@mietze The ICK factor for me is... NPCs are different than PCs. Usually that means they have some plot-purpose for the wider game or they may have different stats or something.

If a staff-player wants to get some TS on with their perfectly normal PC alt (or just have some light chit chat over coffee or whatever else to get a break), that's a-ok. Not everybody can run big meaty plot scenes with all their time and needing to indulge their own personal interests is normal, should be no shame in that.

But staff breaking out the Vampire Prince to go have sexy times with a specific player or whatever else... that's gonna make a lot of people uncomfortable and best just avoided. If it does become crucial to seduce a powerful NPC, just FTB and move on.

@phase-face Isn't that kind of like The Network? https://thenetwork.mugames.org/wiki/home

@kanye-qwest that's why its important to learn to recognize one's biases and staff can recuse themselves if a situation comes up where their bias would affect how they deal with a player.

MUSHes aren't paying staff. They're volunteers and need their own fun times too. If you're on a game where you can't trust staff to fairly enforce the games rules to all players, find a different game.

@juniper the message should really be more "Don't join random discord servers out of the blue."

At least the request i got was from a contact I hadn't spoken with in 2 years and we'd definitely never spoke about any shared interests in Baymax, so immediately phishy.

If a message or link seems weird but you trust the sender, try to confirm through a second mode of communication if you're able to. And otherwise just trust your gut about if a message seems like a phishing attempt because those things are rampant.

@arkandel was anybody talking with friends about Baymax servers? It was just a message of 'hey, join my server!' And the link, but no lead up of what the server was about and why you would be interested?

Things can come from a friend that is still out of the blue.

@arkandel was anybody talking with friends about Baymax servers? It was just a message of 'hey, join my server!' And the link, but no lead up of what the server was about and why you would be interested?

Things can come from a friend that is still out of the blue.

@juniper the message should really be more "Don't join random discord servers out of the blue."

At least the request i got was from a contact I hadn't spoken with in 2 years and we'd definitely never spoke about any shared interests in Baymax, so immediately phishy.

If a message or link seems weird but you trust the sender, try to confirm through a second mode of communication if you're able to. And otherwise just trust your gut about if a message seems like a phishing attempt because those things are rampant.

Shadowrun's a game I always wanted to try but never got around to. Nowhere near familiar enough to do most staffing stuff, but I could possibly make about 10 or so room/hangout descs if that helps. Or else just cheer on and wait for y'all to actually open up.

@mietze The ICK factor for me is... NPCs are different than PCs. Usually that means they have some plot-purpose for the wider game or they may have different stats or something.

If a staff-player wants to get some TS on with their perfectly normal PC alt (or just have some light chit chat over coffee or whatever else to get a break), that's a-ok. Not everybody can run big meaty plot scenes with all their time and needing to indulge their own personal interests is normal, should be no shame in that.

But staff breaking out the Vampire Prince to go have sexy times with a specific player or whatever else... that's gonna make a lot of people uncomfortable and best just avoided. If it does become crucial to seduce a powerful NPC, just FTB and move on.

@kanye-qwest that's why its important to learn to recognize one's biases and staff can recuse themselves if a situation comes up where their bias would affect how they deal with a player.

MUSHes aren't paying staff. They're volunteers and need their own fun times too. If you're on a game where you can't trust staff to fairly enforce the games rules to all players, find a different game.

@phase-face Isn't that kind of like The Network? https://thenetwork.mugames.org/wiki/home

@greenflashlight
It's not really that much different from WoD games where you'll have Werewolves and Vampires and Changelings that all have a bit of their own thing. And sometimes a werewolf gets dragged into some Vampire business for some reason... they won't be the best suited for it and hopefully the player/character both recognize that they're out of their element and act accordingly, but it can be a fun time to have those separate spheres if players and storytellers come to it with the right mindset.

When done right, it's not so much excluding someone as making sure there's opportunities for builds besides just combat-heavy characters, give spies or social butterflies time to shine. Or combat characters moments to not just punch a problem away and struggle through something for character development.

@tiredewok, I might be a bit belated, but most folks are friendly and helpful, especially if you're open about being new (default really is to assume someone's return-ing from a who-knows-how-long-hiatus).

Pernworld's wiki has this page on what Technology and society changes have happened in the game since it's set post-All the Weyrs of Pern and AIVAS and all that: http://pernworld.wikidot.com/theme

Knowing some basics is also helpful. Most the population lives in Holds (traditional agrarian, pretty feudal setup even with leaders that are called Lord Holders).
2nd largest subset of society would be the Crafters, that have their main Hall where most are trained, although crafters can also be posted at Holds and Weyrs as well. The Weyrs would probably be the smallest population although that's where most the RP happens (it's Dragonriders of Pern so most people do end up playing as Dragonriders).
Weyrs were structured with the support and care of dragons since they were the one thing saving the planet deadly space rain falling down on the planet for decades every 200 years or so. Thread's no longer a thing, so dragonriders have gotten resourceful in what they do to support themselves now, but they are also bounded to giant, intelligent, telepathic, teleporting dragons so there's a lot of possibilities in what they can do.