Kyuden Shika

So here we are.

I'm not a PbP veteran by any mean, but from the few I've partaken in, I've noticed a pattern emerging. If the game has a scoring system, in roughly its last quarter, the ambiance will change from "it's all fun and games" to "aaaaaaaaah, my whole life is going down the drain if I don't get an explosion on my next roll".

This degradation is of course amplified by the accumulated fatigue (even assuming a normal sleep schedule, a PbP is still yet another thing your brain has to reserve focus for), and will in turn make the game more stressful, less relaxing and thus more tiring.

This is not specific to this game at all. However, since this one is a marathon (one month and a half instead of the usual month), there are still three whole weeks of it to go through.

We're not at the point of no return yet... But taking the subject on after it's past would be quite pointless, wouldn't it?

So. How do we keep things cool?

A big one is don't feel like you have to do everything or use every timeslot. That's just begging for burn out. Yes it sucks that I don't get to meet as many people or have as many fun interactions but I start or enter only as many threads as I know I can handle for the next few days at a time. Sometimes that's a lot sometimes it's one.

Always, always pace yourself.

The scoring metric is actually less significant, in my experience, than simple investment in piloting your character to whatever awaits them. "Winning" is broadly in the hands of Sakkakku, after all, since we're all so new to the system that only optimal builds are likely to be complete accidents.

I made a decision pretty early (once I found out it wasn't mandatory) to not have Raizo bother with agendas. Does it mean the Unicorn are getting aid against the Phoenix (whatever that ends up meaning) while the Phoenix appear to be doing absolutely squat as a Clan? Yeah, but it's not gonna cost me any sleep.

Also... build in contingencies in case someone you're joined to at the hip drops for whatever reason.
For example- If Aimi were to drop, Raizo's main personal and romantic plotline would pretty well collapse in terms of useful threads- just a side effect of how I've piloted him up to this point. Given how load-bearing she is to his story thus far, I've actually got a contingency plan (mostly talking about how great she is and how it's a bummer she's gotten sick). But it's also why I spam a lot of random pop-ups- because it establishes that my guy does other things in the course of his day.

All of the above.

Also, breathe. Take a day off; we'll miss you, but we'll welcome your triumphant return.

It's a game; having fun is the only victory!

I'm here for the fun and the drama. If I fail rolls, drama and fun. If I succeed, fun and drama.

Yet, I confess keeping tabs on strife is kind of hard since it fluctuates so much. Also, nice that in D8 event we have TNs changing for other Rings. I wouls suggest adding the disads and ads that would trigger at them, too.

Seppun Yuzu wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 25, 2021 12:29 pm

I wouls suggest adding the disads and ads that would trigger at them, too.

While I 100% agree on the theory of this, the fact the (dis)advantages, and the skills commonly associated with them, are spread through all the books, is likely to make composing such a list "quite a pain in the ass".

Moto Mitsuki wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 25, 2021 12:44 pm

While I 100% agree on the theory of this, the fact the (dis)advantages, and the skills commonly associated with them, are spread through all the books, is likely to make composing such a list "quite a pain in the ass".

There's truth in this. I usually address it by giving a representative list. But that'll have limits, too.

Well, I've muted the game Discord's channel for a start.

While Discord is useful when setting up a game, I find it just toxic during the game itself. It encourages (including from myself) immediate, raw, emotional responses that one would never have written down if they had taken a little more time to think about them. Plus, due to the constant flow of new, unfiltered messages, any piece of actually useful information, will quickly be lost at sea, sometimes mere minutes after it has been given, certainly after any long period offline (sleep, work, real life...). Likely by design.

In other words, it feels like half the time spent on Discord during the game is to fix issue occasioned by the use of Discord itself (Ask. Your. Questions. On. The. Forum), with a bunch of stress offered as a bonus.

I found, in my moment of “ack” that taking it to DMs and focusing on the player-player relationship helped a lot.

I think, ultimately, most of will get along in the way a tabletop party does if we remind each other that we’re here for a common purpose. And if we act towards trying to work through things. It feels easier to forget there’s another human typing into the ether here than in person.

Also, getting a non-invested eye to check a conflicting moment can be great for noticing where one has failed as well,

Thanks for starting this thread. As a total newb, this is helpful.

There are two big ways I can think of to reduce stress levels in a game:
A) First is to think of your character as "the NPC I'm playing", as opposed to one's personal character.
B) Set out some kind of story goal which doesn't require dice before you play.

With A), this kind of detachment makes it easier to get along and enjoy the game despite losses. This is because in this mindset it is not you losing because of a bad roll, it's (in my case) Kitsu Moshumaru suffering because he couldn't bring himself to succeed. By making this distinction, it's also easier to let yourself not worry about things such as filling every time slot,

With B), it means you can almost guarantee some kind of forward momentum, even if the dice don't work out. If your character has a goal of telling people about their home town, for example, then they can advance that goal win or lose.