wish I had any understanding of what these patterns mean. All of my games are going well. The only new one in the works currently is that Roll20 one I talked about recently; I work on it a little bit whenever I have free time, but right now I'm still pretty busy playing catch-up with all my other games. So it might still be awhile. Right now, I'm mostly just fleshing out the setting. I have a good idea of what the plot will be already. And even some ideas for NPCs. Still not sure what to call it. Anyway, here's hoping things continue going smoothly in the spring.
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Post by Daos on Jun 2, 2021 13:37:26 GMT -8
Status update: March - 22.7 posts a day April - 18 posts a day May - 17 posts a day So it looks like traffic has been on the decline the past few months, especially since February, but it's still at a decent level. I think the drop off is due to all the people who have up and left recently, like Ezeze, Snacs, Saskia and Xantin Rahl. But still, managing 17 posts a day (on average) isn't bad, taking the recent losses into account. My main goal for the summer is to finish up the two modules (Accursed Tower and Lost Mines of Phandelver) and hopefully then replace them with new modules. I'm also hoping to re-stabilize the population and bring in some new people, but first there are some personal issues I need to deal with before I can worry about that.
I am back down to being the only one running games again. So once more, I put out the call that if anyone is interested in running a game, module or homebrew, let me know and I'll set you up. One year later, and here's where we are now: March - 29.4 posts a day April - 34.9 posts a day May - 33.6 posts a day That's a huge boost from last year. I contribute most of this to Tyranny of Dragons. It really added a ton of activity to the site, even with the COVID-19 problems, The Night is Dark and Full of Terrors and Heroes of Greyhawk going dark, and Past Glory losing almost all of its members. Plans for the summer? Well, assuming all of society hasn't collapsed by that point, I guess nothing much. Once the two parties in Past Glory reunite, I'll recruit for it again. Time for the spring update: March - 32.4 posts a day April - 37.6 posts a day May - 24.9 posts a day Interesting; there's improvement for March and April, but significant decline in May. Not sure I can explain that. Finals, maybe? There's usually a dip in May, but not by that degree. I'd do another recruitment drive, but my games are--for the most part--still pretty full. So I'm not sure. Maybe start a new one? Not sure I have the time/energy for a sixth one, though. Well, I'll have to think on that. Maybe wait and see if this trend continues, or if May is some kind of anomaly. Anyway, projects in the works: Really just the Roll20 game I am still (very slowly) working on. Still no idea when that will be ready to go. But I've made some decent progress on it recently.
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Post by Daos on Sept 6, 2021 12:23:03 GMT -8
Status update: June - 28.3 posts a day July - 26.1 posts a day August - 23.5 posts a day
Traffic has been good for the summer, although it is starting to decline slightly. We lost another member, Tieren, and have not replaced any of the people who left in the spring, either. So it's actually kind of impressive we've managed to generate that much traffic with so few people.
I had planned to finish my two modules (Accursed Tower and Lost Mines of Phandelver) in the summer, but obviously that didn't pan out. In fact, I can't even say for sure that either of them will be done before autumn ends, either. They are, in terms of progress, my slowest games. I'm not sure why that is, exactly, but my theory is that they are both heavily dungeon based. Dungeons seem to take a very long time to complete in pbps. Once they are done, though, I plan to recruit for their replacements. And I'm hoping I can find some people to bring in for Past Glory, as well. I'm so behind on everything, but summer is a busy time for me at work. Hopefully now I have time to catch on everything. One year later, let's see how they compare. June - 17.8 posts a day July - 23.6 posts a day August - 25.2 posts a day So a massive drop in June, a slight uptick in July and August, compared to last year. Honestly, though, those numbers are higher than I would have thought they'd be. We lost a whopping 5 people over the summer. Three of my games are down to 3 players or less. I'm going to have to so some more recruiting soon. I'd start up some new games, but my plate is so full with the five I'm running now, I just don't know where I'd fit in anymore. I dunno, maybe I can cram one more module into my lineup, we'll see. Alright, let's see how we did for the summer. June - 25.5 posts a day July - 39.9 posts a day August - 42.4 posts a day Uh, wow, we broke the highest record (35.6) twice. The new record is now 42.4! That's incredible. I hope things continue to do so well. There are ten games (nine active) at the moment, and I am running six of them. And although I probably shouldn't add to that, I do plan to run The Mystery of the Missing Patrol when it's released (probably October). Assuming I don't overexert myself, we should have some pretty good numbers for autumn, too. Heck, we even got a spambot today. It's been a long time since that's happened; I don't think we usually get enough traffic for them to bother with us, so I think that's probably a good sign, albeit an annoying one.
