Posts made by mietze

@L-B-Heuschkel that's my strategy as well. I just have historically run into more than a few kind of insufferable people who will very loudly complain how their PC is just too deep and complex for everyone else around them who of course are so much shallower. When in fact there were lots of interesting stories to uncover in those other PCs, its just that fewer people wanted to deal with the Oh So Complex person because they were kind of a critical impatient jerk.

To some degree it's not enough to have a really interesting story on a mush, you have to find people who would like to tell it with you. I think that escapes people sometimes or is their biggest frustration and sometimes rather than address that aspect they will blame others for not being up to par.

It's a human impulse, I think that most people can find themselves sucked into.

I find I have a lot better success being happy on a place if I really examine my expectations and see if I can recalibrate a bit. Usually I can find at least one or two people that are very reciprocal in allowing me into their stories while also being interested in mine and building new ones.

I struggle sometimes to have reasonable expectations, but I am always a lot happier with everything and everyone if I do.

In my experience the majority of people I have interacted with on games want that deeper exploration of themes and what makes their PC tick, but it takes some time and investment to learn and enjoy the RP style that will allow me to engage with them in that way. I have also experienced (as I am sure many people have) players who drop their PCs into a scene and have a very specific agenda in mind to highlight their PC (this is fine) but who then become very aggressive and put out if they do not get the desired response and their ooc exasperation really makes it unpleasant because they really cannot hide their snobbery once they decide that all the other PCs are shallow and trite because they're not engaging that person like they want to be engaged with in that particular scene.

While I do not usually have the snobbery directed towards me personally, when I witness it towards others it's honestly and instant turn off and even if I enjoy that person's writing I will be reluctant to engage.

Do I find social chit chat draining at times, yeah. But I try not to assume anything about depth or motivation from social scenes either. What I as a player am looking at in social scenes is if there's anything little or big that's thrown out during it that might be fun to engage with later more personally. Is this person oocly polite/responsible regardless of the personality of the PC. Does this person seem to ignore certain types of PCs consistently in the scene. Ect.

All of my PCs have deeper backgrounds and goals and motivations than their snapshot writeups and/or wiki pages suggest. I do not play coy with them either. But I also have my own style and preferences and while I have a rule that I will always be willing to engage someone a certain amount of times (unless I see them doing something abusive or they are super unpleasant) regardless of playstyle or mannerisms, it has to be an enjoyable experience. (That doesn't mean ICly happy.)

Whenever I am having an extreme disconnect between desire and how I am actually feeling I always step back and take a look at internal factors as well as external.

Do I have realistic expectations for the amount of time I have invested in RP with the other PC.

Am I writing adequately and clearly enough that my objective is known? Am I ascribing to shallowness or inattention something that I am contributing to because I am expecting too much interpretation on their part?

Am I frustrated or worried about other aspects of the game that is coloring my experience of this interaction.

Usually if I am feeling a huge disconnect I can find things that I am doing that are contributing to it and if I work on course correcting those it can help a lot.

You can be a great writer and suck at being a mush player or vice versa (I think the publishing success of quite a few infamous mushers should speak to that). Or maybe you can be good at everything!

But when it comes to mushing I will take someone who maybe wouldn't pass every test for stellar writing on the internet, who might mangle some grammar or structure now and then but who is a fun ooc collaborator and not an asshat over someone who is a great writer but consistently or frequently selfish and mean.

I can enjoy authors who are dicks because I do not have to deal with them on an individual level unless I want to. I like many works whose authors I have no desire to interact personally with, and the authors do not even have to be alive for me to connect with their work.

Which is the real difference between mushing and writing I think. It is a lot more personal and social, even when there is not a lot of chit chat, because of the responsiveness (or not being willing or capable to do that) to other people's writing that is expected.

@Kestrel people do not always take rosters because they are "unsure and uncommitted", sometimes it is an avenue to take a PC that is known to be thematic and appropriate to the setting or even needed/wanted skillset. It allows you to avoid irritating people on a channel asking what's wanted or making a PC to try and fill other people's wants and then dropping/never finishing them because interest is lost or the oc creator gets pissed because someone else makes a similar concept and they are not uniquely desired anymore. Or cluttering up a who/character list with a shitload of many PCs that realistically you know will not be played after about a month and the newness wears off.

Not that it can't happen with rosters too, but unsureness and noncommittal is a player thing that many people who turn up their nose at pre-gen pcs often have in spades as well.

Today my supervisor returned after having to help out another branch for 2 days due to staffing issues, and it also was my manager's last day (that we just found out about on Monday). Which means we are back to a near-skeleton crew again after today. Guess who shows up in the parking lot before opening? The regional auditor, surprise!

