@Lotherio said in What do you play most?:

Some suggest they do, some don't do anything unless staff run something.

Inversely I agree the most active places have no meta or its more open and not world shattering. Yet those highly active places seen to crop up in hog pit for reasons (too many staff alts, too little staff, staff doesn't do what I want ... More grief and gripe). I play on some and don't join in the slinging. Preception versus reality, just when I've pondered similar thoughts, what folks like in a mu*, answers always point to meta, staff keeping it active (including everyone), etc.

I'm saying I prefer less meta and my own stories. And maybe wrong perception on my part.

Many games put their metaplot on a wiki and promptly forget it exists. That's one of the reasons most sandbox games come to a grinding halt a couple of weeks after they open and once the early excitement which comes with that new character smell wears off, and everyone realizes there really isn't much to do around these parts after all. Sure, the opening page claims there's an invasion by the Pure or whatever but nothing's actually happening, so after the 6th time you end up in a bar scene bitching about those damn theoretical Pure taking your jobs and stealing your women ... well, it gets a bit repetitive.

Good metaplot is a roleplay-generating engine. The vast majority of MU* don't have good metaplot, they have a wiki with someone's fanfic scribbled hastily in a couple of its pages.

@Arkandel
That's what I always liked about the Deryni books. They were the first books that I read where magic cost.
Magic drained the user and could leave them incapacitated both mentally and physically.
Use too much, and the practitioner could die
Extensive use of rituals (based on Catholic practices) to focus abilities.
Oh, and everyone hated you, so if it was ever discovered that you could do this, they'd probably burn you at the stake.

I know now that other books (like Wheel of Time) incorporated similar themes, but to my little high school brain it was game changing, and I'll always love the series for that.

And there there is the cousin of the telenuke, which is a well prepared sniper, either with supernatural bonuses or not. Not quite as guaranteed but equally lacking in RP.

@mietze said in Names:

I have not played on Shang but I love the descriptions over the years. How can you not like Baskin Robbins? Compared to everything else that gets shared here, I dunno, I thought it was really cute and almost sweet!

I think my favourite was the woman I stumbled over once who had glass shards (or were they metal? I forget) growing out of her flesh. The description was both tasteful and extremely detailed. The player was interesting to talk to as well.

@Miss-Demeanor One of the most fun betas I've ever been in was for Magic Online a long time ago. For something like... I dunno, two years? They gave you free boosters every week and you just played and traded. I loved it.

It was also ran by WotC so ... fingers crossed. 🙂

I don't know. There's a laid out system of governance, factions that you're able to join, "character classes" in a way, the possibility of super powers, and a cinematic presentation of combat in a setting that has both structure, lore to play with, and an element of openness to make up stuff along the way.

@Coin is right about wanting to know more about the world, though.

@Admiral said in RPG: Corporation:

@Reason Floofy elves or floofy MOOs, you mean.

I want my elves poncy or gtfo.

Yeah, I've always thought of it as the 'fluff' stat. The one you have that never gets used. Politics, Socialize, Science, even Animal Ken... to a lesser extent, most of the Social skills outside of Empathy/Intimidation/Persuasion/Streetwise/Subterfuge tend to be thought of as 'dump' stats.

I try to look towards board games for ideas of how to handle mechanics in MU*s. Pen & paper RPGs is where our hobby was mainly birthed and draws the RP culture from, why not utilize the other side of the tabletop game hobby to inform our mechanics rather than trying to borrow from Crusader Kings, Civilization, etc. Our format seems much more suited for the simpler mechanics that board games have than the spreadsheets of computer strategy games.

I mentioned Republic of Rome in another thread as one game that has an interesting political premise. There is Twilight Struggle and it's mechanics for spreading and combating the spread of influence. Medici is a pretty simple and fun economic trading game. Pit is too. Pandemics, Dead of Winter, Forbidden Island, Shadows Over Camelot, etc. all demonstrate how to handle group management of limited actions and how to present a crisis needing organization with simple mechanics. A few of them also show how to keep a traitor element from detailing the game and instead snaking it more fun.

Now obviously just importing a game with no changes wouldn't work, but using these games as inspirations and references rather than trying to make Europa Universalis but with more roleplaying might be the better route to take.

@Pondscum said in Changing Breeds: Durgar's Blessing:

@ThatGuyThere It was sliced off in combat.

You do realize that was not an answer to what I asked right as both of the situations I pondered can happen in combat.

And yes shifter regen can be stupid fast in all forms of WoD though that is kinda a big part of what they do.

There are many super RPGs that focus both on being light and quick, but also on making a different approach to what the focus IS.

I sometimes wonder if those games would suit a decent chunk of players better, or do most players need the distraction of a system to finagle and spend xp on.

@lordbelh The old website chat roll places?

I'm really surprised, actually that anyone cares about MU*s in any official capacity. That astounds my brain considering how few people are involved with any particular game.

I want a MU* based on the Republic of Rome board game. https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1513/republic-rome

@Ghost More twisted: make it an NPC 'target' -- maybe a couple of them, though, 'cause not errybody on earth is bi.

Goal: figure out which NPCs it is IC.

I chose the 'I would die without logging everything', but mostly I just set up an Autologger and let it go. it has come in handy more times than I can count as a staffer and player.

@Bobotron said in Posting Ads on Games:

I've never understood the vehemence against posting ads or requiring an ad trade.

Ditto. If you want to trade, go to their game, login, look for a guest-enabled Other MU* board, post to it, and call it a day. If they don't have one, maybe tell a staffer. Or delete the ad from your game. Or (my personal favorite) just don't worry about it.

@Bobotron Yeah but I think that's the point, that's what makes them hidden. Like, a lot of plot things in general, especially when I run plots, or even when I play characters, are based around player expectation. Understanding player expectation and doing things that kind of warp that perspective (and I don't mean lolrandomplottwist) is one way to make things a hell of a lot more interesting.

It not only plays to that expectation, but broadens it.