Last night my friends cat died. Was sick, throwing up type stuff, but otherwise seemed ok. Then suddenly dead.
As such I have volenteered to take her other cat to the vet next friday. HE looks sick, losing fur and weight (or maybe just the fur, it's hard to tell with him as he had pretty thick fur before). I don't want to chance loosing another furry friend.

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Tyr, hang in there, it is sure to get better but not till after the beginning of the new year. From my own experiences that is generally how such things work out. (Like around Feburary.)

Tyr: Try to say 'no', especially in the next while till you recover some stamina.  Though I suppose that will leave you with the 'must do' projects, and no time for the 'help others' ones that you really enjoy, but do try!  Sometimes 'me first' is necessary for you to be able to help others later.

Shado: I hope you mean this coming Friday, that would be plenty far enough off.  Especially since the other cat died, apparently unexpectedly, this cat's illness sounds like a serious emergency to me.  Hope all goes well!  And if he had a lot of fur, you should be able to tell if he's losing a lot, it would be all over the place.

Cat fur is Always all over the place, they shed lots. But poor Tigger's hair is so short now it feels like a buzz cut when I go to pet him.
Appointment is set for This Friday at 2pm with my own vet. (she tends to go to the cheapest places possible where as I go for people with some of the best recommendations, especially from other vets.)

My first instinct tells me the food

In reply to SunRuanEr (msg # 1048):

No one said it wasn't their game. I said that people (which is more than just GM's by the way) want something done a certain way when contrary to what the actual rules say, then they need to put that down. Because, frankly, going off half cocked about something that someone can't know about is fruiting balloon squids 

So, I will try to be polite here, but let me be a little pointed. Can you please actually stick to what I and others are saying rather than trying to bring points that aren't in contention at all into conversation in a manner that attempts to show how wrong I (and those that have been agreeing with me) am? You're not helping the situation at all, and it's really fruiting annoying.

In reply to V_V (msg # 1051):

To be concise, thank you.

In reply to Martel (msg # 1050):

Yeah....no. To all of that. It has nothing to do with the situation at all. If you want to have a home rule fine. Let people know about it. For instance, I do home rules a LOT. I think they make the game better/more fun. However, I also note down the house rules I use so that people can see them, and understand what is expexted of them. If I dont, then it is my fault that they didn't abide by them. Responsibility cuts both ways.
This message was last edited by the user at 16:33, Sat 02 Dec 2017.

I always feel absolutely horrible every time I close one of my games, even if I had perfectly valid reasons (or what I think is valid reasons) to do so. Just makes me feel like I'm letting the players down.

In reply to aguy777 (msg # 1062):

Me to.

In reply to aguy777 (msg # 1062):

I'm in the same boat. Even more so, because I feel I'm letting myself down too. I'm really lucky to have quite a bit of time (not having a full-time job) but even I only spent a few hours on RPoL at a time. I wish I could explore all the stories and levels of play. I want to! I just lose focus if I try. I'm a slow GM on RPoL taking over and hour to just post a reply to a combat action.

I'm am mostly guilty for letting the players down. I'm fortunate to have engaged players that post almost every time I do. I wish I didn't let them down.

It is important, more important, to set a limit, for RL purposed if nothing else. IT happens on RPoL. most of the time for the system I GM, actually. So I try to keep that in mind. GMing D&D is very miss and hit.

I started a new game - Finally got everyone to do their opening post and I find myself blanking on what I need to post to get the game actually going.

I am hoping once the new year madness is past I will be able to focus enough to actually start playing. (It's a 1st level game of people who are the children of adventurers starting out on their own adventures. Gave them 1 advantage in that each got 1 magic item of minor to middling power, like a +1 sword, a bag of holding etc. Depending on character class (the thief got a modified Handy Haversack I call the Merchants Bag, bigger pouches basically but not overly powerful in and of itself) for example.

Unfortunately, ShadoPrism, if you haven't got your game rolling way before Christmas, let alone New Year, you may find your players are no longer around.

