Posts made by EmmahSue

I'm going to try (again, since this is not the first time I've tried) to finish a group attempt at following all the exercises in Steering the Craft. This is a book on writing by Ursula Le Guin. I'd like to do an exercise each week, with constructive criticism by fellow-writers in the group for the various pieces written. If you can't afford your own copy of the book, I can type up the exercise-instructions, though I'm not going to share the full text of each chapter because.

If this is something you'd like to join in, please drop your name here. It'll be done through GoogleDrive, or LJ, or (as a last ditch) locked forum here on MSB.

ES

MOD VOICE: Topic forked so sports talkers can talk sports.

@Cobaltasaurus
Q: I have been asked to ask will void engineers be allowed as PC characters?

A: Absolutely. Technos, Trads and the multi-flavor Hermetics will all be available. Nephandi and Maurauders are not, though I'm willing to discuss end-stories that involve becoming a Maurauder NPC with limited player input, when the time comes.

Possible hoax, @WTFE .

http://en.mediamass.net/people/betty-white/deathhoax.html

@Arkandel Q: Where do you perceive the game will fall on the scale between <consent-based> <-> <hardcore politics/backstabbing yo> ?

A: Two of our keyphrases are "Frenemies" and "Choose Your Battles Wisely". Tentative truce will be in place between all three factions, with varying degrees of giveadamn about the old Ascension War as PCs deem fit. While I'm not against fighting between factions or within groups (play as you like), my stories will be focused on the overall situation and the Nephandi for the most part. Call your answer a solid 'middle ground'.

@HelloRaptor Q: I think the burning question on everyone's mind is whether ES and Glitch will allow playable, Awakened dolphins as PCs or not, or if they are just assholes who hate fun.

A: Haters gotta hate!

@BigDaddyAmin Q: I take it that there is not host or port address yet for this game as it is still in gestation?

A: Ark is correct; we're waiting for the rules to come out so we can convert and write up the cross-walk.

ES

Q: Continued clarification on antagonists.

A: Short-hand: this will be decided on a case-by-case basis, with final decision based on how much we like you and whether or not we think a True Fae really fits into the story of the game. One of these bases will be more important than the other.

I have no interest in writing theme for old splats, or trying to marry too much of the old and new for other gamelines. That isn't what this game is about. So for the most part, what you're talking about will just be Monsters, and going too far down the rabbit hole of specifics will depend.

Q: Can we use them as NPCs in our stories? More importantly, can we use their antagonists in stories?

A: Using them as NPCs will be a work-in-progress. That is to say, I don't want everyone suddenly pulling a vampire out of their back pocket, natch? But if you need one, talk to me. Maybe there's one already designed or we can find a way to work around if it just won't fit.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'use their antagonists'. Wolves are all wolves, and it doesn't matter if they're BSD or classic Tribe or whatever. Honestly, just call them Monsters, because we're using the old setting, so trying to get people to know about old settings for splats nobody's playing is asking a bit much.

Q: About them spirits and numina again...

A: Treat spirits and the creation thereof like you would any Monster. That is to say, give them powers that fit their theme and strength. If that power happens to be similar to a spell, then you're lucky enough to have mechanics already in place for what you want done.

Q: What about all those other splats?

A: They may exist, but if they do, they're rather in hiding and they are NPCs, not for play. This is a Mage-game, yo. Many or most who survived the rip-tear 20-odd years ago, or who were left behind in the basement, are likely to be twisted into Monsters with the same policy as stated above. There will not be a Camarilla or Praxis. No wolf packs in the classic game-line sense, nor motleys under a bush.

Q: What about Custom Stuff?

A: Custom Thaumaturgy will be up to the ST in charge of the scene (or the group playing in general if it's not guided). That is to say, pitch it and see if it flies. What one ST agrees to, another might say requires a different set of spheres. This is the downside of imagining your own spells on the fly instead of using the tried & true spells that everyone knows works.

If you want something to work all the time, pitch it to staff and we'll turn our hardest eye upon.

Q: What about Spirits & Numina?

A: HR is my mechanics and math assistance, not staff. Don't ask him for nothin', I'm just as likely to say no cuz he wants it. That said, I'll discuss spirits and numina with @Glitch to see what he thinks of it! It hasn't come up yet, but that's exactly why we're asking for questions, natch.

Q: How do new (but not new) Mages appear as they are rolled out of CGen, what's the IC mechanism?

A: Options, we gottem!

