@bear_necessities said in Welcome to the Euphoria!:
@Cobaltasaurus Thanks. I noticed there were a lot of spies. Who are they spying on if there is no reason to be distrustful of the people on the ship?
I mean, just because the people get along individually doesn't mean their governments don't have ulterior motives.
@Sunny said:
Seconded. Some 'how to' for setting up templates and stuff like that would be amazing, too. I try to go to the media wiki help file stuff and I am so, so, so slow about learning it.
MediaWiki's help files are shit. Just absolutely irredeemable shit.
@Sandor said in Play-by-post analog to MUSoapbox:
So, as it turns out, I have a life, and I can't really spend hours every day on a MU* anymore. It's actually the reason I can't tabletop, either.
Is there a place to the effect of MUDConnector or MU Soapbox that covers play-by-post games?
MU Soapbox has play-by-post forums. Not sure they get any use.
RP Online, IIRC, is all play-by-post.
@reversed said in Spitballing for a supers Mush:
@Coin said in Spitballing for a supers Mush:
Or staff can tell the new player "sorry, that's not how it works" and if a new player has a problem with the broadstrokes of a story continuing, then too bad.
That would be my preference, for sure. I'd rather have a staff interested in and engaged by maintaining a cohesive game world than just "ah, at long last, another game I can play Pepper Potts on and do the same stuff -- it's like being young forever!"
I mean that's why you go multiversal. If the person has that big an issue, they can play the character from a parallel universe -- and deal with the ramifications of that, and fit into the world. And if they wanna play Babs as Batgirl but Cassie is Batgirl, then too bad.
Though honestly, at this point, there could be a dozen Batgirls, Robins, Nightwings, whatever. Shit, just have everyone play Logan and put a number after their name, who gives a fuck.
@Cupcake said in Fate's Harvest BETA Live (Full Open Soon):
@Coin said in Fate's Harvest BETA Live (Full Open Soon):
I wouldn't join a game she ran even if Melissa Benoist promised to rock my world every night from here to eternity in her Supergirl costumeº.
She's too busy banging Mon-El's actor. KEEP UP, COIN.
I don't follow famous people's real lives; it gets in the way of my fantasies.
One of the best ways to avoid stagnation via plot is to make the plot a change one way or the other.
You start off with the Status Quo and then you give people a choice: You can let the "bad guys" get away witht heir plan (i.e. you fail) and you get Crapsack World or you can do what's necessary to stop them and get New Status Quo.
But the important bit is to make Status Quo and New Status Quo fundamentally different, that way it doesn't feel like beating the bad guys is just a return to how things were; and if the PCs fail, it's still a change.
This is what I was gonna do on Eldritch 'fore I burned out.
@il-volpe said in 'The Magicians' again -- time period?:
@bear_necessities said in 'The Magicians' again -- time period?:
If you're looking for a way to get rid of the canon characters (which I would highly recommend), there's already a convenient plot device to do that without having to go back in time.
Yeah, no canon characters. I don't find it necessary to do anything to explain why they're not present, though. "I don't like canon characters so it's an alternate-reality to the source material even though it's the same place and time" strikes me as perfectly adequate.
Keep in mind that if I ever complete enough to open it, it'll be a Gashlycrumb production, and I happily let a lot of 'theme' rulings hang until it's actually relevant to the game and make the rule to suit the players involved. So a bunch of other questions that might seem like they need to be resolved really don't.
I was just toying with the historical idea, and/or with having a sort of double-grid where the students have, say, set up a semi-permanent time portal so they can go party for hours in 1968 and return three minutes after they left.
I think the contemporary setting folks have good points. The question that leaves is how much so -- setting it five years in the past strikes me as more flexible (doesn't ask for a 1:1 rl:mu time ratio) than setting it at now-now. Though the show was set in the near-future relative to filming so the last season is set in 2020 but with different disasters, and I don't think this wants doing anything about either.
Lots of people don't like time passing at a different pace than 1:1 for a lot of reasons, but chiefly, my aversion to it is that I just... feel left behind, constantly, because I may am not logging in every day. It's hard enough to keep up on games that have 1:1 a lot of the time.
As a follow-up to @tragedyjones' post above on the Vampire Praxis in Las Vegas, I'm going to go ahead and foward you guys a little somethin'-somethin' on the once-premiere vampiric Covenant of Las Vegas, the Sangiovanni.
Keep in mind that, as sphere antagonists, the Sangiovanni won't be available as PCs at first; but the plan is to definitely allow for them later on, as the game progresses and things get more complicated.
