Posts made by Coin

@JaySherman I don't even have to read the whole thing to telly ou to Kill it with Fire.

The talk about "if you're worried about your character's safety when an ST rolls up unannounced, that says something about the ST" reminds me of the "True Friend Merit" debate on The Reach when God-Machine Chronicles came out. It went roughly like this:

For those of you unfamiliar with it:

True Friend (•••)
Effect: Your character has a true friend. While that friend may have specific functions covered by other Merits (Allies, Contacts, Retainer, Mentor, et cetera), True Friend represents a deeper, truly trusting relationship that cannot be breached. Unless your character does something egregious to cause it, her True Friend will not betray her. The Storyteller cannot kill a True Friend as part of a plot without your express permission. Any rolls to influence a True Friend against your character suffer a five-die penalty. In addition, once per story your character can regain one spent Willpower by having a meaningful interaction with her True Friend.

Some caveats: on The Reach, a "story" is, as a non-abstract unit of time, more or less equal to 1 Month (or was, at the time of this debate).

Anyway, we were smack dab in the middle of the GMC Re-Spec Extravaganza (hosted by our very own @tragedyjones) when a subset of staffers lost. their. fucking. shit.

I am not even kidding. They hate this Merit. Like, they absolutely fucking abhor it, and their reasoning went something like this:

"This Merit is overpowered because for three dots it stops the ST from killing the NPC and it lets them regain WP and even if you want to affect them via the NPC you take a five-die penalty this is the worst dingoes ate mah baaaaaaaaaabies."

Or.

"Whatever. I don't have to kill them. I can just kidnap them! Or put them in a coma! Or drop them down a dark shaft and assure the player that they aren't dead. Mwahahaha! I am so the evilest of evil!"

Both of these positions are fucking stupid as shit.

Let's begin with the fact that the Willpower regain effect is meaningless on a MU. It just is. The overall time it takes to tell a story and the chronological constraints we find ourselves in due to it being a persistent and constantly moving game (whether you're there or not) make it pointless. You might as well be paying XP for an extra die in "any rollt o understand the Teletubbies' strange baby language". Any concerns over this mechanic (and there were concerns, voiced loudly and shrilly) were idiotic, especially since you could only do it once per story, which meant that it was a mechanic available once a month. A month. On a MUSH. FFS.

More to the point, however, were the other concerns. I cannot tell you how supremely vexed some of these people were that the Merit would prevent them from just killing off someone else's NPC on a whim. Like, they apparently really thought it was their right as a staffer and storyteller to be able to kill anyone's NPCs for whatever reason they saw fit. Seriously, how much of an asshole do you have to be for this to be your philosophy? Do you still hang around in your mom's basement and lord the fact that you're the only one who owns the Dungeon Master Guide over your friends so you can kill their PCs over and over and over? Fuck, man.

I said as much on the jobs back then, but they continued to complain and whine and you'll notice that the True Friend Merit has never been available on The Reach, because apparently someone having a steady NPC presence that means something, story- and character-wise is too much of an affront to some staffers.

Fuck.

Anyway, these are the same assholes I wouldn't trust dropping into scenes randomly to run surprise plot, because they have no sense of scale and an entitlement complex the size of a fucking sun.

All right. Back to your regularly scheduled thread.

@Derp Host it.

@tragedyjones said:

@Arkandel said:

@tragedyjones Is The 100 any good?

YES. It is fairly philosophical post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi with a lot of bleakness and a lot of guts, especially for a CW show. It does not shy away from hard character choices, and it also has an amazingly diverse cast, gender and ethnicity wise, with a super kickass lead and also it makes me think of Fallout.

FTFY.

Beware, @Arkandel, it still has teen-drama pitfalls. But I agree with TJ.

@tragedyjones

... eyes Eldritch ...

@tragedyjones
Dat endin' of teh 2nd episode dis season, tho! amirite?

I'm an English as a Foreign Language teacher from a Spanish speaking country, and I've taught Spanish to people. I'd be happy to have conversations in Spanish from time to time.

@JaySherman said:

Thank you all for the advice, I greatly appreciate it. I'll add some further context to my situation.

The game I'm working on as an admin isn't entirely finished. The developer (me) invited 4 people on to help develop the game and become staff. During the initial building phase, one of the four people rushed ahead of everyone else, placing advertisements and inviting people on and giving out characters. This was before we had even settled on the theme! I literally woke up, logged in one day and found the game had gone from 4 to 12 players overnight and people were eager to get started. It was akin to building the car while it's going 65mph down the road.

I was faced with the choice of telling what was instantly an active, eager player base "gtfo we aren't done" and potentially killing the game in the cradle, or trying to work with what was there and bootstrap things into place. Fearing game crib death, I opted for the latter. It's been a headache of missing pieces ever since.

