Posts made by Bobotron

@thatguythere

... how off of it did that idiot have to be to be to NOT REALIZE HE WAS LEAVING A MESSAGE on some college kids' answering machine? Or maybe someone was trolling you.

My comfort food is always salad. I'm super weird. The crunch of veggies and the bite of balsamic make things better.

@surreality

Damn, I was testing it. Some clients use /<stuff> in other manners like BeipMU. I tested it fine in MUSHclient though...

I have to wonder if doing something unprecedented (for standard MU*s, anyway), like, instead of handing out the address to use standard clients, force people to connect through a web-based client (I can't recall ever seeing anyone try to do it this way)? PennMUSH offers Banana (assuming you can get it set up), there are others like ChroMUD as well. That way, whatever funky code you use for your game to make it accessible with IRC-mirror commands, and such like that, is always consistent to THAT GAME SPECIFICALLY?

It doesn't get all the things on @faraday 's list, but it gets at least a 'consistency' down so that you can start trying to work around some of the differences in commands via softcode command mirroring.

The other thing to consider, MU* works for what we do (those oldbides of us) because it's NOT tied to something like a GUI. Which then would require even MORE code knowledge to make something tie to buttons, make the buttons show what they do, etc. Right now you can go 'Oh, the syntax is snarfblatt'. But it'd be more difficult to create a GUI, unless the client is written to map the buttons in an easy way.

@Sparks

Re: github/coding live. Eh...? I can't recall the last time that games I played on, or games I was running, did 'coding live'. If a game has a dedicated coder, and that coder has a lick of sense, they're going to have a secondary port with a copy of the game to test their shit on without potentially borking shit.

@wildbaboons

I mentioned on FB earlier that I feel there are legit criticisms. A fiend of mine responded:

only if you do not how how film theory works, or have enjoyed all 4 transformers movies.

I'm sitting over here like...

@derp

Hahahah. HAHHAHAHAHAH. At least we're not playing Little Plastic Mens. I refuse to get involved in Little Plastic Mens.

@ganymede

You might as well off-handedly throw out the one set in 1359, just based on the history of Dark Ages MU*s being epic fails. I do like the idea of the Strix one though, and would play on that.

My fiance is too adorable.

We have a Friendsday Wednesday thing with a set of good friends of mine. We play games and eat dinner and hang. We've been playing MtG. My fiance has gotten big into it and it's so adorable. He's also been building decks and built a really nice white/green dinosaur STOMP deck.

It's just so funny to see him get so into it and excited on building the decks.

We're all also going to play some Yu-Gi-Oh too. Thankfully full playsets of what most of us want to play in YGO is pretty cheap on eBay. POSSESSED STUFFED ANIMALS AND SHARP OBJECTS ARE CALLING TO ME!

So, I can't sleep; arm is hurting bad (did a FOOSH so I wouldn't squish my little 4 year old niece at Christmas earler). While I wait on the painkillers to kick in and allow me to sleep, I figured I'd ask.

I have a desire to play on a game.
I have a friend who as suggested Fallcoast to me.
I'd love to have peoples' opinions and experience with their Vampire sphere, specifically how well it functions as... well, a Vampire sphere. I guess my expectation for an NWoD Vampire sphere is the capability to be somewhat focused, nicely political, somewhat investigative, and not have to spend time superfriending around.

That, and people's suggestions of games.

People can look at my playlist to see my previous gaming history, but I really like...

• OWoD Vampire. I love playing political vampire.
• NWoD Vampire and Changeling, to a lesser extent Werewolf. I love playing political Vampire and Changeling.
• Transformers
• Focused Superheroes (Marvel-only, X-Men only, DC only, Justice League, for example)

Any suggestions or reviews would be awesome.

Music for writing today: https://youtu.be/7rclL_8Jf7w

So, now that the holidays are upon us and I've had a little more writing time, I've been doing some more work.

On mechanics. Because I know people go insane with this type of stuff, the mechanics are really simple, and function in the same manner for both non-combat and combat resolution.