• You're from San Diego and just been in the background for a while.
• Control pulls someone out of cold-sleep who ought not have gone in. Doh!
• You're from Earth and need to take the mostly-one-way-trip to San Diego because (your own reasons).
• Was that city empty after all? How come you can't remember?
• Mages be cray. Think of where else you were and why you came out. I'm up for it so long as it doesn't contradict existing story.

Due to the nature of my promise of 2 years, the metaplot (which I assure will not be specifically Chthulhu-focused, though I reserve the right to use elements of alien-horror now and again!) will be doled out over time. Inasmuch as it's possible to keep to a timeframe on a MU-like game, I will try to do so. That means I'll be running things, but also asking for help. That's actively asking the people around me, mind-you, not just pleading into the void.

But that metaplot will also be a lighter touch than previous efforts. This is because I have layers of interactive-depth (oooh, that doesn't really mean anything, does it!) I want to handle. IE:

• Once a Mage has enough magickal power and political oomph to take on a higher role in whatever hierarchy is around, her attention shifts to the broader game, General rather than the Soldier. Plots about visiting dead cities are for soldiers. Plots and decisions about which hidden enclave to save due to limited wartime resources, are for generals.
• Seekings are going to eat up my time, but I don't really have a problem with that.
• Mages can Do Things. I want the players to Do Things! Sometimes wild and crazy Things. I want to show the consequences of that, both positive and negative as appropriate. If someone pops a hole in the dome, what happens?

To me, lighter touch means less focused secret-holding (Scout used to be a good'ish guy until she was corrupted by madness and her siblings) and more broad outline (this one city has zombies, let's plan together as STs why and you can play it out as you like). I'm creating the situation in the OP, and I'll set it into motion -- one can assume that eventually the Nephandi will find a way to get upstairs, for instance -- but it won't be a secret situation for the Mages. The story is about how they react and what they do to get Earth back (if that's even a goal at all), rather than a mad rush to stop something awful from coming.

ES

I don't mind coming up with a number, if it helps with play! The concept behind that number will be 'far enough away that getting up- and down-stairs is difficult but not absolutely impossible and is thus a matter of plot rather than simple spell'.

ES

Q: An initial question is... with so many games focusing on nWoD, and you guys using GMC rules for it, will players need access to both sets of material?

A: Both would help, that's for sure! But I plan on doing up as comprehensive a marriage-equivalency set as possible (with HR's help on some of the math bits if needed) to make sure that folks who are familiar with GMC/new but not old, have a decent chance of understanding what's in place.

Q: How easy/hard to you expect knowledge of the old theme be for people - since I assume the majority of the potential playerbase won't have played MtA in many, many, many, many years?

A: The uncertain Truce between the three factions (Traditions, Hermetics, Technocracy) and the SPACE CITY are a bit of a toss-up than usual. Someone who doesn't feel comfortable with the older setting and theme can still play, just someone who's newer to being a Mage and thus not all caught up in the previous Ascension War situations. I don't see a problem with writing up This Is What It Means To Me as well on some pieces, if only to help establish how I plan to handle decisions.

Q: What, other than mirrors into other realities, keeps the sleepers from figuring out what's going on?

A: The Mages themselves. If the Sleepers realized there's a great big magi-tech dome overhead, and that a computer (Control on Avalon) was handling the nitty-gritty mechanics of their world, they'd Disbelieve. The paradox would rip the city to shreds. Goodbye, last remaining population! Goodbye, any Mage who can't think up a spell fast enough!

Control will also handle the nitty-gritty of people 'traveling'. An NPC who wants to visit LA is going to end up tucked away in a sleeping-pod for a week, and then get deposited back into San Diego with a set of memories about how that trip went. Food moving in and out, how much, to which stores, etc.? Handwavium Control. It's a computer (with a bit of extra story fluff added in) so that it can take care of the level of detail that a person couldn't contain in their head.

Q: What happens when someone drives too close to the city limits (edge of the world)?

A: See above! Control takes over.

Q: Is the city now orbiting the sun as it floats in space?

A: I had personally imagined it more like a bit of tether hooking the city-chunk down to where it used to be. Now, that might not work exactly as-stated (Why can't the Nephandi climb the tether and get at our Heroes, ES?) but that's the general idea.

Q: How do mages explain the changes in the constellations that would cause?

A: Magi-tech dome says there's no change at all. Same with the weather. Did you wonder why San Diego is so pleasant all the time? So sunny? So warm and so rarely more than a bit of rain? Now you know!