I'm often left without being able to tell people 'no you can't do X' because that policy file may not even exist. I'm also looking at the frankly baffling phenomenon of players who neither read boards nor check mails, but complain about never knowing what's going on.

I've probably made a huge mistake (cue image macro) but the game's alive, running and active. I'm just not sure if I should put it down before I develop an ulcer, or continue putting pieces into place and getting it fully fleshed out.

My suggestion is to pause the game, whether the players like it or not, and get the essentials finished before letting them continue. Also, regarding people not reading anything: remind them it's a text-based game and don't be shy about linking them or giving them reference to the files, board posts, whatever. If they complain about not being ifnormed, show them how to set a reminder in bright red on their @aconnect that tells them to check @mail, bboard, etc.

@Arkandel

My only suggestion is this: decide your price range, then go to two or three bike stores near you and find which bikes there are in your price range. Take pictures, look them up online, whatever.

Then buy a bike. Buy the one you like. Buy a bike that feels comfortable. Don't buy a bike because of the derailleurs, fork suspension, or disc brakes. Especially if what you are going to be using the bike for is street riding and daily commute. For that sort of thing you just need three things:

1. Comfort. You have to be able to sit on the bike and say, "I like this. This is the right shape for my ass not to hurt after a mile and a half."
2. Brakes. Your brakes need to work. Your brakes always need to work.
3. Style. You have to like your bike, bro. You have to look at it and go, "Damn, that is a neat bike."

Everything else will be minimal when it comes to street riding and commuting. At most you might want to make sure your tires are good and sturdy. But if you buy a bike that isn't cheap, even if it isn't expensive, you'll get a decent ride. All this "without/with this you'll waste energy" bullshit is just salesman talk. Why do you care? If it's a little heavier or takes a bit more energy that just means you're getting a slightly better work out. Lordy me, not that! That's horrible!

@Arkandel said:

Doing the footwork to buy a new bicycle. Argh. You have to have a PhD in bicyclology before you can tell anything for sure as you wade through obscure part numbers and terminology. Questions such as "so uhm, why is this cool looking bike $200 more expensive than that cool looking bike?" are answered with "well, better parts". No shit, really? So what kind of better are we talking about? Is it actually $200 worth of better? Is it "$500 HDMI cables are better than $20 ones" better?

"Well, they are lighter" they say. Notice they never ever tell you how much each bike weighs even though it's the whole freakin' point of everything! But okay, so it's lighter - by how much? 50 grams? So I'll pay $200 for 50-100 fewer grams of weight then put on a jacket or grab an extra fork for my lunch to waste the difference?

I mean there has to be a breakpoint in the quality curve after which adding better parts is subject to steeper diminishing returns but when I put the question to Google? There are two answers, each more precious than the other. "It depends since that's different for each person" is one - thanks, man! That makes everything clear. But the second one is even better - "ask your bike store what better fits you". So you mean ask the people who want me to spend more money how to spend money efficiently, because that works so well for every other aspect of life.

Meh.

I luckily have a bike mechanic that is awesome. I often roll up to his place and he'll adjust/inflate/take a look at whatever minor thing is bugging my bike and not charge me. But he knows I won't go anywhere else, and when I need something actually fixed, I won't haggle the price. I leave donations whenever I can for his minor fixes.

He'll also teach me about my vehicle as he fixes or adjusts whatever it is, telling me what the problem was and explaining why what he is doing will fix it. He's seriously awesome. I just hope he can find the mudguards and luggage rack for my bike model soon, because I'll need them (especially the former).

Bonus bike porn:

It fits pretty much anywhere. I bring it up to my office, don't have to find a parking spot where it won't get stolen, etc. Awesome.

@tragedyjones said:

Ergo! Vis-a-vis!

FTFY.

@Arkandel said:

@HelloRaptor said:

Though the Architect sequence in Matrix was fine with me too, so. >_>

You are literally Satan.

... duh?

@Thenomain

Original:

Players familiar with other World of Darkness sources, like World of Darkness: Book of Spirits or Werewolf: The Forsaken, might recognize that geists share aspects of ghosts and of spirits, the ephemeral denizens of the Shadow who embody everything from plants and animals to abstract concepts like hope, fear, and hate. That’s intentional: for all intents and purposes, geists are ghosts that have found a way to “hybridize” themselves with spirits.

Exactly how they do this is a mystery: it could be that Sin-Eaters are right, and it requires a trip to the Underworld — Avernian Gates certainly exist that open into the Shadow as well as the physical realm, and it could be that ghosts must find their way to one of these gates to devour a spirit. Maybe the Underworld journey isn’t always necessary: spirits do enter the physical world sometimes, and a ghost in the right place at the right time could catch one unawares and absorb it. On the other hand, maybe it works the other way around: maybe a spirit of disease finds the resonance of a ghost that died of leukemia appealing and consumes it, thereby absorbing the fragmentary human consciousness into itself.

