Posts made by mietze

They're like villain/antagonist PCs really. When done well they're awesome and can add a lot of fun for most everyone. I find slightly more people are able to be non-thoughtless as a snowflake/rebel than all out antagonist, at least.

It is possible to impose in character consequences for in character behavior without forcing anyone to scene about it. People forced into those situations really usually arent looking forward to the scene even if they have the upper end of the power differential.

That is a separate issue from a player expecting no consequences at all, on screen or off, from their actions.

You can bar a PC from certain missions (or all in extreme cases), demote, remove, ect, all via message or off screen action. I really cannot think of any action serious to fluff that necessitates that people have to have an on camera scene if they do not want to, that's more of a policy thing, and in the case of an unpleasant situation that may become unpleasant oocly, that's what off screen resolution is for.

It doesn't mean that people will be /happy/ about what happens/is enacted off screen, but that's a separate issue.

A large section of my office's wall was painted/sealed this weekend. On monday the fumes were so overpowering on that we had we has customers getting sick. We were all getting sick. The solvent/sealant chemical was so strong that our eyes were irritated. You could taste it with 10 minutes. Within 45 minutes I had an asthma attack and needed my hubby to run my rescue inhaler to me and i have not stopped wheezing at least on a low level since. We have had to have all openable doors open with like 5 fans going to try to get the fumes moved out, which is a major safety concern. It isn't really working. Higher order management has been dragging their feet until I suspect they got a call today from one of our customers who was very upset that people were in the office being exposed all day to fumes that made him have to take multiple breaks outside while I was processing his (long) transactions. (My station is closest to the treated area).

So all week even when I am home it is shortness of breath, headache, nausea for hours after I'm finally out of the fumes.

To top it all off, my little boss (direct supervisor) ended up in the ER last night and emergency surgery today, so we are once more in critical staff shortage and now I am the only cash handling certified person in the branch. So now guess who literally cannot leave their station until the covering sub can get there?

I do not get breaks or a lunch away, I have to stay on the line, when I am the only cash handler. This isnt usually that big of a deal, but when that means I also have to marinate in fumes, plus now having to rearrange my schedule again and take on extra hours...I mean I love the people I work with and its normally a very fun job. But I am so fucking tired and now feeling pretty sick, and I'm worried about my little boss, and now that the big boss is going on vacation next week it is going to be like this with the critical staff shortage for at least 3 more weeks, and I think mini boss is going to be out for awhile. I suspect a talk with HR is in the future but I am dreading it, but the working closer to full time hours with little notice while accruing only part time benefits since I'm officially scheduled part time and I just cant drop everything to accommodate all of the time. So feeling pretty sad too.

I think the brothel bit would not cause most people to bat an eye. I do not know that I've ever seen a WoD place without at least one wink wink strip club or prostitution ring because there are a ahitload of people that love playing prostitutes and strippers. Unless they are outright banned, prostitutes either street level or courtesan concepts are very popular characters to make in almost every theme I have played.

Are there players that freak out about it even in places where they are allowed, yes. Are there cringeworthy PCs sometimes, oh hell yes.

But I dont think that brothel setting play will have trouble attracting players who will make PCs for it, and most of the time (despite the side eye) there is a lot more things going on than sex scenes.

To be clear, I do not think that people are seeking out a passive way to be involved necessarily--they are just seeking ways that they will be valuable.

I think most of us at some people have experienced working very hard and receiving a lot of feedback that people enjoy the character, but little reciprocation or inclusion even after we have been proactive and inclusive, at least in our own perception. (this may or may not be shared by others though.)

I look at it more as people seeking ways to invest in a game and with a group that will also be opportunities for them. I do not see it as a negative at all, though I think by asking it that way a lot of folks arent really going to get the answer they're really seeking.

Ok, sorry. Since I brought up scope I thought I would try to explain more of what i meant by that.

@Sunny scope involves that, but I also think of supported options available to player characters. Many things may exist in that time period, neighborhood, planet, ect--but are you allowing all possibilities that make sense in that setting or are you narrowing the scope of the /game/ (not the world) to restricting some concepts/houses/professions/ect?

I think it is really important to be honest about what is and is not supported so that false hope is not given.

This is a tough one.

I think most people look for "needed" PCs but what they want truly is inclusion and importance for their PC individually.

I don't know that this is something that the vast majority of games can deliver on, regardless of intent of staff or frankly even working hard as a player. (We like to blame staff favoritism or players sitting on their asses, which can happen but it's a lot more complicated than that.)

