Best posts made by Arkandel

@faraday said in Regarding administration on MSB:

But here's the thing... us individually calling people out is pointless. We saw that for ages before you took over. There's a large number - possibly even a majority - of posters who think that the entire site should be a hog pit. Even just calling for moderation invites people to pounce on you.

I honestly don't agree with that. I've seen it in the past way before I ever was an admin here, when I'd call someone on stuff they said even in the Hog Pit just because it seemed... well, out of line. And folks might have argued back a couple of times but they stopped. They cut it out.

I think culturally speaking it's all worse when certain behavior goes unchecked for too long because it becomes the norm and spreads, but also that even aggressive posters end up thinking twice if there's regular negative feedback. They might still kick back but there won't be that satisfaction of snapping at someone they don't like and suffer no consequences whatsoever for it, and that takes a toll on them.

It'd probably be harder at first then down the line but I think the adults in the room should step up more often. We need them to.

@Sanguine said:

@Arkandel Why do you crush my hopes and dreams?

Think of how all that sweet anticipation will just make the new, new, new World of Darkness feel so much better when you finally get it. It's for your own good, really.

I'm not saying you should join a cult.

I am saying if you need to join a cult, this is the cult you should join.

@L-B-Heuschkel (or anyone else having account confirmation issues) please PM us your friend's username and we'll approve them manually.

It's possible postfix isn't set right after the issues we had earlier in the week.

@zombiegenesis Another way to tackle this is to try and make some sample sheets out yourself. Not complete, with a lot of room to grow and leaving the players wanting more, but enough to be a concrete startup template.

Then look at how many XPs on average that took, and award that much.

So what's the current game's status?

I'm halfway through Skullsworn by Brian Staveley. It's a prequel of sorts to his Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne trilogy which is a kickass series of books to begin with, a great political and military saga set in an Empire whose emperor is murdered, and whose three children - all following completely different paths at the time - begin targets.

Anyway, this novel is pretty neat - it stars Pyrre Lakatur, a Priestess of the god of death which is short for "she is really really damn good at offing folks" in her younger years, with a backdrop of an ancient race manipulating mortal affairs from the shadows and a rebellion brewing in the background.

Neat stuff.

Not to advocate for this specific setting but The Traitor Son novels by Miles Cameron reversed the trope of man versus nature very well.

Typically the fires of industry threaten the natural balance, forests are chopped down and magic fades from the world. In these books nature is a badass not too fond of humans and their cities, so civilization is shrinking; gryphons attack settlements, exotic creatures are pushing desperate communities back behind their walls, and humankind may well be an endangered species.

This could make for an interesting setting to base a game (or campaign ) on.

@zombiegenesis Consider the issue with dinosaurs, for example. You run your game for 6 months when I come in; at that point everyone is 6 months ahead of me in terms of power - and there are no diminishing returns in nWoD 2.0 either; the fifth dot costs as much as the third dot does. In six months they will still be six months ahead of me, and I can never catch up. Are there catchup mechanisms? Is this situation acceptable? It might well be, but you need to plan in advance for it.

Or alternatively think of the power curve. We both start playing the game, but I just happen to have way more time than you, or have more OOC friends allowing me to participate in more PrPs or any combination of such factors, so I accumulate XPs a lot faster. How much more powerful ought my PC be than yours? That's a question you need to have an answer for.

The third scenario (which was popular on TR) - people created XP containers. They'd make say, a Mage they didn't plan to play at the time and keep them there for a rainy day, since they'd gather XP just by existing. Is that okay? Isn't it? Same question.

Just some food for thought.

Since this is the Fallen World thread maybe we should wait and see how the MU* will specifically handle Rotes?

@auspice Don't quote those fake 'fahrenheit' monopoly degrees to me. They mean nothing.

Go Celsius or bust, yo.

@JustNobody said:

But in the end... I get bored of my characters, I lose inspiration. I never had a character about which I could say: "That was quite a game! I adored that!" All I can say: "It was ok... but got boring."

So, I am wondering... Is it me? Do I just suck playing out characters, writing stories?

