Best posts made by Arkandel
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RE: Wheel of Time mechanics
@faraday I have somehow managed to not add a single line of code on mushcode in my life so far and I'd like to keep it that way.
I chose Ares, and I don't see why picking something else to implement an entirely new system from scratch would have been easier than any of the remaining alternatives, so that's not a factor I had to consider too hard.
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RE: Book Recommendations
@faceless The Heroes is a fucking brutal book. It's amazing, and without mercy.
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RE: Wheel of Time MU(SH|X)
@popes Yeah, I'd play on a WoT MUSH so hard I wouldn't even flake out right away!
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RE: Good TV
I'm only about 2/3rds done but the Punisher TV series is so good. Yes, it's violent but it's not about the violence; it has some pretty convincing performances, the plot is largely about veterans trying to transition into real lives and the hardships they follow, and... basically this could have been a kickass show on its own right placed outside of the Marvel universe. There were a couple of recurring characters from the MU but overall they weren't crucial or anything.
So far at least I place it at the Jessica Jones/Daredevil season 1 level. It's pretty impressive.
Also wtf complains because the Punisher is a violent show? What did they think it would be?
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RE: Heroic Sacrifice
@coin said in Heroic Sacrifice:
I can't tell you how many times "but all my XP, I had like 3000 XP on this character and now they're dead! What a waste!" Guess what, now it weas all YOUR XP and what you spent on the character has been funneled back to you and you cans pend it however you want. Make a new character, buff some of your other ones, I don't care.
Although I want to downplay the importance of losing a character in the context of this thread (involuntary PC death happens pretty rarely, all things considered), I agree with that solution.
When your character is lost for any reason there are two things you mainly lose:
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Your mechanical progress (usually XP, but also rank, connections, etc); obviously a number is easier to carry over than the rest.
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Your identity. You are Joe, and once Joe dies and you become Bob. This is a subtle loss but not one to be underestimated since it does matter, and there's no way around that one (since it'd be really confusing to explain this Joe isn't the old Joe but it's just the same name for a different character).
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RE: Celebrities that are Dead To Us
@tnp said in Celebrities that are Dead To Us:
Old news but I never bought another of his books after discovering just how big a bigot (among other things) Orson Scott Card is.
Yeah, it ruined his books for me too. Not as much for the moral factor (some terrible people create great artistic works, and not just in literature) but because now when I re-read Ender's Game I start wondering about the author's agenda when I should be seeing characters' points of view. It just wrecks the whole thing.
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RE: What Is Missing For You?
@kanye-qwest said in What Is Missing For You?:
@arkandel ok like give an example god
Then it wouldn't be their radical changes but mine!
But say, don't do another City by Night nWoD; maybe a Vampire/L&L hybrid set up redneck country where the bloodsuckers are getting stalked by angry Werewolf rednecks pissed off about some old family drama. Or it's Star Wars in the Old Republic and your PCs are all Sith trying to beat the fucking tyrannical Jedi who've established a tight-fisted theocracy across the Galaxy.
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RE: Celebrities that are Dead To Us
I don't know about you but I'd watch the shit out of a sitcom of @kanye-qwest being married to Mr. Rogers.
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RE: How did you discover your last three MU* ?
@faraday said in How did you discover your last three MU* ?:
Stylistic -- MUSHing is not friendly to casual players. People leave you out of plots if you're not around. You quickly lose track of what's going on. And even just a single scene requires a 3-4 hour chunk of continuous time. It's very demanding. Also, it falls into a weird void between writing and gaming, and even within MUSHing people are very polarized about where on that spectrum it falls.
Yeah, that's one of the biggest hurdles - in fact it's one of the reasons I got out of raiding on WoW, since I could/would no longer handle 4-hour blocks of focusing on gaming. MUSHing does have the turn-based element working in its favor (you have a good 5-10 minutes between poses to take care of your dog or do things around the house) but it's still a hefty requirement.
Cultural -- let's face it, we're really not a very welcoming community. We stick to our cliques. We turn our noses up at people who don't play by our definition of "right" (their poses aren't the right length, they do too much or too little metaposing, they don't page before entering a public scene, they want control over their characters, they're too powergamey, etc.) And many games are frighteningly toxic in their culture or staff abuse.
Aside from behavioral culture issues which I'm hoping can be tackled through staffing to the degree any other kind of game can, we also carrying a lot of jargon new players need to swim through.
Did I say new players? I meant all. I've been MU*ing for twenty years and I still don't know wtf MUX, MOO, etc all mean.
