Posts made by Arkandel

@mietze said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

I am pretty sure most people operate between those two extremes but it really can just be about genetic strength of your enamel.

Yeah, it seems to be a genetic lottery thing. I had terrible oral hygiene when I was young and dumb, but even though I've got good habits these days I didn't have to pay for the sins of my past. My teeth are pretty healthy.

On the other hand I have friends who've been flossing and brushing twice a day since they were toddlers who might as well have their dentist on quick dial, which is so frustrating for them.

@gryphter said in Wheel of Time:

The simple truth is that I could take up days writing out all the interpretations and versions of WoT I'd be willing and excited to play. TL;DR -- everything. It's just all of it. The nature of the material makes it pretty easy to spin out any version of the world you want and borrow as much or as little of the books' events as you like. The possibilities are endless, and really I don't think you can go wrong -- there's an interesting story to tell no matter how you approach this stuff.

The thing is, (generic) you don't need to do any of those things. You're not writing a book - you're not even writing a story. You're creating a game based on the story in some books, so your job is to figure out which of the elements within that story you find more useful from a playability point of view, and thus what you want to prioritize.

Is it the fight of Light versus the Shadow? Well, obviously picking a point right past Tarmon Gai'don won't work.

Do you really love unstable male channelers? Then you don't want to have Saidin cleansed whether they are PC playable or not.

It's always going to be a tradeoff, but you (again, the general 'you') just need to know what your goal is. Everything will be derived from that - the geographical focus, the major factions involved, their power levels and overall balance or lack thereof, and definitely the timeline as well.

That's the fun part though, since it can easily make two different WoT games completely different from each other based on those choices.

Just keep in mind how they are implemented is more critical than what the choices are.

@bored said in Table-top campaigns online:

So if people care and are invested in making it happen, they'll make it happen. Flakiness I imagine is just the person not really valuing the game.

Oh, agreed.

I'm just wondering if making the campaign online makes it easier or harder for people in general (whatever 'in general' means, if something), since on one hand they don't need to put on pants and drive somewhere to play but on the other there's no pizza and the camaraderie of meeting up your buddies in person.

What about consistency? How would you compare people's attendance and attention spans compared to a RL campaign?

@saosmash said in Table-top campaigns online:

Both my current online campaigns use a combination of dndbeyond, roll20 and discord, with the Pancake discord bot for background music.

I hate roll20 as a GM, but it beats... not having roll20. >.>

What does dndbeyond do for you?

What I didn't like when I looked at it is it seemed to require having to re-purchase the books in digital form (even though I already had them physically) to use their contents.

@Lisse24 Does it have voicechat built in? Would you say it's easy to use for a casual computer user?

One thing that (IIRC) put me off about Roll20 was the DM had to create the character sheets. That felt weird - although maybe I was doing it wrong.

Hey folks,

I was asked by some RL friends to run a table-top campaign for them online, and I was wondering if you had any insights to share.

The system is D&D 5th but that's perhaps not too important; what I was mostly curious about were some of these items:

1. Which platform or combination of tools worked best for you? For example Discord can provide voice chat but there are also bots to enable dice rolling - is that convenience preferable to using something like Roll20 with Skype, etc? How do you manage/keep character sheets? I don't think I want them to resort to typing commands or stuff like that, as some of the potential players aren't the most savvy of computer users.

2. I'd happily learn from your mistakes so what are some things I should avoid in an online campaign? If I use maps or grids (which some platforms provide) is it manageable or intuitive or a pain compared to a piece of paper on a table?

3. In your experience are schedules easier or harder to coordinate when playing online? Do folks become more consistent about being there on time (and/or not skipping sessions without a good reason) when they can play from the comfort of their homes or less so since the overall experience is different - there's no pizza for all, etc?

Anything else you can think to add or suggest would be welcome.

@Seraphim73 said in Wheel of Time:

There's a reason that the series ends at that point, everything after it is a very differnt story.

You know better that than! There are neither beginnings or endings.

Came back from 18 degrees Celsius weather in Athens to a winter storm with a combination of 15 to 25 cm snow and ice pellets, freezing rain, and strong winds along with winds gusting near 70 km/h.

Thanks Obama.

Not a review but...

Lord of the Rings prequel TV series budgeted at $1b (!!) is being produced by Amazon.

@gryphter I'd play a post-books game since then you can use the canonical characters as glorified quest givers without them overshadowing the entire plot.

However:

1. You lose the chance to use the Forsaken (and the whole darkfriend conspiracy) as the amazing plot device that it is to build up paranoia.

2. You don't have clear cut bad guys so you'd need to generate some. Sure, you can have rogue Aiel clans, Asha'man branches or even incite the Seanchan into taking that role but that's not the same thing.

However it would give you more politics, a wiped slate's worth of Daes Dae'mar, perfectly playable male channelers (albeit without the OMG I'M GONNA GO NUTS AND BLOW SHIT UP angle) and the chance for staff to create their own metaplot. It could work.