For task resolution....

• Take the attacker/initiator's test pool (for combat, something like Physical + Marksmanship for shooting a gun or Physical + Unarmed for punching a dude/cutting him with the Evisceration power); for non-combat, something like Mental + Investigation) and subtract the defender/target's test pool/difficulty (for combat, something like Physical + Prediction for dodging said gunfire; for non-combat, a flat difficulty rating).
• This creates a Chance of Success (CoS)%. Generally, equivalent stats/difficulty will result in exactly a 50% CoS. As the numbers increase or decrease from equivalency, the percentage goes up or down, to a maximum of 85% and a minimum of 15% (this is with HUGE swinging differences, like someone with an Attribute at 2, the lowest starting stat, and no ranks in a Skill, attacking someone with an Attribute at 7/max and a Skill at 5-6/max., or vice-versa).
  • There are Advantages that change up how some of the attributes combine into the pools (like an Advantage that makes your Ranged attacks and defenses key off of Mental instead of Physical, for example).
• The system rolls the appropriate check and tells you pass/fail. The system ALSO acounts for Advantage (granted by some conditions, basically roll twice and take best), buffs/debuffs, and such things like that. For combat, the system also applies any damage and all calculations based on said buffs/debuffs.

For damage...

• Everyone has an Endurance rating that starts at 100%. As you take damage/get hit, this goes down. It's a combination of actual hits and abstract other factors that render a character out of steam. At 0%, you're out of the fight; generally, this means that you are knocked out/rendered helpless in some manner. You can only be killed when you're at 0% Endurance.
• Damage is calculated based on the rating of the weapon or damage-dealing power (1 to 4), plus the applicable Attribute and Skill (and any power modifiers), and Resistance is based on any worn armor (again, rated 1 to 4), appropriate Attribute, and Willpower Attribute (and any power modifiers). Equivalence means a 15% base damage, with decrease/increase to 5%/25% at the highest/lowest differentials.
  • So a guy Highlander'ing you with a katana (a medium weapon, so 2 damage) would be 2 + Physical + Weaponry (plus any mods) against your leather jacket (a light armor, so 1 Resistance) + Physical + Willpower (plus any mods).
    • As much as I know people love things like called shots and aiming and stuff, I'm not bothering to code stuff like that. I may add it in patches down the road, but not starting out. Some of this will fall under qualities on weapons and powers though.
• Some powers have triggers based on Endurance being at below maximum, such as the Resistance power Pain to Power. Some powers also trigger automatically at 20% Endurance or lower (called Red for short, which will show up in your combat stuff).

For attributes and skills...
This stuff is pretty straightforward. The game features four (4) Attributes, in generalized categories and (at this time) 22 Skills.
The Attributes are...

• Physical: This Attribute measures a vampire’s physical prowess: raw strength, agility and stamina. This Attribute is used to resolve all tasks involving physical actions such as fighting, lifting things and running.
• Mental: This Attribute measures a vampire’s mental acuity: intelligence, reasoning capacity, wits and cunning. This Attribute is used to resolve all tasks concerned with trying to notice something or to puzzle out a clue, or thinking quickly. This Attribute is often used for the invocation of powers that rely on the strength of the mind.
• Social: This Attribute measures a vampire’s social acumen: charisma, attractiveness and presence. This Attribute is used to resolve all tasks concerned with trying to coerce, seduce, convince or con someone into doing something. This Stat is also used for activating powers based on the force of personality or ‘presence’ of the character.
• Willpower: This Attribute measures a vampire’s inner strength: resolve, discipline and self-mastery. Willpower is used to resolve all tasks concerned with resisting intimidation, fear, temptation and mind control, among others.
  • Attributes are assigned starting ratings, which are increased with XP. Maximum Attribute Ratings are (at this time) set at 7. Set one attribute at 4 (above average), two at 3 (human average) and one at 2 (below-average) at creation.

The skills are...

