Okay. Figure I might as well throw in my .02, here...

Being a, relatively, neutral observer to the events of the past couple weeks, I'm saddened, but not disheartened.

I think the core issue at hand has been freedom of expression vs. the responsibility that comes with freedom. There are people who want freedom, but not the responsibility. And as the meme says, that's called adolescence.

It is possible to have debate, even fundamental disagreements, without resorting to personal attacks. But there are some that feel that they have to 'win' at any cost, including burning things to the ground; and when they don't win an argument, the personal attacks come out.

We need to distinguish between criticizing someone's actions and criticizing the person directly. I'm not immune to this; I've walked the line between calling out problematic actions and behavior (VASpider/Elsa, Clairmont, Levitz) and piling in on attacking the person themselves. I haven't always been successful, but I'd like to think that I've been able to do this more times than not.

Going over the new policy changes, I think that the Code of Conduct is a better policy instrument for allowing good faith debate, argument, and disagreement, while holding off more personal attacks. And as we've already seen in this thread, there's going to be people that want to 'push the envelope' and try for work-arounds when asked to behave in a civil manner.

In short, I think the 'I'm not touching you...' crowd departing isn't going to break this place, and will help us forge a stronger community.

Do I think there could be more transparency from Staff in how decisions are made? Absolutely, but I feel that way with almost any administration/moderation involved in a community. I also believe that when Staff requests that a conversation be halted so that they can review to better understand the situation, the conversation needs to be put on hold.

Anyways, for whatever my opinion is worth...

@Chet, dude....

With all respect, stop trying to integrate Real Life situations/politics into fantasy games. Most people are playing games to take a break from Real Life, not have it (poorly, TBH) forced into a foundation of their escapist fantasy.

Oh, look. It's this jerk again...

No, not me; I'm an entirely different jerk. But I digress...

Looks like everyone's favorite creeper might be back among us after a nice absence. No character names, since receipts are still being collected, and not naming the game while they do their own ongoing investigation.

Just a heads up that several people reviewing logs are having deja vu all over again and noticing behaviors and patterns matching DWOPP's MO.

• Love bombing and constant spending of "fake IC money" to be the most perfect dream come true guy ever. Paying for cars, clothing, college tuition
• Super protective of his target females around other males. Willing to fight or create dissent to push other males away
• Gaslights female players who dislike his IC advances as problematic IC and OOC

Again, not sharing character names yet and giving the game staff a chance to work things out internally. Think of this as the smoke detector going off; time to be aware and see if there is a fire.

So, a general heads up to the community and to Staffers to be aware on their own games of a possible DWOPP return.

Anyone who's also on Brand Mu Day, please feel free to send out a warning there, as well.

I keep coming back to Asimov's quote about anti-intellectualism and 'the false notion that Democracy means my ignorance is just as valid as your knowledge'. And Sagan's 'Death of Expertise'.

Information is now so freely available and accessible like never before. And the biggest problem, IMO, with the algorithm nature of searching for that information is that it generally leads towards sources that are biased to a particular point of view, based on your search history. Society has information, but no general training in how to analyze or contextualize it.

Example: Science.

The general public isn't trained in the process of the Scientific Method, much less the actual science. There's no aware ness of the final steps in 'science': publish results in a peer reviewed format and peer replication of the results. If no-one else can reproduce your results following the same procedures you outlined, it's not an actual 'fact' yet; just a result that invites further investigation. Example: all the attempts at cold fusion over the decades that have been non-replicatable. Further, there are 'science journals' that are deliberately biased towards certain conclusions. Like 'medical' journals funded by anti-abortioinists that publish all the BS like 'fetal heartbeat at 6 weeks' propaganda.

We have more information freely available to humanity than ever before. But it's just as important that we know how to understand the information presented to us. How to separate out the facts from the opinions that are presented as 'facts'.

@Wizz I can agree with that. However, you're crossing the line from 'cyberpunk' to 'transhumanism', IMO. And there is a difference.

Cyberpunk focuses on technology as dehumanizing, whether that be cybernetic implants, communications, lifestyle, whatever. Technology is neutral, but humans choose to use it in damaging ways, and there's an undercurrent of personal and societal damage due to technology.

