Best posts made by Ghost

MAVIS

THAT'S RIGHT! LADIES AND GENTLEMEN IT'S TIME FOR AMERICA'S #1 GAME SHOW TO COME TO MU SOAPBOX! GUESS RIGHT AND YOU WIN...NOTHING!

All you have to do is guess who said it...

Born into millions of dollars son of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith and self-appointed Twitter philosopher JADEN SMIIIIITH

Or...

Former 90s martial arts movie phenom from Belgium who once had a $10,000 per week cocaine habit JEAN-CLAUDE VAN DAMME!!!

(or post your own, or whatever.)

@Arkandel My opinion is that MU altogether has a vision problem when it comes to "power range".

MU can't seem to decide if these are RPG games where the systems matter, or if they're just writing with systems used for dispute resolution. (RPGs with writing or writing with some RPG systems thing). To make matters worse, there are the following problematic factors:

1. All players want to be included regardless of power level. It is not common to see events gated to players of specific levels/xp ranges.
2. PVP/PK/IC Death is largely non-existent. This creates an environment with extremely low risk to the point of risk altogether being a matter of choice. This upsets the natural "life cycle" type balance in terms of PCs getting clipped trying to get to higher levels due to PC death through failure. It's not "I hope my PC gets to this level" but instead "Here is what I'm going to do with my inevitable xp reward". The major PC killers are IC relationships and game closure.

3. Does power level matter due to #2? If a brand new PC is allowed to join a 3 year old dinosaur PC in going into Leviathan to fight Pinhead himself and death is only on the table for the new PC if they choose it to be, then does power level TRUUUULY matter?

Been saying this for a while, but games need to stop being vague about their approach. My own personal feeling is that risk-only-by-consent creates some really bad habits and some really ridiculous no-selling. If the game owners want it to be an Online RPG, then they need to state in the wiki that they will be using hit points, dice, and will be following the system's mortality rules. If not, I suggest the games that just want to be "writing places" get the fuck out of using these systems and use low-maintenance dice systems like FS3. Using systems like WoD/StarWars/etc and then not fully utilizing these systems is confusing to half of the playerbase.

tl;dr: If you're a writing game power levels dont matter and the entire concept of level/xp/etc needs to be done away with altogether. If you're an online RPG, then scenes/events should be explicitly gated for xp/power level and the constraints on PC death should be released. The major difference between a story and a game is that in a game you do not have control over the results of the risks; you can only choose whether or not the risk is worth the reward.

(Weird: point #3 is listed as 3 in my edit but shows as 1 again. Oh well.)

Hubris

So let's talk John Cena.

A long time ago his gimmick was white boy MC from da hood hard times and phat rhymes. He has since gone on to become a movie star who owns a mansion and has been in reality TV.

Now, all of the sudden, he's back as sucka white boy MC slow-jam rap battle heel John Cena, which is pretty much a muscular millionaire wearing a chain around his neck and snapback hats.

So...sign of the end for Cena's relevancy? Not so relevant anymore that he had to dig into a shtick that's over 10 years old?

@bored I dont disagree there about the IPs being attractive. However, the theme of the settings versus the systems used I believe can be separated. Star Wars has had 4-5 different systems used, WoD has had multiple rewrites. TTRPG players often equate specific games with the systems in play, but not necessarily the theme with the system. Vampire: The Masquerade to a gamer is definitely d10s and additional potence dice, but you can still do this with freeform rulesets; I've seen it done.

In fact, we have seen an FS3 star wars game.

I suppose it all depends on whether or not one views the Shadowrun IP as being the whole "the game, the system, the setting, the deluge of d6 rolls, the experience of poring through cyber tech and equipment books..." experience, or if you can divorce certain elements from that and maintain the IP as a setting without it

@Jonah42175 Well, he said he'd turned heel with his little rap song thing.

Which is also breaking kayfabe, which has been pretty elastic for a while now with the WWE anyway.

I can't remember if Cena is Raw or Smackdown (I think Raw), but I haven't seen him since Wrestlemania. We'll know for sure eventually.

@Arkandel said in What is the 'ideal' power range?:

For example would you prefer to play on a MU* where mechanical power uniformity is enforced ("all characters fall within levels 4-6")? Or one where the majority might be levels 4-6 but some (regardless of the method they're chosen) are 8-10?

For MU where writing and inclusiveness is expected for all players at any given time: uniformity.

For MU where the TT RPG elements are enforced and a factor to results: Power levels and gated scene attendance based on "level".

My personal preference is the latter. I'd play in either game, but if it has a system I'd prefer my level 18 Jedi Consular isn't, by system or roleplay, considered to be just as capable as a level 1 Jedi Consular. I prefer to fight level 18 things, prefer TT RPG and sheets, and am of the opinion that most players aren't the best at acknowledging their "level one-ness" in the presence of Level18 PCs. If anything I think gating scenes based on power level to determine "right fit for the scene" may be a bit more honest than simple "whoever signs up first" but this is just my outlook.