• Academics (learnin'!)
• Athletics (sports and movement)
• Awareness (things going on around you)
• Computers (hacking and building hardware and software)
• Deception (LIES, subterfuge and persuasion)
• Drive (THE TRANSPORTER, The Italian Job, stuff that isn't standard cars and trucks and motorbikes; you get general drive competency, and each rank of drive you pick a Drive Training outside, like jets or helicopters or Flying Nightmare Horses)
• Empathy (reading peoples' moods)
• Evasion (dodge Unarmed and Melee attacks)
• Intimidation (duh)
• Investigation (duh)
• Leadership (duh)
• Marksmanship (guns, bows, Ranged attacks)
• Medicine (general medical knowledge)
• Melee (swords, knives, power-created Melee weapons)
• Occult (knowledge of non-vampire supernatural creatures and general occult knowledge)
• Prediction (represents general knowledge and observation of people who use guns, and predicting where they'll aim and when they'll fire to dodge)
• Security (larceny and thievery and security-related stuff)
• Streetwise (knowing the criminal and underground methodology)
• Survival (wilderness and tracking)
• Unarmed (punches, kicks, claws/bites)
• Arts (singing, dancing, performances), Crafts (working with your hands), and Science (mechanics, chemistry, etc.) are bought as separate skills, each with as as their own skill (so you'd have Arts: Singing or Arts: Piano, Science: Hematology, or Crafts: Painting, for example.
  • Skills are assigned starting ratings, along the lines of Attributes. Set one at 4 (near mastery); set two at 3 (advanced training); set three at 2 (standard training); and set two at 1 (basic training). Skill maximums are normally 5 (mastery), though a couple of Advantages can increase the Skill Maximum to 6 (superhuman) per skill per time taken.

The skills may change, and the percentages and maximums and calculations may change once I'm moved out of alpha testing for the automation. So far though, things have been 'on target' mostly.

On powers...
This is the thing that's taking the most time, rejiggering powers. But it's still going. I've got frameworks and things are easily folding into the automation (whether that me the 'attack' command or just the 'test' command). Pulling resources from all kinds of fun places (WoD, Anne Rice/Vampire Chronicles) has been eye-opening. Due to now making it where all powers 'rank up' from a base level, rather than things being done on a per-rank basis like WoD has made some rejiggering a little more difficult, and a few powers I had that were 'do this thing that doesn't increase in power level' don't work now. Which is fine.

Powers (and how weaponry is written in your combat layout, just because of consistency and need for how keywords trigger in code) are made up of:

• Rank (written as [X], where X is a 1 through 4; the Rank is also the Activation Cost in Vitalis, the blood-equivalent), for powers, the Rank affects the damage a little more weighted than a standard weapon does
• Activation (Instant, which uses your turn when you use the +command; or Reflex, which doesn't)
• Category (Ranged, Physical, Special, Buff, Debuff). Ranged uses the Ranged attack pool and equipped Ranged weapon; will fail if no Ranged weapon equipped. Physical uses the Melee weapon you have equipped or, if you have no Melee weapon equipped, defaults Unarmed. Special is typically used with powers that don't use a standard pool to achieve a non-buff/non-debuff effect, like the example Mentalism and Intensity powers below. Buff causes it to appear in your (or your target's) Bonuses list; Debuff (if successful) causes it to appear in your target's Penalties list.
• Any effects (target limits, such as things that can only affect yourself, are also listed here)
  The are used in the character sheet as keywords/shorthand. When written up in the newsfiles, it'll have a descriptor of what it does. The keywords are used as shorthand and code triggers, but once you get used to the system the shorthand becomes really easy to translate.

