Five Year Mission

[firstfrost]

Hippocratic Oath, AS 2778 - 2784

Every so often, in a game, I touch greatness. Not perfection - nothing is ever perfect - but doing something that's at the current absolute limits of what I can accomplish. When we wrote Epilogue, I felt like that. I've done the very best I can, I've stretched to the tallest that I can reach, and I've touched the sky. After Epilogue, there was Calypso, and that was great in the same way (and a better game than Epilogue, because the GMs had more practice by then). And then, Oath.

Nothing is ever perfect. We disappointed some players by not being the run they expected or wanted. Some mechanics didn't balance the way we expected, some plots sort of fizzled out, and some players mystified us. But there were still moments, so many shining moments, that were worth any amount of exasperation.

Moments of inspired brilliance (the idea for the fake wedding). Moments of grand tragedy (the Katya/Martan arc and the epilogue). Moments of hilarity (nearly anything with Mirris). Moments of sacrifice (Sook, or Ace). Dedicated trudgery (Good Fences Make Good Neighbors). The amazing calendar, the Pierogi orchestral theme. But then, trying to point to specific individual bits somehow also misses the point.

The whole was far grander and greater than the sum of its parts, both what the players built between them, and the things mjperson and I created. I don't think I've ever had anyone I can work with half as well. We're enough alike that we already agree on (nearly) all the important stuff, and we're enough different that the things he's best at are not the things I'm best at. For all that I often felt like Salieri listening with awe to Mozart embellish his melodies, I know how much of it was mine too, and I can be proud.

I've touched the sky for a third time - again, while standing on the shoulders of very tall people. But I hate endings, necessary as they are, and I'll miss it very much now that it's done.

Comments

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

There were lots of bits of Oath that were obviously impressive, like your ability to work as a team, the creation of mechanics that the players would enjoy while progressing the plot, and the sheer complexity of the worlds and the plots you've created.

But the bit that I am impressed with is your ability to satisfy such different gaming desires across so many different people. You created a playing field where those people who wanted to squeeze every last drop of power out of their characters could work on plots with people who wanted spotlight time and with people who wanted the ability to play their characters down to the last foible. You made plots for people who wanted combats, and plots for people who wanted politics. You built an ebb and flow into the game with the seasons and summer reruns. And you designed a way to deal with the postgame so that everyone would feel that the story didn't just stop but it ended.

Congratulations.