Posts made by lordbelh

@Ganymede I think what you meant was the wish fulfillment crowd. Who rather than making a character or build a story, just want to be the best. With the most stuff. And the best. And with the hot sex. And the best. Did I mention the best? At all things? While looking super sexy while I do all the things?

Sure, Fantasy Escapist.. but y'know, it's a term that on some level pretty much fits us all. Which HR's point, I guess. We're running into fantasy, whether it's because it makes us feel better because shit is aweful, or just because we're bored. Just watching a movie, or a tv-show, or reading a book can be equally escaping into fantasy. And I don't think it's even a bad thing, as long as you don't vanish so completely you have nothing outside.

@Admiral I don't. I know I' m not a genius, that I don't have endless resolve, that I'm pretty horrible at manipulation and lying (which is why I try to avoid it). I'm fairy sure I don't have a single 5 anywhere on my imaginary nWod sheet. Shit. I would be lying if I said I had any 4s. A few 3s with lots of 2s and 1s. Though I would probably have more skill points in total than a starting nwod character. But that's OK, I've got life experience to justify it with.

Execution is the problem, more than concept. Most concepts can in some way or another be made cool, no matter how ridicilous it sounds on paper. Executing it is the problem, and most out there concepts just end up stupid because they weren't thought through beyond 'I want sexy + genious + kick ass marine'

I admit I'd rather keep fight styles simple. The mix-match reminds me of the way they redid fighting styles in armory in the 1st ed, and I wasn't all that of a fan. More realistic, perhaps, but there is something to be said for simplifying shit for a game.

I was planning on writing something more than my initial (and somewhat unhelpful) comment, but @mietze and @Ganymede summed up my views pretty well.

Army sorted me out.

I have no interest in playing this game. But good luck to you (and I suspect you might need it if you want anyone but the most self hating of players.)

No. I have a whole library of PDFs that aren't paid for. These are books I wouldn't want to buy, either. I have them mostly so I can glance at rules if I feel the need. The ones I really liked and used I've bought, though, quite often after the fact (I'd DL a pirate copy, think this is good stuff, and my concience would demand I shell out on it.) A lot of the Vampire books, and now the 2nd ed WoD and Vampire.

I only have the main nWoD in hardback. I like nWoD for its improved system, but I never loved the setting. In comparason I have a physical copy of the majority of the oWoD ones. I never had the same compulsive need to collect all the nwod books.

@Admiral I can see positives. It's not positives I'd want to trade in for the misery of the experience, mind.

Your asshole of a stepfather treats you like shit and beats you, and as a consequence might develop toughness and a high tolerance of pain (or you might not, perhaps you're just a nervous wreck). You could argue it's a positive. It's not a net positive, though. Nobody wants that trade.

It's the idea that adversity at least gives you something. Putting positive spins on things (and perhaps even squinting with contempt at those who dont, like you just missed an oppertunity) is a big part of modern culture.

Which is not always (or even often, in my experience) true. Most of the time it just destroys. Alcohol abuse, violent abuse, growing up poor and deprived, going to jail, dropping out of school, getting the sack. One in a dozen might twist it around to something positive, but most don't. Nor should they be expected to.

I spent 10 minutes watching you kill zombies with a roman dude.

@Insomnia I believe you.

There are worse things than people sicking the CPS on you for stupid reasons. Like people not sicking the CPS on you if they think there's an actual problem. Apathy and some confused idea of it not being their business, is complicit in so much fucking misery.

I don't think much of Sphere caps, but if you're going to have them I suppose you might as well go with strictly by time rather than lottery. It seems fairer and easier and less likely to result in resentments.

Personally I'm in favor of alt capping instead. One supernatural plus one mortal/+ alt. Unless you expand on that I don't think you're going to need a sphere cap.

I just don't like soda that much, with or without sugar. I tend to drink water or juice when I can be bothered to remember to buy them.

@Bennie You are a fucking troll.

@Ganymede said:

I'm not a dullard; I know you need people to do that. I do it all the time. But I will admit that I get disenfranchised when I see others outpace my PC who do little but mill about socially getting XP.

I never assumed you were.

But by the way Eldritch is designed it strikes me that they won't outpace you with XP by just doing social fluff stuff unless said social stuff is geared towards their goals. By being less active yet more focused on goals and plot/character development (as GMC sees it, anyway) you would easily keep up. If you don't, Eldritch is still giving you flat XP until you reach some 100XP. Which is a lot, which is, in fact, more than enough to 'max' out your character in at least one area. From playing on Reno and having a character with 100+ XP, I can tell you that you don't need more.

Which means the game does keep "you" in mind, but also keeps in mind that a lot of people thrive on having incentives. Should RP be its own reward? Yes, to a point, but that doesn't invalidate giving additional rewards.

You feel disenfranchised when you don't think you can catch up. That's fine and natural. Being super active, doing tons of shit, and then seeing someone who never does anything be your equal, can also lead to dissatisfaction, and that seems pretty fine and natural, too. The trick is to find a balance. I can't say if Eldritch has hit a sweet spot, but I like it a hellova lot better than The Reach's catchup mechanic. I also think it's an improvement on Reno (even if I'd like the XP gain lowered a bit).

I also don't think The Reach's catchup mechanic is what keeps limit-hours people there. I think inertia affects people with limited hours a lot more, and they're slower to really shift their attentions to anything new because they have less time to spread around and invest in the 'new'. This may be wrong, but it's how I think when work crunch is cutting my availability down. I'm a lot less likely to invest my effort until a game is 'proven' to have things going for it in those periods.

I think 4XP a week is a bit much in GMC, but I also think that a flat but diminishing rate combined with activity based XP is pretty spot. I like it. Most Dinos will fade in activity over time, even if the exceptional monster wont (and I'm OK with that), and this allows newer but more active players can catch up.

@Ganymede: You need people who are out and interact with the world and the other characters. Who does things, who has things happen to them (which is how most XP is gained on GMC). The more of this, the better, because talking about it and reacting to these things builds RP for everybody. Catering to people with limited time on their hands is good, but you can't just cater to them.

Edit: Text cleanup. Apparently I was rushing.

Mind, being SuperFriends doesn't mean you have to actually spill Sphere secrets. In fact you really shouldn't unless you can't help it. And if you do spill secrets, them being your SuperFriend is not an excuse, and you shouldn't expect other PCs or NPCs to give you a break because feelings. Especially you shouldn't get OOC angry. This is part of what gives it such a bad reputation, I think. However but bad players will do bad things, because that's what bad players do. No reason to disparage a whole concept just because some assholes can't help themselves but be assholes. Just stomp on them when it happens.

@Sanguine said:

And when you mention a 'group' controlling a neighborhood can the members of said group be composed of different flavored of supernatural. I'm sure this sounds rather nitpicky, but we've all seen how mind numbingly nit picky these games can get.

I never really understood that. If you've got a multi sphere game, what's wrong with the spheres interacting? It's not oWoD where sphere antagonism was a major part of the theme.

@HelloRaptor said:

As for reading, books were awesome when I was growing up. I loved having books. Now, though? Fuck no.

I still love paper for books and newspapers. I'll read both electronically, but it's not the same. Kindle is not the same. It's very practical, though, which is why I have one. Sure makes it easier to pack for trips.