Meh, no worries.

It's silly.  I'm just one guy.  But I swear, it's like a tiny little website version of the Arthurian legends... when I'm here and doing well, the Inn does well.  When I'm not, the land - er, the Inn - seems to suffer.

"standard event number eleven", "The crew was quiet a moment as the dust and Artie particles settled.."

My sides! 

Some of you veteran players know me, and likely know somethign of my track record. 

For a good long time (see: the Golden Age of the Inn), I was always logged in here.  Always present.  I ran some really active games that had super dedicated players, and the games ran literally for years.  I wrote code, made the Inn from nothing.  We had this vibrant core community with lots of plyers in and out.  There were active games in pretty much every category in the forums, all sorts of chitchat.  While this site was never huge, it did really well.

Somehow, somewhere... things got off track.

I got off track.

I don't even remember when the first time was that I flaked, but I did... some game I was running was struggling, I tried to give players time, then this happened or that happened, and suddely... weeks turned into months, and the game was dead. 

I have flaked manytimes since.  On games I was running.  On games I was playing in.  I'd be here, hot and heavy, then... something would happen. 

Part of it was plain old depression.  I see and understand that now.  But that seems way to easy of an answer.  Why did I lose my "present-ness" at the Inn?

A few months back, I decided to make one more run at it.  Now, I'm in a better place mentally.  But I'm still crazy busy.  How would I manage?

I gave try number four - yes, you read that correct, FOUR at a D&D/horror adventure that I've been wanting to run for YEARS. 

It started off really well, so before long... I started a Paranoia game.  And it did well.

And then, I dug up my Trek game that had laid idle for a year.  Finsihed it up.  Got so much response that I started another... and now, we have started a little Star Trek fleet, with one other active game going, a third that might go, and a little talk of maybe even more.

I am here.  I'm keeping my games up to date.  When I hit player issues, we deal and keep going. 

My D&D game is farther along than any other try ever got.  Paranoia is still doing pretty well.  Trek is white hot. 

I have added code, done some updates here at the Inn, have more in mind.

I am honestly, truly "back" for the first time since my eleven year old was born? 

I sure hope so.

10-4, Duncan.

Cedric lays his hands on the man's wounds and appeals to the god of light and life, and the injuries visibly improve.  The woodsman has no time for gratitude now, though; he is desperate to return to his family.

"This way!" he cries.  "Tha cabin es jest over tha ridge!" 

As you move, Cedric peppers questions at him.  He is unsure as to the exact number of attackers - a half dozen or more, he thinks.  The attack was less than a half hour ago.  He cannot place anything strange, save the dead attacking his home.

You crest a ridge and behold a scene that corroborates the wounded man's tale.  A sturdy log cabin sits ahead, with several shambling forms milling around it.  Wooden shutters are closed fast in the fading light

The heavy wooden front foor is cracked and lies off its hinges.  Seeing this, the man pitifully cries out.  "Gods, no!  Ella!  Boys!  Please 'elp them!" he pleads. "Oh, gods!  Mother, save them!" 

There appars to be but one entrance in or out of the cabin.  There are several undead outside - all appar to be of the slower zombie form.  There is no way to know if the man's family lives, or how many undead might be inside. 

A'ight now.  Where all my clones at?

Like that, with pointier teeth, fangs and yellow eyes.

Yep.  Tiny little gigglers.  Terrifying preteen giglers.  Child gigglers.  A crrawling baby gigler.

Why would I trap you here?  I mean, c'mon.  Sure, I'm the evil GM in a horror themed game, but you just give me no credit.  I am WOUNDED, I say.

Post coming today.  I'll be NPCing Midge; Keeper had something come up. 

Heh... loved some of Eol's in-game comments, as always. 

I have a post coming that does not involve the Captain. 

Just spitballing here.

Bromern has the compter deleting all of Asovils' reports. Add inthe mysterious calls, and we clearly have some cloak and dagger stuff going on.

Giddy just introduced the computer malfunctioning.  Nothing serious, just some weridness. 

I'm curious if those turn out to be related.

No worries.  I will give us all a few days to respond and whatnot. 

Nobody has mentioned Asovil's issue to Drake, either in the game or in the Q&A, so I'm playing it that he is unaware.  When he finds out... he'll be upset, for sure.  This is a good spot to tell him, unless you'd rather do it in a one on one situatuon later.

I have assumed that all department heads will be at the briefing.  If that isn't the case, let me know. 

I intend to push the game date along pretty soon; feel free to keep up the "get to know you" stuff via backposts once that happens, but I want the game to keep rolling.

Stardate 2365.02.19
USS Peregrine, Captain's Mess - 1600

Captain Drake sat at the head of the rectangular table and let his gaze drift to each officer seated there. To his right was Lieutenant Commander Zai - his Executive Officer - followed by Lieutenant Sh'iraolnas and Doctor Reine. To Drake's left was Lieutenant Commander Thorson, followed Lieutenant Tal and Lieutenant Nyle.  The foot of the table remained empty.