@yyrqun said in Wheel of Time:

Not in an "it would disinterest me", way, it's just that depending on the points of divergence... well, it's not the same world that I read and fell in love with!

Regarding this particular point... no matter the intentions, game design or even players nothing will be the same world you or anyone else read and fell in love with.

Even in the best case scenario someone will be playing some concept 'wrong' by another's perhaps justified (or maybe arbitrary) standards, RP will lead to some unlikely direction that 'would never have happened in the books' or what have you.

A great deal of leeway has to be extended since RP takes its own course and no meticulously planned narrative controlled by an author will feel the same way, especially when seen through nostalgic lenses - which most of us will almost definitely have on.

@lordbelh said in Wheel of Time:

I do probably also have an unpopular opinion, though, in that I think channelers aughta be fairly OP. Go against one without a plan and numbers and you probably aught to lose badly. On the upside, Aes Sedai can't actually use the one power to hurt you anyway, so there's that! Unless you allow Black Ajah, but I'd probably restrict that to NPCs only.

I don't think there's a way to avoid the imbalance since, well, that's just how the books are written. On a fundamental level there's hard to say a guy with a sharp stick is more 'powerful' than a guy/gal who can blow shit up with their minds, or a doctor type with some bandages and a scalpel is as good as someone who can bring you back to health from massive amounts of trauma within seconds.

Another consideration is to keep the need for (and protect the niche of) non-channelers. One way is to enforce specialization systemically since after all an Aes Sedai who has spent her life learning how to channel shouldn't also be an expert with weapons, thus giving her a tangible reason to have a bodyguard type around. Or someone's effectiveness in the Great Game could be penalized for known channelers since they are mistrusted, to avoid making them successful politicians on top of everything else.

That kind of thing. Not so much about balance per se but preservation of functions for other types.

@krmbm said in Wheel of Time:

Having two playable areas the way Cuendillar did would work for that. Tar Valon and Cairhien or Caemlyn. Just allow that either Traveling isn't so fucking hard, or the Ways are still passable between those two cities, and voila: you don't isolate characters from each other, and you still have a place where Channeling is commonplace and one where it's OMG BURN THE WITCH.

In my opinion this is the most dangerous design choice for a WoT game. The more geographically spread out it is the harder it would be to ensure RP happens without liberal handwaving or constant Gateways commuting people around like a fantasy airline, yet once you narrow it down to one area then that becomes the focal point of... well, everything for the entire game. Whoever controls it has a major advantage, anything that happens elsewhere feels by necessity less important, and action at a part of the world far away for the sake of RP is tricky.

In the books it wasn't a huge deal since everyone and their dog was a super channeler who could open Gateways at will. How a MU* chooses to address geography will determine a lot, IMHO.

@Seraphim73 said in Wheel of Time:

@Packrat I agree that channelers should be rare and terrifying in RP, but once you've met a dozen and knocked boots with two... they're just not as scary. And because PCs are PCs, the terrifying thing just never happens anyhow. Which means that unless Staff leans hard into the idea that channelers are terrifying and NPCs fear and hate them, it won't be so, so they will get all the benefits of being beatsticks and none of the downsides of being terrifying social pariahs.

Yeah, it's like meeting with the Joker every day in a comic book game. Sure, you as a player want your PC to feel unsettled (and/or scared shitless) but how long can you do that for if Mr. J is on the grid every day, hanging out all the time, etc?

My - probably unpopular - opinion: Keep Aes Sedai playable by all, make male channelers playable only by application (i.e. allowing them only for select trusted folks and carefully curating their numbers), but permit them to be around.

Channelers are too cool and too big a part of the WoT sage to not be present, no matter the setting's era, and it's not worth sacrificing for balance. Balance should not be a major consideration for a Wheel of Time game unless it skews the demographics (i.e. if you start seeing more and false Dragons than you do Whitecloaks or there are more Aes Sedai playing the Great Game than Lords and Ladies).

@Bad-at-Lurking said in Wheel of Time:

Guys have so many options for being 'special' in the Wheel of Time that not being able to make a Channeler character isn't a hardship at all. Everything from Gleeman to Illuminator to Dreamer to Wolfbrother to Warder or Thieftaker, nobles, scholars, rogues and such.

And just like Star Wars not being able to play a channeler (or Force user) might be a sensible thing to do but it's not exactly the most exciting design choice.

@surreality said in MU Things I Love:

@Arkandel ...but are we sure it isn't just the flagging broke in some update or another is what I'm dying to know here.

Oh, I can positively verify flagging works since a whole bunch of people gave it their all just now.

14 days without any flagged content on MSB.

I appreciate that, folks.

@Tyche I agree with these sentiments. It's absurd.

My father passed away this morning.

I need to fly overseas so I won't be around here much for a few days. I should still check in once in a while. If you need anything please PM me.