DC : Gods and Monsters MUX

[Auspice]

Funny enough, I actually have a copy of DC's editor checklist. One of the things is 'Does it reflect the real world?' They use 2012 US stats for gender/race, but sexuality is not represented (though likely because it's a visual medium).

If someone did ever want to send a letter, I'd be happy to share for a data point (heck I'd be happy to share with anyone who is just curious to see the checklist in general).

[Lithium]

@Ghost You lost me at 'balanced power sets for FCs'. I just couldn't stop laughing.

[Ghost]

@lithium By that I meant that a lot of existing FCs have been put through the ringer over years of defining what their powers can and cannot do, including weaknesses and personal kryptonite factors that have been written into existing canon.

OCs, even in my own tabletop games, tend to be very creative to put together powersets that can sneak up on you to be way more powerful than a GM had originally intended to allow. So, when it comes to powers, FCs are a known factor.

Are there overpowered FCs? Yes. With decades of explanations as to how their powers can be combated. In a hobby, though, where there are plenty of people who never like to lose and work to be extra creative to create something super unique and rare, you run the risk of approving Can Control Muscles and suddenly have a character that feels entitled to stopping the hearts of every person for a mile radius because "muscle control" was approved.

That's what I meant.

[Lithium]

@ghost What solves that? A GM willing to say 'No'. It's something nearly every successful game needs. I have a lot more, but not going to derail this further.

Peace.

[Auspice]

I also think DC themselves is beginning to take a look at how ridiculously overpowered their big names are and is starting to shake that up. Little C-string Killer Frost took down the entire Justice League in one go last year.

(The thing I love about more obscure FCs is in a lot of cases, their background is so vague and often even their powerset that if you look it over close enough, you can realize 'oh man in the right light, this character can take down someone huge.' I didn't even realize until I was in the midst of apping KF that she had done that! I was googling more info about her when I came across it! A lot of really obscure characters are practically OCs for how little detail you have on 'em.)

[Misadventure]

I think that "personal influence" can be tossed unless staff present the exact version of the character they want to see, including all history of interactions with other FCs.

Otherwise, there is nothing to protect (storywise, balance is another issue). It's a random thing to see what happens. Especially if a new player of the same FC goes in a different direction at all.

I just don't see it as anything more than an exercise in delusion that everyone else is creating the universe a given player/staff expects.

[Botulism]

@mr-johnson Because pretty much everything in pop culture until the last decade or so was largely created by straight white men, and still mostly is. And the argument of "just make a new female/black/gay/trans character" doesn't help because new characters rarely break through in established genres/universes.

I don't get why changing gender or race or sexuality upsets white males so much (not meaning you). They have all the toys. Learn to share, maybe?

[Botulism]

@auspice If only they actually followed that in their hiring practices. DC just recently yet again announced a slate of books by pretty much entirely straight white bros.

Not meaning to derail, but I work in comics professionally and that letter makes me giggle. DC are always making promises they never keep. Marvel too, though. Ah well.

[kitteh]

I prefer the 'no OC' thing even though it's meant skipping games that otherwise looked good because the good OCs ran out.

The bottom line is that OCs are often disruptive on FC-centric games (just like FCs are disruptive on OC-majority games, not that shockingly). I've had to deal with them glomming on a team I was a part of and trying to be involved with everything while blissfully unaware they were either stomping on people's fun with their powers or just killing the mood RP-wise.

Are there badly played FCs? For sure. But I can count the good comic OCs I've played with on no hands because it hasn't happened yet.

And it really sucks that it has shitty implications for some players but I don't know how to fix it without opening the general floodgate. Maybe the genderswapped/etc alternative versions is a good approach, whether its actually using the main character or using spinoff versions. Could these work as demi-OCs?

[Lithium]

@kitteh Well that's going to start a big flaming mess. So time for a thread shift people.

No more talk of OC vs FC here? Advertisements.

Sorry I mentioned it again.

[Arkandel]

@lithium Agreed. Guys, if you want to talk about OC vs FC do it in your own thread.

[Auspice]

Anyone know how to get in touch with Red to find out the status of the game?

(It is down )

[Mr.Johnson]

@auspice Down for me as well. I hope things are alright with this place would hate it if it din't come back online.

[Auspice]

I just got in touch with Mog.
The game was down due to a maintenance thing of some sort. It needed to be rebooted. Should be back up sometime soon.

[Mr.Johnson]

Well that's good news, was honestly worried they might have just shut down.

[Auspice]

Just got this. sounds like it's an issue with the Droplet. This comes from them:

"Our engineering team continues to investigate the cause of intermittent networking issues in our NYC3 region. During this time, some users may experience issues connecting to Droplets and load balancers. We apologize for the inconvenience and will share an update once we have identified the root of the issue."

[Auspice]

Aaaaand it's back!

[Auspice]

The following characters have opened:
Blue Devil
Black Bat
Martian Manhunter
Talia al Ghul
Red Hood
Ragman
Poison Ivy
Wonder Girl

Additionally, I just wrapped Chapter 1 of my plot last night. I'm taking a couple weeks to develop Chapter 2 (and also to finish a rather arduous project for school) before launching it. It's geared towards Titans PCs, but I'll try to find ways to fit others in!

[fatefan]

I'm also trying to get some sci-fi adventure off the ground there, so more participants would be welcome!

I would also love to find some like-minded goofballs and get neck-deep in Giffen-esque JLI shenanigans.