Posts made by Lithium

@Cupcake I've been enjoying The 3% as well as Travelers, also just finished The Magicians on netflix, season 1, it has it's ups and downs but has been ok for me.

SAGA is not my cup of tea, like most d20 based games it hinges heavily on optimization in order to be 'effective'.

DoD says that you don't have to do that, but then I've caught conversations where people were discussing exactly that, that they have done with their characters so your mileage may vary.

There's been some fun threads that were deleted a while back, a couple trolls who got burnt/banned and had stuff deleted or deleted all their stuff just prior to being banned but really...

It's not really a problem that should be addressed to me, seeing the leftovers is sort of like seeing the wrecked car on the side of the freeway that the tow trucks haven't removed yet, it's intriguing to go 'Wow I wonder what happened there' but in the grand scheme of things, not really important unless you were directly involved.

The system they've put in place is really flexible and it can make a lot of character types, which is handy since RIFTs has about a billion different possible things to be played.

The change to fate has crossed some of the power gap out and everyone can be viable so long as you're smart and wear armor.

The way armor and weapons work is kind of interesting, but I still think there should be something in place for armor to be destroyed like an amount of shifts it can block sort of like they did with the force field on the Ulti-Max.

Over all though, the game looks pretty fresh and fun, lots of different people/characters running around, and they're not afraid of people making dragon hatchlings which is cool.

For what it's worth (not that much I know), but imho everyone should be able to find something enjoyable to play so long as they like the post apocalyptic theme of magic, psychics, and high tech.

@Arkandel By the same token, there is nothing /wrong/ with a staffer saying: This is the theme of the game. It is what the game is built for and towards. That isn't going to change because someone or even a few someone's don't like it.

By creating characters that break the theme, they are actively trying to rebel against what the game is all about, that, in my mind, can make a person a problem player because it breaks the immersion for the people who /do/ like the theme, and play on the game for the theme, or rules, etc.

There is no such thing as a perfect game, and this is something players, and staffers need to realize. I agree with your points about leaving if it's not something you like, but trying to smash up the decorations on your way out?

That's just messed up.

I am in shape, it's a perfectly valid shape.

Also: Life is a terminal condition, nobody makes it out alive.

Also also: Congratulations on getting in a more socially acceptable shape.

Also also also: I need a pool, my knees can't take extended walking/running.

Theme is theme.

If you don't like the theme, don't play on a game.

I've played some games that had theme that were /wildly/ different from the norm. Back in the day when MU's were plentiful there was a lot of really great games that had some very non PC themes, the RP was awesome, people just dove in and RP'd and it was great.

I still feel that playing a character that breaks theme is a cardinal sin, theme should be enforced, it's part of why I as a whole dislike open chargen unless the theme can absorb all sorts of ideas.

It's also why I dislike small town games, they can be really restrictive, potentially to restrictive.

I never understood why there was 50 odd vampires in a town of 10,000 for example.

As a staffer I am pretty big on enforcing theme because theme makes up the core of the game setting imho, more than system used or anything else. If theme isn't enforced, it might as well be a talker, with or without rules.

@skew Probably because Palladium's d20 game is a nightmare where you can't do even basic things with horrible skill percentages on hundreds of skills, min maxing, rng jesus at character creation controlling your Physical Prowess determining wether or not you're fodder or have a chance etc.

As much as I love RIFT's as a setting, the system was a horrible level based one.

@Cupcake Clearly he has his own issues, but, I'm of the opinion there is nothing /special/ about 'family' they are just people like any other person on the planet. So I'd just cut him out of my life completely. I had to do that with my sister once when she was being a selfish bitch.

I'm with Ganymede on this one.

Binary is still code and still in use every day

@Griatch This is why I find Python such a bag of WTF?!

I can find pretty much everything I need in order to code within MUX help files and function lists etc. Sure I have to build some custom functions but the tools are /there/. When I first started to learn to code it was pretty much little stuff, how to code dice rollers, then how to store the results of it so it can be shown to others, then how to verify, then how to code a personalized verify attribute that only the person who set it could see to make sure nobody was spoofing you, etc.

It seems to me that in Python there's not even a box of tools, you're being given some raw ore and said, now go forge your hammer and nails, then use those to start laying the framework.

That's a huge barrier of entry by contrast.

After all of this, I can only say:

I am a self taught coder for the "Horror" of MUX code. I learned by reading the help files built in, examining each function in detail, and then just by playing around.

My code is not elegant. My code is a monstrosity and probably could be done a billion times more efficiently. I have no doubt but...

My code is stable. My code doesn't crash the whole game if it doesn't work (I avoided endless loop code thankfully).