SANGIOVANNI
La Cosa Morta
I step out of the car and adjust my tie, leaving Julie sitting in the backseat, licking her cherry-red lips, her eyes rolling back into her head as the hit of my vitae starts to course through her system. She's the best ghoul I've ever had: cunning, sexy, and dangerous. But she's not meant for what comes next. Back in the day, she'd have been considered a moll. Now, when I say back in the day, I mean when she was just some mortal. Women have always had a place in the hierarchy behind the scenes, where it matters. But she's relatively new to the family, so she don't get to see what comes next. Not yet.
I walk the hall of the little casino we call our own. There aren't many of us left in Vegas--we got run out by the First Estate when Howard Hughes managed to run the mortal Mafia out in the 60s, and then again when the FBI screwed all our mortal interests in the 80s--but there's enough of us. We have some holdings, still, even if our proceeds and our purpose ain't so much making money, like it used to be. We like the way we do things, and some of us are willing to operate on the sidelines. We're immortal--we got time. Every kingdom falls eventually.
Frankie, one of my sire's ghouls, opens the door to the back room and I step past him with a smile. "Hey, Frankie."
"Hey, Mr. Gio." Mister Gio, because I'm part of the family. My name ain't Giovanni, but I got the blood, see, and for the people in this outfit, that's more than enough to show some respect. I descend down a set of stairs made of cement until I end up in the basement. It's a dank, dark room, with a single lightbulb hanging from the ceiling above a chair. In the chair, tied up, is a man. I don't have to scrutinize him to know he's alive--he doesn't pop to my eyes, like the dead do. Behind him, my sire, Don Nico Giovanni, head of the local family and absolute authority as far as I'm concerned--and you can tell that fucking CEO bitch I said so, too.
"Massimo," he says, lifting his hands and then clapping them down on the shoulders of the man in the chair. "Finally, you are here." Nico is not as pale as me. Despite being a true Giovanni, he hasn't made the strides in the Discipline I have; his Vitae can still hide his nature.
"Sorry, boss. I got held up." I take another look at our stool pigeon--at least, he will be: white guy, rail thin, probably an addict of some sort, by the bags under his eyes and the way he holds himself, even tied down. I smile at him. I know my smile ain't pretty--none of me, really, is pretty. Even those of my kind that are pretty ain't, you know, pretty, and those that are ruin it in some way or another.
"It's all right. It's all right. But I need you to fix this problem for me, okay? Our friend Ricky here, he has decided that he is not going to talk, and if he doesn't talk--well." My sire shrugs his shoulders and lifts his hands.
"He'll talk," I tell Nico. I turn my eyes to Ricky. "You know how they say dead men tell no tales, Ricky?" I pull out a revolver from inside my jacket. His eyes go wide and his blood runs cold; I can smell it. "They're wrong." I tell him this, and then plug him twice in the chest.
Neither Frankie nor Nico try to stop me; they don't even seem to notice anything is off. Because it's not.
My revolver gets put away again and I walk towards Ricky's now hunched over corpse. Frankie's already untying him. He sprawls him out on the floor, arms at his side, legs straight--more or less, it ain't gotta be perfect.
I prepare myself, pull out a few little bags of assorted powders and dust and things, put them in the palm of my hand and fist them tight, grinding them together with vigor and will.
Once Frankie's done putting Ricky on the floor, I walk over to the corpse and hold my fist out over it. I speak the words--they're old words for new things--and I open my hand, letting the powder and dust fall on the corpse as I lower my hand a few inches. Once the powder settles, I lower my hand some more and I can feel the essence of what made Ricky an individual trying to escape. I fist it, twist it, and then I pull my hand up.
Ricky's corpse rises with it, slowly getting to its feet, blank eyes staring at me, waiting for my every command.
"Now," I say, looking into his dead eyes. "About those shipments..."
You want to join the Sangiovanni because: You were a made man or woman during life. You already have an unhealthy obsession with the truly dead. You have a penchant for violence. You like structure but don't cater to corporations or religions or revolutions. You believe that the dead can be tools to be used for your own gain. You like money and power but want to make your way up in traditional ways. You've had rough dealings with the cops or come from a long line of criminals. You lost someone and are desperate to get back in touch with them beyond the grave. You've romanticized the Mafia and have no idea what you're getting into. You owe us.
