Best posts made by Lotherio

@Ghost said in Good or New Movies Review:

First the Mcconaissance; now the ReCageaissance

I vote we remember the recon(AIR)quista so we are not doomed to repeat the past.

@Thenomain said in Finding roleplay:

See, in the days before PrPs, people would either get together and have something happen and that leads to something else happening and so on or so forth, or staff would. I do not like the concept of PrPs for reasons above, but to re-state in this context are because they seem to be formulaic and that's not what I'm into.

This ... will always be a PrP to me, a plot run by players for themselves and friends in lack of staff plots, or in place of when staff plots are usually not going when I play.

The current PrP more seems to be players assuming ST like positions in light of fewer staff on places in general it seems.

I usually go out and start rping, developing PrPs on the fly in response to what others and my own PC seem to be doing. Getting them into trouble and, sometimes, getting them out of it.

RP seems to come with enough effort without having to spend too much time seeking it.

@SuperiorHuron said in MUSIC:

Pressure is probably one of my favorites. As soon as it starts, you instantly KNOW what it is.

Stop, calibrate and listen ...

I'll listen to anything. Ramones are my all time favorite. Seen them a few times, have all their American vinyls and all the UK b-sides. Been listening to Claudie Mackula for inspiration on the new place

@faraday said in Finding roleplay:

@Thenomain @Coin OK, I get it. I think we just have different terminology, possibly because of different MU sub-cultures or something. Dunno. To me, a player-run plot is just that - a plot (i.e. something more than bar/social RP) done by a non-staff player. The degree to which PrPs are managed/restricted/scheduled varies wildly from game to game, though. And I agree - it's really annoying when you have to file forms in triplicate and schedule things 2 weeks out just to fight some Cylons. Spontaneous shenanigans are fun. If you don't want the potential for interruption, grab a TP room.

Once managed/restricted/scheduled its no longer player run, if it needs approval its out of the hands of the players.

Though everyone still calls it PrP, and puts it on policies. 'PrPs are welcome, after you dot the i's, cross the t's and staff okay it.' On those places, I usually just run my own PrPs anyway, non approval, and stick to the golden rule, if it doesn't change the meta of the game in anyway, it should be fine. I pay the price, if they offer rewards only if approved, I don't get the rewards. So, plug for FS3 concept of XP per week for just being there and time spent on game/approved!

And inversely, I've seen a few places in the past half decade crop up with the policy, 'page before entering a public room on the grid if others are present' ... I guess the meta of how we play and what is common courtesy is just changing. I still think if you're on the grid, you're in public. And at the same time, see why the policy was created cause, like when I'm in a public place, WoD setting, and we've posed the sun rising, and vampire Joe shows up and poses without asking what's going on.

Beastmaster is such a literally masterpiece of film up there with the Odessy and Don Quixote. My preteen self mailed it that this was a genre work at the top of its time and this holds up today. Marc Singd and Rip Torns finest hours. It's a classic for the shelf alongside Circle of Iron.

Back when a b-movie was just low budget and not the next attempt at making The Toxic Avenger complete with excess gore and some gratuitous naked people.

I'd play PvP only if there was reward/recognition for losing/dying.

Like old Battletech 3065 Mux. The one that had no real plot other than playing tactical simulation, the port from the old FASA tabletop into a mu*, where it was random battles half the time. The place was set up so you had x amount of game credit to buy mechs, got y amount for losing, z amount for winning, and could buy more mechs that could be used in the simulations. Even while learning and losing the complex control system/interface, players still got xp and credit to buy more mechs to use.

Something like that place, minus the dozen or so various tactical screens one had to get good at learning to view all while using aliases to quick drive/steer/shoot/communicate with other players.

If people can come back, even if slightly less than where they were, but with some level of growth from the dead char, I think that helps encourage the risk of dying in a PvP element.

I'll admit it, I'm nearly done on my binge of Cobra Kai. Its better than I thought, there's a lot of homage to the original while still giving that teen drama feel that goes along with the stuff my kids like so we can watch it together (it even has a girl from one of their Nick shows). Despite teen drama and the over the top karate, there is some good character development in there between all the fan service. I like it.

As for combat and typing speed, as @Lithium noted, this can't be changed and is always an issue.

