Best posts made by Ganymede

@Rinel

Snipes? Snipes.

@arkandel said in World of Darkness -- Alternative Settings:

So... I don't know if this is relevant to this thread, but it's what I have.

Your point is a good observation, but, no, it's not relevant to the thread or to the current topic.

Surreality is talking about how the Usual Suspects began to eat up all of the available spots in +events on BITN, to the point where other players couldn't get involved in any plot.

I'm talking about how people who do that, and then bitch when staff curtail them so that others can play, are entitled shitbags. Also, the people who run plots only because they get phat l00t because of it.

I get what you're saying, but it's also why staff needs to step on the necks of people who are hogging the spotlight.

Fucking share, assholes.

@Lotherio said in Historical MU*s:

This sort of pedantic is why most historical games fail.

This is a cop-out. This is not why most historical games fail. Most historical games fail for the reasons already obliquely referenced in prior posts.

Having a MU* based in history is a great idea. Any game set in a historical setting is awesome. The problem, more often than not, is the lack of things to do. In fact, I would wager that the vast majority of games that do not live past the first year die because there's nothing for the players to do but exist in an awesome setting.

No one will give a shit whether you call the settlement York, Jorvik, Eoforwic, or Eboracum if there's something to do. Pick what you like about the setting and the theme, and make a game out of it. If you like the Period of Invasion, I would recommend creating or adopting a system of gameplay that allows players to manage or assist in managing whatever fiefdom they are attached to.

(Pedant-Mode to Piss Off Arkandel: The Romans had withdrawn from Britannia before the Danes set foot on it, in the 4th Century A.D. Eoforwic was the Anglian capital of Northumbria until the Danes invaded towards the end of the 9th Century.)

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

Here I'd have pegged you as a pro at swallowing.

@faraday said in World of Darkness -- Alternative Settings:

FS3 has initiative, it's just handled under the hood. It all comes down to how you view initiative. If you view it as "I get to wait to see what you do AND whether you succeed before I even pick my action" then yeah - it is going to be serial by necessity.

WoD is, and has always been, serial by design. The idea of acting first to knock your opponent out of commission before he or she can act is integral to how many powers and merits work. Many other systems work the same way.

And if you're not? Well... then you get 8 hour long combat scenes. But why do that to yourselves???

The first system, Vampire: the Masquerade, has strong roots in BDSM culture. That's why.

GM: Roll for initiative.
PC: Uhhhhh. Yes, game master.

@mietze said in Historical MU*s:

Hey any settlement that contains the word cum in it sounds great to me as it relates to MUSHing.

I always liked Cumberland, myself; it sounds like a really dirty forest.

Why oh why did they pull Exosquad from Hulu?

I know it was a while ago, but I still miss it.

@faraday said in World of Darkness -- Alternative Settings:

A, B and C are fighting. They each (in parallel) declare an action meant to take their opponent out. Then you resolve the actions. B goes first. He takes A out. A doesn’t get to actually do his intended action.

Well, they don't declare in parallel in WoD; they declare in inverse to the initiative order. Supposing A, B, and C are sequential in initiative, the players declare in order of C, B, and A. C can change his or her action based on what B or A declares at a penalty, as can B, based on what A declares.

Now that we have the actions set, we can then resolve it. For simple attacks, this isn't an issue; however, WoD have numerous modifiers that could apply to the rolls. For instance, if A is a vampire, then she may decide to activate Vigor, which would be on top of its passive effect. If A was attacking B, then B may have bonuses to her defense based on Merits, some of which may need to be activated to work. If A is working in conjunction with C, there is a negative modifier to B's defense based on numerous attackers. Next, we have to consider what weapons are being used, and whether certain specialties would apply to add further dice.

I understand what you're saying: you could build a combat engine for the World of Darkness. At that engine could calculate and apply initiative in order to figure out whether a PC can make an attack or not. But it would be an undertaking of gargantuan, epic proportions, for arguably little benefit because, in all honesty, a good World of Darkness game won't require a thorough combat engine.

The designers have created a "Down and Dirty" combat system for PC v. NPC combat that can be used. The designers have also created a "Beaten Down" mechanism that should be implemented to make combat less deadly and much quicker.

None of this stuff existed for oWoD or nWoD. But, again, this is why nWoD 2E is superior. And if people would just read and follow the rules you would not have combats that last a lifetime.

@Ghost said in Dragon Age: Dread Wolf's Rise:

It's the ultimate, alien logic. It's a computer without computation. Goals are achieved through direct action, and there is no need for underhanded tactic. Set on a task, complete the task, continue on.

It is communism.

It is Dr. Sheldon Cooper.

@Auspice

I just wanted to pick up Springer. I have all of the other TF Movie characters from the poster that I wanted in one version or another (which, by the way, kind of sucks as they are all of different sizes). But I bought Arcee for my daughter, and she loves her.

This way she can have a set of Transformers to play with Rainbow Dash and the other MLP figures. She was trying to put Arcee on Twilight Sparkle, but, God love her, that damn pony wasn't built to have an Autobot warrior on her back.

Edited to add: Just found a nice, affordable Novastar / Firestar! Now, to wait until Lancer gets released in the fall ...