Transhumanism focuses on technology as a tool to reach beyond the limits of our physical forms. Technology is abused in bad ways sometimes, but is ultimately a Good Thing. The scale of negative uses and effects of technology are limited and outweighed by the overall benefits of Technology to society.

Ultimately, the difference is how the overall society is presented as interacting with Technology.

With Cyberpunk, tech is a necessary evil, you need it in order to compete or even just survive. Society is ruined because of disparities in economics and access to technology, and the question is: what are you willing to do to others and yourself to survive.

With Transhumanism, tech is a natural part of society. There may be inequality and other darker aspects of society, but the the outlook is far more positive, and society on a whole has more equality than a Cyberpunk setting; even the dystopia of Altered Carbon is far better and more preferable to live in than the dystopia of Gibson's Sprawl. Here, the question is: how can technology help you fulfill your best potential?

And that's reflected in the difference in TableTop games. Cyberpunk games have Essence/Humanity loss in dealing with cybernetics. Transhuman games like Eclipse Phase don't. Because they're approaching the concept from two different viewpoints.

So, for whatever value my 2 copper pieces are...

D&D Spelljammer, Birthright, Dark Sun. As much as I love the Forgotten Realms, something besides the 'standard' fantasy setting. Birthright is also a L&L game with a simple wargame component and intrigue/politics rules.

Deadlands There's really not any Western-themed games out there, and Deadlands has the extra weird horror element to bring in players.

TORG The new edition is still doing well and is a fantastic multi-genre game allowing Players and Storytellers great flexibility in creating and running.

Blue Rose For the L&L/Valdamar fix

Star Wars Set in a single sector so the Players have a greater impact on the game setting

Superhero Preferably an all-original setting to avoid some of the hassles that the all-FC settings have in regards to characters, power levels, etc.

Scion The first 2 books for Second Edition are available now.

Fading Suns

Traveler

Eclipse Phase

Altered Carbon

'Victorian' Era You can add in a genre like Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi, or Superheroes. Or, a straight up Space 1889 or Victorious game.

In no particular order...

Cyberpunk RED
OC-only Superhero game
Scion (either edition)
Deadlands
5E Birthright (D&D L&L setting)

I'm an idea guy; I can't code to save my life

Okay, time to send out some feelers for Staff and general interest in this idea….

I’m looking for a full set of Staff for a new Superhero game that I’ve been planning out. The theme will be all Original Characters and the game will use the Mutants & Masterminds 3rd Edition as a combat/task resolution system. Now, to answer the two questions that are probably coming to everyone’s minds right now…

Why an Original Character Supers game?
For lots of reasons. First, virtually all the Supers games currently populated are based off of the main Comic Book sources of Marvel & DC already. Second, the ‘Big Name’ characters on Marvel/DC games get a lot of interest and attraction for RP, becoming more of ‘status’ symbols that you’re scening with them rather than another character that you interact with. Third, a previous player may have engaged in plots and RP that lead to consequences that future players don’t want to deal with, leaving major characters unapped for long stretches of time or having to figure out a continuity reset for the character, or sometimes even the whole game.

By making this a completely all Original Character theme, we can reduce the effects of those problems, since all characters start off with an even level in terms of popularity on the game, and a player that drops unexpectedly can return later and be assured that the character they created and invested time and energy into will still be available to them.

Finally, possibly most importantly, having all Original Characters means that there are no expectations as to where RP would or should lead to. No expectations of canon pairings or favorite ships or ‘we should do this Event storyline in our game’.

This doesn’t mean that Feature Characters or Media Creations or Published Characters or whatever the terminology next evolves into, won’t be welcomed so long as there are sufficient modifications. Homage characters are certainly welcome; just use a different name and work a few unique aspects into the character is all we’re asking.

Why Use A Dice System?
Again, I realize it’s not the popular option for Super games. However, using a well established Table Top RPG system does have some advantages. It provides firm statistics and benchmarks of what a character can and cannot do. It prevents, or helps lessen at the very least, characters from being automatically successful in every action from combat to social interactions; even the best superheroes can have off days, which the random dice rolls help reflect. Finally, using an established game system allows us to bring in table top gamers that are used to the game system and it helps lessen the amount of adjustments they have to make in learning how to play via MUD/MUSH/MUX, also having the benefit of expanding the game population beyond the usual MU community. In fact, I’m already generating some player interest with discussion outside of the MU Community.

