@derp said in Roster Characters & WoD?:
I think an important distinction needs to be made about The Network, though.
I don't think it matters.
I still think that a roster system would be helpful. If I ever develop a World of Darkness game, I will probably consider implementing one. The game may not last long, but we'll see.
Without trying it with genuine effort, we'll never know.
@tinuviel said in Roster Characters & WoD?:
Are you here alone? Do you need me to call someone to come get you?
There's a million 'yo momma' jokes to toss in here, but I haven't the will.
@tinuviel said in Roster Characters & WoD?:
I wasn't actually asking those questions here.
No, really, I didn't. My senility is catching up with me.
"Above all, the Way of the Samurai should be in being aware that you do not know what is going to happen next, and in querying every item day and night. Victory and defeat are matters of the temporary force of circumstances."
Writing journal entries for my PC has helped me discover some of the most enlightening bits and pieces ever.
@pyrephox said in Roster Characters & WoD?:
And yet, now both The Network and HorrorMU* 2.0 are doing pretty well with exactly that format, with a few revisions.
I honestly loved the idea. I think it is from my time on stage.
It's nice to claim ownership of a character, but I'm happy owning a portrayal of the same.
I don't think that's a bad idea at all, for the reasons stated above.
But, to be frank, I'm tired of trying to come up with ideas for making World of Darkness games last longer. I did that for twenty years.
I've earned my break.
@tinuviel said in Roster Characters & WoD?:
What innovation is this making? Why is this change better than what we're currently doing?
One of the problem World of Darkness games has is continuity over time. Many times PCs of importance idle-out and it causes a great deal of disruption if one wants to have a full, working vampiric court, for example, run by PCs. As a result, staff turns to the use of NPCs to keep things stable.
On roster games, those in power tend to stay there. This is kind of consistent with how a vampiric court is supposed to function. If a player idles-out, they can lose control of a PC, which then can be taken over by another player. Of course, the goal is to keep continuity, so staff still has to make sure that the new player doesn't go off the fucking rails or create alt-conflict problems.
But on a game like Arx, it allows the power structure to remain mostly intact. There are problems, of course, with abandoned Houses, but there are policies to help facilitate power transition where reasonable or necessary. And I think this isn't a bad thing to examine for use on a WoD game.
This does not mean one cannot make OCs or have OCs take over important positions; it simply means that it provides an option for staff to maintain a player-controlled environment while coping with inevitable player-turnover.
I also worked in food service as waitstaff and as a cook. I have worked as a Walmart associate. I have worked in a movie theater. I have worked as a camp counselor and director. I have worked as a lifeguard. I have worked as a bar-back, bartender, and a DJ. I have worked as a teacher. I have worked as a professor. And I have worked as a lawyer.
I have worked, and worked, and worked. And nothing feels better to me than taking an hour to cook and clean and do things right in my house.
It sucks on the one hand; it feels great on the other.
Under similar conditions, I also completed my graduate degree in economics.
I am simply a very angry person most of the time.
@tinuviel said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:
Well maybe if you kept the pantry stocked with all the random bits and bobs I might hypothetically need, we wouldn't be in this problem!
In my household, I keep the pantry stocked, the kitchen operational, the dishes washed, and the household clean.
To no one's surprise, my PCs tend to be very good at keeping shit in order, but generally enjoy hurting others physically and emotionally.
@tinuviel said in Roster Characters & WoD?:
Boom, full sheet done up with random stats to play with. Hit +random a bunch until you're happy.
It's been done before. Tartarus had a "random PC" generator. You drop in, pick a concept, make a couple of tweaks, and the char-gen would make the PC for you. Once you logged out, unless you put a flag on the PC, it would disappear. This was great for people who wanted to play the victim, but allowed them to keep the PC if they chose to.
@ghost said in Roster Characters & WoD?:
Both good points, so really I think the only solution (since setting up SSL would be a bitch) would be to fall back on old-fashioned "gatekeeping" methods that clubs, parties, and other events fall back on.
Yeah, this is what I'm doing right now, and I suck at it in the sense that I don't check the approval queue often enough.
@derp said in Roster Characters & WoD?:
Alright. So then what happens when someone picks up that roster with those, presumably, unique hooks and whatnot and then just doesn't play them?
Then you toss them back.
The thing about the World of Darkness, relative to Arx, is that WoD leaders can be deposed more easily. On Arx, if you are the head of a house, it is difficult to remove the person from their position because it is based on blood and heredity. So you have Voices, which can speak for the House, but never quite take over.
Take, for instance, Maddy (my PC) from Echoes. If I flaked out and didn't do what I needed to as Bishop or Primogen, then someone else could simply depose her be edict from an NPC Archbishop. Leadership problem solved. And if someone picked her up after I idled out, they would have to deal with the consequences.
When comparing the two situations, it simply makes sense to me to have Maddy rostered unless I give staff permission to do whatever it wants with her upon her death. If I recall, that's exactly what happened on Echoes; if a PC idled-out, they became fodder for plots. That doesn't really happen much on Arx, but when it does it becomes fodder for plots for PCs to get engaged in, and the Circle of PC life continues.
@derp said in Roster Characters & WoD?:
If this forum is to be believed, then it's a problem on Arx too, lol. I seem to remember various iterations of -- who was it. Cullen? Being mentioned as problematic all around.
Cullen's specialness had little to do with the roster system itself.
And, yeah, I think we can recognize that WoD players, by and large, are special folks.
I'll be elsewhere for now.
@derp said in Roster Characters & WoD?:
Your continuity goes all to hell as each and every person plays them in a different way because they don't actually give a shit about their story or history, they just don't wanna do the chargen work.
It's funny to me because this does not seem to be a huge issue on large games with a roster like, oh, Arx. I mean, sure, it has a host of attendant problems, but this really isn't one of them. And frankly, I think what you said before says more about World of Darkness players than about rosters.
To be fair, though, I'd probably allow every player to make 1 OC when they come on board. After that, like, do what you will, but if you hand-off your PC to an idle-out, like on most WoD games, that PC's fate is in staff's hands unless you give some sort of last-will instruction.
I think they are a great idea, for the reasons Ghost pointed out.
Rosters are usually capped or limited. This is a good thing.
I'm updating this to say that I am very sorry to everyone who was waiting patiently in queue to join us.
I should be checking the registration queue more often, and I have not.
This is my fault.
