Posts made by Arkandel

@Ganymede said:

@Arkandel

A vampire that has no territory, but is repeatedly assailed and therefore blows through their vitae, is at a distinct disadvantage. So, they must either control more territory, or not get into confrontations for fear of being bled out over time. Thus, a bar.

I suppose that's a matter of design, then. What you are describing is pretty much exactly what I'd like to see; regular Kindred not being inconvenienced at all (because they don't have outstanding costs) but if they happen to be drawn into a shitstorm to feel the need for better, deeper hunting grounds.

I see where you're coming from though.

@Ganymede said:

@Arkandel

It has been mentioned that resource-scrapping isn't what people want to do either. Your proposal would force vampires to claim and protect territory, or else not exist. You're not facilitating a variety of RP -- you're forcing it. And for some players, what you propose is a bar to RP.

Can you explain how you think the proposed system does that, though? Given step 1+2 in it, you go to sleep (and spend 1 vitae) then wake up and automatically regain 2 vitae. So not only do you have enough to go by, you also have an extra freebie vitae for the rest of the day even if you control zero territory either solo or through your Covenant/Clan.

If 2 is deemed too stringent it can be more of course. The objective is to let most people get by but not be prosperous unless they play politics.

Obviously if that's not a goal at all it can be bypassed entirely - but I feel resource management only matter if resources aren't bottomless. And that when it does matter then PCs are encouraged (but not forced, not by design) to participate in some thematic RP.

If done right, the consequences are built-in. You claim to control too much of a limited pool? Others want it. Others need it. So if you don't have the political/physical ability to defend it they'll figure out a way to take it from you.

It's dangerous to overreach, and it ought ot be.

@Ganymede said:

My suggestion would be to focus on Point 3 of EmmahSue's breakdown. That is, in other words: "what does this territory allow me to do?"

I feel without this there's no point in implementing a system for territories other than basic record-keeping (which can arguably be done better, and visually, on a wiki).

It doesn't and likely shouldn't be draconic - your Vampire shouldn't starve even if they control very little for example unless they are just spending abnormal amounts of vitae. Maybe integrating it with other aspects of the system would make this work and fix other chronic issues we've had with different parts of games.

For example (and with relaxed number crunching) although I usually despise automatic vitae expenditures to wake up, the system can also include something like this:

• The vampire wakes up. -1 vitae, buster!

• Unless they spend no vitae, they automatically get 2 vitae back the next evening from random hunting (to the maximum for their pool, of course). So if you only spend one vitae on extra activities for the night you're good to go.

• Each area has a depletion counter. When it's high there are more victims, so you always want this to be as much as possible. It is restored by a % amount every day. A mall is deeper and is restored faster (people keep coming); a small suburban area is more shallow, there are just that many people there, and usually the same. Over-feeding will get risky.

• If you want to hunt manually you do something like +hunt <territory #> <desired amount>. The chances to succeed are modified by how much you want and the area. Hunting near the police station or City Hall is stupid, and you need to take into account the depletion counter.

Something like that.

Admiral's idea of tying it to other stats has merit, too. The more places you integrate such things to the better it is likely to get.

Ideally you should want to see real competition for these resources, and PC factions should be struggling to control the more lucrative ones. But there should be a relative shortage so that if say, you suddenly get a bunch of new Carthians but the Carthians only control this tiny little square, they're at a disadvantage - if they need to fight, heal up, etc they'll run out of vitae. Better start making some deals - or look for greener (redder?) pastures.

After all, the goal here is to facilitate RP. When everyone's a fat content cow, territories mean very little.

I think resource management should be part of that implementation.

I.e. so your vampire owns the square. What does she/he get out of it?

I don't know Patrick-player at all. I was mildly surprised people don't seem to like him on SHH, he was always pleasant to me and wasn't on my radar as being a source of issues even when I was playing on TR.

Not that I'm defending him, I'm saying I have no idea either way. I liked my RP with him though.

Come in, Mastigos gotta stick together.

Also I need to figure out an Order since the Free Council is kaput. Maybe Arrows - shame Patrick isn't over in SHH. Adrian liked him.

It's absolutely none of my business but for the lols, so a Vampire is no longer Kindred? Golconda via the Hedge? I had assumed Claudio had simply used the same concept but rolled as Lost this time.

I heard there was someone from Vampire (Claudio?) allowed on as some sort of Fae-taken PC, but I'm not sure if that's true or about the specifics.

