A huge thank you to those that reviewed the piece and gave feedback.
I take it as a sign that it was an enjoyable read in that the only notes that I got more than one of could be summarized as: 'I want more.' (Longer story overall, more backstory, etc...)
I polished the story up a bit and got it sent off today. So maybe, just maybe, I'll have a second publication to share with you all soon. 
One of the reasons I roleplay is to practice the description of motion and body language. To convey emotion through showing, rather than telling. To display an emotion through gesture and form rather than outright handing it to the reader.
I've had some success with this. I've had people pick up on things through a character's body language (as written) without having to outright state what is being evoked. I always check in, 'Hey, she's sitting like that because...' 'He did that gesture as a...' since I figure hey, their character would know this, even if they didn't pick up on it. And often? People say they got it.
Even better is when I've been threading something subtle through a scene and someone later goes, 'Oh shit! I just realized...'
To me that's success. For as much love as I have for snarky asides and meta-jokes at my character's expensive, I love even more when my writing is immersive enough to draw the other player(s) in.
All this to lead to this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfqD5WqChUY.
It's about camera direction and acting in regards to immersion (David Fincer, verily, is a god unto men), but it showcases, to me, just how vital that display of body language is. It's not enough to just show it in Fincher's world, but he wants to pull you in and sweep you up in the moment through the camera.
I strive to do the same through words.
@arkandel said in RL things I love:
@auspice Don't quote those fake 'fahrenheit' monopoly degrees to me. They mean nothing.
Go Celsius or bust, yo.
Suck.
It.
@arkandel said in RL things I love:
@auspice Fucking people in climates they can wear sleeveless anything in mid November. I hate you so much.
Suck it:
@Ganymede I love yoga. I'm just terrible about doing it at home. Someday, I'll have a car again and the money to attend a yoga studio. I have noticed a vast improvement whenever I have been doing yoga on a regular basis.
I've just never heard of yin yoga specifically!
For the brace wearers: do you find it pinches or puts a lot of pressure on your knee? I have a hard time with braces & bandaging. When I had my knee surgery as a teenager, they didn't do stitches ("So you're less likely to be marred by scars!" I still have scars, shows them) and just wrapped it tightly instead. Too tightly. I was too drugged on percocet to notice how my leg was getting ice cold and I chalked the pain up to 'I just had surgery.'
It wasn't until I woke up screaming that we clued in: they wrapped it too tight and cut off circulation.
That pain is, 17 years later, still in my top three most painful experiences. But it's led me to major issues with braces and the like. I've had to try wearing them for my wrists at night, but I'll tear them off while half asleep.
So... how do these sleeves (like the copper sleeve) compare? Do they feel like they're pinching, constricting too much, etc...?
I had an interview this morning (just with a recruiting firm, so it likely won't lead anywhere). I wore my favorite dress (gray w/black polkadots, midi-length, sleeveless, a-line) because it was easier than hemming and hawing over matching skirt/top combos.
I didn't put makeup on this morning because I was feeling a bit rundown and ran out of time. I also just didn't fucking feel like it.
So while I was in 'yay cute dress,' I also wasn't feeling 100% about myself. Esp. 'cause I also forgot: 'oh sleeveless dress means my tattoo is visible.' ahem.
But post-interview, while outside waiting for Lyft, a woman walking by said I was 'super cute.' It really made my day.
@faraday said in How should IC discrimination be handled?:
It's just a little disconcerting sometimes when there's a disconnect between theme and RP.
This is something I've just come to accept, sad to say. Every game I've ever played, there's some level of disconnect between theme and RP.
We've discussed it here ('why are there beach parties in a constantly dangerous post-apocalyptic scenario?' 'where are these military members finding time to constantly hang out an drink during a war?' and so on)without any real solution beyond: encourage your players to play to theme and trust that the good players will help.
There will always be people who treat your setting as set dressing that only applies when they feel like it. That goes beyond matters like PC/NPC discrimination.
@rnmissionrun said in The Eighth Sea - Here There Be Monsters:
@faraday said in The Eighth Sea - Here There Be Monsters:
@bored said in The Eighth Sea - Here There Be Monsters:
Glad to see another Ares game!
