Which canon property/setting would be good for a MU* ?
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@Tempest said in Which canon property/setting would be good for a MU* ?:
It's very rare these days for staff to want to put in the effort (or understand how) to build a world/setting that players can actually impact or has anything going on.
There's a reason for this. Well, there are probably a thousand reasons for this, but there's one specific one I'm thinking of, and it's "my god are people entitled dicks (sometimes) about the effort you put into making story for them".
Not everyone, not even most people, but when you get loud complainers it can really sour you on the idea. Why take a chance writing a badass plot thing for someone when they might:
A. take it, act on it, make you write a billion cool clues/scenes, and then BITCH ON PUBLIC CHANNELS THEY GET NO GAME INVOLVEMENT, or to their friends in discord who think it's cool to bring it to you as a 'complaint with merit' they are concerned about.
B: take it, get super involved, get you super involved, and then flake the fuck out as soon as something doesn't go the way they want in a conflict
ignore it/not get enthused at allAlso someone should make a FMA:B game. I would play that. I want to be Izumi Curtis ok thank you
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I definitely believe both sides of the problem fuel the other in various ways. Which makes this seem like a problem that isn't going to be going away outside of the occasional rare game that mostly gets it right.
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Sorry, @Kanye-Qwest, but that sort of player behavior would just stir me to tell them to shut the fuck up, start citing all that Staff/other players have done to generate activity and involvement and what that player has done to skip, avoid or otherwise minimize themselves out of what is a communal effort.
GAME: Rook shouts, "Hey everyone, we're having another event in the Courtyard, and all characters are invited. Even you, Jackass, who is complaining that you get no attention."
I know, I know. I'm a dick. I accept that. But that sort of behavior is toxic and incorrect, in your example, and should be countered officially and loudly by staff and other players. Do not put up with that sort of crap on a game, it sours everyone around that bitching player.
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@Rook We don't put up with it quietly.
Doesn't stop it from happening! But I don't mean to derail with some 'omg all players are entitled dicks' complaint, because I don't feel that way. Like I said, it's a vocal minority. Most people are cool and engaged and appreciative.
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Those types of players, IMNSHO, are the types that have to be handed silver invitations to Events, have to be 'asked' if they are going to be there, and otherwise ego-massaged. I got no time fo that. You want to play, get your ass to the scene.
Otherwise, you get what's coming to you for inactivity. But, I won't allow you to bitch and complain that OTHER PEOPLE are lazy or not doing things, when it is just not true.
I think all games have these types of people, and those types of people either learn to participate... or they get bored and go to other games/mediums. I have seen characters who have trouble getting involved because they are too niche, too specialized, or just have built-in personality "quirks" that the player wanted to try that simply prohibit interactivity. It sucks to have to reign in your character to work in a team, but it is a lesson that every RPer eventually has to learn - to balance cool personality that might work in a movie with a personality that can get along in a cooperative RPing environment.
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I personally think it's a mistake to look at the hobby as people aging, since I pretty much constantly see newer and younger people entering.
I think it's about what you make and how you make it. And most of what it seems like people are making right now are sandboxes. Just because people are making a certain type of game, doesn't necessarily mean that's what the majority of people want or are going to play. Sandboxes just happen to be easy to run, and if you do it in the right way, you get lots of players.
I've harped on ways to design a game to get a specific type of player you want forever. People almost never design a game for the kind of player they want, I can count the number of times I've seen this out of hundreds of games on one hand. So if you make a canon game, a WoD game, or whatever, and don't get players who want to invest in the metaplot, it's most likely because the game isn't set up and run in a way to attract the sorts of players who would invest. You see this all the time.
I've mentioned in another thread, I forget which, that minor things matter and go a long way to creating a particular culture and community. More often than not, people say fuck those minor details, and people get the result that I've come to expect. United Heroes is an excellent example of building the game for the playerbase you want, and paying attention to the minor details, and, shock, they're succeeding.
If you want to make one of these canon games work, then build it in a way that will actually work. Designing a MU isn't just a random gamble where you just throw stuff together and then hope for a result. Think back to all the MUs you've played and what impact that minor details, policy, and features had on the playerbase and culture. After you do that, start figuring out what features will get you the game that you want, then do it.
I've never seen a game fail or succeed for no reason, or for whatever is the pessimistic flavor of the month reason that people are pointing out. There's always a bunch of specific reasons that you can pin down and replicate, and when people do pin down and replicate those reasons, either good or bad, they get the same result as the last people who did it, without fail. If you think that they don't, chances are you're overlooking a vital detail that differentiated the failed game from the successful game.
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@Ominous
I've only recently started watching Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood. It was one of those 'OMG EVERYONE SHUT UP TALKING ABOUT IT' when the original FMA was out, so I gave it a pass.Also...
