Best posts made by Ganymede

Word. Same here. I live in Ohio. Ohio sucks.

@Seraphim73 said in How important is it to be 'needed'?:

That's why I always say, "Play what you find interesting," and then follow it up by some data about what there are lots of and what there aren't many of.

If you happen to be getting onto an Ares game with FS3, you can also use "census" to figure out what tropes aren't being played.

It really is the sweetest command.

@derp said in Crafting Thread Part ?:

Why does the cat have so many arms?

It is a monster cat.

Arx is not just a L&L game; it's actually got a lot of fantasy elements to it, which is what holds my interest.

In fact, I was about to laconically state once: "They have a sea troll."

But I don't think anyone got the joke.

@Trix said in Consent in Gaming:

I want to say that consent in gaming is important, but I feel like it would be almost trite or taken as a duh.

For me, it's a duh.

Every game I have ever played has some measure of consent involved. If you play Monopoly, you are consenting to its rules; you are also consenting to following those rules in good faith. If you played a World of Darkness game, you consent to the system it uses. If you play World of Warcraft, you consent to certain codes of conduct, a breach of which may lead to your account's suspension. And so on.

When I was younger, I used to differentiate consent from non-consent games. Now I see that there's really no difference because, no matter which game you are playing, you are consenting to a set of rules and code of behavior. If you consent to a World of Darkness game, then you also consent to having situations resolved by dice where warranted or desired. That's just a part of the rule-set.

@aria

@Thenomain said in Consent in Gaming:

GASP! Mass Effect?

No. I mean, I could, but -- no.

These are good suggestions. We can all have better communication skills, but part of what you're either going to have to get used to or not (that's my I-M-Smrt comment of the day) is that a lot of people don't.

I understand that a lot of people don't. The reasonable step forward is to blame the players. Like, everyone else. I'd like to avoid that if I could, but --

If anyone wants to see a barrier to newcomers, it's this kind of nitpicking which is not the slightest bit useful.

Is that so? Okay, let's say it is so. And let us say, then, that a lot of newcomers -- players, even -- have poor communication skills, and that this is why we still have fist-shaking arguments about consent.

At what point is it considered reasonable for me to put my foot down and request in firm tones that people either start to or learn to communicate better in a hobby that is undoubtedly reliant upon one's ability to effectively communicate?

You said all the points I could dance around, but let's be brief:

• Players generally have poor communication skills.
• We can solve an important social issue or two if we all communicated better.

But nitpicking about how we communicate is not addressing the problem?

Please.

But let me put my hands up and sue for peace here with the following statement:

If you want to engage in RP on a game, reacting to a proffered suggestion with "that doesn't sound like fun" will likely paint you as a petulant child. It is safe to presume that the people you are engaging with can handle a mild amount of constructive criticism. Instead, try the following reaction: "I'm not really interested in engaging in that kind of RP." And then, if you actually want to engage in RP, offer a suggestion of your own rather than demand that you prospective player-partner produce another for your review and scrutiny.

Going back to the topic at hand.

Every part of this hobby is consensual. No one should be personally offended to the core if you decide not to RP with them or go down a particular path of RP. If you elect to avoid that path, though, there may be consequences, which may include being excluded from RP if what you want to engage in is what others do not. In my opinion, the best way to react to those consequences is to either find players that want to engage in the kind of RP you do, or find another game.

@kk said in Pandemic Era Issues:

But I don't think that talk like let them die and etc is not the path to healing, unity and even to fighting covid.

I hear you from a point of compassion, but this is quite literally the risk they are choosing and it is causing problems for people who have nothing to do with that choice.

I mean, if they were rolling around in toxic waste in an effort to gain a genetic mutation that will fight the COVID, would it be any more clear that these people are doing everything in their power to hurt or kill themselves?

@Rinel

Memorandum in opposition:

Da fuq? English, motherfucker, do you speak it?

Respectfully Submitted,

Ganymede.

@arkandel said in Good TV:

I want to like Titans. An R-rated version of Gotham is such a good fit and several of the cast members are good fits for the team.

There was nothing about Titans from its trailer that made me want to watch it.

As the United States drifts into dystopia, it's no surprise to me that lighter takes are far more popular. I'd rather watch Harley Quinn or Doom Patrol than an R-rated version of Gotham.

@Arkandel

I think it takes a lot of time and skill to emote fighting without discussing it beforehand.

I have done it before. I do not know how the other player found it. Part of it is remembering to be responsive. What is the other person writing? What is their aim? Frankly, the better the partner, the better the experience at this level.

@crawfish

I can wait until your queue is shorter before ordering mine.

Also, lemme know if you need supplies.

@Auspice said in PC vs Player Assumptions:

How do you know if a character's read on a plot/scene is the character getting it wrong or the player getting it wrong?

You don't, unless you ask.

And do you correct them or not?

