You may want to see if there are players here that are willing to get you into one game or another. One of the odd things I've found about this board is that, despite our obvious penchant for communication, it is very seldom that a request for RP partners in a particular genre or on a particular game arise.
Granted, some of the people here, sometimes, --
@Joyeuse said in Getting Young Blood Into MU*'ing:
I decided recently, not even a month ago, really, to give it another shot. FC looks all but dead now, though, and it's hard finding something that really seems that enthralling for someone like me who's got pretty narrow interests setting-wise, but I'm giving City of Hope and this one Star Wars MU a shot to try and see if I stick with it this time around.
Without malice, I'm going to recommend that you not spend much time at City of Hope. If you're interested in World of Darkness games, you're best served asking folks around here the highs and lows of available games.
There aren't many any more, despite what you may want to hear.
@faraday said in First Through the Gate Syndrome:
In a GM-directed plot, a large chunk of your next action is going to be based solely on whatever the GM's last emit was, not necessarily as much to the other players' actions.
While true, that doesn't mean pose-queuing cannot be done. I say this as someone who has regularly participated in your GM-run scenes, as well as others.
In such circumstances, it is true that you cannot react to the GM's last pose until after it comes out. That said, you can still react to everyone else's prior poses. Ready that up, and you only have one pose to worry about thereafter.
I know I am simplifying the process, and this is because I have been doing this for so damn long as a habit. But when people ask why I can churn out a 2+ paragraph pose in under 3 minutes, this is how.
@BetterNow said in First Through the Gate Syndrome:
Another thing to consider is that being first to pose means being the first to pose the rest of the time right after the GM/ST/DM, which means you don't have that cushion of time to type up your reaction the the plot runner's emits. That makes some people feel pressured, especially if they are a slower writer.
I can understand this, but there's a way around it. It's called pose-queuing. This is apparently a skill that isn't taught to or honed by newer players, but we old veterans players ought to remember it.
It does require a player to be actively engaged in a scene, though, and I hear that this is a near-impossibility these days.
I liked B&B. I also liked Wabbit Wampage.
Although not really a fringe game, I adore Earthdawn.
@Auspice said in MU*, Youth, and LGBT+ Identity:
'slow hot lips' - ew.
You'll need to take that up with Larry Kasdan.
@Seraphim73 said in MU*, Youth, and LGBT+ Identity:
It can be smooth and still be creepy. They're not mutually exclusive. But like, he pens her in, grabs her, doesn't let go, she says "no," and he doesn't respect it. Totally fine and romantic for 1980, but definitely not okay in 2019.
She doesn't say "no" to his advance, actually.
HAN: You're trembling.
LEIA: I'm not trembling.
HAN: You like me because I'm a scoundrel. There aren't enough scoundrels in your life.
LEIA: I happen to like nice men.
HAN: I'm a nice man.
LEIA: No, you're not. You're --
From the screenplay: (He kisses her now, with slow, hot lips. He takes his time, as though he had forever, bending her body backward. She has never been kissed like this before, and it almost makes her faint. When he stops, she regains her breath and tries to work up some indignation, but finds it hard to talk. Suddenly, Threepio appears in the doorway, speaking excitedly.)
THREEPIO: Sir, sir! I've isolated the reverse power flux coupling!
Leia is more than capable of handling herself. We see that in every episode. This is her moment of weakness, and it is calculated so.
It was smooth, and it is still smooth. Sorry, not sorry.
@Tinuviel said in MU*, Youth, and LGBT+ Identity:
To be fair that's how I imagine @Ganymede. Not just any suits, but the suits of men she's beaten.
Great. So you either think of me as fat or as fashionable as a Trump.
Fack. You.
For the record, I wear either their skins or ride their wives.
In the first instance, I would probably just pose in response to the set. The setting from the staff seems like a clear invitation to respond. And I see no point waiting if anyone else wants to go first.
I mean, that's kind of how I ended up with my partner. No one else seemed to want to ask her out, so I did. Shocked all the men in law school, I'll tell you.
As for the second, I think that's the case where you have some sort of social scene, where there's nothing inherently inviting in the scene-set to grasp a hold of.
@Auspice said in MU*, Youth, and LGBT+ Identity:
I have absolutely seen (on here, even!) complaints about non-<minority> players trying to write said minority's experience.
