@Botulism I have made my desire to play old asylum very vocal but I'd play any of those stories with gladness and glee.
The 20XXs War of the Worlds made me terrified of that..noise. The one all the movie trailers abused after. That one is kinda bone chilling to me.
Horror MUX has had one present day story. The first. Then it was 2149 on a space station. Then 1902 in the dying Old West. Then 1989 through the 80s horror film lens. Soon: 1934, Dust Bowl.
I think the cyclical nature of the game lends itself well to period settings, I feel. We aren't there long enough to fret too much about accuracy or long term issues. I love, love, love historical settings so I'm terribly happy.
I was able to get onto the site and I am very curious about one thing.
Why the ban on amputees? PIs and Bartenders, whatever. Word, word. But did they have a wave of amputee apps and had to be like. STOP. All limbs now.
Just curious.
To correct @Auspice, the event TONIGHT 8pm EST / 5pm PST is for The Noc.
@mietze I picked up a character after about two months down and I thought I was having a hard time. Good on you! Have fun!
@auspice Ahhhh, I remember him. If he was Custodius, good riddance. Either way, bro was totes missing the point.
@surreality, you know I'm a big fan and cheerleader of yours but yeah, I had wondered if something odd was going on for a while. I didn't suspect that you had a nasty little birdy in your ear. As someone who often trucks with nasty little ear birds*, I get it. You are doing the right thing by owning up and apologizing. It's not easy. Being so, so wrong on a large scale is enough to make anyone sick.
I get nauseous after most negative interactions (No matter how minor) with people on the internet but I'm a nervous wuss.
Anyway, you still got my pom-poms.
***About that asterisk up there...***
I got roped into a trial of Skillshare by a Youtuber and I watched a course on writing characters. (Because making characters is life) Without blowing the guy's whole course, he presented a simple three-point method in creating characters.
Likeability: How likable are they? Asshole? Saint? Just plain affable?
Competency: How good are they at what they do. Sherlock Holmes? Bumbling oaf?
Activity: How active are they within the story? Hip deep in the action? Lazing about the bar?
He goes on about how a character can arc and grow out of their weaknesses but something else came to mind in relation to this particular hobby. We engage in cooperative storytelling. It's not writing in a bubble. So, in my mind, this whole method has issues. If I create an unlikeable, will anyone want to play with me? If I go low on activity, can I even play within plots? On the flipside, an incompetent character can be really fun and even a competent character on paper might roll terribly and come off as a failure unintentionally. (My psychic was stacked as fuck but rarely rolled well. I wound up leaning into it and having him think he was way more amazing than anyone ever saw.)
So I'm sitting here, wondering to myself: Can I make an unlikeable character? Can I make a low activity one? Is this viable in roleplay and if so, how do I make this magic happen?
I'm gonna just toss out this other, possible reason for the retention of toxic players in the community. Only because it's how I think and it's part of the reason I try not to hold grudges.
We are a small community, split already by various fandoms and RPG systems. I can usually count my regular RP partners on one hand at any given time since I joined up. And no. They are rarely the same folks, as far as I know. I always think to myself: "Is it in my best interest to hang on to my anger at this player from X game or do I just want to play?"
Now, I have been fortunate to have never been in tight with any high profile toxic players. I am always on the fringe of any given clique. I have had a few close calls with known creepers but again, I got lucky. Outside of known problematics, there is only one player I will not associate with. This person is boring, unoriginal, clingy and vindictive. I don't think they post here but I won't name and shame. If I happen upon this player, I cross the figurative street to keep away from them. At the same time, I don't go out of my way to find out if we are in the same circles. Mainly because I'll know the second they pose but still...
I'm rambling. TL;DR: I stick with players because I want someone to play with. I'm sad like that.
I had a thought about the Activity portion as I was reminded about the purpose of the three prong method. Character development.
I can see playing a character who begins as 'inactive'. The sort that chills in the bars or chitchats on the street with randos. All until a monster rampages the coffee shop or swarms of rats flood his street. It's a classic call to action and now ChillBro has to act!
Same can be said for an Unlikable or Incompetent. Get nice. Learn. Shake and bake character development.
Him. This guy. I come from RPing in WoW. I met him and he, who could sell me ice if I were an eskimo, talked me into trying a nWoD MU. This was in 2010/'11. So. Thanks, bro.
@saosmash That's exactly the word I stole from here to use to talk to normals.
I would say no to it being video game because of the collaborative nature of the story and plot. I keep thinking of a story heavy, lo-ish fi video game like Fallout 1. And I think, how would the experience change if another person was on the other end of that NPC. A person with a countless ideas on how the conversation should go and you have no direct control over it.
Because, no matter the system, when you are in a scene, the other play can type back anything. You think you are chatting about pets over coffee when suddenly BOOM. They have blown your head off. To further my point, you don't get to step aside after making a bad choice in a video game and save to the NPC, "Hey, you know what...I shouldn't have said that. Let me try again?"