Patience may be a virtue, but it is one that is in short supply, I find, and it sounds like you've had problems motivating them already, without a 3-4 week hiatus to disenchant them.

Pull out all the stops, get the game rolling, and hit them with something that has them itching to return after the break.

Or start a new game in the New Year. I doubt if a third option really exists.

If they've slowed their posting, give them one or two imperative actions; like "kill", "save" or "destroy". I recommend not stringing it out. The more immediate the better. Whatever the plot is, don't warm up to it, get to the fun part, save the exposition for if they ask questions. If you need to slow down for the players, you'll know.

My (one) game would start before Christmas, but we're still in char gen, and I have to help my roommate with her finals. Even then, when the group is ready, I'll start the meet and greet, and have some immediate action (a cake walk for them) to keep them engaged. My aim is to let the players, even at 1st level, feel important. I have an annoying NPC that will be begging to get his butt kicked, and have some range to give him time to talk, before getting shot and run down.

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Spoiler for my 2 cents: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Let the players be in control, and don't give them pre-failed actions (like the peasant already dies) but put NPCs in danger, and have the baddies (goblins, orcs, bandits) engaged verbally  to rile up the PCs. Then let the PCs kick butt, give them some damage, but stack the favor for the PCs.

Or, alternatively, have a social scene is the players' seem, more that style. Maybe an NPC really needs to get something off their chest, and asks for consolation. Maybe a mapmaker was going to buy some exotic ink, but it was bought/stolen by someone else.So the PCs track down the merchant/thief and get the mapmaker the ink.

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But yeah, I would definitely get the ball rolling, for whatever you have planned and KISS. At least for the first outing. :)

Had this same group for almost 3 years. This is not the longest pause we have had in that time.

This message was deleted by the user at 10:05, Fri 15 Dec 2017.

Grand Theft Auto online - this game is designed to make you spend money on it. The only way to really Get anywhere is to buy their cash cards as they drain your money Faster than you can make it.
Add to it all the hackers and it's a real waste of money. To bad it took me spending $200 on it before I figure the scam of it out.
They have made it impossible to share money to. Stating this is due to the Hackers, but I figured them out. They just want people to buy Only their money so they can rip us off all the faster.

Mind you, I have bought stuff in games before, but no game has so blantantly done what Rockstar games is doing. I recommend by passing this game unless you got a lot of cash just laying around. I have just now uninstalled it and don't plan on playing it ever again.

Finding out that a friend of a friend that I thought was a really cool person does in fact support racist beliefs. :(

In reply to Cygnia (msg # 1071):

I had that happen about a month ago, and even more sadly, MY friend, the friend of this other person, is apparently ambivalent to racism. Citing it was just "I don't really care, as long as he doesn't talk about me like that" and proceeding to insert his own commentary of excuse.

It made me sad. We had falling out two years prior, from my mental disorder, and I tried to make mends, even all I was doing was crying for help. The above was just justification it just wasn't worth my time. He was fun to play cards with. :( He wasn't the friend I thought he was.

In the words of Maurice Minnifield:

"You know that's the nature of a family holiday, to make a single man feel disenfranchised. You're made to feel like a hungry vagrant with your nose pressed up against a window staring at somebody else's dinner."

Every. Damn. Year.

(And yes, I've attempted to make friends, and to make plans. Successful on the first front, but family and traditions always take priority at this time of year, so the second part is me being alone for 48 hours when everyone else posts and talks about how wonderful a time they're having.)

In reply to CrazyIvan777 (msg # 1073):

This is my first CrazyIvan7's. I'm not exactly there, but yeah, I don't have the friends currently, but I'm also not feeling quite like I'm desperate to belong. I'm just bored, and slightly just lonely.

If you and I shared game interests I'd run a quick an dirty game for you. Like a one scene game, where you have an encounter, tailored to your character, and just pretend we're them, and not us. I could use a friend. I'm nowhere near too many. ;)

I play heavily crunch systems. That take at least an hour to make the sheet for, bare minimum. Except for dX, but if you don't know the system, it'll take much longer. Exalted and D&D 3 to 5e take me longer than an hour, except at first level. Those are, sadly, the only systems my F2F group plays (except for 1) and so I just don't know other systems (Yet).

