Posts made by insomniac7809

I mean, if (I probably wouldn't do this, but) if I were STing a scene, and an Int 5 Med 0 guy was trying to perform open heart surgery on another character, I'd have zero problem saying "no."

"But I have three dice!" Yeah, and no medical knowledge. You can't just crack 'em open and work it out from there.

"But would you say do the same thing with guns?" I mean, maybe? The basic use if guns is pretty straightforward, you point the bang-bangs at the bad mans and they fall over. That's the point of guns. If we're talking about Dex 5 Firearms 0 picking up a high-powered sniper rifle and trying to nail one of those "wind speed, bullet arc, angle of the earth's rotaion" shots, then yeah, I'd probably give the same "try again or find someone who knows what they're doing" answer.

@tinuviel Yeah, I do see a good bit of that online. Miranda rights, first and second amendments... probably comes from watching too much American TV.

And hey, rate we're going, the role of "cultural hegemon of the Anglosphere" just might be looking for applicants. Wanna see if third time's the charm?

@d-bone said in Game Design: Avoiding Min-Maxing:

@insomniac7809 The Sherlocke holmes analogy fails a little bit because there is also Watson, who is the lens with which the book exists.. and is receiving training basically from Holmes throughout the entire series.. even if he never really gets any better. That isn't to say that Watson is the protagonist, but the trope exists in the literature.

There is the first movie sure for batman, but then you can have your deathstroke.. you know where batman meets super batman? And Batman has to learn to be a better batman to beat super batman?

The problem with your comparison to Han is that like.. character growth can occur both in a skill level, but also emotionally as well. Character development is a sign of character depth, in your Han analogy, Han doesn't grow as a thief, but he grows as a person. He goes against his princples of money first and goes back to save luke, and more.

See, though, like you said--Watson doesn't really get to be a better detective, he has to get by as merely a lady-killing doctor army veteran/bumbling comic relief sidekick/source of unresolved sexual tension (pick as appropriate for given media).

Batman has had a few stories where he has to become better at being Batman (because 89 years of comics, written fiction, television, video games, and movies have had Batman doing basically everything at some point), but usually he doesn't buy up his Batman skills, he just has to figure out a way to out-Batman Bane or Deathstroke.

Han becomes a better person, but that's not the sort of thing that needs to be reflected with RPG mechanics. (It could be, but it doesn't have to.)

The thing where someone needs to training montage their way to the peak, or go from zero to hero, is definitely a thing in a certain kind of fiction. It's not the be all or end all by any stretch, even of genre fiction, and development as a person isn't the same thing as developing skill slots.

It's just really, really uncommon for RPGs, where character capability improvement is taken as one of the cornerstones of the game. And I wonder how much of that would change if people could app the Man With No Name at chargen, instead of apping Dave the Moderately Skilled Gunfighter and building him up over time. Or if the raising of stats is something that really draws people to the games.

@d-bone said in Game Design: Avoiding Min-Maxing:

@Faraday Except isn't that like a standard trope.. of literally every bit of fiction that has existed? Like isn't all media based on the idea that is breaking your 'suspension of disbelief'?

Not... really?

I mean, there's a lot of stories where the hero starts out as some nobody and becomes Awesome mcBadass, but there's plenty where they don't. Sherlock Holmes shows up as a genius detective/prizefighter, and basically stays there through 130 years of storytelling. Unless you're doing a "Batman Begins/Year One" story specifically, Batman generally starts the story as Batman and remains Batman. Starbuck doesn't really "level up" her shooting/brawling/Viper piloting/attituding skills through the BG run. Even in Star Wars, Luke goes from farm boy to Jedi master, but Han shows up as a scoundrel/gunfighter/pilot whiz in Ep4 and is still a scoundrel/gunfighter/pilot whiz in Ep7.

And while some of the fun of XP and stat-building can be "I'm developing and improving!", it can also be "I'm getting incrementally closer to having the character I actually wanted to be playing from the start!"