The big picture: People think criminal behavior ends when you die, and in most places and situations, that's probably true. But when it comes to vampires, that's not a given--and the Sangiovanni can make sure of it. Based essentially on the hierarchical structure and the modus operandi of the Italian Mafia, the Sangiovanni are a structured organization that ignores most of the legal means of acquiring power and wealth. In fact, whenever legalities are in the way, they embrace ways of side-tracking them. This is made all the more intriguing by their ability to both commune with and control the dead. Ghosts give them passwords, revenants sign cheques and deeds, and dead bodies become nothing but a mild inconvenience when, as far as the authorities are concerned, they aren't even dead.
One of the most terrifying aspects of the Sangiovanni is that they use their dark necromancy to their own advantage in the most ruthless ways possible, and they have the drive, dedication, and traditions to make it efficient. That, and their most powerful ceremonies seem to work on Kindred in ways that make all other vampires understandably uneasy. Of course, some of their ceremonies also work on the Strix--which makes them invaluable.
The Sangiovanni are a fiercely loyal group, either through terror, coercion, or true belief. They respect the wider Traditions of the Kindred, but aren't shy of circumventing details to make those Traditions a little more... operationally friendly.
As an organization, the Sangiovanni is a dangerous enemy to have, especially if they have a strong foothold in a location. It can be dangerous not to eradicate them entirely, although strong shows of force, and killing the wrong member of local leadership, can summon the higher ups, who believe that certain things are never to be left unresolved.
Where we came from: The Sangiovanni trace their history back a long way and across the pond to Italy. Giancarlo Giovanni was a mobster in Italy who was a bit of a necrophile, and his proclivities got him involved with a vampire. Sired into the Mekhet Clan, Giovanni wanted the same for his family--his wife, and eventually his kids--but his wife didn't fit the Mekhet mold and his sire forbade it, so he found a friend that was willing to do it, someone much more aristocratic, like hiw wife--a Ventrue. They kept their kids in boarding schools, and they kept themselves well-fed when their kids were around.
As their kids grew up, Giovanni found that his eldest--his only son--was a bit cruel, a little obsessive about his conquests, far too promiscuous--he found a Daeva willing to embrace the young monster. His middle child, a daughter, reached adulthood with a hollow look in her eyes--she made terrifying comments and, while she was attractive enough, tended to make people unsettled--and so he found her a Nosferatu sire. Last but not least, his youngest daughter was a wild child; berserk and untameable, he paid a Gangrel quite a lot of money to sire her and teach her.
Meanwhile, ol' Giancarlo's obsession with the truly dead--not undead like himself--started to affect his use of Disciplines. He found himself studying the different sorceries that certain Covenants use, and even sent spies into the Lancea et Sanctum and the Circle of the Crone to steal their secrets. Usually, this ended with the spies's deaths, but the information squarely in Giancarlo's hands. As a family, the Giovanni develop the art of Necromanzia--sorcerous control over the dead, both corpses and ghosts.
Their power in Italy skyrocketed, and eventually, they began inducting others, slowly becoming one of the most powerful Kindred organizations in southern Europe--their own Covenant--the Sangiovanni.
Giancarlo and his direct family are rumored to all be in Torpor at the moment, but no one can confirm where or since when--it's quite possible they're active, behind the scenes, watching their empire spread.
Our practices: The Sangiovanni's goal is to amass power, and to do it by using the dead as their thugs and a decent, unquestioning force of labor. When the Sangiovanni starts taking over an area, they buy businesses, often extorting the deeds out of unwilling business owners, sometimes killing them, and sometimes Embracing them not only into vampirism, but into the Covenant directly, without so much as a how-do-you-do. Many members of the Sangiovanni are in the Covenant because they were Embraced by one, and either feel they owe the necromancers, have come to like it, or are simply being held against their will, either by force, Domination, or the necromantic powers of the Covenant itself.
One thing is for sure, the Sangiovanni have a long memory, and with every corpse and restless spirit being a potential snitch and ally of the Covenant, it's very difficult to ever truly be sure they aren't waiting for their moment to strike back.
As far as hierarchical structure, they operate like the Italian Mafia. Most of the time, there is a Don, and his Capos, and their underlings, all the way down to the thugs. Their criminal methods extend to the mortal, often sequestering and converting to their cause (or at least their loyalties) high ranking members of mortal criminal organizations. They also rely heavily on the extortion and overt control of public officials both through money, magic, and of course, blackmail.
Nicknames: Necromancers; La Cosa Morta (within the Covenant); The Corpse Corps (internal/external, humorous); Deathwitches; Perverts (derogatory)
Concepts: Made Fang, assassin for hire, zombie wrangler, ghost whisperer, informant for the mob, liaison between the Covenants, business manager, mob lawyer of the dead.