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Post by GravityEmblem on Sept 6, 2021 12:59:20 GMT -8
Oh, yeah, I noticed that guy! I'm glad the site is thriving!
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Post by Daos on Sept 6, 2021 14:34:08 GMT -8
Yes, and thanks for reporting him. Nobody has ever reported anything before on this forum, so I got to learn a new forum mechanic that I had never seen before today. It's actually pretty handy. It turns out I can automatically lock a thread or ban a user straight from the report page in the admin functions, instead of doing it manually.
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Post by Igordragonian on Sept 10, 2021 6:38:34 GMT -8
so a historical moment?
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Post by GreyWolfVT on Sept 10, 2021 12:49:55 GMT -8
well I would say that is useful information and pretty nifty that the issue was handled.
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Post by Daos on Sept 10, 2021 13:12:59 GMT -8
Yeah, I'd say so. Twice, even.
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Post by Daos on Dec 6, 2021 12:59:39 GMT -8
Status update:
September - 26.8 posts a day October - 17.2 posts a day November - 16.7 posts a day We sort of did amazing there in September, but activity has been dropping off since then and it looks like December's activity is even lower (we're only a little over half-way through the month, but so far we're averaging around 11 posts a day). Some of this is due to the holidays keeping everyone busy. Which means, hopefully, activity will start to swing back in the other direction come January. My hope is to start re-recruiting soon for all of my games to bring in more people (I'm thinking I'd like to bring in at least 2-3 people in each of my games, depending on the situation). And Past Glory will, when it's ready, hopefully bring in even more. I'm optimistic about 2019. I think it will be a good year for this site.
Let's see what things look like a year later. Fall Status Update for 2019: September - 17.8 posts a day October - 21.1 posts a day November - 26.3 posts a day Huh, interesting. Whereas last year, we didn't do well on September, but improved in October and did fairly well in November, this year is sort of the opposite. Did poorly in September, improved in October again and then did fairly well in November. That said, that's just comparing it to last year. Comparing it to the summer, activity all around is down, but not by much. We didn't lose anyone else (well, maybe Dram? It's not clear). Back in the summer, I predicted that neither Lost Mines of Phandelver or The Accursed Tower would be finished by the end of fall, and I was right. I think--I hope--I can get them both done by the end of winter, though. LMoP will be replaced by the Tyranny of Dragons game I'm working on (already got the first chapter ready), and hopefully that can be used to bring in some new users. I will be recruiting again for Past Glory soon to replace Ezeze and Snacs, as well. And maybe some of these new people will want to join Greywolf's Village of Hommlet game, as well, once it starts. Or even start their own game, which would be great. We need more games not run by me. Autumn has ended, so it's time to see how things look once again: September - 30 posts a day October - 35.6 posts a day November - 35.2 posts a day Wow, those are some new records there! In fact, I think 35.6 is the highest I've ever seen before (35.3 was the record high from last January, previously). All of my games are doing pretty well at the moment. If I wasn't so overwhelmed at work, I'd probably even consider starting up a new game to build on this momentum. Maybe after the holidays are over. Another Autumn, another recap on forum activity. September - 48 posts a day October - 36.9 posts a day November - 32.8 posts a day Wow, okay! After only breaking a record in August (42.4), we've now done so again in September. The new record is 48. That said, things have declined a bit since then. But overall, activity is--generally speaking--up from previous years. I don't expect it to get much higher than that, though, at least not any time soon. I'm running six of the nine current games, and although I still want to run The Mystery of the Missing Patrol when it's released (whenever that might be), I'm not sure how many more games I can juggle at once. I might have to start cutting back soon, as I have way too much on my plate at the moment. But that might not be for awhile, either. I can probably wrap up Cleric's Challenge I in another...four or so months (based on its current progression). But the rest of my games are pretty far from a natural ending point, so unless there are any TPKs along the way, it's going to be a long time before any others end. In any case, I don't expect things to change too much by winter's end.
