Right now, Athanor is a design exercise. Life has lately dealt me a hand which is not full of lots of extra time. For instance, next week begins my three-week "vacation" -- which is just a vacation from my job. I plan to use most of that time reading, writing, and working on my literature review for my dissertation. By the end of next year I need to have a full lit review, research proposal, and IRB proposal approved, so my free time tends to end up filled with research.
Working full-time while getting your doctorate takes up a lot of time.
At some point, and some point in the fairly near future, I just need to start making time to run this thing. Back when I was an undergraduate (in the mists of the mid-to-late 1980s), finding time for such things was easy. Of course, I had a part-time job, none of my friends worked full-time, I was pretty good at procrastination and just-in-time course completion, I wasn't married, and didn't even have a dog to take care of. I could just have a few friends walk to my door and we'd run a game once a week. Easy.
These days, my gaming friends are scattered across the county and the country, their schedules are hard to coordinate, and everyone has an opinion about what games they will and absolutely will not play. It's a much bigger pain in the butt. And my wife isn't particularly interested in playing either. Sigh.
As a result, I sense that my work Athanor is missing a sense of mission, place and urgency. Designing and organizing a game, while fun and worthwile to watch, is always a bit less satisfying than running the game. Largely, I think, because the real game isn't in what the DM does, but in what the players do, and how they give life and favor to the campaign.
All I can say is that as a bystander I am enjoying watching the world of Athanor unfold.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy reading about Athanor and also feel your pain, being in a very similar position.
ReplyDeleteI run games online (PBeM or PBP), which isn't as satisfying as face to face play but at least it's something, and gets around scheduling issues. There's also play by chat of course.
Thanks for the support and suggestions. I won't be in a place to even think about gaming again until after July, when I know how my finances, work life, and academic life are going to balance. My time looks a little crazier already due to a workshop I am leading (and need to plan!) in September... which is already leading to phone calls and emails from people who want to talk about the topic with their programs!
ReplyDeleteFor what it's worth, I can definitely sympathize with you. Working full time, going to grad school part time, having a social life, and trying to work up gaming material on top of it all can be a real recipe for frustration.
ReplyDeleteAll I can say is that you're not alone in the situation you're in, and those of us who're following can offer up at least moral support.
Keep up the good work!