- Magi the Labyrinth/Kingdom of Magic (Not-Arabian Nights with magic, genies and WAR and POLITICS)
- All You Need is Kill/Edge of Tomorrow (ignoring the time looping, the aliens vs. humans war)
- Exosquad
- The Secret Circle (alternative magic-based)
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@Bobotron said in Which canon property/setting would be good for a MU* ?:
- The Secret Circle (alternative magic-based)
Someone did this, it was gaining a lot of traction, then they banned TS and everyone left.
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@HelloProject
Bah. The Secret Circle was my guilty pleasure TV show.
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@Bobotron said in Which canon property/setting would be good for a MU* ?:
- Exosquad
Try BSG. It's like Exo-Squad, story-wise. It just lacks the exo-suits.
The problem is that the source material is impossible to find. They pulled the series off of Hulu while I was re-watching the series.
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Another idea: Victorian era/esque Superhero game. Yes, I know there's a bajillion supers games right now, but I think the alternate setting would be a fun draw.
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I love the idea of superheroes in an alternate setting. Unfortunately what I read is "Victorian Superheroes" but what I hear is Steampunk Superheroes. I'm a fan of the Victorian era but the internet has killed Steampunk for me. It just seems to come down to weird goggles and obnoxious contraptions. And it seems whenever I see the topic of a Victorian era game come up it invariably transforms into a steampunk game. That said I'd love to see a game set in some alternate era or world (fantasy, dark ages, zombie apocalypse, etc). I'd actually like to see this for WoD or something too. I'd love a good Dark Ages game.
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@ZombieGenesis said in Which canon property/setting would be good for a MU* ?:
I love the idea of superheroes in an alternate setting. Unfortunately what I read is "Victorian Superheroes" but what I hear is Steampunk Superheroes. I'm a fan of the Victorian era but the internet has killed Steampunk for me. It just seems to come down to weird goggles and obnoxious contraptions. And it seems whenever I see the topic of a Victorian era game come up it invariably transforms into a steampunk game. That said I'd love to see a game set in some alternate era or world (fantasy, dark ages, zombie apocalypse, etc). I'd actually like to see this for WoD or something too. I'd love a good Dark Ages game.
At one point, I was thinking about a TT campaign using Vampire, Werewolf, Sorcerer, and Changeling, but setting it in a full-on fantasy world. Mage would have been too powerful, I think. Basically World of Dark Dungeons & Dragons.
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@Runescryer Nice, I think that'd be really neat. I once worked on a game using the old Warhammer RPG that would have done something similar.
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Steampunk. Victorian. Super Heroes.
I'd be ALL over that.
All over it.
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@Runescryer said in Which canon property/setting would be good for a MU* ?:
@ZombieGenesis said in Which canon property/setting would be good for a MU* ?:
I love the idea of superheroes in an alternate setting. Unfortunately what I read is "Victorian Superheroes" but what I hear is Steampunk Superheroes. I'm a fan of the Victorian era but the internet has killed Steampunk for me. It just seems to come down to weird goggles and obnoxious contraptions. And it seems whenever I see the topic of a Victorian era game come up it invariably transforms into a steampunk game. That said I'd love to see a game set in some alternate era or world (fantasy, dark ages, zombie apocalypse, etc). I'd actually like to see this for WoD or something too. I'd love a good Dark Ages game.
At one point, I was thinking about a TT campaign using Vampire, Werewolf, Sorcerer, and Changeling, but setting it in a full-on fantasy world. Mage would have been too powerful, I think. Basically World of Dark Dungeons & Dragons.
Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...
Once upon a time I was told by some friends that they didn't really think they would like Changeling very much (each for their own reasons) and that I should pick something else to run. Keep in mind they barely knew anything about Changeling at all. I didn't even get into the Hedge, or how any of it worked.
So I was said "sure" and picked Dungeons & Dragons.
And I was like, "and you can be anything in this setting. I will allow elementals, and ogres, and orcs, and anything you want, basically, we just need to work it out..."
And they got really excited.
And they were all in a kingdom ruled over by a strange, esoteric sorcerer, and some of them were his servants, and some of them were his pets, and one of them was his Deadly Enemy (TM).
So anyway, I gave them all reasons to work together.
And about six sessions into a ten session campaign I started sprinkling in weird visions and stuff. Strange oracles and prophets saying shit like, 'your past is not your past' and shit like that.
And they finally run completely afoul of the ruler of the kingdom (in the ninth session) and the only way they can escape is by crossing a dense forest that limits his kingdom.
So in the tenth session they run. And they push through it. And their skin gets flayed by thorns and bramble and as they go, I start describing memories. I pulled each of them aside and made them "remember" a past beyond their fantasy homeland--before it, when they were people. In a world like ours.
They popped out of the hedge, and I informed them they were Changelings and asked if they wanted to play it.
