Best posts made by Ganymede

@Auspice said in RL things I love:

I just got an advanced screening pass to see Detective Pikachu tomorrow.

@arkandel said in Social Systems:

Thoughts?

Sorry, man, I can't say that I favor what you're suggesting.

I wrote the following up for my Mass Effect RPG regarding "social actions." Note that "checks" are rolls, and "Drama Points" are earned and can be used to get re-rolls in combat and other stressful situations:

2.4.3 Players Determine their Characters’ Actions – Always

The thorny issue: can a player undergo a task to convince another player’s character to sleep with his?

The answer: not unless the other character’s player agrees to it.

Players should be able to create characters that are socially or mentally powerful, and have that mean something. Many times, this is not the case, and, where players can compete against other players, it becomes a bit of a problem. Finding the balance between player-control and skill-efficacy is often a struggle, but here are some general guidelines and systems.

A. Players can use checks to manipulate and convince NPCs. As above, GMs are there to tell a story and provide challenges. NPCs, or non-player characters, are story elements. The GM controls them. Whereas a player may have personal investment in their character, a GM’s NPCs are simply tools.

B. Players can use checks to manipulate and convince other PCs regarding their character. A PC can seem genuine. A PC can seem convincing. When it comes to talking about themselves, players can use checks to convince other PCs that they are telling the truth or being sincere. Concealing or shading a fact may require a contested check, but the results of these checks must be respected. If the game’s events give rise to a situation where the other PC may doubt the lying PC’s story, then another check may be necessary if the liar is confronted.

C. Players cannot enforce checks to cause other PCs to act one way or another. This is where it gets tricky, so consider the following example: a player wants another player’s character to sleep with theirs. Suppose that the defender’s player does not want to sleep with the aggressor. The aggressor’s player can make a check for success, but, if successful, the defender can elect not to abide by the results. If this occurs, then the aggressor cannot attempt to seduce the defender for a reasonable period of time, like the rest of the scene, a day, a week, or whatever’s reasonable to the GM or the players involved; however, the aggressor gains a Drama Point. On the other hand, if the defender’s player decides to abide by the results, then the defender gains a Drama Point for accepting the result of a check that he had the right to refuse.

Ultimately, players should respect one another. GMs should keep an eye out for abusers of this system, and remind them that this game is about everyone having fun, not forcing one’s will on others.

@Tyche

I'm aware of Ohio. I live in Ohio. My partner went to the Cleveland Clinic for care.

Yes, they will lose money. Have you ever wondered why? Could it possibly be because they are paying exorbitant costs for other kinds of treatment? Could it be because they built their business model on the same system that is charging the shit out of you for a fucking basic drug?

Caresource is expanding. It primarily uses Medicare/Medicaid and Obamacare to provide insurance to low-to-medium income families. A profit can, has, and will be made where business models can adapt.

Some businesses refuse to do so. Maybe because of the profit they are currently benefiting from.

Why people like you still support the system that so clearly exploits you is beyond me.

@ghost said in Social Systems:

PLAYING THE PLAYER

This is when people make their RP decisions poker-style based on what they know about the OOC person or their likes/dislikes. It's a form of metagaming that is hard to catch and even harder to convince players to stop doing.

Sure, I understand your point. And I see why you'd think social rolls would alter this. And I agree that it would.

But, to my point, so what?

If a player doesn't want to go along with my PC's suggestion to theirs to do something, that's fine. I'm okay with that. I can lay out why, reasonably and accurately. And their PC may roll to see if mine is lying or being disingenuous, and that check would come up negative; in Vampire, lying is stupid because it is so easy to detect.

My remedy: remove that player's PC from the political arena.

If we are gaming, and we are playing a political game like vampire, then you must know -- you must realize -- that everything that happens around my PC is likely according to some sort of plan. This is because you are actively losing in politics if you cannot predict what will happen next. Players like me -- Lisse24, Caryatid -- enjoy the interaction, the meddling, and the positioning because that's what Vampire is about. And setting yourself up where you cannot lose is less about power and stats than it is, simply, about positioning.

I'd really like to play this game. A lot.

