Best posts made by Ganymede

@Gingerlily said in What even is 'Metaplot'?:

Definitions are always exciting but specific examples are too. Tell me the metaplot of any game that you all remember from the golden age or a recent one or whichever.

"Metaplot" requires a story arc. If you haven't got one, there's really no metaplot, and you shouldn't worry about it.

"Metaplot" suggests that the game operators have a point to which they wish to see happen go. This was pretty clear with The Reach, but less clear on other games.

"Metaplot" relates to the idea that things which occur in the game have some material bearing on the world in which the game is set.

For me, a game with no "metaplot" is a sandbox, where people play because it's fun. On a game with a "metaplot," the people are playing within the confines of some story, and while the conclusion or the events therein aren't fully written it is known that the plots and events are leading somewhere that the players will hopefully be interested in.

In the World of Darkness, games like Werewolf and Mage need a metaplot. Vampire does not, as it can devolve into a political battle (which, like Facebook debates, may lead absolutely nowhere, and is often engaged in to pass the time rather than to make any cogent argument), but it helps.

Other games, like BSG:U have a known metaplot, and the enjoyment of playing is being able to immerse oneself in the setting and create your own story therein.

• I am a robot.

• This script was prepared after being forced to watch 10 hours of Teen Titans Go! episodes.

• I hate waffles.

• I hate people.

• I like singing.

• I like emo.

• I love lamp.

• I am also a cat.

• This is my daily routine.

@surreality said:

I feel you on this. I was aiming for the same and then the reality hit that if I kept up the pace I was at, with the amount of stuff I wanted in place... burnout would occur before the place even had a chance to exist. This was good to realize, and you get a thumbs-up for favoring 'done right' over 'done right now'.

I interject only to say that I think we, as a group, do not encourage interesting or novel game possibilities as much as we grouse about them.

Case in point: me. I was about to post something about how ambitious and potentially difficult @Apos's undertaking would be, but I stopped myself. Because maybe he/she will do it well, and I'm just a bitchy nay-sayer.

I'm really trying to not be a bitchy nay-sayer these days, but then @Thenomain opens his mouth, and I'm all, like, fuck that guy.

@fatefan said in FCs on Comic MUs:

(This assumes, of course, a broadly inclusive approach to comic themes rather than a focused one, like where everyone's involved with the X-Men or is riffing on Batman: The Animated Series.)

An expansive approach to comic themes is a terrible premise.

For example: if someone's looking to get a hardboiled/noir groove going, Punisher or Daredevil or the Question might be awesome FCs to play. However, Superman or Wonder Woman or Reed Richards might not work so well.

It's up to staff to set up what the "groove" is. If you're going for over-the-top cosmic action, you're going to want Star-Lord, Iron Man, Silver Surfer, etc. If you're going for hardboiled, you're going to want to have the Defenders, Punisher, Spider-Man (in my opinion), and the street-level superheroes and villains.

I think the latter theme provides the better storylines, but I don't have much experience with the former.

Three movies over the past 2 weeks.

Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse: Don't take it from me; take it from everyone else, please. This is probably the slickest, best-written Marvel movie all year -- yes, even better than Black Panther. It's certainly blacker than Black Panther: no kings, no majesty, just some poor kid getting caught up in the machinations of others. And it has a pulse-pumping soundtrack that is just shy of Kendrick Lamar's inspirational soundtrack.

Speaking of soundtracks --

Don't miss Bumblebee. This movie is what I expected back when Bay released the first of the new franchise's movies. While critics have alternately panned it as a "girl-and-horse" sort of movie, I don't get it -- I really don't. Hailee Steinfeld proves that she can actually act still (remember True Grit?) and Angela Bassett eats up every moment as Shatter. Plus, the soundtrack is breathtakingly middle-class Californian-American from the 80s, and really holds the movie together. You are not losing money if you're a Transformers fan, and who the hell doesn't like seeing Soundwave as, well, Soundwave?

And, on the topic of nostalgia, that brings me to Netflix's Watership Down.

I know that the critics hated the animation style. I know the critics poo-pooed the absence of graphic bunny violence. Yet everything about this 4-part series is exactly what you would hope from an adaptation of Adams' 1972 novel. To say that it's neither as creepy nor as sinister as Martin Rosen's 1978 animated film is simply wrong, as the violence and dread are palpable and brought to life in this new series, which is seen literally on the level of rabbits (some of it is 1st person).

Plus, the voices: James McAvoy. Nicholas Hoult. John Boyega. Ben Motherfucking Kingsley as General Woundwort. Not to mention Daniel Kaluuya, Taron Egerton, Rosamund Pike, and Peter Capaldi as a Scottish Kehaar. The critics seem to be a mix of CGI-elitists and toxic fans of what is likely the most under-appreciated criticism of modernity I've ever had the pleasure of knowing.

And, I swear, if you're not leaking lubricating fluid from your eyes at the end of each episode, you need to have your humanity/animality chip checked.

So, watch these folks. Seriously.