Now, I realize that there are people that are going to disagree with my conclusions here and the concepts, and that’s fine. I’m trying out a different path for the game, one that doesn’t get used all that often for a variety of reasons. In the end, I’m looking for Staff and players that want to try this out and make a universe together with me.

Other Cool (or not so Cool) Ideas
There’s lots of stuff from other games, online & TableTop, that I would like to try and incorporate. Such as:

-Automated Dice rolling & Action Resolution: I want to have the combat and skills use automated as much as possible.

-Open Access to low-level villains. Comic books are filled with lots of low-level villains that are good for a quick bank robbery, heist, or other anchor for an action scene. I want to have these Rogues available as bits for anyone to log into, without having to app first, to facilitate impromptu scenes.

-Will & Testament. Basically, when someone makes up a character, they write a note saying what they want to have done with the character if they drop unexpectedly. Ranging from ‘allow the character to be apped by someone else’ to ‘mysterious disappearance’ to ‘they get heavily involved with X situation and retire from the superhero business’

-Autologging system that posts straight to the wiki

-Karma & Popularity. Adapted from the old Marvel Super Heroes game in the 80’s. Karma is a points system rewarding you for your logged actions, mostly combat but some social, where the points can be spent to modify die rolls or stored up to (slowly) improve your character. Popularity is a measurement of how well known your character is, adapted to lower the difficulty of certain interactions with NPC’s, and can rise and fall according to your actions.

-Testing Room(s). Basically a room or set of rooms on the OOC Grid where players can test out their powers and abilities against automated targets to see how effective the build is before having Staff lock the changes in place. Also, a way for players to get familiar with the various commands to attack or use powers/skills

Needed Staff

I’ll keep this first post updated to keep it easy for people to see what’s been filled and what’s still needed.

Currently needed, in order of priority….

Coders (Main and Assistants): Should be familiar with M&M 3rd Edition or know where to find pre-written code for the game. If you need help with the system, I can help walk you through it.

Wiki Coder: I'd like to have a wiki up and running before a full open

Builders (Main and Assistants)

Administration : Just general helpful folks that can answer questions, run events, and solve disputes when the game fully opens. Knowledge of the Mutants & Masterminds system a plus, but it’s an easy system to learn

In addition to providing the game hosting, I’m also setting up a Discord server to help coordinate Staff and the building of the game. If you’re interested, chime in on the thread or send me a PM here.

Even if you’re not interested, feel free to leave constructive criticism/discussions here.

Thanks

UPDATE 1 We've got a head coder and the start of both a grid and a wiki! Thanks to ZombieGenesis!

@misadventure

So let me start this off by stating that I am aware that this post/point could be, and probably is, coming from a position of Privilege.

With that said...As much as we want to avoid it IRL, Conflict creates Drama, and Drama is what drives the swashbuckling genre. Now, let's set aside the Crescent Empire and Cathay for the moment and solely focus on Thea...

IMO, 7h Sea did a decent job of stripping away the negative conflict between the Nations (i.e. racism/tribalism) and focused purely on the actual political and religious sources of conflict. Castillians don't hate Montaigne just because they're 'French'; they hate Montaigne because they invaded Castille, are lead by a king that openly mocks and oppresses their religion, and other (valid) reasons that have nothing to do with pure tribal rivalry. Similarly, the Vesten loathe their Vendel cousins because the Vendel are committing sacrilege and harming their ancestors with all this renaming of places. Conversely, the Vendel first broke away because the Vesten Jarls were utter d*cks to the farmers that became the middle class, so had minimal investment in a society centered around raiding by a noble class.

The main area of Conflict in 7th Sea that I think is the most problematic is the Vodacce suppression of the Fate Witches. Even then, there is a certain 'maintaining the status quo' logic that makes sense in the setting. I emphasized that because I think this is the key point: separating conduct and 'standards' in the setting from the same in Real Life. The Conflicts in the game are not simply arbitrary.

