It's not anyone's fault they can't handle dry writing. Tolkein was /very/ dry, and the worst part was it was dry and then not descriptive in ways that helped...
So it was descriptive about things that didn't matter, but not descriptive when it needed to be.
I read the books, but they are not, in my opinion, literary masterpieces.
As @Duntada said, quite a few v20 WoD games on roll20 I think, or at least there was last time I was looking around at new games.
@Derp That's because the sheep can't believe that a staffer could be impartial towards themselves.
I treat my PC's as NPC's if I am running a pack scene they are in. Even if I am pack leader I will say the Beta has command this time, so I can ICly test the Beta's worthyness of being beta for example, and to let someone else have a go at leader RP even if I am online. It creates stories for people but...
The Moaning Masses(tm) have zero trust for staffers these days, we can supposedly be impartial only when we ourselves are not involved at all. Even if all dice rolls are visible to all, so they can see everything, they will still claim that the staffer cheated and if they can't even trust STAFF how the hell are they going to trust their fellow players?
They can't, and this is a major reason why inertia brings games down imho.
@mietze comforts Been there... been there.
EDIT: Side note, I hate it how there is only thumbs up, or thumbs down sometimes. I want to be supportive, which would be a thumbs up. On the other hand it could be read as thumbing up the horrible things that @mietze is having to go through.
Dilemma.
CoD is actually a fairly solid system if you remove all the supernatural splats and abilities from it. As mortal only it's fairly balanced.
I hate supposed 24 hour restaurants who end up closing down for a couple hours every morning because 'Their systems are down' and always at the SAME TIME. You're clearly not a 24 hour restaurant you assholes, you're a 22 hour restaurant! Why are you always 'down' when it's my lunch break?!?!
@Miss-Demeanor I thought that was illegal? I thought you had to have air conditioning in place during the summer in Florida so that your customers didn't succumb to heat and humidity?
@Ide Let me know when you figure that out, because I survive on less than 1K a month at the moment and I actually make BETTER than minimum wage.
I am curious as to what game system is being in use here. It's all well and good to see the time period and the way the houses are set up (Which is pretty cool, I admit, lots of good ideas here) but System is important, how are you handling battles, is it mostly going to be duels or personal scale stuff (As would seem to make sense unless Kanly was declared) then system shifts one way or another.
TL;DR
What game system do you have coded or intending to get coded?
@Thenomain I am sorry too. I am not perfect, I can get frustrated, and part of why it was so painful and frustrating is because most of the time I value your opinion very much. It hurt, and I couldn't remain calm anymore given the subject matter.
I'm tired.
I'm frustrated.
I've already been attacked physically and socially and mentally over this...
And people wonder why 'we' don't speak up and talk to people. Even those we trust sometimes.
I just don't have the energy for the topic. I'm so freaking angry and frustrated at the way people are behaving that it makes me question even continuing to participate in this corner of the community.
I feel dismissed.
I feel marginalized.
Up until now, I would have maintained that while the hobby certainly has its issues, it's managed to avoid the worst of it and be something of a safe space, in general, to just be female. Presently, given the behavior of people that I otherwise respected, that I thought were understanding...yeah, no.
Way to turn a conversation about people being abused into something about why men feel bad when women talk about harassment/discrimination.So sorry that the fact that I was assaulted hurts somebody's feelings, or something.
I feel the same. I've seriously considered stopping work on my game, and removing the soapbox from my bookmarks over all of this.
@Thenomain I promise you Theno, we do get pissed off at being lumped into generalizations as well, but that is why /I/ do not allow myself to be lumped into them emotionally.
Nobody tells me who I am anymore, I do that, because if I do not then I am /allowing/ others to have power over me. So if someone tries to use a generalization against me I just roll my eyes and move on.
Honestly that's how I feel, even if it's not something I can actually /do/ since the legal system will always have power over me, etc.
Also: @Arkandel it is interesting you think I am just 'reciting' talking points, rather than explaining how something feels. Just like considering the level of abuse thrown around to get pissy about "Reading Comprehension 101" after all of the /crap/ leveled around in this thread just shows that you seem to be unwilling to actually /listen/ to what is being written.
To respond to a small little snarky comment rather than the issue at hand is a pure deflection. To attempt to make it as if I am uncivilized and am therefor a barrier to discussion is both insulting and a deflection.
