Best posts made by Ominous

Hamburgers are actually made out of people from Hamburg, Germany.

@chibichibi Spirit is such an odd sphere to me to begin with, so this a bit challenging. Also I have been up for like 28 hours now, so my brain is kind of mushy.

Anyways, scientists claim there are four fundamental forces of the universe - gravity, electromagnetism, and the strong and weak nuclear forces. As they try to zoom in and understand how these forces work, their unintuitive behavior results in theories like quantum mechanics, chromodynamics, and string theory, which, when one thinks about it, seem like black mystery boxes that scientists are shoving things that they don't understand into. How can two identical particles end up behaving in different manners? Because they chose to. Particles and forces behave the way they do because they have a will - they are spirits. Spirits govern both the natural and the supernal world on a fundamental level. Those who follow Maestros know this and beseech these spirits to control not only the spirits themselves but the fabric of reality that drives everything. Other mages may talk about the Prime as the source of magic, but those of Maestros smile and laugh to themselves with the secret knowledge that that too is driven by spirits. It's spirits all the way down.

As a former Firan player, I am finding this to be funny, but it's time to finally weigh in on some stuff.

@Echx said in Kushiel's Debut:

Again: there were a LIMITED NUMBER of seats at this table. One for each Angel, minus Cassiel, plus Elua. Was the whole game supposed to be invited to this scene? Were reality and disbelief supposed to be suspended so that the entire realm could get up in this business? Should razors have been passed out as party favors at the ball so everybody could donate some blood?

First, this quote. I'm not picking on you directly @Echx, but your post is the one that presents the easiest way of addressing the problems. Why were there a limited number of seats? It's a game. The ritual being performed is a figment of imagination, not something taken from some great grimoire of magical spells that exists in reality. They could have easily made the ritual be having everyone in the city gather around the tree and sing kumbaya, if they wanted.

There were a limited number of seats at the table because the hosts decided that was the number of seats they wanted at the table to begin with. Those participating could have had Seconds standing by in case they passed out from blood loss to take over for them. Ta-da! I have effectively doubled the number of participants using the current design of the ritual in a manner that completely makes sense, so I'm not stretching suspension of disbelief to make it happen. And it took me all of 5 seconds to think of it.

Did you read that bit in Skaldia's (pretty irate) mail wherein neither you, nor Aviana, nor Lanval, made any mention of looking into a way to undo the ritual, which is the only thing that happened at this scene? Seriously, how were you being shut out? The Black Cross is still a problem. Hasn't gone away. There's still piles of things to be done, glory to be won, accolades to be acquired, if people do things.

That is baloney. I have OOCly spoken to some people involved in the Aviana side of trying to resolve this plot (I am not mentioning names since they may not want to be dragged into this), and it was pretty clear that the jobs they were doing were related to the ritual. The method they had uncovered involved something with symbols and having to locate them and unravel them in the proper manner so they don't kill you. I mean, that sounds pretty much dead on for 'trying to undo the ritual' when the responses they get for the +requests are 'this is how you undo the ritual.'

Either way, I am having fun on KD and plan to stick around, but I have an advanced degree from Firan U in How to Make Your Own Fun.

@Lain said in Eliminating social stats:

I'm also aware of the D&D thinking on this matter, where gamism is the thing to do, but this doesn't work as well on any kind of RPG that isn't about killing monsters and collecting loot, and frankly, we have MMORPGs and Diablo for that now. IC/OOC distinction is important in spoken/written RPGs like tabletop RPGs or MU*s because they caulk a hole that World of Warcrack simply cannot: the literary-narrative one.

That problem is that MUing wants to have its cake and eat it too. They want a more narrativist style but keep using gamist mechanics. Rather than using some of the really interesting and unique ideas that have come about in "storygames" like Mystic Empyrean (a game I badly want to base a MU on), we keep using concepts like each character has one player, no shared GMing, the GM controls the world and the players control their characters, etc.

@Derp

I like the mutability outlook the Maestro have in your version. Whereas my previous idea about the Mind/Time tower had everything as being locked into an immutable akashic record, the Maestro are the opposite. All that is is a mutable framework powered by spirits and even those are changeable. All one can do is attempt to tap into those spirits and forces and direct them in the direction one wants them to go. The flame is ever-changing, sometimes growing into a conflagration, sometimes diminishing into embers. Each lick of fire unique in shape and existing for a transient moment. However, one can direct and guide the fire with a powerful will of brass.