Full disclosure: Ares is still under development and has not yet been released. It's pretty stable - BSGU has been running without major issues for a long time -
but it's still a work in progress. Kraken and the 8th Sea staff have been working with me on sort of a "private beta" basis to help shake out configuration/customization and admin issues. (I'm not directly involved in the game though.)If I had known that you were open to people running "private beta" games with AriesMUSH, I would have hit you up ages ago!
I've been waiting for her to release it to me for a while. If you knew all the times I'd nudged @faraday if she was ready for me to play with Ares... 
@dontpanda said in How should IC discrimination be handled?:
@arkandel If you're going to have it in your game, but only directed at NPCs, then don't bother having it at all, I think. I don't play a game to interact with NPCs, so if a key flaw of my character is his hatred of people with blonde hair, it should come up with PCs for it to actually make an impact.
Well, this is the opposite of what I was thinking and I apologize if my concept didn't come across.
I mean more allow/focus on NPCs being the ones to dish out the discrimination (rather than be on the receiving end). That way people don't feel pressured (though I'd still allow it) for their PC to have certain views and no one has to worry about things like 'Is Bob's player actually sexist or...?'
But it'd allow for scenarios like... the pirate ship on T8S has an ex-slave on it. A competing (NPC) pirate crew could use that as the basis to pick a fight. Or to lob insults. Which could have the benefit of bringing the PC crew closer together.
I had my whore PC hassled in the street by a pirate one day and he brought up her nationality (a native), her 'place' in society, etc.. It was an NPC flinging insults and slurs, which gives the PCs something to latch onto (should they wish).
@faraday said in How should IC discrimination be handled?:
So I can see both sides of the argument ... not wanting to sugar-coat history vs. not wanting to throw the worst parts of history into peoples' faces. But for me personally? I prefer fantasy/sci-fi settings where the discrimination is because "You're from Tauron" and not "You've got dark skin."
Omg how dare you discriminate against Taurans! 
Anyway. I think enough should be kept within a setting to allow for strife that is positive towards story and interaction. Run from a family who doesn't accept you. Use someone's nationality as reason to kick up a fight when you're already at odds with their group/house/ship/whathaveyou. But keep it IC and play within the theme.
On a piracy game, I expect to see someone who may struggle with acceptance of their sexuality, but I don't expect it to be "Well you're not a gold star lesbian therefore you suck".
And people should try to be on the same page, even if that page is just "PCs are the open minded members of society". I was on a game once where LGBT was wholly acceptable socially, but one player insisted on playing that his character was ostracized and marginalized for being gay. The dissonance was frustrating because hey there's a flamboyantly gay man there, a lesbian couple over there, and then this dude... crying ICly over all the dicrimination .
@arkandel said in The Eighth Sea - Here There Be Monsters:
And it's funny because sometimes others looked at him strange for it... like it was weird to be such beliefs - as a sailor
This is why we've tried to build the Daily Life of a Pirate page out. To help encourage people towards hitting tropes, behaviors, etc....
I can say that Staff is playing their PCs in a way to encourage these things. Superstition is awesome. I'd love to see more of it from PCs.
I view it as broad strokes. It's a Hollywood-ized version of pirates and we know Hollywood takes liberties for the sake of story.
The brothel (the Snakebite) for example has male and female 'companions.' There are women on ships, as you've noted.
But there may still be those (NPC or PC, if someone's feeling a touch antagonistic or it's an inter-ship conflict and they wanna be ornery) that look askance at a woman. Or mock her for being weaker (until she breaks his nose).
As for gay PCs... I can't play a completely straight woman to save my life, so my personal view on it is: go for it. BG strife in relation to being gay probably exists. There may be antagonistic NPCs who are problematic. But I'm certainly not (nor will other Staff I imagine) going to stop someone from playing an LGBT char and I'll smack down anyone who gives OOC grief over it.
@ixokai said in The Eighth Sea - Here There Be Monsters:
Is this game run by just @Seraphim73 and @GirlCalledBlu ?
Plus a coder?
Kraken (who does manage serverside/code) is at the helm ("Head Staff"), with Blu and Seraphim and myself.
It's a team of 4. They are not co-running in this instance. We discuss and decide things as a team.
