Posts made by Botulism

@bobotron Right. We're on the same page, then.

@bobotron I'd still end up spending a lot of time managing it, pointing them at each other, recording who/why, etc. I do appreciate the suggestions, though!

I'll probably just go with a very narrow range of what's playable, like TGG did, and let people make OCs within that range, Supporting characters (NPC allies/retainers/hangers-on) can be their backup.

@kay Not sure how to make that work. If most people make original characters, nobody plays the pre-gens to be tied to, and hooking up originals to each other can be a logistics nightmare.

@faraday Hmm. What about a hybrid? I give a rough outline of a concept, but leave gender, first name, personality, etc up to the player? Give them a minimal background, a position, and a few allies/adversaries and goals?

@three-eyed-crow Oh I get that, yeah. Shorter runs also means less attrition in the playerbase, I'm hoping.

@faraday Hmm. True. I guess if I kept it tightly focused like that it could work. They'd lack the allies/enemies and goals being built-in, but get more freedom.

So I'm thinking about trying something I wanted to do a couple years ago but didn't have a good system or structure for, but think I do now.

A series of short-term, limited-run survival horror stories where there's a set beginning and end. A mistake I made the last time I tried this was having everyone make whatever they wanted, which is fine on a long-term, ongoing game but hard to pull off on a short, focused story. This time I'd be treating it like a LARP at a convention, where everyone picks or gets handed a pre-made character to play for the weekend. I would go roster-based, so characters are pre-gens - they'd all have roles in the plot, ties to other characters (good and bad), and come with goals to accomplish. Stories would be anywhere from a few weeks to a couple months, depending on need.

No, it wouldn't be for everyone. People looking for long-term character development, growth and XP building would hate it, I imagine. But it would be a game where you could do minimal reading, pick a character, and get guaranteed plot X many times a week. The finite nature of things means there would be real consequences and risk, anyone could die at any time, and anything could happen. I liken it to the difference between The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad. Regular MU*s are like the former - ongoing, most key characters are safe, the threat and danger feels artificial. This would be like the latter, where no one is safe, there's an end game planned, and how you get there is the thrill of it.

I'd use the modified version of Slasher Flick I'm running now on Welcome to Lovecraft with a few last tweaks. It's great for a game where fighting the evil is a deathwish and surviving is what matters.

Would there be interest? I wouldn't want to make a bunch of characters and story if no one really wants it.

@valkyrie It's a MU*. If you build it, they will cum. Games that try policing sexytimes are burning energy better used elsewhere.

Season One is a wrap! We used our first season to iron out the rough spots of the game system, develop the game world and give it depth, and create a solid core of PCs at Lovecraft High School.

As we head into Season Two, I've brought on additional story Staff to take over the high school part of the game - IT, Silent Hill, and Evil Dead will be running stories and school-related events to keep things moving forward in our most active part of the game. That frees me up, along with new story Staffer Hellraiser, to focus on the university and adults who remember.

If you've been holding off on joining the game because playing a high school kid has zero appeal, I totally understand. This is your chance to make a college student or adult who remembers and get your mortal horror fix. Character creation takes literally minutes and is extremely simple. I approve most characters in a hour or so, tops. No one has gone more than 24 hours.

We already have a handful of college students approved, and with my being freed up to focus on THEM, this is the perfect time to join. With quick chargen, guaranteed plots open to all, and a cinematic RPG system where characters can really die in any Kill Scene, you won't find anything like it out there. Come join us!

Here's a synopsis/teaser of the Miskatonic University Season Two story:

Season Two: The Old Ways

Miskatonic University has a long and rich history, and a good deal of dark secrets. When students start going missing, it causes concern, but the story one student tells after returning is stranger than anyone can imagine. Is there really a cult on campus? Are there horrific creatures living in the sea beside the island? And what do the two have to do with each other? THE SHAPE OF WATER this certainly is not! This story is geared towards university students and adults who remember.

I'm looking to hire a couple people to help take some of the load of storytelling off me so things keep moving when I get busy with work. In particular I'm looking for someone to focus on Lovecraft High, running school events, keeping the kids active and busy beyond just 'Monster' stuff, and so on.

Once The Nightmare Surgeon story ends and Season 2 starts, I plan to have a number of stories going: a game-wide story inspired by Silent Hill that I and others will run together, a to-be-determined high school story this new staffer would run, and a Cthulhu Mythos story I'll run for Miskatonic students. This will let me focus on getting college character and adult RP going and hopefully expand our playerbase as lots of players have reservations about playing high schoolers.

I'd also love to have a couple newbie helpers to handle greeting Victims, answering questions, and so on. No +jobs, no responsibilities beyond helping out on channels and in the OOC room.

Contact me if interested!

Sweet! I'm having a ton of fun running stories, and the system is very simple.

@skew Awesome! Glad you're having fun!

@faraday said in Now Open! Welcome to Lovecraft:

I get it. Having more on would help, though, but yeah.

@tnp I do wish people would go RP more outside of plot stuff. Which is funny, because a number of people were convinced the game would be nothing but kissy-face and sexy-times because HS characters, and refused to play there. But no. They all RP plot and no social stuff.

@tnp Or non-PST players can stick around and soon there would be more?

I'm always amazed by the hobby's reflex to just give up on things rather than try and make something work. I've scheduled every +event for no later than 8pm EST so the most players can attend. The most active player on the game is in Australia - if she can get RP, anyone can.

@skew Ack! Sorry! I don't get on until about noon Pacific, and I work from 1pm to 6pm (though I get on from my phone).

Halloween, my Co-God, is getting more active daytimes, though!

@ixokai Yay! I'm really glad you're enjoying the game. I'm having fun telling stories and freaking people out.

@yyrqun Sadly, no. It never really caught on.

Looking for Eliza-player! Hope all is well!

@sg Awesome! We use a modified version, but still worth it! To be clear, you don't need them to play on our game.

So we're having an event Wednesday - would potentially-interested players actually log in as a pre-made NPC to try the game out if we made some? We have Central Casting, which are fleshed-out NPCs on the wiki you can use in RP, but they aren't actual character bits on the game right now. I could make them so if people would actually use them, but it's a fair amount of work to go through for nothing if not.

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