Okay. Here is the short list of what I have been hearing:
The start of this mission as bad: no information was given before hand, and bad things kept pushing the team to rush their actions.
The Christmas Event was very unpopular
the GM has failed not clearly communicate in a number of areas:
1) describing the location and showing players where there character is at any given time
2) the results of rolls, especially when they make a character act in a way they wouldn't normally
3) the existence of hidden rolls, and their effect on everything
4) describing events that affect characters in a story promoting way, and so that the player can easily find events that affect themselves.
5) the aforementioned abyssmal failure to provide a mission briefing.
And finally, in responding to the complaints I asked for, it has been pointed out that I tended to shift blame to the players.
I am also hearing a general preference for moving forward from here, rather than doing a retcon, though there were some votes that way as well.
Some GM responses:
Long past due and probably will make you even more irritated with how I started this mission:
We are sending you on a dangerous journey this time. We expect you to be on mission for months, as you will be put into a place Omega has little knowledge of, in order to seek an artifact we have only rudimentary information about. You will need to build a base camp, travel, and interact with the natives in order to get the information you need. Expect supplies to be limited, as the site is not designed for habitation by the likes of us. Expect trouble as well.
the location is called Lathal. You are seeking the Heart of Lathal. Lathal, simply put, is dying. But its heart remains strong. Lathal is a metallic place - a world, or a building, or the remnants of a dead machine - and is long abandoned by it's original inhabitants. Most of whom you will meet are probably interlopers, scavengers, or worse. but they will have needs you can fill in exchange for that which you need.
Lathal is largely unknown to us. I won't go into details about how we got the information we do have, but know this - we don't quite know what you will encounter when we drop you in. We'll do our best to drop you someplace relatively safe - away from civilization and points of power which could interfere with teh sending. But, from the moment you cross over, you will be essentially on your own, so go prepared.
As for Lathal's heart: well, we don't know. Expect it to be big though, and relatively obvious. You won't stumble across it in a dark corner and mistake it for jewelry. You'll know when yu are getting close. it is likely to be a well known item, and will likely be located at the center of Lathal.
This is because promised several times to give this briefing and failed each time, including last week. I am very sorry.
Christmas Event: I am open to suggestions on mitigating the catastrophe, though most of you seem willing to leave it as is. PM me suggestions. I am thinking along the lines of side quests and Omega interference to counteract shenanigans, more than straight up GM fiat or retcon.
1) I will try to make it clear where each character is, but I cannot promise to give a detaild rundown every turn of where every character is. That's a lot of work, and may add to the confusion. I am open to suggestions.
2) I will try to make sure you guys know when your character is acting in ways they didn't want to act, and why(at least a hint, if the actual why is unknown).
3) Some of these will remain hidden. I can't roll a 1 on a roll that was intended to give you information yo didn't already have and then give you that information anyway. I'e' If I want to give a hint to some player who is struggling with something, I often roll for it. a successful roll gets a hint, a failed roll isn't shown. Otherwise, if it is reasonable for hte player to know a roll was made, I will try to announce that.
4) This one is a little hard for me to resolve. The easiest way is to write the turns all in one paragraph, describing each character's action in a lump. Then, everyone reads everything. If I respond instead, as we have been, to each player individually, I would have to write redundant information in each action. And I guarantee I would miss some. Ihave suggested before that everyone should read each others actions to get an overall picture of what is going on. So, besides writing a big lump altogether, I don't have any good ideas on how to do this except with liberal use of bold text and large fonts. I am open to suggestions.
5)If I don't provide a thorough briefing before any mission from here forward, feel free to refuse to act until the briefing happens. and until all questions that the briefing raises have been answered. Hold me accountable.
All gameplay problems that have caused unhappiness are my own mistakes, and not the fault of the players (with the possible exception of player v. player actions). This probably doesn't go far enough in taking responsibility, but it's the best I got for now. Brain hurts. Tired. Can't think of a proper apology.
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Topic: Omega Legion: Omega Base (Read 292771 times)