MUs That We Would Love To Make (But Won't)

[Royal]

Since HBO went and half-assedly brought it out, no MU can do it any more harm...

DMZ Mush.

Everybody is broke, you're shot at for fun and nobody wins.

Unless you use Jason Mamoa as a PB, then you are granted a neighborhood to rule. Along with the other Warlord Mamoas.

[SquirrelTalk]

Someone grant me the energy and drive to make a Sonic MU. I could have built, opened, burned out on, eventually grown to resent, and then closed one by now in the time I've been thinking about it, and we'd be coming up on my nostalgia-driven attempt at a revival.

[lucidmaus]

A Pern game with properly scheduled Threadfall, with a living world (NPCs that grow old and die without others needing to manage them, with life events that happen with some regularity, and so on), extensive family trees for people and dragons, areas that have things happening (even if it's code-scheduled Gathers or other events), and where population information is consistent and there are attrition rates and-

Okay, it's Pern the Excel spreadsheet mated to a database, but I really do like all of the fiddly information bits and the idea of a game that will run all of that stuff in the background while the focus of things sits on a plot that runs 6 months to a year. 1:1 time, with accelerated time for 'down time' or time skips from time to time to keep things moving.

I just really want to have a game where NPC area leadership is clear and where they don't turn into weird methuselahs because no one knows how old they are - and for those NPCs to have an actual history.

And if I could rouse myself enough to scrape the rust off of my Python skills, maybe this will be closer to a game I'd actually make.

[ZombieGenesis]

Just got my PDF copy of Mecha & Monsters: Evolved and it makes me sad that this is likely not a game that will ever exist. Giant robots fighting giant monsters in a pretty slick and fast paced system. Ah well.

[Ganymede]

@zombiegenesis

[Arkandel]

@betternow said in MUs That We Would Love To Make (But Won't):

Or, GMs could not be the only source of plot and let players run their own stuff, make up their own cases to run for others, come up with their own NPC patients with X or Y illness for PCs to solve, etc. Then GMS only have to focus on big, world-changing stuff

In most MU* I used to play this was pretty much the default. In some of the sandbox ones it was really the only option other than when staff ran very occasional scenes.

Unless something has changed, the truth of the matter is the majority of players want to participate but not run plot. It's not really a matter of whether they are permitted to; in fact unless there are generous reward systems encouraging them to do so, it tends to not happen outside small groups of players running scenes for each other.

[Derp]

@arkandel said in MUs That We Would Love To Make (But Won't):

Unless something has changed, the truth of the matter is the majority of players want to participate in but not run plot. It's not really a matter of whether they are permitted to; in fact unless there are generous reward systems encouraging them to do so, it tends to not happen outside small groups of players running scenes for each other.

Nothing has changed. This is still the case.

[Macha]

@arkandel See, for me? I'm TERRIFIED of running plot. What if they hate it? What if I have to switch things around and I fuck it up? What if I change things and they hate it? AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH

[Arkandel]

@macha said in MUs That We Would Love To Make (But Won't):

@arkandel See, for me? I'm TERRIFIED of running plot. What if they hate it? What if I have to switch things around and I fuck it up? What if I change things and they hate it? AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH

No, I get it.

All I'm saying is games need to account for it, since it's simply the reality.

[ZombieGenesis]

@derp said in MUs That We Would Love To Make (But Won't):

Nothing has changed. This is still the case.

This is just an opinion, I'm not trying to be antagonistic or anything, but while I agree with you I also think that mentality needs to change. I'm not one of these "the sky is falling and MUs are dying" types but the fact of the matter is most of us in the community have lives and jobs and other hobbies. It's difficult to balance all of that with running plots on a game while also finding RP for yourself.

This isn't just a MUSH problem either. For me at least. I run into the same problem as the DM for my tabletop group. I have barely any time to prep an adventure. I spend a lot of time winging it or using random tables or something.

I think if people want to get the most out of the modern MU scene they need to embrace the idea of self-contained plots and running things themselves for themselves. I know that may be easier said then done but it's how I feel.

[Arkandel]

@zombiegenesis said in MUs That We Would Love To Make (But Won't):

I think if people want to get the most out of the modern MU scene they need to embrace the idea of self-contained plots and running things themselves for themselves. I know that may be easier said then done but it's how I feel.