Instead, we have people using Dominate to blood-bond neonates into divulging secrets of blood sorcery for the purpose of growing magic dicks.

Like, seriously, I have that power so that no one can accuse me of trying to get it from someone else. Like, fuck y'all, I have a futanari penis omgsoecchiheehee.

Dave Chappelle.

I mean, he's a gifted comedian with flaws, but he's a genuinely good guy, it seems. Here's him talking about his current place of residence, and sticking up for the people living there. He's also an intelligent man, who figured out when and why it was best for him to walk away.

But he's still a local celebrity, so when his local NPR affiliate was looking for donations to keep running, he elected instead to put on a show in nearby Dayton, with all of the proceeds going to the station (WYSO). The story is that the station invited him and his wife down, and that's when he told him that he'd rather donate his time.

First, all of the orchestra level seats at the local Schuster Center, where the show will be, sold out. Today, they started to sell the lower and upper balcony seats, and were sold out in under an hour. Naturally, I got my tickets because, well, it helps to work in downtown Dayton.

So, I'm Rick James, bitches. And Dave's a stand-up guy for his joint, Yellow Springs, Ohio.

@bobotron said in Social Systems:

And yet, the whole 'match of wits and writing,' on a game that has a social stat system, then turns right back around into 'Roleplaying Stats Not On Your Sheet' which I think the majority of us have said we find bad sport. And again, we swing back around to devaluing the purchase and, to be blunt, purpose of those skills and stats.

I agree that not roleplaying stats properly is being a bad sport. Consequently, I do put points into things like Politics, Socialize, Persuasion, and Subterfuge when I play a World of Darkness vampire. Because I know it's going to come up, and I know my proclivities, and, fuck it, me likey vampire politics.

But that doesn't mean I've ever rolled those stats. Ever. Players' PCs just go along with things, most of the time, because what my PC proposes is often of an obvious benefit to them. And if someone asked me to roll, I'd be more than happy to because I take stats appropriate for my character.

If people cheat, they are cheaters. Doesn't mean I do, or that my proposal is immodest.

@Ghost said in Good or New Movies Review:

That's about as egregious as a Cinnabon.

Any treat covered in hot sugar cum can only be considered egregious.

@seraphim73 said in Encouraging Proactive Players:

... I would like to hear thoughts on how to find, cultivate, and encourage proactive players. Whether this is from a Staff perspective ("I was on a game and Staff did X and it encouraged players to be proactive") or from a player perspective ("When a game does/has X, it encourages me to be proactive"), I'm curious and interested.

Staff's Perspective:

Be responsive to +requests and @mails. Make suggestions on channel. Help link new PCs with old PCs. Keep your spheres small and cozy. Provide tangible rewards for desired behavior.

Player's Perspective:

Be responsive to my +requests and @mails. Help me start or complete your helpful suggestions on channel. Help me link my new PC with old PCs, and then help others link with my PC. Keep your spheres small and cozy. Provide tangible rewards when I do something you like.

Overall:

Staff proactivity encourages player proactivity. Cultivate player proactivity by knowing your limits, and ensure your staff can meet the demand for staff attention. As a player, be patient and follow the clues; where the hints are too subtle, ask what staff would like to see.

Also, staff needs a vision as to what they want to see. Players generally are smart enough to follow.

@Tyche said in What do you eat?:

In a real pinch, I'd even eat a feminist (if she was seasoned properly).

I’d doubt she’d enjoy it, especially were she seasoned.

@faraday said in Encouraging Proactive Players:

It would be nice if everyone were positive and enthusiastic, but that's really just not realistic. People are people, and if we start banning folks for simply not being proactive enough, you're going to quickly find yourself with an empty game.

I don't think Apos was talking about people who are simply not proactive; I think he is talking about people who are actively negative. If you let them persist on your game, you're going to quickly find yourself with an empty game because that bullshit gets old really fast.

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

And every. single. time. they seem to think I'm on-call to help them with this 'brilliant plan' of theirs and my fucking god I am sick of it.

As it seems clear to me that your family doesn't give a shit about your emotional needs and well-being, I am still at a loss as to why you bother to even respond to them.

