Posts made by FiranMEH

@surreality Indeed! I think somewhere, we agree.

@Arkandel No problemo. There's some general feedback and some more specific feedback. I also didn't point out that it was summer for most folks, so they're sometimes less available for those "huge epic" scenes where commitment is required.

I don't really give a toss about down-votes, but if that makes you feel like your digital e-peen is big, then you keep on going. It means nothing, like all things. Even what I'm writing here!

@surreality Arkandel was generally complaining that shit on games is moving towards plotless and wanting to know why, so I gave a handful of general reasons why you'd be seeing that. If you want specifics, then give specifics and I'll do my best to respond.

The only shit-ton of stuff I could think for plots is that you actually have drafted out multiple points and possible derivatives so that the players in the group dictate the direction and you adjust. Weddings, debates, rallies, performance or competition? More than often the organiser tries too hard and over-complicates their pretendy bullshit. Staff should have policies, procedures and mentorships where players can contribute directly to the game with plots that are player-generated and move the story* along; think of it like me saying this month we've got huge issues with kobolds that are interrupting our mining operations which in turn is really putting a sour note on our trading relationship with kingdom Zippo. Kingdom Zippo is thinking we're holding out on them on deals, and so is talking with kingdom Bippo about possible trade retaliation. Players need to submit, tag and upload their logs on the wiki to support/detract from this month's plot.

For debates and rallies: I find that folks forget their character's total +sheet, ignoring their flaws and handwaving low or non-existent stats to back up what their uber cool poses are because no one wants to feel like the fucking gimp or uncool to whatever pretendy world they're in. You could have issues where there's no place code which makes it a big fucking spam-fest that pushes folks away from joining in (and even then, I get it, some folks don't like big scenes). There could be a lack of +checks, social costs and expenditures. You could get the meta-gamer. For a debate, you'd simply need to have two who agree to a pre-determined question or set of questions, tell them to write the general gist of their poses ahead of time and keep poses under X amount of words so it doesn't bore people (it'll also let them adjust their poses slightly in response to what the other side says). A fucking rally? Do you have the resources, social standing or clout, etc that would make it work in the first place? This day and age, everyone is able to be a digital warrior for whatever cause but to look at it harshly, most causes don't do a fucking thing to better society. But keep clicking that facebook like and share button.

For weddings: I can get married in some states within ten minutes in real life, and it's doubtful anyone here is a celebrant or religious leader so everyone is reading/copying/editing shit from online and then making their special pretendy time more special. Weddings can be great, I get that some folks want to enjoy their play time this way and so be it. But at the most I'd say such things would be like fifteen to twenty minutes to run. Again, there might be a lack of checking sheets, +checks and the usual social costs and currency expenditures.

Most games become plotless because staff are clueless, tools and trust aren't established to empower players to create, and folks get too precious about fucking digital avatars. If on a game you can't get in an actual fucking plot that has good risk & reward within the first month, move the fuck on; it's a dying (or dead) game and you're not in the clique.

And by plots, I don't mean fires in the city. Jeebus.