The Captain's Mess was a cozy little space tucked away on deck two, and it served two functions. First, it was the space reserved for private meals hosted by the Captain; most often, these would be handpicked officers, guests, diplomats, or other VIPs. Second, it was used to host meetings such as this.

On larger ships, staff meetings would typically take place in a larger observation lounge, but a Saber class vessel had no such luxury.

One of Drake's first acts as commanding officer had been to have a tabletop holographic projector installed here in the Captain's Mess. He had originally intended to mount a proper viewscreen, but the cramped quarters prevented doing so in any spot where at least a few people would not end up with their back to it. So, instead, he had gone with the tabletop unit, and it had proven to be wise decision.

Everyone was present and on time, not that Silas was surprised; he couldn't recall a starfleet vessel where discipline and punctuality had een issues. Silas differ from some commanding officers in that he did not believe in daily staff meetings; such gatherings of the senior staff were usually reserved for shipwide efforts, the discussion of new mission orders, or other matters of wide import. The Captain felt that officers senior enough to be qualified to run a department should be trusted to do so without endless meetings and red tape, believing that his department heads would come to him if anything required his personal attention. Instead, he chose to meet with each in one on one situations every two or three weeks to stay caught up. However, Drake made it a point to stay very well informed about the state of the ship; he read every bridge watch log, daily department summary, incident or exception report, and kept a close eye on all of the critical system readouts. When the time came for one of the "face to face" meetings with a subordinate, Drake almost always knew exactly where a given project stood. The joke around the ship was that the Captain had unseen eyes everywhere, and truth be told... Silas liked it that way.

Looking around the table, Silas drew a breath.  "Thank you all for joining me," he stated.  "Once again, the Peregrine has seen a large amount of turnover; I'd like to officially welcome Lieutenant Tal, Lieuteanant Nyle, and Doctor Reine aboard.  Furthermore, I'd like to welcome Commander Thorson back."

Drake glanced down at his PADD for a moment before continuing.  "Let's go ahead and address the elephant in the room.  I am well aware that my face has been plastered all over the holovids of late.  Yes, I was court martialed for my actions in the Gamera system.  I was, in fact, aquitted of all serious charges.  No, I am not particularly intrested in rehashing any of this.  My focus is on the missions to come, as should yours be."

After a slight pause, he continued.  "Now, then.  Since Lieutenant Lasad has transferred out, I do need to name a Second Officer."  Glancing to his left, he acknowledged his new Tactical Chief.  "Lieutenant Tal, you have tehcnically been a full Lieutenant longer than Lieutenant Nyle.  However, while on medical leave, you did not accumulate seniority, which means that Lieutenant Nyle has a little over three months on you.  This makes the decision very clear."  Drake then fixed his gaze on the new Daa'Vit Operations chief.  "Congratulations, Lieutenant Nyle - you are now offically the Second Officer of the USS Peregrine."

OOC: any response

"Moving on," the Captain spoke as the projector flared to life to reveal a star chart,  "Starfleet Command has ordered us to proceed to the Trevil system, which lies in the middle of an important shipping lane that has come under attack several times by pirate vessels in the past few weeks.  Starfleet Intelligence has reason to believe that another attack is immenent, so we will be patrolling the lane from Trevil, through Akgor, and back as far as Denbir."  A glance around the table revealed less than enthused expressions.  "Yes, we have drawn guard duty, which is hardly glamorous or iteresting - but which is vital to the interests of the Federation."

His gaze settled back on Kara.  "Lieutenant Tal, I got your message.  I think that drills are an excellent idea.  I'd like for you to put together a proposed schedule, and have it on my desk by 0900 on Monday, please."

OOC: any response

The Captain looked back around the table.  "Are there any other concerns?  Any items I should know about, anything else that we should be preparing for?"

OOC: any responses, now is the time.  Otherwise, I'll wrap the meeting and push things forward.

Dude.  You guys keep saying that.  I'm not sure I'm smart enough to write that tool! 

I have created a new tool for prospective captains - the crew allocatio tool.  I updated the menu, moved it and Stardate Calc under "Utilities". 

Use this new tool to figure out how many officers and crew you might need in any given department of a new ship.  Suggest your own custom departments, change percentages as you see fit for your mission needs - but the basics here will get you very set on prety much any ship.

There ya go.  I killed the duplicate stub, and moved Max to the GWC.

Bromern, I can do it for you from the back end.  Stand by!

Eight again!

Goodness.  The poor man is desperate.  Maybe ya'll are an answer to his prayers, hmm?  Such a jaded approach, holy man! 

Dude!  Pics add so much!

Noice!!!

An officer who is from a traditional staff officer position can still be part of the chain of command - see Deeana Troi in TNG.  They need to have completed command training; your CSO should include that as part of their background.   

Perhaps they did that specifically for a ship like this.

We did this back with the Discovery; our Chief Engineer completed command training and became our second officer, eventually became Captain of his own ship.

Godspeed Avanti!  I miss you, man! 

I've done this a time or ten.