Topics created by Arkandel

I almost want to trail of onto a different topic about Wish Fulfillment that Faraday brought up, because that is pretty true!

But maybe I should make a new thread for that, ponders!

@arkandel I do indeed alter systems with problematic mechanics. Example: AD&D 1 & 2e with female characters having a cap on Exceptional Strength (the old 18/100 scale). This actually leaves the strongest possible female character with a To Hit in melee mod 2 points lower than the strongest possible male character; a 10% lesser chance to hit.

I also disallow negative penalties to Mental stats like Intelligence and Wisdom due to race, although I still keep racial bonuses to such.

With older, published modules, I try to balance out bandits and raiders so they're not all of a single 'bad' race like Orcs or Goblins or Gnolls. I try to present antagonist as not inherently bad due to race, but because of active choices the antagonist has made.

So yeah, I do try to GM according to my professed beliefs. And my players respect and appreciate those efforts

@seraphim73

They’ve been dodging death for years.

@arkandel I remember it. As someone who wasn't into the channeling side of things until the last couple of years of my 20 years on WoT games, I thought it was a kind of bleh way for male channelers to avoid the most interesting thing about being a male channeler. Granted, I'm also the weirdo who RPed through a male channeler rotting and going mad and enjoyed it greatly. (The Tai Sedai were a homebrew concept of 'True Servants' who were mixed male and female channelers from, as I recall, a mirror world where Saidin was never tainted by the Dark One.)

For me at least, part of the fun of playing in many established canon is the ability to interact with events and/or characters that I remember from that canon. I wouldn't be particularly interested in a Post-WoT WoT game, because it wouldn't feel like WoT to me. Strangely, The Golden Crane's setting still feels like WoT to me, even those it's before the books -- probably because it still has the same 'realities' of the world.

The only message board system I've actually managed in the past was Vanilla Forums. It's nice, but I discovered pretty quickly it's geared more towards corporate support forums rather than anything that might be useful to MSB.

@carma said in Balancing wizards and warriors:

Here's an idea for the Aes Sedai - make their magic work off intent. So if they're not doing something to directly harm someone, but in the mind of the caster, the intended outcome is to eventually cause harm to someone, it backfires and harms the caster instead.

Yeah, that's one I forgot.

Magic Has Standards of Conduct method - Magic is tied to the spiritual realm and using it requires you to abide by certain rules, beliefs, what have you. For example, using magic to kill is wrong, and, if you do it, you get to do it once, then you lose your magic. Or maybe now you can only use dark magic which can only do harmful destructive things. Even if you try to do good with dark magic, it warps and perverts your intention to still cause harm

@arkandel said in Weird or unrealistic gaming... stuff:

@derp said in Weird or unrealistic gaming... stuff:

@arkandel said in Weird or unrealistic gaming... stuff:

I wish I had invisible voices double-checking my dumb decisions in real life. 🙂

...isn't that what we're here for?

Yes, when I want to figure out something important in my life I always ask myself "what would MSB do here?".

We are no more or less reliable than your random friend who's out of heals!

@il-volpe said in What is a MU*?:

Hmmm. I find I feel that having a grid is a defining element of MU-ness. They were created to have multi-player Zork.

I disagree. There's several games that I would consider MUs that don't have grids, they just have lists of rooms to pick from or some similar accommodations.

I think that we have a definitive majority answer here, lol.

@three-eyed-crow NOPE NOPE NOPE

Demotivational Posters has you covered!

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@faraday said in Sensitivity in gaming:

But what is your definition of "graphic descriptions of wounds or gore"? Everyone's going to be different there

Absolutely agree that everyone's is going to be different. I agree with @mietze on this one: If you're describing that the wound happens, I don't think it's a graphic description of a wound or gore. If you're describing blood trickling down a soldier's side, or washing over half their face from a scalp wound, I don't think that's a graphic description of a wound or gore. But if you're describing the wound in detail, describing what parts have spattered where, what's happening to entrails, or otherwise focusing a lot of attention on the wound(s), I think that crosses over the line to graphic descriptions of wounds or gore (I won't give examples there, because I don't want to go beyond the pale myself on this one).

As for your examples... I think it's a question of what the focus of the scene is. As long as you're talking more about the wounded person writhing, you're fine, but if you start describing the blown-off leg... I think that's a graphic description of a wound or gore. As long as you're more worried about the repercussions of the village getting wiped out by a disaster and the recovery efforts, you're fine, but if you start describing the corpses in detail rather than mentioning that they're there and moving on, I think that's likely to be a graphic description of a wound or gore. When the focus of the scene is the situation, I think that's totally within "violence and grim post-apocalyptic themes," but if the focus becomes the wounds themselves and the human suffering, I think then a warning beyond the standard might be warranted.

But that's just my opinion. I recognize that folks have very different opinions on where the line is, and that's fine by me.

I am posting here because I think we need to add at least one more admin to our team.

Right now, I have been put in charge of setting policy and managing the place, generally. Mietze is another admin with similar authority. Arkandel remains an admin solely because he's the fellow with the knowledge and capability to upgrade the platform (nodeBB) from his end. That means we have two admins charged with management.