Similar to the CofD intent as mentioned by @ThatOneDude, my preference in mu* is to roll dice before a pose. Instead of posing intents, rolling, posing outcomes, I tend to like +rolling then posing. Some players aren't comfortable with this, or don't know the rules well enough, and may need to ooc ask, but this can save time. It can even bypass the 'intent' or 'declaration' phase in some games, if there is trust between ST and players. If someone is going to throw a punch and rolls the dice relevant correctly, they can pose landing it without it being a power pose, the dice handled that. Leaving it to the other to pose the damage and return action, +rolling what they need before starting their pose.

@Wizz said in Good or New Movies Review:

I mean wouldn't a French art house Trek be kind of amazing tho

I think David Lynch did this in like the 90s, are we talking about original Twin Peaks at this point?

@ixokai said in Cultural differences between MUDs and MUSHes:

@Lotherio said in Cultural differences between MUDs and MUSHes:

@Kestrel said in Cultural differences between MUDs and MUSHes:

This is not OK for me to metapose:

@ixokai is one cocky motherfucker. Kestrel just stares at him with a baffled expression when he steps on up to that wall with the clearly stated intention of climbing it. There is no way he can climb that wall — look how short his stubby legs are.

I can't speak for @ixokai, but this sort of meta is acceptable. What he is referring to would be:

Okay: @Kestrel looks at @ixokai , that cocky mother fucker, he steps up to try and punch him in the jaw.

Not Okay: @Kestrel looks at @ixokai , that cocky mother fucker, he steps up to try and punch him in the jaw, landing one straight on his face and dropping him like a sack of potatoes..

This Not Okay is not okay, but not because its a metapose. That's a powerpose. Metapose inserts "meta" commentary, stuff that can not be inferred from words, body language, etc; its meta. Powerpose takes the power away from the character's player to decide what their character is doing.

I'm in agreement on definition, I'm okay with most meta and simply assume if they put it in, there is some way I can infer what was said. There was some distinction made earlier.

Take @faraday's silly dog pose. Maybe her eyes were red, maybe something in her voice. I might return with an 'Are you okay?' I wouldn't pose meta saying how he figured it out, cause that could cross into power (he had heard about her dog from a friend, knew how close they were).

My only problem with meta is they miss out on a ton of RP opportunity, if they tell me why they're crying, or why they think I'm a dick, in the meta, I'm less inclined to do ask what's wrong or see what is the matter. And like @Mietze, some folks will be less inclined to play with them.

@Ganymede said in Good TV:

In Etheria, queerness is normal. It’s so normal, no one talks about it.

This is a growing trend in some Netflix titles. Daybreak and Dragonprince come to mind.

@Arkandel said in [Cultural differences between MUDs and MUSHes

I don't think a quick page is too big a barrier to entry. It literally takes under a minute and gets rid of the entire issue right there - as opposed to people joining a scene that's already pretty busy/spammy and having to see folks leaving it for that reason. It's easy then to think they are jerks and/or take it personally because... why wouldn't you? After all you posed in and suddenly half the characters are leaving? Elitists!

@lordbelh said in Cultural differences between MUDs and MUSHes:

ETA: We were still existing in the same game. A shared environment in which what I do affects what you do. Even if that's just to walk away. And this is somewhat of a peeve of mine: But I do feel like there are way too many players who rather than share would own this environment, making every other character and player but a bit piece in their grand story, to be straight up ignored and set aside if they feel like it. And I think ownership of public spaces is part of it.

Both of these go together, different sides of the same coin. Yes, a group that has claimed John's Juke Joint as their hangout and constantly say the scene is closed are asshats and should be sandboxing in private. I agree, there is a lot of cliquish mentality, not wholly on purpose either. Likewise, ignoring a 5th wheel is just the same. I notice I try to acknowledge at least the pose if someone comes into public and at times at the cost of ignoring an ongoing IC relationship. Yes, I prefer to be paged first, but if I go public, I don't discourage random joins, I still think its polite to ask first and saves lots of hassle all around..

Both point back to why more OOC helps in MUSH'ing.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-54518628

Congrats Mr Katayama!

Stranded 7 months in another country. People here crying if they have to wear a mask for five minute to go into a store to get their cigarettes.

