Best posts made by Darinelle

@Arkandel - Regardless of game I always ask. Even if it's a public space. But if I need plot-specific development things to happen, I usually try to find a quiet, non-public place.

@Ghost

That's all about Phil Esposito, to be honest. He started the game in Tampa, a place where no one thought a team would work, and started with community outreach. The first couple of seasons we didn't win that much, but they were involved and part of the community. It's a culture that has continued on, and it's why we love our Bolts and they love us. Win or lose, they're our team and I hope that continues. The current ownership has spent some ridiculous amount of money rehabbing the area around the arena too, which I know is good for him in the long run but it's also great for the economy. The city doesn't have to pay for it either, it's just development from the owner and that's excellent all around.

Chrome works for me fine on MSB but I'm using an ancient Galaxy (like - the first version ancient).

My favorite new urban fantasy right now is by a guy named Craig Schaefer - the books start with A Long Way Down, and there are 3 of them in the series. They're quick reads, and my only complaint at present is that there aren't more of them.

You might also enjoy John Scalzi's "Old Man's War" (and the following books) - it's more sci-fi than fantasy, but I found them to be a damn fine read.

@Arkandel said in How much plot do people want?:

I mean to each their own, but I avoid playing characters that focused on that one thing, not because I find it's limiting to my roleplay but because it doesn't lend itself to three-dimensional characters. If I had PC obsessive to that degree I would need to go in fully aware I'm actually playing someone who has issues, and although that can be rewarding on its own, it isn't something I would choose to do as a general principle.

I agree that only focusing on one thing is probably someone who has issues, but someone who has one overriding focus that trumps everything else can also be largely freeing on a game with 700+ clues to metaplot and all manner of ways to get involved. I really like having ONE thing that trumps everything because it lets me say - "does it directly affect this one thing? No? Then it's optional." If you play a character who has friends in all the houses and is super social and who loves everyone and then three different metaplots happen to your friends at the same time, it can be frustrating to try to help them all and not feel like you've made a meaningful contribution to any of them. That's where having ONE priority can come in super handy, even if you occasionally dabble in other things.

I don't know that I care though. I mean, yes I want us to win the Cup. It's a great high, it's a fantastic thing. Tampa Bay's a weird place though, man. We've had the Bucs for so damn long I'm not sure we know what to do with a super winning team. We get extra hockey most years now, in the form of playoff games. The Bolts continue to do what the Bolts do best - put butts in seats, give an entertaining game, and show their love to the community.

I guess I judge whether he's an awesome GM like this - is our dream alive every season? Yeah. Does he pick players who love the game and are great members of the community? Yeah. Is it fun to watch and follow along with? Yeah.

That's what I want. It's why I stopped watching most other sportsball - I want the accessibility, the relatability, the love of the game and the dream. I want the team, not a couple of outstanding players who drag the rest along. Whether or not they win all sorts of Stanley Cups and whether or not they create a dynasty is really irrelevant to me. Keep coming up with a good team full of awesome people I want to watch? I'm so there.

I'm actually starting to like it.

I'm fairly certain this means I've gone mad.

@Glitch - You know what else I fucking LOVED was Katherine Kerr's novels of Deverry. I think the first is called Daggerspell and I just found it really a lot of fun.

Also, regarding Gany's support for +pitch - I don't want you to tell me what you want to do in broad terms. I want you to give me an idea of how you want to accomplish this.

+Aspiration - end, character goal, unreachable or not

Then +pitch me - hey, with this aspiration, the first step my char wants to take is <blah>.

Let that happen, then take what comes of that, and make another +pitch later that says, "okay, this aspiration is still true, so I want to take this next step of <blah>."

Having a long term aspiration that NEVER CHANGES and CAN NEVER BE AFFECTED BY ROLEPLAY is only good when the aspiration is achievable. Sometimes it's just not - so maybe let that change as the story goes, but pitch tells me what you want to do now. If you say "I want to be Prince of the City" I don't necessarily want to have to create a plot for you that has a chance of success, because what if 10 players have that as their aspiration? Do I have to GM a PK plot? Do I have to GM plots where you are destined to fail and have no way to succeed? That's terrible STing, IMO. So +pitch the steps along the way, and if through those steps it's not feasible for your character, maybe aspirations change or maybe you die trying.

