Coming Soon: Arx, After the Reckoning

[Roz]

@Monogram said in Coming Soon: Arx, After the Reckoning:

@Sunny said in Coming Soon: Arx, After the Reckoning:

I find it frustrating to have it be implied that to be successful, you have to be online a lot, not have a life, etc. I am not successful because I have a time advantage (being on and being engaged are very different).

I delegate.

While I may be taking a short break from Arx, this is something I have felt very strongly in the time that I have been away from it. The game moves fast, almost too fast for my liking and at times it feels like there is almost a suggestion that if you don't dedicate the majority of your life to it, you're going to fall behind. And to note, I was completely one of those people who wanted 'all the clues ever' as unrealistic as that is.

Now, I know this probably isn't true at all, but the point is that it feels like it is. I'm hoping at some point the game decides to slow itself down to allow some to catch their breath, or at least feel like you're not missing out on a lot of things. It might be at the speed in which metaplot unravels, or the fact that the game moves at 3:1 time or a combination of both.

Either way, I know exactly what you're talking about. But again, even if I feel that, I don't think it's the case.

They've actually made some purposeful strides while you've been away to slow things down and give people a little more time to take thoughtful action. They've added a new +crisis system that lets people basically decide on actions to take for big metaplot stuff so it's not just like "I have to respond right now so the world doesn't end!!!" and "I have to respond first before other people get in there!!!" Now big stuff is given a certain timeline so people can see the earliest date actions will be resolved, and people have until then to figure out what they want to do (and each PC can only pick ONE thing to do). We haven't hit our first crisis resolution, but I think it's already been helpful in mitigating the whole sense of hyper-urgency in some quarters, and I'm really optimistic about watching things play out.

[Sunny]

I think I was not clear. My success is due to delegation, not lots of time. If I tried to do everything myself, I would fail. Spectacularly. Encouraging people to delegate and involve other people is not a bug. It is a feature.

Allowing the nobles to be able to do everything they want without involving other people is BAD. You should not be able to buy a diamondplate sword on a whim, unless you are using House funds. That the game is set up so that us Dukes and Duchesses actually NEED other people is really good.

If you want the sparkly, it takes work to accomplish. There are many things that work could look like, but a pittance of a salary is not SUPPOSSED to be able to afford magic weapons.

[Cupcake]

Delegation on Arx is the key to success.

My character runs a Ministry and as soon as she was able to pinpoint some particular issues of relevance, selected people to be Deputy Ministers who can devote their time to pursuing those issues. It's entirely probable that a third Deputy Minister position may open up.

On a complete tangent, I've created a page on the player wiki detailing her demesne, or as I like to call it, my liberal wet dream:

Deepwood Hold and the town of Old Oak.

[Sunny]

I guess the point is, if you are averaging even 50 economic resources a week, you won't be able to afford it. But Pravus pulls in more than that because other people contribute. I can't afford a diamond plate sword on my own...But my House? Can.

[Ganymede]

@Thenomain said in Coming Soon: Arx, After the Reckoning:

I don't know if this is what you meant, but I think most people mean success as "success in what I want to be successful at". Which is mostly about being capable or even powerful characters. Remember, a lot of us are WoDers, not L&Lers!

As a WoDer, I have no problem with delegating and being successful at something.

On RfK, as Cai, I survived my way into a powerful position and delegated many political tasks because, even as a Ventrue, I wasn't good at it. I was probably one of the worst choices for a Circle Hierophant statistically; however, I had the social connections, I delegated to where I kept a decent amount of activity going, and I lead because I had some sort of earth-shattering reputation as being honorable and trustworthy. Given that Cai was originally constructed to be a thuggish sycophant, I strayed a bit from the original concept -- but I was a specularly-good thug, even if I never got the chance to wield that power.

On Fallen World, the Shrike is an imperfect First Talon, but is probably the best connected of all of them. This is despite having piss-poor social skills and being publicly ultra-violent. She is very successful in design -- she's a vigilante and street-level investigator -- but she's horrid at what she's been shoved into. Regardless, through delegation, she's somehow managed to appear impressive and get shit done, although, truth be told, she probably gets her way because she is a big thuggish when it comes to social interactions.

Arx's system reminds me a lot of RfK's, but it is more streamlined. I know how taxing that can be, if one plunges head-first into the off-screen resource management game. On the other hand, the time-suck is a good thing because it forces a wise player to delegate, so as to be able to manage a few things at once. And this actually benefits the casual player looking for a solid mental challenge.

[ThugHeaven]

I'm glad systems stuff came up. I have a basic grasp of things, obviously I know how to pose, write a journal, share clues, etc. I'm a little shaky on the dice rolls, how the prp system works, basically the more crunchy bits of the game.

I noticed from looking at the journals there was an ooc workshop in the past. I learned a lot just from reading the log. Would it be possible to run a couple more of those in the near future? I think it would be really helpful to both new and old players.

[Caryatid]

The proudest I've been on Arx was when I finished writing and building and enacting the working Crown government. It was designed specifically to support both delegation and RP-creation with a wide spectrum of characters and @orgs, while also being something people could take and spin into their own brain-baby. I've never written a government from the ground up but I'm happy with this one.

But it was definitely not written with the thought of one person ruling them all because that'd be fucking impossible. Exhausting, too.

[Thenomain]

@Ganymede

Yes, but we know that you are an anomaly.

[Packrat]

@Lisse24 said in Coming Soon: Arx, After the Reckoning:

Yeah, I just had a discussion with this with my house, because I feel like people should be able to afford some things, but we also shouldn't be bankrupting the house. I offered to up everyone's payments, but the feeling was that even with the upped payments no one would be able to afford anything, so we kept the payments low and ended up paying for really expensive armor out of the house account - which might be a mistake, or might be brilliant considering the current situation.