So. No. It's improv, to use a more common term.
EDIT: @Apos There is a video game out now, A Blind Legend that is aimed at the visually impaired. They are taking advance of high quality 3D audio. So, while it's just one game, there is innovation happening.
@Kay Hunters got swept away into the Mists. So sorry!
@flitcraft said in criticism not allowed in ad threads is only enforcing a false positive, prove me wrong:
@goldfish said in criticism not allowed in ad threads is only enforcing a false positive, prove me wrong:
As for my opinion: Straight up, I really think that if you want to criticize the game being advertised, open up a thread in the Hog Pit and do it there.
...
And locking also blocks out positive feedback. I know I go on HorrorMU's ad thread to evangelize when there is an update and positivity is NOT a bad thing. It's an awesome thing and we all could use more of it.Allowing 'positive feedback' in public and walling off criticism behind an opt-in forum that lots of people don't read (because it's mean) or don't know about is bad policy. It defeats half the purpose of the community.
You're right. I reread my post and it's a double standard and it's no better. Bad Goldfish.
I just finished a post about this, which brought up a question that I will ask here.
Is there something different about Mage between nWoD and CoD that draws out less of that...pedantic bullshit Mage players are known for?
I recall taking forever to learn to cast without like, frantic notes and math and eventually I created a whole damn spellbook that was basically a quick guide to my abilities and how to roll and what I might use it for, etc. Alllll of that, but I don't remember having the same problems with other players on Fallen World as I did in nWoD games. I don't recall the awful fights over X spell or Y spell or extended hanging whatnot jobs.
Amnesia? Rose colored glasses? Or did something change?
I will say, word to @Derp. Mages need things to do. They have a lotta toys and accommodating those toys has to be just impossible for any storyteller.
@skew said in Changeling: The Lost Update [CofD]:
@Kay said in Changeling: The Lost Update [CofD]:
@skew ... What did poor Theno do that you want to put that on him?
Gather round, let us tell the story of @Thenomain the wise!
Back in the Golden Days of The Reach... No, not the actual ones. The ones that came after the actual ones. Thenomain was on Head Staff, and many a player went to him for arbitration. On account of his inability to remember names or past experiences, he was always neutral. His pedantry ensured the conversations were detail orientated. Players felt they could simply present an issue and not have emotions and the like weighed into it. Thing happened, thing was bad, yes or no, let Thenomain decide!
Which is my snarky ass way of saying Thenomain is a good listener and is highly capable of sorting out other people's choices and problems.
Cosigned. When I was a young Goldfish and The Reach's Geist Lead (lolololololololololol) - It fell to me to arbitrate if a player got pregnant or not. It was an awful, awful, icky thing. But Theno helped me. My memory's terrible but I do remember his even-handedness in figuring it out.
Thanks, @Thenomain
Staffing has it's assorted bullshit but I love, love, love being able to make players happy. Fix a sheet. Inform of a bonus. Do some storytelling. The imagined smiles on their faces make all the other crap worth it. Always has. Happy players are my lifeblood so I do what I can to make that happen.
@surreality I can cosign this.
I don't think it's a surprise to say that each recycled archetype's player brought something different and interesting to their version of the Archetype, not to mention that the story shapes the archetype as well.
I play The Confidant and I've been around since Season 1. He's been everything from and EMT to a Sheriff and Psychologist to a Model turned Film Student. The Carnival has him as probably a Knife Thrower, in addition to the Blind Norse god Hodr. All the stories have taken place in a different time period too. Again, my 2018 EMT is very different than my 1900s Sheriff's Deputy.
I like to think that I've maintained a thread of similarities through each story that is unique to me as a player. For instance, I choose a male to play a Confidant, which I see as a nurturing role. Men aren't commonly cast as nurturers so that by itself has been fun, especially in the historical settings when men were men and here's the Confidant, listening to your problems and giving you that hug you totes need.
I figure if The Confidant can be pried from my hands, someone else is going to have a totally different approach to him.
@Tinuviel One or two bartenders, sure. Amputees? I mean...that's kinda weird. And this is coming from me who plays disabled characters on the regular. Though, if I did play at GH, I'd play able bodied. Be a real renegade.
As a player who has been singing the praises of Horror Mu and has been with the experiment since story one, it's really cool to read your insights and learnings. I've been having a great time while we try one new thing or another. I've been experimenting myself with different angles of my archetype (The Confidant) in combination with different flaws and personality quirks.
The short nature of the stories and the lives of the characters in the stories make it a good place to try out ideas and concepts as a player. I'm still death-adverse but I think at this point, that's just my own personality issue. I know death isn't The End but I am squishy and get attached. That said, it won't stop me from taking risks or throwing myself into The Danger. Because despite my feels, a good story is a good story. Even a tragic one.
I'm so glad you've been running this game and I hope you keep going as long as the creative train keeps moving. And I'll ride as long as you'll have me.
