Best posts made by Arkandel

@Auspice What if you are a fruit fly?

Gawd don't be racist.

I quite enjoyed this read. Perhaps you will find it interesting, and if so, discuss how it affects roleplaying on MU*.

Water finds a crack.

Wow. I like how he (she?) stopped in mid-hunt for some kitty things. "Let's lay down on my back and stretch while rubbing this stupid collar on the ground before I go cut a bitch".

@faraday said in Water finds a crack:

Every system has its pros and cons. There is no universal "one true system" that's best for everyone.

Absolutely, otherwise we would all be using that one perfect system.

It comes down to preference. For example I like systems which reward "doing the right things" through modest XP caps on a weekly basis but then feature a catch-up mechanism for others.

So for example if "the right thing" for my game is to participate in PrPs then the game can reward up to <X> experience a week for doing that to players in the 10% highest experience bracket. However it will reward up to 2*<X> to those not in that bracket. This way they still need to play the game, but they can absolutely catch up to the dinos.

Is that the 'perfect' approach? Hell no, it's just what fits the kinds of games I like to play.

@Bobotron My wife (who works in the field) tells me they have a term (compassion fatigue) about burning out on empathy in the field just so they can function. Just because they basically can't be heartbroken every day, it's too much.

@Coin I'm on a different boat than @Miss-Demeanor although we're headed in the same general direction. When it comes to social rolls my problem is that what gets rolled sometimes doesn't match what's posed.

For example a manipulation roll followed by saying something dumb and transparent - it's harder to go with it than say, someone who rolls brawl then poses a crappy one line about tossing a punch.

You can only screw up physical actions so much, you know? But some of the vampires playing politics I've seen... man, all those aeons of unlife and you didn't pick up any subtlety?

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker teaser trailer.

I've been on this train for years. The future of MU* if there is one is in web-based interfaces. Game developers have taken some great steps (Ares comes to mind) though.

@Sunny A couple of years ago I used to cycle over to my old job when the weather allowed. This being in the summer I was wearing shorts and a sleeveless shirt which I'd then switch over to proper work-clothes once I got there.

Yeah, one time I forgot to take my bag with me so I had to pick how much fun my coworkers would have at my expense over it. I chose to buy a pair of pants and a t-shirt.

@tragedyjones said in Is this hobby on it's last legs?:

Weirdly, online RPing seems to be at an online high in more traditional OTT style games. I am literally playing or GMing in 5 different campaigns right now.

I don't think though that's part of 'this hobby'. A virtual table-top with all the usual trappings of old-style RPGs (a fixed GM dictating play, a small group made up of regular PCs, sessions scheduled in advance) is a different experience than consistent multiplayer worlds populated by whoever happens to be on at the time.

Otherwise yeah for sure, I wouldn't be surprised if Covid and some TV shows like Stranger Things have propelled D&D and the like to peak popularity online.

I am a huge Garth Ennis fan, and this is making me preeetty hyped.

The Boys trailer.

"Horror" of any kind is very tricky to get right on MU. This has very little to do with staff though, other than through their effect on how the game's culture is formed.

Basically 'dark' plots work when timing meets opportunity, same as most good things. You need a good, creative Storyteller who'll do more than throw gross poses at players, and you need players who're adept at and willing to take those poses and let their characters feel the full impact of the nasty world they're inhabiting - then be able to convey it back.

It's a tall order. It's also made even harder by the fact some players don't like portraying vulnerability of any kind (so they'll pose looking analytically at these horrors, whatevs) but also because some characters are - for some reason that's beyond me - designed to not give two shits about anything. So if you're playing the ultra-cynical seen-it-all 150 year old vampiric Lord with Composure 5 (7 with full buffs) good luck setting the right mood.

Does it all mean it's hard to pull off dark story rather than torture pr0n? Why yes, yes it does.

@TiredEwok said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

I was unfortunately not as lucky with GoT (am waiting for the last season to conclude so I can binge watch the whole series since I fell behind by a couple) thanks to the title of a Yahoo article on it's main page, however. FFS.

The clickbait articles on Yahoo! are merciless. Those motherfuckers haven't ran into a spoiler they wouldn't use to grab attention yet and they do it right in their titles. "Six Reasons Why Thanos Just Killed Half The Universe".

I don't think population is that important. It's other factors which make horror very hard to pull off.

One of the major factors, also, is that in many ways being able to pull off true darkness is playing off of helplessness or of the great unknown. That's very difficult to do when your character has a bunch of powers on a +sheet which are specifically geared either at making them able to help or know things.

This isn't metagaming but actually roleplaying. If my Mage is a triple Arcana Master or an Elder with vast resources at his disposal then getting him cowed is hard - he wouldn't be where he is if he was easily cowed, and now he has answers; maybe they won't fix whatever is eating his soul but being able to throw a fireball at the bogeyman makes it a little easier than say, a Stephen King novel typical ten year old boy who witnesses the supernatural and not only does he have no tools to fight back, no adult will even believe him.

Add to that some practical considerations. For instance the fact STs sometimes don't know a lot about characters in their plots, or the tendency many people have on MU* to let their characters be extensions of their egos and mistrust STs who take liberties with them and it's not exactly hard to see why this isn't pulled off more frequently.

@Selerik Of course, humor, some fava beans and a nice chianti make such dinners a marvelous experience.

@Derp said:

I've actually met with very little resistance anywhere but this forum, truth be told, outside of a select few situations, but we all face those from time to time.

It's interesting you phrase it like that - 'met with very little resistance'.

@lordbelh said:

When you offer up a bad solution, it is constructive to the greater conversation to point out that it is, in fact, a bad solution. Contrary to some people's beliefs, any solution is not always better than no solution.

Amen to that. "We've got to do something so anything will do" is just about always the wrong approach. You can absolutely make things worse with a bad solution than the original problem was.

@Warma-Sheen I agree for the most part but that's hardly something we can hold against it. Is it the latest season of Game of Thrones diminished because a large part of its emotional impact is in having favorite characters imperiled and seeing how plotlines will be resolved after watching the show for years?

I think not.

When it comes to player conflict no system can work as well as true collaboration; that is, actual people talking to each other to figure out what might constitute an acceptable resolution and what would not.

The point where systems usually fail if that caveat isn't properly observed is that they're abused. Sometimes the way is direct and obvious (my character doesn't like yours so he punches you into oblivion or death) which has certain consequences. Sometimes the way is subtle and devious (my character wants to sleep with yours so he rolls his way into your pants) which is a different beast altogether.

Neither option is desirable if someone is being a jerk, and neither is better than the other. When mechanics are leveraged in order for one player to force the other into unwanted venues the only variable is how creepy things are allowed to get before something gives.

Although I wasn't spoiled - if only because I watched the newest episode as soon as it aired - there's a Yahoo! article right now literally titled "RIP <character name>".

These motherfuckers.

This video about sensitivity in table-top and video gaming was shared on my Facebook yesterday.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkPUFH9kLfQ

With the disclaimer I don't agree with everything this video discusses or advocates (he cherry-picks extreme interpretations of sensitivity a bit too much for my liking) I do think it merits a discussion.

In your opinion how much effort should game runners (be that for a D&D game or a MUSH) be reasonably expected to put into not offending players? Or if that same question is flipped around, when are a player's demands to not be triggered crossing a line?

What do you think?