Posts made by Lotherio

@Arkandel said in The 100: The Mush:

I.e. they rolled a character, got out of CGen, found themselves a room to idle in, made few if any attempts to meet others, signed up for no +events but no one is inviting them to things.

It's actually a thing that happens. Very peculiar.

Its a vicious circle.

Some do log in and page about for rp, getting the 'I owe my friend rp, /I'm just checking bboards and mail/etc ... here's a rain check' which is never cashed and the asker usually get tired of paging to ask for that RP, they get crickets on chans set up for RP when they ask, or see the regulars in a scenes, ask to join and are told things like the scenes are too big several days in a row.

Reality is probably in the middle of both these ends of the spectrum. We know some folks that are in the 'regular' group(s) go out of their way to play with others and make them feel included, just as we know there is that person or two that well actively choose not to play with others and is usually the one to make comments about how they don't like their style or think their a snowflake or don't like how they 'play' the game. Plus other circumstance like time of day and availability that contribute to make it seem like either end is contributing (inclusive and promoting RP as well as walling off RP in some manner).

It all happens, but middle of the spectrum, we all seem to find our places to play here and there.

@ixokai

18 year olds ... It only ends one way ...

"I have the conch!"

resounding squish!

@Coin said in What would a superhero game need to be/do to bring in a new player base?:

@surreality said in What would a superhero game need to be/do to bring in a new player base?:

@Lotherio said in What would a superhero game need to be/do to bring in a new player base?:

@fatefan @Kanye-Qwest

Four Color was an old comic that changed title every issue. One Issue could be Hercules the next could be pulp detective, then the next could be Chilly Willy or Mickey Mouse.

In a twisted way, I'd... almost love to see a game that did this. Make a character, fairly basic with a basic set of abilities, and every so often, some weird event changes the world and suddenly your character is their noir incarnation, or even a cartoon one, as fits the weird change to the world. It'd almost be like any given 'changing channels' episode of a television show. (I'm looking hard at you on this one, Supernatural.)

It would be Very Not So Serious but probably a lot of fun, and likely a dang good characterization exercise for the writer contingent, since you'd be re-imagining your character's presentation (without changing their basics or sheet really) with each paradigm shift.

You may want The Strange.

I'd be up for either or any of these, in an OTT sort of fashion as Mu*-wide seems a bit tricky for maintenance. A reincarnation of Dragonlance around 2K or so tried doing episodes of time, where there was some major conflict played out as long as needed; a few weeks, a month, up to a year. Then it jumped forward a generation or three to the next conflict, with the PC heroes being legend and the new chars building off that history. Different, but changing. Staff realized eventually it was a lot of effort for little reward eventually.

Then again, could just have a set time in one shift. One ST/Player sets up theme and such for the shift the month before, then runs as needed for the month. While they're running, the next one can start planning the shift for next month. I'm a fan of Mu*'s that present as a system for OTT style gaming, just its never gotten fully popular (yes, I still log into Gateway sometimes).

@fatefan @Kanye-Qwest

Maybe the lexicon has changed, but Four Color is the inclusion of multiple theme/genre FC. Four Color was an old comic that changed title every issue. One Issue could be Hercules the next could be pulp detective, then the next could be Chilly Willy or Mickey Mouse.

There are places that allow all levels of play like this. Multiverse sticks out as the most inclusive @Kanye-Qwest . But the other big ones that spring to mind are inclusive of all levels right now.

As for which of those four are preferable. All have merit, if balanced, just stick to theme, do not go four color ... Where one day it is pulp noir detective, but then a paragon is approved in cg that completely changes the meta of chargen, and makes the current players feel under classed. Or vice versa, if everyone on grid is paragon, make sure new players don't set themselves up in cg to fail by going street level and not be accepted in the paragon groups because their rp stories are just too dangerous for street level.

@Wolfs said in What would a superhero game need to be/do to bring in a new player base?:

@Lotherio I can be guilty of that at times. There are a couple favorites I have that I've played on different places, but I've tried to mix it up a little bit in other cases. Part of the reason behind that is I've always been poor at OC concepts of my own so I go with comic book characters instead. There can also be settings that are different enough that it lets me try putting a different spin on someone than I might do on another place.