I have done some messing around with making gear and I really feel that, from a house perspective, sticking to High Quality Steel / High Quality Pelts level, refined to Excellent quality, makes an awful lot of sense. You can outfit somebody with gear 95 percent as good as refine Rubicund/Exotic Leather for literally a fifth of the price and even a Marquis level house can afford to spend 30,000 silver every now and again to outfit a new family member.

Added: Refining to exceptional quality does not help much (not at all for leather, very slightly for steel) and costs SO MUCH more. Limiting to Excellent grade outside of lucky rolls is critical here.

[WTFE]

@Meg said in Coming Soon: Arx, After the Reckoning:

I slept on this and thought about it so I could make sure that I wasn't wading back in in a reactionary way. But I have to disagree; I'm sorry. I don't think you're being fair to Kanye Qwest.

This is your privilege. Just be aware that KwazyKwest's antics are off-putting to more than just an arrogant ass here who feels the need to speak up. If you feel that on the whole KwazyKwest does more good than harm to your game, then by all means speak up in defense of her. Just be aware this comes with a cost. In this case the cost is that people reading her ravings are going to assume that this is representative of the game runners' approach to things.

Kanye Qwest has some consistent, repeatable, pretty obvious buttons.

IRL I have a motherfucking HUGE^WYUGE button: aboriginal affairs in Canada. I took a lot of shit in my youth from aboriginal gangs. I cannot possibly deal with aboriginal matters without that colouring my position.

So I don't.

I step away from arguments involving aboriginal peoples. In the one case where I was (circuitously) involved with disciplinary proceedings involving an aboriginal coworker, I asked to kindly be removed from the decision-making process because my intensely negative experiences with Canada's native population in the past would strongly colour my stance to the point of unfairness.

This is what mature people do when they recognize a hot button and a tendency to overreact on a given topic. They recuse themselves. Absent that maturity (which KwazyKwest obviously lacks!), other people remove them from the position when it's recognized.

You obviously recognize KwazyKwest's irrational hot button. You choose to leave her exposed anyway. This now reflects poorly on you (for the first time in this thread, incidentally).

(He's admitted he was being dickish, we all can agree, whatever.)

Yes. Thenomain has a strong tradition of being a mealy-mouthed dick. And he has similarly pleasant things to say about me. And yet … here I am defending him. When two people who do not like each other are in support of one another against one of yours, it may be time to rein in that one, no?

And it didn't really have to be Thenomain. I know it seems like it's Thenomain a lot, but she has been consistent, on game and on this thread, in wanting to make sure that people aren't doing things that will stomp on other people's fun.

It has been so disproportionately Thenomain that I honestly can't name another person she's gone off on like a MOAB. More than once. She does not come across as being defensive. She comes across as being ... well, KwazyKwest.

You can't call a doorbell crazy and overreactive if you go to press it 20 times.

You can call, however, a person crazy and overreactive if they present their button and say "here it is, press it!" and if they consider every off-hand comment a button press.

Again, all of this is fine. I'm not telling you how to run your game or manage your community. I'm telling you that there is a cost associated with the way you're choosing to run it. Right now, KwazyKwest's batshit insanity reflects on your game. Enjoy the shitshow. Especially now that you've practically come out and encouraged the behaviour.

[Sunny]

@WTFE

@Meg is not staff on the game, FYI. Maybe find another premise.

[WTFE]

@Sunny said in Coming Soon: Arx, After the Reckoning:

@WTFE

@Meg is not staff on the game, FYI. Maybe find another premise.

Ah, my bad. She'd been talking like she was.

Redirect, then: s/Meg/<whatever staff member is letting KrazyKwest tarnish the game image>/

[Meg]

Yeah, I am not staff. Sorry if it sounded like I was talking so. I didn't mean for it to come across that way at any point.

[WTFE]

S'all good, man. Shit happens. On both sides of the comprehension divide.

[Goyim]

She disagreed with my objectively infallible opinion and therefore has to be a staff shill ლ(ಥ Д ಥ )ლ

[Ominous]

Have we gone back to this already? Kanye can be a prickly cactus with a chip on her shoulder. Thenomain can be an asshole without the ability to even entertain the idea that he is wrong. I am a bullheaded jerk who gets way too heated and takes things personally in discussions.

We all have our flaws. Yadda, yadda, yadda... Let's get back to productive conversation.

My one concern is that +crisis will bring back the joys of Resday and wondering if the mob tore your character limb from limb.

[Kanye Qwest]

@Ominous I hated resdays in Firan, because it sometimes seemed that they were interpreted with the most scathing and mockery-focused point of view.

All I can say is that we are constantly asking ourselves "what makes the best story" and "is this going to be fun/fulfilling for the players" and try to find a happy medium of both if they are different answers.

We are also more than willing to reach out and ask for clarification from people. So, while I understand the concern, all I can say is that we are going to try to keep a much more positive focus in our crisis resolution.

[Arkandel]

Wtf are resdays?

Is it like Mondays? They can't be as bad as Mondays.

[Kanye Qwest]

It was the only way GMing of gamewide events took place on Firan. You had a deadline to submit an 'action' for the resday, then on the resolution day itself, a GM or team of them would go through the requests and emit blurbs about the action and outcome.

So you might be in a scene watching emits roll by about how you were actually getting embarrassed by a mob or something.

Edited to add: And we aren't going to be restricting our responses to emits, necessarily. Sometimes actions on +crisis will lead to live GMing

[Ominous]

@Kanye-Qwest said in Coming Soon: Arx, After the Reckoning:

Edited to add: And we aren't going to be restricting our responses to emits, necessarily. Sometimes actions on +crisis will lead to live GMing

That's already a promising improvement.