Hear ye, hear ye, fallen citizens, plagued demons, rebel angels and brave heroes. Mercenaries, profiteers, and everyone in-between just trying to make it by on Stitia. Here is an update on the Saga, and even though I won't be acting on this for literal months, maybe not even this year, I'd like to go ahead and share this information now.

I talked amongst those most invested in the Saga and held a pool for the next move. It was very clear continuing the Saga in the style that it was in was going to be nigh on impossible for everyone involved. It was too complex to keep up with as a host when I didn't have hours on end I literally had no choice but to devote to it. We lost players as well because this investment was mutual; if you couldn't keep up with everyone else as a player, you lost out on rewards. And when I did try to set up a sort of "schedule" that didn't work for the Saga's style. I'd still need to be on standby for players with short form responses, as well as cases where I had to run things play-by-play. It felt very much like I was trying to run a bunch of miniature D&D campaigns at once.

I held a vote on Discord among the most invested players, whether they showed frequent participation, exceptional interest, or long-term contribution. There, I gave them three options:

1. I dumb things down but do what I can to retain the Stitia Formula. I'd have to railroad things a bit more, but this would make it far easier for me to keep up with as host.
2. Skip to the more major plot points and run a Tournament Style Saga, much more railroaded but with much less demand from everyone.
3. Since the saga was already practically a D&D campaign of sorts (just with a super split party) run a Stitia D&D campaign on Discord. Text based, of course, because not all of us feel confident talking on our microphones. Plus, with my crap internet and ASD it's a lot easier for me to play things slowly and type detailed responses than leave out important details on accident verbally.

With how successful Sagas like Colonizers (I'll get to it eventually guys I promise) and Tournament of Champions have been, I expected people to vote for option two. But it's clear that people desired the gritty feel that Stitia was known for. They loved getting more heavily invested in characters than traditional sagas allowed. They loved the risks, the freedom, the creative passion and the reactivity of the world. And as such, in a 3 to 1 vote, they chose the D&D campaign. Only one person voted for the simplified saga, and no one voted for a Tournament-style Saga.

What Does This Mean For The Current Saga?

I didn't think the saga was worth saving at this point in delay; everyone would need to remember what the heck is even going on, plus continuing from that point as a D&D Campaign would be unfair for those not participating. I was already apprehensive because I know not everyone has access to Discord, let alone is willing to use it for long term roleplay, plus there's also people unfamiliar with D&D! But considering everyone I asked was attached to the Saga in one way or another, this is what they want, and I'd be lying if I said this isn't a desirable outcome; D&D campaigns set expectations for everyone much better than a Saga like Stitia does. They allow a level of robust interaction I desired from Stitia, and with a linked party I no longer need to worry about keeping up with 8 different plot lines in eight different points of time.

More details will come soon, but for now, I'm just making sure the news is out there.