I abruptly disappeared from these forums around a year ago, leaving two online games, and various other conversations.... and I apologize for that rudeness. (Especially to Timothy.)
Real-life intruded quite messily: As I was breaking up with a girlfriend, she got hit with metastatic cancer from which she isn't going to recover. I might have sent email then regarding my availability but kept putting it off. My own life remains a bit unkempt, I don't expect to be as involved here as I was, but I do want to resurface and let people know.
Ken, life happens and games are less important. So sorry about your girlfriend. That's just terrible.
I seem to recall the last time we were in a game together I flaked off to go have OCD issues for several months.
I haven't been able to keep the game going properly while you were away. I think I should just formally close it. That's embarassing, but I think basically all the players have found better things to do with their time. Your advice before you left, which was that the slow-post, storygame, PC-driven structure of the thing gave it a low probability of success was bang on the money, by the way.
Thanks! That wasn't quite my advice, fwiw. The crux of my advice is that especially in a PBeM, I believe that a GM has to contribute at least as much material as any player, and that your penchant for brevity works against this, despite the elegance you achieve. GM-provided detail is the fuel of player involvement.