When we are in power: The Sangiovanni like to own land and exert our power through it. Not only is it good business, it's also a great way to get our hands on the gates that connect the world of the living to the world of the dead. We rule Praxis with an iron fist, with the Don of the Covenant automatically being at the very top, occupying the place where a Prince might sit. The other Covenants are treated as separate "families", who answer to us, but have weight--often based on how much power they can rally individually. We keep our friends close, and our enemies under a microscope, often employing ghosts and revenants to shadow or spy on either. We extend our influences so much into the mortal world that it can be hard to weed us out--sometimes more than any other Covenant. It could take years, and help from mortal governments, before we can really be ousted.
When we are in trouble: If things get bad enough, we get scarce. We break up, split, and then rendezvous somewhere else we know it's safe. And then we plan our comeback. We're a relatively new Covenant--no older than the Carthians at most, and definitely not as large--so many people don't realize that even if they get rid of us, we're gonna come back. And we're gonna do it slow-like, so you never even notice until your dead family members are sucking the marrow from your bones.
Sangiovanni Merits
Members of the Sangiovanni have access to the following Merits. Unless otherwise noted, they have an additional prerequisite of Status (Sangiovanni) • or higher.
Wiseguy (••)
Prerequisite: Not a member of the Sangiovanni
Your character is not a member of La Cosa Morta, but is close enough to some of its members to be considered an associate that can be trusted and occasionally supported.
This Merit provides a handful of advantages:
Mortician's Appraisal (••, Necromanzia •)
With but a glance, the Necromancer can discern the cause of death of a body. On corpses and non-sentient living dead, this is automatic. To discern the cause of death of a sentient undead (such as Kindred or a possessed corpse) requires a Wits + Medicine roll, resisted by the target's Composure.
Host of the Dead (•)
Prerequisite: Necromanzia •
The Sangiovanni may spend a Willpower to obtain the Open Condition pertaining to Ghosts for a Scene. Without the proper Ceremonies, however, she may not have any control over what the ghost does with that.
Ghost Network (•• or •••)
Prerequisite: Necromanzia ••, Contacts: Ghosts
You've created a web of ghostly contacts much more thorough than most of your fellow Sangiovanni. Your initial ghostly contacts may have been rooted to a certain location, but now they've spread across Twilight, to the point where you can usually count on some shade having seen something of interest in any general location of the city.
At two dots, the Storyteller should consider you having informants in any pertinent part of the city. If a ghost had a reasonable chance of having the information, your character can track that ghost down within a few hours and acquire it. For three dots, the network is so thoroughly built that even people who might usually be able to block ghostly Contacts can't deal with it — your ghostly connections cannot be hindered by other Social Merits unless the person attempting it also possesses this Merit.
Having this many ghostly friends can be a hassle. Your character probably spends 4-6 hours a week dealing with ghost messes around town, lest they be exorcised or worse.
Groundskeeper (••)
Your character either owns or has unlimited and easy access to one of Las Vegas' many cemeteries. He always has the very best Necromanzia sacrifices and materials on hand. Take a +1 to all Necromanzia rolls for having good ingredients always on hand. If your character has enough time to actually visit the cemetery and get fresh ingredients for the ceremony, the bonus is raised to +2.
True Descendent (••)
You are a Giovanni, directly descended from Giancarlo and his children (before they were each Embraced). For starters, your actual surname is Giovanni, and you gain +1 to any Social interaction with other Sangiovanni who do not possess this Merit. More importantly, due to a quirk in your blood, you cannot be blood bound by anyone in your direct mortal family. In addition, you exhibit a resistance to the blood bond in general: if anyone in the Sangiovanni Covenant who isn't a member of your direct family attempts the bond, you add your dots in Sangiovanni Status to your roll to resist it; if anyone in your Clan attempts it, add your rating in blood sympathy. For some reason, the closer they are, the more you resist…
Zombie Legbreaker (• to •••••)
Prerequisite: Necromanzia (? need to figure out what level the Ceremony will be), Retainer at a level equal to greater
You have a zombie Retainer that you've permanently reanimated. This is common for Sangiovanni ghouls and retainers that die, but their Regnants aren't ready to part with them yet.
Your Retainer loses any Supernatural or Social Merits and any Social or Mental Skills. Pick a number of Physical Skills (or physical Disciplines, as per the Retainer Merit) equal to its rating in the Retainer Merit, as you reshape your new revenant to your liking.
