Ok.
Nothing major, just want to point out a couple of things.
Firstly, as some of you may know already, Mad Hattor is my wife, we play together, we create stories and plots together and dream up mischief. I may be prejudiced and looking for home brownie points but she is an excellent roleplayer and has always played with a strong sense of fairness and equality. She guides me when making sure that what we do in game is seperated from my DMing and her playing so that everything is always above board.
Spor has known about us from the start and supports what we do, unless I do something really daft and he gives me a bollocking, this is a learning process that I embrace. Spor has the final say on everything, for my wife and I this maintains a balance of fairness and gives us a framework in which to work within. Plotlines and events are logged, recorded, planned and posted in the DM forums.
As a player Mad hattor is not privy to my plots or storylines, sometimes I bounce ideas of her, sometimes she gives me ideas, sometimes I feed her clues because her character happens to be quite well connected. This is because of her RP and the character she built. We do work together, as a DM and a player because our intentions are to inject life into the server and create a good RP environment.
Hence, everything is now in the open, we want good RP, interesting characters and a world in which to engage our imaginations, we cannot do this alone, the players are everything and so we also need to have the trust of the players, if the player base do not trust us, there is not much point in either of us being here (not a threat nor a hissy fit just an observation).
So, we shall continue in what we are doing, which is playing a game and having fun, there is not much fun in an empty playground, I am inviting players to trust us and get on with good RP.
Secondly, communication is everything. Recent events have devolved into a bit of a mess, from what I have learned and been told, it may have been due to the fact that as a DM I was following a plot concocted by DM Gormogon and then tied into one of mine. The PC's, however, where creating there own and moving along quite nicely without me. I applaud that, I encourage it and I welcome it. Unfortunately, I didnt know about it, I am sorry if I trampled over a players extended plot, this is not how I play. I see an opportunity, I flow with it. I see someone elses plot and I know whats going on I would like to help.
I am led to believe that players involved have settled their differences, I would like to think that I am included in that.
It is important to know that I am an open DM, if you need RP items, if you need a set event, if you require NPCs custom built, if you need a place on the server or building or something for a specific purpose then please PM me or DM Gormogon, I speak for both of us here. This is a relatively small player base that can be, with a bit of work, easily accomodated. I do read IC posts, it helps to inspire me and motivate me, but I am one person, one DM, I can only do so much and within a certain time frame. I can only focus on one or two plots or individuals at a time.
Here is the key, plan and communicate. I don't need three thousand PMs or ten page IC posts. I just need to be kept informed. Keep PMs simple, use dot points, stick to the point. Not that I dont enjoy the correspondance with players and their quirky ways, but because its practical and allows me to gather information easily and quickly. I would also suggest an open mind, it is much harder to run a plot that a player has planned to every last detail than it is to just work with an idea, mold it and watch it grow through player interaction. think of it as less Hollywood and more Cannes film festival.
Im also quite forgetfull, and I will regret saying this, but sometimes gentle reminders will help me keep on track, I am fairly easy going and would much rather engage in someone elses plot, than come on and rename a few goblins and invade Stormhaven.
A lengthy post indeed. I hope things are clearer. I dont want this to open up the thread that has just been locked. I would rather if anyone has anything to say they PM me. But I think everyone would agree that we just get on with it, we ahve a good bunch here and I dont want to lose it.