That's one way to do it but is it a realistic expectation? People's approach to being willing to run plot in general haven't changed to a large degree before, so why would it start now?

I think a better way around it is to assume nothing will change but give people tools to have their adventures ran automatically. Think more 'Diablo 3 random dungeon' than anything. Many combat-y plots aren't very deep anyway, so you could potentially package a game so that when there are scenes going they can go have political RP and when there's nothing else going on go fight orcs or whatever.

[Derp]

@ZombieGenesis

Nevermind, misread where you were going. I agree, people need to step up to the plate more.

[bear_necessities]

@arkandel said in MUs That We Would Love To Make (But Won't):

in fact unless there are generous reward systems encouraging them to do so,

What kind of generous reward systems though? I have thought about this a lot but I've come up kinda blank.

[Arkandel]

@bear_necessities Well, essentially the idea has always been pretty simple - run a PrP, get some XP (or other in-game bonuses).

Mind you, this is no silver bullet. Those have gotten abused in the past. The simplest way is by people who ran them only for their friends (i.e. the people they'd be doing it for anyway), and so if you didn't have access to plots before you probably wouldn't now either.

Another way reward systems misfired is when people ran unplotted scenes just to collect them. "A birthday party" kind of deal.

But even then at least something happens. In smaller MU* when nothing happens for long enough it can be a game-killing condition, since people get bored and leave, then when other players log on they find no one else on, get bored and leave, etc... until there's no one left.

[ZombieGenesis]

@bear_necessities I think it depends on the game. I know people will cry "favoritism" the second anything is offered to one player isn't offered to everyone but I honestly have no problem with it.

I was thinking about how to do a Dark Souls game with the new RPG coming up and one of the things I was thinking could be cool is earning "reward points" or whatever by running plots for yourself and others that you can cash in for special gear or spells or something. Want Havel's Ring? Work with staff to create content for other players then they'll work with you to run you on a plot that ends with you getting Havel's ring or something.

On a comic game? I guess it depends on the specific universe but something similar could happen. Cool perks that don't overpower a character or unbalance the game. Some players helped you run that Thanos/Infinity Gauntlet plot? Their PCs are now the guardians of the Infinity Gems(ala the Infinity Watch comics).

I think things like that could work.

[Arkandel]

@zombiegenesis said in MUs That We Would Love To Make (But Won't):

On a comic game? I guess it depends on the specific universe but something similar could happen. Cool perks that don't overpower a character or unbalance the game. Some players helped you run that Thanos/Infinity Gauntlet plot? Their PCs are now the guardians of the Infinity Gems(ala the Infinity Watch comics).

Another way for comic book games could be to use PrPs as a way to 'unlock' canonical characters. So Batman isn't playable by staff friends or first-askers who park on the character but people who have ran PrPs before. The idea of course is hopefully that they'll use the character to drive plots instead of just locking themselves up in a room with Catwoman until the end of time.

[ZombieGenesis]

@arkandel I had once thought about locking "major FCs" behind a plot barrier. Want to play Batman? Well, that's cool but you have to run a plot for Gotham. Then, when that plot is over, the character becomes available again and someone else can step in and have a run. I never did it though because I had fears of Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman all just sitting idle and stagnant.

[Derp]

@zombiegenesis said in MUs That We Would Love To Make (But Won't):

I was thinking about how to do a Dark Souls game with the new RPG coming up and one of the things I was thinking could be cool is earning "reward points" or whatever by running plots for yourself and others that you can cash in for special gear or spells or something.

This has been done by plenty of games. Fate's Harvest has a whole Arcade for what you can spend them on.

[faraday]

@derp said in MUs That We Would Love To Make (But Won't):

This has been done by plenty of games. Fate's Harvest has a whole Arcade for what you can spend them on.

I'd be curious to see how that worked out. The games I've seen that have tried things like that in the past failed pretty spectacularly. Either the rewards proved to be game-breaking in their imbalance (XP dino / power effect) or nobody actually cared enough about the rewards to do the thing to get them.

[Devrex]

@macha Most people are just super grateful to have something to do tonight!