Best posts made by Ganymede

Please let us know. I’m a bit strapped due to the holidays and having garbage children who want many of the gifts.

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

So yes, you start with one, introduce the others as you feel comfortable.

This is not a bad idea, but this is not what we will be doing. At least, this is not what we (the people working with me and I) intend to do, and we have told one another we won't do it.

Now, if the game passes to someone else, they can do whatever they want with it, but know -- and be comfortable with the fact -- that we do not intend to add anyone else. Ever.

But, things change, sure.

Dork.

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

What would maybe be kind of neat is to have what would basically be two different games share a grid. Two entirely different sets of staff, two different sets of storytellers, with an understanding that there is no expectation of cross-sphere support or "official" storyteller events or bending over backwards to create game system balance through house rules or anything like that.

This is the approach that many multi-sphere games take, and that's fine. I don't mind those games at all. This is not what we intend to do, however, for many reasons other than staff workload.

One such reason is that we intend to lean heavily on the use of status within Covenants and Factions in order to mitigate the temptation to turn the PvP element into a blood bath. When you add in another sphere that is relatively independent from the first sphere, then that check is essentially nullified because, in this case, vampires could hire the werewolves to gack their enemies, and not suffer any status hit for it*. After all, there's plausible deniability: can't really predict what those silver-suckers will do.

So, with apologies to folks that want a wide-range of options and stories via multiple supernatural "races," it's just not going to happen here; however, if someone wants to take what we've made and expand on it, all the more power to you.

@TimmyZ said in Fifth Kingdom:

FS3 is open in cg, no limit, maxing an action skill or two will limit in other areas. Merit is based in reputation and traits, subjective to rp and getting votes from other players. This will net modifiers. XP growth is 1 a week, no more. Growth will be seen more in traits and reputation. This can even raise the max dice pool above the 16 standard max (4 attribute and 12 skill). FS3 has a pool limit of 21 regardless. But trait and reputation are meant as the equalizer.

I think you ought to adopt some of the limitations placed on the FS3 as used on BSG: Unification. Maybe my reading is off, but the number of points you're giving people seems really, really high to me.

@Rinel

I concur. Do not give out legal advice unless you are a lawyer.

Sincerely, someone who prosecutes the unauthorized practice of law.

@mr-johnson said in Descent Reboot:

It's less "This isn't oWoD" and more "What its doing new just doesn't engage me"

For me, honestly, it's the opposite. I rather despised the old World of Darkness' storyline, especially for vampires.

@Auspice said in Fate's Harvest BETA Live (Full Open Soon):

I knew something rubbed me the wrong way about her. I sort of chalked it up to my being jaded and cranky, but there was just a bit too much of the 'this person is putting on way too much of a show of I AM EVERYONE'S BFF while also seeming ultra fake' from her.

She has a persecution complex that's easy for many gamers to initially relate to, until they realize that it is a product of her own repeated patterns of behavior.

@Tinuviel

Apologies. I will be more clear next time.

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

(Asshole.)

I know.

It is an important thing, though.

Players have expectations of their games. It's sort of sucky to play on a vampire game, happily plugging away, and then, blammo, mages are dropped on you, and you're all, like, wtf mate?!?

I like my vampire people. I get along with them well.

Changelings too, but that splat ain't out, so --

@Ataru said in Fate's Harvest BETA Live (Full Open Soon):

This is why when I first log into a game, I name the charbit Ataru. It might get renamed after I come up with my concept, but I like to be transparent about who I am. If people know me from here and want to say hi, great. I just got into that habit.

I do the same thing. Except I use "Ganymede," of course.

@TiredEwok

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

@Seraphim73's approach to creating crews for T8S is actually ideal for the pack problem in a MUX setting: establish pre-set, open-to-join packs with territories, a specific scope and theme/focus/founding intent, and you can have the large, sprawling packs described in the books that are factions on the game, but are NPC-led at the alpha level.

I suppose this is a good approach to how to make a Werewolf-centered game, and, maybe one day I might consider adapting what I'm currently doing to that kind of game.

But, to quote Aragorn, today is not that day.

@HorrorHound

I'm Pidge.

Time has been a little limited lately. Plus, everyone seems to be hawking for the Shrike to return.

When I get depressed, I drown myself in work. Including cooking. Also, non-carb stuff because when I’m down the cure is to get further down.

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

So you were jealous about a dog taller than you and got rid of it?

"Jealous" is the wrong adjective. "Famished" is closer.