This expectation/desire of "if I make this PC that looks like they have a niche and work hard to put myself out there, rp with a lot of people, be cooperative oocly, ect then of course I will be included by others too" has led to a lot of frustration and hurt and burnout. Almost everyone I know has experienced this, across a wide spectrum of games, compounded by people often saying "work harder like me."

I do not know that this is a solvable problem without adjusting individual expectations/desires or seeking staff or storytelling structures that support that truly (that often leads to things that people also do not like, like player or PC caps, high levels of staff involvement, sandboxing, ect).

This is why I think scope is important.

I loathe the buffy TV show and do not really care for the Battlestar reboot. However I adored playing in/exploring those settings on mushes, maybe I enjoyed it more because I wasn't stuck in the loop of "unless this is like the tv show I like then it sucks/is not fulfilling"?

I personally prefer defined scope in a game. And I also very much prefer limited scope.

A single or curtailed spheres. Focus on a specific planetary system (or on a station, or on a ship), a specific time period before or after the novel/tv/movie. All special snowflake power people. Or none. Or a mix.

I think game runners could save themselves some aggravation by booting (after of course, trying to discuss with them the reasons for a decision of scope) people who cannot let go of being horribly disappointed that they can't play <outside of scope whatever> on that game and how they just cant believe it and want to fight/figure out a way around it.

It really sucks that you have to do both (detail the scope AND remove people who cannot get over it) if you do not want a free for all game (and if that is what you want, awesome!) But I am glad to see more and more gamerunbers being more firm about that.

Gany's pose queuing technique has allowed me to still be in the hobby and not feel that I am dragging anyone down or excessively annoying them by long posing intervals. I am sure I still do at times but it is a lot better than it could be. I find also that cognitively it assists in being attentive and responsive to what people are writing with less skimming. Which I am certain sounds counterintuitive but I have found especially with cognitive issues it is a great way to make sure that you are not forgetting people very often.

You definitely do have to worry about expectations of people who are used to a specific theme being run a certain way (I am anticipating some of that from Fading Suns). I dont know if the runners on Chontio had that happen, but it wouldn't surprise me. Nostalgia can be pretty strong, both for negative experience, rose colored memories, and positive experiences.

I think enough time has lapsed that probably a newer star wars game wouldn't be automatically caught up in the dramas of the 90s era ones, but I think it would be good to make scope and expectations clear.

Will some people complain on guest channel or pub chan or here, I mean probably yes, but that would happen no matter what.

I really enjoyed Chontio (just didn't have the time to play) and that inspired me to start trying to adapt another often rules/code heavy setting to the Ares system. I think I had just as much fun during the brief time I played there as I did on SW1/2, Brak Sector, ect.

I think it definitely can be done! But yeah one of the problems with such a rich theme and universe is figuring out how and where to narrow the scope to something you can handle (I'm currently struggling with this now as I plod along). I haven't seen a lot of space-travel games partially because of that being something that I think it's just the right ideas haven't yet come to make that easier to juggle, but I am certain there is definitely SOMEONE/a team of someone who will be able to eventually!

@Seraphim73 yep. It has been really interesting going back and revisiting things with them. I try to not review in advance (since my bigs are big enough I do not feel I should screen, since it's important for them to see my authentic reactions too) It's also prompted some pretty awesome discussions, especially how a lot of themes havent changed or subtle differences, ways some things have gotten better/worse. Or about a broader segment of entertainment media (since tv and movies are going to be a little more conservative usually than social media/videos/podcasting, ect.)

@faraday I'm just stealing @Goblin's idea! I hadn't thought of using a lineup or initiative command to help a scene get started before and I love that it would be be something I could consult in the game rather than get another scratchpad on the table or another thing scribbled in my doc notes! And also lets all the people in the scene be able to consult so they know what order I'll be checking in, when needed, until the next time it is rolled/reordered.

If I have too many RL notes or notes on my computer (esp for throwaway stuff like that that might not even need to be used) I tend to get turned around too easily and I do not want to have someone slip through the cracks.

I personally wouldn't spring it on anyone as a general practice. It would more be like "hey guys we are 20 minutes in, if you were waiting on anything from me please let me know, I meant to have you go ahead and pose in/3pr until action started, sorry if that wasnt clear. If you need more time please let me know, or go ahead and pose, otherwise I might run a quick init, and I will make my way through that list to check in with you."

I do think that's a great way to get the ball rolling in hierarchical structures where folks are members of the same group! I have run more stuff where the structure is more loosely goosey though, and I think the long awkward pauses tend to happen in situations where the PCs may not feel empowered by position to jump in oocly first!

