Misthaven: Where to go next?

[Tyvaris]

I'm starting this post to see where the participants of the Misthaven battle board would like the Battle to go next. 

Currently the Battle has been scrapped as it has gone idle for two and a half months.   Now there there are a couple options as to the future outcome of the battle.  Please see the below.

OPTION 1: I can either pick the story back up and continue where we left off with consistent posting by myself and an Alternate Battle-host.  The Alternate Battle-host will be authorized by myself to post in my stead if necessary to keep the story going.    That person I will personnally select to continue posting if the story was to continue when I failed to post.   This person I would brief of the events the story would take for the immediate chapter(so the story as a whole can remain along my intended arc, without unraveling the whole story to the Alt Host who is also invested in the story).


OPTION 2: I can continue to go it solo and just attempt to post more regularly.  This can be accomplished with encouraged prodding as necessary by the posters to stiffen my resolve.

OPTION 3: The next option I have considered is to just write out what my idea was going to be for the rest of the story and bring closure to the story.  This would effectively end the battle and allow a new battle to replace it if that is preferred.

OPTION 4: Place the board on hold and pick the story back up at a later time.  Possibly try something else in the meantime to see if something else works or holds the interest of the host better.


OPTION 5: Replace the host.  Battle would continue with another host who can either take the story along on it's intended course or an entirely different one.  Full control falls to next host.

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I personally am in favor of any of the first 3 options.    I like the battle and I want to continue the story until its completion.   I also like the idea of getting it out of the way to start something new that I am more interested in.   Either way Im going to leave it up to those who participated in the battle so that I know where to go next with the battle.


I can't explain why I haven't posted recently after numerous attempts to sit down and post I draw blanks and just seems like too much work.  I want it to be fun, not feel like im obligated to do something.  I can't force myself to post, I have to enjoy doing it.   I have enjoyed it the majority of the time but toward the end, I kept feeling that I had to force myself to post.  I place the blame solely on my feet and I do believe that it would be a greater help if there was an Alternate-Host who knew the immediate story to nudge it along.

Please let me know how you feel.


POLL WILL REMAIN OPEN TILL END OF MAY.

[Archdemon Stu]

If there's anything I've learned from my decade of RPing and being the GM for many of those games, it's that Option 2 just doesn't work once the GM (BM I guess for this board) loses momentum.  It's mentally tiring, and if they don't get a break every so often, they won't magically regain interest in the story since it's now associated in their head with an annoyance or a chore.

I'm not in the game, so I'm not going to vote, but I am going to recommend against Option 2.  BMs need love too.

[Kitharsis]

This is your story.  I think you should be the one to own it.

Whichever way you decide to do that is fine.  In the past there have been numerous times where myself and others have simply lost momentum and did not want to finish.  Don't feel compelled to drag out the story if it becomes an annoyance and a chore.

[Soul Reaver]

Castellan, you say you'd like to continue the story... what option do YOU think would best allow you to do that?  I'd be fine with more or less any of the above options.  Some thoughts though:

1) Is a good option, but you'd still need to be prepared to post most of the time (otherwise you're not really the Battle Master anymore).  An assiting back-up BM should only occasionally need to step in to pick up the slack and keep the entertainment flowing, they ideally shouldn't have to initiate major plot-progressing events.  I'd tend to go with this option if you think having an altenate Battle Master would help to keep you motivated to post too, but I don't recommend it if you think you'll end up falling back on them more often than you post yourself.

2) Theoretically this would be the ideal option, except (as others have pointed out) I don't think good intentions alone are enough.  Only pick this option if you're really committed, really certain that you will do it, and really have the time.  Personally I don't think I'd pick this.

3) You don't have to end the Battle for someone to start/suggest another one.  Unless you really want to end it, because you're sure you'll never continue/resume it, I wouldn't go with this.

4) A good option if you're not interested in Misthaven anymore.  In these early days, I think you're the only person who knows Misthaven well enough to spearhead it.  If you're not interested, it's not going to work.  But at least this way you leave open the possibility of returning to it in the future.

5) I don't think this is a good option (see above).

So basically, I think if you genuinely want to continue the story, and think working together with someone else on it might help both in keeping you motivated and keeping the story going, Option 1 is the best.

If you don't think that having another host will help you, but you ARE committed to finishing and are sure you can do it, I'd go for Option 2... but you'd have to be really sure and determined.

If you think you'll never ever finish Misthaven, I'd go with Option 3.  On the other hand, if you think you might finish it at some point, but don't feel confident you can do it now, I'd go with Option 4.

So: what do you think, Castellan?