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

Wherewoof?

No. This is a political Dark Ages game. Werewolf just doesn't fit in, other than as NPC antagonists.

Sorry.

Lexus RX 350.

That aside, I should be grateful. There's no damage to the vehicle.

But there is debris in the neighborhood that doesn't belong. We've got aluminum siding all over, but none of the houses around here have aluminum siding. Found out that there was substantial storm and tornado damage just half a mile south of here.

Dodged a real fucking bullet.

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

A Dark Ages CoD game with completely different play styles for two spheres would be really fun, but that's just IMHO.

This may very well be the case. When the end result is reached, we may make our codebase available for others, and they can try to integrate other spheres into it for their own game.

The people I'm currently working with have discussed this, and we simply feel more comfortable narrowing our focus for the sake of parsimony and sanity. We have also agreed that we will not be adding more to it.

@Lotherio

Anna Faris?

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

If a characters social stats cost the same as physical stats and mental stats, and if physical/mental combat is mandatory, then social combat should also be mandatory.

Who said anything about it not being mandatory? Perhaps I'm not communicating myself well, but I've described what I've intended to do what feels like countless times in the past. Doing it again is sort of like me telling my children for the eleventy-billionth time that, no, they can't eat the French fries off the floor.

So, I'll try one last time.

Yes, social combat is different than physical or mental combat in that there is an opt-out provision. Yes, this means you cannot force someone to sleep with you. I'm sorry that this might make you upset that your seducer Daeva isn't going to hot-bang everyone he wants to, but I'm also not so sorry because there have been a number of motherfuckers out there who have used social rolls to coerce people who may not be quite as outspoken or savvy as the rest of us into situations that have been OOCly disturbing.

But that does not mean that social concepts aren't powerful on a game that rises and falls on one's Status.

Start a gossip campaign against them. Get others to vote against their interests. You can use your social stats in countless other ways that indirectly have an effect on your target. Sure, you can't force them to sleep with you through sheer force of personality and attractiveness, but that doesn't mean the game's over for you. I mean, Harvey Weinstein, by all accounts, was quite successful.

(I realize how distasteful that joke was, but I mean to use it as a visceral point.)

If that seems shitty, I can deal with it. But we have carefully considered this issue front to back, and have taken it into consideration when drawing up ideas for other systems. There are a myriad of other ways to trick, manipulate, mindfuck, and socially outmaneuver people that don't involve social combat.

@Auspice said in Good or New Movies Review:

I want more shit like Logan, myself. Fantastic story that's so obviously steeped in comic lore without the need for a huge CGI budget to prop it up and support it.

I want stories that are less about cataclysmic consequences and more about human problems. The Ant-Man and the Wasp is a good example, or Black Panther.

@darinelle

I think we're actually pretty close to the same opinion, but are stating it different ways.

I agree with all three of your points. And I also agree with your summation. I don't plan my life around anyone online, and that's generally one of my lines. I do try to honor my commitments online when I can, but, of course, real life obligations come first, including to my partner.

But with that line in mind, I do try to arrange things OOCly when I can. With that boundary in mind. My IC partners are never going to take precedence over my RL friends, family, children, acquaintances, or activities.

@Auspice said in Fandom and entitlement:

Fury was the one who wielded Goose more than anyone in Captain Marvel.

If there was ever a badass motherfucker that knew how to use a pussy, it'd be Shaft.

@faraday said in Travel Times - Enforced?:

That's what I think @Ganymede was alluding to with "you barely even noticed it" on BSGU. There were enforced travel times, but I took care to set up most of the missions so the travel time didn't inconvenience anybody.

Exactly.

Like, if you were in a starship on a Star Trek game, and you were traveling from Omicron Persei VIII to Betelgeuse XIII, it might take 7 days to travel there. So, you couldn't really do any land missions during that time. What you could do, though, is schedule social gatherings and events during the travel time, which can always be suddenly interrupted by a mischievous Q or some random deep-ass philosophical event that shuts down the warp core because your ship's counselor is having some weird Betazoid psychic freak-out or something, I don't know.