Posts made by Ganymede

@Tempest said in Visit Fallcoast, sponsored by the Fallcoast Chamber of Commerce:

Please stop bringing up RfK.

You left before the game got interesting and mostly managed by the players. The last few months of the game were excellent, and that's when things were very hands-off.

Until you can find me a staffer who is going to dedicate 10 hours every single day to RPing NPCs and running plots for everybody on their game. And 5 more hours on that same day handling various +jobs.

Why? It has to be repeated that, while Shav did a lot for the game, she wasn't as active in running plots in the end. And, even at the end, there were people clambering to take over.

Any game will "succeed" if you have staff slavishly running stuff 24/7 for players.

This is untrue, and you know it.

As for what @Rook said, personally I put a lot of the onus on WoD players and MUers in general, more than the games.

And that's fine because this is why RfK worked. A not-so-small number of players on that game "slaved away" in the RP mines generating an immense amount of activity, the likes of which I haven't seen since.

The vast majority of MU'ers appear to be incredibly lazy and entitled when it comes to making little effort to get involved in things and expecting everybody else to feed them story.

This is neither a reason to discount past successes nor a reason to become one of these incredibly lazy people.

@Rook said in Visit Fallcoast, sponsored by the Fallcoast Chamber of Commerce:

Is every WoD game out there so fractured and fragmented that there is stagnation? Is there literally no movement on the game outside of bar-rp or slice-of-life? I get it, it's hard to not have huge, earth-destroying types of plots long-term on WoD games, given the power levels of even mid-level characters in almost every one of the game systems (races)... but damn.

Stagnation happens for many reasons, and I believe the fact that the age of active players is going up is part of the problem. The good news is that the players, as a whole, have matured rather nicely, and the new players to the system as a whole seem to not only be receptive, but also fairly mature.

I really like Fallcoast, and its predecessor, the Reach. I had great times there, but, like @Lisse24, I haven't gone back because getting RP was like pulling teeth. Plus, I've no interest in playing 1E-hybrids any more -- yes, I know I'm at F&L, shut up -- and would prefer if games moved to 2E.

That said, generally, I'm personally trying stuff on F&L, and am spread out on a couple of other games. All I can do is try to assist when asked, try to be open and accommodating, and try to be welcoming. Everything else is up to everyone else.

@WildBaboons said in Fear and Loathing (Official Thread):

I wish games like these had a sort of designated hitter for chargen. I loathe WoD as a system, but enjoy urban fantasy and its pretty much the only game in town but rarely make it through chargen with all the crunch involved in setting up a sheet

Tell me what you would like to play, and I'd be happy to run through options with you.

@Coin said in Indicating Discomfort in a Scene (online):

Does that mean you get to tackle me on the street because I really like playing American Football? No, fucko, there is a time and a place.

That's right, and it's on the street, bitch.

@ThatOneDude said in Fear and Loathing (Official Thread):

I don't buy it.

You don't have to, that's all right.

I'm not suggesting anyone come to take a shit on the place, of course, but there are quite a few open positions of substantial power, and it would be nice if we had a different person in each chair, rather than having a few PCs with a lot of fucking meetings to go to.

@surreality said in Indicating Discomfort in a Scene (online):

The stuff I set up was on the wiki, on somebody's page, in one of the little collapse sections. (Like BITN had, pretty much, if you remember those.)

I get that, sure. But that's not what I think @Thenomain is getting after. Unless I'm reading things incorrectly, we're discussing how to best indicate discomfort in a scene, not before a scene begins.

RP Prefs tell me, as an ST, where not to go, as long as that's clear. RP Prefs can also tell me what sort of RP you like. But suppose you indicate that you're not into Rape RP, and we RP together, and my PC starts talking about her past of underage prostitution and sexual assault, and something triggers. I respected your RP Prefs to the best of my ability, but RP steered in an unanticipated direction. And I presume, at this point, you'll tell me to stop, which I would naturally do.

RP Prefs are a fine tool to have, but sometimes stuff happens. At that point, a stoplight system could be employed, but then, why not just speak up and say 'whoooooa, no, let's not go there'? And if that's something which one would do, why not do it under all circumstances, and do away with RP Prefs or other tools altogether?

@GangOfDolls

There are lots of games open, but "active" is often in the eye of the beholder.

Maybe you should narrow your scope. Do you mean WoD games? Space games?

@faraday said in Indicating Discomfort in a Scene (online):

I wouldn't use it, personally. But I'm perfectly capable of saying: "OK guys, you've been captured by Cylons. If you want to be tortured you can be, but you don't have to be. Oh you do want to be tortured? That's fine, but I'm not going to GM it for you. We can either FTB here or you guys can get a RP room and knock yourselves out." It's really not that hard.

You mean, you're not into robot-torturing? All of my hopes and dreams, dashed.

Beep, boop.

