Posts made by Alzie

@bored So if i'm reading this right. What you're saying is:

Because I'm a dick who figured out how to game your system, you should rewrite it so that other dick's like me can't take advantage of the loop hole.

Glad we had this talk.

@Thisnameistaken Congrats on 100. Keep going and one day you too can own 609 games, 49% of which you've never played.

I feel like you should put this caveat in for flash Taskbar. It doesn't just flash the Taskbar, it takes focus, may Satan curse the developers soul.

@Sonder @Miss-Demeanor I saw a fallout mud once, but I can't imagine how you'd run a fallout mush really. What do you imagine? I mean, it makes sense as a mud, but on a mush you'd have to handle all the random items, loot, weapons and crafting.

@Volund Apparently it is free.

http://www.evilhat.com/home/fate-core-downloads/

@Arkandel said:

@Alzie I don't see why your suggestions wouldn't go over well. They sound reasonable.

This is a different crew now but it was my view on PVP.

I'm pretty sure we've asked this question before. I don't think my advice was well liked then either, but eh. Coming from someone that has ran large scenes consisting of 20+ people, or scenes in shadowrun that used decking, magic, astral and combat all at once, or scenes that were split into several different groups at once, this is my take on the matter.

As it pertains to the storyteller themselves

1. You have got to understand your rules. I can't even begin to express the annoyance that players and other staff alike feel when you're trying to limp along in a scene where it's obvious you haven't read a single fucking book. Just stop. Learn first, Run scenes second.
2. You have got to stop worrying about making everyone feel good. Yes, the scene should be fun. Yes, people should feel valued. However, if you spend the time necessary to deal with absolutely everything and everyone in the scene during the scene then that scene will take days.
3. It is okay to shunt rewards and info dumps to job or @mail. Not everything has to be given during the course of the scene if it's not directly pertinent to current events.
4. Pay attention. More than players, this is your only job. If you can't pay attention, don't run the scene.
5. Don't be afraid to say no. If you can only deal with 3 people, say no. If you really don't want that rock to be more than a rock, say it's just a rock. If you really don't want someone to solve everything on their own, say no. It's okay. It's okay to say no.

As it pertains to posing

1. It is okay to let players pose your NPC's reactions at times. You do not need to pose a skeleton's reaction to being killed. Let the player have fun with it.
2. If it's a truly large scene that will take time, put a time limit on poses. Then enforce it. And don't feel bad about it at all. Let them pose when they can get to it.
3. On the other hand, if you put a time limit on poses, you have to be available to answer questions. Nobody appreciates missing a pose because you were too busy to answer a question.
4. Remind people when it's their turn to pose. Scenes can get fast, it's okay for players to lose their place. Just because your game has a pose tracker doesn't mean you should rely on it. Do some work for yourself.

As it pertains to PVP

1. If you have to handle preparations, do it by job. Otherwise your first day or hours will be nothing but you emulating a very accurate micromanaging clock.
2. The first thing you do at a PVP scene is ask what they hope to achieve with the kill. I guarantee you that the players involved will shit their pants and gape. Nobody ever asks that.
3. PVP scenes are tense enough as it is. As staff, you have to take a firm stance. You cannot entertain arguments during PVP. As many people know, I am the king of the giant red warning banner. It clearly states I'm gonna do this thing and we aren't going to discuss rules until after all is said and done. That's as much for the players involved as it is for the staff, because otherwise it devolves into days upon days of minutiae. Been there, won the t-shirt.
4. Really, your job as staff is in some part to avoid the kill. If you can do that (GMC is especially about this) then you should. Don't be afraid to negotiate with your players. Sometimes the only reason the kill is happening is because one or both players don't see alternative options.

As it pertains to stories in general

1. Running a scene is about giving the players something to experience. It is not necessarily about making them feel awesome. I've ran just as many combat scenes as I have investigation scenes as I have horror scenes.
2. Know your audience. Don't give knowledge guy a gun and expect him to kill things. If he wanted that kind of RP, he probably wouldn't have made a knowledge pc.
3. It's okay to make things up on the cuff. I mean, we all plan these things way in advance right!? Right!
4. Don't think too much about enemy design. Primarily, worry about the story leading up to the enemies. That's more important than the enemy itself being hard to conquer.
5. Sometimes enemies don't need to roll a lot of dice, they just need to use a mechanic that makes people think. Like RFK's Queen of the Damned or Changeling Killer plot.

The most important rule though is if you aren't having fun, don't bother running a scene. Your scene is a reflection of yourself first and foremost.