Ten sessions later they're waist deep in Lost politics, too many Pledges, starting wars with other Gentry... and then one of the couples in the group breaks up and the ensuing drama (which I veered sharply away from) ruined the campaign.
But yeah, that's my story about how I tricked my playgroup into playing Changeling because fuck what they want, apparently, I know best.
Like Zeus, but without the raping and killing.
"Excuse the hell out of you. He's a bag of dicks. I'm a carefully curated box of cocks." -- to @GirlCalledBlu upon being misrepresented.
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Victorian Super Heroes RPG: Victorious.
There are others.
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@Coin said in Which canon property/setting would be good for a MU* ?:
@Runescryer said in Which canon property/setting would be good for a MU* ?:
@ZombieGenesis said in Which canon property/setting would be good for a MU* ?:
I love the idea of superheroes in an alternate setting. Unfortunately what I read is "Victorian Superheroes" but what I hear is Steampunk Superheroes. I'm a fan of the Victorian era but the internet has killed Steampunk for me. It just seems to come down to weird goggles and obnoxious contraptions. And it seems whenever I see the topic of a Victorian era game come up it invariably transforms into a steampunk game. That said I'd love to see a game set in some alternate era or world (fantasy, dark ages, zombie apocalypse, etc). I'd actually like to see this for WoD or something too. I'd love a good Dark Ages game.
At one point, I was thinking about a TT campaign using Vampire, Werewolf, Sorcerer, and Changeling, but setting it in a full-on fantasy world. Mage would have been too powerful, I think. Basically World of Dark Dungeons & Dragons.
Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...
Once upon a time I was told by some friends that they didn't really think they would like Changeling very much (each for their own reasons) and that I should pick something else to run. Keep in mind they barely knew anything about Changeling at all. I didn't even get into the Hedge, or how any of it worked.
So I was said "sure" and picked Dungeons & Dragons.
And I was like, "and you can be anything in this setting. I will allow elementals, and ogres, and orcs, and anything you want, basically, we just need to work it out..."
And they got really excited.
And they were all in a kingdom ruled over by a strange, esoteric sorcerer, and some of them were his servants, and some of them were his pets, and one of them was his Deadly Enemy (TM).
So anyway, I gave them all reasons to work together.
And about six sessions into a ten session campaign I started sprinkling in weird visions and stuff. Strange oracles and prophets saying shit like, 'your past is not your past' and shit like that.
And they finally run completely afoul of the ruler of the kingdom (in the ninth session) and the only way they can escape is by crossing a dense forest that limits his kingdom.
So in the tenth session they run. And they push through it. And their skin gets flayed by thorns and bramble and as they go, I start describing memories. I pulled each of them aside and made them "remember" a past beyond their fantasy homeland--before it, when they were people. In a world like ours.
They popped out of the hedge, and I informed them they were Changelings and asked if they wanted to play it.
Ten sessions later they're waist deep in Lost politics, too many Pledges, starting wars with other Gentry... and then one of the couples in the group breaks up and the ensuing drama (which I veered sharply away from) ruined the campaign.
But yeah, that's my story about how I tricked my playgroup into playing Changeling because fuck what they want, apparently, I know best.
Like Zeus, but without the raping and killing.
So, one of the other games I mentioned earlier, Underground, has you playing heavily armed ex-military superhumans with various psychological issues in a dystopian America. So, in game lore, it turns out that the human mind can't adapt to suddenly being able to toss cars and bounce bullets off your body, so all the earliest enhanced soldiers went insane. The solution was to immerse a person into a months-long VR simulation where they live out a comic-book superhero life, gaining powers and such, while being enhanced. By the time the enhancement process is complete, the soldier has already lived a complete heroic life and more easily accepts the effects of having powers, with treatable mental illnesses instead of full on Reaver psychosis. Since Underground uses a modified version of the DC Heroes game (both published by Mayfair), I had an idea to start off a DC Heroes game, then suddenly have the characters wake up and the game switches over, and they're just getting back after their 5-year tour of service.
Of course, that would be the equivalent of taking a character that's a good and noble hero, then shipping them straight off to Vietnam with massive guns and telling them, 'Kill everyone that your computer identifies as a foe'. The evil bastard in me really liked that idea.
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@Misadventure I know people hate Fate, and this is technically out of the Victorian date range, but: Young Centurions is early 1910s! http://www.evilhat.com/home/young-centurions/
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@fatefan said in Which canon property/setting would be good for a MU* ?:
@Misadventure I know people hate Fate, and this is technically out of the Victorian date range, but: Young Centurions is early 1910s! http://www.evilhat.com/home/young-centurions/
I don't have an issue with Fate as a TT game system. I think that the system itself sort of bogs down with MUs. It makes an already long process (combat) longer, especially for large groups. Same reason that while I love Apocalypse World and AW hacks as a TT system, I don't think they translate over to MU particularly well.