Your Zombie Legbreaker can carry out any command it can hear you give verbally, but cannot use deductive reasoning; it is about as intelligent as a well-trained dog, though it can speak and relay basic messages (a single, simple sentence). In addition, it is immune to pain, does not need to breathe or sleep, and cannot get tired, and thus ignores any Conditions of the sort (though missing limbs and wound penalties apply, as they represent actual physical damage not just pain). It takes damage as a vampire (and thus most Lethal is actually Bashing). It is fearless and blindly loyal and immune to Dominate, Presence, and other forms of mind control or emotional manipulation. It is vulnerable to Necromanzia, but resists with a bonus equal to its rating in this Merit. Illusions such as those invoked by Nightmare can fool it, but any effects that would cause fear or panic are ignored.
Lastly, at •, the zombie gains a dot of Vigor, Resilience, or Celerity; at •••, it gains another, and at •••••, it gains a third. It cannot gain more than 1 dot in any of these Disciplines from this source (though it can have them from the Retainer Merit as normal).
Zombie Legbreakers do not heal, they must be reconstructed. Reconstructing a revenant is a long process. Roll Intelligence + Medicine or Crafts in an extended roll, with each roll representing an hour of work. Successes are used to fix damage — Bashing damage requires 1 success , Lethal requires 2 successes, and Aggravated damage 3 successes per Health Level. Damage is fixed in order: Aggravated first, then Lethal, and finally Bashing. The necromancer can pause the fixing process at any time and continue later. The more a Zombie Legbreaker is damaged and fixed, the more obvious its condition becomes.
Necromanzia
Necromanzia, itself a bastardization of the Italian word for necromancy ("negromanzia"), is a special type of Blood Sorcery available exclusively to the members of the Sangiovanni. It focuses on perceiving, controlling, and using ghosts and corpses for the necromancer's own ends. As a discipline, it operates the same way that Theban Sorcery and Crúac do, with levels restricting access to ceremonies that provide the actual effects.
Necromanzia can be a powerful tool in the hands of an experienced practitioner, and particularly powerful necromancers can even use it on Kindred themselves. This fact has caused great disturbance among the Kindred in the past: on top of being created from stolen materials and techniques proper of Theban Sorcery and Crúac, the powerful effects that can affect Kindred hint at a possible link to the Strix and their powerful dread powers that allow them to do similar things. In fact, much as with Crúac, the Strix can become quite proficient in Necromanzia, though they hardly ever see a need for it, given their own dread powers over the dead.
Learning Necromanzia
Only necromancers of the Sangiovanni with Status 1 or more (and characters with the Wiseguy Merit) may learn Necromanzia. If the vampire loses all Status in the Covenant, they can no longer learn any ceremonies but may advance in the Discipline (without the free Ceremony per level). Most Sangiovanni are not foolish enough to teach outsiders their secret sorcery, and those who have left the Covenant are even more careful not to divulge its secrets, not just for fear of being hunted by the Sangiovanni themselves, but due to the stigma that knowing Necromanzia carries in-and-of itself.
With its possible link to the Strix being far more convincing than even that which ties the owls and Crúac together, it's needless to say, knowing Necromanzia is hazardous to one's health without the weight of the Covenant's backing.
Because Necromanzia links the vampire to death and corpses on a metaphysical level (as well as the physical level they are connected to them by being both dead and a corpse as it is), the Blush of Life (and indeed, any attempt to physically imitate the living through Vitae) costs the vampire a number of points of Vitae equal to their rating in Necromanzia in addition to the usual 1. Because of this, most powerful necromancers simply forego the ruse, appearing as the pale, death-laden, ambulant corpses they are (and taking the appropriate Social penalties).
We still don't have any Necromanzia Ceremonies detailed.
Awyisssssss.
@Arkandel, I get it. I actually do.
But at that point, I can just say my character did a bunch of things and ... forego roleplaying the themes of the game I allegedly wanted to play.
"My vampire goes out and manipulates people. Give me Status!"
"My Demon makes some Pacts and trades information. Give me more Cover!"
"My Changeling goes on an epic adventure and gets a super-nifty Token sword that flays enemies alive!"
"My Mage reaches deep into his Oneiros and finds his True Core, discovering hitherto unknown depths of his being, becoming a better person, and attaining higher levels of mystical understanding! Give me Arcane XP!"