Then again, my preference is also to go back to the days of +warn and moderated PVP if warn is ignored.

This jalapeno brisket breakfast burrito.

I love you, jalapeno brisket breakfast burrito.

@Arkandel said in What is the 'ideal' power range?:

Hey, my last 'AHEM THE THREAD IS GOING OFF TOPIC' post of this decade!

So does the existence of PvP/PK and/or a +warn mechanism relate to whether the power curve is normalized (and where) on a game? If so, please carry on. If not let's discuss that in a separate thread.

I think it does, and I apologize if it's taking the conversation in a different direction.

I'm not bringing up PK in a "we should get back to that because I like it" sense, but more in a "if you're going to have power levels, you have to consider that power won't just be some railroad that people get on with a constant rise" sense.

Or, in short: If you're going to consider power levels varying across your playerbase it may be wise to consider a mechanism that will allow for the rise and fall of power levels and the inevitable "class warfare" that may come between power levels.

I think +warn/pk/pvp was/is important to consider if varying power levels are in play because these systems have a way of breaking up parallels. Without loss, loss of power level, pc death, etc the date the PC was created will always maintain that character to be more capable/powerful than PCs made after its creation.

June 2020: Anne joins the game at level 1. Bob is level 5.

December 2020: Anne is level 5. Bob is level 12.

December 2024: Anne is level 30. Bob is level 38.

Any good life cycle requires destruction in the Kali sense

@Auspice I went to a club one night that was doing a pony play fetish showcase.

Nope. Nope. Nope.

"Yeh, Buck, ladies are great n' all but they so much better when they more like horses Yeeeeee-hawwww."

@faraday said in Well, this sums up why I RP:

Still writing to me. So yeah, we'll just have to agree to disagree

Totally. No love lost. Just perspectives.

Also, siiiiick Bab5 reference there, killa.

@Cupcake WHAT THE FUCK? That's ridiculous. Those dudes are seriously just pissing all over that territory.

@TheOnceler said in Well, this sums up why I RP:

@Pandora said in Well, this sums up why I RP:

Nowadays, authors run the risk of getting 'cancelled' for writing anything too far beyond cute bunnies having birthday parties

I must be reading this wrong. Are you suggesting that cancel culture has made it so modern authors are afraid of writing anything 'too far beyond cute bunnies having birthday parties'?

A variant of the term, cancel culture, describes a form of boycott in which someone (usually a celebrity) who has shared a questionable or unpopular opinion, or has had behavior in their past that is perceived to be either offensive or problematic called out on social media, is "canceled"

Have there been modern authors who have been boycotted by people for having different/unpopular opinions or having taken a different direction in content than some random "fans" (airquotes: faaaans) desired?

Yes.

That quote from Pandora's post seems to be "fair ball" in my book.

@Arkandel I do, too. I loved the new opening as well. Its weird how sometimes details actually get hidden in these things. For example, isn't there still one easter egg yet undiscovered in Guardians of the Galaxy 1?

I'm excited for this season. Glad to finally get around to an ending of this story since GRRM couldn't be arsed to finish his books.

@sunny

Women (or anyone) should be able to enjoy themselves without being the unwitting recipient of unrequested sexual pestering and/or guilting, shaming, etc.

Trust me. I know. I've been the recipient of OOC-level forcefulness in regards to OOC communication and threats when it comes to TS, IC relationships, etc. It happened a lot less when I was playing male characters, but I've also been the target of some of the usual suspects when it comes to harassment/unwanted page advances when I was playing a female character and the person didn't know my gender Oocly.

I'm quite aware of what some of you people have had to go through. When that happened to me it was very eye opening and gave me a lot more perspective as to what some people, predominantly women, have had to put up with.

When you're a male playing a female character, and are asking yourself "maybe I need to avoid being alone IC with this person because he doesn't take no for an answer", then it becomes more clear.

@Wretched said in Game of Thrones:

@Ghost I'll see you with both of them in 3019

Dude comes out with a new winery every 2 years in AZ.

Which is kind of funny because GRRM comes out with a new Non-SoiaF book every 2 years, too.

It's almost as if their main gig is secondary.

@sunny Hey, and what works for you works for you. I'm not saying you're wrong to feel the way that you do, but I do disagree that minor incidents aren't escalated into unforgivable drama. There's been plenty of that on MSB.

Getting let out 4 hours early on a Christian holiday when you're not Christian.

I'm shoplifting the fuck outta this resurrection thing.

THANK YOU, ROMAN EMPIRE!