@surreality said in RL Anger:
This isn't exactly anger, but I can't call it something I love. More something that makes me wince with all the wincing: the husband sent a link to a show we watched as kids back in the 80s.
You watched Tales of the Gold Monkey? Bravo.
@Auspice said in Course Corrections:
"So, I want you to make sure that my doubtlet is gunmetal grey in the painting," Lord McFarty crooned to the artist.
"What is this... gunmetal you speak of, m'Lord?"
<OOC> Lord McFarty says, "wtf don't you know what a gun looks like?!"
See, I don't have a problem with this. I'd have a problem if the following occurred:
<OOC> Lord McFarty says, "wtf don't you know what a gun looks like?!"
<OOC> Artsy Fartsy says, "I know what it looks like, but my PC has no idea what a gun is and doesn't know what you're referring to."
<OOC> Lord McFarty says, "well ur goin to know now cuz everyone knows it unless they're stupid"
<OOC> Artsy Fartsy says, "Look, guns don't exist in this world, so I don't even know how your PC knows what gunmetal is. Guns don't exist in Westeros. I'm just trying to keep things IC, know what I mean?"
<OOC> Lord McFarty says, "ive never watched GoT!!! i don't plan to so don't tell me what i can't pose!!! i don't plan to change"
It's the unwillingness to put even the slightest effort into what they are doing, so that they aren't negatively affecting what you're doing. That's what I have a problem with: the lack of respect for others.
Fucking effort, people.
@Cupcake said in Course Corrections:
... but when people continue to pose in past tense around a bunch of people using present tense, is it just sloppy? Is it a passive aggressive fuck you?
It is probably because they are terrible writers with a lack of self-awareness.
@faraday said in Course Corrections:
But setting aside Lego Girl, I'd say in general that a polite "Oh, just a friendly FYI..." would be all right if something were really bothering you. Otherwise I'd just let it go. Involving staff seems like overkill.
Let me say, then, that were I the staffer that heard of this, my reaction would be quick and prejudicial.
Like, I may not know much about BSG, but I ask questions and try to learn. Failing to do this is both immature and downright rude, two attributes that I have little tolerance for.
@Seamus said in Course Corrections:
The one where the offender is present? If it is an option, maybe that might be the best thing for her and the game.
My responses were to @Ghost's comments, and it appears that it was a past experience on a Battlestar Galactica game.
That's the part that's worrying me. The 'mini-stroke' symptoms are becoming more frequent.
You really need to get to a doctor, if you haven't. Please. I don't mean to worry you, but these don't seem like common "migraines" to me.
@Seamus said in Course Corrections:
Well no, that's just fucktardiness. I mean it is one thing to say. i'm playing with some legos, and a whole other to say I'm playing with actual Legos. Using the brand as a descriptive, totally ok with.
It's also a whole other thing to say: I don't need to learn about the theme because I wasn't told I have to, so don't tell me how to play, even if what I'm doing and saying is making absolutely zero sense in context.
@Ghost said in Course Corrections:
The Viper pilot/Lego situation was a real situation, and when I mentioned that current pop culture references weren't in theme (I approached this delicately, politely), she told me that understanding the show wasn't required, that she'd never seen the show, doesn't want to, and to stop talking to her. Weeeeelp.
I'd've reported her to staff.
It's one thing to not know the theme. It's another to be willfully ignorant and unwilling to change that status because, fuck it, you want to play with Legos on a war-themed game.
@Cupcake said in Course Corrections:
So if you see another player doing something - well, not WRONG, but maybe not so right? Do you offer corrections? Do you go through staff?
For example:
- A player uses past tense in poses, when the general consensus is present tense. Do you say something?
- A player ICly says something or poses a an unthemely reaction. Do you say something?
What's the best way to approach this kind of thing without coming off like a dick? Or is the not-dickish thing to do is try to ignore it?
Style is personal. I refrain from commenting on style, else I might as well start commenting on spelling.
