Best posts made by Arkandel

@Auspice said in The Descent MUX:

Well, the other big issue of Mage on MU*s and why they're able to be so 'overpowered'... I have yet to see a multi-sphere place that even takes Paradox into consideration. Or enforces it if they claim to.

So their biggest drawback, on many games, just doesn't even exist.

On MU* it's almost unheard of for Vampires to have to deal with daylight at all. It doesn't even impede their roleplay as any scenes with them are automatically assumed to take place after dusk.

Mages and Paradox (which I'd argue isn't remotely as big a disadvantage than taking lethal/aggravated damage for literally half the hours of your existence if something goes wrong, and being mostly unable to function during them) aren't the only ones not having to deal with such a major issue.

@Ganymede That's kind of what I meant, but in a different way. For example (and it's just an example):

Staff can demand/enforce through the rules that Werewolves properly spend Essence for their stuff. In that case staff creates an administrative overhead - they need to make it part of the game's culture for those players to type +spend Essence=1 properly when it's appropriate in all of their scenes whether they're PrPs or on the everyday grid, and all the extra policing isn't pleasant for anyone involved.

Staff can also make resource management be an essential part of the game - yes, Uratha fight for territory because it's in their nature, blah-blah. But if with territory come tangible effects - Loci with Essence flowing, codified Renown-gaining benefits, systematised NPC reputation gains, easily tracked through your +sheet and not just out-of-date wiki pages somewhere still showing packs inert for months holding that ground... then players themselves will want to use these in-game achievements, and they'll insist others do the same. After all if you've bust your ass for weeks to control the Locus in the gas station's bathroom you'll remind the other guy to use their goddamn Essence when he shifts reflexively. At that point it's just ingrained into the game. It becomes a good thing, it actually enhances roleplay way past the PrP you're in.

That's what I meant by 'entice'. Yes, it's enforced, but enforcement doesn't need to be a bad thing - when done properly.

The lazy way (sticking a rule in a policy file: "USE ESSENCE OKAY? OR ELSE!", donefixed) doesn't work remotely as well.

@Ganymede said in Mostly Mage, Partially Descent Mux:

I'm not sure what you're going on about, but people disappearing is a defense maneuver to a superior opponent in combat.

And a tactical choice. Gauru -> Obfuscate + wait -> sadwolf works wonders.

One of my goals, especially on new MU*, is to let players strut their stuff and allow them to grow into their characters; everyone's got that fresh CGen smell on them after all, they're all adjusting, so I figure PrPs are a good way for them to establish themselves. Meet-and-greets in bars and sphere meetings have their place but they're large, loud affairs... whereas trying to avoid being dinner for zombies after they opened the storage locker filled of them they won at that auction makes for a good bonding experience.

So I agree with @saosmash that taking a few liberties isn't the end of the world, but we can at least make it...stylish. For instance, if staff help out a little this step becomes much smoother (@Coin went a step above and handed me a neat Texan Invictus vampire NPC to use once, for example) since then I get to play with established toys, but that only works if I trust them and feel they're involved in the story as collaborators - sometimes staff involvement past the initial approval can be a double edged knife. If it exists though then this entire step becomes much smoother and the plot is better integrated into the game's overall metaplot - it just feels less sandbox-y that way.

@Kanye-Qwest I don't think it makes any difference, to be honest. +meetme doesn't invalidate the grid any more than @directions does, which I've used a few times already and can't say I was reading through the rooms' descriptions while I was going to the place people were waiting for me at.

It's a roleplay-finding tool, much more valuable in fact to newbies than it is to oldbies; the latter theoretically know how to get from A to B.

@Marshmallow I wasn't concerned about rewards, just the ability to run scenes or even about acquiring the permission to do so or what it entails.

Plot-running is the lifeblood of games guys. Don't let momentum stall unless you have a great reason to do so as once you lose a ST it can be a bitch to get more.

@Griatch Hm, good question. Let's see.

1. Tools to manage participants and juggle timezones are extremely handy. An event-based system where people sign up (and we can see the order they signed up in) where Storytellers can include some details about what they're about to run, what time etc is valuable. The order is important as typically there are more signups than there are slots, but some players might not show up, so you want to be able to run a fair first-come first-served queue.

2. A fully player-ran +job system is a must. Typically running plot isn't merely a matter of scenes but communicating past them; if we have to involve staff that increases administrative overhead and introduces delays. A common use for it is investigations - the characters survived the dungeon, now they want to see who's behind all this by asking their contacts, making rolls, etc... it's very handy to have all that in a single thread instead of having to shuffle through individual @mails.

3. Temporary rooms can be great. Sure, you can hijack a place on the grid but that can be problematic (say, you might want to 'freeze' the scene for just the characters in it) or there might not be something exactly as you like.

4. +Meetme. Traveling commands in general. Events take a long time and they're spammy affairs as it is without the Storyteller having to help players figure out how they're supposed to get there.

5. Combat-assisting aides can be invaluable. As a ST I use a text editor for table-top RPG systems but it can get pretty messy to communicate everything on demand- what's the initiative order again? How much damage has Orc #3 taken so far? And if there's a coded system (such as Arx's) then I'd need a way to spawn and control NPCs.

6. All sorts of rolling options. Show a roll to just one person, ask a person to roll for specific people, rolling into +jobs.

