Posts made by Arkandel

@Thenomain We like to call ourselves sysadmins these days.

@Ganymede - https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/4hu6w2/lawyers_of_reddit_what_is_the_most_outrageous/

TIL: Lawyers can perform exorcisms. Away from me, Satan! In the name of the law!

Sample quote: "I had a potential client come and and say that he wanted to sue his uncle for murder. Setting aside the fact that you can't sue someone for "murder" I asked him who did his uncle murder. He replied "Me." I turned the case down."

@acceleration said in What do RPGs *never* handle in mu*'s? What *should* they handle?:

Maybe some of this could be solved by requiring PCs to spend XP in ratios or something. Idk. Doesn't solve the unused system problem but might promote less overall ridiculous concepts. OTOH dictating to that extent what players can buy probably won't go over well.

Forcing the parts of a system which aren't working on players will hurt more than it can fix. In this case it wouldn't even treat the symptom (i.e. that people respond to players' roleplaying ability as much or more as stats).

@Pyrephox said in What do RPGs *never* handle in mu*'s? What *should* they handle?:

Yeah. And that's not good. Not only because it cheats people who try to faithfully describe their character's abilities, but also because it pushes the culture of the game towards physical combat to resolve any and all difficulties. Players, ultimately, want to be effective at SOMETHING - what that thing is will differ by individual (and it might be OOC as much as IC - I know some players who are happiest when their character is making other players laugh), but everyone wants to know that they're having an impact and influence on the game. So whatever is the most effective route for influence is where you're going to get a majority of people focusing their characters.

We should detach what may well be an overall inadequacy of mechanics to interpret something as complex as social nuances into mechanics and consider the idea that it's not necessarily intentional; it's not cheating per se (although it could be) but a failure of dice to bridge player- rather than character-based qualities.

For example let's say you're playing Rick, a Werewolf PC and you're very good at it. Rick is all sorts of flawed; unpleasant to look at, with a terrible fashion sense, burdened with a crippling alcoholism, chronic swearing and he's a liar to boot. However, being very good at it you make that fun! People like hanging out with Rick. They pursue Rick despite his bad social traits or the fact you're honestly, genuinely playing them out.

Now I'm playing Tim. Tim is a Daeva, Tim is awesome! He's wealthy and generous, his social stats are off the charts - and the guy is honorable, dependable... too bad I can't spell well, toss out unimaginative short poses and just can't find something to hook me into those around me. As a result not many people respond well to Tim - he should be a leader of men but no one is giving me the light of day.

Is everyone cheating? No. Can stats fix that? No.

It's not an issue when it comes to physical traits because... you can't screw up punching someone too badly. You can play a pretty kickass ninja without knowing martial arts in real life so all you need is a hefty brawl+weaponry score, but if you're not a decent roleplayer or a socially adept one you might be unable to engage others sufficiently, and no dice pool in the world is gonna fix that.

There's no fix for this.

@Pyrephox said in What do RPGs *never* handle in mu*'s? What *should* they handle?:

but when my character gets scared he becomes really aggressive so I'm warning you, if you do it, you'll be sorry because I've got 18 dice in brawl and 20 Defense (because I didn't have to spend any XP on social resistance)...."

Yes, I meant to address that issue above but it skipped my mind, thanks for bringing this up.

The problem we MU*ers have when we adopt systems which include social mechanics but those mechanics are infrequently used (or simply are, in practice, less important than ones associated to physical traits) is that the return on players' investment becomes severely skewed. If I get the full benefits of my strength+brawl every single time I feel like punching but you don't get the benefit of your wits+manipulation every time you feel like lying - because simply my character doesn't believe what you say, you filthy LIAR - then why did we pay the same XP to raise those skills?

It's also been brought up before but whether due to systems paying more attention to physical combat or the playerbase in general being more familiar/fond of its mechanics compared to social ones it the return-on-investment curve becomes even more compromised. If I punch you in the face (maybe for lying to me) and roll 3 successes that's 3 bashing damage - it's cut and dried, you know exactly how many health boxes you got and what happens when you run out of them. With me trying to change your mind about who to vote for... that's a gray area full of clouds.

... Which is not even addressing the OOC repercussions of using such rules. Mind control, trying to 'force' a character into sexual/romantic relations through their dice pools, those are all actions which carry hefty social stigma in many communities.

"But", someone might say, "for example the GMC mechanics have Doors and shit, what about that, huh?" Well... again, playerbase adoption is the key. The number of times I've seen a Door used in scenes is hilariously low compared to the punches I've seen backed with dice. Obviously YMMV but I'd be surprised if most people playing nWoD even knew the rules for Doors let alone have used them regularly in scenes; for every person well versed enough to have done so I feel confident - but feel free to prove me wrong - there are many more who kinda sorta know how it works but...