@Kestrel said in Cultural differences between MUDs and MUSHes:

@Lotherio said in Cultural differences between MUDs and MUSHes:

Circular logic. Polite to ask first is wrong, smart to ask first is right.

It's not circular. @lordbelh (and @Groth, a page or so up) has explained how a person entering a scene might benefit from asking first and thus learn pertinent information that would affect how they ought to approach. So there is a practical reason to do so other than it being a sort of curtsey.
Others in this thread are making it clear that asking is some kind of weird social dance to determine whether or not the other person is an arsehole.

Circular because its smart to ask first to avoid craziness, but politeness has nothing to do with it? If its smart to ask first to, how is it not polite?

Also, I'm not arguing anyone should be entitled, that was like 15 responses ago. It seems everyone is, in fact, agreeing those sorts are assholes. But the argument after entitlement, and my stance, is its still polite to ask because there are reasons other than eliteness and pettiness for why folks may not be able to handle just one more player in a scene. I have said nothing about entitlement to own a room or to disclude anyone from RP. I have said if they’re hogging up public you can ask them for the room or remind them to take closed scenes private. Manners still help.

Thanks for ignoring my other comments.

Speaking for myself, I don't really like making anyone feel like they need to ask for my permission to join in and have fun. I feel awkward when people needlessly apologise to me for intruding on a scene. I think a more welcoming environment would be one where public places are considered genuinely public

My point has been people want to meet new people in public but cannot handle big scenes. Its just as rude to force them to bow out of a scene, because they are polite and will say nothing. It takes two seconds to write five words in page or OOC to get over the hurdles. Assholes assume entitlement to public places. Just like assuming joining a big scene makes everyone feel comfortable. You feel awkward with all the OOC, others feel awkward without it. I think some of us are saying we all need to be adult and consider everyone’s awkward feelings in the shared environment.

Here is a good article on how to get along with each other: http://wadewilson.livejournal.com/11285.html (old school, its live journal, Wade Wilson’s Internet Drama and You). TL;DR – to avoid coming off like an ass, try communicating with other players.

Space Marines are real!

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/11/16/marine-corps-creates-new-space-focused-command.html

Added bonus, they're headquarted at Offutt AFB here where I live.

@Kestrel said in Cultural differences between MUDs and MUSHes:

Any rejection H and I experience (e.g., C may ICly say, 'How dare you intrude! Go away!') would not be taken as any kind of affront because IC is IC. It would, however, give H and I something to work with in terms of, 'oh, I guess the villagers here don't like us', and RP is still RP.

Pages do not come into it.

'Tell' came into it with the example of Bob the ooc friend and him explaining it was dinner. Page is the same thing.

Also, this is a peeve of mine with any RPI RPE MUD. Because I was on-line, I'm accountable for any 'shunning' or ignoring by your character, to your character, from your character. I could of had a RL emergency, I could of came on to check up with a friend in some other part of the country. You said its not an affront, but in the first example, you can approach Bob like he ignored you. A page gets the hand wave part all done too. He was busy, or AFK and doesn't answer.

The clothes and naked came up, on a mush, its understood characters have history and know more about their world than the player knows. They would wear clothes, instead the RP focused MUDs force a player to make up a reason on the spot. MUDs don't suffer from players, they have the leisure to enforce this and let folks leave and ditch the hobby. MUSHes do not have this luxury, they need some civility to attract and retain new players.

And, you go with the villagers here don't like us. Not only where they kind enough to say everyone would split because the scene would be too busy for most of the current players, but now they have to deal with it being an IC shunning to you that they just couldn't work with the scene somehow (too big). Its taking responsibility away from personal courtesy and resolution via page. If this got back to them IC, that you are saying X, Y, and Z don't like you because they couldn't accommodate a scene, they'd ignore outright. Bad, cause as Faraday pointed out, the rain check to play with new players is something most players are honestly good for, instead their dealing with implications that they ICly shun people when it had nothing to do with IC what so ever.

@runescryer said in Good TV:

@lotherio There aren't any currently around that I'm aware of, but you might want to keep a lookout for Mutants & Masterminds 3rd Edition games. All the flexibility and granularity of Champions, with way less dice rolling and much faster combat.