It's sort of like Conan's Riddle of Steel.

It isn't until his father's sword is broken that Conan realizes the true answer to the riddle: all the power of both steel and flesh come from one's beliefs.

Flesh grows weak. Steel becomes brittle. But the will is indomitable.

Taken from the Conan the Barbarian wiki.

EDIT - Also, I found a post that seems to have done some work on these watchtowers already. I suspect the OP has already seen it, though: http://forum.theonyxpath.com/forum/main-category/main-forum/the-new-world-of-darkness/mage-the-awakening/883338-the-other-five-paths-2e

Back to topic.

Kushiels Debut has been mentioned already, but I play there. Yes, it has lots of sex, which should be unsurprising considering the source material. If you like a sexually open theme, this is about as good as it gets without hitting Shang levels. Story can be slow, though, and depending on who you ask, closed off to people not in 'the group.' /However/ I haven't had any trouble making my own fun, using the tools I have to do my own stuff. The game is also crunchier than many L&L games, so if you want actual representation of how many troops you can field for an invasion rather than handwaving it completely, they cover that.

The other one I play is Arx, which is in alpha. It's being run by some former Firan peeps who also frequent these boards. It is definitely on the crunchy end, keeping track of troop numbers, organization stats, money, etc. It also looks like it will be story heavy too, with planned out 'tv seasons.' It has a well-done roster , but you are free to CG characters too.

@Arkandel Most of the servers that I have played on did not have a social resolution mechanic and did not have social skills. I think that is the more common option actually. The general "solution" to making that choice is expanding the number of physical and mental skills to keep combat monster bloat down.

@Ghost said in What Types of Games Would People Like To See?:

LOL. Come on @Ominous, don't make this depressing.

I am the living embodiment of depression. I should change my username to Despair or Melancholy, but that's even more edge lord than my current username.

@Derp Isn't that Armageddon MUD? I've never played it, but my understanding is that it is Dark Sun with the serial number filed off.

I loved Metalocalypse. My favorite episode is the fourth one "Dethtroll" with the blade-covered Dethphones and the brutal cell phone contract.

@WTFE I disagree. I think that what the professor did was the better story option. Some stories don't have happy or even meaningful endings, which makes them even more poignant. One of the inspiring texts for D&D (It was in Appendix N) was Seven Geases where spoilers the main character survives a whole host of adventures only to die by slipping and falling from a cliff at the end. end spoilers

Then again, I am a strong gamist rather than a narrativist, unless I am playing something like Mystic Empyrean or Microscope.

You can read all about the founding ideas behind old-school D&D in this series where a blogger played with Mike Mornard, one of the early players in Gygax's group: http://blogofholding.com/?series=mornard I think everyone should read the whole series, as D&D set the stage for our entire hobby. It's sort of a Federalist Papers of RPGs.

Why did you ruin the Spaceballs run? We could've had a whole page of it!

I have this idea for a DUNE Board Game-esque, Twilight Imperium-esque, Republic of Rome Board Game-esque setting only in fantasy "age of sail"-ish setting with the planets replaced with islands and space replaces with an ocean. Instead of starships, there will by galleons and such. The more islands under a person's control, the more votes they have in the Senate in the capital city where the grid is focused. If you don't want to play the politics game, you could merchant or a pirate or an adventurer sailing the seas.

I play on both Arx and KD. They scratch different itches. Arx is code heavy with a lot of spinning wheels and it can be a bit overwhelming with what's going on. I'm not sure how staff is keeping up with it all. KD is a bit of a more gentle pace. They're both equally as dark in theme, I feel. Also KD sticks to its courtly etiquette. Using titles and forms of address are expected. On Arx nobles seem to routinely go 'Feel free to call me Bob. Lord Bobsworth is my father.' So if you're really looking for that noble court feel, KD does a better job at it.

I rather like huge public scenes. I find them more immersive. It's like going to a bar or restaurant and there being other tables of people talking rather than just me and the people I am talking to existing.

I use soda and pop. Both are used in my area.

@Jennkryst

What about actual sea sailing boats?

@Bobotron That's a shame. Houses of the Blooded is an interesting system and setting that I could easily see being shoved into a vampire setting.

@Templari My recommendation is to stop playing modern styles of D&D. Find or form a group that plays OSR systems. A slightly hacked ACKS is my system of choice. Since there are no skills, roleplaying out what your character does is required.