@Darinelle I owe you a massive apology for my post the other day. I took anger and venting and let it get under my skin and instead of directing it back at the source I chose the worst possible path which was to vomit it forth on someone entirely undeserving of such things.
What could have been constructive communication and bridging collaboration was instead tainted and made toxic by my own words.
You most certainly did not deserve that.
I am sorry.
@surreality said:
Even things like crafters for mystical objects? The 'best' or most potent sources of power for them, thematically, in WoD are all tied to violence and negativity, even if it doesn't necessarily make sense for the object itself. (Not all objects are weapons, after all -- you're going to get a magic healing widget powered up in theme faster from some relatively mundane horror show than you are from the surgeon's kit that saved thousands of lives in a crisis.) It's a built-in bit of conceptual railroading, from my perspective, in ways 'it's a dark world' doesn't cover well enough to pass a laugh test; one would imagine that the most powerful lights in a dark world would have equal strength (if not greater, being so rare) but thematically, they do not and cannot.
I am going to disagree, not because you're wrong, because I do indeed believe that a lot of ST's and Staff will railroad people into combat plots because they're 'easier' to evaluate and plan for.
Plus, a combat scene is probably one of the easiest things one can run from an ST point of view. I won't name names, but there is one person on TR that runs nothing but combat scenes, often these scenes end up being a page or two long, and they do this because it is a quick way to net themselves 2xp a pop. But that's a whole other kettle of fish.
But where I disagree is that it doesn't have to be that way. My argument would be, you're running with what TR has created as the status quo, for PrP's. There are plenty of other ways one can advance, gain an item, explore, solve puzzles, etc. The ST just has to be more involved. To be honest, if tomorrow TR said, no more XP for combat scenes, you may find that the shift would happen naturally.
Or all PrP's would ceases to exist... one or the other. 
Comfort foods:
Homemade potato leek soup.
Pillsbury croissant dough set in muffin tins and wrapped around prosciutto and chunks of swiss, then baked.
@surreality said:
Sometimes, there's not a lot you can effectively do. Sometimes, 'run away' is a real option! It's entirely valid. It adds story to the scene if nothing else, and while some folks won't enjoy that, others will.
This needed to be bold for emphasis. A friend and I just joined a new mush, and the intro scene consisted of us helping an already established player run away. They weren't combat oriented, and they chose to run away as the only sane thing their character could do. But they were crippled and it was more of a hobble, which then turned the scene into a beautiful chase/run to save your lives and theirs and it turned into one of the most exciting and enjoyable scenes I've done in a long time.
So yes, even running away can be awesome!