@seraphim73 said in Looking for potential staff for a Colonial Marines (Aliens) game:

I think that much like many BSG games, there may be some tone issues, since much of the drama and tension in both BSG and Aliens comes from "OH MY GOD, WE'RE ALL DYING!" and that doesn't tend to happen on MU*s (besides TGG) without copious NPC blood being spilled, but I think that a solid storytelling staff/playerbase can get around that.

There's really little thematic difference between BSG games and a Colonial Marine survival game. Similarly, there's little difference between BSG games and Mass Effect, except for the really hot alien sex cut-scenes.

@jaded said in Good or New Movies Review:

On Bumblebee, I saw Optimus Prime actually looking like himself in the trailer and I felt a giddy excitement about that. I have not had time to see Bumblebee yet, due to holidays, but I am looking forward to it.

Sure. There's also Shockwave:

And Starscream:

And, yes, Optimus Prime.

Add to that a good script and decent director, and it isn't a creative abortion. Imagine that.

Also, Arcee, Wheeljack, Cliffjumper --

@tragedyjones said in Bump In The Night: A Chronicles of Darkness MUX:

Now now, many people can be lame.

Like FDR.

@thatguythere said in Make MSB great again!:

I see that as no different than the lets all feel good pep rallies I had to sit through in middle and High school and some of the worse jobs I have had in the past.

The difference is that no one is forcing you to attend.

A more appropriate way to look at the situation is whether you think it's okay for someone to come by your locker, smear shit on it, and then piss into those vents at the top and bottom. If people want to leave positive post-it notes or tape birthday candy to it, so be it.

@auspice

Honestly, I just want something that isn’t a piece of shit.

My laptop is literally falling apart.

But she’s a good machine. She’s reliable as hell, and I’ve never had much of an issue with her. She needs a new battery too.

I’m gonna miss her.

But I’m looking forward to a keyboard that isn’t missing keys, and the ability to play Battletech.

@lordbelh said in The 100: The Mush:

People are supposed to not play bitchy/assholey characters on a game full of delinquent teenage PCs, because some people would like more IC conscientious characters?

One should expect a game of teenage experience to contain plenty of bitches and assholes. That's why I have no interest playing here.

I play the Game of Lawyers in real life, and let me tell you whut --

@dariryu said in Which canon property/setting would be good for a MU* ?:

I apologize for expressing that unpopular opinion. I didn't realize consent-based roleplay was so incredibly universally hated and reviled here. I have deleted the post in question, and I will refrain from expressing any other such views.

I would prefer that you express your views because they are legitimate. My response was merely to point out that proposed FS3 system isn't a PvP system, and that not all systems are PvP systems.

I like consent-based games, and have played on several. That said, everyone that I know who plays on FS3 games like the fact that most of it is by consent. What FS3 is really good at is large-scale PvE where you have a large volume of people and do not want the predictability that comes with consent-games.

So, to repeat: please keep posting! Differing perspectives and perceptions are important here.

@Auspice said in Good or New Movies Review:

Like maybe look at one of the other fantasy series that wasn't done right on the screen (or hasn't been done at all yet???).

I like the sassy nature of Eddings' series.

@Lithium said in Dragon Age: Smoke & Shadows:

Trying to set inside any of the games is inherently limiting imho.

You're right. They could overcome this by setting the game after DA2. After all, Inquisition occurred after the Mages decided to rebel as a whole, and I'm lead to believe that there was 2 years separating Meredith's fate and the explosion at the Conclave.

God, I really hate Gambit in all of his forms, but there's a part of me that wants to play him more as a bumbling, Inspector-Clouseau character than a too-cool-for-school-90s-slacker-fantasy.

Transformers the Movie.

And the fact that my kids love it. It’s what they want to watch all the damn time.

At least they are growing up with good, character-building media.

@GirlCalledBlu said in The 100: The Mush:

L&L games draw players in who want major political power. TFW was a war game with a L&L component, and you're not wrong that L&L games have a certain set-up to them that might not work, but all of them have. I don't have a feasible solution to that, beyond staggering where positions of power open and provide more easily-accessible ladders to those lower on the totem pole.

Starting off a game with NPCs at the top isn't a bad start. It's a problem when it never changes for no explicable reason.

NPCs on top is a great way to start activity in a house. Once one or more houses seems to attract a good number of players that are self-generating RP, then there are ways to transition the NPC out. If it's a matter of internal status, you could implement an IC voting system where, each week or other cycle, players can upvote and downvote PCs in the House, with status changing based on the up-down vote. Whatever floats your boat.

Just remember that NPCs-on-top is a great way to start a game, but it's better if it is not permanent. Let the PCs of invested players eventually take over.

@ixokai

It would be neat if the application to make a PC were just to make up the wiki with a sheet on it.

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

Sadly it's a responsive declaration in a family law case (WHY do I take these). Without my client's signature I don't really have anything to file.

As a civil litigator, this is me practicing family law.

I'm sorry for your situation, friend. Come. Let us drink.