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Post by Daos on Mar 8, 2022 15:01:38 GMT -8
One year later, and here are how things look: December - 21.8 posts a day January - 35.3 posts a day February - 26.5 posts a day So first of all, that's a vast improvement from a year ago (except for February which has slowed down) and from the fall. I think January might be a new record for this site. Part of this was the re-recruitment for Past Glory, and the starting of three new games that aren't run by me. I'm quite happy about that. With Lost Mine of Phandelver ending, I am now working on Tyranny of Dragons, and hopefully that will bring in more people and thus cause more activity, and maybe some of those new people will start new games, too. If Accursed Tower ever ends (it's now been ongoing for a year and a half!), the new module that replaces it might bring in some new people, too. Another year has passed, so let's see what we got: December - 34.9 posts a day January - 39.6 posts a day (A new record!) February - 31.7 posts a day So wow, that's great. February was almost as good as 2019, and continues to lag behind the other winter months for some reason. But we actually broke a record again with January (so close to 40!). I wish I had any understanding of what these patterns mean. All of my games are going well. The only new one in the works currently is that Roll20 one I talked about recently; I work on it a little bit whenever I have free time, but right now I'm still pretty busy playing catch-up with all my other games. So it might still be awhile. Right now, I'm mostly just fleshing out the setting. I have a good idea of what the plot will be already. And even some ideas for NPCs. Still not sure what to call it. Anyway, here's hoping things continue going smoothly in the spring. Let's compare this winter to previous ones: December - 33.4 posts a day January - 44.6 posts a day February - 41.9 posts a day So mostly an improvement from last year. Definitely an improvement from the year before that. There are three active games not being run by me, and the 8 games I am running (with one exception) are running fairly smoothly right now, for the most part. So everything seems good, activity has never been higher, and yet... And yet, I am suffering from pretty bad burnout. I have been for months. The holidays were especially rough, and I've managed to get things under control again for the most part, but nevertheless, I need to scale back. I realize that fewer games means fewer posts, and thus less activity, but increasing activity means nothing if I drop from exhaustion. So I'm going to be closing down a couple of games eventually. (I want to emphasize that last word, lest anyone worry I'm going to shutter a random game suddenly and without warning.) First, Cleric's Challenge. It's been a month since the last post there, and it's only one player anyway, so I might as well give it the axe. For the rest, most of my games have a definite 'ending' that we are nowhere near close to reaching. Most are also modules, so are a little bit easier to manage (i.e., less work is involved). There are, however, two games that don't fit into either of those above criteria--Lost Souls Octhania and Past Glory. Neither are modules and both are sandboxes. Meaning they have no specific plot, and therefore no specific ending. They just keep going until I decide they stop, or the party TPKs, or everyone just quits. So my goal is to start steering both of those games toward a satisfying ending. This means making them more linear, but I don't think anyone really cares about that, to be honest. Anyway, I think I can steer Octhania toward a definite, satisfying end before the end of the year (probably). Past Glory will take a bit longer than that; maybe I can wrap it up sometime in 2023. Although originally I had planned to immediately replace both games with new ones once they ended, I will be holding off on that until some of my other games end naturally (for instance, I was going to run a Taladas game after Past Glory ended). I'm still going to replace them, just not immediately. I need to be more conscious of how many games I am juggling. Even if it hurts the site's traffic, I can't keep overextending myself. My stress levels were off the charts during the holidays, and although they've leveled off some now, I don't want to risk it happening again. I've also been working on a new 5E setting, and when it's done, I probably will want to run a game there. So clearing up some of my older games to make room for that is a good idea anyway. (Which I guess means, at some point in the next few years, I'm finally going to cross that threshold where I am running more 5E games than 2E games.) Anyway, it's difficult to judge how long it will take to finish those games. My current prediction models have Octhania ending somewhere around November or December, and Past Glory maybe some time mid-year of 2023 (around summer, perhaps). I'll recalculate at spring's end when I update here again.
