@Derp You know you're a zen master when you no longer have the urge to throw your controller while playing Souls games.
You know you're a masochist when you look forward to new Souls games like Sekiro or Elden Ring.
You know you're ready to be a parent when you view death/respawning in Souls games as another opportunity and not as fuckThisFuckingGameImDone.
Love me some Souls.
The skill list in my head is amazing. Super important skills like:
@surreality I know 
Deadly Class was one of the few newer shows that I was genuinely in love with. Now I'm gonna have to buy it on disc.
@SG LOLOLOL BRING YOUR CHILD TO WORK DAY
"Meet my son, boss! His name is Joseph."
And another Joseph.
Another Joseph.
Another Joseph.
A GIRL NAMED JOSEPH
EDIT: Corrected Josef to Joseph. Mentioned Mengele earlier. 
@Ghost Viktor and Petra are my jam, especially after watching interviews with the actors.
Yeah. Viktor and Petra are the shit, too. Man, that finale. I was looking forward to seeing how they were gonna make it through that one thing that happened...
By they I mean Petra and Billy, who I think are a great ship.
On second thought, this idea could also become WORKING A NORMAL ASS JOB IN A NORMAL ASS OFFICE MUX
Orange Cassidy is the most fun thing to happen to Pro Wrestling since Joey Ryan's dong.
@Ganymede haha 
good stuff.
Gotta hang on to that part of you that can turn a broomstick into a Jedi lightsaber that is the one tool of defense standing between the Rebel Alliance and the Empire, led by Darth Vader, who is your little brother, Steve.
Broomsticks are boring, but with some fun...
I just ordered shrimp fried rice and a Sprite.
Fuck yeah.
I think the trick to encouraging STs is to provide some kind of benefit that isn't monetary (IC money, XP, equipment) but also doesnt excessively make them a VIP (your own private Star Destroyer, 5th generation Brujah, OP feature characters like Luke Skywalker or Optimus Prime).
But I can think of a few cool perks, like:
Just ideas. The point is that rewards dont necessarily have to help you be above other players, but also don't need to put you into some higher caste.
@Arkandel I've been in my current IT Ops group for over 7 years now, and here is my advice:
Build a team who can do the job.
What you're in is a Catch-22 with your politics. At the end of the day, IT is about skills and experience. It's a Catch-22 because if you take a female candidate who isn't as skilled as another male candidate, your team will suffer. If you give a woman a bump out of bias, then you're not hiring her solely for her skills, which isn't right either. At the end of the day, all you can do is build your team with the best people you can get, and if that ends up being a diverse team? Great. If not? It was the applications you had available at the time.
You will know, deep inside, if you hired the wrong candidate for the wrong reasons. It may work out, it may not, but you'll always feel it in your gut.
I work with a fairly diverse culture. Plenty of men and women, and many from China, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Japan, Russia, and Canada. I can tell you that not a one would be alright with having gotten a sort of socio-political bump over their skill set to support their gender/culture/religious tropes.
A good IT boss looks for skills and chemistry. Be a good boss, put together your elite squad, and then whatever mix of cultures and genders you end up with, be supportive of them. Also, whatever you do, never mention their diversity as a deciding factor in the interviews. They'll love you for being excited about their brains.
@faraday You may be right. I'm just spitting out ideas.
Ideally people run plot for others because they enjoy telling stories. However if it feels too much like putting on a performance, maybe another approach would be to try putting together writing groups and instead of an "event" it's 5 people, each a GM and a writer, rotating GM-work and throwing each other plot twists mid-scene.
@Sparks @faraday Just wanna pop in and say that I, in no way, was saying that or had any malice. Politics is just probably the base word to use, but I'm not that guy that groks too much on the whole Convservative vs. Liberal shit.
Like you, I don't want to have to prove my technical capabilities against anything that I was born into. I don't assume anyone has to prove anything other than whether or not they can do the work, which is any job, really.
