@Seraphim73 said in Wheel of Time:
There's a reason that the series ends at that point, everything after it is a very differnt story.
You know better that than! There are neither beginnings or endings.
@Seraphim73 said in Wheel of Time:
There's a reason that the series ends at that point, everything after it is a very differnt story.
You know better that than! There are neither beginnings or endings.
@ThatGuyThere said in Core Memories Instead of BG?:
After all the purpose of backgrounds is to show the player has a clear idea of the character and that the character fits the game.
This is anecdotal of course but when I roll a new character I have very little idea of what he is about. I don't get a handle on a fresh PC until several sessions in, and there hasn't been a time I thought "hey, writing his background really helped me get some insights into this one".
If anything the only times I've had lightbulbs was, strangely enough, writing justifications for XP expenditures - something about delving into the character's downtime, the stuff I don't usually get to roleplay about (since much of it involves his 'alone' hours, the boring procedural things) has been quite helpful now and then.
But backgrounds? I write them because they won't let me out of CGen if I don't. Obviously YMMV.
@gryphter said in Wheel of Time:
The simple truth is that I could take up days writing out all the interpretations and versions of WoT I'd be willing and excited to play. TL;DR -- everything. It's just all of it. The nature of the material makes it pretty easy to spin out any version of the world you want and borrow as much or as little of the books' events as you like. The possibilities are endless, and really I don't think you can go wrong -- there's an interesting story to tell no matter how you approach this stuff.
The thing is, (generic) you don't need to do any of those things. You're not writing a book - you're not even writing a story. You're creating a game based on the story in some books, so your job is to figure out which of the elements within that story you find more useful from a playability point of view, and thus what you want to prioritize.
Is it the fight of Light versus the Shadow? Well, obviously picking a point right past Tarmon Gai'don won't work.
Do you really love unstable male channelers? Then you don't want to have Saidin cleansed whether they are PC playable or not.
It's always going to be a tradeoff, but you (again, the general 'you') just need to know what your goal is. Everything will be derived from that - the geographical focus, the major factions involved, their power levels and overall balance or lack thereof, and definitely the timeline as well.
That's the fun part though, since it can easily make two different WoT games completely different from each other based on those choices.
Just keep in mind how they are implemented is more critical than what the choices are.
@Pondscum said in How does a Mu* become successful?:
Everytime I see this thread pop up, I misread it as "How does a Mu* become stressful?"
Well, you log on.
@Taika Since we're just throwing things around - this might be controversial (actually I don't know) but here it is.
I quite dislike how many MU* have handled Renown so far, either by copying each other's policies on justifying spends or putting hurdles no other sphere has to deal with.
How it should be done: "You need to explain why you have Glory 4. Write a note."
How it is actually done: "You need to justify why you have Glory 4, which we as staff will scrutinize and throw hoops for you to jump until you either say fuck it or if you're lucky and connected enough you can have an obligatory PrP ran whose outcome is predetermined just to check that checkbox in the least organic way possible. Also literally no other sphere in the game has to do this for their spends, just Werewolves, lol."
Let the poor wolves buy Renown. They can say how in ways that it makes sense for them and be done. Hell, give them incentives (make the spend cheaper for example) if they have matching IC logs but remove that bureaucratic procedural relic from your game.
@ThatGuyThere Why are you assuming if suddenly there were a thousand new players interested in MUSHing in the mid/long term the result wouldn't be more games being created?
In the 90s there were quite a few more MU* around than there are today, some with hundreds of people online.
@Admiral I agree. There should be a progression for WoD to make sense in a MU* context, which is why neither bucketloads of XPs right after CGen nor starvation from that point on would work. You need to be looking forward to the cool things you'll get in 2-3 weeks, and then in 2-3 weeks after that.
But let's be clear here. The deathbed of WoD MU* has little to do with mechanics. These games die for lack of things your character can get involved and have some meaningful agency in.
I don't have a lot to add to this thread except this: Ganging up on people gets a big sigh from me.
There are posts whose contents can be summarised (and not by much) down to people giving a +1 to their friends - and I don't mean in lol-karma but just showing up pretty much only to show support. This bothers me because it cheapens dialogue - arguments stand or fall on their own merits and who has them should be irrelevant. There really isn't such a thing as 'losing the argument' either since that implies several things that invalidate debate itself, but the "hah, we sure showed him/her" mentality completely rubs me the wrong way.
@Taika said in City of Shadows:
@arkandel Which is interesting. And I don't think you mean 'just plot', either. I think you're more referencing that sense of /investment/. Shoving plot at people isn't the magical fix-all. When I can catch @Ganymede I'm going to pick her brain and show her what I've got in my head and what the grid is looking like.
