Best posts made by Runescryer

@Decius I totally understand what the goal of the +report system was, and I approve of those goals. However, Hell, good intentions, and all that....

My personal example, as far as I recall. I was playing a Med Officer; not the Department Head, but one of the Shift Heads. I finished up CharGen, arrive on board the station...and wait for my physical scene. The only other Medical Officer in the game at the time was the DH. I waited for the DH to log on, to no avail. In the meantime, there's actual RP & TP scenes going on that I could be participating in; but, no Physical, no Active Duty. I wait. I mention to Staff that I'm good to go aside from my Report for Duty Physical scene; I was advised to hang in there and wait for the DH to show up. Eventually, after about a week of the DH not showing up, Staff agreed to handwave my Physical. By that time, there had been a couple of events/scenes that could have used a Med Officer, but instead I was stuck with social scenes only.

Like I said; I understand the goals of what was trying to be done. The problem was it was implemented in a way that was all too susceptible to break-down and impasse when RL inevitably comes knocking and key players can't meet the expected commitment.

Three other thoughts of genres, rather than specific systems or properties....

1. Espionage. Setting up two sides, whether it's US/NATO vs. the Soviet Bloc in the 70's & 80's, UNCLE vs. THRUSH, a more serious CONTROL vs. CHAOS, MI-6 & CIA vs. SPECTER or SMERSH, or even the Top Secret SI setting of ORION vs. WEB.

2. Western: Lots of territory to explore here, and toss in another vote here for DEADLANDS.

3. Gangland: Back to the '20's and Prohibition. Law Enforcement vs. the Mobs. Plenty of action & drama to go around.

@kay It's a great idea. Maybe if there was a way to turn the ambient 'noise' off when a scene is running to cut down on the updates and spare the log?

So, I'm not a part of the staff and this isn't an official advertisement or anything. I played on FCC for a while a bit before the closure (power armor character named Centurion), and I just discovered that the game is getting sort of revived/rebooted as a Living Campaign on Roll20 & Discord. So, just a call out to the other players and something to let them know about the new version.

http://fourcolorcomix.wikidot.com/start

I agree that predatory and abusive behavior best thrives in cultures & atmospheres of shame attached to sexual activity and thoughts. Conversely, I also think that Staff has to set certain restrictions to ensure the safety, privacy, and continued operation of the game; such as 'no illegal pictures/materials', and 'no TS involving characters under the Age of Consent'.

Also, I think sometimes Staff can set up a culture of shaming without directly intending to, simply through how they present their policy on TS. 'We don't allow TS on this game' has the same policy but is less aggressive/shaming than THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO TS ON THIS GAME!!!, which is how I've seen a lot of games phrase their policy.

Seattle but not Seattle

One of the benefits of using the PNW setting are all the nearby forests where cryptids and monsters can be dwelling. Along with hidden mystic caves of mystery in the mountains. Adds to the atmosphere and possibilities.

Now, just tossing this idea out there, but if you're wanting to go with a PNW setting and the Mutants & Masterminds system, you might want to take a look at the Emerald City setting, which is the 'official' setting for 3rd Edition. It has a lot of what you're looking for, including a 'shared' power origin for players to use if they want, 'The Silver Storm' event. Like I said, just a thought.

@Ghost Believe, I've been thinking about all those aspects you've mentioned and how they can derail things. At the same time, keeping it Fae-centric only would deny some of the really well-done 'redemption' arc stories that people can come up with.

So, just some further thoughts....

1. Keep the setting, ditch the main characters. I'm a firm believer of letting the players be the prime movers of a game's story. And if everything is being done by a small number of FC's, which is a necessity for a TV/Movie series, you get player squabbles over 'first come' FC's, others 'not playing the character right', idle times, and so on.

2. Limit human characters to 1 or 2 per player, and you have to have a fae character before creating a human, then 3 fae characters before you can app a second human. That maintains the fae/human interactions, but limits the amount of human focus in favor of the Fae.

3. Very strict rules regarding OOC language and conduct. As in, no use of 'modern' slurs, period; no use of setting slurs outside of the grid; alongside the standard Wheaton's Law prevailing rule. Yes, there will be those that complain about 'free speech' and 'oppressive rules'; in my mind they're free to go elsewhere. Building a game means building a community; building a community means agreeing to a certain set of shared social behaviors.

@kay Washington looks...different. whispers Did it get a peninsula job?

Just my opinion, but I think that something like Solaris VII would be an ideal setting for a BattleTech MU. You have lots of chances for cross faction RP that doesn't have to involve shooting at each other (either Mech or personal combat).

