Posts made by Ghost

• PC fell off of a building and crashed through the roof of a limo. Survived. (Fortitude. WoD). Minutes later someone shot down a helicopter with an RPG. Helicopter crashes onto limo onto my char. Character dies.
• My player and one other make new characters. Other player is a Malkavian Anti Merc with low humanity and tons of weapons. Mine? Brujah Anti. Scene starts with both waking up on a private jet, mid-flight. I describe my character as Hispanic, from Mexico. Other player starts laughing and shows ST his sheet: INTOLERANCE: MEXICANS. Fight starts. Plane crashes.
• My SO had a Call of Cthulhu PC who sealed a portal to Ithaqua by taking the creepy book used for summoning Ithaqua, ran through the portal, then the portal closed behind her. I play for her character to be a villain in a future game.
• A Tzmisce went blood form and hid inside of my torpored Malkavian with a gaping chest wound. Someone tried to get the Tzimisce out...with a homemade flamethrower

@Misadventure Right. I mean, discovery is important to the mental/high intelligence character. I don't think there's anything wrong with discovery and creation of gadgets, etc, within the confines of the setting.

Where I draw the line:

• Recreating actual scientific discoveries. (Literally repeating Tesla's actual inventions and methodologies). No. You cannot Wikipedia the Edison/Tesla war to invent AC/DC technology or wireless radio. I'm okay with your love of Tesla giving you inspiration, but your character's ingenuity must be of their own design.
• Upgrading the technology level from stone age to extrasolar in weeks. While 5 hours a gaming session is reasonable, these things take time, effort, investment, and may require periods of simply NOT adventuring due to lab hours
• IC development cannot upset the logical power level of a game. I won't allow a game to turn into CYBORGS vs. LAST OF THE MOHICANS. Industrial espionage is a thing and, as a GM, I will use it if I get the sense the foray into discovery/science is being used to create an unbeatable advantage against the PvE aspect of the game.

@Finn

Tardis.

"...dude, I used an industrial facility to make minigun barrels all the time. IT'S NOT THAT HARD, DUDE. I WAS MIXING AMMO WHEN I WAS TEN."

While I approve of sexy Viking maidens with assault rifles...no. Not in my Game of Thrones MU.

@Arkandel Did he have a long beard and refer to himself as "Apothecary Jonas, son of Apothecary Ezekiel, grandson to Apothecary Ishmael?"

One course correction I've had to make from time to time is GOOGLE-BASED CHARACTER SKILLS and SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY WIZARDRY

SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY WIZARDRY​
When a player is playing in a setting where certain tech that exists today doesn't exist. Let's use gunpowder as an example. All of the sudden their character suddenly gets the urge to experiment with charcoal, saltpeter, and sulfur and OOPS they discover gunpowder. Next? Their character will assuredly stumble over the invention of muskets...

Look, it's an RPG, not CivIV. While it may sound interesting to become Copernicus, Tesla, Salk, and Curie all at the same time, the end goal for every player that does this is to gain an advantage over the current tech in the setting. When the end goal is to sack Rome with X-Wing starfighters, the game is broken beyond repair. Knowing this won't stop players from wanting to make this happen, though. It turns into playing with cheat codes, which gets boring.

GOOGLE-BASED CHARACTER SKILLS
Playing in a modern setting with a character with zero points in investigation? LOOK NO FURTHER THAN GOOGLE ICLY! Why bother investing points in certain skills when the player can look up how to make a homemade bleach bomb online, present it to the GM, and claim that their character is capable of following the instructions as means to justify hand-waived skill checks!

I run into this second one CONSTANTLY. Once, an entire CSI website of using homemade chemicals to do detective work was used by a player whose character had few investigative skills as a justification for tracking someone. So they tried to explain rolls weren't needed.

1. Even if following written instructions, an Int+Investigation roll (maybe with a bonus die) would be rolled to determine how well the instructions were followed. There should be no such thing as a complex task that isn't tied to a dice roll. Zipping your pants without castrating yourself doesn't require a dice roll. Wiping your own ass? No dice roll. Following instructions in the Anarchist's Cookbook to mix gasoline and chainsaw oil into a lightbulb to use it as a bomb? Needs a roll, even with instructions
2. THAT SHIT IS METAGAMEY AS HELL (Using investigation as an example) So, you mean to tell me your character with ZERO dice in investigation OR computer would think to browse fucking Tor of all things to get instructions on homemade espionage tools? A zero in computers is your grandmother who still uses AOL, and even she is closer to a 1 in computers than a zero, and just as likely to think to purchase a license to a Swedish server cluster to access the DARKNET. Your character sheet is a reflection of what your C-H-A-R-A-C-T-E-R knows. Not you. I don't care if you're​ OOCly Benedict Cumberbatch and method-acted learning CSI deduction skills for use in fulfilling the roll of Sherlock on BBC. YOUR CHARACTER ISN'T ICly Benedict Cumberbatch and method-acted learning CSI deduction skills for use in fulfilling the roll of Sherlock on BBC.