Again, just my opinion and more than likely coming from a place of Privilege, but I think that something gets lost when only the problematic is focused on. This isn't to say that problematic things shouldn't be identified and called out, or even 'it's only a game...'; the bigger conversation that I don't see often enough is about the potential to change the game world. I'm not talking about a GM altering the canon setting to fit their tableplay and everyone's comfort (which I do endorse). I mean the GM enabling the Players to be agents of positive change in the world.

7th Sea, in particular, is just exploding with the possibility for change. Yeah, the extreme classism of the Montaigne nobility is highly problematic; have the PC's join the Rilasciare and work to overthrow the Nobility and hopefully prevent the Terror that followed the historical events in France. Yes, the Vodacce suppression of women with sorcery is disgusting and wrong; sign up with Sophia's Daughters and start smuggling those women and girls to safety. The setting and the system are set up to let the PC's be the world-changing Big Damn Heroes, if that's what everyone wants. So let them be the BDH's of Thea.

Make the 'ism's work to give the Players things to fight against. Just from my experience, it's far more interesting, satisfying, and cathartic than just steamrolling though another mob of CE Humanoids or stock evil cutouts from central casting.

Alright. Third and final tale of being on the Retail Front Lines...

At one point, I was an assistant manager at a pet food and supply store in the Piedmont District of Oakland.

Now, first off, for folks not from the Bay Area...whatever you might think of Oakland, it's more than likely wrong. Hey, I was guilty of a lot of misconceptions as well when I first moved there. Anyways, The Piedmont is in the Oakland Hills, and is home to lots of local celebrities, as well as TV and Movie actors. Not going to go into the list, but we did serve several clients you probably would have heard of. Bottom line: it's a very rich area.

Anyways, Thanksgiving week rolled around. We did a healthy business. Normally, we did a weekly cash drop on Thursdays, keeping the week's profits in the office safe. But, banks are closed on Thanksgiving, which is Thursday. So, the plan was to drop the cash on Friday instead. I was in charge of the short shift we had on Thanksgiving Day, it was a half-day for us, did the sroe closing, locked the money in the safe, locked the office, set the alarm, locked up the store, and headed home for Turkey Day dinner. As you do.

I wasn't scheduled for Friday, so I was kind of surprised to be getting a phone call from work, before the store was open. It was the store manager, and she was in a panic. "I need you down here, fast. We had break in last night!"

I get myself to the store. Talk with the manager. Assure her that I set the alarm last night. Then, I get walked through the scene while we were waiting for Oakland PD to arrive...

The store was in a strip mall, with mostly display windows for walls. To one side of the main structure were the double doors leading to our storage/recieving area. What the thieves had done was break one of the display windows near the bottom. Then, they had to push out of the way about 400 lbs of dry cat food bags that were on the rack in front of the window. Okay... They're in. They went through the double swing doors leading to the storage area, and have the Office directly on their left. It's locked. But, the door had a security window in it. They look around for a hammer or something to knock out the window. They settle on using a 40 oz can of dog food as an improvised hammer. Access to the office gained. There's the safe in the corner. The several hundred pound, iron safe with the combination they don't know. But! That doesn't deter them. No, they bring one of our freight dollys into the office, load the safe on the dolly, wheel it out through the loading doors, and drive off with the safe. All told, I think there was @$14,000 in cash from the week, plus things like gift certificates (we hadn't switched to swipe cards yet).

Now, here's were things take a turn into WTF-land...

OPD finally shows up. They call in an investigation unit, take statement, all the basics. It's confirmed with the alarm company that I did, in fact, set the alarm last night. Which is strange, because the stirp mall has an on-site security patrol presence at night. Now. OPD also has another break-in at the strip mall to investigate from last night; the upscale bistro there was broken in and the register was taken with about $3000 in cash. The intruders also helped themselves to the Bistro's wine selection drinking and smashing more in damages than the cash loss. The security guards, who were about 50 yards down the hill in their car in a depressed parking area, so they had no direct LOS to the mall, claimed they never got an alert or observed anything happening. AFIAK, they were never charged in connection with the robbery, so they were just sleeping on the job.

Our company's security chief arrives with what security recordings from the store floor they had of the intruders (company was a local chain with headquarters in the Bay Area; everything was extremely localized). I talk with him and the OPD detectives assigned to the incident. We get a clearer picture of how the thieves gained access. This goes on for a couple hours. At one point, the detectives get a call. California Highway Patrol had found the safe.

