Ace

These things may seem irrelevant, but I feel a little of myself radiating from your comments, so I thought I would share some things that have made a difference for me in the past. If I'm way off base here, my apologies and I meant no offense. First, I can certainly understand OOC happenings impacting your motivation. The will to write can be fickle. That's why it's important for me to set a mental boundary; Muse is allowed to have this much influence over me, but at some point I sometimes have to write anyway. Making writing a practice, like yoga or journaling, helps give some of that control back. It can be hard to be creative or generate the right thoughts and words in these moments, though. I use Speare to churn out content when in this situation, or when the writing comes with great difficulty for any reason. It is a paid application, so I really do hesitate to recommend it, but it has been immensely helpful for me from RP to work or class-related writing. It just makes *getting the words out* easier than a blank page on a word processor. If this particular issue (keeping a diligent writing practice) speaks to you, I also recommend these excellent books: Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg and Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. Also this essay: "Learning to Work" by Virginia Valian. (If it's not a problem for you, I recommend the books anyway! Just not so much the essay lol) Also, if you're internalizing these negative remarks people make about you, or if you're being mired down by generalizations and assumptions that you bring on yourself, like "My ideas aren't as good as I thought, (so I have no motivation to write)" or "I can't write without a strong bond to my partner," or "I'm in too gloomy a mood to write," then I have to recommend something called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. This book is rich with exercises that can beat procrastination or fallacious reasoning, even if you don't have full-on depression or a mood disorder, and you can get free access to guided CBT by downloading an app like Wysa (my favorite) or Pacifica. it's great to bring out in the moment, to help pull you out of any distorted thinking/funk.

Sending you good vibes. Hope all is okay, man ❤️

Hey folks, @amenities @carrionjackal @Sanonymous and @Wade Opening up discussion on our course of action after Shize's announcement and imminent departure. If there is enough interest to keep this thread going, I propose a small GM team of 2-3 people to share responsibility for story-advancing and pacing. (Simple system: Active background discussion on, say, Discord, where we collaborate on GM actions and trade off on making the actual IC posts.) (And yes, I would volunteer to be one of them). That is, if people are invested in keeping this going. I've noticed that most of the players in this thread have mentioned things going on in their lives right now, and I anticipate at least a decent possibility that we'd all just rather let it go. I'm fine with this option, but just so you all know, I am happy to give it the old college try, too!

While Jericho rummaged through the dried spices, Levi let her diffuse mind go to work. Instead of groping—groping around the room for an answer, groping for ideas—she took the scantest moment to to pause, close her eyes, and breathe in. It was enough. The environment in the kitchen was warm, balmy, and something fresh and aromatic just barely hung in the air. When she opened her eyes again, she registered light. Grey irises switched instantly in the direction it came from and spotted a window. She sprang for it, leaping over the elder cook's unconscious body. Only a thin hook-and-eye latch locked the diamond-grille doors shut, and Levi swiftly unfastened this and swung the window open. Robust sunlight filled the kitchen, glaring off the surfaces of hanging pots and pans, and her body formed a stark silhouette, craning forward slightly through the opening. Yes! There was a long, narrow terra-cotta box hooked beneath the window, filled to the brim with soil and dotted with fragile green shoots and sprouts. "Jericho, here!" Levi squawked, and quickly stepped away from the window to give him space to shop the herb garden for components. As she let that task go from her mind, already moving on to the next, she noticed Matte removing a ring of keys from the woman Levi had vaulted over in her hurry. He used it to open a hefty wooden door in the floor in the corner of the room. "Nice," she exclaimed, breathless and high-spirited from the urgency of the moment. "I'm good with it--if he can keep up the enchantment that long." Either way, it would probably serve them better to leave the merchant prince behind: Animated and fighting back, he would give the guards reason to pause. Until they figured out he was dead, their priority would be to see him safe, right? And if the magic extinguished.... then he was just dead weight. While he waited to see what Jericho did, she would maneuver just around him and into the cellar. Quick as Levi was, either one of her companions would outrun her over long distances, so she'd taken to the habit of acting without waiting for confirmation from them. To keep moving. She took the short flight of stone stairs briskly. The cellar was dim, but not dark: lit from inside by glowing amber lamps, burning arcane energy, that hung two-to-a-wall around the perimeter. It didn't look too promising... but Levi explored on, past rows of casks and dusty bottles. On the far side of the room she felt a draft, and as she approached the opposite wall, spotted a pair of heavy wooden doors. "Exit down here!" Levi raised her voice and called back to them before approaching nearer. The floor sloped upwards here, and there was another short flight of about six stone steps leading up to them. They must bring the wine down from the outside, here. Levi saw with dismay that the doors were chained together and sealed with a great, heavy metal padlock that must have been five vertical inches across. She tried pushing her shoulder into the door, to judge how weak it might be in its cradle, but it didn't budge. The slabs of wood were solid and dense. The other way, then. Her hands went to her sides, feeling around in her pockets for the two thin steel files that she'd started to carry when her investigation in Casper began to pull her into an underworld of secrecy and corruption; when getting around obstacles had become a necessary life skill. It was possible that one of the others had a faster method for circumventing locked doors, but if they did, they would steer her out of the way. Until then, better not waste a moment. Levi dropped to one knee and got to work--gingerly--for fear that the sturdy metal fixture might just snap her tools.

It'd be great for getting more veterans to participate with and cultivate new members. or for encouraging GMs to collaborate on ideas for adventure hooks even if they don't necessarily want to take on the full responsibility of seeing the thread through to completion, or then sharing that responsibility with your collaborators. Playing tag team?! Note that these are the kind of ideas that you're not necessarily so passionately invested in that you couldn't bear to give up control, but fun stuff like (to make an example out of Shize) "you know what would be great? A train robbery! But not fourteen weeks of it..." I'm envisioning a club for Limited GMs also... Yeah, I'm in.

Nope, I wasn't confused, just didn't want to invalidate anyone else's post. Although, I do like those ideas! So thanks for the material to run with. ?

So, are we presuming that the cellar has an exit?

Take it from me, who could probably have spent more time at this. (?) It's a pretty helpful way to go! Welcome!

Hey hey - Just FYI, my post in here is next on my to-do list. Priority one~ But not tonight... as soon as I can.

I need special sauce. :3

Clue me in pards!

I think you are definitely correct.