@Arkandel ...oh my god.

Kinda makes me wonder if there are some people now who have never used a mouse. I mean, it's plausible. If someone only ever owned a laptop, never bought an external mouse, was used to using a trackpad...

DOUBLE POST

Here's the kind of material that actually comes across like a true story to other IT people (actual true story):

So my company had a tier 2 data center where their main power supply failed due to a storm. One of the data center techs miswired the backup UPS to the data center, so when the data tried to fail over to the secondary power supply, it failed. Turns out the guy plugged the backup cabling into the primary instead of the backup. SO...we had this huge network outage, everyone's hair was on fire, and when they go into the data center to fix the problem...the doors were locked.

The doors had an electronic thumbprint security system that was running off of the data center's power supply, so they were locked out. Their shitty cabling setup locked them out from getting INTO the data center to route power to the secondary.

Around that time, the Group Executive (boss's boss's boss's boss) announces on a conference call that he's going to take off his suit and tie, roll up his sleeves, and go down there and fix the problem with his team. The Executive was a SUIT, had zero skills, but those poor bastards had to work with a boss three levels above them directing traffic and cracking the whip. Awkward.

True story.

I can tell that to other IT people and they will not only know I'm not full of shit, but that I actually work in IT

I work in IT.

Spread the fucking word, please.

When you're talking to IT people, never regale them about bullshit tech support stories. I had a guy recently regale me and some others about his time doing desktop support:

• "...so she called me and said her cupholder was broken. I said...cupholder? Lo' and behold I get to her PC and see the CD-ROM drive broken..."
• ...another lady said her mouse wasn't working and when I got there, it was on the floor and she was using it with her feet like a sewing machine pedal..."

NICE TO MEET YOU, GUY. IM A LEGEND, TOO. I AM -THE- GUY WHO DID TECH SUPPORT FOR A LADY WHO WROTE 'CLICK' IN SHARPIE ON HER MONITOR ON TOP OF THE ICON I WAS TRYING TO GET HER TO RIGHT-CLICK!

Repeating these tech stories to other IT immediately paints you as a bullshitter, and potentially someone who takes credit for other people's work. It's no different than repeating the entirety of a Chris Rock or Patton Oswalt comedy routine at a cocktail party, and everyone knows you're just repeating someone else's material.

There's only three thing women need in life: Food, Water, and Compliments.
MAAAAAN when did white people get less crazy?!?

++ So I told the flight attendant 'Like hell I'll get on the plane, I'm getting IN the plane LOLOLOLOLOL ++

Look, the chances that you're the true originating source of the cupholder, mouse wheel, or write 'CLICK' story is about 0.004%. Even if you were, it's old news, everyone in IT has heard them, and while it might work at your church or cocktail parties, it's still low hanging fruit and makes you look like a jackass.

Please spread the word. New material is needed for stealing.

Edit: added gif. Typos. Badass airplane joke that George Carlin stole from me.

WoD is like Cheerios.

You ate it for 20 years and then switched to something far more superior, like Honey Bunches of Oats.

After a few years of HBoO, you will see your ex-girlfriend cereal, Cheerios, on the rack at a store. HEY. 20 years of Cheerios, why not right.

You invite them Cheerios over. Pour milk onto them. Put them in your mouth..

...and then you realize, past the point of no return, that you're committed at least to that one tryst with Cheerios, and that you didn't really miss it that much.

WoD can totally be like regretful ex-sex.

@Ganymede said in Course Corrections:

But I try because I know that the pop-culture references aren't really found in the BSG world.

Yeah but BSG also had people singing the actual lyrics to Dylan/Hendrix's "All Along the Watchtower" ,which blows the whole fuckin' argument out of the water.

My point, really, was this. I don't wish the LegoPlayer any ill will, nor did I from the get go. I agree that the big problem was being reported to staff as being a harassment case when I was just trying to get a feel on her level of understanding the canon material and offer my services as a support source.

For whatever reason (Bad past experiences? Bitchy person? I don't know or care), she took it as hostility and chose to react to it with hostility.

MORAL OF THE STORY:

1. If you're playing on a game with a certain kind of canon setting (Battlestar, 100, Firefly, etc) and you don't know the setting very well, be reasonable with people who try to help you learn the setting. 9/10 times they're just sharing Intel on a setting they love.

2. If you're playing on a game with a specific canonical setting, and you see someone who doesn't seem to know it, approach them politely, try to share your knowledge, but don't automatically assume that they don't give a fuck. Your delivery when attempting to course correct matters every bit as much as how they choose to respond to it.

People care about setting. They can't cry with a faker present, so if you don't know the setting, take the time to learn what you can about it. It's conscientious to the other players on the game.

CLARIFICATION ON MY LEGO-LASS EXPERIENCE

It was on an older, now extinct BSG game that no longer exists.

