Game Idea
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@Sammi said:
The only existing CoD chargen that I know of is coded for MUX, so I'd go with that unless one of the coders around here really wants to modify it to fit Penn.
Not sure which one that is. Or maybe I don't understand which rpg this is being based on. I was assuming 2nd WoD, for which there are several, mux, penn, or otherwise.
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The are going for the current version of CoD, aka NWoD 2.0 aka the GMC stuff.
Though that said I know of at least two since Theno made one and RfK had one and I don't think they were the same. -
@Lilli
That's Theno's chargen, which I linked at the top of the thread, for the Chronicles of Darkness rules (nWoD 2.0), which is very new and the only games I've known to run it have been on MUX. -
If Kingsmouth is using their own GMC/nWoDv2/CofD system, then there's two. I know someone who is making a third, in spite of my protesting that I'd help her install mine. Sometimes the fun is in the creation, so I can respect that.
I have stopped trying to assure that my code works on Rhost or Penn, but since both of those are usually supersets of Mux then it should largely work with the notable exception of any time I use columns(), which Rhost had rewritten from the ground up. There is a function or two that Penn and Mux call by different names but are otherwise identical.
I'm willing to work with coders on these platforms to pull out these functions into what I've been calling "dot functions" for easier conversion. For instance, sometimes you'll see in my code 'u( .columns, ... )' which is my way of trying to make cross-platform installation easier on the coder. I'm mainly using these now for when I know I'm using user-defined functions like 'lmax()' or 'titlestr()'.
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Alright. I have server space on DigitalOcean and a namedomain from Cheapnames. Is there a specific server code-type that I need? I picked ubuntu (the only name I recognized) when I made my droplet, and it just isn't accepting the commands to snag tinymux from the weblink. I have an SSH client installed on my phone and my skype is taikaovtings if someone has a little time and mercy to help me get the pieces to coordinate.
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@Sammi is being awesome and helping to set stuff up after I hit a pretty big roadblock. I've been discussing ideas about how we want to run things, and here's a few things qe're chewing on:
Staff Goals
- I won't have a pc.
- Staff CAN have pcs, BUT not in a sphere they directly have control over, and never in a position of power.
- To compensate for the limitations and thank for their hard work, staff bits will be awarded 1 xp/week to be used after they retire from staff.
- Potential for staff to get Beats for being awesome. Still discussing that.
Grid Goals
- Start small with Hell's Kitchen and expand or update the grid as the plots and stories give need for it. This gives the players a chance to really help shape the world and make a mark on it, and hopefully will help us with how big the grid needs to be by the interest there is in plotting to make it bigger.
- Grid spaces will have meaningful stats. Food, Water, Population, Shelter, and Security. These will tie in with a larger system (that we will do our best to keep clean and simple) that will span all spheres and have effects on the world and people that claim the squares.
- Easter Eggs. Grid crawling can reveal breadcrumbs for stories hidden on them.
Growth Rate
- 2xp/week, flat rate.
- Prps will give 2 beats per scene. St's will earn a bonus +1 beat.
Stories and PrPs
- Npc's will be flesh out and feel like pcs and bring their own stories and plot pieces with them.
- Once a sphere has a sustainable playerbase, Npc's will step aside to allow pcs to shine.
Code Help
- A cross sphere system for tracking boons.
- A system for tracking beats with descriptions that will open a job - could be a modified form of aspirations code?
- A fancy room parent to display food, water, population, shelter, security, and the name of the person, covenant, pack, or group that watches over and claims the grid square.
These are ideas and not set in stone. Feedback would be greatly appreciated, and I am not above bribing coders with pizza.
The big goal is to keep the grid alive, social skills valuable, and territory worthwhile without the huge bog down of paperwork that RFK seemed to struggle with - and to make it cross-sphere friendly.
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Double post!
We always intend on keeping out Rex and Vaspider. For reasons.
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@Taika said:
To compensate for the limitations and thank for their hard work, staff bits will be awarded 1 xp/week to be used after they retire from staff.
Don't do it. I appreciate the retirement clause, but I still think it's a bad idea, mostly because a lot of people have had bad experiences with staff getting things above what normal players get.
Potential for staff to get Beats for being awesome. Still discussing that.