My job entails scripting, documentation, environment detailing, and writing of process. I've got a guy on my team who has somehow been coasting for 7 years by doing business as usual changes and has no capability (and has never done) of doing any of those things. It's unbelievable. I'd gladly see him replaced with someone who will, and frankly don't care what gender, nationality, or religion that person is.
I'll never say or suggest that someone has to prove their skill/worth in spite of who they are. Logically, though, any hiring manager has to weigh their responsibility to hire the best candidate for the job against the weight of any cultural biases they may have. That is a balancing act.
I said the same thing everyone else did: choose the right people/good team.
@saosmash said in Incentives for RP:
I love running stuff FOR people but I find it kind of intimidating also because tailoring something to someone, you either have to know them really well, or be magic?
^this is important to the topic. Very.
I know I mentioned pages back, but people can be judgmental. A good number of people are happy to have plot run for them, but there's those vocal ones who will sit through an entire session, rules lawyer the fuck out of a scene, and then say things that sound like a 1-star Yelp! review from the perspective of someone who actually paid for a product.
"Yeah, it would have better if you'd have let me use my parkour skill more. I don't get why you didn't want to go full combat..."
We've seen some "meh" on Hog Pit about people not THANKING people for running scenes, complaints about railroaded scenes, etc. Players have really good ideas (and many opinions) as to what they like and don't like.
(Hey, wanna circle back to inclusiveness? Sure)
This is probably because people get used to running plots and scenes with their go-to players and GMs. You get so used to a style that different styles or approaches might seem neat to one person, but rather "GOD DAMNIT, CAROL, YOU KNOW I DON'T LIKE KETCHUP ON MY HOT DOGS WTF" with others.
It can be very intimidating, which makes it all the more fucking important to be gentle and caring for the people taking their time to run a free night of entertainment for players in a scene that doesn't really further their own characters.
@Sparks said in Accounting for gender imbalances:
it came across as his choice to step away from the conversation rather than do so.
Just an FYI. I did not step away as a decision rather to do so, but that I saw the conversation was becoming a minefield and that expounding on my viewpoints (whether or not people were going to agree with them) wasn't worthwhile.
I think that sometimes when people dissect posts for signs of ugly thoughts/feelings without really asking them what their viewpoint is, the end result is a scenario where upset people are seeking a sort of submission to whatever their perceived (and often negative) assumptions are. The assumption of having been educated or agreeing with one's viewpoint ends up being more important than the conversation, itself.
If you'd like to ask me in private what my views are, or would like to discuss, you know how to find me. It would probably be more productive.
@Taika said in If you work hard, son, maybe someday you'll RP:
takes notes Writing a 'Spirit of the Game' is one of the things on my to-do list for CoS.
Careful, because here's something to keep in mind:
If you're writing a "spirit of the game" or "what this game is and if you don't like it please don't join" concept, you should probably consider a policy as to how this is handled. There's a high probability that someone may still join and say "Don't wrongfun me, just leave me alone and let me do my thing" or "Trust me, this anime concept will work, you'll see."
Probably a good idea to know/state how you intend to deal with that.
ETA: I personally believe games would be better off for doing this in the long run (because, really, you don't demand that Lil John gets played at a Cowboy bar; ya just don't), but expect growing pains.
@ZombieGenesis said in Dead Celebrities 2019:
@ghost You know Wade Bogg's is still alive, right? Or is this an Always in Sunny thing...?
Would I post a thing related to Always Sunny in Philadelphia? Moi?
Season 10, Episode 1: The Gang Beats Boggs
12 players across 6 different spheres can potentially make for an exciting 2 players per sphere.
sidebar: I just cooked some math in this thread.
Random thought:
"I wonder if Data from Star Trek ever became sentient enough to be sick of his job, and then had to go to the retirement ceremonies for Picard, Riker, Troi, and LaForge. Then by the time they got around to Wesley Crusher's retirement he was like: Yanno what? Fuck you guys."