Changeling: The Lost Update [CofD]

Goldfish

@skew said in Changeling: The Lost Update [CofD]:

@Kay said in Changeling: The Lost Update [CofD]:

@skew ... What did poor Theno do that you want to put that on him?

Gather round, let us tell the story of @Thenomain the wise!

Back in the Golden Days of The Reach... No, not the actual ones. The ones that came after the actual ones. Thenomain was on Head Staff, and many a player went to him for arbitration. On account of his inability to remember names or past experiences, he was always neutral. His pedantry ensured the conversations were detail orientated. Players felt they could simply present an issue and not have emotions and the like weighed into it. Thing happened, thing was bad, yes or no, let Thenomain decide!

Which is my snarky ass way of saying Thenomain is a good listener and is highly capable of sorting out other people's choices and problems.

Cosigned. When I was a young Goldfish and The Reach's Geist Lead (lolololololololololol) - It fell to me to arbitrate if a player got pregnant or not. It was an awful, awful, icky thing. But Theno helped me. My memory's terrible but I do remember his even-handedness in figuring it out.

Thanks, @Thenomain

Saturna

I want a CtL game so bad. Big city, with all it entails. Maybe somewhere like Vancouver, where there's a bunch of diverse nature and probably a pretty crazy hedge.

I want to get to tame some Hedge, build a hollow (or a palace?) from the ground up. I want to fight Briar hounds and dragons, and find deep sea artifacts.

I'm with @skew . I want a mix of humdrum and fantasy. The contrast between Hedge and trying to blend in is a big draw.

Thenomain

@Goldfish said in Changeling: The Lost Update [CofD]:

When I was a young Goldfish and The Reach's Geist Lead (lolololololololololol) - It fell to me to arbitrate if a player got pregnant or not. It was an awful, awful, icky thing. But Theno helped me. My memory's terrible but I do remember his even-handedness in figuring it out.

Did I? I remember the situation, but not the outcome. Through the fog in my memory I want to say my overall reaction was, "How the hell should I know?" Being one step removed from the drama always helps.

Goldfish

@Thenomain She did get pregnant. He was engaged/married to some other PC and I believe there was a whole OOC kerfuffle. But however it was resolved, (Dice, probably.), you helped. I recall being "afraid" of the male player and knowing the female as high drama. Helping me create a distance when I'm flailing in panic solved the problem and I washed my hands of it after that arbitration. But it's my Theno memory.

Misadventure

The answer is 31% or less for fertile sex.

Doozer

@Goldfish said in Changeling: The Lost Update [CofD]:

to arbitrate if a player got pregnant or not.

Uh... why? I mean living things procreate. Dead things don't.

Derp

@Doozer said in Changeling: The Lost Update [CofD]:

Uh... why? I mean living things procreate. Dead things don't.

Sin Eaters are not dead things. They are returned to full life through the Bargain, and just get some perks of death related stuff.

That being said, I think I still probably would have ruled a flat 'no' unless she wanted it to be by an NPC, and then, whatever, your character. That just seems like a way to take some PC hostage.

Doozer

@Derp oh yah I'm aware. I do not understand what are the details that needed staffs involvement.

Goldfish

@Doozer and @Derp, I wish I recalled how in the hell it ended up in my lap as Geist lead but I don't and the logs were lost in the Hard Drive Crash of 2017. Sin-Eaters are as fertile as humans and that really should have been the beginning and end of my part but...I dunno what happened. It was The Reach, man. Crazy days.

And yes, it was a bullshit move to tangle up a PC like that and he was really unhappy but the fine details are lost to time and goldfish like memory. I know that I did NOT want to arbitrate and neither did anyone else. Somehow Theno got pulled in to assist me.

Thenomain

@Derp said in Changeling: The Lost Update [CofD]:

Sin Eaters are not dead things.

Having peeked at the Geist 2e rules, they are now very specifically not alive.

Dropping teasers, here.

When it comes to player arbitration, tho, it's just as much about the complaint as the rules. It's not irony for me to say that it's a lot harder to come up with a good answer if anyone is being a dick about it, and getting a second opinion is critical.

Also, take responsibility for your actions. Make it clear that it's your decision. The buck stops in your lap; own it.

I think the shittiest thing I had to deal with when Headstaff on Reach was when two staffers were using their staff position to help solidify their positions in a...I want to say family faction? They laughed it off until I got directly involved.

Maybe worse was letting the Changeling admin act as sphere lead though we specifically forbade her from becoming sphere lead. Not finding a solution was us tacitly saying "yes, she is sphere lead". I didn't think she should have even been an admin, but such the mistakes we can make when balancing the needs of the sphere to have even a shitty staffer getting things done, vs. nothing getting done.