@Sonder Ever:

@lordbelh The problem I'm having with 40k right now is that Dark Heresy is great, but 2e doesn't really give a lot of room for CvC unless it's small factions within the imperium itself. 1e has more books (A ton more) and is compatible with the other place settings (I can use the Chaos Marines from Black Crusade next to the rules in Dark Heresy and no one will bat an eye). So it comes down to how to structure the game. Allow further options for antagonism or make it an Imperium only game where the antagonism is from the different factions within the imperium.

So if you do Warhammer 40k, you could just have the game on Fenris. Then every couple of months or whatever time period, have the whole 'Fenris burns to a crisp' thing and reset the territories. Lore friendly and self enforcing way to make sure no faction is ever stronger than the other.

@AmishRakeFight It's because you have an asterisk somewhere in your text. I don't think I've ever been on a game that forced you to log out immediately following a death for any amount of time.

@Groth The only problem I see with limited slots is everyone will just pile on their most experienced players and leave the low level PCs out to dry.

@ThatGuyThere I really am a cynical bastard like you, but...RFK took a lot of that cynicism away. I believe it is possible for a game to be CvC and stay that way.

If I were to make a PVP(CVC?) mu, I don't think I would want NPCs. NPCs seem like a bad idea in a game where the sole purpose is having characters fight each other for territories, xp, money and prestige, etc. I think there should be a safe area for each faction. A place to have 'not battle' RP. So at least there's that, also to prevent the one side not being too powerful. I don't think you could ever prevent one side being all powerful, one side would inevitably end up with an advantage, either by having the longest standing players or the players who made the best investments. I don't think you could ever truly stop that.

That being said, There are always ways to beat down a strong opponent. And especially in the case of warhammer, I don't see the issues of one faction becoming too strong being a huge issue.

@Groth The Fantasy roleplaying books are way too involved for Mush, but the things from Dark Heresy, Deathwatch, Rogue Trader and Black Crusade are basic enough to be used. Dark heresy has a 2e, none of the others do. 2e Dark Heresy is a good read, i'm not sure how compatible it is with the first edition of the other books.

Well, for instance, World of Darkness lends itself well to Character against Character, Faction against Faction warfare. We never see that really and not many games are built around it. Warhammer, if there was such a game - and if we're being honest was part of my reason for asking -, is well suited to characters fighting against each other. There are other settings where this would work well too. For instance, a dark ages setting featuring church against magic.

We don't really design for this though. There are many things that one can fight over. Territory, Resources, Bonuses, traits. I don't like the idea of having a game designed around these battles and then saying no one can die though. That takes a part away from it. Part of having the character versus character background to the game is that you have to worry about that character death aspect.

You know, there's an element to PVP that can be really fun. It does take a particular game structure and staff to work but it can be fun. That being said, I haven't really seen any truly PVP focused games lately. I'm just curious if nobody really wants one or if nobody is really making them. I mean, I think PVP can be fun, especially if we add in factions and territory control.

Opinions?

So, just curious. I'm feeling codey and I now own a copy of 3 of the Dark Heresy books (2e Core, Enemies win/wout). I think i've only ever seen one Warhammer game and after reading the fantasy roleplaying book that definitely won't work in a mu setting, but Dark Heresy might. (Rogue Trader and deathwatch seems like it might too, but no books)

All that being said, would anyone actually play on a Warhammer game?

Well, My opinions from a coding perspective are:

Fate is easy.
DC Adventures is annoying.
Champions is time consuming. Not difficult, just time consuming because of all the tiny tidbits.
Supers I am unfamiliar with.
Marvel Super Heroes I am unfamiliar with.
Aberrant is no harder than any other storyteller system, which means it's mostly annoying busy work and not so much hard codewise.

@Thenomain I thought it was because Promethean was completely incompatible with every other sphere or any setting in general because hit max disquiet and the only solution is for everyone to kill the Promethean or the Promethean to leave. Speaking of max disquiet, Curious how you'll handle that situation @Botulism.

@ThatOneDude I could probably get that set up in a docker. Tinymux is being a dick right now so that's not working so well. Let me do that.

Edit: I'll get back to you on volund's code. Working with Volund on some bugs.

@Miss-Demeanor Whence I last logged in, I was presented with a World v World status screen, the daily reward screen that you speak of, A quest line reminder screen (I don't want to call it a recommended quests screen because it wasn't that, it was a screen telling me what quests I could start now regardless of usefulness) and black lion trading company notices. That's more than two clicks.