You can do this, to an extent. If a staffer who runs a plot gets the same sort of IC reward as a player who runs a plot, and someone else handles the job, there wouldn't be any imbalance there. It would just be someone running a plot and getting some extra beats thrown their way for it. Some people might still grumble, but everybody would have access to the same things.
A cross sphere system for tracking boons.
Boons are terribly vague. Code for this wouldn't be hard, but what would need to happen first is a wiki page with a solidly written description of the culture of the supernatural creatures, why it encourages paying in favors, and what sorts of services people consider equivalent (as well as what happens when someone doesn't follow through).
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Ooh, that's true, about the staff xp. A beat per scene ran isn't much, or a thank you beat here and there. That way staff still gets some bone thrown their way for the work put in. I just feel a little bad about the limitations, BUT I've seen what can happen without them, too. Not an easy balance to find.
I like how Reno has a 1 month wait time to kind of make people spread out their spends.
I think rfk had a good system (has? They rebooted.)
But I think I would want to expand on it a bit so there's more variance. Across sphere it gets a little trickier to define, I think, so the value of a night's work would vary from pc to pc.
1 night's work
1 week's work
1 month's work
3 months work
6 month's work
1 year of work - this being on i don't expect to see often.For code, I think it would be something that would list what you owe people, what people owe you, and have a trade function. So Bob can +boon/give Sally=(whatever works for the code). Or +boon/use? Might work best with a list function that alphabetizes by the name of the person attached to the boon? I don't know
I really need to learn how to code stuff. Guess I have a reason now!
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2xp/week, flat rate.
This is too much. I'll let @surreality explain why.
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Actually, easier than explaining: an example.
...........................| Zoe Graves (Vampire) |............................ Birthdate : Oct 21 1990 Embrace : 09-18-2015 Profession : Clan : Daeva Mask : Social Chamelon Covenant : Dirge : Visionary | Mental |............... | Physical |............. | Social |............... Intelligence : 4 Strength : 6 (1) Presence : 5 Wits : 5 Dexterity : 5 Manipulation : 5 Resolve : 5 Stamina : 7 (2) Composure : 4 | Mental |............... | Merits |......................................... Academics : - Contacts (High Society) : 1 Computer : - Contacts (Media) : 1 Crafts : 5 Etiquette : 3 Painting Indomitable : 2 Drawing Interdisciplinary Specialty (Bitch) : 1 2d Artwork Interdisciplinary Specialty (In Heels) : 1 Investigation : - Interdisciplinary Specialty (Portraiture: 1 Medicine : - Iron Will : 2 Occult : 1 Professional Training (Artist) : 5 Politics : 1 Resources : 5 Science : - Status (City) : 1 | Physical |............. Status (High Society) : 1 Athletics : 5 Striking Looks : 2 In Heels | Disciplines |.................................... Brawl : 1 Animalism : 1 Natural Weaponry Celerity : 1 Drive : 1 Majesty : 4 Motorcycle Protean : 5 Firearms : 3 Resilience : 5 Pistol Vigor : 5 Larceny : - | Devotions |...................................... Stealth : - Force of Nature : 5 Survival : - | Traits |......................................... Weaponry : - Vitae: 15 ooooooooooooooo | Social |............... Blood Potency: 5 ooooo Animal Ken : 1 Willpower: 9 ooooooooo Empathy : 3 Humanity: 7 Reading Personality | Other |.......................................... Expression : 4 Size : 5 Portraiture Speed : 16 Photography Defense : 11 Intimidation : - Initiative : 9 Persuasion : 2 Experience : 6.60 Socialize : 2 | Health |......................................... Bitch [ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ] Streetwise : 1 Subterfuge : 1 .......................................................| Zoe Graves (Vampire) |...because this was a character's sheet in under a year at 2xp/week. That about sums it up, I think.
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Holy shit.
Eta: Any suggestions on slowing growth, then?
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@Taika said:
Holy shit.
Eta: Any suggestions on slowing growth, then?
On Eldritch the plan I had was gaining 2 xp/week for the first six months, then 1/week for the second six months, then 3 beats/week the third six months, then 1 beat/week from then on.
You still get a powerful character, but you don't continue at a breakneck pace, and the older the character gets, the more the player has to actually be active for experience.