The underlying problem here is fairly inescapable; most MU* use systems which have been built with social mechanics in mind so you can't simply not have them in your game without gutting the system completely, which is a task that requires massive houseruling. And they're in, they'll be used less than their physical counterparts although they cost the same and in theory are just as important; in practice not so much.

An overlooked part of this conversation so far is the cultural adoptation of any given mechanic. This is far more important to MU* than the actual system.

I've been on MU* before where no one rolled outside PrPs. And I've played games where people did roll somewhat often but almost always for powers ("Auspex! What are your feelings?") rather than mundane purposes (you'd rarely see perception rolls like Wits+Composure for instance). I've even been on spheres where it was considered rude, a douche move, if you rolled at people - the rules never made it consent-only but the community had, at least for that particular span of time.

If a system can't win players over it's no good no matter how good it is, if that makes sense. On table-top you can get away with a lot because as long as the ST wants it done a certain way it's what will happen but on the grid of a multiplayer game it's different.

@Apu said in Overwatch, anyone?:

I have been having entirely too much fun with it. I just hope it doesn't become a 'problem' like TF2 did. I played over 1000 in about 2 years because I got THAT into it.

That sounds like a problem I'd love to have. It's been ages since I got really hooked on a new game.

@Ganymede Nope! He put 5 10s on each side then squatted the whole time with that configuration. He did rack them again afterwards so maybe there is some hope of redemption left in the pits.

@Ganymede said in RL Anger:

Do you see them around? No? Take the bench. If there's nothing on it, presume it's clear. Nothing wrong with that.

People get so butthurt about it I don't feel it's worth my time to bicker - it's not 7 am, I don't even. But some bros even mark their territory by leaving their shakers/towels on the bench while they chat up cute girls or do supersets across the gym, etc.

Depends. Were they doing a pyramid? Makes sense if they were. What sort of shitty gym only has 10 10-plates?

Most racks only have 2x plates other than the 45s which there are multiples of. It's not like you ever need more than two of the rest to make up whatever weight you're going for.

There is a bit of slack (I think for 5s and 10s) since people borrow them for stuff and don't bother returning them to the racks, naturally.

This is the creepiest fucking thing I've seen in ages.

The Modular Body.

There are two kinds of people I know for a fact are going to hell.

1. You, person who had the bench this morning as I was clearly waiting for one and got up with two 45 plates on it to walk away... somewhere. And never come back. At least tell me you're done so I can start instead of leaving me hanging and I'll rack them for you! Are you going to grab some water or a towel? Are you just pacing between sets? What are you doing?!

2. You, person who has five 10s on each side of the barbell so there are no 10s left in the gym. Use a 45 and a 5 or two 25s! It's the same amount of weight!

Hellfire, that's all I'm sayin'.

Most table-top games with social mechanics assume - naturally - the majority of characters' interactions will involve NPCs. That's not the case on MU* where the vast majority of your roleplay will be with other PCs.

This often makes such mechanics elusive, redundant or plain wrong in actual practice, yet they are often too ingrained within the system to discard as well.

So you end up with people who can't roleplay the charm or social grace their character supposedly radiates or who, on the merit of just plain being good roleplayers, are charismatic enough for their unlikable character to be irresistible anyway even when they are played correctly.

It's what it is.

@Vorpal Other people's beliefs are irrelevant until they get in the way of my own, and I don't really see how that's possible. No one speaks on my behalf whether they wear clerical robes, hold office, or live next door - Christians aren't a hive mind.

I accept no responsibility of the atrocities that have been committed in the name of my religion - some people just want a cause to put on their banner and march under, so they'll pick whatever is most convenient for their moral peace and recruitment purposes. We've been killing each other for millennia for Zeus, Thor, Christ or Allah; that's on us.

Likewise I have no problem with doubt, debate or wholesale rejection of religious grounds. I wouldn't try to change anyone's mind but I don't worry whether someone might challenge my own; that's what minds are for, and conversely that's what faith is for. Being offended because other people's beliefs don't match my own exactly is kind of silly considering there's billions of those buggers around, I'd need to be butthurt 24/7. I have more important things to worry about.

All I ask is that you don't go around blowing shit up.

Source: Am Christian.

@lordbelh I haven't watched it. I was up late watching the Raptors game so I didn't have it in me to stay up more. So I avoided the internet for the entire morning, I was super paranoid about being spoiled.

Then my freakin' niece from across the freakin' ocean PMs me on Facebook and spoils it.

Arrrrghhhhhhh.