It basically went like this:

• Her Viper pilot had LEGGO and ZORBing as skills, both trademarked names in current Earth continuity.
• She was making RL pop culture references
• TBH I should have questioned more that staff approved her character with these skills as a means to gauge their adherence to canon.
• My motivation wasn't to shame her for having those skills and making pop culture references, but moreso to offer my knowledge of the setting to help her to better fit in with the players (no, this is not bullshit. I swear. I like my genre to stay in genre for my own reasons, but really, sought to help)
• We chatted and I asked her if she'd seen the show. She said no. I asked if she planned on it, which she said NO to as well.
• I explained (spoilers) that BSG takes place thousands of years before Earth history, so trademarked names, pop culture references to stuff like Star Wars, haven't happened yet. So I politely clarified that this isn't in Earth's future, but it's past.
• She barked at me via pages for harassing her (this was approx 10 pages, and she hadn't told me to stop paging her, there was no bitchy language), and then complained about me to staff.
• Staff reached out to me and basically told me "we agree with you but to keep things calm, give her some room"
• I gave her room, moved on.

@Ganymede Agreed. "Unthemely" is sometimes in the eye of the beholder, but there are some times where unthemely is unthemely.

• Spock uses his lightsaber to attack a Dalek.
• Battlestar Viper pilot plays with Legos (which won't be invented for 30,000+ years)

Best you can do is either comment to staff as a side note and see if the staff wants to nudge the player. You could nudge the player yourself, though even if you do so politely, you run the risk of being treated like you're calling WRONG FUN.

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.

Whatever. Push comes to shove you can just choose to role-play around the players who have no interest of theme or of learning the theme enough to be accommodating to other players.

@Shaggy said in Which canon property/setting would be good for a MU* ?:

I know of someone who might be working on this one, fingers crossed and all things going well.

Agreed. I would love to see this setting. One thing that I think will be key is if the level of grit and brutality, as well as that 'wandering Kung Fu badass' energy is captured in a bottle. While that setting is, in its own way, about the setting, the point that makes that show so great is about the conflict. I would hate to see this setting devolve into mayors and community building, which runs the risk of turning into post apocalyptic playing house, which didn't do see well for some zombie games. So, in summary, I really hope that genre gets captured and the Into the Badlands energy is bottled up.

Into the Badlands, not Little House on the Badlands

I'll be keeping my eyes open for it.

Edit:(AFTERTHOUGHT One thing that did the early Battlestar games so well was that BSG was on Netflix in it's entirely around the time the games were out. Staff could tell players to go watch the first few episodes on Netflix to understand the feel, the imagery, and the general idea. In a point for Into the Bandlands' favor... it's on Netflix. Woo.

Ghost swings from a weave, lands, pulls out flintlocks.

"AHA! Hands up, ya filthy motherf-kars!"

All of the prostitutes lift their hands.

"No...the...other motherf-kars!"

Please Brothel Gunfight PLEAAAASE

"GAWDDAMNIT, IAN GET OFF HER!" Flintlocks.

@Arkandel said in Strange Game Dev Inquiries from surreality (condensed):

I've read some TS logs over the years. It don't impress me much.

-Arkandel, elitist to the naughty end.

You ever looking to read some top notch TS...look me up.

Edit: I'm joking. You're safe. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE

@kitteh SOOOORY...

A mermaid player
A player of mermaids
A mermaid who plays mermaids.

Mermaids have feelings, too, and I assure you that I would never do such a thing.

Because mermaids also have access to the kraken, sharks, and schools of jellyfish and hell hath no fury like a mermaid scorned.

@Arkandel said in Strange Game Dev Inquiries from surreality (condensed):

@kitteh said in Strange Game Dev Inquiries from surreality (condensed):

As a current mermaid player

I totally read that the wrong way.

I play mermaids all the time.

What they gonna do, come up onto land, find my apartment, and knock on my door if I don't call back?

Don't hate the playa...

@Roz said in Strange Game Dev Inquiries from surreality (condensed):

but I admit the attitude of "it's totally cool if people wanna get their RP freak on, but it's kind of weird that they'd ever post it" doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.

Agreed. I like to think, in theory, that nothing ever happens on the game that should be kept OOCly secret. Not that I'd ever mandate NSFW RP is required to be posted, but simply I'd like to think it's all part of the story, and if the story involves NSFW content, it's really no different than any other log.

Then again, I don't care about posting NSFW content because any bit of RP I do isn't personal to me on an OOC level. It's a story about characters and team-based creative writing.

Constructively? I think a lot of people don't post NSFW content logs for the following reasons (again ghost wit the lists...)

• Potential weird feelings of OOC exposure, like there's something OOC personal about the scene, or perhaps they don't want an internet footprint trail going back to RP either of the players' significant others might get upset about (cyber cheating?)
• The potential assumption of being judged on the quality of content
• The potential assumption that it'll be accepted as creepy, or that it'll draw in creepers searching to get in on the TS?
• Avoiding the TS/slut shaming culture altogether.

As far as I'm concerned, people should post what they RP. The good the bad, the ugly, the sexy. We're all the same kind of nerd, here, and I think we can all agree that NSFW is fun.