Posts made by Ghost

@Roz I thought she came after S&S right at the beginning when Elf was at the helm

Anyone remember e-Feds? Online roleplaying sites where you roleplay dice-based professional wrestling matches and roleplay the drama surrounding the make-believe wrestling television programs?

I just read that WWE has, at times, sent cease-and-desist letters to online e-feds where their copyrighted characters were being used.

No Rey Mysterio for you.

I was thinking about this, thanks to @faraday and her other thread, but I've heard mention of some RPG/IPs that are pretty much verboten (either by the creators or holders of the IPs) from becoming RPG games/MU*/etc.

I know a few that come to mind, but can anybody think of others?

• A Matrix M* was shut down after receiving a cease-and-desist from FOX
• I know Mercedes Lackey has no desire to see any of the contents her books recreated in RPG/M*/etc form (she's a very nice person and I totally understand her reasoning)

Any others?

@faraday One other concern: IP/Licensing. I know the last place I heard of being slapped with a cease-and-desist was a Matrix MU around the time the Matrix Online was about to release, but I sometimes wonder if the reason we don't see a lot more of this(because, let's face it, some MUs have a LOT of copyrighted material that isn't creative-commons in stored +help files, etc) is because the actual internet-side presence of this material isn't where it's stored.

I'm just throwing out things I think that may be relevant to the creation of said environment. It would probably be safest to use FS3 or other creative-commons IPs.

So, in theory, website support plus web-interface could allow for easy access to character sheets, dice rolling systems, visuals, etc. I think the major question, @faraday is: "Are you recreating something that already exists, like Roll20?"

What about this project would be different from just running a mush out of Roll20 and tying in discord chat? I think there's some things that could be done to revolutionize the MU format, but I think the only thing Roll20 doesn't have that MU does is a better pose-based environment. Roll20's chat interface is very MiRC.

I'd just hate to see you do a whole lot of work and then come to the realization that there are some current online tabletops like Roll20/D20 Pro have tooks for this sort of stuff.

@Arkandel Maybe it has something to do with the fact that Comic Books tend to stretch the bounds of their own canon far, far more than most fantasy settings do:

SuperMechaWolf? Oh, he didn't die, well not really. The first time his head was crushed, that was a clone put in place by Dr. Defenstro. The second time, he was resurrected by the Crystal People, but it turned out that was another clone and that all along he was in Dr. Defenstro's underground dungeon. Then he broke out and FINALLY met up with his one true love, WOMAN-WOMAN, and got shot with a Apollyonite bullet, which killed him...

...but then in "Shadows of the Underpass IV" it shows how he went through hell, then heaven, and was given a second chance by God provided that he come back and focus on fighting racial injustice.

Seeing as how I've used FS3 and your log cleaner(and think both are great), if anyone can pull this off, it's you.

Go 4 it.

@WTFE said in Looking for a Pennmush coder:

@Ghost said in Looking for a Pennmush coder:

What's creepier is that she's using MY RL picture as HER Facebook photo.

What the fucking fuck

That's your photo?

You married? Happily? If so, do you have a twin sister who isn't?</icky>

Well, I'm personally a mid-30s male who is happily involved, but hang on, I'm going to need a little time to find the right girl on Chatroulette to take a screenshot of and try to pass her off as my sister.

What's creepier is that she's using MY RL picture as HER Facebook photo.

What the fucking fuck

@Coin I think I've got most of the Noguchi story, from the original avp graphic novel, the novels, and I've got the THREE WORLD WAR on digital

@SG I know like...45 people who love to build wikis. I'm not one of them, but @GirlCalledBlu @surreality and some others might be willing to give you pointers or help you find someone to be a wiki maven.

@SG I'm looking forward to seeing what you've put together. Good luck.

@Cupcake said in Generic sci fi game.:

I may be misreading your tone, but it was difficult not to read it as being derisive and condescending of the idea I proposed

Was it a quote/reply to your comment, or are you going out of the way to try and make someone else's independent comment about you?

Phrases like "If you're polling for interest" should be a sign that it's not about your comment, too.