What I mean is what I've observed in several WoD games in a row. They all fall within a pattern of a spike of activity right at the beginning, followed by this weird dance where everyone tries to fit in a group (find a coterie, a romantic partner, etc) while the only plot offered is either made up of these massive scenes there's nothing personalized and little agency to be found - which in a scene with 9 people is understandable - or really generic. A birthday party, yay. So slowly anyone who hasn't gotten into those early groups loses interest, and then the groups themselves come to realize there isn't anything happening outside of their own circles, so attrition continues until the game is dead in the water.
I'm suggesting to break this circle by giving people things to do. It's that simple. Things to pursue and to oppose. I should have a reason - a tangible one - to get out of my room and try to play with that new Mekhet since I need their support.
Staff's role in this would be twofold:
If you implement those then no matter the system and its specifics you've already done your job because RP will perpetuate from that point on. Factions will continue to look for ways to get more people involved, shifting the political map each time back and forth as they make gains or lose them.
What's even better is then any other kinds of plot through coteries, romantic entanglements but also PrPs or staff-ran scenes will enrich all that instead of being the only options without which you resort to just sitting there checking out +where to see everyone idling for 35 minutes+ in their own separate rooms.
@VulgarKitten It's not the same at all! If someone asks for a FTB and the other person objects that person is a moron. This is known.
@Ghost said in Legends of the Old Republic - In Progress Star Wars Game:
How will Sith fighting Jedi be handled if there is no PVP?
"May I interest you in a game of Dejarik?"
@Rucket said in Interest/Volunteer Check: Major Multisphere Chronicles of Darkness:
As someone who's played Law Enforcement on a WoD MU before, here's my take on things.
As someone who's played Law Enforcement on a WoD MU before here's my take on things:
Do whatever you want but please, for the love of Cthulhu, don't ask me to have to memorize and use real-life response codes, radio protocols and advanced cop lingo for everything. I didn't like it on TR even though I liked the RP and most of the people involved just for that reason, sometimes I had no damn idea how to respond to things.
First a caveat - this was over thirty years ago. Players' expectations were... different, to say the least.
But @seraphim73 probably remembers the WoT MUD we were on. Sure, it had a coded system but for a while it was just plain simply utterly irrelevant, to the point it was mostly ignored. Then we added more setting-appropriate stats (Flows, weaves, etc) but again, there were serious imbalances since everyone was a glass canon; dealing damage was far easier than taking it.
Yet ultimately that doesn't matter. Creating some sanity clauses and using consent encounters should deal with that. I don't think WoT is inherently a 'PvP' kind of setting; blasting Trollocs, having adventures trying to root out darkfriends and figuring out where ancient lost knowledge lies and playing politics should be where it's at.
A system should be able to work even just based on record-keeping just for major milestones. "Is this person strong enough in Water to learn this healing weave", "is this person skilled enough with sword forms to be on the path to Blademastery", etc.
The rest should fall into place if the game is set up to be fun otherwise, and it allows players to have stuff to work towards.
@Lotherio said in There's Nothing to Do Here:
I am of the mindset that 'nothing to do' is more on the player than staff.
Yes and no. Before you legitimately stone me for a cop out answer please allow me to explain.
First - yes, some players go and sit in a room expecting the world to provide for them. Where's my plot, bitch? I'm bored, entertain me! There's no real defense for that, we are all responsible for our own fun and failure to be proactive by trying to make something happen, reaching out and offering meaningful RP to others... generally being creative is at the very core of our hobby. There are after all no mobs to kill, we're all we got.
But the other half of it is, games can do a great deal to at least facilitate players if not actively encourage their interactions. For example at various times during MU* code evolution we didn't have handy commands like +meetme (no need to know the grid, if you want to join someone you just can), +where (see where RP is happening), assorted seeking-RP flags that show up in bright colors if someone's actively searching for scenes; those helped. The XP system itself can act as an incentive - yes, obviously people should just go play the damn game they're in without having to be rewarded for doing so, but I've spoken to people before who were still 'looking to cap their XP for the week' and were on the lookout for something - such scenes can lead to boring bar stuff but they don't have to, so that too helps.
The latest evolution has come from games like RfK, or so I understand from @Ganymede's gushing over its system - political environments tend to work well since they don't require the presence of a Storyteller (in fact in some cases they might actually discourage it since it introduces a degree of bias) and make characters each other's tools, adversaries and needed allies to advance their agendas. So in that way such resources can be great to have and give people both reasons and methods to engage each other.
Sure, if all other things are equal and the players involved are eventful and proactive none of this is really needed. I suspect many of us can bring up anecdotes where awesome RP took place with everyone contributing and adding elements to it without the need for external tools... but they sure do help.
@Coin As long as they don't call them 'toons'. Please don't call them 'toons'.