Coin

@Thenomain said in Changeling: The Lost Update [CofD]:

@Derp said in Changeling: The Lost Update [CofD]:

Sin Eaters are not dead things.

Having peeked at the Geist 2e rules, they are now very specifically not alive.

Dropping teasers, here.

When it comes to player arbitration, tho, it's just as much about the complaint as the rules. It's not irony for me to say that it's a lot harder to come up with a good answer if anyone is being a dick about it, and getting a second opinion is critical.

Also, take responsibility for your actions. Make it clear that it's your decision. The buck stops in your lap; own it.

I think the shittiest thing I had to deal with when Headstaff on Reach was when two staffers were using their staff position to help solidify their positions in a...I want to say family faction? They laughed it off until I got directly involved.

Maybe worse was letting the Changeling admin act as sphere lead though we specifically forbade her from becoming sphere lead. Not finding a solution was us tacitly saying "yes, she is sphere lead". I didn't think she should have even been an admin, but such the mistakes we can make when balancing the needs of the sphere to have even a shitty staffer getting things done, vs. nothing getting done.

The problem on The Reach with sphere leads and admins was that if you didn't have the former, the latter was the former, by default. It worked that way all the time. That's the reason I ended up having Geist dropped in my lap even though my main character was a Sin-Eater: I was already an admin when the TL bailed, so I automatically assumed a role that I didn't have the position for. At first I ran things by Head Staff, but eventually Asher was like 'just do what you want' so I set some boundaries, decided I would delegate any and all jobs regarding my PC to Asher, and went on from there.

Thenomain

@Thenomain said in Changeling: The Lost Update [CofD]:

News at 11.

This Just In: Yup, by "Non-changeling", they mean every non-changeling, as the story permits.

Mind you, now I'm embroiled in a discussion about the nature of merits for NPCs. It's...tense, for which I'm surprised.

Ominous

@Thenomain said in Changeling: The Lost Update [CofD]:

It's...tense, for which I'm surprised.

alt text

Apocalycious

@Thenomain said in Changeling: The Lost Update [CofD]:

Having peeked at the Geist 2e rules, they are now very specifically not alive.

There's plenty in the 2e manuscript that says they're actually alive again. It even uses those specific words, "alive again". There's also a condition called "Dead" which happens to the Bound when they die again and their Geist goes on a rampage. The way they resolve it is to return from the dead once more.

There are many lines that say or imply they're no longer dead once they take the Bargain:

"You may not be dead, but you’ve died and now you live the difference."

"When the force keeping you alive wants something, you have no choice but to feel it."

"No one manner of death guarantees someone will choose to Bargain their way back to life."

"But Sin-Eaters share one conviction: If human will can turn back death, it can accomplish anything."

mietze

Ew. Honestly I think when two pcs are involved and there isnt code (meaning you know you are consenting to to possibility before you decide to type it) pregnancy should be OOC consent only by both players.

Probably because of how much distress I saw caused on games in the 90s. All changeling games, now that I think about it.

Thenomain

@mietze

I cannot think of any situation where "pregnancy code" is a good idea.

Tinuviel

@Thenomain Not mandatory pregnancy code, but if you're aiming for a generational game - in the same vein as Firan but not as skeevy - I could see the benefit. Though at the same time I don't really know if I want staff constantly knowing how often I get bizzay.

mietze

Yep, I was thinking of firan/generational stuff.

Though I will take 1000 pregnancy code over one crazy ass player springing "Hey I'm pregnant and unilaterally decide that YOU are the father!" on someone without it. (And lest people think I'm bagging on the women, most of the players that I've seen do this are people who say they are men, but are playing female PCs, with a few exceptions).

Even on games where it is common to RP being pregnant/having children/ect or even expected, honestly if there is another active PC involved, I think a discussion should happen with veto power on either side to it happening, barring a front-end coded thing so that the people know they're playing the lottery.

I don't know why forcing people into pregnancy RP (for male or female PCs) squicks me out so much, but I find RPing out violence and icly nonconsensual sexual scenes to be less squicky than that.

Tinuviel

@mietze said in Changeling: The Lost Update [CofD]:

Even on games where it is common to RP being pregnant/having children/ect or even expected, honestly if there is another active PC involved, I think a discussion should happen with veto power on either side to it happening, barring a front-end coded thing so that the people know they're playing the lottery.

I definitely think that for a coded 'solution' to be... ethical, it'd need both partners to enter the command. Or whatever it is.

mietze

@Tinuviel Yep! I think most of the ones that I have heard about do require that.