Unthematic IC reactions may be made from ignorance. What anyone considers an "unthemely reaction" may be based solely on personal interpretation. Again, if it's an issue of personal interpretation or style, I would refrain from correction. If there is an egregious breach, however, I would bring that up, i.e. a Silver Fang Garou falling in love with a Shadow Lord Metis (which is, for the most part, pretty unthematic too).
@surreality said in Strange Game Dev Inquiries from surreality (condensed):
I'm looking at options for that. That gets the little hand-wiggle gesture tipping back and forth. If there's a feasible, reasonable, low maintenance for all parties way of going about it that doesn't require a landslide of code and micromanagement, I'd like to.
I'm working on something. It will be kind of code-heavy, I think. It is currently geared for a GMC/CoD game (as it uses terms like XP), but I think it could be adapted. Basic structure is this:
Players obtain Time Points (or whatever you want to call it; for the sake of parsimony, let's call it "Time") every cycle. For the sake of this post, as a model, we'll say that PCs get 10 Time Points per 24 hour cycle. Spending Time Points allow Players to Do Stuff (see below).
Players can obtain Resources, which are necessary to build or improve Holdings, to bid for and complete Quests, or to be converted into Commodities or Luxuries, which are higher-level resources.
Resources may be physical, like iron or wood or food, or social-based, like favors or secrets or blackmail. Holdings are personal assets that may drop a Resource every defined period, permit Players to use Time Points to obtain a Resource, or lower the time it takes to convert a Resource (or Resources) into Commodities or Luxuries. Quests are essentially jobs or tasks that may be created by NPCs or PCs, which then offer rewards for completion.
So, doing stuff:
Learn stuff: Players can use code to spend Time Points to improve their skills or earn experience to do so. For instance, for a GMC/CoD game, maybe players can spend 5 Time Points to get a Beat.
Gather stuff: Players can spend Time Points to get a Resource. For example and for this post, let's presume that players can spend 8 Time Points to get 1 Food Resource Unit ("RU").
Get stuff: Players can spend Time Points to harvest a Resource at a discount from a Holding. For example, players may spend 4 Time Points to get 1 Food RU by harvesting through a Farm Holding, which is less than what they would have to spend to gather without it.
Build stuff: Players can spend Time Points to create a Holding, so long as they have the requisite Resources. For example, let's say a player can build a Farm Holding with 40 Time Points and 10 Wood RU.
Trading, Converting, and Improving stuff: Basically, as the above, except you can swap RUs (there may be a market price for every RU, if you wanted to get complicated), or turn them into Commodities or Luxuries by spending additional time.
Go Questing: Players can complete Quests by spending Time Points to go on it, and completing a few rolls. Other players can come along too if they also spend the Time Points. Successful completion may result in Beats and Status raises; failure may still get you Beats, but you may take a Status hit.
If you wanted to make each "do stuff" bit require a roll to determine success, that's sensible; it gives premium to folks with non-combat skills. But the point, I guess, is that this is basically all automated.
How does this encourage RP? Let's suppose you need some RUs to complete a task or do something, but you also want some Beats to improve your PC. Well, you could always trade favors for the RUs, and bam RPing. Let's suppose you are short some RUs to complete a Quest? Same deal bam RPing. Need someone to build you something (which may need a successful roll/rolls with a skill you don't have)? Go find a PC that has the building skills, and bam RPing.
This system requires minimal staff supervision, if coded properly. A successful roll is a successful roll, and whether a PC has the right RUs and enough TP can be grabbed by code.
Just some ideas. I know it's very MUD-like, but I don't see anything wrong with it. RP in which resources are traded is still RP, and really is at the heart of what RfK did right, politics-wise.
@surreality said in Sin City Chronicles:
That's essentially what any given television series tends to do: aftermath or tail end of the previous season is handled in the first quarter or so of the season, you have your current primary season plot ramping up as that one ends, after you hit a few major dramatic points and are closing in on some heavy duty action in the current season, you start to see threads of what's to come next season.
I concur with the episodic approach, which is what I call this. You can have a brilliant meta-plot going, but not everything has to be totally connected to it. Star Trek: TNG is a good example of this: there is definitely a meta-plot going on in the background, but a plurality of the episodes had little or nothing to do with the hostilities between the Romulans and the Federation.