No. I presume a player understands what is happening. If they don't, it is incumbent upon them to ask for clarification.

As I just did.

@crawfish

@RDC

I'm willing to work with anyone else on this. I went back through my files, and I think, with a couple of weeks of steady work, I might be able to get the system written out.

But I'm really proud of some of the bloodline work I did for this one. I did a lot of research to try and captured the Dark Ages, and the religious and political rifts. For example, the following were the "Covenants" that vampires could join:

The Bratrstvi Vedmak (Covenant): The Brotherhood is spread far and wide over the Slavic nations. They keep the secrets of the land and their blood magic close to them. The Church sees them as rivals for the faith of their people, when, in truth, the Brotherhood has little interest in spreading their rituals to outsiders. Unfortunately, the Church ignores the Brotherhood’s pleas for non-interference, as the latter are well-aware that there are dangers in the darkness that are far less pleasant than Bible-wielding vampires.

The Invictus (Covenant): The Crown has used the Northern Crusades to push its own vassals’ interests into the darker corners of the known world. Although it has no personal grudge against heathen vampires, the Crown knows that such lands hide elders too set in their ways to respect the Traditions that keep the Camarilla’s descendants safe. Those that will not respect the Traditions’ aims cannot be tolerated, and must be destroyed ... for the good of everyone, of course.

The Lancea et Sanctum (Covenant): The Church is ascendant, and at the zenith of its power. The Crusades provide an excellent cover for spreading the word of Longinus into the rest of the known world, and for destroying rival, heathen religions. In this case, the Church is chasing down the remnants of its past – the Legio Mortuum and the Founders that back them – in order to hide one of the great heresies that continues to undermine its foundations.

The Legio Mortuum (Covenant): When Rome fell, the Founders were assailed by the Strix, and the Empire’s undead leaders disappeared. Most were turned to ash in a matter of a decade, but many successfully fled the initial hunt against them, fleeing to the east and the north. There, in dark forests and remote mountain ranges, the Legion lives on, hiding in plain sight among the pagan barbarians they once quelled and now rule through fear, power, and ritualistic gatherings. And in Livonia, they wage war against the incursions by the Church and Crown, who would like more than anything to put the past where it belongs.

All of the Covenants exist under:

The Res Publica Livonia: Amid the chaos of the Livonian Crusade, the Republic was established when Albert, Bishop of Riga, officially transferred the seat of the Bishopric of Livonia to Riga in 1201. The compact was formed between the four Factions as a way to stem the threat of overt, Tradition-breaching warfare that had been waged in the decades prior. The Republic rules through a council of eight Curators, two from each Covenant, presided over by the Princeps, Marcus Antonius Gordianus. Its edicts are carried out by Praetors, who also serve to enforce the same.

I like the list of bloodlines that SunnyJ and I worked on, which included the Julii and the Pijavica. All of this review makes me kind of wistful.

@too-old-for-this said in Good TV:

I'm sorry, but Frodo is largely a walking husk throughout the movie. He's very much not dynamic or quoted. I won't say he's uninteresting, I don't know that there's an uninteresting character in Tolkien.

I found Frodo a lot more interesting than Legolas.

@Coin said in Punishments in MU*:

You wish people would pay money to see you two slapfight.

@aria

I spent my last Romance day with my partner watching The Heart, Parts 1 and 2, of SPOP because she’s this beautiful, nice blonde, and I’m a fucking cat.

Sam was the hero. I don’t think badly of Arwen, of course, but I do love me Eowyn.

I like blondes.

@Kestrel said in Personal Agency for Personal Boundaries:

If you're exclusively active in the kinds of WoD games that get circulated and advertised on MSB, maybe you can't fathom why it can kind of seem like a big deal to reach out to someone, or to staff, and let them know there's a problem.

I think this is an unfair generalization. I know plenty of the people that have chimed in here have played on WoD games, have a lot of friends to play with, and yet still suffer from the same anxiety you do. Let's just presume that this is a problem across all genres, regardless; I know I am, even if I don't suffer from the problem because I am actually a complicated algorithm invented by a feline practitioner of law.

@Ghost said in Personal Agency for Personal Boundaries:

Because who wants to explain to strangers personal past traumatic experiences or personal fears?

This is kind of why I like +warn.

I mean, yes, the point of the command is to tell people "please stop or I will kill you". Some people may be anxious to say this to another player. But if I recall correctly, the point of Pandora's discussion is to conceive of a command that will discourage another player from ICly engaging in conduct which would make another player uncomfortable. What better way to discourage this than by saying "keep this up and you'll be a grease spot"?

Creeps and predators online are generally cowards (there are a few exceptions).

@kestrel

You should check out a country where you have to pay for care and still get on a wait list to be seen if you don’t have the right insurer.

@Lotherio

If you want to make players use a command to enter adult situations, you have to define it. And then we get into the whole Justice Stewart thing again.