MUs That We Would Love To Make (But Won't)
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@arkandel You've got the gist of the issue. Same thing with Batman & Superman. Imagine the reaction when you tell Superman 'Hey, mind not wiping the field clear of bad guys before I get a chance to do something?' Part of the responsibility of playing a powerful character in a collaborative medium is making a conscious effort to share the spotlight.
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@runescryer said in MUs That We Would Love To Make (But Won't):
Part of the responsibility of playing a powerful character in a collaborative medium is making a conscious effort to share the spotlight.
I've always thought that superman should be more restrained than what he usually ends up being. It's like --
If you twitch twelve muscle fibers you're gonna break his jaw but if you twitch fourteen muscle fibers you're gonna take his head off so maybe leave it to the folks with a bigger margin for error yea?
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@derp said in MUs That We Would Love To Make (But Won't):
TBF both Picard and Discovery show that's far from the case. Lots of black market and criminal activity with general civil unrest. It's a refreshing change of pace.
I think that's less an accurate portrayal* of Star Trek's universe and more a reflection of modern tastes in media. We want our worlds crapsack. No gleaming future to work towards and look forward to here. It's cyberpunk corporate greed, ecological catastrophe, and fascist governments from now to 41,000 AD.
** Star Trek's universe is whatever the writers want it to be, since they own the IP, but personally I feel that what we have now does not follow naturally from what previous series laid down as canon. To me it's as jarring as loading up a Zelda game, and it being about holding back a chaos invasion of Bloodletters of Khorne from the Warhammer Fantasy universe.
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@ganymede You are kinda proving my point. Human life in Battletech is all but worthless. You are a pilot. You are functionally a part of your mech. If you die and the mech is salvageable, they just replace you and no one bats an eye. You can murder 20 people a day on the battlefield and no one cares. Murder 1 person in a game set in modern times and you'll be hunted for life.
Advanced technology and a high value on human life together is a good system for the real world because we don't want people dying in the real world, but it makes a boring RPG world.
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@de-villefort said in MUs That We Would Love To Make (But Won't):
it makes a boring RPG world.
I think you may have a narrower definition of "RPG World" that some of us. I think what you're maybe getting at is that RPGs are often focused on heroic (or anti-heroic) people running around having adventures for months or years on end. That doesn't exactly happen every day in the real world.
But not all RPGs or MUs need that same hook. You absolutely could do one set in the modern world, and people have. A CSI MU or Grey's Anatomy MU may have its challenges and a more narrow audience than something more adventure-driven like Game of Thrones or Star Wars, but so what? As long as the people involved are having fun, that's all that matters.
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@faraday said in MUs That We Would Love To Make (But Won't):
I think you may have a narrower definition of "RPG World" that some of us. I think what you're maybe getting at is that RPGs are often focused on heroic (or anti-heroic) people running around having adventures for months or years on end. That doesn't exactly happen every day in the real world.
I also didn't think it needed to be said, but in a bleak universe the moments of kindness stand out and turns the PCs into instant heroes for doing the things we take for granted.
“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.
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Holy crap. I just re-read an old thread on EnWorld about the differenced between D&D editions and how they cater to players who prefer Combat as Sport vs. Combat as War. A particular point of contention was that in Combat as War, being pragmatic and fighting dirty wins over being heroic, which didn't jive with players who wanted to play heroic PCs. The Combat as War folks pointed out that, if victory in a fair fight is a sure thing for you, there isn't anything heroic about it to begin with. There's nothing more heroic than challenging the forces of evil to a fair fight in a CaW game. Your character will be wishing for death by the end, but it will be very heroic.
Ceterum autem censeo Carthaginem esse delendam
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@de-villefort I disagree with the idea that if you murder one person in a game set in modern times you'll be hunted for life.
It takes skill and it takes style, but you can play a mass murderer, have people lauding you for it, and have people queueing up to RP with you.
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@grayson And at least one of those people queuing up is intending to shank you.
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@faraday said in MUs That We Would Love To Make (But Won't):
I think you may have a narrower definition of "RPG World" that some of us. I think what you're maybe getting at is that RPGs are often focused on heroic (or anti-heroic) people running around having adventures for months or years on end. That doesn't exactly happen every day in the real world.
Yes, yes it does. The medic performing CPR on you may just be having a regular work day, but to you, that person is your knight in shining armor. It's all about perspective.