@the-sands said in Game Design: Avoiding Min-Maxing:

@surreality Additionally there's just the fact that it is a problematic system. It was designed for friends gathered around a table. Granularity is fairly abysmal, there is a terrible balance between skills and attributes, and several skills are far too broad (Crafts and Expression being the biggest criminals in the lot).

Kinda disagree about the last point, at least in its native environment; I'm pretty cool with games that have broad skills outside of the narrative focus of the game. How much you know about the gribblies and horrors is central, so Occult gets its own skill; painting and auto repair are less so, so they get lumped together in broad strokes.

@kanye-qwest said in Game Design: Avoiding Min-Maxing:

@faraday said in Game Design: Avoiding Min-Maxing:

especially when systems throw in a lot of skills that everyone should have to some extent, like Athletics, Persuasion, Awareness, Driving, etc.

Wait, why should everyone have these, though? People don't all have these skills. Like driving I get, imo you should be able to be fine driving a car baseline but maybe you aren't a stunt driver or a getaway driver or a street racer unless you invest in that skill.

I mean, that's one of the big questions about "so what do these skills on my sheet mean."

Does Athletics 0 mean "rando with a desk job" or "gets winded walking from the couch to the fridge"?

Does Persuasion 0 mean "baseline conversationalist" or "tongue-tied off-putting weirdo"?

Does Drive 0 mean "can't drift" or "can't drive"?

Does Awareness 0 mean "takes a couple minutes to find Waldo" or https://youtu.be/mqQ8Y9Sjp7o?t=1m ?

@selu said in So what are the hot new games I should be playing right now?:

@insomniac7809 said in So what are the hot new games I should be playing right now?:

Arx is very popular, and if you pick up a roster character, they don't ask more than a couple paragraphs tops unless you're apping a faction head or something.

I am afraid I don't know what Arx is.

Ah! It's a lords & ladies game in an original setting. Politics, intrigue, romance, a high fantasy setting where the people think they're in a low fantasy setting and are slowly learning otherwise while ancient evils return and try to end the world.

Very active game with a large player base, who are IME super helpful for newbies trying to get settled in. It's easy to app, but can be a lot of depth and lore to get into if you're low on time.

site at http://play.arxmush.org

It's also the only game I'm playing, so that's as helpful as I can be!

Arx is very popular, and if you pick up a roster character, they don't ask more than a couple paragraphs tops unless you're apping a faction head or something.

@pandora said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

This is why everyone should shut the fuck up and let me be an asshole.

Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words will never hurt you. Unless I beat your ass with a book. Words do not hurt unless you have been conditioned to let them. This is why children say the darnedest things but then they're taught shame disguised as couth. And while I appreciate the thought and intent behind censorship of all the bad-wrong words, I firmly believe it is doing more harm than good, feeding into this false sense of being entitled to niceness, then causing people to fall apart when that expectation is inevitably shattered. People are way too anxious, stressed, and socially stunted today, I posit it has something to do with the utterly impossible social expectations of never ever saying or doing the wrong thing at the wrong time because someone's feelings might get hurt, coupled with the fact that hurting someone's feelings has been made into the world's greatest evil act, so even accidentally sticking your foot in it makes you a Bad Person.

Stahp it.

So people can say mean things because they have the right to say mean things, but the people who say those people should stop saying mean things should stop saying the people who say mean things should stop saying mean things?

So you're looking for shoes for your camp/hike vacation to the Amazon. Very cool! Not our specialty, but some solid hiking footwear here.

Oh, none of them? You're looking...

...you're looking for a cute heel to go hiking in the Amazon rainforest.

...am I on Candid Camera? Are you fucking with me right now?

You're not, are you. You are literally living out an Arrested Development bit. Holy shit.

