Whatever happened to those CATCH posts?
So I had a run of posts under the CATCH heading, about an ongoing Tale of Four Gamers style event, however I have gone quiet on this recently.
Personally, it was because I had other models I had to paint for a deadline and I wasn't getting as much painting time in as planned so I decided to focus on the stuff I had to get done for a tournament rather than the stuff that was just for a personal challenge.
However...
Without me pushing and driving the other participants, it has seemed to have fallen flat. One of the participants messaged me to say he'd just made the deadline for the full points in painting. He is the only one to score so far this month. With four days left to score in the "late points" window, I am not expecting anyone else to get anything. This competitor has leapt up to second place, averaging 5 points per month... which means the 40 points I scored in months one and two looks fairly unassailable. Now this wasn't about competing with each other but with ourselves really, but at the same time I must admit, I work harder at it when others are driving me on.
The most disappointing part for me has been all my efforts to forge a narrative for us all to engage in has fallen flat. This was the key thing I was trying to recreate from my first (and still best) Tale, the participants getting involved in the story and coming up with fun little character quirks to reflect our battles and grudges. I have done many pots, leaving plot hooks and introducing the silent partners through my games, but so far only one person has joined in with the narrative element of it.
In all honesty, I'm not enjoying being the only kid in the imagination sandbox.
Plus, all anyone has been talking of lately is 8th edition, and to be fair that will likely have a dramatic impact on peoples army builds, so I suppose I can forgive them if painting the models they've currently got planned isn't their top priority.
So, I'm basically not pushing the catch any more. I'll let it run the planned time, and if any of the participants ask for details or let me know how they're getting on, I'll keep scoring it. Personally I'm focussed on project:dangerzone which will see me taking a small force of Orks to two tournaments in what looks to be the last hurrah for 7th edition, if the rumoured release date of June 10th is accurate.
As for Fred and Barney? I will continue with the CATCH series of articles and my own storylines to do with it, after the small danger zone hiatus. Potentially when 8th drops I may have to reshuffle my plans slightly, but I'm not exactly doing a competitive build anyway so can't see me changing too much, unless there is a dramatic drop in points cost for orks that sees me needing to do more units to fill out the standard size army.
So fear not, the CATCH story will continue, I just need to find that loving feeling first... hence project: dangerzone ;)
Personally, it was because I had other models I had to paint for a deadline and I wasn't getting as much painting time in as planned so I decided to focus on the stuff I had to get done for a tournament rather than the stuff that was just for a personal challenge.
However...
Without me pushing and driving the other participants, it has seemed to have fallen flat. One of the participants messaged me to say he'd just made the deadline for the full points in painting. He is the only one to score so far this month. With four days left to score in the "late points" window, I am not expecting anyone else to get anything. This competitor has leapt up to second place, averaging 5 points per month... which means the 40 points I scored in months one and two looks fairly unassailable. Now this wasn't about competing with each other but with ourselves really, but at the same time I must admit, I work harder at it when others are driving me on.
The most disappointing part for me has been all my efforts to forge a narrative for us all to engage in has fallen flat. This was the key thing I was trying to recreate from my first (and still best) Tale, the participants getting involved in the story and coming up with fun little character quirks to reflect our battles and grudges. I have done many pots, leaving plot hooks and introducing the silent partners through my games, but so far only one person has joined in with the narrative element of it.
In all honesty, I'm not enjoying being the only kid in the imagination sandbox.
Plus, all anyone has been talking of lately is 8th edition, and to be fair that will likely have a dramatic impact on peoples army builds, so I suppose I can forgive them if painting the models they've currently got planned isn't their top priority.
So, I'm basically not pushing the catch any more. I'll let it run the planned time, and if any of the participants ask for details or let me know how they're getting on, I'll keep scoring it. Personally I'm focussed on project:dangerzone which will see me taking a small force of Orks to two tournaments in what looks to be the last hurrah for 7th edition, if the rumoured release date of June 10th is accurate.
As for Fred and Barney? I will continue with the CATCH series of articles and my own storylines to do with it, after the small danger zone hiatus. Potentially when 8th drops I may have to reshuffle my plans slightly, but I'm not exactly doing a competitive build anyway so can't see me changing too much, unless there is a dramatic drop in points cost for orks that sees me needing to do more units to fill out the standard size army.
So fear not, the CATCH story will continue, I just need to find that loving feeling first... hence project: dangerzone ;)
Hummmm.
ReplyDeleteI have felt the same at times. You have my sympathy; I have years of background materials for an FRPG campaign (which is still 'live' really) which would inform and provides leads and ideas for the PCs only the players never bothered to read any of it.
It does make one disinclined to continue facilitating something which begins to feel like a vanity project rather than a collaborative effort. Oh well.
My flatmate has issues like this with d+d... he comes up with clever puzzles and riddles, and if the party show up they tend to just "solve" the riddle by setting fire to it or something like that... it is exasperating for him.
DeleteI thought that this time, by asking more of people, then those who were frequent flakers on previous tales would be disinclined to sign up, leaving a dedicated core. That was the theory. Unfortunately the dedicated core was a relative term. I won't criticise anyone for lacking time to update regularly, but we're three quarters of the way through technically, and three quarters of my participants (not including myself) haven't even started...
To be fair. Even though I haven't met any of the painting deadlines.it has spurred me on to get the admech done. Even managed to get everything at least three colours for a tournament. Ironic that I get my war con done just in time for it to be invalidated. Lol
ReplyDeleteWell I'm glad it spurred you on a bit, but since phase 2 ended, I have had one person tell me they've completed the models for a phase. That's it. I'm pretty sure we're at the end of the entire thing by now and no one else has even asked for an update on it. If something can be taken away and no one notices, kinda makes you question why you were putting in the effort to lay it all out in the first place.
DeleteI don't fault you in this ken, you embraced it. You used it to get an army painted, hell you joined in with the narrative, no one else did. I think next time I'll just challenge you to a tale-dual, we can bounce ideas and narrative off each other :P