That said, I understand what you're getting at, @surreality, but, like @faraday, I simply would not use the tool that often. Really. I rarely use +finger for anything more than trying to remember someone's last name, and I find myself using 'look' less often as I'd rather rub one out to a character's wiki page.

Wes here.

The vampire sphere just got a political bomb dropped on it. Luxor's been good with letting us do what we want. If you're hankering for some politicking, now might be a good time to choose a side. Selfishly, more Acolytes would be nice, but we've got a lot of Covenants that could use a boost.

Come take a look? Don't know how long it will last before something kills my PC, but, hey, it's a fun time.

@faraday said in Indicating Discomfort in a Scene (online):

We're supposed to be adults here, let's try communicating like adults. What in the world am I supposed to do with a vague yellow stoplight indication? Change the entire scene based on some vague guess as to what might be bothering you?

I'm with Fara on this, to no one's surprise.

But, at the same time, there are many, many of us who aren't good at communicating our discomfort. And there's no guarantee people will refer to or use RP prefs in their RP.

@surreality said in Games In Games:

On Shang, someone I played with for ages wanted to run an IC WoD game.

My PC is now running, at this very moment, a Universe of Darkness game on BSG:U using the Lasers and Feelings system.

@Tempest said in Visit Fallcoast, sponsored by the Fallcoast Chamber of Commerce:

How about an update to 2e?

This.

@Tempest said in Sin City Chronicles:

Sudden flashbacks to The Reach having to actually implement rule for length of time after approval before you can be involved in PK due to Javier(?) getting somebody to app in and help him kill Shane. (The fight scene was like 30 minutes post-approval, iirc.)

Good times.

This is some old school shit, man. I remember someone trying that on me on Tartarus.

@Tinuviel

Birthright sounds really close to manifest destiny, and I think that might be construed unfortunately.

@Tinuviel

Call it providence, then, but privilege is an apt term for it.

@surreality said in RL Anger:

Sounds like elder abuse to me.

I'm pretty sure someone's going to prison for encouraging someone to kill themselves.

I sincerely hate it when academics try to discuss these subjects in a mixed audience of fellow academics and those who are not. There are certain bits of phrasing -- like the 'all white people are racist' one -- that are conversational shorthand to the people who study the same subject, and the theory is actually entirely reasonable and it isn't even hard to understand.

I hate it when academics shade agency by blaming the herd. Yes, privilege is a bad thing, but let's not overlook how these acts are committed by people that knew, or should have known, exactly what they were doing.

Yes, white privilege probably assisted an orange into the Oval Office, but let's not forget that a bunch of old rich fucking people supported him and every other dullard that got into office.

@surreality said in RL Anger:

This was a cyst that went over the top batshit. What you're describing about the gland isn't far off, though this wasn't reeking bacterial gloop, just blood and LOTS of plasma.

Good thing it wasn't a hematoma.

I was actually hoping someone would look up bursting Bartholin's glands. Because it's kind of gross mid-coitus, y'know?

@surreality said in RL Anger:

I like you people too much to discuss the details, which are sincerely gross. Even the people I really, really don't like, I still like too much to inflict the details of this on, but holy shit, I'm eyetic'ing so hard the blinking could kick up a fucking breeze.

I'm pretty sure you cannot horrify me with biology.

Ever change dressings where someone had all of their skin tissue removed? It's kind of fun seeing how the muscles and tendons work.

Oh, and the leg from which the thin skin over that wound came?

Ever see a clogged bartholin gland get lanced? And then watch as the stuff inside spurts out over the poor nursing assistant, so she turns and vomits her lunch on the floor from the smell?

Mm-hmm.

So, tell me: what's this in the who now?

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

Of course learning a new system is harder. The first time someone plays an established system, they have the same learning curve, however, and it wasn't an obstacle to them then.

If someone doesn't want to learn new mechanics, it is on them to say 'no' to a game that requires them to do so, not on the game's creators to refuse to do something new or eschew anything that isn't repeatedly trod ground to benefit that person's laziness and/or preference.

The odd part of this phenomenon is that, while the World of Darkness' mechanics are simple its content is not. Meanwhile, Arx's mechanics are arguably even simpler, and people will still consider it an impediment to play.

As another example, Star Wars SAGA edition has simple mechanics, but its Feats and Talents require an almost-encyclopedic knowledge in order to manipulate those mechanics efficiently to your benefit. Meanwhile, some people believe that Unisystem or FS3 is hard to grok, when they are anything but.

I think it's just familiarity. I like the World of Darkness because I know the source material so damned well, or well-enough that I can work my way through games easily. It wasn't as easy when I was on Arx not because Arx's mechanics were hard but because I have over two decades of familiarity with White Wolf's stuff.

That said, getting into White Wolf stuff takes a considerable amount of time and guidance. Vampire is particularly complex, even as Mage is system-wise.

@Ghost said in The MU*Bucket List:

I gotta admit, I really do want to make a character that is severely likable, but horrible in bed to the point of justified murder mercy killing.

Been there, done that.