@Devrex yeah you can filter by game system and by time, so I have to set my desired times and do the systems I want one by one to make sure I'm not getting a hundred dnd games. No offense to people who love dnd but I'm now in my early 40s and I don't know how many more "_________ cleric" or "_______ rogue" I have left in me.
I think 15-20 is fine. I rationalize this by saying "I would be willing to buy dinner for my GM" so I set the bar at how much I'd be willing to pay for dinner.
It's official:
I am going to play the ass off of Anthem.
Will Arnett believes that he has "made a huge mistake".
@Ganymede July 1st must have felt nice.
Note: This comment was in the spirit of "After a lengthy, stressful period it must have been refreshing to take a break" and not anything negative about the forum itself. I recently left a job that had been a source of stress and the moment I realized I was free of some of those responsibilities, the relief-sigh was glorious.
@Roz said in Difference between an NPC and a Staff PC?:
In the end? He didn't actually get the weapon from her
But I bet she got the gun from him.
Booyah!!!! BaDumPumC-
-DED.
Ahem. Sorry.
@Derp I think that a lot of the time people use the term "witch hunt" in the connotation of "This person is being a zealot who will punish someone whether or not they are guilty".
I think there's a greater connotation to "witch hunt" that a lot of people don't recognize, and that's the added event of the mass hysteria that comes with normalizing this sort of "witch hunt" behavior. That being:
I feel like the MU community is at some stage of that; somewhere in the middle. I think throughout time and the way people have unknowingly defended people (who lied to friends and said they weren't doing bad things and were later revealed to be actual, bad people), there's a worry that ACTUAL abusers will be left unchecked for weeks/months. It's not an unrealistic fear. Most abusers are defended by staff until actual receipts prove it, and in some cases they're STILL protected by staff, so I get why people would be so adamant to keep watch out for these particular people.
However, I think it's also created a "trial by mob" environment where the ability to defend yourself against accusations made without receipts (and without receipts to defend yourself) leaves many innocent people with an inability to prove that they do not, in fact, commune with demons. How can anyone prove that? It's your word against them, so JUST like in the "witch burning times" people spent a LOT of time entrenching themselves in little groups to create an atmosphere of "my word is greater than yours". And then, just like in the "burning times" these little groups used those "popularity currency" points to accuse their enemies, outsiders, and competitors in ways that would see them run off or harmed, leaving them further unchecked.
It's funny how humans enter these phases over and over again, only to repeat the same behaviors and mistakes in the heat of the moment like it's totally different this time and then reflexively look back and realize that they fell prey to the same mass hysteria bullshit that's driven witch-hunt cultures from the Mayan Apocalypse to the Witch Hunts to the Werewolf Hunts to the Spanish Inquisition to the McCarthyism Communist Hunts to the Anti-Dungeons and Dragons "Satanic Panic".
I just think people are caught up in a form of that in this community and forest/from trees don't quite see how bad it's gotten.
@Tempest said in POLL: Super Hero MU Gut Check:
More post rawr.
I think a mutant-specific game would be awesome. You'd have Xavier's and the Brotherhood as options for PCs, with the possibility of inter-PC conflict, and still plenty of room for staff antagonists and even reasons for the two groups to work together vs the various anti-mutie crowds. Also the anti-mutant stuff would have more 'teeth' I think, without Iron Man/etc hanging around.
I also think I'd die of cancer from the hordes of teenage mutant OCs.
But hey, life has its ups and downs.
This is one of the concepts I've carried with me for a while. It's a simple setup.
Two factions of PCs
XAVIER'S
BROTHERHOOD
PCs could select from a roster and place whichever thematic Mutant (and only x-gene mutants) wherever they please so long as they come in with an interest in mutant civil rights.
They can fight each other, ally, switch sides, have drama as much they want, especially when staff throw the following into the mix of the mutant civil rights drama:
So, 2 factions, plenty of goodies to throw at mutants, and the central theme being the trials and tribulations of Xavier and Magneto's philosophical differences.
I was told there's an indie RPG based on 80s cop shows like T.J. Hooker and 21 Jump Street where combat initiative is done by each character having their own theme song on an MP3 playlist on shuffle, then players go in order as the themesongs come out.
Does anyone know which game this is? I need it for my collection.