My only issue with FATE in regards to Supers is the 'wiggle' room. It works fine in a TT setting, where there is a certain amount of trust, familiarity, and an unspoken agreement among the players not to abuse the system. Online, all that mostly goes out the door and players will argue for every scrap of advantage they can get, IMO.

Again, just my feelings. If you have a very dedicated Staff willing to say 'No' to players, it can work. But then you have a whole new set of difficulties with claims of 'a-hole Staff'.

@Derp I had a campaign idea once where a Federation ship (Galaxy or Sovreign class) accidentally slips into the Mirror universe and can't get back. So, they try to stay off the grid at first to follow the Prime Directive while they try to figure out how to get back home. Soon, though, they get dragged into the fight with the Empire and serve as a rallying ship for the revolution. Star Trek: Liberty.

Just my own experience here, but I think that 'Supers MU players only/overwhelmingly prefer freeform' mostly comes from trying to get a player base within our own community. Talking about MU's with TT superhero RPG players outside the community, there is an interest for the kind of persistent, 24/7 game experience that an MU can provide. Overall, I'd say it would probably be at least a wash (as many new TT players wanting to join as free-form players avoiding) at first, with a side benefit of having more players familiar with a system to speed up any dice rolling & cgen, as well as being able to help new players learn the system.

I'd be interested.

At the very least, it gives me a thin excuse to watch Blackadder the Third again.

For those not familiar with Eclipse Phase. You can be....

-An Infomorph (sentient program)
-An Uplifted animal like a dog, dolphin, ape, raven, or octopus
-An 'Infogee'; a stored personality that evacuated from the fall of Earth and has been in digital storage ever since. And you can finally afford a sleeve to come out of storage
-Other type of human

Your sleeves can be biological, mechanical, or a synthesis of both. Besides basic humanoid forms, there's:
-'Space Whales' that use magnetic shielding to hang out and chill in the sun's coronasphere
-Gliders that soar through the clouds of Venus
-'Swarmbots' made of clouds of interconnected micro-robots
-Gigantic cyborg coconut crab tanks

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

I realize this is the pandemic brain talking, but an idea just rattled into my head about an alternate Disneyland MU sort of along the lines of Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom.

Dream Park by Larry Niven & Stephen Barnes. Near future amusement park with a pair of massive, 300+ acre gaming domes that can accommodate multiple terrain types, weather, and story genres. The domes are used for VR-augmented LARPS that are recorded and sold as a new form of media entertainment after Hollywood bites it in the Big Quake. There's 4 books in the series and a multi-genre RPG system by R. Talsorian.

@Gnome said in Altered Carbon Style MUSH - Eclipse Phase 2e:

Uplifted Species might be put on the 'illegal' list for the most part

Totally understand. You probably also want to put neotenic sleeves on the 'banned' list as well. I mean, I agree with the in-game reason they exist (less resource consumption), but there's way too much ick potential there when you open the game to a bunch of internet randos.

Hmmmmm.......what have we here?

For folks looking for a system for TLA/LoK...

https://magpiegames.com/avatarrpg/

And the Kickstarter begins August 3rd.

But, I mean, it's not like there's any real interest in an Avatar MU, right?

@Derp said in Avatar / Korra game considerations:

@Wretched said in Avatar / Korra game considerations:

Pro Earthbeder - The Under-quaker

Aero Saul!

Firebender: Ryk Flare

@ganymede said in Decriminalise Pretty:

@arkandel said in Decriminalise Pretty:

As for comic books how many heroes and heroines aren't drawn to be absolutely gorgeous?

Depends on who your superheroes are.

Why is it always Glimmer as the standard bearer of non-traditional attractiveness?

I demand validation of my ScorFuma shipping!!!!!

I think that 'stagnation' is a better descriptor for the state of Super MU's than 'dying'.As pointed out before, it's largely the same group of players moving from game to game as new ones open and the characters they want to play open up. I confess to being guilty of this as a player....

But, I suspect that the stagnation is a reflection of comics fandom as a whole. The fandom at large doesn't like change. They don't embrace new idea and concepts easily. I could discuss he whole negative-reinforcement cycle of the fandom-creator relationship, but that's a tangent that isn't going to positively add to the thread & topic.

For what my opinion is worth, I think what's going to break the Super MU stagnation is focusing on quality of the game experience over he quantity of players. A large player base is fantastic and rewarding, certainly, but you're not going to get it overnight from an entrenched audience that''s resistant to new concepts. Getting the kind of player numbers that you're looking for, who embrace the game's ideas/concept, will take months, possibly years, to grow. You just need to have a lot of patience and a staff willing to do a lot of heavy lifting from an event/scene perspective until the game reaches that critical mass of players and the PRPs become self-sustaining.