@faraday said in World of Darkness -- Alternative Settings:

I'm not even talking about building a combat engine. I'm simply talking about changing the order in which the people involved declare and resolve their actions.

Okay, I follow you.

Concrete example:

A pages GM: "I'm going to attack C and use my Vigor."
B pages GM: "I'm going to change into my (werewolf attack form - I forget what it's called) and attack C with my claws."
C pages GM: "I'm going to dominate B and have her turn on A."

GM makes a bunch of rolls, factoring in all of the merits and conditions and initiative and all that good stuff.

As I stated, this is not how the rules work. Let's say we change the rules to follow this, though.

<OOC> GM says, "OK here's what happens: A attacks C and does (blah blah) damage. C then dominates B, who changes forms and wheels on A with claws bared. B - you're now dominated."

This also does not happen because, for the most part, there's no GM present for PvP combat on most MUShes, unless a staff member is called in. WoD MUSH culture has shifted away from the dreaded TimeStop, where you have to have a staff member present to resolve combat, and this has been considered, generally, a good thing.

One can re-work the system entirely, yes, to make combat easier. I do agree with this. I guess my point -- if it can be said that I ever have a point -- is that one need not change anything to make combat easier, quicker, and more fun.

First, it would be awful nice that, if you intend to hurt or kill another PC, that you are courteous enough to respond promptly to what's happening, rather than watching TV or doing whatever between poses. I find that to be fucking rude to the nth degree.

Second, it would be awful nice if games used and enforced the actual, published systems that are calculated to make your players' lives easier. From "Down and Dirty Combat" to "Beat Down" rules, those 2E games that opened (except for the one in Austin) just outright ignored these systems for no apparent reason. Use the published systems, dammit.

To get back on topic, sort of, a lot of these problems? Have been solved systematically. It's just up to staff and players to implement and enforce them.

@Thenomain said in Dragon Age: Dread Wolf's Rise:

The Qun is meant to be the Islam analogue, in a rough way.

That's fine, but it's not even close. As I said, the mindset of assimilation is very close to how Islamic regimes operated in the Middle Ages, but the idea of "everyone to their role" is closer to Stalinist communism.

@Thenomain

You are such a nerd.

@faraday said in World of Darkness -- Alternative Settings:

I was operating on some misinformation or misunderstandings of what other people have said about combat in WoD MUSHes.

Let me be clear: I don't think you're wrong, and what others are saying about how long combat lasts is demonstratively true.

But, as others have said below, and as I continue to rant, players really need to change. There are legitimate, published systems that make combat so much quicker and easier, but players need to use them.

@Thenomain said in Dragon Age: Dread Wolf's Rise:

AFTER they ended the Bloght so fast that people disbelieved that it happened. Duh they are special

Your mom is special.

@Auspice

I won’t.

Because everyone bothers me.

And I dislike it when people start requests with: “I don’t mean to disturb you ...”

You don’t? Then don’t.

This is probably more of a peeve.

@taika

To be fair to myself, life is being life.

I still have a lot of Blood Sorcery to go, but we could can that. Bloodlines are composed and ready. Theme and setting should not be too hard to put together.

I don’t think, at least.

@Ominous said in Dragon Age: Dread Wolf's Rise:

Sometimes the story is the story of the world, not the hero.

Yes, but this makes for a very shitty video game.

Went back to the gym after 2.5 years of home-gym exercise.

I'm finding that interval sets really hurt on machines.

I'm fucking getting old. Shit.

@arkandel said in Coming Soon: Arx, After the Reckoning:

1. It ends up having an effect on the game in general, because it can lead to many positions being occupied by characters who don't belong there but without any real consequences depending on how they are played. Sure, my skirt-chasing swordsman is funny when I pose him, but the House is doing A-okay (or not noticeably worse than your House led by someone with high finances and social skills). Path of least resistance, right?

Do you have any idea how many people in history rose to positions that they didn't deserve? Of course you do. So, this is only really problematic if people want a smooth, gentle political system of gossip and soft, mewling glances. While I realize that Arx is essentially a fantasy game, I hope people realize that what they're looking for is a fantasy.

2. It still overshadows characters built for this, but the other way around doesn't happen or, even better, does have real tangible consequences when it does. If I bring my likable class clown to a real fight someone's going to physically cave his head in with a hammer, not just draw a few chuckles yet overall get the job done.

Then your clown gets his head caved in. This is a problem because ... ?

Do I need to point out at least one real life example where an experienced, veteran, savvy, popular politician has lost power due to some knuckle-dragging dump of a meatbag?

3. This sort of thing absolutely relies on reasonable players realizing their own characters' limitations and playing them accordingly. The real fun begins when that doesn't happen, which is very often the case. Obviously great roleplayers choosing an angle will result to positive results, but that's not the rule - it's the exception.

I get it. You don't enjoy vampire or real-life politics without having an appreciation for how the system is supposed to work ideally.

But, if I'm reading you correctly, you're essentially arguing that it's a bad thing to have socially-inept combat monsters in court because the average player isn't going to realize their own characters' limitations and play them accordingly. That seems a little patrician to me.