I lean toward some less popular characters anyway, ones that aren't usually taken up and played by others. No Wolverines, Supermen, Wonder Women, etc. for me.

I'm good if people claim favorites ... and play them. Its the ones that don't answer pages when folks inquire about RP while they stay off the channels and only play with one or two other features exclusively.

I'll throw my two cents into the kitty, its staff and, also, its the campers. Those ones that have two or three favorite FCs and just have to play them everywhere they go.

Like the Rogue camper. Not to say good folks haven't played Rogue from time to time. But sometimes you go to that place, someone has her claimed and they have no interest in playing with anyone except maybe a Gambit or something.

@fatefan said in What would a superhero game need to be/do to bring in a new player base?:

So, re: street level action--would this mean no mystic powers, or just mystic powers roughly on par with the power level of other heroes (e.g., Mandrake the Magician rather than Doctor Strange)? I assume the latter, given the mention of maintaining balance, but I want to make sure I've understood correctly.

Well, its using FS3. My street level is a general preference to playing an comic places. For the mu* I'm running now, it is a marginal just a step above street level. But not iconic level; no superman's strength, wolverine's regeneration (or Wade Wilson/Night Raven immortality). On the FS3 scale, skills and powers are limited to 6 out of chargen, and our hardest limit is not time manipulation (time stream, turtling/slowing/speeding is welcome).

One of the ways the system runs is opposed action skills for both attack and defense. Physical rolls against Physical. So no matter what utility skill someone has (teleport, invisibility, summon squirrels), it all comes down to how many points in an action attribute in combat (physical vs physical). We've limited the amount of the four basic super hero action skills one can take, so no invulnerable tanks with points in every one. Everyone is susceptible to something in combat ... no lone wolves or mavericks, you need team mates.

We are using 60 point buy with 20 point limit to action skills. Nothing on the level of comic icons out of the gate - if a player spends months upping action skills and bg skills they may compare to icon characters. Its between street and high level normal (far out of cosmic range). If I went full street level, I'd probably lower action skills, and point buy, more emphasis on bg skills for doing street things beyond brawling.

Edit: I should throw in here, iconic chars in the system we're trying are in the 9 pip range for skills. We progress at 2 xp a week (this may be too fast), so in three to four months of play, a char can have one action skill at that iconic range, but will lack in other skills.

Yes, one theme, no more four color/cross overs. No more cosmic sphere meets street sphere meets magic sphere. The days of these should be done.

I'm toying with FS3 for supers in original theme and the KISS philosophy behind the skills. We've gone with removing most action skills (driving/flying/shooting guns/dodging/melee weapons ad infinitum/the other ones folks keep adding in) and are using four skills for all super hero action; physical, energy, mystic, psychic. These to cover all attacks/defenses in the super category. Then all utility into BG slots.

Edit: the no cross over/no multi source/no FC ... I think a lot of it comes down to balance and so many in comics start out of the gate beyond the others, balance is lost. I like playing closer to street level, but any four-color joint I go to ends up having Superman and all his ilk and kin. I get into a scene where I can do something, then they show up and I'm stuck watching them steal the scene.

@acceleration said in What do RPGs *never* handle in mu*'s? What *should* they handle?:

@Lotherio

To some extent I agree, but I think players should absolutely be pushing each other to be better writers. Players should be pushing each other to RP stuff that can be responded to and not just dead end a scene, try to use correct punctuation/capitalization, and otherwise improve their writing ability. But I don't think they should be prevented from trying concepts that would otherwise exist and be effective simply because people are more willing to deal with torture than mind control.

Oh, I think we agree more than realized, this is what I meant by I see it as an opportunity to help them develop. By simply playing with some that others avoid because of grammar/ESL/etc., maybe they'll try a little more. Maybe they are new. And barring that, I don't mind paging someone with pointers if it seems they start doing things that are hard to respond to in general. I'm more a fan of the recommendation type +kudos to offer criticism than the one to +reward someone with XP for a good pose (unless its one of these people I've seen improve).