I think we need a third admin with policy and management authority here. I am looking for a veteran member here to help out. We are not looking for a "yes" person; we are looking for someone we can work with. I personally am looking for someone with familiarity with nodeBB management (that would take Arkandel out of the picture, which he wants) but I would be happy for anyone willing to serve as another set of eyes.

PM me if interested..

I use Foundry with D&D Beyond. It means my players don't have to pay anything to play and I have control over the VTT. Foundry is fantastic and the support from the developers is also fantastic. We use the Firefox/Chrome extension that lets you roll from your D&D Beyond sheet into Foundry. You can also import D&D Beyond characters into Foundry and roll there directly. Tons of customizations to be made. It's worth the money and Roll20 is not.

@derp said in How do you discover books?:

@reimesu said in How do you discover books?:

@derp Luke? No. Leia was, but that's because she was adopted by royalty.

Yyyyeah but their mom was a queen, and then went on to be a galactic senator.

Right?

Padme wasn't royalty, that was 'just' the title she got as an elected representative of her people. Her children, if Anakin hadn't gone uh a little off the rails, wouldn't have had inherited titles even if she had lived to raise them.

I think it's better long term for staff/runners to determine what sort of environment they enjoy moderating, and then let players sort themselves out as to who wants to play in that environment, rather than trying to think a system and rules is going to somehow make everyone comfortable with progression. It's just not going to happen. IMO.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with being a person who wants big dice and optimized chance at one shotting whatever obstacle comes in their way. There's absolutely nothing wrong with being a person who neglects spending points at all because it crosses their mind so infrequently, or who like to build a sheet not with a specific roll in mind but to reflect what they've been doing in RP, even if they'll never use most of those skills. IMO neither is better, and I've met plenty of amazing AND horrific RPers that fit into either category and everywhere inbetween.

If you want a game with big dice, then you're going to have to deal with the older players complaining about expanded XP awards to bring incoming people up to speed. If you want slow progression then you may still have to do that if you keep adding people to the game; or you may need to put level caps on periodically until most people catch up. If you want diceless, then you're going to have to deal with the fact that some people will determine that people will always be out to get them and never let them do anything because icky poo consent. And you're going to have to deal with abusers of that system who are the reasons for some people feeling that way!

How you handle player disappointment (both of your older players who feel threatened or resentful of encroachers, as well as newer folks integrating into an established game) is a really crucial thing that I don't think has enough time spent on it usually. You will make some people happy by throwing points at them to "progress", especially if they really enjoy sheet building and numbers, but I don't think that really solves issues of resentment/feeling of investment in the game itself.

Do you think western societies will adopt Universal Basic Income models?

Some may, but it will shock me if the United States jumps on that bandwagon. Everything about how our society functions from soup to nuts is about punishing the poor and getting the poor to agree that they deserve abuse. The compass alignment required for this to happen means a realignment of how employment, education, and health care functions in this country. It's possible to do this but I'm not sure it's probable given the buy-in required.

Major cities are getting the brunt of this but the majority of the population outside of these cities isn't going through the same experience. It's still abstract for these groups and most of this is, so far, just one big fucking inconvenience when it comes to businesses being open and life being able to roll on. There's no amount of escalating cases numbers in New York City that you can show a lot of these people to agree that it's their problem. Sure, it's a problem but that's all happening in New York, which is pointedly not Bible Thump, Mississippi to them. There's still a fair amount of denial that they're just weeks behind these places because magical thinking and prayers will exempt them.

Do you think industries which attract large crowds (sports, entertainment, etc) will stay the same?

Our capacity for forgetting is pretty impressive. Large crowds will prevail as the appetite for this kind of consumption will probably not abate. The average person at this point just wants to go back to normal and their sense of normal includes Las Vegas, arena tour sellouts, and EDM festivals.

Will traveling in general be affected? Not just in the political sense but for example how might tourism change after this?

There will probably more advisories about seasonal outbreaks of the virus and how people are allowed to enter and exit populations where exposure is likely but those restrictions will be per nation. However, unlike 9/11, we don't have a tangible enemy, so the idea of safety when traveling is a lot harder to traverse.

What about films, do you think there might be a shift away from major releases going exclusively to cinemas first?

I think that really depends on how well their market tests of in-home access really does. They're entering a particularly busy channel where being a blockbuster movie is not a standout because original programming on a number of paid app services are doing the same thing for content. Going to the movies is about the experience. They're going to have to find a way to market this experience that's different from just firing up Netflix and sitting on your couch.

The service industry in general took a major hit. What happens down the line, do things get back to normal?

Probably, yes? Certain kinds of services probably won't survive but new ones will rise in their place.

There was an issue with the redis service (our database) last night which caused downtime. I think I got the root cause, but I'll continue to monitor things.

@Derp Damn good point. I should increase my area.

@Misadventure It can be a root for how I see the PC and formed them, yes! Even if never seen. For me though that tends to NOT happen with photos/actual actors and more with art, which then I get frustrated trying to fine a photo to match the fact that everyone else uses photos (if they do). It doesn't always happen with art (there's always music involved too, and not always of the same time era/style of the MUSH too which sometimes means people make fun of it as well).

Maybe because I use other people's wikis they're created of their PC as a launching point OR just a supplement/insight into what their creator was thinking when they first got on the grid, and most of my experience with them is going to be formed by that personal interaction rather than anything static, I'm not super attached to someone else totally adopting my vision for how they should see my PC.