@reimesu Oh no, I'm not defending Spider specifically. I have had negative experiences with them, too. Not the biggest fan, personally. I'm just using the word as an example, more or less. An <insert usual suspect> name more than anything.
I agree that they specifically are a good lesson learned for getting logs and ensuring logs. I'm a fan of logs. I'm just trying to paint a picture.
@Ominous Good question. Might be worth another poll in another thread. I know for SOME the juice is in playing existing characters, and others are die hard OC players.
Man I'd rather play a Potter-themed RPG with some of y'all.
@Derp said in What Would it Take to Repair the Community?:
But I wholly disagree that 'the crowd will rise up and defend the innocent of wrongdoing'
Agreed.
To be fair, I've seen plenty of innocent people accused by popular people, only to have droves of people who don't want to be retaliated against choose not to speak up on their behalf. There also seems to be "unlimited soup, salad, and breadsticks" in terms of goodwill for a number of "popular" people to mistreat others and punish people over false, word-of-mouth accusations and move on with life without being held accountable for it either because their friends don't keep them in check or people are afraid of being retaliated against.
What I see when I read this "even accusations without proof will have the innocent defended" is something more like "we want the right to public trials without evidence and if our friends are wrongly accused we will make sure they're safe".
Example. @Seraphim73 ? What if I told you that Spider was playing a game and was claiming they were wrongly accused of abusing the system by a friend of yours? No one has a log. No one can prove that Spider was being falsely accused, nor was actually guilty. Your friend goes online, makes accusations without receipts, and 4 pages of making fun of Spider follows.
Can you HONESTLY say you would do your due diligence to ensure that the accused wasn't being mistreated for something they may not have done? If you found out that it was a false accusation would you be willing to tell 4 pages of Hog Pit flaming that Spider was innocent and didn't do anything wrong regardless of the way you would be treated for standing up for them?
Because this is ultimately the "MU community justice system" in a nutshell.
One suggestion is that if you're going for full World of Darkness to never allow relaxed, ambiguously friendly settings.
No family friendly restaurants and the only Chuck-E-Cheese is an old, half burned down husk of a family fun place.
Then again, my own personal interpretation of the WoD is kind of Frank Miller's Sin City meets Dark City where there are no truly safe places, and every place you visit has a film on it.
Personally I'd like to see more of that.
KeePass is solid too.
Also because it's fun to say keep ass
I will also say...
...that in a lot of TTRPGs, making a new character because your last one died can sometimes be as simple as drawing dots on a gubernatorial ballot. You can literally make a new VtM, Aliens, All Flesh Must Be Eaten, etc character in minutes.
In MUs, however, it can become an absolute pain in the ass that takes days or weeks and is regularly held up by the availability of staffers.
The exception to the rule is that making TTRPG characters for Shadowrun, Traveller, ANYTHING BY PALLADIUM GAMES, Eclipse Phase, and most superhero games (FASERIP, Mutants & Masterminds) is a HORRENDOUS pain in the ass that might be worse than getting a MU character approved.
So there's a big "-1" for death/dying in MUs and a big "-2" for death/dying in some TTRPGs
"Ya lost 10 HP, Steve, so... <dumps pile of Shadowrun books on table>...you get to play again after passing the fucking bar exam."
I disagree that these rulesets are outdated.
I also dislike the argument that these systems arent often used out of fear of players being rolled into unwanted TS.
Let me throw something out here:
This is about choice.
PHYSICAL skill rolls are accepted because on some level players understand that not every slap shot gets past the goalie
MENTAL skill rolls are accepted because studying is difficult, takes endurance, and players understand that not every experiment or piece of software written works the way we want it to.
SOCIAL rolls are not accepted because players want to choose how their quasi-avatars react to social situations, which lies they believe or don't, and want complete creative control over how their character responds to other players.
This is about choice and control, and that players of these games do not want to have to roleplay a social avenue that they do not wish to. They don't want their characters to believe lies unless their player chooses to, and want to base their character's opinions on social situations based on the player's judgment for their characters.
I cannot say this enough, but I believe in my heart of hearts that the problem presented here is not about finding a worthy system or mechanic, but the approach of players to these games.
For whatever reason, ranging from the reasonable to the selfish, this is about the demand to control one's character, or on some level, the player protecting themselves and their fun time against strangers who may use these dice to turn the experience into something less fun for them.
Another new and shiny system for social interaction isn't going to do shit until this issue gets addressed and some people stop approaching these games as ways to be predatory to others or try to wedge their character into being the star of their own show.
