Posts made by BobGoblin

Here's sort of a follow up question. We discuss running PrPs. Let's say there is a player like Ark who enjoys running PrPs and likes them to have impact. If the staff are 'generating' the Prp Leads it would then infer that they'd be part of things to have an impact most likely. I saw a lot of people comment about how staff would give players threads to run. What if that /was/ the methodology of the game. From Day 1 it was established that there are free form scenes (your BarP), there are Drama Scenes (Pre Generated outlines from staff that are meant fo rplayers to run to advance the story of the game) and then climax scenes where the results of the Drama Scenes come out.

The temptation may be to say 'well why wouldn't people just do nothing then show up to the Climax Scenes', maybe it could be limited to priority to those who participated AND ran the Drama scenes getting the first opportunities for the Climax Scenes?

Addendum: Climax scenes are found very often on Shang.

@tat

I have seen a fair share of Table Top games drifting this direction as well, a secondary currency other than XP for spending that is more based on the narrative actions or the player oriented actions.

Basing on the supposition that the plot modules could be pre-generated and handed out to others, or checked out by story tellers, etc.

I think a scene distribution setup of some kind might include an estimated time to run component. That would make it much easier to accommodate one. But I agree, I think a large number of scenes have no idea how long they're going to take.

I think this is the same as the first. It could be structured if action was taken that way in the design phase.

This is the real struggle, the carrots. What I find interesting is that XP is for character growth, but we often utilize it for player action. If you think about it, that's really not the goal. The question becomes what carrot can we offer to PLAYERS for PLAYER actions? Myself, I'd love to keep XP to Character Actions and some other sort of currency/carrot for Player actions. However, what that is? I don't really know, I think that's why XP becomes the default. There might be an opportunity here for some deeper delving. What would PLAYERS like versus CHARACTERS?

Yes, Yes, Yes. There's a distinct lacking of NPC data. I know on the SAGA games that went around for awhile there were pregenerated stat blocks - but that's also very cumbersome. Is some of the issues about Storytellers running things the complexity of the systems? I think we talked about that before that walking STs through things with experienced GMS as a sort of training would be good, which I agree. But if the 'conflict resolution system' is easier to manage does it entice people to do more? And if it's easier to manage it should help address this topic.

I haven't touched the Arx fad, but I'd be interested to hear more on the implementation of incorporating others. I have had a few ideas myself on how to encourage CHARACTERS to interact with new CHARACTERS. One of which is the first time a Character interacts with another one they can establish a 'bond' or some other short statement. A lot of times we see vote systems or the like to support quality of RP, I'd maybe see about shifting to a system where players signify the impact another character has had on theirs. Give a nice little chunk of character development for every new bond, a smaller chunk for updated bonds to incentivize meeting new people rather than staying with the same people? Just batting around.

That's kind of what I impress too. Are OOC rooms distractions from 'active' RP? Perhaps. Are they the only distraction or even a major one? I would argue they are not. The proliferation of alternatives imo has been the greater distraction.

What it sounds like is having some sort of method of pulling attention and eyes to the screen and the availability of scenes is FAR more important. Which makes me consider the following:

What if when a Storyteller were to 'start' or 'check out' a scene it sent out the beep alert and a general 'wall' message to let players know something was going to begin. Will people ignore it still? Sure. But it makes it a lot harder to make the claim of 'I didn't know anything was going on'. Naturally, there'd need to be some sort of barrier to prevent abuse, that's a given.

Do idle rooms hinder story tellers from being able to tell stories? If a player is going to sit social they'll do it either on the game or somewhere else. But how does that hinder story telling?

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

I think if a system was designed that was handing out story leads, you could look and see which leads were being picked up more than others. It'd actually be a pretty useful tool to determine what the players were currently interested in. You don't have to scrap the other leads but make more of the same vein. So if you had story leads about raiding the Orc camps and Delivering Groceries to the Old Woman, and that damn Old Woman is starving, maybe people like those raiding stories more, so pre load a few more raiding stories. I thin kthat's how you address #2. As for #1, I think that depends largely on the surrounding systems in place of mechanics. The idea of levels and what not might be very pertinent in a D&D styled game. But if this were a more narrative focus then it might entail additional complications developing throughout the game.

Well, let's run with that.

What is the minimal pieces that a Storyteller or Player would need to have to run a story for themselves and a group? Note, the minimal part.

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.

To orgasm.

In serious response though; I think in the older days it wasn't uncommon to see a scene go 5-6 hours sometimes, am I right? I remember being able to push through heavy RP sessions, multiple people involved and getting into it, maintaining focus, etc.

With so many side distractions available now, I'm with you. I like 2 hours - 2.5 hours tops. This means I'm not committing my entire evening to one thing alone. I could get a good scene in, still get some other games or TV or even get to bed at a reasonable hour. The truth is, we're all older. We can't power through to 2 AM the way we used to do.

Breath of Wild for Switch is (imo) a must. Not a full RPG but definitely enough elements to scratch the itch.

I and my group aren't fans of gloomhaven. We felt that the return in fun was far less than the investment of setup and getting ready to play. By time set up was done we were just meh about getting to it. I know some who swear by the game but from about 5 sessions on it I personally pass.

I am a white male that grew up as the only person of his race in High School. (I grew up on a Native American Reservation)

I play 9 instruments, have been a professional musician, in 5 musicals, but cannot sing to save my life.

I have been hit while walking by cars 3 times and did not even get more than a bruise from any of them despite cracking the windshield with my body all three times.

I have won national math competitions in my youth but no longer can do basic algebra.

My eyes change colors daily and seldom match each other.

I believe Thomas Malthus was right, just about 200 years too early.

https://www.reddit.com/r/wow/comments/a7rrmy/a_letter_to_blizzard_entertainment/

I read this this morning while taking my morning constitutional and I thought -- Yeah, this is how I feel about blizzard.

Then I thought longer and realized, Yeah, this is how I feel about Mu*s. This thread made me step back and want to think about what drew me in in the first place and why that draw and pull is no longer present.

Think I'm going to write an open letter to Mu*dom.

With the mass exodus of talent from Blizzard in various IPs, one almost wonders if they simply don't like the direction the company is going.

Whose excited for Diablo Immortal. Eh?

Eh....?

I actually would actively discourage people from voting. The percentage of voters is too high.

Ff6 is the best game. Just don't jump

I really didn't like gamepad for WoW, it's not 'designed' for it.

GW2 and FF14 were fine with it however. But that's just a simple man's opinion.

Marc stein is also a pretty shitty reporter. He gets a lot wrong and rushes stories to try and "scoop"