I think this about covers it, I can't think of anything else at the moment.

@Ghost Yeah, that's why it bugs me when people talk about numbers not mattering - sure they do. Numbers matter a very great deal.

Having great theme and a fantastic wiki means nothing if there are 3 people online, all staff alts.

@Apos The tricky part will be the implementation; most users aren't technical and most players already have so much to absorb on a brand new game - different commands, limitations, abilities, procedures.

This approach sounds promising and it can absolutely work but only if it can be done in a way that at least regular players (you can probably afford a bit more complexity for the Storytellers' interface) can use it very, very easily.

How to know if the implementation is easy enough: If they pop up the helpfile for it and the list of arguments scrolls the screen it is not.

@magee101 I suspect you are trolling us, but your original post basically had zero content.

@Karmageddon said in Coming Soon: Arx, After the Reckoning:

As an aside, I'm also not a fan of +task. It stresses me out, and I feel as though I have to do X, whatever X may be, Y many times if I don't want my character to fall behind or be ineffectual. It also makes me feel that I am not pulling my weight in my organization because I am not adding tangible-in-numbers value.

I can definitely see where you're coming from. But something to keep in mind is that, on the other hand, it limits those people who want every plot to be about them, and they have to steal the spotlight and do all of the things; by giving them a finite amount of background actions they can take per week it opens up some useful tasks for other players, too, not just those who get to play 24/7 or have meticulously crunched the numbers on their +sheets to be great at everything.

A secondary but important effect of this is it makes forming alliances and groups actually necessarily instead of just being social conveniences. If you want to keep up with competing factions or save the world or...whatever you are forced to find others to compliment your IC skills, or just so they can focus on one thing while you do another. Whereas for example a triple-Master on Mage@TR all that stuff was really pretty optional; they could have researched, investigated or scried all the things you could possibly throw at them, forever.

@Jennkryst said in What would you want in a Shadowrun game?:

• How often would you want to go on runs vs have social scenes?

ALL RUNS ALL THE TIME.

Who's going to run all these, er, runs?

@Jennkryst said in What would you want in a Shadowrun game?:

Was being semi-facetious. I know that plots wont happen all the time... but! Bar-p is stupid. a@Jennkryst said in What would you want in a Shadowrun game?:
Was being semi-facetious. I know that plots wont happen all the time... but! Bar-p is stupid.

Of course, and (almost?) no one in their right mind will argue that point with you. It's just that when bar RP is an issue it's not so much that people want to do it all the time, it's that there's nothing else available to do, you know?

It's really common on almost every MU*. There are way more players sitting around with nothing to do than someone willing to run things for them. It's why spheres with politics (Vampire) tend to do better than those which are action-based (Werewolf); you can always go bicker with your rival PCs or plot their demise with your buddies but negotiating with or punching evil spirits requires someone to set it up. And that's a limited resource.

@Cupcake said in Coming Soon: Arx, After the Reckoning:

I really wish the helpfiles were more intuitive. Most of the helpfiles list the command and each switch, but doesn't really break down what each switch does.

When I played I had a hell of a time learning how to do basic things from the help files alone, but since it was in beta there was only so much I let it be an issue. For example gear was a huge thing for me - it was really not clear at all how you got it in the first place, including starting equipment, then figuring out how big a difference item tiers made in your effectiveness was also pretty vague... which was before I realised my nobleman was broke (and had to get a big loan ).

Stuff like that should be up front and centre since it's so fundamental, but until the game is officially open I don't know if it can be fairly criticised for it.

@Apos Well, IIRC I was looking to buy basic gear. The helpfile includes commands to acquire it based on recipes, but it doesn't tell you what those recipes are. After asking around I went to the market (which the helpfile doesn't tell you but it's where the vendor is) and you can actually use those commands... but even intermediate swords cost orders of magnitude more than my nobleman had total - for starting equipment maybe you guys could adjust both the cost and quality to be lower. That way PC craftsmen actually make a difference and you can have an actual economy if you want one.

Automating PC-made equipment getting sold would be great, too. Yes, it can be a source of RP but some players don't necessarily want a scene every time they buy an item (and it's a fire-sure way to make craftsmen burn out if 90% of their scene requests involve selling pants and shirts - roleplaying being in retail isn't necessarily a blast ).

A combat primer with examples would have gone a long way, too, maybe explaining a bit about the system and its mechanics.

@Groth said in Harassment in VR, there's something we can likely learn from this.:

In my experience it's not problematic that creepy, rapey stuff happens on WoD games, because as mentioned it is in theme and most players actually like those things as long as they happen in the right context. Quite a few people even enjoy playing with Rex until he starts taking it OOC.

Many creeps are excellent roleplayers. No one accused Juerg of not being able to pose well. That's not his problem.

@Insomnia said in Harassment in VR, there's something we can likely learn from this.:

You haven't liked every post though, so maybe Common Law? It has been more years. I dunno, does that affect taxes?

That's how you can tell it's a real marriage. If you always agree with your spouse and like everything they do you're either newlywed or there's something seriously wrong there.

@RnMissionRun said in Wiki and You:

Also, I really really dislike it when I log on to a new game, have questions and staff point me at a wiki page. I suspect that's just me though.

But is it that different if they point you to a help file instead? One spams you less, the other requires that you hit alt-tab.