Sat Jan 18 17:58:32 2020

At 8 o'clock AM, Day of Thunder, 10th of the Month of the Dragon
on the Theran calendar Pohdtid perished, never to return.

Thanks for the PBF.

I created Pohdtid because I wanted to explore. I wanted to locate all of the objects and have the fly commune, etc. That worked out super well.

Initially the character was supposed to be super simple. A damaged child dragged from the Azure fields. Wanted him to be a bit “off” so I imagined him eating something like tide pods and that doing some lasting damage. (Tide pod —> Pohdtid. Genius-level character creation and development. I’m available for consultations and bar mitzvahs )

Decided to check out Fortress. Scribe-life seemed a good fit. Fortress is generally heavily-skewed acolyte/scribe-wise, which is fine.

The Fort Quest/Event ended up fundamentally changing the character, forcing him to mature more quickly. That was a good challenge in some ways and frustrating in others. I felt like I could see the direction we were being taken and had to convince others. Tried to be sincere and thoughtful, though it sounds like the openness I was attempting came across sometimes in a more negative way, even standoffish or pretentious. Sorry about that. I invested too much time/energy into this with little to show for it. I could/should have backed off a bit because it was really getting to me. (I think Rahs may have witnessed a temper tantrum from me after things had all but settled. I had overdosed on Fort drama)

One thing I decided was that Pohdtid would unconsciously pick out somebody and follow them around. Would learn bits about the world from them. Be a bit of the small cartoon dog to the big “Spike”. The mother/father protector figure that he was missing.

At first that was Alrion, then Gruntner later on. Had many of the character’s best times with the two of them.

Alrion - You beast. Had a great time fighting alongside you and was genuinely bummed when you deleted. Showed me some neat stuff.

Gruntner - I remember when this character first came on the scene and remember a little conversation we had that made me open my eyes to a few things. Really enjoyed being forced to reexamine where I was coming from on things and your commitment really helped that. Then, like with Alrion, I enjoyed running around trying to figure stuff out, talking about how to get your brewery started, etc. Sorry I can’t do any more of it. Maybe we'll meet up in another pairing some other time.

Aurew - Definitely lifted the bar for me. Enjoyed the character immensely and largely enjoyed what that did to/for Pohdtid. Thank you for being such a great, committed example.


Thanks to IMMs new and old for keeping this beast of a game breathing after all these years.

Padwei - Thanks for the talks and encouragement. It wasn’t the path that I envisioned when I rolled the character. Was good to see you back.

Korsgaard - Will have to try a Kors follower sometime. Love your presence in the Fortress and your shepherding of the Fortie flock. Solid rep for your religion, the cabal and the game itself.

Ishuli - I’m sorry. This was really disappointing. I could tell that we weren’t on the same page and couldn’t seem to convey that I was needing a helping hand to get right. Not a ding on you, the Ishuli religion or anything. Just saying that we had different expectations. For me, I rarely if ever will send a direct tell to an Imm. I understand everyone has their own procedures. I will go to a shrine (or what feels like an appropriate place) and pray for an immortal, and as I’ve heard from other imms, will wait 5-10 minutes max, then go about my way, leaving the decision on contact to come from the IMM at their convenience. To see your comment on the PBF just highlights the two ships passing feel of this and left a bad taste in my mouth. On my side, I was expecting (or hoping for) more response to prays/notes/shrine-time or at least something that says I was doing poorly so I could try and correct that. Instead, I felt left in limbo. 550 hours (491 of those at hero) and I still wanted to find that connection, or re-connect but because I ended up feeling abandoned. Again, not meant as a dig. I can see some things that I failed and I could/should have been more direct with a “Help!” but… 550 hours?

Jormyr - I remember that little interaction in Voralian City. Thank you for it but I’m still annoyed that you bailed so quickly. And then you throw the dig into the imm comment? Bah humbug, say I!

Fortress - Keep it up, find those joys, keep those palms open. Can be difficult to find your flow/focus so speak up if and when you’re having issues and/or frustrations. You’re stronger together. Thanks for all I learned from you and I hope I wasn’t too much of a pill.


My memory is blanking on other actual names of friends/enemies at the moment. If you’d like a word feel free to drop your name here.

Wish I'd done better, but that's what next time is for.

After your intro, I couldn't read the rest without my mind read "Tide Pods" every where is saw your name.

I got to interact with early and late Tode Pod and appreciated each time I did.

GLWYN!

I don’t take it as a dig. So no worries there. Prepare for a longer-than-necessary post because you were kind enough to share your thoughts!

I watched you come to the shrine a number of times and talk to Aelekai, without praying, and so I was waiting watching for the pray like “Aha, maybe, here we go!” – but that’s different from Ishuli. Ish is focused, scholastic, very aloof when it comes to emotional needs/comfort/encouragement/etc. It’s one of the last things on her mind since she’s focused on whatever interesting/intriguing/research thing is at hand. That *totally* doesn’t mesh with everyone, and I’m aware of it. So no insult taken at all, just like no insult was intended when I said you were a great char but less than Ish-tastic. Sometimes things don’t click – and not everything has to. Heck, I’ve had followers before who chastised Ishuli about her approach to some things (validly, from their RP).

I read every note you sent, and have them all saved and organized, and was ready to chat about them at Pohdtid’s request (and challenge them and push you to do something even more ridiculous).