Here are a few of the rejiggered powers, just as a teaser to whet your appetite:

• Pain to Power (Resilience): [X], Instant, Physical, Revenge
  • The vampire uses the vitalis in her body to channel her pain into her muscles, granting a boost in strength based on the pain she is suffering. When activated, Pain to Power makes a normal Physical attack, with bonus damage based off of a percentage of the END loss the user is currently suffering, calculated based off of Pain to Power's Rank. This damage is applied before any damage reduction.
• Flesh of Marble (Resilience): [X], Instant, Buff, Reflect
  • The vampire surges vitalis into her flesh; when she is struck, this vitalis hardens the skin for an instant, the attacker being treated to the sensation that they were striking a brick wall or some other hard surface, causing harmful reverb to them. When activated, Flesh of Marble grants the Reflect effect. (Reflect: When struck by a Physical attack that successfully deals damage, the attacker takes rebound damage equivalent to half of their inflicted damage, plus [X]%, where X is the Rank of Flesh of Marble. This damage is not reduced in any way. IE: A character struck for 12% damage, with Flesh of Marble [2], does 8% damage back to their attacker.)
• Psychic Assault (Mentalism): [X], Instant, Special, Ignore
  • Reaching out with their psychic powers, the vampire uses their telepathic powers to reach into the mind of their enemy, assailing them with a barrage of mental energy, causing them pain that resonates from mind to body. Psychic Assault uses the standard Mentalism test pool (Mental + Awareness) versus the target's Mental + Willpower, ignoring any physical armor. (Ignore: The attack disregards any armor the target is equipped with.)
• Shockwave (Intensity): [X], Instant, Special, Burst Stagger
  • The vampire's strength is brought to bear at range when utilizing this power, channeled however the vampire chooses, be it a thunderous clap of their hands that acts like an air cannon or a stomp sending the shockwave through the ground that explodes under her targets. Shockwave uses the vampire's standard Unarmed attack pool versus the target's Ranged defense (Physical + Prediction), can target up to three (3) targets, and may disorient the target. (Burst: The attack can target up to 3 targets. Stagger: Reduces the target's evasion by <undetermined formula>).
• Crimson Might (Intensity): [X], Reflex, Buff, Self Empower
  • The vampire uses the vitalis that animates her to increase her strength, flowing extra life force into her limbs to increase her power temporarily. When used, Crimson Might grants the Empower condition to the user. (Empower: The target of Empower gains a bonus to their Physical Attribute).

WHEW! I'm writing, got a bug up my butt. QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS WELCOME!

@surreality

HAHAHA HEADERTABS OH GOD YOU POOR SCHMUCK! I love you, but oh god.

@surreality

WIKI SUCCESS DATTO?!

@surreality

Right. Like, the footsoldier-type thing was an inspiration for the Feral thin bloods near the end of the Masquerade LARP I was running.

@royal

Van Helsing has an interesting premise of 'the vampires blacked out the sun' and are spreading. They have footsoldiers who aren't super intelligent (more along the lines of zombies, to an extent, from what I've seen in the bit I've watched of the first season), but there are intelligent ones who are primarily the leaders. It could be some neat inspiration.

@jennkryst

The Mega City design of the Matrix is a really good starting point. Like, super good.

Finish my game sometime before 2nd Quarter 2018.
Find games that I'd like to actually play on.

I really had a fun time playing an 'ancient world' game using OWoD, but the players as the first vampires or their initial broods. Essentially an Antediluvian game, played through the ages. Was fun, could make for an interesting alternative.

I saw Last Jedi today.

I enjoyed it, but...

***Behind the cut...***

This is the (freshly washed) 17 year old fat cat, Biff. He was my fiance's when we got together 16 years ago.

And these are Peanut (chihuahua, 13 years old) and JB (jack russell/dachshund mix, 8 years old).

@lithium
I left out a portion of the sentence, I meant games with policies about reverse-searchable to NSFW stuff (I think the Shadowhunter game had a policy like that?). Sorry, probably not the most coherent response, I'm medicated and under the weather. Re: not getting on, I was more commenting on what my own gut check response would be seeing him as a PB on a game before I RPed with that person.

@lithium

Man, I can't look at him without thinking of a bunch of local people I really don't get on with. Also, be careful with him on games that have policies about NSFW stuff...

Also, another one for me... Ryouma Takeuchi. He just has something super playful about him (also, his presentation as 'not at all serious, except when people are dying, police officer' in Kamen Rider Drive was endearing...)