Best posts made by Arkandel

I don't know, @Thenomain. Although I agree of course that the amount of pressure some bad players have been known to put on people is absurd and unfair I still maintain that ultimately we're responsible for our own actions. However defending this would get too close to blaming the victim and I'm uncomfortable doing that even if for a MU*.

I think it's the job of all of us as a community (and not just staff) to drill the idea into everyone's head so that it's basic, common knowledge that

You may always, always, ALWAYS fade-to-black

and that's about it. It's all we can do.

Otherwise there will always be manipulating, conniving players like Juerg (who practically wrote the book on how to be a creep in MU*) and they'll always push the envelope to get what they want. At that point it's very hard for anyone else to intervene because we won't and shouldn't know what's happening behind closed doors or over pages, so even staff are limited to acting after the fact, and often in he-said she-said situations.

@Ghost It sounds like it'll hit most of my buttons. A game-wide metaplot, the good ol' faction tripod suffering newly introduced instabilities, and catastrophes looming in the horizon.

If it really wants to do it for me they'll integrate/balance spheres against each other better than traditional oWoD did and re-introduce those series of novels that used to be a huge guilty pleasure.

Please note this thread was created in the 'Mildly Constructive' section. If it goes off the rails I'll ask admins to lock it. I hope it doesn't!

So I laughed earlier at this LotR meme on my FB feed - something about an Elf shaking a Dwarf's hand in superiority to humans but then needing to wash his hands.

How do you feel about racism in fantasy gaming? For example D&D is moving away from racial modifiers. Do you think such efforts have an effect and if so, is it a positive one?

Does this sort of thing matter to you?

@runescryer Right. And we do need to be wary of judging authors in general based on today's morality; presentism is counter productive, since we can end up condemning even enlightened people for simply not being up to our standards.

An infamous example may be Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird. There are legitimate arguments to be made about whether it hit racism hard enough, but to ban the book now because it uses certain words in the text - essentially to accuse the work itself of being racist or promoting racism - is, in my opinion, disingenuous.

But let me ask a gaming question. In terms of RPG materials, would you revise or even not play older versions of manuals that cast certain social or intellectual traits to specific races (or genders)? Or do you handwave the issue? Do you care enough?

I hope you are okay, @mietze. If there's anything I can do to help with anything - please let me know.

Thanks for all the fish!

One of the issues here is that 'magic' means different things to different people.

For example some folks expect a very well defined magic system. You cast a level 3 fireball and it does exactly this very specific effect. Each spell has a description and quite possibly even a mechanical effect ("3d6 damage").

For others it's more freeform. Rank 1, small effects. Rank 2, slightly larger effects. Etc. It's much more flexible but then again someone will try to break the system ("I'll use my Rank 1 Minor Telekinesis to cause a brain aneurism!").

As long as you communicate your expectations as well as you can and then stay consistent you should be good either way. In my experience most players tend to prefer the more well-defined approach simply because it's clear what they can and can't do. However when your 'fuzzy magic' system works in the hands of an exceptional player, they can really do some cool, imaginative things with it.

Also... as others said, be aware the more powerful magic is, the least fun it will be to play a non-magic user.

I haven't played on a MUSH in years.

And yet, each time I read a book I like my mind goes "hey you know what this would be great for? A MUSH setting!".

@faraday Yeah and that's the thing, too. Some of us do have friends who send weird messages, start playing new games, join different guilds etc... and from whom randomness like that wouldn't be completely out of place.