@fortydeuce said in MU Things I Love:

Big ups to folks who keep IC antagonism IC and maintain a cheerful OOC environment all round. Fairen/Harlan/new-Grazia@Arx (didn't know old-Grazia!), here's looking at you! It is so much easier to have a scene where characters openly dislike each other when everyone's on the same page about it being strictly IC. Frappuccinos for all! (I would if I could.)

This is the best thing, I swear. Give me some drama and conflict in-story, without it being a thin veneer over OOC nerdrage.

No amount of explaining the importance of stock room organizatin will make the inventory we have physically fit in the available space. You need to authorize a callback if you want inventory off the floor.

@arkandel said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

@lotherio said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

I'm finding I don't like comment 'X seemed upstanding to me, I would never have expected (really bad behavior) from X' more and more these days.

Feels like it implies that we should expect the behavior of some people or something. It just feel its redundant, we shouldn't expect anyone to be a mass murderer, rapist, serial killer, clown, pedophile, whatever.

I don't know that I agree. I know people iRL who're too emotional, or whom I've seen kick a wall in frustration, make crude jokes, etc.

Would I expect any of them to escalate it to the point of being killers or whatever? Of course not, that's a hell of an escalation! But if I saw their mugshots somewhere after something bad I'd be able to say something to the effect of "well, that doesn't really surprise me I guess."

What it comes down to is... it's just something people can say because what else can they?

There was a quote in Homicide: A Year On the Killing Streets from an interviewee during an investigation: "I'm shocked he did it, but I'm not surprised he did it, you know?"

@auspice said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

@scar said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

@insomniac7809 said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

People on busses who think their bags get a seat.

on the subway, too. grr

Esp. when the bus is crowded. If the bus is mostly empty, sure! By all means!
But when it's crowded goddamnit put your bag on your lap.

Or at least don't act like I'm the asshole when I ask you to move it.

Especially if I phrase it as "excuse me, could I sit there?" rather than "move your shit, fucknugget, you can goddamn well see how packed this is."

People on busses who think their bags get a seat.

People who assume every mall employee knows where every store is. We get paid to walk fom the exit to our stores, people. YOU'RE the ones here by choice.

@insomniac7809 said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

FUCKING STOP TRYING TO CALL OUT HUNG OVER.

We all know why you feel shitty and we don't care. You're a grown man and you know when you work. Either calm the fuck down with work night drinking or suck it the fuck up.

Follow up:

So you've put in your two weeks', but you'll let us know if you can work shifts after the posted date?

Man, you are just adorable.

Buhbye now.

@surreality So my peeve is more people having your peeve.

'cause, I mean... were there other people who, before we could instantly chat with friends, look up facts, argue with strangers, distract ourselves with amusing bullshit, and communicate with loved ones at any point from any point literally at any time....

Were other people on their commute or going out on errands living fully in every moment, taking the time to appreciate the sublime beauty of the world we live in, and making deep, heartfelt connections with the random strangers crossing their paths?

Because I mostly remember either staring at a book instead of a smartphone, or just being really really really bored all the time.

@lithium Oh, no, I do get that. But loyalty to off-brand Uggs thdrew me for a loop.

I don't know a line of code from a line of coke or potato from a potato, so a lot of the details of this thread might as well be in low earth orbit.

I do know that I've been on chat games since '99 and tabletop since '95, and warnings of the death of the hobby have been ongoing for at least eighteen years now.

Being welcoming to newbies is definitely important, both in terms of accessability and player culture. RPGs are a niche hobby, and occasionally (read: twice ever) get a pop culture presence as a fad. I love it, but I don't think it's ever going to be a big mainstream thing; at the same time, we can keep going for a while with the initiation thing. (I.e., friends getting friends into it.)

Customer: Do you carry BearClaws?

Me: No, but we do have shearling footwear by <brand>, it has <brand feature> and we're running a sale--I can grab you a size to try."

Customer: "No, I was looking for BearClaws."

..the WTF response I had might not translate to people who don't sell shoes for a living.