I've really enjoyed running the Infinity Tower game. The players have been great and learning to share a game online has been an awesome experience that has made me grow as a DM. I've made decisions about what really matters to me in a game, what I want to support in play and why I run or play games.
There have been so many great moments in this game that I've been pleased to share with people. I value those and feel honored to have played with the people I have for so long. There were tremendous sacrifices of time and energy by all involved in making this game happen for almost a year. In about 48 weeks we ran 40 sessions. That is by far the best average I've ever had for a game I've run. For all of that, I am very thankful.
After running a long series I think that there are some things I've learned about myself and the style of play I prefer. I would have liked an ending to the game that was satisfying to all players. I didn't plan this game in a way that allowed for casual play. There was always something on the line, some great force moving against the players. That may have been too much of a grindstone, too much of a load to bear, to be a fun, light game. I do enjoy games where players' backgrounds matter to the story. In contrast, I feel like there was too much pressure on certain characters and not enough on others. This showed for me as a DM because there were times where I had to change the plot direction based on what players were available for the session. This wasn't equally distributed, which I regret.
My priorities changed as the game progressed as well. At first, I really wanted to take place in the community of streamers and share the kind of game I run. I also said that I wanted to show a group of diverse gamers playing their game. As I ran the game I absorbed a lot of ideas and opinions from others. The way that the game could be watched and perceived made a difference to me because I wanted people to know we were playing right. That became a point of frustration for myself and the players at many points. If I could go back and change things, I definitely would have allowed players to do more outlandish things and supported their ideas more. I don't feel like adding friction or pushing back on the rules made things better.
Also, I don't enjoy D&D as much as other games. There are clear limitations on what the system accomplishes well. Fifth edition is my favorite D&D to date but not my favorite game. I like the simple rules and Experience Point spending in the Cypher System by Monte Cook Games. I like the open framework of Open Legend. Why did we keep playing D&D? Because it was what my group of players had agreed to play. It didn't seem right to change the game based on my preferences.
In the end, the game concluded for two reasons: 1. I wasn't having fun running it. 2. I didn't want to continue streaming with Time2Tabletop. They are both very personal reasons that I don't plan to elaborate on further. Despite that, I always enjoyed playing this game and hope to play with all of the players again soon.
There have been so many great moments in this game that I've been pleased to share with people. I value those and feel honored to have played with the people I have for so long. There were tremendous sacrifices of time and energy by all involved in making this game happen for almost a year. In about 48 weeks we ran 40 sessions. That is by far the best average I've ever had for a game I've run. For all of that, I am very thankful.
After running a long series I think that there are some things I've learned about myself and the style of play I prefer. I would have liked an ending to the game that was satisfying to all players. I didn't plan this game in a way that allowed for casual play. There was always something on the line, some great force moving against the players. That may have been too much of a grindstone, too much of a load to bear, to be a fun, light game. I do enjoy games where players' backgrounds matter to the story. In contrast, I feel like there was too much pressure on certain characters and not enough on others. This showed for me as a DM because there were times where I had to change the plot direction based on what players were available for the session. This wasn't equally distributed, which I regret.
My priorities changed as the game progressed as well. At first, I really wanted to take place in the community of streamers and share the kind of game I run. I also said that I wanted to show a group of diverse gamers playing their game. As I ran the game I absorbed a lot of ideas and opinions from others. The way that the game could be watched and perceived made a difference to me because I wanted people to know we were playing right. That became a point of frustration for myself and the players at many points. If I could go back and change things, I definitely would have allowed players to do more outlandish things and supported their ideas more. I don't feel like adding friction or pushing back on the rules made things better.
Also, I don't enjoy D&D as much as other games. There are clear limitations on what the system accomplishes well. Fifth edition is my favorite D&D to date but not my favorite game. I like the simple rules and Experience Point spending in the Cypher System by Monte Cook Games. I like the open framework of Open Legend. Why did we keep playing D&D? Because it was what my group of players had agreed to play. It didn't seem right to change the game based on my preferences.
In the end, the game concluded for two reasons: 1. I wasn't having fun running it. 2. I didn't want to continue streaming with Time2Tabletop. They are both very personal reasons that I don't plan to elaborate on further. Despite that, I always enjoyed playing this game and hope to play with all of the players again soon.
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