@cogne1982 said in The Writing Craft:

Do you know how to write a movie script? I see that here you have such good links that will help to do this.

Where I could find the screenwriting tips? I think it will help me to create a script for my game that I plan to create.

I've written a couple short film scripts. I can point to a few books and links, but I'm not yet completely awake. I'll see what I can stir up later on today. 🙂

I do highly recommend formatting software (Final Draft for paid and CeltX for a free option) because that part is vital and hand-formatting a script is a PITA. Also finding your own 'method' for development is really important. Going from draft to script is a process; it's rare you just dive right in. A lot of people absolutely swear by Blake Snyder's 'Save the Cat' method (http://www.savethecat.com/) and I have to say... it works. I've got two of the books (Save the Cat and Save the Cat Strikes Back).

It uses a beat sheet:
https://timstout.wordpress.com/story-structure/blake-snyders-beat-sheet/
Here's Toy Story 3: https://www.writersstore.com/toy-story-3-save-the-cat-beat-sheet/
(You can find other films applied to it. A lot of people will analyze movies using Snyder's method. Either as a challenge, as part of a class, or just for fun.)

Personally, I will rough out the general idea of my script using the Snyder beats, then transfer them to index cards. From there, I start fleshing out the gaps. Index cards are another sort of 'standard' (aka commonly used, but not required). A lot of software (Final Draft, CeltX, Scrivener) offers virtual index cards. You can lay them down, move them around, etc. You aren't trapped with them in a static location on the page. You can visualize where they are. That way if you move a scene, you can actually physically move it.

I actually plan out all my stories this way now, once they go past the outline stage. It's usually outline -> index card -> rough draft...

Ahem. Anyway. I'll dig up some more concrete links later. I know I've got some good videos, too.

I and my characters often wear round sunglasses and lately are both pretty pasty, but that's about it.

I've certainly purchased books or watched shows because of a game I was interested in (the 100 comes to mind, though I ended up sticking with the show but not that game). I have to be interested in the subject matter in the first place, though. If the book isn't appealing on it's own (or as a thing I'd play outside that one particular game) I generally don't play at all (which, of course, also means not reading).

@thenomain Not so much around Cybergen, but definately around v3, yeah. Remember at that time he wasn't just trying to keep RTG afloat during a downturn in the RPG industry, he was paying the bills by coding for Microsoft (ironically, his big project was the Crimson Skies game for X-Box, adapted from the FASA game). So, the time around v3 was really stressful and burning the candle at both ends for him.

We are also very active during the day but I thought someone above said they were evening players lol

I have been forgiven a thousand times. I have forgiven a thousand times. And that's just with @Sunny. With others, the same. And sometimes I've deserved forgiveness, sometimes I didn't. Sometimes the person I forgave deserved forgiveness, sometimes they didn't. There is actually only one person that I forgave that I completely regret it now. Though, that person seems to think that they were the wronged party then and that them violating my boundaries in a way that could literally be harmful to me in my day to day and in person life is also me being abusive. But then again, that person is notoriously delusional. Over all, however, I will say that I almost always find that forgiving is worth it, even if the person isn't.

@saosmash said in Apology to Darinelle:

@kanye-qwest I also think "don't take it on yourself to publicly white knight for people who don't put on their big girl pants" would be a good lesson to take from this whole deal.

this isn't the first time this lesson has come up on this board, and it will not be the last.

I had a thought about the Activity portion as I was reminded about the purpose of the three prong method. Character development.

I can see playing a character who begins as 'inactive'. The sort that chills in the bars or chitchats on the street with randos. All until a monster rampages the coffee shop or swarms of rats flood his street. It's a classic call to action and now ChillBro has to act!

Same can be said for an Unlikable or Incompetent. Get nice. Learn. Shake and bake character development.

Reading through all the responses. Thanks for the thoughts. It seems like the best solution is honestly just to ask for the game, or to just keep playing and start to "just do" what we want to do with the overall theme and metaplot. We would ask them for permission first for these things, or try to work with them on their preferences for these things... if they were around.

Because while some are reminding that a week is not a problem, people need to be patient, RL comes first, and so on... the problem is that we are not just talking about someone being offline for a week. We're talking about unannounced 3-4 week absences, where no character applications are processed(!), no stat upgrades are done, and no plot inquiries are answered, because only the missing staff are truly authorized to perform these duties.