We should help each other to be better writers in this medium, but I'll still go with +roll for social. Like on Realms, rolling the skill before the pose and trying to affect the results was always entertaining. Even with good role-players. I enjoyed watching @Seraphim73 posing after rolling a critical fail socially. Then again, I don't mind failing at any dice and playing the outcomes to maybe turn it around eventually instead of only wanting wins too.

My dice are thrown into the social dice should stand where they fall pool.

I had a long term TT game, with a player that had social anxiety. When they played the social oriented char, we ran with them explaining third person what the character did. I try to relate it to mu* experiences.

I'm good with this on a mu*, and yes, these players will be shunned and avoided if others think the rp is lacking. I see it as an opportunity to help them develop by playing with them.

I still see it as: no one makes the heavy fighter show real fighting prowess. It's only fair to those less gifted in written eloquence, or as is often true, the ones writing from an ESL standpoint, to allow social dice to reflect how the character is designed rather than how the player may portray them with lack of said skill themself.

Bare in mind, some of these folks do not have the luxury of being in an environment conducive to finding a TT, they are not in an urban environment like some of us. Others really have social anxiety, online is there only outlet. It's not entirely fair to force them to write better than their ability level to play the character they want to, much as we don't force each other to train in mma to play a brawler online.

I make choice to use/ignore weather based on what I'm feeling. I played at a place that had rainfall every day, and before this, I enjoyed seeing what +weather had, or what it put into the desc of the room for me. Either the person didn't realize how to get the code to work right to represent annual rainfall correctly, or they thought it was a rainforest. Still, I choose to use it or not depending on what may be happening. A planned scene to go to the beach, then hit the grid and its raining - ignored. Random RP to get folks together, I'll set and use whatever weather they have in mind. If a place doesn't have it, I'll google the location to see what the current weather is sometimes.

In fact, I google anyways when using modern real world locations, to see if anything is going on to give flavor to a scene. Septemberfest in September, Nationality Day on the Green, if it has something going on, I'll describe it in a set that we can use or discard as the scene develops.

So, even if I'd choose to ignore it, population code cold be interesting. Depends how much effort one wants to put into it. I wouldn't just want to see its at x percent capacity with a lean towards ignoring fights or calling in fights. If it somehow used some &area coded into the rooms, I would certainly use it as an option. Like one part of town is college district or another is stadium district, and you threw in just a few more words for flavor for area or time of year like 'game day, fans are here' then folks know it could get rowdy and anyone looking for random bar fight could spruce it up with by being an opposing fan or something, or you know , near the college, 'dead week, lots of students, but all are quiet with nose in books' and folks would know starting something during study times would get cell phones calling 911 at any disturbance out of pure annoyance. I think if implemented right, I'd certainly use it to save myself time from looking this up (and yes, even on original theme/not earth game, I'd check their calendar for holidays and events that may overlap into a scene setting).

@ThatGuyThere said in Finding roleplay:

...I have had more scenes killed for me by folks zerg rushing a hangout with a few people in it to get votes then I think it produces ...

This needs to go into the random bitching thread, its one of my complaints. A hangout hits 3 people, and in five minutes its up to 6 or 7. Worse when folks swap alts out for a few poses each to get votes for all their alts while they're at it. I'd rather they just +cheat the +votes and +vote without RP'ing each other than bum rush a scene. This can quickly kill a good conversation with social chaos.

I'm like everyone else. When I start on a Mu*, I play a character to get into and understand theme. Even if its common theme like WoD, I play the char to get a feel for the particular meta of wherever it is I am playing.

Once I feel comfortable enough with them, I get what I can to RP it. If I stay long enough, its because I enjoy the theme and/or that particular meta of said theme/game. When I get there, I'll play NPCs, and if they are talking trashcans, even better. But I can't stick to just ST'ing, I need to play, and I need social RP too.

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.

@Arkandel said in Finding roleplay:

TL:DR ....

This stuff should be boosted any way possible - because if on that critical moment they even think 'well, man, I need to run this by the sphere people first, should I make a +job?' it might never happen, and that's a damn shame.