I'm not really playing in the game at that point, am I? I understand the need to compromise for those that can't spend as much time in the hobby as others, which is at the forefront of how I'm going about considering this stuff. But at some point I just have to ask "why?" Especially since this is the sort of thing that turned me off of The Reach.
@Pyrephox said in Game Pitch: Three Letter Agency (modern horror setting - X-Files, Fringe, Control, SCP, etc):
@Coin For some people! For me, honestly, I found it almost impossible to fire up a separate client and do things the old way when I tried to go back to a 'regular' MU*. It was just constant, low-level frustration that made the experience a lot less pleasant.
And, I mean, I'm someone who started MU*ing with a raw telnet connection (and did that for about a year or so until someone introduced me to clients), so it's not that I haven't 'roughed it', before. I just don't want to NOW.
My point is that there's a difference between 'trying to go back' and 'not having a different option'. If there's still Ares games around offering the possibility, that may be enough to make using a client or whatever too uninviting for some. But if web-based functionality disappeared again altogether, I think a lot more people would be willing to eventually go back to clients than we think --and some would not, obviously.
Not saying it will happen, just a hypothetical.
@tragedyjones asked me to share something else I've worked on today, so I'm gonna do that. The following is a currency/reward system that functions both IC and OOC. Since we'll have a (slowly rising) cap on experience that can be gained, we'll no doubt eventually end up with some people who hit the cap and can't gain more experience until the cap rises, which might feel unfair when they're active, playing and running PRPs, while not getting the same rewards as other people. For that situation--a compromise! I present, the Black Chips.
Nigrum Denarius
The Black Chips
History
Black Chips — or nigrum denarius, as vampires originally called them — are a naturally occurring phenomenon found in and around Las Vegas and the Mojave that manifest in the rough shape of pebbles about the size of a half-dollar. When held by someone with a connection to the supernatural, the black chips synchronize to the bearer's nature.
Ever since the arrival of supernaturals in the area, the black chips have been hoarded and forged into the shape and size of actual casino-like chips and used as currency between the different supernatural creatures. They are the basis for, and have helped keep together, the Las Vegas Compact, functioning as bartering chips and payment for favors. The central bank of the Compact handles the forging and distribution of the black chips, which facilitates their supernatural use. In fact, unless forged, using the chips is rather difficult, and requires an effort of Willpower. Anyone finding the black pebbles (chips in their raw state) can take them to the Compact's bank and cash them in for a 10% payday based on the amount they bring in (e.g. if they brought in enough to make 10 chips, they would get 1 chip as payment).
The actual metaphysical origin of the black chips has eluded even the most dogged investigations, and it remains one of the most low-key mysteries of Las Vegas and the Mojave.
Anyone who discovered their true nature, regardless of how relatively mundane or unimpressive it might be, would surely be able to claim accolades across the area's entire supernatural community.
When used for one of their supernatural effects (listed below), the chips vaporize into a small cloud of dark smoke that dissipates in the wind. Studies done show that the black chips used in this matter reform as pebbles again after some time.
Functions
Supernatural creatures are not the only ones who can benefit from the black chips. Mortals can also use the chips' supernatural functions (except the first one listed, naturally). In the case of using the black chips as fuel, this does not replenish the character's pool, but rather replaces the expenditure. A vampire cannot 'feed' on a black chip, but they can fuel their Disciplines or heal with them. Although the unrefined "pebble" form still possess supernatural properties, they're too unstable for reliable use, and tend to just fizzle out when they aren't creating havoc.
Supernatural uses for the nigrum denarius:
The mundane functions of the nigrum denarius are limited to the supernatural world, though in-the-know mortals who deal with supernaturals can still pay for services and favors with black chips — at their own risk, of course.
Mundane uses for the nigrum denarius:
Resources (trade for enough cash to invest the money wisely);
Safe Place (buy a place from another supernatural);
Supernatural Items (commission or lease Fetishes, Relics, Grimoires, etc.);
Library (buy mundane and advanced books and archives);
Alternate Identity (pay someone to create one for you);
Anonymity (pay someone to scrub you clean from databases, etc.).
Acquisition
Players can acquire black chips in many different ways. Black chips are used both as an IC reward/currency system across and within supernatural societies, but also as an OOC reward system for players that either go above and beyond to help the game thrive and prosper, or for players who aren't eligible for experience rewards due to the experience cap, so that they don't get screwed while others might be getting rewards.
All supernatural characters get # black chips during chargen as payment for subscribing to and promising to abide by the Vegas Compact. This includes minor templates (e.g. ghouls, wolf-blooded, acknowledged sleepwalkers, etc.). Mortal and Mortal+ characters without ties to a supernatural society must acquire their first black chip by their own means.