Yeah, I'm aware there are no new OC supers games around, I meant Jupiter's Legacy has me wanting to make another one. Anything involving using a TTG and lots of coding is off the list for me. I'm less after a game myself.

I don't look at a MU's success by number of players.

Also, I want to distinguish, game vs MU*. Game to me only uses code or roll of some kind for determination and conflict resolution, a MUs is an RP environment that may use rules and code. RP is success to me in a MU regardless of size. People having fun, whether all in on immersive meta or minor social interactions between their own PRPs or even sandboxed adventures.

People involved and having fun was briefly touched on in Meta vs PrP vs Planning vs Impromptu.

Its exactly what you say, enough meta with enough to spice the downtime between meta.

Though success for me is drawing in enough players who enjoy the theme and are comfortable enough with running their own PrPs. The more staff needed to arbitrate, dispute resolute, or physical have to run everything for players, the less successful it is. I want folks to be inspired enough to go out and do things they want to make changes. Meta is a mix of running a few things here and there and leaving it up to IC info distribution and letting players react.

If I run a scene or two, then post some IC info later, then folks talk and I start getting pages asking what players can do because they're interested, that's more successful then scheduling plot events time and again.

Realms had decent numbers, 60 or so unique players came by, even when I was done there were 40 players logging on weekly. I do not see this as a success. Players had fun, but there wasn't much getting along. There was meta going on, folks were interested in it (Dorset, a few minor plots on the side that I thought were even better), but the jobs numbered about 1500 in three months and every day of the 10 new ones, about 1/2 was complaints.

Coral Springs (Island), the one I'm doing now, is small, supers themed, niche. There are about 15 individual players a week, about 25 or so who have chars that check on every week or 2 at least. No complaints, everyone is out doing their own plots, meta is slow and out there, minor changes to the world (the PCs world, not the entire cosmos), and overall folks are having fun. It was barely adverstised, on a few comic places mostly, and is more word of mouth. It just seems to be more enjoyable for me to log in. This is my concept of success, I can staff and still have fun, its not a chore to log in.

The Protector - on Netflix, its a Turkish dark fantasy series.

Its a great series, great concept. The only downside is its a Netflix series and they dubbed it, no subtitles. The voice acting isn't too bad just it overlays the full scope of the actors themselves who are all really good.

I'm tired of vampires to be honest. I'm liking/looking for something else, vampire is just overdone for me (any WoD element is for me lately).

I'm uncertain if the bad guys in The Protector are some sort of Jinn (or similar concept), they haven't got into where they come from so much (I'm only through season 2). They seem like some sort of Ghul (a type of Jinn that was translated and converted into vampire) sans the necessity to have to eat flesh (or want to eat flesh).

This is up there with Jinn for me. This is a series set in Jordan, it deals with the discovery of Jinn while on a field trip to Petra for some high schoolers. It gets into the Jinn wager stories that are common, in a modern setting (or battle of good and evil). If anyone remembers this, there was backlash in Jordan due to the portrayal of some of the girls in the story making a second season unlikely. It was really good, and good news is finally after 3'ish years, there is a planned season 2 that will be released next summer.

And another good one for me was Halfworlds on HBO. Mythical figures in Indonesia, immortal and such. The first one takes place in Jakarta but the seasons are sort of closed. The second season follows a storyline in Thailand. There is third season in the works supposedly set in the Philippines.

All good series.

@Pandora said in Cultural differences between MUDs and MUSHes:

I can certainly see the appeal of having things turn out A-OK or at least more to your liking, every time something goes wrong. I just don't know that I find it altogether compels people to tell the best story they possibly could, but simply the most pleasant/convenient.

I think this is a misconception relating to Mushes in particular. Few people want to always win. Most people want the chance to roll for their character. The doctor probably would like to still roll some sort of results and most are inclined to believe that failure is just as fun as success, and may lead to even greater story.

Edit: They want to roll for their character, and with limited time, they don't want to waste on-line time having to fathom some IC excuse for why they were absent. And this is why ... the doctor wasn't at her post on a ship, if this is just assumed to have happened and we believe the rest of the ship and its NPCs run in the background, the doc would be court martialed and worse. All because they just couldn't be online.