I wasn't implying people can't understand anything at all, quite the opposite as a matter of fact, that's what made it seem disingenuous to me.
The only thing standing in the way of civilized conversation on the topic, which you have now apparently abandoned as unworthy of your time, is the fact that you (and others) are not really conversing at this point. You're being defensive, deflective, and insulting.
If I am alienating anyone, it's because those who feel alienated might not be comfortable discussing hard issues that maybe they don't know how to fix, or are unwilling to fix.
It's /really/ easy to not care about something that, as you have said, you have never seen after all.
It's how politicians get away with War so easily. Public sentiment might change when it happened in /their/ living room.
Why is there a need for spreadsheets to begin with? Maybe in the design phase, yes, but realistically once you have each unit hammered out as to what it can and cannot do then you can make it really simple:
Unit contains Type and # of forces within, which pulls from a database for each unit and adjusts by bonuses and penalties. Then your code determines which unit was aimed at either randomly or via targeting choice, rolls effect, gets result, modifies Unit #'s as appropriate. Rinse and repeat.
The idea that spreadsheets will be necessary is kinda weird because Space Nobles have tech that practically makes them immune to certain weapons (I read something about immune to kinetic kill weapons, so no bullets, mass drivers, arrows, knives, fists, etc) so if there is no energy weapons in a unit they literally cannot harm that person. They may be able to contain them, maybe... even if it's just stacking bodies up so that as they die they form a wall in a hallway or something.
When dealing with code, it wouldn't be /that/ hard to have a unit roll a number of attacks equal to the amount of troop segments within the unit, resolve them, and continue.
The /problem/ (as I see it) is when you start treating it like a War Game because large scale tactics are practically impossible in this setting. The important pieces are the space nobles and other player characters so focus on the space nobles and other player characters. Abstract the armies to the point where yes, you can get a set defense rating, and an offense rating, along with how much damage they can absorb either from armor or bodies and then you have two numbers that can generally be used as comparison and to /guide/ the narrative.
If one player does something slippery and smart then let that effect the narrative.
Trying to automate all of this... will probably not work in my opinion, for what it's worth.
@Ganymede It's not just that either. It's the fact that people are attempting to make a generalization out of what /wasn't/ a generalization.
Men who do this thing are bad.
Full stop.
Period.
There doesn't need to be a comment of 'Not All Men Do That Thing'.
It is irrelevant to the discussion at hand and has no bearing on it at all.
It distracts from the topic that is of relevance, that those individuals who /do/ those things, are bad and need to be stopped, held accountable, etc.
That's it. That's all there is.
That's why Not All Men is so offensive, because it distracts and marginalizes the original point.
I don't know why I am apparently failing to convey that point. If I am going to far to try and 'prove' it, because I've been successfully baited, or whatever.
When I hear the comment "Women Can't Drive" I don't automatically assume that applies to me, some women can't drive, in fact I know a few who have given up their licenses, willingly, because they were /that/ bad at it. Do I roll my eyes at the generalization? Sure I do, but it doesn't evoke a real emotional response out of me.
If /you/ (Random Male Gamer) don't do those things, then why would you feel defensive about comments that are not directed /at/ you, but at a larger problem as a whole?
@Thenomain You're not doing that, you were presuming there was hostility when there was none and in so doing not only discounted much of what was said, you marginalized it to the point of saying it was meaningless.
I refuse to believe that you are not intelligent enough to know that when you deflect away from a topic of discussion in what appears an attempt to change the topic into something else, how that is rude, and offensive to the topic at matter.
It puts forth that the topic isn't worth discussing lets talk about this other thing instead, it shifts the focus from one topic to another. THAT is OFFENSIVE.
It marginalizes the original topic, by taking discussion away from it. It changes the focus to paint the original topic as a false problem.
You're smart enough to know this. This is why you are being disingenuous. This is why I am so pissed off at you right now. Because you know better, but instead you're dismissing it out of hand as only being offensive to 'some' people.
Guess what @Thenomain it /is/ offensive. Just like sexual harassment is offensive. Just like any negative activity is offensive.
It's /offensive/ that you find sexual harassment and abuse of others an 'interesting' cultural phenomenon also.
If you were so twisted in a knot of concern and stress you'd have realized that @TNP has ALREADY posted /exactly/ how you were derailing the thread, and how the hell can you possibly say that "What someone else thinks is offensive isn't the problem".
I literally have no words to explain how fucked up that is.