On one of the nearby freeways. At the bottom of an overpass. Busted open and emptied.

Camera footage from the overpass was pulled. They got an image of the truck and license plate. The footage also showed the truck stopping on the overpass, and the thieves pushing the safe out to send it crashing to the road below. Truck leaves. Returns a few minutes later to the same spot. Thieves get out, push the safe that they had retrieved because it hadn't broken open with that fall, back over the overpass again. Second time's the charm for them.

I am still in awe of the sheer determination showed by these morons in regards to that robbery. In addition to the absolute metric farkton of luck they had in puling it off and not getting caught in the act.

But we're not done yet, boys and girls...

Remember I had mentioned that there were gift certificates in the safe? Well, the gift certificate were actually write-in voucher receipts, where the manager would write in the name and amount on the top copy, and there would be a yellow carbon copy underneath. These receipts all had 'serial numbers' at the bottom edge. So, we knew that a range of gift certificates had been taken; 10001-10100, for example.

A few months after the robbery, someone came into the store with a gift certificate with a number in the range that was stolen.

Yeah. People be that brazen.

I was on duty, called it into our Security officer. Nothing could be done besides refuse the GC as 'invalid'. There was some protest, but I remained firm and they gae up rather quickly when they realized the jig was up for them.

And, I'm spent with my Retail Hell stories.

Hey all,

So, I already informed the rest of Staff about this, but I just wanted to make it formal. I am taking a break from both MUSHing and being a part of the Admin team here.

Why? Lots of things that have built up ovr time. Mostly my own physical and mental health issues. I am completely burned out, to be honest. I'm not getting any relief or even enjoyment out of MUSHing at the moment, or any other activity that I do to relax. TV, Movies, Anime, Video Games, TTRPG...none of it are bringing any relief or joy to me, ATM.

So, I'm taking a long break to try and get back some measure of relaxation back. How long? I don't know. Maybe once spring arrives, I'll be feeling better. Maybe a year or so. In the mean time, I will be popping by here to see how things are going and keep up to date.

Will I be an Admin when I return? That all depends on what the opinion of Staff is. I am perfectly fine with having to re-apply or be reviewed for a Staff position here. And i anyone does pick up an Admin hat here in the mean time, I have no ill will towards them and wish them the best. In fact, I wish MUSoapbox and the whole MU community the best while I'm gone.

Like I said, this is my decision without any prompting or urging from anyone. I know that I've made bad moves and bad decisions that have caused real hurt to members of the community. And I apologize to those that I've hurt. I apologize for accelerating or causing drama here or on any game I've been on. It was never my intention to cause pain or drama, but as Neil Gaiman wrote, 'Intention and outcome rarely coincide'.

So. This is less a 'good-bye' and more of a 'til we meet again'. To the members, Staff and community, I thank you all for placing your trust in me, even if I didn't always live up to that trust or expectations. Regardless, stay healthy in body and mind, folks. Take care of yourselves.

Catch you all on the flip side.

@Scissors I've run MUSHClient off a work computer using a thumb drive. No instalation at work needed.

Jules Bass. Director of claymation holiday specials and The Hobbit.

https://deadline.com/2022/10/jules-bass-dead-rudolph-the-red-nosed-reindeer-rankin-bass-1235154588/

@faraday said in MUers in the news?:

@Derp said in MUers in the news?:

Racism. Is. Wrong. This is not an argument, this is a statement of principle.

100% agree.

But... some settings may have systemic prejudice. It's hard to skirt around in historical settings. Sexist gender roles in LoTR are pretty key to Eowyn's storyline. Shadowrun has its own form of racism (actual races, elves/dwarves/etc. not skin tone). Even a setting like BSG has oblique references to real-world ethnic discrimination.

All of these things are Wrong with a capital W, but that doesn't mean there should be a blanket prohibition against all Wrong things in storytelling.

I think it matters how it's handled. And I think there's a core difference between a world where you're injecting unnecessary prejudice based on your own assumptions/biases, and ones where the prejudice is more explicit in the setting.

I agree that how it's handled is a key part of the problem. Racism as a setting obstacle for players to overcome can be interesting. But, it has to be done right.