@Derp

I haven’t seen any of the Steelmaws, so I am not taking them into consideration.

@Kestrel

What about allergies? I am allergic to nuts and legumes. This precludes a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle, as far as I can tell.

If you’ve research to prove otherwise, I’d like to make a change. Also, I live non-carb.

@saulot said in Dark Ages Vampire -- Terra Mariana:

You had me at Salubri.

skew drew them up, and did a great job with them.

@Derp

@Kestrel said in What do you eat?:

Can I ask why you live non-carb?

I eschew carbs mostly because I choose to. Also, I go into keto when I go into a training cycle because I have found that such diet gives me more energy and better recovery times.

I've read many studies. I've watched many documentaries. And as a result, I believe that the Blue Zone studies are the best indicia of what would help if you want to live a long healthy life. That being said, for the reasons you've stated, I believe what matters most is not how or what you put into you but rather how much and what you do with it.

First, I have concluded that studies suffer from a great deal of confirmation bias and lack of controls. The diversity of food studies and their results only demonstrate to me how inconclusive the science is. Take, for instance, your study on the gut microbiome of the Japanese in Okinawa. The first study on which it was based only had 13 individuals and the instant study had only 106 individuals. Given that Okinawa has a Japanese population of over 1 million, this study seems extremely limited.

Second, I have concluded, as you state, that the common factors across the populations in Blue Zones are the most important. I look at my parents as examples: they both walk at least an hour a day, enjoy spending time with friends, family, and colleagues locally, and are generally faith-abiding. That said, their diets aren't exactly balanced, and while they no longer eat a lot of meat (because of dental issues, mostly) they certainly do not and did not avoid it.

Finally, you don't need to eat animal products to live low-carb. If you're fortunate enough to be able to eat seeds and nuts, you can remain vegan and go low-carb. You could get your fats from: (1) avocados; (2) dark chocolate; (3) chia seeds; (4) EVOO; and (5) coconuts and coconut oil. Need proteins? Try tofu, tempeh, and peanut butter. And whereas many sites advise you to stay within 20-50 grams of carbs to get into keto, you can still hit keto if you eat 100-150 grams (40-50% of daily recommended intake), exercise, and keep your calories around the 2,000 mark (it just takes longer).

Prior I stuck with keto for 3 months before I shifted into a low-carb diet and have kept the weight off despite numerous "life-based" interruptions. This year I intend to get into keto again for 3 months before shifting back into a low-carb diet. The trick is getting the non-animal fats into my diet so far, but I'm looking into what I can do to change that. Aside from that, getting more mobility and raising my lifting capacity (again) are on my checklist.

But the most important thing (so far) is quitting the smoking habit. Not looking back on that one. And if I kick it for good but end up sticking to meat-eating? Yeah, I'm gonna have no regrets.

@jennkryst said in Dark Ages Vampire -- Terra Mariana:

Can players similarly elect not to accept the outcome of mundane physical combat?

No.

You probably weren't there when we all got into a down-and-dirty fist-fight about player agency. If you were, you'd know that I'm generally in the camp of "whatever happens, happens." As long as I don't have to play through certain things, I'm just fine. I recognize, however, that I don't usually have people creep-paging me for scenes, or trying to use social skills to convince my PCs to sleep with them.

Naturally, as an old veteran of these games, I have the wherewithal and moxie to out these sort of pricks wherever I can. I don't mind doing that at all. But there are people who, for whatever reason, just aren't able to speak up for themselves, and get railroaded via social rolls into situations that they are uncomfortable with as players. These players need a way out of such situations, so that's why I believe an opt-out provision is necessary.

So that this isn't entirely one-sided, the system still has tangible benefits for social-heavy PCs. If the target opts-out, you get Beats -- and you could get a substantial number of them. And there's even a strong incentive for socially-inept PCs to just give in at the outset of encounters, in the form of Beats.

That's why the opt-out is only for social combat situations. There are tangible penalties for getting into fist-fights with people, which are tied into our Status system.

@lithium said in Dark Ages Vampire -- Terra Mariana:

The idea that nobody can be manipulated is just obtuse.

I understand. That's why there's also mental combat. If you want to sabotage a rival's Domain, you don't need to lie to them about what you're doing; you just need to be better at using existing legal tricks and influence to get what you want. That's a mental game, and this, like physical combat, has no opt-out provision.

@thenomain said in Dark Ages Vampire -- Terra Mariana:

Incidentally, does this mean that the CoD "Doors" system is being abandoned?

No.