For me it's just a matter of theme. You know how in some TV shows throwing a punch can land you into serious trouble because Law - some episodes of The Good Wife involved the threat of long-time imprisonment and repercussions for relatively minor problems. Similarly in The Preacher he gets to be in a fight in public and snap someone's arm until the bone shows in front of everyone but there's never a question of whether charges will be pressed or that there might be consequences; it's just not that type of show.
Cops and criminals in a nWoD should just be treated thematically. No, you can't really try to play the big by-the-book cop who arrests everyone for smoking pot or being in a bar fight, that's dumb. It's not that kind of game, and staff should just tell him all the charges were dropped the same night if he tries. If the baddies eat a baby in front of the character then yes, I'd say 'consequences' are in order though, yes.
It's just a matter of consistent and common sense. There's no need to have rules like "no cop can ever go after a PC" - nor the opposite.
"I paid $20 to buy your product, that means I own you."
Well, my impressions of Arx so far...
For starters I need to give Apostate, whoever he/she is, kudos; I came in knowing nothing about the theme and I was just Guest4, but they helped the hell out of me. Usually I barely get pointed to the correct help file by staff in most games let alone anything useful I can use to build a better character but they actually collaborated with me, took my ideas and added to them, made sure to offer options and alternatives to their suggestions, and... well, it was top-notch. That stuff makes for an excellent first impression.
The lack of meetme is a bitch but at least @directions works...it's a little tiresome after a while - I hate navigating in grids in general - but I could get to events every time so that's good, right? Speaking of, their +event system seems less feature-rich than in the nWoD MU* I've been playing, as unless I'm mistaken there's no way of telling who/how many people are currently going or become able to run a first-come first-served scene.
Speaking of such scenes... not sure if there's anything like temporary rooms either. I want to run PrPs (one of the great things about fantasy settings is the freedom you get) so I'm not sure what the procedure for running one is yet, but I guess I could always hijack a grid room for that - assuming of course that's permitted. Is it? I've no idea. If staff wants more things ran they need to make clear what the rules are though.
Finally the code seems intriguing, I like the idea of a coded combat system a lot. I don't even mind the fact equipment is coded so they're trying to shift what you're wearing from the @desc to the actual coded items, as that offers roleplaying opportunities for crafters and tailor/seamstress PCs. They do need a primer though for things like 'how do I get gear', 'how do I fight a guy' and of course 'I'm a Storyteller, how do I run NPCs?'.
@Pyrephox said in Harassment in VR, there's something we can likely learn from this.:
without having to worry about, "okay, we've got to organize a whole game battle scene, where the three most notorious creeps on the grid somehow got ahold of the Important McGuffin, and now everyone HAS to cooperate with them."
You know, that's a fair point.
I wonder if it's a coincidence or at least unrelated to the conversation, but players who are the most notorious about going aggressively after female characters seem to be otherwise very active (some seem to be on 24/7, wtf man... I wish I could play games that much) and have a finger in every plot-pie out there. In a way that makes them both gateways to RP, making it useful to be in their good graces since they can pull you in, but also means avoiding them comes at a price.
That's not a problem code can solve. And staff have historically been very prone to undereacting to reports by players, assuming players were either being drama queens or trying to avoid the consequences of their actions rather than blame the person responsible for it.
No joke, either; back in Juerg's day a player he chased off HM, and a good friend of mine, was specifically told she could avoid all the massive IC witchhunt against her if she slept with him. She was told this openly. Staff sided with him, how dare she try to dodge roleplay? So... I don't even.
@Ganymede said in Harassment in VR, there's something we can likely learn from this.:
But I meant what Player A wants staff to do should in no way limit what staff actually does, as there may be a Player B, C or D who aren't talking to staff at all, but who are getting poached as well by the offending player.
Of course not; however, you can't even begin to formulate a plan on how to address the situation without starting with the complainant and respecting their wishes to some extent.
I'll of course agree with the part about respecting their wishes 'to some extent'.
But as an example let's say I'm a creeper. I look at your super-hawt PB and start sending you flirty pages every time you log on (thank you, +watch) followed by quick nagging to play with me; and if are you playing with Loki... why? You said we'd play soon but it's been a day since we played last. Why are you in a bedroom? Lol, just kidding, hah-hah. But seriously, why are you in a bedroom?
So you tell me to fuck off. You might not even think much of it because you've handled creeps before and I didn't even register as something more than an inconvenience between poses. So yay you, you handled this one! And when you mention it to staff it's kinda in passing with a "eh, no big deal though, it's over now" disclaimer on it because to you it wasn't anything extreme.
Two things though:
To someone else it might be enough to ruin their fun completely, or leave the game, or be guilted into playing with me just to shut me up.
The only standards regarding "am I a creeper?" should be staff's. Else the creeper bar is all over the place depending on who they ask and their particular tolerances.
It's important to handle these incidents early, either way. Else they fester.