Not even character apps are done. Would anyone want to wait three weeks for an app reply? This is doubly frustrating because the game is currently quite active and therefore still gets frequent interest and guests, who then find themselves trapped in approval limbo when they app. We lose new players to this.

I have been around this game on and off since its inception, and have a great deal of affection for it, which is why I am reluctant to name it (the current activity and RP are good despite these issues). But it has always gone through wanes and waxes, and it is frustrating to see it going into another ebb in spite of active players due to the absenteeism of critical staff. So I suppose part of this is just a vent as well.

I would like to be respectful of what these staff want for their game, but it gets difficult when you are essentially down to playing in a static corner because true changes need to run through staff who are not around. It may simply be time to work through it by taking de facto control over more of the metaplot... or to consider creating a new game and transplanting all our RP. Both of these options feel as if they might invite drama, but unless they will pass the game to more active staff they seem like the only options.

Cortex is a mediocre system, in my opinion, that is elevated to greatness by the relationship mechanics. Since those mechanics are applicable on a MU*, I think it would just be a fiddly, 'too many kinds of dice/rolls' system online, whereas it plays wonderfully in tabletop games.

(And having played a couple of urban fantasy/CW supernatural drama games in it, I love the hell out of it. But without the Relationship Map ... eh.)

As someone who still idles on the grid instead of the OOC room, I find that people tend to come to me when I do that. I do also ask in OOC and occasionally PUB, but most of the time, people show up in the IC room I'm in and inquire if there is RP to be had.

@ziggurat I certainly agree that specific events can be ignored or what-have-you. But in terms of wide-spread social wobbling, I think it'd be... disingenuous, I guess, to totally pretend they're not there.

I'm not saying that every plot or NPC or whatever has to react to it outwardly, but the perception and feeling of a time and place should be preserved as much as possible. Naturally, if you're setting a game in now, and an event happens you aren't prepared for, then skirting around it is definitely appropriate especially if it's of a horrific nature.

I'm also not shouting for PCs to react 'authentically' really, though that's an option if that's what you want to explore... There are ways of portraying a level of racism or sexism or homophobia without outright yelling 'bender' every opportunity you get.

Still, games are about fun and if something isn't fun to play, you shouldn't have to play it. That said, if you don't find it fun to explore the causes of, say, the Harlem Renaissance, then you shouldn't use that as your backdrop. If you don't want to explore the legend of the Trojan War, don't set your game in the period that's going on.

Most folks don't play a modern game to explore those themes, and that's fine. But if someone says "oh we're making a game set in the latter half of WWII in California..." some folks are going to think "Okay... so are the Japanese-Americans in camps, or..."

The most interesting complementary question I can think of here to age is 'when did you become involved in the hobby', and perhaps 'have you come and gone somewhat, or have you maintained some level of involvement throughout'.

What brings someone 30 to this now, if they started to play this year, is likely different than what drew them here if they started when the were 12 (and there are a fair number of folks that describes).

Play to find out what happens.

If people were more willing to fail,
and if people were more willing to let others fail interestingly,
this would be a much easier discussion.

@auspice I loved my Lasombra-Lite! Tempted to make another someday.

For my current project, Tate no Yusha no Nariagari would be one of the many titles that one ought to give a read.

@kanye-qwest said in How to: make your poses less repetitive:

I mean I don't play much NOW but I sure did. I am very tall.

I wasn't into theatre much when I was younger, but I am now.

I suppose the word "break" more often than not makes me start singing Linkin Park.

@lemon-fox I think that's my other problem with the system, I hate cyphers. They feel clumsy and shoehorned in. So far my experience with the Cypher system is my experience with most so-called "generic" systems; they're really good at actually doing a handful of things but fall apart when you start looking outside those realms.

@arkandel said in Do we need staff?:

True, but there's no way to systematize right.

No, I have to argue with this.

The way to 'systematize' right is frankly up to the people running the game.

If it's not right for you (the queen's you) then it's none of your damn business. Leave them have their right and go somewhere else.

Too many people try to force their version of right on everyone else, and then we wonder why the hell we have problems.