I'll be honest, I have really mixed feelings about the current system involving paying for investigation efforts with Luck Points. They're a limited pool for things you should be able to quite reasonably do, and having utilized the mechanic when prompted, my result didn't seem like it merited the effort to spend it - which was basically "all of your research comes up with nothing, but you did notice someone else looking into it". That was excellent for giving me a hook into RP with other people, but I just feel like the notion of something with such a nebulous pay-off should not require use of a resource pool that can diminish.
I'm also willing to have it explained to me more thoroughly. I'm not looking to attack anybody, I'm just here to have a good time.
"If you stand for nothing Burr, what will you fall for?"
-- Hamilton: An American Musical
I'm kind of wondering why in the world would you open the game up to alts at this time? You close apps for new players because there's too many people then 2 weeks later, potentially double the number of characters by allowing alts.
Because the people they want on the game are already on the game.
The "opening" was just to let in some randos, so it feels more like a real game.
Having just you and your friends on the who list makes it feel like a sandbox and diminishes things.
In this case they're specifically a limited kind of alt, i.e., magic free, so I feel like this is just encouraging existing players to flesh out the 'small town' ambience rather than really increasing gm load any. Ymmv, I'm not staff and have no plans to alt, but it isn't like alts are open like some kind of free for all here.
I am pretty sure that they'd get a few takers even if they opened up "no magic apps" to new people. But yeah, I understand that maybe it's not the pcs they want kept down, but players. Personally disappointing for me, but infinitely better to have a staff that makes decisions like this for their own sanity. THough if the reasoning is that non-magic-users are not important or don't rate much (hence no drag on GMing) then I'm kinda glad I didn't rush to app! Since that's what I personally would have created!
@mietze Yeah, it has been stated that while there will be some plots and GM-stuff that involve non-magic characters, that the metaplot is more focused on magic users.
#FreeFarfalla
@meg Ahh okay. So it is about playerbase size then, not character type. Fair enough.
Yeah, I believe the concern is about number of players instead of number of alts.
(Also FWIW in general to people I don't think staff plans to engage much on MSB so actual players with questions about stuff on the game are probably more likely to get official answers on the game itself.)
@tempest I hate how right you sound.
@cupcake said in Spirit Lake - Discussion:
I'll be honest, I have really mixed feelings about the current system involving paying for investigation efforts with Luck Points.
My understanding—as a player—is that Luck Points only need to be spent for buying GM time outside of the time they're already spending on a plot. So, in order to do "Thing X" relating to a plot, you just post it to the plot actions thread (and they take it into account in the next round of GM'ing).
If you want to do something outside of what they're already GM'ing ("yes, everyone else is looking into <thing for plot X currently being GM'd>, but I want to look into <other thing unrelated to plot, related to character secret>"), those are when you need to spend luck points. Basically buying extra GM time outside of the time they've set aside for GM'ing for plots.
Asking one of the staffers on game will probably get a more definitive answer, though; this is just my interpretation of the page on luck points and the post they made.
@roz said in Spirit Lake - Discussion:
Yeah, I believe the concern is about number of players instead of number of alts.
I may be an odd duck, but this sort of reinforces what Tempest mentioned above.
For me, it'd be sort of like opening up a Vampire sphere, then shutting it down to new applications, and then opening up a Mortal sphere but not allowing new players to apply for any sort of PC. At least, that's what it kind of sounds like.
Like, can a new player wander in and make a non-magic PC, as Mietze suggests? If so, I'm down for that. But if I can't make one, color me confused.
“It is better to live doing the things that you like. It is foolish to live within this dream of a world seeing unpleasantness and doing only things that you do not like.” -- Yamamoto Tsunetomo.
@ganymede I am not on staff so don't take this as speaking for them in any way. But my understanding of non-magic users is that they're basically like the support people in my BSGU game. They're background characters, outside of the main plotlines. Fine for an alt; not advisable as a sole character. From that perspective, it makes complete sense why they would allow them as alts but not let someone new app in as a non-magic person (and probably be disappointed when there isn't much for them to do).
That explanation makes sense.
I get the reasons for staff to restrict the number of players it wants. Or is able to handle.
Still can't help but think a little that it just comes off as elitism and/or exclusionary for the sake of being exclusive. The addition of alts does not help it, as background or mundane as they might be.
I know that's likely not the case, but that's how the optics of it strike me even if the reasoning is much more practical.
@testament said in Spirit Lake - Discussion:
exclusionary for the sake of being exclusive
It's also important to note that this isn't at all a bad thing. Just because it's not what we may want doesn't mean it's bad.
There's no real way to win on that for staff tbh. People get unhappy if a game is too big for the staff vision to be able to handle and accommodate, but people also get unhappy when staff starts capping numbers. No easy answer. In the end it amounted mostly to "first come, first serve" that they kept open into the evening to try and let people get home from work to slip on, even though they were pretty much over double what they were expecting. I guess by definition it's exclusionary in that there are people being excluded! Like, I can't actually argue with the word. Anything that isn't open is exclusionary. The reasoning of "this is the number of players we can comfortably handle with our number of staffers" is a common enough idea in the MU* community, though. Idk!
We have a hard cap, too - it's simply about recognizing what you can capably handle. I'd rather have a smaller game with jobs getting done and plots moving forward than a huge game where half get left out. That's not exclusive for the sake of being exclusive, it's about knowing how many players I can keep entertained.
@botulism said in Spirit Lake - Discussion:
We have a hard cap, too - it's simply about recognizing what you can capably handle. I'd rather have a smaller game with jobs getting done and plots moving forward than a huge game where half get left out. That's not exclusive for the sake of being exclusive, it's about knowing how many players I can keep entertained.
I am...
A) Not sure how this is relevant.
B) Somehow not surprised you got 12 upvotes from the people that populate this board.
Do you have a "hard cap, but oh you guys who are already on the game can all make alts?"
There is a list of archetypes (roles) once those are up that's it. You can make 'alts' but not in the sense you have another character. You can make supporting cast which you just write from your existing character bit (you guys call them bits right?) and if your character dies (horror game death probable) then you can use these side roles SRs to continue participating in the story.
EDIT: All this information refers to Horrormu to answer Tempest's question and not Spirit Lake.
So wait, if your PC dies your option is to play a background extra? SRs in other games tend to be NPC+ entities that basically concierge for PCs. Is that what happens here too?
In this case they're specifically a limited kind of alt, i.e., magic free, so I feel like this is just encouraging existing players to flesh out the 'small town' ambience rather than really increasing gm load any. Ymmv, I'm not staff and have no plans to alt, but it isn't like alts are open like some kind of free for all here.
