Best posts made by Runescryer

@tragedyjones said:

Having played on Heroes Dreams, while I have fond memories, there were a LOT of gay FCs.

That's like saying the ocean has water...

I'm still traumatized to the point where I cringe when I hear the name Lor-Zod....

Lor-Zod and Alex Powers. At ages 13-14
The clone-cest with Impulse and his double. And Superboy and Match...

I'mean pretty sure some of Heroe's Dreams staff went on to Fights N Tights. NTTAWWT, just got really wierded out by all the emphasis on the underage stuff on HD.

She-Hulk is off to a great start. Just the right blend of action and comedy.

@Coin said in Gauging Interest in a new Erotic RP MU* (with anonymous survey):

@Rinel said in Gauging Interest in a new Erotic RP MU* (with anonymous survey):

Yeah, and especially when you get into roleplayed nonconsensual stuff. There absolutely has to be a barrier between public and private there, OR you need to make it excruciatingly clear to everyone from the start what people are getting into.

Exactly.

And any game that is primarily-erotic/sexual in nature/theme is going to be an exploration of kinks, many of them not a lot of other players's thing. So you gotta make sure everyone consents not just to participating but also to being made to spectate/witness certain kinks.

Just my opinion, but I think that if you're trying for maximum freedom/expression, the best thing to do is to have a clear line between 'public' kinks/logs and 'private' kinks/logs. There are things that I like for ERP that others don't like and there re things that other people like for ERP that I don't like. Neither myself nor others should seek to limit or kink-shame. At the same time, some of the more problematic kinks could be categorized in a way that they get played in private situations only and log tagged in the same way erotic stories on the net are to prevent others from accidentally reading a log that contains things and situations that they don't like or could trigger reactions (like rape or incest scenes). So, basically...

1. Be 100% clear about what is and isn't allowed in Public
2. Have a Tag system for logs that make the log contents clear to potential readers
   2a) Potentially have a special Log section separate from the main logs to house logs with the more problematic kinks, to add an extra buffer.

I'm in for help building. Whatever you need, let me know.

For those who haven't heard...

Sandman dropped a bonus episode on Friday. A two-for-one special with 'A Dream of 1,000 Cats' and 'Calliope'.

I really recommend the Deluxe Hero's Handbook; the most recent version of M&M 3e. In addition to the point-buy 'DIY' system, they expanded on the Archetypes to make them more customizable. There are 20 Archetypes, each with their own set of decision tree choices to personalize the Archetype to fit what you want your character to be,

Example: The Paragon

First Choice: Man of Action (Captain America), Superhuman (Superman), Vessel (Shazam, Thor). This choice gives you your base stats. A Man of Action would start with STR: 6, STA: 6, AGL: 6, DEX: 4, FGT: 6, INT: 3, AWR: 4, PRE: 2. A Superhuman would start with STR: 8, STA: 8, AGL: 4, DEX: 4, FGT: 8, INT: 1, AWR: 2, PRE: 2

Second Choice:Advantages. You choose a 'package' of 4 Advantages; like Athlete (Extraordinary Effort, Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Uncanny Dodge), Leader (Inspire 2, Leadership, Teamwork), Warrior (All-Out Attack, Improved Initiative, Interpose, Move-By Action), and others.

Third Choice: Skills; you choose 2 Skill 'packages'; like Athlete (Acrobatics 6, Athletics 6, Perception 4), Charismatic (Expertise 4, Insight 4, Perception 4, Persuasion 4), and so on

Fourth Choice: Powers. From a list of pre-made powers, you choose 1 Offensive, 1 Defensive, 1 Movement, and 1 Utility Power

Fifth 'Choice': Defense. Based on your initial choice (Man of Action, Superhuman, Vessel), your Defense points are pre-determined. Man of Action: Dodge: +4, Parry: +4, Fortitude: +4, Toughness: +0, Will: +6. Superhuman/Vessel: Dodge: +4, Parry: +0, Fortitude: +2, Toughness: +0, Will: +6

Choose your Complications and you're all done with a balanced PL10 character. Also, each decision point, including the initial Archetype, can be randomly rolled for quick NPC's or a random-built PC if the player prefers.

@fatefan I call it the 'Frank Castle Unearthly Plot Armor' principle. I'm not pooh-pooing vigilante characters, but there's no logical reason why the metahuman heroes would just ignore all the killings and only 'focus on the Big Threats' aside from writing/editorial control. That's why I advocate a Two City system.

1. It keeps power levels roughly in the same ballpark for city inhabitants/heroes. Punisher and Batman are on the same power level; Punisher and Superman aren't.

2. It sets up RP and Events for the vigilante characters if the city they're in has a full on 'No Vigilantes' law that's backed by a corrupt city government to protect themselves from metahumans cleaning up their city. The superheroes that go and try to help clean things up are rebuffed by local law enforcement and government and the superheroes have to/should play by the rules. The vigilantes ignore the rules, which is entirely appropriate for them.

@reimesu Exactly.

@Rucket, @Cobaltasaurus 7th Sea First Edition would be great, but the big problem is a centralized locale where a wide variety of nationalities could congregate. My thoughts would be
either Freiburg or Numa.

