Since we started Fandible, we have prided ourselves on playing numerous games. From the new indies to more establish properties, we have wanted to try a bit of everything. After two years of this though, it has begun to take its toll. A toll no one, for a long time, had been willing to acknowledge. Each of us going to a different game every week, playing a completely different character, and barely remembering what was happening to older characters when we returned to a previous game. A slow tired haze was beginning to engulf us.
The ice was finally broken when Angela and Billy brought up the fact that they they were getting a bit tired. That this was slowly losing its fun and becoming more of a job. With that, it seemed that an invisible stress line was suddenly broken in the group. Everybody was finally ready to acknowledge that something needs to change.
So, what did we decide to do? Well first off, we took a FandiVacation (note to self: putting Fandi in front of anything makes it awesome). We knew we had enough of a podcast buffer that we can take a few weeks off and come back refreshed.
With that out of way, we can now focus on our core games. Rogue Trader, Unhallowed Metropolis, Hollow Earth Expedition and Billy’s new zombie campaign, The Shambling. Along with the odd short one shot we might play after a longer session. Games such as Final Girl and Fiasco. That also means other games will not be returned to any time soon, if at all. Part-Time Gods, Honor & Intrigue, and other one shots with open endings will be left to the wayside. The only exceptions being other members picking up their specialty games. Daniel with a new game he is planning to run (it’s a surprise) and David with Shadowrun. There are also games that must be played for various reasons, such as  Numenera because Monte Cook can do no wrong and Atomic Robo because SCIENCE!
Finally, we are going to do arcs. You may have already heard of us barely remembering what our characters were doing during a previous session. The time between sessions had become way too long to remember every detail of the campaign. Hopefully, now that won’t be an issue. We are going to take 3 to 4 week arcs per campaign, then switch it off to the next person for the next game.
What does this mean to our fans? Nothing at first. We still have a buffer of random games we have played to go through. After that, you should see a focus on the main games. Hopefully being able to finish them sometime this century. At least I hope so, although according to Ray Kurzweil, we will be immortal by then.
With less time to worry about what new game we should play, we can focus in on the Fandicade and the Fandiblog. Hopefully providing you guys with new content over the summer.
Thanks for listening, and hopefully you will stick around for however long it takes us to be awesome. I mean, I know we are awesome, but I mean more awesome. The next tier in the awesomeness scale…. *Ninja Smoke*
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What’s that? Fandible is closing down?! PANIC!
Well, I was actually wondering about this thing a few weeks ago when I listened to a few of your podcasts. Can you keep steaming onwards with new game every week.
You found a new solution, and it seems like a better way to schedule games. Looking forward to see what shenanigans you lot get up to.
Can only speak for one of your listeners, but the main attraction of the FandiCasts has always been the energy and FandiThusiasm that you guys bring to the table.
Sorry, FandiTable.
It’s sad to see Part-Time Gods go, but: Yay, Unhallowed Metropolis! Rogue Trader! New stuff! ATOMIC ROBOOO! Angela’s HEXes! David’s Shadowrun! (it is the official Year of the Shadowrun, after all, so y’all got some catching up to do) 😉
It will be interesting to hear what changes it’ll bring when you’re playing longer campaigns, rather than skipping from one-shot to one-shot. Ironically, most gaming groups tend to suffer burnout from the tedium of prolonged campaigns, whereas you guys have run into the opposite problem: the ennui of endless, unconnected one-night FandiStands. 😛
Three cheers for Fandible! (Now make with the podcasts, awready.)
I can certainly understand the feeling of burnout, and although I’m sad it won’t be an adventure to predict what RPG you’re going to play next I think your core series are great, and it’s better that you don’t burn out on it.
I’m sure that I saw a link to an Obsidian Portal wiki from you guys at one point. If you guys don’t still use it I highly suggest that you do. We started using one for our Rogue Trader campaign, and now it’s hard to imagine RPGing without it. We can keep track of all those little one-shot characters that pop up now and again, and then my players can go through campaign history and start suggesting interactions with them or bringing up continuity easily, and I feel it’s really improved our immersion.
It helps that I am a crazy person who frantically documents everything about our campaign, but still. Incredibly useful tool.
The Obsidian portal page was something I set up when we first started the campaign to give the guys an idea of the background of the world. With this now being session 13 of a long term campaign, it might be time for me to sit down and fill that thing out. Your right Erathia, it might make our lives a bit easier.
Have to say I’m glad to hear that you are concentrating on your core games, especially as e core contains unhallowed metropolis! When I decided to go and do an actual play of unmet I went looking for other podcasts that had episodes of it and that’s what got me hooked over here!
I have no idea how you kept going running a different game each week, my brain struggles to remember the rules I literally just read on e page!
That said gaming should be fun! I hope you’ll all feel more invigorated
I just started listening to you guys early this year and I started with the back catalog. After not too long, I found myself skipping around to listen to complete arcs after a while anyway so for me I think this change will be beneficial to the listeners as well.
Question: I’ve just checked out Numenera and it seems like a perfect mix of wild new world and hopeful sci-fi, like 40k without the grimdark meets Hex. You mentioned you were planning to play it, just curious, now that it’s out is that still on the cards?
We already played a session last week and doing a second session this Saturday. The first half of the first game will be posting the beginning of September.
We are definitely having allot of fun with it and its becoming one of our long term games. Man, I am going to need a chart to keep all the different plots in my head.
It’s totally Final Fantasy the RPG. We make many jokes about that. After every battle, we hum the victory music from FF7 while our characters pose.
I’m rather eager to pick up my nihilistic phasing dude again, yes. 😀
I think Penny summarized the setting of Numenera accurately: “It’s basically Mass Effect in Dragon Age.”
I’m having a lot of fun with it, even though my dice curse (imposed on me by an old crone that I slighted years ago) still hangs like an apocalyptic storm cloud over my every roll. If you listen closely, you can hear the faint sounds of locusts as my dice hit the table.
Heh. Was reading it through, the core book, for the first time today and all the while all I could think is ‘this would be perfect for Fandible’, happy to hear I was right. 😛
So with this weeks game being the last of August does that mean she should expect it next Friday? Is Jesus running Numenera?
Yes and yes.
@FandibleDave
Quoted from IMDB:
“CRIT ME TO HELL (2009), US horror movie.
An Irish-American gamer who uses bawdy accents in an old woman’s home finds himself the recipient of a supernatural curse.
Desperate, he turns to a seer to try and save his dice mojo, while evil fumbles work to push him to a breaking point.”