MU Things I Love

[Tinuviel]

@testament There are exactly ten. And @Ganymede is three of them.

[Ganymede]

@tinuviel

[Tinuviel]

@ganymede

[Ganymede]

@tinuviel

[Tinuviel]

@ganymede

[Scorn]

Cannot even begin to express how much I love...

When a huge scene is going on (which are usually nightmarish), full of drama and tension and impending doom hanging like a cloud overhead.. but all the players are being downright hilarious and sarcastic and fun in [OOC].

Seriously, nothing better.

[Kanye Qwest]

When something happens you don't agree on, and everything is muddled and kind of sucky, but it leads to a really healthy discussion and agreement about a better way to handle things as staff, moving forward.

I like reaching understandings.

[KDraygo]

@kanye-qwest This hobby would be so much better and fun if this happened more often, and not just on a staff level! It's so much easier to clear issues up before they are allowed to fester and grow into some mutated monster where bridges end up having to be burned to exorcise it.

[Thenomain]

@kdraygo

Get that ptichfork and torch away from me!

[Thenomain]

When the game you labored over and saw closed 3 years ago loads back up because you saved all the right bits of information.

Hello, old friend.

[silverfox]

When someone poses something random, and then someone else poses back at that random, and then it snowballs quickly out of control but it's funny and amazing and wonderful.

[Ninjakitten]

When I end up reading some quite old logs and see that not only did that story really work, but I'm still pretty happy with my writing and characterization in it, overall.

[Misadventure]

This is an article about how a town official allegedly took a house to sell to his daughter for 20K.

This is the kind of shenanigans I wish I could create for MU* players. However, it requires so many specific laws and procedures to be detailed so you know who can abuse them easily, and what evidence there is left behind.

Makes me sad.

[Pyrephox]

@misadventure The thing is, you don't need to detail that. This is /exactly/ the sort of thing that cinematic game systems are designed to allow to happen. Someone has a skill involving this (which could be as broad as 'shenanigans' or 'politics' or as detailed as 'property law' or 'real estate manipulation') they roll it, they succeed, and discover "there's a loophole in the law that allows you to do X" (or allowed NPC Y to do X), and then you focus on /what are you going to do now/.

MU*s get too bogged down in the details of certain things, and don't focus on the INTERESTING part, which is: what do the PCs do now? (And don't make them have to research property law to Do Something, either - 'we want to close that loophole' okay, great, you can do that by a Charisma/Media path of whipping up public support/knowledge, an Intellect/Politics path of working with the establishment to get the law changed, or a Wits/Forgery path of creating false documentation that's better than the false documentation that these guys have. What's your pleasure?" Then play out from there.)

[Misadventure]

@pyrephox I appreciate the reply, though I am aware of how to do what you described.

How do the players actually RP through any of this, without any details? How many times can they RP through that kind of thing with that level of abstraction? It looks like they make a roll to Do Something, and there is a result, and that's it. Not a lot of fodder for players as I see it?

Mind I am the sort of person who likes different angles of approach with differing final costs and results, so some detail is important to me.

Your description reminds me of the DC Heroes contest between crime skills and investigation skills, where successes net clues. Those clues were described as something specific though.

[silverfox]

@misadventure said in MU Things I Love:

How do the players actually RP through any of this, without any details? How many times can they RP through that kind of thing with that level of abstraction?

This is something I'm running into right now. I have an idea I REALLY want to do... but it's pretty boring to RP, simply because of all of the abstractions involved. My character really loves money, numbers, and trade, but without tangible x to y, I'm not sure how to really do something with it that'll excite others to join me.

[mietze]

@silverfox hmmm. have you thought about a general post on game asking for people who like that kind of thing? They do exist! Like I know so many MUSHers who are all excited to show me their spreadsheets and tell me about this very involved intellectual/systemic plan they have to increase other things that I have a hard time wrapping my mind around because they are not super tangible and I don't know what the fuck they just said to me but they're super excited about it so I'm happy they're happy, but I can't really HELP them you know?

Y'all need to find each other, because then you can actually have fun in that realm too with people who understand and are also excited!