Hmmm, I dont see this as a way to run plots so much as problem solve when a specific period of time goes on with no response. If people are posing in before 20 minutes has passed, I wouldn't use it. But I do like it for giving people the green flag for go ahead and pose, as well as starting the countdown to moving on past the non posers. The other options would be prompting several times to the room at large, which might add to the pressure, me arbitrarily picking the order of people I'd nudge privately. I like the list or order everyone knows. Though if there were something like the +line command (people add themselves to a pose/activity order) that could be useful as well.

@faraday When I sign up to GM a non-strictly-social plot scene, I feel an obligation to respect the players' time--and I expect other people to also. So if 15 minutes had passed with absolutely NO response (unless I knew this was a group of players who routinely take 30 minutes to pose--BTDT and planned the scene around it!), then I wouldn't feel bad about prompting/encouraging people to go ahead and pose, or else I'd just have everyone roll initiative and we could do it that way thorugh the initial scene set only (and just skip the non-responders after 15 minutes after everyone else had gone had passed), and go back to 3pr.

In most of the scenes I've GMed I outline attention/time standards (one of which is if you don't respond to my private page prompting for your action that round in 15 minutes I will move on to the next person--you're welcome to go to the end of the line, but if everyone has gone and you've still not responded, we move on to the next round and you lose your action; and that if I am given a heads up that you're going to be AFK I will try as hard as I can to preserve your action, maybe for an additional 15 minutes at the end of everyone else having gone). In fairness I also disclose these up front and try to incorporate those in the signup process so people know.

I am sure it does make some people avoid my scenes or get angry (after 3 rounds of non activity and no notice, I remove people from the scene--nothing bad happens to them, but that means they've usually had 90 minutes or so with no activity, no response, and no communication) and sometimes people will eventually notice and get hurt or angry (I try to be nice and professional in my communication with them up to/through/after the removal). But I also find that people who even might have gotten bumped often show up the next time better prepared to communicate (or they don't show up) and my other players feel like I care about their time/preserve their ability to play fully conscious (as opposed to scenes running super long with long periods of waiting--most people are fine if the action is steady with things going long, but I always ask!).

@Derp said in MU*, Youth, and LGBT+ Identity:

There is a certain degree of "unrealisticness" that you have to accept in any sort of fiction endeavor. The intention is the more important part, and whether the character is being played as some sort of cringey gag or is legitimately being played to hilite a certain topic. The line there is sometimes blurry, but I assure you, there is a line.

Totally agree with this.

To launch from it, I think that not only is unrealisticness to some degree need to be accepted, you also probably need to be able to purposefully adapt some things to a mush setting, especially for professions (not so much culturally, though that can happen too!)

I've seen this more with military/cop/medical PCs and players of them who do have that background and get really hung up on how accurate things are in the game. (This is not a majority of players who are part of those professions by far.) Most people I know with those backgrounds who also play a PC from a similar background are often pretty amused by it or the game mechanics around it. But like if you cannot OOCly bend at all, I think it will not make for a happy play experience. I have as a GM had to spend a long time trying to talk a few people down from their distress and anger over combat mechanics, because they were insistent that things don't work that way in RL, ect. Which is totally true! But there's being annoyed and rolling one's eyes and grumbling (totally fair IMO but best done maybe privately with a buddy instead of holding up a scene or venting oocly to the room after every turn), and then there's being very rigid in how things have to look on the game or else one is compelled to fight and lecture, ect.

More broadly, we do have this discussion pop up frequently around racism/homophobia in particular and "historic era" or "history era inspired" mushes too. That's an often uncomfortable one to negotiate too, but again eventually the staff or gamerunner are going to pick the parameters and they may be realistic in some ways but not in others, and the players are just going to have to deal with it or not play there.

That's why I often do try to just sit and be with my discomfort when I encounter stuff that irritates me, unless it's starting to branch out into OOC behavior--and even then ultimately it's not my call as to what is or isn't tolerated by the game! If it's too uncomfortable for me, I can walk away, no harm no foul. If I decide I'd rather stay, then I need to be mindful in how I engage and what my expectations are.

But while I have run in to people who are problematic pretty commonly, I personally would say that for the most part people mean well, and the people who are going to be problems for that game are going to manifest many types of behaviors beyond a hyuckity-yuck stereotype in RPing that will draw attention to themselves.

@Goblin I really really like the pose order for pose in, 3 pr afterwards!