The problem I have with @Nymeria's approach is that it's forcing players that want to play non-white characters to justify that character's existence. To a degree that white characters don't have to meet. All characters need to fit into the setting, I also agree on that; you can't just spontaneously start playing a previously unknown heir to the Throne, for example. But it seems that the bar for entry is lower for white characters than non-white. At least when it comes to characters that have impact and influence.

Again, this is an issue that fantasy seems to have more than science fiction. But I remember the absolute sh!tfest that happened when Voyager premiered and people were loosing their minds over a black Vulcan. Now, Tuvok wouldn't get a raised eyebrow.

When you go back and examine 'classic' fantasy, it is extremely mono-cultural, based on historic ideas that we now know are incorrect. Just one historical example are the Norse/Vikings. They were more than just a geographically isolated ethnic group of Northern Europeans. The Norse had established trade with multiple Mediterranean cultures, including Arabic. Viking barrows have been found containing goods originating in the Arabian peninsula as well as bodies with Arabic DNA.

And adapting the source material to be more conscious of the biases of the era/author isn't some new 'millennial/SJW' thing. Robert E. Howard's original Conan stories were chock full of racism and misogyny that got cleaned out in the 1984 movie. Conan's Amazonian love interest Valeria was much different in the movie than in the stories, for example. In the stories, Valeria could kindly be described as 'spunky'; she wasn't the most effective fighter and had to be rescued by Conan multiple times to save her from her own plan. Similarly, all of the evil characters were non-white or savage 'primitives'' like the Picts. Even one of Conan's staunchest friends, Artus, who is Black, was treated with a certain amount of 'You're A Real Credit To Your Race' condescension. Those characters were modernized for the Schwarzenegger (Valeria) and Momoa (Artus) Conan films.

In closing, basing fantasy on any sort of 'historical' era invites in all the negative views and prejudices regarding that era, unless the author is open to adaptation. Example: There was a rather large outcry at The Gentleman Bastard Sequence over the introduction of a woman being the greatest pirate in that world, with readers calling it unrealistic and 'a woman can't be a pirate'. Then, author Scott Lynch unloaded on those complaints with the fact that the largest pirate fleet ever assembled on Earth (400 ships, 40,000-60,000 men) was under the command of Zheng Yi Sao, a woman.

So. Things 'are how they are' until we find evidence that no, they in fact were sometimes different than what we originally believed or assumed. With all that said. I believe @Nymeria has the right to run the game how they want to run it, even if I disagree with the premise. In reality, the idea of 'pure' canon never works out well and creates divisions, like we're seeing, about what is and isn't 'in canon'.

@Macha said in MUers in the news?:

Could it just have been that Martin grew up on fantasy settings, etc, that were portrayed by...well, white people? A huge amount of fantasy stories I recall, have a huge amount of white people.

Because the writers were usually white, so a lot of what was written back in the day in fantasy seems white. (I am not saying I am a huge expert. I am not. I read a ton of fantasy in my younger days, older stuff from my much older cousins/etc that got left around my gran's/aunt's house. But I don't remember a lot of people being not described as white)

This is a key point. I can't think of any fiction genre that isn't currently dealing with some sort of backlash over lack of diversity because the majority of published fiction has traditionally been written by white authors. My biggest area of experience in this is comics publishing. Until the late 60's/early 70's, there were few, if any, Black or other PoC of note in mainstream comics, with the exception of mentors like the Ancient One or stock villians like the Mandarin. It was when Blacksploitation came along that Marvel and DC started focusing on non-white heroes. And modern icons like Black Panther and Luke Cage were created and written by white/Jewish creators to start out. But those starting steps into diversity lead to PoC artists and writers entering the industry. Which lead to greater diversity of characters and creators. It's not an instant fix sort of deal by any means; it takes time for the cycle to advance. Fantasy just happens to be one of the more hide-bound genres and the most resistant to change, IMO. You can name dozens of White fantasy authors dealing in faux-Europe settings, while the few Black fantasy writers there are tend to be more Afro-centric in their settings, which isn't the default that fantasy readers are used to. But, that's slowly changing, and that's good. More diversity in creators leads to more diversity in stories.

@Wretched said in MUers in the news?:

@Derp It /is/ the NYPOST after all.

