Posts made by Ganymede

@faraday said in Earning stuff:

If a significant part of your intended audience is looking for something that your game design just flat-out can't provide then you've got issues.

Said everyone at some point about World of Darkness games.

Important events can be scheduled, but World of Darkness games invariably contain some amount of status-earning incentive that creates competition. In a way, this is a plus: internal competition can drive the RP between PCs. In a way, this is a minus: internal competition can create divisions within the PC groups, which makes it difficult or impossible to schedule "important events" in a manner satisfactory to the parties involved and their interests.

That said, it is certainly possible to overcome this inherent system problem in WoD.

@faraday said in Earning stuff:

Games need to set expectations better so people know whether they're getting a game where they're the heroic protagonists or they're getting a game where they're the supporting characters in a wide-reaching story.

Then games need to set policies to support the kind of game they want it to be.

I concur. BSGU made managing expectations a little easier, though, because the military backdrop meant that the missions run would be, by implication, important events that everyone could take a part in. It’s a little more difficult to do this on a WoD game.

If you are going to make players earn something for their PCs, then the rules should be clear and straight-forward, and readily available. I concur with Faraday and Surreality here.

If there is discretion involved, the exercise should be consistent. Ideally, deviations in that consistency should be adequately documented to explain the deviation, and why it was fair.

These rules are different than rules about on-game conduct. Those rules are by necessity and circumstance going to need to be more vague, but should still adequately inform new players as well as provide staff the discretion to act on novel situations.

But system-based gains should be less discretionary and more strict. Otherwise, you’re going to have favoritism complaints, among other things.

Staff need to be quick and decisive when they act, regardless.

@aria said in Let's talk about TS.:

DON'T KINK SHAME.

@killer-klown said in nWorld of Darkness 1E v 2E:

Like, traditionally, a vampire with low blood could just choose to not spend it and be otherwise ok. A vamp in 5th would have issues doing something as mundane as driving or studying while hungry - which is far more realistic.

My children have issues with doing mundane things while hungry, so I hear you.

@aria said in Let's talk about TS.:

Does it cover everything? Well, no, not really. But I think it's general enough to get the idea across in a largely functional and effective way.

I saw a guy get tossed out of a strip club for whipping out his thing while watching a girl dance on a pole, and whacking at it fiercely. It took a couple of minutes and a lot of laughter before the bouncers came by and physically hauled him out. And this was a place where there was titties-a-plenty.

I guess my point is that I lean on common sense. If I have to tell you why it's inappropriate to lead someone by the leash on the Battlestar, I think I'm just going to talk to Faraday.

@apos said in Let's talk about TS.:

In trying to draw it back to topic, I think there's a startling lack of awareness (real or feigned), that being sex positive does not mean forcing expectations on anyone else, and that everyone determines their own comfort levels for what they want to deal with.

This is a summation of what I try to explain to my straight friends about going to a gay bar.

@carex said in Let's talk about TS.:

The justice system is a pacifier to keep the plebs from revolting.

Swap out "the plebs" with "rich oligarchs," and you're a little closer. Otherwise, you're way off.

The justice system is no more about justice than the Rules of Acquisition are about fair business practice.

Fair business practice has nothing to do with justice, and it was not designed to do so.

@derp said in #WIDWW pt 2 - ST, Player, or staff?:

It is a lack of cohesion between staff vision and player desire that causes this. Too many games try to keep it squarely middle of the road to appeal to the most players, while we have what seems to be a great disconnect between players who want adventure and not dark, and players who actually want dark.

I have played these games since I can't remember when, certainly all of my adulthood (past age 18). And I've been on MUSHes for this time as well.

My best experiences have come when there is staff adhere to their themes and settings. The Reach was about an End of the World scenario, and, by golly, it happened. Requiem for Kingsmouth was about vampire politics, and it delivered. Fate's Harvest is about remote, small-town life for changelings, and it certainly feels that way.

I've played PCs of all stripes and backgrounds, and have had a blast.

I can't tell you if anything has, or needs, to change. It seems to me that the availability of other, active games have minimized interest, and that, in my opinion, Old World of Darkness games seem rosier because that's the only World of Darkness to dwell in. What I can tell you is that I don't honestly give a shit what or where I'm playing, as long as I'm having a good time, and I don't feel that I'm wasting it.

Maybe people just expect more.

@arkandel

I said it from the start of the season: J.R. Smith is terrible, his contract is terrible, his play is terrible, and he needs to be jettisoned from the Cavs.

I cite J.R. Smith's costly blunder in last night's game as further evidence that he is one of the top three reasons why the Cavs will not win the Championship.

@killer-klown said in nWorld of Darkness 1E v 2E:

There's also this issue that Harmony in 2e is way different a stat than it was in 1e.

Frankly, I found it better suited for the game.

Humans struggle against going insane. Vampires struggle against their Beast. Werewolves are both insane (by mortal standards) and beasts, so a degenerative system didn't make sense.

@vulgarkitten said in MU Things I Love:

@thatonedude said in MU Things I Love:

@shincashay said in MU Things I Love:

RPing with someone for 6 hours and no romance, no ts, just developing story.

Yup, I'm stalking them now. #letmebeyourrppartner4life

THIS COULD HAVE BEEN US! >.>;

It should've been us
Shoulda been a fire, shoulda been the perfect storm
It should've been us
Coulda been the real thing
Now we'll never know for sure, ooh
We were crazy, but amazing, baby we both know
It should've been us, us
It, it, it should've been us

I think I'm passing on this one. My online time is limited, and I have other commitments.

@cobaltasaurus said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

Someone. Somewhere. Has to have my immunization records... right?!

Your mother.

You could probably ask for your medical records, though, and simply track back to the pediatrician that started them.

@arkandel

I wasn't limiting my comment to TS and the MUSH world. I meant, in general. If werewolves having sex isn't a violation of ancient laws and doesn't have the risk of creating a monster, then it becomes a source of dramatic tension.

Peggy, CoG: "Al, let's have seeeeeex."
Al, Fenrir: "Uh, no, Peg." flushes toilet
McShady, Fianna: "HOLD MAH BEER!"

@sunnyj said in nWorld of Darkness 1E v 2E:

All I hear about this TS Harmony stuff.

The entire prohibition or stigma of werewolves fucking was so stupid to begin with that its removal in 2E was like the dawn of the third day at Helm's Deep.

@lithium

I've been playing Far Cry 5 off and on, so I'm going to embrace Fallout 76 when it comes out.

Hopefully, before I get The Last of Us 2, because I'll be gone after that.

@jennkryst said in What Do You Want In A New Game (3-options)?:

I can help build and stuff! Buuut... will need a crash-course reminder in how building actually works, though, cause it's been ages.

I like to sit and think about development and theme first. I'm generating thoughts via PM at the moment with at least one other person, so if you wanted to message me with your thoughts, that'd work.

You have something really interesting here.

Once you have some of the particulars developed, maybe you should devote some time to having some volunteers write up quick stories. One of the things I've found that helps flesh out a world is to write stories from it. The fiction-bits in the World of Darkness bring a lot of light to how players are expected to act and react, and games based on books, comics, or video games have a rich background to draw from that a custom-made world doesn't start with.

One of Arx's strengths is its journal system. As a newbie, you can read some random entries to get a feel on how the game works. What Whispers do, how nobles interact with one another, and so on.