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Post by Daos on Jun 11, 2022 13:07:37 GMT -8
One year later, and here's where we are now: March - 29.4 posts a day April - 34.9 posts a day May - 33.6 posts a day That's a huge boost from last year. I contribute most of this to Tyranny of Dragons. It really added a ton of activity to the site, even with the COVID-19 problems, The Night is Dark and Full of Terrors and Heroes of Greyhawk going dark, and Past Glory losing almost all of its members. Plans for the summer? Well, assuming all of society hasn't collapsed by that point, I guess nothing much. Once the two parties in Past Glory reunite, I'll recruit for it again. Time for the spring update: March - 32.4 posts a day April - 37.6 posts a day May - 24.9 posts a day Interesting; there's improvement for March and April, but significant decline in May. Not sure I can explain that. Finals, maybe? There's usually a dip in May, but not by that degree. I'd do another recruitment drive, but my games are--for the most part--still pretty full. So I'm not sure. Maybe start a new one? Not sure I have the time/energy for a sixth one, though. Well, I'll have to think on that. Maybe wait and see if this trend continues, or if May is some kind of anomaly. Anyway, projects in the works: Really just the Roll20 game I am still (very slowly) working on. Still no idea when that will be ready to go. But I've made some decent progress on it recently. Oh, right, spring is over. I almost forgot, time for an update. March - 38 posts a day April - 33.8 posts a day May - 40 posts a day Significant increase in March and in May, but a decrease in April. I've no idea why. Maybe these are just ordinary fluctuations, with no real reason, and I'm just looking for patterns where there are none. Anyway, nothing to really update. Still hoping to end Octhanus by the end of the year, and Past Glory sometime the following year. The only other thing is that, at least for a little while, I'll probably only be updating one combat post a day (for when I have multiple games go into combat at the same time; for instance, I had five games go into combat at the same time coincidentally). Combat posts take a lot of time to write up (sometimes over an hour), especially the first round, and it can get stressful and time-consuming, so from now on, at least until I get a better handle on things, when I have multiple games in combat, I'll only update whichever one has been waiting on my the longest time each day.
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Post by Daos on Sept 1, 2022 12:45:03 GMT -8
One year later, let's see how they compare. June - 17.8 posts a day July - 23.6 posts a day August - 25.2 posts a day So a massive drop in June, a slight uptick in July and August, compared to last year. Honestly, though, those numbers are higher than I would have thought they'd be. We lost a whopping 5 people over the summer. Three of my games are down to 3 players or less. I'm going to have to so some more recruiting soon. I'd start up some new games, but my plate is so full with the five I'm running now, I just don't know where I'd fit in anymore. I dunno, maybe I can cram one more module into my lineup, we'll see. Alright, let's see how we did for the summer. June - 25.5 posts a day July - 39.9 posts a day August - 42.4 posts a day Uh, wow, we broke the highest record (35.6) twice. The new record is now 42.4! That's incredible. I hope things continue to do so well. There are ten games (nine active) at the moment, and I am running six of them. And although I probably shouldn't add to that, I do plan to run The Mystery of the Missing Patrol when it's released (probably October). Assuming I don't overexert myself, we should have some pretty good numbers for autumn, too. Heck, we even got a spambot today. It's been a long time since that's happened; I don't think we usually get enough traffic for them to bother with us, so I think that's probably a good sign, albeit an annoying one. Another summer come and gone. June - 33.3 posts a day July - 36.1 posts a day August - 35.6 posts a day An increase in June, but a decline in July and August since last year. No new records broken. I have some plans, though, that might significantly increase the activity of the site, though. About a month ago, I had this revelation about the nature of pbp and long-term campaigns, which you can read here if you never saw it. The long and short of it is, when I started running pbp games six years ago, I didn't really take into account just how loooong they take. Most of my games are long term campaigns, and as a result, they may take 10 years or more to finish, which is not only exhausting but leads to stagnation, as well. By complete accident, I stumbled on the solution--Module Matinee, where after each adventure (usually around three chapters or so), the party votes as to whether they want to continue to the next one, or roll new characters and start something else instead. The benefits of this system are numerous: * If too many players ghost or drop, we can always recruit more, roll up a new party and keep going. * Games don't need to last years and years, unless the players actively vote for them to. * Easier to write in new characters and write out old ones. * Easier to recruit more people without constantly adding more new games to my plate. * Avoids stagnation and burnout, as things are constantly changing I've decided that I'm going to eventually transition all of my games to this method. Of course, 'eventually' is the keyword there, because again, pbps are slow, so ending the current slate will take awhile. I'm still hoping to end Octhania by the end of this year, Past Glory by the end of next year. I'm currently brainstorming ways to bring Gontoria to a satisfying