@ThatOneDude said in The State of the Chronicles of Darkness:

One thing I've noticed about "people" who don't understand or know mage is they seem to focus on the high end / high XP side of things. They cry about game breaking powers and such while ignoring the other splats and their ability to "break games" at high xp as well. But low level mage is a blast to play. You can playing that unexperienced mage that is no longer a novice and out doing his thing, itching to call his mentor for an assist but knowing the answer will be something along the lines of, "I know you'll be able to figure it out".

I think if more people gave it a chance, and if more STs were a little more creative people would come to love the sphere.

I always loved Mage. Two of my all-time favorite characters were willworkers.

My problem with the sphere has always the type of players it attracts, by which I mean people who don't roleplay. Be it folks who sit on channels and theorycraft their way out of theme - trying to 'solve' the setting instead of participating in it - or those who come to PrPs armed with spells instead of poses, I've never seen it happen in other spheres to anywhere near the same extent.

Otherwise I have a great fondness for Mage, both as a player and a ST. There's much stuff you can do.

To take this thread in a slightly different direction... do you think incentivizing public scenes helps in practice?

What I mean specifically here is either +vote systems with diminishing returns for the same recipients so that players have an extra reason to seek out new partners, higher XP for larger scenes, etc.

Do you think these have a positive impact on whether you can find roleplay? Please forget any other effects of them for the purposes of this thread - power balance, etc - and focus on RP generation. Does it have that effect?

http://www.comicbookresources.com/article/netflix-orders-punisher-spinoff-series-starring-jon-bernthal

@Coin I don't know if I'm a right or wrong person for anything at all but I usually find being staff detracts from my ability to help a game I care for rather than help me. Anything I can do well - give input, run plot, etc - is perfectly possible from a mortal bit, but once you are staff players treat you differently so you get a different perspective of issues, perhaps even a skewed one.

I prefer the view from the ground.

Double post!

This is for @Coin and other Labyrinth fans. It's not mine, there's a 'what is your favorite fan theory' speculative thread on reddit that's produced/gathered a few gems.

My sister asked if the events of “The Labyrinth” are meant to be Sarah dreaming, or are they real? Although my primary reaction was that she shouldn’t put that much thought into any children’s movie (or any instance of David Bowie in tight pants), I’d like to take this opportunity to put so much thought into this children’s movie, that it’ll blow your mind.

So why is David Bowie kidnapping a child from an underage Jennifer Connelley?

In a time long long ago a sorcerer named Jareth fell in love with a girl named Sarah. Sarah’s father and step-mother would not let her marry Jareth because they wanted her to keep her, as a servant, to care for their other child. In a fit of rage Jareth kidnapped this other child and spirited it away to the fairy world. In this new world Jareth built a palace for his Sarah. He turned the spoiled child into a goblin, and kept it to be a servant.

Many stories of the fairy world tell us that time moves differently there than in our world (Rip Van Winkle for one). In the time it took for Jareth to build his kingdom, which he may have thought was little more than a few years, Sarah grew old and died.
Overcome by grief and addled by a lifetime spent in a strange world filled with monsters, Jareth goes mad. He refuses to believe that he has lost his love. He searches the mortal world from his castle, looking for her.

Sarah is Hebrew name. So, it is common, and has been in use for thousands and thousands of years. It does not take long (for him) to find a dark haired girl named Sarah, who has a younger sibling, and who feels that she is treated unfairly by her step mother. In a fit of rage he kidnaps this other child and spirits it away to the fairy world. Perhaps this new Sarah dies in the quest to find the child, perhaps she wins her sibling back and flees.
Jareth searches the mortal world from his from his castle, looking for her. It does not take long to find a dark haired girl named Sarah…

This is how Jareth becomes the goblin king. Every goblin in the goblin city is a child Jareth has stolen, who was not recovered by a Sarah. (he told the current Sarah that Toby would become a goblin if she did not find him in time)
This is why he builds the maze. The magic bog, the junk yard of useless treasures, all tricks to slow Sarah down. Because if he can only have his Sarah for the time it takes for her to regain the stolen child, he will make it take as long as possible, keep her as long as possible.
This is why there exists in our world a book containing the story.

Because it has happened before. So many times. At some point some lucky Sarah must have returned to our world to tell the story. This is why when the most recent Sarah first meets Hoggle at the start of the labyrinth, and introduces herself; “I’m Sarah”, Hoggle responds “That’s what I figured.”

Because of course she’s Sarah.
They were all Sarah.

@Coin Yeah, other than the Stormlight Archive - which I thoroughly enjoyed - none of his stuff was really good, but it never failed to be at least fun to read.

For the uninitiated, after Robert Jordan, the author of the Wheel of Time series passed away his estate brought Sanderson in to finish it. He actually did a very good job wrapping threads up - the guy is a first class world builder, and the general consensus was he handled the material pretty gracefully.

He also writes faster than anyone I've ever seen. Holy shit. It's unreal.