MU Soapbox

Auspice

@lithium To be unfair I hated Olicity too. I quite like some romance in these shows as long as the writing isn't terrible and the love story compliments the overall arc. Characters still need to be interesting on their own.

That's not a gender thing either. The love story in Supergirl started fine last season but then the dialogue in every scene Mon-El was part of became really cringe-worthy.

EDIT: @Auspice - and from last episode
***=Flash spoilers***
click to show

having a bunch of Flash-specialized genius-level scientists present while a journalist is the one coming up with the idea of Barry nuking his own suit with lightning while he was wearing it... that was just so she'd have something to do.

Jesus yes. I was thinking exactly that. 'How the hell is she the one that fixed this.'

I actually like Olicity, but I think it may be partly because I identify with Felicity. She's this awkward little tech guru. I can feel that. But she also has had her own solid plots, involvement, etc. She does things.

I'm still not sold on Supergirl together but it has Katie McGrath and I still hold out hope that Kara will see how superior James Olsen is to Mon-El. >.>

Auspice

@arkandel said in Good TV:

@auspice ***=NSFW content***
click to show

The thing that bugs me about characters like that is the writers obviously don't know what to do with them. There are no arcs for them worth a damn outside of the relationship - Iris for example is Flash's gf. There's basically nothing else to it, only now and then she's a journalist too who gets herself into trouble and Flash has to rescue her so... back to square one.

It's not the actress' fault, it's the writing.

And OMG it gets so much worse when they start rehashing I-love-you vows for the 19th time.

***=Moar Flash***

click to show

Auspice

@thenomain said in Mac OS Sierra Client:

Okay, yeah, it does have a few benefits (that I workaround by always having BBEdit open). I was looking into a workaround when I found the reason Potato won't run here: https://github.com/talvo/potato/issues/455#issuecomment-287202932

This contains the 'workaround' offered: https://github.com/talvo/potato/issues/458

I was never able to get it working, but even the person who did said it still crashes frequently.

@sparks said in Mac OS Sierra Client:

You should be able to have an always-running log and pop one immediately to catch a specific thing.

Hmm. I feel like I had issues with it last I tried, but I rarely log anything at all anymore, so I'm not certain!

Auspice

@thenomain said in Mac OS Sierra Client:

That's like being stuck with ten million dollars cash, untaxed, that you can spend however you want, no strings attached.

Potato was the perfect client for me. The dual-input windows. The nested spawns (so they only showed the 'tab' when on that particular world). The fact that I could have an always-running auto-log, but then kick up a second log on top of it to capture something specific.

I've been using Atlantis a couple years and I still miss those things. $:\$

Auspice

Did you not learn from me?! I've been upset about losing Potato for years now!

You're stuck with Atlantis, I'm afraid. I'll help you figure stuff out if need. And you can cross your fingers with me that @Sparks will have Atlantis 2 ready for testing soon.

Auspice

Dear New Guy in the Office:

We are a small office (not even 12 people). A third of us are female. We share two bathrooms.

Have a modicum of decency and put the goddamn toilet seat down.

Auspice

@ganymede said in Alternate Game Systems:

Sure, you can go ahead and fail a whole bunch of shit to game the system, but that makes you a system-gamer and, as far as I'm concerned, you can eat a bowl of dick for that.

This also falls on STs and Staff to keep an eye out for. I definitely call people out if I think they're gaming things.

Like I appreciate faraday's general ruling on BSU that you can't change stance in reaction to being targeted. It's a rule I've always held, personally, in FS3, but would have players fuss at me on other games when I'd enforce it. Because it's cheating things.

'Oh, I posed being Reckless, but I'm being targeted now, so I'll just change codedly to Defensive!' Nope, nuh-uh, Auspice don't play that game.

Auspice

***Started on the new season of Flash***

click to show

Auspice

@seraphim73 said in Meanest (But Funniest) Thing You've Done in a Game:

@auspice Yeah. Deck of Many Things is just too awesome. A fellow PC once convinced my character to play five-card stud with the Deck. He made it 4 cards, then Death came for him.

It's just impossible to resist!

Auspice

With one D&D group, we rotated DMs. One week, my turn was up, but I'd had a really rough day at work and wasn't really feeling it. I couldn't really get a concrete one-shot put together.

So I put together a 'dungeon crawl' through a haunted house and figured I'd just wing it. But to hedge my bets, I gave out special items to everyone.