MCU Headcannon tangent...

The Daily Bugle is the NYPOST using the NY Times' font & masthead

The Daily Bulletin is the NY Times using the NYPOST's font & masthead

We now return you to your regular thread discussion...

SPOLIER
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She-Hulk, Episode 8...
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LAST CHANCE TO BACK OUT...
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Matt's arrived. And it's been worth the wait.

Fantastic interaction between Matt & Jen. Both in and out of the courtroom. They are now my new shipping obsession.

Plus, the walk of shame Matt does after leaving Jen's apartment was hilarious.

Only criticism...

WTF wasn't the fact that Leapfrog used the wrong kind of fuel in his boot jets not discovered by Jen in her initial interview with him? I mean...that's just a basic question to ask before taking a product liability case, right? "Did You Follow The Operating Instructions?'...

Also, the 3rd Degree Burns exaggeration. My dude...you would not be out of the hospital, walking around, if you had suffered 3rd Degree Burns on your leg a few days/weeks ago... 2nd Degree is enough; 3rd Degree is charred flesh down to the bone.

@faraday said in 7th Sea with Ares?:

@Runescryer said in 7th Sea with Ares?:

Also, now that I think about it...It could just be a straight FS3 port, since the new edition is based on 'raises' of 10 instead of the Roll & Keep system. Change the names of attributes and skills to match the game, directly translate FS3 successes to Raises one-for-one...

The problem is that the "feel" of the game won't be the same because raises and successes aren't statistically comparable. Certain abilities might become overpowered, while others wouldn't work effectively.

You could certainly do swashbuckling in the 7th sea world with FS3 rules. That's similar to what The 8th Sea MUSH did, though they had the advantage of not trying to mimic 7th Sea's specific magic system. But trying to hybrid 7th Sea's rules using FS3 dice just isn't a recipe for success.

The 2e game mechanics are dramatically different from the 1e Roll & Keep. The new system is roll Attribute + Skill, but then arrange the dice in groups that add up to 10 or more. Each group is a 'Raise'. So, if you roll 7 dice and get (8,6,6,2,2,8,4). that would be 3 Raises (8+2, 8+2, 6+4; 6 left over). You then spend Raises to complete objective or avoid hazards in a round.

Stock Example: Your character is in a dining room, with a large table in the middle, overhung by a chandelier held up by a rope tied to a hook nearby. The rugs and hanging tapestries are engulfed in flame. There is a small desk near the door in the back, with several papers on it that are beginning to smolder. You need a raise to get across the room, two raises to avoid any damage from the flames (2 wounds total, 1 per raise), and one raise if you want to grab the papers on the way out the door. With the example roll of 3 Raises, you could either escape all damage but loose the papers, or escape with the papers but take 1 damage.

Basically, you're going to average 1 Raise for every 2 dice in the pool. I believe that FS3 averages out to 1 Hit/Success for every 2 points, as well? Or am I completely off on the mechanics?

Also, now that I think about it...It could just be a straight FS3 port, since the new edition is based on 'raises' of 10 instead of the Roll & Keep system. Change the names of attributes and skills to match the game, directly translate FS3 successes to Raises one-for-one...

...opinion and coding support on a game idea.

Okay. One of the versatilities of Ares that I just realized is the ability to simulate large amounts of area away from a centralized 'hub'. As in, it facilitates a game where you can have groups separated on quests/adventures far away from each other and the central 'hub' area. You don't have to include rooms for every town, territory, island, or ocean location.

So, with this in mind...by brain is pitching the idea of using Ares for a 7th Sea game.

Ideally, the game would keep the newer 2nd Edition dice system, rather than the 1e Roll + Keep.

Eventually...

In addition to a core Admin Staff, there would be Storytellers to run events, and a Staffer for each Nation and Society to coordinate the Metaplot & Events involving each.

In addition to being solo, players would be free to create their own groups & crews, taking part in story arcs like the Castillian Reconquista, The Montagne Rebellion, and the Avalon/Sidhe split.

No need for a massive grid.

Want to hunt Montaigne shipping? Go for it.

Want to start up a Vendel trading company? Cool.

Want to do Syrenth dungeon delving all over Thea? Perfect.

Any interest or opinions?