Best posts made by BobGoblin

I've pleasured myself on the Saga games quite a bit over the years, a lot of familiar names and sadly familiar attitudes. A couple of non-profound insights for you all to chew over.

#1) D20 games are not meant for PvP encounters and are not balanced around such. This isn't even a Saga specific thing. Prior to Covid I have been getting paid to DM games at local stores (it's honestly a really fun gig, I suggest people look into it!) and the reality of PvP comes up every once in awhile. You know what I've discovered? It doesn't fucking work. These games are meant to be STORY TOLD by a GM against NPC threats. All of these fucking MUSHes are trying to be some kind of E-Peen contest and then it falls on its face and people wonder why.

#2) What the fuck does history from 5 years ago about who did what with whom have to do with jack, or shit? This thread is about a new game, ran by a guy named Obie who is trying from what I can see to do something for the community. A lot of this thread had Zero to do with his advertisement and more to do with people rehashing old issues. If you have suggestions for the game runner, make them to him but holy shit that's a lot of long posts.

#3) If you can do better; I bet you can get access to the Database by asking for it.

#4) Warma is spot on. Holy shit you people are stuck in the past. I remember all those games you listed and yeah, all of them had faults that eventually drove them to close. Too bad they're not all ike Firan that stayed open forever...oh wait. Well maybe like Reno that stayed open forev... or maybe more like... ALL FUCKING GAMES SHUT DOWN OVER TIME. You can learn from the mistakes they made but you'll make new mistakes. Enjoy what you have and if you don't enjoy it, do it yourself or move on.

#5) Revisit #1. PvP games are never going to be 'balanced' because the winners cheese and the losers cry. So don't play them or make them if you can't handle those outcomes.

(Additional Note: I know Rodney Thompson, the guy who wrote Saga Edition for WotC, relatively well. I've told him stories about what people have done on the games and he uproariously laughed at the concept of competitive Saga Edition.)

I just wanted to have post #1000 in this thread.

I dub this a Trumpology

@Wizz
I'm sure the mu community st large could handle mature content without having issues.

Said no one ever

I'm actually in the process of transitioning all my work from MU base to Evennia base. As I'm going through this process the need for 'comparisons' of things becomes more clear. I would second the idea of a MUSH to Evennia type structure to both help and inform. A sort of 'Doing this in MUSH is like this: Doing it in Evennia is like this:' That I think would help people see the advantages / disadvantages and help bridge the gap. As a noob coder, a lot of times it's terminologies and syntax that are the issues. So yes, Rosetta Stone?

@magee101 This was referred to by many as the tacobus. Feel free to infer what you wish about it. Second that game was handed over to nutjob & spouse it was time to abandon ship. (anyone else ever notice the trainwrecks that always accompany nutjob&spouse games?)

What if we stopped operating under the presumption that MU's should have an infinite or undetermined life span and instead look at it and say 'we're going to have a year's worth of activity' as a goal?

Nothing lasts forever. Except World of Warcraft apparently but I attribute that to making a deal with the great Satan.

Does that shit work? Cause I’m actually Brad Pitts younger brother who was abandoned from the family because I was deemed not beautiful enough. It was ok though. I found a happy life until my wife was savagely murdered by a roving gang of post apocalyptic mutants while I travelled through Nebraska. Apparently Nebraska is in fact the same wasteland as the Road Warrior. My wife then gave birth to our son who was put in to the military four years later and then she got married and had three children. I love my daughter

Did I summarize this dudes life alright? I know quite a few people on this thread and was on several conversations about all of it. Between all of you who know who I am here. This is why I emphasize don’t trust online people. Assume everyone is a piece of shot and you won’t be disapppinted.

So I was having a conversation with a MU associate this weekend (I don't have friends) and the conversation sort of evolved into discussing the state of games and the swelling of some games, the struggles of others, you know the usual sort of banter we get into.

I made the point of stating that one of the biggest hindrances to the growth of MUs is the lack of activity, whether it is in the form of storytelling plots, general scenes, or simple 'things to do'. This was countered with the statement of how players need to have their own motivation to do things. Round and round things went, as has been hashed by many of us.

My question is this. What tools would players need to be able to run story for themselves, meaningful story beyond just BarP? I see from some posts and statements that people want to be able to impact the world their characters are in (I see the growth of Legacy boardgames as an extension of this mentality, being able to impact the overall environment). This is what I have so far, I'd love to see some criticism, collaboration, or general ranting/raving in regards:

1. Easy to utilize 'system' for running stories that includes the capability for the player running to participate as well.
   a) Such a system would need to deal with success and failure. What happens when the players fail to accomplish the goals? Does anything happen? Does that change the world as well?

2. Pre-written story leads to help start things rolling when there is a lack of organic ideas.

3. An ongoing measure of impact of player action / inaction. In other words, if players don't do things does the story continue to advance? If the players don't investigate a fire does more shit burn? Is that a beneficial approach?

With those basic questions, is this an approach to pursue, and if it is, how would one do it? I know I've grown bored with games where I lounge RP around waiting for a staffer to maybe run something, but then gets pissed off if it disrupts their sandbox when you do something on your own.

I believe the people who run Inheritance Gambit have done an amazing job with FATE.

This was the approach taken by a sw game not long ago that met with burning crashing. Everything was about the rebellion. Players wanted to do their own things and the disconnect left people scratching their heads.

Star Wars kids are Star Wars kids. Never forget that.

@apu

Damn. You never fell for any of my bullshit. I suck

@ZombieGenesis
I wonder if there's some correlation with "gear" and "systems" in sci fi

The same convo popped up around firefly. The recent Star Trek game based around story and not space sim faltered. Is there something about those genres the players are expecting to possess loots and ships?

Wait, omg Something on the Internet that not everyone likes?

Quick, call Fox News.

I think that the crux for me with being a story teller is that there's this sense you can't participate. Good story tellers end up being pseudo staff telling stories for everyone else and never getting anything for themselves

@Auspice

YOure just mad because you couldn't find mankriks wife

My question about Space Travel (or ANY game that has a travel requirement) is why? Is it to create a feeling of largeness? If that's the case, then you're also conceding that you want things spread out (hence RP spreads out). Is it to provide alternative activities for the players to do besides RP? That's acceptable if that is the goal, but what is the goal there? To keep players connected to the game during 'down times' so that when RP opportunities arise they are around? Again, if that's the case how is that being addressed?

I've played on a large amount of Space Coded games in the past, going all the way back to ST: SNW and WC:RH. When I drop my rose colored glasses off, there were definitely pros and cons to all those things. I'm not entirely sure if at any point these systems provided RP, they more than likely created outlets of gaming style that didn't exist in the time period.

So the root question imo is IF you want a Space System, WHY?