Stressful shitty day, and I still feel like crap on a cracked health wise, and we already had a scheduled visit with big regional boss tomorrow that is going on even though we no longer have a manager. So tomorrow is going to be even funner, I'm sure.

I'd like this stupid illness to end. Spent Christmas day until January 2nd in bed. Since then for every amount of time I spend outside it I have to spend more recovering shivering under blankets totally wasted. It is irritating because I'm well enough to be bored and to have things I want to do but sick enough still that I suck at almost everything I try, from writing to paying attention, ect. If I can take a 2-3 hour nap I can be okayish for a little while.

It makes me feel very down, about my RP, my work performance, even just my notes for some write ups I'm doing. I have an appt tomorrow to rule out pneumonia or something but I doubt that since I do not have a fever--but at least working for The Man means I have awesome insurance so I don't need to worry about paying $200 for someone to tell me I probably have a virus and should drink lots of fluids.

Fun concept, friendly folks, lots of easy to find info on the wiki, I'm really enjoying things so far.

Congee is cheap and comfortable and is my first go to. If I want crunchies I can put crunchies in it. Or some veggies, or meat or an egg or fresh herbs or a squirt of sriracha or whatever sauce I want or furikake, whatever. In addition to feeling sick I keep on getting punched in the face with this depression so I put some crunchies and some sliced ginger in it the last time I had it this weekend.

However, I have an issue and a major one with eating anxiety and sadness so if I am not able to cook I know I'm going to fall face first into bags of takis and I just have to deal with the pain later. I wouldnt call that a meal or nutritionally supportive at all though.

@Arkandel yeah I hate Scamaritan and its ilk.

Also, the idea that people will choose to live on subsistence/most inexpensive staples if they don't have to is not really a correct one. That has been proven time and again. While I appreciate veganism, lean towards plant based diets myself quite happily, I really wish that line of preaching would go away because jfc that edges really close to a "noble savage" type of thing that is just gross. And unnecessary.

With respect, food is going to be an "emotive" topic almost always, for a wide variety of reasons.

@Sunny ow!!! That would KEEP hurting every time you moved your mouth too.

I have been sick since Christmas day. It means I had to cancel one of my favorite gatherings (new years eve game night with roast beast) along with a few other things, which means I feel pretty sad actually.

I was able to stay out of bed or the couch for 6 consecutive hours yesterday (longest stretch since monday), but I am paying for it today. Reactive airways suck. I am so down that even the cat who prefers my husband has been my fluffy purring cuddle buddy today. (Wanting to lay her huge ass fluffy heavy self ON my chest, of course).

@faraday yep, that was something I've enjoyed a lot on battlestar games, the older skew. But it makes sense when there are harder limits in who can be what grade at what age, and the setting provides compelling reasons for even "retirees" to come back into action!

@Ominous said in What is the 'ideal' power range?:

I'm working off the basis of a fantasy setting, where 40 is pretty old. Adjust ages upwards as necessary for a modern setting, or downwards for an anime setting where people are expected to retire and enjoy their golden years at age 25.

So maybe my definition of what people usually mean when they talk about retirees, golden years, and "pretty old" is different than yours, but when I think of someone playing a PC like that, they are not at the peak of their life, are slowing down and settling in to more of an advisory role, and on most games there really isnt much of a niche for that, except for in a smaller more rewarding playgroup. Players do not want their PCs "advised", many players want to be able to go out and do, ect.

But if you wonder why I was getting that impression, the above is why.

That being said, I enjoy playing older PCs (vampires/ghould do not count, though it can be fun from a historical perspective, they are not going to perceived as "old"); but I always build in things to them to counteract some of the difficulties that can occur (if people realize your PC is the elderly age of 35 and above--a lot of people won't even be cognizant of it for awhile and that can be really oocly funny too). Extra XP doesn't make up for that. And I think maybe that's why older PCs tend to stay on the roster even if they're not coupled up or end up falling into flavor PC status if someone hasn't planned for it or loses their ooc ties.

@Ominous when you start with a bigger chunk of XP in CG it can give a short term boost (depending on how rapidly XP in game is earned and how), but yeah, it doesn't last forever and is not much of a incentive, and you're still going to be smoked by the 18 year old that's been on the grid playing for a year. So it really doesnt help bridge the power differential that builds up in a game over time. And absent other incentives I think that is probably why people tend to gravitate towards younger PCs, because it doesn't feel like their older PC gets any benefit from not being 20, because they do not perceive that part of the PC to be particularly valued.

There are always some folks that prefer older PCs because they enjoy them. But they would play them regardless of XP boost at the start, most likely, because unless the XP gain on the game as a whole is truly glacial any starting xp gain advantage is lost pretty quickly.

@Ominous why do you want to encourage a greater age range of PCs?Are there special story incentives to be had?