end, as well. Tyranny of Dragons and Champions of Krynn, though, have a long, long way to go unless they end through other means (TPK, everyone ghosts/quits, etc.). I'm thinking of sticking to six active games, as that seems to be my absolute limit. Three 2E games, three 5E games. Each group with have one homebrew game, one published setting game, and one module game. For the 2E games, the homebrewed game will be Lost Souls. It will work the way MM does. We'll roll up new characters and vote on a location in the setting, then play there until we're ready to move on to another area. Instead of limiting the game to a single continent (Gontoria, Octhania, etc.), the entire map is open, so we might have a political intrigue game in Tardiff, then move on a swashbuckling adventure in the Octhanian isles, etc. This game will begin once Lost Souls Gontoria ends. Module Matinee will stay as it is, with the players shifting between various settings when they vote to do so, like Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, Dragonlance, etc. And when Past Glory ends, I'll run a 2E Dragonlance game to replace it using the same method, having players vote where on Krynn they want to play, including other continents like Taladas and Adlatum, or maybe even other planets in Krynnspace, if they want. For the 5E games, the homebrewed game will be my new setting. Which means I need to come up with a name for it, because it won't do to call it Lost Souls--that'll be confusing. I've been brainstorming ideas, but nothing yet. The module game will be using various 5E one-shot modules, which there aren't many officially (most 5E modules are full blown campaigns), but there is third party content I might be able to dig through to find more. Not sure what to call that one, either. What's the opposite of a matinee? Soiree? Module Soiree? Hmm, loses the alliteration, though. I'll have to think on that. And for the published setting game...hmm, that one's tricky, too. None of the 5E settings really excite me. Forgotten Realms and Exandria are kind of generic. I'm pretty disappointed in 5E's versions of Spelljammer and Dragonlance, and I'm not sure I'll care for their version of Planescape, either, when it comes out. I'll probably just run Dragonlance using fan rules until Skyraiders of Abarax comes out, then maybe switch to that. Unless I discover another 5E setting I really like. So basically: When Lost Souls Gontoria ends, it will be replaced by a Lost Souls game. Module Matinee will stay as it is. When Lost Souls Octhania ends, it will be replaced by my new untitled 5E setting. When Past Glory ends, it will be replaced by a 2E Dragonlance game. When Tyranny of Dragons ends, it will be replaced by a 5E equivalent of Module Matinee. When Champions of Krynn ends, it will be replaced by a 5E Dragonlance game, and maybe later by Skyraiders of Abarax. I'm pretty excited about implementing these changes, although again, none of this is happening any time soon. We're talking months, even years, not days or weeks. But I feel like once things have fully shifted over, it will be good for the site, and a lot easier on me. And of course, these are just my own games. Anyone else can run a game however they want. You want to start a full blown campaign from 1st to 20th level? Go for it. I just hope I'm still around and kicking long enough to see the end. Speaking of which, as always, anyone who wants to start up a new game, by all means, let me know.
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Post by Daos on Sept 17, 2022 12:46:17 GMT -8
So I recently sat down and crunched the numbers, and came up with some figures on how long I think it will take to finish all of my current games (except Module Matinee). Of course, these numbers are wildly optimistic. They assume that there are no slow downs, that everyone posts every day, and that each chapter only takes about three months to finish. So overall, they are wrong. But it's a framework to work with, so let's call it the minimum amount of time needed.
Gontoria - 1.5 years [March 2024] Octhania - 3 months [December 2022] Past Glory - 1.5 years [March 2024] Tyranny of Dragons - 2.5 years [March 2025] Champions of Krynn - Unknown (1.5 years?) [March 2024?]
Of course, it's always possible that a game will end early, due to a TPK or too many people drop or ghost. Also, since Champions of Krynn is not fully released yet (the third chapter should be coming out sometime this year, or so they say), I'm not sure how many parts it has and can't really guess how long it will take to finish. I think I remember someone at the Nexus mentioning something like there being 8 chapters, in which case it'll be another 1.5 years (they also implied they might do more, though).
I might be able to shave off some time from the Gontoria game, if I cut a few chapters out. But overall, it's entirely possible Gontoria will have its 7th anniversary before it finally ends.
So yeah, overall, it's going to be a long, long time before I manage to convert all of my games over to this new Matinee system. Octhania will be the closest, and I can replace that with my Overmorrow game. But for the rest, it looks like they won't finish until 2024-2025 or later at this rate.
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Post by GravityEmblem on Sept 17, 2022 17:29:13 GMT -8
As an aside, I'm thinking of switching my own Homebrew game to a Matinee format, when Ozymandias finishes in 1-3 years.
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Post by GreyWolfVT on Sept 18, 2022 8:56:35 GMT -8
My game will likely take at least 1-3 years in pbp to complete. Based on my prior experience with a group of 6-8 players just the first module alone took about 1.5 years.
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