Mostly enchanted weapons, armor, etc.

But to the biggest troll in the group, I gave a Deck of Many Things.

My players ran the game for me that night. I don't think they made it more than three rooms before they just went hog wild with the deck.

Auspice

Part of what was enjoyable with Everway, when I played, was your sheet was very simple. You got 3 tarot cards for Virtue, Fault, and Fate. Then assigned 4 numbers to 'elements' (which translated to thought, action, might, feelings) and those numbers acted more as initiative than anything else.

Ultimately, outcomes were decided by the ST drawing tarot cards and narrating things along.

On a MU*, this would rely too heavily on STs. However, a card system as described would put the power more into the players' hands.

Auspice

Heck, I'll do it if there's someone out there willing to code it.

Using cards seems v. different and I'd like to give it a go. @Ganymede - do you have the book for it in PDF by chance?

Auspice

@ganymede said in Potential Game / Temperature Read:

@auspice said in Potential Game / Temperature Read:

I approve of anything with cards (look I own like, 80+ decks okay).
But I'm not sure on the Victorian era setting.

Then don't. It's just a setting. CF can really be applied to any time or place.

But cards are important. I think random PCs + random cards = fun and mayhem. Make it a wacky post-apocalyptic world where your enemies are robots, but not cool Cylons or deadly IG-88s, but instead WALL-Es. Nothing but WALL-Es.

You know, I do have a post-apoc setting floating around that I set stories in sometimes. I even have a 'world building' doc written up on it.

No robots, just a shadowy ultracorp that has all the tech (or steals it)...

Auspice

@insomnia said in RL Anger:

@auspice Try some gingerale, if you have some around?

I haven't had any soda around since I began my migraine meds last spring. They ruined the taste of it (which is a bonus because quitting soda is good, but damn if I sometimes don't still want it as a treat).

I've had some lemongrass tea, which should help. It just isn't yet.

Auspice

Severe nausea and I can't find my damn anti-nausea pills.

Auspice

@ganymede said in Potential Game / Temperature Read:

Here's a primer/teaser from Wikipedia

I approve of anything with cards (look I own like, 80+ decks okay).
But I'm not sure on the Victorian era setting.

HMMM.

Auspice

@jennkryst said in Potential Game / Temperature Read:

@auspice Yes!

Followup query: must take first one? Can pick from set of, say... three?

I'd be willing to allow a limited number of re-rolls, yes. Sort of like how some d20 games will allow you to pick from a set of rolled numbers for use in attributes.

Auspice

I'm putting this in Mildly Constructive vs. Tastes Less Gamey because it can be used to better one's roleplay.

The purpose of this thread is to share links relating to writing that you think people might enjoy or that you've found personally helpful in the pursuit of such.

Here's a few to start. These are all ones I've personally saved for reference.

Part of why I include (and recommend!) screenwriting tips is because MU*ing is a very 'visual' format as well. We try to eschew metaposing and especially thoughtposing. Some of us use it to comedic effect or to help expand on what would be knowable, but certainly not to the extent one would find in a novel. You almost have to approach posing as you approach screenwriting: by focusing on what can be seen.

I'll happily expand here as I find (and find merit in) more.

Auspice

I have another one. Again, from player perspective, because I apparently am great at ruining the best laid plans.

My first ever RL TT was Everway (which I still have a fondness for and wish the tarot deck in my own copy was complete). When I made my character, I'd been in the middle of the Riftwar (Raymond E Feist) books. I decided I wanted a 'bag of holding'-ish like Nakor had. The ST allowed it because wtfever, right?

Well, I collected everything. And I kept a running list of it. One of the things I collected was vials of sakura petals left behind by a goddess who would show up from time to time (usually to send us on quests).

The first time I did this, I got a 'wtf why' face from the ST. He had no idea why I would even care to do so, but he allowed it. On the list it went.

Fast forward months. We met every week and about eight months down the line, we're finishing up a quest line through Hell. We reach the exit portal when a massive demon gets in our way.

I'm up first in initiative.

I look over my list of "stuff in the sack" and there it is. This stack of vials of pure deific essence.

I throw them all at the demon.

The ST's eyes go wide as the implications sink in.
The demon was not killed, but it was hurt/stalled long enough for us all to get through the portal without having to fight.

He was a bit more... careful about what he let me collect after that.

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