[Pyrephox]

@misadventure I mean, that depends entirely on the method they choose, although I'd say it always involves an exciting and pivotal scene that puts the PCs at the center of the action. If they, for example, decided to raise public awareness, then there'd be a rally scene, where the Bad Guys would be trying to break up the rally or discredit it in the eyes of the media and the PCs have to inspire/persuade the crowd.If they want to go the legal route, then I'd /absolutely/ rip off the Leverage episode where they're trying to "steal a bill" - which has nothing to do with the meat of the legislative process, and a lot with placating and satisfying the demands of the legislators involved (Councilperson A wants Councilperson D to agree with her pork proposal, Councilperson D will do that, but only if he gets Councilperson B's endorsement for an upcoming award, Councilperson B wants Councilperson A to cosponsor a growth bill, and it's all done by the PCs if it's done at all.) The underworld path is going to need to break into the records office to place the forged papers, or intimidate someone for their signature, or to hack into a database, or...or...

Basically, always focus on the actions, and on making it a) PC-centered where the action is concerned, b) within the PCs' potential capabilities (it doesn't have to be EASY, but if you don't want them to do something, then just tell them, don't have them waste several hours of play time doing something they have no chance succeeding at), and c) /fun/ to play for the players. Chat with the players OOC about what they think would be a fun way to go about X - players are going to differ. I like PC-centered scenes that are driven by 'what does everyone want'. I know other people who really enjoy NPC-centered scenes about 'how does the world work'. I'm sure there's even people out there who'd genuinely enjoy researching property law, and drafting a proposed replacement.

[silverfox]

@mietze said in MU Things I Love:

hmmm. have you thought about a general post on game asking for people who like that kind of thing?

I actually have a whole group of people that ICly have said they're interested when my character brought it up! So I know there are people to do it. I just feel the onus, as the person organizing things, to have some kind of methodology for moving forward.

Blah... word vomit for a second because words are hard:

So like. at the start, I feel like the person organizing should have some kind of direction to get everyone pointed in a productive path. Then the RP can take it where it will. But I'm not sure how to even start. Right now I've got this vague idea, but no way pointing forward that's entertaining to RP. I feel like it would be SUPER easy to have a scene where everyone walks away super disatisifed about something they were excited about when they realize there isn't anything of substance there. (I like substance RP. My quota of Bar RP is exactly... never but I take what I can get.)

Building off of that, if I reach out to the people OOCly to get input, I don't want to run into the problem where we decide all the things ICly, and then the IC meeting is just a rehashing of what was done OOCly. (That sounds really boring.) Moreover, if it //isn't// a rehashing of what was already done I worry about the push back if things do naturally change because of IC things, then there is going to be some serious miscommunications with people confused between if they're doing what was talked about OOCly or what was talked about ICly. (I've had this happen way too many times to the point where my go to is just to back the fuck out and just not do that whatever-it-was any more to avoid the conflict.)

[mietze]

What about RPing out the planning (like who's doing what). Then you guys run the demi-IC but mostly ooc paperworking stuff (like the action, or...whatever?) Where you actually DO get to crunch the numbers and toss dice. Get the results, and then come back together and RP about it? Just don't talk about it IC in real time until those numbers come back.

Sometimes with delayed stuff (like when you are waiting on staff to respond to a job, or action or to judge a roll, whatever the format is for the place you are on), it feels kind of weird to not do any play around the subject of that until you've at least had staff/judge input, but I think it's vital. Otherwise it does feel kind of weird boring and drawn out because you're spinning your wheels talking about the same thing for forever with an artificial-ish drawn out period.

So:
Scene 1 (or maybe 2, depending on the group and scheduling) make plans, get to know each other, assign tasks, geek out about methods ICly.

OOC action: get job/action together, ooc coordinate everyone doing the input needed.

Wait with NO RP about progress or plans until judge/GM/Staff gives you the results for that round. Do not talk about it OOC when you get the results.

Next scene: NOW have fun pulling apart the results IC! If you are on a progression or need more action, talk about it plan it assign tasks and geek out.

OOC action: same as the first.

Wait same as the first.

In other words, treat it like a scening pose order where you do not have scenes after you submit that OOC action/job until you get your response. It's slow, but IME it will tend to make the RP more exciting when you have it, and people more engaged, than if you've done yourselves to death ooc and icly talking about it while you get more and more impatient for a response?