Most of us play because we've been doing it for decades and we've got friends who play. But I'll turn your question around and ask: Let's pretend you had some writer and/or gamer friends. Would you really feel comfortable inviting them to play MUSHes? Would you be confident that other players would treat them well and actually help them learn to play? Do you think they'd actually have fun?
I think they wouldn't do it, not so much because they'd be mistreated but because they'd be sooo lost. That's an interface thing and I promised/asked to not go into it, but yeah... that'd be the first major hurdle.
Then finding RP would be the second one. The process of finding it isn't easy and many games are simply not frequented enough around the clock - and the etiquette of entering RP isn't obvious, either. I'd not be surprised if a newbie friend of mine entered a scene by talking about his background story for example ("Hello friends! I am a traveller beset by orcs who killed my family and...") and you can imagine how well that would go over. I don't know that there's a way to learn these things without making every mistake in the book and getting corrected, though.
But yeah, I do think other players would treat newbies well and help them out. Come on, we're not all assholes. I've had a lot of help before offered by people who didn't know me - that's not the problem. Few people will be mean to you until your presence costs them something - until they're competing with you for a rank or some shit - at which point you're probably self sufficient enough.
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RE: Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff
@faceless It sounds like you might be the target audience for some of the fancier safety razors then! May I interest you in one of these models, some of which are actually called things such as The King Cobra Classic?
... They work in an identical fashion to their $30 counterparts but!
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RE: As an ST..
@horrorhound said in As an ST..:
..as an ST, how do you balance for yourself, your group, your sphere, your game, the stories that are on a grand-scale vs. personal?
Usually when a story is set to be personal it starts out that way. A pack wants something ran, for example, so there isn't that much need to balance it out; they are the stars. At that point it's pretty similar to being a table-top DM/ST, with the main difference being you can't blow up the city in the process.
Otherwise my PrP series are launched from a neutral place exactly so that I can fit personal storytelling in them later on. That's tricky - and potentially unwanted - to plan for; sometimes characters I want to buy in don't, and others I didn't expected show up big time. There's no control over this since OOC factors play in the mix (RL schedules, players already having too much on their plate, etc) so I read the room and respond accordingly.
So to answer the OP's question I balance things dynamically because there's no one-size-fits-all approach here. Stories just need to stay flexible to accommodate newcomers, emerging ideas and approaches, even for interactions with other plots ran at the same time.
The one thing that isn't flexible is my own time. I have what I have, and I'm available when I'm available. Everything else has to work based on that or else it won't work at all, so my responsibility here is to make it clear from the start and stick to it as much as life allows.
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RE: Random links
When I went to this Slashdot thread this morning I expected to read about dish-washing robots: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/17/11/23/1723256/googles-eric-schmidt-says-people-want-dish-washing-robots-to-clean-up-the-kitchen-more-than-any-other-kind
Instead I learned way, way more than I wanted about sex dolls and how they are modular enough to have 'removable parts' so you can share your sex doll with your friends without it 'feeling gross'.
Yeeeah that boat sailed.
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RE: Let's talk about TS.
@surreality said in Let's talk about TS.:
It never failed to stun me how many people would try anyway if told this, up to and including using dice to attempt to force the issue, regardless of the reason. It similarly never failed to stun me that they'd be stunned I would want nothing to do with them after that.
Yeah, there are assholes everywhere and also in the hobby. I think in that light it's a good thing we continue to beat the ol' dead horse of "state your limits and stick to them" since clearly someone, somewhere is still getting away with it or they wouldn't still be trying the 'ICA=ICC' gambit of throwing the dice then forcing others to TS-or-else-they-are-bad-players.
in metapose (in the same way that player behavior would annoy me in any other context), at which point I will say something, and I will say something the first time it happens. If it happens again, I'm out, and I'm done.
I guess it's a male thing but I never had that issue - sometimes a partner will refer to their own character in assorted ways but never mine. But it doesn't ever bother me unless it gets amped up to really comical levels.
#4. I like the prefs setup I've described various times to be a good first step. It gives people neutral ground for basics without awkwardness or confrontation. If people have questions, they have a place to start the conversation, if one is needed, and having a place to start is a huge help.
The only thing I don't like about setting preferences is the expectations some might think come implied with it, since it can be taken as a signal that TS isn't just a possibility but an actual goal that comes with a checklist attached. Kind of... "I like walks on the beach and blindfolds" becoming "but I BROUGHT you to the beach and here is a goddamn scarf, so why aren't you putting out?!". Dunno.
The squicks list though is definitely a good thing, especially since it goes beyond TS. "I don't want pregnancy RP" applies to FTB as well, for example.