I can't two upvote a post with my thumbs, but yes, both ...

What @Arkandel said there. The reason submissions and tracking may deter from helping find RP. On most games I get into, I do put in the, if it doesn't break theme, feel free to run wild. Someone asked about tracking too. I don't want to track as staff minor things like what happened to Villain X. Four to five years back, I found comic place that used the 'if you don't break theme' policy too, and didn't want to track villains (literally, because super heroes and lots out there), so they had a table on their wiki that had every villain that came up in a scene. Folks could add a line with the current status (escaped, in jail, on the run, etc.) as they used them.

I updated the wiki to allow folks to add lines of history to villains, just a click 'new page', fill in infobox stuff (last scene:New York City; What: Fighting Team Orion in Financial District; Outcome: Escaped after destroying benches and sculptures in a park). Literally two seconds to even code it, two seconds to add an entry. No reason to +request a plot to fight a villain, or submit anything afterwards.

Most places use wikis these days. Its handy to track information and meta across all parties. I like open wikis, not a fan of completely locked down wikis with only staff control. I like to build it so players can easily add things they want; places, NPCs, events, plots, etc. A Mu* is a joint effort, in my view, between staff and players, to make the stories.

@ThatGuyThere said in Finding roleplay:

Edit to avoid double post: I humbly suggest we use the term Pick up scene to describe the old days thing, much like a pick up game of basketball you played with whomever was at the court and looking for fun.

Devil's advocate, and cause the edit was down after I totally agreed with an upvote of the original content ...

Pick up scene and the old days thing ... I've had them start with a random hook and develop into multiple month long ordeals. Some of us can do this on the fly and prefer to go that way, others like to plan ahead. Its still a PrP even if it starts as a pick up scene, and even if all subsequent scenes come out on the fly without much planning ahead.

It all goes back to what Faraday said:

These days my policy is just "run what you want, just don't wreck the theme."

I ran stuff on one of @Seraphim73 's places nearly weekly for a few friends that had zero impact on theme and their meta but kept me and a few daytime folks having fun. Zainy Indian Jones Scientist vs Scientist mayhem and all that it was, probably measurable damage amounts on the scale of some places but barely a breeze in comparison to their scale.

Don't wreck theme, words to live by.

@faraday said in Finding roleplay:

But that's the thing... even back in 1996 we had TPs run by players. On some games (Maddock) it was free-for-all where you could run whatever you wanted, and on other games (B5) there was a +tpview system where everything had to be submitted and approved and it tied into a events notification system if there was a scheduled date... did I miss the "good old days" somehow?

Ah, I do remember back then when TPs needed to be submitted, so when we ran something, we (I) used PrP to distinguish between whether or it had staff approval. At that time (96) I was on original Dragonlance Mux, where staff never approved ideas so we just ran as we pleased, and on original Shadowrun (Before Denver was introduced with the newer edition), where I still ran things without approval.

I've always been daytime player too, even using TP code to schedule, I was SOL lots because no one was around. I've always been better suited to finding a few folks at my time of day and playing with them as we pleased I guess.

So, alternatively, yes it was a hoot on Realms that a big grip was 'there is never anything in evenings' despite most plots happening in the evening. The real jab funny part coming from over 20 years of playing with nothing ever offered during daytime hours, ever, and no staff willing to listen to a gripe about daytime folks not getting anything because staff can't make that time of day. This probably lead to my view of what is a PrP?

@Coin said in Finding roleplay:

@faraday I agree. I'm actually with you on the definition. Needing approval from staff doesn't make it a NON-Player-Run-Plot. Player-Run-Plot implies it is not run by staff--approving a plot is not running it.

When is the distinction, when staff require approval so they can alter it, make changes to it, say no it doesn't fit, or yes if its changed to meet theme?

I was with the definition, my gripe was more about not liking scheduling, approval, and getting staff involved (to approve or to reward) but now I think I'm with @Thenomain and those the days before 'PrP's ...

I go do stuff that is fun to find RP, I don't get staff approval and I do not do things to wreck theme. And sometimes folks come along, RP found.