Let's take your example of a 40 year old in your game being considered nearing the end of their useful life. Why do you want to incentivize playing a PC that the society at large will consider a has been or being good for little else than being a plot dispenser. Do they have special built in roles/powers/niches? That to me seems like a better way to encourage more age diversity than extra XP, as well as making those PCs valuable and so theres reason to include them while all the 18-late 20s pcs are getting hitched and pumping out offspring on a L&L game.

I think age diversity for age diversity's sake and offering people a handful of extra XP just doesn't work very well, because again, absent some kind of built in recognition many people just don't want to create a pc that has had most of their fun adventuring and development behind them before they even hit the grid, and numbers on a sheet seldom means you are included more in play or otherwise.

It does not really help to close the gap on play power differentials between PCs either (if that's desirable). But building in non xp incentives might. Maybe people can't manifest major magical abilities until they're 30. Or older pcs have more social influence (based on mechanics) that majorly kicks ass if they are called in to assist on a task, ect.

Do we not assume that PCs are not average dumpy joe? I mean, yes, there are plenty of middle aged people who are talentless/not the top tiers of their professions, but frankly, most 18-25 year olds aren't at the pinnacle of their careers either. I admit, I'm not edgy enough to want to play average joe PCs, so I guess I kind of assumed that PCs were going to be exceptional regardless of age.

Also, can I giggle a bit at 40 being considered old and grizzled? 4 months before I turned 40, I gave birth to child #4, and had run 5k every other day through the first trimester of pregnancy, and worked as a massage therapist (on my feet, doing deep tissue bodywork) until 2 weeks before I had my C-section. Hell, all the marathon runners and iron man qualifiers I personally know didn't even start that shit until their late thirties (though again, these people I know ARE pretty badass and would probably qualify as PCs.

But if you're not going to "stupid, inexperienced kid" handicap PCs, I really think you shouldn't turn mid-life PCs into elderly people. But I do agree that I am kind of meh at the idea of huge reward to older PCs UNLESS you have a compelling story reason to want a lot of older people in the game (which honestly I can't think of many, but I'm sure someone more creative can). People RPing like their 35 year old PC is elderly AND people who want a Doogie PC with 2 PhDs and who is a star athlete at 18 kind of annoy me about the same amount.

And that still doesn't solve the differential problem either, it just gives some people a little bit of a head start to reach their max potential.

I think that you have to also look at the lifespan you expect from the game as well. If you have slow but steady XP gain, you could tailor it to the idea that the game has a finite lifespan (I'd put it at 2-4 years). You could have a policy of PCs riding off into the sunset (or going for a long walk during a blizzard once they reach a certain age/capacity) at a certain power level, but if you pace it right it's exceedingly unlikely that anyone would have to do that before the game comes to its end. Maybe honestly HAVING an end in mind (though that will cull some of your playerbase since a lot of people have trouble with the idea that they have a fininte length of time to play their pcs, even if they KNOW that's the case, it's worse if they go in with people acknowledging it. I don't share that dislike, but I accept that there are plenty of people who do, so it's a factor in considering what audience you want.).

Or if you want to run a high powered game, I think it's awesome to just embrace it. I've enjoyed seeing some creative CGs were people were allowed to borrow their entire lifetime maximum XP in cg if they wanted to (though usually the respects were severely limited, like 1 time ever, ir that). So people COULD make a god right away if that's the level they wanted to play, or if they wanted to RP out talents unfolding and the like they could too. I would imagine you'd have to have storytellers willing to take on lots of different levels though. Or make the game a sandbox so that burden isn't on staff.

I think there are stories that can be enjoyable and fun at any level. It's just a matter of what stories have the most support on the game (and how that evolves over time). I am not sure that everyone has to be overly concerned with catching people up necessarily (unless it's important or desirable for runners to get new blood in). And I think eliminating XP rollover between PCs probably would do a lot to ensure that there was either a stable population of pcs at the same level OR there were many people at the lower end of power/level as well. I don't always think the attachment to previously earned XP on an old PC or allowing people to earn XP on a series of throwaway PCs that they the reap it from to pour into another PC is very healthy for a game a lot of the time. But I understand why people would be reluctant to not have it, since that can be pretty standard in some subcommunities, and it's often one of the few ways that any player can feel some continuity of "ownership" as a player on the game.

I kind of liked Eldritch's system of small # of grid squares that represent huge areas, with smaller builds (such as houses or businesses or other relevant spaces) branching off so you didnt have a shitload of street rooms to walk through. People fussed a lot on chan about that, but I bet there's be less griping about it now.

I think the most surefire (and also the most costly and difficult thing to maintain) way to do that is to have a staff heavily invested in proving a lot of entertainment and not relying on the "make your own fun" factor. And frankly also a population cap.