Black chips cannot be acquired through "chip finding" player-run-plots. Any chips or pebbles found during player-run-plots are essentially in replacement of beats that the character isn't getting because of already meeting the experience cap (1 beat = 1 black chip). Staff may award chips (typically uniformly) during plots, or as rewards for OOC reasons. Occasionally, staff may distribute game-wide awards of black chips for special occasions and to replenish those black chips vaporized for their supernatural effects.
Drawbacks
Black chips attract the attention of a lot of creatures beyond the supernatural ones that rule Las Vegas. Strix, Pandorans, Abyssal Intruders, and even ghosts, spirits, Ridden, and Hosts have been known to be attracted to them. Carrying too many black chips on one's person can be a dangerous proposition because of this. Hostile creatures are liable to attack characters who carry too many black chips around.
Origins
The true origin of the Black Chips is your mom. Duh.
@Cobaltasaurus said in Tips on Güd TS:
@Gingerlily said in Tips on Güd TS:
@Cobaltasaurus Nobody hates you! You said that the last time. You can flake and return, you weren't running a story scads of people were counting on or anything. You're fine!
I want to be a pretty princess. Flakes can't be pretty princesses.
I'm fairly certain every single pretty princess whose defining trait is being a pretty princess is a testament to how wrong your statement is.
@Kumakun said in MUX web portal experiments. :3:
@Coin Thanks!
I was really reluctant to put the effort in since MUX is getting pretty long toothed. But, I saw that Brazil had released a patch within the last few months. Good enough for me.
I've plans to do this with Rhost as well. That'll be a bit more involved though - and WAY more server customization.
It'll be nice to start getting portal-level access and stuff with codebases other than Ares. I know a lot of people will appreciate it.
@Arkandel said:
@Wizz said:
...What? WoD books, all of them, lay out the setting as written and then tell you "go nuts, take this or leave that." It's not specific to Changeling. The Storyteller system is supposed to be a toolbox.
nWoD on table-top and nWoD on a MU* are different games.
This is a cop-out. They aren't different games, they are different playgroups. The difference is that MUs are much larger than your average tabletop, and if you want a game of a decent size your best bet is to go with the rules as written because if you change anything too much, you might lose a large amount of players. It's a lot easier to convince your five friends you have beers with than the 50 jackasses online who have their own vision of the game.
So they're not different games; they're the same game, played differently due to societal constraints and a need to satisfy a larger amount of people.
@faraday said in Developing a WoD Codebase for Ares:
However, CoD games have traditionally included a lot more code than just the skills system. Immersive code like that “reality level” stuff or real-time “blood tracking” systems don’t mesh well with the scene system, web portal, and asynchronous RP. And they would be impossible to build as a plugin because they affect multiple core systems.
Also, Ares systems are built with OOC cooperation in mind. For example - profiles are public, plots are public, there aren’t advanced faction permission controls and stuff. I’ve never really played on CoD games, but I’ve been told that they tend to involve more OOC obfuscation or antagonism. A game like that would not be a good fit for the Ares platform.
Honestly, the vast majority of people who play WoD/CoD would probably be more than okay with dropping the "reality level" and "blood tracking" stuff (at a coded level, anyway). Most recent games on MUX don't even use them, not to any real extent (if at all).
The antagonism and stuff is also less prevalent than before. Really, I could see a CoD game working find on Ares; those things aren't necessary, they're actually usually just artifacts from the way MUs have been doing those games for so long, people think that if a new game lacks them, it's wrong. It's not.
@mietze said in Pretendy Fun Time Games:
I do my best to not take anything personally. However I don't really care to invest as much time in selfish people either (which is why I walk pretty easily or don't get involved anymore). I think probably as a hobby we want to encourage less selfishness overall, but eh. I'm wrong perhaps. Telling people to suck it up feels great, but I'm not sure it encourages the type of community/environment that's good for the long run. Perhaps that too is kind of meh who cares though.
No one said it was a complete solution, nor that it was easy.
Going back to my car analogy: just because cars aren't meant to be used for killing doesn't mean we don't have laws against using them for that. So having a community that bucks against asshole behavior and having rules to prevent assholes from being abusive is perfectly reasonable even within the paradigm of "it's just Pretendy Funtime Games". It's not a solution, it's a defensive tactic. Nothing about it prevents us from also exploring a change in the social make-up of the hobby.