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@ominous said in MUs That We Would Love To Make (But Won't):
Holy crap. I just re-read an old thread on EnWorld about the differenced between D&D editions and how they cater to players who prefer Combat as Sport vs. Combat as War. A particular point of contention was that in Combat as War, being pragmatic and fighting dirty wins over being heroic, which didn't jive with players who wanted to play heroic PCs. The Combat as War folks pointed out that, if victory in a fair fight is a sure thing for you, there isn't anything heroic about it to begin with. There's nothing more heroic than challenging the forces of evil to a fair fight in a CaW game. Your character will be wishing for death by the end, but it will be very heroic.
Pretty sure he is talking about this thread and it is a very good read, if very long.
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@thebigd said in MUs That We Would Love To Make (But Won't):
Yes, yes it does. The medic performing CPR on you may just be having a regular work day, but to you, that person is your knight in shining armor. It's all about perspective.
Of course there are everyday heroes, but as a medic iRL I can assure you that most responses would be pretty dull to RP. A single season of a show like Chicago Fire is basically everything exciting that happened in every fire department across the US in the span of a year.
I think it would be hard to sustain a MU like that. (But if somebody wanted to do it - more power to them.) -
@faraday said in MUs That We Would Love To Make (But Won't):
Of course there are everyday heroes, but as a medic iRL I can assure you that most responses would be pretty dull to RP. A single season of a show like Chicago Fire is basically everything exciting that happened in every fire department across the US in the span of a year.
I think it would be hard to sustain a MU like that. (But if somebody wanted to do it - more power to them.)Right but the same thing can be said for all RP. No one is going to want to RP out the boring, every day bits unless there's a point. Every RPG is like real life in this aspect. Your characters still need to pee, eat, sleep, breath, and lots of other things we basically put out of mind because they're not worth remembering/thinking about.
My point was that even on a "boring" day for lots of real life people, someone in that scenario is looking at a hero.
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@thebigd said in MUs That We Would Love To Make (But Won't):
No one is going to want to RP out the boring, every day bits unless there's a point.
I dunno. For something no one wants to RP, I'm surprised how many scenes seem to be strangers making awkward chit-chat in line at the coffee shop or whatever.
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@faraday said in MUs That We Would Love To Make (But Won't):
I think it would be hard to sustain a MU like that.
I don't know how many times Seattle can suffer large scale catastrophes. Ships crash into the docks, the medical people get into a car wreck on the way there, the helicopter airlifting is caught in some freak thermal draft. I don't know why Seattle is so unlucky, but there's always another season of Grey's Anatomy.
Someone could probably make a large plot/small plot generator taking all the seasons of Grey's Anatomy and the seasons of Chicago Fire and Chicago PD. Roll for large plot: 26 - two commercial planes collide at the airport, each player rolls small plot: 55 - you get a flat tire someone sees you in your uniform while changing out the spare and they are pregnant but can't get through cause roads closed for large plot.
For some people, this RP would be boring however.
I'm just a surge protector doing my job, sir.
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@de-villefort said in MUs That We Would Love To Make (But Won't):
You can murder 20 people a day on the battlefield and no one cares. Murder 1 person in a game set in modern times and you'll be hunted for life.
This has nothing to do with modern morals. In fact, I'd say human life is at a very low value in these modern times, and most crimes are not investigated much, if at all. There are absolutely hundreds of murders on the daily that no one is hunted for LIFE over.
But more relevant, you are also representing MU players wrong. Players in a battletech mu would not disregard the death of a PC, no matter what the setting is. They'd disregard the death of an NPC, sure, but they do that in games with 'modern' morals, too. The setting doesn't dictate nearly as much of player behavior as you suggest.
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@lotherio said in MUs That We Would Love To Make (But Won't):
For some people, this RP would be boring however.
That's my point. Not that you can't do it, or shouldn't do it, just that the appeal would be different and narrower.
Look at Western games. Sure there are some gunfighter PCs and the like, but a lot of PCs are just townsfolk. They're content with costume drama and romance interspersed with the occasional bank robbery or blizzard. There's nothing wrong with that at all.
But the overwhelming majority of RPG games are based around settings filled with action and adventure (pirates! spies! soldiers!) because that's what a lot of people are looking for. It is difficult to sustain a steady stream of action in most modern settings.
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@faraday said in MUs That We Would Love To Make (But Won't):
Of course there are everyday heroes, but as a medic iRL I can assure you that most responses would be pretty dull to RP. A single season of a show like Chicago Fire is basically everything exciting that happened in every fire department across the US in the span of a year.
People: OMG, is being a lawyer like it is on Law and Order?
“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.
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@ganymede said in MUs That We Would Love To Make (But Won't):
People: OMG, is being a lawyer like it is on Law and Order?
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@ganymede said in MUs That We Would Love To Make (But Won't):
People: OMG, is being a lawyer like it is on Law and Order?
Lawyering looks awesome!
I'm just a surge protector doing my job, sir.