@kay Maybe a +scene script that turns of the room's ambient noise feature and starts up an autologger?

@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'.

@Kumakun said in TTRPG's You've Wanted to MU* (But Probably Won't):

Scion I love the concept, but I don't think it'd work very well as a MU without some serious modification as much as I love to play TT.

Scion 1e worked just fine as a MU, pretty much right out of the box. As with most MU's, the key was staff being knowledgeable about the system and able to say 'no' to broken concepts or concepts that could eventually break the system.

@ZombieGenesis said in TTRPG's You've Wanted to MU* (But Probably Won't):

Rifts or TMNT. Both Palladium games which means people have a strong knee-jerk reaction but I've had fun playing both since the 80s/90s.

Rifts is a fantastic setting, but with old-school rules crunch. It's that last part that makes veteran gamers wary. The emphasis on 'RANDOM ROLL ALL THE THINGS!!!!' Character Generation is especially archaic these days. There was a FATE Rifts game, but I'm surprised that no-one's tried to do a Savage Worlds Rifts game, since there is an official adaptation for it.

So, recent events have me thinking in regards to how to document complaints. Because it's almost always after the fact. Is it possible to combine a 'report' command with an autologger so that accurate and impartial documentation can take place?

So, like '+report (name)' opens up a report file and starts logging. '+report/file' stops the autolog and sends the file off to whomever is responsible for starting investigations?

I like the idea of removing the 'Main Characters' so that the focus can be on the PC's. However, just playing Devil's Advocate here, that leads to another problem, IMO. If the setting and events of the WoT series are in use, someone has to be the Dragon Reborn to fight off Tarmongaiddon. So, you seem to be trading Super-Special NPC's for a group of Super-Special PC's that all the prophecies revolve around.

Just something to think about and plan around.

Just my 2 cents...

I think that the issue brought up by the OP, toxic fuckery in WoD games, isn't a matter of lapses or corrections in MU policies, management, or whatever. I've been casually playing WoD since VtM first popped up in stores, and my opinion is that it's the game itself that attracts and encourages players that engage in toxic fuckery; in MU or TT form. This is especially true on the Vampire side of things, where players are encouraged to develop useful relationships with the other PC's in order to exploit for their own benefit at a later time. Yes, this is a gross oversimplification, and not every player does this. But, VtM, and to a lesser extent the rest of the WoD games, is a game where politics and jockeying for personal gain and advantage is highlighted moreso than other RPGs. Sure, you can play an overly-ambitious character looking to climb some form of social ladder and use the other PC's as steps to achieve your goals in any RPG, but those are the exceptions, rather than the rule outside of WoD. WoD has political conflict and social climbing at the expense of others, even the other PC's, as an integral part of the game universe. And this attracts a greater number of the kinds of players that don't play well with others. And that bleeds over to the MU side of things. In my experience, the two most popular spheres in WoD MU's, outside of single sphere dedicated games like Garou MUSH, are Vampire and Mage. Mage is all about the power gaming, Vampire is all about the social politics; neither of which tend to attract the kinds of collaborative players needed for a harmonious community.

To reiterate, any WoD game is going to have a greater amount of toxic fuckery simply because the game itself attracts and encourages toxic fuckery. There's nothing to be done on the policy/Staff side but play Whack-A-Mole with the players that cross the lines of decent behavior. Just in my opinion, YMMV.

@ThatGuyThere

pg. 12 of the Edge of the Empire rulebook has a chart listing dice types and conversion from numbers to results

Also, each Basic Set comes with a set of dice in addition to the quick start rules, sample characters, maps, and scenario.

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

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

@Auspice Setting pitch:

California, post Independence Election. A Boomtown in the Great Maze, about in the middle of California. The town is spread over two islands connected to each other and the mainland by bridges. North island deals with the Union, south Island deals with the Confederacy. Mainland has the rail connections to the rest of the continent.

My idea had been to take a real life town from the western expansion, study its history, and fold those events in alongside the usual Deadlands wackiness.

Sort of my idea, also. Adapting what would have been Bakersfield into the Deadlands setting. The idea was to include as much variety in theme and adventures as possible. So, you have Ghost Rock prospecting, ranching, North/South drama, a few days ride to Shan Fan or Lost Angels, a coalition of California native tribes, the Railwars, piracy, and 'usual' stuff like bandits, rustlers, ect.

Personally, I'd be fine with an all Union setting, just to avoid some of the potential drama, but the Rangers are so vital to a Western mythology and much better than the Pinks, IMO.

@headery said in MUs That We Would Love To Make (But Won't):

A superhero-themed game using the Masks: A New Generation tabletop system. OC characters in a super school or something. I really feel like Masks could work well in a MU.

I'd be so down for this...If you make it, they will come.

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

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

I'd love a Valdemar game. But Mercedes Lackey has forbidden them. Not sure if that's changed at all.

It hasn't.

Which is why we have Blue Rose as an option. It has all the elements and style of Valdemar, with a greater assortment of animal companions and the option of playing one of the intelligent animals, including spellcasting.

@zombiegenesis I'd be down for this as well. I' say M&M would be the better system if we're just using a system for power modeling.