Alright, let's find out what SHH is made of.
I transferred Adrian, my Mage from TR, so if you knew him feel free to talk to me for some arpees. Well, or if you didn't.

A lot of these symptoms seem like a subset of power gaps in general, which cause all sorts of issues. Even if there's no twinking but you stick, say, a moderately developed character with several powers and relatively high skills in a plot with someone fresh from CG, the former will be able to handle a lot more than the latter. And if their direction is similar (both are brawlers or hackers, or whatever) it'll be an even more pronounced effect.

As @Darinelle says playing with good people fixes those things anyway. Hell, I've been in plots with a perfectly well stated character where someone else was trying really hard to have a death grip on the spotlight. But they're usually easy enough to avoid after you know who they are.

Why are political players so intent on multiple ghouls on this particular game? (if I missed an obvious explanation earlier in the thread my apologies, I've only skimmed it)

Not to play devil's advocate but how is that different than walking into any kind of situation with a group consisted of PCs at different power levels for any reason?

• Sphere mechanics. Mages are simply that much better than other spheres at most things.
• XP. Some people are oldbies, some are not.
• Knowledge. You have a multiple attacks fighting style (in non-GMC nWoD) and I don't.

Isn't that the same thing?

@mietze said:

In my experience those who use alt privacy for cheating are very few and far compared to alt privacy bringing some peace of mind to others that want to have it.

I'm not against privacy in terms of people figuring out who your alts are. I just think it's unattainable without going through a considerable, consistent investment of effort and time which can all go to waste if you screw up even once and expose yourself.

I think it's important to note that mere good knowledge of mechanics can defeats mere dots. I knew several people on Mage@TR who had a pretty decent +sheet after spending enough XP but they didn't know how to stack their skill/attribute boosts and generate bags of dice like someone from a theoretically less powerful sphere would throw at them.

I dislike non-scaling costs because they don't follow the real life paradigm.

It's easy enough in real life to learn some basic first aid (Medicine 1). It's not too hard to become a little more capable at it by learning CPR or how to clean and dress a wound (Medicine 2). However learning how to perform surgery takes way longer ((Medicine 3), and becoming a renown or world-class doctor (Medicine 4-5) is hard as fuck.

That's not reflected in spending the same amount of XP per dot.

Please remember this is a mildly constructive zone so when you flame me, flame me mildly.

So I had this question, it might be a controversial topic, but I wanted some opinions on it: How do you view twinking in your MU*? I'm referring to the process of maximizing a character's efficiency through picking mechanically optimal stats, items, etc for them.

See, I am an unapologetic twink. When I make my characters I've no issues admitting I'm one of those people who carefully pick mechanics for their +sheet; I plan out my XP well in advance in a spreadsheet, I make sure to prioritize each spend, etc. It's just how I was used to playing RPGs. When I don't know a system well enough I find someone like HelloRaptor (he knows ALL systems) who does and pick their brains dry.

Now, I am not shameless about it, there are lines I won't cross. For example if I play someone who's good at lying I'll buy the manipulation and subterfuge attributes up even if I never +roll social dice. However if I know the quarterstaff-fighting style (or whatever) in the book is crap I'll simply not make quarterstaves part of my PC's combat routine in the first place. Or I won't buy a line of powers which doesn't get used since it's filed in a box labeled 'wasted XP' in my head. My characters tend to have very little fluff in their +sheets.

I fully realize not everyone does things that way - some people even dislike the idea of respecs in general or who'd never consider planning their spends in advance and I can see where they are coming from.

So what's your opinion on twinking? Assume we're discussing RP MU* here obviously, if you're playing Skyrim or whatever twinking is pretty much expected.

@Coin said:

I get a feeling it was easier back in the day when people didn't tend to add each other to skype and what not fairly easily. I mean, if I get on with someone well enough, I'll ask for their skype or e-mail to keep in touch just in case, which means that if I am keeping my alt a secret and they ask, I have to lie to my friend, which I don't really like.

When's back then? I first discovered ICQ when people started asking for my UIN back in 199x and people used PMs pretty regularly at the time to keep in touch about the game.

Not many used group-chat back then that I remember, though. Obviously YMMV.

Cellphones. Cinema theatres.

I'll go one step further: Alt anonymity is almost impossible unless you take extreme steps to ensure it as long as someone cares to figure out who your alts are.

Someone will out you from staff or people you've told. You might inadvertently out yourself, too, by leaving traces through who-list or wiki stalking, a recognizable posing style, etc.