@gangofdolls said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:
Yin yoga has been kind of amazing for me at helping with that. It's passive long held stretches instead of the up/down/up/down of flow yoga. I have Piriformis Syndrome in my left hip from an old high-school era sports injury and running makes it angry sometimes. Yin shuts it right up.
I've never hear of this before. Do you practice at home or at a studio?
I've got arthritis in my right knee and hip both (probably my teenage years of soccer catching up to me now in my 30s) and my hip is, by far, the more painful and limiting of the two.
@bored said in Regarding administration on MSB:
do things to prevent good critical content from being banished to the Hog Pit
There have been a few instances in the past weeks of critical/negative reviews being posted and staying put.
The ones that get moved are the ones that are, well, frankly, Hot Pit material. A recent example was the one in which the person used terms like 'sexually frustrated rejects.' You (anyone) can write a review without going into baseless insults like that. And reviews of that nature often then become a dogpile of people (many who have never even played the game!) jumping on the worst parts of the review.
In the thread the above was removed on, people did come back and post level-headed negative reviews and they have remained in place. Keep it clean, keep it to facts, and I'm fairly certain no one will campaign for their removal (except maybe game runners and, well, they opted to post).
If people feel it's impossible or undesirable to post reviews that don't involve personal attacks/insults or Hog Pit-esque behavior... we may have greater issues to address first.
@gangofdolls said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:
@ganymede I didn't know that was a thing until I just googled it. The Amazon search algorithm didn't return it. What was your experience with it, if you tried it?
I'm curious on this as well. With severe arthritis in my knee, walking 2+ miles 5 days a week has not been all that great. Some sort of brace/sleeve might be good.
(If only there were something I could do for my hip as well.)
@roz said in Regarding administration on MSB:
IF THE GIFS GO, I GO </very serious threat>
Side note: I may, uh, be trying to get a mod working that will allow you to search and use giphy gifs from right inside of the composition box. >.>
@ganymede said in Random links:
@auspice said in Random links:
GDI, I still haven't played the first one!
I bought a PS4 and the first game, and I don't regret it at all.
I have been treated to a flurry of games that just blow my mind. Horizon Zero Dawn is horridly addictive.
A PS4 is certainly on my 'buy when I can afford' list. Last of Us and Horizon Zero Dawn are two of the top two reasons. And with a new Last of Us... I guess I gotta get my ass caught up soon.
@ganymede said in Regarding administration on MSB:
I can verify that there are people who believe as Faraday does, and who don't come by this place with their ideas for the reasons she's stated. I can't speak for why Faraday remains to voice her position, but I think it is because it's not just her position. As a person who is employed to speak for others, I can empathize with holding on and repeating what has been said because it needs to be said. Take that for what it's worth.
I would like to note, in following up both Faraday and Ganymede... That I have had people come to me, since I've been a moderator, expressing their desire for a more constructive community to discuss things like game design, code, and so on.
I won't out these people because I assume they had their reasons for reaching out privately versus opening up in a thread like this. But they do exist, they do want more. What I've done to help them 'be the change they want to see' (as the saying goes) is to encourage them to try posting. Some have done so and of those, a few have seen success and some have just felt further frustrated.
There is this tendency (Arkandel has phrased it well above), I think, to go for extremes around here. A lot of us, if we dislike the idea, will be so adamant that it treads into not only tearing down the idea, but the person involved. Not everyone does this, nor does it happen on every thread, but it happens often enough that it has cowed some members into not wanting to speak up at all.
I think my thread on weighing three separate game ideas went well. It gave me a lot to think about and I'm still investigating some things. But it could have, just as easily, gone in a wildly different direction. Imagine if some of the people who dislike me had used it as a platform to express that dislike and to undercut all of my ideas? I have (we all have) witnessed that happen to various extremes.
I won't campaign for being rid of the Hog Pit, but I understand why some people dislike it. I also understand why some people value it.
But my personal goal here (not a forum goal or vision; my own) is to encourage those constructive, creative, and exploratory discussions and to hopefully keep them in that realm.
@ganymede said in Random links:
In case anyone wonders why I suddenly disappear in a few months
GDI, I still haven't played the first one!