Aspirations can be totally unrealistic, but what I never want as a GM is to walk into a story and be forced to tell one with no win condition. That's miserable for everyone in the end, because the players never had a chance to get what they want, and so it's just all futile and no one wins then. It feels a lot like punishing players. (note - scenes that SEEM like total failures but which forward plot in different ways are fine, but if you know going into it that the players are going to lose and not do anything meaningful, then just resolve it in a ticket without wasting time.)

Constant, unrelenting darkness is almost never sustainable (except IRL). What's the point of a dismal death march? But the times in between, the occasional light and hope give people reasons to soldier on, to try to make the world better. Which in turn gives more hopes and dreams for the GMs to crush while cackling maniacally.

It's win-win, really.

The wiki, btw guys, looks awesome. And I'm excited to hear you're nearing launch! HUZZAH!

@faceless said in RL Anger:

@darinelle said in RL Anger:

@Sockmonkey

I empathize with your story, but I thought of you. Perhaps this is your time to shine:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IRB0sxw-YU

This link has inspired me to move out of our house and move into an apartment complex.

I believe in you. YOU CHASE YOUR RAINBOW. FOLLOW YOUR ART!

@Cobaltasaurus - I love everything by Robin McKinley EXCEPT Pegasus. And that only because it's PART ONE OF TWO AND THE SECOND ONE HASN'T COME OUT AND IT HAS BEEN YEARS WTF ROBIN OMG LEAVE ME HANGING.

For those who love vampire stories - Sunshine was pretty cool.

@Arkandel I don't see them as necessarily having to get resolved, but they shouldn't be fixed forevermore if the character's life or perspectives change. My opinion on this is probably largely related to my admittedly limited experience with MUs in general, in that if you play a character for actual, RL years at some point unreasonable goals are probably going to become evident to a character, and in that case it's either a "welp, that sucks, let's do something different" moment or a "welp, that sucks, guess I'm kind of stagnant and stuck" moment instead. I prefer the former to the latter.

I'm not saying they have to be 100% realized all the time, but while the journey is important, walking on a treadmill isn't really that fulfilling an activity to do for years and years either.

@auspice said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

Mine have never stayed with me and my father can be a raging dick. He's, a) Mr. Right-Wing Christian Fundie, b) acts like the rules don't apply to him about anything, anywhere, and he's charming and narcissistic enough to get away with it (though the people around him aren't).

My mother is very sweet and I know she's very much looking forward to seeing me. And sometimes visits with them go smoothly, but I'm just very wound up already, though I'm trying so hard not to be.

I understand. Neither of my parents are narcissistic, but both are super conservative Christian and I spend a lot of time trying not to roll my eyes around them and showing them the acceptable parts of my life so we don't just fight for days. It's a problem. I hope it's not as bad as you fear it might be, and that you get to enjoy the visit through the anxiety.

@Coin No, no - I only date actual ninjas. (Or maybe I just don't date.)

@saosmash I still can't even. My husband got me sick so our trip this weekend is kaput and I'm still just bubbly about everyone last night.

@packrat I am so sorry for your heartbreak this morning.

@Coin - I've got a place for your katana right here, baby...

In any sort of urban fantasy, or somehow linked to our actual world setting, I generally give it a hard pass.

In a fantasy setting, I think it can work well if there's a sort of Rock-Paper-Scissors sort of discrimination triangle, where if you have three races, each one discriminates against one of the others but it's never a back and forth. Or if there's some reason to work together.

Discrimination is tough. And discrimination can be done well if there's a cultural reason to hate <x group>, but PCs who play as part of <x group> should be able to have ways to not be totally downtrodden 100% of the time. (See also: halfies in Firan) Without that, then you're effectively asking an entire group of PCs to be footnotes and scapegoats in other people's stories, and I think it's very hard to do that in a way that is engaging for everyone involved.

Calm down, brain. Seriously. I get that you want to think about all the things all at once. But it's making everyone around you tired all over. CALM. DOWN.