@surreality said in Strange Game Dev Inquiries from surreality (condensed):
Question: are there other aspects of a game you have wanted to see opened up to input this way? Small or large. Sometimes something that seems incredibly trivial at first can wind up adding great value to a game in the long run.
Will there be a mechanism for resource management and territory/realm improvement? If so, how would players go about engaging in this?
@Thenomain said in Innovations to the form (Crowdsourcing?):
That is, we are agreeing now.
Watching you and @faraday discuss this sort of stuff is making me excited in the wrong, but right way.
Keep talking. Please. If this is where the hobby shifts into a new space and place, I want to be there.
Yeah, I'm not going to put myself in a position where I have no income and can't take care of myself or my dog. But I am going to bust out the old resume.
I'm with you on this one.
No reason to stay a backup QB if you feel you've got the chops to be a starter.
I'm going to do this punchy-style, as I'm at work.
And I know a constant question people ask, is: What is GAME X going to do differently. What CAN be done differently? What SHOULD be done differently?
The way RP is generated. RP is generated from things happening. "Things happening" does not have to start and end with staff -- or even players. "Things happening" can occur in an automatic, coded fashion, or through how the system operates.
- Grid Design - Part of me feels that a pre-made, pre-described grid is... a waste. Many players eschew the room descriptions, and many prefer to use +temprooms, RP rooms or private builds. How much is a minimum necessary grid design for a city? The sprawling layouts of DM or even HM are, imo, dead.
You should have a relatively small grid to represent areas, with exits into buildings or structures for public RP, and then into private or small areas for private RP. This is a classic, useful, time-honored system that encourages bump-into-you RP.
- An End to Bar-P - I have long ranted against random social banter RP, slice of life stuff, when that is all I can find. It is something I personally feel should be used as a downtime thing between active story
"Story" is what you make it to be. It can be as simple as a scene to barter for a point of Resources X from another PC to a important information-sharing session between "allies" looking to enact a plan to change the city/territory/landscape. If the players have things they can do, the innovative ones will figure a way to get ahead by interacting with others. Not a novel concept.
- Homework.
What's homework, and what's the objective for it?
If it is applying for a PC, make it simple, short, and sweet. If it is changing the landscape of the setting and game, it may need to be more complicated than that.
- Making things matter.
This is a system issue. And I have some ideas on it, but it requires some planning and thought. Ultimately, though, this is comes down to staff letting control go.
@surreality said in Sin City Chronicles:
Not seeing the cavalcade of brilliant alternatives forthcoming.
There are people working on alternatives. Whether they are brilliant or not is up to you.
Whether I particularly like her or not, @Tempest has a point in that it would be preferable to have something other than another sandbox pop up.
Unlike @Tempest, I don't consider @tragedyjones as a repeat offender. I'm pretty sure I played on all of his games, and each were different. That said, it is true that he tends to desert his projects once they are up and running, and whether the new controllers are able to continue to press momentum is the ultimate question.
@surreality said in What MU*s do right:
... "Do not make staff care about your TS" is a rule I would really like to see propagate.
Talking about TS and propagation at the same time tickled me in a way that made me say oh yeah that's nice.
Go to BSG: Unification. Check out the Ares system @Faraday did. Putting some work in to make a game unique is impressive, and I look forward to seeing what else she's got planned.
Then, go to the game. Check out the BBpost where @Faraday asks where the players think the campaign ought to go.
Also, check out the BBpost where @Faraday acknowledges the players that picked out dress uniforms for the various other military factions that existed before the Colonial Navy was formed.
What MU*s do right: asking for and, to some extent, following player input on things.
Any game resting solely on staff to invent and run things is going to flame out fast.
@Arkandel said in What's the new hotness?:
Changeling always seemed rather underpowered to me compared to other splats. But then again I never had a Lost character for long, so maybe I'm missing something here.
I don't think it's underpowered to be able to transform into an inorganic, semi-animate object.
If you know your power combos, a mid-level Changeling can be very, very scary.