StaciD
08-27-2002, 03:45 PM
Well, it's time.
As I announced at GenCon, it is time for me to step away from Castle Marrach and my position as Lead StoryPlotter. This is a decision I made many months ago, back in the spring while I watched a good number of friends and fellow staffers burn out and crash. I knew that if I didn't have some end point it site -- some predetermined date designated as 'the end' -- that I'd end up imploding over some minor issue and leaving with bad feelings instead of the good ones I have now. So I told myself, till August.
And now it's August, and believe me, I'm more than happy to shift the mantle of responsibility onto other shoulders now. Being in charge of things here has been by turns stressful, frustrating, infuriating, and exhausting. Um, don't tell Xios that -- he'll be taking over the reins now and I don't want to scare him away.
Seriously, though, with a few exceptions, Castle Marrach has been an extraordinary experience for me, from the time I was first contracted to help design the game, over 2 years ago, up until last night when I got to play one of the Castle's most elusive characters and reveal a few of the more closely held secrets. It has given me a thrill to watch skilled roleplayers breathe life into characters I created, spinning the storylines that I laid out. An even bigger thrill is watching players arrive in Marrach and making themselves at home, creating their own characters and helping to build a tale, a world, a community, IC and OOC, that goes far beyond anything I could have imagined by myself. It's not going to be easy to leave all that behind -- it's never easy to surrender your baby into someone else's hands.
But I'm confident that Xios will do a great job in my place, with the support of the rest of the plotters, coders and guides. I've been watching with excitement the ideas our continually growing staff has been cooking up for your entertainment, and I think you'll be pleased as things start to unfold.
I think it's customary at this point to give a list of the character's the departing player has portrayed over their stay in Marrach. In my case, it'd be almost futile. I think I've played over half the NPCs at least once, and as I never had a true PC character it's not like there are any great revelations to be had there. But I guess I'd like to pay tribute to the characters who've meant the most to me over the past two years, who despite their NPC status I tend to think of as mine, namely Edouard Ramos and Sera Helene. Just the RP experiences I've had with these two characters alone make all the headaches of being an SP worth it. Everyone else that I've had the opportunity to play on occasion, from Vivienne to Getheaht, from Bertram to Anastasia (the crazy potato lady), has just been a bit of icing on the cake.
I was going to put in a list of things that I won't miss about Marrach, but it's really quite a puny list, and as I write I realize I don't have any need to be so petty as I take my exit. In truth, I'm going miss quite a bit about Marrach, most especially the wonderful, creative people I've come to know over the past two years. If you're interested in keeping in touch, I'm going to leave my two SP addresses
deri@marrach.skotos.net and spderi@earthlink.net active for a couple of weeks, so you can let me know and I'll pass on my regular email and/or ICQ. Just be patient if I don't get back to you right away, cause some time tomorrow I'm going to be signing off the computer for my week-long Marrach detox (7 rooms, 7 days, 1 big bucket of cleaning supplies). When I'm done with that, I'll be turning my attention to some new projects, fiction primarily, though there is some small chance that I might eventually end up doing something new with Skotos. The whole concept of interactive storytelling that first drew me to Skotos still fascinates me, and....well, that's a subject for another day.
The last thing I want to say is this: I am proud of Marrach. I love what it has become, and I have great hopes for its future. While I know there are those who will celebrate to see me go (there's no sense in denying it, but please have the grace to wait to start the party until after I've left the building), I feel that I have given my very best effort into making Marrach a thriving storytelling community, and I feel that I have been successful in those efforts. I'm not asking for reward or even acknowledgement from anyone. I just want to say that I'm proud of what I've done here. I'm proud.
So....bye!
Splut! Deri has departed.
As I announced at GenCon, it is time for me to step away from Castle Marrach and my position as Lead StoryPlotter. This is a decision I made many months ago, back in the spring while I watched a good number of friends and fellow staffers burn out and crash. I knew that if I didn't have some end point it site -- some predetermined date designated as 'the end' -- that I'd end up imploding over some minor issue and leaving with bad feelings instead of the good ones I have now. So I told myself, till August.
And now it's August, and believe me, I'm more than happy to shift the mantle of responsibility onto other shoulders now. Being in charge of things here has been by turns stressful, frustrating, infuriating, and exhausting. Um, don't tell Xios that -- he'll be taking over the reins now and I don't want to scare him away.
Seriously, though, with a few exceptions, Castle Marrach has been an extraordinary experience for me, from the time I was first contracted to help design the game, over 2 years ago, up until last night when I got to play one of the Castle's most elusive characters and reveal a few of the more closely held secrets. It has given me a thrill to watch skilled roleplayers breathe life into characters I created, spinning the storylines that I laid out. An even bigger thrill is watching players arrive in Marrach and making themselves at home, creating their own characters and helping to build a tale, a world, a community, IC and OOC, that goes far beyond anything I could have imagined by myself. It's not going to be easy to leave all that behind -- it's never easy to surrender your baby into someone else's hands.
But I'm confident that Xios will do a great job in my place, with the support of the rest of the plotters, coders and guides. I've been watching with excitement the ideas our continually growing staff has been cooking up for your entertainment, and I think you'll be pleased as things start to unfold.
I think it's customary at this point to give a list of the character's the departing player has portrayed over their stay in Marrach. In my case, it'd be almost futile. I think I've played over half the NPCs at least once, and as I never had a true PC character it's not like there are any great revelations to be had there. But I guess I'd like to pay tribute to the characters who've meant the most to me over the past two years, who despite their NPC status I tend to think of as mine, namely Edouard Ramos and Sera Helene. Just the RP experiences I've had with these two characters alone make all the headaches of being an SP worth it. Everyone else that I've had the opportunity to play on occasion, from Vivienne to Getheaht, from Bertram to Anastasia (the crazy potato lady), has just been a bit of icing on the cake.
I was going to put in a list of things that I won't miss about Marrach, but it's really quite a puny list, and as I write I realize I don't have any need to be so petty as I take my exit. In truth, I'm going miss quite a bit about Marrach, most especially the wonderful, creative people I've come to know over the past two years. If you're interested in keeping in touch, I'm going to leave my two SP addresses
deri@marrach.skotos.net and spderi@earthlink.net active for a couple of weeks, so you can let me know and I'll pass on my regular email and/or ICQ. Just be patient if I don't get back to you right away, cause some time tomorrow I'm going to be signing off the computer for my week-long Marrach detox (7 rooms, 7 days, 1 big bucket of cleaning supplies). When I'm done with that, I'll be turning my attention to some new projects, fiction primarily, though there is some small chance that I might eventually end up doing something new with Skotos. The whole concept of interactive storytelling that first drew me to Skotos still fascinates me, and....well, that's a subject for another day.
The last thing I want to say is this: I am proud of Marrach. I love what it has become, and I have great hopes for its future. While I know there are those who will celebrate to see me go (there's no sense in denying it, but please have the grace to wait to start the party until after I've left the building), I feel that I have given my very best effort into making Marrach a thriving storytelling community, and I feel that I have been successful in those efforts. I'm not asking for reward or even acknowledgement from anyone. I just want to say that I'm proud of what I've done here. I'm proud.
So....bye!
Splut! Deri has departed.