The original: http://lotfp.blogspot.com/2008/06/i-hate-fun.html?m=1
Later interview with Zak S about it with a touch of clarification of why he made the blog post:
http://dndwithpornstars.blogspot.com/2015/09/but-does-he-still-hate-fun-interview.html?m=1
The way @Chet phrased the first post makes me think that it is upfront with the understanding that the RP on the server could be turned into a book. In that case, if you don't want your ideas stolen, don't play there? Didn't Firan operate sort of like that?
@Ghost Not my style of sci-fi, but I was surprised by the release and would at least like to read the book.
@Tempest Violent, dark, weird fantasy D&D retroclone with a misogynist undercurrent, since the pictures of people being harmed are all of women. (Though, maybe he is a feminist and is showing that women can be just as badass and die in gruesome ways as a man can, since all of the heroes doing badass things and not dying are also women. It rubbed me the wrong way, however.)
It's by James Raggi, who also did Death Frost Doom (good but killer dungeon where the only winning move is not to explore it which works if you drop it into a pre-existing campaign), Better than Any Man (very good adventure/campaign), Hammers of the God (great adventure that can be dropped into any campaign), Fuck for Satan (very bad and a sadistic killer dungeon), The God that Crawls (good with the right GM, killer dungeon), the Grinding Gear (good with the right GM, killer dungeon), the Tower of the Stargazer (very good and modular, can be dropped into any campaign), and the Monolith from Beyond Space and Time (bad). He has a bit of a bad reputation (supposedly he supports some neo-nazi) and the misogynistic undercurrent also seems to be there. However, he definitely writes some great weird fantasy dungeons of the lethal variety.
Lamentation of Flame Princess is the skill system I see hacked into games the most. I think it's a simple 1d6 system. It's not one I like from when I last looks at it, but it is definitely popular.
That's fine. It's not my cup of tea, though. Lord of War is about as darkly humorous as I can get with such themes.
I have no idea if it's any good. I have a strong distaste for anything that turns dehumanizing slaughter into a spectacle.
@DarkDeleria It's a series on syfy.
@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.
@Chet A secret org that works in the shadows as thieves, assassin's, treasure hunters, etc. In order to find and/or hide the truth is a very common trope. Though, I can't think of very many MUs that have explored it.
Is Raph Koster still alive? I hadn't read his stuff since the mid-aughts.
@Arkandel Absolutely you can run deeper, more narrative oriented D&D games. But it is like using machete as a butter knife. D&D does not have the built in design and support for such things like WoD somewhat does or storygames really do. Might as well use a butter knife as a butter knife.
@Apos covers the other end too in that high fantasy focuses on high-level themes rather than the day to day which MUs need to fill in between the world-ending villains trying to destroy everything.
I think the setting would do alright. Survival horror or just plain survival is a popular theme and this is essentially that only in a historical setting. I kind of want to do a similar idea but as an RPI as I think mechanics are important for the survival theme.
@Arkandel said in High Fantasy:
I always thought it was really weird there were so few roleplaying D&D or Pathfinder MU* around given how popular they are on table-top.
D&D isn't exactly structured for great novel-style storytelling. It's basically a board game that helps you generate random narratives about what happened in a world. Most of the groups I see, especially in the skill heavy later editions, don't even do dialogue. They just go "I try to bluff the guard into thinking we should have access to the castle," then roll some dice.
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.
@Arkandel said in Eliminating social stats:
Look at it this way - if a roleplayer is good enough they can make their character appealing no matter what. It's not cheating, I'm not talking about playing the traits up... but simply portraying an unintentionally funny, fascinating character who might not be wealthy, witty, intelligent or attractive but the writing skill of the person behind the keyboard makes them awesome.
There's no RL equivalency for that. A poor, dull, dumb and ugly person IRL isn't that appealing in the real world.
There is an issue with that, however. If we are rewarding a PC with letting them have what they want because we find them OOCly interesting that hits the main issue that people who support social stats hate. A character that shouldn't sensibly get what they want is getting what they want not because of the character's skill but because the player portraying that character is so good at making them interesting. Hitler didn't sway Germany because they went "Well, he is entirely uncharismatic, but the guy playing him does such a great job at portraying it that I am going to help round up the Jews anyways." If the character is dumb, ugly, poor, and awkward then they should be treated as such whether or not the player is a wordsmith who can mesmerize their fellow players.
Even if you restrict it to something like 3 votes a week? I too hate +vote, but I am spitballing ideas to see if we can come up with a direction we haven't considered before that threads the needle in a way that can satisfy both sides of the debate.
Random crazy thought: what if instead of +vote giving xp, it gave social points that are public knowledge, so that naturally sociable and enjoyable players ended up with characters that have a high social stat as it were. Maybe let these points be used in some auction system during a social contest with the highest bidder winning.
Another random crazy thought: what there was +upvote code much like what this forum has, only you can be upvoting only one person at a given time. It would represent who the crowd thinks is the most dominant presence in the scene. This would only be helpful in larger scenes, but the more upvotes a character has, the greater the bonus to social rolls they have.
@saosmash I didn't invalidate the experience. WTFE said the situation sucked, and I am sure it did. I said that the choice made was the better story option, because it was unexpected and allowed the story to grow in new ways. It was still a disappointing letdown. I contest that the choice made was the correct choice not that their emotional responses at the choice were not valid.
WTFE gave conflicting information on how far the characters had progressed, making it sound as though they had just created the characters and started playing or that they had already had some adventures that they succeeded at. If the first, then those characters were Ser Weymar Royce, not Jon Snow. If the second, it was a Seven Geases and the book ends on an anti-climax. The key is remembering that your characters aren't Luke Skywalker until the Death Star has blown up. They're random Red Squadron members. Unless you're playing a GM-less storygame where you have greater control over the story and decide from the get-go that your character is Luke Skywalker and this game is going to end with that character blowing up the Death Star and flirting with his twin sister.
This is the outlook that is most helpful for games like D&D and Traveler:
Here is the fun one to think about. WTFE talks about how awful it would have been if the Millennium Falcon splattered against a rock when it came out of hyperspace, making it seem like the Empire won. Remember that the Empire had no idea where the Rebels were hiding until the Millennium Falcon led them there. No Millennium Falcon means the base's location is still a mystery, and the story goes in a completely new direction. It could become one of a spy thriller as the Rebels try to infiltrate and find some weakness in the Death Star while the Empire is slowly narrowing down where the Rebels are hiding.
@WTFE Or you could pull your head out of your ass and realize that your characters weren't the main characters of the story, and instead of being a bunch of petulant children, your group should have rolled with it and kept the story going from another angle. Unless someone of your staggering intellect lacked the creative genius to take the loose threads and shift them in another direction.
Oh hey! I can use patronizing wordplay to demean the other person in a sardonic manner that appeals to teenagers everywhere too!