I'd be down for all original supers.
Posts made by Gilette
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RE: Looking for a Pennmush coder
I am excited for an Adult RPG MUSH with Sexually themed topics, and settings!
But seriously, what does this do that Shang doesn't?
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RE: Advice For Anxious ST Novices
Oh, absolutely. If you've got a good core of 3-4 people who'll love the stuff you run, it means you can easily get a few more and grow from there.
Run the stuff you enjoy for the people who enjoy coming along for the ride. You'll never please everyone and trying to do it will just end up diluting your scenes and cramping your fun.
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RE: Advice For Anxious ST Novices
I'd suppose it'd be better to have an 'end state' in mind, but not an ending. Take a basic fantasy plot about slaying a dragon. Will the players slay the dragon and become heroes or will they get bribed with the dragon's gold and fake the death?
Faceless' point is a good one, don't get me wrong. It's important to know where the story is going. But plotting a good RP event is nothing like plotting a story. The ending of Terminator 2 is very powerful, rich with pathos and symbolism, but the whole story has been building to it. It was scripted to happen and everything that was happening earlier in the film was building up that the Terminator would need to sacrifice himself after becoming a father to John Connor. Simply put, outside of some truly serendipitous moments, you can't get that in a RP.
The best plots I've run are where me and a few other players knew how the story would begin and had a general idea for the ending. This PC's beloved NPC will be kidnapped by this PC, and they will have a cool fistfight and rescue them. But how will they get there? Who will they get for help? That's all improvised, but there's enough people who know the general idea that it won't stagnate and die mid-story.
The worst I've run are when I've become too wrapped up in something I thought was cool and wasn't as flexible as I should have been.
The worst I've seen run and participated in are where the STs involved keep their cards close to their chest, spring surprises on everyone, and seemingly have no overarching plan or timetable. A plot that should be done in weeks stretches into months stretches into static death.
Faceless' point about cliques is a good one. I'll just expand it slightly. Don't just accept them into the scene, actually make them feel included. There've been some plots I've participated in where there was a clear clique the plot was for, and some others who weren't stopped from participating but were basically scenery to make that clique feel a bit better. Your usual RP buddies are awesome, certainly - but take the time to make anyone outside that group feel included and that their participation matters. Otherwise, just keep it private.
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RE: Sensitive cultural/political/religious aspects of game themes.
People generally don't want to provide that IC backlash because there are a lot of players who respond to any level of IC backlash with something like 'what the fuck? why do you hate me? this is a bullshit grudge and i'm going to staff about it - wait, no, i'm just going to say you're a toxic player to everyone i meet!'
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RE: Sensitive cultural/political/religious aspects of game themes.
Let's be completely fair to Shang here, though. I'd wager the majority of players there ignore the actual theme and sandbox or talk shit in the OOC rooms. I used to be very active and popular on Shang's grid years ago and, even then, a lot of the stuff existed in a grey area of 'said to be theme but no one actually adheres to it unless someone loudly insists'. But otherwise, I do agree with you, @Thenomain, and a big reason I left was the outcry over people being incredibly upset that the character minimum age was raised. That shitstorm was exploding on every MU* I was active on back then, except the ones who were smart enough to ban all discussion of it.
But now, PenDes - there's a game I truly hate.
Anyway, as far as cultural/political/religious aspects goes... I teach history. It's probably why I take these things seriously. If you're going to set a game in the 40s, then I better see the cultural context. If you're going to set a game in the 40s and tiptoe around issues of race and gender then, hey, don't bother. Set it in modern times. One of the things that does actually aggravate me about games is when theme and 'reality' don't match up, like what @faraday points out with the exceptional becoming mainstream.
At the same time, I do find it a bit distasteful when games sort of treat historical events either too seriously or too insipidly. For the former, see the ridiculous comic where Marvel supervillains weep over September 11. For the latter, see things like Assassin's Creed where World War 2 was a front for some age old conspiracy war. You've gotta handle these things with care.
I'm also of the mind that I'd rather a game put a blanket rule on things like 'no rape, sexual assault, racism, sexism in public areas/channels'. This is mainly because I don't trust MU* players to handle these things delicately enough (or to not lead to a dramabomb when someone who can't stand those things being even mentioned gets wind of them). If you've got a good group then, sure, you can do it in private. But nothing gets me more than feeling like someone is using theme-related -isms to get around their own behavior. Like the argument how Game Of Thrones uses the 'but it's just like history!' to show a lot of tits and misogyny. Don't bullshit me, you just like tits.
A MU* rule where you must be prepared to engage with those aspects is just as weird to me as a rule where those things have no place on the MU or in the setting (particularly if it is, say, a historical setting that maps to IRL history). I don't think either one would stop me from looking at a game to see if I'd enjoy it, but it'd definitely have me wondering what their deal is.