In general you have to go to an Imm’s shrine and pray. The best time to do it is when they’re visible, since 99% of the time that’s advertising they are free. You prayed a number of times when I wasn’t visible, or online at all, but then when I was visible you didn’t pray – though you did come by and talk to a shrine-mob.

Sorry it left a bad taste in your mouth, best thing I can encourage you to do in religions in general is to “be up front” and if you’re feeling lost, hit your imm up – not just notes, not prays when they’re offline – but a pray while they’re visible while you’re online and let them know what’s up IC.

You **weren’t** doing poorly when we did talk, Pohdtid came across as sensitive but cheerful, encouraging/emotional, and focused on goodness from a more personal side than Ishuli would. That’s perfectly fine! But Ishuli’s religion demands a sort of focused approach where research>other things. My chance to nudge you about that is when you pray to me and we have a chat. Otherwise Ishuli just assumes you’re not interested in the discussion or you’d be bugging her to have it (she has research too, ya’ know!).

Still, great character and you brought a lot of fun to a lot of folks, so don’t take it as a jab, and don’t let it leave a bad taste in your mouth .

-Ish

>In general you have to go to an Imm’s shrine and pray. The
>best time to do it is when they’re visible, since 99% of the
>time that’s advertising they are free. You prayed a number
>of times when I wasn’t visible, or online at all, but then
>when I was visible you didn’t pray – though you did come
>by and talk to a shrine-mob.
>


I always figured if you were vis, you were dealing with stuff. I swear 75% of the time, I see an imm, and run to their shrine they are already talking with a mort. I usually like to give the pair space unless asked to join. It irks me if I make the effort to get an imms attention via prayer or arranged meeting (if I have odd times) and someone else crashes the party.

Or, if they are vis and not at the shrine, they are often dealing with Cabal matters.

I have never really viewed as an advertisement that you are free.

I'm sure everyone is different but if I'm vis, it means open office hours.* Since we don't have to vis to everyone to interact with a person there's a good chance we interact with people more often than when you see us.

*This doesn't mean you don't have to pray to get our attention.

If I am vis, it means I am ready to roleplay with anyone who is willing and ready. IMMs who are vis are IN CHARACTER.


Please spare us OOC questions if you can. Send those by note or pray too.

(n/t)

Thanks for the thoughts.

I started playing in 94/95 and it's the first time I've ever had a misfire with a religion and that frustrated the heck out of me. The more frustrated I'd get, the more I'd try to reach out but also try not to be annoying about it. Wanted to make things work but I didn't know how to meet your expectations on how to even ask how that might be possible.

Might I propose that one moment (echo, tell, note, etc) of something like "You apparently don't care about your studies" so a future Pohdtid-like follower might have more of a clue that they're apparently off-track? If it's not something that can ultimately really get dialed-in, then that's fine.

In a game where there is so much value in the "yes, and" of improv and creating things together, the vacuum of limited-to-no response is a different form of death.

I feel like together we might have been able to have a better time.

Hopefully I wasn't a major source of it. Though it was part of his role within the issue to create...problems. Otherwise you seemed to do well. Good luck with your next.

Pohdtid wanted to knock Sel over the head. I definitely admired the commitment you made. There were a few storylines crossing over each other and I was trying to keep them separate and/or figure out what was actually going on. There were some things Sel would say that I just couldn't go along with logically, even to just see where they went, or they'd just be flat wrong or obviously a bunch of baloney. But again, definitely appreciated that you gave yourself over to it. Thumbs up.

Both OOC and IC. C had mixed feelings, surely, but you were definitely one of her favorite forties, and one of the only ones she thought had any sense. I hope my feigned ambivalence didn't come off as OOC disinterest. I wish we could have been closer IC (omg i want a healer friend!), but things are what they are.

I also totally thought this was an Emnon challenge character, fwiw. We had some really interesting interactions early on in our character's lives.

GLWYN

Big Cex fan here. I remember there at the Crystal Island you got the rather pointed "Uhhhh, no good to be hanging with this Azuretouched loser" from Aylosi and we parted ways. Made me wish I'd picked a less unnatural race. Appreciated that we could have a sort of mutual respect, agree-to-disagree sort of relationship. I was always interested in what the heck was going on with the challenge and still have no clue.

- Nulstomm

Brief summary from my perspective: Great Fortress member, great goodie, great friend, less than great Ish-follower.

If I were just casually watching you, you were cool. But as an Ish-follower I feel like we never clicked and that you weren't that interested in your study. I watched hoping to see discussions of your study, a heavy focus on it, dismissing other things since your research is more important, etc. but I never really saw any of that. You came across more like a cool chill guy to hang out with. Which made you great for general stuff, but less than Ish'tastic.

With that said, great job on reaching death and leading a lot of folks to having fun , GJ on the character.

-Ish

Wow, where to start man. At first, Gruntner found you a bit pretentious and hard to talk too. We had a disagreement IC, and I was sure I was just going to ignore everything you said from there out. Well was I ever surprised... you ended up being one of my lifelong best friends, and we went and explored lots of things I had never seen before. Found several mysteries, some of which still need investigating. Lots of fun banter, and inside jokes.. And you were a great voice of reason, and temperment for an otherwise eager to fight and solve things with combat Gruntner. Fantastic job, and you are definitely missed. GLWYN!

2 bread for the win!

>2 bread for the win!


I am stillmaking bread to find my way through mazes ever since... Haha.

You were a great voice of reason and calm when Fort needed it. Hope to see you around again soon!