Posts made by Kay

All we want to do is eat your brains. We're not unreasonable, I mean, no one's gonna eat your eyes.

@rizbunz Oh lord yes. I'd be all over playing in that setting.

This sounds like a lot of fun. Is there any particular character concepts/roles that the game needs more of?

@sincerely said in What Is Missing For You?:

@thesuntsar said in What Is Missing For You?:

A supernatural/horror game that isn't focused on teenagers/early college students. I totally get the appeal of that genre, but it just isn't for me.

I want to upvote this more than once.

WHY HAS NOONE MADE BUBBA HO-TEP THE MU*? That would be awesome.

I vaguely recall there's another game... Arthurian game? Something? That has this really funky set up for the characters where you can end up playing three+ for the price of one, effectively. You go through time? Something like that?

... Don't look at me that way, I have a perfect recollection of all the kinds of coffees I've ever liked, ok. My brain knows what is truly important.

But it was set up in a way where it was absolutely definitely clear that the characters themselves were less important, and it was about the story you were making and the health of the group. Place. Thing. Ugh. On the other hand that meant that our involvement in the characters themselves was also greatly lessened, and we were more focused on developing the... settlement? and how the group as a whole interacted with the other factions in the kingdom at the time. As I recall walking away from it I found it was a fun novelty, but it didn't have the satisfaction I get from really getting into a single character. It very much felt like an Arthurian tabletop version of Dwarf Fortress, pretty much.

I do wonder, thinking about it and that The Greatest Generation game if maybe that would be a partial solution, though. Follow the same group of people through time, play Joe then Joe's son then Joe III then Joeanna daughter of Joe III etc. Speed up the time some, maybe? This is spring in 111, now it's summer in 112, etc. Or faster yet, maybe. Timewarping could be an interesting feature to emphasize the story over the characters whilst still keeping you involved.

@lemon-fox My favorite superhero trope was always the 'group that fights crime while also being on a tv show' thing. Especially if you give it some kind of cat fight twist that's clearly obvious OOC but might still trip characters up ICly. Did the Blazing Wonder really hook up with Fantastic Horse's sidekick/girlfriend Megafox while they were trapped in the X Dimension? Find out next week!

ETA: Granted, that might be more suitable for a tabletop set, or for inter-group tension. I'm not sure how you'd set that up to be MU* wide. Unless there are several competing shows.

@apos said in What Is Missing For You?:

@kay said in What Is Missing For You?:

At this point I would give a kidney for a completely original superhero game. No DC no Marvel but really original with all OC characters.

Yeah, if I make another game, it'll probably be that. Original universe superhero.

I wish to subscribe to your newsletter then! I think there'd be a lot of interest. To my knowledge there isn't any right now: there's DC/Marvel games that allow OC characters but that's it.

At this point I would give a kidney for a completely original superhero game. No DC no Marvel but really original with all OC characters.

@kestrel You make some really great points.

I think, thinking about it some more, that part of the issue might be that really creating a story together does usually require a sense of trust between the players. I'm a bit too tired at the time of writing this to really feel I can explain that coherently, but I'll give it a shot. Notice that your example of characters that died for the sake of the story all feature characters that were part of small groups, that worked together intimately and at length.

In a MU* setting, that would be a small group of players whose characters were part of the same motley/pack/family/company/etc, so there's the IC bonding and knowledge of each other but also the OOC bonding and knowledge. With that scenario you would also (assuming everyone becomes friends out of character) have a lot more sense of making a story together. You're more willing to sacrifice, because there's the direct sense that you are doing it for that story you are making together, and that you are also doing it for the well being of the group.

I think that might be a key. Encourage IC and OOC bonding to encourage the willingness to win-by-losing, that feeling that you're working together.

Another thought regarding how to reward the death of a character-

If the death has impact on the game world. If people talk about it afterwards, genuinely, if it's remembered in character. The theme and setting of the game will make that harder or easier: a superhero game, the death of a superhero would of course be a huge deal that people talk about ICly years and decades afterwards. In a fantasy game, a well known hero/noble whatsit would also be remembered. But outside of those positions and themes it gets harder. Why would anyone except his friends remember Joe McBluejeans in modern Chicago, say? Still, given the right story, that would be one way to make it a feel good thing.

Seems like a pretty good solution would be to give more reward for failure than success. We learn more from failure. Give more XP to reflect the experience earned.

If there is a built in reward for something, people will eventually have a pavlovian response.

That said, having your character die or otherwise effectively taken out of play, that is a more difficult issue. That's not failure but that you don't get to develop that character's story further. The only two ways I see to make that easier for players is to either somehow make it a fitting end for the character or have a game like Paranoia or Kult where you KNOW your character is going to be short lived and the goal is to have as much fun as possible before the inevitable end. But that also means players will be much less invested in those same PCs and typically makes for more beer and pretzels type RP than anything with depth. Ymmv.

Limiting it to four classes ("High Society, Middle Class, Poor, Homeless") seems limited. Maybe offer sub classes/speciality for each flavor? High Society = Old Money, Noveau Riche, Celebrity? Middle Class = Upper Middle Class, Solid Middle Class, Lower Middle Class. Poor = Working Class, Slum Dweller, Almost Homeless? Homeless = Hobo, Addict, Destitute?

Don't label it as something that it doesn't actually contain. You'll get initial interest - and then an enormous drop off and probably way more drama than you want when people see that the inside doesn't match the cover. Go all original.

@chet Now I understand, and that sounds very cool. What surface stuff are you looking for help with? Different people have different definitions of that.

English is my second language and it's late, so maybe I'm missing the obvious but ... please clarify what suggestions you are looking for? What is a "25 city"? What are you envisioning when you say "one room with personal player grids as a network"? The only thing I understand here is the combat system flavor you're looking for, unfortunately. Please define what you have in mind with surface layer versus motor functions and skeleton here. Happy to help, just confused by what you are looking for.

Darkwater effectively restarted - it closed in 2011(? Could be wrong) and reopened from an old saved DB this January. ICly the time between has a whole metaplot attached, quite cleverly designed complete with "this is why you don't remember all the details and why you and these other PCs haven't seen each other during".

@wretched Salmon jerky is amazing but tricky, yeah. I looked around online a bit for you, what do you think about this? http://www.alaskafromscratch.com/2012/03/27/salmon-jerky/ and this one is in Celcius but sounds tasty: https://thepananimal.wordpress.com/2010/12/21/candied-salmon/