I don't know you, and for that reason alone I must include the possibility that it might be you. After all some people are flakes who get excited about a concept beforehand but once the PC hits the grid they lose interest.

Having said that, I'd say there are at least two possibilities here, in ascending order of likelihood.

• You are making characters who are too 'complete' and don't have enough hooks to be pulled into others' stories or pull them into yours. The super veteran lone-wolf type who's seen it all, done it all tends to fall into that trap because all he wants to do is stick in his fortress of solitude and not get involved. In my experience characters with playable flaws (i.e. things you can actually portray in scenes and which aren't annoying to encounter) are the best for this; give them an IC hunger to get stuff done, realistic and more or less feasible goals they'll want to achieve.

• You aren't connected OOC and/or you're playing in cliquish games. It's just how it is, a reality of our fragmented and simultaneously small player pool; some MU* are just not that active. Unless things are happening - and other players are there with you to share the roleplaying momentum and drive each other - it's pretty hard to get excited about what's happening. My most successful characters took advantage of a combination of good timing (which tends to be random) and great company; PCs rarely thrive in a vacuum.

What I suggest is take a look around your MU* first and make sure you're not simply having a similar experience as everyone else. It's easy to assume other players are off having a blast in their wild adventures when in truth they are as meh as you are for the lack of stuff to do. If that's the case (or either way) maybe reaching out could help everyone involved

TL;DR: Characters do well and players have more fun while in good company. Make sure you have yourself some of that.

@bored said in Regarding administration on MSB:

But... we don't have an alternative right now. Which is a forum organization problem. Either you have to heavily censor yourself to stay in Mildly, or you go to the FUCK YOU GO DIE section.

Is it truly that bad? Can we not express our thoughts about a game without resorting to personal insults or engaging in full-on attack mode? Because that's what flags a thread for the Hog Pit.

No one says we can't be in the Constructive section and give a completely horrible review for a game or even a staff member. Do we also need to call them a fuckhead?

I don't get it - and that's not a rhetorical statement. Please help me get it.

@Cupcake It's the problem with sandbox games. They work really well for some people especially if they have access to plot-runners but they're not for everyone, and if a critical mass of players leaves it's a problem.

@auspice said in RL Anger:

fuck migraines

Sorry honey I have a... wait.

@JustNobody said:

You all are so cool people!

You must be new here.

@bored said in Regarding administration on MSB:

What I mind is that it seems difficult to properly condemn something that really deserves it without that thread ultimately getting sent to the Hog pit. Again, this has happened, and in the process you have burried, to the benefit of Claremont & co, for instance a player talking, in detail, about the specifics of the circumstances under which she was sexually harassed. That is a thing you have done, even while we write and upvote post after post about how we really ought to encourage this kind of reporting!

We've already admitted it was a mistake to do it the way we did. It isn't a systemic issue, and it's not something we'll do again. Going forward we'll be forking threads from the point they devolve. It's easier if it's done early, since nodebb is a bit annoying in the way you can split up multi-page threads that way, so for example @Auspice had to spend a long time yesterday doing that with the one you mention (which should be restored now, for the record).

Speaking of this though we've been talking among us since it seemed like the Hog Pit system could be used to try and shove threads behind its opt-in wall by a malovelent party. That's definitely something on the admin radar, which we don't intend to be manipulated into doing in the future.

I don't know if that addresses your concerns, so input is welcome.

@Kanye-Qwest That's the main issue with historical games, always. You have to do movie/TV takes on them (i.e. only touch the surface) and unlike modern games they absolutely can never be sandbox since people simply won't know enough to kick-start thematic RP on their own.

The plot and metaplot gears must be constantly turning for a MU* like this unless it's basically Witcher with RL history names pinned on everything.

@auspice BECAUSE IT'S COLD

Yeah, what @Sammi said. Not just in recruiting coders but in recruiting anyone to help with a volunteer project you need to tell them what it entails. Why should they be excited? What cool things are you planning for it?

Saying it's cool isn't enough, show us the money.