I can code chargen (I have done multiple systems). I can code XP systems. I can code economy systems. I can code a great many things but there's a lot I cannot code as well (Well, I probably could, but it would be horrific to look at and examine) such as vehicle combat systems, and I am /still/ learning how to code customized grids for battle turn based systems.

But... as anyone on this board can tell you I am not the smartest person around, but I can still build a game from scratch if I need to using old school platforms.

Evennia? Nope. I have no clue where to even begin. I don't know the language at all and trying to use it just seems like it'd take me /years/ rather than a few months to build a game.

I'd be in the same boat with MUCK most likely.

So from a programmers perspective MUX code might be a horror, but, there's a lot of code out there I can look at, and see how stuff works, and learn from that makes it incredibly easy to just pick up and start screwing around with, as I did, than trying to learn Python just to get started.

Personally, I think Rhost, TinyMUX, and (to an extent) TinyMUSH are good. Penn is also good but one I will never use personally. The reason behind this is because of familiarity. People can go to games built on these platforms and expect a familiarity and ease of use (due to that familiarity) that they won't really find with other platforms.

Case in point, Evennia, it may be a coders dream to those who know Python, but as a player I just felt really confused by it all. Of course I feel the same way on MOO or MUCK for the most part as well.

It's sort of like when I was MUD'ding back in the early 90's, I prefered DIKU/ROM because I was most familiar with it. LP and Circle were similar but enough was different I never really got into them as well.

Considering how small this particular hobby is right now, I'm all about reducing barriers to entry. I used to hate FATE for example because it wasn't a crunchy enough ruleset for me, but it is really easy to get into compared to, say, Anima or Hero System etc.

So I agree with what others before me have said when it comes to ease of use and familiarity of control schemes.

I personally create a function object for each big bit of code, because really there's not that much additional code I really need but I am a blasphemous SGP person. I then put those function objects where they get hit by the @startup of the game. Not the most secure, but, functions shouldn't run outside of those I put in place that way.

Assuming I eventually get another coder then that may change, but I am pretty frugal with Wizbits, when it's pretty unnecessary for most things since My staff commands look not only for rank but for dbref.

@Cobaltasaurus No I am not approved. I could not spend XP at all, I could not go IC, I could do /nothing/. So no, you are wrong. When I left I was absolutely in a position where I'd been sitting for a RL WEEK and other people who app'd after me had been approved, because I was waiting for an approval, after I was requested to add my Kuruth triggers in a note, which I did 2 hours after the request was made THAT MORNING.

So no, don't try and put this on me.

K thx.

@Arkandel said in Shadows Over Reno:

@Lithium The problem with all this isn't that you are wrong. It's that you are neglecting to mention the fact staff has repeatedly said as much - they are having issues finding people to handle jobs, and are unable to meet the volume of +jobs.

In other words we haven't been promised anything else than what we're given. If you don't like it you can walk away - I don't mean that in a flippant fashion or as a flame but .... what do you expect them to do?

The cards are on the table. Stay or go.

There is a delay, and then there is waiting so long for approval from one tiny note. I've not once neglected to mention that Wendigo had two deaths in the family, in fact I mentioned that in my beginning posts on the topic, and how I wasn't trying to be impatient because I get it.

So yeah, quit trying to say I'm doing shit I'm not.

Also: I am definitely gone already, so no worries there.

Come to find out, the staffer apparently 'stepped down' without announcing anything at all, and apparently didn't bother to check his @mail before doing so, and then they didn't even remove the 'stepped down' staffer from the job until this morning (Where it now sits with no ownership at all). Over 7 days /after/ I put my app in, 6 days /after/ I was asked to set one note, 6 days after I had set that note.

If this place cannot maintain staffers, I don't see a future here.

This is a campaign I ran on Roll 20 for a while, so I've got the core theme and setting down pretty good. There's going to be a ton of data entry but what I'll need help with the most is actually /running/ the game and stories for the players once I finish the code and get things done.

Building help would be awesome as well of course. I Essentially have to dig and desc 3 grids.

I'm stoked about the support, helps a lot.

@surreality Oh I just decided to do this project myself, I've got to rip out old code and put in new code, but I am recruiting early because there's already other stuff people can do. News files, etc.

I am going to put together a Dresden Files game set in San Francisco, using Big Trouble in Little China for a huge source of inspiration. It'll be set after the fall of the Red Court, but I need more than just myself to put this thing together. I can handle the code (Fate is stupid easy to code for), but I cannot build and run this thing all on my lonesome.

To that end, I know there are people who hate Fate, but I also know there are people who like it, and I need at least a few other intrepid souls to help me make this thing whole and functioning. Story tellers, staff, etc.

@surreality Yes. I replied when I set it on Tuesday morning, then I replied again yesterday after it was 60 hours, and then I put in a +request asking what was happening as polite as I could. Still nothing 24 hours later.