If you don't want to 'be engaged' by me, then figure out a way to block indvidual users, or ban me, or whatever else you feel is necessary to do but don't act like you get to tell me not to respond to what is absolutely bullshit.
@Thenomain Then quit fucking defending that hostility Thenomain.
EDIT: You're so focused on being /right/ that you don't seem to give any actual fucks as to the feelings of others, you're putting it off on /me/ as if I am somehow the problem. So fuck you Thenomain. You 'Win' because I am sick of your nonsense. I explained, MULTIPLE TIMES as to why it is something, and you just fucking discount it entirely.
You're disingenuous to the extreme, I find it /amazing/ I ever once respected your opinion at this point... because I can't respect your opinions or modes of 'discussion' on this subject.
@Thenomain I have said why it is offensive, you are just choosing to disbelieve /why/ that would be offensive to someone else.
It's clear we don't see eye to eye on this because you accuse me of calling a disbeliever the same as an abuser which I never did. I said Tyche was a /part/ of the problem. It's reading comprehension 101. You can be a part of something without being the driving force behind it.
For example: Not all skinheads are racist, but some skinheads are racist to the extreme. When approaching the problem of racism amongst skinheads, by jumping to the point that not /all/ skinheads are racist then the point of the problem, racism amongst skinheads, is being redirected in a direction that is not conducive to addressing the problem at hand.
It's the same thing by going with the 'Not /all/ men' defense.
Firstly, I never said all men did this thing. So by doing that it is a deflection and misdirection to try and turn the fault onto the speaker by making them seem erroneous. Second, it refuses to address the actual issue, turning the topic of conversation /away/ from the problem that needs to be discussed and addressed so that it can be lessened. Third, as @Tyche did by immediately jumping to rapes and such the topic is /again/ changed to only a small fragment.
People will be horrible to one another. It is human nature. All around the world it is happening to women, men, young and old there is no reason to try and use that as a focal point when addessing the topic as a whole. Just because one thing will likely never be snuffed out completely, doesn't mean we should do /nothing/ about the other parts of the problem. It's a bait and switch tactic to try and force discourse away from the subject matter that /can/ and /should/ be discussed.
This doesn't belittle rape victims by talking about sexual harassment as a whole, nor does it demean rape victims to /also/ want to try and fix /other things wrong with the society we live in/.
Already it seems like you (@Thenomain ) are in an us vs them mentality, which is /exactly/ what the 'Not All Men' comment creates, it tries to paint it into an attack on all men, and it is most definitely /not/. Reading through the thread here even those of us who have been abused in the worst ways are not trying to paint /all/ men in a negative light.
If knowing that someone is intentionally attempting to derail, sidetrack, turn a conversation against you isn't offensive... then fuck Theno... I don't now what else to tell you.
This /shouldn't/ be a conversation that is hostile, but certain individuals surely do their best to do that.
@Tyche That's all well and good, but, I was also explaining /why/ the statement of "Not all men do that." is offensive, which you've skipped over.
As for Comedians and entertainment, it was once socially acceptable to have people kill each other, or animals, or get killed by animals in public arenas in front of /thousands/. Times have changed from that point, what will be considered 'funny' and 'socially acceptable' is constantly changing, we /can/ do our best to make changes to where sexual harassment isn't tolerated at all.
Free speech is a thing, but /hate speech/ is another thing entirely.
Not ALL men, after all. (I recommend doing some reading as to why that objection for this topic is fucking offensive.)
Not all illegal immigrants are rapists.
Not all muslims are terrorists.
If objectively true statements are so offensive to you, then maybe you should check your premises.
You just can't help yourself. I will explain since you are apparently unable to see why @Sunny would say such a thing:
Nobody is saying ALL Men are /anything/ just like nobody is saying all of any <insert subset here> is anything.
The reason it is so fucking offensive is because it is statements like that that are used as a shield against awareness. It's a response that serves no purpose because it deflects from the actual problem at hand, and that is that /some/ of these people /are/.
The real answer needs to be:
How do we make this problem go away?
Not:
I'm not one of those things, so it's not /my/ problem. It's not the problem of those of us who /aren't/ those things. It belittles those being abused by jumping on a self-righteous defensive path instead of a path of education and absolutely needed social change.
Not /ALL/ men get Colon Cancer, yet it is still VERY real problem for /both/ genders.
Earth is missing the most obvious association. Farming. Fertility. Nature.