My morning...

[annwfyn]

Well, my morning began with me having to duck into a hedge to avoid being run down by a man wearing only red shorts and a trilby, cycling along Lower Road on a unicycle.

So, how has your morning been?

Comments

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

You're sure he wasn't dancing?

[castorlion.livejournal.com]

Your morning began with that?

How long have you been sleepwalking?

:-)

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

OK, my morning began with me getting out of bed, making jez a cup of tea, getting some clothes on, heading out to give jez a lift to the tube station and then discovering that the traffic was vile, and so walking with him instead to keep him company whilst chatting about my views on downtimes, and what it is reasonable to expect from players.

We then got to the tube, and I kissed him goodbye, before heading back homewards. It was then that I met the strange man on the unicycle.

But I think my original version was snappier.

[castorlion.livejournal.com]

Snappier, maybe. But definitely wrong. :-)

[molez.livejournal.com]

I dropped the car off at the garage at 8:15, then remembered why I hate public tranpsort - what took me 25 minutes in the car took 2 hours by train and foot!

Once I got home I dealt with a few emails and very quickly logged onto WoW for a 10 minute break. Am now level 10...

[wildrogue.livejournal.com]

Going by the Sally version rather than Matt Matt's in detail demands - my morning has so far involved doing a great many small things in order to avoid filing. This makes me appear terribly efficient and productive.

[adze.livejournal.com]

So, what are your views on what's reasonable?

I'm curious, and my morning has mainly been dull & unfocused, despite my best efforts to make it otherwise...

[lawrencegillies.livejournal.com]

I too am curious as to what can reasonably be expected of players, apart from incompetence!

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

To be fair, this isn't something I should go into, as it was mostly triggered by the London Cam game having a template for downtimes that I disagree with, but it's not really fair to whinge about a game that I'm not really a part of and obviously suits its players.

As an ST, I think that downtimes are very important, both for me as an ST to get more of an idea of what your char is doing, and for you as a player to get a sense of them as a well rounded person away from the four hours a month you turn up at a game session. Therefore, downtimes should be as accessible as possible to as many players as possible.

I feel guilty that as an ST I mostly limit downtimes to e mail, because I've found that I lost bits of paper, and I sometimes need to mull over a player action that I hadn't through of before, which means paper submissions and verbal downtimes can be a bit tricksy at times. I wish I was more flexible and then downtimes for me didn't seem to require internet access and a level of comfort with the written word, but until I can find a way to get myself to think quicker and keep hold of paper, it's got to be that way.

Beyond that, I do have a preferred format - the one Ginnie uses is fab - but I won't ask players to use it. A badly spelled paragraph should be as viable as a two page essay as a downtime - it's an rpg, not a job - and should get just as much attention from me.

As a player, I often go through extended periods of time on limited internet access - during term time there are 3 days a week when I have limited access during the day, 1 day a week when I have no access during the day, and 7 days a week when I have a boyfriend who thinks I spend too much time on e mail as it is. As such, my downtimes very much need to be written over 15 min here and there. That limits me, and is kinda sucky when folk have a specific format which requires time, effort, and keeping all your paperwork on hand, but then, not every game is for everyone.

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

From players - an e mail downtime.

From STs - a downtime return.

I know I am a bit crap with downtimes sometimes - I'm awful with downtimes for absent players, as I tend to write them all up, and then print them out to be handed out at the game. If you're not at game, I will forget to return the downtime to you unless prodded.

I also lose (on average) one downtime per month, just in the mass of e mails I receive. I'll do it if prodded during the month, but again, I'm prone to forgetting.

I wish I was more competent, but I get lost at times with the four games worth of downtimes that I process (with jez obviously offering up the plot relevent info for three games) over two different weekends.

[chopseuy.livejournal.com]

I got laughed at by the girl in Coffee heaven when I failed to open the door to get in, she laughed harder as in my desperation to get a coffee I continued to tug the door in the wrong direction.

Otherwise my morning, it were ace!!!

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

Darn you!

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

My morning has involved me saying the words, 'Ooh, indexing!' and meaning them.

I have also ordered two books on programming processes, one on creating demos, and a baby pamphlet on indexing, and am looking forwards to reading them.

ksirafai has refused to let me kill myself for the good of humanity on the grounds that then she'd have nobody to talk to. I leave it to posterity to decide whether this was the correct decision.

[ksirafai.livejournal.com]

I have been doing work. Honest... (http://mata090680.livejournal.com/316988.html)

:P

[anonymous-james.livejournal.com]

When I took over Wessex, downtimes were one of the things I "cracked down". I insisted on once a month responses, and demanded email only downtimes. This was hard, as players were used to a much more flexible approach. I have now expanded to allow MSN conversations. But like yourself I'd probably lose written dts, and definitely forget face to face chats quickly. Any pregame scene I run has to be written up sharply otherwise it goes from my brain.

I do however email the dt responses back a day or two before the game so that players have time to access their emails, and print it out, mull it over - that kind of thing. Something I'd have appreciated happening in other games I played in.

Finally I found that bringing my tiny inkjet printer along to games allows me to print out sheets where players are lax in printing stuff out, especially when I can't predict which players will turn up. Although I did forget to bring some paper along yesterday - doh!

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

I think everyone does it a bit differently, mostly coz every ST has different requirements, and different limitations on what is good for them. I mostly like doing downtimes in one big lump, so no one is disadvantaged by getting downtimes in late. I also try and give people as much time to get their downtimes in as possible.

What this means is that I do the downtimes on a Friday before the game, normally. I used to mail people responses, but discovered that a lot of folks didn't seem to check their mail over the weekend, or had different e mail accounts which needed to be used on the weekend rather than the ones they had sent me their downtimes from etc, so I (and J) just sort of defaulted to the print outs at the game.

And I am vastly jealous of you having a portable printer. It sounds muchly shiney.

[anonymous-james.livejournal.com]

It's a very old BJ30. The quality is rubbish, but it still works - more or less.

It works off a parallel port, but I found a converter from it to USB, so I can use it with my laptop. It does make my bag quite heavy, so I'm glad I don't have to lug it very far.

[lawrencegillies.livejournal.com]

working hard then, almost as hard as me...

[iain-a-wilson.livejournal.com]

I filled my diesel car up with unleaded...