@Jaded said in General Video Game Thread:
@Ghost said in General Video Game Thread:
@Auspice said in General Video Game Thread:
they delayed it to make it a better game.
look it'll still be out in a shorter timeframe than anything Onyx Path ever does.LALALALALALA SORRY CANT HEAR YOU IM NOT BRUCE WILLIS IN SIXTH SENSE
Uh. Wasn't Bruce Willis the dead guy? Wouldn't you have to be the kid?
YOURE FIRED TOO OMG YES IM HALEY JOEL OSMENT FKINHELL
(fakerage)
Skimming around and found this.
https://infiniteadventuresmush.com/scene/368
Basic idea snippets:
It's over towards Jeans that Warren pushes the food trays on their rolling carts and he knocks on the door, Jean? You decent?" He calls through the door, not even attempting to open it.
__
"Super decent, come on in!" Jean is walking out of her bedroom as Warren comes in, wearing a pair of leggings and a long sleep tee shirt.
__
"That's a shame." Warren says as he walks in, "I was hoping to catch you in something naughty." He smiles at her, he's definitely gotten his mood back at least as he wheels the cart in and then takes his plate.
__
"Honestly?" Jean blinks, glancing toward her bedroom, her voice dropping as if someone might be listening in. "I don't think I have any naughty clothes." Just a bunch of sweats, leggings, mom jeans and bunches of tee's and sweatshirts. Boring. She takes a seat, curling up with Warren as she digs into her food, eating like she might have been starving as well. Soup is not a filler!
"I can't blame it. I tried to get you to drink broth a few times and you just weren't having it. At least I got you to drink some water now and again." She shakes her head, bumping that shoulder briefly before she digs into her hash browns.
__
"If that's the case, then we have to go shopping and get you some." Warren says with a playful smile, "I can only imagine how good you'll look in some lingerie or even some nice comfortable lacy underwear." He isn't teasing though judging by his thoughtful expression as he continues eating more quickly than normal, he really was starving!
__
"Really?" Jean gives Warren a skeptical look, a light smirk on her face. "I have no clue how I would look in lingerie, but I never say no to new clothes. Too much opportunity there to have fun. I love shopping." She is likely the type to not wear anything skimpy though. Witnessing her trying on those clothes would probably be a little boring. She makes no excuses. That's just Jean.
"You don't have to repay me. I'm your friend, Warren. If you need me, I'm here."
__
Warren chuckles softly, "You really make it tricky to flirt with you, you know." He bumps her shoulder lightly, "Pay you a compliment and you just ignore it."
__
Basically, my read of this scene it comes off as a scene about a bedsick person turning the heat to max to try to get clothes off, a lot of verbiage about her underwear, a lot of gentle pushing back from the Jean player, and then the very realistic manipulative response of "You're making it hard to flirt with you. I give you compliments and you just ignore them". Which, in terms of very real world predatory/manipulative behavior actual women tend to get pressured with, is akin to "You're in the wrong for not responding to my pushiness, and should react positively to me to make this right."
@Lithium here's a third party suggestion. After skimming a number of these logs there's definitely a pattern of pushiness that some of these players appear to be gently trying to deflect. Now, you could say "Angel is a super sexy rich playboy!", but super rich playboy does not really make it okay to take these kinds of approaches when writing with other players. I'd be mindful in the future about how some of that language can make people feel cornered, and not do that kind of stuff.
But that last quote?
Warren chuckles softly, "You really make it tricky to flirt with you, you know." He bumps her shoulder lightly, "Pay you a compliment and you just ignore it."
<Whistles>
When compliments are ignored that's usually a good sign that someone's uncomfortable.Of course I can't speak for the other player in this scene or their comfort levels, but I've been mushing a long, long time and I've seen patterns like this before.
Also: a staffer told you not to talk to a player who might be reaching out to you?
@Arkandel said in Eliminating social stats:
I didn't intend the TS portion of my reasoning to take over the thread. It's a minor (if still a) factor for discussing the elimination of social stats.
Oh, no, it's a very valid point and I agree it shouldn't be drilled too deeply into, but should also not be forgotten.
Clearly, a system of social combat that allows for such things is NOT the answer, and with rules about what can or cannot be forced with social rolls, in theory, it would cover a lot of rules ground to other corner cases.