@faraday said in Developing a WoD Codebase for Ares:
@coin said in Developing a WoD Codebase for Ares:
Really, I could see a CoD game working find on Ares; those things aren't necessary, they're actually usually just artifacts from the way MUs have been doing those games for so long, people think that if a new game lacks them, it's wrong. It's not.
Sure, but it all comes down to expectations. You can play WoD on Discord or a forum with no code whatsoever. There's been at least one Ares game that used WoD just with hand-crafted PDF sheets and the generic die roller.
Like I said - if all you want is a sheet and some roll commands or whatnot, it'll work just fine. It's only the immersive and PVP aspects that potentially are an obstacle, depending on what vision you have for the game.
Right. And I'm just saying that the more common vision people expect of the game now-a-days is less about the 'immersive and PVP aspects' which have almost always brought more bad than good, anyway.
Much like the OOC Masquerade was dropped.
@Arkandel said in CoD - Victorian - Penny Dreadful-ish.:
@Autumn said in CoD - Victorian - Penny Dreadful-ish.:
I'm not sure if it was "a tide of outcry" (the population was never really high enough to generate a tide of anything), but it did indeed go from 1899 to modern. There may have been another game by the same name, but the Spider London Mage game definitely underwent a timeshift. And there was also The Greatest Generation, which probably didn't help with name confusion.
Do you (or anyone else for that matter) know why the timeshift happened? I mean was Victorian Age not working for them for some specific reason, was it part of the plan to timeshift eventually for thematic reasons or?
I'm willing to put down some money that it was because Spider was frustrated she couldn't text people IC.
@ganymede said in Player Omsbudsman?:
So? If staff recognizes that problem, why is an ombudsman not a solution?
Not everyone communicates effectively online.
If communication is an issue, then you get someone that can communicate effectively, not an advocate for players. If your game needs someone to advocate for players to staff, then the problem is much bigger than communication.
@WTFE said in The Shame Game:
I can and will not speak for others. I can and will, however, speak for myself.
I don't believe that shaming changes anything essential in a person. Shamed people will not suddenly say "I was wrong all along; I will mend my ways". Belief in this is nonsense.
Yet…
There remains an effect that can lead to change, even in a person's essentials. See, many of our behaviours are ingrained habits which have internalized to the point of being identity. Shaming people's behaviours gets them to stop doing it (whether they agree with the change or not). If it gets them to stop doing it long enough, the habit is replaced by a new habit; presumably one that is less offensive to the people around them (however you define "around them").
Basically, if there's enough removed positive reinforcement in a person's social group, behaviours--and eventually attitudes--will change. The key word there is "enough". And it depends also on the perceived social group.
So the shame game here can have an effect. It's not guaranteed to, but it is an ingredient in effecting change. The fact that it is also fun for the people playing it is a bit of icing.
(This is over and above the other reasons cited above like documenting misbehaviour, providing an "audit trail" so to speak, providing a voice in a forum not controlled by game owners, etc. These, too, are an issue. I'm just specifically addressing the "shame" angle.)
This is also why it's necessary to speak up when your friends or other people say racist, sexist, or other discriminatory things in your presence. I think we've all held our tongues at some point or another to avoid drama, but there's something to be said for being the one willing to take the social gut punch and clear their throat (loudly) when someone is being a douche.
@Lithium said in The Shame Game:
Reading a book doesn't make anyones opinion any more or less valid than anyone else's.
All opinions are worth exactly as much as anyone is willing to give them worth.
All opinions matter more, or less, than someone else's depending on who is hearing the opinion and who is saying the opinion.
Just have your opinion.
There is zero need for justification.
Your opinion will be judged on a person by person basis, possibly with up or down votes or replies.
If you're afraid of your opinion being judged, don't voice it.
lulz, what?
So because there is zero need of justification for an opinion (which I disagree this was, it was actually more akin to a reasoning, not a justification) that means that they shouldn't express it? How reductive of you.
if @Cupcake wants us to know where they got the notion in the first place, why is that a bad thing? I haven't read anything they've said that leads me to believe they are using some book to justify their point of view--they just read a book, found this interesting, and brought it up. It's even helpful to have mentioned the book because some of us might want to read up on the topic from a professional, whether that professional's research is of any value to you or not.
@Thenomain said in The Shame Game:
@surreality said in The Shame Game:
@Cupcake We are all the person with the self-awareness of a turnip sometimes. Every last one of us.
Some more than others.
@Coin...
Hrm? Sorry, I was busy being awesome somewhere. What did you need?