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Hmm. Not a bad plan. What about 2 beats/week? If a person runs a scene/week that would be 1xp. .4+.4 for a prp, +.2 for st'ing. Might help encourage people to st more.
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I'm a fan of slower xp gain. But also realize, any game that gives a higher xp gain rate will attract more players, potentially leaving you with a very tiny player pool. Depending on what you're wanting to create, this could be good or bad. I leave it up to you to decide. But I wish there were games where xp wasn't accrued at a breakneck pace, and players had to, you know... work for the extra shinies.
Edit to add: You will also get people bitching that those who don't do RL work and can live on the game all the time end up getting moar shinies at a faster rate. I don't necessarily consider this a bad thing, because if they're working for them they're working for them, so... whatever. But you may consider a cap on weekly xp gain, as well, to keep things on the level.
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Xp is one of those things where you really won't make everyone happy. And I lean towards a system that rewards and encourages st's. I also prefer a slower growth game.
Mostly because it seems like once a pc hits an apex things seem to stagnate.
This also might be why I dislike MMO's that don't start until you stop leveling.
ETA: Capping xp gain from st'ing could just end in spreading out when someone submits the logs - which wouldn't encourage st's the way I want. But I might drop it to 2 beats/week (.4 xp) plus 1 beat per prp, with +1 beat for st's. I would rather start low and tweak upward than start high and get stuck because dropping xp rates is likely to end in an exodus.
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One thing I've come to consider is that maybe XP from being a storyteller should be more. And yes, of course people will complain, "how come the storyteller gets more XP than the players".
But, put bluntly, storytellers have the more demanding role, frankly. And yes, yes, of course there are horrible storytellers who do horrible things and omg, worstplotevarzzzzzzzzz.
But frankly, if people respond to XP-as-reward, then why the fuck not? More stories can't be a bad thing.
i do think my decision to make the XP you got from running stuff on a separate XP track was a good idea. One of my better ones, IMO. Separating "player xp" from "character xp" is just a very simple solution to an otherwise annoying problem.
In short: don't cap ST XP.
"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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I'll say that I've been on Reno for almost a year or so now, and my sheet looks nowhere NEAR that example, at 2xp a week. My character is strong, but there's simply no way that I could have afforded to buy as much as the sheet presented had. Is this showing the effects of the 2XP for PRPS a week, in addition to the 2xp a week flat base? Otherwise I'm inclined to call shenanigans.
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I can show the XP log for it if you want -- there are no shennanigans here. The character was created a little over a year ago, but has spent some periods of time frozen, so it comes out to about a year unfrozen. There is some XP from plots and STing, but not much -- and she started with the 25xp starting XP, not the 40 people get now. (And her adjustment bonus was something like .2xp when that hit.)
Edit: Also, she was over-cap for STing rather often for a while, so there was earned XP that was never awarded. This was before the cap for earned XP from STing was removed. (And one of the reasons that it was.)
The reason @Coin mentions me is because when someone decided to try to pull some epic brain-dead stupid -- well, yes, what he just said below.
I ran the numbers on active and inactive characters and the differential was depressing as hell.I am not hauling out notes, because it was in old files I scragged when I quit the joint. There are summaries of it all over the place here, though, if one wants to dig around for them.
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@Coin said:
One thing I've come to consider is that maybe XP from being a storyteller should be more. And yes, of course people will complain, "how come the storyteller gets more XP than the players".
But, put bluntly, storytellers have the more demanding role, frankly. And yes, yes, of course there are horrible storytellers who do horrible things and omg, worstplotevarzzzzzzzzz.
But frankly, if people respond to XP-as-reward, then why the fuck not? More stories can't be a bad thing.
i do think my decision to make the XP you got from running stuff on a separate XP track was a good idea. One of my better ones, IMO. Separating "player xp" from "character xp" is just a very simple solution to an otherwise annoying problem.
In short: don't cap ST XP.
While I largely agree that the rewards for ST's should be, you know, -more- somehow, you'll eventually run headlong into the logic of 'if player ST's get rewards for storytelling, why don't staff get any sort of incentives character-wise for actually doing all the grueling fucking staff work, like processing jobs and whatnot'. I've seen the battles between those in favor of staff incentives and those against it. Things could get messy if you justify it based on 'it is harder, and therefore should be more rewarding'.