Q: What about spatial debris? (e.g. Pluto got reduced from planet to dwarf planet because it doesn't have enough mass to completely clear things from its orbital path. How do mages deal with spatial debris the city will come into contact with?)

A: Magi-tech dome, though I'm not agin' using that as a bit of plot if the time seems right for some 'oh god what about the dome we're all going to diiiiiie'.

Q: How far away from earth is the city?

A: I haven't thought about that at all! Does it matter? Or is it just curiosity? If it matters, I'll think up a number. Heck, I might think one up anyway just so it's there.

Q: The other cities?

A: Plot-distance. Do you want to go explore a dead city to try figuring out why it's dead? Maybe score some phat loot? Sounds like a plot to me!

Q: What happens when Mages use common powers to access the Shadow/whatever other 'parallel' reality? And what lurks there?

A: This is still under discussion, especially since you reminded me we need to think it up. Thank you!

Quick note: old mage setting, GMC mage mechanics. Other answers to follow when I'm not on phone.

Since last we spoke, @Glitch and I have come to realize that the story we'd imagined for Shadow War just... wasn't much going on. It bored me, quite frankly! And while I'm promising two years of my life once the darn rules come out and we get the ball rolling, I'd like it to be fun for me too.

So, the setting and story have changed. This isn't really a 'do you want to play' because the people who want to, will show up! This is a request for questions. I'm in the middle of designing this thing, so I can't see it from the outside. Please drop any questions that come to mind here so I can consider how best to answer ahead of time for the folks who're also wondering.

The End of the World As We Know It
It’s 2017. Twenty-three years ago, the war for Ascension came to a close as the Traditions closed in on Room Zero.

The Technocracy’s guardians had fallen. The Nephandi got there first and they didn’t hesitate to do what their fallen souls demanded.

In the first few days of the wave of Decents and Torn Cauls that swept through the Earth, a plan put in place by the Technocracy bloomed. Old and nearly forgotten triggers went off: a double-handful of cities tried to tear free in a great rending. Only a few made it up to space where techno-magickal domes protected them from vacuum. The Mages in those few cities frantically worked to keep the Sleepers unaware of what was happening as they rose through the atmosphere. The 1994 Northridge Earthquake that shattered Los Angeles is the cover of choice for why that day and the ones after were so strange for southern California.

Only San Diego’s lights are still on. The other cities float empty (aren’t they?) in the dark.

Downstairs on Earth (“in the basement,” some whisper, afraid to say it more directly) there are hidden enclaves and struggling towns, small groups of Mages and the occasional consor who fight against the Nephandi on the front-line. They refuse to leave easily, no matter how dangerous it may be; Earth is home and they can’t, they won’t, give it up without a fight.

In the past 23 years, Control in Avalon (hardcore Technocrats insist on calling it Station AV-10n instead) has done its best, using the council of the Wise to help direct its efforts to keep San Diego’s sleeping population unaware of what’s been going on. Time-mirrors into alternate realities grant just enough ‘could have been’ to fool those who don’t ever wonder whether the world is what it appears.

Backdrop

• San Diego (Think Dark City ala the Movie)
  Grid is neighborhoods with distinct themes/feeling/setting, rather than re-creation of RL San Diego
• Station AV-10n (Colloquial: “The Island” or “Avalon”) (Think Tomorrowland)
  Grid is neighborhoods, arranged/divided by Essence. It's on the Moon!
• Earth: Earth (Colloquial: “Downstairs” or “The Basement”)
  No grid until/unless players start going downstairs regularly.

Question at will! What pops into your head as needing further explanation on wiki or in game, before you'd feel comfortable diving in?

ES

You're ALL the prettiest.

That is to say, you read like you're all in VIOLENT AGREEMENT.

ES

If it's them, I'll find out when I call insurance. If it's them, I'll be immediately leaving the practice for lying to me.

ES

It's hardly a surprise that insurance companies are assholes, but 2-3 months of failing oral medication before I can get a shot is making me have tiny panicky crying fits when I think about it too hard. My goal right now is to work up enough aggression that I can call BCBS and be pushy about this. It shouldn't be this hard to be pushy.

ES

O science!

http://www.iflscience.com/method-removing-carbon-dioxide-air-could-return-us-pre-industrial-revolution-co2-levels

ES

@WTFE, is there any chance there were multiple responses in those four threads, thus giving you 6 unread posts? It'd be a little silly on the designer's part, but might at least explain what's going on.

ES