[Cameron]

I think that the purpose of a poll is to allow your players to make the decision that they feel is best, because you can see the merits in all of them. He wants to know what you think. If he wanted his own opinion, he wouldn't have opened a poll.

Seriously, he's giving you the option here. You're lucky he is being this generous, because he really doesn't HAVE to do this. He could just make the decision on his own with no input at all.

Polls are for voting. Just sayin'.

[Tyvaris]

Thats why this is hard to answer.   I obviously don't know what I want to do.   Saying it's mine and to do what I want doesn't help because Im not sure what to do.    Im asking for input so I can better make a decision.   I stated above I don't mind any of the first 3 items.   If there isn't any input I may just put the thing on permanent hiatus and come back to it at a later time when I can make a better descision about what to do.

[Cameron]

The Battle Master has spoken. This is a poll. If you're not voting in the poll, don't post here.

[Veldanya Venalla]

Even though I was never involved with Misthaven I think that if you are no longer enjoying posting for it, then go with option 3.  That way you dont just waste the effort you already put in (both by your previous posts and by developing the story, especially the parts not revealed yet) and also allow the players "closure" instead of just "hey it no longer exists, you'll never even know what the outcome may have been".

[Soul Reaver]

I think that the purpose of a poll is to allow your players to make the decision that they feel is best, because you can see the merits in all of them. He wants to know what you think. If he wanted his own opinion, he wouldn't have opened a poll.

Seriously, he's giving you the option here. You're lucky he is being this generous, because he really doesn't HAVE to do this. He could just make the decision on his own with no input at all.

Polls are for voting. Just sayin'.

I appreciate getting the chance to vote in the poll, but to give a well-thought out answer, I need to know Castellan's situation.  That's what will allow me to decide what I think is best, rather than taking a random stab in the dark - for example, if I simply assume that Castellan can keep the battle going, but his situation hasn't really changed, I'd end up voting for Option 2, and then we'd probably be right back where we were before.

I'd like to keep the Misthaven going if possible, but I belive the only way it can feasibly work is if Castellan heads it.  Whether he feels he can do so with someone else's help, or on his own, or not at all, is pretty important to deciding what I think would be best in this instance.

Castellan has expressed his dilemma pretty clearly in his most recent post, so I'm (somewhat regretfully) voting for Option 3.  I'd be sad to see it close with such finality, but like Jharm said, it gives us all a bit of closure and gives Castellan (and everyone else) a chance to try something new without an unfinished Misthaven scratching away at their sanity.

[Tyvaris]

I've decided to CLOSE  the Misthaven Battle for the foreseeable future.   The goal with Misthaven was to have something besides the Epic BB to occupy battlers time.   The battle was slow purely because of my fault and I can understand battlers being upset because I ran it poorly.    I rushed the idea and came up with it pretty quickly, I liked the setting I just didn't love the setting.   It felt like a chore to post instead of fun.    I plan to take a brief leave of the boards and of hosting and then perhaps return in a month or so with the hopes of running a new battle with a tighter post schedule.    Although the next battle will probably be a Fantasy/Sci-Fi hybrid much like the Epic Battle Board.    Leaning more on the Magically Sci Fi end of things.   

I'm sorry it didn't work out the way I wanted to and I still have ideas to bring it back, except the love for the setting just isn't there.  Perhaps it's the fact that I let it sit for so long and have to read back over to remember what exactly happened since I last posted.    If I run another board it will be with tighter restrictions on myself and with stronger enforcement by inquistorial staff and perhaps more open ended an less linear of a story.   The big problem I felt was that I was forcing everyone to go places in Misthaven when I wanted them to make their own decisions and then react to them.     I'll monitor some of the other battleboards to see how they succesfully move things along.   

Keep in mind this was my first boardbattle and I have learned a lot.    My hope is to resolve to never let a battle fail like this one did.   

If you do want to find out what I had basically planned you can send me a PM and I can explain where the rest of the story would go.


Next story I do will have a much more enriched Background that I will develope before the story starts.   Perhaps in the future we could come back to Misthaven again but for now Steampunk-esque stories can't hold my interest.

It was a short run and I definately take full blame for it.   I would like to thank everyone for posting and doing their part to make it an enjoyable read.   I almost prefer to have it end now before the story got anymore in depth because there hasn't been much investment in the story.  It barely got off it's feet before it came crashing down.  Guess that's better than falling out of the sky and crashing and burning.

Thanks to Soul, Kith, Sepher, John, Tam for all the hard work they have done with their characters and with making this an enjoyable although brief experience.