This isnt a pearl clutch. I will just never understand why staff feels the need to utilize their NPCs to have "romantic plot" or bring a child into the world or fuck somebody (which again, does that benefit the game or at least a certain group of PCs? Because it sounds like it benefits 2. The PC you are boning and the NPC).
If you want those plots, why cant you have a PC that pursues those plots?
One thing I would suggest is to make sure there's a low barrier to entry in any of the systems you implement. I.E. I wouldn't set the EP requirements to 50 right out the gate; I'd maybe set it to 25 and see how quickly players accumulate EP and if there's enough buy-in and excitement to get to that point.
I'd also have some good documentation in the Sector about the initial look of the room. If Staff creates the description after the EP points accumulate and the job is inputted, how am I supposed to RP and create plot in the sector without knowing what the environment looks like, etc?
I've noticed that players get REALLY EXCITED about the idea of exploring and building stuff, but there's not a lot of follow-through. I would have some back-up plans in the event that the exploration system really doesn't wind up being something that players are utilizing.
@Pyrephox @peasoupling I'm so glad you guys are having fun 
@Cobaltasaurus we would super love to have you over at gray harbor! We've got an amazing team of STs at the moment who are always doing stuff. @krmbm and I are working on metaplot and side plot stuff. We are also brainstorming on some faction plots since we have a few active groups (hospital, crime/police, etc). And most importantly we have an amazing playerbase!
Hope to see you there
@Wretched said in Difference between an NPC and a Staff PC?:
Some of ya'll have never had to answer jobs about players wanting to know their relation ship status with NPC's they were TSing after a staffer quits and it shows.
Gross.
I think you really have to dumb down a magic system for a Magicians game, which sucks because the magic in Magicians is not simple or dumbed down. I don't think going WoD build is the right move TBH but I don't have any other options.
@Sunny said in Web portals and scenes and grids oh my!:
For example, to encourage grid-based roleplay, you would not put in tools that allow people to skip the grid to get to RP (meetme, teleport). Instead, you offer tools to help people find their way (directions), and you bribe them with rewards for being out on that grid -- be it XP, bits of lore, whatever.
I really think that for Ares games, you can have your cake and eat it too. There's no reason why people can't sit on the grid and hang out there and have people walk around the grid and RP that way. I mean, maybe if that's what the game creators want, they can put up a "here's how you find RP on this game" post or whatever. I don't know.
@RDC We have some pretty comprehensive theme files that should answer your questions. The Dark Men theme file is here: https://gray-harbor.com/wiki/theme:dark_men but I think that question's been answered above.
As for what there is to be afraid of? Dreams are our main source of terror (psychological and otherwise). Dreams can be player run plots, ST/GM'd stories, etc. We also currently have a few plots going involving: a) a serial killer, b) real-world criminal dealings, c) a flu, d) a cursed object and those are just the GM'd plots. We also have STs running plots constantly involving horror elements (scary house, monster of the week, etc). Plots and related logs are here: https://gray-harbor.com/plots
@Sunny I'll readily admit to not truly understanding the issue that you have with Ares but I really do accept that you have a problem with Ares and that's OK! We can have a difference of opinion and I'm not criticizing you any more than you are criticizing me.
@faraday the only thing I can say is that the "big complaint" I've heard about Ares is that it doesn't work for people who passively seek RP and that some people have honest difficulties with opening up a scene that might not get used, or asking on RP request. Which... I honestly don't know how to fix for those people and it might just be that Ares games are not for them and that's OK.
I used to have her on discord but it looks like she deleted that user name 
Sorry! I hope you find her.
Game is currently experiencing technically difficulties, we're working on fixing it. Sorry 
@Lisse24 I really wasn't speaking about you, I was explaining an actual complaint I have actually heard from several people. That being said, I don't think your problem is exclusive to Ares games. You can give people all the tools in the world and people still won't RP outside of their circles.
@faraday it baffles me, too
@Cobaltasaurus I think what you see on Ares central is about all there is out there with the exception of Arx and WoD games. I imagine there are a lot more private games on Ares than the list shows and people are just sandboxing with their friends.
Sorry, I wish I had better news. I've been looking for a new game to play for a long time and haven't really found anything.
@GangOfDolls you're going to get mixed reponses on that question. I think Arx is difficult for a casual player to get involved, but YMMV.
@Raeras I have thought a time travel game a la HorrorMU or The Network would be interesting. You go to one point in time every "season" and focus on that time and deal with the consequences of those actions rather than have 100 different people doing 50 different things. It might be something to at least consider?
To be 100% honest, you kinda lost me in the details so I don't think this game will be for me so take my comments with a grain of salt. However, I will say that I think a game like this can quickly become confusing and overtly complicated and I would caution against that. The more complicated the game is, the less likely you will have buy-in, and the harder it is for newbies to integrate.
I'm just kinda sad this game isn't about shire hobbits riding horses in the derby
JK - @Lotherio it looks like you did a great job with this one!
The problem I've found with historical fiction - even pseudo-historical - based in "real world" places is that the further back in time you go, the more documentation you need for your theme. It also gets I think harder for people to just come in and play - the more documentation/theme files you have, the more people have to read until they feel comfortable, and that can turn people off. And then you have the players who think they know everything about that era and become like, the czar of YOU ARE PLAYING THIS WRONG and ugh, those people make historical fiction games really difficult to play.
It's also I think hard to introduce a cultural era that a majority of people have little to no knowledge of. Which means that you're going to have people unintentionally being ignorant of the times. Which means you're going to combat that with more documentation and that's going to give people more things to read and it's kind of a vicious balancing cycle and you're still going to have people being culturally ignorant unintentionally (or even intentionally).
Anyway that's just my two cents. Steampunk Lord & Ladies sounds like it'd have a good mass appeal, I would just be really thoughtful on the setting (and I would, honestly, probably go with everyone else's suggestions and make your own world at that point)