Whatever the “truth,” it’s largely irrelevant from the Sin-Eater’s point of view; the Bound have no means of interacting with the Shadow, and unless they’re extremely well-schooled in obscure occult lore, they probably don’t even know it exists, or that animistic spirits inhabit everything in the World of Darkness. They simply explain what they observe as best they can.

v 1.1:

Players familiar with other World of Darkness sources, like World of Darkness: Book of Spirits or Werewolf: The Forsaken, might recognize that geists share aspects of ghosts and of spirits, the ephemeral denizens of the Shadow who embody everything from plants and animals to abstract concepts like hope, fear, and hate. That’s intentional: for all intents and purposes, geists are ghosts that have found a way to “hybridize” themselves with spirits.

Exactly how they do this is a mystery: it could be that Sin-Eaters are right, and it requires a trip to the Underworld — Avernian Gates certainly exist that open into the Shadow as well as the physical realm, so it could be that ghosts must find their way to one of these gates to devour a spirit. Maybe the Underworld journey isn’t always necessary: spirits do enter the physical world sometimes, and a ghost in the right place at the right time could catch one unawares and absorb it. On the other hand, maybe it works the other way around: maybe a spirit of disease finds the resonance of a ghost that died of leukemia appealing and consumes it, thereby absorbing the fragmentary human consciousness into itself.

Whatever the “truth,” it’s largely irrelevant from the Sin-Eater’s point of view; the Bound have no means of interacting with the Shadow, and unless they’re extremely well-schooled in obscure occult lore, they probably don’t even know it exists, or that animistic spirits inhabit everything in the World of Darkness. They simply explain what they observe as best they can.

You decide!

@Thenomain said:

@Ganymede said:

@Thenomain said:

Except that it's literally a machine.

Is it? What's a machine? Is it the bits and pieces, or the absence of consciousness?

It's the bits and pieces, interconnected and able (usually committed) in working together.

What is Ultron?

Is that the Autobot leader? A robot then, I guess.

The best plot devices are the ones that end up with questions for which there are no answers.

The first printing of Geist had a very clear side- (bottom-) bar that said, "A Geist is a spirit that slipped into the lowest parts of the Underworld." This was a beautiful answer for me because it addresses just enough to provide a guideline but at the same time raise a thousand more questions, but they took it out of a later revision.

No, they didn't. It's still in the same place it was, in both versions. Page 21, "Shadows and Dust" sidebar.

@HelloRaptor said:

I was expecting way more funny.

Me, too, and when I didn't get it I decided to inflict disappointment upon you. See how that worked out for me? Now I'm amused.

I haven't even read, and certainly don't own the vast majority of these. Proof positive I'm not white, right? RIGHT?

@Bobotron said:

Huh.

Both of those look pretty good. Could be good. Hopefully Fox doesn't screw them over. Of course, they kept Gotham going, and it had wobbly episodes, so...

Yeah. But they skewered Firefly and Dollhouse, among a bunch of others (I can only remember the Whedon ones... damn Whedon).

@HelloRaptor said:

@Coin said:

@HelloRaptor said:

@Roz

I find that having a general game philosophy for larger scenes that becomes part of the culture.

I feel like maybe somebody mugged this sentence on the way to the board, maybe rifled through its pockets and stole a word or two. Is it just me?

No.

Monosyllabic is not usually a compliment, but in this case I'll allow it.

@HelloRaptor said:

@Roz

I find that having a general game philosophy for larger scenes that becomes part of the culture.

I feel like maybe somebody mugged this sentence on the way to the board, maybe rifled through its pockets and stole a word or two. Is it just me?

No.

@HelloRaptor said:

@Admiral said:

The God Machine is the Weaver. He won and banished the rest of the Triat and rebuilt the World of Darkness without all of the excitement of the old universe.

It's why nWoD is so stale.

A++, would upvote again.

@Coin

Wow, it took four whole posts before someone complained! New record.

You can't give people awesome but terrible junk food for ages, then take it away and replace it with stale but efficient and more or less healthy MRE rations, and not expect the complaints to be ongoing. Even after they're resigned to their fate.

@Thenomain

My God-Machine is the nWoD version of Iteration-X, a machine that infests itself throughout folds of reality that is so extensive that it doesn't always know what other parts are doing, slow to act but complete in its implementation.

I think you mean the nWoD version of The Computer, the fusion of AI and spirit in Autochthonia that ran Iteration-X's shit until they wised up after Revised. >_>

Edit:
@tragedyjones
In my world there is no God-Machine, because all hyperbole aside, I find it to be one of the absolute worst ideas to come out of nWoD outside of Promethean.

TL;DR @HelloRaptor is a hater, news at eleven.