But was the complaint, for example, "this non-queer player is portraying a queer PC" or is it "this player is making a caricature of a minority PC"? I think these are two different complaints.
@Auspice said in First Through the Gate Syndrome:
Theory 1
People are uncertain what to do and want someone else to guide them.
Theory 2
People are scared of looking like they're too eager or greedy for the spotlight.
I think I fall under Theory 2, but I have made it a habit to always offer to open. I also roll with the general etiquette rule that the first to suggest a scene is the host, and the host can make the choice to set or allow someone else to do so.
The solution? Be more pro-active by just asking upon entry: does anyone here want to set? For my part, I realize that I have very little social anxiety online or otherwise, so I am always happy to try and think of a way to start things.
Be the change that you want to see.
I understand your personal take on things. I'm responding to the suggestion that a person cannot write about a particular minority's experiences because one is not part of it, which I think is implicit in the advice you received.
I think it is of the utmost importance to try to communicate that experience, even if we have none of our own personally, in a manner that is as empathetic and accurate as we can muster in a way that appeals to our own identities. I would never suggest writing or portraying any identity one is not personally comfortable with, but to suggest not writing or portraying anything outside of our personal experience is foolish.
@Tinuviel said in MU*, Youth, and LGBT+ Identity:
One piece of advice I've gotten regarding writing cultures or identities that I am not is: Write the characters, but not the stories. That is to say, write about a black guy, but don't write about being black.
I know too many black people to be comfortable with omitting mention of them being black.
@Joyeuse said in MU*, Youth, and LGBT+ Identity:
There's the occasional exceptional roleplayer who is in the know and is down to incorporate such themes into personal roleplay as a means of personal growth or development - or at least the development of the relationship. And, finally, there's the TS hounds I've mentioned earlier, most of whom are straight/bi men who like to play with the idea of (forgive me for even using this phrase) 'traps not being gay'. Either in a romantic context, where constant reference is made to certain 'tells' of transness, or in others, where emphasis is placed on that blurring of orientation.
I'm not personally comfortable with playing a trans-character. I feel that I will fall into a number of the stereotypes, and I don't want to do that. I have played several queer characters, and have interacted with intersexed and transgender PCs, but that's about it.
Play what you want and are comfortable with, I figure. Hopefully, that comfort level includes playing a character that has more than one or two layers, but to each their own.
@mietze said in Getting Young Blood Into MU*'ing:
Let's call it them having better things to do with their time than we do.
That’s fine. I don’t like having to deal with real life levels of dysfunction all the time.
But I’m not going to pretend it doesn’t exist elsewhere. I don’t play MMORPGs or games like Fortnite because of the people I’ve bumped into.
Which pulls back to the spirit of my comment: dysfunction is everywhere. Pick your desired forum — at the bar, online through consoles, at your local LARP gathering, whatever — but you can only escape it to the extent that the community is willing to call out the behavior.
Which goes to Apos’ point about Arx’s hardline and swiftness or Derp’s philosophy of drawing clear immutable lines.
@Prototart said in Getting Young Blood Into MU*'ing:
And that's ignoring just, the usual social maladaptive shit that's so common on games that it's just taken for granted, the people who have no idea how to interact with anyone who isn't broken the same way they are and the way that geek social fallacies are like burned into the fabric of everything and not to be questioned
I’m going to say this in a non-repulsive way in response.
If you think you can avoid MUSH maladaptive behaviors in real life, you are either tremendously naive or stupidly optimistic. You might as well admit that you live in a box if you can honestly and introspectively believe that real life is any less dysfunctional.
I think the hobby is great for safely exploring various identities and sexual ties, for the reasons Admiral cited. My general experience has been welcoming, barring some setting-based prejudices, but players on the games I have played on have been generally accepting of non-cis identities.
I mean, I picked my name here very deliberately nearly 20 years ago.
@Aria said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:
STOP BEING ASSHOLES TO YOUR ASSISTANTS.
Associate: You want me at the consultation?
Me: Yes. Don't forget to bill for it.
Associate: Isn't it your client?
Me: I'm not starving for hours and numbers. You bill the hour, you take the hour. Let me worry about me; it's my job to worry about you.
This is how you run your law office as a partner.