@magee101 said in Let's talk about TS.:
One the relationship shifted from monigomy to friends with benefits and we still did other rp and lead up rp. The other person we ended up going our seperate ways ICly and OOCly but not on bad terms.
Yeah, that's fair enough. Part of a conversation like this definitely is the possibility they might say "nah, sorry, this isn't for me" and walk away. It's another reason to have it early, though, since that way some of the risk is mitigated if the RP ends up having to be aborted.
-However- there have been times that you speak with someone and learn they are into say harder stuff and if I feel like my character would be ok or already has some experience in this area it wouldnt be hard for then to do it with a new partner.
The way this has worked for me at least is to have a list in my head of things a character is willing to or interested in doing as well as what I'd find fun myself. It's kind of a double whitelist, if you will. Still, it's far easier for a PC to be adjusted especially given the circumstances they are often in; I can see a stressed werewolf suffering from PTSD being eager to channel his emotions in ways that actually open up character growth venues for him, for example, if the right opportunity comes along and even if it's not how I originally designed his personality.
Ideally TS is 'just like any other kind of RP' in at least that way - it should give me the chance to change, expand and make the character more interesting.
- Those boundries: so yeah, set them, but dont be afraid to explore. A properly "good" or perhaps better phrased respectful TS partner will thank you if you do try something and be cool with ftb or retconning if you dont enjoy it after testing.
There are hard limits and there are... reservations. There are things I won't do in RP simply because I don't like them; it's not that I find them wrong (in terms of doing them in RP, that is), they are just not enjoyable on any level for me. So for example I might play an asshole who's a flawed human being in all kinds of illegal or immoral ways and that doesn't bother me if my partner is OOC okay with it, but I wouldn't have him beat the crap out of his girlfriend because... I just don't want to.
I have "suffered" through what I consider suboptimal TS bc I really enjoy the player and it is decent enough that beside my own poses I can still imagine the scene well enough to enjoy.
I chalk this under 'bad RP I endure' whether it's TS or not. Sometimes I'd rather stay around for a little bit longer and finish the scene than offend the person I'm playing with as long as I like them otherwise. After all I don't need to play with them often/again if it's bad enough.
I like to be very descriptive in my poses but I also try to make every detail in some way add to the erotic imagery. In some ways smut is my most creative moments, but if there isnt a spark I can fail to get the flames going at times. I am a very open person once conversations have begun and while I do think some things are weird and def dont want to do them bc of upbrining and personal beliefs I dont look down badly upon anyone for their particulars.
Those who know me are aware I'm not very chatty OOC during scenes since I find it interrupts the RP's flow and it could even be interpreted as crossing the IC/OOC line, and that goes double during TS. But yes if it's going into a particular direction buttons might be pressed I'd be compelled to check up on them and make sure they're okay.
Last but not least 5. Frequency: So for me, it becomes a thing that if my character is young its something they want to do a lot, if they are older less frequently. Sometimes it depends on what is happening. If there is little intersect in the lives of the two characters then sex it is, but if there are other things they share in common then lets go do some of those things from time to time! Admittedly I really do enjoy my 'omg we survivied a thing' fucks.
One sometimes overlooked function TS plays is giving people something to do during downtime. Between PrPs, when there aren't many people online or scenes happening... that's when it thrives. Conversely it's also why so much is reportedly happening on sandbox or stalling games since there isn't anything else to do, and it's easier to come up with the circumstances leading up to someone's pants dropping than some thematic arcane puzzle that has to be solved.
The path of least resistance, yo!
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RE: Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.
@aria said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:
Today, I hit the snooze button on my alarm -- accidentally. With my face.
So, universe. It's going to be that kind of day, huh?
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RE: Witcher MUSH Brainstorm (SPOILERS)
@Misadventure Do it. I dare you.
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RE: Let's talk about TS.
@sunny said in Let's talk about TS.:
ETA: Way more gross and invasive and wrong than the tentacle porn in the first place.
Also 'gross' and 'invasive' differs for everyone. It's none of our business what the other person's kinks are.
The only responsibility I want folks to assume is to keep it behind closed doors. Don't force me to witness it - since it makes me take part in your sex stuff by association - and we're all good. Tentacle on!
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RE: nWorld of Darkness 1E v 2E
@sunnyj said in nWorld of Darkness 1E v 2E:
HR: Don't send us fucking-related Harmony rolls. Just don't.
It always sounded like bragging to me. "LOOK I HAD TEH SEX LOOK AND I WAZ HAIRY THEN"