@KQ I consider Thanos' motivation to be on the same level as the machines' in the Matrix movie. It doesn't make sense when you break it down but it's cool enough as a premise that I don't mind not squinting too hard at it.
What I like about Thanos as a character isn't that he's sympathetic but that he's charismatic. For a movie that works more than well enough.
You are technically correct @Ninjakitten, which is the best kind of correct.
@Cupcake *entitled. People are entitled.
@surreality said in RL Anger:
I want a Don't Panic! room, full of bubble wrap, bean bag chairs, fuzzy throws, abundant kittens, and an endless coffee dispenser. With Netflix.
If you have cats then a panic room won't be of any use to you. Good luck getting them to go in there (or anywhere) at a time of need.
My asshole ex-uncle had a creepy automatic weapon collection, but he kept them all in a safe that he had a hard time opening, at least. He had a creepy panic room, too.
I mean is there a way to have a nice, normal panic room? 
@surreality said in RL Anger:
When I was in elementary school, there was a friend of mine whose father sold "interesting" military surplus. The closet we weren't allowed to play in had an honest to gods rocket launcher in it. Wishing I hadn't lost touch with them over the decades all of a sudden!
True story from my childhood. I was watching a local TV channel when I was a kid in Greece and there was this guy showing off his collection of guns and other stuff. Some of that stuff included grenades. A lot of grenades.
The reporter asked him if he had to register them with the authorities and he, quite reasonably, explain that he couldn't do that or they'd take them away. But he could show them off on TV, there is no problem about that, I guess. Nothing was pixelated either, imagine being that dude's next door neighbor.
@Taika For sure, you can try to keep them in line using artificial plot reasons and it might work in the long term if you're consistent. But that doesn't change the most important 'balance' that matters in a game; faction demographics which will be tilted in the Mage sphere's favor right away.
Anyway I don't want to turn the thread into a Mage thread.
***=One argument against your last point there. I think there may be more than we know - remember a certain dialogue which was cut short after which people went their own ways.***
@Taika Also if you have Mages mixing it up... they will rule your game. I'm a fan of the sphere itself but the power discrepancy is enormous. Just sayin'.
@WildBaboons That's a good point. In the last WoD MU* I was playing it was weird sometimes because there were tight IC ties with certain Uratha from other packs, yet when it was time to run something that was for our pack suddenly we had to figure out ways and reasons to include them - in a way it felt wrong, like we were doing something we weren't supposed to be doing. Are we poaching? Would there be hard feelings? Do we need to figure out reasons this person is coming with?
And the assumption it's 'so easy' for people to be in such groups is total bullshit. Look - it's not easy. It's effortless if you're already connected OOC and/or active, but for many players it's where RP dies because there are so few people willing to take on the mantle, do the mechanical groundwork ("we need to stat a totem now"), etc.
And then some of those guys stop playing, other players become active... this is just everyday stuff for a MUSH.
The 'small group' model could use a retouch to be more dynamic than it is in the books.
@Taika said in City of Shadows:
Plot is the easy part. There's been a ton of idea tossing and I'm sitting on so many plot ideas. I'm super excited to run them and see them run.
Here's the helpfile from the game on xp gains. All pc's start with 10xp.
And all that is fine. You'll do well to incentivize PrPs but it's not all I was talking about when I was referring to plot. Consider the following:
So if you want your game to succeed you should cater to more people than that. IC politics is such a good motivator when done right because PCs can maneuver around each other, creating alliances and getting in each other's way as much as anything you throw at them from the top. Make a few positions open not right at the top but close enough to smell fresh air, for example, then have groups vie for them; enable things like loci, status, feeding grounds and territories have meaning, then see who controls them. Stuff like that - make characters engage in the world you're making for them.
That's as important to 'plot' as anything a Storyteller can do because it's so organic.
Another heavily underused trick I'm surprised games don't utilize is hand-pick faction heads from active, responsible people. Someone like Gany for example (I'm not pitching, the lawbot is an example but a good one) can get a faction going so you could build around players like that; populate a few of them properly and once you get enough buy-in from players to reach critical mass they are not going to leave. It's that investment you should really want, the feeling of wanting to log on and see what the next cool thing will be.
But that takes work. I'm not saying you should do it - it's a heavy ask. Games like Arx succeeded on similar principles because they are ran by insane people. What I'm suggesting are possibilities, and that encouraging plot is not (unfortunately) as simple as saying "okay, whoever runs a PrP gets an XP". It's way more hands-on than that.
I hope some of this helps and that it's constructive.
@Taika said in City of Shadows:
There's no particular theme, per se, but the game itself will be -very- cross sphere. I expect to see packs, coteries, cabals, and the like with lots of cross-sphere tie-ins. The overall feel I'm aiming for is 'tense cooperation'.
You don't need a particular theme; in fact very WoD MUSHes with a very specific theme have survived their first few weeks as staff struggled to enforce their vision of how things should work versus players trying to run a multitude of things they're interested in.
What you need - IMHO, of course - is stuff for these players to do. To rephrase it - if you just open a sandbox WoD game, no matter the code, and expect players to form alliances and run/get involved in plots on their own initiative you will almost certainly watch a very familiar pattern unfold as the MU* runs through an initial but brief window of high activity ("Yay, I have a new PC!") followed by a mixed bag of enthusiasm and apathy based on whether people find dancing partners ("Yay I found a great person to play with" / "Boo I'm sitting in a room alone and I'm bored") followed by inactivity when even the enthusiastic finally look around, see nothing else happening, and drop off themselves.
You guys sound like you're doing a lot of work, and it's a shame not to protect it by making sure the game retains is players. Find people ahead of time who'll run plot, incentivize the hell out of it. Give reasons for PCs to mingle that aren't just a wiki page somewhere, create IC politics for the PCs to be each other's allies and antagonists. You don't need a theme for that but you do need folks willing to get their hands dirty for a while to create and maintain intrigue until it has its own momentum.
Just some suggestions.
Spoiler-free but can we all agree the music score not just this season (although that, too) but for the last several years has been knocking it right out of the park?
What an incredible soundtrack GoT has. I can't say enough about it. These people are so good.
@Warma-Sheen Now that you're one of us let's make a coterie on the next nWoD MUSH. I'll roll Chris Hemsworth as a Gangrel.
It'll be glorious for the six weeks the MUSH thrives before everyone stops logging on.
@Ghost And for that you should be eternally grateful. Also, I fucked up.
***=Answers to Coin's predictions under a spoiler tag.***
@Ghost There will be no kink shaming in this thread so maybe you'll get what you desire, friend.
@Sparks said in Game of Thrones:
And Ned was unquestionably a good person, but I do not think he was actually a good leader when it comes down to it; he was willing to risk everything—his home, his people, his family—because he wouldn't compromise his honor.
I'll tackle this outside of spoiler tags since they're unnecessary for it.
Ned was an excellent liar. In fact he kicked ass with it - he had a secret which he kept from everyone for many years, including his own wife, and in fact he used his immaculate reputation as a way to perpetulate that lie; no one questioned how this honorable man had a bastard with some random chick because why would he lie about it? Duuuh.
And even later in life he made the choice of his people over his honor. It's how he lost his head by admitting to treason specifically so they'd be safe from the Lannisters. Things would have actually worked out pretty well if Joffrey wasn't a complete idiot about it - Eddark Stark in the Night's Watch could have altered the course of several events on the Wall.
Having said that his biggest mistake was made due his honor of course, by warning Cersei about what he knew and giving her a chance to strike first.
***=My prediction for how the show will actually end. We should turn this into a game to compare at the end and see who got closer. ***