I'm here though. Even if just to provide another warm body to occasionally nod off into the rare post, and then rouse to chat. *shrug and smirk*
This message was last edited by the user at 17:43, Sun 24 Dec 2017.

In reply to V_V (msg # 1074):

This year, for the first time in a long time, I got friends who are in the same boat as you and CrazyIvan, so we are getting together tomarrow night. I made up some baked chicken and the rest is store bought sides and we are going to have dinner together. Nothing fancy.
The game though, that's a good idea. Even if it's just everyone online for the day / night, it helps get you through the holy-days.
Used to do something like that using Yahoo chat, back when they still had private rooms. It was fun.

Dealing (and treating, so there is that at least) with depression for all these years, the holidays have always been a difficult time for me.  Tomorrow I've got to deal with my husband's extended family, so that's going to be troubling.

I love his parents (and vice-versa), but it's going to be a very crowded house with no escape routes (and an ice-cold outside) if I get overwhelmed. :-/

In reply to Cygnia (msg # 1076):

Retreat to a bedroom, even if it's just the room all the coats get dumped in, and sit alone in there for a while. If anyone questions it, since it seems they're unaware of your need for some occasional isolation, just tell them you've got a bit of a headache and are hoping some quiet can help you keep it from worsening.

I'm not good with long hours in a lot of company, it just drains me, so from time to time I'll just retreat for an hour to regain my balance. At my age, my friends & family all know I'm an introvert and I'm not trying to be antisocial. I just need some time to rebalance myself now and then, if there's too much going on, or going on for too long. (Three-plus hours yesterday at a family thing was a bit long for me to do straight; I was so ready for a break by then! Thankfully, a few other people were leaving early, and I made it my own exodus, too.)

This is the last time I try to handle all the Christmas wrapping at one time on Christmas Eve.

For one, it took me damn near three hours to get the little one to lie down and sleep. That put me at about 11:00 just to get started. Had to retrieve all the presents from their hidey-holes, plus bags, wrapping paper, tape, labels, all that. While keeping an ear cocked toward the kids' door.

Cue another two-plus hours sorting boxes, wrapping things, labeling. Staging the obligatory scraps of cookie and half-drunk cup of milk, with a letter from Santa.

It's now 2 AM. I'm done with all the presents, though the wrapping got a little sloppy on a few. But this is the last time I do it this way. I'm tired, and stressed out from spending way too much on short notice.

So I'm changing things. New Christmas tradition.

From now on, I'm setting aside containers for everyone. They can put gifts in them whenever they want, any time of year. No one is allowed to peek in others' containers, and if someone wants to take a few minutes to wrap something early, they can demand that everyone else stay away. The containers will be clearly labeled, and anyone caught peeking has to take a gift from their container and hand it over early.

I'm not going to let anyone worry about who spends how much, or who gets how many gifts. Any time someone sees something they think someone else would like, and we have the money for it, they can buy it. Secrecy won't be an issue at the time -- other than what the item is. "Mom, I'm getting a Christmas present for you. Don't peek."

Let things accumulate over the year, rather than try to get it all in a three-week period. And have 90% of the wrapping done whenever, instead of cramming it all into one night.
This message was last updated by the user at 08:19, Mon 25 Dec 2017.

My answer this year to Xmas gifts was to take my friends shopping. They got to pick out what they wanted and I bought it for them (well other than a couple items I knew they needed, those I got and gave to them early but with the knowledge they were seasonal gifts.)
Me I am not christian, I like the holy-day for it's meaning (peace and kindness to your fellows) and love the gifts part, but not really in to the 'birth of christ' part.
For the actual day, we are getting together this evening and I made up a batch of my baked chicken, someone else is bringing a side and the host has another side item, and we will share this meal that we all contributed to. That's it.
(We are all older people whose parents are gone and families are a long way off.)

Your idea is ok Paladin, but I don't see it working out over the next year, given human nature (and kids natures, respectively).