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RE: The Apology Thread
Tabletop is different. Even MMO guild stuff is different. In the first, you know those people and probably have known them before sitting down to play a game. With a MMO guild, it's smaller, more intimate, and you inevitably end up just being more social with those people, probably because a lot of MMO gameplay requires coordinating a bunch of people and trusting each role to know what they're doing. I don't think either maps completely to a MU* environment.
It's not too difficult a mindset. I mean it in the best possible sense when I say that I literally do not care about the player behind the monitor, nor their history anywhere else. Can you RP well, are you fluent in English, are you able to create interesting storylines, and not derail scenes to complain about whatever IRL bugbear has your attention of late? It's all I look for. It's no different to any other sort of hobby activity (hiking, bird watching, martial arts, whatever) where, sure, you'll get along with the people there, but you're there for another reason and, ultimately, you could replace any of those people with anyone else.
Of course, if those activity partners are people you get along with, then they'll become friends.
Hell, if MU*ers were replaced a fancy algorithm that could create poses I find suitable, that'd be enough for me. But that'd require some incredibly advanced tech.
This may be colored by the fact that my evenings, when I'm most likely to be sit down and devote time to a MU, the places are most likely to be virtually dead. If I needed to make social connections as part of my game plan, I'd simply be unable to.
@surreality basically sums up my thoughts, too. I have people on my Steam that I've met through MU*s but that's literally three people over a long, long time.
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RE: The Apology Thread
That's similar to a lot of my experiences. When I see people on MU*s just throwing their Steam profile, real email, and all that stuff up onto what is, essentially, a public forum, I always wonder about what they expect. As every asshole reality TV contestant has said: I'm not on the game to make friends. But sometimes it seems like so many people are there for friends first, game second, even when they know nothing about the other players there.
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RE: The Apology Thread
@ThatGuyThere The allegory of the prisoners in the cave, friend.
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RE: The Apology Thread
So, let's follow this train for a bit. If people are only shown these non-pologies, why do we criticise people who are making an honest attempt at an apology, even if it is flawed? Making a good honest apology is practically a skill in and of itself and, a lot of time, it is much more about the spirit of the thing than it is going over it like a lawyer in court.
I mean, particularly given that a lot of people in this hobby probably aren't the most skilled at social niceties.
But, like @tek says, just because someone apologises doesn't mean I have to forgive them. It's not a cure-all. An apology is just a good start and means nothing if change or improvement doesn't come in its wake.
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RE: Policies
I don't think there's anything wrong with a policy that points out actions taken against a player, like on a bboard. Even if it is as simple as: [Charbit] has been [punished] for [time period] due to [reason that breaks policy]. It is not for the purpose of recrimination or anything like that, but more to illustrate a decision made and to promote transparency over the activities of staff.
But this is mainly because I think the idea of not making punishments publicly known (supposedly to avoid dogpiles) is more to protect the actions and behavior of bad staff.
I'm not sure what policies would turn me away. Like @Ganymede, I'm generally not a fan of providing information. I like seeing a policy that basically says 'TS is fine but keep it to yourself'. If TS is allowed, however, I do not think there should be any characters there below the age of consent.
I think the post @surreality made, about telling other players that it is not their business to play MUSH sheriff is a good one, too. This seems like it needs to be more directly mentioned than it used to be given the prevalence of automatic scene loggers.
I think good MU* policies should be built around fairness, equity and transparency.
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RE: The Apology Thread
Honestly, it's pretty disgusting to see people espousing the virtues of bread but refusing to mention the benefits of toast. Shameful.
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RE: The Apology Thread
I'm sorry to the good people I left behind, along with the plots and planned developments, because the whispers of petty, childish players got too loud to ignore. I'm also sorry to the players whom I didn't believe when those things were brought to my attention. I gave those malignant players the benefit of the doubt, like I did Elsa, when I shouldn't have.
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RE: Coral Springs
This is a very nice place. I've had a few scenes with some friendly, enthusiastic players since getting (promptly) approved and I'm digging the FS3 system which seems simple enough for quick-moving scenes while allowing players enough conceptual space to differ themselves from each other. Glad this showed up at just the right time!
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RE: Coral Springs
Yeah, I have to admit, I'm very impressed with the crazy sorts of characters running about and my perusal of the wiki has got me pretty psyched for the setting (already had a few players to reach out and discuss potential hooks and such). Looking forward to getting stuck in!
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RE: Coral Springs
I've been looking for a superhero game with a small, coherent theme for a while now. CS might scratch that itch. I'll have to see what I can draft up. What's the theme like with stranger than human characters - magical beings, aliens, robots, that sort of thing?
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RE: Marvel Reborn MUX
I've been looking for a superhero game for a while. I'll check this out with an OC when my net's more stable.
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RE: Leadership, Spotlight, and PCs of Staffers
This is precisely my thought about the difficulty of running scenes sometimes. I'm controlling the NPCs, I really shouldn't have my PC get too involved.