Haha this would never happen, but here's a hyper-focused game setting:

EVERYONE HAS SLEPT WITH YOUR CHARACTER

One player is the proverbial lynchpin connecting every other character in the game. The player, a disease-free, mild-mannered employee of a boring job, recently wakes up from an unspoken brush with death to find two key things to be true

1. The only characters he hasn't slept with are NPCs
2. He can't remember any of it.

This is where, in my mind, the game becomes more fun for the other players. Thru roleplay and other plot models on the game, this one character would come to learn that he/she has slept with:

• A Mobster's wife
• The Chief of Police
• A former Dallas Cowboys Quarterback
• Whoever the fuck the Betty White PB is
• A vicious Black Panther activist...and their spouse. Separately. Secretly
• A serial killer
• Three members of an underground sign-spinner crime ring slash cult that ties to an ancient entity that sleeps beneath the city, waiting to be awoken
• A shape shifting alien who performs on the side as Spider Man at children's birthday parties, who is mad as hell that the character won't acknowledge a potted plant as his/her child
• An entire collegiate women's volleyball team, who has since split into two teams: one team that wants to kill him/her, and another team who wants to save his/her life
• Nunchuck Ministry Squad(tm)
• A sentient human-sized sewer rat who works for the mafia
• A clown/mime Renaissance Festival enthusiast who chooses to identify as Wolverine from the X-men

AvP by Dark Horse was badass.

Machiko Noguchi for the god-damned win.

I have this d20 pre-Saga Star Wars RPG book that has 100 adventure ideas in it. I still use it, or something like it, to keep ideas fresh. I will roll a d100 and make it work.

One thing I might ALSO suggest is getting some spreadsheets together, or use Google sheets to share them with staff, that contain similar concepts for your roles.

Guards/Security
Command
Medical
Engineering
Agricultural
Etc

Make a list of as many 1-week or more plot ideas for each group. Example:

Medical
1 - a flu sweeps through the ship
2 - an NPC breaks a limb and something worse is discovered in the x-rays
3 - an NPC goes out into the wilderness and comes back with an unknown sickness that must be researched, potentially quarantined, etc

Then, on a fixed timeline, roll some dice to randomly select weekly plot ideas, make an IC report from the Captain (or whatever) and keep people roleplaying. Keep them from being comfortable. There's WORK to be done, and they are not guaranteed to pass each test. Sometimes the guy in quarantine needs to die to give them something to obsess on being ready for next time, or reach out to command, guards, and agricultural staff to try to find the source of, etc.

With a good Playerbase, this'll keep em busy

@SG I think it's a workable premise.

One thing I do when I run TT (or if I ever had the time/nerve to run a MU) is I never let the characters get too comfortable. Comfort equals players falling back on fulfillment through 1-on-1 TS/relationship roleplay, simulating relationships as a primary form of RP, and IC relationship drama that spills out into OOC drama because there isn't much to do. Worst of all, that kind of boredom comfort RP isn't largely something the Playerbase can share with each other, and god knows how so many of us hate BAR SCENE #43444223

So, whatever you do, think ahead of time about defined roles for characters. What would their responsibilities be? What kind of plots would involve these roles, and what range of PrP or daily life stuff within these roles be pertinent enough to keep the players from focusing solely on who they're sleeping with.

The Battlestar games had a good heading on this. There was, at times, plenty of training, flight simulators, mechanical, planning, brig, etc RP. Best yet? There were no private quarters or eating spaces, so plenty of bunkhouse and cafeteria roleplay, hell even communal shower time roleplay, was shared.

Roles. Responsibilities. Stuff to do. Go in with a plan for this stuff.

I second the planet already being colonized and/or alien covenant.

I don't wanna RP SPACE HOUSE without the distinct possibility that I might have to bury my SPACE WIFE because she failed a clutch roll and ended up dying due to SPACE MOLECULAR ACID eating off her SPACE FACE.

But, in the interest of gender equality, I'm more than comfortable to let my SPACE WIFE wear the SPACE PANTS

(If you're polling for interest) I, for one, would NOT be interested in a space colonization game unless it involved some other larger overplot, such as something survival horror, war, or other action-based dramatics.

Not really looking to get stuck in a sandbox of boys and girls playing HOUSE in a space setting. I would need more than playing house and the assumption that one-on-one relationship "character building" is a worthy substitute for my time and effort.

@ixokai said in Generic sci fi game.:

I want my characters story to begin and end in a meaningful way, not end in an arbitrary point because a meta-story is now done, even if my personal story has gaping holes I didn't fully address or solve

That's why I think that a story that actually ends would be the one to grant you a beginning, middle, and end.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that a very, very small number of char-stories actually resolve in this hobby. Most games either get shut down, or people leave, flake off, characters come and go, or IC romantic partners disappear for 4 weeks and come back having made an alt to bang some PC with A HEMSWORTH as a PB.

In theory, if done right, an anthology game, with some planning and care/consideration, could assist players in finding ways to make their arcs in the "season", so to speak, being meaningful.

Edit: I'm just throwing out ideas. New formats. Things people could try. That's all.

If I ran/GMed for an anthology game, I'd have players state information about what kind of arc/story they're angling for. Perhaps they apped in with someone else as a married couple. If the season ran, say, 6 months, staff could help throw some things their way to challenge/involve that relationship, and then provide room in the end for resolution.